LONDON ? Stock markets around the world were seeing out 2011 fairly positively Friday, but most posted big declines for the year in the wake of Europe's debt crisis, a faltering U.S. economy and signs that China's economy is no longer sizzling.
Markets have also been rocked by natural disasters, trading scandals, and sharp fluctuations in commodity prices, particularly in the price of oil amid the political turmoil in the Arab world.
In Europe, the trading backdrop has been particularly grim, with many of the main markets posting their worst year since 2008. That's perhaps unsurprising given that most of the financial world's attention has centered on the debt crisis, which has already seen three relatively small countries bailed out and is threatening a much-bigger country ? Italy.
Nevertheless, the last day of the year proved positive. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 0.1 percent at 5,572.28, meaning that it ended the year 5.6 percent lower, while Germany's DAX ended 0.9 percent higher at 5,898.35, a 14.7 percent decline over the year. And the CAC-40 in France ended 1 percent higher at 3,159.81. Despite its hefty rise Friday, it ended the year around 17 percent lower from where it started.
With policymakers failing to convince markets that they can deal with the crisis and the eurozone widely predicted to slip back into recession next year, the euro is ending 2011 just below the $1.30 mark, after falling to a 15-month low against the dollar on Thursday at $1.2857. Despite all the debt problems afflicting the eurozone, the euro has held up pretty well in 2011 ? it started the year at $1.3345.
Much of the attention next year, at least in the early months, will likely center on Italy, the eurozone's third-largest economy.
Italy is the focal point of the eurozone's struggle to deal with a crisis, caused by heavy levels of government debt in a number of the 17 countries that use the single currency. Fears of default on those debts mean that bond investors demand ever-higher interest. If a country can no longer borrow affordably to pay off bonds that are maturing, it winds up needing a bailout or defaulting.
Markets had grown fearful over the past few months over Italy's massive debt burden of euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion) and Italy's ability to continue dealing with it. Next year alone, Italy has some euro330 billion ($431 billion) of debt to refinance and it will want its borrowing rates to start falling. It will start the new year with its benchmark ten-year yield standing around the 7 percent mark, a level that is considered unsustainable in the long-run and eventually forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts.
"There is no hiding from the fact that Italy's benchmark ten-year bond yield is up over 2 percent on the year compared to declines in other major European economies," said Will Hedden, sales trader at IG Index.
Wall Street traded modestly lower but U.S. stocks have performed much more solidly than their European and Asian counterparts this year, largely on the back of a strong year-end performance related to an upbeat run of U.S. economic data.
The Dow Jones industrial average looks like it's going to end up higher for the year. Though trading Friday 0.1 percent lower at 12,277, it's still above the 11,577.51 mark it started the year. However, it's still touch and go though whether the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index will end up in the black. It's down 0.1 percent at 1,263, marginally up on the year's startpoint of 1,257.64.
Though the performance of the U.S. economy has played second fiddle to Europe for much of the year, it has the potential for shoring up confidence in 2012 ? an election year in the U.S. ? if the recent positive news continues.
"Crystal ball-gazing can begin in earnest over the weekend but I am tempted to conclude ? more of the same in Europe, easier policy in China, and further asset reflation in the U.S., which finally gets life back into the housing market and thereby drives optimism about the 2013 economic outlook," said Sebastien Galy, an analyst at Societe Generale.
Asian markets have already closed out the year and most markets had a year to forget. Japan's Nikkei 225 index, after three straight days of losses, managed to eke out a 0.4 percent rise Friday to end the year at 8,429.45. However, that was its lowest closing since 1982.
Meanwhile, China's benchmark gained 1.2 percent to close at 2,199.42 ? still, a 21 percent loss for the year as the impact of Beijing's multibillion-dollar stimulus faded and the government tightened curbs on lending and investment to cool blistering economic growth.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.2 percent to close at 18,434.39 ? a precipitous slide of 19.7 percent from a year ago. Singapore's Straits Times Index closed down 1 percent at 2,646.35 ? a 17.5 percent dive.
Australia's benchmark S&P ASX 200 ended the year at 4,140.4 ? down 0.4 percent on the day and 14.5 percent lower for 2011. A day earlier, South Korea's benchmark Kospi closed at 1,825.74 on Thursday ? 11 percent down on its last trading session of the year Thursday.
Oil prices, meanwhile, were poised to close out the year below the $100 a barrel mark ? benchmark crude for February delivery was down 10 cents at $99.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Jamie Redknapp has lavished praise on Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Sandro following the Brazilian's impressive display at Carrow Road on Tuesday night.
The prodigiously gifted holding midfielder has had to bide his time at Tottenham this season after injuries curtailed his involvement earlier in the year.
The aforementioned Sky Sports pundit, who is also the son of Spurs' boss Harry Redknapp, believes the form of Scott Parker has inevitably inhibited Sandro's starts for Tottenham this season but he claims the towering 22-year-old is ideally suited to Premier League football.
Redknapp believes Sandro is now worthy of a starting berth at Tottenham and intimates the midfield trio of Parker, Modric and the Brazilian could prove a hugely potent asset as the north London Premier League club bid to sustain their title challenge.
"Sandro has had to be patient for his chances this season with Scott Parker in such outstanding form." Redknapp told the Daily mail, while discussing Tottenham's midfield Brazilian. "He hurt his knee playing for Brazil in the summer and then found himself out of the Spurs side.
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"He's a powerhouse of a player who is suited to the English game. He cuts out danger, gets around the pitch and could even play at centre half.
"He's tall, quick and strong, and will be a regular for his country. Spurs need to give him regular games. As last night showed, Parker, Luka Modric and Sandro work so well together." The former Spurs midfielder concluded.
Last night's victory ensured Tottenham maintained the pace behind joint leaders Manchester City and Manchester United. Harry Redknapp's side are just seven points behind and have a game in hand over their rivals.?
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Apple will unveil two iPad models at a conference in January, according to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes.
?Apple is set to unveil its next-generation iPad?which will come in two versions?at the [MacWorld/iWorld expo] scheduled for January 26, 2012,? read the Dec. 29 report, citing unnamed supply-chain sources. ?The new models will join the existing iPad 2 to demonstrate Apple?s complete iPad series targeting the entry-level, mid-range and high-end market segments.?
