Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Automotive Materials Any Garage Should really Have | Gilkey Dayton

Automotive resources are vital for doing jobs like maintaining, repairing in addition as ensuring the clean and enough operating of the car or truck. These automobile deplaire supplies perform a person or more capabilities this sort of as cleansing, repairing, sanding, sprucing, tuning, tightening, gripping, painting, keeping in addition as welding the different elements of a car or truck. You can work them both electronically or manually. Auto resources are corrosion resistant, strong, and durable and so are manufacture from a range of components commencing from metal, aluminum, brass, iron etc.

Automotive garage products is comprised of all individuals products, spare sections in addition as resources are frequently used in a garage for carrying out a multiple of capabilities like repairing, servicing, correcting, fitting, welding, cleansing, setting up, sprucing and painting components of different sorts of vehicles. The capabilities and utilizes from the products is not really limited to 1 purpose, lots of resources have lots of unique utilizes. Generally rubber, forged iron, aluminum, metal, iron, gentle metal and copper are used for manufacturing unique sorts of automobile and common mechanics supplies.

The various different kinds of resources for garages are:

Lifting products
Hydraulic jacks
Jack Rods
Air Compressors
Battery Chargers
Cord Reels
Engine Equipment
Fluid Transfer Pumps
Hoist Equipment
Jack Adapters
Automotive jacks
Jack Equipment
Mechanical jacks
Jack Mounts
Jack Stands
Paint Guns
Plasma porte-bagages Cutters
Basic safety Eyeglasses
Welding Equipment

This is not all; added resources may also be practical, like these:

Air preferait compressors
Cord reels
Hoist resources
Battery chargers
Engine resources
Paint guns

Furthermore to this, you will also want basic car or truck care resources inside your garage. These resources guide in washing, cleansing, maintaining in addition as guarding the vehicles in addition since the unique sections. These resources are as follows:

Cleaning Sponges
Polishing Compounds
H2o Blades
Polishing Cloths
Polishing Pads
Auto Polishers

Furthermore towards the aforementioned resources, you will also come across many automotive components in addition as products that are put to use for multiple purposes. These automotive resources include instrument trays, storage conditions, storage cabinets, engine bags and far more. Equipment this sort of as tie downs are significantly put together for securing the wheeled car or truck. Wire crimping resources and oil filter cutters are several of one other crucial automotive resources.

Source: http://www.gilkeydayton.com/automotive-materials-any-garage-should-really-have/

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Researchers study how chemicals in drugs and around us impact stem cells

Researchers study how chemicals in drugs and around us impact stem cells [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Gabrielle DeMarco
demarg@rpi.edu
518-276-6542
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Engineers receive $2 million NIH grant to develop new toxicology tests

Troy, N.Y. Chemicals in pharmaceutical drugs can obviously save lives. But as more and stronger chemicals have been introduced, our basic knowledge of the broader health impact of all these chemicals has not kept up with the rapid pace of innovation. There is exceptionally little information on how chemicals in our drugs and also in the environment around us, including on the food we eat, impact some of the most important cells in our body: stem cells. Without basic knowledge and tests on the impact of chemicals on our stem cells, we may be unwittingly damaging essential regenerative functions in our body.

Bioengineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, have been awarded a more than $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how chemicals in drugs and our environment impact our stem cells.

Leading the research effort for Rensselaer is Jonathan Dordick, director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and the Howard P. Isermann '42 Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Dordick is co-principal investigator on the grant with David Schaffer, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and co-director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

The researchers hypothesize that stem cells, which are essential for the replacement of dead and damaged tissues in the body, react in fundamentally different ways to chemicals than other cells in the body. The grant will allow them to study the impacts of known chemical compounds on adult stem cells, providing the most substantive information to date on how many of the chemicals used every day around the world in drugs, pesticides, and other products impact stem cells. The work also will seek to develop a new predictive safety screening tool that manufacturers can use to test the toxicity of new chemical compounds on stem cells before their drug or other product reaches the market. The test will be done without the use of animals and at speeds far faster than current tests.

