US stocks open higher after 2-day plunge

U.S. stocks rose in morning trading on Friday as traders regrouped following the biggest drop of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,809 after the first half-hour of trading Friday.

The Dow plunged 560 points Wednesday through Thursday after the Federal Reserve said it could wind down its bond-buying program by the middle of next year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose eight points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,597 points. Consumer staples, which fell sharply the day before, led the way higher.

The Nasdaq composite index edged down two points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,362.

The Nikkei index in Japan rose 1.7 percent, but other Asian markets fell. European markets were mixed but made only small moves.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up to 2.44 percent from 2.42 percent.

Among stocks making big moves:

? Oracle plunged $3.04, or 9 percent, to $30.17, the biggest drop in the S&P 500 index. The software maker's quarterly results showed that it's struggling to adapt as customers shift away from software installed on their own computers toward software that runs remotely.

? Darden Restaurants, which runs Olive Garden and Red Lobster, fell $1.16, or 2.3 percent, to $50.07 after rising expenses hurt its fourth-quarter earnings.

? CarMax, which runs used car dealerships, reported that its first-quarter profit jumped 21 percent as sales rose. Its stock rose 63 cents or 1.4 percent, to $45.20.

A Fed policy statement and comments from Chairman Ben Bernanke started the selling in stocks and bonds Wednesday.

Bernanke said the Fed expects to scale back its massive bond-buying program later this year and end it entirely by mid-2014 if the economy continues to improve. The bank has been buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds, a program that has made borrowing cheap for consumers and businesses. It has also helped boost the stock market. The Dow reached an all-time high three weeks ago of 15,409.

After Bernanake's comments, the index lost 560 points on Wednesday and Thursday, wiping out its gains from May and June. The Dow's drop on Thursday was its biggest since November 2011.

Some investors said the sell-off in stocks may be overdone. The Fed is considering easing back on its stimulus because the economy is improving. The central bank has upgraded its outlook for unemployment and economic growth.

The S&P 500 is still up 11.9 percent, for the year, not far from its full-year increase of 13.4 percent last year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-stocks-open-higher-2-day-plunge-140307006.html

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North Korean U.N. envoy urges end to economic sanctions

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea's envoy to the United Nations on Friday called on the United States to lift its economic sanctions against Pyongyang and urged U.N. members not to follow Security Council sanctions imposed over the North's nuclear and missile tests.

"I urge the United States to stop economic sanctions against us," North Korean U.N. Ambassador Sin Son-ho told reporters at a rare news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York.

He added that he appealed to U.N. member states not to "blindly" follow U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang, which he said were tantamount to U.S. blackmail.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed a variety of sanctions on North Korea for its three nuclear tests and numerous missile launches, including an embargo on the import and export of nuclear and missile technology and a ban on all arms exports. Washington has also imposed its own unilateral sanctions on Pyongyang.

U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell was asked about the North Korean statement in Washington. He told reporters: "Our sanctions will continue."

Sin, who spoke in English, blamed the tensions on the Korean peninsula on the United States. He said Washington was responsible for a situation in which there is "neither peace nor war on the Korean peninsula."

"The most pressing issue is the aggression between the U.S. and the DPRK (North Korea), which could result in another war at any moment," he said.

He reiterated Pyongyang's call for senior-level talks with the United States aimed at replacing the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War with a peace treaty.

"The Korean armistice agreement has been nullified by the United States," he said.

He also called for the dissolution of the U.S.-led U.N. Command in South Korea, saying the forces are "war-oriented and not peace-oriented" and describing them as the "root of evil."

Sin was asked about recent North Korean statements in favor of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

"Denuclearization is our final destination," he said, while cautioning that North Korea would not unilaterally dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

Sin said he would submit a proposal for dissolving the U.N. Command, which he said had nothing to do with the United Nations, to the U.N. General Assembly. The 193-nation assembly does not have the power to issue binding decisions, which is something only the Security Council can do.

