Q. We run a courier service delivering time-sensitive documents around the Twin Cities by bicycle. Recently, an employee broke her leg while skiing. Now she is unable to perform her job as bicycle courier. Do we have to put her in a different job while her leg is in a cast?
A. Although your employee is impaired in her ability to deliver documents by bicycle, she is not likely to be disabled under the ADA. To qualify as a disability, an impairment must be more than a minor or transitory impairment (i.e., lasting more than six months). Here, your employee is not likely to be disabled if her broken leg will heal in less than six months.
Because she is not disabled, you do not need to accommodate her injury. Even if you were obligated to provide reasonable accommodations, disregarding the essential functions of her job and putting her in a new job is not likely to be considered a reasonable accommodation that you would be obligated to provide.
Although she may not have protections under disability discrimination laws, if you are an FMLA employer and she is a qualified employee, she may be entitled to up 12 weeks of leave from work to recover from her injury. If she is able to return to her job after her FMLA leave entitlement expires, you would be obligated to reinstate her to her previous position following the leave.
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Just what makes that little old ant change a flower's nectar content?Public release date: 24-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hund rhund@botany.org 314-577-9557 American Journal of Botany
Ants foraging on nectar transmit yeasts that change sugar-chemistry and may affect subsequent pollinator visitations and plant fitness
Ants play a variety of important roles in many ecosystems. As frequent visitors to flowers, they can benefit plants in their role as pollinators when they forage on sugar-rich nectar. However, a new study reveals that this mutualistic relationship may actually have some hidden costs. By transmitting sugar-eating yeasts to the nectar on which they feed, ants may be indirectly altering the nectar-chemistry and thus affecting subsequent pollinator visitations.
Many species of plants benefit from interacting with ants, and some even secrete special sugary substances to attract ants. Plants produce sugar, in the form of nectar, and in exchange ants provide services such as pollination or protection from herbivores.
The main components of nectar that attract pollinators include three dominant sugarssucrose, fructose, and glucoseand amino acids (or proteins). The chemical composition of nectar differs among plant species and has been thought to be a conservative trait linked to pollinator type. For example, plants pollinated by hummingbirds tend to have nectar with high amounts of sucrose. In addition, nectar composition is thought to be regulated by the plant.
"When people think about how flowers are pollinated, they probably think about bees," notes Clara de Vega, a postdoctoral researcher at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, Spain. "But ants also pollinate flowers, and I am interested in the role ants play in pollination since it is still poorly understood."
De Vega joined forces with Carlos M. Herrera, an evolutionary ecologist at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, to investigate the relationship between ant pollinators and nectarivorous yeasts. Nectar-dwelling yeasts, which consume sugars, have recently been discovered in the flowers of many temperate and tropical plant species. De Vega and Herrera have already discovered that some ant species not only carry certain types of sugar-metabolizing yeasts on their bodies, but they also effectively transmit these yeasts to the nectar of flowers they visit.
In their most recent work, published in the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html), De Vega and Herrera investigated whether flowers visited by these ants differed from flowers that were not visited by ants in their sugar chemistry, and whether sugar-chemistry was correlated with the abundance of ant-transmitted yeasts found in the nectar.
By excluding ants from visiting inflorescences of a perennial, parasitic plant, Cytinus hypocistis, and comparing the nectar chemistry to inflorescences that were visited by ants, the authors tested these ideas experimentally.
When the authors compared the sugar content in the nectar of flowers visited by ants versus those enclosed in nylon mesh bags to exclude ants, they found that nectar of flowers exposed to ants had higher levels of fructose and glucose, but lower levels of sucrose compared with the ant-excluded flowers.
Interestingly, in flowers visited by ants, there was a high correlation between yeast cell density and sugar content. Nectar that had higher densities of yeast had more fructose and less sucrose, suggesting that the types of yeasts change the sugar content of the nectar. Flowers that were excluded from ants did not have any yeast in their nectar.
"Our study has revealed that ants can actually change the nectar characteristics of the flowers they are pollinating," says de Vega. "The microorganisms, specifically yeasts, that are present on the surface of ants change the composition of sugar in the flowers nectar."
"This means that nectar composition is not completely controlled by the flowerit is something created in cooperation with the ants that visit the flower," she notes. "We also think that these ant-transported yeasts might have the potential to affect plant reproduction."
Indeed, if a plant cannot control the sugar content of its nectar, then it may lose some of its target pollinators, which would potentially affect overall seed set and plant fitness.
Moreover, if introducing these yeasts to nectar changes the chemistry of the very components that serve to attract pollinators, then perhaps ants are indirectly changing the foraging behavior of subsequent flower visitors and thereby affecting seed dispersal patterns.
This study has revealed an additional layer in the complex association between ants and flowering plants, as pollinating ants alter sugar-nectar chemistry in flowers via sugar-consuming yeasts. But the story does not end here. De Vega plans to continue researching the role that these nectarivorous yeasts play on the reproduction of plants.
"I plan to study the whole interaction of plants, yeasts, and pollinatorshow are they interrelated and what mechanisms shape these relations?"
###
Clara de Vega and Carlos M. Herrera. 2013. Microorganisms transported by ants induce changes in floral nectar composition of an ant-pollinated plant. American Journal of Botany 100(4): 792-800. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1200626
The full article in the link mentioned is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary at http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html. After this date, reporters may contact Richard Hund at ajb@botany.org for a copy of the article.
The Botanical Society of America (http://www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org) for nearly 100 years. In 2009, the Special Libraries Association named the American Journal of Botany one of the Top 10 Most Influential Journals of the Century in the field of Biology and Medicine.
For further information, please contact the AJB staff at ajb@botany.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Just what makes that little old ant change a flower's nectar content?Public release date: 24-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hund rhund@botany.org 314-577-9557 American Journal of Botany
Ants foraging on nectar transmit yeasts that change sugar-chemistry and may affect subsequent pollinator visitations and plant fitness
Ants play a variety of important roles in many ecosystems. As frequent visitors to flowers, they can benefit plants in their role as pollinators when they forage on sugar-rich nectar. However, a new study reveals that this mutualistic relationship may actually have some hidden costs. By transmitting sugar-eating yeasts to the nectar on which they feed, ants may be indirectly altering the nectar-chemistry and thus affecting subsequent pollinator visitations.
