Lots of snow for Aspen Mountain re-opening

ASPEN — Aspen Mountain will reopen for skiing this weekend with a better base depth of snow on Memorial Day than it had on New Year's Day.

The base depth has hovered around 70 inches at the mountaintop since the Aspen Skiing Co. announced last week it will extend the skiing season. The base was 38 inches on Jan. 1.

The ample amount of snow convinced the Skico to fire the chairlifts back up on Aspen Mountain for the long holiday weekend and for future weekends as long as conditions hold up. There will be 25 trails and roughly 136 acres of mostly intermediate terrain open Saturday, Sunday and Monday, May 28-30. All the open terrain will be served by the Ajax Express lift from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Silver Queen Gondola will run for rides up and down the mountain. There will be no top-to-bottom skiing.

Temperatures have been below freezing at night so the snowpack has been pretty well preserved since Aspen Mountain closed on April 10, Skico spokesman Jeff Hanle said. The snow gets sloppy as temperatures climb during the day, so skiers and riders should be prepared for variable conditions.

“Bring some wide skis and do some water skiing,” Hanle advised.

Skiers and riders who purchased the various premiere passes for the 2010-11 season will ski for free during the extended season. All other passholders must pay for a lift ticket. The price is $19 for adult and senior pass holders, ages 18 to 69; $15 for senior passholders, ages 70 and up; $13 for youth passholders, ages 13 to 17; and $10 for child passholders, ages 4 through 12.

The price for adult single-day tickets for non-passholders is $32 per day. Tickets will be sold at the Aspen Mountain ticket kiosk on the gondola plaza. The Sundeck will be open for food and beverages.

Albemarle Road church fined $100 per branch for excessive tree pruning

Eddie Sales looks over some of the trimmed crape myrtles on the grounds of Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church. Diedra Laird - dlaird@charlotteobserver.com

Buy Photo | Store

Every two to three years, Eddie Sales trims and prunes the crape myrtles at his church, Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church.
But this year, the city of Charlotte cited the church for improperly pruning its trees.
"We always keep our trees trimmed back because you don't want to worry about them hanging down in the way," said Sales, a church member.
The church was fined $100 per branch cut for excessive pruning, bringing the violation to $4,000.
"I just couldn't believe it when I heard about it," Sales said. "We trim our trees back every three years all over our property, and this is the first time we have been fined."
The fine will be dropped if the church replaces each of the improperly pruned trees, said Tom Johnson, senior urban forester for city of Charlotte Land Development Division.
"When they are nonrepairable, when they have been pruned beyond repair, we will ask them to be replaced," Johnson said. "We do that for a number of reasons but mainly because they are going to come back unhealthy and create a dangerous situation down the road."
Charlotte has had a tree ordinance since 1978, and when trees are incorrectly pruned or topped, people can be subject to fines, Johnson said.
Trees planted as a result of the ordinance are subject to the fines if they are excessively trimmed or pruned. These include trees on commercial property or street trees. They do not include a private residence.
"The purpose of the tree ordinance is to protect trees," Johnson said. "Charlotte has always been known as the city of trees. When we take down trees, we need to replace these trees."
Individuals who would like to trim their trees should call the city foresters to receive a free permit to conduct the landscape work.
Foresters will then meet with the person receiving the permit and give instructions on how to properly trim their trees, Johnson said.
The state Division of Forestry recommends that anyone trimming trees should be certified by the National Horticulture Board, but certification is not required to receive a permit.
On private property, fine amounts are based on the size of the tree improperly pruned. For small trees such as cherry trees or crape myrtles, the fine is $75 per tree. Excessive cutting can increase that fine to $100 per branch.
For large trees such as oaks or maples, the fine is $150 per tree.
Because there is a widespread lack of understanding on how to prune crape myrtles in the Charlotte area, Johnson said, residents found in violation regarding these trees are asked to simply replace them, and the fine will be lifted.
Sales said trees found in violation at the church must be cut down and replaced with new trees by October, but the church plans to appeal. Sales doesn't know how much it would cost to replace the trees.
"We trimmed back these trees in the interest of the church," Sales said. "If we were in violation, we certainly did not know we were."
Typically during the course of a year, Johnson said, about six private residents are found in violation of improper topping or pruning.
"We are trying to be pro-active and not trying to fine people excessively," Johnson said.

BIGGEST MEMORIAL WEEKEND B.O. EVER! 'Hangover Part 2' Shatters Comedy Records For $138M Domestic/194M Worldwide Total; 'Kung Fu Panda 2' Kicks Up $123M Global; 'Pirates 4' Sails Past $640M Cume In 12 Days