A lower-cost iPad 2 will apparently compete head to head against Amazon?s Kindle Fire, a 7-inch tablet that acts as a portable vending machine for the online retailer?s e-books and streaming content. Meanwhile, according to the report, the new iPads will feature higher-resolution screens and ?dual-LED light bars? to ?strengthen the brightness of the panels.?
Earlier in December, DigiTimes quoted still other unnamed sources in the supply chain as claiming the first next-generation iPads would arrive within three or four months. Certainly if Apple follows the same release cadence of the previous two iPad versions, the next will make its debut early in 2012; however, given the wild and unfounded rumors that usually accompany each new iPad on its way to eventual unveiling and release, it pays to take many of the reports with the proverbial grain of salt.
Apple brings 2011 to a close with its dominating share of the tablet market still firmly intact. The late Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2 March 2. ?Is 2011 going to be the year of the copycats? I think if we did nothing, maybe a little bit,? he told the audience. ?But we haven?t been resting on our laurels.? Over the next few quarters, a variety of competitors?including the Motorola Xoom and Hewlett-Packard?s TouchPad?suffered from anemic sales, seemingly solidifying Apple?s lead in the short term.?
However, the competition is unlikely to abate in 2012. Microsoft and its manufacturing partners are prepping a series of tablets running the upcoming Windows 8, which will make a hard play for PC power users and businesses. In addition, competitors like Samsung are still very much in the tablet fight. Whatever Apple decides to release next year, it will continue to face a crowded marketplace.
A network of local commissioners should be created to dismiss incompetent head teachers and strip failing institutions of academy status, according to England?s new chief education inspector. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the incoming head of Ofsted, said that the job of identifying failing schools should not fall on his shoulders alone as more schools become independent academies under the Government?s education reforms. He gave warning in an interview with The Times that scruffy teachers could be rebuked by Ofsted, saying that school inspection reports should comment on the professional dress and behaviour of staff. And he suggested that some school governors should be paid in an attempt to improve their performance. By the time Ofsted recognised a school as failing it was often too late, Sir Michael said, creating a need for local troubleshooters to identify problems early. He called on ministers to appoint dozens of local commissioners to decide whether to close or merge academies or replace head teachers or governing bodies where standards were unacceptably low. Sir Michael predicted that many schools would quickly join bigger academy groups with a single sponsor rather than remain as stand-alone institutions. As more schools become academies he said that it was unrealistic for the Department for Education to exercise from Whitehall the school improvement and intervention powers it took from local councils. ?I speak
The family of an Indian student who was shot dead in Salford early on Boxing Day said that they had been left shattered by his death. Two boys, aged 17 and 16, were arrested by Greater Manchester Police yesterday on suspicion of murdering Anuj Bidve, a 23-year-old postgraduate student at Lancaster University. He was visiting Manchester for Christmas with nine students, all Indians, and they were making their way from their hotel to the city centre to join the revelry and those awaiting the opening of the Boxing Day sales. Friends have suggested that Mr Bidve was checking his mobile phone GPS for directions when the group was approached by two men in Ordsall Lane, Salford, at about 1.35am. One of the men is said to have crossed the street to ask Mr Bidve for the time and the student was apparently responding in a polite manner when a handgun was pull
1 minute ago
A hacking group responsible for stealing thousands of credit card numbers from a US security company has announced that it will make even more damaging disclosures. Barrett Brown, an activist for Anonymous, a hacking network, told The Times that the group was preparing to release 2.7 million e-mails obtained from Stratfor, the intelligence company that it hacked over Christmas. Anonymous has posted online more than 30,000 credit card numbers belonging to clients of Stratfor. They include executives from HSBC and Barclays, a member of the House of Lords, the chief executives of multinational companies and a student from the University of Cambridge. Anonymous said on Monday that it intended to use the credit card details to donate about $1 million to charity. Known as ?the shadow CIA?, Stratfor uses a vast global network of sources to create daily inte
(add ?16 to add an 8 week salsa course or ?32 for two additional courses).
Due to the popularity of previous Ladies styling courses, Aga Zembron will now run another 8 week course for the ladies, to incorporate more spins and turns with lashings of that sexy style that is certain to turn heads! At the same time we will are excited to be asking the very talented International Instructor Dean David G to work with the guys on their turns, spins, shines and styling that will in turn build a confidence that can be taken to the dance floor!
Improving your styling is probably the biggest single element that can take your dancing to the next level. In its simplest form these extra moves and shines are fairly easy to use, look elegant and dare I say 'stylish'. It really does set you apart from all the other dancers on the dance floor. How often have you watched other male and female dancers on the floor and commented how good they look.. well, it is down to styling!
Dean & Aga are two of the most stylish dancers in the South, so whatever your level you will benefit from this course and take your dancing to the next level.
Contact: wayne@salsabristol.co.uk or 07985 609912
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Wailing and sobbing, mourners beat their chests and dropped to their knees as North Korean President Kim Il Sung's hearse crawled through the streets of Pyongyang in 1994, draped with a red flag and bedecked with white magnolias.
But even as they cried out on a hot summer's day for the leader they called "Father," they began pledging their loyalty to his son, leader-in-waiting Kim Jong Il, who cut a solemn and somber figure in a dark blue suit, a black band wrapped around his left arm.
Same setting, different season: Similar shows of grief are expected when North Korea lays Kim Jong Il to rest in a winter chill during two days of funeral ceremonies on Wednesday and Thursday. As in 1994, the events will be watched closely for clues to who will gain power and who will fall out of favor under the next leader, his son Kim Jong Un.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Jean H. Lee, the Associated Press bureau chief for Korea, has made 11 trips to North Korea since 2008, including eight visits this year.
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This state funeral, however, is also likely to bear the hallmarks of Kim Jong Il's rule, including more of a military presence for the man who elevated the armed forces as part of his "songun," or "military first," policy.
Kim, who has been lying in state since he died Dec. 17, celebrated major occasions with lavish, meticulously choreographed parades designed to show off the nation's military might, such as the October 2010 display when he introduced his son and anointed successor to the world.
"A display of weapons may also be a way to demonstrate that the military remains loyal to the succession process," said Ahn Chan-il of the World Institute for North Korea Studies in South Korea. "There may even be a small-scale military parade involving airplanes."
Like his father was in 1994, Kim Jong Un has been stoic in a dark blue Mao-style suit in mourning period appearances at Kim Jong Il's bier ? but so far without the black armband that Kim Jong Il wore at the funeral to mark him as head mourner.
