Home prices dropped in November in most US cities

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. home prices fell for a third straight month in nearly all cities tracked by a major index. The declines show that most homeowners are not reaping the benefits from some signs of an improving housing market.

Prices dropped in November from October in 19 of the 20 cities tracked, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index released Tuesday. The steepest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit. Phoenix was the only city to show an increase.

The declines partly reflect the typical fall slowdown after the peak buying season.

Still, prices fell in 18 of the 20 cities in November compared to the same month in 2010. Only Washington and Detroit posted year-over-year increases.

Prices in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa dropped to their lowest points since the housing crisis began. And prices have fallen 33 percent nationwide since the housing bust, to 2003 levels.

"The trend is down and there are few, if any, signs in the numbers that a turning point is close at hand," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the S&P's index committee.

The Case-Shiller index covers half of all U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The November data are the latest available.

Home values remain depressed despite some hopeful signs at the end of last year.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose in the last three months. Homebuilders are more optimistic after seeing more people express interest in buying this year. And home construction picked up in the final quarter of last year, which helped housing contribute to broader economic growth.

Home prices tend to follow sales, which are still below healthy levels. And a large number of vacant homes are sitting idle on the market, which means prices will likely stay unchanged for several years, said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

"The most likely scenario in the U.S. is that in 2012 prices will bob around a bit, with one month's gain being reversed the next month," Dales said. "But in general, over the next couple of years, house prices will do nothing more than remain broadly stable."

Dales said prices might not rise consistently until 2015. He said lower unemployment and better pay raises are essential to a full housing rebound.

Among other improvements needed:

? The supply of homes for sale must decline further. The inventory fell in November to a seven-month supply, although a healthy supply is about six months.

? Sales need to rise consistently and more first-time buyers must drive the increases. First-time buyers stay longer and invest in their homes, which helps neighboring home values rise.

? More young people and immigrants must buy. Declining immigration and a rise in renting has hampered home sales.

? More than a million homes at risk of foreclosure must be cleared from the market. Many are in limbo because a government investigation into questionable mortgage lending practices, which has dragged on for more than a year.

? Banks must further loosen lending requirements.

Conditions are improving for those in position to buy a home. Job growth is up, prices are down, mortgage rates are at record lows and rental prices have risen sharply since the housing bust.

Still, many Americans can't afford to buy or are unable to qualify for mortgage. Some people in position to buy are holding off, worried that prices could fall even further.

Many economists say the U.S. could be experiencing what similarly occurred in Britain in the 1990s, when it took four years for home prices to rise again after falling prices left homeowners with little financial equity in their homes.

"Most house price measures have looked pretty weak lately even though some other housing indicators have improved in recent months," said Daniel Silver, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase, adding that there is "not enough momentum in the housing market yet to drive up prices."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-31-Home%20Prices/id-47349c43a89f440b82d3a645c8073014

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Santorum's Hypocrisy Highlighted by Daughter's Illness (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum suspended his bid for the GOP nod to run against Barack Obama when his daughter, Bella Santorum, was hospitalized, according to the Associated Press. Bella suffers from Trisomy 18, a rare genetic disorder in which a baby has some or all of an extra chromosome. While it is always tragic for a parent to face losing a child, the situation highlights a political issue: Santorum's hypocrisy on health care, abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

Santorum's campaign website discusses his views on these matters. He is emphatically against a woman's right to control her own body in reproductive matters and is adamantly opposed to embryonic stem cell research. He is against a single-payer national health care system provided to all citizens. He opposes the first two on religious grounds on the third for reasons of political dogma.

As to abortion, Santorum flip-flops on his opposition, according to a Care2.com report. It's easy for him to rail against abortion when such ranting might win him votes.

It's also easier for him to oppose it because he has the best health care in America available to him and his family -- provided at taxpayer expense, no less. He never had to consider whether care for a terminally ill child would destroy his family financially.

Unless the U.S. enacts a national health care plan most families will never be able to afford the care needed for a child with Trisomy 18. Santorum's family will never lack for health care or face crippling medical debt -- but as far as he's concerned it's fine for your family to have those problems.

Santorum's opposition to embryonic stem cell research is ludicrous for two reasons. First, such research involves the collection of cells from a blastocyst, a blob of about 150 cells so small the human eye cannot detect it, according to the National Institute for Health. Second, such research could save the lives of his daughter and countless others suffering from her condition. It's despicable for him to fight against the best possible hope for a cure to the very condition killing his child.

It makes me wonder how Santorum's opinion might change if he was an average American with a household income of less than $50,000 per year and no health insurance. I bet he'd sing a different tune.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120129/pl_ac/10899655_santorums_hypocrisy_highlighted_by_daughters_illness

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Jury selection begins in LAPD detective's trial (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A veteran Los Angeles police detective charged with a decades-old murder faces prospective jurors Monday.

Stephanie Lazarus will be in the courtroom as questionnaires are handed to potential jurors. Opening statements in her trial could begin next week.

The 51-year-old art crimes detective has pleaded not guilty to shooting her ex-lover's new wife in 1986. Sherri Rasmussen was shot three times in the chest at her Van Nuys townhouse. Rasmussen's husband told police that Lazarus had repeatedly threatened her.

Prosecutors say DNA from a bite mark on Rasmussen's arm tied Lazarus to the slaying.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_us/us_detective_killing

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Private investors near deal on Greek debt

ATHENS, Greece?? A disorderly and potentially devastating Greek debt default is looking much less likely.

Greece and investors who own its bonds have reached a tentative deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion bailout.

Negotiators for the investors announced the agreement Saturday and said it could become final next week. If the agreement works as planned, it will help Greece remain solvent and help Europe avoid a blow to its already weak financial system, even though banks and other bond investors will have to accept multibillion-dollar losses.

Still, it doesn't resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.

Under the agreement, investors holding euro206 billion in Greek bonds would exchange them for new bonds worth 60 percent less.

The new bonds' face value is half of the existing bonds. They would have a longer maturity and pay an average interest rate of slightly less than 4 percent. The existing bonds pay an average interest rate of 5 percent, according to the think tank Re-Define.

The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense on the bonds from about $10 billion to about $4 billion. And when the bonds mature, instead of paying bondholders euro206 billion, Greece will have to pay only euro103 billion.

