Apple appears to be on a kick of delivering product refreshes to punctuate its major release cycle, with changes to devices and tweaked versions that go beyond what it has done in terms of spec refreshes in the past. It looks like we could see a new era of light changes in direction to cater to market trends and optimize product viability under Tim Cook, which in many ways makes sense for a man known as a supply chain maestro.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/JTCvH5xj-4w/
The Loop's Jim Dalrymple is probably the best-connected Apple blogger on the planet at the moment, so when he posts an entry called "WWDC Expectations," the entire community's ears perk up. The annual Apple developer conference is only a couple of weeks away, and there's been lots of speculation about what we might see. Dalrymple brings us back to earth, outlining pretty clearly what we will or won't see.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/UGzLz0pLoF0/
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The all-new iMore show returns today with special guest David Barnard of App Cubby. He'll be joining me and Peter Cohen to talk everything Apple this week, so make sure you join us!
12:30pm PT/3:30pm ET. Be here!
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/2aAt-em04MM/story01.htm
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How big of an upgrade is Windows 8.1? Put it this way: we just might need to review the OS all over again. Microsoft just unveiled the first major update to Windows 8, and it includes tweaks to nearly every aspect of the operating system: the lock screen, Start menu, Windows Store and onscreen keyboard. As we saw in some leaked screenshots, Microsoft also updated its native apps and added some new ones, including a stopwatch and fresh calculator. In some cases, the update even changes the way you interact with the OS. Yes, that means the Start button is back (sort of). You can now snap more than two windows into place, depending on your screen resolution, and also adjust the width of those columns so that it's not necessarily an 80 / 20 split. Additionally, Microsoft revamped the way built-in search works so that it's now more of a universal search engine, serving up apps, files, settings options and web suggestions.
As you might have guessed, some of these revisions are a response to feedback Microsoft has received in the past seven months. In other cases, like with the new settings menu, they were part of Microsoft's plan all along -- the engineering team just didn't get to them before it was time to ship the first version of Win 8. As we reported earlier, Windows 8.1 will be available as a free update (in preview) starting June 26th, the day Microsoft's Build developer conference kicks off. We'd still encourage you to follow our Build coverage, however, as Microsoft will be making additional announcements then, particularly with regard to its first-party apps. Also, Microsoft is only sharing a handful of screenshots today, so we'll have to wait until June 26th to give you the full visual tour. For now, though, join us after the break as we walk you through all the major (and not-so-major) changes.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
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By Jonathan Allen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A high school security guard accused of threatening to blow up his school in suburban Nyack, New York, was ordered to court next month to face criminal charges, police said on Wednesday.
Kenneth Carter, 51, was arrested at Nyack High School last Wednesday after a colleague told the school administration he vowed an attack, said a spokeswoman for the Clarkstown Police Department. He was apparently angry about an earlier disciplinary incident at the school, she said.
"I'm going to go home and get my guns and blow this place up," Carter was quoted by the colleague as saying, the police spokeswoman said.
School security guards in Nyack are unarmed and Carter, who has a gun license, did not have a weapon at the time of his arrest, she said.
After a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in neighboring Connecticut last December, the National Rifle Association called for armed guards to be placed in every school, a proposal that has been criticized by gun-control advocates.
Carter, who was released on bail after his arraignment last week, did not respond to calls to his home in Nyack on Wednesday, and it was not clear whether he has retained a lawyer.
Nyack Union Free School District, the local school board, published a message on its website saying that "the matter was dealt with swiftly, immediately and appropriately and at no point did we believe that our students were placed in harm's way or there was an imminent threat of danger to them."
It was not clear if Carter had been suspended or fired since the arrest, and messages left with the board were not returned on Wednesday.
Carter was due to return to court on June 17. He has been charged with making a terroristic threat, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Lisa Shumaker)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/york-security-guard-accused-threatening-blow-high-school-232955183.html
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Science@NASA
This NASA graphic shows how close Jupiter, Venus and Mercury will appear on the western horizon in the sunset sky on May 26, 2013.
By Tariq Malik, SPACE.com
Three planets will perform a rare celestial dance in the sunset sky Sunday, a cosmic show that stars Jupiter, Venus and Mercury.
Weather permitting, the?three planets will shine together in a triangle formation low in the western sky in a planetary meet-up known as a conjunction. But there is more to the night sky sight than meets the eye.
"Triple conjunctions of planets are fairly rare," astronomer Tony Phillips explained in a NASA observing guide. "The last time it happened was in May 2011 and it won't happen again until October 2015."
What sets Sunday night's planetary show apart from other conjunctions is that it includes the three brightest planets visible in the May night sky. Venus is the brightest of the trio, with Jupiter a close second and Mercury coming in third.
The three planets will appear within a 3-degree field of the night sky and should fit inside the field of view of a typical set of binoculars. For comparison, your closed fist held out at arm's length covers about 10 degrees of the sky.
The best time to look for Jupiter, Venus and Mercury together is between 30 and 60 minutes after sunset. If you have clear weather, the planets will appear low on the western horizon, so an unobstructed view is vital.
The three planets have been closing in on one another for tonight's sky show over the last week, but if you miss them tonight don't fret. The planet trio will still be visible on Memorial Day Monday as their triangle pattern begins to separate, Phillips wrote.
On Tuesday, Venus and Jupiter will appear extremely close together, separated by just 1 degree, in what could be a "truly spectacular pair," Phillips added.
Editor's note:?If you snap an amazing picture of the three planets or any other night sky view that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to Managing Editor Tariq Malik at?spacephotos@space.com.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik?and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? Massive flooding from torrential rains in the San Antonio area left at least one person dead Saturday and sent emergency workers rushing in boats to rescue more than 100 residents stranded in cars and homes.
A woman was trapped in her car, got on the roof and was swept away in floodwaters, said San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Christian Bove. Her body was later found against a fence, he said. Her name was not immediately released.
Rescue workers were searching for someone who was missing after being trapped in another car, Bove said.
