Microsoft's throwing open the doors on Xbox Live account migration worldwide for its Xbox 360 consoles, today announcing that XBL accounts are now transferable from region-to-region. That includes everything in your Gold level account: Achievements, virtual monies, Gamerscore, and that gorgeous Avatar. Previously, moving from one country to another meant walking away from the Xbox Live-based identity you'd grown so accustomed to -- a real shame, especially for folks who'd stocked up on Xbox Live Points during holiday sales (ahem). Of course, some regional restrictions still apply when you migrate your account -- some services, games, subscriptions, and other digital content disappears depending on regional availability. Microsoft may've opened its borders, but digital content license holders still won't.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given a Russian passport to the famous French movie star in what some see as part of an escalating war of words between Russia and the West.
By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / January 3, 2013
In this December 2010 file photo, then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (r.) and French actor Gerard Depardieu (l.) attend the Russian Museum, in St. Petersburg. Depardieu, the French actor who has been sparring with his native country over taxes, has been granted Russian citizenship. A brief announcement on the Kremlin website said President Putin signed the citizenship grant on Thursday, Jan. 3.
Alexei Nikolsky/RIA Novosti/AP/File
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Vladimir Putin flourished his pen Thursday morning and signed what must be the oddest decree of his long years in power: an order granting a Russian passport to French actor and tax exile Gerard Depardieu.
Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir
Correspondent
Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?
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A terse announcement posted on the Kremlin website?noted that Mr. Putin acted "to satisfy an application for citizenship of the Russian Federation by Gerard Xavier Depardieu, who was born in 1948 in France."
Mr. Depardieu, star of over 170 films and possessing what is often politely referred to as a "colorful" public personality, has been locked in a high profile battle with France's new socialist government over an emergency tax that would levy a 75 percent rate on people earning more than $1.3 million. He recently renounced his French citizenship and took up residence in Belgium, which offers a friendlier tax regime for the super-rich.
France's high court struck down the law last week as "unconstitutional," but the government announced it will soon reintroduce the measure after taking the court's concerns into account.
It's not clear whether Depardieu actually applied for residence in Russia, which has a 13 percent flat income tax for all, but in a far-ranging press conference?last month Putin declared "If G?rard really wants to have a residence permit or a Russian passport, you can consider it done, the issue solved positively."
Putin also said that he has long enjoyed "kind, friendly, personal relations" with the French actor.
Come to Chechnya
Depardieu is no stranger to Russia. He has appeared in several ad campaigns and filmed the 2011 movie Rasputin in St. Petersburg. He is also rumored to be close to Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, and was guest of honor at the pro-Kremlin leader's birthday party in Grozny last October.
Mr. Kadyrov has said that he would happily invite Depardieu to come and live permanently in Chechnya if he wanted to. "If the country's leadership decides in favor of granting Depardieu Russian citizenship, we will be glad to create deserved conditions for the great cultural figure in our republic," Kadyrov said last week.
Russia's blogosphere erupted in derision and sarcastic comment Thursday, with some people writing painfully of their own troubles with Russia's notoriously bureaucratic passport department.
One man posted on Facebook his own tale of trying for years to repatriate his own Russian-born elderly mother from next-door Belarus, but he has so far failed to move Russian authorities because her Belarussian documents show a slightly different spelling of her name than appears on her Russian birth certificate.
Part of spat with West?
Sergei Strokan, a foreign affairs columnist with the liberal Moscow daily Kommersant, says the granting of citizenship to Depardieu should be seen in context with the escalating war of words between Russia and the West. Last month President Barack Obama signed the Magnitsky Act, which aims to punish corrupt Russian officials, and Moscow responded by enacting the Dima Yakovlev Act, whose main feature is a ban on US citizens adopting Russian orphans.
"Russia is very much on the defensive right now. The vindictive nature of Russia's adoption ban has shocked not only the US, but also many in Europe and here in Russia as well," Mr. Strokan says.
