ATHENS (Reuters) ? Greece and its private bondholders drew closer on Friday to a bond swap deal that would prevent the country from sinking into a chaotic default and ease the euro zone's debilitating debt crisis.
Cash-strapped Greece is fast running out of time as it pushes to wrap up an agreement by Monday paving the way for a fresh injection of aid before 14.5 billion euros ($18.5 billion)of bond repayments fall due in March.
Bankers and government officials close to the talks say an agreement to cut Greece's debt is in sight and that the two sides may be able to present a joint proposal at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday.
"We are very close to wrapping it up," one source close to the negotiations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
After a breakdown in talks last week over the coupon, or interest payment, that Greece must offer on its new bonds raised fears of a disastrous bankruptcy, the two sides resumed negotiations on Thursday.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Charles Dallara, the head of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) representing bondholders, started a new meeting on Friday morning.
According to one Greek banker, senior euro zone finance officials have scheduled a conference call for Friday afternoon.
HIGH STAKES
The stakes could not be higher. Greece needs to have a deal in the bag before funds are doled out from a 130 billion euro rescue plan that the country's official lenders, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, drew up in October.
The paperwork involved alone is expected to take weeks, meaning failure to secure a deal soon could put Athens at risk of a chaotic default in March, which in turn could jolt the financial system and tip the global economy into recession.
A large chunk of the bond swap must be agreed by noon on Friday and formalized before Monday's meeting of euro zone finance ministers, Venizelos has said.
"The deal must be completed. There is no more time left," said a Greek government official who requested anonymity.
Adding to the pressure, officials from the "troika" of foreign lenders have begun meetings with the Greek government on Friday to discuss reforms and plans to finalize that bailout package.
Progress has been hard to come by in the latest round of negotiations, with bankers worried about suffering losses far higher than the 50 percent writedown they were expected to take on the nominal value of their bonds.
Actual losses for investors are expected to be much higher depending on the terms, such as the coupon, being negotiated.
A source close to the talks earlier said Athens and its foreign lenders had initially offered a coupon of just over 3.5 percent, but bondholders rejected that as too low. They were seeking a coupon of at least 4 percent, the source said.
VARIABLE COUPON
One of the options being considered is a coupon that rises after staying stable for the first 10 years, another source close to the talks has said.
According to Greek press reports not identifying their sources, the two sides may agree a coupon ranging between 3 and 5 percent, depending on the new bonds' maturities, resulting in a loss for investors of between 65 and 70 percent in terms of net present value.
Investors have also bridled at Greece's threat to enforce losses if not enough bondholders sign up to the deal.
The swap is aimed at cutting 100 billion euros off Greece's over 350 billion euro debt load. The second bailout - drawn up on condition Greece pushes through painful cuts and structural reforms - is expected to reduce Greece's debt to a more manageable 120 percent of gross domestic product in 2020 from about 160 percent now.
Greece is stumbling through its worst economic crisis since World War Two, with unemployment at record highs and near-daily protests and strikes against austerity measures that have deepened an already brutal recession.
Nearly one out of two youths is unemployed and anger against waves of tax hikes and pay cuts is running high.
(Additional reporting by Athens bureau and Stephen Brown in Berlin; Writing by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
There's no superhero origin story that begins with a bite (or a lick?) from a gecko. Plain 'ol wall climbing powers are, it seems, just not as sexy as wearing skintight suits, slinging webs and crawling up buildings. But if a few bright minds at the University of Southampton have anything to say about it, we could soon find ourselves walking like real-life lizard people (V, anyone?) and suctioning onto various surfaces using the managed properties of light. Lead researcher John Zhang and his UK team have predicted the existence of a force more powerful than gravity and the short-range pull of the Casimir effect, whereby plasmons (electromagnetic waves) captured on a metamaterial and the electrons on a metal resonate and form a bond of attraction. The resultant particle field is supposedly strong enough to "overcome the Earth's gravitational pull" and could even be used to alter the reflectivity of a material. Obvious military and aerospace applications aside, this invisible adhesive could also make its way into our everyday lives -- they just need to need to prove that it, y'know, actually exists first.
