People rescue garment workers trapped under rubble at the Rana Plaza building after it collapsed, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka in this April 24, 2013 file photo. Sources says President Obama will suspend U.S. trade benefits to Bangladesh.
President Barack Obama is expected to announce on Thursday that the United States is suspending trade benefits for Bangladesh after two tragedies in a year in the country's garment sector that killed more than 1,200 workers, a congressional source said.
U.S. trade officials have said they expected Obama to announce a decision on the matter by the end of June. The U.S. Trade Representative's office did not have an immediate comment on whether an announcement would come Thursday.
Suspending Bangladesh from the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program would increase U.S. duties on an array of products the Asian country exports to the United States, such as tobacco, sporting equipment, porcelain china, plastic products and a small amount of textile products.
But it would not directly affect Bangladesh's main export, clothing, since garments are not eligible for duty cuts under the GSP program, which was created in 1976 to help economic development in the world's poorest countries and to reduce import costs for U.S. companies.
In 2012, Bangladesh was spared about $2 million in U.S. duties on about $35 million worth of goods under GSP, but it paid about $732 million in U.S. duties on $4.9 billion of clothing exports not covered by the program, according to Ed Gresser, a trade analyst with the GlobalWorks Foundation.
Still, Obama's decision would be a repudiation of working conditions in Bangladesh following the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building in April that killed 1,129 people and the Tazreen factory fire in November that killed 112. Clothing for several American and European retailers is made in Bangladesh.
It also could influence the European Union's decision whether to suspend trade benefits for Bangladesh, which would have far more impact since Bangladesh's clothing and textiles exports receive duty-free treatment there.
The EU imported roughly 9.2 billion euros ($12.13 billion) of goods from Bangladesh last year, according to data from the EU's executive, the European Commission.
Clothing and textile products ranging from towels and bedding accounted for almost 93 percent of those goods.
EU officials have threatened to kick Bangladesh out of the program - a process that could take more than a year - unless it improves worker safety conditions.
There's a whole plethora of places to keep your data online, but without getting too political, there's no place like home, right? TonidoPlug is a tiny personal server that lets you access your images, photos and personal files wherever you are, without having to hand them over to someone else to look after. Not only is there software to mount it as a local drive -- a-la dropbox -- but it serves as a NAS device on your home network too. With the option to plug in USB drives, or add an internal SATA HDD, you won't need to pay a subscription, either. Best of all, we've got five to give away to some lucky UK readers. Please read the terms and conditions after the break to make sure you qualify. But if you do, -- be sure to enter, and good luck!
Last summer, Sony's PRS-T2 e-reader was leaked when it visited the FCC, and was available for pre-order a week ahead of its official launch. Therefore, it's with a sense of deja-vu that we tell you that Sony's annual update, the PRS-T3, has now passed through the FCC's hallowed halls and been deemed fit for human consumption. There's not much we can glean from the documents, except to say that it's got a 3.6Wh battery, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and will probably be available in stores about a month or two from now.
It's back! Yes, what you're looking at above is the Start button (plus matching options) that's been rumored to return with Windows 8.1 (formerly "Blue"). Yesterday .NET developer Robert McLaws tweeted a series of screenshots of Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview (build 9431) which show the new Start button and a revised "Taskbar and Navigation properties" dialog -- among other things. Microsoft faced massive criticism last year after shipping Windows 8 without the Start button -- prompting third parties to create replacements (like Start8 and Classic Shell) -- so this is a welcome change. Stay tuned for Build 2013 (the company's developer conference) which starts Wednesday in San Francisco -- we're likely to find out more about Windows 8.1 and the Start button in short order.
Race apparently a factor in sleep apnea, Wayne State University researcher findsPublic release date: 26-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Julie O'Connor julie.oconnor@gmail.com 313-577-8845 Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research
DETROIT A Wayne State University researcher has found that sleep apnea severity is higher among African-American men in certain age ranges, even after controlling for body mass index (BMI).