SUNDAY PM/MONDAY AM, 7TH UPDATE: As a frustrated studio bigwig who didn't have a fresh film playing emailed me dripping sarcasm, "Yay, another day of counting other people's money." I told you to Memorial-ize this holiday because the 2011 North American box office slump is officially over thanks to moviegoers starved for comedy. Now the official start of the 2011 Summer Movie Season has set a record for the biggest Memorial Weekend box office ever -- $275M overall for the 4-day holiday. Which easily beat 2007 as the highest grossing (when Pirates Of The Caribbean 3, and Shrek 3, and Spider-Man 3 ran 1-2-3 for $254M). And it beat last year's overall total by almost +50%. YOWZA! Here is North American box office for the Top 10 movies:
1. The Hangover Part 2 (Legendary/Warner Bros) NEW [3,615 Theaters]
Thursday $31.6M, Friday $29.8M, Saturday $30M, Sunday $26M
Three-day Weekend $85M, Four-day Memorial Holiday $103
Five-Day Cume $135M, Intl Cume $59M, Global Cume $194M
It was one of the most anticipated sequels of the summer. And while the derivative content may have disappointed -- oh, hell, I'll just say it: this was shamefully just like the original ("The Wolfpack Is Back") except transplanted to Thailand -- the humongous holiday grosses sure didn't. "It doesn't get much better than this," an exultant Warner Bros bigwig emailed me. One reason for the giant number is because 80% of U.S. colleges were out Thursday and Friday. So Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures' Hangover 2 is the biggest 3-day weekend comedy debut ever, beating The Simpsons Movie's $74M. And it shattered all R-rated comedy records, both weekend and even first week numbers for Sex And The City ($56.8M/$79M). Hangover Part 2 opened after midnight Thursday in a wide 2,600 locations with $10.4 million. That was a big number and set the record for the highest grossing R-rated midnight show. (The previous record was Paranormal Activity's $6.3M.) It set another R-rated film record by debuting in 3,615 theaters. With the first Hangover in 2009 having made $44.9M the weekend of June 5, the sequel was expected to nearly double that for the same period, and then soar as high as $125 million according to some rival studio estimates for the five-day-long weekend. But even that was a modest guesstimate. (Warner Bros low-balled the five-day estimate at $100M.) Then again, this was a 2D feature without the higher 3D ticket prices. And it had only 33% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes going into this weekend. But the lure of a replay with the original cast including Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis under director Todd Phillips was irresistable. Exit polling showed that 51% of the audience was female, and 41% of moviegoers were aged 18 to 24 and 13% were under 18. Moviegoers gave the pic an "A-" CinemaScore overall, with under 18 rating it "A+". The film played strong in both blue and red states with Los Angeles overindexing to lead the major cities.
Internationally, Hangover 2 opened in 40 countries on 5,170 screens to a humongous $59m with 7.2m admissions, which is 3 times higher than the opening of H1 in the same markets. UK debuted to a massive £10.2m (US $16.4M) from 920 screens in 469 situations, making this the all-time biggest opening weekend for a U.S. comedy (all ratings) and the biggest opening weekend to date in 2011 (ahead of Pirates 4).
The studio's strategy for selling Hangover 2 was "to stoke the very high anticipation coming off of the first movie by promising even more  outrageous comedy -- an insanely good time with the guys you love in the exotic locale of Bangkok," an exec tells me. The buzz for the movie transcended anything in the genre, and tracking had been at summer tentpole levels. The campaign kicked off with a teaser trailer in February, and a main trailer that launched on April 1st. TV was key, taking advantage of the highly-rated NBA playoffs and network primetime season finales. The publicity included a hosting position for Zach Galifianakis on SNL in March and Ed Helms in May as well as a heavy magazine campaign of covers. Warner Bros also participated in the National Association of Theatre Owners convention in Las Vegas and showed footage from the film. Press tours were completed in Toronto, New York, and Philadelphia, while screenings were hosted in Top 60 markets around the country. Online was also key to the sell with 13 million fans on Facebook (a staggering number) who regularly received content from the studio. In addition, there was a game based on the Mr. Chow character, and an omnipresent online advertising campaign.
2. Kung Fu Panda 2 3D (DWA Animation/Paramount) NEW [3,925 Theaters]
Thursday $5.8M, Friday $13.1M, Saturday $18.6M, Sunday $16.3M
Three-Day Weekend $48M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $60M
Five-Day Cume $66M, Intl Cume $57M, Global Cume $123M
DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 2 distributed by Paramount earned an "A" CinemaScore and its opening tally was on target for a 3D film with higher ticket prices. But its grosses started out slowly because only 10% of K-12 schools were out on Thursday and just 20% on Friday. The toon sequel built strength daily for the extra long 5-day holiday. Internationally, sequels always do better than in this country, and Kung Fu Panda 2 opened in 11 territories this weekend to a heavyweight total of $57M from 8,023 locations. The Dragon Warrior came in at #1 in nine of the territories it played in, shattering a string of records in the process. This opening represents 29% of the international markets on the film. Natch, it posted huge #1 totals in China ($18.5M from 5,540 positions) with Saturday's opening day the all-time highest debut by a foreign film, exceeding the record set last weekend by Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 by a staggering 50%. Kung Fu Panda 2 became the highest grossing animated film ever released in 7 of its 11 debut markets this weekend.
Paramount had to position the toon so audiences understood what was new in this sequel about Po’s personal journey to discover who he really is. A teaser trailer was launched with DreamWorks Animation's Megamind back on November 4th. On TV, the marketing campaign had spots running for 24 hours beginning with a New Year’s Eve Takeover on Fox, ABC, NBC, BET, and MTV carrying throughout the next day on kids programming as well as heavy frequency on cable networks. There also was a float at the Macy's Day Parade, ads during the Rose Bowl Parade, followed by a pre-kickoff SuperBowl spot. A final trailer ran with Paramount's own production Rango on March 4th. At the Kids Choice Awards, Jack Black hosted and had a conversation three times with an animated Po. Online, there was a first-ever in-game integration within CityVille, Facebook’s largest and most popular application, a Youtube homepage takeover last Monday, and then a Yahoo homepage takeover Friday. Footage was presented at NATO's Cinemacon with Jack making a presentation in person. A worldwide junket and photo op was done at the Cannes Film Festival with Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman joining Black there. A giant Hollywood premiere was held at Mann’s Chinese Theater, followed by a first ever live morning premiere last Tuesday in NYC. Jack surprised audiences of The Today Show with tickets. The Atlanta Zoo named a newborn panda Po in honor of Kung Fu Panda 2 and Black went to the naming ceremony. Furthermore, there was outreach to both the Girl Scouts and Martial Arts schools. Phew! 
3. Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 3D (Disney) Week 2 [4,164 Theaters]
Friday $10.8M, Saturday $15.1M, Sunday $13.3M
Three-Day Weekend $40M (-45%), Four-Day Memorial Holiday $51M
Cume $164.6M, Intl Cume $483M, Global Cume $647M
This weekend Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 crossed the $600M global threshhold in only 12 days after releasing into 100% of its international markets, which the studio says matched the industry speed record set by Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 back in 2007. It's the #1 release of 2011 globally and now stands as the 6th biggest overseas release ever for Disney. Its international tally is now $483M and global cume $647M as of through Monday.
4. Bridesmaids (Universal) Week 3 [2,958 Theaters]
Friday $4.6M, Saturday $6M, Sunday $6.4M
Three-Day Weekend $17M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $21.4M
Cume $90M
5. Thor 3D (Marvel/Disney/Paramount Week 4 [3,296 Theaters]
Friday $2.4M, Saturday $3.5M, Sunday $3.6M
Three-Day Weekend $9.5M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $12M
Cume $162.3M
6. Fast Five (Universal) Week 5 [2,982 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $2.4M, Sunday $2.3M
Three-Day Weekend $6.5M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $8.2M
Cume $197.6M, Intl Cume $346M, Global Cume $545M
Overseas, Fast Five grossed an estimated $13.3M at 7,700 dates in 61 territories and raised its international total to $346M this weekend. Combined with the domestic estimate, the worldwide cume will reach nearly $545M on Monday starting its 6th week abroad. International will cross $350M and domestic will cross $200M this week.
7. Midnight In Paris (Sony Classics) Week 2 [58 Theaters]
Friday $474K, Saturday $775K, Sunday $472K
Three-Day Weekend $2M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $2.6M
Cume $3.5M
8. Something Borrowed (Warner Bros) Week 4 [1,440 Theaters]
Friday $550K, Saturday $700K, Sunday $750K
Three-Day Weekend $2M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $2.4M
Cume $35.3M
9. Jumping The Broom (TriStar/Sony) Week 4 [939 Theaters]
Friday $475K, Saturday $800K, Sunday $680K
Three-Day Weekend $1.8M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $2.2M
Cume $35.1M
10. Rio 3D (Blue Sky Studio/Fox) Week 7 [1,672 Theaters]
Friday $420K, Saturday $720K, Sunday $640K
Three-Day Weekend $1.7M, Four-Day Memorial Holiday $2.2M
Cume $135.1M, International Cume $321.9M
Fox Searchlight's recent Cannes Film Festival Palme D'Or winner The Tree Of Life from filmmaker Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain, broke records this weekend with every prime and evening show sold out in all locations (2 in NY and 2 in LA). It grossed grossed $352,320, with a theater average of $88,080. This will be  the highest opening average of any Fox Searchlight film -- even ahead of Black Swan's $80,000 per theatre. The grosses are even more impressive when you consider the film is 2½ hours long (and therefore gets significantly fewer showings). Playing in the Arclight in Hollywood, the Landmark in West LA, as well as the Lincoln Plaza and the Sunshine in New York, the film had a very traditional art house roll out. Next weekend, it will open in exclusive engagements in an additional 8 cities while adding just 3 additional theaters in both New York and Los Angeles. Expansions are planned and booked for the succeeding four weeks when the film will reach its national release on July 1. Malick's signature imagery and complex storyline in this fifth film earned a 92% rating on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. But its rollout indicated more interest than just cinephiles.
THURSDAY PM/FRIDAY AM, 3RD UPDATE: This is already a Memorial-izing Weekend for breaking comedy records. It's looking like both big opening films today are on track for their pre-release estimates. But Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures' The Hangover Part 2 on Thursday racked up the largest-grossing R-rated comedy opening in motion picture history (besting the same studio's Sex And The City Friday opening of $26.7M). "It doesn't get much better than this," an exultant Warner Bros bigwig emailed me this morning. The Wolfpack's Bangkok-set replay is heading for an astounding $31.6 million Thursday including $10.4M in midnight shows. Granted, that'll be its best-grossing day for this 5-day Memorial Weekend since 80% of colleges will be out Thursday and Friday. But who cares? Money is money whether earned on a Thursday or a Friday. Exit polling showed that 51% of the audience was female, and 41% of moviegoers were aged 18 to 24 and 13% were under 18. Audiences gave the pic an "A-" CinemaScore overall, with under 18 rating it "A+". The film played strong in both blue and red states with Los Angeles overindexing to lead the major cities. Hollywood is expecting a 3-day weekend of $80M-$85M and an extra-long 5-day Memorial holiday of $125M. And all for a 2D film without the higher 3D ticket prices. Yowza!
DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 2 distributed by Paramount earned an "A" CinemaScore and is debuting Thursday with $6 million because only 10% of K-12 schools are out on Thursday and just 20% on Friday. The toon sequel should gross bigger each day with $45M-$50M expected for the 3-day weekend and $65M-$70M for the extra-long 5-day Memorial holiday. Internationally, Panda 2 opens in 10 markets day and date including Russia and Korea. Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides should hold with $40M for the 3-day weekend and $60M for the traditional 4-day Memorial holiday.  Full analysis Friday.
10:15 AM UPDATE: This Memorial Weekend started early for the 2011 Summer Movie Season with both Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures' The Hangover Part 2 and DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 2 distributed by Paramount screening Thursday midnight shows. Warner Bros is saying that Hangover Part 2, one of the most anticipated sequels of the summer, opened after midnight in 2,600 locations with $10.4 million. That's a big big number and sets the record for the highest grossing R-rated midnight show. (The previous record was Paranormal Activity's $6.3M.) But it's still on the low side of the $10M-$15M that rival studios were expecting. It sets an R-rated film record today by debuting in 3,615 theaters, which should translate into a big $20M for Thursday. With the first Hangover having made the weekend of June 5, the sequel is expected to reach $80M-$85M for the three-day weekend, and then as high as $125 million according to some rival studio estimates for the five-day-long weekend starting today. Warner Bros is projecting the five-day estimate at $100M. And that's for a 2D feature without the higher 3D ticket prices. One reason for the giant number is because 80% of colleges will be out Thursday and Friday. The only obstacle standing in this Bangkok-set sequel's way is whether it's too much like the original: it has only 33% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as of this morning.

