European shares rebound, face technical resistance

* FTSEurofirst 300 rises 0.9 percent

* Investors react to late bounce on Wall Street

* Shares face strong resistance in near term

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - European shares rebounded on Monday, with a late recovery on Wall Street on Friday on expectations the economy could withstand a cut in U.S. monetary stimulus prompting investors to return to the market.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was 1.0 percent higher at 1,174.15 points at 0830 GMT. It closed 1.3 percent lower on Friday after U.S. jobs data came in much stronger than expected, boosting chances of the Federal Reserve soon scaling back its bond buying operations.

"European investors overreacted on Friday as the current environment is not as bad as the market showed. U.S. jobs data was good and painted a positive picture for the economy, outpacing stimulus tapering concerns," Christian Stocker, equity strategist at UniCredit (Milan: UCG.MI - news) in Munich, said.

"However, the pressure on stocks will persist in the medium term as the reporting season might disappoint. Especially the automobile and the machinery sector might see a marginal decline in earnings. We are 'underweight' both the sectors."

U.S. aluminium major Alcoa (NYSE: AA - news) starts the U.S. earnings season after the market close on Monday. Europe's reporting season kicks off later and will peak in the third week of July.

European investors also reacted positively to news that Portugal's Prime Minister reached a deal with his junior coalition partner to end a rift that had threatened the country's bailout programme, while Greece looked close to securing its next tranche of aid.

Analysts said they did not expect negative news from a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday. Greece hopes to get the go-ahead for the release of 8.1 billion euros ($10.5 billion) as part of its 240-billion-euro rescue package.

"It would be good to see some positive developments related to Greece. And if the political situation in Portugal is also getting resolved, then more uncertainties are disappearing, which are good for the market," Koen De Leus, senior economist at KBC in Brussels, said.

Charts showed that European equities needed to clear some hurdles in the near term to retain the uptrend.

The euro zone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 (Zurich: ^STOXX50E - news) index rose 1.3 percent to 2,628.91 points, but might struggle to move beyond its 200-day moving average at 2,635.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/european-shares-rebound-face-technical-084945127.html

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Doubts Linger Over U.N. Troops? Preparedness to Enter Mali

United Nations ? As the new 12,600-strong United Nations peacekeeping forces don their blue helmets and prepare to take over from African-led forces in Mali, a nation consumed by corruption and extremism, concerns remain whether U.N. troops will successfully execute this transfer of authority.

The African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) contributed its 6,237 troops to the U.N. peacekeepers under the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilised Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on Monday.

?Mali has experienced what can only be described as a phenomenal collapse in the last 18 months,? Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher with?Human Rights Watch, told IPS.

After being identified as a relative success story among developing nations, with a few largely democratic elections under its belt, in early 2012 Mali was confronted by a Tuareg movement, along with Islamic armed groups, that led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

?The current situation in Mali is a result of many human rights violations, so there are certainly concerns that the U.N. troops deployed are setting the right example and that they are beyond any reproach themselves,? Philippe Bolopion, United Nations director of Human Rights Watch, told IPS.

Several human rights organisations have spoken out against the inclusion of Chad, a country censured for its persistent use of child soldiers, among MINUSMA?s troop-contributing nations. Chad was placed on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon?s?list of shamefor countries that recruit children in armed groups.

Chad?s participation in the U.N. peacekeeping mission could be seen as a potential credibility issue, Watchlist Research and Reports officer Layal Sarrouh told IPS.

?We (Watchlist) think from a global standpoint that listed parties who are on the secretary-general?s annexes for committing grave violations against children, should not be included in peacekeeping missions,? Sarrouh said.

Watchlist?monitors and reports on the situation of children affected by armed conflicts in specific countries around the world.

Bolopion told IPS that Chad must deliver on its promise to take all necessary steps to end child recruitment. Otherwise, the country should be expelled from the U.N. mission, he said.