Without the deal, which would reduce Greece's debt load by at least euro120 billion, the bonds held by banks, insurance companies and hedge funds would likely become worthless. Many of these investors also hold debt from other countries that use the euro, which could also lose value in the event of a full-fledged Greek default. This is the scenario analysts fear most and why they hope investors will voluntarily accept a partial loss on their Greek bonds.

The agreement taking shape is a key step before Greece can get a second, euro130 billion bailout from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund. Besides restructuring its debt with private investors, Greece must also take other steps before getting aid. It must cut its deficit and boost the competitiveness of its economy through layoffs of government employees and the sale of several state companies, among other moves.

Greece faces a euro14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20, which it cannot afford without additional help.

The country got its first bailout in May 2010 when the EU and the IMF signed off on a euro110 billion aid package, most of which has already been disbursed.

Private investors hold roughly two-thirds of Greece's debt, which has reached an unsustainable level ? nearly 160 percent of the country's annual economic output. By restructuring the debt held by private investors, Greece and its EU partners are hoping to bring that ratio closer to 120 percent by the end of this decade. Without a deal, analysts forecast that ratio ballooning to 200 percent by the end of this year as the Greek economy falters.

Meanwhile, Greece's public creditors ? ? the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank ? are baffled by the government's repeated failure to meet deficit targets. They want more government wage cuts. That is meeting resistance by Greek politicians afraid of losing an election tentatively scheduled for the spring. But those same politicians also worry that the nation will be denied a second bailout if doesn't reduce its deficit.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Saturday night asked those who oppose structural changes to reconsider their stance.

"The coming days will be decisive for the next decade ... We must answer to tough dilemmas and we must do so with foresight and a sense of responsibility and not hide behind each other," he told reporters after meeting with the public creditors.

In return for the first bailout, Greece's public creditors have unprecedented powers over Greek spending. However, Greece's problems will not be fixed simply by cutting government spending. In order to bring its debts to a more manageable level, the country must also find ways boost economic output, which would enable it to collect more taxes.

If no debt-exchange deal is reached with private creditors and Greece is forced to default, it would very likely spook Europe's ? and possibly the world's ? financial markets. It could even lead Greece to withdraw from the euro.

Sarah Ketterer, co-manager of Causeway International Value Fund, a $1.4 billion mutual fund that invests in European stocks, said the region's markets have rebounded this month largely on expectations that negotiators would reach a deal along the lines of the one being finalized now.

Any last-minute breakdown in the talks could trigger a sharp decline in European markets, she said. But a rally is unlikely if negotiations succeed.

"The equity markets have ... largely already discounted this, and you can see that in the confidence that has returned in European equities since the end of December, and especially for financial stocks," Ketterer said.

She said there "really was no other option" than reaching a deal for bondholders to take a haircut of 50 percent or more.

Ketterer said a Greek deal could help restore bond market confidence. That would help Italy manage its own debt crisis ? one that Ketterer views as more critical than Greece's because of Italy's greater size.

The investors who own Greek bonds are being represented by Charles Dallara, managing director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of the French bank BNP Paribas.

___

AP personal finance writer Mark Jewell in Boston, Elena Becatoros in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46175493/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

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Michigan Voters Don't Favor Legalizing Marijuana (ContributorNetwork)

Michigan voters passed the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act in 2008 with nearly 63 percent of the vote. On the November ballot, Michigan voters might be asked to consider legalizing marijuana for general use. According to a recent poll, residents are far more cautious about that type of law, reports the Detroit Free Press. Here are details about the legalized marijuana petition drive and how residents are responding to it.

* The Committee for a Safer Michigan (Detroit News. Abel said in light of enforcement issues and confusion about its parameters, legalization advocates want to scrap the law. The repeal would make cultivation, manufacture and distribution of marijuana available for anyone over 21 years old who is not incarcerated. Driving or operating machinery under the influence of marijuana would be subject to the same laws as drunk driving.

* According to Michigan's Licensing and Regulatory Affairs office there are about 130,000 registered medical marijuana users. According to Repeal Today , the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program has only made matters worse for those who are suffering and need the drug. Marijuana restrictions haven't prevented children from accessing, have created expensive legal battles and have made it only accessible by drug cartels.

* The petition drive will need 322,609 signatures by July 9 to get it on the November ballot. Supporters say though no state has completely legalized marijuana, presidential candidate Ron Paul has introduced a bill that would allow states to make their own laws about it.

* A poll by EPIC-MRA of Lansing shows more conservative numbers of support, says the Detroit Free Press. 45 percent of respondents said they would favor legalizing pot and 50 percent were against it. The rest was undecided. 43 percent of voters younger than 40 supported decriminalizing marijuana; 55 percent of voters ages 50 to 55 favored it; among voters older than 65, 40 percent agreed.

* In all Michigan counties but Wayne, voters oppose legalizing marijuana.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about people, places, events and issues in her home state of "Pure Michigan."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120128/hl_ac/10885915_michigan_voters_dont_favor_legalizing_marijuana

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Pats' line has tough job against Giants' pass rush (AP)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ? Tom Brady felt the power of the New York Giants' pass rushers when he was sacked five times in their first Super Bowl confrontation.

Four years later, the New England Patriots' offensive linemen expect another fierce attack on their quarterback in the championship rematch on Feb. 5. The Giants will indeed have plenty of strong, speedy pass rushers zeroing in on Brady.

"This year, they're definitely the best defensive line in football," Patriots right guard Brian Waters said Friday. "The wave of good football players they throw at you definitely makes them a difficult task."

There's Jason Pierre-Paul with 16 1/2 sacks, Osi Umenyiora with nine and Justin Tuck with five. Chris Canty and Mathias Kiwanuka also can put pressure on the quarterback.

"They've got good pass rushers across the board," left guard Logan Mankins said, "and when their backups come in they're good, too, so you're going to always have four guys that are very good pass rushers in the game."

At least Brady has Super Bowl experience against an aggressive Giants pass rush.

The Patriots' quest for a perfect 19-0 season ended with a 17-14 loss in the 2008 Super Bowl. After the Giants scored the decisive touchdown with 35 seconds left, Brady was sacked for the fifth and final time.

Mankins didn't care to discuss his memories of the Giants' pass rush on that day.

