Killer Kitties Wreak Critter Havoc

Cats kill some up to 3.7 billion birds and 20.7 billion small mammals in the U.S. each year. Sophie Bushwick reports.

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Beneath its adorable exterior, is your cat hiding the heart of a killer? Researchers now estimate that each year, domestic cats kill billions of birds and mammals in the United States alone. The report is in Nature Communications. [Scott R. Loss, Tom Will and Peter P. Marra, The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States]

We already knew that domestic cats can wreak havoc on islands, causing 14 percent of species extinctions and ranking as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species. But now, scientists have reviewed previous studies to find just how much damage cats do on the mainland.

Cats kill some 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.9 to 20.7 billion small mammals in the U.S. each year. These numbers mean that felines may be the biggest human-related cause of death for American birds and mammals. And cats tend to prey on native species, which can cause major ecosystem damage.

The worst feline killers are those without owners, and reducing feral cat populations is an ongoing problem. But you can still reduce the impact of domestic cats by keeping your pet indoors, thus leaving the neighborhood a little less red in tooth and claw.

?Sophie Bushwick

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]

Also see: Hannah Waters, Cat Are Ruthless Killers. Should They Be Killed?
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Emotional Freedom Techniques shows promise in ameliorating ...

Product Information

PMID:?

Explore (NY). 2011 May-Jun;7(3):155-61. PMID: 21571234

Abstract Title:?

The immediate effect of a brief energy psychology intervention (Emotional Freedom Techniques) on specific phobias: a pilot study.

Abstract:?

BACKGROUND: Specific phobia is one of the most prevalent anxiety disorders. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) has been shown to improve anxiety symptoms; however, their application to specific phobias has received limited attention.OBJECTIVE: This pilot study examined whether EFT, a brief exposure therapy that combines cognitive and somatic elements, had an immediate effect on the reduction of anxiety and behavior associated with specific phobias.DESIGN: The study utilized a crossover design with participants randomly assigned to either diaphragmatic breathing or EFT as the first treatment.SETTING: The study was conducted at a regional university in the Southwestern United States.PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-two students meeting criteria for a phobic response to a specific stimulus (?8 on an 11-point subjective units of distress scale).INTERVENTION: Participants completed a total of five two-minute rounds in each treatment intervention.OUTCOME MEASURES: Study measures included a behavioral approach test (BAT), Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).RESULTS: Emotional Freedom Techniques significantly reduced phobia-related anxiety (BAI P = .042; SUDS P = .002) and ability to approach the feared stimulus (BAT P = .046) whether presented as an initial treatment or following diaphragmatic breathing. When presented as the initial treatment, the effects of EFT remained through the presentation of the comparison intervention.CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of EFT in treating specific phobias demonstrated in several earlier studies is corroborated by the current investigation. Comparison studies between EFT and the most effective established therapies for treating specific phobias are recommended.

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Source: http://bodychargenutrition.com/2013/01/31/emotional-freedom-techniques-shows-promise-in-ameliorating-specific-phobias/

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25 die in Mexico oil company office building blast

An emergency responder carries a piece of concrete as emergency workers and firefighter dig for survivor at the site on an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. The explosion killed more than 10 people and injured some 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

An emergency responder carries a piece of concrete as emergency workers and firefighter dig for survivor at the site on an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. The explosion killed more than 10 people and injured some 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

An injured person is carried into an ambulance after an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. An explosion at the main headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil company in the capital killed more than 10 people and injured some 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Rescue workers, firefighters and military search for survivors at the site of an explosion in a building at Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX complex, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. The explosion killed more than 10 people and injured some 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building. According to civil protection and local media some people remained trapped in the debris from the explosion, which occurred in the basement of an administrative building next to the iconic, 52-story tower of Petroleos Mexicanos, or PEMEX. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Rescue workers, firefighters and military search for survivors at the site of an explosion in a building at Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX complex, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. The explosion killed more than 10 people and injured some 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building. According to civil protection and local media some people remained trapped in the debris from the explosion, which occurred in the basement of an administrative building next to the iconic, 52-story tower of Petroleos Mexicanos, or PEMEX. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

An emergency responder carries a piece of concrete as emergency workers and firefighter dig for survivor at the site on an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. The explosion killed more than 10 people and injured some 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

MEXICO CITY (AP) ? Rescuers searched for survivors and authorities promised a thorough investigation after an office building blast killed 25 people and injured 101 at the headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos.