"We seem to be entering into a cold war-like battle of images, in which Russia is trying to show that it offers a better life, has higher ideals, and is more friendly to humanity than the West.... ?So this may be seen as a calculated PR move, an effort to demonstrate that we understand and care for the beloved French actor more than his own homeland does," he adds.
"I can't imagine that Depardieu would actually want to live here and experience the life of Russians, though. Let's see how it goes the first time he attempts to travel with that new Russian passport."
The World Health Organization estimates that Tanzania?s maternal mortality ratio is 578 deaths per 100,000 live births. Death related to pregnancy and childbirth represents 18 percent of all deaths to women ages 15-49.
Just looking at deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth, however, doesn't give a sense for the full scope of this problem, writes Isis Gaddis, an economist with the World Bank, in a post for the blog Africa Can End Poverty. "The broader problems caused by poor reproductive health are far greater than what is suggested by these mortality statistics. For every maternal death, many more women suffer from pregnancy- or childbirth-related impairments, often with long-term negative impacts on their health and labor force participation."
A major factor behind high maternal mortality rates is "insufficient utilization of reproductive health services," according to Gaddis. The World Health Organization recommends that pregnant women visit a health care provider four times during their pregnancy for checkups. In Tanzania, however, less than 40 percent of women report at least four checkups with a health care provider while they were pregnant.
Another issue is that many births, at least 49 percent, are not attended by a skilled health care provider, according to the World Health Organization. About 15 percent of births are attended only by a traditional birth attendant while 29 percent were attended only by relatives or friends. More than 60,000 births, just over 3 percent, are delivered without any assistance.
In assessing the reasons for low access to prenatal care, Gaddis said "under-utilization of reproductive health services is related to poor accessibility and the cost associated with seeking care." The government of Tanzania spends $57 per person on health care, according to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
This means that many health expenses must be paid out of pocket. The per capita GDP in Tanzania in 2011 was $1,600, which means families live on about $4.50 per day. Women in Tanzania report paying on average $5 to deliver their babies, plus an additional fee every time they visit the doctor for prenatal checkups, according to research published in Health Policy and Planning, an academic medical journal.
But Gaddis suggests another reason why women in Tanzania may not be getting the recommended amount of prenatal care. "In 2010, only around half of the women (53 percent) who received antenatal care were informed about potential pregnancy complications. Unlike health care needs of children, which are often addressed through large-scale immunization campaigns and other ?vertical? programs, reproductive health care needs are addressed through the general health care system, which suffers from the well-known problems of weak staff incentives, poor accountability and inadequate service delivery."
The reason is the higher marginal tax rate. Because the top tax rate is going up to 39.6 percent from 36 percent on households earning more than $450,000, those households can now deduct their charitable contributions at a higher rate.
In other words, the top earners can now reduce their tax liability by 39.6 cents for every dollar donated ? rather than the 35 cents under the old rate. This results in a "7 percent decrease in the after-tax cost of giving for taxpayers in that tax bracket," according to the report.
The capital gains hike also helps. Gifts of stock, real-estate and other appreciated property will also get a boost from higher rates, since the rate for cap gains went to 20 percent from 15 percent.
But what about Pease? The Pease limitation reduces itemized deductions by 3 percent of the amount by which AGI exceeds the above thresholds, but not more than 80 percent of the total.
It sounds bad for charity. But the report says that it will have "negligible effects on the tax incentive for charitable giving" because of the higher tax rates.
Put another way, the wealthy have benefitted once again from the cliff deal. While the focus of the public debate before the cliff was the degree to which deductions would be cut for the wealthy, their charitable deduction actually became more generous.
Whether that more generous tax system results in more giving remains to be seen, of course.
Target shoppers look for Black Friday deals in Los Angeles. U.S. consumers increased their spending at retail businesses in December 2012, buying more autos, furniture and clothing. File photo.
U.S. consumers increased their spending at retail businesses in December, buying more autos, furniture and clothing. Steady job growth and lower gas prices kept consumers shopping for the holidays, despite worries about potentially tax increases.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales rose 0.5 percent in December from November, slightly better than November's 0.4 percent increase and the best showing since September.