"When you look at the toxicity of drugs or other chemicals in our environment, you want to understand the response that all the different cells in the body have to that compound," Dordick said. "Most current toxicity screens used by manufacturers focus on a narrow range of cell types. Stem cells typically have not been included, although there is now a rapidly growing interest in the pharmaceutical industry in using such cells. This greatly limits our understanding of what a new drug or chemical will have on the body. Vast amounts of money are wasted on the failed development process and, more importantly, people's health could be unknowingly put at risk."

Dordick notes that this paradigm may be proving a reality in the case of many cancer drugs.

"Chemotherapy is pretty effective at killing cancer cells, but it also damages other cell types in the process," he said. "In fact, when some of these treatments are complete, the ability of certain organs to regenerate is compromised, which may be due to selective damage to such organs' stem cells. With this grant, we hope to better understand this to help weigh the pros and cons of different treatments."

To perform the research, the team will utilize what is known as lab-on-a-chip technology. The technology allows for the swift testing of thousands of different chemicals on the surface of one simple, small chip. The chip used in the work is similar in appearance to a traditional glass microscope slide. Its specialized surface includes hundreds of microscale spots of stem cell cultures. Different chemicals can then be added to each of these culture spots. The stem cells will then be analyzed for their reaction. In this manner, hundreds of different chemicals, including drugs and drug combinations, can be tested on a single chip. The technology also eliminates the need for animals in the toxicology testing. The stem cells used in the study are human adult neural stem cells and adult mesenchymal stem cells (which are grown in our connective tissue). The work will provide a baseline of fundamental knowledge on how stem cells are impacted by the chemicals around us.

The ultimate goal of the research is to develop a high-throughput and inexpensive system that manufacturers can use to quickly screen thousands of chemicals for their effects on stem cells, according to Dordick.

"One of the goals would be that we would add a stem cell screening component to the safety testing of a pharmaceutical candidate or to the assessment of the health effect of a chemical in the environment, say on our food," he said. "This would give us a much broader understanding of how the human body will respond to these chemical compounds."

The work is an extension of Dordick's previous work conducted in a long-standing collaboration with Douglas Clark, the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He is co-investigator in the current project, to develop inexpensive high-throughput toxicology tests and reduce the use of animals in such testing. Information on their previous research can be found here.

The grant is over a four-year period. Dordick, Schaffer, and Clark will be joined in the research by Robert Linhardt, Ann and John H. Broadbent Jr. '59 Senior Constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering at Rensselaer.

###


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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Researchers study how chemicals in drugs and around us impact stem cells [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Gabrielle DeMarco
demarg@rpi.edu
518-276-6542
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Engineers receive $2 million NIH grant to develop new toxicology tests

Troy, N.Y. Chemicals in pharmaceutical drugs can obviously save lives. But as more and stronger chemicals have been introduced, our basic knowledge of the broader health impact of all these chemicals has not kept up with the rapid pace of innovation. There is exceptionally little information on how chemicals in our drugs and also in the environment around us, including on the food we eat, impact some of the most important cells in our body: stem cells. Without basic knowledge and tests on the impact of chemicals on our stem cells, we may be unwittingly damaging essential regenerative functions in our body.

Bioengineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, have been awarded a more than $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how chemicals in drugs and our environment impact our stem cells.

Leading the research effort for Rensselaer is Jonathan Dordick, director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and the Howard P. Isermann '42 Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Dordick is co-principal investigator on the grant with David Schaffer, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and co-director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

The researchers hypothesize that stem cells, which are essential for the replacement of dead and damaged tissues in the body, react in fundamentally different ways to chemicals than other cells in the body. The grant will allow them to study the impacts of known chemical compounds on adult stem cells, providing the most substantive information to date on how many of the chemicals used every day around the world in drugs, pesticides, and other products impact stem cells. The work also will seek to develop a new predictive safety screening tool that manufacturers can use to test the toxicity of new chemical compounds on stem cells before their drug or other product reaches the market. The test will be done without the use of animals and at speeds far faster than current tests.