"That was four years ago," he said Friday. "Next question."

But Umenyiora thinks the Patriots view the upcoming game as a chance to get even.

"Of course," he said. "I mean, if I were them, that's what I would be doing. Great players ? Mankins, (Matt) Light, the (Sebastian) Vollmer kid. They have some very good football players. They were embarrassed about that last game and they are going to do everything in their power not to allow that to happen."

The Patriots have had some memorable, if regrettable, games when Brady's gotten hit.

In the opener of the 2008 season, he suffered a season-ending knee injury when he was hit by Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard. In a 33-14 wild-card playoff loss to Baltimore on Jan. 10, 2010, Brady was sacked three times. The next year, he was sacked five times as the New York Jets won a divisional playoff game 28-21.

But Brady has received decent protection recently. He was sacked a respectable 32 times in the regular season. In the playoffs, he wasn't sacked in a 45-10 win over Denver and was sacked just once in a 23-20 win over Baltimore in the AFC championship game.

The Giants sacked him just twice in their 24-20 win on Nov. 6. But one of those sacks, by Michael Boley, forced a fumble and the Giants took a 10-0 lead on the next play on Brandon Jacobs 10-yard run.

"Tom has been in this position before," said running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who may do more blocking than usual. "We have to come out and just be assignment sound."

At times, the Giants use four defensive ends, trying to generate speed against the power of the offensive linemen.

"That's the biggest difference," Waters said, "knowing who you're going against from play to play. You have to know that every one of those guys have different elements of their game from JPP (Pierre-Paul) and his long arms and his super athletic ability to a guy like Tuck, who is a veteran, a guy who is always going to give you one look and do something different to the bigger guys in the middle, the guys who are real physical."

So what's an offense to do?

It can keep an extra blocker in, a running back or wide receiver. It can have a wide receiver or tight end throw a chip block before starting his route. It can throw quick passes before the pressure reaches Brady.

Draw plays and screen passes can slow down pass rushers by making them hesitate before charging the quarterback, but the Patriots have used those infrequently this season.

Deion Branch came up with an original tactic for him and his fellow wide receivers.

"Well, if we can switch positions with the linemen, hopefully (defensive) linemen move out and then we block the corners," he said with a laugh. "But, overall, there's a lot of things we can do. We'll make those adjustments on the sideline."

They can also fight.

Umenyiora said he and Patriots left tackle Light did that in their first meeting this season.

"I've actually fought him twice, a for-real fight on the football field twice. Me and him have history and we are going to rekindle that," Umenyiora said. "He wasn't as bad in the Super Bowl, but this past game we fought again. I don't know what it is he does, but there is something he is doing that really gets under my skin. I am not that type of guy. He is the only guy I have ever fought on the football field.

"I think he is more important to his team than I am right now. So if we both fight and get kicked out (Pierre-Paul) and Tuck will have a field day."

___

AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J. contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_patriots_protecting_brady

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OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity

It's MacWorld, which means those providers of Apple gear are busting out wares for aftermarket insertion into your objects of desire. Other World Computing's latest offering is a slender solid-state drive ready to be crow-barred into last year's MacBook Airs. The bombastically named OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD is a SATA Rev. 3.0 drive with a promised 6Gb/s data speed at sizes of up to a staggering 480GB. Since the stock drives are limited to the 3Gb/s SATA Rev. 2.0 (but the controllers run 3.0), you should find a significant performance bump when swapping in the new unit. The toggle-synchronous NAND drives come in a variety of sizes, starting at 120GB ($260), but it's the brand new and quite beastly 480GB model that has us excited. Sure, $1,150 is a lot to ask for less than half a terrabyte of storage, but you'll get a three-year warranty for all that cash. We may never give you our money, nor our funny pages, but you can have the press release that's after the break.

Continue reading OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity

OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Will Markets Reach A 52-Week High?

This market seems to be enjoying some upside activity, says Ben Lichtenstein, TradersAudio.com, who adds the Dow has a great possibility of reaching a 52-week high, closing at at the highest level in 3.5 years.

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46145356/

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gogamecocks: USC leader: Response to NCAA was ?painful? http://t.co/RMuhHCSF

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Caterpillar continues strong run (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) reported a 58 percent rise in quarterly earnings on Thursday that blew away Wall Street expectations and it projected strong growth for 2012 despite global economic uncertainly.

Caterpillar's results cap a record 2011 in terms of sales and profits. Acquisitions, increased demand for mining equipment, favorable commodity prices and growth in construction machinery and parts sales supported the company during the year.

Investors reacted positively to the report, with shares up 2.7 percent in premarket activity.

Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar said it would continue to break records in 2012, with profit expected to rise 25 percent to $9.25 a share, and revenue projected to increase between 30 percent and 19 percent.

"We're expecting 2012 to be another year of good growth," Caterpillar Chief Executive Doug Oberhelman said in a press release. "We have to be prepared for recovery in the developed world beyond 2012 and continued growth in emerging markets."

The world's largest heavy machinery maker said net income for the fourth quarter was $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share, compared with $968 million, or $1.47 per share, a year ago. That result was 59 cents above the analysts' average estimate of $1.73 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 35 percent to $17.24 billion, above Wall Street estimates of $16.05 billion.

Caterpillar's forecast for 2012 is above current Wall Street estimates.

Caterpillar warned that costs will rise to meet production needs, and the company is facing production capacity constraints. Oberhelman said construction markets in the United States and Europe will remain "depressed."

Caterpillar will invest about $4 billion on capital expenditures in 2012, compared with $2.6 billion in 2011.

Still, the company is enjoying solid growth in its resource-equipment sector due to solid demand and favorable prices in the commodities markets. It also is seeing steady demand for after-market parts needed for equipment already in use.

(Reporting By John Stoll; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/bs_nm/us_caterpillar

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Man convicted in Travolta car theft ordered to pay (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A man who stole John Travolta's vintage 1970 Mercedes-Benz convertible has been sentenced to 16 months in jail and ordered to pay the actor $50,000 in restitution, according to court records obtained Wednesday.

Travolta had parked the convertible on a residential street in Santa Monica for about 10 minutes in September when it was stolen.

The Oscar-nominated actor had the keys with him while he went to a nearby Jaguar dealership.