Non-invasive measurements of tricuspid valve anatomy can predict severity of valve leakagePublic release date: 18-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Abby Robinson abby@innovate.gatech.edu 404-385-3364 Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
An estimated 1.6 million Americans suffer moderate to severe leakage through their tricuspid valves, which are complex structures that allow blood to flow from the heart's upper right chamber to the ventricle. If left untreated, severe leakage can affect an individual's quality of life and can even lead to death.
A new study finds that the anatomy of the heart's tricuspid valve can be used to predict the severity of leakage in the valve, which is a condition called tricuspid regurgitation. The study, conducted by researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, found that pulmonary arterial pressure, the size of the valve opening and papillary muscle position measurements could be used to predict the severity of an individual's tricuspid regurgitation.
"By being able to identify and measure an individual's particular tricuspid valve anatomical features that we have shown are correlated with increased leakage, clinicians should be able to better target their repair efforts and create more durable repairs," said Ajit Yoganathan, Regents' professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
The study was published in the January issue of the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging. Funding for this work was provided by the American Heart Association and a donation from Tom and Shirley Gurley.
Yoganathan and recent Coulter Department doctoral graduate Erin Spinner teamed with Stamatios Lerakis, a professor of medicine (cardiology), radiology and imaging sciences at Emory University, to non-invasively collect 3-D echocardiograms from 64 individuals who exhibited assorted grades of tricuspid leakage. Subjects included 20 individuals with "trace," 13 with "mild," 17 with "moderate" and 14 with "severe" tricuspid regurgitation. The subjects with "mild" to "severe" leakage exhibited a mix of isolated right, isolated left, and both right and left ventricle dilation.
From the 3-D echocardiography images of the heart they collected, the researchers measured (1) the area of the annulus, which is the fibrous ring that surrounds the tricuspid valve opening; (2) the distance between the annulus and the three right ventricle papillary muscles, which keep the valve shut when the ventricle contracts; and (3) the position of the papillary muscles with respect to the center of the annulus. The clinicians also measured pulmonary arterial pressure using standard clinical methods and assessed the grade of tricuspid regurgitation from "trace" to "severe" with color Doppler imaging.
In collaboration with Emir Veledar, an assistant professor and statistician in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, the researchers found statistical differences between individuals with ventricular dilation and the control subjects in the parameters of pulmonary arterial pressure, annulus area and papillary muscle displacement. They also found that all three factors were correlated with the grade of tricuspid regurgitation.
"This study's use of advanced cardiovascular imaging, and more specifically 3-D echocardiography, provided new insight into the pathophysiology of tricuspid regurgitation and a good understanding as to why current surgical treatments for tricuspid regurgitation are not good enough," explained Lerakis. "I believe this study will change the focus and direction of future surgical therapies for tricuspid regurgitation only to make them better and more durable."
Based on the findings of this study, said Lerakis, future surgical therapies should not only be focused on the tricuspid annulus, but on the entire tricuspid valve apparatus, including the tricuspid valve papillary muscles and their three-dimensional location within the apparatus.
Individuals in the study with left ventricle dilation exhibited significant displacement of one of the papillary muscles and patients with both ventricles dilated had significant displacement of two papillary muscles. Subjects with right ventricle dilation showed significant displacement of all three papillary muscles.
The researchers also found that patients with a dilated right ventricle were more likely to have a dilated annulus and exhibited the highest pulmonary arterial pressures and highest levels of tricuspid regurgitation. However, not all patients with a dilated right ventricle had significant increases in annulus area, providing evidence that the right ventricle may become dilated without the annulus being affected.
"We think an increase in pulmonary arterial pressure caused geometric changes in the ventricle, which resulted in alterations to the annulus and papillary muscles," explained Yoganathan. "The combination of displacement of all three papillary muscles and annular dilatation may account for the patients with isolated right ventricle dilatation having the largest percentage of severe tricuspid regurgitation."