Many species of plants benefit from interacting with ants, and some even secrete special sugary substances to attract ants. Plants produce sugar, in the form of nectar, and in exchange ants provide services such as pollination or protection from herbivores.
The main components of nectar that attract pollinators include three dominant sugarssucrose, fructose, and glucoseand amino acids (or proteins). The chemical composition of nectar differs among plant species and has been thought to be a conservative trait linked to pollinator type. For example, plants pollinated by hummingbirds tend to have nectar with high amounts of sucrose. In addition, nectar composition is thought to be regulated by the plant.
"When people think about how flowers are pollinated, they probably think about bees," notes Clara de Vega, a postdoctoral researcher at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, Spain. "But ants also pollinate flowers, and I am interested in the role ants play in pollination since it is still poorly understood."
De Vega joined forces with Carlos M. Herrera, an evolutionary ecologist at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, to investigate the relationship between ant pollinators and nectarivorous yeasts. Nectar-dwelling yeasts, which consume sugars, have recently been discovered in the flowers of many temperate and tropical plant species. De Vega and Herrera have already discovered that some ant species not only carry certain types of sugar-metabolizing yeasts on their bodies, but they also effectively transmit these yeasts to the nectar of flowers they visit.
In their most recent work, published in the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html), De Vega and Herrera investigated whether flowers visited by these ants differed from flowers that were not visited by ants in their sugar chemistry, and whether sugar-chemistry was correlated with the abundance of ant-transmitted yeasts found in the nectar.
By excluding ants from visiting inflorescences of a perennial, parasitic plant, Cytinus hypocistis, and comparing the nectar chemistry to inflorescences that were visited by ants, the authors tested these ideas experimentally.
When the authors compared the sugar content in the nectar of flowers visited by ants versus those enclosed in nylon mesh bags to exclude ants, they found that nectar of flowers exposed to ants had higher levels of fructose and glucose, but lower levels of sucrose compared with the ant-excluded flowers.
Interestingly, in flowers visited by ants, there was a high correlation between yeast cell density and sugar content. Nectar that had higher densities of yeast had more fructose and less sucrose, suggesting that the types of yeasts change the sugar content of the nectar. Flowers that were excluded from ants did not have any yeast in their nectar.
"Our study has revealed that ants can actually change the nectar characteristics of the flowers they are pollinating," says de Vega. "The microorganisms, specifically yeasts, that are present on the surface of ants change the composition of sugar in the flowers nectar."
"This means that nectar composition is not completely controlled by the flowerit is something created in cooperation with the ants that visit the flower," she notes. "We also think that these ant-transported yeasts might have the potential to affect plant reproduction."
Indeed, if a plant cannot control the sugar content of its nectar, then it may lose some of its target pollinators, which would potentially affect overall seed set and plant fitness.
Moreover, if introducing these yeasts to nectar changes the chemistry of the very components that serve to attract pollinators, then perhaps ants are indirectly changing the foraging behavior of subsequent flower visitors and thereby affecting seed dispersal patterns.
This study has revealed an additional layer in the complex association between ants and flowering plants, as pollinating ants alter sugar-nectar chemistry in flowers via sugar-consuming yeasts. But the story does not end here. De Vega plans to continue researching the role that these nectarivorous yeasts play on the reproduction of plants.
"I plan to study the whole interaction of plants, yeasts, and pollinatorshow are they interrelated and what mechanisms shape these relations?"
###
Clara de Vega and Carlos M. Herrera. 2013. Microorganisms transported by ants induce changes in floral nectar composition of an ant-pollinated plant. American Journal of Botany 100(4): 792-800. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1200626
The full article in the link mentioned is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary at http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html. After this date, reporters may contact Richard Hund at ajb@botany.org for a copy of the article.
The Botanical Society of America (http://www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org) for nearly 100 years. In 2009, the Special Libraries Association named the American Journal of Botany one of the Top 10 Most Influential Journals of the Century in the field of Biology and Medicine.
For further information, please contact the AJB staff at ajb@botany.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Authorities search a storage unit at Gibson Self Storage as they continue to investigate the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife and a top prosecutor, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2013 in Seagoville, Texas. Authorities investigating the death of a Texas district attorney arrested Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace and charged him Saturday with making a "terroristic threat" after searching his home. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Michael Ainsworth) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALES
Authorities search a storage unit at Gibson Self Storage as they continue to investigate the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife and a top prosecutor, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2013 in Seagoville, Texas. Authorities investigating the death of a Texas district attorney arrested Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace and charged him Saturday with making a "terroristic threat" after searching his home. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Michael Ainsworth) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALES
File - In this April 15, 2013 file photo, the home of Eric Lyle Williams is shown in Kaufman, Texas. Texas authorities have arrested the former justice of the peace's wife, Kim Lene Williams. Online jail records do not list charges against her and officials in Kaufman County wouldn't immediately comment on the reason for her arrest. A law enforcement official has said authorities are trying to build a case against Eric Lyle Williams in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
File - This photo provided by the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office shows Eric Williams. Texas authorities have arrested the former justice of the peace's wife, Kim Lene Williams. Online jail records do not list charges against her and officials in Kaufman County wouldn't immediately comment on the reason for her arrest. A law enforcement official has said authorities are trying to build a case against Eric Lyle Williams in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. (AP Photo/Kaufman County Sheriff's Office, File)
File - In this April 15, 2013 file photo, a printed sign on the door of the home of Eric Lyle Williams directs media to a spokesperson for the Williams family in Kaufman, Texas. Texas authorities have arrested the former justice of the peace's wife, Kim Lene Williams. Online jail records do not list charges against her and officials in Kaufman County wouldn't immediately comment on the reason for her arrest. A law enforcement official has said authorities are trying to build a case against Eric Lyle Williams in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? Authorities say the wife of a former judge has confessed to being involved in the shooting deaths of a North Texas district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor.