Writer urges Internet junkies to 'switch off' and think

Like tens of millions of others, US technology writer Nicholas Carr found the lure of the worldwide web hard to resist -- until he noticed it was getting harder and harder to concentrate.
He set out his concerns in a celebrated essay headlined "Is Google making us stupid?"
And his latest book "The Shallows" explores in depth what he fears the Internet is doing to our brains.
"The seductions of technology are hard to resist," Carr acknowledges in that book, which has sold an estimated 50,000 hardback copies in the United States alone. But he thinks it's time to start trying.
In a speech at last week's Seoul Digital Forum and an interview with AFP, Carr restated his concerns that IT is affecting the way people think and feel and even the physical make-up of their brains.
Every new technology in history -- like the map and the clock -- changed the way people think but Carr sees special dangers in the Internet.
He got his first PC back in the 1980s and was an avid net user until "a few years ago, I noticed some disturbing changes in the way my mind worked. I was losing the ability to concentrate."
While the Internet has enormous benefits in delivering incredible amounts of information at incredible speed, it's also a distracting and interruption-rich environment.
Carr said it encourages quick shifts in focus -- and discourages sustained attention and the ability to think deeply and creatively about one topic and to challenge conventional wisdom.
Popularity-driven search engines, in one of the ironies of an information-rich Internet, worsen the problem by leading everyone to the same sources, he said.
Social networks, while pleasurable and fun, increase distractedness by bombarding users with brief bits of information.
"We take in so much information so quickly that we are in a constant state of cognitive overload," Carr argued.
"Multitasking erodes cognitive control. We lose our ability to say that this is important, this is unimportant. All we want is new information."
In contrast, when readers open a printed book, "there's nothing else going on except words on a page, no distractions. It helps train us to be deep thinkers."
Carr, 52, told AFP he's not optimistic society will switch off en masse but it's important to look clearly at what it might be losing.
And he doesn't feel quite so lonely now that some other authors and TV programme-makers have tackled the same subject. "There are signs, still sporadic and small, that people are beginning to question the effects of technology."
Since the book came out, he said, he had heard from several companies struggling with otherwise intelligent employees who were unable to focus and concentrate on problem-solving.
Carr admitted he himself has not had great success in limiting the time he spends online. But the biggest change he made as a writer and researcher was to use the web only to track down source material.
"Then I'd make an effort to actually read those things in print. I did find that made a big difference in my ability to be attentive and a thorough reader and hopefully a deeper thinker."
But Carr said it was not just a matter of individual choice. If friends, colleagues and employers were constantly on line, "then you feel in many ways compelled to do so even if you don't want to, because you don't want to damage your career or your social life".
The author said he had no simple formula for change. But companies could "start sending a signal that's it's OK to be disconnected sometimes, it's OK if you don't respond to every email within 45 seconds or whatever".
Employers, governments and schools could also start rewarding and encouraging people to switch off.
But Carr said there is little evidence so far of pressure for change.
"I think as a society we're choosing information overload: we're choosing to sacrifice the more meditative and contemplative aspects of our minds."

Russia bans German, Spanish vegetables

MOSCOW — Russia on Monday banned the import of all vegetables from Germany and Spain and warned the sanction could soon be applied to the rest of Europe because of the deadly E. coli bacteria scare.
The country's consumer consumer protection watchdog said in a statement that the ban covered "raw vegetables" including tomatoes, cucumbers and salad produced in Germany and Spain.
"This measure stems from the outbreak in Germany of the acute intestinal infection caused by Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC)," the agency statement statement said.
EHEC can result in full-blown haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a disease that causes bloody diarrhoea and serious liver damage and which can result in death.
German officials suspect the deadly strain, which has already killed 12 people, may have come from organic cucumbers imported from Spain.
Russia has been quick on past occasions to ban the import of products produced locally for ostensibly health-related reasons -- moves that have seen critics accuse the authorities of unfairly helping local producers.
The consumer protection agency said the measure could soon be expanded to include all European Union countries if Russia failed to receives a sufficient explanation as to how the fatal disease was being spread.
"Moreover, in the coming hours, a decision may be taken to ban the import to or sale in Russia of vegetables produced in all EU countries," the Russian statement said.
The agency chief's Gennady Onishchenko urged Russians to eat only locally-grown greens, adding that all vegetables already imported from Germany and Spain would be seized.
"We are calling on the population not to purchase fresh vegetables from Germany and Spain," Interfax quoted Onishchenko as saying. "Let them purchase domestic products."