Santa Monica police Sgt. Richard Lewis said Travolta's car had been dismantled by the time it was recovered. Among the pieces found were seats, the speedometer, hubcaps and other parts.

D L Rayford Jr., 52, pleaded no contest on Jan. 5 to grand theft auto after he and Michael T. Green were arrested last month.

Green has pleaded not guilty to two counts of grand theft auto. Robert Conley, his public defender, said he could not comment.

Lewis said authorities waited until Wednesday to announce the arrests because their investigation into Rayford and Green had been ongoing. Police were able to clear eight stolen car cases after their arrests, Lewis said.

An email message seeking comment from Travolta's publicist Samantha Mast was not immediately returned.

Rayford has a previous conviction for robbery. Green, 58, has prior convictions for robbery and grand theft auto. He is due in court on Feb. 8.

___

Follow Anthony McCartney at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_en_mo/us_john_travolta_mercedes_stolen

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Wounded British servicemen row across Atlantic

By NBC News

A group of?British servicemen?completed an epic voyage across the Atlantic on Wednesday, landing in Barbados to?enthusiastic cheers.

The six-man row2recovery team included four men?who lost limbs serving in?Iraq or Afghanistan. The men?took?51 days to?cross from the Canary Islands, battling a number of setbacks, including a broken rudder and lack of fresh water.

See their arrival below:

It's taken 51 days to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, and they've suffered setback after setback. But finally, they did it. A team of injured British servicemen completed their epic row across the Atlantic. ITN's Nina Nanar reports.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10237161-wounded-british-servicemen-row-across-atlantic

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Eq. Guinea faces rising African Cup expectations

Associated Press Sports

updated 8:57 a.m. ET Jan. 24, 2012

BATA, Equatorial Guinea (AP) -Beating Libya has completely changed Equatorial Guinea's expectations at the African Cup of Nations as it prepares to play a Senegal side in desperate need of a victory on Wednesday.

Previously, fans of Equatorial Guinea gave the tournament newcomer and lowest-ranked team little hope of winning a match.

Then it stunned Libya in the cup opener on Saturday.

Now, taxis are bedecked with flags, the red shirt of the national team is everywhere and the team's nickname - Nzalang Nacional, meaning "National Lightning" - is on everybody's lips.

The victory means the Equatorial Guinea team will have to shoulder a different kind of pressure against Senegal, as fans expect a positive result against one of the tournament's top-ranked teams.

"I think we needed to play well and win the first game," said Equatorial Guinea midfielder Juvenal Edjogo-Owono, who captained the side against Libya. "We had to win the first game to have more confidence. With hard work and faith in our chances we can go far."

As the nation gets behind the team, some have questioned how representative the squad really is.

Most of the players in the 23-man party were born abroad and have either been naturalized to play with the Nzalang Nacional or qualify through a family member.

CAF spokesman Nicholas Musonye said all players registered to play at the African Cup had their eligibility checked with FIFA by tournament organizers.

Edjogo-Owono, who was born in Spain to an Equatorial Guinean father and Spanish mother, has spoken against the use of too many naturalized players. He told The Associated Press that those with Equatorial Guinean ancestry plying their trade in foreign clubs should be scouted more actively.

"We see players in Spain and Portugal who could play and we tell people he is good, but they (the players) don't always come. I don't know why," he said.

For now, the team is making the most of the players it has - wherever they come from. A win against Senegal would all but clinch a place in the knockout round with a game to spare.

Equatorial Guinea coach Gilson Paulo is unlikely to change his starting lineup, though Spain-based striker Rodolfo Bodipo is pushing for a place as he continues his recovery from a left ankle injury.

For Senegal, captain Mamadou Niang may drop to the bench as coach Amara Traore searches for a more balanced approach from a team that looked to have too many attacking options during the 2-1 opening loss to Zambia.

Finding the right mix has eluded Traore so far, as he tries to fit attackers such as Demba Ba, Papiss Demba Cisse, Moussa Sow, Souleymane Camara and Niang into a cohesive lineup.

Asked whether his team can win the whole tournament, coach Paulo allowed himself a grin.

"It's my job - I can't think anything else," he said.

In the other Group A match on Wednesday, Zambia will look to follow its surprise 2-1 win against Senegal with a second victory against Libya.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Barca awaits Real Madrid again

Real Madrid probably will abandon its defensive strategy and go on the attack against Barcelona in the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Stefano Rellandini / Reuters

That's a reason?

AC Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng is hurt again, and his girlfriend says it's because they have sex "7-10 times a week." Oh.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46112609/ns/sports-soccer/

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Too many tests? Routine checks getting second look

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2009 file photo, a man sits on an ergometer during an electrocardiogram in a doctor's surgical office in Stuttgart, Germany. Some of the nuts-and-bolts tests administered during check-ups and non-emergency visits are getting a second look. Think twice about a routine EKG if you have no heart symptoms, or a chest X-ray just because you?re going in for knee surgery. Increasingly, groups that represent the very doctors who order the most common medical tests say they do so way too often, wasting money and sometimes harming people when false alarms spur unneeded follow-up care. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2009 file photo, a man sits on an ergometer during an electrocardiogram in a doctor's surgical office in Stuttgart, Germany. Some of the nuts-and-bolts tests administered during check-ups and non-emergency visits are getting a second look. Think twice about a routine EKG if you have no heart symptoms, or a chest X-ray just because you?re going in for knee surgery. Increasingly, groups that represent the very doctors who order the most common medical tests say they do so way too often, wasting money and sometimes harming people when false alarms spur unneeded follow-up care. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Recent headlines offered a fresh example of how the health care system subjects people to too many medical tests ? this time research showing millions of older women don't need their bones checked for osteoporosis nearly so often.

Chances are you've heard that many expert groups say cancer screening is overused, too, from mammograms given too early or too often to prostate cancer tests that may not save lives. It's not just cancer. Now some of the nuts-and-bolts tests given during checkups or hospital visits are getting a second look, too ? things like routine EKGs to check heart health, or chest X-rays before elective surgery. Next under the microscope may be women's dreaded yearly pelvic exams.

The worry: If given too often, these tests can waste time and money, and sometimes even do harm if false alarms spur unneeded follow-up care.

It begs the question: Just what should be part of my doctor's visit?

