Cruise ship fuel removal stalled due to rough seas

Italian Financial police scuba divers sale around the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian Financial police scuba divers sale around the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

View of the bow of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian firefighters approach the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

GIGLIO, Italy (AP) ? Rough seas off Italy's Tuscan coast forced a delay in the planned Saturday start of the operation to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the grounded Costa Concordia, and officials said pumping may now not begin until midweek.

Recovery operations continued, however, and on Saturday yielded a 17th body: The woman who wasn't wearing a life jacket was found by divers on the submerged sixth floor deck, civil protection officials said.

The Concordia ran aground on Jan. 13 off the port of the island of Giglio port after the captain deviated from his planned route and gashed the hull of the ship on a reef. Some 4,200 passengers and crew endured a panicked evacuation after the abandon ship alarm didn't sound until the ship had capsized so much that some life boats couldn't be lowered.

Some 16 people remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead.

On Saturday, the body found on the ship's deck on Jan. 28 was identified as Erika Soria Molina, 25, of Peru by Doris Sotomayor, Peru's consul general in Florence.

Sotomayor told The Associated Press that the body was found in a submerged part of the deck. Soria, who was wearing a service uniform, studied tourism in Peru and was born in the Andean city of Cuzco, southeast of Lima.

The removal of the fuel aboard the Concordia is a key concern since the seas around Giglio form part of a protected marine sanctuary and are a favorite destination for scuba divers. So far, no leakage has been detected.

Dutch shipwreck salvage firm Smit has been contracted by the Concordia's owner Costa Crociere SpA, a unit of Miami-based Carnival Corp., to remove the fuel. Smit's divers have made the necessary preparations to begin pumping out fuel from six outer tanks that hold more than half of the 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of heavy fuel oil that are aboard the ship.

The rest of the fuel is contained in inner tanks that are harder to access.

So far, divers have drilled into four of the six outer tanks and fixed valves on them: one on top, one on bottom. Hoses will then be attached to the valves and as the oil ? which must be warmed to make it less gooey ? is sucked out of the upper hose, sea water is pumped in to fill the vacuum via the lower hose.

Smit spokesman Martijn Schuttevaer told reporters Saturday that the pumping operation may not begin now until midweek since the poor weather is forecast at least through Tuesday. Officials don't want to risk the possibility that a battering of the hoses caused by rough seas might lead to leakage.

On Saturday, the choppy waters partially dislodged Smit's barge that was hitched to the Concordia's hull and had served as a staging platform for the fuel removal operation. Smit brought it back into port, where it will stay until the weather improves, Schuttevaer said.

The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, remains under house arrest, accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before its passengers had evacuated. He has admitted he took the ship on "tourist navigation" to bring it close to Giglio but said the reef he hit wasn't marked on his nautical charts.

___

Winfield reported from Rome. Franklin Briceno contributed in Lima, Peru.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-28-EU-Italy-Ship-Aground/id-265d2ec74b0b4821a0fa30f0dfb7331f

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Stanley builds 5-shot lead at Torrey Pines (AP)

SAN DIEGO ? Kyle Stanley overpowered Torrey Pines and opened a five-shot lead Saturday in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Stanley missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that would have set the 54-hole tournament record. He settled for a 4-under 68, a spot in the record book with Tiger Woods, and great position as he goes after his first PGA Tour win Sunday.

He was at 18-under 198, matching the record set by Woods in 1998.

John Huh, a PGA Tour rookie out of Q-school, also had a 68 and was at 13-under 203, along with John Rollins.

The South Course measures 7,698 yards and tends to favor big hitters, such as seven-time winner Woods, Phil Mickelson and defending champion Bubba Watson. Stanley is in that group of power players.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_sp_go_su/glf_farmers_insurance

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In Myanmar, a "sham" parliament stirs to life (Reuters)

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (Reuters) ? In Myanmar's sprawling parliamentary complex, lawmakers flexed their newly democratic muscles on Thursday. Some drafted anti-graft legislation for one of the world's most corrupt nations or clamored for transparency on a typically secret national budget.