14 dead in Germany as cucumber crisis grows

 

AFP – A slice of a German cucumber. Germany on Monday held crisis talks amid reports that at least 14 people …

by Frederic Happe – 2 hrs 13 mins ago

BERLIN (AFP) – Germany on Monday held crisis talks amid reports that at least 14 people have died and hundreds are ill in an outbreak of a highly virulent strain of bacteria found on imported cucumbers.
Belgium and Russia banned the import of vegetables from Spain, believed to be the source of at least some of the contaminated cucumbers. Madrid shot back saying it would seek financial compensation from the European Union for lost sales.
More than two weeks after the food poisoning outbreak was first reported in northern Germany, the number of confirmed and suspected cases has reached 1,200, according to media reports.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's national disease institute, said three deaths have been officially linked to the bacteria, but "in total about a dozen people have died according to regional authorities".
These authorities later Monday announced two more deaths: a woman of 50 and a man of 75 -- bringing the toll to at least 14.
The Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has described the outbreak of the strain of E. coli as "one of the largest worldwide and the largest ever reported in Germany".
Authorities in Germany warned against eating raw vegetables after traces of the bacteria were found on organic cucumbers from Spain last week.
But officials said they are unsure what caused the sudden outbreak of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) which can result in full-blown haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a disease that causes bloody diarrhoea and serious liver damage and possible death.
The outbreak has hit countries including Britain, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, but most these cases appear to involve people who had recently travelled to or from Germany.
"Normally we see about 1,000 cases per year, but we've now had some 1,200 cases in just 10 days," Jan Galle, director of the Luedenscheid clinic in western Germany, told ZDF public television.
"And we know that this time the EHEC strain is especially virulent and resistant, and has led to a very high number of HUS" cases, he added.
RKI has reported 329 confirmed HUS cases nationwide.
German Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner held emergency talks with Health Minister Daniel Bahr and regional state representatives, telling reporters the crisis has "taken a European dimension".
Burger said the source of the contamination had not been definitively identified.
Last week his organisation said a study had shown that all those affected had eaten significantly above-average amounts of tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers.
Many German supermarkets and shops removed all Spanish-grown vegetables from their shelves.
Belgium said it was blocking cucumber imports from Spain, while Russia said it was banning vegetable imports from both Spain and Germany.
The Netherlands, which usually exports vast amounts of vegetables to Germany, said sales had collapsed. German farmers also said consumers were boycotting their vegetables.
Doctors remained unsure how to treat the disease which can result in total kidney failure.
"We have 61 adults hospitalised, 21 in intensive care," a spokeswoman for the Eppendorf University Clinic in Hamburg, where most cases are being treated clinic, said Monday evening.
The clinic has appealed for blood donations.
"We are using between 500 and 700 bags of plasma per day, compared to 60 normally. We're running out of supplies," the spokeswoman said.
Rolf Stahl, a neurologist at the clinic, said nearly a third of patients there had lost all kidney functions and were on dialysis.
Doctors were experimenting with a new type of monoclonal antibodies drug, Eculizumab, which, while not officially approved, has been administered to 11 patients in a bid to save their lives.
"The infection source remains active and we have to reckon with a growing number of cases," Bahr said.

Anti-Christian Violence Continues in Pakistan

Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 2, 2011. (Photo: Pakistan Minorities Ministry)

(CNSNews.com) – Anti-Christian violence continues in Pakistan and police are not pursuing the perpetrators, according to news reports.
A May 26 article in AsiaNews.it described the gang-rape of a Christian woman and the desecration of Christian tombs in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad. The publication called it “ordinary violence visited upon Pakistan’s Christian minority.”
The Pakistan Christian Post first reported the violence, including information about Muslim landowners using tractors to desecrate a Christian graveyard. Buried caskets were broken and bones of the dead were brought to the surface, the newspaper reported.
A Faisalabad chapter of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Pakistani Catholic Church has intervened in the cases, which sent a team to the site to collect evidence.
A Muslim man has filed a claim with the courts in the case, saying that the land where the cemetery is located belongs to him.
The Rev. Joseph Jamil condemned the violence and told AsiaNews.it that the Pakistani government should “take charge of the situation and defend the minority.”
The article said the rape victim is a 29-year-old Christian woman and the mother of three. The Catholic group is helping with her legal counsel.

Israel Minister: Strike on Iran Could Be Necessary

MOSCOW -- An Israeli Cabinet minister says the civilized world must take joint action to avert the Iranian nuclear threat, including a pre-emptive strike if necessary.

Moshe Yaalon -- the minister for strategic affairs -- made the statement Monday in an interview with Russia's Interfax news agency ahead of a visit to Moscow.

Yaalon wouldn't discuss who might deal the strike, saying the entire world, not just Israel, must be concerned about the danger posed by a nuclear-armed Iran.

Yaalon's spokesman Ofer Harel told The Associated Press later Monday that the minister was repeating Israel's position that all options are on the table and not calling for anybody to attack Iran.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, but the U.S., Israel and many others believe it is cover for developing atomic weapons

Netanyahu: Israel cannot prevent UN recognition of Palestinian state

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that no one can prevent the recognition of a Palestinian state in the United Nations in September.
"No one has the power to stop the decision to recognize a Palestinian state in the UN General Assembly in September," Netanyahu said. "It can also be possible to make the decision there that the world is flat."

	UN General Assembly
	Photo by: AP

Netanyahu said Israel can't prevent UN recognition of a Palestinian state, and added that Israel expects to receive support only from a handful of countries.
"We have no way to obstruct the UN decision," Netanyahu said, but warned that that the Palestinians will not succeed in their efforts in the UN Security Council.
"It is impossible to recognize a Palestinian state without passing through the Security Council and such a move is bound to fail."
On Friday, the president of the United Nations General Assembly said there was no way that a Palestinian state could become a member of the United Nations without a recommendation from the Security Council.
Joseph Deiss said that if the United States or any other permanent council member used its veto, the General Assembly would not be able to vote on membership for Palestine.
U.S. President Barack Obama said last weekend that no vote at the United Nations would ever create a Palestinian state, a strong indication that the U.S. would veto a resolution recommending Palestinian membership in the 192-nation world body.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu said Israel could support a Palestinian state before September under the right conditions, but warned against a Palestinian state which includes Hamas that would try to perpetuate conflict with Israel.

