Philly judge again finds church cardinal competent (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? A Philadelphia judge has again ruled that a retired Roman Catholic cardinal with dementia is competent and could become a trial witness.

Lawyers for Monsignor William Lynn say 88-year-old Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (beh-vih-LAH'-kwah) no longer recognizes his longtime aide, Lynn. They say Bevilacqua remembers little if anything about his 10 appearances before a grand jury in 2003 and 2004.

Lynn is the former secretary for clergy. He awaits trial on charges he endangered children and conspired with others to keep accused pedophiles in ministry.

Defense lawyers argue that he took orders from Bevilacqua. But they say the cardinal's failing memory deprives them of meaningful cross-examination.

Monday's ruling means prosecutors can use Bevilacqua's recent videotaped deposition at the March trial.

Defense lawyers say they may call Bevilacqua to court if so.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_us/us_priest_abuse_charges

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Italian islanders worry about their future (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Residents of the Italian island of Giglio held a strategy meeting Monday as fears mounted about threats to the environment and their prized tourism industry from the stricken Costa Concordia cruise ship lying off the coast.

Officials have ruled out finding anyone else alive more than two weeks after the ship hit a reef. Worries are now focusing on the impact the disaster could have on the pristine Tuscan region, especially if tons of fuel and chemical pollutants spill from the ship.

Ahead of the closed-door meeting, some residents hung a banner demanding the removal of the half-submerged ship, which threatens some of the most unspoiled waters in the Mediterranean and a sanctuary for dolphins and other marine life.

About 500,000 gallons (2,400 tons) of heavy fuel and other pollutants are in danger of leaking out of the ship, threatening the livelihoods of local fishermen and residents who depend on tourism.

"They need to get a move on. We are moving toward the tourist season," said Antonia Rum, a resident heading into the gathering of more than 200 people.

"Let's hope we are able to solve everything without pollution," said Giuseppe De Politi, a Giglio fisherman. "That's the main worry."

Concordia ran aground Jan. 13 when the captain deviated from his planned route and struck a reef, creating a huge gash that capsized the ship. More than 4,200 passengers and crew were on board. Seventeen bodies have been recovered, while 16 people are listed as missing, with one body not yet identified.

The gathering of residents came a day after Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's national civil protection agency, said it could take a full seven-to-10 months to remove the massive ship, which is 950 feet (290 meters) long and 115 feet (35 meters) wide. That means the damaged ship, or at least parts of it, will still be off the coast for most, if not all, of the summer tourist season.

One of the residents at the meeting, Fabio Agugliari, expressed the determination to defend the island and its "treasures." Another, Alvaro Andolfi, said residents are mainly demanding transparency from Gabrielli.

"We want him to tell us how it happened that it's going to take a year to remove this ship, what they are doing and how the plans to remove the fuel are proceeding," Andolfi told reporters after the meeting.

The harbor at Giglio, which usually accommodates dozens of private and tourist boats, is now off-limits to any vessels except rescue boats and two ferry companies that connect the island to the mainland.

Lawmaker Angelo Bonelli, with the Greens party, said a 10-month removal process was a huge time span in which oil, solvents and the corrosion of the ship could "provoke a real disaster."

"We have the impression that there is underestimation of the enormous environmental, touristic and economic damage that will take place if the ship stays in its place for more than a year," he was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.

The prospects of a quick solution were further dampened Monday by bad weather, which prevented crews from starting to pump oil from the ship. Authorities set off another blast in an underwater compartment of the ship, hoping to find more bodies, but held off on removing fuel.

Despite the rough seas, other workers labored to collect tons of ship debris ? chairs, furniture, luggage ? floating in the surrounding waters or on the shore.

Experts say it will take a month to remove fuel from the 15 tanks that account for more than 80 percent of all the ship's oil. The next job would be to target the ship's engine room, which contains nearly 350 cubic meters of diesel, fuel and other lubricants.

Only once the fuel is pumped out can work begin on removing the ship, either floating it in one piece or cutting it up and towing it away. That operation will involve large barges, cranes and other commercial salvage equipment.

"They say there is not going to be any environmental damage, but we are not stupid. The damage to the environment is strong," said Riccardo Vicchianti, son of a Giglio resident. "If I think of just one cabin, it's like throwing a whole bar into the sea ... imagine a floating town!"

___

Gera reported from Rome.

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Oil spill brings attention to delicate Gulf coast

TIVOLI, Texas?? For decades, farmers and fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico watched as their sensitive ecosystem's waters slowly got dirtier and islands eroded, all while the country largely ignored the destruction.

It took BP PLC's well blowing out in the Gulf ? and the resulting environmental catastrophe when millions of gallons of oil spewed into the ocean and washed ashore ? for the nation to turn its attention to the slow, methodical ruin of an ecosystem vital to the U.S. economy. Last month, more than a year and a half after the spill began, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a three-year, $50 million initiative designed to improve water quality along the coast.

"I'm not going to say that it's the silver lining," Will Blackwell, a district conservationist with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Services, said of the oil spill. Blackwell is one of many regional officials who have long worked with farmers and ranchers to fence cattle, reseed native grasses and take on other seemingly inane projects that go a long way toward preventing pollution and coastal erosion.

"I'm going to say that it will help get recognition down here that we have this vital ecosystem that needs to be taken care of," he said. "This will keep it at the forefront."

NRCS administrators struggled for years to divide a few million dollars among farmers and ranchers in the five Gulf states. Now, they are getting an eleven-fold increase in funding, money that will allow them to build on low-profile programs that already have had modest success in cleaning crucial waterways by working with farmers and ranchers to improve land use practices.

The nation's focus turned sharply to the Gulf when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up in April 2010. Images of oil-coated birds and wetlands were splashed across newspapers and cable news networks. Coastal wetlands that are habitat to all sorts of wildlife were soiled and oyster beds were wiped out, underscoring the Gulf's ecological and economic importance.

The project is called the Gulf of Mexico Initiative, the first concrete step from a year's worth of meetings, studies and talking by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a committee formed by President Barack Obama in the spill's wake.