A 1.6 percent jump in sales of autos and auto parts led all categories. Car companies closed out their best sales year since 2007.
Total retail spending was even stronger when factoring out a drop in gas prices. Excluding a 1.6 percent decline in gas station sales, retail spending increased 0.8 percent.
The December increase suggests consumers were not too worried about tense negotiations to resolve the fiscal cliff. Congress and the White House ultimately reached a deal on Jan. 1 that prevented income taxes from rising for most households.
Still, retail sales are likely to weaken in the first half of 2013 because lawmakers and President Barack Obama allowed a two-year reduction in Social Security payroll taxes to lapse. Most Americans will start seeing less money in their paychecks this month.
A person earning $50,000 a year will see take-home pay shrink by roughly $1,000 in 2013. That's likely to slow consumer spending and weigh on overall economic growth.
"Nothing in today's data does anything to dispel the notion that consumer spending the first half of 2013 should be quite weak," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG. ''The smaller paychecks will be anything but a welcome development."
The retail sales report is the government's first look at consumer spending, which drives roughly 70 percent of economic activity.
Despite the December gain, 2012 ended as the worst year for retail sales growth since the Great Recession ended more than three years ago. Retail sales rose just 5.2 percent last year. That's slower than the 7.9 percent growth in 2011 and 5.6 percent growth in 2010.
Earlier this month, major retailers reported that a last-minute surge in spending helped salvage the crucial holiday shopping season. Retails can often make as much as 40 percent of their annual revenue during the final two months of the year.
In addition to strong car sales, the government report showed consumers spent 1.4 percent more at furniture stores, 1.4 percent more at health and personal care shop, and 1 percent more at specialty clothing stores.
Sales were flat at general merchandise stores, a category that department stores such as Macy's and big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. But that followed a 0.8 percent decline in November.
The economy grew at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the July-September quarter. But most economists believe growth slowed to below 2 percent in the October-December period, in part because of expected weakness in consumer spending. Income growth remains weak, constraining the amount that consumers can devote to increased spending.
Job growth has been steady, although unemployment is still high at 7.8 percent. In December, employers added 155,000 jobs, roughly matching the monthly average in 2011 and 2012.
The economy has shown some signs of improvement. The once-battered housing market is recovering, which should lead to more construction jobs in the coming months. A gauge of U.S. service firms' business activity expanded in December by the most in nearly a year.
This morning on CNN?s Starting Point, Soledad O?Brien challenged Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) to defend his opposition to the newest Hurricane Sandy relief package despite his previous support for packages aiding his own state after natural disasters.
The Republican congressman made clear that he believes disaster relief is ?a proper and appropriate function of the government,? but that he cannot support the current Sandy relief bill because of its lack of spending offsets.
The bill is expected to come to vote in the House today. For the previous, smaller Sandy aid package, Mulvaney was one of the 67 Republicans who voted against it.
?My difficulty with [the new relief package] is simply that it is not paid for,? he explained. ?We?re borrowing this additional money and I think that?s wrong. I?m hoping we can figure out a way today during the amendment process to find savings elsewhere to pay for this without adding to the debt.?
O?Brien then challenged Mulvaney by listing all the previous disaster aid packages that did not include the financial offsets he now seeks, including one that helped his home state of South Carolina after Hurricane Hugo in 1989. She played a soundbite from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie claiming he does not expect the federal government to do any more for NJ than it did for the residents of the Gulf region after Katrina, and Joplin, Missouri, after the tornado outbreak.
?It?s a fair point,? Mulvaney responded. ?I would encourage the governor and everybody else to consider the fact in 1989, and even as late as Katrina several years ago, the debt was much, much smaller. 1989 it was $2 trillion or $3 trillion. It?s five and six times larger than that today.?
He continued: ?We cannot continue to do what we?ve done in the past. That?s how we arrived where we are. We have disasters every single year. We don?t know where they?re going to be. But we spend disaster money every single year, something for which we could budget.?
?I?m not against doing this,? he concluded, ?but I think the days of just being able to say okay let?s borrow money from China to do this and that have come and gone.?