The water was very deep in some areas and more flood victims could be found, so the search will continue, officials said.
"We'll be out there as long as daylight permits and again in the morning if the water recedes," San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said, adding that going into floodwaters was more dangerous for firefighters than entering a burning building.
About 130 people were plucked from their homes and cars in the San Antonio area, many by first responders using inflatable boats, he said. The water was up to 4 feet high in some homes, Bove said.
Even a city bus was swept away, but firefighters on a boat were able to rescue the three passengers and driver early Saturday, public transit spokeswoman Priscilla Ingle said. Nobody was injured.
The San Antonio International Airport by Saturday afternoon had recorded 9.87 inches of rain since midnight, causing nearly all streams and rivers to experience extraordinary flooding. The highest amount of rainfall recorded since midnight was 15.5 inches at Olmos Creek at Dresden Drive.
Numerous roads in several counties were closed. Mayor Julian Castro urged residents not to drive.
"We have had too many folks who continue to ignore low-water warnings," Castro said at a Saturday afternoon news conference.
A flash flood warning was issued for nearly two dozen counties as 2-4 inches of rainfall was forecast overnight.
A flood warning remained for Leon Creek at Interstate 35, where the level was 27.1 feet and was expected to peak at 29 feet Saturday night ? nearly twice the flood stage of 15 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The San Antonio River about 20 miles southeast of the city, near Elmendorf, was expected to peak at 62 feet by Sunday morning, well above the flood stage of 35 feet.
The National Weather Service called the region's flooding a life-threatening situation similar to what happened in October 1998. Up to 30 inches of rain fell in a two-day period, causing floods in the Guadalupe and San Antonio River basins that left more than 30 people dead, according to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. Parts of 19 counties received at least 8 inches of rain in that storm.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/san-antonio-flooding-kills-1-dozens-rescued-214241771.html
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Laura: "Now that I am back to work full time, I get up at 5:00 a.m. to get the kid's lunches ready. I often find myself doing laundry at 10:00 p.m. Last week I was picking up groceries at the supermarket at 11:00 p.m., and my stomach is churning while driving to the day care center because I don't want to be charged the late pick-up fee. I'm so exhausted at night when I got to bed, I can hardly talk to my husband, much less make love with him. I don't like living this way, but I'm not seeing a way out."
Jack: "I don't like it either; but if we want to continue to enjoy our standard of living, we need both incomes. It's really stressful when one of the kids gets sick and can't go to day-care. We get into a big argument every time about who will stay home with them, because it may put each of our jobs in jeopardy to not come in. I'm sure we're working much harder and longer than our parents did, with less to show for it."
For reasons that are too complex to cite, Jack is correct. The young parents in contemporary America not only work longer hours than their parents did, but they work longer hours than do citizens of any other country in the world. We have even recently surpassed the Japanese who have coined the term "Karoshi syndrome" meaning "death from overwork."
While it is easy to take the stress produced by excessive overwork personally, in fact symptoms such as irritability, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and exhaustion are less a personal failure than they are expressions of dysfunctional economic and social systems. Those countries with the lowest levels of stress disorders, such as the Northern European and Scandinavian nations, tend to be those that provide a safety net for families, children, the elderly and those who are most vulnerable.
When we traveled to Scandinavia recently, our informal survey of citizens in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark revealed that social structures including universal health care and higher education, and extended paid maternity and paternity leave, and day care greatly diminished the stress-related conditions that plague many contemporary American families.
Our culture's failure to prioritize the needs of the family over the values of "free enterprise" is a primary factor in the disintegration of the American family. This phenomenon has become known as the "work-family conflict," and in America, work is clearly winning. Joan Williams of the Center for Worklife Law, at the University of California Hasting College Center for American Progress found that the typical American middle class family worked 11 hours a week more in 2006 than in 1979. That's an average of 572 extra hours worked per year!
On top of the stress of working more hours, American families don't have the supports that other countries take for granted, such as high-quality, conveniently located, subsidized child care, paid sick days, limits on mandatory overtime, the right to request work time flexibility without retaliation, and proportional wages for part time work. Of the thirty industrialized democracies, only the United States lacks paid maternity leave laws. In almost all cases where family leave is available, it is unpaid, limited to three months, and covers only half of the labor force. Discrimination against workers with family responsibilities is illegal throughout all of Europe.
The American workplace was designed for the typical family of 1960, a time in which the father was the breadwinner and mom stayed home. The income from one working parent could cover the cost of home, car and other necessities. Those days are over. Now 59 percent of children live in households where both parents are employed. Today the typical American family struggles to earn a living in a tough economy. Family life is compromised by rising demands in the workplace, where many employers think they have to assign longer hours to employees in order for their businesses to remain competitive.
In the United States, 90 percent of American mothers and 95 percent of American fathers report high levels of stress. The United States has the most family-hostile public policies in the developed world. There has been no major legislation designed to enhance family life since 1993.
Some couples attempt to meet the challenge of child-care by working opposite shifts. They call it the "tag team" when one is working a night shift and the other a day shift in order for one parent to always be available for the kids. The kids may be receiving adequate care, but these couples have so little together time that their risk of divorce is six times the national rate.
Jobs in the second decade of the 2000s are not as readily available today as in years past due to four strong trends, dating back to the 1970s:
Since none of these trends is likely to change in the near future, a tight job market is what we have for the time being. A tight job market makes people hold on to the job that they have, do what is required of them, and work harder than they really want to out of the fear that there are a lot of people lined up eagerly waiting to take their job. People who were not predisposed to becoming workaholics become so because of the fear that if they don't overwork they will loose their job.
In the realization that we are a part of a larger issue, we may become able to use the energy that is freed up from worrying about our imagined shortcomings to make the very best of an extremely challenging situation. Perhaps we can carve out time to be with our partner to focus more attention on the quality of our relationship. If we set aside time when other distractions cannot take our attention and completely devote ourselves more fully to each other, speak from our heart, have some fun together, and work as a team to solve the numerous problems that occur in every family, we can keep our heads above the water line, even if just barely. By seeing the broader nature of our predicament, we get some relief. Millions of families are suffering with the same challenges. Once we commit ourselves to creating more sane, balanced, and integrated lives, we might even provide a model for other couples that share the same concerns.