Sometimes, the money is spent on simple projects, such as building fences and installing troughs to keep cattle away from rivers and creeks that flow into the Gulf. The minerals in cow manure can pollute those upstream waters and then flow into the ocean. Those minerals can deplete oxygen in the Gulf, creating "dead zones" where wildlife can't thrive.

Other times, the program pays for expensive farming equipment that turns soil more effectively and creates straighter rows. That helps keep fertilizers on the farm ? where it helps crops ? and out of the Gulf, where the nutrients choke oxygen from the water. This equipment also decreases erosion, which has eaten up hundreds of miles of Gulf Coast habitat in the past century.

Until now, most counties in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas got right around $100,000 apiece to spend annually on these programs. The demand was far greater in many areas, but money was hard to come by, Blackwell said, highlighting the popularity of the program in Refugio County, Texas ? the rural area of Southeast Texas he oversees.

The influx of money has many farmers and ranchers ? especially those who have reaped the program's benefits in the past ? eager for more opportunities to improve the environment they rely upon for their livelihood.

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Now, they are hurriedly filling out applications and waiting for officials to rank the paperwork ? those considered to have the greatest possible impact are the most likely to be approved.

"Fifty million dollars sounds like a lot. But when you consider ? Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and Texas, it's not going to be enough," said Glen Wiggins, a Florida farmer applying for help buying new farming equipment.

"But it'll help."

Dallas Ford, owner of the 171-acre Smoky Creek Ranch in Tivoli, Texas, first worked with the NRCS to build fences and strategically located troughs. The fences keep cattle in separate fields and allow him to rotate the cows between the fields, a practice that helps keep grass longer and better able to recover when it rains. The troughs ensure the cattle remain in the area and keep away from Stony Creek ? a bountiful tributary of the Gulf's Hynes Bay.

Ford estimates he has between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of additional work to do on his ranch ? all of which will ultimately improve water quality in Stony Creek ? but he will be able to do it only if he can get another contract with NRCS, which would cover about half the costs.

The cash infusion reminded him of a mentor who once said you could cook anything with time and temperature. In this project, Ford said, time is plentiful ? the temperature is money and manpower.

"We might be able to cook something a little faster," Ford said. "Now, maybe I can get you a nice steak."

About 685 miles away, Wiggins has been buying new tilling equipment to use on his 800-acre peanut and cotton farm that straddles the Alabama-Florida line. The high-tech farming equipment helps him better turn the soil and plant straighter rows, which ultimately prevent erosion and keep nutrients in the soil rather than allowing them to flow downstream and into the Gulf.

Wiggins' land sits on three watersheds ? Canoe Creek and Pine Barren Creek that are part of Sandy Hollow Creek, and Little Pine Barren Creek. With the work he's already done, Wiggins estimates he has reduced erosion by at least 50 percent. Now, he wants to further reduce it, mostly through the use of new equipment that will decrease conventional, and more destructive, tillage of his land.

"I'd like to get it down to zero, but if I could get it to 10 percent conventional tillage, I would be tickled to death," Wiggins said.

He estimated the new equipment will cost about $70,000. The only way he can make that purchase is with NRCS' help ? and now it may be within reach.

"The oil spill has been a powerful force to get people's attention," Wiggins said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46182691/ns/us_news-environment/

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Researchers find cancer in ancient Egyptian mummy

CAIRO (AP) ? A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.

AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.

She said this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.

"Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors," she said.

A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old skeleton of a king in Russia.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-01-29-ML-Egypt-Ancient-Cancer/id-e1ac4d45bf884d0ea6f5c8fb2ede8778

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AP Interview: Roubini warns of tough times ahead (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed "Dr. Doom" for his gloomy predictions in the run-up to the financial meltdown four years ago, says the fallout from that crisis could last the rest of this decade.

Roubini, widely acknowledged to have predicted the crash of 2008, sees tough times ahead for the global economy and is warning that without major policy changes things can still get much worse.

Until Europe radically reforms itself and the U.S. gets serious about its own debt mountain, he said, the world economy will continue to stumble along to the detriment of large chunks of the world's population who will continue to see their living standards under pressure, even if they have a job.

Roubini, a professor of economics and international business at New York University, spoke in an interview this week with The Associated Press at a dinner on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, where he is one of the hotly pursued stars.

Looking at economic prospects this year, he agreed with the International Monetary Fund's latest forecast that the global economy is weakening and said he might be "even slightly more bearish" on its prediction of 3.3 percent growth in 2012.

He painted a grim picture of the eurozone in recession and key emerging markets in China, India, Brazil and South Africa slowing down, partly related to weakness in the eurozone. He predicted that the U.S. economy, the world's largest, will grow by just 1.7-1.8 percent this year, with unemployment remaining high. The government, he added, was "kicking the can down the road" and not taking measures to increase productivity and competitiveness.

"We live in a world where there is still a huge amount of economic and financial fragility," he said. "There is a huge amount of uncertainty ? macro, financial, fiscal, sovereign, banking, regulatory, taxation ? and there is also geopolitical and political and policy uncertainty."

"There are lots of sources of uncertainty from the eurozone, from the Middle East, from the fact that the U.S. is not tackling its own fiscal problem, from the fact that Chinese growth is unbalanced and unsustainable, relying too much on exports and fixed investments and high savings, and not enough on consumption. So it's a very delicate global economy," Roubini said.

He said the biggest uncertainty is the possibility of a conflict with Iran over its nuclear program that involves Israel, the United States, or both. That could lead oil prices now hovering around $100 a barrel to spike to $150 per barrel, he said, and lead to a global recession.

Unemployment and economic insecurity have become big issues from the Mideast to the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S., and protests from Israel and India to Chile and Russia ? and at the same time there is rising inequality between rich and poor.

"All these things lead to political and social instability," he said. "So we have to reduce inequality. We have to give growth to jobs, skills, education, and increase human capital so workers can compete."

Roubini called for a major change in policy priorities.

"We have to shift our investment from things that are less productive like the financial sector and housing and real estate to things that are more productive like our people, our human capital, our structure, our technology, our innovation," he said.