Watch below, via CNN:
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded in two explosions that rocked the University of Aleppo in Syria's second largest city on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
State television said there had been one explosion at the university, which lies in the government-controlled area, describing it as a "terrorist attack".
Rebels have used car bombs and suicide attacks in fighting government forces and attacking government-controlled areas.
Fighting between rebels and government forces has reached a stalemate in Aleppo and left the city divided. Rebels say they control more than half the province.
State television footage showed at least one body lying on the street and several cars burning.
The second explosion reported by the Observatory, a British-based opposition monitoring group, may have been caused by a burning car, but there was no independent confirmation.
One of the university buildings was damaged. The state news agency said the explosion occurred on the first day of exams.
(Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Alison Williams)
Scientists at The University of Manchester have made a surprising finding after studying how tadpoles re-grow their tails which could have big implications for research into human healing and regeneration.
It is generally appreciated that frogs and salamanders have remarkable regenerative capacities, in contrast to mammals, including humans. For example, if a tadpole loses its tail a new one will regenerate within a week. For several years Professor Enrique Amaya and his team at The Healing Foundation Centre in the Faculty of Life Sciences have been trying to better understand the regeneration process, in the hope of eventually using this information to find new therapies that will improve the ability of humans to heal and regenerate better.
In an earlier study, Professor Amaya's group identified which genes were activated during tail regeneration. Unexpectedly, that study showed that several genes that are involved in metabolism are activated, in particular those that are linked to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) - chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen. What was unusually about those findings is that ROS are commonly believed to be harmful to cells.
Professor Amaya and his group decided to follow up on this unexpected result and their new findings will be published in the next issue of Nature Cell Biology.
To examine ROS during tail regeneration, they measured the level of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide, a common reactive oxygen species in cells) using a fluorescent molecule that changes light emission properties in the presence of H2O2. Using this advanced form of imaging, Professor Amaya and his group were able to show that a marked increase in H2O2 occurs following tail amputation and interestingly, they showed that the H2O2 levels remained elevated during the entire tail regeneration process, which lasts several days.
Talking about the research Professor Amaya says: "We were very surprised to find these high levels of ROS during tail regeneration. Traditionally, ROS have been thought to have a negative impact on cells. But in this case they seemed to be having a positive impact on tail re-growth."
To assess how vital the presence of ROS are in the regeneration process, Professor Amaya's team limited ROS production using two methods. The first was by using chemicals, including an antioxidant, and the second was by removing a gene responsible for ROS production. In both cases the regeneration process was inhibited and the tadpole tail did not grow back.
Professor Amaya says: "When we decreased ROS levels, tissue growth and regeneration failed to occur. Our research suggests that ROS are essential to initiate and sustain the regeneration response. We also found that ROS production is essential to activate Wnt signalling, which has been implicated in essentially every studied regeneration system, including those found in humans. It was also striking that our study showed that antioxidants had such a negative impact on tissue regrowth, as we are often told that antioxidants should be beneficial to health."
The publication of Professor Amaya's study comes just days after a paper from the Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, James Watson, who has suggested antioxidants could be harmful to people in the later stages of cancer.
Professor Amaya comments: "It's very interesting that two papers suggesting that antioxidants may not always be beneficial have been published recently. Our findings and those of others are leading to a reversal in our thinking about the relative beneficial versus harmful effects that oxidants and antioxidants may have on human health, and indeed that oxidants, such as ROS, may play some important beneficial roles in healing and regeneration."
The next step for the team at the Healing Foundation Centre will be to study ROS and their role in the healing and regenerative processes more closely. With a better understanding, Professor Amaya and his team hope to apply their findings to human health to identify whether manipulating ROS levels in the body could improve our ability to heal and regenerate tissues better. Thus these findings have very important implications in regenerative medicine.
###
University of Manchester: http://www.manchester.ac.uk
Thanks to University of Manchester for this article.