If you're 65 or older, Medicare offers a list of screenings to print out and discuss during the new annual wellness visit, a benefit that began last year. As of November, more than 1.9 million seniors had taken advantage of the free checkup.

For younger adults, figuring out what's necessary and what's overkill is tougher. Whatever your age, some major campaigns are under way to help. They're compiling lists of tests that your doctor might be ordering more out of habit, or fear of lawsuits, than based on scientific evidence that they are really needed.

"Too often, we order tests without stopping to think about how (if at all) the result will help the patient," wrote Dr. Christine Laine. She's editor of Annals of Internal Medicine, which this month published a list of 37 scenarios where testing is overused.

Not even physicians are immune when it comes to their own health care. Dr. Steven Weinberger of the American College of Physicians had minor elective surgery for torn knee cartilage about a year ago. The hospital required a pre-operative chest X-ray, an EKG to check his heart, and a full blood work-up ? tests he says aren't recommended for an otherwise healthy person at low risk of complications.

Weinberger should know: He led the team that compiled that new list of overused tests. All three examples are on it.

"If anyone should have objected, I should have objected, but I took the easy way out. I didn't want to be raising a fuss, quite frankly," he says.

The college of physicians' push for what it calls "high-value, cost-conscious care" ? and similar work being published in the Archives of Internal Medicine ? aims to get more doctors to think twice so their patients won't be put in that uncomfortable position. Another group, the National Physicians Alliance, is studying whether training primary care doctors in parts of Connecticut, California and Washington about the most overused care will change their habits.

Medical groups have long urged patients not to be shy and to ask why they need a particular test, what its pros and cons are, and what would happen if they skip it. This spring, a campaign called Choosing Wisely promises to provide more specific advice. The group will publish a list of the top 5 overused tests and treatments from different specialties. Consumer Reports will publish a layman's translation, to help people with these awkward discussions.

For now, some recent publications offer this guidance:

?No annual EKGs or other cardiac screening for low-risk patients with no heart disease symptoms. That's been a recommendation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for years. Yet a Consumer Reports survey of more than 8,000 people ages 40 to 60 found 44 percent of low-risk, people with no symptoms had undergone an EKG or similar screening. Simple blood pressure and cholesterol checks are considered far more valuable.

?Discuss how often you need a bone-density scan for osteoporosis. An initial test is recommended at 65, and Medicare pays for a repeat every two years. A study published last week found that a low-risk woman whose initial scan is healthy can wait up to 15 years for a repeat; those at moderate risk might need retesting in five years, high-risk women more often.

?Women under 65 need that first bone scan only if they have risk factors such as smoking or prior broken bones, say the two new overtesting lists.

?Most people with low back pain for less than six weeks shouldn't get X-rays or other scans, Weinberger's group stresses.

?Even those all-important cholesterol tests seldom are needed every year, unless yours is high, according to the college of physicians. Otherwise, guidelines generally advise every five years.

?Pap smears for a routine cervical cancer check are only needed once every three years by most women. So why must they return to the doctor every year to get a pelvic exam (minus the Pap)? For no good reason, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month. Pelvic exams aren't a good screening tool for ovarian cancer, and shouldn't be required to get birth control pills, the report says.

Yes, simple tests can harm. Cleveland Clinic cardiology chief Dr. Steven Nissen cites a 52-year-old woman who wound up with a heart transplant after another doctor ordered an unneeded cardiac scan that triggered a false alarm and further testing that in turn punctured her aorta.

A close relationship with a primary care doctor who knows you well enough to personalize care maximizes your chances of getting only the tests you really need ? without wondering if it's all just about saving money, says Dr. Glen Stream of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

"The issue is truly about what is best for patients," he says.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

___

Online:

Medicare preventive services list: http://1.usa.gov/aiOTnS

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-23-HealthBeat-Too%20Many%20Tests?/id-e6d473921e924a72b761d1fc9301c570

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Mighty mesh

Monday, January 23, 2012

New research at Harvard explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, pipes, surgical instruments, and crops.

Through experiment and mathematical analysis, researchers have shown that the extracellular matrix (ECM), a mesh of proteins and sugars that can form outside bacterial cells, creates osmotic pressure that forces biofilms to swell and spread.

The ECM mechanism is so powerful that it can increase the radius of some biofilms five-fold within 24 hours.

The results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Biofilms, large colonies of bacteria that adhere to surfaces, can be harmful in a wide range of settings, resulting in tooth decay, hospital infections, agricultural damage, and corrosion. Finding ways to control or eliminate biofilms is a priority for many industries.

In order for a biofilm to grow, a group of bacterial cells must first adhere to a surface and then proliferate and spread. When a vast number of cells are present, this can translate into the creation of a filmy surface spanning several meters.

"Our work challenges the common picture of biofilms as sedentary communities by showing how cells in a biofilm cooperate to colonize surfaces," says lead author Agnese Seminara, a research associate at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

Several types of biofilms have been characterized based on composition and antibiotic resistance, but until now it has not been clear what roles the whip-like flagella and the ECM play in the outward movement of cells.

While the presence of a flagellum has traditionally been associated with greater movement capability, the new research has found that a flagellum actually confers little advantage in the formation of biofilms. In the Harvard study, mutant bacteria lacking flagella were able to spread at almost the same rate as the wild-type (natural) ones. Mutants that could not secrete the ECM, however, showed stunted growth.

The team of physicists, mathematicians, chemists, and biologists examined the formation of biofilms in Bacillus subtilis, a type of rod-shaped bacteria often found in soil. Their focus on this particular species was led by Roberto Kolter, Professor of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School, an expert on biofilms and the genomics of B. subtilis.

"This project establishes a link between the phenotype, the physically observable traits of biofilm growth, and the genetic underpinning that allows spreading to happen in B. subtilis," notes co-principal investigator Michael Brenner, the Glover Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics at SEAS.

The researchers had speculated about a possible connection between the biofilm's quest for nutrition and the process of spreading. Because biofilms absorb nutrients through their exposed surface area, they can only swell vertically to a certain point before the surface-area-to-volume ratio makes it impossible to adequately nourish every cell. At this point, the biofilm must begin to spread outward so that the surface area increases along with the number of cells.