Kim Lene Williams was arrested early Wednesday. Kaufman County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis says Williams is being charged in all three deaths. Lewis says she is being held on $10 million bond.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Williams told investigators Tuesday that she was involved in the shootings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia, and one of his prosecutors, Mark Hasse.
The investigation has also focused on her husband, Eric Williams, whom McLelland and Hasse successfully prosecuted for theft.
The McLellands were found dead March 30, two months after Hasse was slain.
10 years ago, the American empiric misadventure in Iraq began. The National Security Archive at George Washington University has compiled the key intelligence and military documents that mis(led) the country's political leadership to war. Human beings brought to the process willful blindness, deliberate lies to obscure a strategic goal and sincere convictions. They used powerpoints and memos with codewords to reassure each other that their decisions were correct.?
In late November of 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited the headquarters of U.S. Central Command to see the progress made on revising OPLAN 1003-98, which was the DoD's regime change operational plan for Iraq. "98" refers to 1998, when it had last been reviewed and finalized. A Rumsfeld memo includes three potential avenues to war; it would be triggered by the discovery of WMD, by Iraq's suddenly proven connections to Al Qaeda or a sudden invasion of Kurds. ?
SEE MORE: Why would Assad use chemical weapons?
Then, on July 23, 2002, notes from a meeting with the Prime Minister of the U.K., defense secretary, chief of the defense staff, head of MI-6 and others, where the planning for war was much advanced and that "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." (What John Scarlett, the SIS head who uttered these words, actually meant, has been debated. He says it meant that Washington was narrow-minded and suffered from a sort of confirmation bias, not that deliberate falsehoods were being created.)
The intelligence community was not unanimous that Iraq had reconstituted a WMD program or that the evidence for such a reconstitution was mounting. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research dissented in two fundamental ways in a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate.? INR noted that special tools that could help create nuclear weapon components were indeed being produced, but that they had been produced well before Iraq was thought to have started its program and that the tools "clearly" were intended for other, conventional uses. The NIE also contains a "report" that Iraq sought uranium from African sources -- later proven untrue and the source of the Valerie Plame outing.
SEE MORE: Rejoice! Google to add a GIF search filter
Here, a planning document suggests that a maximum of 5,000 U.S. troops would be on the ground a few years after the invasion.?
Finally, the list of "horribles" that Rumsfeld drew up in October of 2002 listing what could go wrong. His last sentence: "It is possible of course to prepare an illustrative list of all the potential problems that need to be considered if there is no regime change in Iraq."
SEE MORE: Double takes: 9 curious images of two-headed animals
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Happiness interview: Christine Koh and Asha Dornfest.
Two friends of mine have just come out with a terrific book, Minimalist Parenting: Enjoy Modern Family Life More by Doing Less. It?s particularly thrilling for me to hold this book in my hands, because I remember talking to them about it when it was still just the beginning of an idea they were playing with. And here it is, out in the world.
It?s a great guide for anyone who wants to have a happy home life, by keeping things simple, calm, and in tune with family values.
Asha is the force behind the terrific site Parent Hacks ? ?forehead-smackingly smart tips that help you simplify family life, save money, and have fun.? Christine is the founder and editor of Boston Mamas ? ?a lifestyle portal for families in Boston and beyond.?
I wanted to ask them both about their thoughts on happiness.
Gretchen: What?s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Christine: Running or some kind of physical activity. I mean, sometimes it?s hard to get out there (I don?t do the ?dreadmill? so I?ve run in temperatures as low as 8 degrees this winter?eep!) and sometimes I drag a little when I?m out there, but I always feel happy when I?m done. Also, sleeping. Man, do I love sleeping.
Asha: Walking my dog always makes me happy. The combo of fresh air, seasonal change, dog antics and snippets of neighborhood conversation never fails to cheer me up. In the department of ?not thrilled while doing it, but extremely happy with results,? processing the mail and paperwork on my desk. I dread it, and the pile of paper makes me anxious while it?s sitting there, but when I?m done I feel this rush of creative energy. Sometimes I find an uncashed check in the pile!
What?s something you know now about happiness that you didn?t know when you were 18 years old?
Asha: That happiness is more a mindset choice than a response to specific events. Yes, I?m happy when good things happen, but I also know that, when I?m in a ?life dip? and am naturally feeling down, that I won?t be there forever.
Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
Christine: I have a tendency to devote too much bandwidth to the (bad or questionable, in my opinion) behavior of other people. The best advice I ever got from my therapist was that you can?t control other people?s behavior, only how you react to the behavior. Repeating that mantra has helped me enormously time and time again; I now can let go of things more quickly.
Asha: Staying up too late (it torpedoes my patience!), and procrastinating about mundane household jobs.
If you?re feeling blue, how do you give yourself a happiness boost??
Christine: Doing something with my hands, such as crafting or baking. In January I set intentions to do more hands-on creative projects and spend more one on one time with my 8-year-old Laurel (who often gets the short end of the attention stick these days because of her sometimes demanding toddler sister Violet). I decided to block out Thursdays afternoons while Violet is in day care to be Thursdays with Laurel (I literally put it in my calendar as a recurring event so I wouldn?t schedule work things in that window). Because Laurel loves art projects, we end up crafting a lot. It is the ultimate happiness boost to shut off the computer and craft and chat with Laurel on Thursday afternoons.
Asha: Curling up with my family and watching favorite movies. The Lord of the Rings series (extended edition, plus all the extras) has a particular tonic effect!
Have you always felt about the same level of happiness, or have you been through a period when you felt exceptionally happy or unhappy ? if so, why? If you were unhappy, how did you become happier?
Christine: I am, without a doubt, the happiest I?ve ever been right now. In general, I?m a very cheerful person but my childhood was challenging and at times very stressful. And then just as I was leaving home for college, I became involved in an emotionally abusive relationship that unfortunately persisted for several years. I also spent 10 years in an academic career that I ultimately found myself very unhappy in. But now?my husband Jon is a gem ? he?s unconditionally supportive and loving and hechallenges me to process my history, which is necessary to move forward. And I?ve been calling the shots on my professional work ever since I left academia in 2006. And I have two wonderful, healthy kids. And friends + family + fantastic burritos and pastries in striking distance + so many good things. I feel so blessed.
