– Hundreds of people are missing, more than 6,000 have been left homeless, and an unknown number are thought dead after a portion of a still-under-construction hydroelectric dam in Laos' Attapeu province reportedly collapsed Monday night, per the AP. The country's KPL news agency, via the BBC, reports that the collapse of an auxiliary dam attached to the main Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam led to flash floods in the southeastern Laos province, sending locals to the roofs of their houses and boats out to rescue survivors. The New York Times notes that 175 billion cubic feet of water gushed out and flooded the area; Sky News notes that's about the amount that would fill 2 million Olympic-size swimming pools. The dam, which was on schedule to open in 2019, is a joint project run by two South Korean companies, including SK Engineering and Construction, as well as Thai and Lao lenders. An SK E&C official quoted by the Yonhap news agency says a deluge of rain that's about three times more than usual had flooded the auxiliary dam. Yonhap says officials are still trying to figure out if the dam overflowed or simply gave way. The dam in Laos, one of Asia's most poverty-stricken nations, was set to bring in billions of dollars for the country by helping to generate electricity that would mostly be exported to Thailand.

Expand this summary.

BANGKOK (AP) — A hydroelectric dam collapsed in southeastern Laos, leaving an unknown number of people dead and hundreds missing, state media said Tuesday. Rescue efforts were underway as top government officials rushed to the site and public appeals were launched for aid.

 The official Lao news agency KPL said the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam in Attapeu province collapsed Monday evening, releasing large amounts of water that swept away houses and made more than 6,600 people homeless.

 The dam was constructed by a joint venture led by South Korean companies, with Thai and Lao partners. The project was still under construction, KPL reported. It described the portion that collapsed as a "saddle dam," which is an auxiliary dam used to hold water beyond what is held by the main dam.

 Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith "suspended the planned monthly meeting of the government for August and led his Cabinet members and other senior officials to Sanamxay (district) to monitor rescue and relief efforts being made for flood victims," KPL said. Many areas of Laos have recently been hit by floods from heavy seasonal rains.

 Provincial authorities issued a call for emergency aid — clothing, food, drinking water, medicine, cash and other items — from the "party, government organizations, business community, officials, police and military forces and people of all strata."

 Laos, one of the poorest countries in Asia, has transitioned from communism to a market economy but remains a single-party state where freedoms are limited. There is virtually no freedom of the press, and foreign reporters who visit operate under tight restrictions, limiting the flow of information.

 Electricity from several hydroelectric dams provides a large share of Laos' export earnings, with Thailand being a major buyer.

 KPL said the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy project cost an estimated $1.02 billion.

 According to the website of the company that built and runs the dam, it is majority-owned by two South Korean companies, SK Engineering and Construction and Korea Western Power. Most of the financing for the project came from Thai lenders. The Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Co. Ltd of Thailand holds a 25 percent stake and the Lao Holding State Enterprise holds 24 percent.

 The dam was built to divert the Houay Makchanh, Xe-Namnoy and Xe-Pian rivers into reservoirs that feed into a 410-megawatt power plant designed to generate 1,879 gigawatts of power a year, with 90 percent of the power being exported to Thailand and the remaining 10 percent used locally. The project is a 27-year concession and was due to begin operating in 2019, a year later than originally planned.

 The project is on a volcanic plateau divided by a river gorge and the catchment area accounts for 17 percent of the Mekong river's annual flow.

 According to assessment documents, about 30 villages were affected by the project with more than 2,000 people in eight villages resettled. Roughly 10,000 people live in the affected area, with most belonging to ethnic minorities.

 The project was supposed to be a cash cow for SK E&C for years. The company is part of the SK Group, one of South Korea's top three conglomerates. Its units include SK Hynix, the world's second-largest chipmaker, and SK Telecom, South Korea's largest telecom carrier.

 Thailand was to receive a stable supply of electricity while Laos was supposed to receive taxes, royalties and other income estimated at $33 billion per year.

 South Korea's Yonhap News agency said SK E&C has dispatched its president to Laos and has set up an emergency team in Seoul. SK E&C did not respond to several calls seeking comment.

 Yonhap said SK E&C was still trying to find out whether water had overflowed the dam or if the dam had collapsed.

 Yonhap quoted an unidentified SK E&C official as saying rain in the area was three times more than the usual amount, and that one of five auxiliary dams had overflowed.

 It said SK E&C is focusing on the rescue operation, using boats and other equipment to search for missing people.

 ___

 Lee reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul contributed to this report. ||||| At least 19 people have died and dozens are missing in Laos after a hydropower dam under construction collapsed.

 Laos News Agency reports that the accident in the southeastern province of Attapeu has released five billion cubic metres of water, enough to fill more than two million Olympic swimming pools.

 Boats have been brought in to help evacuate people as water levels rise, according to ABC Laos news, with reports the flash flooding has left more than 6,000 people homeless in six villages in the southeast Asian country.

 A video posted on the network's Facebook page shows villagers watching the fast-flowing water from the side of a river bank.

 Image: The Red Cross said the disaster has 'caught everyone unawares'

 The portion of the dam that collapsed on Monday is reported to be a "saddle dam", an auxiliary structure used to hold water beyond what is held by the main dam.

 A spokesman for the one of the companies involved in the project said heavy rain and flooding caused the collapse. He said the firm was co-operating with the government to rescue villagers.

 "We do not have any formal information yet about any casualties or how many are missing," an Attapeu official told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity, adding that there was no phone signal in the region.

 "We sent rescue teams who will help them and provide basic assistance first," the official added.

 Image: Villagers carry their belongings as they evacuate in the wake of the collapse

 The Red Cross has staff and volunteers on the ground helping with the response to the disaster, with the organisation saying it has "caught everyone unawares".

 The $1.2bn (£915m) dam is part of a project by Xe-Pian-Xe Namnoy Power Company, a joint venture which is also known as PNPC.

 A number of companies are involved, including Thailand's Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, South Korea's Korea Western Power and the state-run Lao Holding State Enterprise.

 South Korea said 53 of its nationals were taking part in the construction and were evacuated in advance of the collapse.

 The 410 megawatt capacity dam, close to the border with Cambodia, was meant to begin commercial operations by 2019.

 Image: A computer-generated image of a dam being built in Laos by Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Company

 It was to form part of a series of dams over the Houay Makchanh, the Xe-Namnoy and the Xe-Pian rivers in neighbouring Champasack province.

 The plan was to export 90% of the electricity generated to Thailand, with the rest offered up on the local grid.

 Environmental groups have long voiced fears about hydropower ambitions in impoverished and landlocked Laos, with around 10 dams in operation, another 10 to 20 under construction and dozens more in the planning stages.

 In particular, concerns have been raised about the impact on the Mekong River, its flora and fauna and the communities that depend on it for their livelihoods.

 As well as disquiet within Laos, several neighbouring nations are worried its ambition to become the "battery of southeast Asia" will disrupt vital ecosystems and their own river systems. |||||


A week ago, prosecutors in Tulare County charged DeAngelo with the murder of Claude Snelling in his Visalia backyard in 1975. Snelling’s daughter, Elizabeth Hupp, told police that she was sleeping when a man in a ski mask entered her bedroom and forced her to move in silence to the backyard. Snelling saw his daughter from the kitchen window and confronted the masked man, who shot him twice then ran off without the girl. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO — Prosecutors from six counties in California announced Tuesday that they were combining their cases against the man suspected of being the Golden State Killer, joining forces on charges of 13 counts of murder against Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., who was arrested in a Sacramento suburb in April.

 The case, which also includes multiple kidnapping and weapons charges, will be tried in Sacramento, the district attorneys announced.

 “It is very fitting that this journey for justice that has been sought for over 40 years ends in Sacramento,” said Anne Marie Schubert, the district attorney for Sacramento County, at a media briefing held in Orange County. The trial, she said, would bring to an end “probably the most notorious unsolved serial-rape killing in California history.” ||||| The suspected "Golden State Killer," accused of murders across California, will be prosecuted in one combined trial in Sacramento, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

 Joseph DeAngelo, a 72-year-old former police officer, was arrested this April, following decades in which California law enforcement officers were stumped by what became known as the "Golden State Killer" case.

 Sacramento Police Department

 An amended complaint filed Tuesday morning in Sacramento alleges crimes including 13 counts of murder, spanning six jurisdictions in the northern, central and southern parts of the state, prosecutors said at Tuesday's news conference.

 The unified prosecutors said they are committed to delivering justice for the victims and their loves ones in the single jurisdiction.

 "We stand united" on "team justice," Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said Tuesday.

 DeAngelo is in custody in Sacramento County and has not entered a plea.

 He will be arraigned on the amended complaint on Thursday, Schubert said.

 The "Golden State Killer" was believed to have committed a string of murders, rapes and home burglaries throughout California in the 1970s and 1980s, with the last known crime in 1986.

 But no arrest was made for decades.

 Courtesy FBI

 In the early 2000s, investigators obtained the unknown killer's DNA at one crime scene: The murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith, who were bludgeoned to death at their Ventura County home in 1980.

 Investigators then started reviewing rape kits -- which contained DNA samples from victims -- in other jurisdictions, prosecutors said.

 FBI via AP

 This year, investigators plugged the mystery killer's DNA into a genealogy database.

 Based on the pool of people on the genealogy website, investigators were then able to build a family tree of the unknown killer’s relatives, who had submitted their DNA to the database on their own.