Mobius Says Financial Crisis ‘Around The Corner’

Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management’s emerging markets group, said another financial crisis is inevitable because the causes of the previous one haven’t been resolved.
“There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis,” Mobius said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo today in response to a question about price swings. “Are the derivatives regulated? No. Are you still getting growth in derivatives? Yes.”
The total value of derivatives in the world exceeds total global gross domestic product by a factor of 10, said Mobius, who oversees more than $50 billion. With that volume of bets in different directions, volatility and equity market crises will occur, he said.
The global financial crisis three years ago was caused in part by the proliferation of derivative products tied to U.S. home loans that ceased performing, triggering hundreds of billions of dollars in writedowns and leading to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008. The MSCI AC World Index of developed and emerging market stocks tumbled 46 percent between Lehman’s downfall and the market bottom on March 9, 2009.
“With every crisis comes great opportunity,” said Mobius. When markets are crashing, “that’s when we’re going to be able to invest and do a good job,” he said.
The freezing of global credit markets caused governments from Washington to Beijing to London to pump more than $3 trillion into the financial system to shore up the global economy. The MSCI AC World gauge surged 99 percent from its March 2009 low through May 27.

‘Too Big to Fail’

The largest U.S. banks have grown larger since the financial crisis, and the number of “too-big-to-fail” banks will increase by 40 percent over the next 15 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Separately, higher capital requirements and greater supervision should be imposed on institutions deemed “too important to fail” to reduce the chances of large-scale failures, staff at the International Monetary Fund warned in a report on May 27.
“Are the banks bigger than they were before? They’re bigger,” Mobius said. “Too big to fail.”
The money manager had earlier said at the same event that Africa has an “incredible” investment potential and that he has stakes in Nigerian banks.
“These banks are doing very well and are much better regulated than they were in the past,” Mobius said, without disclosing which lenders he holds.
Banks account for five of the eight stocks in the MSCI Nigeria (MXNI) Index. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, the country’s No. 2 lender by market value, surged 31 percent in the six months through May 27, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Shares of Access Bank Nigeria Plc recorded the second-biggest decline on the gauge in the period, the data show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kana Nishizawa in Tokyo at knishizawa5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net

Canada's GDP Expands 3.9%

OTTAWA—Canada's economy expanded at a 3.9% annualized pace in January through March, the fastest clip in a year and more than double the rate in the U.S., as businesses replenished inventories and boosted investment spending and exports rose while consumer and government spending stalled, Statistics Canada said Monday.
Gross domestic product growth was marginally below the consensus call of 4%, and also undershot the Bank of Canada's 4.2% forecast.
GDP growth accelerated from a downwardly revised 3.1% ..

Hospitals hunt substitutes as drug shortages rise

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses - from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest - has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment.

"It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

The problem of scarce supplies or even completely unavailable medications isn't a new one but it's getting markedly worse. The number listed in short supply has tripled over the past five years, to a record 211 medications last year. While some of those have been resolved, another 89 drug shortages have occurred in the first three months of this year, according to the University of Utah's Drug Information Service. It tracks shortages for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

The vast majority involve injectable medications used mostly by medical centers - in emergency rooms, ICUs and cancer wards. Particular shortages can last for weeks or for many months, and there aren't always good alternatives. Nor is it just a U.S. problem, as other countries report some of the same supply disruptions.

It's frightening for families.

At Miami Children's Hospital, doctors had to postpone for a month the last round of chemotherapy for 14-year-old Caroline Pallidine, because of a months-long nationwide shortage of cytarabine, a drug considered key to curing a type of leukemia.

"There's always a fear, if she's going so long without chemo, is there a chance this cancer's going to come back?" says her mother, Marta Pallidine, who says she'll be nervous until Caroline finishes her final treatments scheduled for this week.

"In this day and age, we really shouldn't be having this kind of problem and putting our children's lives at risk," she adds.

There are lots of causes, from recalls of contaminated vials, to trouble importing raw ingredients, to spikes in demand, to factories that temporarily shut down for quality upgrades.

Some experts pointedly note that pricier brand-name drugs seldom are in short supply. The Food and Drug Administration agrees that the overarching problem is that fewer and fewer manufacturers produce these older, cheaper generic drugs, especially the harder-to-make injectable ones. So if one company has trouble - or decides to quit making a particular drug - there are few others able to ramp up their own production to fill the gap, says Valerie Jensen, who heads FDA's shortage office.

The shortage that's made the most headlines is a sedative used on death row. But on the health-care front, shortages are wide-ranging, including:

-Thiotepa, used with bone marrow transplants.

-A whole list of electrolytes, injectable nutrients crucial for certain premature infants and tube-feeding of the critically ill.

-Norepinephrine injections for septic shock.

-A cystic fibrosis drug named acetylcysteine.

-Injections used in the ER for certain types of cardiac arrest.

-Certain versions of pills for ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

-Some leuprolide hormone injections used in fertility treatment.

No one is tracking patient harm. But last fall, the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices said it had two reports of people who died from the wrong dose of a substitute painkiller during a morphine shortage.

"Every pharmacist in every hospital across the country is working to make sure those things don't happen, but shortages create the perfect storm for a medication error to happen," says University of Utah pharmacist Erin Fox, who oversees the shortage-tracking program.

What can be done?

The FDA has taken an unusual step, asking some foreign companies to temporarily ship to the U.S. their own versions of some scarce drugs that aren't normally sold here. That eased shortages of propofol, a key anesthesia drug, and the transplant drug thiotepa.

Affected companies say they're working hard to eliminate backlogs. For instance, Hospira Inc., the largest maker of those injectable drugs, says it is increasing production capacity and working with FDA "to address shortage situations as quickly as possible and to help prevent recurrence."

But the Generic Pharmaceutical Association says some shortages are beyond industry control, such as FDA inspections or stockpiling that can exacerbate a shortage.

"Drug shortages of any kind are a complex problem that require broad-based solutions from all stakeholders," adds the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a fellow trade group.

Lawmakers are getting involved. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., is urging the Federal Trade Commission to consider if any pending drug-company mergers would create or exacerbate shortages.

Also, pending legislation would require manufacturers to give FDA advance notice of problems such as manufacturing delays that might trigger a shortage. The FDA cannot force a company to make a drug, but was able to prevent 38 close calls from turning into shortages last year by speeding approval of manufacturing changes or urging competing companies to get ready to meet a shortfall.

"No patient's life should have to be at risk when there is a drug somewhere" that could be used, says Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who introduced the bill.