A study by James A. Rowley, M.D., professor of internal medicine in WSU's School of Medicine, showed that being an African-American man younger than 40 years old increased the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) by 3.21 breathing pauses per hour of sleep compared to a white man in the same age range with the same BMI.
Obstructive sleep apnea affects at least 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women. It involves repetitive episodes of complete or partial upper airway obstruction occurring during sleep despite an ongoing effort to breathe.
Among participants in Rowley's study ages 50 to 59, being an African-American man increased AHI by 2.79 breathing events per hour of sleep. No differences in AHI were found between African-American women and white women.
"The results show that in certain age groups, after correcting for other demographic factors, the severity of sleep apnea as measured by the apnea-hypopnea index is higher in African-American males than Caucasian males," he said.
Rowley's study, "The Influence of Race on the Severity of Sleep Disordered Breathing," was published in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
Researchers studied 512 patients over three years, comprising 340 African-Americans and 172 Caucasians. The inclusion criteria required that participants were 18 years old, have an AHI of more than five events per night of sleep and be willing to submit to a full-night sleep study.
Researchers examined the association between race and AHI while controlling for the effect of confounders such as gender, age, BMI and comorbidities.
Rowley said the mechanism for a racial difference in sleep apnea severity is unclear, but that possibilities include anatomical differences that affect the upper airway mechanics and collapsibility, as well as differences in the neurochemical control of breathing.
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Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu.
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Race apparently a factor in sleep apnea, Wayne State University researcher findsPublic release date: 26-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Julie O'Connor julie.oconnor@gmail.com 313-577-8845 Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research
DETROIT A Wayne State University researcher has found that sleep apnea severity is higher among African-American men in certain age ranges, even after controlling for body mass index (BMI).
A study by James A. Rowley, M.D., professor of internal medicine in WSU's School of Medicine, showed that being an African-American man younger than 40 years old increased the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) by 3.21 breathing pauses per hour of sleep compared to a white man in the same age range with the same BMI.
Obstructive sleep apnea affects at least 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women. It involves repetitive episodes of complete or partial upper airway obstruction occurring during sleep despite an ongoing effort to breathe.
Among participants in Rowley's study ages 50 to 59, being an African-American man increased AHI by 2.79 breathing events per hour of sleep. No differences in AHI were found between African-American women and white women.
"The results show that in certain age groups, after correcting for other demographic factors, the severity of sleep apnea as measured by the apnea-hypopnea index is higher in African-American males than Caucasian males," he said.
Rowley's study, "The Influence of Race on the Severity of Sleep Disordered Breathing," was published in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
Researchers studied 512 patients over three years, comprising 340 African-Americans and 172 Caucasians. The inclusion criteria required that participants were 18 years old, have an AHI of more than five events per night of sleep and be willing to submit to a full-night sleep study.
Researchers examined the association between race and AHI while controlling for the effect of confounders such as gender, age, BMI and comorbidities.
Rowley said the mechanism for a racial difference in sleep apnea severity is unclear, but that possibilities include anatomical differences that affect the upper airway mechanics and collapsibility, as well as differences in the neurochemical control of breathing.
###
Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu.
[ | 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.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander on Tuesday sought to reassure his employees that the outcry over surveillance programs leaked by Edward Snowden was not directed at them and that agency leaders would "take the heat."
In a statement to agency employees, which are rarely made public, Alexander said the surveillance programs helped disrupt terrorist plots in the United States and over 20 countries.
"The ongoing national dialogue is not about your performance," he said.
The information leaked by Snowden, a former NSA contractor, to media outlets created an uproar among American privacy and civil rights advocates and other countries over whether the United States was spying on their communications.
Alexander said the NSA workforce "has executed its national security responsibilities with equal and full respect for civil liberties and privacy."
He added: "Please do not let this distract you from your work, or cause you to worry that your work is not valuable, valued, and honorable. It is all three."
Alexander said the senior leadership team would continue to "take the heat" on the issue. "We need you to focus on our primary mission of defending our nation and our allies."
(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013
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