 Investigators narrowed the search based on age, location and other characteristics, leading them to DeAngelo.

 Authorities conducted surveillance on DeAngelo and collected his DNA from a tissue left in a trash. Investigators plugged his discarded DNA back into the genealogy database and found a match, linking DeAngelo's DNA to evidence gathered at multiple crime scenes, prosecutors said. |||||

Write a summary.

– Charges are piling up for Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., the suspected Golden State Killer. In addition to 13 counts of murder, DeAngelo will face 13 charges of kidnapping to commit robbery, prosecutors announced Tuesday. The 72-year-old will be tried in Sacramento County, the Los Angeles Times reports. The announcement of the new charges and trial venue were made during a press conference in Orange County. Prosecutors from Contra Costa, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura counties—all jurisdictions where DeAngelo allegedly committed crimes—were also on hand. DeAngelo, a former police officer, is believed to be responsible for a series of murders, rapes, and burglaries committed decades ago. He was arrested in April. The prosecutors from Northern, Central, and Southern California "stand united" on "team justice," Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert said, according to ABC. If convicted, DeAngelo, who is being held in Sacramento and has yet to enter a plea, is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not decided whether to pursue it, per the LA Times. He will be arraigned on all of the charges on Thursday, reports the New York Times, which notes that it is unusual for charges from so many jurisdictions to be tried at a single trial.


David Oliver Relin, a journalist and adventurer who achieved acclaim as co-author of the best seller “Three Cups of Tea” (2006) and then suffered emotionally and financially as basic facts in the book were called into question, died Nov. 15 in Multnomah County, Ore. He was 49.

 His family said Mr. Relin “suffered from depression” and took his own life. The family, speaking through Mr. Relin’s agent, Jin Auh, was unwilling to give further details, but said a police statement would be released this week.

 In the 1990s, Mr. Relin established himself as a journalist with an interest in telling “humanitarian” stories about people in need in articles about child soldiers and about his travels in Vietnam.

 “He felt his causes passionately,” said Lee Kravitz, the former editor of Parade who hired Mr. Relin at various magazines over the years. “He especially cared about young people. I always assigned him to stories that would inspire people to take action to improve their lives.”

 So it made sense when Viking books tapped him to write a book about Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber who had an inspiring story about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

 Elizabeth Kaplan, the agent for the book, acknowledged that the relationship between the two men was difficult from the start. Mr. Mortenson, who was traveling to remote areas, could be hard to track down, and Mr. Relin spoke publicly about how Mr. Mortenson should not have been named a co-author. Still, the book was a huge success, selling more than four million copies.

 Some readers, however, found details of the heartwarming tale suspicious. In 2011, the CBS News program “60 Minutes” and the best-selling author Jon Krakauer in an e-book called “Three Cups of Deceit” questioned major points in the book. This included a crucial opening anecdote about Mr. Mortenson’s being rescued by the townspeople of Korphe, Pakistan, after stumbling down a mountain when he was dehydrated and exhausted. It was their care and concern, the book said, that inspired Mr. Mortenson to build schools.

 The reports also said some of the schools that Mr. Mortenson’s charity, the Central Asia Institute, said it had established either did not exist or were built by others. There were also charges that the institute had been mismanaging funds and that a substantial portion of the money it raised had been used to promote the book, not for schools.

 Mr. Mortenson acknowledged that some of the details in the book were wrong. Mr. Relin did not speak publicly about the charges, but he hired a lawyer to defend himself in a federal lawsuit that accused the authors and the publisher of defrauding readers. The suit was dismissed this year.

 In April, the Montana Attorney General’s office announced that Mr. Mortenson had agreed to repay the charity more than $1 million in travel and other expenses used to promote the book, including “inappropriate personal charges.”

 David Oliver Relin was born on Dec. 12, 1962, in Rochester to Lloyd and Marjorie Relin. His father died when he was young. Mr. Relin graduated from Vassar College in 1985, and was later awarded a fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

 In addition to his mother, he is survived by his wife, Dawn; his stepfather, Cary Ratcliff; and his sisters Rachel Relin and Jennifer Cherelin.

 Mr. Relin had completed a new book on two doctors working to cure cataract-related blindness in the developing world. It is scheduled for publication by Random House in spring 2013. ||||| David Oliver Relin's family said that Relin was hurt, emotionally and financially, by the controversy over fabrications in 'Three Cups of Tea,' the book he co-authored with Greg Mortenson.

 This is Lizard Squad, the nebulous hacker group now tied to the Sony hack

 David Oliver Relin recently finished a book – scheduled for publication this spring – about two doctors who are working to cure cataract-related blindness in the developing world.

 More sad news to report on “Three Cups of Tea": David Oliver Relin, the journalist and author who became famous as the co-author, with Greg Mortenson, of “Three Cups of Tea,” died Nov. 15 near Portland, Oregon of an apparent suicide. He was 49.

 Relin’s family said the author suffered from depression and was hurt, emotionally and financially, when controversy arose over fabrications in “Three Cups of Tea,” which recounted how former mountain climber Mortenson started building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan through his charity.

 The book’s accuracy was called into question last year when a "60 Minutes program" reported on its numerous fabrications as well as financial discrepancies in Mortenson’s charity, both of which were detailed by author Jon Krakauer in his book, “Three Cups of Deceit.”

 Mortenson denied wrongdoing, though he acknowledged that some of the events in the book were compressed for storytelling purposes. Relin did not respond publicly to criticism, though he did hire a lawyer to defend himself in a federal lawsuit that accused the authors and publisher of defrauding readers. The suit was dismissed earlier this year.

 Ironically, the very assignment that shot Relin to fame – “Three Cups of Tea” would go on to sell 4 million copies and draw widespread support for Mortenson’s Central Asia Institute – also brought him much grief and may have led to his eventual downfall.

 From the start, Relin spoke publicly about how Mortenson, who was often unreachable traveling in remote areas, should not have been named a co-author. Elizabeth Kaplan, the agent for the book, told the New York Times that the relationship between the co-authors was difficult from the start.

 The legal, emotional, and financial difficulties that followed allegations of fabrications further damaged Relin, who already suffered from depression.

 Relin had established himself in the 1990s as a journalist specializing in humanitarian stories about people in need. It appeared he had tried to move on from the “Three Cups” controversy; Relin had completed a new book on two doctors who are working to cure cataract-related blindness in the developing world, scheduled for publication by Random House in spring 2013.

 He is survived by his wife, Dawn; his stepfather Cary Ratcliff; and his sisters Rachel Relin and Jennifer Cherelin.

 Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent. |||||

Write a summary.

– Looks like David Oliver Relin's grief over Three Cups of Tea may have led to his suicide. Relin, who co-authored the book, was suffering from depression and experienced financial and emotional strain over allegations that the book contained lies, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Relin didn't deny the accusations publicly, but did hire a lawyer to defend against a lawsuit that claimed Relin and co-author Greg Mortenson had defrauded readers. A judge threw out the lawsuit last year. But Relin and Mortenson always had a strained relationship, and Relin never thought Mortenson deserved co-author credit, reports the New York Times. Last year, reports emerged that the authors had fabricated elements of the book, like an opening anecdote about Mortenson being rescued by villagers in Pakistan. Despite all this, NPR reports that Relin has a new book coming out next year: Second Suns, Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives, about doctors who perform cataract surgery in Third World countries.


Article:
Enlarge image Egypt Holds Final Round of Vote as Mubarak Faces Prosecutors Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images Egyptian men walk past electoral posters plastered on a wall on Jan. 2, 2012 in al-Arish, Egypt. Enlarge image Egypt Holds Final Round of Voting Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images Electoral banners hang in an old market in Sharm El Sheikh, ahead of the third phase of voting in Egypt's parliamentary elections. Enlarge image Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak AFP/Getty Images Hosni Mubarak, former Egyptian president, lies on a stretcher as he leaves court following his trial at police academy, on the outskirts of Cairo.

 Egyptians voted in the third round of parliamentary elections today as prosecutors began their case in the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak by describing him as a “tyrant” responsible for violence and oppression.

 The final stage of the vote, the first since Mubarak was ousted in February, covers nine provinces including the North and South Sinai governorates. Islamist groups are expected to consolidate the gains they made in earlier rounds, in which the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party took the lead ahead of the more conservative Nour party, which represents Salafi Muslims.

 “The third phase will not change much the nature of the upcoming parliament,” Nabil Abdel Fattah, director of the Al- Ahram Center for Social and Historic Studies in Cairo, said in a telephone interview. “It will likely underline the control of Islamists.”

 The election and Mubarak’s trial, which resumed last week after a two-month hiatus, take place amid growing opposition to the ruling generals, who say they won’t cede power before presidential elections are held by the end of June. It’s unclear what powers the elected assembly, due to hold its first session on Jan. 23, will have and how a new government will be formed.

 Clashes in Cairo last month between security forces and demonstrators calling for an earlier end to military rule left at least 17 people dead. Protesters are preparing to take to the streets on Jan. 25 to mark the anniversary of the mass rallies that drove Mubarak from power.

 Slowing Growth

 “The new parliament will witness political struggles between the military council, the Brotherhood and Salafis, and the revolutionary forces,” said Abdel Fattah.

 Economic growth has slowed as the unrest deters tourists and investors. Foreign-currency reserves declined by 44 percent to $20.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2011. The benchmark EGX 30 stock index (EGX) lost 49 percent last year, making it the third-worst performer among world markets tracked by Bloomberg.