Others wanted answers from the government: why are train lines across the country woefully inefficient? Will the government move faster to revamp clearer foreign-exchange rate laws and hold companies to task for shabby infrastructure on state contracts?

Derided as a well-choreographed sham in one of the world's most authoritarian countries when it opened a year ago, Myanmar's parliament began a third session on Thursday with feisty stirrings of democracy, under pressure to accelerate economic and political reforms that could soon convince the West to lift decades-old sanctions.

The main legislation up for debate requires the government to seek parliamentary approval for its budget. That alone is a significant change for Myanmar, where past military regimes drew up spending plans in secrecy, often carving out largesse for the army, which handed power to a nominally civilian government in March last year.

In the cavernous hallways of the lower house and the gilded main legislative chamber, legislators expressed unvarnished views, including some scathing criticism of government policy by those in the opposition.

It wasn't always this way.

"When we first came to parliament, we were worried we might be arrested," said U Ba Shin, a member of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, a major ethnic party that won nine of the lower house's 440 seats in the first general election in two decades in November 2010.

"Now there is less fear among the people. But many people still don't know their rights or speak their minds in parliament. There is big room for improvement."

Myanmar's purpose-built capital, Naypyitaw, has been a curiosity since it was built from scratch seven years ago, a virtual fortress where the then-military rulers of the former Burma isolated themselves some 320 km (200 miles) from the largest city, Yangon.

Bestowed with manicured, heavily watered lawns and forbidding stone walls, Naypyitaw bears no resemblance to the rest of the country, one of Asia's poorest, including nearby villages of mostly thatched wooden huts. Parliament's 31 buildings with pagoda-style roofs are its main attraction. Its wide boulevards and streets are eerily quiet.

In addition to the lower house there is a 224-seat senate. There are also 14 assemblies spread across the country.

"DON'T BE SCARED"

But changes inside the Hluttaw, or legislative chamber, are at the heart of the most dramatic reforms since the army took power in a 1962 coup and ushered in five decades of unbroken military rule that ended with the 2010 elections.

Shwe Mann, speaker of the house and a member of the military-backed dominant party that won the election, encouraged lawmakers to speak their minds on at least three occasions in the second session of parliament, from August 22 to November 25.

Shwe Mann's call for openness is in stark contrast to a year ago, when he was the powerful third-in-command of a much-feared junta that brutally crushed dissenting voices.

"He is trying very hard to put this democratic process in the parliament. He has been saying when we hold open voting 'You can openly show your opinion. Don't be scared'," said Sai Saung Si, 65, a member of parliament from northern Shan State and vice-chairman of the Shan Nationalities Development Party, that won 18 lower house seats in the election.

Sai Saung Si regularly voices the concerns of his constituency, including illegal seizures of land by companies or the army that went on for years unchecked.

"In the past, it would get taken away and people wouldn't know where to go to complain. But now we raise it in parliament. Seizing the land is not according to the law ... they must give it back to the people," he said in an interview.

Overtures by the government in recent months have included calls for peace with ethnic minority guerrilla groups, some tolerance of criticism, an easing of media controls, the legalization of labor unions and more communication with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released in 2010 after spending 15 of the past 20 years in detention.

But there is plenty of work to do and challenges ahead. Parliamentary politics is clearly a new phenomenon. Just ask the men in green.

Sitting on the right flank of the lower-house chamber are military men in fatigues. A quarter of lower house seats are reserved for the military.

And there are other conservative pockets of resistance to reforms, say legislators, although President Thein Sein stressed last week in an interview with the Washington Post that his government had "no intention to draw back" on reform.

"It is not at all impossible for the reforms to be reversed," said Sean Turnell, an economist at Macquarie University in Sydney who closely follows Myanmar.

"There are significant groups that are in opposition to some of the reforms but overall we are in a very much different space than we were only a matter of six months ago."

He described the first legislative session convened by the former military junta in January last year as "a mockery of a parliament." But there were flickers of change in the second session after the junta formally ceded power.

"The second session started to behave like a parliament. It was no longer a vehicle purely of the president or the military. It had a degree of independence. We are looking now to the third session to see which one was representative -- the first session or the second."

