In a first for the Finnish-designed feathered cartoon characters, makers Rovio are launching a mobile telephone app Angry Birds Go!
The free app, available worldwide from Dec. 11, features a high-octane downhill race that includes all the famous avian characters and their arch-enemies the evil pigs from the video game.
The app includes a bizarre range of racing machines that can be upgraded, characters with special powers and range of 3D worlds.
Rovio, which released a gameplay trailer Tuesday to advertise the game ahead of its release, said: "The game will be built from the ground up as a free-to-play title, with a whole host of modes and features included from the get-go."
The company plans to release a "special countdown app" at the end of this month for the game which will be available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10.
Speaking Tuesday afternoon at Brand Licensing Europe 2013 in London during a presentation entitled "Angry Birds: How Rovio Disrupted the Entertainment Industry," Jami Laes, executive vp gaming and Naz Cuevas, senior vp licensing at Rovio said the company would continue to focus on making Angry Birds a long-lasting brand, they said. "We're building an evergreen," Cuevas told the industry crowd.
The executives then unveiled the Angry Birds Go! game trailer in a world premiere.
Laes said Helsinki, Finland-based Rovio created 51 games before striking gold with Angry Birds, meaning the company wasn't the overnight success it is sometimes believed to be.
Laes also touted the planned July 2016 launch of Angry Birds: The Movie.
Georg Szalai in London contributed to this report.
In the course of any given month, the government collects billions of dollars in taxes, spends billions more, and borrows money to cover the difference between what it collects and what it spends.
If Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling very soon, the government won't be able to borrow money to cover the difference anymore, and won't be able to pay all of its bills.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said that, after Oct. 17, the government can't guarantee that it will be able to make all its payments. But the government won't run out of money on the 17th; it will still have about $30 billion left.
The Bipartisan Policy Center predicts the money will run out some time between Oct. 22 and Nov. 1. This graph shows some major payments the government has to make during that window. Note the pile of bills due on Nov. 1.
Notes
The government has many other payments due over this time; this sample shows upcoming bills that are among the largest.
It's unclear exactly when the government will run out of money. That's because the amount of money the government collects in taxes on any given day can vary a lot. Spending can vary, too.
As the Bipartisan Policy Center wrote recently:
For example, in October of last year, about $3 billion in revenue was collected on one Tuesday, just over $6 billion was received on another Tuesday, and almost $11 billion arrived on yet another Tuesday. Furthermore, while spending is subject to less uncertainty than revenue, it still varies. For example, on some days, Medicare spending can exceed $2.5 billion while on other days, it is closer to $1 billion.
Costa Gavras presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Mumbai Academy of Moving Images chairman Shyam Benegal
MUMBAI -- The 15th Mumbai Film Festival opened Thursday evening with an opening ceremony that saw lifetime achievement awards being presented to Costa Gavras and Indian film icon Kamal Haasan. The ceremony also included the traditional lighting of a lamp, which was done by top Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha. She was accompanied by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images chairman and veteran director Shyam Benegal and MAMI trustee Amit Khanna, among other dignitaries.
“I’m happy to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mumbai Film Festival,” said Gavras who was presented the award by Benegal. “It is wonderful to see Indian cinema has a large local audience watching their films. I wish the festival best of luck.” The festival's program includes a retrospective of Gavras' works including his acclaimed political thriller Z.
Leading actor-director-producer Kamal Haasan was bestowed with the Indian Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by the chief minister of Maharashtra state (of which Mumbai is the capital), Prithviraj Chavan.
“There never was a method to my acting. I simply had great teachers, some of whom are present here tonight -- I respect them a lot,” said Haasan in his acceptance speech. “Festivals have also taught me a lot and I am humbled to have received this honor.”
“The state of Maharashtra supports and will continue to support this festival. I have been a huge fan of Mr. Gavras and Kamal Haasan,” Chavan remarked, adding that he saw Z "when I was in college and it had an impact on me." While referring to himself as "the odd man out in this gathering of great film-makers and artists," Chavan said that among other pressing issues faced by the film industry, the government would be considering the long-discussed proposal of establishing a Bollywood museum in Mumbai's Film City studio complex.
The opening ceremony was held at the festival's main venue, Liberty Theatre in south Mumbai, an art deco cinema with old world charm. The cinema was built in 1947, the year of India's independence from British rule. MFF has been moving from one venue to another in the absence of a permanent site, something that Benegal asked government for in his opening address.
MFF is presented by Reliance Entertainment with MAMI, an industry body featuring leading Indian film figures, founded in 1997 by the late filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
This year's festival competition jury is presided over by Driving Miss Daisy director Bruce Beresford, with fellow members including French actress Nathalie Baye, Japanese film-maker Masato Harada, Indian actress Konkona Sen Sharma and Canada-based Indian director Deepa Mehta.
The India Gold competition jury is headed by Oscar winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) while fellow jurists include Australian film editor Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge), British actor-director Waris Hussein (Passage to India), Afghan director Siddiq Barmak (Osama) and Hong Kong International Film Festival director and film critic, Roger Garcia.
The festival opened with a screening of Lee Daniels'The Butler starring Forest Whitaker. The festival's closing film is The Fifth Estate, which will screen after the awards ceremony on Oct. 24.
MFF will feature more than 200 films from 65 countries, including spotlights on Spanish, French and Cambodian cinema. The festival will also pay tribute to the late Bollywood icon Yash Chopra (who passed away last October), the late Bengali director Rituparno Ghosh and the late Bollywood actor Pran.
Running alongside the festival will be the three-day Mumbai Film Mart which opens Friday.
INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Amy Yang beat South Korean compatriot Hee Kyung Seo in a playoff on Sunday to win the KEB HanaBank Championship.
Yang shot a 69 in the final round while Seo had a 68 as both players ended regulation at 9-under 207 before Yang won the playoff.
Michelle Wie, who started the final round tied for 22nd, surged up the leaderboard with the day's lowest score of 66 to finish tied for third at 8-under 208 with defending champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway (70) and South Korea's Sei Young Kim (69).
Overnight co-leader Anna Nordqvist of Sweden shot a 74 that left her tied for eighth. Katherine Hull-Kirk of Australia, who also held a share of the lead heading into the final round, had seven bogeys en route to a 79.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp's third-quarter results modestly beat expectations on Tuesday, but its current-quarter revenue outlook fell short and it warned that production of its upcoming Broadwell processors was delayed.