 About 14 million voters are eligible to vote in this round, and 150 parliamentary seats are up for grabs. In Minya, one of the provinces where balloting is being held today, Mina Magdy, a Christian, said gains by Islamists in previous rounds encouraged him to vote for the secular Egyptian Bloc alliance.

 “We’re trying to balance things out,” he said. “We want more liberals in parliament.”

 The court trying Mubarak adjourned until tomorrow, state television reported. It showed Mubarak carried on a gurney to and from the makeshift courtroom in a police academy.

 ‘Oppression and Violence’

 Prosecutor Moustafa Soliman told the court Mubarak was a “tyrant” who sought to install his son, Gamal, in his place, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. His trial is a reminder to future rulers that they will be held accountable for breaking the law, the prosecutor said.

 Mubarak allowed former Interior Minister Habib el-Adli to “practice oppression and violence against Egyptians so he could remain in office,” Soliman said, according to MENA. Police seeking to block protesters from reaching Cairo’s Tahrir Square targeted their heads and chests, and some were run over by police vehicles, he said.

 Prosecution arguments against the former president, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and conspiring to kill protesters, will continue over the next two days, state television said. At least 846 people were killed during the revolt.

 Gamal Mubarak and the former president’s other son, Alaa, are facing corruption charges, and el-Adli and six of his aides are also on trial.

 To contact the reporter on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net.

 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Louis Meixler at lmeixler@bloomberg.net.

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 CAIRO — The Muslim Brotherhood worked to stretch its lead Tuesday as Egyptians returned to the polls in the final phase of the first parliamentary elections since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak and prosecutors asked a court to deliver “the harshest penalty” against him.

 As the polls opened, some analysts suggested that the party founded by the Brotherhood, Egypt’s mainstream Islamist group and best-organized political force, could come away with a clean majority of the seats in the full Parliament instead of the plurality indicated by previous results.

 Some estimates indicated that the Brotherhood’s party, Freedom and Justice, started the day with nearly 50 percent of the seats awarded in the first two rounds of the vote. It won roughly 40 percent of the seats allocated by party voting, and a higher percentage of the seats contested by individual candidates. And the final nine governorates voting on Tuesday included the historic Brotherhood strongholds of Gharbiya and Daqahliyya in the Delta, where a number of the group’s best known candidates are running, including the former member of Parliament Mohamed Beltaggi.

 Final results remain uncertain, in part because Egypt’s military rulers have yet to spell out the formula that will be used to allocate seats among parties according to their share of the vote.

 In an interview Tuesday, Essam el-Erian, a Freedom and Justice leader who was elected to parliament from Giza, said he still doubted the party would win more than half the seats.

 “Nothing is impossible but it would be very difficult,” he said.

 Still, the Brotherhood has played down its electoral strength before. In the weeks after Mr. Mubarak’s exit last February its leaders suggested that the Brotherhood would seek only a third of the seats in the next Parliament and it is not contesting most of them and expecting to win at least 40 percent.

 The Brotherhood has said repeatedly that it intends to form a coalition or unity government, in part to avoid unnerving Egyptian liberals or Westerners who may fear an Islamist takeover. It may also wish to share the responsibility for what is expected to be a difficult period of adjustment for the Egyptian state and economy.

 But winning a clear majority would enable the Brotherhood’s party, if it chose, to govern without forming a coalition. And removing the necessity of such a coalition government would diminish the power of the partners in any alliance as well as any other parties outside the coalition.

 That would reduce the clout of the ultraconservative Islamists who have so far come in second-place in the first two rounds of the voting, winning as much as 25 percent of the seats by most estimates. And it would also reduce the voice of the various liberal parties, led by the business-friendly Free Egyptians and the left-leaning Social Democrats, who have won most of the remainder of the seats.

 The Brotherhood has so far sought to ally itself with the liberals rather than the most conservative Islamists and it has reiterated that it has no plans to form an all-Islamist government. The strength of the ultraconservatives, known as Salafis, has been the biggest surprise of the voting so far. Many espouse hard-line views seeking sharp reductions in the sale of alcohol, opposing women’s participation in political leadership or public life, and potentially restricting arts and popular culture deemed profane or sacrilegious.

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 Tuesday’s voting also sets up an potential confrontation between the new Parliament and Egypt’s military rulers. Brotherhood leaders have said they expect the Parliament to take authority over the hiring and firing of a prime minister to run the interim government. The military rulers have said they intend to retain that authority and allocate very little power to the Parliament.

 The lower house of Parliament is Egypt’s primarily legislative body, and Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the top military officer who is now acting as de facto chief executive, has scheduled its first session for Jan. 23, two days before the anniversary of the outbreak of protests that ousted Mr. Mubarak.

 With the same anniversary looming over Mr. Mubarak’s trial, prosecutors began to lay out their case that he was culpable for the hundreds of people killed by security forces during the 18 days of protests that ended his rule. Human rights lawyers representing those killed in the shooting have complained with growing alarm that the prosecution has failed to push hard enough or marshal a strong enough case to win a conviction.

 On Tuesday the prosecutor appeared to argue for Mr. Mubarak’s punishment with new vigor.

 “He deserves an end of humiliation and indignity — from the presidential palace to the defendants’ cage and then the harshest penalty,” the prosecutor, Mustafa Suleiman, told the court, according to a report from a journalist from The Associated Press inside the courtroom. (The authorities have strictly limited access.)

 Witnesses said he spoke with his back turned to Mr. Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, who were corralled in the metal cage that is the standard docket in Egyptian criminal courts. All three face charges of using official positions to enrich themselves.

 In laying out his case that Mr. Mubarak was responsible for the deaths of demonstrators, the prosecutor also focused attention on Gamal Mubarak, who had become an important powerbroker in the ruling party and his father’s heir apparent before the revolution. The notion of hereditary success was to many Egyptians an outrage too great to bear, just as similar schemes to pass power within a ruling family have apparently proven too much for the citizens of Tunisia, Libya and Syria as well.

 “Here we have a president who devoted the last decade of his rule to engineer something that no one in Egypt ever dared to do before — the succession of his son,” said the prosecutor declared, according to a report from The A.P.

 Mr. Mubarak was once again wheeled into the court room on a hospital gurney, his head resting on a pillow, and remained prone for what his lawyers have said were health reasons. ||||| The chief prosecutor in Hosni Mubarak's trial accused the ousted Egyptian leader on Tuesday of imposing "tyrannical rule" and devoting the last 10 years of his three decades in power to ensure his son would succeed him.

 Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is wheeled into a court house in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. The trial of Hosni Mubarak has resumed amid speculation that a recent acquittal of policemen... (Associated Press)

 Gamal Mubarak, son of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, arrives at a court house in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. On trial with Mubarak are his two sons, Gamal, his one-time heir apparent,... (Associated Press)

 Mustafa Suleiman's comments came in the first of three days in which the prosecution will state its case against Mubarak and 10 other defendants, including his two sons, his security chief and a close associate of the ousted leader who is now a fugitive.

 The trial began Aug. 3 but has been bogged down in procedural matters, including a demand by lawyers representing the victims that the presiding Judge Ahmed Rifaat be removed. That request alone took a separate court about three months to rule on and was eventually denied.

 Mubarak is charged with complicity in the killing of more than 800 protesters in the crackdown on a popular uprising that forced him out of office on Feb. 11. The two sons, Alaa and one-time heir apparent Gamal, face corruption charges in the same case.

 With his back to the defendants' cage, Suleiman delivered a scathing critique of Mubarak's rule, branding the 83-year-old a corrupt man whose lust for power will for ever tarnish his legacy.

 "He deserves an end of humiliation and indignity _ from the presidential palace to the defendants' cage and then the harshest penalty," said Suleiman, whose hour-long comments mesmerized the courtroom, set up at a police academy that once bore the former leader's name.

 He said the corruption of Mubarak's regime peaked shortly before the anti-Mubarak uprising broke out in January last year, when authorities engineered what is widely viewed as the most fraudulent parliamentary election seen in Egypt since the army seized power in a 1952 coup. Mubarak's ruling party won all but a handful seats in the November-December vote in what Suleiman described as part of a strategy to succession.

 A banker-turned-politician, Gamal began his climb to power in 2000. By the time the 18-day uprising broke out on Jan. 25, he was effectively in charge of the Cabinet and the ruling party, wielding more powers than the prime minister.

 "Here we have a president who devoted the last decade of his rule to engineer something that no one in Egypt ever dared to do before _ the succession of his son," said the prosecutor.

 Mubarak could face the death penalty if convicted of complicity in the killing the protesters.

 Mubarak was succeeded by military generals beholden to the former leader for their ascent through the military ranks. They are led by a general who served Mubarak for 20 years as defense minister. Many within the protest movement believe Mubarak and his two sons were only arrested and put on trial under pressure from a series of massive protests to demand that the three be held accountable.

 While the two sons are held in a prison south of Cairo along with nearly 40 stalwarts of the toppled regime, Mubarak has since his arrest in April been held in hospital under custody.

