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Source: http://kumanagra.blogspot.com/2013/01/zindabasa-education-reference-2020-k-12.html
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Sunday, January 27, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
What's the threat? North Korean rhetoric, reality
TOKYO (AP) ? According to its official statements, North Korea is ready to go to the brink. But how serious are Pyongyang's threats?
This week, new U.N. sanctions punishing the North's successful December rocket launch have elicited a furious response from Pyongyang: strong hints that a third nuclear test is coming, along with bigger and better long-range missiles; "all-out action" against its "sworn enemy," the United States; and on Friday, a threat of "strong physical countermeasures" against South Korea if Seoul participates in the sanctions.
"Sanctions mean war," said a statement carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.
In the face of international condemnation, North Korea can usually be counted on for such flights of rhetorical pique. In recent years it threatened to turn South Korea into a "sea of fire," and to wage a "sacred war" against its enemies.
If the past is any indication, its threats of war are overblown. But the chances it will conduct another nuclear test are high. And it is gaining ground in its missile program, experts say, though still a long way from seriously threatening the U.S. mainland.
"It's not the first time they've made a similar threat of war," said Ryoo Kihl-jae, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. "What's more serious than the probability of an attack on South Korea is that of a nuclear test. I see very slim chances of North Korea following through with its threat of war."
Although North Korea's leadership is undeniably concerned that it might be attacked or bullied by outside powers, the tough talk is mainly an attempt to bolster its bargaining position in diplomatic negotiations.
The impoverished North is in need of international aid and is eager to sign a treaty bringing a formal end to the Korean War, which ended nearly 60 years ago in a truce. It uses its weapons program as a wedge in the ever-repeating diplomatic dance with the U.S.-led international community, and there is no reason to believe this time is different.
"I see this as their way of testing the water," said Narushige Michishita, a North Korea expert at Tokyo's Graduate Institute of Policy Studies. "North Korea will probably never be able to defeat the United States in a war. But they are getting stronger."
In 2006 and 2009, North Korea carried out underground nuclear tests just after receiving U.N. sanctions for launching long-range rockets. The latest barrage of rhetoric comes after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to condemn the successful Dec. 12 rocket launch and further expand sanctions against Kim Jong Un's regime. Pyongyang replied with its threat of more launches and possibly another nuclear test.
"Settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force, not with words," said Thursday's statement from the National Defense Commission, which promised "a new phase of the anti-U.S. struggle that has lasted century after century."
North Korea has long insisted that its rocket launches were peaceful attempts to put a satellite in orbit, while the U.S. and United Nations consider them illegal tests of missile technology. This week, however, Pyongyang, made it clear that one goal of its rocket program is to attack the United States.
But its ability to do so is limited, say experts who believe North Korea still has technological kinks to work out in its nuclear devices. It is thought to be unable to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be mounted on a missile, so it needs to test that technology as well.
Another big issue is money.
In his first speech to his people, the young leader, Kim, who is still believed to be in his 20s, said North Korea will continue its "military first" policy. But for a nation that chronically struggles to feed its own people, resources are limited. And because of trade restrictions, acquiring parts for its weapons from abroad is increasingly difficult.
Despite December's successful launch, North Korea's ability to get missiles off the launch pad is less than reliable. In April, a similar rocket splintered into pieces over the Yellow Sea. Days later, North Korea showed off what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, but many experts who reviewed footage of the rockets said they were clearly fakes.
The North does, however, appear to be making some progress.
Japan's Defense Ministry, in an assessment of the December launch presented to the prime minister on Friday, said the North's best designs probably give its missiles a range of more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), according to Japan's Kyodo news service. That would be enough to reach the West Coast of the United States. A South Korean defense official said Friday that Seoul agrees with that assessment.
The Japanese report warned that Pyongyang's missile technology has "entered a new stage" that is of serious concern to the international community. Japan is particularly wary of North Korea's capabilities because all of its islands are well within striking distance. Japan also hosts about 50,000 U.S. troops, whose bases would be a tempting target if Pyongyang were to try to make good on its threats.
"There has been a tendency to underestimate what North Korea can do in the space and missile field, and possibly with technology in general," U.S. nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis wrote recently on his Arms Control Wonk blog. He noted that debris recovered from the wreckage of the December rocket's first stage indicates that most of it was made in North Korea.
North Korea claims the right to build nuclear weapons as a defense against the United States, which stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea.
It is believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for about four to eight bombs, according to nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited North Korea's nuclear complex in 2010. And in 2009, Pyongyang also declared that it would begin enriching uranium, giving it a second way to make atomic weapons.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that he has seen no outward sign that North Korea will follow through soon on its plan to conduct a test, but added that doesn't mean preparations aren't under way.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/whats-threat-north-korean-rhetoric-reality-095710945.html
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Thursday, January 24, 2013
Daily Chronicle | Recession, technology flail middle-class jobs
NEW YORK ? Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What?s more, these jobs aren?t just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren?t just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
They?re being obliterated by technology.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing tasks more efficiently that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived.
?The jobs that are going away aren?t coming back,? says Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of ?Race Against the Machine.? ??I have never seen a period where computers demonstrated as many skills and abilities as they have over the past seven years.?
The global economy is being reshaped by machines that generate and analyze vast amounts of data; by devices such as smartphones and tablet computers that let people work just about anywhere, even when they?re on the move; by smarter, nimbler robots; and by services that let businesses rent computing power when they need it, instead of installing expensive equipment and hiring IT staffs to run it. Whole employment categories, from secretaries to travel agents, are starting to disappear.
?There?s no sector of the economy that?s going to get a pass,? says Martin Ford, who runs a software company and wrote ?The Lights in the Tunnel,? a book predicting widespread job losses. ?It?s everywhere.?
The numbers startle even labor economists. In the United States, half of the 7.5 million jobs lost during the Great Recession paid middle-class wages, ranging from $38,000 to $68,000. But only 2 percent of the 3.5 million jobs gained since the recession ended in June 2009 are midpay. Nearly 70 percent are low-paying jobs; 29 percent pay well.
In the 17 European countries that use the euro as their currency, the numbers are even worse. Almost 4.3 million low-pay jobs have been gained since mid-2009, but the loss of midpay jobs has never stopped. A total of 7.6 million disappeared from January 2008 through June.
Experts warn that this ?hollowing out? of the middle-class workforce is far from over. They predict the loss of millions more jobs as technology becomes even more sophisticated and reaches deeper into our lives. Maarten Goos, an economist at the University of Leuven in Belgium, says Europe could double its middle-class job losses.