The last time Ambassador Sin held a news conference was in June 2010 when he defended his nation against Seoul's allegations that the North Korean military torpedoed a South Korean naval ship in March 2010, killing 46 sailors.

The U.N. press briefing room was packed with reporters, cameramen and photographers, who came to hear Sin's nearly hour-long briefing, more than half of which involved him reading out a statement about why the U.N. Command should be dissolved and the need for a peace treaty to replace the armistice.

Sin appeared jovial as he entered the briefing room, though the two North Korean officials on either side of him maintained serious looks the entire time. He began the news conference by asking: "Ladies and gentlemen, how are you today?"

U.N. diplomats said Friday's briefing was a departure from the lower public profile the North Korean U.N. mission has adopted in recent years.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Eric Beech and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-koreas-u-n-envoy-urges-end-u-163000516.html

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Key signaling pathway that makes young neurons connect

June 20, 2013 ? Neuroscientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have filled in a significant gap in the scientific understanding of how neurons mature, pointing to a better understanding of some developmental brain disorders.

In the new study, the researchers identified a molecular program that controls an essential step in the fast-growing brains of young mammals. The researchers found that this signaling pathway spurs the growth of neuronal output connections by a mechanism called "mitochondrial capture," which has never been described before.

"Mutations that may affect this signaling pathway already have been found in some autism cases," said TSRI Professor Franck Polleux, who led the research, published June 20, 2013 in the journal Cell.

Branching Out

Polleux's laboratory is focused on identifying the signaling pathways that drive neural development, with special attention to the neocortex -- a recently evolved structure that handles the "higher" cognitive functions in the mammalian brain and is highly developed in humans.

In a widely cited study published in 2007, Polleux's team identified a trigger of an early step in the development of the most important class of neocortical neurons. As these neurons develop following asymmetric division of neural stem cells, they migrate to their proper place in the developing brain. Meanwhile they start to sprout a root-like mesh of input branches called dendrites from one end, and, from the other end, a long output stalk called an axon. Polleux and his colleagues found that the kinase LKB1 provides a key signal for the initiation of axon growth in these immature cortical neurons.

In the new study, Polleux's team followed up this discovery and found that LKB1 also is crucially important for a later stage of these neurons' development: the branching of the end of the axon onto the dendrites of other neurons.

"In experiments with mice, we knocked the LKB1 gene out of immature cortical neurons that had already begun growing an axon, and the most striking effect was a drastic reduction in terminal branching," said Julien Courchet, a research associate in the Polleux laboratory who was a lead co-author of the study. "We saw this also in lab dish experiments, and when we overexpressed the LKB1 gene, the result was a dramatic increase in axon branching."

Further experiments by Courchet showed that LKB1 drives axonal branching by activating another kinase, NUAK1. The next step was to try to understand how this newly identified LKB1-NUAK1 signaling pathway induced the growth of new axon branches.

Stopping the Train in Its Tracks

Following a thin trail of clues, the researchers decided to look at the dynamics of microtubules. These tiny railway-like tracks are laid down within axons for the efficient transport of molecular cargoes and are altered and extended during axonal branching. Although they could find no major change in microtubule dynamics within immature axons lacking LKB1 or NUAK1, the team did discover one striking abnormality in the transport of cargoes along these microtubules. Tiny oxygen-reactors called mitochondria, which are the principal sources of chemical energy in cells, were transported along axons much more actively -- and by contrast, became almost immobile when LKB1 and NUAK1 were overexpressed.

But the LKB1-NUAK1 signals weren't just immobilizing mitochondria randomly. They were effectively inducing their capture at points on the axons where axons form synaptic connections with other neurons. "When we removed LKB1 or NUAK1 in cortical neurons, the mitochondria were no longer captured at these points," said Tommy Lewis, Jr., a research associate in the Polleux Laboratory who was co-lead author of the study.

"We argue that there must be an active 'homing factor' that specifies where these mitochondria stop moving," said Polleux. "And we think that this is essentially what the LKB1-NAUK1 signaling pathway does here."