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Follow Linda Bloom LCSW and Charlie Bloom MSW on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bloomwork
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ? Sara Jane Olson, the Minnesota woman who served seven years in prison for her involvement in high-profile 1970s radicalism, is edging back into public life ? this time voluntarily ? as she and a friend petition the Obama administration to reduce disparities in prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine.
Olson returned to Minnesota after her 2009 parole from a California prison, and lives with her husband in the same St. Paul home where she was arrested in 1999. Once known as Kathleen Soliah, Olson spent 25 years as a fugitive after joining the short-lived Symbionese Liberation Army, the small group best known for the 1974 kidnapping of California heiress Patty Hearst.
Captured in 1999, Olson finally pleaded guilty to helping place pipe bombs under Los Angeles police cars and participating in a bank robbery near Sacramento in which a woman was killed. Deeply private since her release, Olson said she decided to talk to The Associated Press because of strong convictions about her new crusade, which she said is motivated in part by her own time in prison.
"I don't really like to talk about my personal experience in terms of my family and all that," Olson said in an interview on Friday. "But when I was there, at some point I did adjust to it and I said, 'I have to learn something from this.'"
Olson and her friend and next-door neighbor, Mary McLeod, filed the White House petition Thursday asking the president to exercise executive clemency for prisoners serving time under now-discarded sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine. In 2010, Congress cut those sentences to align more closely with those for powder cocaine, but that only applied to new sentences going forward. The women's petition says that left more than 5,000 prisoners still serving time longer than the new rules would require.
"There's just no good argument for that continuing to be the case, so we said let's see what we can do," said McLeod, a retired attorney who moved into the house next door while Olson was in prison. The petition was McLeod's idea, and one of Olson's adult daughters is helping.
The interview occurred in McLeod's living room; Olson, now 66, looks fit, with long white hair and a deeply lined face. She is quick with statistics and opinions about the cause.
"The war on drugs is a politically convenient peg on which to hang a lot of things, and that has been done by a lot of politicians," Olson said. She and McLeod, as many critics have done, said the differences in crack and powder cocaine sentences stem from stereotypes of crack as a drug for poor black people while powder cocaine is for rich white people.
In the petition, the women ask the White House to establish a panel to review individual cases of the prisoners in question, and then make recommendations to President Barack Obama about which of them deserve to be released. That would mimic the 1974 process by which President Gerald Ford commuted sentences of large numbers of Vietnam draft evaders.
Anyone can file a petition to the White House, but it requires 100,000 signatures in 30 days to trigger an actual White House review. And that's no guarantee of action, either. Olson and McLeod are trying to circulate it widely in activist circles, and have posted it on Change.org, an online petition platform. Two days after its posting, the petition ? one of more than 100 on the White House site https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/ was nearing 100 signatures.
"It takes a certain amount of guts. You'd think after her experience with the criminal justice system, she'd run in the other direction," said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor who followed Olson's case and is also acquainted with the sentencing disparity issue. "But notwithstanding the nature of her crimes, she was a very intelligent person and it strikes me she still has some of that cause burning in her."
Olson said she did volunteer work in women prisons even before her 1999 arrest. But once in prison, she said she experienced firsthand the toll of heavy drug sentences on prison populations. She said that's what brought most of her fellow inmates behind bars. "Most of them were addicts," she said.
"They had us eight women to a room. There were 80-year-old women, already going through dementia, sharing space with an 18-year-old, and you're supposed to all get along?" Olson said.
Before her arrest, Olson was well known among Twin Cities' liberal activists and as a sometime-actress in local theater. She declined to share many details about her life now, but did reveal she's a grandmother. She also wouldn't talk about her 1970s radicalism or her years as a fugitive. In a written apology before her sentencing, Olson described SLA members as "young and foolish." Among the group's victims was a mother of four killed in the Sacramento-area bank robbery.
"I just intend to focus on issues like this because I've been there and I feel kind of on a mission to do what I can to help people get out and recover their lives, for those who can," Olson said. "I'm fortunate to be out, and I can be one of many people that can reach people."
___
Online:
Link to Olson/McLeod petition: http://1.usa.gov/1agK0Ml
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-cause-ex-radical-olson-174051585.html
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MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) ? An Interstate 5 bridge over a river collapsed north of Seattle Thursday evening, dumping two vehicles into the water and sparking a rescue effort by boats and divers as three injured people were pulled from the chilly waterway.
Authorities said it appeared nobody was killed in the bridge failure that raised the question about the safety of aging spans and cut off the main route between Seattle and Canada.
"We don't think anyone else went into the water," said Marcus Deyerin, a spokesman for the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team. "At this point we're optimistic."
A man and a woman were reported in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries in the emergency room at Skagit Valley Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Kari Ranten said. Another man was reported in stable condition at United General Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, hospital CEO Greg Reed said. He said he didn't know whether the man would be admitted.
Survivor Dan Sligh and his wife were driving their pickup truck when he said the bridge disappeared before them in a "big puff of dust."
"I hit the brakes and we went off the bridge," Sligh told reporters from Skagit Valley Hospital, adding he "saw the water approaching ... you hold on as tight as you can."
Traffic along the heavily-travelled route could be impacted for some time.
"The I-5 corridor is totally disrupted," said Gov. Jay Inslee, who went to the scene Thursday night.
He said work has already started to design detour, but state Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson asked people to avoid I-5 in the area for the next several days.
Washington State Trooper Mark Francis said a portion of the four-lane bridge over the Skagit River collapsed about 7 p.m.
Jeremiah Thomas, a volunteer firefighter, said he was driving nearby when he caught something out of the side of his eye and turned to look.
"The bridge just went down, it crashed through the water," he said. "It was really surreal."