 (This version CORRECTS Updates with details, adds byline, links photos, corrects that Suleiman is the trial's chief prosecutor, not Egypt's.) |||||Summary:

– The final round of voting began in Egypt today, and it looks like the Muslim Brotherhood could walk off with a controlling majority of seats in Parliament's lower house. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, the country's mainstream Islamist party, had already won a high percentage of the seats awarded in the first and second rounds of voting. Two of the nine provinces voting today are Brotherhood strongholds, where some of the party's most well-known candidates are running, the New York Times reports. A plurality, not a majority, was originally predicted for the Freedom and Justice Party. A majority would allow the party to govern alone, but the Brotherhood has repeatedly said it plans to form a coalition government, and has aligned itself with more liberal parties rather than the ultraconservative Salafis, who are in second place with up to 25% of the seats so far. Also today, prosecutors began presenting their case against former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Bloomberg notes. His trial resumed last week after a two-month break; state TV today showed Mubarak being carried to and from the courtroom on a gurney. "He deserves an end of humiliation and indignity," said the chief prosecutor, according to the AP.


Article:
0 Concord mother attacked by shark: 'He had my whole arm in his mouth'

 CONCORD, N.C. - A mother of three in Concord is now a shark attack survivor, and she said she hopes her story will inspire others.

 “I’ll have another chance,” Tiffany Johnson said. “I’m just so thankful. I’m thankful to be here.”

 Tiffany and her husband James were on the last stop of a cruise last week in the Bahamas when they decided to go snorkeling in a shallow reef. Tiffany said she felt a bump from behind.

 (Photo courtesy: Tiffany and James Johnson)

 “I wasn’t in pain, it just felt like I had bumped into something so I just casually turned to my right to look to see and that’s when I was face to face with the shark,” Tiffany said. “He had my whole arm in his mouth and he was just floating there, just staring at me.”

 Tiffany said she tried to pull her arm out, but the shark clamped down and they struggled for a couple of minutes before she got away.

 “I kept trying to yank my hand back and the last time I yanked he had cut it clean off so I was able to actually get free,” Tiffany said.

 James heard her screams and jumped in to help. Meanwhile, Tiffany said she was already praying.

 “I felt this tangible peace on me and it was so thick, that I was just calm,” Tiffany said.

 Doctors in the Bahamas were able to stop the bleeding, but issues with passports and customs had the Johnson’s stuck in the Bahamas.

 A Medevac flight to Carolinas Medical Center would cost $16,000 out of pocket. But with no guarantees insurance would pay for it, the Medevac company called and agreed to pick up the cost.

 “He hung up the phone and we just started weeping,” said the Johnsons.

 “I’m thankful to be able to share this story and I hope, and I know, that it’s going to change people’s lives because you can’t hear this story and not see God in it,” Tiffany said.

 Tiffany will have another surgery Friday to prepare the arm for a prosthetic.

 Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:

 © 2018 Cox Media Group. ||||| She said that the shark held on to her for a few minutes before completely severing part of her limb, but that she survived after being given "supernatural God-given strength" and her husband jumped into the water to help. ||||| Hey Everyone..

 For those who may not know, JJ and Tiffany Johnson were recently on a Caribbean Cruise at the end of May, beginning of June.

 On Friday, June 2nd, they were on a snorkeling excursion in the Bahamas where Tiffany was attacked by a shark. This incident proceeded with the loss of her hand and part of her arm.

 We serve a Big God and He has been working in and through Tiffany and JJ during this unfathomable accident.

 During this time they have been flown from Nassau back to The States where Tiffany has undergone multiple surgeries and has been assessed by a prostethic team in her local area.

 Doctor's continue to provide overexceedingly good reports--highly favored by God!

 This is a time of transition for The Johnson Family so I encourage you to take this opporunity and lift them up in prayer, and if able financially bless them--this will contribute to relieve some of their medical expenses.

 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful"

 Hebrews 10:23

 Share Tweet 3.2k shares on Facebook shares on Facebook |||||Summary:

– While snorkeling on vacation in the Bahamas, a North Carolina woman survived a terrifying ordeal when she encountered the one creature most swimmers never hope to see up close: a shark. Tiffany Johnson, 32, was snorkeling with her husband, reports the NY Daily News, when she felt something bump her from behind. When she turned around, she saw what is believed to be a tiger shark, which promptly clamped onto her limb, biting off part of the mother of three’s arm. “He had my whole arm in his mouth, and he was just floating there staring at me,” she says in an interview with WSOC. Her husband jumped into the water to help after hearing her screams. "I kept trying to yank my hand back and the last time I yanked he had cut it clean off so I was able to actually get free," she says of the June 2 ordeal. A GoFundMe page has raised more than $18,000 to help with Johnson's medical expenses.


Abstract CONTEXT: Swaddling is a traditional practice of wrapping infants to promote calming and sleep. Although the benefits and risks of swaddling in general have been studied, the practice in relation to sudden infant death syndrome remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to conduct an individual-level meta-analysis of sudden infant death syndrome risk for infants swaddled for sleep. DATA SOURCES: Additional data on sleeping position and age were provided by authors of included studies. STUDY SELECTION: Observational studies that measured swaddling for the last or reference sleep were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Of 283 articles screened, 4 studies met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: There was significant heterogeneity among studies (I2 = 65.5%; P = .03), and a random effects model was therefore used for analysis. The overall age-adjusted pooled odds ratio (OR) for swaddling in all 4 studies was 1.58 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97–2.58). Removing the most recent study conducted in the United Kingdom reduced the heterogeneity (I2 = 28.2%; P = .25) and provided a pooled OR (using a fixed effects model) of 1.38 (95% CI, 1.05–1.80). Swaddling risk varied according to position placed for sleep; the risk was highest for prone sleeping (OR, 12.99 [95% CI, 4.14–40.77]), followed by side sleeping (OR, 3.16 [95% CI, 2.08–4.81]) and supine sleeping (OR, 1.93 [95% CI, 1.27–2.93]). Limited evidence suggested swaddling risk increased with infant age and was associated with a twofold risk for infants aged >6 months. LIMITATIONS: Heterogeneity among the few studies available, imprecise definitions of swaddling, and difficulties controlling for further known risks make interpretation difficult. CONCLUSIONS: Current advice to avoid front or side positions for sleep especially applies to infants who are swaddled. Consideration should be given to an age after which swaddling should be discouraged.

 Swaddling is defined as close wrapping of an infant, usually with a light cloth and the head exposed, although swaddling styles vary across cultures. It has been reported that swaddling infants for sleep is gaining popularity in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States,1–3 with several reported benefits to the practice. For the general population of young infants, these include more quiet sleep,3 fewer spontaneous arousals during quiet sleep,4 and a slight reduction in excessive crying in infants aged <7 weeks.5 Further benefits are observed for specific populations, including improvements in neuromuscular development for very low birth weight infants,6 reduced physiologic and behavioral distress among premature infants,7 and improved calming and sleep for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome.8

 Impaired cardiovascular control in association with a failure to arouse from sleep, leading to a reduced ability to respond to a cardiovascular stress (eg, profound hypotension), has been described as a potential mechanism leading to some sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths.9 It has also been proposed that, due to the effects of swaddling on sleep, swaddling could be used as an intervention to support supine sleep for parents who report that their infant has difficulty sleeping in this position.10 There is some evidence that infants who are swaddled and sleep supine exhibit greater heart rate responses to an auditory stimulus than infants sleeping supine nonswaddled.11 In contrast, there is evidence that swaddling may increase the risk of SIDS, as swaddled infants have fewer spontaneous arousals from sleep and increased sleep time, particularly during quiet sleep, which is a state of reduced arousability.4 In addition, those infants who were naive to swaddling (ie, not routinely swaddled) had higher induced arousal thresholds in both sleep states2 and reduced spontaneous arousability in active sleep.12 Beyond the field of SIDS, swaddling may also increase an infant’s risk for developmental dysplasia of the hip (especially if not applied well),13 hyperthermia,1 pneumonia, and upper respiratory tract infections.14

 To date, the association between swaddling and SIDS risk remains unclear, and to the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive review of the literature has been performed to determine the strength of this relationship. Although health professionals and parents need this information to help make safe infant care choices, currently no official guidance exists in the United Kingdom or the United States on this topic. The purpose of the present investigation was to conduct a systematic review of the literature on this issue and quantify, through meta-analysis and using individual data when possible, whether swaddling is associated with an increased risk of SIDS.