Roubini said slow growth in advanced economies will likely lead to "a U-shaped recovery rather than a typical V," and it may last for another three to five years because of high debt.

"Once you have too much debt in the public and private sector, the painful process could last up to a decade, where economic growth remains weak and anemic and sub-par until we have cleaned up the balance sheet and invested in the things that make us more productive for the future," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_davos_forum_economist

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Syria: Are Captured Iranians Military Men or Engineers? (Time.com)

Claims that Iranians and Lebanese Hizballah members are aiding President Bashar Assad's troops in their ferocious crack down against dissent are almost as old as the 10-month Syrian uprising. Yet despite the thousands of amateur videos that have captured so much of the gruesome, bloody repression, precious little evidence has emerged to back the allegations of foreign assistance, beyond the assertions of antigovernment activists and the testimony of Syrian refugees fleeing the violence.

On Thursday, al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language satellite channel, broadcast amateur footage purportedly showing five of seven Iranians captured by Syrian military defectors belonging to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the besieged central city of Homs. A Syrian rebel who gave his name as Abu Bassem told the channel that the seven were nabbed by the FSA's Farouk Brigade on two separate occasions. Five of the men were allegedly Iranian soldiers, operating as snipers under the direct supervision of Syria's much feared Air Force Intelligence branch in Homs, Bassem told al-Jazeera in a phone call from the city, while the other two were civilians working at a local power plant in Jandar, near Homs. (See photos of protests in Syria.)

Five of the men are shown in a six-minute, 20-second snippet. Bearded and cloaked in black, they sit against a white wall, with a lone rifle propped up between the second and third man. A scrolling red ticker on the screen says that they are Iranian Revolutionary Guards and calls on "all Iranian Revolutionary Guards to immediately withdraw from Syrian territory." One of the five men holds up a laminated photo identification card. The Enduring America website posted a Farsi-to-English translation of his comments: "My name is Sajjad (Haider Ali) Aminan and I am a member of the revolutionary armed forces of Iran. I am leader of a five-member special team. I entered Syria on Oct. 16, 2011. The others entered Syria on different dates."

The men then all state their names: Ahmad Aziz Askari, Hasan Hasani, Majid Qanbari, Kyumars Qobadi. One says that they have killed "many civilians in the city of Homs, including many women and children."

The footage then cuts to two laminated photo ID cards, showing their back and front, as well as three passports. The pages are flipped, one by one, including all of the blank pages. (Read "The Arab League to Syria's President: It's Time for You to Go.")

Is this proof of Iran sending military reinforcement to prop up its main Arab ally? Or could something else be happening there? On Dec. 21, Syrian state media reported that eight foreign engineers, including five Iranians, were abducted "by terrorists" as they traveled on a company bus to their place of work, the Jandar power plant on the outskirts of Homs. The nationalities of the other three engineers were not stated. Shortly afterward, Iran's Press TV reported that "two more Iranian experts, who were trying to clarify the situation of the five abducted engineers," were kidnapped. Their whereabouts are unknown. On Jan. 2, an unknown group called the Movement Against the Expansion of Shiism in Syria sent a claim of responsibility for the abductions to the Agence France-Presse office in Nicosia, Cyprus.

The men in the video bear a resemblance to the five engineers abducted in December, as portrayed in a photo circulated in the Syrian and Iranian press. Their names also appear to match. The men, who are all dressed casually in jeans, jackets and track pants pose alongside a man identified as their Syrian cook. They are not the only Iranians nabbed in Syria. "Eleven Iranian pilgrims traveling by road to Damascus were kidnapped by an unknown group," Ramin Mehmanparast, spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying on Thursday by the state news agency IRNA. "We call on the Syrian government to use all means ... to release the Iranian nationals," he said. (Read "The Crisis in Syria: No Immunity for Bystanders.")

Sectarian tensions have been rising in the multiethnic, multisectarian patchwork of the Syrian state as the death toll spirals beyond 5,000. Resentment toward Assad and some of his Alawite co-religionists is strong among certain quarters of the majority Sunni population. Although Alawites, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, comprise some 12% of Syria's 22 million people, they are disproportionately represented in the upper echelons of Syria's political, business and military communities. There is also rising anger toward Assad's staunchest regional backers, Shi'ite Iran and the Shi'ite Lebanese militant group Hizballah (Party of God), which is now frequently referred to by Syrian activists, refugees and defectors alike as the "party of the devil." It's not inconceivable that a busload of Iranian pilgrims were nabbed by antigovernment elements, perhaps as bargaining chips.

Bassem of the FSA's Farouk Brigade stressed during his interview with al-Jazeera that he and his group were not against Shi'ites. "We are not sectarian," he said. "We ask Iran to admit they sent members of Revolutionary Guards to Syria. He said that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had until Jan. 28 to withdraw all Revolutionary Guards from Syria.

Pressed by the anchor about what would happen should the deadline lapse, Bassem said: "We are not terrorists, criminals or killers. We are against anyone who threatens innocent Syrians. We caught these people, they were armed. They are snipers. They were killing our Syrian brethren. We will try, God willing, to return them to their families safely, but given the difficult circumstances Homs is experiencing, we cannot guarantee their safety."

Watch TIME's video "Why They Protest: Egypt, Libya and Syria."

Read "Syria: Who Is the Real President Assad?"

View this article on Time.com

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British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe (AP)

LONDON ? British police searched the offices of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers Saturday after arresting a police officer and four current and former staff of his tabloid The Sun as part of an investigation into police bribery by journalists.

The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing ? which has already caused the closure of one tabloid, the News of the World ? to a second Murdoch newspaper.

London's Metropolitan Police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London. A 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.

Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees.

A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.

The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World.

Officers were searching the men's homes and the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence.

Police said Saturday's arrests were made as a result of information provided by the Management and Standards Committee of Murdoch's News Corp.

News Corp. said it was cooperating with police.

"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," it said in a statement.

A dozen people have now been arrested in the bribery probe, though none has yet been charged.

They include former Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International, ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson ? who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief ? and journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.

Two of the London police force's top officers resigned in the wake of the revelation last July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the cell phone voicemail messages of celebrities, athletes, politicians and even an abducted teenager in its quest for stories.

Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old tabloid, and the scandal has triggered a continuing public inquiry into media ethics and the relationship between the press, police and politicians.

An earlier police investigation failed to find evidence hacking went beyond one reporter and a private investigator, but News Corp. has now acknowledged it was much more widespread.

Last week the company agreed to pay damages to 37 hacking victims, including actor Jude Law, soccer star Ashley Cole and British politician John Prescott.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

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Death toll rises in Rio buildings collapse

?

By msnbc.com news services

Felipe Dana / AP

Rescue workers search for victims Wednesday after a building collapses in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Updated at 3:40 p.m. EST Thursday:

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Rescuers pulled?at least six bodies from the rubble of three buildings that suddenly collapsed,?the Rio de Janeiro?morgue said Thursday.

At least?16 people remained missing?as?smoke from small fires drifted above the wreckage, The Associated Press reported.

Authorities?speculated that illegal construction work damaged the structure of a 20-story building and caused it to crumble,?bringing down two other office buildings alongside at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Rescue crews, aided by specially trained dogs, dug through tons of brick and twisted metal.

"We have hopes of finding people alive," said Moises Torres, a spokesman with the Fire Department.

According to the institution responsible for approving construction in Rio, unauthorized construction projects were under way in the building. The head of the accident prevention unit of Rio's Regional Council of Engineering, Luiz Cosenza, told the Globo television network that illegal projects could have led to the collapse.

"Two projects were happening in the building," said Cosenza. "They were illegal works; they were not registered with the council."

He didn't provide details but said the work was not being supervised by any registered professional.

Hoping for news
A janitor finishing up the day's work was among?six injured extracted by rescue crews from the heap of bricks, metal and glass. An?accountant closing the books for the month and a computer technician installing software were among the missing. Their friends or relatives took shelter from the scorching sun in a nearby building, hoping for news.

Francisco Adir was trying to get information about a friend, Flavio Porrozi, 23, who had been attending a computer course in the largest of the three buildings.

"We think he's alive. At 3 a.m. he managed to call his girlfriend and say, 'Hello, love,' before his phone went dead," Adir said. "The rescuers haven't given us any information, but the family is hanging all their hopes on that phone call."

Five of the six bodies pulled out have been identified in the city morgue, and Porrozi is not among them.

As the hours ticked by, relatives of the missing tried to keep despair at bay.

"We last heard from him at 8 p.m. when he called his wife to say he wouldn't be much longer," said Luis Cesar Vasconcelos, whose brother, computer technician Luis Leandro Vasconcelos, remained trapped in the debris. "Since then, there's been no sign of him, but the family is hopeful to the end."

The state's governor, Sergio Cabral, issued a statement saying the government was doing all it could to support the families of the victims.

"We're still living a moment of shock," he said. "There is still hope of finding survivors, and in a last instance, of rescuing bodies."

Rescue crews are searching for victims in Rio de Janeiro's downtown district after a building collapsed leaving at least three people dead and dozens missing. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

Updated at 1:40 p.m. EST Thursday:

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Three bodies were pulled from the rubble of three collapsed buildings on Thursday, an official with the Rio de Janeiro Fire Department said. Another 21 people were still missing after the buildings went down in the city's historic center, The Associated Press reported.

Mayor Eduardo Paes said a structural problem may have caused a building of about 20 stories to collapse at about 8:30 p.m., and that apparently caused the collapse of two smaller buildings nearby. Officials were still investigating the causes, however.

In addition to the dead and missing, at least six other people were treated for injuries caused by the accident, which left rubble and thick dust strewn over a wide area near Rio's famed Teatro Municipal and the Fine Arts Museum.

One of those pulled out alive was Marcelo Moreira, a janitor in an eight-story building that fell.

"He stayed behind to finish a little bit of work," said Rosalvo Alves, the building's main doorman, who had spent the night in a local hospital with his friend. "We shut down at 8. I left, and he was supposed to come too. Now this; he's hurt, our jobs are gone, everything is gone."

Alves worked in the building for 38 years, and said he had never noticed any problems.

Original post:

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Two downtown buildings collapsed?Wednesday, leaving?at least two dead inside the wreckage.

Rescue crews pulled four people alive from the debris, officials said.

One building was?20 stories tall; the other, 10, Reuters reported.

A loud explosion preceded the collapse, witnesses said.

There was a strong smell of gas in the area, officials said. However, a gas leak likely didn't cause the blast, Rio's mayor said.?

Rubble was strewn across a wide area, covering cars and motorcycles, The Associated Press reported. Television showed at least two people on the?roof of a neighboring building where?they apparently awaited help from firefighters.

---

"It was like an earthquake. First some pieces of the buildings started to fall down. People started to run. And then it all fell down at once," a witness who identified himself as Gilbert told Reuters.

As many as 11 people could be trapped in the wreckage, cable broadcaster Gloominess said. City authorities are assessing the risk of collapse of a damaged adjoining building, local news services reported, without giving the source of the information.

"I ran down the stairs desperate to escape. Just when I left the building it collapsed. I escaped by the skin of my teeth - it's the work of God," Nelson Tomes, 38, an air conditioning technician, told iG news service.

Tomes, who was on the 10th floor of one of the buildings, said he rushed to the stairwell after he heard a "huge noise."

TV images showed cars covered with concrete and steel rods. Light, the electricity distribution company serving the city, cut power to the area to avert the possibility of fires after the gas smell was detected, the TV broadcasters said.

Rio de Janeiro is struggling to address concerns over poor infrastructure as it prepares to co-host the soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games two years later.

The incident comes months after an explosion apparently caused by a gas leak ripped through a restaurant in downtown Rio, killing three people and igniting concerns over the state of the city's infrastructure.

Vanderlei Almeida / AFP - Getty Images

Firefighters look for victims amid the rubble of a building that collapsed Wednesday in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

?

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10238303-death-toll-rises-families-await-word-on-missing-in-rio-buildings-collapse

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Japanese Homes and Business Sold 2150 Gigawatt-Hours of Solar ...