It was not known what caused the collapse of the bridge about 60 miles north of Seattle in Skagit County, but State Patrol detectives and the patrol's commercial vehicle enforcement bureau troopers were talking late Thursday night to a commercial truck driver whose rig was believed to have struck the bridge.
"It appears the commercial vehicle made contact with the bridge," Francis said. "Whether it was the cause" of the collapse or made contact as the bridge was falling "that will all come out in the wash. But it appears it hit the bridge."
The four-lane bridge was about 50 feet above the water. Deyerin said it appeared that two vehicles - a car and a pickup with the travel trailer attached - fell into the river. He said the water depth was about 15 feet, and that the vehicles were half-visible in the water likely are resting on portions of the collapsed bridge.
Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold.
"It's not something you see every day," said Jimmy O'Connor, the owner of two local pizza restaurants who was driving on another bridge parallel to the one that collapsed. "People were starting to crawl out of their cars."
He said he and his girlfriend were about 400 yards away on the Burlington Bridge when they heard "just a loud bang."
"Then we looked over and saw the bridge was down in the water," he said.
He pulled over and saw three vehicles in the water, including a camping trailer that landed upside-down, he said.
The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being "functionally obsolete" - a category meaning that the design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders and low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.
The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data, but 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score.
According to a 2012 Skagit County Public Works Department report, 42 of the county's 108 bridges are 50 years or older. The document says eight of the bridges are more than 70 years old and two are over 80.
Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state's bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington's 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient of functionally obsolete.
Democratic Rep. Judy Clibborn, who leads the transportation committee in the state House, said the bridge wasn't one that has been a focus for lawmakers.
"It is shocking that I-5 would have something happen like this," she said.
Clibborn said the collapse will call attention to the issues facing bridges ? especially the old bridge over the Columbia River that connects Vancouver and Portland, Ore.
___
Baker reported from Olympia, Wash. Associated Press writers Chris Grygiel in Seattle and Terry Tang in Phoenix also contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-bridge-collapses-wash-river-injuring-3-060449607.html
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May 23, 2013 ? The known difficulty in fighting influenza (flu) is the ability of the flu viruses to mutate and thus evade various medications that were previously found to be effective. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown recently that another, more promising, approach is to focus on improving drugs that boost the body?s natural flu killer system.
Emergence of new influenza strains, such as the recent avian influenza (H5N1) and swine influenza (H1N1 2009), can lead to the emergence of severe pandemics that pose a major threat to the entire world population. Recently, the concern regarding the emergence of such a pandemic arose when a new and deadly avian influenza strain (H7N9) was discovered in China, causing the death of six people in only one month.
?The body?s immune system can fight influenza infection. Natural killer (NK) cells, which are an essential component of this system, can recognize and eliminate influenza-virus-infected cells and inhibit the spread of the virus in the respiratory system.
But, as Ph.D. student Yotam Bar-On and Ofer Mandelboim, the Dr. Edward Crown Professor of General and Tumor Immunology at the Institute for Medical Research Israel Canada (IMRIC) of the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine, have revealed in a paper published in Cell Reports, the influenza virus is able to escape from the NK cells activity, allowing it to spread in the respiratory system.
They show that this is accomplished by the influenza virus utilizing the enzymatic activity of the neuraminidase protein to neutralize the NK cells' receptors that are responsible for detecting the influenza-virus-infected cells. This, in effect, neutralizes the NK cells? ability to accomplish their designated flu-killing duty.??
With the aid of the neuraminidase protein, the influenza virus is free to exit from the infected cell, enabling it to infect new neighbor cells and spread in the respiratory system. Anti-flu drugs were developed to inhibit this spread of the virus by inhibiting the neuraminidase enzymatic activity. But, as with other, earlier anti-influenza drugs, the flu viruses are able to gain the upper hand. The extensive use of neuraminidase inhibitors has caused the emergence of new, drug-resistant influenza strains.
For example, during the spread of the swine influenza pandemic in 2009, the Health Protection Agency in the UK reported that 99% of the viruses analyzed were resistant to these inhibitors. It was shown that the virus was able to change the neuraminidase structure so the drug can no longer bind this protein, and therefore the desired inhibitory effect is lost.
But, despite this, Bar-On and Mandelboim have shown that this type of widely used drug has the effect of boosting the activity of the NK cells, enabling them to better eliminate the influenza virus. They stress, therefore, that efforts should be focused on developing effective new drugs that would maintain and enhance this NK cell activity, thereby leading to more effective elimination of the influenza virus and better recovery from flu infection without the susceptibly to the changes in the neuraminidase protein structure currently brought about by mutating flu viruses.?
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/GiYc28o_k4U/130523083046.htm
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By William Schomberg
CARDIFF (Reuters) - A Bank of England policymaker said on Friday he favored small additional amounts of bond purchases over time, but not a hard-to-manage commitment to longer-term stimulus like that of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
"I don't think I want to get into the American position of saying it is indefinite and then stopping," said Paul Fisher, one of the British bank's rate-setters. "I think the Americans are finding it a bit hard - as we have seen recently - to get out, because they have got this indefinite horizon."
Global financial markets took fright at comments this week by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. central bank could begin scaling back its $85 billion monthly pace of bond purchases in the next few meetings, depending on the data.
While Bernanke also stressed that the Fed needed to see more signs of recovery before weaning the economy off its stimulus, the upset among investors underscored the problems of managing a smooth exit from the Fed's bond-buying.
A majority of Bank of England policymakers remain against a resumption of their own bond-buying program although Fisher has voted in favor of it, along with governor Mervyn King and another member of the Monetary Policy Committee.
"My view is that we should be doing a slow amount over a period of time. Twenty-five (billion pounds) over three months is a slow rate," Fisher told reporters after making a speech to business leaders in the Welsh capital.
"That would be what you kick off with. And then you would stop when you thought conditions were looking a lot better."
Investors are waiting for the arrival of the Bank of England's next governor, Canadian Mark Carney who starts his new job in London on July 1, to have a better sense of the chances of a resumption of bond-buying by the BoE.