BARRIERS TO PROGRESS

It is a crucial question for investors who see plenty of opportunities as Myanmar begins to opens up.

But barriers to progress are formidable: U.S. sanctions, an incoherent exchange rate regime, woeful infrastructure, weak investment laws, a crippled banking system, decades of mismanagement and a shortage of skilled workers.

"Economic reform, if anything now, is beginning to lag behind the political reform," said Turnell, adding that investors were waiting for a long-overdue foreign investment-protection law to snake through parliament.

"We have yet to see it. I am a little bit worried about that. It is a law that needs to get through but there is still a little bit of debate about it.

"When something like that does pass, that will be quite a signal that real economic reform is under way."

Some see that change happening if Suu Kyi wins a seat in the lower house in April by-elections.

"When she comes to the parliament, if she raises one issue, and this issue is very beneficial to the country, then who will dare go against it?" said Sai Saung Si.

(Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Martin Petty and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/wl_nm/us_myanmar_parliament

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webOS Instapaper app makes leap to Android

Now that HP has open sourced webOS and announced their Enyo 2.0 framework plenty of webOS developers have been digging through the code. Given the nature of how Enyo works and it's compatibility with WebKit, we're quite certain plenty of webOS developers will be making their apps available in the Android Market as soon as possible.

One such app that has already made the leap is Paper Mache built by Ryan Watkins. The app allows for access to Instapaper provided you have an Instapaper paid account and it does so rather beautifully. With included features such as offline access, syncing across devices and configurable font, text size, spacing and margins, Paper Mache is a pretty no-brainer choice if you're looking for a great Instapaper app.

Designed to work on Android 2.2 and higher, Paper Mache is available now in the Android Market for free; you can jump past the break for the download link and let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: webOSNation

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/2RBQPyZtguE/story01.htm

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Men's hopes for robot prostate surgery unrealistic (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? Robot-assisted surgery for prostate cancer has been heavily hyped, and a new study suggests that men's expectations of the surgery may be too high.

Researchers found that of 171 men facing prostate cancer surgery, those having robotic surgery expected a shorter hospital stay, and a quicker return to their usual physical activity and sex life.

But those hopes may not be realistic.

Prostate removal is one treatment option for prostate cancer, and in the U.S., a majority of those surgeries are now done with the help of a "robot."

During the procedure, the surgeon sits at a console, operating robotic "arms" that extract the prostate gland through small cuts in the abdomen.

The robotic approach is expensive. And after hospitals invest the roughly $1.5 million for the machines, plus the cost of surgeon training and annual service contracts, they often aggressively market the approach -- as do the companies behind the technology.

And that may include claims that robotic surgery is better than the old-fashioned way.

"Since about the mid-2000s, people were thinking that robotic surgery was the greatest thing since sliced bread," said Dr. Judd W. Moul, a prostate surgeon at Duke University Medical Center who led the new study.

There was reason to believe that the better visualization with robotic surgery could lead to some better outcomes, Moul told Reuters Health.

On the other hand, he said, when surgeons actually use their hands, they get "tactile feedback" that's missing with the robotic approach.

And studies have suggested that while robotic surgery may have some short-term advantages -- like a somewhat shorter hospital stay -- there may be no clear difference in the most important outcomes.

So far, there's no good evidence that robotic-surgery patients fare any better as far as cancer recurrence or long-term side effects like urine leakage and erectile dysfunction.

And in an earlier study, Moul and his colleagues found that men who had the robotic procedure were actually less satisfied in the long run than those who had traditional surgery.

They guessed that patients' expectations going into surgery might have something to do with it.

MORE OPTIMISM WITH ROBOTIC SURGERY

So for the new study, they surveyed 171 men about their expectations heading into prostate cancer surgery. The majority of patients -- 97 -- had opted for robotic surgery, while 74 were going with the traditional route.

Overall, 89 percent men having the robotic surgery expected to stay just one night in the hospital, versus 37 percent of men having traditional surgery.

The robotic-surgery group also thought they would be back to exercising sooner -- typically predicting a five-week wait, versus six weeks in the other group. And they expected to have recovered their erectile function within five months of surgery.