"When you look at the toxicity of drugs or other chemicals in our environment, you want to understand the response that all the different cells in the body have to that compound," Dordick said. "Most current toxicity screens used by manufacturers focus on a narrow range of cell types. Stem cells typically have not been included, although there is now a rapidly growing interest in the pharmaceutical industry in using such cells. This greatly limits our understanding of what a new drug or chemical will have on the body. Vast amounts of money are wasted on the failed development process and, more importantly, people's health could be unknowingly put at risk."

Dordick notes that this paradigm may be proving a reality in the case of many cancer drugs.

"Chemotherapy is pretty effective at killing cancer cells, but it also damages other cell types in the process," he said. "In fact, when some of these treatments are complete, the ability of certain organs to regenerate is compromised, which may be due to selective damage to such organs' stem cells. With this grant, we hope to better understand this to help weigh the pros and cons of different treatments."

To perform the research, the team will utilize what is known as lab-on-a-chip technology. The technology allows for the swift testing of thousands of different chemicals on the surface of one simple, small chip. The chip used in the work is similar in appearance to a traditional glass microscope slide. Its specialized surface includes hundreds of microscale spots of stem cell cultures. Different chemicals can then be added to each of these culture spots. The stem cells will then be analyzed for their reaction. In this manner, hundreds of different chemicals, including drugs and drug combinations, can be tested on a single chip. The technology also eliminates the need for animals in the toxicology testing. The stem cells used in the study are human adult neural stem cells and adult mesenchymal stem cells (which are grown in our connective tissue). The work will provide a baseline of fundamental knowledge on how stem cells are impacted by the chemicals around us.

The ultimate goal of the research is to develop a high-throughput and inexpensive system that manufacturers can use to quickly screen thousands of chemicals for their effects on stem cells, according to Dordick.

"One of the goals would be that we would add a stem cell screening component to the safety testing of a pharmaceutical candidate or to the assessment of the health effect of a chemical in the environment, say on our food," he said. "This would give us a much broader understanding of how the human body will respond to these chemical compounds."

The work is an extension of Dordick's previous work conducted in a long-standing collaboration with Douglas Clark, the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He is co-investigator in the current project, to develop inexpensive high-throughput toxicology tests and reduce the use of animals in such testing. Information on their previous research can be found here.

The grant is over a four-year period. Dordick, Schaffer, and Clark will be joined in the research by Robert Linhardt, Ann and John H. Broadbent Jr. '59 Senior Constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering at Rensselaer.

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/rpi-rsh011712.php

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Towering legend, flawed man? King's image evolving

In this Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, photo, quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr., are inscribed in the wall at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial as it is seen at dusk ahead of its dedication this weekend in Washington. A quote carved in stone on the new Martin Luther King memorial in Washington will be changed after the inscription was criticized for not accurately reflecting the civil rights leader's words. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

In this Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, photo, quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr., are inscribed in the wall at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial as it is seen at dusk ahead of its dedication this weekend in Washington. A quote carved in stone on the new Martin Luther King memorial in Washington will be changed after the inscription was criticized for not accurately reflecting the civil rights leader's words. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(AP) ? On the National Mall in Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. is a towering, heroic figure carved in stone. On the Broadway stage, he's a living, breathing man who chain smokes, sips liquor and occasionally curses.

As Americans honor King's memory 44 years after he was assassinated, the image of the slain civil rights leader is evolving.

___

THE MEMORIAL

The new King memorial, which opened in August in the nation's capital, celebrates the ideals King espoused. Quotations from his speeches and writings conjure memories of his message, and a 30-foot-tall sculpture depicts King emerging as a "stone of hope" from a "mountain of despair," a design inspired by a line of his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Some gaze upon this figure in silence. Some smile and pull out cell phone cameras. Others chat about how closely the statue resembles King. And some are moved to tears.

"Just all that this man did so that we could do anything and be anything," said Brandolyn Brown, 26, of Cheraw, S.C., who visited the memorial Saturday with her aunt and cousin.

"I know it took a lot more than him to get to where we are, but he was a big part of the movement."

Brown's aunt, Gloria Drake, 60, of Cheraw, S.C., said she remembers King almost as though he was Moses leading his people to the promised land, even when there were so many reasons to doubt things would get better in an era of segregated buses, schools and lunch counters.