Asha: My childhood and early adult years were amazingly happy. Looking back, I think it was partially a result my temperament (I?ve been called obnoxiously optimistic) and partially because those years were relatively stress-free. I sometimes think I grew up when I became a mother, because with that experience came both overwhelming joys and challenges. The early years of motherhood were some of the hardest of my life, and YET they have left me with a sense of confidence and humility and gratitude that has directly contributed to where I am now. I can honestly say I?ve never been happier or more thankful. And now I?m craving a burrito.
Is there some aspect of your home that makes you particularly happy?
Christine: My happiest place in my house right now is my bed. I?m not even kidding. And this is a recent development because finally, after dragging my heels for over a decade,I finally replaced our tired old bedding and bought a beautiful quilt + shams that I love. After a childhood of tight finances and then spending so many years as an academic indentured servant, sometimes I resist spending money on certain things, particularly if they don?t seem absolutely essential (as in, who else is going to see my tired old bedding?) and even if they?re not particularly expensive. Jon was the one who finally said, ?You deserve to sleep under a bedspread that makes you happy. Don?t just look at the Target sale section; pick something you love first and then we can look at the price tag.? Just another reason I love that man.
Asha: The gas ?log? in our living room fireplace. It doesn?t matter that it?s essentially a fake fire, with fake wood and fake ?glowing coals.? Sitting there, watching it flicker and feeling its warmth, while listening to music and doing my work or hanging out with Rael and the kids?it?s heavenly.
Have you ever been surprised that something you expected would make you very happy, didn?t ? or vice versa?
Asha: It?s ironic ? the things that have made me the most happy started out as challenges I wasn?t sure I could handle at the time.
Anything else you would like to say?
Christine: My gratitude. To you for your friendship and inspiration. To your readers for being committed towards being happier, reading this interview, and opening their minds to change. I hope your readers will consider?Minimalist Parenting ? it was such a joy to write this book with Asha and we truly hope it helps people create degrees of freedom in their life.
Asha: I would just add that there are so many ?right? ways to parent and find happiness. What I love most about your happiness discoveries is your first commandment: to Be Gretchen. The first step toward minimalist parenting (and happiness) is to know ? and be ? your true self.
Gretchen: Awww, thanks you two! Congratulations again.
OTTAWA ? It?s a $60-billion venture for the federal Conservative government.
That?s the estimated amount of tax relief Prime Minister Stephen Harper?s government has offered up to businesses in Canada since taking power in 2006 ? reducing the country?s corporate tax rates to some of the lowest in the world.
The government maintains the widespread corporate tax relief has been an answer for the sluggish Canadian economy ? spurring investment and job creation, while putting tax dollars back into the pockets of business owners, taxpayers and shareholders.
But with a federal budget coming soon, the $60-billion in business tax breaks are also sparking questions and criticism for a government trying to rein in a deficit estimated at $26-billion and balance the books within two years.
?They?ve reduced (corporate) taxes but there has been really not adequate major investment in capital expenditures or job creation,? argues NDP finance critic Peggy Nash.
?We haven?t got much bang for the buck.?
We haven?t got much bang for the buck
The federal government points to the creation of more than 900,000 net new jobs since the end of the recession in July 2009 as evidence its tax policies are promoting economic growth.
However, small businesses across Canada are still feeling the tax pinch and hoping for some additional relief, or at least that their situation doesn?t worsen.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents approximately 109,000 small business owners, wants the federal government to consider lowering the small business tax rate, which is currently 11%.
The general corporate tax rate has been reduced from about 22% (including a now-eliminated surtax) to 15% over the past six years, but the small business rate has only dropped one percentage point in that time.
?There is a little bit of a growing degree of impatience for the government to get back to some broader tax measures for smaller firms,? says CFIB president Dan Kelly.
?What we?re hearing from members is that they are anxious for the federal government to, once we pull out of deficit, to look at some tax reductions to the small business rate itself.?
The Finance Department estimates the cost of a one-percentage-point reduction in the general corporate income tax rate would be roughly $1.8-billion in 2013 (based on most recent fiscal projections).
Reducing the small business rate by one percentage point would cost the government approximately $700-million in revenue.
The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, meanwhile, estimates that increasing the general corporate income tax rate by one point would generate an extra $1.3-billion annually for federal coffers, and boosting the small business rate by one point would produce $770-million more.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was unavailable for an interview.
But generally, the government argues that lower tax rates increase domestic economic activity, attract investment to Canada and result in less tax evasion, ultimately broadening the tax base and reducing the amount of lost revenue that goes with lowering tax rates.
Repeated studies, including from the 34-country Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, have argued that corporate income taxes are the most harmful for growth for many reasons, including because they discourage investment in capital and productivity.
However, the OECD has also warned that lowering the corporate tax rate substantially below the top personal income tax rate ? such as in Canada ? can ?jeopardize the integrity of the tax system as high-income individuals will attempt to shelter their savings within corporations.?
The extent to which governments increase or decrease corporate taxes can jeopardize their political success, too, not just their revenue stream.
For the 2012-13 budget year ending in March, the federal government expects to collect nearly $164-billion in income tax, with approximately $33-billion of that total from corporate income tax revenues.
However, the federal government?s corporate income tax share of revenues has slowly decreased since the Conservatives came to power ? albeit amid an economic downturn and continued sluggishness ? while the share of revenue from personal income tax has increased.
The key political and policy question is: do Canadian companies pay their fair share in corporate income tax?
Data from the OECD indicate that Canada?s taxes on corporate income are competitive and also comparable to other countries.
In 2010 (the most recent data available), taxes on corporate income in Canada were 3.3% of GDP, slightly above the OECD average of 2.9%.
That same year, taxes on corporate income in Canada amounted to 10.7% of total taxation, compared to the OECD average of 8.6%.