Some occupations are beneficiaries of the march of technology, such as software engineers and app designers for smartphones and tablet computers. Overall, though, technology is eliminating far more jobs than it is creating.
To understand the impact technology is having on middle-class jobs in developed countries, the AP analyzed employment data from 20 countries; tracked changes in hiring by industry, pay and task; compared job losses and gains during recessions and expansions over the past four decades; and interviewed economists, technology experts, robot manufacturers, software developers, entrepreneurs and people in the labor force who ranged from CEOs to the unemployed.
The AP?s key findings:
?For more than three decades, technology has drastically reduced the number of jobs in manufacturing. Robots and other machines controlled by computer programs work faster and make fewer mistakes than humans. Now, that same efficiency is being unleashed in the service economy, which employs more than two-thirds of the workforce in developed countries. Technology is eliminating jobs in office buildings, retail establishments and other businesses consumers deal with every day.
?Technology is being adopted by every kind of organization that employs people. It?s replacing workers in large corporations and small businesses, established companies and start-ups. It?s being used by schools, colleges and universities; hospitals and other medical facilities; nonprofit organizations and the military.
?The most vulnerable workers are doing repetitive tasks that programmers can write software for ? an accountant checking a list of numbers, an office manager filing forms, a paralegal reviewing documents for key words to help in a case. As software becomes even more sophisticated, victims are expected to include those who juggle tasks, such as supervisors and managers ? workers who thought they were protected by a college degree.
?Thanks to technology, companies in the Standard & Poor?s 500 stock index reported one-third more profit the past year than they earned the year before the Great Recession. They?ve also expanded their businesses, but total employment, at 21.1 million, has declined by a half-million.
?Start-ups account for much of the job growth in developed economies, but software is allowing entrepreneurs to launch businesses with a third fewer employees than in the 1990s. There is less need for administrative support and back-office jobs that handle accounting, payroll and benefits.
?It?s becoming a self-serve world. Instead of relying on someone else in the workplace or our personal lives, we use technology to do tasks ourselves. Some find this frustrating; others like the feeling of control. Either way, this trend will only grow as software permeates our lives.
?Technology is replacing workers in developed countries regardless of their politics, policies and laws. Union rules and labor laws may slow the dismissal of employees, but no country is attempting to prohibit organizations from using technology that allows them to operate more efficiently ? and with fewer employees.
Some analysts reject the idea that technology has been a big job killer. They note that the collapse of the housing market in the U.S., Ireland, Spain and other countries and the ensuing global recession wiped out millions of middle-class construction and factory jobs. In their view, governments could bring many of the jobs back if they would put aside worries about their heavy debts and spend more. Others note that jobs continue to be lost to China, India and other countries in the developing world.
But to the extent technology has played a role, it raises the specter of high unemployment even after economic growth accelerates. Some economists say millions of middle-class workers must be retrained to do other jobs if they hope to get work again. Others are more hopeful. They note that technological change over the centuries eventually has created more jobs than it destroyed, though the wait can be long and painful.
A common refrain: The developed world may face years of high middle-class unemployment, social discord, divisive politics, falling living standards and dashed hopes.
In the U.S., the economic recovery that started in June 2009 has been called the third straight ?jobless recovery.?
But that?s a misnomer. The jobs came back after the first two.
Most recessions since World War II were followed by a surge in new jobs as consumers started spending again and companies hired to meet the new demand. In the months after recessions ended in 1991 and 2001, there was no familiar snap-back, but all the jobs had returned in less than three years.
But 42 months after the Great Recession ended, the U.S. has gained only 3.5 million, or 47 percent, of the 7.5 million jobs that were lost. The 17 countries that use the euro had 3.5 million fewer jobs last June than in December 2007.
This has truly been a jobless recovery, and the lack of midpay jobs is almost entirely to blame.
Fifty percent of the U.S. jobs lost were in midpay industries, but Moody?s Analytics, a research firm, says just 2 percent of the 3.5 million jobs gained are in that category. After the four previous recessions, at least 30 percent of jobs created ? and as many as 46 percent ? were in midpay industries.
Other studies that group jobs differently show a similar drop in middle-class work.
Some of the most startling studies have focused on midskill, midpay jobs that require tasks that follow well-defined procedures and are repeated throughout the day. Think travel agents, salespeople in stores, office assistants and back-office workers like benefits managers and payroll clerks, as well as machine operators and other factory jobs. An August 2012 paper by economists Henry Siu of the University of British Columbia and Nir Jaimovich of Duke University found these kinds of jobs comprise fewer than half of all jobs, yet accounted for nine of 10 of all losses in the Great Recession. And they have kept disappearing in the economic recovery.
Webb Wheel Products makes parts for truck brakes, which involves plenty of repetitive work. Its newest employee is the Doosan V550M, and it?s a marvel. It can spin a 130-pound brake drum like a child?s top, smooth its metal surface, then drill holes ? all without missing a beat. And it doesn?t take vacations or ?complain about anything,? says Dwayne Ricketts, president of the Cullman, Ala., company.
Thanks to computerized machines, Webb Wheel hasn?t added a factory worker in three years, though it?s making 300,000 more drums annually, a 25 percent increase.
?Everyone is waiting for the unemployment rate to drop, but I don?t know if it will much,? Ricketts says. ?Companies in the recession learned to be more efficient, and they?re not going to go back.?
In Europe, companies couldn?t go back even if they wanted to. The 17 countries that use the euro slipped into another recession 14 months ago, in November 2011. The current unemployment rate is a record 11.8 percent.
European companies had been using technology to replace midpay workers for years, and now that has accelerated.
?The recessions have amplified the trend,? says Goos, the Belgian economist. ?New jobs are being created, but not the middle-pay ones.?
In Canada, a 2011 study by economists at the University of British Columbia and York University in Toronto found a similar pattern of middle-class losses, though they were working with older data. In the 15 years through 2006, the share of total jobs held by many midpay, midskill occupations shrank. The share held by foremen fell 37 percent, workers in administrative and senior clerical roles fell 18 percent and those in sales and service fell 12 percent.
In Japan, a 2009 report from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo documented a ?substantial? drop in midpay, midskill jobs in the five years through 2005, and linked it to technology.
Developing economies have been spared the technological onslaught ? for now. Countries like Brazil and China are still growing middle-class jobs because they?re shifting from export-driven to consumer-based economies. But even they are beginning to use more machines in manufacturing. The cheap labor they relied on to make goods from apparel to electronics is no longer so cheap as their living standards rise.