He has also shown a flair for mixing politics with public occasion: By meeting Monday with a delegation of South Korean mourners led by a former first lady, the leadership is sending a clear message to Seoul that it is open to improving relations after years of animosity.
Kim Jong Un would have been a boy when his grandfather died, and there's no sign of the young Kim in footage of the 1994 funeral. But it's clear from footage of him during the mourning period for his father that he has seen and studied the scene inside the presidential palace and is well-schooled in the behavior expected as heir to the nation's leader.
The funeral in 1994 is likely to serve as the template for this week's events.
At the time, details about Kim Il Sung's funeral in a country largely isolated from the West were shrouded in mystery, revealed only after state TV aired segments of the events in what was the world's best glimpse of the hidden communist nation. Most foreigners aside from those living in North Korea were shut out, and the same is expected this week.
Back then, the formation of the funeral committee was examined closely for signs of who was expected to rise in power in the post-Kim Il Sung era; likewise, observers dissected the 232 names on last week's list to see who was still in favor.
When Kim Il Sung died, it was unclear whether North Korea would hew to traditional Korean mourning rites or follow rituals seen elsewhere in the communist world.
According to the official account of Kim Il Sung's death, what appeared to the world as North Korean ritual was a highly personal response by Kim Jong Il, who is credited by his official biography with choreographing every detail of the funeral.
The biography says there was discussion about where to bring Kim Il Sung's body, and it was the son who proposed turning the massive assembly hall where his father worked for 20 years into a public place of mourning ? and then, a year later, into a permanent shrine where his embalmed body still lies.
Kim Jong Il's biography also gives him credit for turning the funeral into a "scene of immortalizing the leader" and for breaking tradition by picking a smiling image of the late president taken in 1986 instead of the somber image typical for Korean funerals.
To this day, portraits of Kim Il Sung that hang in every building and on the lapels of nearly all North Koreans show a smiling Kim Il Sung. And since his death, pictures of Kim Jong Il erected at mourning sites across the nation show him beaming as well.
The official biography says Kim Jong Il picked one of his father's neckties for the body and ordered the portrait bedecked with magnolias, the national flower, not traditional black ribbon. He arranged for the coffin to be transported in the black sedan Kim used as president, rather than a gun carriage or armored car, and called for the "Song of Gen. Kim Il Sung" to be played in lieu of a dirge, his biography says.
After the closed-door funeral, footage shows Kim leaving the hall and standing on a dais sheathed in red, surveying the scene alongside top party and military officials as the black Lincoln Continental bearing his father's body departs the palace grounds to a military salute.
A car with Kim's massive portrait ringed with white magnolias led the motorcade, followed by the hearse bearing the president's body, and then a phalanx of police in white helmets riding on motorcycles in a "V" formation.
Kim Jong Il and other members of the funeral committee followed slowly behind in sedans. Soldiers in jeeps flanked the procession.
Through the streets of Pyongyang the procession went, from the Kumsusan Assembly Hall where official accounts say Kim died to the central square that bears his name, and eventually back to the vast palace where his body lies in state.
North Koreans lined the streets and filled the air with theatrical wails, many of the women in traditional black Korean dresses and white mourning ribbons affixed to their hair.
The procession reached Kim Il Sung Square, where hundreds of thousands of mourners were waiting, and the hearse circled the square again before returning to the assembly hall for a gun salute.
A similar procession may be in the works for Wednesday, but with the late leader's trademark red "kimjongilia" begonias replacing the magnolias, and snow and frost as a backdrop.
But the funeral for Kim Jong Il, who made it state policy to revere Kim Il Sung as North Korea's "eternal" president, probably will not outdo that for his father, some said.
"Kim Jong Il's funeral will likely be similar to Kim Il Sung's. But it doesn't mean that the majesty and dignity of Kim Jong Il's funeral will exceed those of Kim Il Sung's," said Prof. Jeong Jin-gook of the Daejeon Health Sciences College in South Korea. "Kim Il Sung still remains the most respected among North Koreans."
Kim Jong Il observed a three-year period of mourning for his father ? a decision harking back to Korean tradition.
Mourning rites have evolved over the decades. In South Korea, most people observe a three- or five-day mourning period. But few families receive mourners at home anymore; South Korea has a thriving and organized network of mourning facilities at hospitals where everything from the mourning clothes to the food and drinks offered to visitors can be arranged for a fee.
In North Korea, a streamlined, three-day mourning period is typical, and most workers are given three days paid leave for the death of a family member, according to the Korea Institute for National Unification in South Korea.
Before the peninsula's 1945 division, some Koreans mourned the loss of a parent for up to two years, according to Prof. Lim Jae-hae, a folklorist at Andong National University in South Korea.
Kim Jong Il may have put his personal stamp on his father's funeral in 1994, but so far Kim Jong Un is sticking to tradition. From the blue suit to the solemn bows before the begonia-bedecked bier, the young leader-in-waiting has closely followed his father's cues.
Still, he is credited with one directive that wasn't in Kim Jong Il's biography but will no doubt serve as fodder for his: He instructed the city to keep mourners lined up in subzero temperatures warm with hot water and tea.
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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Follow AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.
POCATELLO, Idaho -- Jenni Lake gave birth to a baby boy the month before her 18th birthday, though she was not destined to become just another teenage mother.
That much, she knew.
While being admitted to the hospital, she pulled her nurse down to her at bed level and whispered into her ear. The nurse would later repeat the girl's words to comfort her family, as their worst fears were realized a day after Jenni's baby was born.
"She told the nurse, `I'm done, I did what I was supposed to. My baby is going to get here safe,'" said Diana Phillips, Jenni's mother.
In photographs, the baby's ruddy cheeks and healthy weight offer a stark contrast to the frail girl who gave birth to him. She holds the newborn tightly, kissing the top of his head. Jenni, at 5 feet and 4 inches tall, weighed only 108 pounds at the full term of her pregnancy.
A day after the Nov. 9 birth, Phillips learned that her daughter's decision to forgo treatment for tumors on her brain and spine so she could carry the baby would have fatal repercussions. The cancer had marked too much territory. Nothing could be done, Phillips said.
It was only 12 days past the birth ? half spent in the hospital and the other half at home ? before Jenni was gone.
Even so, her family and friends insist her legacy is not one centered in tragedy, but rather in sacrifice.