Fisher declined to comment on a policy that Carney is expected to bring to Britain - giving explicit guidance on how long interest rates will be kept at rock-bottom levels, in order to boost confidence and investment.
In his speech earlier, Fisher warned that pumping too much money into the economy might fuel inflation.
"We cannot guarantee that a specific monetary boost will split the real and inflationary outcomes in the way that we might all wish," he said.
He also said a further cut in the bank's key lending rate, which has been at a record low of 0.5 percent since 2009, would probably not boost demand.
(Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-englands-fisher-says-does-not-want-u-095546119.html
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* Weak China factory activity cuts Nikkei gains * Bernanke remarks sees yen at 103 to dollar, aids exporters * Fast Retailing jumps as retail investors in hot pursuit By Dominic Lau TOKYO, May 23 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average trimmed gains after hitting a 5-1/2-year high on Thursday after factory activity in China, one of Japan's major export markets, shrank for the first time in seven months in May. By the midday break, the Nikkei added 0.2 percent to 15,662.95 after falling as much as 0.6 percent at one point on the back of the China HSBC flash PMI data. "People are taking profit after the China PMI," said Kyoya Okazawa, head of global equities and commodity derivatives at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. "China has a huge link with Europe in terms of exports. Looking at the OECD leading indicator for Europe ... the European economy is gradually coming back," he said. "China's economy can't get worse." The index earlier climbed to a peak of 15,942.60, its highest since December 2007, aided by some exporters as the yen weakened against the dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve chief suggested the central bank could scale back stimulus in coming months. Ben Bernanke's comments lifted the dollar to a fresh 4-1/2-year high of 103.74 yen on Wednesday. The Japanese currency was last traded at 103.15 on Thursday. Stefan Worrall, director of equity cash sales at Credit Suisse in Tokyo, said the soft yen would help support the Tokyo market. "It's going to be a huge fillip for the market. Any weakening of the yen would be. Also, it's evident of the strength of retail investors and their optimism," he said. Exporters on the rise included Honda Motor Co, Canon Inc, TDK Corp and Ricoh Ltd, up between 1 and 2.8 percent. But Mitsubishi Motors Corp slumped 11.5 percent and was the second most traded stock on the main board by turnover after sources said the automaker is considering wiping out about 920 billion yen in accumulated loses by reducing capital stock by an equivalent amount. Such a move is a common step for Japanese firms with a history of deep losses that have returned to profitability and want to begin paying dividends. The broader Topix reversed early gains to trade down 1.1 percent at 1,262.22, with volume at 96 percent of its full daily average for the past 90 days. FAST RETAILING RIDING HIGH Fast Retailing Co Ltd, which has the biggest weighting in the Nikkei, climbed 3.9 percent, extending a 7.4 percent surge in the previous session as retail investors were in hot pursuit of the operator of casual fashion chain Uniqlo. It was the top-weighted gainer, contributing 64 positive points to the benchmark. "Retail investors are very active in this market. They are using Fast Retailing as a home camp," a Tokyo-based trader said. "It's an indicator of the extent of the retail investors' involvement in this market." Interest from foreign investors was also high, with government data showing they bought 716 billion yen ($6.9 billion) worth of Japanese equities last week. They have ploughed a total of 8.28 trillion yen into Japanese stocks since the end of 2012. The benchmark Nikkei is up 13 percent so far this month, on track for a 10th straight monthly gain - its longest such winning streak since 1972. The index has rallied more than 50 percent this year, supported by aggressive government and central bank policies to revive growth, and it has risen 10.4 percent since May 9, when the dollar broke above the 100-yen mark.
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The bank, Canada's second-largest, said on Thursday that it had earned a net C$1.72 billion ($1.66 billion), or C1.78 a share, in the second quarter ended April 30. That compared with a year-earlier profit of C$1.69 billion, or C$1.78 a share.
Excluding items including a C$58 million amortization charge, earnings were C$1.90 a share. Analysts on average had expected C$1.91, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
TD has about 1,100 bank branches in Canada and about 1,300 in the United States, where it has a sizeable presence on the Eastern seaboard. It also owns 45 percent of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.
Wholesale banking income, which accounts for trading, investment banking and corporate lending, rose 12 percent to C$220 million, due to stronger trading-related revenue and lower expenses, the bank said.
TD's U.S. retail banking network produced income of US$392 million, up 9 percent, on the back of loan and deposit growth.
Income from TD's Canadian retail bank increased 5 percent to C$847 million. Lower loan-loss provisions helped make up for sluggish loan growth as Canada's housing market continued to lose steam.
($1 = 1.0336 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/td-bank-profit-rises-2-percent-trading-u-114020231.html
The teen birth rate in America has been dropping since 1991 and, the latest numbers show, continues to decrease. In 22 states, Hispanic teen birth rates plunged at least 40 percent, astounding the study's lead author.?
Teen birth rates have continued to decline, says a new government study. Here, Courtney Smith, 18, takes a seat at Central High School in St. Joseph, Mo. But what sets her apart from most girls is she's also caring for her 3-month-old daughter. May 9.
Associated Press
EnlargeThe nation's record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report.
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All states but West Virginia and North Dakota showed significant drops over five years. But the Mountain States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah saw rates fall by 30 percent or more.
In 22 states, teen Hispanic birth rates plunged at least 40 percent, which was described as "just amazing," by the report's lead author, Brady Hamilton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What's driving the declines? No one can say for sure. Experts believe the explanation is complicated and probably varies a bit from state to state. The national figure has been falling since 1991, aside from a brief interruption in 2006 and 2007.
The CDC report released Thursday is based on birth certificates for 2007 through 2011. Last year, the CDC announced the overall improvement in teen births: a record low of 31 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19. That compares to 42 births per 1,000 five years earlier.
The new report focuses on state figures in 2011:
? Lowest rates are in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont, each with rates under 17 per 1,000.