One example is Sunbird Engineering, a Hong Kong firm that makes mirror frames for heavy trucks at a factory in southern China. Salaries at its plant in Dongguan have nearly tripled from $80 a month in 2005 to $225 today. ?Automation is the obvious next step,? CEO Bill Pike says.
Sunbird is installing robotic arms that drill screws into a mirror assembly, work now done by hand. The machinery will allow the company to eliminate two positions on a 13-person assembly line. Pike hopes that additional automation will allow the company to reduce another five or six jobs from the line.
?By automating, we can outlive the labor cost increases inevitable in China,? Pike says. ?Those who automate in China will win the battle of increased costs.?
Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles iPhones at factories in China, unveiled plans in 2011 to install one million robots over three years.
A recent headline in the China Daily newspaper: ?Chinese robot wars set to erupt.?
Candidates for U.S. president last year never tired of telling Americans how jobs were being shipped overseas. China, with its vast army of cheaper labor and low-value currency, was easy to blame.
But most jobs cut in the U.S. and Europe weren?t moved. No one got them. They vanished. And the villain in this story ? a clever software engineer working in Silicon Valley or the high-tech hub around Heidelberg, Germany ? isn?t so easy to hate.
?It doesn?t have political appeal to say the reason we have a problem is we?re so successful in technology,? says Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University. ?There?s no enemy there.?
Unless you count family and friends and the person staring at you in the mirror. The uncomfortable truth is technology is killing jobs with the help of ordinary consumers by enabling them to quickly do tasks that workers used to do full time, for salaries.
Check out your groceries or drugstore purchases using a kiosk? A worker behind a cash register used to do that.
Buy clothes without visiting a store? You?ve taken work from a salesman.
Click ?accept? in an email invitation to attend a meeting? You?ve pushed an office assistant closer to unemployment.
Book your vacation using an online program? You?ve helped lay off a travel agent. Perhaps at American Express Co., which announced this month that it plans to cut 5,400 jobs, mainly in its travel business, as more of its customers shift to online portals to plan trips.
Software is picking out worrisome blots in medical scans, running trains without conductors, driving cars without drivers, spotting profits in stocks trades in milliseconds, analyzing Twitter traffic to tell where to sell certain snacks, sifting through documents for evidence in court cases, recording power usage beamed from digital utility meters at millions of homes, and sorting returned library books.
Technology gives rise to ?cheaper products and cool services,? says David Autor, an economist at MIT, one of the first to document tech?s role in cutting jobs. ?But if you lose your job, that is slim compensation.?
Even the most commonplace technologies ? take, say, email ? are making it tough for workers to get jobs, including ones with MBAs, like Roshanne Redmond, a former project manager at a commercial real estate developer.
?I used to get on the phone, talk to a secretary and coordinate calendars,? Redmond says. ?Now, things are done by computer.?
Technology is used by companies to run leaner and smarter in good times and bad, but never more than in bad. In a recession, sales fall and companies cut jobs to save money. Then they turn to technology to do tasks people used to do. And that?s when it hits them: They realize they don?t have to re-hire the humans when business improves, or at least not as many.
The Hackett Group, a consultant on back-office jobs, estimates 2 million of them in finance, human resources, information technology and procurement have disappeared in the U.S. and Europe since the Great Recession. It pins the blame for more than half of the losses on technology. These are jobs that used to fill cubicles at almost every company ? clerks paying bills and ordering supplies, benefits managers filing health-care forms and IT experts helping with computer crashes.
?The effect of (technology) on white-collar jobs is huge, but it?s not obvious,? says MIT?s McAfee. Companies ?don?t put out a press release saying we?re not hiring again because of machines.?
___
What hope is there for the future?
Historically, new companies and new industries have been the incubator of new jobs. Start-up companies no more than five years old are big sources of new jobs in developed economies. In the U.S., they accounted for 99 percent of new private sector jobs in 2005, according to a study by the University of Maryland?s John Haltiwanger and two other economists.
But even these companies are hiring fewer people. The average new business employed 4.7 workers when it opened its doors in 2011, down from 7.6 in the 1990s, according to a Labor Department study released last March.
Technology is probably to blame, wrote the report?s authors, Eleanor Choi and James Spletzer. Entrepreneurs no longer need people to do clerical and administrative tasks to help them get their businesses off the ground.
In the old days ? say, 10 years ago ? ?you?d need an assistant pretty early to coordinate everything ? or you?d pay a huge opportunity cost for the entrepreneur or the president to set up a meeting,? says Jeff Connally, CEO of CMIT Solutions, a technology consultancy to small businesses.
Now technology means ?you can look at your calendar and everybody else?s calendar and ? bing! ? you?ve set up a meeting.? So no assistant gets hired.
Entrepreneur Andrew Schrage started the financial advice website Money Crashers in 2009 with a partner and one freelance writer. The bare-bones start-up was only possible, Schrage says, because of technology that allowed the company to get online help with accounting and payroll and other support functions without hiring staff.
?Had I not had access to cloud computing and outsourcing, I estimate that I would have needed 5-10 employees to begin this venture,? Schrage says. ?I doubt I would have been able to launch my business.?
Technological innovations have been throwing people out of jobs for centuries. But they eventually created more work, and greater wealth, than they destroyed. Ford, the author and software engineer, thinks there is reason to believe that this time will be different. He sees virtually no end to the inroads of computers into the workplace. Eventually, he says, software will threaten the livelihoods of doctors, lawyers and other highly skilled professionals.
Many economists are encouraged by history and think the gains eventually will outweigh the losses. But even they have doubts.
?What?s different this time is that digital technologies show up in every corner of the economy,? says McAfee, a self-described ?digital optimist.? ??Your tablet (computer) is just two or three years ago, and it?s already taken over our lives.?
Peter Lindert, an economist at the University of California, Davis, says the computer is more destructive than innovations in the Industrial Revolution because the pace at which it is upending industries makes it hard for people to adapt.
Occupations that provided middle-class lifestyles for generations can disappear in a few years. Utility meter readers are just one example. As power companies began installing so-called smart readers outside homes, the number of meter readers in the U.S. plunged from 56,000 in 2001 to 36,000 in 2010, according to the Labor Department.
In 10 years? That number is expected to be zero.
NEXT: Practically human: Can smart machines do your job?
There are 30 hours, 24 minutes remaining to comment on this story.