The world's top chipmaker is betting that its current Haswell PC processor with improved battery life will boost sales for the rest of 2013, beyond the typically strong third quarter when PC manufacturers buy chips in anticipation of holiday demand.
But preparations for the Broadwell chip, which will succeed Haswell, have fallen behind projections by about three months due to technical setbacks, Brian Krzanich told analysts on a conference call following Intel's quarterly report on Tuesday.
He said production of the Broadwell chips, based on the 14 nanometer technology that is ahead of rivals' technology, will not begin until the first quarter.
"We and our (manufacturing) partners have a strong desire to get Broadwell to the market," Krzanich said. "This is a small blip in the schedule."
Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said the delay would not affect gross margins in the fourth quarter or impact the competitiveness of Intel's product lineup.
"We're not happy with the one-quarter push but it does point to how difficult these problems are to solve," he told Reuters.
Much of Intel's strength has historically come from its chip manufacturing technology, which is the most advanced in the world and is ahead of rivals by around two years.
Broadwell's delay should have little impact on Intel's sales, said FBR analyst Chris Rolland, although he added that investors were sensitive to any hint of technology trouble at the chipmaker.
"For these guys, their competitive advantage is based on manufacturing. It's certainly a small setback. You don't want to screw with timetables, and you don't want to screw with Moore's law," Rolland said.
With consumers increasingly favoring tablets and smartphones, Intel is wrestling with a slowdown in its core PC market while trying to make inroads in low-power mobile devices.
Adapting to the slow PC industry, Intel also trimmed its 2013 capital expenditure target to $10.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million, from $11 billion, plus or minus $500 million.
Since taking the helm in May, Krzanich has pushed to improve Intel's offering of chips for mobile devices. It recently announced a lineup of ultra-small chips for wearable devices, which are growing more popular.
Intel dominates the PC industry but it was slow to adapt its chips for low-power mobile gadgets like smartphones and tablets.
Krzanich has promised Intel's new Bay Trail mobile chip would find its way into a slew of tablets, but it is still unclear how much progress is being made and how much those mobile chips, which sell for less than Intel's latest PC chips, may affect its gross margins.
Some analysts believe the PC industry's troubles are already baked into the price of Intel's stock, which has risen about 14 percent in 2013, less than the Standard & Poor's 500's increase of 20 percent.
Intel shares trade at 12 times expected earnings, only slightly less than rival Qualcomm Inc's at 14 times earnings.
The company said its gross margin in the third quarter was 62.4 percent, and it forecast 61 percent for the fourth quarter. Analysts had expected 60.92 percent for the third quarter and 60.98 percent for the fourth quarter.
Intel posted net earnings of $2.95 billion, or 58 cents a share, compared to $2.97 billion, or 58 cents share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had expected earnings per share of 53 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue was $13.48 billion, barely changed from $13.46 billion in the year-ago quarter. Intel forecast revenue of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million for the current fourth quarter.
Analysts had expected $13.463 billion in revenue for the third quarter and $14.004 billion for the fourth quarter.
Shares of Intel were down 2.31 percent in extended trade after closing down 0.26 percent at $23.39 on Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Richard Chang)
You can already download anything from TV shows to magazines from Google Play, so it's no surprise that newspaper subscriptions might come the future. Android Police tore down the upcoming Google Play version 4.4., and it strongly hints at a portal called Newsstand. It's not exactly brand new -- it first appeared as Play News within the store's website code earlier this year -- but the recent discovery makes the section's debut look more likely. While there's no concrete info at this point, a close scrutiny of the APK's code has revealed that the Magazines section might merge with it, creating a centralized store for virtual readables. That makes sense, considering it's most likely designed as a competition to the iOS app of the same name. The code also hints at a free trial, but you know what'll make the service better? If newspapers offer free digital versions to print subscribers from the start.
Sandra Zea speaks to reporters outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., following the arraignment of hers son Marcos Alonzo Zea, on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013. The younger Zea was ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to charges that he sought to join an al-Qaida group in Yemen. At Mrs. Zea's right is Albaro Zea, the young man's father.(AP Photo/Frank Eltman)
Sandra Zea speaks to reporters outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., following the arraignment of hers son Marcos Alonzo Zea, on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013. The younger Zea was ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to charges that he sought to join an al-Qaida group in Yemen. At Mrs. Zea's right is Albaro Zea, the young man's father.(AP Photo/Frank Eltman)
Albaro Zea speaks to reporters outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., following the arraignment of his son Marcos Alonzo Zea, on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013. The younger Zea was ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to charges that he sought to join an al-Qaida group in Yemen.(AP Photo/Frank Eltman)
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — For 25 years Marcos Alonso Zea lived in America, working most recently as a clerk at a home improvement store on New York's Long Island.
But federal authorities have arrested the U.S.-born man, charging him with conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, attempting to support terrorists and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, and obstruction of justice.
Zea, who nodded at his parents as he was escorted into the court room at his arraignment Friday, pleaded not guilty and was detained without bail.
"Despite being born and raised in the United States, Zea allegedly betrayed his country and attempted to travel to Yemen to join a terrorist organization and commit murder," U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch said.
Federal prosecutors accused Zea of planning to travel overseas to wage violent jihad on the perceived enemies of Islam, including Yemen's secular government.
They said he flew to London en route to Yemen in January to join Ansar al-Sharia, which the U.S. has declared an alias for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. But he was rejected by customs officials in the United Kingdom and returned to the United States.
Once home, Zea continued participating in the conspiracy, providing money and instructing co-conspirator Justin Kaliebe on how to evade electronic surveillance by law enforcement as he discussed Kaliebe's plans to fight jihad, according to court papers.
Zea was inspired by terrorist propaganda, said George Venizelos, head of the FBI's New York office.
Among violent Islamic extremist materials found on Zea's computer, authorities said, were issues of an al-Qaida publication that promotes violent jihad. The publication contained articles such as "Which is Better: Martyrdom or Victory?" "'Why did I choose al Qaeda?" and "What to Expect in Jihad?"
Investigators said they also found an al-Qaida-produced video depicting detonation of an explosive device on a vehicle carrying western military personnel.
After learning he was under investigation, Zea directed an associate to erase a hard drive on his home computer and gave an associate two more hard drives to destroy, though investigators recovered them anyway, authorities said.
Lynch said once investigators were on his trail, "he engaged in a desperate effort to cover his tracks by attempting to destroy evidence — a tactic that only confirmed his violent aims."