The ECM, a complex mesh of proteins, sugars, and other components outside of the individual cells, holds the key to one aspect of this movement: it apparently increases osmotic pressure within the biofilm.

In response to the increased pressure, the biofilm immediately absorbs water from its surroundings, causing the entire mass to swell upward. The final change in the shape of the biofilm is due to a combination of this swelling and the horizontal spreading that follows.

Seminara and Brenner created a mathematical model that mirrored many of the team's physical observations. The model supported the experimental observations; by considering the relationship between swelling and spreading, they were able to find the "critical" time at which horizontal outward motion begins.

"This work is led by theoretical predictions which were tested by experiment and proved to be correct," reflects co-principal investigator David Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at SEAS and Co-Director of the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard. "The results also demonstrate how simple physical principles can provide considerable insight into the behavior of biofilms."

The motion of biofilms represents only a small part of a complex subject. Further research will investigate how biofilms adapt and possibly manipulate their environment. The ultimate goal is to alter biofilms' behavior to minimize their harmful effects.

"The natural question at this point is: do cells actively control biofilm expansion and can they direct it toward desired targets?" says Seminara. "This is a first step toward understanding the striking evolutionary success of these ubiquitous organisms, and it may open the way to unconventional methods of biofilm control."

###

Harvard University: http://www.harvard.edu

Thanks to Harvard University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116945/Mighty_mesh

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Delek says government rejects collateral for HSBC loan (Reuters)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) ? Israeli conglomerate Delek Group (DLEKG.TA) said on Sunday that the collateral to back an HSBC (HSBA.L) loan for its gas exploration units had been rejected by Israel's Petroleum Commissioner.

Last month, Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA) and Avner Oil Exploration (AVNRp.TA) received a $250 million non-recourse loan from HSBC for the development of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas sites off Israel's Mediterranean Coast and other expenses.

The companies sought to use the partnership rights in the Leviathan project as collateral but the regulator rejected the plan, Delek said in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

"The commissioner noted ... that if the partnerships decide to submit a new application, they would have to include clarifications with regard to the Tamar lease work and development financing plan and provide supporting documents," Delek said.

"The partnerships are considering additional steps, which include resubmission of an application with the new requirements."

The Tamar prospect, which contains an estimated 9.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, is due online in 2013, with Tamar expected to supply Israel's gas needs for more than 15 years. A nearby site, Leviathan, is nearly twice as large and due to be online around 2017.

Delek and Avner are part of a group led by U.S.-based Noble Energy (NBL.N) developing natural gas wells off Israel's Mediterranean coast.

Noble holds 36 percent of Tamar, while Delek and Avner own 15.625 percent each and Isramco Negev (ISRAp.TA) holds 28.75 percent.

The reliance on Israeli gas has intensified since supplies from Egypt have been erratic as militants have attacked the pipeline between Egypt and Israel 10 times in the past year.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/bs_nm/us_delek_collateral

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U.S. Border Patrol To Build Station In New Mexico's Bootheel

ANIMAS, N.M. -- The U.S. Border Patrol Friday announced it is building an outpost in New Mexico's Bootheel, one of the last unguarded regions between the United States and Mexico.

It's an unforgiving terrain where Geronimo made his last stand. Today, it remains largely isolated with no cell service, few unpaved roads but growing lawlessness as drug dealers and human smugglers increasingly look for alternatives to more traveled routes.

There are tales of drug traffickers breaking into homes and high speed chases that sometimes force school buses off dirt roads. One rancher even stumbled upon 19 lost and starving Chinese immigrants who had illegally entered from Mexico on their way to New York City.

Border officials say the new station in the Animas Valley will give the region 24-hour monitoring for the first time in its history, and will allow border patrol agents to quickly respond to illegal activities. Until now, agents had to drive an hour and a half each way from the nearest Border Patrol station in Lordsburg, N.M., to patrol the area.

El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Scott Luck, who is responsible for the New Mexico border, announced the new outpost at a community meeting of ranchers and residents in Animas, N.M. ,following months of deliberation and debate on where to locate the site. "Operationally and tactically, it was the best choice," said Luck, who made his final decision to sign a lease with a private land owner earlier this week. "It's a win-win situation for all of us."

Luck said he made his choice after listening to agents on the ground and considering which site could quickly dispatch agents to troubled spots. The new outpost will hold a heliport, horse corrals and modular buildings capable of housing up to 15 to 20 federal agents, who'll stay for short-term spans.

Construction will begin immediately and is expected to take four to six months. Luck said the agency will lease the land from the Diamond A Ranch, but declined to give details and did not know how about final estimated cost in building the facility.

According to border officials, the outpost -- also known as a forward operating base -- was needed because the isolated region has seen higher levels of illegal immigration and drug trafficking in recent years due to beefed up enforcement around El Paso, Texas, and the rest of New Mexico, although overall arrests in state have been declining for the last five years.

Last year, the agency reported 6,900 arrests along the New Mexico-Mexico border, with a large portion coming from the state's Bootheel.

In addition, Border officials say the Bootheel had around 1,500 known illegal entries in 2011.

"I see foot tracks all the time when I'm out on the land," said Levi Klump, a cattle rancher who's operated since 1989. "It's been getting worse."

But while the border patrol and area elected officials praised the announcement, Klump and other residents expressed disappointment that Luck did not choose another proposed site on U.S. Bureau of Land Management lot that is only seven miles from the border.

"The BLM site would have served as a deterrent to drug traffickers because it would have been visible," said Meira Gault, 62, who along with her husband, Stephen, 71, operates a 20,000 acre ranch just north of the border. "It had access to all the important roads and agents could see everything."

Stephen Gault said for years illegal immigrants and drug smugglers have been camping out on a mountain known as "Black Point, a mountain visible from the BLM land but not the chosen site. "There they are in plain site," he said. "They would have has easy access."

The Border Patrol say the site they chose is more strategically located to areas where they have seen the heaviest illegal traffic.

The Gaults and other ranchers had organized petition drives, written letters to elected officials and held community meetings in an attempt to pressure the U.S. Border Patrol to select the BLM proposal since it was already under federal control

After Friday's announcement, disappointed residents said they weren't sure if they had any other option but to accept the Border Patrol's selection. "I don't know what else we can do. We've done everything we've can," said Judy Keeler, the outgoing president of the Hidalgo County Cattle Growers Association. "I think their minds were already made up."