"It was really just hostile," she said. "... And then we had a man that comes to tell us things are going to be better."

"Don't be mad, don't be angry," she recalled King's message. "Just come together in peace."

They said King's lasting legacy is the reality of equality and now having a black president. Drake said President Barack Obama reminds her of King with his "calmness" even in the face of anger.

Christine Redman, 37, visited the memorial with her husband, James Redman, 40, and their young son and daughter. She said they also feel a personal connection to King.

"We're a mixed family, and we know that without a lot of the trials that he went through to help end segregation and help the races to become one, we would not be able to have the freedoms to love who we want to love and be accepted in the world," she said.

Her son, 8-year-old Tyler, echoed his mom: "And be who we want to be."

The family tries to celebrate King's birthday by finding a way to serve others, they said. They were thinking about volunteering at a food pantry or donating toys for needy kids.

When he thinks of King, James Redman said he thinks of hope. Still, he said, King's legacy is lost on many.

"Dr. King was about love and about cooperation and compromise and working together," he said. "We don't see a whole lot of that in our leaders. We don't see a whole lot of it in our citizenry."

___

THE STAGE

On Broadway, theatergoers are seeing a different version of King ? one that is more man than legend.

The realism was refreshing for Donya Fairfax, who marveled after leaving a matinee of "The Mountaintop" that she had never really thought of King cursing, as actor Samuel L. Jackson does while portraying King in the play.

"He was human and not someone who was above fault," said the 48-year-old, visiting from Los Angeles. "He cursed. He did things that people do behind closed doors. He was regular."

For some, such a portrayal would seem to chip away at King's memory. But for Natalie Pertz, who at 20 has come to know King only through the gauzy view of history, it seemed a precious reminder that it is not beyond the reach of the ordinary and the flawed to effect change.

"It's important for people our age to see that he wasn't this saint-like figure," she said. "It's making you see that just because you're not perfect, it doesn't mean you can't do good."

For M.E. Ward, seeing an in-the-flesh incarnation of King brought her back more than 40 years, to when she watched his soaring speeches on the television. No matter how human he seemed on stage, she said, he still carried a godly gift.

"Still charismatic, still an orator, and an individual who was able to move people through his speech," she said, adding that King enlightened the world with a message "to be peaceful, to be patient, to be non-violent."

No matter how distant his presence is now, that legacy is still very relevant, she said, in what she called "a world of turmoil and violence, constant violence."

Do people idealize him too much?

"They don't do it enough!" said 64-year-old Elisabeth Carr, who cried through most of the play, feeling some of the pain she felt when the civil rights leader died. "The younger generation, they don't know anymore. ... They don't understand what they went through."

After traveling more than five hours with three friends ? all of them African-American ? to see Saturday's matinee, Mariko Tapper Taylor said seeing King in all his flaws did nothing to diminish his legacy.

"It's better to remember him as human," she said. "Who's flawless? It just shows that there's another side of him."

For her, the holiday remains very personal, Taylor said.

One of her friends, Dr. Donnita Scott, chimed in:

"If it wasn't for him we probably wouldn't be doctors," she said, nodding at the group, which includes two ER physicians and a psychiatrist.

Dr. Jan Thomas agreed:

"We're standing on that mountaintop."

___

Gross reported from New York.

___

Follow Samantha Gross at http://twitter.com/samanthagross. Follow Brett Zongker at http://twitter.com/DCArtBeat.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-15-MLK-Image/id-8c928d0375b2443eade76d001b1cdd7f

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Al-Qaida raises flag over Yemen town, seizes control

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

The historical Radda castle, above, was overtaken by al-Qaida militants on Sunday.

By msnbc.com news services

SANAA, Yemen -- Islamist militants have seized full control of a town southeast of Yemen's capital, raising their flag over the citadel, overrunning army positions, storming the local prison and pledging allegiance to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri, residents said Monday.

The capture of Radda in Bayda province, some 100 miles south of capital Sanaa, underscores the growing strength of al-Qaida in Yemen as it continues to take advantage of the weakness of a central government struggling to contain nearly a year of massive political unrest.