Al-Jazeera footage captures 'western troops on the ground' in Libya

Five of Gaddafi's generals are among latest defectors to rebels as South African president seeks to broker ceasefir

• Armed western men have been filmed on the ground with rebels in central Libya in the first apparent confirmation that Nato has sent military advisers to train anti-government forces. A group of six westerners were clearly visible, according to a report by al-Jazeera from Dafniya, described as the westernmost point of the rebel lines west of the town of Misrata. Five of them were armed and wearing sand-coloured clothes, peaked caps, and cotton Arab scarves. The sixth, apparently the most senior of the group, was carrying no visible weapon and wore a pink, short-sleeve shirt. He may be an intelligence officer. The group is seen talking to rebels and then quickly leaving on being spotted by the television crew. The footage emerged as South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, arrived in Tripoli in an attempt to broker a ceasefire. He described reports that he would ask Muammar Gaddafi to step down as "misleading", and said he would instead focus on humanitarian measures and ways to implement a plan concocted by the African Union for Libya make a transition to democratic rule but not seek Gaddafi's exile. The westerners were seen by al-Jazeera on rebel lines late last week, days before British and French attack helicopters are due to join the Nato campaign. They are likely to be deployed on the outskirts of Misrata, from where pro-Gaddafi forces continue to shell rebel positions to the east. There have been numerous reports in the British press that SAS soldiers are acting as spotters in Libya to help Nato warplanes target pro-Gaddafi forces. In March, six special forces soldiers and two MI6 officers were detained by rebel fighters when they landed on an abortive mission to meet rebel leaders in Benghazi, in an embarrassing episode for the SAS. The group was withdrawn soon afterwards and a new "liaison team" sent in its place. Asked for comment on Monday, a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "We don't have any forces out there." The subject is sensitive as the UN security council resolution in March authorising the use of force in Libya specifically excludes "a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory". Despite more than two months of bombing by Nato, rebels have remained unable to advance west of Misrata, or west of Brega, 300 miles to the east. The capital, Tripoli, also remains in the grip of Gaddafi, who has defied all attempts to force him to leave. However, a fresh blow to his position came yesterday as eight Libyan army officers appeared in Rome, saying they were part of a group of as many as 120 military officials and soldiers who had defected from Gaddafi's side in recent days. The eight officers – five generals, two colonels and a major – spoke at a news conference organised by the Italian government. The officers said they had defected in protest at Gaddafi's actions against his own people, citing killings of civilians and violence against women. They claimed that Gaddafi's campaign against the rebels was rapidly weakening. Air force pilots landed in Italy and defected earlier in the rebellion. Under-trained and under-manned rebel forces have been encouraging defections as a way to whittle away support for Gaddafi in the absence of a ground army sent to assist them. The latest group are reported to have been spurred largely by tensions arising from the appointment newcomers to senior positions in the security services. The behaviour of these men, many of them relatively youthful Gaddafi loyalists in their mid-30s, are throught to have stirred anger and dismay among the army's officer ranks. In April, William Hague announced that an expanded military liaison team would be dispatched to work with the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council, which is positioning itself as a democratic alternative to Gaddafi's rule. The foreign secretary said the team would help the rebels improve "organisational structures, communications and logistics" but stressed: "Our officers will not be involved in training or arming the opposition's fighting forces, nor will they be involved in the planning or execution of the [transitional council's] military operations or in the provision of any other form of operational military advice." There were unconfirmed reports at the time that Britain was planning to send former SAS members and other experienced soldiers to Libya under the cover of private security companies, paid for by Arab states, to train the anti-government forces.

Obama Goes Golfing on Memorial Day

The business of memorializing our war dead done, President Obama headed out to the Fort Belvoir golf course today, finding his way onto the links for the ninth weekend in a row.
Obama earlier today laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and met with families of those killed in battle. But he emerged from the day’s solemnity to go golfing for the 12th time this year and the 70th time of his presidency.
The decision to golf on Memorial Day invites comparison with President George W. Bush, who gave up the game early in his presidency and said he did it out of respect for the families of those killed in Iraq.
Obama is out with the three younger aides he typically has in tow on his golf excursions, junior White House staffer Ben Finkenbinder, White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson, and Energy Department staffer David Katz.
In a sign of his determination to play no matter what, Obama is golfing even though it is currently 95 degrees at Fort Belvoir and it “feels like” it’s 98 degrees, according to The Weather Channel.

As America Observes Memorial Day, U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan Top 1,500

U.S. Army flight medic Sgt. Jaime Adame rushes into the dust out of a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment looking for wounded Marines at a landing zone that was under insurgent attack north of Sangin, in the volatile Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, Sunday, May 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

(CNSNews.com) -- The Defense Department announced 8 new U.S. casualties in Afghanistan over the Memorial Day weekend, bringing the total number of U.S. casualties in the almost-decade-long war in that country to 1,503.
Twenty-eight U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan in May. These heroes hailed from all regions of America, calling 17 states and Puerto Rico their homes.
933 of the 1,503 U.S. casualties over the course of the Afghanistan war have come since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009. That equals 62 percent of the total.
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), also known as homemade bombs, continued to be the number one killer of American forces in Afghanistan in May with 21 of the 28 casualties being caused by IEDs.
On May 26, in one of the worst IED attacks against U.S. forces in more than a year, 6 U.S. soldiers were killed in Kandahar Province, according to a statement released by the Defense Deparment on Saturday, The most recently confirmed U.S. casualty in Afghanistan took place Saturday, when Spc. Adam S. Hamilton, 22, of Kent, Ohio, was killed by an IED in Haji Ruf, Afghanistan. The Defense Department issued a statement about Hamilton's death on Sunday.
The Defense Department also said on Sunday that Pfc. John C. Johnson, 28, of Phoenix, Ariz., had been killed on Friday in Kandahar Province, when his unit came under attack by small arms fire.
The casualty totals for the war come from CNSNews.com’s database of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan, which is derived from official Department of Defense (DOD) announcements and news reports.
The database includes American troops who died in and around Afghanistan while supporting military efforts against terrorism under Operation Enduring Freedom. That operation was launched on Oct. 7, 2001 to topple the Taliban regime and pursue al Qaeda after it used Afghanistan as a base for the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.
In addition to those who died in Afghanistan, CNSNews.com’s database includes some Americans who died in Pakistan and others who died in the Arabian Sea while supporting operations in Afghanistan.
President Obama escalated the war in December 2009 when he announced that he was sending 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total number of U.S. forces in that country to about 100,000.
Along with that announcement, Obama said that, ground-conditions permitting, U.S. troops will begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011, which U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, the top-commander in Afghanistan, indicated in March is on track to occur.
The withdrawal process is expected to carry through to the end of 2014 when Afghan forces are expected to be in the lead, but not independent of U.S. forces.
This is a list of the U.S. forces who died in Afghanistan in May. The list includes the hero's name, age, hometown and date of death as reported by the Defense Department

U.S. Military Personnel, Veterans Give Obama Lower Marks

Younger, active-duty military less likely to have an opinion on Obama either way

by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- U.S. military veterans and those currently on active military duty are less likely to approve of President Obama's job performance than are Americans of comparable ages who are not in the military.

These results are based on an analysis of more than 238,000 interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking from January 2010 through April 2011. Respondents were classified as veterans/active-duty military based on responses to a series of questions probing whether any member of the household had served in the U.S. military, and whether the respondent himself or herself had served and, if so, whether the respondent was currently on active duty. Americans currently serving in the military overseas or on ships at sea would not be included in this national cell and landline telephone sample.
Thirty-seven percent of all active-duty military personnel and veterans surveyed approved of the job Obama is doing during the January 2010 to April 2011 time frame. That compares with 48% of nonveterans interviewed during the same period.
Obama's approval rating varies by age, with younger Americans in general most likely to approve and older Americans least likely. The gap in approval between veterans/active duty military and nonveterans persists across the age spectrum, from 18- to 29-year-olds to those 80 and older.
Differences Across Gender Groups
Veterans and active-duty military, particularly those 40 and older, are predominantly men, and men are less likely to approve of the job Obama is doing than are women. However, the gap in Obama job approval between veterans/active-duty military and nonveterans persists among men in each age group.
Women who are serving or have served in the military are on a relative basis more positive about Obama than is the case for men who are members of the military or veterans. Female veterans or those in the military between the ages of 30 and 49, for example, are actually slightly more likely to approve of Obama than are nonveteran women in this age group.
Active-Duty Military Less Likely to Express an Opinion on Obama
Although active-duty military personnel are less likely to approve of the job Obama is doing than are national adults overall, this group's disapproval is only marginally higher than that of national adults. This is because active-duty military -- particularly those under 40 -- are significantly more likely to say they have no opinion about Obama's job performance than is the case for all adults in the same age group.