Source: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2013/01/22/recession-technology-flail-middle-class-jobs/a2eizbq/
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Source: http://ezinepr.com/technology/trojan-horse-virus-removal-systems/
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Deep freeze slides toward the northeast
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? The Upper Midwest remained locked in a deep freeze Wednesday as the bitter temperatures crept eastward where at least one mountain resort warned it was too cold even to ski.
Overnight, ice-covered Chicago firefighters spent hours fighting a massive fire at a warehouse on the city's South Side, hindered by the single digit chill.
The cold snap arrived Saturday night as waves of Arctic air swept south from Canada, pushing temperatures to dangerous lows and leaving a section of the country well-versed in winter's pains reeling. The National Weather Service said states from Ohio through to the far northeast of Maine could expect to be slammed by that Arctic blast on Wednesday.
The numbers so far are chilling in themselves: 35 below at Crane Lake, Minn., on Tuesday; Embarrass, Minn., at 36 below on Monday; and Babbitt, Minn., at 29 below on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service issued a wind chill warning for Wednesday in the far north of Maine. In Presque Isle and Caribou, temperatures are not expected to rise above 7 below. And the wind chill could make it feel more like 40 below. Vermont was similarly afflicted, with wind chill advisories and highs peaking in the single digits. Forecasters said Boston and New York City could expect temperatures in the double digits, but that the wind chill would make it feel 5 below. And in mid-Massachusetts, high winds up to 30 mph in Worcester will add to the weather misery.
At least one ski resort in New Hampshire was planning to close Wednesday and Thursday because of the extraordinary cold. Wildcat Mountain in the White Mountains region said it was expecting temperatures in the negative double digits and a wind chill of 48 degrees below zero ? conditions that would not be safe for guests or employees on the slopes.
Late Tuesday, some 170 Chicago firefighters ? approximately one third of the city's fire department ? turned out in frigid temperatures to battle a blaze at a warehouse on the South Side. Officials said the fire prompted the department's biggest response in recent years, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. Despite the scale of the fire, firefighters' soaked jackets and hats froze, and icicles formed and dangled from hoses and hydrants.
Authorities said exposure has played a role in at least four deaths.
On Sunday, a 70-year-old man was found frozen in his unheated home in Des Plaines, Ill. And in Green Bay, Wis., a 38-year-old man was found dead outside his home Monday morning. Authorities in both cases said the victims died of hypothermia and cold exposure, with alcohol a possible contributing factor.
A 77-year-old Illinois woman also was found dead near her car in southwestern Wisconsin on Saturday night, and a 61-year-old Minnesota man was pronounced dead at a hospital after he was found in a storage building Saturday morning.
The bitter conditions were expected to persist into the weekend in the Midwest through the eastern half of the U.S., said Shawn DeVinny, a National Weather Service meteorologist in suburban Minneapolis.
Ariana Laffey, a 30-year-old homeless woman, kept warm with a blanket, three pairs of pants and six shirts as she sat on a milk crate begging near Chicago's Willis Tower on Tuesday morning. She said she and her husband spent the night under a bridge, bundled up under a half-dozen blankets.
"We're just trying to make enough to get a warm room to sleep in tonight," Laffey said.
___
Associated Press writers Doug Glass in Minneapolis, Don Babwin and Tammy Webber in Chicago, Jeff Karoub in Detroit, Dirk Lammers in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Dinesh Ramde and Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deep-freeze-slides-toward-northeast-141921150.html
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Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Longer CPR extends survival in both children and adults
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Experts from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia were among the leaders of two large national studies showing that extending CPR longer than previously thought useful saves lives in both children and adults. The research teams analyzed impact of duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in patients who suffered cardiac arrest while hospitalized.
"These findings about the duration of CPR are game-changing, and we hope these results will rapidly affect hospital practice," said Robert A. Berg, M.D., chief of Critical Care Medicine at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Berg is the chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Heart Association's Get With Guidelines-Resuscitation program (GWTG-R). That quality improvement program is the only national registry that tracks and analyzes resuscitation of patients after in-hospital cardiac arrests.
The investigators reported data from the GWTG-Resuscitation registry of CPR outcomes in thousands of North American hospital patients in two landmark studies?one in children, published today, the other in adults, published in October 2012.
Berg was a co-author of the pediatric study, appearing online today in Circulation, which analyzed hospital records of 3,419 children in the U.S. and Canada from 2000 through 2009. This study, whose first author was Renee I. Matos, M.D., M.P.H., a mentored young investigator, found that among children who suffered in-hospital cardiac arrest, more children than expected survived after prolonged CPR?defined as CPR lasting longer than 35 minutes. Of those children who survived prolonged CPR, over 60 percent had good neurologic outcomes.
The conventional thinking has been that CPR is futile after 20 minutes, but Berg said these results challenge that assumption.
In addition to Berg, two other co-authors are critical care and resuscitation science specialists at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Vinay M. Nadkarni, M.D., and Peter A. Meaney, M.D., M.P.H.
Nadkarni noted that illness categories affected outcomes, with children hospitalized for cardiac surgery having better survival and neurological outcomes than children in all other patient groups.
The overall pediatric results paralleled those found in the adult study of 64,000 patients with in-hospital cardiac arrests between 2000 and 2008. Berg also was a co-author of that GWTG-R study, published in The Lancet on Oct. 27, and led by Brahmajee K. Nallamothu, M.P.H., M.D., of the University of Michigan. Patients at hospitals in the top quartile of median CPR duration (25 minutes), had a 12 percent higher chance of surviving cardiac arrest, compared to patients at hospitals in the bottom quartile of median CPR duration (16 minutes). Survivors of prolonged CPR had similar neurological outcomes to those who survived after shorter CPR efforts.
The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association designated the adult study as the top finding of the year in heart disease and stroke research in its annual list of major advances. Next steps for CPR researchers are to identify important risk and predictive factors that determine which patients may benefit most from prolonged CPR, and when CPR efforts have become futile. "Taken together, the adult and pediatric results present a clear and hopeful message: persisting longer with CPR can offer better results than previously believed possible," concluded Berg.