Small businesses and homeowners in Japan sold an amazing 2,150 gigawatt hours of solar energy back to utilities last year ? a figure that shows a fifty percent increase since 2010. The surge in solar is thanks to a plan by the Japanese government to push the private installation of solar panels to power homes and feed the grid. Japan?s 10 regional power companies spent a whopping $1.2 billion purchasing the clean energy from consumers this year.

After the Fukushima nuclear crisis last year and the ongoing issues that have arisen because of it, Japan has set to work on changing their energy policy to rely less heavily on nuclear power generation. In 2010, power companies bought just 1,400 gigawatt hours of surplus solar energy, so it seems the government?s push is working.

For now power companies pay 61 cents (48 yen) per kilowatt-hour of energy purchased from an owner with fewer than 10 kilowatts and 30 cents (24 cents) for owners of larger arrays. The pricing scheme is set to change in July, but the panel of experts who will rework the system has not yet been assembled. There has been talk of power companies only being required to buy power back from smaller arrays, but for now nothing is set in stone ? and small Japanese solar power plants are sending green energy into the grid and getting a nice paycheck in return.

Via Reuters

Source: http://inhabitat.com/japanese-homes-and-business-sold-2150-gigawatt-hours-of-solar-energy-back-to-the-grid-in-2011/

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'Loser' castoff has 'different view on life now'

By Ree Hines

"Biggest Loser" viewers hardly had a chance to get to know Lauren Lee. Just three weeks into the competition, the quiet 26-year-old said so long to the ranch after her red teammates voted her out. But Lee's determined to make a big impression off the show.

During a Tuesday morning visit to TODAY, Lee explained how she's channeled her short time on the ranch into what she hopes is a long term success with a "positive, happy" outlook and plenty of pounds behind her.

"I've lost a total of 56 pounds," the ousted player who originally weighed in at 246 said. ?

Sixteen of those pounds were lost while she was still on "The Biggest Loser," which is why she was surprised to be the one sent home on last week's show.

"I was very surprised, but I guess my team decided I could do it at home, and they believed in me more than I could believe in myself," Lee said.

Well, if that was the reason -- rather than the more likely scenario in which they booted her off due to strategy or alliances -- then it turns out they were right. A couple of weeks ago, Lee completed a half-marathon and she's still running toward more goals.

"I always knew myself as an athlete, but I'm getting it back," she explained. "I love running, so every chance I get, I'm out there on the street -- just me, myself and just running. I hit the gym ... a couple hours a day. (I'm) going strong."

And life's good for the strong "Loser."

"Oh, my goodness, it's just a whirlwind," she said. "I have a different view on life now. It's more positive and happy."

See how Lee's former fellow contestants are faring with their own weight-loss goals when the next episode of "The Biggest Loser" airs Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

Are you surprised by Lauren's post-ranch success given her early ouster? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

?

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Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10224922-loser-castoff-has-different-view-on-life-now

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Lopez bows out of Venezuela presidential race (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? Opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez bowed out of Venezuela's presidential race on Tuesday, saying he will support his leading rival as the opposition seeks to field a single candidate to challenge President Hugo Chavez.

The announcement gives a significant boost to Henrique Capriles, the youthful 39-year-old state governor who has a commanding lead in the polls ahead of the Feb. 12 opposition primary. It also shakes up the field of five remaining contenders in the primary, which will choose a unity candidate to face Chavez in the Oct. 7 election.

"You will be the next president," Lopez said at a news conference with Capriles. The two embraced and raised their arms before a cheering crowd.

"In me, he will have a great ally," said Lopez, who is on a list of hundreds of politicians barred from holding office in the past decade due to corruption investigations. He calls the probe politically motivated.

Recent polls show Chavez's popularity slightly above 50 percent, down from the 63 percent support he received in 2006 elections, emboldening Venezuela's opposition, which in the past has been splintered and disorganized in its challenges to the socialist president.

Pollster Luis Vicente Leon said the opposition is seeing its "best moment" politically. Capriles' support has been above 40 percent among likely opposition voters in recent polls, and will likely pick up a significant share of Lopez's support, Leon said.

Lopez, a former mayor of Caracas' Chacao district, had been trailing among opposition contenders in recent polls, with one recent survey giving him 16 percent support. Lopez said that with his departure, "unity is strengthened" within the opposition.

The athletic Capriles has captured support among Venezuelans by presenting himself as a capable manager and pledging to solve problems such as rampant crime, unemployment and 27-percent inflation.

Capriles has tended to avoid direct verbal confrontations with Chavez and has described his politics as center-left. He likens his approach to that of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who promoted pro-business policies while funding social programs that made him popular among the poor.

Capriles is currently the governor of Miranda state, which is the country's second-most populous state and includes parts of Caracas as well as largely impoverished towns in the surrounding hills. He served as mayor of Caracas' Baruta district before he was elected governor in 2008, defeating a close ally of Chavez. He is also a former congressman.

"We need all your good ideas here," Capriles told Lopez during the news conference. "We both have the same dream."

"You have to look for a wife for me," Capriles, who is a bachelor, joked to the married Lopez.

Capriles said that from now on Lopez will coordinate his campaign, but he denied that their alliance had anything to do with doling out potential future positions.

According to recent polls, Capriles' top rival in the race is Pablo Perez, the governor of western Zulia state, who has been trailing in the surveys.

Perez shrugged off the alliance between his rivals, but also said he thinks voters dislike such political deals. "Votes can't be endorsed. In politics, two plus two isn't four," Perez told reporters, expressing confidence.

A December survey by the Caracas-based pollster Datanalisis found that 33.6 percent supported Perez, while 44.9 percent favored Capriles.

Capriles said he aims for a "break with the old way of conducting politics," and that remark seemed to irritate some within the group of parties that back Perez.

"One thing is breaking with the bad of the past, and it's something else to generalize," said Omar Barboza, a leader of Perez's party. "I think it's immaturity," Barboza said, apparently referring to Capriles' remark.

Others running in the Feb. 12 primary include congresswoman Maria Corina Machado, Diego Arria, a former Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations, and Pablo Medina, a leftist former union leader.