Looking Ahead

Precisely how the capture of mitochondria at nascent synapses promotes axonal branching is the object of a further line of investigation in the Polleux laboratory. "We think that we have uncovered something very interesting about mitochondrial function at synapses," Polleux said.

In addition to its basic scientific importance, the work is likely to be highly relevant medically. Developmentally related brain disorders such as epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia typically involve abnormalities in neuronal connectivity. Recent genetic surveys have found NUAK1-related gene mutations in some children with autism, for example. "Our study is the first one to identify that NUAK1 plays a crucial role during the establishment of cortical connectivity and therefore suggests why this gene might play a role in autistic disorder," Polleux says.

He notes, too, that declines in normal mitochondrial transport within axons have been observed in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. "In the light of our findings, we wonder if the decreased mitochondrial mobility observed in these cases might be due not to a transport defect, but instead to a defect in mitochondrial capture in aging neurons," he said. "We're eager to start doing experiments to test such possibilities."

The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01AG031524 and 5F32NS080464), ADI-Novartis, Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale, and the Philippe Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/c9O4LePge8o/130620132108.htm

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Lawmaker, university spar over 'control' of Chinese dissident in U.S.

By Paul Eckert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman who has been blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's main champion in Washington said people working for New York University have tried to keep him from meeting Chen, barging into a meeting on Capitol Hill and pulling Chen out on one occasion.

U.S. Representative Chris Smith, an outspoken supporter of Chinese dissidents since the 1980s, described repeated instances of various people he says were from NYU interfering in his attempts to meet with Chen.

NYU spokesman John Beckman in an email vigorously disputed the assertion that its representatives may have been involved in improper interference or control of Chen during his meetings with lawmakers and others, stressing that anyone present was there to help Chen at his request.

The encounters took place both in Washington and at NYU. Chen has been a research fellow at NYU Law School since he flew to the United States in May 2012 after he escaped from house arrest in his village in Shandong province and took refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Chen has accused NYU of asking him to leave because of "unrelenting pressure" from China. NYU denies this, saying he is leaving because his fellowship for one year is ending.

Some of Chen's supporters suggest NYU fears his strident public criticism of China will complicate the university's plans to build a campus in Shanghai - an assertion NYU has also dismissed.

"Every time I've met with him, except once, only because I insisted, there was always somebody from the university - I don't know who they are or who they are reporting to - taking notes on everything," Smith, a New Jersey Republican, said in an interview.

The one meeting Smith had without Chen being escorted was shortly after Chen received a human rights award on Capitol Hill on January 29. It took place in Smith's office in the Rayburn Office Building but it was interrupted and halted before Smith was ready, he said.

A lady who appeared to be Chinese "insisted on translating, and I said 'with all due respect, I want a little private time with the great Chen Guangcheng', and I closed the door. She starts calling his phone over and over and over again, like four or five times," said Smith.

"And finally after a half hour, because I had asked for a half-hour meeting, my door flies open and she says ?the meeting's over and she grabs him by the arm and lifts him up'," he said.

NYU's Beckman told Reuters any NYU staff accompanying Chen "were people who provided help to an individual who is blind, is unable to speak English, and was new to the U.S.; it seems very ungracious for their efforts on Mr. Chen's behalf to be tarnished in this way".

"The reality is that he's held many press conferences and interviews, attended congressional hearings, and is writing a book about his life, and all NYU has ever done has provided staff and support to facilitate his activities, wishes, schedule, and family," he said in the email.

"FANTASY"

Matt Dorf, a communications strategist who was hired by NYU to advise Chen in his first couple of months in the United States, said Chen himself made the decisions on who he would meet.

"If the congressman or others felt they did not have proper access to Chen Guangcheng it was because Chen Guangcheng had made a decision not to speak with them because he was controlling all of the meetings in his whole schedule," he said in reference to the period from May through July last year.

He also said that the only people he ever saw taking notes in meetings were Chen's wife and a translator.