? Highest rates overall continue to be in the South, led by Arkansas and Mississippi, each with rates of about 50 per 1,000. In Arkansas, the majority of teen births are to white moms. In Mississippi, the majority are black.
? White teens continue to have the lowest birth rate nationally ? about 22 births per 1,000. Black teens saw a larger improvement, but their rate was still more than twice the white rate, at 47 per 1,000.
? Overall, the Hispanic rate plummeted from 75 to 49 per 1,000, now virtually a tie with the black rate.
The teen drop in the last five years coincided with an overall decline in births, which experts attribute to a weak economy that dampened enthusiasm for having children.
Hispanic women have been part of that trend, possibly due to the economy and to illegal immigration crackdowns in some states that reduce the number of young Hispanic females entering the country from Mexico and other nations, said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health.
That means new immigrants are having less impact on birth statistics, and second- and third-generation families are having more influence.
As time goes on, Hispanics ? like other immigrant groups before them ? tend to adopt American customs and practices.
"There is more attention on education, career, and the future," said Dr. Janet Realini, head of Healthy Futures of Texas, a San Antonio-based organization focused on preventing teen and unplanned pregnancies.
Hispanic rates, though, continue to be much higher than those for blacks and whites in most of the states with the largest Hispanic populations, including California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Georgia.
Texas has the highest number of teen births in the nation, with nearly 43,000 in 2011. Nearly two-thirds were to Hispanic moms.
The overall improvement, though, is something to celebrate, said Bill Albert, chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
"Geography, politics, or policy alone simply cannot explain the widespread declines," Albert said in an email. "Credit goes to teens themselves who are clearly making better decisions about sex, contraception, and their future."
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Q0NJaJUAtIs/Hispanic-teen-birth-rate-decreased-dramatically
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? When Tony Parker started running low on masterful plays, Tim Duncan was there to take over and lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Parker had 15 points and a career playoff-high 18 assists, Duncan scored San Antonio's first six points of overtime and the Spurs bounced back after squandering a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 93-89 on Tuesday night.
"I hate that we gave up that big of a lead in that situation," Duncan said. "But we were resilient enough to go to overtime and not let it affect us."
Duncan opened the extra period with a layup, and then made a tiebreaking putback on Parker's missed jumper. He then made a runner that bounced high of the back iron and rattled in for a 91-87 lead with 1:08 to play.
The Grizzlies had a chance to tie after Jerryd Bayless hit a jumper and Parker missed one of two free throws with 14.6 seconds left, but Bayless' 3-pointer from the left wing was off-target.
Memphis has fallen behind in all three playoff series so far, including rallying from an 0-2 deficit in the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Game 3 is Saturday in Memphis.
"We're in the same boat we were when we left L.A. We're down 0-2. We've got to go home and take care of business at home," coach Lionel Hollins said. "It's not going to be easy, but that's where we are."
Bayless and Mike Conley each had 18 points to lead Memphis.
Duncan had 17 points and nine rebounds, missing most of the second half with foul trouble before coming up with the key baskets in overtime ? even if it wasn't by design.
"It was just what was there more than anything," he said.
Memphis stormed back from a 13-point deficit with a 15-2 run over the final 8 minutes of regulation to tie it at 85 on Conley's runner in the lane with 18.2 seconds to play. The Grizzlies got the chance to pull even after Manu Ginobili was called for a flagrant foul for pulling down Tony Allen by his left arm on a fast-break layup try.
Allen hit both free throws and Memphis got possession, setting up Conley's tying basket at the end of a string of seven straight Grizzlies points.
But Memphis, which trailed by as much as 18 in the second half, could never pull ahead.
Up until the final stretch, Parker had been in control for 2? quarters.
Parker kept San Antonio humming along after Duncan went to the bench with four fouls, the last three picked up within a span of 30 seconds, early in the third quarter. Parker provided the assist on the Spurs' first seven baskets of the second half, and then scored the next two on mid-range jumpers before getting pulled for a rest with a 72-54 lead.
The Grizzlies mounted a 16-6 comeback while Parker was on the bench, getting as close as 78-70 after Zach Randolph scored inside following back-to-back Bayless jumpers.
Parker checked back in and soon had the lead growing again, ducking under Darrell Arthur to hit a floater and then knocking down a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 83-70 with 8:14 to play. But then Parker finally went cold, missing five straight shots down the stretch as the Grizzlies rallied back.
He had 14 assists in the second and third quarters and went past his career-high for the regular season of 17 during overtime.
"He was unbelievable," Duncan said. "I know he's exhausted. We asked a lot of him. He was controlling the ball every time down the floor and he was making every right play there was.
"He was finding people, and people knocked down shots for him."
After Game 1, Memphis' guards outlined a game plan that involved picking up their defense earlier on Parker to keep him from getting into the lane and putting the Grizzlies into the scramble mode that allowed San Antonio to hit a franchise playoff record 14 3-pointers in the opener.
It wasn't until late that any of their plans started working.
"He's a Hall of Fame guard, people. He's been around, he's done great things in his career," Hollins said. "He just controlled the pace and got in the paint, found open guys. ... We battled him, though, and we wound up being in the game."
But then, Duncan ? who missed a potential winning jumper from the left wing at the end of regulation ? took over.
The Spurs put all five starters in double figures, getting 14 points from Tiago Splitter, 12 from Kawhi Leonard and 11 from Danny Green.
Randolph had 15 points and 18 rebounds after a two-point performance in Game 1, his lowest-scoring effort all season. Marc Gasol had 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Hollins talked before the game about wanting the Grizzlies ? getting increased attention in their first Western Conference finals appearance ? to avoid being like a boy in junior high school who suddenly decides he needs to change once he gets noticed by a pretty girl.
"We're who we are and we have to stay who we are, and we have to understand that no matter who's coming and talking to us, we have to be true to our identity," Hollins said, "and we can't go changing and shaving and taking a bath when we haven't taken one all along."
