Flower power fights orchard pests

May 14, 2013 ? Washington State University researchers have found they can control one of fruit growers' more severe pests, aphids, with a remarkably benign tool: flowers. The discovery is a boon for organic as well as conventional tree fruit growers. The researchers recently published their study in the journal Biological Control. They found that plantings of sweet alyssum attracted a host of spiders and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids, a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.

"The results were striking," said Lessando Gontijo, who led the research project while a doctoral student in the WSU Department of Entomology. "After one week, aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots, and these differences were maintained for several weeks."

To select an appropriate flower for the study, the researchers screened six candidates, including marigolds and zinnias. They chose sweet alyssum because it attracted the greatest number of hoverflies, or syrphids, which have larvae that often feed on aphids. Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of pollen and nectar.

A syrphid hovers over alyssum. Researchers compared plots of apple trees with sweet alyssum to plots without flowers. While the sweet alyssum attracted hoverflies, as desired, Gontijo and colleagues found few hoverfly larvae, showing that the hoverflies had only a marginal effect on the aphid population.

The mystery of the disappearing aphids seemed solved when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum. But was it really the flowers that attracted aphid predators? The scientists sprayed protein markers on the sweet alyssum and later captured insects and spiders at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the insects and spiders tested positive for the proteins, proving that they had visited the flowers.

"The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid, attacking tree shoots and roots," said Betsy Beers, an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee and Gontijo's mentor and co-author on the paper. "These aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew, which can coat the apples, causing much annoyance during harvest."

The aphids were previously kept at bay when orchardists sprayed pesticides to control codling moths. Since the phase-out of organophosphate insecticides, though, the woolly apple aphid has been making a comeback in central Washington and elsewhere.

The researchers state that the use of sweet alyssum for biological control can be easily integrated with standard orchard-management practices and should be especially appealing to organic growers, who have fewer insecticide options.

The article, "Flowers promote aphid suppression in apple orchards," was published in the July 2013 edition of Biological Control

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/DO2IH_qXJiY/130514101446.htm

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Retail sales edge up, show some strength in economy

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retail sales unexpectedly rose in April as households bought automobiles, building materials and a range of other goods, pointing to underlying strength in the economy in the face of government austerity.

The Commerce Department said on Monday retail sales edged up 0.1 percent after a 0.5 percent decline in March. Economists had expected retail sales, which account for about 30 percent of consumer spending, to drop 0.3 percent last month.

"The overall tone of this report was quite encouraging as it suggests that U.S. consumers are continuing to successfully navigate against the steady fiscal headwinds," said Millan Mulraine at TD Securities in New York.

The dollar rose against the yen and the euro, while prices for U.S. Treasury debt fell. U.S. stocks retreated from record highs in the previous session, but the retail sales data helped to limit losses.

So-called core sales, which strip out automobiles, gasoline and building materials and correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, increased 0.5 percent after nudging up 0.1 percent in March.

The increase in core sales, coming on the heels of relatively strong job growth over the last three months, should help to ally fears of an abrupt slowdown in the economy early in the second quarter even as government budget cuts are starting to put a strain on manufacturing.

The gains prompted economists at JPMorgan to raise their second-quarter gross domestic product growth estimate by half a percentage point to 2 percent.

The economy grew at a modest 2.5 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year.

Second-quarter growth could also get a boost from inventories, after businesses kept lean stocks in the first three months of the year. A second report from the Commerce Department showed business inventories were flat in March for a second straight month.

FALLING GAS PRICES HELPING

Growth is being crimped by the end of a 2 percent payroll tax cut and higher tax rates for wealthy Americans, which kicked in on January 1. Across-the-board government spending cuts worth about $85 billion are also a drag.

But declining gasoline prices, which fell 14 cents in April, are helping to offset some of the drag on household income, freeing up money for discretionary spending.

"The message in today's numbers is that consumers are coming back to stores in the second quarter, in part because some of the price relief from lower gas prices is being spent elsewhere," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York.

The tone of the retail sales report was mostly firm. Receipts at auto dealerships rose 1.0 percent after falling 0.6 percent in March. Excluding autos, sales dipped 0.1 percent after falling 0.4 percent in March.

Though falling gasoline prices pushed down receipts at gasoline stations, sales excluding gasoline recorded their largest increase since December.

Stripping out gasoline and autos, sales rose 0.6 percent.