###
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: http://www.chop.edu
Thanks to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126386/Longer_CPR_extends_survival_in_both_children_and_adults
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Stylophone S2 portable analog synthesizer hands-on (video)
The original Stylophone is something of a legend. Made popular by David Bowie (and possibly if you're British, Rolf Harris) in the late sixties / early seventies. Since then the original (shown in our gallery) has been re-released, and spin-off products have come to light. The S2, however, represents a new direction for the vintage synth. This time, makers dubreq wanted to create something that maintained the original's pick-up-and-play appeal, while adding some more high-end features and functionality that open it up to more serious sound-smiths. The first thing you will notice is that, while it still has the iconic metal "keys," the Stylophone S2 is somewhat larger -- no bad thing if you've ever tried penning a melody live on the original. Those keys can be triggered with a wireless stylus, but are touch sensitive also, meaning you can poke out a tune without being limited to the agility of your dominant hand. Skip past the break for more details and a hardware video tour.
If you're thinking that, despite being larger than its predecessor, there's just not enough keys, then be assured you can get a full three octaves plus a +/-2 shift function on the left giving it a comprehensive range. The all-analog sound engine also features an eight waveform LFO, bass-heavy sub-oscillators and a state-variable filter. Thanks to an Aux input, you can also use the filters etc. with external audio sources, plus there are headphone and 1/4-inch outputs. If you're worried it's all a little too compact for a live performance, there's a CV (control voltage) input trigger offering the ability to control with with an external sequencing device. It's not all retro though, with the illuminated speaker section also providing real-time feedback (such as the speed of the LFO). Best -- and most importantly of all -- it sounds just like you want it to, full of crunchy, analog goodness. The hardware feels extremely well built, and definitely feels like it could stand up to the knocks and bangs that inevitably come with taking gear out on the road, which, thanks to the option of AA battery power is wonderfully easy. Sound like something you'd like the sound of? The Stylophone S2 is available now for £299 (about $470 by conversion).
Billy Steele contributed to this report.
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7GrD394Yj14/
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New Housing Fears: Home Prices Are Rising Too Fast
? Published: Tuesday, 22 Jan 2013 | 11:33 AM ET 
December Existing Home Sales Down 1%
Existing home sales fell 1 percent in December, when the Street was expecting a 5 percent gain, reports CNBC's Diana Olick.
"For Sale" signs may seem like an eyesore to neighbors on any given local street, but the lack of them is a much bigger problem.
Just 1.82 million homes were listed for sale in December, according to the National Association of Realtors. That is a 22 percent drop from a year ago and the lowest supply since May of 2005, when words like "boom" and "bubble" followed the word "housing." At the current sales pace it would take just 4.4 months to sell those homes.
"The greatest concern in the market is the inventory situation," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. "Even if we see an increase in the Spring and Summer, if home sales hold at the [current] level or even a 5 to 6-month supply, price increases are guaranteed. We don't want to see rapid appreciation in prices faster than income."
The reasons for the low supply are varied, and the low numbers are in fact feeding on themselves. If potential buyers can't find something to their liking, they will probably not list their homes for sale.
There are also still 10.7 million borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to the latest report from CoreLogic. An additional 2.3 million have less than five percent equity in their homes, referred to as near-negative equity. Most of these homeowners are stuck in place, unable to sell unless they can afford to pay in to their mortgages. As for new supply, even though builders are increasing starts, they are still not even at half the pace they were at the height of the housing boom.
(Read More: Home Prices Surge Despite Distress)
Phillip Spears | Digital Vision | Getty Images
As a result, home prices are now rising more and faster than most analysts predicted due to this short supply, up 7.4 percent year-over-year in November, according to CoreLogic. They are especially surging in some of the hardest hit markets from the housing crash, where large-scale investors are swarming with cash in hand. In Phoenix, home values jumped nearly 32 percent from a year ago in November and are now at the highest level since October of 2008 according to DataQuick. While still 39 percent off their boom-high in June of 2006, they are now up 41.5 percent from the bottom, and there is not much on the market.
(Read More: Could Rentals Be the New Red Flags in Real Estate?)
Healthy housing market gains are historically driven by increasing employment and income, not by lack of supply; the latter leads to price bubbles. First-time home buyers, who generally account for 40 percent of the home-buying market or higher are still under-represented at just 30 percent, according to the Realtors. This is due to tighter credit conditions in the mortgage market and now decreasing affordability.
December's disappointing drop in home sales, month-to-month is a clear warning for the housing recovery going forward. Rising home prices are not the sole measure of a healthy market. Supply and demand need to fall closer in line, and a robust economic recovery should be driving both home sales and prices.
(Read More: One Overlooked Fact About the Housing Recovery)
"The greatest concern in the market is the inventory situation," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Associate of Realtors. As a result, home prices are now rising more and faster than most analysts predicted.
Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100397644
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Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Five Unique Retail Marketing Ideas to get Customers - Training tampa
In the past, retail businesses may have survived on foot traffic and word-of-mouth referrals. Now, as online retailers compete with brick-and-mortar stores, consumers are inundated with shopping options. In today?s market, it is crucial that retailers implement specific marketing ideas to stand out from the crowd and convert potential customers. The following are a few simple yet innovative ways in which retailers can improve their marketing strategies:
1. Target market segments with custom vinyl banners. Does your target customer have school-age children? Sponsor a local Little League team or elementary school, and in return, ask to display a custom vinyl banner that indicates your business has helped out. Parents will subconsciously associate your brand with philanthropy and community involvement ? clearly, a win-win deal if you?re targeting parents.
2. Partner with another local business in an adjacent market to offer a cross-promotion. Many grocery chains offer rewards cards that can accrue points for discounts at gas stations. This idea gets customers to think of the two businesses at once; while spending money at the grocery store, the customer is reminded of the gas discount and vice versa. This is not limited to corporate partnerships; local businesses can join up and offer each customer a coupon for another type of business. For example, a cosmetics company could supply samples to lunch patrons at a cafe on Mother?s Day. The restaurant gets free gifts for their diners, and the cosmetics company reaches their target demographic in a personal and unique way.
3. Distribute coupons and promotional flyers to capture specific segments of your market. Make sure to include an irresistible deal and an example of your best selling product or service on the flyer.
4. Does your business sell products that tend to have wasteful packaging? Give customers a discount for bringing back a certain number of empty packages. No packaging involved in your products? Put out a recycling bin for batteries or other unwieldy items to dispose. Customers will stop by for the convenient disposal option and stay to shop.
5. Reach out over Instagram and Twitter. These two social networks are heavily dependent on spur-of-the-moment content. Set up accounts to advertise your business for free, and take advantage of your customers? own networks by offering a discount for a retweet or comment. Increase the discount if the retweet or comment is sent while the customer is in your store.
About The Author:
Madyson Grant is a small business owner who loves to blog about helpful tips to others in the business.