Memphis, with the league's best defense, looked like itself again early on while recovering from a 7-0 hole to turn it into a 15-13 slugfest after the first quarter. But after the Grizzlies went ahead for the first time, San Antonio surged back ahead with seven straight points. Just before halftime, the Spurs asserted control with a 13-0 run and went up 46-31 at the break.
Notes: There was a moment of silence before the game recognizing the deadly tornado that hit Moore, Okla., on Monday. ... The Grizzlies missed five shots on their next-to-last possession of the first half. Tony Allen's baseline drive was snuffed out by a Leonard block and he also missed the putback before Randolph missed two putback tries ? one of them blocked by Duncan. Tony Wroten then missed the final follow shot. ... Parker's previous career best in the playoffs was 14 assists against Utah on May 22, 2007. Johnny Moore holds the franchise postseason record with 20 against Denver in 1983.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spurs-blow-lead-beat-grizzlies-93-89-ot-041522080.html
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Good morning! ?After yesterday?s severe weather threat that didn?t pan out to be much, today we are rewarded with Chamber of Commerce weather. ?Here?s the email weather update I sent my morning show team this morning. ?Thought it would make a good read for you.
?
This Morning:? 2 Items
?
Today:? back to normal
?
Pattern Ahead:
I want to say the pattern looks dry and quiet, but there is a cold front to the north that could trigger storms THURSDAY to the north and with the front over us on FRIDAY and into SATURDAY more storms are possible with the heat of day.? Most activity looking like northern and western areas, so even if storms turn out it likely won?t impact Metroplex.
?
Memorial Day Weekend:? looking like we are hot and humid SAT-SUN-MON with highs each day 91-92.? We may have to put storm chances in forecast for SUN-MON, but for now leaving out until better model agreement.
Source: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/05/22/chilly-morning-great-afternoon/
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Conservative Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn says that any additional federal aid to help tornado victims and to rebuild devastated areas of his state should be financed with cuts to other programs in the government's $3.6 trillion budget.
Spokesman John Hart says it's a position Coburn has consistently held regarding federal spending on disasters dating to the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City.
But federal disaster aid such as $60 billion passed earlier this year to rebuild coastal states including New York and New Jersey from Superstorm Sandy typically is approved as "emergency" spending that is simply added to the budget deficit. That may happen again if more aid is need for Oklahoma.
Federal disaster aid coffers remain flush from the infusion of Sandy aid.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/okla-senator-says-tornado-aid-paid-144611909.html
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Update Date: May 22, 2013 10:35 AM EDT
Worth the risk? Tumor detecting CT scans may raise the risk of cancer in kids and adolescents, (Photo : Reuters)
Computed tomography or CT scans are a great medical advancement and provides a variety of benefits like helping diagnose infections and tumors and guiding doctors to the right area during surgery. However, a new study reveals that the benefits of the scans do not come without risks.?
Previous studies have suggested that the radiation in imaging tests increase the risk of developing cancer, but so far nothing has been clearly defined. A new study, published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal, found that children and adolescents who had at least one CT scan were 24 percent more likely than kids who never had the scans to develop cancer. To put the findings into perspective, researchers explained that in a group of 10,000 young people, they would expect 39 cancers to occur during the next decade.? However, if the 10,000 young people all had one CT scan, researchers believe up to six extra cancers would occur.
Lead author Dr. John D. Matthews, of the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne in Carlton, Australia, looked at Australian Medicare and national cancer records of 10.9 million people between the ages of 0 to 19 years old. ?All participants were born between 1985 and 2005 with total follow-up ending at the end of 2007.
Researchers said that of this group, 680,211 had a CT scan at least one year before a cancer diagnosis and 122,500 had received more than one scan.
Researchers followed participants who had undergone CT scans for an average of 9.5 years and those who never got scanned for just over 17 years.
The study revealed that 3,150 (.004 percent) of kids exposed to CT scans had developed cancer by the end of 2007.? Researchers said that this incidence rate was 24 percent greater in the exposed group after adjusting for age, sex and year of birth.? Researchers found that the risk increased by 16 percent for each additional CT scan.
The cancers in the study included tumors of the brain, digestive organs, soft tissue, female genital, urinary tract and thyroid along with melanoma and blood cancers. Researchers found that brain cancer risks were still significantly higher 15 years after the first CT scan, and the highest risks for brain cancer were seen in children who had their first CT scan before they turned five.
Solid cancer cases other than brain cancer increased over time since the first exposure, and girls were found to have greater increased risk than boys with 23 percent of females developing cancer compared to 14 percent of males.? Researchers found that increased risks for all cancers declined over time, but were still significantly higher than risks of people who had not been exposed to CT scans.
However, researchers said that almost 60 percent of CT scans were of the brain and recognize that in some cases the brain cancer may have led to the scan rather than vice versa.
Researches added that they "cannot assume that all the excess cancers [...] were caused by CT scans" and they "cannot rule out the possibility of some reverse causation, particularly for some cases of brain cancer".
However, they conclude that the "increased incidence of many different types of cancer [...] is mostly due to irradiation". They noted that because cancer excess was still continuing after follow-up, they could not determine the "eventual lifetime risk from CT scans".? They recommend that doctors weight the benefits against the potential risks to justify each CT scan. ?
? 2013 Counsel&Heal All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Source: http://www.counselheal.com/articles/5481/20130522/ct-scans-raise-kids-cancer-risk-24-percent.htm
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Seyfried tells MTV News that she cannot stop laughing while shooting 'A Million Ways to Die in the West.'
By Tami Katzoff
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By Angela Moon
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Wednesday with the S&P 500 posting its biggest decline in three weeks, after minutes from the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting showed some officials were open to tapering large-scale asset purchases as early as at the June meeting.
Trading was volatile - the Dow and the S&P indexes both rose more than 1 percent during the morning, but fell more than 1 percent in the afternoon.
The minutes followed comments from Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the Fed could decide to scale back the pace of bond purchases at one of the "next few meetings" if the economic recovery looked set to maintain forward momentum.
The comments were a blow to a market that had accelerated after Bernanke said the central bank needed to see further signs of traction in the economy before it tapered stimulus.