There are several possible explanations for this finding. Those on active duty may in general be less involved in politics and current affairs and thus less likely to hold an opinion on Obama or other political matters. Or, it could be that members of the active-duty military are adhering to a general nonpartisan norm within the military culture, and are therefore less willing to express an opinion to a survey interviewer, regardless of what they may actually believe.
Military Service Rare Among the Young, Highly Prevalent Among Seniors
The basic pattern of military service among Americans is remarkably -- albeit not surprisingly -- differentiated by age and gender. Across all age groups, most active-duty military personnel and veterans are men. For American men under age 60, the percentage who have served or currently serve in the military ranges from 8% in the youngest age group to 21% of those aged 50 to 59. The percentage of military veterans is much greater among those 60 and older, reaching a peak of 75% among men aged 80 to 99.

Bottom Line
Americans who currently serve or previously served in the U.S. military are less likely to approve of the job President Obama is doing than are those who have not served in the military, by about 10 percentage points. This approval gap occurs across age groups.
For younger, post-draft-era veterans, individuals with certain regional, demographic, or psychographic backgrounds may be more likely to be Republican and more likely to join the military. For older veterans, their service in the military may have led them to a more Republican viewpoint on politics, either during their service or in later years.
Survey Methods Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking January 2010 through April 2011, with a random sample of 238,673 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1 percentage point. The maximum margin of sampling error will be larger for subgroups of veterans and active-duty military.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

Empty summer in the city awaits urban youths facing cutbacks to camps, pools, libraries, jobs

NEW YORK — A rising number of children can look forward to excruciatingly boring school breaks this year as budget crises in places such as New York, Washington, D.C., Houston and Detroit rob them of the activities and programs that have long defined summer in the city for urban youngsters.
Swimming pools are being closed. Recreation centers are locking their doors. Library summer reading programs are suffering. Openings for short-term jobs have evaporated.
Port Lau’s vacations of boredom ended the summer he was 14, when a city-funded program got him his first job — doing filing and clerical work at the state Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Now 18, the college freshman credits the experience with landing him a string of jobs and internships — including one for which he’ll be traveling to Germany this summer.
But in New York City, the youth employment program that got him the job is facing a cut of more than $15 million, which means that this year the program is slated to have 10,000 fewer spots for young people from the ages of 14 to 24 — a reduction of nearly one-third.
To Lau, it’s one cutback that just doesn’t make sense.
“We are the students of the future. We’re going to be the ones who make New York prosper,” he said. “So why are they trying to limit us?”
The stories are similar elsewhere. In Washington, D.C., a summer camp for children whose families come from Ethiopia is losing its city funding, as are more than half the city-funded summer-camp programs serving low-income communities. In Detroit, the youth summer-jobs program is expected to be down to just 1,200 spots — cut from 7,500 two years ago.
This year and last, declines in revenue and reductions in spending across the country are steeper than at any other point in the last quarter-century, according to a National League of Cities survey.
“It’s not necessarily that youth programs are being singled out, it’s that so many other things have already been cut, and everything needs to be examined at this point,” said Christiana McFarland, research manager for the league. “There’s no more wiggle room in the budget.”
Some city officials are trying to fight back with private partnerships. In New York, companies from American Airlines to the firm that runs the Empire State Building have donated $3 million in cash or jobs to the youth-employment program.
Also on the chopping block in New York City’s proposed budget: four swimming pools, New York Public Library children’s program cuts that would result in 70 percent fewer youngsters being served, more than 6,000 public-school teaching jobs, family literacy programs and outreach for homeless youth.
“This is certainly not going to be the year of the child in New York,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, one of a number of local officials who have objected to the cutbacks, saying they will most hurt the city’s middle class and working poor.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the changes in city services are regrettable but necessary because of harsh state and federal funding cuts.
For parents coping with the unique challenges of urban child-rearing, it can be hard to imagine summer without public programs.
“In New York City, it’s not like we can open our doors and all of our kids can run out and play,” Manhattan resident Tracy Ranson said while keeping an eye on her 2-year-old son at a crowded playground. “You need some kind of program for these kids.”
Nearby, Joe Exley recalled how the city’s libraries and their daily reading programs had helped inspire his daughter Fiona’s love of books. After seeing his daughter, now almost 4, experience the programs with a diverse range of New York City children, Exley said that the idea of further cutbacks was frustrating.
“Any social programs dealing with kids seem like the last things that should be cut,” he said.
At city-funded summer camps in Washington, D.C., kids kick soccer balls and team up for rugby games in between academic enrichment activities. This year, money for the camps disappeared entirely due to budget woes, but the non-profit DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation was able to find $1 million in unused funds to keep about half of last year’s 3,000 camper slots open, said Natasha Marshall, grants manager for the trust. Specialized camps for Asian-American children and students in foster care are among those that lost their city funds.
In Detroit, budget makers managed to stave off further recreation cutbacks this year, holding services at the already reduced level they’d been cut to in the fall of 2009. That’s when the struggling city’s recreation centers began shutting down two days a week and cutting back to eight hours a day — down from 12 to 14 hours, said Alicia Minter, director of the Detroit Recreation Department. Half the city-sponsored summer camps were shuttered.
Still, shortfalls in other areas have those who work with children bracing for change in Detroit.
At the volunteer-run Summer in the City camp program, co-founder Ben Falik is readying for the possibility that the camp may need to set up in the park if the school that usually partners with the program shuts down due to cutbacks. And thousands fewer youngsters will have government-funded summer jobs in the city, because of cuts that have returned work force investment funding to the level it was at in 1990.
All over, many libraries say they are reducing hours, laying off staff and in some cases running out of money for new books, although there’s no way to tell exactly how many children’s summer programs have been cut. Without summer-time academic activities, educators say children already on the edge can fall further behind come September.
In Oakland, Calif., where municipal leaders are considering a budget that would shutter 14 of 18 library branches, librarians are trying to fight back with “story time flash mobs” in which they grab bullhorns and read aloud in public to draw attention to the funding threat.
“We’re really trying to advocate for story time as an activity. It helps students who are not yet reading — or even talking — in their literacy ability. This is not some nice thing we can pick back up when the economy is better,” librarian Amy Martin said.
Political observers say that cutbacks affecting children, however painful, are a hard choice made necessary by the current economic climate.
When performing triage on bleeding city budgets, policing and security must be the priority, because rising crime can hurt every other aspect of city life, said E.J. McMahon, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute.
If “you’ve got to balance out some summer park programs against policing the parks, I think you’ve got to choose policing the parks. It’s a tough choice but that may be what it comes down to in some places,” he said.
That seems to be the approach of Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who earlier this month proposed a budget that she argued maintained public safety as the city’s top priority — avoiding the layoffs of police officers and firefighters while closing eight swimming pools and seven community centers, and eliminating city-funded youth sports leagues.
But some children’s advocates argue that recreation can add to community safety and security just as much as policing.
In New Orleans, Mayor Mitchell Landrieu this year fulfilled a campaign promise to boost city funding for children’s recreation facilities and summer programs, despite the city’s economic difficulties. While last summer, about 700 children participated in sports and literacy activities through the city’s summer camps for children ages 5 to 18, this year the city is expecting to serve 5,000 campers with the help of local organizations, private partnerships and doubled city funds, said Gina Warner, the executive director of the city’s Partnership for Youth Development.
The city — where nine out of 10 recreation sites were damaged by Hurricane Katrina — will be opening 12 pools this year, up from seven the year before and three the year before that. And libraries will be coordinating with the city summer camps to keep children reading, Warner said.
Warner said that while her city faces the same economic struggles as its counterparts around the country, elected officials see the New Orleans summer programs as not only an investment in children, but also a crime-prevention tool.
“We’re a very tourism-dependent city, and so we can’t afford to have children who don’t have positive places to be during the summer,” she said.