Kaliebe, who was arrested in January as he tried to board a plane in New York to go to Yemen, has pleaded guilty to attempting to provide support to terrorists and attempting to provide material support.
He told a judge at his plea hearing that he had brought money to give to the al-Qaida group and he had discussed with others his desire to support the group by "providing money, equipment and ourselves." A prosecutor said the government had audio recordings of Kaliebe expressing his desire to join al-Qaida in Yemen.
He awaits sentencing in December.
In a statement, U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., called the arrest "a vivid reminder of the threat we continue to face from domestic Islamic terrorists."
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Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For President Barack Obama, the outcome of this week's fiscal fights with Republicans could have broad consequences for his stalled second-term agenda.
A favorable deal for the White House might give Obama an opening to marginalize the tea party Republicans who have tried to win concessions from him in order to reopen the government and raise the nation's debt ceiling. But if no agreement is reached by Thursday's debt limit deadline, Obama will become the first modern president to preside over a government default, a dubious distinction with potentially calamitous economic consequences that could consume the White House for the foreseeable future.
Another, perhaps more likely, option: Obama ends up signing short term bills that keep Washington in the never-ending cycle of deadline-driven budget battles. For Obama, that would mean fiscal issues would keep consuming the oxygen in the nation's capital at a time when he is already watching his window for passing significant domestic legislation close.
"It's a ticking clock," Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University, said of presidential second terms. "He's already into the red zone in terms of getting things done."
On Monday, Obama and Senate leaders indicated they were optimistic that an agreement might be at hand to prevent a national financial default and reopen the government after a two-week partial shutdown. Officials in both parties were discussing a proposal to raise the debt ceiling through the spring, as well as a shorter deal to fund the government for several weeks.
"There has been some progress on the Senate side, with Republicans recognizing it's not tenable, it's not smart, it's not good for the American people to let America default," Obama said.
The president had planned to meet with bipartisan congressional leaders Monday afternoon, but the talks were canceled. The move was seen as a sign that progress was being made in private negotiations on Capitol Hill. But even if the Senate can reach an agreement, the fate of the deal in the Republican-led House would be uncertain.
Even before Washington ground to a halt this month, Obama was struggling to score significant legislative victories in his second term. A push for stricter gun control laws collapsed in the Senate. An immigration reform bill did get through the Senate, but stalled in the House and the future of the landmark legislation is deeply uncertain. And there has been virtually no legislative progress on a host of other issues Obama pledged to tackle in his second term, including expanding early childhood education and raising the minimum wage.
Questions about Obama's political clout also deepened last month, when congressional lawmakers, including many Democrats, appeared on the brink of rejecting his request for approving military action against Syria. A last-minute diplomatic overture from Russia prevented Obama from having to hold a vote, saving him from what would have almost certainly been an embarrassing defeat.
But missteps by Republicans during the current budget fight have helped Obama regain his footing. Recent polls show GOP lawmakers bearing the brunt of the public's blame for the shutdown, including a new Washington Post-ABC News survey out Monday that showed 74 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Republicans in Congress have handled the issue, compared to 53 percent who disapprove of Obama's handling of it.
The tilting of responsibility toward Republicans has hardened the White House's resolve to make no concessions in exchange for Congress lifting the debt ceiling or reopening the government. After years of trying to compromise with the House GOP leadership, many Democrats see the current debate as an opportunity to finally weaken the chamber's far-right wing, perhaps clearing the way for progress on issues like immigration that have the support of many Republican moderates.
However, Democrats alone can't make that happen. It will require some cooperation from House Speaker John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who has largely backed the wishes of tea party-backed lawmakers during the shutdown and debt ceiling discussions. It's unclear whether Boehner will take a different approach after the matters are resolved, though his tactics will likely be colored by how House Republicans appear positioned for next year's midterm elections.
Republican strategist Dan Schnur said that even if some GOP lawmakers start tilting to the center after the current budget battles, the president will still face an uphill climb in getting big-ticket legislation done in the coming months.
"There are going to be so many hard feelings on every side that it's hard to see a great deal of productive legislation coming in the immediate aftermath," said Schnur, director of a political institute at the University of Southern California.
Musical duo The Blow, in which the singing of Khaela Maricich meets the mixing of Melissa Dyne, has just released a new eponymous collection. Critic Ken Tucker says the electro-pop on the album is self-aware, sexy and smart — and, while informed by the art world, never dips into "art-rock" territory.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Demands in Congress grew Wednesday for a speedy escalation of sanctions against Iran as two days of nuclear talks ended in Geneva, setting up a potential foreign policy clash with the Obama administration while it seeks a diplomatic end to the standoff with Tehran.
Even as negotiations between world powers and Iran ended on an upbeat note, with a new round of discussions set for November, lawmakers seeking to end a government shutdown back in Washington quickly expressed their skepticism and laid out red lines for the talks. Members of both parties have overwhelmingly backed tougher economic pressure on Iran in recent years amid concern it is closing in on nuclear weapons capability.
"Given Iran's continued refusal to halt its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs, the Senate should immediately move forward with a new round of economic sanctions targeting all remaining Iranian government revenue and reserves," said Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who has played a leading role in drafting sanctions.
With talks in the Swiss city barely over, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a Senate resolution calling for more pressure.
"No one should be impressed by what Iran appears to have brought to the table in Geneva," Rubio said. "Tehran has broken its word far too many times to be trusted. Due to its complete disregard for previous international agreements, we must take a firm stand in all negotiations regarding the nuclear capabilities Iran is permitted to retain."
He echoed a statement by six Democratic and four Republican senators on Tuesday, insisting Iran end all uranium enrichment activity.
That demand could put them at odds with President Barack Obama, who recently recognized Iran's right to nuclear energy after his historic phone conversation with Iran's new and more moderate President Hasan Rouhani. Obama, however, hasn't said enrichment is acceptable in Iran, as Tehran demands. The issue remains a key one for international negotiators to resolve.
The United States and other world powers fear Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. The Islamic republic says its program is for peaceful energy production, and this week's meetings in part focused on how to scale back its enrichment of material that can be used to generate power or nuclear warhead material.
The debate over increasing sanctions is quickly emerging as a standoff between Congress and the administration.
The Senate Banking Committee is expected to draft new sanctions shortly after the government reopens, largely mirroring a House bill that passed overwhelmingly by a 400-20 vote in July and blacklisted Iran's mining and construction sectors. It also called for all Iranian oil sales to end by 2015.