Knowing which parameters are responsible for significant tricuspid regurgitation and having a non-invasive imaging technique to measure these parameters should help clinicians target repairs to the specific cause of an individual's tricuspid leakage, according to Yoganathan.
In future studies, the researchers plan to study papillary muscle displacements in individuals with specific diseases to see if different disease manifestations exhibit different characteristics.
"Although it has long been accepted that pulmonary hypertension may result in tricuspid regurgitation, this study is one of the first to provide a clinical correlation between the two," said Yoganathan, who is also the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Chair in Biomedical Engineering. "We want to know whether treating an individual's pulmonary hypertension, and thus decreasing one's pulmonary arterial pressure, can reverse the geometric changes that are causing tricuspid regurgitation and return the annulus and papillary muscles to their original positions."
###
Emory University sonographers Jason Higginson, Maria Pernetz and Sharon Howell also contributed to the study.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Non-invasive measurements of tricuspid valve anatomy can predict severity of valve leakagePublic release date: 18-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Abby Robinson abby@innovate.gatech.edu 404-385-3364 Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
An estimated 1.6 million Americans suffer moderate to severe leakage through their tricuspid valves, which are complex structures that allow blood to flow from the heart's upper right chamber to the ventricle. If left untreated, severe leakage can affect an individual's quality of life and can even lead to death.
A new study finds that the anatomy of the heart's tricuspid valve can be used to predict the severity of leakage in the valve, which is a condition called tricuspid regurgitation. The study, conducted by researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, found that pulmonary arterial pressure, the size of the valve opening and papillary muscle position measurements could be used to predict the severity of an individual's tricuspid regurgitation.
"By being able to identify and measure an individual's particular tricuspid valve anatomical features that we have shown are correlated with increased leakage, clinicians should be able to better target their repair efforts and create more durable repairs," said Ajit Yoganathan, Regents' professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
The study was published in the January issue of the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging. Funding for this work was provided by the American Heart Association and a donation from Tom and Shirley Gurley.
Yoganathan and recent Coulter Department doctoral graduate Erin Spinner teamed with Stamatios Lerakis, a professor of medicine (cardiology), radiology and imaging sciences at Emory University, to non-invasively collect 3-D echocardiograms from 64 individuals who exhibited assorted grades of tricuspid leakage. Subjects included 20 individuals with "trace," 13 with "mild," 17 with "moderate" and 14 with "severe" tricuspid regurgitation. The subjects with "mild" to "severe" leakage exhibited a mix of isolated right, isolated left, and both right and left ventricle dilation.
From the 3-D echocardiography images of the heart they collected, the researchers measured (1) the area of the annulus, which is the fibrous ring that surrounds the tricuspid valve opening; (2) the distance between the annulus and the three right ventricle papillary muscles, which keep the valve shut when the ventricle contracts; and (3) the position of the papillary muscles with respect to the center of the annulus. The clinicians also measured pulmonary arterial pressure using standard clinical methods and assessed the grade of tricuspid regurgitation from "trace" to "severe" with color Doppler imaging.
In collaboration with Emir Veledar, an assistant professor and statistician in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, the researchers found statistical differences between individuals with ventricular dilation and the control subjects in the parameters of pulmonary arterial pressure, annulus area and papillary muscle displacement. They also found that all three factors were correlated with the grade of tricuspid regurgitation.
"This study's use of advanced cardiovascular imaging, and more specifically 3-D echocardiography, provided new insight into the pathophysiology of tricuspid regurgitation and a good understanding as to why current surgical treatments for tricuspid regurgitation are not good enough," explained Lerakis. "I believe this study will change the focus and direction of future surgical therapies for tricuspid regurgitation only to make them better and more durable."