This month, her family gathered at their ranch style home in Pocatello, where a Christmas tree in the living room was adorned with ornaments picked out just for Jenni, including one in bright lime green, her favorite color. She had passed away in a bedroom down the hall.
Recalling Jenni's infectious laugh and a rebellious streak, her mother held the baby close, nuzzling his head, and said, "I want him to know everything about her, and what she did."
___
The migraines started last year, when Jenni was a 16-year-old sophomore at Pocatello High School. She was taken to the family doctor, and an MRI scan found a small mass measuring about two centimeters wide on the right side of her brain.
She was sent to a hospital in Salt Lake City, some 150 miles south of Pocatello, and another scan there showed the mass was bigger than previously thought.
Jenni had a biopsy Oct. 15, 2010, and five days later was diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma, a type of brain tumor. With three tumors on her brain and three on her spine, Jenni was told her case was rare because the cancer had spread from her brain to another part of her body with no symptoms.
Her parents, who are divorced, remember they were brought into a room at the hospital and sat down at a long table as doctors discussed her chances of survival.
"Jenni just flat out asked them if she was going to die," said her father, Mike Lake, 43, a truck driver who lives in Rexburg, north of Pocatello.
The answer wasn't good. With treatment, the teen was told she had a 30 percent chance to make it two years, Lake said. While he was heartbroken, Lake marveled at how strong she seemed in that moment. "She didn't break down and cry or anything," he said.
But her mom recalled Jenni did have a weak moment that day.
"When they told her that she might not be able to have kids, she got upset," said Phillips, 39.
Jenni started aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments, while also posting videos on a YouTube site titled "Jenni's Journey," where she hoped to share her story with updates every other day. She managed to upload only three videos, though, as her treatments left her tired and weak.
On her second video, posted Nov. 20, 2010, Jenni appears distraught while a family friend records her having lunch with her mom.
"Last night, like, I was just lying in bed and I was thinking about everything that was going on and it just like, it just hit me, like everything, and I don't know, it made me cry," Jenni says on the video.
Her mom is shown burying her face in her hands. "Do you know how hard it is to be a mom and know that she's sick and there's nothing you can do," she says, before collapsing into tears.
Jenni persists: "It's hard. It's like, I don't know how long this is going to last and I just want it to go away ... I feel like this is holding me back from so much ..."
By March of this year, the tumors had started to shrink, the family said.
In a picture taken at her prom in early May, Jenni is wearing a dark blue strapless dress and gives the camera a small smile. There's a silver headband in her hair, which is less than an inch long. Chemotherapy took her shoulder-length blond tresses.
Her boyfriend, Nathan Wittman, wearing a black dress shirt and pants, is cradling her from behind.
___
Jenni started dating Nathan a couple of weeks before she received her diagnosis. Their adolescent relationship withstood the very adult test posed by cancer, the treatments that left her barely able to walk from her living room to her bedroom, and the gossip at school.
"The rumors started flying around, like Nathan was only with her because she had cancer," said Jenni's older sister, Ashlee Lake, 20, who tried to squelch the mean-spirited chatter even as the young couple ignored it.
They were hopeful, and dreamed of someday opening a restaurant or a gallery.
Jenni had been working as an apprentice in a local tattoo shop. "She was like our little sister," said the owner, Kass Chacon. But in May, Jenni's visits to the shop grew less frequent.
She had been throwing up a lot and had sharp stomach pains. She went to the emergency room early one morning with her boyfriend and when she returned home, her family members woke up to the sound of crying. "We could hear Jenni just bawling in her room," said her sister, Kaisee, 19.
She had learned that she was pregnant, and an ultrasound would show the fetus was 10 weeks old.
Jenni's journey was no longer her own.
From the start of treatment, she was told that she might never have children, her mother said, that the radiation and chemotherapy could essentially make her sterile.
"We were told that she couldn't get pregnant, so we didn't worry about it," said Nathan, 19.
Jenni, the third of her parents' eight children, had always wanted to be a mom. She had already determined to keep the baby when she went to see her oncologist, Dr. David Ririe, in Pocatello two days after she found out she was pregnant.
"He told us that if she's pregnant, she can't continue the treatments," Phillips said. "So she would either have to terminate the pregnancy and continue the treatments, or stop the treatments, knowing that it could continue to grow again."
Dr. Ririe would not discuss Jenni's care, citing privacy laws, but said, generally, in cases in which a cancer patient is pregnant, oncologists will consider both the risks and benefits of continuing with treatment, such as chemotherapy.
"There are times during pregnancy in some situations, breast cancer being the classic example, where the benefits of chemotherapy may outweigh the risk to mother and baby," Ririe said. "There are other times where the risk outweighs the benefits."
There was no discussion about which path Jenni would choose. Her parents didn't think of it as a clear life or death decision, and Jenni may not have, either. They believed that since the tumors had already started to shrink earlier, she had a strong chance of carrying the baby and then returning to treatment after he was born.
"I guess we were just hoping that after she had the baby, she could go back on the chemotherapy and get better," her mother said.
___
Jenni and Nathan named the baby Chad Michael, after their dads. Nathan has legal custody of the child, who is primarily cared for by Nathan's mother, Alexia Wittman, 51.
"Nathan will raise him," she said. She brings the baby to Jenni's house to visit her family whenever they ask.
Jenni didn't show regret for her decision, not in the final weeks of her pregnancy as she grew weaker, and not when she started to lose her vision as the cancer took its course, her family said.
Jenni's last words were about her son as he was placed beside her a final time, her father said. As she felt for the baby, she said: "I can kind of see him."
While being admitted to the hospital, she pulled her nurse down to her at bed level and whispered into her ear. The nurse would later repeat the girl's words to comfort her family, as their worst fears were realized a day after Jenni's baby was born.
"She told the nurse, `I'm done, I did what I was supposed to. My baby is going to get here safe,'" said Diana Phillips, Jenni's mother.
In photographs, the baby's ruddy cheeks and healthy weight offer a stark contrast to the frail girl who gave birth to him. She holds the newborn tightly, kissing the top of his head. Jenni, at 5 feet and 4 inches tall, weighed only 108 pounds at the full term of her pregnancy.
A day after the Nov. 9 birth, Phillips learned that her daughter's decision to forgo treatment for tumors on her brain and spine so she could carry the baby would have fatal repercussions. The cancer had marked too much territory. Nothing could be done, Phillips said.