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Relatives pledge to continue with charity work in honor of 17-year-old Alice Pyne
A "bucket list" is what is referred to as what someone wants to do before
they "Kick the bucket," or put more simply, die. Seventeen-year-old
Alice Pyne, suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that affects the
blood, has since lost her battle - but not until she finished a long
bucket list of what she wanted to do before she died.
Realizing she had very limited time, Alice Pyne, in cap swam with sharks, went to her prom, set up her own charity and met the band Take That.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Realizing she had very limited time, Pyne swam with sharks, went to her prom, set up her own charity and met the band Take That. Parents Vicky and Simon insist they will continue fundraising on behalf of their late daughter. Her 14-year-old sister Milly is planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for charity later this year.
"It makes me happy to know, that when I'm gone, she'll carry on spreading her magic. I love you Milly," wrote Alice about her sister Milly in an entry for a competition at Knowsley Safari Park in Prescot, Merseyside.
Following Alice's death this week, her mom said "I will spend my life doing the things Alice wanted me to do - the charity, Anthony Nolan (Bone Marrow Trust) and an odd mountain or two."
Alice, diagnosed aged 13 with the disease, died with her family at her bedside. She inspired millions after publishing a "bucket list" of things she wanted to do on an Internet blog. The list went viral online and, catching media attention. She attracted support around the world to make her dreams come true.
Showing extraordinary enthusiasm and love of life, Alice, from Ulverston, Cumbria, achieved not only the goals on her bucket list -- but much more as well.
Her mother wrote on Facebook: "Our darling girl, Alice, gained her angel wings today.
"She passed away peacefully with Simon, Milly and myself by her side. We are devastated and know that our lives will never again be the same. Night Night Alice."
The top item on Alice's list was her hope that everyone in the UK would sign up as a bone marrow donor, an aspiration praised by Prime Minister David Cameron in the House of Commons. Thanks to Alice, the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity saw more than 40,000 sign up to its donor register. She also set up the charity Alice's Escapes, which helps parents with a seriously ill child go on holiday.
?Alice's full list of things to do before she died was:
-- Buy static caravan for her charity -- Actually receive BEM medal -- Go whale watching -- Visit Cadbury World -- Go to school-leaver's prom -- Stay in the Chocolate Room in Alton Towers -- Swim with sharks -- Go to Kenya -- Enter (my dog) Mabel in a Labrador show -- Photo shoot with (sister) Milly and (friends) Clarissa, Sammie and Megs -- Have a private cinema party with best friends -- Design an Emma Bridgewater Mug to sell for charity -- Stay in a caravan -- Meet Take That
All were accomplished before her passing this past weekend. ? 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.
Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
Quality of instruction trumps language in reading programs for elementary-age ELLsPublic release date: 15-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lucy Cunningham lcunningham@aera.net American Educational Research Association
WASHINGTON, January 14, 2013?New research synthesizes studies of English reading outcomes for Spanish-dominant English language learners (ELLs) in elementary schools. The review, Effective Reading Programs for Spanish-dominant English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Elementary Grades: A Synthesis of Research, appears in the December issue of Review of Educational Research, a journal of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
Conducted by Alan C. K. Cheung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Robert E. Slavin, Johns Hopkins University and the University of York, the research focuses on language of instruction and on reading approaches for ELLs. Using the language of instruction as the constant, the researchers identified 13 applicable studies and determined that outcomes for elementary-aged children taught in Spanish and transitioned to English are no different from outcomes for those taught only in English.
Multiple reading interventions proved effective. "What is in common across the most promising interventions is their use of extensive professional development, coaching, and cooperative learning," say the researchers. "The findings support a conclusion increasingly being made by researchers and policymakers concerned with optimal outcomes for ELLs and other language minority students: Quality of instruction is more important than language of instruction."
###
A toll-free link to the article is available at http://www.aera.net/Newsroom/News/tabid/10631/Default.aspx.
Article citation: Cheung, Alan C. K., and R.E. Slavin (2012). Effective Reading Programs for Spanish-dominant English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Elementary
Grades: A Synthesis of Research, Review of Educational Research, December 2012, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 351-395.