A recent global tax study from PwC, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation found Canada?s business tax rates are among the lowest in the world. Canada is the best country among G8 nations in which to pay business taxes and ranked eighth among 185 economies in the study. The United States ranked 69th.
For smaller firms, the Conservative government pegged the small business tax rate at 11% and increased the income limit for the small business rate to $500,000 from $300,000.
But businesses are also urging the Tory government not to proceed with any enrichment to the Canada Pension Plan, something now being reconsidered by Ottawa and the provinces.
Boosting CPP benefits would require increasing premiums paid by Canadians, with employers and workers each paying half of the contributions.
Business owners say any additional CPP contributions would effectively amount to a new payroll tax, something the CFIB says is ?the most harmful form of taxation for small business.?
While small business owners welcome the federal hiring credit to partially offset unwelcome increases in employment insurance premiums, the CFIB says the government has muddied the tax system with too many tax credits.
Canadians and business owners would be better off with simple broad-based tax relief that features lower rates and fewer credits, says Kelly, the CFIB president.
?Governments, not just the federal government, have been a little credit happy. The reason they offer them is that they?re low cost, they?re ?announceable,?? Kelly says.
The NDP has assailed the government for offering multibillion-dollar tax cuts to large corporations, including specialty tax credits or subsidies for the oil and gas sector (some of which are being phased out).
The official Opposition, in its 2011 election platform, called for the corporate tax rate to be increased to 19.5% ? where it was five years ago ? from the current 15%, a move it said would generate an extra $9-billion or so annually in revenue.
At the same time, the NDP is also calling for tax relief for smaller firms, promising to reduce the small business tax rate to nine per cent from the current 11%, in hopes of spurring the economy.
?This ongoing, multiyear sluggishness in our economy is starting to really concern people,? says the NDP?s Nash.
Yet, the Conservatives are facing mounting calls from the business sector to retool corporate tax rates and other rules facing Canadian companies.
Chambers of commerce across the country ? along with the House of Commons finance committee ? want the government to review tax provisions (including on capital gains) for estate and succession planning.
The current tax rules, in many cases, can make it more financially beneficial to transfer a family-owned business to a third party instead of a loved one.
Also, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says the tax system over-relies on income and profit taxes, which it says are ?the most economically damaging forms of taxation.?
It recommends shifting the tax mix toward consumption-based taxes such as the GST or HST to help stimulate productivity and economic growth.
As debate continues over whether the federal government?s $60-billion in tax breaks for businesses have been prudent and effective, some argue average taxpayers will be stuck with the bill either way. Ian Lee, a former banker and now assistant professor at Carleton University?s Sprott School of Business in Ottawa, says the taxes paid by corporations eventually trickle down through the company and onto consumers.
Higher corporate taxes make it more difficult for firms to hire employees and offer wage increases, and also lead to consumers simply paying more for products, he argues.
?Corporations, ultimately, eventually don?t pay the taxes. They pass them on through the prices of the goods and services,? Lee says.
?There?s only one taxpayer in Canada and there?s only one consumer. All bills, all costs, all taxes, all expenditures are ultimately borne by us citizens because we are the end consumers.?
Bryant Street Health & Fitness is a full-service neighborhood gym in Downtown Ojai that offers a full of cardio equipment, weight room, aerobics and fitness classes, yoga, pilates, personal training, spa services, juice and snack bar and more. Located at 406-Q Bryant Circle, Ojai. More information at www.bryantstgym.com or call 805.646.2233.
Mar. 11, 2013 ? New research shows that a tiny piece of RNA has an essential role in ensuring that embryonic tissue segments form properly.
The study, conducted in chicken embryos, determined that this piece of RNA regulates cyclical gene activity that defines the timing of the formation of tissue segments that later become muscle and vertebrae.
Genes involved in this activity are turned on and off in an oscillating pattern that matches the formation of each tissue segment. If the timing of these genes' activity doesn't remain tightly regulated, the tissue either won't form at all or will form with defects.
One gene long associated with this segmentation "clock" is called Lfng. Researchers established in this study that a single microRNA -- a tiny segment of RNA that has no role in producing any protein -- is key to turning off Lfng at precisely the right time as tissues form in this oscillating pattern.
When the microRNA was deleted or manipulated so that it wouldn't bind when it was supposed to, the oscillatory pattern of the genetic clock was broken and tissue development was abnormal.
"It's a big deal to find that a single interaction between a microRNA and its target has this very profound effect when you interfere with its function," said Susan Cole, associate professor of molecular genetics at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study. "There are very few cases where interfering with just one microRNA during development can make this much of a difference. But here, this regulation is so tight that this turns out to be incredibly important.
"We don't think this is exclusive to chickens because the site where the microRNA binds to the RNA segment produced by Lfng is found in chickens, humans, mice and zebrafish."
A better understanding of these segmentation clocks could lead to new ways to treat certain human conditions that are traced to embryonic development. Defects in the clock are implicated in vertebral malformations, and the correct patterning of the nervous system and blood vessels depends on proper timing of the earliest stages of development.
The research is published in the journal Developmental Cell.
This work focuses on the formation of somites, which are tissue segments in the mesoderm of embryos that give rise to the ribs, vertebrae and muscle in all vertebrates, including humans.
Within the segmentation clock, genes are turned on and make RNA, and resulting proteins then turn off the genes, and so on, and the pattern repeats until all necessary somites are formed. Experts in tissue segmentation liken the oscillating cycle of gene activation and de-activation that cells go through before they form somites to the wave that fans perform in a stadium.
The downward part of the cycle -- when the wave fans are seated -- is just as critical as the upward cycle, when fans are standing. This means the RNA that genes make on their way up must be destroyed so the genes can be turned off. Existing mathematical models of the segmentation clock suggest that the half-life of RNA is tightly controlled, but can't say how.
"We were interested in identifying the mechanisms that made this RNA unstable enough that it would make these perpetual oscillations," Cole said. A graduate student in her lab pointed the way to microRNAs, which can destabilize their target transcripts -- segments of RNA produced early in the gene expression process.