It was only 12 days past the birth ? half spent in the hospital and the other half at home ? before Jenni was gone.
Even so, her family and friends insist her legacy is not one centered in tragedy, but rather in sacrifice.
This month, her family gathered at their ranch style home in Pocatello, where a Christmas tree in the living room was adorned with ornaments picked out just for Jenni, including one in bright lime green, her favorite color. She had passed away in a bedroom down the hall.
Recalling Jenni's infectious laugh and a rebellious streak, her mother held the baby close, nuzzling his head, and said, "I want him to know everything about her, and what she did."
___
The migraines started last year, when Jenni was a 16-year-old sophomore at Pocatello High School. She was taken to the family doctor, and an MRI scan found a small mass measuring about two centimeters wide on the right side of her brain.
She was sent to a hospital in Salt Lake City, some 150 miles south of Pocatello, and another scan there showed the mass was bigger than previously thought.
Jenni had a biopsy Oct. 15, 2010, and five days later was diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma, a type of brain tumor. With three tumors on her brain and three on her spine, Jenni was told her case was rare because the cancer had spread from her brain to another part of her body with no symptoms.
Her parents, who are divorced, remember they were brought into a room at the hospital and sat down at a long table as doctors discussed her chances of survival.
"Jenni just flat out asked them if she was going to die," said her father, Mike Lake, 43, a truck driver who lives in Rexburg, north of Pocatello.
The answer wasn't good. With treatment, the teen was told she had a 30 percent chance to make it two years, Lake said. While he was heartbroken, Lake marveled at how strong she seemed in that moment. "She didn't break down and cry or anything," he said.
But her mom recalled Jenni did have a weak moment that day.
"When they told her that she might not be able to have kids, she got upset," said Phillips, 39.
Jenni started aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments, while also posting videos on a YouTube site titled "Jenni's Journey," where she hoped to share her story with updates every other day. She managed to upload only three videos, though, as her treatments left her tired and weak.
On her second video, posted Nov. 20, 2010, Jenni appears distraught while a family friend records her having lunch with her mom.
"Last night, like, I was just lying in bed and I was thinking about everything that was going on and it just like, it just hit me, like everything, and I don't know, it made me cry," Jenni says on the video.
Her mom is shown burying her face in her hands. "Do you know how hard it is to be a mom and know that she's sick and there's nothing you can do," she says, before collapsing into tears.
Jenni persists: "It's hard. It's like, I don't know how long this is going to last and I just want it to go away ... I feel like this is holding me back from so much ..."
By March of this year, the tumors had started to shrink, the family said.
In a picture taken at her prom in early May, Jenni is wearing a dark blue strapless dress and gives the camera a small smile. There's a silver headband in her hair, which is less than an inch long. Chemotherapy took her shoulder-length blond tresses.
Her boyfriend, Nathan Wittman, wearing a black dress shirt and pants, is cradling her from behind.
___
Jenni started dating Nathan a couple of weeks before she received her diagnosis. Their adolescent relationship withstood the very adult test posed by cancer, the treatments that left her barely able to walk from her living room to her bedroom, and the gossip at school.
"The rumors started flying around, like Nathan was only with her because she had cancer," said Jenni's older sister, Ashlee Lake, 20, who tried to squelch the mean-spirited chatter even as the young couple ignored it.
They were hopeful, and dreamed of someday opening a restaurant or a gallery.
Jenni had been working as an apprentice in a local tattoo shop. "She was like our little sister," said the owner, Kass Chacon. But in May, Jenni's visits to the shop grew less frequent.
She had been throwing up a lot and had sharp stomach pains. She went to the emergency room early one morning with her boyfriend and when she returned home, her family members woke up to the sound of crying. "We could hear Jenni just bawling in her room," said her sister, Kaisee, 19.
She had learned that she was pregnant, and an ultrasound would show the fetus was 10 weeks old.
Jenni's journey was no longer her own.
From the start of treatment, she was told that she might never have children, her mother said, that the radiation and chemotherapy could essentially make her sterile.
"We were told that she couldn't get pregnant, so we didn't worry about it," said Nathan, 19.
Jenni, the third of her parents' eight children, had always wanted to be a mom. She had already determined to keep the baby when she went to see her oncologist, Dr. David Ririe, in Pocatello two days after she found out she was pregnant.
"He told us that if she's pregnant, she can't continue the treatments," Phillips said. "So she would either have to terminate the pregnancy and continue the treatments, or stop the treatments, knowing that it could continue to grow again."
Dr. Ririe would not discuss Jenni's care, citing privacy laws, but said, generally, in cases in which a cancer patient is pregnant, oncologists will consider both the risks and benefits of continuing with treatment, such as chemotherapy.
"There are times during pregnancy in some situations, breast cancer being the classic example, where the benefits of chemotherapy may outweigh the risk to mother and baby," Ririe said. "There are other times where the risk outweighs the benefits."
There was no discussion about which path Jenni would choose. Her parents didn't think of it as a clear life or death decision, and Jenni may not have, either. They believed that since the tumors had already started to shrink earlier, she had a strong chance of carrying the baby and then returning to treatment after he was born.
"I guess we were just hoping that after she had the baby, she could go back on the chemotherapy and get better," her mother said.
___
Jenni and Nathan named the baby Chad Michael, after their dads. Nathan has legal custody of the child, who is primarily cared for by Nathan's mother, Alexia Wittman, 51.
"Nathan will raise him," she said. She brings the baby to Jenni's house to visit her family whenever they ask.
Jenni didn't show regret for her decision, not in the final weeks of her pregnancy as she grew weaker, and not when she started to lose her vision as the cancer took its course, her family said.
Jenni's last words were about her son as he was placed beside her a final time, her father said. As she felt for the baby, she said: "I can kind of see him."
___
Below, photos of Jenni Lake's family and newborn son: "Chad Michael was born on 11/9/11 at 5:21 p.m. He was 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. And, as you can see, perfect and beautiful. :)" -Jenni's Facebook page "Chad Michael was born on 11/9/11 at 5:21 p.m. He was 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. And, as you can see, perfect and beautiful. :)" -Jenni's Facebook page
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The last minute generosity of the Southwest Florida community has helped the Salvation Army in its attempt to reach its biggest campaign goal of the year.
Severely behind in their campaign, the Salvation Army of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties pulled through at the last minute for thousands of families.