To reach AERA Communications, call (202)238-3234 or email Lucy Cunningham at (lcunningham@aera.net).
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916, AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.
[ | 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.
Quality of instruction trumps language in reading programs for elementary-age ELLsPublic release date: 15-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lucy Cunningham lcunningham@aera.net American Educational Research Association
WASHINGTON, January 14, 2013?New research synthesizes studies of English reading outcomes for Spanish-dominant English language learners (ELLs) in elementary schools. The review, Effective Reading Programs for Spanish-dominant English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Elementary Grades: A Synthesis of Research, appears in the December issue of Review of Educational Research, a journal of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
Conducted by Alan C. K. Cheung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Robert E. Slavin, Johns Hopkins University and the University of York, the research focuses on language of instruction and on reading approaches for ELLs. Using the language of instruction as the constant, the researchers identified 13 applicable studies and determined that outcomes for elementary-aged children taught in Spanish and transitioned to English are no different from outcomes for those taught only in English.
Multiple reading interventions proved effective. "What is in common across the most promising interventions is their use of extensive professional development, coaching, and cooperative learning," say the researchers. "The findings support a conclusion increasingly being made by researchers and policymakers concerned with optimal outcomes for ELLs and other language minority students: Quality of instruction is more important than language of instruction."
###
A toll-free link to the article is available at http://www.aera.net/Newsroom/News/tabid/10631/Default.aspx.
Article citation: Cheung, Alan C. K., and R.E. Slavin (2012). Effective Reading Programs for Spanish-dominant English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Elementary
Grades: A Synthesis of Research, Review of Educational Research, December 2012, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 351-395.
To reach AERA Communications, call (202)238-3234 or email Lucy Cunningham at (lcunningham@aera.net).
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916, AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.
[ | 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.
Horse DNA has been found in some beef burgers being sold in UK and Irish supermarkets, the Republic of Ireland's food safety authority (FSAI) has said.
The FSAI said the meat came from two processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in Yorkshire.
It said there was no risk to health.
The burgers were on sale in Tesco and Iceland in the UK and Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland they were on sale in Dunnes Stores, Lidl and Aldi.
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger.?
End QuoteProfessor Alan ReillyFSAI chief executive
The FSAI said the retailers stated that they were removing all implicated batches of the burgers.
A total of 27 products were analysed, with 10 of them containing horse DNA and 23 containing pig DNA.
'Unacceptable'
Horsemeat accounted for approximately 29% of the meat content in one sample from Tesco.
In addition, 31 beef meal products, including cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne, were analysed, of which 21 tested positive for pig DNA.
The chief executive of the FSAI, Professor Alan Reilly, said that while the findings posed no risk to public health, they did raise some concerns.
Irish Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney: ''There is no food safety risk"
"Whilst, there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process," he said.
"In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger," Professor Reilly added.
"Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable."
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco?
End QuoteTim SmithTesco's group technical director
The Irish Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, said he was concerned by the FSAI's findings, and had sent government vets into the factory that produced the 29% horsemeat burger to interview management.
He reassured the public that the burgers posed no health risk and added that the Republic of Ireland "probably has the best traceability and food safety in the world".
'Extremely serious'
Tesco's group technical director, Tim Smith, said his company was informed of the test results by the FSAI on Tuesday and they "immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question".
In Tesco's case, two frozen beef burger products that are sold in both the UK and Ireland were found to contain horse DNA.
In a statement, Mr Smith said: "The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco. We will not tolerate any compromise in the quality of the food we sell. The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious."
He added that Tesco was "working with the authorities in Ireland and the UK, and with the supplier concerned, to urgently understand how this has happened and how to ensure it does not happen again".
'Quality'
Iceland said it has "withdrawn from sale the two Iceland brand quarter pounder burger lines implicated in the study".
In a statement, the company said it noted the FSAI's findings "with concern" and "would be working closely with its suppliers to investigate this issue and to ensure that all Iceland brand products meet the high standards of quality and integrity that we specify and which our customers are entitled to expect".