The cause of the basement explosion in an administrative building next to the iconic, 51-story Pemex tower in Mexico City remained a mystery early Friday, with President Enrique Pena Nieto urging people not to speculate. Theories ranged from an electrical fire to an air conditioning problem to a possible attack.

"We have no conclusive report on the reason," Pena Nieto told reporters. "We will work to get to the bottom of the investigation to find out, first, what happened ... and if there are people responsible in this case, that we apply the full weight of the law against them."

Some 46 people remained hospitalized after the Thursday afternoon blast, some gravely injured and others with cuts, fractures and burns. Authorities said the dead were 17 women and eight men.

More than 500 firefighters, soldiers and rescue workers dug through chunks of concrete with dogs, trucks and a Pemex crane.

Interior Minister Miguel Osorio Chong said it was uncertain if any of the roughly 10,000 people who work in the five-building headquarters were still trapped, but that the search would continue. The explosion occurred at about 3:45 p.m., just as the administrative shift was about to end. It hit the basement and first two floors, which rescuers said all collapsed onto each other.

"There is a lot of risk," rescuer German Vazquez Garcia said of working on the site.

Pemex first said it had evacuated the tower and 14-story administrative building because of a problem with the electrical system. The company later tweeted that the Attorney General's Office was investigating the explosion.

Ana Vargas Palacio was distraught as she searched for her missing husband, Daniel Garcia Garcia, 36, who works in the building where the explosion occurred. She said she last talked to him a couple hours earlier.

"I called his phone many times, but a young man answered and told me he found the phone in the debris," Vargas said. The two have an 11-year-old daughter. His mother, Gloria Garcia Castaneda, collapsed on a friend's arm, crying "My son. My son."

Gabriela Espinoza, 50, a Pemex secretary for 29 years, was on the second floor of the tower when she said she heard two loud explosions and a third smaller one.

"There was a very loud roar. It was very ugly," she said.

Espinoza's co-worker, Tomas Rivera, 32, worked on the ground floor where the explosion occurred and said the force knocked him to the basement, fracturing his wrist and jaw. The injured were taken to two Pemex hospitals and other facilities, including the Red Cross hospital in the Polanco neighborhood near the oil company's office headquarters, where relatives huddled in the waiting room for news of their loved ones. Some walked out of meetings with the hospital social worker joyous, while others came out crying.

"We were talking and all of sudden we heard an explosion with white smoke and glass falling from the windows," said Maria Concepcion Andrade, 42, who lives on the same block as the Pemex building. "People started running from the building covered in dust. A lot of pieces were flying."

Streets surrounding the building were closed as evacuees wandered around, and rescue crews loaded the injured into ambulances.

Pemex, created as a state-owned company in 1938, has nearly 150,000 employees and in 2011 produced about 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day, according to its website, with $111 billion in sales. Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has made Pemex reform the center of his platform, with a plan to pump new investment into a company whose profits feed much of Mexico's federal budget, but which has fallen behind other oil companies in production, technology and exploration.

Shortly before the explosion, Operations Director Carlos Murrieta reported via Twitter that the company had reduced its accident rate in recent years. Most Pemex accidents have occurred at pipeline and refinery installations.

A fire at a pipeline metering center in northeast Mexico near the Texas border killed 30 workers in September, the largest-single toll in at least a decade for the company.