20
JAN
Source: http://www.trainingtampa.com/2013/01/20/five-unique-retail-marketing-ideas-to-get-customers/
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Samsung exec confirms 8-inch Galaxy Note coming to MWC
The internet has been quietly discussing the possibility of an 8-inch Galaxy Note for a while now, but nothing appeared at CES. However, it might've just been waiting for the right event to make its entrance, and iNews24 is reporting that JK Shin himself has confirmed the Galaxy Note 8 will debut at MWC. Seeming as the Korean news outfit also got word on the S III mini from Samsung's mobile chief before anything was official, we've got no reason to doubt this scoop. If this addition to the Note range is the mysterious GT-N5100 we saw benchmarked recently, it could be packing a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor, and fit 1,280 x 800 pixels in that 8-inch display (the same res as the Galaxy Note 10.1). As JK Shin shared nothing but the screen size for now, we'll just have to wait until MWC to get all the finer details.
Source: iNews24
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/21/samsung-galaxy-note-8-at-mwc/
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Sunday, January 20, 2013
How to setup Google Gmail on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
As of January 30, 2013, Google will no longer allow new iPhones, iPod touches, iPads, or other devices to be setup using Google Sync (their implementation of Microsoft's excellent ActiveSync protocol). While existing Google Sync setups will keep working, the next time you want to add Gmail to a device, you'll have to use something else -- namely Google's eccentric IMAP service, which works with Apple's Mail app and allows for a unifed inbox with other, non-Gmail accounts, and the Gmail app, which is excellent but is a silo unto itself.
How to set up Gmail in Google's Gmail app
Google's Gmail app is outstanding, supporting both push email, multiple accounts, and all the unique Gmail features like stars and labels, of course. You even get easy access to vacation responders and other options. If you only use Gmail for your email, it's absolutely the best way to go. If you use multiple email providers, but don't mind accessing them via separate apps, it's also a great choice. Sadly, you can't set third party apps as default in iOS, so you'll probably need to set up your account in Apple's iOS Mail app as well, for convenience sake. (See below.)
- Download the Gmail app from the App Store.
- Tap Open once Gmail finishes downloading, or if you've left the App Store, tap the Gmail icon on your Home screen.
- Enter your Gmail or Google Apps email address and password.
- Tap sign in.
How to setup Gmail in Apple's Mail app
Gmail is one of the main email setup options in Apple's built-in iOS Mail app. It uses IMAP to receive email, but due to Google's non-standard configuration, and Apple's lack of specific support for that non-standard configuration, you won't get push email, and you won't have access to stars, labels, and other Gmail-specific conventions. Sadly, it also doesn't automagically include contact sync, so you'll have to set that up separately.
You will, however, have your Gmail included in the unified inbox, which is incredibly convenient if you also have other, non-Google email accounts (like iCloud, Exchange, Hotmail, etc.)
- Launch Settings from your Home screen.
- Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
- Tap Add Account...
- Tap Gmail.
- Enter your name, Gmail email address, password, and a descriptive name (like Gmail, or Personal, so you can identify it later).
- Select which services you want to leave on for sync, Mail, Calendars, and Notes. (You probably want all of them on.)
- Tap Save.
How to setup Gmail Contact Sync with CardDAV
To set up contacts sync, repeat the same procedure, with a slight change in settings.
- Tap Add Account... again.
- Tap Other at the bottom.
- Tap Add CardDAV Account
- Enter google.com as the server.
- Enter your Gmail/Google address as the user name.
- Enter your Gmail/Google password as the password.
- Enter a description. For example, Gmail Contacts or Google Contacts.
- Tap Next at the top right.
That's it, your contacts will now sync along with everything else.
How to set up Gmail's 2-step verification
If you're a high value target and worried about your Gmail security, you can also setup and use Gmail 2-step verification on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. For most people, it's probably more trouble than it's worth, but it's there for those who really need it.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/RS4VMLAi7Nk/story01.htm
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WBIC Offers Free Seminar on Small Business Administration at WCC
The Wayne Business and Industry Center will offer the free seminar ?Introduction to the Small Business Administration and Its Resource?Programs? 6-9 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 22, in Room 101 of the Walnut?Building on Wayne Community College?s main campus in Goldsboro.?To pre-register, go to www.ncsbc.net, click on ?Contact Your Local?SBC,? select ?Wayne County,? choose the seminar, and click on??Register.? You may also call (919) 739-6940. Please complete and?bring to the seminar the registration form found under the ?Small?Business Center? heading at www.wayneworksnc.com.
Tyesha Lucas. Goldsboro Daily News: Curtis Media 2013
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Fund Set Up for Family after House Fire - WABI TV5
Newport - A fund has been set up to help a family whose home was damaged by fire in Newport Friday.
Fire crews believe a wood pellet burner in a window sparked the fire on Water Street.
Pets were rescued.
The side of the house was scorched but there's minimal damage inside.
A benefit fund has been set up in the owner's name.
The money will help her pay for damage to her home and medical expenses for her pets.
You can donate to the Melissa Carmichael Fund at:
Sebasticook Valley Federal Credit Union
87 Moosehead Trail
Newport, ME 04953.
Print this Story
Source: http://www.wabi.tv/news/36921/fund-set-up-for-family-after-house-fire
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
Lance Armstrong may not be done confessing
In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 photo provided by Harpo Studios Inc., cyclist Lance Armstrong listens to a question from Oprah Winfrey during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin, Texas. The two-part episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter" will air nationally Thursday and Friday, Jan. 17-18, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Harpo Studios, Inc., George Burns)
In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 photo provided by Harpo Studios Inc., cyclist Lance Armstrong listens to a question from Oprah Winfrey during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin, Texas. The two-part episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter" will air nationally Thursday and Friday, Jan. 17-18, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Harpo Studios, Inc., George Burns)
This Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 photo provided by Harpo Studios Inc., shows talk-show host Oprah Winfrey interviewing cyclist Lance Armstrong during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin, Texas. The two-part episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter" will air nationally Thursday and Friday, Jan. 17-18, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Harpo Studios, Inc., George Burns)
FILE - In this July 23, 2000, file photo, winner Lance Armstrong rides down the Champs Elysees after the final stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Paris. Armstrong also won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports in 2000. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)
FILE - In this July 22, 2004, file photo, Lance Armstrong reacts as he crosses the finish line to win the 17th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Bourd-d'Oisans and Le Grand Bornand, French Alps. In 2004, Armstrong was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and ESPN's ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2012, file photo, Lance Armstrong talks to supporters prior to a run on Mont Royal Park in Montreal. Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. Within minutes of Armstrong announcing he would step down as chairman of Livestrong, the foundation he created to support people with cancer, his longtime endorser Nike issued a statement saying it would be cutting sponsorship ties with the cyclist amid allegations of doping. Armstrong is said to be worth around $100 million, but most sponsors dropped him after USADA's scathing report _ at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes, File)
Lance Armstrong may not be done confessing.