 Methods Search Strategy A thorough literature search was conducted to identify studies published from the 1950s to December 2014. A comprehensive search of online databases was conducted on 3 platforms (PubMed, Web of Science, and Ovid SP) and included Medline, AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine), CAB Abstracts, Embase, PsycINFO, BIOSIS Citation Index, SciELO Citation Index, and Web of Science Core Collection. The following search terms were used: SIDS, SUDI, SUID, swadd* (to include swaddling, swaddled, and swaddle), wrap* (to include wrapping, wrapped), and swath* (to include swathe, swathing, and swathed). Swaddling, wrapping, and swathing are used alternately and may refer to different methods of swaddling in different countries; in general, these terms are used to describe the practice of wrapping an infant in blankets or cloth. In addition, the authors conducted secondary hand-searches of reference lists of all articles found in the online database search and requested unpublished data at national and international SIDS conferences. Selection of Eligible Studies The online database search returned 389 results, and additional data from hand-searches and unpublished data (other sources) returned 15 records; after removing duplicates, this total was reduced to 283. The initial screen of titles and abstracts excluded 272 records, and the remaining 11 full-text records were assessed. Studies were excluded if they were not case-control or cohort by design, if they did not use SIDS as an outcome, or if they did not mention swaddling or infant wrapping. Articles in languages other than English had the abstract translated for screening. There were 2 studies in which it was unclear if wrapping was the same as swaddling; in both cases, the investigators were contacted to clarify the definition. Four studies were deemed eligible for inclusion in this review,15–18 including 1 case-control study18 in which the swaddling data were collected but remained unpublished. The screening process is detailed in Fig 1. FIGURE 1 Flowchart of study selection based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data Extraction and Synthesis With only 4 studies included in the review, data were extracted by hand individually from each article or source. The investigators were contacted where necessary to provide further data on postnatal age (in days) and the sleeping position (supine, side, or prone) in which swaddled and nonswaddled infants were placed (both control subjects and infants with SIDS) for their last sleep and were found. The Newcastle-Ottowa scale was used to assess study quality.19,20 Statistical Methods Descriptive statistics included median and interquartile ranges (IQRs) for data that were not normally distributed. The χ2 test was used to compare proportional differences. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for continuous unpaired data. The final sleep of the SIDS case subjects was compared with the reference sleep of age-matched (on an individual basis) surviving control infants for 3 of the studies and age-weighted (on a group basis) surviving control subjects for 1 study. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by using χ2 tests. Logistic regression was used to adjust the findings for age. A meta-analysis was conducted with the use of a fixed effects model and a random effects model in which heterogeneity proved significant. The latter allows for heterogeneity by assuming that the true effect varies between studies. It provides a more conservative pooled estimate reflecting the greater uncertainty when using heterogeneous data. The strength of the association between swaddling and SIDS for each study was illustrated by using a forest plot. Data were pooled and analyzed by using Stata version 13.1 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX).

 Results Included Studies and Swaddling Prevalence A total of 4 case-control studies that examined the association between swaddling and SIDS were included in the review, and the study characteristics are summarized in Table 1. The 4 studies span 2 decades and 3 diverse areas: regions of England in the United Kingdom, Tasmania in Australia, and Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. None of the studies gave a precise definition of swaddling. Prevalence of swaddling during the different time periods varied in the 3 areas suggested by the control populations. Prevalence was highest in the study from Tasmania in the late 1980s (35.7%) and much lower in Chicago in the mid-1990s (9.2%) and England (10.3%), with a slight decrease in England 10 years later (5.7%); the number of infants included in this latter study was small (only 87 control subjects). Across the studies, 17.5% of the infants with SIDS were swaddled for the last sleep compared with 10.8% of similar-aged surviving control infants during a designated reference sleep. In all 4 included studies, the proportion of infants swaddled was higher in the SIDS cases than in the control cases; however, only in the 2 UK studies15,18 was the univariate association significant, and only in the more recent of these studies15 did this significance remain after adjustment for other factors. The assessment of study quality indicated that these were good-quality observational studies (Table 2). All 4 studies used independent case definitions and consecutive case recruitment methods. They all used community control subjects and considered comparability in the design and analysis stages. None of the studies blinded the interviewer to case or control status (although this approach would have been unethical given the outcome under study). Nonresponse differences between case and control subjects were reported in 2 of the 4 studies, and the potential for bias was raised as a limitation. TABLE 1 Study Characteristics TABLE 2 Study Quality Assessments Using the Newcastle-Ottowa Scale Pooled Results and Heterogeneity In total, 760 SIDS cases were compared with 1759 control subjects. The fixed effects model, assuming equal variance, suggests a significant pooled OR of 1.53 (95% CI, 1.18–1.97; P = .001). However, the prevalence of swaddling between studies was variable, and an I2 statistic of 65.5% indicated significant and substantial heterogeneity between studies (P = .03). To adjust for the heterogeneity, a random effects model was applied, yielding a pooled OR of borderline significance (1.58 [95% CI, 0.97–2.58]; P = .06). Looking more closely at the variance, the studies were homogeneous (I2 statistic of 28.2%; P = .25) when the most recent UK study was excluded. The pooled OR for swaddling during last sleep for the 3 remaining studies, by using a fixed effects model of analysis (shown in Table 3), provided a summary OR that remained significant (OR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.05–1.80]; P = .02). The forest plot for this model is shown in Fig 2. TABLE 3 Individual Univariate and Pooled ORs for Swaddling and SIDS FIGURE 2 Forest plot with 3 of 4 included studies showing the fixed effects pooled result, adjusted for infant age. aThe pooled result is illustrated by the diamond, the lateral points of which indicate the CIs for the estimate. Swaddling and Infant Postnatal Age Swaddled infants tended to be younger (median age, 57 days [IQR, 35–94 days], compared with 96 days [IQR, 60–154 days] for nonswaddled infants in all 4 studies), although there was no significant difference (P = .23) between the age of the swaddled SIDS infants (median age, 55 days [IQR, 30–96 days]) and swaddled control infants (median age, 61 days [IQR, 37–94 days]). Figure 3 shows the age distributions of SIDS case and control infants swaddled and not swaddled. Swaddling in all groups peaked at ∼2 months of age and dropped off steeply between 4 and 6 months of age. Although the numbers were small, the risk of SIDS from swaddling increased with age (Table 4), with the highest risk associated with infants aged ≥6 months (OR, 2.53 [95% CI, 1.21–5.23]). FIGURE 3 Comparison of infant age distribution among SIDS case subjects and control subjects according to swaddling status. aCategories in 4-week intervals (eg, 0–28 days, 29–56 days). TABLE 4 ORs for Infant Swaddling During Last Sleep Stratified According to Infant Age Categories Swaddling and Sleeping Position Data for position in which infants were placed for the last sleep were available from the UK and Chicago studies, whereas data for position in which infants were found were available in the UK and Tasmanian studies. In terms of position placed for the last sleep (Table 5), being swaddled and placed prone conferred the greatest risk, although this practice was rare. For both the prone and side positions, the risk doubled when the infant was also swaddled compared with nonswaddled. Notably, there was still a small but significant risk associated with infants being swaddled and placed for sleep on their backs. In terms of position found for the last sleep (Table 6), being swaddled and found sleeping prone was a rare event among the control subjects (<1%) but was more frequent among the infants with SIDS (8%).The numbers were small, but even when the lower CI was used, the risk was 19-fold. Being found on the side while swaddled was a slightly higher risk than being placed on the side without swaddling. Again, being found swaddled on the back conferred a small but significant risk compared with being found on the back nonswaddled. TABLE 5 ORs for Infant Swaddling During Last Sleep Stratified According to Position Placed for Sleep TABLE 6 ORs for Infant Swaddling During Last Sleep Stratified According to Position Found Only the 2 UK studies included data on both the sleeping position placed for the last sleep and position found. Of the 124 control infants who were swaddled, none was placed prone, those placed on their side either remained on their side (24 infants) or rolled on to their back (25 infants), and 1 control infant was placed supine and found prone. However, among the 16 swaddled infants with SIDS found prone, 3 were placed and found prone, 8 were placed on their side and found prone, and the remaining 5 were placed supine and found prone; the mean age of these 5 infants was >15 weeks (compared with 11 weeks among the other swaddled infants in these 2 studies).

 Discussion The present analysis combines case–control data from 4 studies on the risk of SIDS for infants who were swaddled. The results from the individual-level meta-analysis revealed an age-adjusted pooled risk between swaddling and SIDS, although this finding was of borderline significance when the heterogeneity of studies was taken into account. The data extracted were limited to 4 studies from diverse regions, during different time periods, with variable prevalence rates for swaddling. The main source of heterogeneity seemed to originate from the latest study in the United Kingdom; the data for this study were collected at least 10 years after the other studies in this analysis. Although it is possible that this study is idiosyncratic, it may also indicate that interval changes in sleep practices in the United Kingdom have made the practice of swaddling more risky. Future observational studies will be needed to determine this possibility. Swaddling as a risk seemed to vary according to sleep position and older age. The significant risk of placing infants on their side or prone to sleep doubled when infants were swaddled, and the SIDS risk associated with swaddling increased with age. It has been suggested that swaddling can be used to encourage supine sleep when families are having difficulty settling younger infants in this position.27,28 Evidence regarding the effectiveness of this strategy is limited, although a survey from Oden et al10 found that the supine position for sleep was more common in infants who were routinely swaddled than in those who were swaddled occasionally. The limited evidence from the analysis in the present article does not suggest that placing younger swaddled infants supine for sleep has a protective effect against SIDS, although further studies are needed to quantify whether this practice poses any risk. It has also been postulated that swaddling could decrease the risk for SIDS by making the side position more stable.29 Our evidence suggests this outcome is the case because the risk associated with being placed in the side position almost doubled among swaddled infants. Few infants were swaddled and placed prone, although this practice was significantly more common among the infants who died, and the risk of SIDS from being placed prone doubled among the swaddled infants. We already know that being found prone is strongly associated with SIDS, but this risk also increased fourfold among the swaddled infants. The handful of swaddled SIDS infants for whom we had data suggests that the majority of those found prone either moved into this position after being placed on their side or they were older infants who rolled from the supine to the prone position. Swaddling was a more common practice among the younger infants, and the risk of SIDS linked to swaddling seemed to increase in older infants. This outcome may be related to a greater likelihood of rolling to a prone position at an older age. The advice given in the Netherlands, a country with low rates of SIDS, is to encourage swaddling to reduce excessive crying.30 Because of the likelihood of rolling to the prone position, the official advice in the Dutch guideline on excessive crying is never to initiate swaddling after the fourth month, to stop swaddling as soon as the child signals he or she is trying to turn over, and always to stop swaddling before the sixth month (after this age, infants will be able to roll over). There are several limitations to the present meta-analysis. The heterogeneity between studies was substantial, reflecting the differing swaddling practices across countries and time periods. Due to the differences in control selection, it was not possible to use conditional logistic regression, which may have increased the power of detecting the pooled estimate. The high rates of swaddling in the study from Tasmania may reflect different cultural practices at the time of that particular study. Although the quality of the studies was high, none adequately described the swaddling technique, and the questions used in each study (provided by the investigators) sometimes used the terms wrapping and swaddling synonymously, when they might indicate different infant care practices. Safer forms of swaddling in the supine position have been explored in sleep laboratory studies of young infants, especially those considering normal hip development and chest pressure concerns,27 and guidelines are more specific in some countries than others. The individual-level analysis adjusted swaddling for infant age and sleeping position but many other factors associated with SIDS were not adjusted for, in particular whether the infant was bed-sharing with the parents. Given that the most recent (albeit small) case–control study included here found that swaddling was a significant risk in the multivariate analysis, future studies of SIDS risk should include a detailed assessment of swaddling to further understand this infant care practice. Future investigations of swaddling could include photographic measures of how a swaddled child was placed for sleep and found thereafter, which would improve swaddling classifications.