______

Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon and Katherine Corcoran contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-01-Mexico-Pemex-Explosion/id-11565de0e9a44d0fa9df8566db60a483

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How To Avoid Getting Hacked While Traveling

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Some tips to help business travelers protect their laptops and mobile devices from spying ? or at least limit the damage of hacking ? while in China or other nations that may want to steal company information:

?Don't take your work or personal laptop. That's the best advice and a precaution used by major companies and agencies of the federal government, said Anup Ghosh, chief financial officer of Invincea, a software security company in Fairfax, Va. Instead, some employers issue traveling laptops that are clean of proprietary corporate or government information and are scrubbed clean after the employee returns from the trip.

?Don't think you can just keep your eye on your equipment. Data can be captured while the laptop is in customs or if you step away from your hotel room briefly. "It takes five minutes or less to capture information from the laptop," Ghosh said. Lock it in a hotel safe. Use an encrypted drive.

?Get a traveling phone as well, such as a pay-per-use phone. If you take your phone, it should be reimaged on return. Use your screen password on your mobile device so if you lose it, no one can pick it up and read your email or other data.

?Be aware of the risk, once in-country, of connecting to public networks. Wireless networks in hotels and coffee shops, for instance, are often compromised and malicious codes can be downloaded into your machine, Ghosh said. Even if you leave home with a clean laptop and it's wiped clean after the trip, someone can still capture what you're typing in emails or your credentials when you're entering them during the trip. Not much can be done about that ? it's just a risk you have to be aware of so you are careful to avoid activities such as logging into your bank to do financial transactions, he said.

?Travel aside, your company should also routinely take steps to limit the types of applications that can run on their systems, regularly update computer programs, and tightly control the number of people who have broad access privileges to the company networks, said Alan Paller, director of research at SANS Institute, a computer-security organization.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/travel-hacked_n_2592891.html

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'How I Met Your Mother' to end run, mystery

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? CBS says the big reveal is coming for "How I Met Your Mother."

The network said Wednesday the sitcom will air its ninth and final season next fall.

And CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler promised that TV's "most mysterious mother" will be unveiled as the show wraps up.

That would be the mystery woman with whom Ted, played by Josh Radnor, ultimately has a family.

The sitcom's cast also includes Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan.

20th Century Fox Television says all the actors will return for the 2013-14 season.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/met-mother-end-run-mystery-210255094.html

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Menendez says he reimbursed donor for 2 jaunts

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013 file photo, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Menendez's office says he traveled on a plane owned by a Florida physician who is a friend and political donor, but denied that the senator had engaged with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013 file photo, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Menendez's office says he traveled on a plane owned by a Florida physician who is a friend and political donor, but denied that the senator had engaged with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Sen. Robert Menendez's office says he reimbursed a prominent Florida political donor $58,500 on Jan. 4 of this year for the full cost of two of three trips Menendez took on the donor's plane to the Dominican Republic in 2010.

More details about the New Jersey senator's trips emerged as his office said unsubstantiated allegations that the senator engaged in sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic are false.

There had been no public disclosure of the two trips until now.

"The senator paid for the two trips out of his personal account and no reporting requirements apply," Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright said Wednesday night.

The FBI searched the West Palm Beach, Fla., office of the donor ? eye doctor Salomon Melgen ? on Tuesday night and early Wednesday, but it was unclear if the raid was related to Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat. In addition the FBI agents, investigators with the U.S. Health and Human Services Department also were seen carting boxes out of the office.

A third trip by Menendez aboard Melgen's plane ? a campaign fundraising journey to the donor's residence in the Dominican Republic ? took place in May 2010. That trip was reported to the Federal Election Commission as a $5,400 expenditure by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Menendez chaired. The trip, for fundraising from the community of Americans in the region, took Menendez to Puerto Rico as well as the Dominican Republic, said Menendez's office. The $5,400 was paid to one of Melgen's companies, Vitreo Retinal Consultants.

Menendez categorized the other two trips as personal. The first was Aug. 6-9, 2010, a round trip from South Florida to the Dominican Republic. The second was Sept. 3-6, 2010, from New Jersey to the Dominican Republic and back.