Based on the findings of this study, said Lerakis, future surgical therapies should not only be focused on the tricuspid annulus, but on the entire tricuspid valve apparatus, including the tricuspid valve papillary muscles and their three-dimensional location within the apparatus.
Individuals in the study with left ventricle dilation exhibited significant displacement of one of the papillary muscles and patients with both ventricles dilated had significant displacement of two papillary muscles. Subjects with right ventricle dilation showed significant displacement of all three papillary muscles.
The researchers also found that patients with a dilated right ventricle were more likely to have a dilated annulus and exhibited the highest pulmonary arterial pressures and highest levels of tricuspid regurgitation. However, not all patients with a dilated right ventricle had significant increases in annulus area, providing evidence that the right ventricle may become dilated without the annulus being affected.
"We think an increase in pulmonary arterial pressure caused geometric changes in the ventricle, which resulted in alterations to the annulus and papillary muscles," explained Yoganathan. "The combination of displacement of all three papillary muscles and annular dilatation may account for the patients with isolated right ventricle dilatation having the largest percentage of severe tricuspid regurgitation."
Knowing which parameters are responsible for significant tricuspid regurgitation and having a non-invasive imaging technique to measure these parameters should help clinicians target repairs to the specific cause of an individual's tricuspid leakage, according to Yoganathan.
In future studies, the researchers plan to study papillary muscle displacements in individuals with specific diseases to see if different disease manifestations exhibit different characteristics.
"Although it has long been accepted that pulmonary hypertension may result in tricuspid regurgitation, this study is one of the first to provide a clinical correlation between the two," said Yoganathan, who is also the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Chair in Biomedical Engineering. "We want to know whether treating an individual's pulmonary hypertension, and thus decreasing one's pulmonary arterial pressure, can reverse the geometric changes that are causing tricuspid regurgitation and return the annulus and papillary muscles to their original positions."
###
Emory University sonographers Jason Higginson, Maria Pernetz and Sharon Howell also contributed to the study.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Reuters) ? More than 400 people were killed and an unknown number were missing after a typhoon struck the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes.
In a text message to Reuters, Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), said the death toll of 436 was expected to rise.
"Our death toll was based on the actual number of bodies that were brought to funeral homes in the two cities that were the hardest hit by the typhoon," Pang said, adding it was difficult to estimate how many were still unaccounted for.
Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90 kmh (56 mph), barreled into the resource-rich island of Mindanao late on Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power.
Emergency workers, soldiers and police were recovering more bodies - most covered in mud - washed ashore in nearby towns.
Pang said nearly 360 bodies had been found in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and about 50 in four other southern provinces. The government's official death toll stood only at 131 people and nearly 270 missing.
Another 21 people drowned on the central island of Negros, the PNRC said.
Hundreds were also unaccounted for, most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late on Friday.
The Philippines social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to nearly three dozen
shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.
"WE RAN FOR OUR LIVES"
Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said search and rescue operations would continue along the shorelines in Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte provinces.
"I can't explain how these things happened, entire villages were swept to the sea by flash floods," Galon said.
"I have not seen anything like this before. This could be worse than Ondoy," he said, referring to a 2009 storm that inundated the capital, Manila, killing hundreds of people.
Television pictures showed bodies encased in mud, cars piled on top of each other and wrecked homes. Helicopters and boats searched the sea for survivors and victims.
"We ran for our lives when we heard a loud whistle blow and was followed by a big bang," Michael Mabaylan, 38, a carpenter, told Reuters. He said his wife and five children were all safe.
Aid worker Crislyn Felisilda cited concern about children who had became separated from their families or lost their parents. "Many children are looking for their loved ones... (and children were) crying and staring into space."
Rosal Agacac, a 40-year-old mother, was begging authorities to help find her two children after their shanty was swept to the sea. "Please President Noynoy, help me," she cried, holding a candle at a spot where their house stood before the floods, referring to President Benigno Aquino.
Aquino met with cabinet members and disaster officials to assess conditions on the main southern island and ordered a review of disaster plans to avoid a repeat of the tragedy. He is due to inspect typhoon-hit areas after Christmas.