"MicroRNAs can either stop protein from being made or target an RNA to be destroyed. That's what we think is happening here: It's targeting RNA to be destroyed," said Cole, also an investigator in Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The microRNA identified in the study is known as mir-125a-5p. While microRNAs used to be considered useless parts of the genome, they are now recognized for their power in influencing protein production -- even though they don't actually help with protein production.
The researchers used multiple techniques to block mir-125a-5p in chicken embryos as the segmentation clock was running, either blocking all activity of the microRNA or interfering with its ability to bind with RNA encoded by the Lfng gene.
"When the clock doesn't oscillate the cells don't make nice, regular somites, but instead make nothing or partially formed somites," Cole said. "This has really important applications for the mechanisms that control the clock, and could gives us hints about how the timeframe of this clock varies from species to species."
In chickens, each somite forms in 90 minutes. In zebrafish, it takes 30 minutes, while in mice each somite forms in two hours and in humans, five hours.
Cole also plans to study how this regulation occurs in mammals and whether this microRNA's interaction with Lfng is involved in disease processes affected by this gene.
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and a Pelotonia Predoctoral Fellowship.
Co-authors include Maurisa Riley, Matthew Bochter and Kanu Wahi of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Gerard Nuovo of the Department of Pathology, all at Ohio State. Riley now works at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University. The original article was written by Emily Caldwell.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Maurisa?F. Riley, Matthew?S. Bochter, Kanu Wahi, Gerard?J. Nuovo, Susan?E. Cole. mir-125a-5p-Mediated Regulation of Lfng Is Essential for the Avian Segmentation Clock. Developmental Cell, 2013; 24 (5): 554 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2013.01.024
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Going on vacation sometime soon? If so, be careful who you ask to house sit.
As one Reddit user found out, neighbors cannot always be trusted and may take the opportunity to swap out all of your pictures for photos of Samuel L. Jackson.
Kimmikazee writes: "There were pictures EVERYWHERE. They taped pictures of him under the toilet seats, in the fridge, basically everywhere. Racking my brain for a good comeback prank. Any ideas welcome."
People read local newspapers with the headline 'We've killed 7 foreign hostages' on a street in Kano, Nigeria, on March 10.
?
By Gavin Jones and Renee Maltezou, Reuters
ROME/ATHENS ? Seven foreign hostages kidnapped last month by a Nigerian Islamist group from a construction firm's compound have been killed, the Italian and Greek Foreign Ministries said on Sunday.
Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansaru said on Saturday it had killed the hostages seized on February 7 in the northern state of Bauchi because of attempts by Nigerian and British forces to free them.
It published grainy photos purporting to show the bodies of a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers snatched from the Lebanese firm Setraco.
Foreign governments had not been able to confirm the killings until Sunday. Italy and Greece denied any attempt to rescue them had been made by any of the governments involved. Nigeria had no confirmation of the killings.
"Our checks conducted in co-ordination with the other countries concerned lead us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true," an Italian Foreign Ministry statement said.
"There was never any military attempt to rescue the hostages by any of the governments concerned," it said, adding the president had sent his condolences to the Italian's family.
Security has become a top concern for oil and infrastructure companies across the region after gunmen loyal to al Qaeda's north African franchise stormed an Algerian gas plant in January. Up to 37 foreigners died during an attempted rescue mission by Algerian forces.
The risk posed by Islamists across west and north Africa has greatly increased since France sent troops to Mail to wrest control of its northern territory from al Qaeda linked rebels.
Islamist groups have also spread across the north and centre of Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, where they have become the main security threat after an amnesty ended an uprising by armed groups in the oil-producing southeastern Niger Delta.
Britain said it was "likely" the Briton was killed along with the six others, with Foreign Secretary William Hague saying: "This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the strongest terms."
Greece confirmed its citizen was dead, adding the Foreign Ministry had informed his family. Lebanon declined to comment.
Nigerian authorities continued to say they had no evidence, after doubting the veracity of the Ansaru statement on Saturday.
"We have launched a full investigation to find out what has really happened, but for now we really cannot way whether this report is true or not," police spokesman for Bauchi state Hassan Mohammed Auyo said by telephone.
SECURITY THREAT
Western security officials say growing links between Nigerian Islamists and Saharan groups such as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has led them to increasingly seek Western targets, rather than local security forces or civilians.
French intervention in Mali has also heightened the risk to Western interests in Nigeria, analysts say, and French oil major Total moved its staff from the Nigerian capital Abuja, where the main insurgent group Boko Haram operates, in January.
Kidnappings - including some targeting foreigners - have been rife in the southeast for many years, but the gangs there usually seek a payout and hostages tend to be released quickly, while Islamist kidnappings in the north are often fatal.
The hostage-taking at the compound in the remote town of Jama'are was the largest number of foreigners seized in the mostly Muslim north since an Islamist insurgency intensified two years ago.
Ansaru declared itself a separate group from Boko Haram in January, although security officials believe them to be closely linked.
Its full name is Jama'atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan or "vanguards for the protection of Muslims in Black Africa".
Ansaru was suspected of being behind the killing of a British and Italian hostage a year ago in northwest Nigeria during a botched attempt to rescue them by British and Nigerian forces. Britain has labeled it a terrorist organization.
It also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in December of a French national, still missing.
Nigerian authorities are still looking for a French family of seven kidnapped in northern Cameroon and moved over the border by militants who said they were from Boko Haram.
Additional reporting by Inusa Jaba in Bauchi and Tim Cocks in Lagos
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
In this week?s Video Game Crafts ?N Gear, Marvel?s Avengers get their own custom Xbox 360s, Mega Man is now a data storage device and Majora?s Mask is alive?in the ultimate Zelda craft!
Avengers Xbox 360s
Even the Avengers need a day off?from saving the world to enjoy some gaming. Zachariah Cruse, who created the amazing Zelda chest replica a few years ago, has now built these stunning custom Xbox 360s.
They?re more than a pretty paint job, too. Iron Man?s system is just like an extension of his suit, with custom lights similar to that of his arc reactor. Captain America?s console has a raised metal shield on the side ? now that?s one red ring I wouldn?t mind having on my 360!?