The Senate's bill may narrow that timeframe, block international investment in more economic sectors, try to close off Iran's foreign accounts and tighten Obama's ability to waive requirements for allies and key trading partners who continue to do business with Iran, according to an aide involved in the process. The aide wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.
Concerning petroleum alone, China, Turkey, India and several other Asian countries continue to buy billions of dollars of fuel from Iran each month.
And the Obama administration is worried countries may ignore sanctions they deem excessive, undercutting international unity against Iran. Officials also have expressed concern that moving too quickly with additional sanctions packages also could undermine Rouhani with hardliners in his own country and not give him adequate chance to prove his seriousness in the nuclear talks.
However, the State Department's chief nuclear negotiator, Wendy Sherman, told Congress earlier this month that the administration would support tougher sanctions on Iran if it didn't come to the Geneva talks with "concrete, substantive actions" and a verifiable plan to scale back its nuclear program.
Asked about its position on sanctions post-Geneva, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was cautious. She credited existing restrictions with bringing Iran to the negotiating table but suggested the U.S. needed more time to assess Iran's plan.
"We have never had detailed technical discussions at this level before," she told reporters. "There is, of course, a great deal more work that needs to be done."
Christina Milian and "Dancing With the Stars" pro Mark Ballas.
"Dancing With the Stars" pro Mark Ballas didn’t do the press line after getting booted from the ballroom alongside star Christina Milian on Monday night. The two-time mirror ball champion wasn’t planning on being ousted, and since the ejected duo leaves immediately for a New York media tour, Ballas had to go home and quickly pack some clothes.
As for his celebrity partner, Milian spoke to the media after the live broadcast about her surprise expulsion from the reality competition.
“I was shocked, for sure,” she told TODAY. “I’m not saying it should have been anybody else, but to be honest, after having a great performance you feel a bit more confident.”
Milian and Ballas indeed had excellent reasons to believe they were safe. Head judge Len Goodman gave them the first 10 of the season for their cha-cha Monday, and the duo was tied with Corbin Bleu and his partner, Karina Smirnoff, at the top of the leaderboard with a score of 28.
So why were fan votes — the lack of which sent Milian and Ballas packing — so far out of line with the scores?
Maybe last week's brouhaha, caused when guest judge Julianne Hough joked that Ballas tends to outshine his dance partners, played a role.
“Who knows?” Milian said. “I don’t want to blame it on her, (but) she is very present. She has a presence and is very likable.”
Milian's cha-cha kicked off with a series of solo moves that, as it turns out, were in direct response to Hough's remark.
“Yes, that was on purpose, absolutely,” Milian confirmed to TODAY. “Mark said, ‘Okay, if she thinks I overshadow you, we’re going to have a whole intro with you dancing.’"
“Mark and Julianne go way back,” noted pro Cheryl Burke. “I thought (her remark) was kind of harsh, but they grew up together and are really close. Maybe it was an inside joke?”
But the joke, if it was one, is now behind them. Milian is now focused on her gratitude to Ballas.
“I told him he did such a great job and (our being voted off) has nothing to do with (him)," she said. "I wish I could be here longer, but I have no regrets.”
But she does have that sense of shock — over that unexpected ouster. Even Leah Remini, who was in jeopardy before Milian got the ballroom boot, was surprised.
“I thought, ‘Wow, the show must be fixed,’” the comedic actress deadpanned.
But when a another reporter asked Milian if she thought that was a possibility, she was quick to shoot it down.
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Jeh Johnson, his choice for the next Homeland Security Secretary, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 18, 2013. Johnson was general counsel at the Defense Department during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Jeh Johnson, his choice for the next Homeland Security Secretary, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 18, 2013. Johnson was general counsel at the Defense Department during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama stands with Jeh Johnson, his choice for the next Homeland Security Secretary, and Vice President Joe Biden, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 18, 2013. Johnson was general counsel at the Defense Department during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday nominated the Pentagon's former top lawyer to help craft the nation's counterterrorism policy as secretary of the Homeland Security Department, suggesting a shift from the department's emphasis on immigration and border security.
Jeh C. Johnson, whose first name is pronounced "Jay," would replace Janet Napolitano, who left the post last month to become president of the University of California system.
Obama said he was nominating Johnson because of his "deep understanding of the threats and challenges facing the United States." He credited Johnson with helping design and implement policies to dismantle the core of the al-Qaida terror organization overseas and to repeal the ban on openly gay service members in the U.S. military.
"He's been there in the Situation Room, at the table in moments of decision," Obama said as he announced the nomination from the Rose Garden on a crisp and sunny fall afternoon.
The Homeland Security Department was created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which Johnson noted fell on his birthday. He noted that he was in Manhattan on that fateful day when the World Trade Center was struck, and he said he was motivated to do something to help the country in response. But he left government service in 2012 and said he was settling back into private life and work at a law firm.
"I was not looking for this opportunity," Johnson said. "But when I received the call, I could not refuse it."
Obama's selection of Johnson suggests the agency will be stepping back from its emphasis on immigration to focus more on protecting the nation from attack.
Unlike Napolitano, Johnson has spent most of his career dealing with national security issues as a top military lawyer. Issues he handled included changing military commissions to try terrorism suspects rather than using civilian courts and overseeing the escalation of the use of unmanned drone strikes during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Napolitano, who came to the department after serving as governor of Arizona, made clear that her top priority was immigration reform, and she routinely championed the issue in congressional testimony.
Johnson, a multimillionaire lawyer outside of his government posts, has defended the administration's targeted killings of U.S. citizens overseas as well as the role of the U.S. spy court and crackdowns to keep government secrets.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would manage a department with more than 20 different agencies, a budget of more than $45 billion and a staff of hundreds of thousands of civilian, law enforcement and military personnel. On any given day, the job includes making decisions about disaster relief, distribution of a shrinking grants budget, which immigrants living in the United States illegally to deport and how to protect passenger jets from would-be terrorists.
Johnson, a one-time assistant U.S. attorney in New York, would inherit a department whose public face in recent years has been associated with immigration. But that's an area he has little experience with, so his nomination could suggest the agency will move more to a focus on protecting the homeland from attack.
Matt Fishbein, who worked with Johnson in a private law firm in the early 1980s and served on a New York City bar panel while the nominee was chairman in the late '90s, says Johnson is a good choice.