His interview with Oprah Winfrey hasn't aired yet, but already some people want to hear more ? under oath ? before Armstrong is allowed to compete in elite triathlons, a sport he returned to after retiring from cycling in 2011. In addition to stripping him of all seven of his Tour de France titles last year, anti-doping officials banned Armstrong for life from sanctioned events.
"He's got to follow a certain course," David Howman, director general of World Anti-Doping Agency, told the AP. "That is not talking to a talk show host."
Armstrong already has had conversations with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials, touching off speculation that the team leader who demanded loyalty from others soon may face some very tough choices himself: whether to cooperate and name those who aided, knew about or helped cover up a sophisticated doping ring that Armstrong ran on his tour-winning U.S. Postal Service squads. Former teammate Frankie Andreu, one of several riders Armstrong cast aside on his ride to the top of the sport, said no one could provide a better blueprint for cleaning up the sport.
"Lance knows everything that happened," Andreu told The Associated Press. "He's the one who knows who did what because he was the ringleader. It's up to him how much he wants to expose."
World Anti-Doping Agency officials said nothing short of "a full confession under oath" would even cause them to reconsider the ban. Although Armstrong admitted to Winfrey on Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs, Howman said that is "hardly the same as giving evidence to a relevant authority." The International Cycling Union also urged Armstrong to tell his story to an independent commission it has set up to examine claims that the sport's governing body hid suspicious samples, accepted financial donations, and helped Armstrong avoid detection in doping tests.
Winfrey wouldn't detail what Armstrong said during their interview at a downtown Austin hotel. In an appearance on "CBS This Morning," she said she was "mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers." What had been planned as a 90-minute broadcast will be shown as a two-part special, Thursday and Friday, on Winfrey's OWN network.
The lifetime ban was imposed after a 1,000-page report by USADA last year outlined a complex, long-running doping program led by Armstrong. The cyclist also lost nearly all of his endorsements and was forced to cut ties with the Livestrong cancer charity he founded in 1997. The damage to Armstrong's reputation was just as severe.
The report portrayed him as well-versed in the use of a wide range of performance-enhancers, including steroids and blood boosters such as EPO, and willing to exploit them to dominate. Nearly a dozen teammates provided testimony about that drug regimen, among them Andreu and his wife, Betsy.
"A lot of it was news and shocking to me," Andreu said. "I am sure it's shocking to the world. There's been signs leading up to this moment for a long time. For my wife and I, we've been attacked and ripped apart by Lance and all of his people, and all his supporters repeatedly for a long time. I just wish they wouldn't have been so blind and opened up their eyes earlier to all the signs that indicated there was deception there, so that we wouldn't have had to suffer as much.
"And it's not only us," he added, "he's ruined a lot of people's lives."
Armstrong was believed to have left for Hawaii. The street outside his Spanish-style villa on Austin's west side was quiet the day after international TV crews gathered there hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Meanwhile, members of his legal team mapped out a strategy on how to handle at least two pending lawsuits against Armstrong, and possibly a third.
Former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, alleges in one of the lawsuits that Armstrong defrauded the U.S. government by repeatedly denying he used performance-enhancing drugs. The False Claims Act lawsuit could require Armstrong to return substantial sponsorship fees and pay a hefty fine. The AP reported earlier Tuesday that Justice Department officials were likely to join the whistleblower lawsuit before a Thursday deadline.
___
Jim Litke reported from Chicago, Jim Vertuno from Austin, Texas. Stephen Wilson in London and John L. Mone in Dearborn, Mich., also contributed to this report.
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Calif. woman launches investigation into brother's death
By Tony Shin, NBC San Diego
Barbara Yarborough wouldn't stop until she found the person who ran over and killed her 41-year-old brother.
When the case reached a dead end, the California woman took over and hired her own investigators to give her family closure.
Every day Yarborough goes into her garage, she sees a grim reminder of the worst moment in her life. It?s the broken and banged up motorcycle that her older brother?Frank Yarborough?was riding when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver.
?This was the last thing my brother touched before his life was taken from him,? Yarborough told NBC San Diego in an exclusive interview.
The motorcycle has been a symbol of her heart and determination to find the man who killed Frank.
Read more at NBC San Diego
The Riverside County man was a father of two boys when he died on Jan. 7, 2011. He was driving home when a tractor trailer hung a U-turn and ran him over.
?I still mourn every day,? Yarborough said.
?I cry going to sleep, I cry waking up," she said. "It?s hard to heal when the wounds stay fresh.?
Yarborough says two witnesses pointed out two different tractor trailers as possible suspect vehicles. But she says investigators focused their attention only on one because that witness seemed more credible.
Months went by and the investigation stalled. Yarborough decided to conduct her own investigation.
?I just knew I had to get the motorcycle,? she said.
Yarborough bought her brother?s motorcycle from a salvage yard and hired two former San Diego Police officers to investigate Frank?s hit and run.
Larry Ingraham and Donovan Jacobs interviewed the other witness who claimed to have seen a different tractor-trailer hit Frank.
?Our effort in the case was to refocus on what that one witness was saying who identified the driver of a Ralph's truck for being responsible for the accident,? Jacobs said.
On the night of the crash, California Highway Patrol investigators interviewed 39-year-old Dixon Russell Dixon.
He was Ralph's Auto & Truck Service driver who was eating inside his tractor trailer near the crime scene.
?Police questioned him, to see if he knew anything he said, 'No, I was in Del Taco getting lunch,' so they let him go,? Barbara said.
But Yarborough says her private investigators found compelling evidence implicating Dixon.
They can't reveal that evidence because it's now part of the criminal case.
On Jan. 9, two years and two days after her brother's death, investigators arrested Dixon for felony hit and run at his San Bernardino County home.
?How could he run over my brother and see his dead body on the road and not take responsibility for what he?s done,? Yarborough said.
Yarborough's private investigator Donovan Jacobs is also representing family members in a civil lawsuit against Ralph?s.
NBC San Diego called the company's public relations representative for comment, but the call has not been returned.