[Source: Zachariah Perry?via Kotaku]
Mega Man USB
It seems the Blue Bomber has had his arm cruelly disassembled ? thankfully, he appears to have many replacements, and they all have a useful purpose!
Next week the Capcom Store will see this new 8GB Mega Buster USB stick for $19.95. While it appears to be no more than an expensive collector?s item, contained within the stick you?ll find
digital copies of the Mega Man #1-4 comic books, Mega Man Tribute Art Book, Mega Man X Complete Works, Street Fighter X Mega Man soundtrack, SFxMM wallpapers, and a link to the SFxMM game. Considering those are rare and hard to obtain elsewhere, the content of the drive may be worth the price of admission alone.
Aside from the fact that you?ll require a lot of space to plug this in and it?ll be almost impossible to use on a laptop, from a visual perspective this is really neat. It even has a little cap which creates the end of the cannon!?
[Source: Capcom Unity via Destructoid]
Majora?s Mask Replica
Okay, so we feature a lot of Majora?s Mask stuff on this feature. For whatever reason, there?s a ton of amazingly talented artists who are MM fans. This week was almost Zelda-free, but I happened upon this and, well, you have to see this one!
Our pal Zachariah Perry who created those Avengers consoles earlier has also begun a new Kickstarter today. It?s for a life-size replica of Majora?s Mask, with a true to scale size of 18 inches ? and it is beautiful. While the artist decided against making it wearable in order to retain the realistic replica, the back is hollowed out so it still resembles an actual mask that Skull Kid could wear.
The artist says: ?The funding goal is set for $2000, which is the amount that would take to purchase, in bulk, the materials necessary to begin churning out Majora?s Masks?. Two types will become available: a DIY version that you can paint yourself, and a completely finished version as pictured.
[Source: Kickstarter via Zacariah Perry]
To check out last week?s featured Crafts ?N Gear, here?s the link for?#15: First-Person Mario, Street Fighter Chess, Remastered Doom Screen. You can find all our?back episodes here.
If you?ve seen or made anything cool that you?d like to see featured, leave us a comment or?send me a tweet! You just might see your name credited next week.
Article from Gamersyndrome.com
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Video Game Crafts ?N Gear #9: Half-Life 2 Gravity Gun, Majora?s Mask Backpack, Hungry Hungry Koopas
Video Game Crafts ?N Gear #2: Pac-Man Pumpkins, Zelda Key Hanger, Nintendo Can Sculptures
Video Game Crafts ?N Gear #1: Portal Gun, Zelda Necklace, Magnetic Katamari Ball
Video Game Crafts ?N Gear #15: First-Person Mario, Street Fighter Chess, Remastered Doom Screen
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) ? At 37 pounds, Biscuit is about the right weight for a 4-year-old ? human, that is.
A St. Louis-area animal shelter is trying to find a new home for the sweet tabby with a sweet tooth.
Biscuit's salad days were spent pigging out, and now at roughly three times the weight of a healthy adult cat, he's restricted to about a cup of diet food per day.
His first owner, a disabled woman who fed him lots of treats, brought him to the St. Charles Animal Control shelter about a year ago because she could no longer care for him, Teresa Gilley, the shelter's lead animal control officer, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/15VQRvf ).
"She didn't mean the cat any harm," Gilley said. "I just think she didn't know any better."
Another woman took him in but had to return him about a week ago because her new apartment doesn't allow pets, she said.
Gilley said the tubby tabby isn't crazy about his new low-calorie diet, but he has begun adjusting to it. When he arrived, Biscuit could only take a few steps before lying down and panting, but now he's showing increased energy.
"The other day I went into the office, and he was up in the chair," Gilley said. "So he was able to jump pretty high."
Biscuit is neutered and is believed to be about 4. Gilley said he's easygoing and loves being petted.
"He's sweet and loving, and if you talk to him, he'll talk back," Gilley said.
Any prospective owner would need to keep Biscuit away from the gravy and on a strict diet.
___
Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com
BEIJING (Reuters) - Two major Chinese military websites, including that of the Defense Ministry, were subject to about 144,000 hacking attacks a month last year, almost two-thirds of which came from the United States, the ministry said on Thursday.
This month a U.S. computer security company said that a secretive Chinese military unit was likely behind a series of hacking attacks mostly targeting the United States, setting off a war of words between Washington and Beijing.
China denied the allegations and said it was the victim.
It has now provided some details for the first time of the alleged attacks from the United States.
"The Defense Ministry and China Military Online websites have faced a serious threat from hacking attacks since they were established, and the number of hacks has risen steadily in recent years," said ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng.
"According to the IP addresses, the Defense Ministry and China Military Online websites were, in 2012, hacked on average from overseas 144,000 times a month, of which attacks from the U.S. accounted for 62.9 percent," he said.
The comments were made at a monthly news conference, which foreign reporters are not allowed to attend, and posted on the ministry's website.
Geng said he had noted reports that the United States planned to expand its cyber-warfare capability but that they were unhelpful to increasing international cooperation towards fighting hacking.
"We hope that the U.S. side can explain and clarify this."
The U.S. security company, Mandiant, identified the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based Unit 61398 as the most likely driving force behind the hacking. Mandiant said it believed the unit had carried out "sustained" attacks on a wide range of industries.
The hacking dispute adds to diplomatic tension between China and the United States, already strained by Chinese suspicion about Washington's "pivot" back to Asia and arguments over issues from trade to human rights.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities to the university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven for for DOE?s Office of Science to Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited liability company by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization founded.. One of ten national laboratories monitored and funded primarily by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy , Brookhaven National Laboratory performs research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences , as well as in energy technologies and national security.
The New York Times reported about a man?s struggle with the health care system: ?In the debate on health care reform, there are countless stories of families with hospital bills and unemployed, insurance insurance saddled But the story of Eric De La. Cruz, Las Vegas stands out as a striking example of both the best and the worst that the American health care system has to offer ? extraordinary medical skills, which is all too often out of reach for all but the luckiest and best insured ?.Of inflammation, marker of inflammation is also important on statin is Special How to Falling LDL .