"Ultimately, he's responsible for security in this age of terrorism," said Fishbein, a Debevoise & Plimpton law firm partner in New York. "I imagine that means every single day coming across his desk is going to be very scary information that he's going to have to sort out and see if there's a basis for it. You need to secure and protect the country while not overstepping the bounds, violating civil liberties. It's a tough job."
Johnson has made clear his support for using done strikes to kill enemy combatants, including U.S. citizens overseas. He has also said that he considers "lone wolf" terrorists to be a law enforcement problem, not enemy combatants who should be targeted in military strikes.
Homeland Security is almost never the lead law enforcement agency in domestic terror cases. It includes Customs and Border Protection, whose primary mission is preventing terrorists from coming into the country. DHS also has a presence on the FBI-led joint terrorism task forces around the country, with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service.
Johnson's experience in dealing with overseas actions and counterterror decisions may also be helpful for a department still trying to define its role in the fight against terrorism. Homeland Security has a growing footprint around the world.
If confirmed, Johnson would take over an agency with numerous high-level vacancies, including the deputy secretary. When Janet Napolitano left to take over as president of the University of California in September, one-third of the heads of key agencies and divisions were filled with acting officials or had been vacant for months. Obama has nominated several people to key positions, including general counsel. His pick to be the department's No. 2, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas, is the subject of an internal investigation, and his nomination has been stalled.
Johnson is a 1979 graduate of Morehouse College and a 1982 graduate of Columbia Law School. After leaving the administration in 2012, he returned to private practice. According to the website of his law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, his civil and criminal clients have included Citigroup, Salomon Smith Barney, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Gillette.
Johnson earned more than $2.6 million from his partnership at that law firm, according to 2009 government financial disclosure documents. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Johnson donated more than $33,000 to Obama's campaign, federal records show. He was also a supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, having contributed $2,300 to her presidential primary campaign in July 2008. He's also given $5,000 to the New Jersey Democratic Party and $1,000 to Democrats nationwide, as well as to several congressional candidates.
Obama's campaign website listed Johnson as a member of the then-candidate's national finance committee and an adviser to Obama's foreign policy team during the 2008 election.
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Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler, Lolita C. Baldor and Jack Gillum in Washington and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.
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Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acaldwellap
Last night the Google Play Store gave us a pretty good look at the Nexus 5 in black, and today a leak from Korean site UNDERkg (since pulled) purports to show us the device's retail packaging — along with a tantalizing hint at a possible white version. The couple of images showing the outside of the box reveal Google and LG branding, along with the Nexus 5 name. What's more, the device is pictured with a white back panel, as you can clearly see in the second image.
The box certainly fits with earlier Nexus branding, and though the leaked images are small, it looks legit to us. That said, there's no guarantee of any white model being available at launch, and we'll wait on the official word from Google before reaching for our wallets.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Caring for a disabled family member can be overwhelmingly hard. But caregivers may live longer than those who don't bear such responsibilities, new research suggests.
In a nationwide study, adults who provided care for a chronically ill or disabled family member had a lower death rate than a similar group of non-caregivers.
The finding is something of a surprise.
In the past, researchers have found just the opposite - an increased risk of death as well as poorer mental and physical health among caregivers. Such detrimental health effects have been found among people caring for a disabled spouse or a person with dementia, for example.
"(We want to) emphasize the positive message that caregiving is a healthy thing that we should be doing in our families," lead study author Dr. David L. Roth, director of the Johns Hopkins University Center on Aging and Health, told Reuters Health.
Dolores Gallagher-Thompson, who directs the Geriatric Education Center at Stanford University School of Medicine in California told Reuters Health the current study's findings are "surprising… because prior studies did find an association between caregiver stress and mortality."
Gallagher-Thompson pointed out that the caregivers included in Roth's study were not heavily stressed, however. They didn't all have their ill family member living with them full time. Some caregivers may have just visited their charges, the report indicates.
The study also did not distinguish between caregivers of people with dementia and those with other conditions.
"Previous studies that have reported high stress and increased mortality have focused on dementia," said Gallagher-Thompson.
Roth noted that poorer health among caregivers is "undoubtedly true" in some cases, particularly among those caring for people with dementia. However, "caregiving stress has been over exaggerated," he said.
Of the 3,503 caregivers included in the study, over 80% said they were experiencing either no mental or emotional strain or only a moderate level of such strain.
Only 578 - or less than one in five - felt their caregiving caused them "high strain."
Roughly two thirds of the caregivers were female. About a third were adult children, and about one in five were spouses. Slightly more than half provided care for less than 14 hours a week.
Regardless of the nature of their responsibilities, caregivers appeared to reap benefits from their own selflessness. Death rates were 18% lower among caregivers than among their non-caregiving counterparts, Roth and his team report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
During the 2003-2012 study period, about 7.5 percent of caregivers died, compared to about 9 percent of the same number of noncaregivers.
"In a way you can say this is good news," said Gallagher-Thompson, who was not involved in the study. "If you‘re caring for someone with long-term (illness or disability in some cases), it may actually provide you with some health benefits."
Reasons for the lower rate of death among caregivers may have to do with their own self-selection, Roth said. Considering the low number of spouse caregivers included in the study, the non-spouse caregivers who chose to provide care to their family members "may be healthier, better adjusted people who have their own house in order," he said.
Gallagher-Thompson thinks maybe altruism, spirituality, and resilience among caregivers also played a role. "Some caregivers are able to roll with the punches," she said.
The study's sample was drawn from the national Reasons for Geographic and racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study of African American and white adults aged 45 years and older. Study participants were largely recruited from the southern region of the United States. Caregivers from this sample were statistically matched with noncaregivers according to a number of factors, including age, race, gender, educational and income level, self-rated health, and mental status.
Still, the narrow focus on only African American and white adults limits the generalizability of this study's findings, said Gallagher-Thompson. We have "no idea whether these findings may apply to other races, cultures, or ethnicities."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/H6ejhF American Journal of Epidemiology, online October 3, 2013.
Showing some love to his Japanese fans, Tom Hanks showed up at a press conference for “Captain Phillips” in Tokyo today (October 18).
The “Forrest Gump” star was joined by director Paul Greengrass at Tokyo Midtown for some photos and a few questions from the local media ahead of his film’s premiere.
Of his character’s capture and subsequent rescue in the flick, Hanks previously shared, “It’s a moment like I’ve never had making films. It’s not on the page at all.”