Sales at building materials and garden equipment suppliers increased 1.5 percent, the largest rise since September. That reflects gains in homebuilding as the housing market recovery gains momentum.

Receipts at clothing stores rose 1.2 percent, the biggest increase since February last year.

Sales at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores gained 0.5 percent. Receipts at electronics and appliances stores increased 0.8 percent, while sales at furniture stores were flat. Sales at restaurants and bars also increased.

However, receipts at grocery stores fell.

(Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/retail-sales-edge-show-strength-economy-123207459.html

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Obama tries to swat down 2 swirling controversies

President Barack Obama gestures during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The president Obama said during the news conference that the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups is "outrageous" and anyone involved needs to be "held fully accountable." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama gestures during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The president Obama said during the news conference that the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups is "outrageous" and anyone involved needs to be "held fully accountable." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama shakes hands with British Prime Minister David Cameron at the end of a joint news conference, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the White House East Room in Washington where they discussed various topics including Syria's civil war to preparations for a coming summit in Northern Ireland. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama welcomes British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, May 13, 2013, for talks on subjects ranging from Syria's civil war to preparations for a coming summit of the world's leading industrial nations in Northern Ireland. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama tried to swat down a pair of brewing controversies Monday, denouncing as "outrageous" the targeting of conservative political groups by the federal IRS but angrily denying any administration cover-up after last year's deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Simultaneous investigations ? and demands by Republicans for more ? have put the White House on the defensive, emboldened GOP lawmakers and threatened to overtake a second-term Obama agenda already off to a rocky start.

During a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, the normally even-keeled Obama appeared agitated over the resurgent investigation into the September attack at a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. He dismissed the Republican-driven effort as a "sideshow" that dishonors the four Americans who were killed, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

"There's no there there," Obama declared in his first public comments since GOP lawmakers launched new hearings on the matter. "The fact that this keeps on getting churned up, frankly, has a whole lot to do with political motivations."

Seeking to keep another controversy from spinning out of control, the president rebuked the IRS for scrutinizing the tax-exempt status of groups with conservative titles such as "Tea Party" or "Patriot" in their names. Those responsible, Obama said, must be held "fully accountable."

"I've got no patience with it," he added. "I will not tolerate it and we will find out exactly what happened."

The president said he first learned of the matter Friday when it was reported by news organizations. Spokesman Jay Carney said later that the White House counsel's office was alerted on April 22 that the IRS inspector general was completing a review of an IRS office in Cincinnati.

Neither issue appears to be going away any time soon. On Monday, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asked authors of an independent government review into the Benghazi attack to meet privately with committee investigators. And the House Ways and Means Committee said it plans to hold a hearing on the IRS matter on Friday.

The two controversies are the latest in a series of unexpected challenges that have consumed the White House since Obama began his second term in January. Among the others: the Boston Marathon bombings, Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons and fresh nuclear provocations from North Korea.

It's hardly the start Obama's team envisioned after he solidly won re-election in November. The White House had hoped to achieve an early victory on immigration overhaul, make another run at a sweeping deficit reduction deal, and perhaps take a stab at tackling climate change.

But those plans were upended even before Obama's inauguration, when the horrific December massacre of 20 school children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., thrust gun control to the forefront of Obama's domestic agenda. That legislative effort failed on Capitol Hill last month, leaving Obama with a political defeat and giving critics of immigration reform more time to organize their opposition.

Obama still has an opportunity to reverse course and claim a big second-term victory if immigration changes can be approved. Draft legislation being debated in the Senate has bipartisan support, and Republicans have a political incentive to back an overhaul given the growing political power of Hispanic voters, who voted overwhelmingly Democratic in 2012.

For the White House, the challenge will be to keep Capitol Hill focused on immigration and other legislative priorities, not a persistent cycle of investigations.

"The American people want Washington to focus on the issues that matter most to them," Carney said Monday. "The imperative for getting things done still exists."

However, Republicans made clear that they plan to keep pressing the president on both Benghazi and the IRS.

"The administration continues to lose credibility by failing to answer even the simplest questions, refusing to take full responsibility and failing to produce a plan to move forward," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told The Associated Press. "As we learned from Watergate, concealing information from the public is a dangerous practice."

The IRS has apologized for what it said was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware.

But a draft of an inspector general's report obtained by the AP says senior IRS officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011. The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration is expected to release the final report this week after a yearlong investigation.