Todd O'Keefe, his wife and four children were able to unwrap much needed presents this year. Todd found joy for the first time in three months with the help of the Salvation Army. He's living at their homeless shelter after losing two jobs.
"It's depressing in a way. They don't realize it as much as we do, that we weren't able to do it for them this year," he says.
As of Christmas Eve morning, the red kettle campaign reached 79% of its goal. But whether it makes it or not, the Salvation Army is going to have to make some cuts.
Some of their staff is already taking furloughs once a month.
"Even if we meet the kettle goal, we're looking at a 5% cut there. If we don't, then those cuts will be even larger and deeper," says Marilu Bennett with the Salvation Army.
And in a tough economy, the Salvation Army is staying cautiously optimistic and thankful for any donation it receives.
This year, the red kettle campaign goal is $600,000. That's up $50,000 from last year.
The Salvation Army says that's because the needs in all of its programs are much greater.
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Source: www.betdsi.com --- Saturday, December 24, 2011 A lot of things are setting up for the Cincinnati Reds to be very successful against the Baseball odds in 2012. The St. Louis Cardinals lost Albert Pujols, the Brewers could lose Prince Fielder and now the Reds have traded for an excellent starting pitcher in Mat Latos. ...
Text of President Barack Obama's comments Thursday as issued by the White House:
Thank you, everybody. (Applause.) Please have a seat. Good afternoon to all of you. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays.
We've been doing everything we can over the last few weeks to make sure that 160 million working Americans aren't hit with a holiday tax increase on January 1st. We've also been doing everything we can to make sure that millions of people who are out there looking for work in a very tough environment don't start losing their unemployment insurance on January 1st.
Now, on Saturday, we reached a bipartisan compromise that would do just that ? make sure that people aren't seeing a tax cut the first of the year; make sure that they still have unemployment insurance the first of the year. Nearly every Democrat in the Senate voted for that compromise. Nearly every Republican in the Senate voted for that compromise. Democrats and even some Republicans in the House voted for that compromise. I am ready to sign that compromise into law the second it lands on my desk.
So far, the only reason it hasn't landed on my desk ? the only reason ? is because a faction of House Republicans have refused to support this compromise.
Now, if you're a family making about $50,000 a year, this is a tax cut that amounts to about $1,000 a year. That's about 40 bucks out of every paycheck. It may be that there's some folks in the House who refuse to vote for this compromise because they don't think that 40 bucks is a lot of money. But anyone who knows what it's like to stretch a budget knows that at the end of the week, or the end of the month, $40 can make all the difference in the world.
And that's why we thought we'd bring your voices into this debate. So many of these debates in Washington end up being portrayed as which party is winning, which party is losing. But what we have to remind ourselves of is this is about people. This is about the American people and whether they win. It's not about a contest between politicians.
So on Tuesday, we asked folks to tell us what would it be like to lose $40 out of your paycheck every week. And I have to tell you that the response has been overwhelming. We haven't seen anything like this before. Over 30,000 people have written in so far ? as many as 2,000 every hour. We're still hearing from folks ? and I want to encourage everybody who's been paying attention to this to keep sending your stories to WhiteHouse.gov and share them on Twitter and share them on Facebook.
The responses we've gotten so far have come from Americans of all ages and Americans of all backgrounds, from every corner of the country. Some of the folks who responded are on stage with me here today, and they should remind every single member of Congress what's at stake in this debate. Let me just give you a few samples.
Joseph from New Jersey talked about how he would have to sacrifice the occasional pizza night with his daughters. He said ? and I'm quoting ? "My 16-year-old twins will be out of the house soon. I'll miss this."
Richard from Rhode Island wrote to tell us that having an extra $40 in his check buys enough heating oil to keep his family warm for three nights. In his words ? I'm quoting ? "If someone doesn't think that 12 gallons of heating oil is important, I invite them to spend three nights in an unheated home. Or you can believe me when I say that it makes a difference."
Pete from Wisconsin told us about driving more than 200 miles each week to keep his father-in-law company in a nursing home ? $40 out of his paycheck would mean he'd only be able to make three trips instead of four.
We heard from a teacher named Claire from here in D.C. who goes to the thrift store every week and uses her own money to buy pencils and books for her fourth grade class. Once in a while she splurges on science or art supplies. Losing $40, she says, would mean she couldn't do that anymore.
For others, $40 means dinner out with a child who's home for Christmas, a new pair of shoes, a tank of gas, a charitable donation. These are the things at stake for millions of Americans. They matter to people. A lot.
And keep in mind that those are just the individual stories. That doesn't account for the overall impact that a failure to extend the payroll tax cut and a failure to extend unemployment insurance would have on the economy as a whole. We've seen the economy do better over the last couple of months, but there's still a lot of sources of uncertainty out there ? what's going on in Europe, what's going on around the world. And so this is insurance to make sure that our recovery continues.
So it's time for the House to listen to the voices who are up here, the voices all across the country, and reconsider. What's happening right now is exactly why people just get so frustrated with Washington. This is it; this is exactly why people get so frustrated with Washington. This isn't a typical Democratic-versus-Republican issue. This is an issue where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. How can we not get that done? I mean, has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things we can't do it? (Applause.) It doesn't make any sense.
So, enough is enough. The people standing with me today can't afford any more games. They can't afford to lose $1,000 because of some ridiculous Washington standoff. The House needs to pass a short-term version of this compromise, and then we should negotiate an agreement as quickly as possible to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance for the rest of 2012. It's the right thing to do for the economy, and it's, most importantly, the right thing to do for American families all across the country.
This is not just my view. Just a few hours ago, this is exactly what the Republican Leader of the Senate said we should do. Democrats agree with the Republican Leader of the Senate. We should go ahead and get this done. This should not be hard. We all agree it should happen. I believe it's going to happen sooner or later. Why not make it sooner, rather than later? Let's give the American people ? the people who sent us here ? the kind of leadership they deserve.
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HALF matter, half antimatter, positronium atoms teeter on the brink of annihilation. Now there's a way to make these unstable atoms survive much longer, a key step towards making a powerful gamma-ray laser.
All the elements in the periodic table consist of atoms with a nucleus of positively charged protons, orbited by the same number of negatively charged electrons. Positronium, symbol Ps, is different. It consists of an electron and a positron orbiting each other (see diagram). A positron is the electron's antimatter counterpart. Though positively charged like the proton, it has just 0.0005 times its mass. Positronium "atoms" survive less than a millionth of a second before the electron and positron annihilate in a burst of gamma rays.