In this study, lead investigator Dr. Paul Ridker and fellow follow-up 15,548 first healthy men and women out the JUPITER trial ? 87 percent the initial subjects in this study. You assessed the effects of rosuvastatin 20 mg versus placebo on rate out of non-fatal heart attack, nonfatal apoplexy, hospitalization for unstable angina, arterial revascularization , or cardiovascular death. Levels of LDL have been measured (?
The conference will, organized by the Department on health , brought the crowd from public health and local governmental field health inequities the heart of health White Paper contact advice. At the conference, stated John Reid:.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Far from the courtroom drama that has gripped South Africa, the family of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend has struggled with its own private deluge of grief, frustration and bewilderment.
The victim's relatives also harbor misgivings about efforts by the Olympian's family to reach out to them with condolences.
Pistorius, meanwhile, spent Saturday at his uncle's home in an affluent suburb of Pretoria, the South African capital, after a judge released him on bail following days of testimony that transfixed South Africa and much of the world. He was charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day, but the athlete says he killed her accidentally, opening fire after mistaking her for an intruder in his home.
"We are extremely thankful that Oscar is now home," his uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said in a statement that also acknowledged the law must run its course. "What happened has changed our lives irrevocably."
The Pistorius family took steps to lower its profile on social media after someone hacked into the Twitter account of his older brother, Carl, family spokesman Janine Hills said.
"Carl did not tweet this afternoon, out of respect to Oscar and Reeva," Hills said in a statement. "We are busy cancelling all the social media sites for both Oscar's brother and his sister."
Mike Steenkamp, Reeva's uncle, told The Associated Press that the family of the double-amputee athlete initially did not send condolences or try to contact the bereaved parents, but had since sought to reach out in what he described as a poorly timed way. After Pistorius was released on bail in what amounted to a victory for the defense, Arnold Pistorius said the athlete's family was relieved but also in mourning "with the family" of Reeva Steenkamp.
"Everybody wants to jump up with joy," Mike Steenkamp said, speculating on the mood of Pistorius' family after the judge's decision. "I think it was just done in the wrong context, completely."
A South African newspaper, the Afrikaans-language Beeld, quoted the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, law school graduate and participant in a television reality show, as saying the family had received a bouquet of flowers and a card from the Pistorius family.
"Yes, but what does it mean? Nothing," June Steenkamp said, according to the Saturday edition of Beeld. She also said Pistorius' family, including sister Aimee, a somber presence on the bench behind the Olympian during his court hearings in the past week, must be "devastated" and had done nothing wrong.
"They are not to blame," June Steenkamp said. According to Beeld, she said she had hoped to plan a wedding for her daughter one day.
In an affidavit, 26-year-old Oscar Pistorius said he was "absolutely mortified" by the death of "my beloved Reeva," and he frequently sobbed in court during the several days during which his bail application was considered. However, prosecutor Gerrie Nel, suggested in a scathing criticism that Pistorius was actually distraught because his vaunted career was now in peril and he was in grave trouble with the law.
"It doesn't matter how much money he has and how good his legal team is, he will have to live with his conscience if he allows his legal team to lie for him," Barry Steenkamp, Reeva's father, told Beeld.
"But if he is telling the truth, then perhaps I can forgive him one day," the father said. "If it didn't happen the way he said it did, he must suffer, and he will suffer ... only he knows."
Barry Steenkamp suffered "heavy trauma" at the loss of his daughter and his remarks to the newspaper partly reflect how he is working through it, said his brother, Mike Steenkamp.
Steenkamp was cremated in a funeral ceremony on Feb. 19 in her family's hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast. Mike Steenkamp delivered a statement about the family's grief to television cameras, at one point breaking down in tears.
The three-story house where Pistorius is staying with his aunt and uncle lies on a hill with a view of Pretoria. It has a large swimming pool and an immaculate garden.
Pistorius was born without fibula bones due to a congenital defect and had his legs amputated at 11 months. He has run on carbon-fiber blades and was originally banned from competing against able-bodied peers because many argued that his blades gave him an unfair advantage. He was later cleared to compete. He is a multiple Paralympic medalist, but he failed to win a medal at the London Olympics, where he ran in the 400 meter race and on South Africa's 4x400 relay team.
PRETORIA (Reuters) - A judge is likely to decide on Friday whether to grant bail to Oscar Pistorius, with prosecutors arguing he is a cold-blooded killer and his own lawyers that he is far too famous to have any chance of fleeing prosecution.
The bail hearing, which began last Friday, was set to resume at 0800 GMT.
Defence lawyers for Pistorius say the athlete shot dead his girlfriend only by terrible mistake, and deserves bail to prepare for a case that has garnered global attention and has been marred by a bungled police investigation.
The star "blade runner", whose lower legs were amputated in infancy, has become an even more globally recognised figure since he killed model Reeva Steenkamp, 29, in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day at his home.
Prosecutors have told the court it was a premeditated murder, with Pistorius firing four shots through a locked toilet door at a cowering Steenkamp on the other side. She was hit in the head, arm and hip.
Witnesses said they heard a gunshots and screams from the home in a gated community surrounded by 3-metre- (yard-) high stone walls and topped with an electric fence.
Pistorius contends he was acting in self-defence, mistaking Steenkamp for an intruder and feeling vulnerable because he was unable to attach his prosthetic limbs in time to confront the threat, he said in an affidavit read in court.
The 26-year-old said he grabbed a 9-mm pistol from under his bed and went into the bathroom.
Pistorius described how he fired into the locked toilet door in a blind panic in the mistaken belief that the intruder was lurking inside.
Bail hearings in South Africa allow for prosecutors and defence lawyers to lay out their basic arguments, based on preliminary evidence.
The arrest of Pistorius stunned millions who watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 m in the London Olympics.
The impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who commanded respect from both blacks and whites, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.
Police investigating Pistorius pulled their lead detective off the athlete's case on Thursday after it emerged he himself faces attempted murder charges for shooting at a minibus.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Andrew Roche)
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Public release date: 24-Apr-2013
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Happiness interview: Christine Koh and Asha Dornfest.