Men having traditional surgery were much less optimistic. They typically assumed it would take nine months to regain their sex life.

On average, Moul said, men having robotic surgery do seem to get out of the hospital eight to 12 hours quicker.

But a small percentage, he noted, end up staying in the hospital for a few days because their bowel function does not return quickly.

As far as physical activity and long-term erectile function, it's not clear if there's any advantage to robotic surgery. At Duke, Moul noted, men are advised to avoid any heavy lifting for six weeks after surgery -- robot or not.

ASK TOUGH QUESTIONS

Where are men getting their expectations? Ads, the Internet and the general belief that high-tech must be better may all play a role, according to Moul.

"But I think that probably physician counseling has a lot to do with it," Moul said.

He noted that surgeons do have an incentive to push men toward the new technology in order to "work through their learning curve" -- that is, hone their skills by doing more procedures.

Increasingly, experts are saying that men should put more stock in their surgeon's experience than on the type of prostate surgery.

Moul agreed. That experience, he said, "is what drives the long-term outcomes of urinary and sexual recovery of function."

"Ask your surgeon the tough questions," Moul said. That means asking how many procedures he or she has ever done, and how many per year.

There's no hard-and-fast number that defines a "good" surgeon. But Moul suggested that a doctor who performs at least 40 to 75 procedures a year (of one specific kind -- robot or traditional) would be considered experienced.

Of course, that all assumes a man has decided on having surgery.

Many men with early-stage prostate cancer can decide to hold off on treatment altogether. That's because prostate tumors are often slow-growing and may never advance to the point of threatening a man's life.

One study found that more than 120,000 American men diagnosed with prostate cancer every year are ideal candidates for "watchful waiting" -- which means doctors keep an eye on the cancer to see if it's progressing.

In reality, though, the majority of those men end up having surgery, radiation or other treatment instead.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/zqY56u Journal of Urology, online January 16, 2012.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/hl_nm/us_robot_prostate

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More than 7,500-year-old fish traps found in Russia

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Marta Garcia Gonzalo
marta.garcia.gonzalo@orgc.csic.es
34-915-681-476
CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas

A team of international archeologists, led by the Spanish National Research Council, has documented a series of more than 7,500-year-old fish seines and traps near Moscow. The equipment found, among the oldest in Europe, displays a great technical complexity. The survey will allow us to understand the role of fishing among the European settlements by early Holocene (10,000 years ago), especially in those areas where inhabitants did not practice agriculture until nearly the Iron Age.

Ignacio Clemente, CSIC researcher (Instituci Mil I Fontanals) and manager of the project, explains: "Until now, it was thought that the Mesolithic groups had seasonal as opposed to permanent settlements. According to the results obtained during the excavations, in both Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, the human group that lived in the Dubna river basin, near Moscow, carried out productive activities during the entire year".

According to Clemente and his team, during Neolithic and Mesolithic periods, the inhabitants of this region known as Zamostje 2 preferred to hunt during summer and winter, fish during spring and early summer, and harvest wild berries at the end of summer season and autumn. Clemente states: "We think that the fishing played a vital role in the economy of these societies, because it was a versatile product, easy to preserve, dry and smoke, as well as store for later consumption".

Advanced Technology

During this project, which has just come to an end after three years, several types of objects have been found: everyday objects (spoons, plates, etc.), working tools, hunting weapons and fishing implements, all of them manufactured with flint and other stones, bones and shafts. CSIC researcher adds: "The documented fishing equipment shows a highly developed technology, aimed for the practice of several fishing techniques. We can highlight the finding of two large wooden fishing traps (a kind of interwoven basket with pine rods used for fishing), very well-preserved, dating back from 7,500 years ago. This represents one of the oldest dates in this area and, no doubt, among the best-preserved since they still maintain some joining ropes, manufactured with vegetable fibers".

In addition, the researchers have recovered some objects related to the catch and processing of fish, such as hooks, harpoons, weights, floats, needles for nets manufacture and repair, as well as moose rib knives to scale and clean the fish.