Chavez has been in office for 13 years and is seeking another six-year term in the October election. He has sought to portray his opponents as allies of the wealthy and the U.S. government.

"The candidate of the counterrevolution, whoever it is... is going to be the candidate of the Yankees," Chavez said in a speech Tuesday night, without referring to any of his potential challengers by name. "He's going to be the candidate of the bourgeoisie."

Lopez had gone ahead with his presidential bid despite a Supreme Court ruling in October that had upheld a ban on him holding office.

In its decision, the Supreme Court upheld a decision by the country's top anti-corruption official disqualifying Lopez from holding office until 2014, yet also said he could be a candidate. The Supreme Court dismissed as "unfeasible" a decision by the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights that had sided with Lopez and said his political rights had been violated.

"Lopez was running far behind in the polls, and the Supreme Court's defiance of the decision by the Inter-American Court left a big cloud of uncertainty over Lopez's future, even if he were to come out ahead," said Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. "Capriles has been the front-runner for some time, so the endorsement will continue to bolster his campaign."

Capriles called his relationship with Lopez "an alliance with a view fixed on Oct. 7."

____

Associated Press writers Ian James and Christopher Toothaker in Caracas contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_opposition

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Severe Brain Injury When Young May Have Long-Term Effects (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Although many people believe young children are extremely resilient after they are seriously hurt, the opposite may be true with traumatic brain injuries.

Two Australian studies looked at the impact of traumatic brain injury in children as young as 2 years, and found that these injuries affected cognitive function, IQ and even behavior for some time. However, the researchers also found that recovery from traumatic brain injury can continue for years after the initial injury. And, a child's home environment can positively influence recovery if the child lives in a stable, caring home.

"Many people think that the soft skull of a baby may give them some advantage because if they fall they are not likely to sustain a skull fracture. Also, because a baby's brain is growing so quickly, it seems like the brain may be able to fix an injury. In reality, the soft skull and growing brain of a baby put them at a greater risk of future problems," said the lead author of one of the studies, Louise Crowe, a postdoctoral research officer at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne.

"Children with significant head injuries do recover, but they are generally slower to learn concepts, and some high-level skills are often too difficult for them," she added.

Results from both studies were released online Jan. 23 and are scheduled to appear in the February issue of Pediatrics.

By age 16, at least one in 30 children will experience a traumatic brain injury, according to background information in one of the studies. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur after a blow or bump to the head, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Young children -- those under 4 years old -- are particularly at risk of experiencing a traumatic brain injury, according to the CDC. Such injuries can occur from a fall, a car accident, deliberate child abuse, sports or being hit with a moving object. Fortunately, most of these injuries aren't fatal, but about one-third of children who survive a TBI will have lasting damage, report the researchers.

Very few studies, however, have followed youngsters from the time of their injury through adolescence, to assess the full effect of the brain injury.

The first study looked at 40 children between the ages of 2 and 7 who had experienced a traumatic brain injury. They were compared to 16 healthy children. The children were examined 12 months, 30 months and 10 years after the injury, according to the study.

Not surprisingly, they found that children with the most severe injuries had the worst cognitive outcomes.

But, the news wasn't all bad. Initially, while the brain was recovering from the injury, the children didn't make significant developmental gains for about three years. However, after that period, and at least up until 10 years after the injury, the children began to make some age-appropriate developmental gains.

That means that even many years after an injury, interventions and therapies for these children may be effective, said the study's lead author, Vicki Anderson, a professor in critical care and neuroscience research at the Murdoch Institute.

"Although this does not suggest that children catch up to peers, it does imply that the gap does not widen during this period," she said.

This study also found that the home environment and relationships could make a difference in a child's recovery. More stable homes with less family conflict appeared to contribute to a child's recovery.

"It's difficult to predict outcome," said Anderson. "A quality home environment and access to appropriate rehabilitation is critical to maximize outcomes. Or, the young brain is plastic, and so the better the environment, the better the outcome."

The second study, led by Crowe, followed a group of 53 children who had sustained a traumatic brain injury before they were 3 years old, and 27 non-injured children. They followed up with these children when they were between 4 and 6 years old. The average time since the injury occurred was 40 months.

Children who had moderate-to-severe TBIs scored lower on IQ tests by about seven to 10 points, according to the study. Mild traumatic brain injuries didn't seem to significantly affect IQ. However, mild and moderate-to-severe TBIs were associated with an increased risk of behavior problems.

And, as with Anderson's study, this study also found that a child's environment has an effect on cognitive function and behavior after a brain injury.

"Children from cohesive family environments and children whose parents had lower levels of stress showed better recovery," Crowe said. "Why this is so is unclear, but it may be due to a parent spending more time with their children, and children also growing up in a less stressful environment."

One expert noted that the findings make an important point.

"We still don't understand all of the factors that affect outcomes. But, these studies do give us important data. We don't necessarily want to close the door on treating these children too soon. There may still be room for improvement over time, but there are persistent deficits," said Dr. Mandeep Tamber, an assistant professor of pediatric neurosurgery at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Crowe advised parents to be vigilant with young children. She said traumatic brain injuries can result from seemingly minor accidents, such as a baby rolling off of a bed or couch.

More information

Learn more about traumatic brain injuries from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120123/hl_hsn/severebraininjurywhenyoungmayhavelongtermeffects

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Ice Cream Sandwich update for original Transformer coming 'mid-February,' says ASUS

Last we heard, the Ice Cream Sandwich update making its way to the O.G. Transformer was still "in the process of being approved" by the G-men. Although we've heard rumors that the holo-coated upgrade would come in February, nothing's been confirmed until now. ASUS replied to a life long fan's Facebook post, revealing that the update should arrive "mid-February." We know hearing the news that you'll have to keep waiting might not stop you from rolling on the floor and throwing a temper tantrum, but hey, you could not be getting one at all.