Menendez could have invoked what is known as a "friendship exemption" regarding the two personal trips, which would have required the senator to report the travel to the Senate Ethics Committee as a gift. Instead, Menendez chose to reimburse the full cost of the two trips.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., turned aside questions about Menendez at a news conference Thursday, saying they should be directed to the New Jersey Democrat instead. On Tuesday ? before the disclosures about the FBI raid and the trips ? he had expressed skepticism about the allegations, telling reporters to consider the source.

White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to answer when asked whether the president still has full faith and confidence in Menendez. "I don't have anything for you on that," Carney told reporters Thursday.

The Daily Caller, a conservative website, reported shortly before the November election that Menendez traveled on Melgen's private plane to the Dominican Republic to engage in sex with prostitutes. Some New Jersey Republicans filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee last fall in the wake of the allegations by The Caller. In response, Menendez's staffers searched records for trips by the senator and found the two additional trips that hadn't been reimbursed.

On Tuesday, Menendez became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, succeeding Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

At FBI headquarters in Washington, spokesman Jason Pack said the bureau "cannot comment on the existence or status of an investigation." Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler also declined to comment.

Records filed in Palm Beach County show an Internal Revenue Service lien against Melgen of more than $11.1 million for unpaid taxes from 2006-09. Prior liens for taxes from 1998 to 2002 were subsequently withdrawn, records show.

Menendez's office said the accusations of engaging with prostitutes "are manufactured by a politically motivated right-wing blog and are false."

Menendez's office said Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of the senator for many years and said the three trips Menendez took have been "paid for and reported appropriately." Menendez's office later changed the statement's wording to specify that the trips had been "paid for or reported appropriately," correcting the misimpression that all three trips had been publicly disclosed.

The Daily Caller began publishing stories about Menendez and Melgen on Nov. 1, when it reported that two women from the Dominican Republic said Menendez paid them for sex earlier in 2012. Prostitution is legal in the Caribbean nation.

Melgen is involved in numerous businesses, all sharing the same address in West Palm Beach, according to records filed with the Department of State in Florida.

Late Tuesday and early Wednesday, FBI agents were seen inside the West Palm Beach building, walking its halls and standing beside shelves full of files.

Melgen is listed as having an ownership interest in DRM Med Assist, which Federal Aviation Administration records show is the owner of a CL-600 Challenger plane. Flight records for the aircraft were not immediately available.

Melgen, a registered Democrat, has made $193,350 in political contributions since 1998, including $14,200 to Menendez, according to Federal Election Commission records. Menendez was chairman of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, which raises money for Democratic Senate candidates, from 2009-11.

Menendez, a lawyer, is a former mayor of Union City, N.J., and also served in the New Jersey state General Assembly and the New Jersey state Senate. He is divorced and has two children.

Melgen, 58, is a native of the Dominican Republic, where he earned his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henr?quez Ure?a in 1978. He has lived in the U.S. since at least 1980, holding an internship, residency and fellowship at hospitals in Connecticut, Missouri and Massachusetts, according to records filed with the Florida Department of Health.

Melgen has been licensed to practice in Florida since 1986 and purchased the West Palm Beach plot of land where he built his main office in 1991. Over the years, Melgen has become regarded as a top ophthalmologist, speaking at conferences and even operating on then-Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1997. The governor later appointed Melgen to a state panel on HMOs.

Calls to Melgen's offices Wednesday were forwarded to an answering service where receptionists told callers to try back Thursday. Calls to Melgen's home in North Palm Beach, which is appraised at $2.1 million, went unanswered.

On the website for his medical practice, Melgen writes: "I am always asked what sets me apart from most other doctors, and I would have to say that I do not consider myself to be a 'cookbook' physician. My patients are my number one priority, and when I am looking to treat a diagnosis I try to look at all the data at hand and extrapolate the best treatment instead of solely adhering to what the current 'standard' of treatment may be."