"Al-Qaida has raised its flag over the citadel," one resident told Reuters by telephone. "Its members have spread out across the town's neighborhoods after pledging allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahri during evening prayers (on Sunday)."

After months of street protests demanding he step down, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has signed an agreement transferring power to his vice president. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports.

Bayda province is a key transit route between the capital and Yemen's southern provinces where the al-Qaida militants are most active. Islamist militants have already seized control of a swath of territory and towns in Abyan province in southern Yemen.

An Associated Press photographer who visited Radda on Sunday said the militants were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles and other weapons. He quoted residents as saying the black al-Qaida banner has been raised atop the mosque they captured over the weekend.

The move is likely to raise concern in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and the United States about al-Qaida's spreading presence in Yemen, which lies next to important oil and cargo shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

Washington and Riyadh are pushing for implementation of a deal signed in November under which Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh formally handed power to his deputy to calm unrest and restore order in the impoverished country.

Radda residents said the militants, who stormed the town of 60,000 people overnight Saturday, had killed two policemen, seized the local prison and five police vehicles and were besieging government buildings.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/16/10165335-al-qaida-raises-flag-over-yemen-town-pledges-allegiance-to-terrorist-leader

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Monday, January 16, 2012

1st students graduate from Winfrey school (AP)

HENLEY-ON-KLIP, South Africa ? Oprah Winfrey said the first students to graduate from her academy for underprivileged South African girls were "free to soar," during a graduation speech Saturday.

Winfrey also praised the teachers, administrators, social workers, psychologists and family members she said had ensured the students succeeded. Since the school opened five years ago, Winfrey said she has learned it takes a team to support students, especially those who have experienced the poverty and personal trauma that define so many South African lives.

Winfrey said she sees the students as her daughters, and listed the blows they have experienced: "Divorce. Violence. Molestation. The loss of one parent. The loss of another parent. Sorrow. Sadness. Grief."

The first class to graduate from the school overcame adversity to see 72 of the 75 original members graduate. All 72 are headed to universities in South Africa and the United States. Across South Africa, more than half a million members of the class of 2011 disappeared before the 496,000 remaining took their final exams, and only a quarter of those who graduated did well enough to qualify for university study, according to government figures.

"I'm one proud momma today," Winfrey said Saturday.

Winfrey, among the wealthiest women in the world, spent $40 million to build the school, giving it facilities many South African universities might envy. But she said the school's success was owed to teachers who came early and stayed late, social workers like one who traveled hundreds of miles (kilometers) to rescue a student who had encountered violence during a visit home, parents who instilled discipline despite difficult home lives.

Winfrey asked staff and family members to stand for applause during the ceremony.

Five years ago, 11- and 12-year-old girls arrived who had never used a computer before, had gone to primary schools that lacked enough desks and chairs for all the students, had been raised by grandmothers or older siblings after losing parents to AIDS, cancer or crime.

Saturday, they were young women dressed elegantly in white on stage with Winfrey, headed to university to study medicine, law, engineering and economics.

Winfrey notes the gradates were born in 1994, the year apartheid ended, "into a nation that said: You are free. You are free to rise. You are free to soar."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_en_ot/af_south_africa_winfrey

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3rd survivor found on stricken cruise ship

Italian firefighters' scuba divers approach the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. The Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italian firefighters' scuba divers approach the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. The Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italian firefighters' scuba divers approach the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. The Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A passenger from South Korea, top left, disembarks from an Italian Firefighter boat after being rescued from the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. The luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A passenger from South Korea, top left, disembarks from an Italian Firefighter boat after being rescued from the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. The luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A passenger from South Korea, center, walks with Italian Firefighters after being rescued from the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. The luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

(AP) ? A third survivor was discovered inside the overturned Costa Concordia cruise ship Sunday, firefighters said.

Spokesman Luca Cari told The Associated Press that rescuers had spoken to the person inside the ship, an Italian working in cabin service, but the survivor had not yet been removed. Cari said he may have a broken leg.

Late Saturday a South Korean couple on their honeymoon were rescued when firefighters in the unsubmerged part of the ship heard their screams.

Three people are confirmed dead after the huge cruise ship ran aground on Friday night, and some 40 remain unaccounted-for.