Currently, the U.N. does not have a policy to stop Chad from joining MINUSMA, but it does have a screening policy to check for child soldiers before deploying peacekeeping troops.

?We can only hope that the U.N. will deploy every effort to screen its own troops,? Bolopion said.

Other concerns remain that are unique to MINUSMA. Unlike other missions, which typically carry out pre-deployment training for troops in their respective countries before collectively entering the country in conflict, MINUSMA is a consolidation of troops old and new to Mali.

Some peacekeepers are setting foot in Mali for the first time, while others have been active for half a year under AFISMA, with varying levels of training under their belts.

U.N.?Security Council Resolution 2085, which authorised AFISMA in December 2012, had strong human rights safeguards and good language on pre-deployment training, according to Sarrouh. However, many of those safeguards were not in place when AFISMA was deployed to combat insurgents only a month after the Security Council?s approval.

?They (AFISMA) were deployed much more quickly than was expected and in such a rapid and unexpected way that certain steps that were to be followed got skipped over,? Sarrouh told IPS. ?Now, (MINUSMA) is trying to figure out how to catch up, essentially.?

Watchlist?s new?report?detailing violations against children by armed groups in Mali points out that over the past year, AFISMA had no standard operating protocols in place for the transfer of child soldiers to Malian authorities.

?The troops have a very large role to play in child protection, and they require training to understand how they should approach that role,? Sarrouh said.

Sarrouh also stated that there have been increased reports of prostitution and sexual exploitation in Mali by AFISMA troops over the past year.

?That?s not unusual, unfortunately, in conflict, and it is very problematic as (AFISMA) troops become peacekeepers,? Sarrouh said. ?Under a U.N. peacekeeping mission, there is a higher standard set and more strict guidelines and protocols to be followed, including ones on sexual exploitation and abuse.?

These gaps in training and human rights protocols that were identified with AFISMA will be carried over by MINUSMA unless the new peacekeepers receive sufficient training to uphold standards appropriate to the U.N. mission.

Bolopion said that ?Despite the pressure to quickly deploy, we hope the U.N. will take these obligations very seriously.?

By ?Lydia Lim - Ips Africa

Source: http://www.afronline.org/?p=29760&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=doubts-linger-over-u-n-troops-preparedness-to-enter-mali

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South Africa: Mandela nears a month in hospital

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has been in a hospital for nearly a month.

There was no official update Saturday morning on the condition of the 94-year-old former president, who is in critical but stable condition after being diagnosed with a recurring lung infection. He was taken to a hospital in Pretoria, the capital, on June 8.

The government has said Mandela is not in a vegetative state, contrary to recent court documents. A close friend told Sky News that the anti-apartheid leader was conscious and responsive earlier this week.

There has been an outpouring of concern in South Africa and around the world for Mandela, a transformative figure who led the tense shift from white rule to democracy two decades ago in a spirit of reconciliation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-mandela-nears-month-hospital-081109994.html

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From termite mounds to the shape of a tornado, designers are turning to Mother N...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/natgeo/posts/10151520692403951

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Texas students struggle with STAAR again and again

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Standardized test results show Texas high school students are struggling to pass, and those who fail don't fare much better when they're retested.

Thousands of students starting Monday will retake the five State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness exams they must pass to graduate: Algebra I, biology, English I and II and U.S. history. Those who haven't passed can retake the tests as many times as needed.

More than 152,000 students recently failed the English I writing test. Data from the last round of retakes show less than 14 percent of those students passed ? and some of those students were taking it for the fourth time.

By comparison, more than 40 percent of the retesting students passed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, STAAR's predecessor, said Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe.

"Students are not having that much luck," Ratcliffe told the Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/18Dw96D). "That's why they ought to take any chance they can. Don't sit out the summer test, that only hurts themselves."