___

Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky in West Palm Beach, Fla., Curt Anderson in Miami and Jack Gillum and Larry Margasak in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-31-Menendez/id-30bf183a07d344a49111a9af5c2803a8

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Hezbollah condemns Israel's raid on Syria

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria threatened Thursday to retaliate for an Israeli airstrike and its ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the attack.

U.S. officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday. The target was a convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran.

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation."

In Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying the raid on Syria will have significant implications for Israel.

Hezbollah condemned the attack as "barbaric aggression" and Syrian ally Russia said it appeared to be an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.

In Israel, a lawmaker close to hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of confirming involvement in the strike. But he hinted that Israel could carry out similar missions in the future.

The Syrian ambassador said he could not predict when Damascus would retaliate. He told Hezbollah's al-Ahd news website that it was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the retaliation and choose the time and place.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the airstrike on state television, calling it a clear violation of Syria's sovereignty. Iran is Syria's strongest ally in the Middle East, and has provided President Bashar Assad's government with military and political backing for years.

Russia, Syria's strongest international ally, said Moscow is taking "urgent measures to clarify the situation in all its details."

"If this information is confirmed, we have a case of unprovoked attacks on targets in the territory of a sovereign state, which grossly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Whatever the motives, this is not justified."

Hezbollah, closely allied with Syria and Iran, said it "expresses full solidarity with Syria's command, army and people."

Hezbollah did not mention any convoy in the statement but said the strike aimed to prevent Arab and Muslim forces from developing their military capabilities.

The Syrian military denied the existence of any weapons shipment and said a scientific research facility outside Damascus was hit by the Israeli warplanes. It said the target was in the area of Jamraya, northwest of Damascus and about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Lebanese border.

Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, who became in December one of the most senior Syrian army officers to defect, told The Associated Press by telephone from Turkey that the targeted site is a "major and well-known" center to develop weapons known as the Scientific Research Center.

Al-Shallal, who until his defection was the commander of the Military Police, said no chemical or nonconventional weapons are at the site. He added that foreign experts, including Russians and Iranians, are usually at such centers.

Regional security officials said Wednesday that the targeted shipment included sophisticated Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which if acquired by Hezbollah would enable the militants to shoot down Israeli jets, helicopters and surveillance drones. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Israeli lawmaker Tzachi Hanegbi, who is close to the prime minister, said pinpoint strikes are not enough to counter the threat of Hezbollah obtaining sophisticated weaponry from Syria.

"Israel's preference would be if a Western entity would control these weapons systems," Hanegbi said. "But because it appears the world is not prepared to do what was done in Libya or other places, then Israel finds itself like it has many times in the past facing a dilemma that only it knows how to respond to," he added.

He was referring to NATO's 2011 military intervention in Libya that helped oust dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

"Even if there are reports about pinpoint operations, these are not significant solutions to the threat itself because we are talking about very substantial capabilities that could reach Hezbollah," he added.

Syria's civil war has sapped Assad's power and threatens to deprive Hezbollah of a key supporter, in addition to its land corridor to Iran. The two countries provide Hezbollah with the bulk of its funding and arms.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu warned of the dangers of Syria's "deadly weapons," saying the country is "increasingly coming apart."

The same day, Israel moved a battery of its new "Iron Dome" rocket defense system to the northern city of Haifa, which was battered by Hezbollah rocket fire in the 2006 war. The Israeli army called that move "routine."

The Israeli army won't say whether Iron Dome was sent north in connection to this operation. It does note that it has deployed the system in the north before.

Syria and its allies, including Hezbollah, deny there is an uprising against the government and say what is happening is part of a conspiracy against Damascus because of its support for anti-Israeli groups.

Hezbollah said the attack is part of that conspiracy "that aims to destroy Syria, its army and vital role in the line of resistance" against Israel.

----

Associated Press writer Ian Deitch contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_SYRIA_ISRAEL?SITE=CAACS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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