Per the synopsis, “It’s the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.”
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Gunfire that left five people injured at a traditional Hmong New Year's festival rattled a peaceful, tight-knit east Tulsa community, where some feared Sunday the rampage could deter others from attending upcoming cultural celebrations.
"It's really sad because a lot of people do not feel safe to go to the other New Year's celebrations. I know there are people who don't want to attend that anymore," said Joua Xiong, who attended Saturday's celebration along with hundreds of other Hmong people and heard the gunfire break out. "It's very sad because this is the only time we really get to embrace our culture and unite as one.
"And I know a lot of other people will not come (to the Oct. 26-27 event) because of that," she said.
Hmong are an Asian ethnic group hailing from countries including Laos, China, Vietnam and Thailand. The Hmong population in Tulsa is between 3,000 and 4,000. Many Hmong have traveled to Tulsa from across the country during recent years seeking jobs.
Two men have been taken into custody and face multiple charges in the shooting of five people at Saturday's festival, authorities said Sunday. Authorities were holding 21-year-old Boonmlee Lee and 19-year-old Meng Lee, both of Tulsa. Each faces five counts of shooting with intent to kill plus firearms charges.
It was not clear from jail records whether each had an attorney. An arraignment is pending.
Tulsa police spokesman Capt. Steve Odom said a gun was recovered but that it will have to be tested to see if it is linked to the Saturday night shooting. Odom said the alleged shooters and the victims were all Hmong and that there was "probably a relationship" between the men charged and the victims.
The suspects were arrested shortly after the attack, which happened about 8 p.m. A police helicopter that was in the area spotted a car driving away from the scene with its headlights off and notified officers on the ground, who pulled it over.
The suspects had thrown clothes and a semi-automatic handgun believed to have been used in the attack out of the vehicle, police said.
A witness at the party described the chaotic scene, as people lined up to get dinner were sent running and ducking for cover when the shots rang out. There were at least 200 people at the celebration, which festival-goers likened to a Thanksgiving celebration in America.
For Xiong, who was walking with her family to get dinner Saturday night at the festival, she heard a loud 'pop' sound, but didn't think anything of it at first, believing it was a balloon.
"Then I realized we didn't have any balloons over there, and then everyone started standing up and taking cover," she recalled in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press. "Some people were crying already, and that scared us."
Xiong said Sunday she did not know the two alleged gunmen and questioned why they showed up at the party.
"I've never seen them in my life," she said. "They really don't have common Hmong names, either," she said. "I don't know if they were from out of town or what."
Spokeswomen for the two Tulsa hospitals where the victims were transported said they could not release information on the condition of the wounded Sunday, citing the ongoing police investigation.
But Xiathao Moua, the president of the Hmong American Association of Oklahoma, Inc., said he visited the two hospitals Sunday morning and said even though the victims sustained injuries from the shooting, they are expected to live. He would not elaborate further on the nature of the injuries to the victims, citing privacy concerns.
Moua described hearing the shots ring out Saturday night as some party guests were toasting with champagne and waiting in line to get dinner. What happened next, he said, was chaos and confusion.
"The emcee at the ceremony, he was on the stand and he told everybody to lay down under the table and the floor," he said.
Moua also said he asked the victims at both Tulsa hospitals if they knew why they were targeted by the violence or if they could describe the shooters, but they could not, he told the AP on Sunday.
Names of the victims, who police say are all hospitalized, weren't released.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bernard Madoff was a Wall Street rock star who charmed billionaires, celebrities, government regulators and his employees, including five of his ex-workers who are on trial for fraud, defense attorneys told a jury Thursday in opening statements.
Attorney Andrew James Frisch said Madoff and his former finance chief — government cooperator Frank DiPascali — were "depraved and pathological" as they delivered millions of lies to disguise a fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of billions of dollars.
On Wednesday, a prosecutor accused the five former employees of being crucial components of a fraud that remained hidden for decades, but defense lawyers on Thursday insisted their clients were fooled in the same way that Securities and Exchange Commission inspectors and sophisticated financial experts were.
Frisch portrayed his client, Daniel Bonventre, as enamored by Madoff. Bonventre, 66, rose to a position of director of operations after joining the firm in the late 1960s. He oversaw the legitimate side of Madoff's business, not the secretive private investment wing, Frisch said.
"Dan believed Madoff, like so many others," Frisch said. "He devoted his life to Madoff. ... Dan is broken but he is not guilty."
Roland Riopelle, attorney for Madoff's longtime secretary, Annette Bongiorno, said his client too was taken in by "a kind of rock star in the securities industry."
"The government simply cannot prove that she knew there was a fraud and intended to hurt anyone," he said.
Bongiorno started working for Madoff in the 1960s when she was 19 and eventually became a supervisor, responsible for maintaining the accounts of longtime customers, Riopelle said.
He noted that she kept her money in the company's accounts until the fraud was revealed and had encouraged her family and friends to invest as well, something she would not do if she was "really some kind of monster."
Frisch described Madoff as someone as a "Wall Street icon," someone as large in stature in the securities industry as Donald Trump in business, LeBron James in basketball or Oprah Winfrey on television. He said Madoff's clients included filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actors Kevin Bacon and John Malkovich.
Frisch and Riopelle insisted their clients had no chance.
"She knew many of Madoff's customers were billionaires and they knew more about the markets than she did," Riopelle said.
Others on trial include JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and computer programmers Jerome O'Hara and George Perez. They too have pleaded not guilty.
On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Schwartz said no one would dispute Madoff told many lies.
"But the evidence will show that these defendants knew exactly what they were doing. ... They did it because Bernard Madoff encouraged it and they were getting rich in the process," he said.
The trial follows the 2008 collapse of Madoff's private investment business, which cost clients nearly $20 billion. A court-appointed trustee has recovered much of the money by forcing those customers who received big payouts from Madoff to return the funds.
When the fraud was revealed, Madoff admitted that the nearly $68 billion he claimed existed in accounts was actually only several hundred million dollars.
The Ponzi scheme nearly ran out of money at least twice before finally collapsing during the 2008 financial crisis. At the time, investors were seeking to divest $1.4 billion when the firm only had $300 million left, the prosecutor said.
Madoff, 75, is serving a 150-year prison sentence.
A gifted ensemble and impeccable light-touch direction make Terence Rattigan's 1946 chestnut richly satisfying entertainment.