This year, about 10,000 Central Texas high school students are eligible for retakes ? a number likely to grow over the next few years as juniors and seniors begin to take the STAAR end-of-course exams that will eventually be administered to all high school students. Those entering their sophomore year will be the first to take all five required tests.

When students fail, school districts must offer them some remedial help. However, the amount of remediation available to students varies district to district, with some offering simple test preparation classes that can be completed in a day and others offering several weeks of summer courses.

"The stakes are higher when the students know they didn't pass it the first time," said Tim Savoy, spokesman for the Hays district, which is spending $105,575 for a full-day summer school program for STAAR retesters, rather than shorter tutoring sessions. In addition, the district estimates it's spending $12,300 to administer the exams and pay proctors.

Gov. Rick Perry recently signed House Bill 5 into law, which reduced the number of STAAR end-of-course exams from 15 to five. Parents across the state had pushed back against the number of tests needed to graduate.

While districts welcome the changes, administrators said the high rate of failure for the writing exams that are components of the English tests means nearly half of high school students in the state will need to retake them. Statewide, 54 percent of students passed Writing I and 53 percent passed Writing II.

"In the long run, there will be a small amount of savings" realized by cutting the number of tests from 15 to five, said Bill Caritj, chief performance officer for the Austin school district. "However, statewide, the biggest challenge seems to be in writing, and English I and English II are still graduation requirements."

___

Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com

Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/texas/article/Texas-students-struggle-with-STAAR-again-and-again-4650280.php

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Crozet Independence Day Parade ? 2013

by Jim Duncan on July 6, 2013

A few photos from today?s Independence Day Parade in Crozet. This parade is one of the things that makes Crozet a truly special place to live.

Photos taken from the judges? table.

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And ? Shriners.

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Tagged as: 22932, Crozet

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cvilleblogs/~3/HmwOO3TjijA/

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New Genetic Insights Show How Tuberculosis May Be Evolving to Become More Dangerous (preview)

See Inside

Tuberculosis seems to be evolving in unexpected ways that outsmart humans

By Sally Lehrman

Image: Daniel Chang

In Brief

• More than one million men, women and children around the globe die of tuberculosis every year, and about a third of the world's population harbors a latent infection.
• A growing number of studies suggest that TB may be evolving into a new bug that is far more deadly, spreads more quickly and is more likely to become resistant to treatment with antibiotics.
• Designers of new treatments should take these latest findings into account if they do not want to make matters worse. Changing the host environment with improved housing, for example, may also prove key.

Today most people in the richer parts of the world think of tuberculosis, if they think of it at all, as a ghost of history. Throughout ancient times the tenacious bacterial infection consumed the bodies of untold millions, rich and poor, filling their lungs with bloody sputum. As TB spread in the centuries that followed, it continued to attack across economic and class lines, affecting both the famous and the obscure. Among its better-known victims: poet Manuel Bandeira, writers Emily and Anne Bront?, and sculptor Fr?d?ric-Auguste Bartholdi, who designed the Statue of Liberty. By the early 20th century humanity had begun fighting back with public health campaigns, improved living standards, and eventually antibiotics and a modestly effective vaccine. Although in 2011 TB sickened nearly nine million people, killing 1.4 million of them, mostly in the poorer regions of the globe, the mortality rate has nonetheless fallen by more than a third since 1990. Things are looking up?or so it may seem.

New genetic research, however, suggests that the bacterium responsible for TB could be poised to emerge stronger and more deadly than ever before?and not just because some strains have become resistant to treatment with the standard set of antibiotics. A small but increasingly influential group of investigators believes that the microbe, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, may have evolved along an unexpected and particularly dangerous path. The scientists have discovered that TB can be divided into seven families of genetically related strains, at least one of which is surprisingly virulent, prone to drug resistance and especially well suited to spreading disease in our increasingly interconnected, densely populated world.

This article was originally published with the title The Diabolical Genius of an Ancient Scourge.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/basic-science/~3/NWdAXdPsys4/article.cfm

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