Keeler said regardless she hopes that federal authorities can finally get control of the region. She said her ranch had been burglarized and nearby state Highway 80 has become a favorite for Mexican cartel drug runners who manage to navigate out of the Peloncillo Mountains along the Arizona-New Mexico border.

During a recent afternoon along state highway 80 and Interstate 10, trash of bottle waters and abandon backpacks were visible under the freeways. Keeler said they is where illegal immigrants and drug traffickers wait for others to pick them up to continue their journey.

Meira Gault said whatever the U.S. Border Patrol has planned for the outpost, she hopes she sees the effects soon since residents are tired of the trafficking. "I'm from Israel and I remember the 1967 war," she said. "If I wanted to die over a border, I could have stayed there."

___

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/21/us-border-patrol-to-build_0_n_1221072.html

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Romney hobbles through debate ahead of South Carolina primary (Reuters)

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) ? Mitt Romney is still the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, but if he wins the South Carolina primary on Saturday, he might be limping across the finish line.

Romney turned in another uneven debate performance at best on Thursday, failing to keep main rival Newt Gingrich at bay and again making remarks that suggest he is out of touch.

The debate came after a bad few days, with his poll numbers dropping in South Carolina and Texas Governor Rick Perry endorsing Gingrich after giving up his own presidential bid.

Romney was way ahead in polls in South Carolina until a few days ago but Stuart Stevens, one of his top aides, sought to play down expectations late on Thursday night.

"I mean the idea should be, does he have a chance in South Carolina?" Stevens said. "These things are always going to close. I think it's very competitive."

Romney has suffered through a number of awkward debate moments, from his proposed $10,000 bet to Perry to Thursday night's claims that he is "from the real streets of America."

At one point in the debate, Romney, seemingly flustered by an attack from rival Rick Santorum, used the term "Romneycare," a derogatory name Republicans have given to healthcare changes Romney put in place when he was governor of Massachusetts.

Romney took fire from rivals Gingrich and Santorum on his conservative credentials and his record on healthcare.

When the issue of Romney's undisclosed tax returns came up, as it has repeatedly in the last week, there were a smattering of boos from the crowd when Romney held fast to his intention to release his returns in April.

Visibly irritated by the crowd reaction, Romney declared flatly: "I'm not going to apologize for being successful."

Pressed by moderator John King of CNN on whether he would release multiple years' tax returns, Romney first answered "maybe," then changed his response to a "yes."

Adam Temple, a South Carolina-based Republican consultant, said Romney needs to come up with a better way to handle questions about his taxes. "That's going to continue to be an issue until he puts it to bed," Temple said.

His lackluster debate performance could not have come at a worse time for Romney, who in the last two days has seen his South Carolina lead evaporate and his narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses reversed in favor of Santorum.

Romney, however, has a campaign organization that is vastly superior to that of his rivals and gives him an advantage in the following primary race in Florida.

Still, Romney's run to grab the Republican Party nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in November, thought inevitable a few days ago, is now less certain.

"Romney is still playing it safe and can't seem to connect with regular people to close the deal," said Republican strategist Mark Pfeifle.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/pl_nm/us_usa_campaign_romney

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HBT: Braun states case against PED suspension

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun finally got his day in court on Thursday afternoon. Here?s the story, from reporters Bill Madden, Andy Martino and Teri Thompson of the New York Daily News:

Ryan Braun, the National League?s Most Valuable Player, pleaded his case Thursday before a three-member panel that will decide whether he faces a 50-game suspension for testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

The appeal came just two days before Braun will accept his MVP award at the New York Chapter of the Baseball Writers? Association of America?s dinner Saturday night at the New York Hilton, sources familiar with Braun told the Daily News.

The panel, made up of?MLB Players Association executive director?Michael Weiner, MLB executive vice president for labor relations?Rob Manfred?and independent arbitrator Shyam Das, is not expected to reach a decision before Braun accepts his award. But our guess would be that it won?t take more than a week.

Braun is?maintaining a cry of innocence, but that early-October PED test showed insanely high levels of synthetic testosterone in his bloodstream and you have to wonder how he could possibly attempt to prove that it wasn?t ever there. Calling the test result a false-positive isn?t going to cut it, and arguing that something non performance-enhancing triggered the positive reading would require a whole lot of convincing.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/19/ryan-brauns-ped-suspension-appeal-was-heard-thursday/related/

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Worsening weather threatens Costa Concordia

Workers risk their lives to find the 21 people who are still missing. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

By msnbc.com news services

Updated at 7:30 p.m. ET: Italian authorities hope to stabilize the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia as worsening weather on Friday could cause it to shift deeper into the sea, delaying plans to pump oil out of the vessel to prevent a possible environmental disaster.

Six days after the 114,500 ton ship capsized off the Tuscan coast, hopes of finding anyone alive in the partially submerged hulk have all but disappeared.

Eleven people are known to have died and 21 people are still unaccounted for out of more than 4,200 passengers and crew aboard when the ship struck a reef just yards from the shoreline.

In the wake of the accident, Carnival Corporation, parent company of Costa Cruises and nine leading cruise lines around the world, announced Thursday plans for a comprehensive audit and review of all safety and emergency response procedures across all of the company's cruise lines.

"While I have every confidence in the safety of our vessels and the professionalism of our crews, this review will evaluate all practices and procedures to make sure that this kind of accident doesn't happen again," said Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation's chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Most cruise ships put emphasis on safety

Attention is now turning to how to remove 2,300 tons of fuel aboard the ship, with bad weather threatening to make the ship even more precarious on the rocky ledge where it is resting.

Environment Minister Corrado Clini told parliament he had urged the ship's operator, Costa Cruises, to take all possible measures to anchor the ship to prevent it from sliding deeper into the sea.

"If the ship slides, we hope that it doesn't break into pieces and that the fuel tanks do not open up," he said.

Clini said there was a risk that the ship could sink to 50 to 90 meters below the reef it is now on, creating a major hazard to the environment in one of Europe's largest natural marine parks

Updated at 3:40 p.m. ET:

Minutes after the Costa Concordia struck a rock, a crew member told the Italian coast guard there was no emergency on board the ship, according to an audio recording aired on Sky TG 24, an all-news channel in Italy.