 Conclusions Despite the limitations, these analyses indicate that the current advice to avoid placing infants on their front or side to sleep may especially apply to infants who are swaddled. Given the marked increase in infants swaddled and found prone (rather than placed prone), coupled with an increased risk of swaddling with increased age regardless of sleeping position, health professionals and current guidelines should consider an appropriate age limit at which swaddling should be discouraged. ||||| Photo

 Swaddling a baby may increase the risk for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, a new analysis concludes.

 The practice of swaddling — wrapping an infant with a light cloth, with the head exposed — has grown in the United States with reports that it promotes better sleep.

 Researchers pooled data from four observational studies of SIDS and swaddling that included 760 SIDS cases and 1,759 controls.

 Over all, swaddling increased the risk for SIDS by about one-third. The risk was greatest in babies sleeping on their stomachs, less in those sleeping on their sides, and least in infants sleeping on their backs. The study is in Pediatrics.

 The lead author, Anna S. Pease, a research associate at the University of Bristol in England, said that the results should be interpreted with caution, because there are few studies of the subject, and the amount of good evidence is limited.

 Still, she said, “We already know that side and prone sleeping are unsafe for young babies, so the advice to place children on their backs for sleep is even more important when parents choose to swaddle them.”

 The risk also increased with the age of the infant.

 “We suggest that parents think about what age they should stop swaddling,” Dr. Pease said. “Babies start to roll over between four and six months, and that point may be the best time to stop.” |||||

 A popular way of wrapping babies in blankets could be leading to higher risks of sudden infant death syndrome, also known as SIDS.

 Swaddling is a technique in which an infant is wrapped securely so only its head is free. Many believe it mimics what the child would feel in the womb, and it helps calm them down.

 SEE ALSO: Large tornado hits south of Oklahoma City, two dead

 The problem is if the baby moves, swaddling could make it harder for the baby to breathe when it lies on its stomach or side.

 A new meta-analysis compared four previous studies and found that of all the infants who died of SIDS, 17 percent had been swaddled.

 The risk of death doubled for children sleeping on their stomach or side when they were swaddled.

 Sudden death was more common among older infants, though, and the researchers think this could be because they're more likely to move from their back to their side or stomach while sleeping.

 For obvious ethical reasons, the researchers didn't control who was swaddled and who wasn't –– which means the study is correlational, and other factors may be at play.

 The researchers do suggest parents stop swaddling before a child turns six months old and should place a baby on its back to sleep.

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Write a summary.

– Parents are often told to swaddle their newborn babies in order to help them sleep, but a new analysis of studies finds that the practice may increase the risk of SIDS, the New York Times reports. Researchers looked at four studies that examined a total of 760 cases of sudden infant death syndrome, and found that swaddling (wrapping a baby tightly in a blanket in order to simulate the feeling of being in the womb, AOL reports) increased the risk for SIDS by about a third overall. Of the babies who died of SIDS, 17% were swaddled. The biggest risk was in babies asleep on their stomachs. It was less risky for those sleeping on their sides, and the least risky for those sleeping on their backs. Swaddling makes it more difficult for a baby to move, so a baby on his stomach may be more at risk if he is swaddled and his face is pushed into the mattress. The current recommendation is for parents to place babies on their backs to sleep, and the researchers say this is even more important if the baby is swaddled. The researchers also found the risk increased as the age of the babies increased, and as the study notes, it was greatest for babies older than six months—"babies start to roll over between four and six months, and that point may be the best time to stop" swaddling, the lead author says. As for babies swaddled and then put to sleep on their backs, researchers did find a "small but significant risk" of SIDS, the Atlantic reports, and that's likely related to babies who were put to sleep on their backs swaddled, but then rolled over.


A woman steps on a poster showing Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, left, and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, with the phrase in Portuguese "They knew everything. Impeachment Now" as protesters... (Associated Press)

 A woman steps on a poster showing Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, left, and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, with the phrase in Portuguese "They knew everything. Impeachment Now" as protesters call for Rousseff's impeachment in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, April 14, 2016. The lower house... (Associated Press)

 BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The lower chamber of Brazil's Congress has begun debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, with the crucial vote slated for Sunday.

 The atmosphere in the lower Chamber of Deputies was electric at the start of Friday's session.

 Lawmakers backing impeachment allege Rousseff's administration violated fiscal rules. They say the government used sleight of hand accounting in a bid to shore up public support. However, many of those pushing for impeachment face grave accusations of corruption themselves.

 Rousseff's defenders insist she did nothing illegal, and sat similar accounting techniques were used by previous presidents.

 If 342 of the lower house's 513 legislators vote in favor of impeachment, the process moves to the Senate. ||||| BRASILIA (Reuters) - Pro-impeachment lawmakers chanted “Dilma Out” in the lower house of Brazil’s Congress on Friday, as it opened a raucous three-day debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws.

 Pro-government demonstrators took to the streets in several states amid fears of violence as the debate began. Major trade unions and landless peasant movements planned bigger, nationwide protests on Sunday, when the debate is set to culminate with a vote that Rousseff is widely expected to lose.

 The government lost a last-ditch appeal on Thursday before the Supreme Court to halt the impeachment process, which could bring further instability or even chaos to Latin America’s largest economy after 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers’ Party.

 Rousseff is accused of manipulating budget accounts in 2014 to secure her re-election.

 She has strongly rejected the accusation and planned to appeal to Brazilians in a televised speech on Friday night. But the increasingly isolated leader canceled the broadcast after an opposition party sought a court injunction to block it, arguing that she was unfairly using resources of the Brazilian state to defend herself.

 Rousseff is fighting to survive a political storm fueled by Brazil’s worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s and a spiraling corruption scandal that has reached her inner circle.

 In a further blow for the president, Minister for Cities Gilberto Kassab resigned his post late on Friday, according to two sources familiar with matter. His Brazil Social Democratic Party (PSD) split from the government on Wednesday and said it would vote for Rousseff’s impeachment.

 Police stepped up security in the Brazilian capital where a half-mile-long (1 km) metal fence has been erected on the grass esplanade opposite Congress to avoid clashes between rival demonstrators expected to turn out by the tens of thousands over the weekend.

 In Rio de Janeiro, police said they plan to form a cordon on the Copacabana beachfront avenue to separate the pro-impeachment crowd from Rousseff supporters.

 “I am very worried that there will be violence, depending on the result of the vote and the number of people who gather in Brasilia,” said Congressman Rogerio Rosso, who chaired the lower house committee that backed Rousseff’s impeachment.

 The country’s top network TV Globo plans to broadcast Sunday’s critical roll-call vote from beginning to end, starting at 2 p.m. (1700 GMT), which analysts said will add pressure on lawmakers to vote for impeachment.

 Polls show that roughly two-thirds of Brazilians support impeachment.

 Jurist Miguel Reale Junior speaks during a session to review the request for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment at the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil April 15, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

 “VIOLENT ACT”

 As opposition congressmen called for Rousseff’s ouster, Attorney General José Eduardo Cardozo addressed Congress in her defense, calling the impeachment process a “violent act with no parallel against democracy.”

 “History will never forgive those who broke with democracy,” Cardozo said, as ruling lawmakers shouted: “There won’t be a coup.”

 While the budget violations alleged against Rousseff are serious, she has not been directly implicated in the kickback scandal engulfing state-run oil company Petrobras, though her opponents say that bribe money was used to fund her election campaigns.

 Slideshow (15 Images)

 The move to impeach her, after months of political deadlock, is widely seen as a vote of no-confidence in a leader blamed for turning once-booming Brazil into the worst performer among the world’s major economies.

 Support for unseating Rousseff has gained momentum in recent weeks, with the defection of parties from her ruling coalition.

 Nineteen of the 25 parties with seats in the lower house now back impeachment, the Brasilia-based consultancy Arko Advice said on Friday. They will deliver at least 350 votes and maybe 370, exceeding the two-thirds majority in the 513-seat house needed to send impeachment to the Senate, it said.

 Former Justice Minister Miguel Reale Jr., a leading supporter of impeachment, opened Friday’s debate by saying the process to oust Rousseff reflected the will of the people. “She was extremely irresponsible and knocked out the country,” he said.