The Benghazi investigation has trailed Obama for months, with many Republicans focused on how the White House first explained the attacks to the American people. Administration officials initially said the attacks appeared to grow out of a spontaneous demonstration, though it later concluded that they were planned acts of terror.

The White House has insisted there was no effort to change the initial administration "talking points" to downplay the prospect of terrorism.

But emails made public last week concerning the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used five days after the Sept. 11 assault showed State Department and other senior administration officials asking that references to terror groups and prior warnings be deleted.

The White House has insisted that it made only a "stylistic" change to the intelligence agency talking points which Rice used to suggest on five Sunday talk shows that demonstrations over an anti-Islamic video devolved into the Benghazi attack.

On Monday, Obama said the focus should be on making sure that diplomats serving around the world are adequately protected, which he acknowledged was not the case in Benghazi.

"If anybody out there wants to actually focus on how we make sure something like this doesn't happen again, I'm happy to get their advice and counsel," he said.

The two controversies largely overshadowed Obama's meeting with Cameron, which centered in large part on next steps for addressing Syria's fierce civil war. The British prime minister, whose government has been more aggressive on Syria than Obama's has, declared there was "no more urgent international task" that quelling the violence in Syria.

However, both leaders offered no indication of an imminent decision to directly send weapons to Syrian rebels or take other military action. Instead, they put their hopes in a glimmer of cooperation from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has helped keep Syrian leader Bashar Assad in power.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-13-Obama/id-e50d09f18fbe4ac8a71a9334f83605d9

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Video: Preview of BlackBerry Live

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Gates worries about escalation of Korean tension (The Arizona Republic)

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Bangladesh collapse search over; death toll 1,127

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? Nearly three weeks after a Bangladesh garment-factory building collapsed, the search for the dead is over at the site of the worst accident in the industry's history. The death toll: 1,127.

The army turned over the site to civilian officials after going about a day without finding more bodies from the April 24 collapse. Amazingly, a survivor was pulled out on Friday as some of the last of the dead were being recovered.

Bulldozers and other vehicles have been removed from the building site, which will be fenced with bamboo sticks. Red flags have been erected around the site to bar entry.

The collapse of the Rana Plaza building has focused global attention on hazardous conditions in Bangladesh's powerful garment industry.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-collapse-search-over-death-toll-1-127-122554495.html

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Tanzanian troops arrive in eastern Congo

GOMA, Congo (AP) ? A contingent of about 100 Tanzanian troops arrived in eastern Congo Saturday, a first step in assembling the new United Nations intervention brigade, said a U.N. spokesman.

The Tanzanian troops are the first batch to form the U.N. intervention brigade to be deployed in eastern Congo following a Security Council resolution in March, said peacekeeping mission spokesman Lt. Col. Felix Basse.

On March 28th, the U.N. Security Council voted a resolution that renewed the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo for one year, and created a special intervention brigade that has an aggressive mandate that allows it to fight armed groups, rather than merely defend civilians.

The intervention brigade commander arrived in Goma on the 23rd April, but troops meant to arrive by the end of April have only just started arriving in eastern Congo. The rest of the troops will arrive in stages, but no clear deadline has been given so far.

Malawi and South Africa have pledged to contribute troops to the U.N. force.

The need for an intervention force became clear in November, when the U.N. peacekeepers merely stood by as Congo's M23 rebels took the provincial capital of Goma. The rebels eventually withdrew from the city two weeks later, but the fall of Goma convinced the international community to create a brigade with a more assertive mandate to try to put an end to the turmoil in which has plagued eastern Congo for years.

But with just over 3,000 special troops to battle more than 25 armed groups in the Kivu region alone, the new U.N. brigade risks being spread too thin, say military experts. Already eastern Congo's M23 rebels are training fighters in guerrilla tactics to fight the U.N. troops.

The Congolese army, with poor discipline and lacking resources, has been unable to contain the rebels maintain order in the east. Congo's authorities have put a lot of hope that the new U.N. brigade will help solve the security crisis in the east.

"With the first Tanzanian troops landing, a new dynamic will emerge in the east. Security problems cannot be solved in one day," said Congo's prime minister, Augustin Matata Ponyo, to the Associated Press from his office in Kinshasa, Congo's capital. "The most important thing is that the government is aware of this problem and is working to solve it."

___

Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo contributed to this report from Kinshasa, Congo.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tanzanian-troops-arrive-eastern-congo-163729070.html

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