Aldi said only one of its products - which is only on sale in the Republic of Ireland - was affected.
In a statement, Aldi Stores (Ireland) said: "Following notification this afternoon from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) of an issue in relation to our Oakhurst Beef Burgers (8 pack) we have immediately removed the product from sale and have launched an investigation into the matter."
The company said it "takes the quality of all its products extremely seriously and demands the highest standards from its suppliers".
Lidl was not immediately available for comment when contacted by the BBC.
Meanwhile, Silvercrest Foods and Dalepak both said they had never bought or traded in horse product and have launched an investigation into two continental European third party suppliers.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]... the "club kids" and students. Whether you live in Boston, plan to visit Boston, or you are moving to Boston; we'll help you locate great food, fun events, and reliable resources. ... "The hot drink provided immediate and sustained relief from symptoms of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness and tiredness, whereas the same drink at room temperature only provided relief from symptoms of runny nose, cough and sneezing. The effects of the drinks are ...
Alabama wide receiver Cyrus Jones (8) runs a play during practice at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 3.
?Hey, how?s your football team?? a University of Alabama football player asked.
?We don?t have one, but we have fields,? Barry University Associate Director of Athletics Jamie Carrig told him after practice.
For about 51 weeks of the year, Barry University?s Buccaneer Field serves as a training facility for its Division II soccer athletes.
But last week, the small, private Catholic university seven miles north of downtown Miami converted its soccer field into a practice facility for now back-to-back college football national champion the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Barry has played host to many national collegiate programs in the last 18 years, as a practice facility for one of the two annual Orange Bowl teams. The university also welcomes one of the teams competing for the national championship when it is held in South Florida.
Barry University Director of Athletics Michael Covone serves on the Orange Bowl Committee and has been with Barry since it launched intercollegiate athletics in 1984.
All of the local university athletic directors serve on the committee, but what makes Barry unique is its lack of a football team, as reported by USA TODAY. Covone said that because schools like the University of Miami and Florida International University may be competing in bowl games, their fields may be off limits. But Buccaneer Field is a ?guaranteed facility.?
?It?s quite a unique situation,? he said.
In college football alone, Buccaneer Field has welcomed the likes of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, as well as notable coaches Bobby Bowden and Jim Harbaugh. The multi-use facility has also hosted international soccer teams from Haiti to Switzerland.
Grounds manager J. David Mace said that it is all about ?maintaining the turf.? During the winter months, the field is seeded with rye, which makes the Bermuda grass lusher.
Courtesy of Barry University
A remodeled Buccaneer Field is in place for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama practiced here before beating Notre Dame 42-14 in the BCS National Championship game in Miami Gardens, Fla. on January 8, 2013.
Barry students benefit as well. Unlike universities that have separate recreational fields for campus events, Buccaneer Field is available for activities such as intramural soccer and flag football.
?It?s almost like a little well-kept secret,? Director of Campus Recreation and Wellness Ed Londono said. ?When these students come out there, they?re playing on these well-groomed fields that are being shared by some of the most amazing athletes on the planet.?
Connor Randel, 20, is a junior accounting major from Shreveport, La. As a member of Barry?s men?s soccer team, he often brags to his friends back home about playing on the field.
?I brag about Miami. The weather ? that?s one thing,? he said. ?But then I love to talk about how there is so much history here. They?re jealous.?
On one occasion, the U.S. national soccer team, practicing before a World Cup qualifier in 2009, needed two goalkeepers. They called on then men?s soccer assistant coach Chris Rich to help for a few days.
Rich went on to practice with the team for a week, sharing the goal post with lead goalkeeper Tim Howard.
?It was just a fantastic experience playing with your country?s best,? said Rich, now the assistant men?s soccer coach at Virginia Tech.
Barry is no stranger to national recognition. Its own athletes have won nine national championships across four sports, most recently women?s tennis in 2011.
Covone said Barry is where national champions play and world champions train.
?It?s a joy,? he said. ?We want to be included with the best.?
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Public release date: 15-Jan-2013
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