A spokeswoman for Chen said he was not currently giving interviews. His eldest brother, Chen Guangfu, told Reuters that Chen told him that "at this stage, he can't comment on certain matters and that's why he's not answering the requests from many media organizations. He didn't say why."

China's state-run Global Times, run by the Communist Party's official People's Daily, said Chen was living in a "fantasy" and should realize he had outstayed his welcome.

"Chen's lack of academic qualifications and language competence meant he could not stay long-term. His embarrassing situation mirrors the fate of many Chinese 'pro-democratic activists' in the 1980s," the newspaper said in an editorial on Thursday.

The 60-year-old Smith, who has represented his central New Jersey district for 32 years, said he started working on human rights issues in 1982, focusing on Soviet Jewish refuseniks.

"Everything is about control," Smith said of dealing with NYU representatives when trying to arrange meetings with Chen. "It was that way throughout the whole process."

During another recent chat with Chen, Smith said, "I had two people there and they had note pads. I asked 'who are you reporting to?' and they wouldn't tell me."

"I don't find that friendly. I find that dangerous, in terms of Chen."

Smith, chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee that monitors global human rights, said he has been able to talk to Chen by telephone, through a translator, with relative ease.

But Smith said he has had trouble meeting Chen in person as many as a dozen times, beginning with Chen's arrival at Newark Airport in May 2012 and "every trip I made up there" to NYU.

Dorf denied that Smith had difficulty gaining access to Chen when the Chinese dissident arrived at NYU after flying into the United States, saying it was the first meeting that Chen had, it lasted about half an hour, and the lawmaker's staff took photographs of them together.

Smith sees the situation differently: "There was this control the likes of which made me say 'Oh my God. What is going on here?'."

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York, and Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing; Editing by Martin Howell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmaker-university-spar-over-control-chinese-dissident-u-040717559.html

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Markets are roiled by prospect of early Fed exit

NEW YORK (AP) ? There was no let-up in the flight from stocks and bonds as traders reacted to news that the Federal Reserve could end its massive bond-buying program as next year and as China's manufacturing slowed.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 353 points, or 2.3 percent, to 14,758 points Thursday.

The Dow has lost 560 points in the past two days, wiping out its gains from May and June.

The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 40 points, or 2.5 percent, to 1,588. The Nasdaq fell 78 points, or 2.3 percent, to 3,364 points.

The price of gold dropped and bond yields rose sharply.

Stocks fell across the board. Twenty stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading was very heavy at 4.8 billion shares.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/markets-roiled-prospect-early-fed-exit-201549383.html

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Obama Attends Daughter's Dance Recital on Father's Day (ABC News)

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U.S. says political solution to Syria conflict in jeopardy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces and the involvement of Hezbollah fighters show President Bashar al-Assad's lack of commitment to negotiations and threaten to "put a political settlement out of reach," the U.S. State Department said on Saturday, citing comments by Secretary of State John Kerry.

The State Department issued a statement after Kerry spoke with Iraq's foreign minister.

"The secretary reaffirmed that the United States continues to work aggressively for a political solution with the goal of a second Geneva meeting, but that the use of chemical weapons and increasing involvement of Hezbollah demonstrates the regime's lack of commitment to negotiations and threatens to put a political settlement out of reach," the department said.

A U.S. official said on Thursday that President Barack Obama had authorized sending U.S. weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time.

Regarding Kerry's telephone call on Friday with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the State Department also said Kerry "expressed our concern about the increasingly sectarian nature of the Syrian conflict on both sides."

"In that light, the secretary noted his appreciation for the foreign minister's statement on June 11 discouraging Iraqis from joining the fight in Syria. The secretary further urged that Iraq take every possible measure to help end the military resupply of the Assad regime and thereby increase the pressure that will be necessary to advance a political solution," the State Department said.

Obama is set to meet on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key Assad ally, at a G8 conference in Northern Ireland to discuss the Syria situation.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-says-political-solution-syria-conflict-jeopardy-141919264.html

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