Organic remains

One of the peculiarities of the Zamostje 2 site is the preservation of numerous organic materials, such as wood, bones, tree leaves, fossil feces, and especially fish remains. According to Clemente, "it is really unusual to find sites with so much preserved organic remains. The ichthyological remains that we have found give us an idea of the protein percentage provided by fish in the diet of the prehistoric population. Furthermore, these remains will help us to conduct a survey from the point of view of species classification, catch amount and size, and fishing season among others. These details are essential to be able to asses the role played by fishing in the economy of these human groups".

The site was discovered in the 80s, during the works to build the channel through the waters of the currently flowing Dubna river (Oka-Volga basin). Zamostje 2 displays four archeological levels: two from the Mesolithic period (between 7,900 and 7,100 years ago) and two from the Neolithic period (between 6,800 and 5,500 years ago). CSIC researcher concludes: "These levels are found under a subsoil layer with groundwaters and a subsequent peat bog level, which has allowed an excellent preservation of the archeological materials, even those of organic origin".

###

In the project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Institute for the History of Material Culture of Russian Academy of Sciences, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Sergiev Posad State History and Art Museum-Reserve, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and the French National Center for Scientific Research have also participated.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Marta Garcia Gonzalo
marta.garcia.gonzalo@orgc.csic.es
34-915-681-476
CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas

A team of international archeologists, led by the Spanish National Research Council, has documented a series of more than 7,500-year-old fish seines and traps near Moscow. The equipment found, among the oldest in Europe, displays a great technical complexity. The survey will allow us to understand the role of fishing among the European settlements by early Holocene (10,000 years ago), especially in those areas where inhabitants did not practice agriculture until nearly the Iron Age.

Ignacio Clemente, CSIC researcher (Instituci Mil I Fontanals) and manager of the project, explains: "Until now, it was thought that the Mesolithic groups had seasonal as opposed to permanent settlements. According to the results obtained during the excavations, in both Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, the human group that lived in the Dubna river basin, near Moscow, carried out productive activities during the entire year".

According to Clemente and his team, during Neolithic and Mesolithic periods, the inhabitants of this region known as Zamostje 2 preferred to hunt during summer and winter, fish during spring and early summer, and harvest wild berries at the end of summer season and autumn. Clemente states: "We think that the fishing played a vital role in the economy of these societies, because it was a versatile product, easy to preserve, dry and smoke, as well as store for later consumption".

Advanced Technology

During this project, which has just come to an end after three years, several types of objects have been found: everyday objects (spoons, plates, etc.), working tools, hunting weapons and fishing implements, all of them manufactured with flint and other stones, bones and shafts. CSIC researcher adds: "The documented fishing equipment shows a highly developed technology, aimed for the practice of several fishing techniques. We can highlight the finding of two large wooden fishing traps (a kind of interwoven basket with pine rods used for fishing), very well-preserved, dating back from 7,500 years ago. This represents one of the oldest dates in this area and, no doubt, among the best-preserved since they still maintain some joining ropes, manufactured with vegetable fibers".

In addition, the researchers have recovered some objects related to the catch and processing of fish, such as hooks, harpoons, weights, floats, needles for nets manufacture and repair, as well as moose rib knives to scale and clean the fish.

Organic remains

One of the peculiarities of the Zamostje 2 site is the preservation of numerous organic materials, such as wood, bones, tree leaves, fossil feces, and especially fish remains. According to Clemente, "it is really unusual to find sites with so much preserved organic remains. The ichthyological remains that we have found give us an idea of the protein percentage provided by fish in the diet of the prehistoric population. Furthermore, these remains will help us to conduct a survey from the point of view of species classification, catch amount and size, and fishing season among others. These details are essential to be able to asses the role played by fishing in the economy of these human groups".

The site was discovered in the 80s, during the works to build the channel through the waters of the currently flowing Dubna river (Oka-Volga basin). Zamostje 2 displays four archeological levels: two from the Mesolithic period (between 7,900 and 7,100 years ago) and two from the Neolithic period (between 6,800 and 5,500 years ago). CSIC researcher concludes: "These levels are found under a subsoil layer with groundwaters and a subsequent peat bog level, which has allowed an excellent preservation of the archeological materials, even those of organic origin".