Dixon posted a $50,000 bond. His next court appearance has been set for March.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013
France in 'direct combat' in Mali within hours
Young men play football in Bamako, Mali, Tuesday Jan. 15 2013. French forces led an all-night aerial bombing campaign Tuesday to wrest control of a small Malian town from armed Islamist extremists who seized the area, including its strategic military camp. A a convoy of 40 to 50 trucks carrying French troops crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast as France prepares for a possible land assault. Several thousand soldiers from the nations neighboring Mali are also expected to begin arriving in coming days. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Young men play football in Bamako, Mali, Tuesday Jan. 15 2013. French forces led an all-night aerial bombing campaign Tuesday to wrest control of a small Malian town from armed Islamist extremists who seized the area, including its strategic military camp. A a convoy of 40 to 50 trucks carrying French troops crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast as France prepares for a possible land assault. Several thousand soldiers from the nations neighboring Mali are also expected to begin arriving in coming days. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
French troops in two armored personnel carriers drive through Mali's capital Bamako on the road to Mopti Tuesday Jan. 15, 2013. French forces led an all-night aerial bombing campaign Tuesday to wrest control of a small Malian town from armed Islamist extremists who seized the area, including its strategic military camp. A a convoy of 40 to 50 trucks carrying French troops crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast as France prepares for a possible land assault. Several thousand soldiers from the nations neighboring Mali are also expected to begin arriving in coming days. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In this picture dated Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013 and released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French legionnaires of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment based in Orange, southern France, exiting a military plane at Bamako airport, Mali. An official at France's Defense Ministry says the country will "gradually deploy" a total of 2,500 troops to Mali, and the French president says the military operation will last until security has been restored and African forces are ready to take charge. (AP Photo/Jeremy Lempin, ECPAD)
In this picture dated Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013 and released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) s French soldiers of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment based in Le Mans, western France, listen to their officer during a briefing at Bamako airport, Mali. An official at France's Defense Ministry says the country will "gradually deploy" a total of 2,500 troops to Mali, and the French president says the military operation will last until security has been restored and African forces are ready to take charge. (AP Photo/Arnaud Roine, ECPAD)
In this picture dated Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013 and released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) a French soldier of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment based in Le Mans, western France, distributes smoke grenades at Bamako airport, Mali. An official at France's Defense Ministry says the country will "gradually deploy" a total of 2,500 troops to Mali, and the French president says the military operation will last until security has been restored and African forces are ready to take charge. (AP Photo/Arnaud Roine, ECPAD)
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? French troops pressed northward in Mali toward territory occupied by radical Islamists on Wednesday, military officials said, announcing the start of a land assault that will put soldiers in direct combat "within hours."
French ground operations began overnight in Mali, Adm. Edouard Guillaud, the French military chief of staff, said on Europe 1 television. France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on RTL radio that soldiers were headed away from the relative safety of the capital toward the rebel strongholds in the north.
Residents of Niono, a city in the center of Mali which is just south of a town that was overrun by the jihadists earlier this week, said they saw trucks of French soldiers arrive overnight. The natural target for the French infantry is Diabaly, located 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of the capital and roughly 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Niono. French warplanes have carried out airstrikes on Diabaly since the weekend, when a column of dozens of rebel vehicles cut off the road out of Diabaly and seized the town as well as its military camp.
Ibrahim Komnotogo, a resident of Diabaly who heads a USAID-financed rice agriculture project, happened to be outside the town when the jihadists encircled it. He has 20 employees and contractors who he says are stuck inside the town, which has a population of 35,000. He told The Associated Press that al-Qaida-linked rebels have sealed off the roads and are preventing people from leaving.
Komnotogo says he fears the Islamists are planning to hide within the mud-walled neighborhoods and use the population as a human shield.
"The jihadists have split up. They don't move around in big groups ... they are out in the streets, in fours, and fives and sixes, and they are living inside the most inhabited neighborhoods," he said, explaining that they had taken over the homes of people who managed to flee before the road was cut off.
French warplanes bombarded the military camp, but there have been no airstrikes inside the actual town, which begins at the eastern wall of the garrison. Residents have evacuated the neighborhood called Bordeaux, after its sister city in France, which is only 500 meters (yards) from the camp, he said. They have moved mostly into a quarter called Berlin, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the military installation.
"They are preventing the population from leaving. We have been trying to get our employees out, but they can't leave," said Komnotogo. "They have parked their pickup trucks inside the courtyards of empty homes. They have beards. And they wear boubous (a flowing robe). No one approaches them. Everyone is afraid," he said.
French President Francois Hollande authorized the airstrikes last Friday after the Islamists began a push southward toward the capital from the northern half of Mali that they control. They seized the Afghanistan-sized north last April in the chaos following a coup in Mali's normally-stable capital.
Five days of airstrikes have done little to erode the Islamist gains in Mali, which some in the West fear could turn the region into a launching pad for terrorist attacks. The bombardments began in the town of Konna, which the rebels occupied last Thursday. After initially saying they had stopped the rebel advance, Le Drian on Tuesday acknowledged that Konna was still in the hands of the rebels.
Sahara Media, a Mauritanian-based website that the jihadists use to post videos and messages, published a video allegedly from Ansar Dine fighters in Konna, posing with the city's sign.
A member from the rebel group, one of three extremist organizations operating in north Mali, identified as Abou El Habib Sidi Mohamed, a member of Ansar Dine's communications team, said: "Thank you to God, who encourages jihad and the application of Sharia on this Earth, for we are now standing in the town of Konna, on this day, Jan. 14, 2013."
The seizure of Diabaly brings the Islamists to only 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the capital. Konna, the closest point where they were known to be before, is 680 kilometers (425 miles) away.
The ground assault reverses France's earlier insistence that it would provide only air and logistical support for a military intervention, which would be led by African troops. "Now we're on the ground," Guillaud said. "We will be in direct combat within hours."
On Tuesday, France announced it tripling the number of troops deployed to Mali from 800 to 2,500. The offensive was to have been led by thousands of African troops pledged by Mali's neighbors, but they have yet to arrive, leaving France alone to lead the operation.
Guillaud said the militant groups have a history of taking human shields and France would do its utmost to make sure civilians are not wrongly targeted. "When in doubt, we will not fire," he said.
A resident of Niono said that some residents of the besieged town had managed to slip through the rebel noose. They were arriving on foot, said Mamadou Haidara,
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Hinnant reported from Paris. Associated Press writer Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali contributed to this report.
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