Venue
American Airlines Theatre, New York (runs through Dec. 1)
Cast
Roger Rees, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alessandro Nivola, Michael Cumpsty, Charlotte Parry
Playwright
Terence Rattigan
Director
Lindsay Posner
NEW YORK – While TerenceRattigan’s plays gathered dust for decades after being swept aside by the kitchen-sink realists of the 1950s and ‘60s, the old-fashioned structural virtues and tremulously submerged depth of feeling in the British dramatist’s work have drawn renewed appreciation in recent years. Fresh fuel for that rediscovery is supplied in Lindsay Posner’s affecting revival of The Winslow Boy. The 1946 drama follows a father’s tenacious quest to prove the innocence of his 14-year-old son, a Royal Navy cadet accused of theft. But as is often the case with Rattigan, plot becomes secondary to passions cloaked in upper middle-class reserve.
Directed for the screen by Anthony Asquith in 1948, and again by David Mamet in 1999, the play was last seen on Broadway 65 years ago. It’s a slow starter, and indeed its unhurried four acts might seem to lack economy for contemporary audiences. But in a production as expertly judged and performed as this one, there’s real pleasure in settling into the plush upholstery to savor the nuances of character, the subtle humor and fine shadings of the drama’s consideration of justice and honor.
Weighing individual right against government might, the play’s most striking aspect perhaps is Rattigan’s audaciousness in choosing to confine what’s essentially a courtroom drama to the drawing room, thereby shifting its focus from the legal battle to the heightened emotions that it stirs.
Staged earlier this year at London’s Old Vic, the production has been imported by Roundabout Theatre Company and recast for Broadway, providing plum roles for Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Roger Rees, in particularly brilliant form. In a casting choice that’s far from obvious, Alessandro Nivola proves highly effective in the key role of a powerful, vainglorious lawyer whose unexpressed feelings for the cadet’s sister churn the poignant undercurrents of the conclusion. As the principled young woman who shares that unspoken mutual attraction, Charlotte Parry is no less riveting.
Inspired by an actual incident, the play is set during the two years leading up to World War I, in the Winslow family home in South Kensington, wrapped in unostentatious elegance and muted green William Morris wallpaper by designer Peter McKintosh.
When young Ronnie (Spencer Davis Milford) is expelled from the prestigious Royal Naval Academy at Osborne, allegedly for stealing a five-shilling postal order, it takes his father Arthur (Rees) just one direct question to ascertain to his satisfaction the boy’s innocence. But challenging the Admiralty’s decision proves complicated given that the institution comes under Crown jurisdiction and cannot be sued without government consent.
A retired banker, Arthur puts all of his resources into a dogged effort to clear his son’s name and the stain on his family. He hires aloof barrister Sir Robert Morton (Nivola), whose involvement pushes the issue into the national public and political debate forum. Ronnie’s progressive older sister Catherine (Parry) distrusts Sir Robert, who is antagonistic to her own cause of women’s suffrage; she suspects his willingness to attack the government on her father’s behalf is driven by his love of the spotlight. This “fine old rumpus,” to quote the Winslows’ parlor maid (Henny Russell), is dismissed by many as a waste of Parliament’s time, while others see it as an important matter of civil liberty.
As the case stretches on, draining the family’s finances, Arthur’s dutiful wife Grace (Mastrantonio) struggles to keep the household running and to remain silent in the face of her husband’s stubbornness. Their other son Dickie (Zachary Booth) is a lightweight forced to drop out of Oxford and take a bank job, while Catherine’s engagement is jeopardized under pressure from the Army Colonel father of her fiancé (Chandler Williams).
Ronnie’s presumed innocence becomes an entirely secondary plot consideration, and the playwright’s sharp sense of irony is evident in the boy’s increasing obliviousness to the uproar surrounding him. Perhaps Rattigan’s cleverest stroke is having nobody but the family servants present to hear the verdict when it finally comes. That droll anticlimax segues to an exquisitely gauged final exchange between Sir Robert and Catherine, its withheld declarations lingering after the final curtain. Watching these scenes performed with such intelligence is a welcome reminder of the rewards of the classic well-made play.
“Emotions muddy the issue,” insists the lawyer near the conclusion, instead advocating “cold, clear logic.” But Rattigan’s skill as a dramatist lies in his finesse at exposing the roiling sentiments lurking beneath stiff-upper-lip British composure and propriety. Reticence may be a fundamental characteristic of his plays, but whether the figures onstage here articulate their feelings or not, their devotion, their sacrifice and the convictions that guide them make The Winslow Boy unexpectedly moving.
All five principals do unimpeachable work. Mastrantonio’s sweetly doting matriarch is the drama’s chief source of warmth, and Parry’s whip-smart, skeptical Catherine its moral center. But Rees’ Arthur is the heart of the production. Tempering his character’s starchy authoritarian manner with a dash of JohnCleese-ish eccentricity, the actor has flawless timing, sniffing out humor in the oddest places. His physical transformation from an arthritic but determinedly dignified man walking with a cane to one doubled over in agony, enfeebled and ready to admit defeat, is enormously touching.
Nivola is excellent at providing guarded glimpses of the yearning beneath Sir Robert’s self-important public performance mode. And there’s also lovely work from Michael Cumpsty as the Winslows’ dull, dependable solicitor, whose unrequited affections for Catherine have become a benign family joke.
Roundabout’s last Broadway stab at Rattigan was Man and Boy, a 1963 play that has aged poorly. But classy productions like this one – not to mention Terence Davies’ haunting 2011 film adaptation of The Deep Blue Sea – make a strong case for continuing to revisit the work of this estimable 20th century playwright.
Venue: American Airlines Theatre, New York (runs through Dec. 1) Cast: Roger Rees, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alessandro Nivola, Michael Cumpsty, Charlotte Parr, Zachary Booth, Spencer Davis Milford, Chandler Williams, Meredith Forlenza, Stephen Pilkington, Henny Russell Director: Lindsay Posner Playwright: Terence Rattigan Set & costume designer: Peter McKintosh Lighting designer: David Lander Music: Michael Bruce Sound designer: Drew Levy Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company
Field Museum scientists estimate 16,000 tree species in the Amazon
Public release date: 17-Oct-2013 [
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Contact: Nancy O'Shea media@fieldmuseum.org 312-665-7100 Field Museum
With half of all trees belonging to just 227 species
Researchers, taxonomists, and students from The Field Museum and 88 other institutions around the world have provided new answers to two simple but long-standing questions about Amazonian diversity: How many trees are there in the Amazon, and how many tree species occur there? The study will be published October 17, 2013 in Science.