The crew member is believed to be an officer, but not Capt. Francesco Schettino, NBC News reported.

The conversation started about 30 minutes after the Concordia ran aground and was the first between the coast guard and the cruise liner.

"Good evening Costa Concordia, please, do you have problems on board?," a coast guard official asks the bridge.

The crew member ?replies: "We've had a blackout, we are checking the conditions on board."

The coast guard asks: "What kind of a problem? Is it just something with the generator? The police ... have received a phone call from the relatives of a sailor who said that during the dinner everything was falling on his head."

The crew member says some passengers were already wearing life jackets, and repeated there had been a blackout. "We are checking the conditions on board."

REUTERS/Zhurnal Tv via Reuters TV

Costa Concordia crew member Dominica Cemortan gestures in this still image from a Jan. 17 television interview. Cemortan defended the captain's actions, saying he helped to save the lives of passengers.

Italian news reports say prosecutors want to speak to Dominica Cermotan of Moldova. Cermotan, a 25-year-old hostess who reportedly was working for Costa on the Concordia, said on her Facebook page that she wasn't on duty the night of the grounding but was with Schettino, other officers and the cruise director on the bridge. She said she was called to help with translations of instructions for how the small number of Russian passengers should evacuate.

She defended Schettino, telling Moldova's Jurnal TV that "he did a great thing, he saved over 3,000 lives."

"We were looking for them, searching for them (the Russians)," she said in the TV interview. "We heard them all crying, shouting in all languages."

Prosecutor Francesco Verusio declined to comment on whether he was seeking Cermotan as a witness, citing the ongoing investigation.

On Thursday, rescue teams resumed the search for victims from the Concordia disaster?before the weather turns and salvage crews need to start pumping fuel from the wreck. The search is expected to focus on the fourth deck, around an evacuation assembly point where seven of the bodies found so far were located. NBC News' Michelle Kosinski reports that the search team has been using sonar to look at the sea floor as well.

A scuba team was poised to go inside the wrecked Italian cruise liner, Kosinski reported Thursday morning.

One of the specialist diving crews said on Thursday the available window to complete the search could be as small as 12-24 hours although the chief spokesman of the rescue services denied that any deadline had been set and said the situation was still evolving.

The Costa Serena, the sister ship of the Costa Concordia, passed the partially-sunken liner on Wednesday evening. International cruise goers put on a brave face as Costa's first Mediterranean tour since last week's tragedy set sail out of the same port near Rome as the doomed luxury liner.

Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images

The Costa Serena, background, passes sister ship Costa Concordia on Jan. 18 off the coast of Italy's Isola del Giglio (Giglio island). International cruise goers put on a brave face as Costa's first Mediterranean tour since last week's tragedy set sail out of the same port near Rome as the doomed luxury liner.

Crew members returning home have begun speaking out about the chaotic evacuation, saying the captain sounded the alarm too late and didn't give orders or instructions about how to evacuate passengers. Eventually, crew members started lowering lifeboats on their own.

"They asked us to make announcements to say that it was electrical problems and that our technicians were working on it and to not panic," French steward Thibault Francois told France-2 television Thursday. "I told myself this doesn't sound good."

He said the captain took too long to react and that eventually his boss told him to start escorting passengers to lifeboats. "No, there were no orders from the management," he said.

Identifying victims
On Thursday, seven of the dead were identified by authorities: French passengers Jeanne Gannard, Pierre Gregoire, Francis Servil, 71, and Jean-Pierre Micheaud, 61; Peruvian crew member Thomas Alberto Costilla Mendoza; Spanish passenger Guillermo Gual, 68, and Italian passenger Giovanni Masia, who news reports said would have turned 86 next week and was buried in Sardinia on Thursday.

The first victim was identified on Wednesday as crewmember Sandor Feher, 38, of Hungary. Jozsef Balog, a pianist who worked with Feher, a violinist, told the Budapest newspaper Blikk that Feher was wearing a lifejacket when he decided to return to his cabin to pack his violin. Feher was last seen on deck en route to a lifeboat. According to Balog, Feher helped put lifejackets on several crying children before returning to his cabin.

The children of Barbara and Jerry Heil, a Minnesota couple aboard the ship that have been missing since the accident, said Wednesday in a blog posting that their parents are not among those passengers whose bodies were recently recovered.

DigitalGlobe

The Costa Concordia ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy, resulting in the evacuation of thousands of passengers as the ship began heavily listing.

Captain's 'complete inertia'
Schettino, blamed for causing the accident by steering too close to shore and then abandoning the vessel before the evacuation was complete, is under house arrest. Prosecutors said they would appeal against a decision by a judge on Tuesday to allow Schettino to return home, saying he may seek to flee.

"We do not understand why the judge took this decision and we don't agree with it," an official from the prosecutor's office in Grosseto said.

In the ruling, the judge said Schettino had shown "incredible carelessness" and "a total inability to manage the successive phases of the emergency," only sounding the alarm 30 to 40 minutes after the initial impact.

He had abandoned the ship and remained on shore in a state of "complete inertia" for more than an hour, "watching the ship sink," the ruling said.

"No serious attempt was made by the captain to return even close to the ship in the immediate aftermath of abandoning the Costa Concordia."

John H. Hickey, a maritime law expert, called the actions of Costa Concordia Capt. Francesco Schettino "disgusting" and "unforgivable," saying Schettino should have been the "last human being off that ship." The Costa Concordia cruise ship capsized off the coast of Italy Friday night, leaving at least 11 dead, with more than 20 people still missing.

According to Schettino's lawyer, the captain has admitted bringing the ship too close to shore but he denies bearing sole responsibility for the accident and says other factors may have played a role.

Schettino was always available to provide information to coast guard and rescue services throughout the evacuation, even when he was not on board the vessel, his lawyer says.

Schettino said he did not abandon ship, according to a transcript published by Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper and reported by the Associated Press.

"I did not abandon a ship with 100 people on board ... the ship suddenly listed and we were thrown into the water," Schettino reportedly said during a recorded telephone conversation with Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian coast guard in Livorno.

Schettino is accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck by sailing too close to shore and abandoning ship before all his passengers and crew scrambled off.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10189181-worsening-weather-threatens-costa-concordia-wrecks

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