"This is a very sensitive market and particularly sensitive to any notion that tapering will come too soon," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in New York.
"No one wants to be selling if the data reaches the point when the Fed begins to specifically talk about tapering. The market doesn't wait for the Fed to move. It will move before. That's how it operates."
Krosby also added that Bernanke went off-script and in his effort to be transparent, "he confused the market."
According to the minutes of the April 30-May 1 policy meeting released on Wednesday, "a number" of officials were open to tapering large-scale asset purchases as early as the June meeting, but disagreement continued on what conditions would suffice to begin that move.
One official preferred to begin decreasing purchases immediately and another wanted to add more accommodation immediately, but ultimately most felt it was important simply to be prepared to adjust the pace up or down in response to incoming data.
Investors have increasingly turned their attention to when the Fed's current $85 billion-per-month bond purchase program might end or slow. The stimulus has been a major force behind a rally in U.S. equities that has helped the S&P 500 and Dow industrials gain about 16-17 percent so far this year.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 80.41 points, or 0.52 percent, at 15,307.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 13.81 points, or 0.83 percent, at 1,655.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 38.82 points, or 1.11 percent, at 3,463.30.
The S&P 500 rose as high as 1,687.18 and fell as low as 1,648.86 during Wednesday's trading session while the Dow rose as high as 15,542.40 and fell as low as 15,265.96.
"You have more volatility than you've had for a long time," said Uri Landesman, president, Platinum Partners in New York.
"The technician in me looks at a rocket shot straight up and says you could get a pretty good correction here without that much work. There aren't really solid levels of support on the way down because we broke through all of them so quickly."
All 10 sectors on the S&P 500 closed negative, with energy and utilities leading the decline. The energy sector index <.spny> fell 1.2 percent while the utilities sector <.splrcu> fell 1.6 percent.
After the market close, shares of Hewlett-Packard Co
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Target Corp
Toll Brothers
Volume was roughly 8.34 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, exceeding the year-to-date average daily closing volume of about 6.4 billion.
Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 2,362 to 648, while on the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers 1,870 to 632.
(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/futures-tick-higher-ahead-bernanke-testimony-114035874.html
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembles to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembles to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. confer on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembled to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Far-reaching legislation to grant a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses.
The 13-5 vote cleared the way for an epic showdown on the Senate floor on the measure, which is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities yet also gives the Republican Party a chance to recast itself as more appealing to minorities.
The committee's action sparked rejoicing from immigration activists who crowded into a Senate committee room to witness the proceedings. "Yes, we can!" they shouted as they clapped rhythmically to show their pleasure.
In addition to creating a pathway to citizenship for 11.5 million immigrants, the legislation creates a new program for low-skilled foreign labor and would permit highly skilled workers into the country at far higher levels than is currently the case.
At the same time, it requires the government to take costly new steps to guard against future illegal immigration.
There was suspense to the end of the committee's deliberations, when Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who serves as chairman, sparked a debate over his proposal to give same-sex and heterosexual spouses equal rights under immigration law.
"I don't want to be the senator who asks people to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country," he said, adding he wanted to hear from others on the committee.
In response, he heard a chorus of pleas from the bill's supporters, seconding private appeals from the White House, not to force a vote that they warned would lead to the bill's demise.
"I believe in my heart of hearts that what you're doing is the right and just thing," said one of them, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "But I believe this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill."
In the hours leading to a final vote, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers, a deal that brought Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah over to the ranks of supporters.
Under the compromise, the number of highly skilled workers admitted to the country would rise from 65,000 annually to 110,000, with the possibility of a further rise to 180,000, depending in part on unemployment levels.
Firms where foreign labor accounts for at least 15 percent of the skilled work force would be subjected to tighter conditions than companies less dependent on H-IB visa holders.
The compromise was negotiated by Hatch, whose state is home to a growing high tech industry, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. It is designed to balance the interests of industry, which relies increasingly on skilled foreign labor, and organized labor, which represents American workers.
AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka attacked the deal sharply as "anti-worker," although he also made clear organized labor would continue to support the overall legislation.
Robert Hoffman, senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council, welcomed the deal. "We obviously want to keep moving the bill forward and building support for the legislation, and this agreement allows us to do so," he said.
The issue of same-sex spouses hovered in the background from the start, and as the committee neared the end of its work, officials said Leahy had been informed that both the White House and Senate Democrats hoped he would not risk the destruction of months of painstaking work by putting the issue to a vote.
"There have been 300 amendments. Why shouldn't we have one more?" he told reporters at one point, hours before called the committee into session for a final time to debate the legislation.
A few hours later, Republicans and Democrats both answered his question bluntly.
"This would fracture the coalition. I could not support the bill," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was a member of the bipartisan so-called Gang of Eight that drafted the core elements of the bill.
Republicans and Democrats alike also noted that the Supreme Court may soon issue a ruling that renders the controversy moot.
Despite the concern that bipartisan support for the legislation was fragile, there was no doubting the command over committee proceedings that backers held.
In a final reminder, an attempt by Sen. Ted Cruz., R-Texas, to delete the pathway to citizenship failed on a 13-5 vote.
In defeat, he and others said they, too, wanted to overhaul immigration law, but not the way that drafters of the legislation had done.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recalled that he had voted to give "amnesty" to those in the country illegally in 1986, the last time Congress took a major look at immigration. He said that bill, like the current one, promised to crack down on illegal immigration, but said it had failed to do so.
The centerpiece provision of the legislation allows an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally to obtain "registered provisional immigrant status" six months after enactment if certain conditions are also met.
Applicants must have arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence, must not have a felony conviction of more than two misdemeanors on their record, and pay a $500 fine.
The registered provisional immigrant status lasts six years and is renewable for another $500. After a decade, though, individuals could seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they are up to date on their taxes and pay a $1,000 fine and meet other conditions.
Individuals brought to the country as youths would be able to apply for green cards in five years.
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
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