The vast extent and difficult terrain of the Amazon Basin (including parts of Brazil, Peru, Columbia) and the Guiana Shield (Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana), which span an area roughly the size of the 48 contiguous North American states, has historically restricted the study of their extraordinarily diverse tree communities to local and regional scales. The lack of basic information about the Amazonian flora on a basin-wide scale has hindered Amazonian science and conservation efforts.
"In essence, this means that the largest pool of tropical carbon on Earth has been a black box for ecologists, and conservationists don't know which Amazonian tree species face the most severe threats of extinction," says Nigel Pitman, Robert O. Bass Visiting Scientist at The Field Museum in Chicago, and co-author on the study.
Now, however, over 100 experts have contributed data from 1,170 forestry surveys in all major forest types in the Amazon to generate the first basin-wide estimates of the abundance, frequency and spatial distribution of thousands of Amazonian trees.
Extrapolations from data compiled over a period of 10 years suggest that greater Amazonia, which includes the Amazon Basin and the Guiana Shield, harbors around 390 billion individual trees, including Brazil nut, chocolate, and aai berry trees.
"We think there are roughly 16,000 tree species in Amazonia, but the data also suggest that half of all the trees in the region belong to just 227 of those species! Thus, the most common species of trees in the Amazon now not only have a number, they also have a name. This is very valuable information for further research and policymaking," says Hans ter Steege, first author on the study and researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in South Holland, Netherlands.
The authors termed these species "hyperdominants." While the study suggests that hyperdominants just 1.4 percent of all Amazonian tree species account for roughly half of all carbon and ecosystem services in the Amazon, it also notes that almost none of the 227 hyperdominant species are consistently common across the Amazon. Instead, most dominate a region or forest type, such as swamps or upland forests.
The study also offers insights into the rarest tree species in the Amazon. According to the mathematical model used in the study, roughly 6,000 tree species in the Amazon have populations of fewer than 1,000 individuals, which automatically qualifies them for inclusion in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The problem, say the authors, is that these species are so rare that scientists may never find them.
Ecologist Miles Silman of Wake Forest University, another co-author of the paper, calls the phenomenon "dark biodiversity".
"Just like physicists' models tell them that dark matter accounts for much of the universe, our models tell us that species too rare to find account for much of the planet's biodiversity. That's a real problem for conservation, because the species at the greatest risk of extinction may disappear before we ever find them," says Silman.
While the authors are confident that these hyperdominants also dominate the vast expanses of Amazonia where scientists have never set foot, they do not know why some species are hyperdominant and others are rare.
The authors note that a large number of hyperdominants including Brazil nut, chocolate, rubber, and aai berry have been used and cultivated for millennia by human populations in Amazonia.
"There's a really interesting debate shaping up," says Pitman, "between people who think that hyperdominant trees are common because pre-1492 indigenous groups farmed them, and people who think those trees were dominant long before humans ever arrived in the Americas."
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Field Museum scientists estimate 16,000 tree species in the Amazon
Public release date: 17-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Nancy O'Shea media@fieldmuseum.org 312-665-7100 Field Museum
With half of all trees belonging to just 227 species
Researchers, taxonomists, and students from The Field Museum and 88 other institutions around the world have provided new answers to two simple but long-standing questions about Amazonian diversity: How many trees are there in the Amazon, and how many tree species occur there? The study will be published October 17, 2013 in Science.
The vast extent and difficult terrain of the Amazon Basin (including parts of Brazil, Peru, Columbia) and the Guiana Shield (Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana), which span an area roughly the size of the 48 contiguous North American states, has historically restricted the study of their extraordinarily diverse tree communities to local and regional scales. The lack of basic information about the Amazonian flora on a basin-wide scale has hindered Amazonian science and conservation efforts.
"In essence, this means that the largest pool of tropical carbon on Earth has been a black box for ecologists, and conservationists don't know which Amazonian tree species face the most severe threats of extinction," says Nigel Pitman, Robert O. Bass Visiting Scientist at The Field Museum in Chicago, and co-author on the study.
Now, however, over 100 experts have contributed data from 1,170 forestry surveys in all major forest types in the Amazon to generate the first basin-wide estimates of the abundance, frequency and spatial distribution of thousands of Amazonian trees.
Extrapolations from data compiled over a period of 10 years suggest that greater Amazonia, which includes the Amazon Basin and the Guiana Shield, harbors around 390 billion individual trees, including Brazil nut, chocolate, and aai berry trees.
"We think there are roughly 16,000 tree species in Amazonia, but the data also suggest that half of all the trees in the region belong to just 227 of those species! Thus, the most common species of trees in the Amazon now not only have a number, they also have a name. This is very valuable information for further research and policymaking," says Hans ter Steege, first author on the study and researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in South Holland, Netherlands.
The authors termed these species "hyperdominants." While the study suggests that hyperdominants just 1.4 percent of all Amazonian tree species account for roughly half of all carbon and ecosystem services in the Amazon, it also notes that almost none of the 227 hyperdominant species are consistently common across the Amazon. Instead, most dominate a region or forest type, such as swamps or upland forests.
The study also offers insights into the rarest tree species in the Amazon. According to the mathematical model used in the study, roughly 6,000 tree species in the Amazon have populations of fewer than 1,000 individuals, which automatically qualifies them for inclusion in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The problem, say the authors, is that these species are so rare that scientists may never find them.
Ecologist Miles Silman of Wake Forest University, another co-author of the paper, calls the phenomenon "dark biodiversity".
"Just like physicists' models tell them that dark matter accounts for much of the universe, our models tell us that species too rare to find account for much of the planet's biodiversity. That's a real problem for conservation, because the species at the greatest risk of extinction may disappear before we ever find them," says Silman.
While the authors are confident that these hyperdominants also dominate the vast expanses of Amazonia where scientists have never set foot, they do not know why some species are hyperdominant and others are rare.
The authors note that a large number of hyperdominants including Brazil nut, chocolate, rubber, and aai berry have been used and cultivated for millennia by human populations in Amazonia.
"There's a really interesting debate shaping up," says Pitman, "between people who think that hyperdominant trees are common because pre-1492 indigenous groups farmed them, and people who think those trees were dominant long before humans ever arrived in the Americas."
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