 If her impeachment is approved by the lower house, the Senate must then vote on whether to go ahead with putting Rousseff on trial for disobeying budget laws.

 If the Senate approved a trial, in a vote that would likely take place on May 11, Rousseff would automatically be suspended and replaced by Vice President Michel Temer.

 Temer, who would serve out Rousseff’s term until 2018 if she is ousted by the Senate, has little popular support. He would face a daunting task restoring confidence in a country where dozens of political leaders, including his close associates, are under investigation for corruption.

 Temer is considering the chairman of Goldman Sachs in Brazil, Paulo Leme, and the founder of asset manager Maua Capital, Luiz Fernando Figueiredo, as candidates to join his economic team should he take over the presidency in coming weeks, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. ||||| A majority of Brazil's Supreme Court have rejected a last-ditch attempt by President Dilma Rousseff to halt an impeachment process against her in advance of a vote in Congress.

 Justices denied a request on Thursday for an injunction against proceedings that Brazil's attorney general - the government lawyer - called "Kafkaesque" and said amounted to denying Rousseff the opportunity to defend herself.

 Brazil's lower house of Congress is due to vote on Sunday on sending Rousseff to trial in the Senate.

 The move could push Brazil from political paralysis into a chaotic power vacuum by ending the 13-year rule of Rousseff’s Workers' Party.

 Earlier on Thursday, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, the attorney general, asked the top court for an injunction to suspend Sunday's lower house vote until the full court can rule on what he called procedural flaws in the impeachment process.

 Reporting from Brazil's capital Brasilia, Al Jazeera's Latin America Editor Lucia Newman said: "The top court decided in a split vote. Two judges agreed with the attorney general that the president had been denied due process.

 "Now nothing can stop the impeachment vote from taking place."

 The lower house began debating the charges against the president on Friday morning.

 "The debate will go on for at least 48 hours. The voting will start on Sunday afternoon. That's prime time in Brazil," Newman said.

 Rousseff, already struggling with Brazil's worst economic crisis in decades and a historic corruption scandal, has lost support within her governing coalition.

 She faces the growing likelihood of defeat in the lower house vote, which would send her impeachment to the Senate for trial on charges of breaking budget laws.

 READ MORE: Poetry and poverty on the margins of Brazil

 If the Senate accepts her impeachment, Rousseff would be suspended and replaced by Vice President Michel Temer as soon as early May pending a trial that could last six months.

 "The country's most popular entertainment show has been cancelled in order to broadcast the proceedings," Al Jazeera's Newsman said.

 "By Sunday night, we should know whether or not the lower house has agreed to recommend the impeachment to the Senate, which will ultimately be in charge of the impeachment."

 Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla, had not been expected to resort to the Supreme Court until after Sunday's vote. Cardozo's request to the court was seen as a sign that her government now expects defeat.

 Rousseff's opponents are just nine votes short of victory in the lower house, with 333 politicians backing impeachment, 124 opposed and 56 undecided or declining to respond, according to a survey by the Estado de S Paulo newspaper.

 Several of the top court justices recently said that they did not think the court should interfere with the legislature's jurisdiction in the impeachment battle.

 Brazil's largest political party, Rousseff's main coalition partner until it broke away two weeks ago, said most of its members in the lower house would back deposing her.

 Leonardo Picciani, the lower chamber leader for the party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, said 90 percent of the 68 members of his caucus would vote for impeachment. |||||

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– The lower chamber of Brazil's Congress has begun debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, with the crucial vote slated for Sunday, the AP reports. The government had carried out an unsuccessful bid before the country's Supreme Court to try to halt the process, but that appeal was lost, Reuters notes. The atmosphere in the lower Chamber of Deputies was electric at the start of Friday's session, with some congressmen chanting "Dilma Out!" before proceedings began. Lawmakers backing impeachment allege Rousseff's administration violated fiscal rules. They say the government used sleight-of-hand accounting in a bid to shore up public support. However, many of those pushing for impeachment face grave accusations of corruption themselves. Rousseff's defenders insist she did nothing illegal and say similar accounting techniques were used by previous presidents. The country's attorney general called the whole procedure "Kafka-esque" and said it meant Rousseff wouldn't be able to fully defend herself, Al Jazeera reports. If 342 of the lower house's 513 legislators vote in favor of impeachment, the process moves to the Senate, which would decide whether to open a trial. If the Senate moves to impeach Rousseff, she would be swapped out with Brazil's vice president, Michel Temer, as soon as May since she would be suspended from office for up to 180 days during the trial.


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The House and Senate adjourned for the year on Wednesday evening, closing a two-year term that holds the odd distinction of being both historically busy and epically unpopular.

 A Congress that was dominated by Democrats passed more landmark legislation than any since the era of Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society."

 Congress approved an $814 billion economic stimulus, a massive health-care overhaul, and new regulations on Wall Street trading and consumer credit cards. The list grew longer during this month's frenetic lame-duck session: tax cuts, a nuclear arms treaty and a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military.

 But the 111th Congress will also be remembered for endless filibuster threats, volcanic town hall meetings, and the rise of the tea party. All were symbols of a dissatisfaction that peaked on Nov. 2, with a Republican rout in the midterm elections.

 "This is the most dysfunctional political environment that I have ever seen. But then you have to juxtapose that with [this Congress being] one of, at least, the three most productive Congresses" since 1900, said Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

 "Making sense of all of that can make your head burst," he added.

 The key to understanding this period, scholars say, is that the two parties were using radically different strategies.

 Both thought they were playing the "long game" - the Republicans, by propelling themselves back into power; the Democrats, by writing their agenda into law.

 On Wednesday, President Obama added another piece of that agenda into law, signing the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." A few blocks away, Congress was using its last hours to approve two others: the New START nuclear arms pact with Russia, and a bill to extend health benefits to workers who responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

 The day had the feel of a victory lap, with Democrats rejuvenated only a few weeks after a historic electoral beating.

 "This has been a season of progress for the American people," Obama said in a news conference. "This has been the most productive post-election period we've had in decades, and it comes on the heels of the most productive two years that we've had in generations."

 Sen. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was equally ebullient. "This was by far the most productive Congress in American history, and the lame-duck session we're finishing was the most productive of its kind," he said. ||||| However history judges the 535 men and women in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate the past two years, one thing is certain: The 111th Congress made more law affecting more Americans since the “Great Society” legislation of the 1960s.

 For the first time since President Theodore Roosevelt began the quest for a national health-care system more than 100 years ago, the Democrat-led House and Senate took the biggest step toward achieving that goal by giving 32 million Americans access to insurance. Congress rewrote the rules for Wall Street in the most comprehensive way since the Great Depression. It spent more than $1.67 trillion to revive an economy on the verge of a depression, including tax cuts for most Americans, jobs for more than 3 million, construction of roads and bridges and investment in alternative energy; ended an almost two-decade ban against openly gay men and women serving in the military, and today ratified a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.

 Before adjournment today, Congress approved legislation to help rescuers and clean-up crews suffering from illnesses linked to the wreckage caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. The Senate approved it on a voice vote, the House by a vote of 206-60. New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, in a statement, called it a “Christmas miracle.”

 For all of its ambitious achievement, the 111th Congress, which may adjourn this week, also witnessed a voter-backlash driven by a 9.6 percent unemployment rate that cost Democrats control of the House and diminished their Senate majority.

 “This is probably the most productive session of Congress since at least the ‘60s,” said Alan Brinkley, a historian at New York’s Columbia University. “It’s all the more impressive given how polarized the Congress has been.”

 Revenue Gains

 As lawmakers wrap up the session, Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are positioned to complete their best two years in revenue, General Motors Co. has emerged from bankruptcy with more than $23 billion repaid to the U.S. Treasury, and American International Group Inc. was able to sell $2 billion of bonds in its first offering since the company’s 2008 bailout.

 The S&P 500 Index has gained 38.9 percent since Congress convened in January 2009, the biggest increase for a two-year congressional session since 1997-1998, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P 500 Index reached 1254.60 yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 11533.16.

 Stimulus Spending

 Stimulus money created and saved jobs across the country, helping strapped state governments retain their workforces, according to government analyses. President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers said that in Ohio, for instance, the legislation created 122,000 jobs for teachers, police officers and construction workers.

 “These policies carried the economy along during a period when the private sector was not engaged,’ said Ethan Harris, head of developed-markets economic research in New York at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.

 The careers of many lawmakers didn’t fare so well. Fiscally conservative Tea Party activists channeled their frustration with government spending and debt into political campaigns, most often to the benefit of Republicans challenging Democratic incumbents. In the Nov. 2 elections, Democrats lost 63 House seats, costing their party control of the chamber in next year’s Congress. In the Senate, the Democratic majority was shaved by six seats; the party will have 53 votes in next year’s session, Republicans 47.

 “What we did was work, and our reward was, ‘Get out of here,’” said Representative Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat and outgoing chairwoman of the House Rules Committee. While Slaughter won re-election, five of her New York colleagues were among Democrats defeated.

 Partisan Divide

 Party-line votes on most of the major measures engendered ill will among Republicans and helped stall in the Senate initiatives requiring significant bipartisan support. Blocked legislation included limits on greenhouse-gas emissions that scientists blame for global warming, a bill the House passed in June 2009, a measure offering undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship and the administration’s attempts to curb growing income inequality with tax increases for higher earners.

 Those are unlikely to be tackled next year, when the House’s Republican majority will turn its attention to dismantling the health-care law and cutting domestic government spending by $100 billion.