[Thanks, Udupa]

Ice Cream Sandwich update for original Transformer coming 'mid-February,' says ASUS originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch a Music Video of LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem Ridiculously Made with MS Paint [Video]

Like the hilarious Chris Brown Look at Me Now video before it, this music video of LMFAO's played too much Party Rock song is made completely with MS Paint. What's even better is that every lyric lis literally interpreted so you'll see drawings of a rock with a party hat on inside a house when LMFAO goes, "Party rock is in the house tonight..." I love these videos so much. [YouTube] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/G6pkqGpvD6A/watch-a-music-video-of-lmfaos-party-rock-anthem-ridiculously-made-with-ms-paint

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'Portlandia': A state of mind, laughs on IFC (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? When Fred Armisen of "Saturday Night Live" and musician Carrie Brownstein found themselves with time and creativity on their hands, the longtime friends decided to conspire on a few videos.

"Our goal wasn't to be funny, just to make these odd little pieces," Armisen said. It was the two of them, a cameraman and no particular expectations.

"Then some ambition did start to creep in," Armisen recalled. "We said, `Wait a minute, this has the elements of what a TV show would be,'" Armisen recalled.

The result is "Portlandia," the IFC series that's in its second season (10 p.m. EST Fridays). It's a collection of sketches set in a partly real, partly mythic version of Portland that stands in for a certain mindset and community.

Think of "a cool, weird book store" and a record shop, a restaurant with "really, really good seafood" and a movie theater dedicated to indie films, suggests Armisen.

With that backdrop, and with its stars taking on a variety of roles (and sometimes wigs), "Portlandia" sends up city life, pop culture, success-oriented parenting and slivers of obsessive behavior that veer from charming to unnerving ? such as the smiling couple who decorate every available surface with bird designs.

In Friday's episode, "Cool Wedding," militant bike messenger Spyke and his fiancee seek a unique ceremony, and a grocery store shopper (guest star Jack McBrayer of "30 Rock") is scorned when he forgets his reusable bag. A must-see repeat (9:30 p.m. EDT) is highlighted by Portland's annual Allergy Pride Parade ? all allergy sufferers welcome ? and Jeff Goldblum as a knot store owner.

The series has quickly developed a small but avid following, with two important fans at the front of the pack: Jennifer Caserta, IFC's executive vice president and general manager, and mega-producer Lorne Michaels ("Saturday Night Live," "30 Rock").

"Portlandia" is "a perfect fit for IFC," said Caserta. The channel had been expanding its original programming and "an alternative comedy was something we were honing in on, something that our audience wanted from us," she said.

Co-created by Jonathan Krisel, the show and its stars "felt very right for us and different from any sketch show we've seen before," Caserta said. It's a match for IFC's programming that is "irresistibly on the fringes of what of what you would normally find elsewhere."

Michaels, executive producer of "Portlandia," calls it "so inventive" and applauds IFC for letting the creative team keep the show's concept pure and laser-focused.

"They're only doing it for the audience that wants it. No other audience need apply," he said, laughing. "And it found an audience: It's a little hit. I notice that, because people will go out of their way to mention the show to me."

And that includes the city and its residents, who provide the starting point for parody.

"You have to see it in Portland! They love it," Michaels said. "I went out there this summer and spent a few days with (the production team). The show soaks up what's happening there and celebrates it and has a nice way of being funny about it without betraying anything."

Season two was crafted with more emphasis on relationships, Armisen said, especially on couples who "work as a unit" and speak in the same voice. There's Portland-style bicycle action, of course, including bicycle movers and a bicycle valet.

Brownstein and Armisen, who met in 2003, share indie-rock music roots. The two also have a similar "fear of stillness," said Brownstein, which set them on the path to "Portlandia."

While she describes music as her "first love" (she released a new album last year with the new band Wild Flag), she enjoys mixing it up.

"Creatively, it's nice to have different outlets and mediums for your ideas," she said.

There was another reason for them to work on what began as short web videos under the title "Thunder Ant": It gave the New York-based Armisen a reason to visit his Portland-based friend and collaborator.

"When you're not dating someone it's weird to fly across the country and not have a purpose," she said. "So we created a purpose."

She has high praise for her co-star and pal.

"I love Fred's quickness. ... He's somebody who is pulling the rug out from beneath you and you have to scramble to find it. It's an exhilarating world and I'm glad to be part of it."

___

AP Television Writer Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this report.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Lynn Elber is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. She can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org.

___

Online:

http://wwww.ifc.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_en_tv/us_tv_portlandia

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Dow and S&P 500 post best week since Christmas (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks posted their best week since Christmas, even with a mixed finish on Friday after strong earnings from tech bellwethers IBM (IBM.N) and Intel (INTC.O) contrasted with Google's (GOOG.O) disappointing report.

The market heads into the most hectic week so far in this earnings season after a mixed start, with some worries over revenue and growth offset by sharp cost-cutting to protect the bottom line.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.4 percent and the S&P 500 gained 2 percent as investors showed some relief that earnings didn't reflect the worst elements that battered the market in the last year, especially given the problems in the euro zone that have been weighing on investor sentiment.

"For the time being, investors are pretty much taking earnings in stride. They knocked Google down this morning, but the general feeling in the marketplace is (stocks) are very undervalued at these levels, even given the marginal misses they're making in earnings," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

Indeed, investors in recent weeks have been heartened by improving economic data, even though progress has been uneven. Reflecting improved economic sentiment, the Dow Jones Transportation Average, an indicator of the economy's strength (.DJT) has gained about 2 percent in each of the last two weeks.

IBM (IBM.N) lifted the Dow a day after it offered a strong outlook and results from several big-tech names signaled they were shaking off nervousness about economic growth and boosting technology spending. IBM's stock rose 4.4 percent to $188.52.

On the flip side, Google Inc (GOOG.O) slid 8.4 percent to $585.99. The Internet search giant's quarterly profit and revenue missed expectations on declining search advertising rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 96.50 points, or 0.76 percent, to 12,720.48 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) inched up just 0.88 of a point, or 0.07 percent, to 1,315.38. But the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) dipped 1.63 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 2,786.70.

NASDAQ UP ALMOST 3 PCT FOR WEEK

For the week, the Nasdaq climbed 2.8 percent, making this its best week in seven.