###

In the project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Institute for the History of Material Culture of Russian Academy of Sciences, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Sergiev Posad State History and Art Museum-Reserve, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and the French National Center for Scientific Research have also participated.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/ccsd-mt7012412.php

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More fruits, veggies in U.S. school lunch rules (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? U.S. schoolchildren, accustomed to a steady diet of pizza and french fries, will find more fruits, vegetables and whole grains on their cafeteria trays under new government school lunch rules announced on Wednesday.

The new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules aim to boost the nutritional quality of the federally subsidized meals consumed by roughly 32 million U.S. schoolchildren daily.

The rules represent the first major revision of school meal standards in more than 15 years and are intended to combat the nation's childhood obesity crisis. Nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese.

The overhaul comes just months after U.S. lawmakers acted to maintain pizza's status as a vegetable and killed proposed limits on weekly servings of starchy foods like potatoes.

In addition to doubling produce servings, the new guidelines call for fat-free and low-fat milk only, child-appropriate portion sizes and reductions in sodium, saturated fat and trans fats.

The changes were adopted under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), which was championed by first lady Michelle Obama and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010.

The new standards will be largely phased in, starting in the 2012-13 school year. They are expected to cost roughly $3.2 billion to implement over the first five years.

HHFKA authorized more funding to schools to help cover the extra costs associated with the menu changes.

The USDA gives school districts money for student lunches and breakfasts through its $18 billion school meals program.

The majority of children participating in the program are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The USDA said 63 percent of lunches and 89 percent of breakfasts served are free or at a reduced cost.

FRIES WITH THAT?

Lawmakers altered the school lunch guidelines in November, when they barred the USDA from limiting the weekly servings of french fries and ensured that pizza continued to be counted as a vegetable portion because of its tomato paste.

Trade groups representing frozen-pizza sellers like ConAgra Foods Inc and Schwan Food Co, as well as french fry distributors McCain Foods Ltd and J.R. Simplot Co, were instrumental in blocking rule changes affecting those items.

Those actions caused a public uproar but won cheers from critics of the HHFKA rules, who cited the new regulations as an example of overreach by federal bureaucrats meddling in the food decisions of families.

"What we are announcing today are science-based rules and regulations that are going to substantially improve the meal qualities across the United States for children," USDA Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon said on a conference call.

Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director for the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the new standards were a big improvement, despite food industry lobbying and the congressional revamp.

"Despite industry lobbying and congressional meddling, the new school meal standards are one of the most important advances in nutrition in decades," she said.

The Environmental Working Group said the adjustments could also curb healthcare costs since they may help reduce medical bills related to diabetes and other obesity-related chronic diseases.

"A healthier population will save billions of dollars in future healthcare costs," said Dawn Undurraga, EWG's staff nutritionist.

As an example of a new meal, the USDA said an elementary school lunch might consist of whole-wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and a whole-wheat roll, a vegetable mix of green beans, broccoli and cauliflower, plus sliced kiwi, low-fat milk, low-fat ranch dip and soft margarine.

That lunch would replace a meal of a hot dog on a bun with ketchup, canned pears, raw celery and carrots with ranch dressing, and low-fat chocolate milk.

Some school districts already have moved in the direction of the new rules. Results have been mixed.

Julia Bauscher, director of school nutrition services for Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky, said her district already is serving whole-grain breads and greens like spinach, kale and romaine lettuce.

The district built acceptance by adding things gradually, working with student advisers and handing out samples of new menu items.

Bauscher acknowledged that children complained when the district started serving fewer potatoes to the 100,000 students in the meals program.

"They didn't like that so much, but they have learned to pick up something different," she said, noting that the potato-serving reductions are not required under the new rules but have been recommended by heath experts.

Some schools have had a tougher go.

Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the nation's largest, is revising its healthier lunch menus after initially missing the mark with students.

As part of the new standards, USDA also will increase the number of inspections of school menus. New guidelines for other food sold in schools, including items sold in vending machines and school stores, are due later this year.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson in Washington and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Steve Gorman, Paul Thomasch and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/hl_nm/us_school_food

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