 Congress this year was also unable to approve a single one of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the government.

 ‘Disaster’

 “I think it was a disaster,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, of the congressional session.

 Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democratic leader, saw it differently: “This whole two-year session has been dramatic in terms of its achievement and the changes that it’s brought about.”

 Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the accomplishments of Congress in remarks to reporters today. “We’re very, very proud of the work that was done by this Congress,” the California Democrat said. “We came here to do a job and we got much of it done.”

 The policies embraced by the 111th Congress suggested the end of an era in Washington, as Democrats pushed to reverse three decades of deregulation that began under President Ronald Reagan, say economists.

 “We’ve been in a trend toward an attempt to deregulate the economy,” said Harris. “You’re turning back the clock to an earlier period.”

 The scope of regulations approved since Obama took office has made business hesitant to expand and hire new workers, he said. “Business is overwhelmed,” said Harris.

 3.3 Million Jobs

 Congress scored its first big accomplishment weeks after Obama’s inauguration with passage in late February 2009 of a $814 billion stimulus bill. It has created or saved 3.3 million jobs, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while also steering more funds to road construction, broadband technologies and renewable energy ventures.

 The health-care legislation approved last March provided insurers including WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis and drug- makers such as Pfizer Inc. of New York millions of new customers by requiring that all Americans have health insurance. These industries, as well as medical device-makers, will also face billions of dollars in new fees, and hospitals face a host of new standards designed to help curb soaring costs.

 The health-care law is facing legal challenges, with the insurance provision a key dispute.

 An overhaul of the rules governing the financial services industry, approved in July, aims to prevent a repeat of an economic collapse that led to the failures of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc. It included $4 billion in aid to help thousands of unemployed property owners avoid foreclosure, while the program has fallen short of its goals.

 Pay Equity

 Congress also passed laws to help ensure pay equity by enabling women to pursue lawsuits claiming they were underpaid, and to empower the federal Food and Drug Administration to regulate the tobacco industry, which includes restrictions on cigarette marketing.

 Additionally, lawmakers expanded state programs for health insurance for children, and they confirmed two Supreme Court justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Sotomayor became the first Latino to serve on the court, and the pair increased to three the number of women among the nine justices.

 Following the November elections in which voters handed Democrats what Obama termed a “shellacking,” Congress in a lame-duck session made significant additions to its accomplishment list. Lawmakers approved an $858 billion measure that continues for two years Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels, extends aid for 13 months to the long-term unemployed, provides estate tax relief and cuts by two percentage points worker payroll taxes during 2011.

 Arms Treaty

 Congress in its last days also voted to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on military service by openly gay men and women. Yesterday it cleared the biggest food-safety overhaul in more than 70 years, giving the FDA more enforcement power. And the Senate ratification today, 71-26, of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty gives Obama a key foreign-policy victory.

 “What we’ve been able to do in the lame duck has been not just bipartisan by a fingernail, but bipartisan on a broad basis,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat.

 From a market perspective, Congress’s biggest accomplishment was probably the tax cuts, with the estate tax breaks the “whipped cream, fudge and cherry on top,” said Ethan Siegal, president of the Washington Exchange.

 ‘Gone Nuts’

 Investors responded to the health-care and financial- services measures largely negatively, with health care viewed as “big government gone nuts,” he said.

 Democrats say it will take years before the public recognizes their achievements. Many of the measures that passed were designed to forestall a bleaker recession, an argument that’s little comfort to many Americans as the nation’s unemployment rate has remained at 9.5 percent or higher for more than a year.

 “It was hard to tell people that we accomplished anything important when their lives are so difficult,” said Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and outgoing chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee.

 The Tea Party movement, which worked to elect lawmakers advocating a new era of fiscal authority, has already begun to shift the direction of Congress.

 Shortly after the election, Senate and House Republicans announced a voluntary ban on earmarks, the funding for pet projects added to bills by lawmakers. The incoming House Republican leadership has promised to turn the focus of the Appropriations Committee from funding government to identifying spending cuts.

 Many of those efforts will likely fail in the Democrat- controlled Senate. And the party split between the two chambers is likely to bring the record of congressional productivity to an abrupt end in January.

 “There’s just nothing that’s going to be accomplished,” said Brinkley. “What really is disturbing is that this is a period in which there is a lot to be done.”

 To contact the reporters on this story: Lisa Lerer in Washington at llerer@bloomberg.net; Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;

 To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net |||||

– The 111th Congress adjourned last night, after passing more key legislation that affected more Americans than any since Lyndon Johnson’s 1960s “Great Society,” Bloomberg reports. That included $1.67 trillion spent to save the economy, health insurance for 32 million people, and new regulations on Wall Street; in the lame-duck session alone, there was the tax cut deal, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, START treaty ratification, and 9/11 health bill. Yet all this occurred in “most dysfunctional political environment that I have ever seen,” says an analyst. Republicans won sweeping victories in the midterm election, and a recent Gallup poll found an 83% disapproval rating for Congress, its highest since the poll began, the Washington Post notes. “What we did was work, and our reward was, ‘Get out of here,’” said a House Democrat. Not everybody's happy with the progress: "I think it was a disaster,” says a GOP senator.


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Abstract

 We tested several hypotheses regarding the relationship between marital characteristics and sexual outcomes among 1,656 married adults ages 57–85 years from the 2005–2006 National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Results showed that individuals in their first marriage had more frequent sex than remarried individuals; marital duration had a curvilinear (U-shaped) relationship with frequency of sex; and a linear relationship between marital duration and frequency of sex varied by gender such that men had more frequent sex than women in younger marriages. We speculate that relationship permanency may drive the greater sexual activity in first marriages and sicker men in younger marriages may drive frequency of sex for women in younger marriages. ||||| The study also found that older people still in first marriages have sex more often than those who have remarried

 While people in the early years of marriage have sex more frequently, and their sexual activity tapers off over time, a slight rebound occurs for those whose marriages endure longer than half a century, according to new research.

 The study also found that people who remain in their first marriages have sex more frequently than those who remarry. But frequency aside, marriage order made no difference when it came to actual physical pleasure and emotional satisfaction, said researchers from Louisiana State University, Florida State University and Baylor University.

 Their study -- "Marital Characteristics and the Sexual Relationships of U.S. Older Adults: An Analysis of National Social Life, Health and Aging Project Data" -- is published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, the official publication of the International Academy of Sex Research.

 Researchers analyzed the relationship between marital characteristics and sexual outcomes among 1,656 married adults ages 57-85, using data from the first wave of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project. They noted that people who survive until their 50th year of marriage -- among whom the slight rebound occurred -- are relatively few in number.

 "Additionally, the study used a snapshot in time -- and therefore cannot prove that length and order of marriage caused sexual frequency," said former Baylor researcher Samuel Stroope, Ph.D., now an assistant professor of sociology at Louisiana State University.

 Nevertheless, the study provided "intriguing results" for one of the fastest growing age groups in the United States -- and one whose sexual behavior rarely has been studied, he said.

 One uncertainty that could be the subject of future research is the "why" of the findings. While sex becomes less of a novelty over time and frequency tends to diminish, "it may be that the permanency of the relationship contributes to sexual relations picking up a bit at the end," Stroope said.

 "Growing old as a couple, with the experience and knowledge that come with that, may play a part," he said. "You are able to learn about your partner and build on that over time. You may have a higher level of trust when you feel that your spouse isn't going to go anywhere. The expectation that the relationship will continue may give you more reason to invest in the relationship -- including in sexual aspects of the relationship."

 As to why "remarrieds" have less frequent sex than those in first marriages, "it may be that those who have been married in the past may not have as strong of a sense of permanence or lasting investment," Stroope said.

 Michael McFarland, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology and public health at Florida State University, was a study co-author. Researcher Jeremy Uecker, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at Baylor and also a co-author, noted that "we know a great deal about sexual behavior at younger stages of the life course. This study adds to a small but growing body of research on the sexual behavior of older adults."

 Added Stroope: "As people age, they tend to be more even-keeled, which may help cut down on marital conflict and facilitate regular sexual activity into advanced age."

 The findings may surprise some in a society in which youth is the ideal and older adults are often subjected to ageism, researchers say. Despite stereotypes, the study joins other research in revealing that regular sexual activity remains a part of many older adults' lives -- even with declining health and the death of a spouse on the horizon.

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– It's no secret that most married couples have less sex as the years go by, but those who stick it out tend to see something of a romantic renaissance—it just takes five decades to get there. Researchers looking at 1,656 married adults ranging in age from 57 to 85 have found there is eventually an uptick in the frequency with which couples have sex. What's more, those in first marriages are having more sex than those who have remarried, report researchers from Louisiana State University, Florida State University, and Baylor University in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. However frequently or infrequently couples were engaging in sex, marriage order didn't appear to influence emotional satisfaction or physical pleasure. "Growing old as a couple, with the experience and knowledge that come with that, may play a part," one researcher said in a Baylor University news release. "The expectation that the relationship will continue may give you more reason to invest in the relationship—including in sexual aspects of [it]." While the results about the sex lives of one of the fastest growing groups in the US proved "intriguing," particularly because it's a topic that has yet to be studied extensively, the researchers did point out that the 50-year second wind was a slight one, and that relatively few couples make it to 50 years to begin with, thus the sample size was small. (Some research has found that couples who are more equal tend to be happy but have less sex.)