Rescue boats pulled at least 15 people from the sea, said another army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.
Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise when water rose one meter (three feet) high in less
than an hour, forcing people onto roofs. "Most of them were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes. This is the worst flooding our city has experienced in years."
The national disaster agency said it could not estimate crop and property damage because emergency workers, including soldiers and police officers, were evacuating families and recovering casualties.
Six domestic flights run by Cebu Pacific were cancelled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central
Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people.
An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year.
New York ? The Justice Department is accusing tough-guy Sheriff Joe Arpaio of taking his hardline crusade against Latino immigrants too far
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., was handed an ultimatum on Thursday: Clean up his department's rampant and illegal racial discrimination or the federal government will see him in court. After a three-year investigation, the U.S. Justice Department accused the controversial immigrant-hunting sheriff of illegally jailing scores of Hispanic residents, often after trumped-up traffic stops; abusing Spanish-speaking inmates and denying them basic rights; and retaliating against critics. Arpaio shot back that the Obama administration was just using him as a "whipping boy," and supporter Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) darkly warned, "I would suggest to you that these people are out after Sheriff Joe." Do Arpaio's fans have a case, or is self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff" really just "America's Most Racist Sheriff"?
Racism is just the tip of the iceberg: The DOJ's damning report confirms what we already suspected, says Lucy Steigerwald in Reason: Sheriff Joe is an "awful person" whose brutal tactics indiscriminately target Latinos, including U.S citizens. And while he excels at violating Latinos' "civil rights and the Constitution," Arpaio is "really awful at following up on serious criminal complaints," like 400 sex-abuse reports, mostly involving Latino victims. "Schadenfreude should reign throughout the land" at this racist jerk getting busted. "The Department of Justice is very unhappy with Joe Arpaio"
Obama is out for Arpaio's head: There are some "serious" concerns raised in the report, and those "should be looked into," says 24Ahead.com. But even after a "politically motivated quasi-witchhunt," Team Obama unearthed "no smoking gun in the entire report against Arpaio himself." The feds are going after Sheriff Joe because he is "interfering with attempts by crooked businesses to make money [off illegal immigrants] and with corrupt politicians' attempts to obtain race-based power." "DOJ investigation claims Sheriff Joe Arpaio engaged in 'unconstitutional policing'"
Racist or not, he'll be sheriff for awhile: Arpaio's sheriff's office, as detailed by the DOJ, really is "appalling. It's disgusting. It's infuriating," says E.J. Motini in The Arizona Republic. But this is hardly the first time "we've heard tough talk about Arpaio from federal officials." Nothing ever comes of it, and it's unlikely the Obama administration will bring much change to Sheriff Joe's bailiwick, either. After all, for 20 years "he's gotten re-elected for doing pretty much what Justice officials say he shouldn't be doing." "Despite all the tough talk, Joe Arpaio is still sheriff"
View this article on TheWeek.com Get 4 Free Issues of The Week
Other stories from this topic:
Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newsletter
Weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since May 2008, a sign that that job market may be strengthening.
Below are states with the biggest changes in unemployment benefit applications. The state data are for the week ended December 3, one week behind the national data.
States with the biggest increases:
California: Up 27,780, due to layoffs in services
North Carolina: Up 15,427, due to layoffs in the textile, furniture and construction industries
New York: Up 14,048, due to layoffs in transportation, construction and services
Pennsylvania: Up 13,634, due to layoffs in construction, healthcare and services
Georgia: Up 11,144, due to layoffs in manufacturing, services, construction and healthcare
Texas: Up 10,481, due to layoffs in manufacturing, retail, and services
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sRuE1f2bVG7-60z9Iy0pTz5-DpvvgACbPoqxb1mmY7BFc455z3-SOL4W6RtcQr_Auyo5qKoTvsS2UopIC4LFKE37jC2OA4Yg-Nwsjl9nE=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
Share ] 