In principle, positronium could be used to make a gamma ray laser. It would produce a highly energetic beam of extremely short wavelength that could probe tiny structures including the atomic nucleus - the wavelength of visible light is much too long to be of any use for this.
The trouble is that this means assembling a dense cloud of positronium in a quantum state known as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). How to do this without the positronium annihilating in the process was unclear.
Now a team led by Christoph Keitel of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany, suggests that ordinary lasers could be used to slow the annihilation. The trick is to tune the lasers to exactly the energy needed to boost the positronium into a higher energy state, in which the electron and positron orbit farther from one another. That makes them much less likely to annihilate (arxiv.org/abs/1112.1621).
The positronium will eventually lose energy by emitting photons and return to the annihilation-prone state. But the team calculates that about half the excited positronium atoms can survive for 28 millionths of a second on average, 200 times as long as unexcited ones.
This may be long enough to assemble the BEC cloud. In a BEC, positronium atoms behave in lockstep, so when one annihilates itself, the rest follow suit, producing a burst of laser radiation made of gamma rays.
It may sound like a lot of work, but one thing makes the task easier. Ordinary atoms can only form a BEC when cooled gradually to within a fraction of a degree of absolute zero. By contrast, due to quantum effects, positronium will form a BEC at close to room temperature.
Where mirror, dark and anti-matter meet
Half a century after it was first made, positronium could find uses. As well as powering a gamma ray laser (see main story), it might put the strange theory of mirror matter to the test.
The idea that every particle has an identical - but so far undetectable - mirror partner was dreamed up to explain baffling asymmetries in the emission of electrons from radioactive atoms. Mirror matter has also been touted as a candidate for the mysterious dark matter that makes up 80 per cent of the universe.
The theory says that particles of ordinary matter might very occasionally transform into their mirror-reversed versions, effectively disappearing from view. Positronium normally ends its life by hurling out a flurry of gamma rays. If the mirror world exists, positronium might sometimes turn into mirror matter and vanish without these emissions.
The idea could be tested by trapping positronium in a chamber and keeping track of how much energy it gives off as gamma rays. If the amount is smaller than expected based on the number of positronium atoms that entered the chamber, then some of it may be turning into mirror matter. New calculations by Sergei Demidov of the Institute for Nuclear Research in Moscow, Russia, and colleagues indicate this should happen often enough to be detectable (arxiv.org/abs/1111.1072).
Paolo Crivelli of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich is leading the development of one such experiment (arxiv.org/abs/1005.4802). The existing AEgIS antimatter experiment at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, could also be modified for this purpose.
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AAA??Dec. 21, 2011?9:18 AM ET Soyuz bound for space station blasts off JIM HEINTZJIM HEINTZ, Associated Press??
In this photo taken with a fisheye lens and with long time exposure, people lwatchthe launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with the Soyuz TMA-03M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Netherlands' astronaut Andre Kuipers. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
In this photo taken with a fisheye lens and with long time exposure, people lwatchthe launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with the Soyuz TMA-03M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Netherlands' astronaut Andre Kuipers. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
In this photo taken long time exposure the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with a Soyuz TMA-03M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, with an antenna on the foreground. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Netherlands' astronaut Andre Kuipers. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-03M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Netherlands' astronaut Andre Kuipers. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-03M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Netherlands' astronaut Andre Kuipers. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
The Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft rests on its launch pad before the blast off with the International Space Station (ISS) crew of U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers at Baikonur cosmodrome, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/ Shamil Zhumatov, Pool)
MOSCOW (AP) ? A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian, an American and a Dutchman to the International Space Station blasted off flawlessly from Russia's launch facility in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
Mission commander Oleg Kononenko and his colleagues, American Don Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are to dock with the space station on Friday.
The blastoff from the snowy launchpad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, took place without a hitch and the spacecraft reached Earth orbit about nine minutes later. Video from inside the craft showed the three crew members gripping each others' hands in celebration as the final stage of the booster rocket separated.
The three aboard the Russian spacecraft will join three others already on the ISS, NASA's Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin. The six are to work together on the station until March.
The launch came amid a period of trouble for Russia's space program, which provides the only way for crew to reach the space station since the United States retired its space shuttle program in July.
The launch of an unmanned supply ship for the space station failed in August and the ship crashed in a Siberian forest. The Soyuz rocket carrying that craft was the same type used to send up Russian manned spacecraft, and the crash prompted officials to postpone the next manned launch while the rockets were examined for flaws. The delayed mission eventually took place on Nov. 14.
Just five days before that launch, Russia sent up its ambitious Phobos-Ground unmanned probe, which was to go to the Phobos moon of Mars, take soil samples and return them to Earth. But engineers lost contact with the ship and were unable to propel it out of Earth orbit and toward Mars. The craft is now expected to fall to Earth in mid-January.
Last December, Russia lost three navigation satellites when a rocket carrying them failed to reach orbit. A military satellite was lost in February, and the launch of the Express-AM4, described by officials as Russia's most powerful telecommunications satellite, went awry in August.
Associated PressNews Topics: Manned spacecraft, Space accidents, Unmanned spacecraft, Space launch industry, Mars, Space industry, Spacecraft, Space technology, Aerospace technology, Industrial technology, Technology, Transportation accidents, Accidents, Accidents and disasters, General news, Transportation, Aerospace and defense, Industrial products and services, Industries, Business, Planets, Astronomy, Science People, Places and Companies: Russia
ILIGAN, Philippines ? A southern Philippine area devastated by flash floods that killed more than 1,000 people looks like it was hit by a tsunami, a U.N. official said Thursday as he appealed for $28 million in aid for the region.
U.N. humanitarian coordinator Soe Nyunt-U voiced concern about possible outbreaks of disease among the thousands living in evacuation centers after their houses were washed away last Friday when a tropical storm unleashed the flash floods.
"It was as if the cities were hit by an inland tsunami," Nyunt-U told reporters in Manila. "Entire areas were completely flattened. "
Aid workers were rushing in relief supplies, but a lack of running water was a major concern.
"We must improve this situation at the soonest possible time to avoid disease outbreaks that will further compound the hardships of the people already weakened by hunger and grief from loss of family and friends," Nyunt-U said.