General Electric Co (GE.N) was unchanged at $19.15 after the conglomerate's revenues missed consensus forecasts. Fellow Dow component American Express Co (AXP.N) fell 1.8 percent to $50.04 as it set aside more money to cover bad loans.

Intel Corp (INTC.O) rose 2.9 percent to $26.38, while Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) advanced 5.7 percent to $29.71. Both reported results late Thursday.

Still, in what could be seen as a more bearish sign for the earnings period, 60 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far this earnings season have beaten profit expectations, below the 68 percent that beat estimates at this point in the reporting cycle for the third quarter and well below the 78 percent that exceeded estimates in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data.

That's based on results from just 14 percent of the S&P 500 companies. But strategists say it could be a sign of what's in store for the rest of this earnings season and perhaps future quarters.

During the session, investors also kept an eye on Greece, where a bond-swap deal between the cash-strapped country and its private bondholders appeared to be close, according to sources. An agreement was deemed possible heading into the weekend. Creditors could lose up to 70 percent of the loans given to the fiscally troubled nation.

Hopes are an agreement would prevent the nation from spiraling into bankruptcy and bring some stability to the debt-strained euro zone.

Volume totaled about 7 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the NYSE Amex and the Nasdaq, above the daily average of 6.68 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of not quite 3 to 2 while on the Nasdaq, about three stocks rose for every two that fell.

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Study: 'Tiger Parenting' Tough on Kids (LiveScience.com)

"Tiger mom" and Yale professor Amy Chua caused an uproar last year with a Wall Street Journal article about the superiority of her strict, Chinese-style version of parenting. Now, research suggests that critics of the piece may have had a point: High-achieving Chinese-American children do, in fact, struggle more with depression, stress and low self-esteem than their equally high-achieving European-American counterparts, and the reason involves parenting style.

Chua's piece, excerpted from her book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" (Penguin Press, 2011), extolled the virtues of strictness, blunt criticism and an unyielding insistence on academic perfection. In the essay, she tells the story of making her 7-year-old daughter sit at the piano without food or bathroom breaks until she mastered a difficult piece.

Strict parenting and stellar academic achievement are common in Chinese immigrant families, according to Desiree Baolian Qin, a professor in the department of human development and family studies at Michigan State University. But unfortunately, so are depression, stress and other so-called "internalizing" disorders.

"If you're doing well, you should be feeling good," Qin told LiveScience. "But what I've found persistently in my research is that that's not the case."

Family and mental health

In a new study to be published in the Journal of Adolescence, Qin compared 295 Chinese-American ninth graders with 192 European-American ninth-graders at the same highly competitive U.S. school. This high school, in a northeastern U.S. state, accepts only the top 5 percent of applicants by test scores. Thus, all the children in the study were academic all-stars.

Earlier research had turned up disturbing patterns of mental health struggles in Chinese-American high-achievers, Qin said. She wanted to understand why. So she and her colleagues had the two groups of ninth graders fill out questionnaires to measure their grades, levels of anxiety and depression and the amount of conflict in their families. The researchers also asked about how much warmth and support they felt from their parents, a measure called family cohesion.

"It wasn't completely surprising, but I was still a little shocked that in all these measures of family conflicts and cohesion and mental health, we see the Chinese kids were more disadvantaged," Qin said. "They reported higher levels of conflict, particularly around education, and they report much lower levels of cohesion." [7 Things That Will Make You Happy]

Not only that, but they were more stressed and depressed than the Euro-American counterparts, and they had lower self-esteem.

The culprit, Qin found, had everything to do with family. The more conflict and less cohesion in a teen's family, the more likely they were to have poor mental health. When the researchers removed conflict and cohesion from the statistical analysis, essentially erasing those differences between the white and Asian kids, the mental health difference also disappeared.

"Parent-child relations are the main factors that contribute to their lower levels of reported mental health," Qin said.

Academic strife

In a second study, Qin conducted in-depth interviews with18 of the Chinese students at the school. She found that academics are an enormous point of contention in Chinese-American families. The students complained that their parents talked constantly about academics and reacted emotionally to failure.

"They just take everything so literally, and exaggerate," one female student told Qin, "like if I get one bad grade, they think, 'Oh no, you're going to fail school, you're going to become one of those bad girls who do drugs.'"

Students also struggled with being compared to other children or family members, such as an older sibling who went to an Ivy League college. They even mentioned struggling with a cultural gulf between themselves and their parents. For example, one student said that she had a tough time in her relationship with her mother because American culture values standing up for oneself, while her Chinese-born mother feels that children should respect their parents and do as they're told.

While East Asian culture has a deeply ingrained focus on education, many of the issues that arise in these families are migration-related, Qin said. All the Chinese children in the larger sample had immigrant parents, she said, while almost none of the European-American kids did.

"My co-authors and I are not pathologizing Chinese kids and saying, 'Oh my God, Chinese kids are oppressed,'" Qin said. "The findings really point to immigration and the challenges created by migration in families."

"When children are caught in between their parents' old way of parenting and being and culture and the new in the U.S., then that can be very, very tough for children in a variety of ways."

Finding a middle ground

Not all Chinese parents take the "tiger" approach, of course. In fact, Qin's in-depth interviews, to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, found that even strict "tiger parenting" is not black and white. The parents of the kids in the study worried about their children's health and happiness, and expressed sympathy when the children were overworked.

"They have a lot of internal conflict," Qin said of these parents. "They want them to be successful in the new land, and they want them to be healthy."

Fortunately, both are possible, Qin said. In a 2008 paper, Qin compared high-achieving Chinese-American students who were distressed with Chinese-American high-achievers who were mentally healthy. She found that the teens in families where parents take a strict "tiger mom" approach were the distressed ones. The high-achieving Chinese-American kids with more flexible parents did just as well in school, but were happy, too.

That's the important message for all parents, "tiger" or not, Qin said. It's not a problem to have high expectations for your child, she said. You just have to communicate those expectations with love and warmth.

"You can have a happy child with high achievement," Qin said. "A lot of families do have that."

You can follow LiveScience?senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120120/sc_livescience/studytigerparentingtoughonkids

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