Lawyer: Mladic won't live to see a trial

AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic BELGRADE (AP) -- The lawyer for war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic said Monday that the former general is so ill he won't live to see the start of his trial on genocide charges. Attorney Milos Saljic asked for a battery of doctors to examine the 69-year old. Mladic was arrested last week after 16 years on the run, and is said to have suffered at least two strokes. But Bruno Vekaric, Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor, said Mladic is employing delaying tactics and that nothing should prevent his extradition to the international war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands. The U.N. tribunal charged Mladic with genocide in 1995, accusing him of orchestrating the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and other war crimes - the worst slaughter of civilians in Europe since World War II. Saljic said he will file Mladic's appeal against extradition by mail on Monday afternoon. Justice ministry official Slobodan Homen said extradition could take between two and four days to complete. "Sending the appeal by mail is an attempt to delay the extradition process," he said. On Sunday, protesters hurled stones and bottles in clashes with baton-wielding riot police in Belgrade after several thousand nationalist supporters of Mladic rallied outside the parliament building to demand his release. By the time the crowds broke up by late evening, about 180 people were arrested and 43 injuries were reported, mostly policemen. That amounted to a victory for the pro-Western government, which arrested Mladic, risking the wrath of the nationalist old guard in a country with a history of much larger and more virulent protests. Rioters overturned garbage containers, broke traffic lights and set off firecrackers as they rampaged through downtown. Cordons of riot police blocked their advances, and skirmishes took place in several locations in the center of the capital. The clashes began after a rally that drew at least 7,000 demonstrators, many singing nationalist songs and carrying banners honoring Mladic. Some chanted right-wing slogans and a few gave Nazi salutes. The demonstrators, who consider Mladic a hero, said Serbia should not hand him over to the U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands. Demonstrators demanded the ouster of Serbian President Boris Tadic, who ordered Mladic's arrest. A sign on the stage read, "Tadic is not Serbia." Nationalists are furious that the Serbian government apprehended Mladic after nearly 16 years on the run. The 69-year-old former general was caught at a relative's home in a northern Serbian village. ---

Hospitals hunt substitutes as drug shortages rise

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses - from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest - has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment.

"It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

The problem of scarce supplies or even completely unavailable medications isn't a new one but it's getting markedly worse. The number listed in short supply has tripled over the past five years, to a record 211 medications last year. While some of those have been resolved, another 89 drug shortages have occurred in the first three months of this year, according to the University of Utah's Drug Information Service. It tracks shortages for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

The vast majority involve injectable medications used mostly by medical centers - in emergency rooms, ICUs and cancer wards. Particular shortages can last for weeks or for many months, and there aren't always good alternatives. Nor is it just a U.S. problem, as other countries report some of the same supply disruptions.

It's frightening for families.

At Miami Children's Hospital, doctors had to postpone for a month the last round of chemotherapy for 14-year-old Caroline Pallidine, because of a months-long nationwide shortage of cytarabine, a drug considered key to curing a type of leukemia.

"There's always a fear, if she's going so long without chemo, is there a chance this cancer's going to come back?" says her mother, Marta Pallidine, who says she'll be nervous until Caroline finishes her final treatments scheduled for this week.

"In this day and age, we really shouldn't be having this kind of problem and putting our children's lives at risk," she adds.

There are lots of causes, from recalls of contaminated vials, to trouble importing raw ingredients, to spikes in demand, to factories that temporarily shut down for quality upgrades.

Some experts pointedly note that pricier brand-name drugs seldom are in short supply. The Food and Drug Administration agrees that the overarching problem is that fewer and fewer manufacturers produce these older, cheaper generic drugs, especially the harder-to-make injectable ones. So if one company has trouble - or decides to quit making a particular drug - there are few others able to ramp up their own production to fill the gap, says Valerie Jensen, who heads FDA's shortage office.

The shortage that's made the most headlines is a sedative used on death row. But on the health-care front, shortages are wide-ranging, including:

-Thiotepa, used with bone marrow transplants.

-A whole list of electrolytes, injectable nutrients crucial for certain premature infants and tube-feeding of the critically ill.

-Norepinephrine injections for septic shock.

-A cystic fibrosis drug named acetylcysteine.

-Injections used in the ER for certain types of cardiac arrest.

-Certain versions of pills for ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

-Some leuprolide hormone injections used in fertility treatment.

No one is tracking patient harm. But last fall, the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices said it had two reports of people who died from the wrong dose of a substitute painkiller during a morphine shortage.

"Every pharmacist in every hospital across the country is working to make sure those things don't happen, but shortages create the perfect storm for a medication error to happen," says University of Utah pharmacist Erin Fox, who oversees the shortage-tracking program.

What can be done?

The FDA has taken an unusual step, asking some foreign companies to temporarily ship to the U.S. their own versions of some scarce drugs that aren't normally sold here. That eased shortages of propofol, a key anesthesia drug, and the transplant drug thiotepa.

Affected companies say they're working hard to eliminate backlogs. For instance, Hospira Inc., the largest maker of those injectable drugs, says it is increasing production capacity and working with FDA "to address shortage situations as quickly as possible and to help prevent recurrence."

But the Generic Pharmaceutical Association says some shortages are beyond industry control, such as FDA inspections or stockpiling that can exacerbate a shortage.

"Drug shortages of any kind are a complex problem that require broad-based solutions from all stakeholders," adds the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a fellow trade group.

Lawmakers are getting involved. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., is urging the Federal Trade Commission to consider if any pending drug-company mergers would create or exacerbate shortages.

Also, pending legislation would require manufacturers to give FDA advance notice of problems such as manufacturing delays that might trigger a shortage. The FDA cannot force a company to make a drug, but was able to prevent 38 close calls from turning into shortages last year by speeding approval of manufacturing changes or urging competing companies to get ready to meet a shortfall.

"No patient's life should have to be at risk when there is a drug somewhere" that could be used, says Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who introduced the bill.