He mentioned a cholera type virus that may occur due to problems stemming from congestion in the evacuation centers, where poor sanitation and hygiene posed a health risk.
Such concerns were nagging Annaliza Tumanda, who was caring for her baby daughter, Aizee, born at the height of the storm and floods that destroyed their home in Cagayan de Oro. They were at a government-run shelter in the same city.
Tumanda said she, her husband and three children ? aged 3 to 8 ? swam to a neighbor's three-story house. She went into labor Saturday morning and was brought by rescuers to the roof of a health center, where she gave birth to a healthy 6.6-pound (3-kilogram) baby.
"With God's will, we survived," she said. "It was like a miracle."
In all, 640,000 people have been affected by the disaster, the government and the U.N. said.
"Debris from houses, buildings and other structures that had been destroyed by the storm was all swept out to the sea, leaving huge areas devoid of all traces of habitation," Nyunt-U said.
Nyunt-U said he was hopeful donors and foreign governments would respond to the appeal despite the global economic crisis. An appeal launched following a 2009 typhoon that killed about 500 people in Manila collected only half the funds needed.
"It's the Christmas season and the willingness of the international community is high," he said, adding that "no country can stand alone."
About 45,000 displaced are inside evacuation centers, most of them in worst-hit Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities in the southern Mindanao region. Another 266,000 are being assisted outside temporary shelters.
Nearly 30,000 houses were destroyed and damaged. The two cities are home to nearly a million people.
Local authorities and grieving relatives were moving ahead with dozens of burials each day. The handful of local funeral parlors are overwhelmed and have stopped accepting bodies, which are still being retrieved from the sea or mud almost a week after the disaster.
___
Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski and Teresa Cerojano in Manila contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS spelling of mother's name to Tumanda instead of Tumada in paragraph 7)
Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, The New York Botanical Garden, and New York University have created the largest genome-based tree of life for seed plants to date. Their findings, published today in the journal PLoS Genetics, plot the evolutionary relationships of 150 different species of plants based on advanced genome-wide analysis of gene structure and function. This new approach, called "functional phylogenomics," allows scientists to reconstruct the pattern of events that led to the vast number of plant species and could help identify genes used to improve seed quality for agriculture.
"Ever since Darwin first described the 'abominable mystery' behind the rapid explosion of flowering plants in the fossil record, evolutionary biologists have been trying to understand the genetic and genomic basis of the astounding diversity of plant species," said Rob DeSalle, a corresponding author on the paper and a curator in the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology who conducts research at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics. "Having the architecture of this plant tree of life allows us to start to decipher some of the interesting aspects of evolutionary innovations that have occurred in this group."
The research, performed by members of the New York Plant Genomics Consortium, was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Plant Genome Program to identify the genes that caused the evolution of seeds, a trait of important economic interest. The group selected 150 representative species from all of the major seed plant groups to include in the study. The species span from the flowering variety?peanuts and dandelions, for example?to non-flowering cone plants like spruce and pine. The sequences of the plants' genomes?all of the biological information needed to build and maintain an organism, encoded in DNA?were either culled from pre-existing databases or generated, in the field and at The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, from live specimens.
With new algorithms developed at the Museum and NYU and the processing power of supercomputers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and overseas, the sequences?nearly 23,000 sets of genes (specific sections of DNA that code for certain proteins)?were grouped, ordered, and organized in a tree according to their evolutionary relationships. Algorithms that determine similarities of biological processes were used to identify the genes underlying species diversity.
"Previously, phylogenetic trees were constructed from standard sets of genes and were used to identify the relationships of species," said Gloria Coruzzi, a professor in New York University's Center for Genomics and Systems Biology and the principal investigator of the NSF grant. "In our novel approach, we create the phylogeny based on all the genes in a genome, and then use the phylogeny to identify which genes provide positive support for the divergence of species."
The results support major hypotheses about evolutionary relationships in seed plants. The most interesting finding is that gnetophytes, a group that consists mostly of shrubs and woody vines, are the most primitive living non-flowering seed plants?present since the late Mesozoic era, the "age of dinosaurs." They are situated at the base of the evolutionary tree of seed plants.
"This study resolves the long-standing problem of producing an unequivocal evolutionary tree of the seed plants," said Dennis Stevenson, vice president for laboratory research at The New York Botanical Garden. "We can then use this information to determine when and where important adaptations occur and how they relate to plant diversification. We also can examine the evolution of such features as drought tolerance, disease resistance, or crop yields that sustain human life through improved agriculture."
In addition, the researchers were able to make predictions about genes that caused the evolution of important plant characteristics. One such evolutionary signal is RNA interference, a process that cells use to turn down or silence the activity of specific genes. Based on their new phylogenomic maps, the researchers believe that RNA interference played a large role in the separation of monocots?plants that have a single seed leaf, including orchids, rice, and sugar cane?from other flowering plants. Even more surprising, RNA interference also played a major role in the emergence of flowering plants themselves.
"Genes required for the production of small RNA in seeds were at the very top of the list of genes responsible for the evolution of flowering plants from cone plants," said Rob Martienssen, a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. "In collaboration with colleagues from LANGEBIO [Laboratorio Nacional de Genomica para la Biodiversidad] in Mexico last year, we found that these same genes control maternal reproduction, providing remarkable insight into the evolution of reproductive strategy in flowering plants."
The data and software resources generated by the researchers are publicly available and will allow other comparative genomic researchers to exploit plant diversity to identify genes associated with a trait of interest or agronomic value. These studies could have implications for improving the quality of seeds and, in turn, agricultural products ranging from food to clothing.
In addition, the phylogenomic approach used in this study could be applied to other groups of organisms to further explore how species originated, expanded, and diversified.
"The collaboration among the institutions involved here is a great example of how modern science works," said Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis, a term assistant professor at Columbia University's Barnard College and a research associate at the Museum's Sackler Institute. "Each of the four institutions involved has its own strengths and these strengths were nicely interwoven to produce a novel vision of plant evolution."
###
American Museum of Natural History: http://www.amnh.org
Thanks to American Museum of Natural History for this article.
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A lot of things are setting up for the Cincinnati Reds to be very successful against the Baseball odds in 2012. The St. Louis Cardinals lost Albert Pujols, the Brewers could lose Prince Fielder and now the Reds have traded for an excellent starting pitcher in Mat Latos. ...
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