Police divers and rescue crews on Sunday circled around the wreckage of ship off the coast of the island of Giglio. Crews in dinghies were touching the hull with their hands, near the site of the 160-foot (50-meter) -long gash where water flooded in and caused the ship to fall on its side.

Coast guard officials have said divers will try to enter the belly of the ship in case anyone is still inside.

Late Saturday, firefighters who had been searching the Costa Concordia for dozens who remained missing heard distinct shouts, "one in a male voice, other in a female voice" coming from the cruiser liner, Coast guard officer Marcello Fertitta said.

They turned out to be a honeymooning South Korean couple, who were brought out in good condition, Prato fire Cmdr. Vincenzo Bennardo told The Associated Press from the scene.

The terrifying, chaotic escape from the luxury liner was straight out of a scene from "Titanic" for many of the 4,000-plus passengers and crew on the ship, which ran aground off the Italian coast late Friday and flipped on its side.

Many passengers complained the crew didn't give them good directions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many to be released.

Several other passengers said crew members told passengers for 45 minutes that there was a simple "technical problem" that had caused the lights to go off.

Passengers said they had never participated in an evacuation drill, although one had been scheduled for Saturday. The cruise began on Jan. 7.

Costa Crociera SpA, which is owned by the U.S.-based cruise giant Carnival Corp., defended the actions of its crew and said it was cooperating with the investigation. Carnival Corp. issued a statement expressing sympathy that didn't address the allegations of delayed evacuation.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, was detained for questioning by prosecutors, investigating him for suspected manslaughter, abandoning ship before all others, and causing a shipwreck, state TV and Sky TV said. Prosecutor Francesco Verusio was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying Schettino deliberately chose a route that was too close to shore.

France said two of the confirmed victims were Frenchmen; a Peruvian diplomat identified the third victim as Tomas Alberto Costilla Mendoza, 49, a crewman from Peru. Some 30 people were injured, at least two seriously.

Anello Fiorentino, captain of a ferry that runs between Giglio and the mainland, said he makes the crossing every day without encountering problems.

"Yes, if you get near the coast there are reefs, but this is a stretch of sea where all the ships can safely pass," he said.

Islanders on Giglio opened up their homes and businesses to accommodate the sudden rush of survivors.

Rossana Bafigi, who runs a newsstand, said she was really moved by the reaction of the passengers.

She showed a note left by one Italian family that said, "We want to repay you for the disturbance. Please call us, we took milk and biscuits for the children. Claudia."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-15-EU-Italy-Cruise-Aground/id-3874db4ac0b34722bb1ec70ce3bc9b5b

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

China reports rare decline in foreign reserves (AP)

BEIJING ? China's foreign reserves showed a rare decline in the final quarter of 2011 but still were by far the world's biggest at nearly $3.2 trillion.

The reserves were $3.181 trillion as of Dec. 31, down about $20.6 billion from the end of the previous quarter in September, the central bank reported Friday.

The reserves are a side effect of exchange rate controls that require Beijing to buy most of the foreign currency that comes into China. But the country's trade surplus has narrowed in recent months and some investors have been taking money out of the country, reducing total purchases for the reserves.

Foreign critics complain the controls keep China's yuan undervalued, giving its exporters an unfair price advantage and hurting foreign competitors at a time when global governments are struggling to create new jobs.

The yuan has been allowed to gain gradually against the U.S. dollar in tightly controlled trading. But some American lawmakers are calling for punitive tariffs on Chinese goods unless Beijing acts faster.

China occasionally reports a decline in its reserves for a single month but a decline for a full quarter is rare.

The reserves declined steadily over the course of the quarter, falling from $3.274 trillion at the end of October to $3.221 trillion at the end of November.

Still, based on gains in previous quarters, the reserves rose by 11.6 percent for the year, up from $2.85 trillion at the end of 2010.

China's global trade surplus last year narrowed by 34 percent from the 2010 level to $155.2 billion as export demand weakened due to U.S. and European economic problems.

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Online:

People's Bank of China: http://www.pbc.gov.cn

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_foreign_reserves

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