'I will disappear' says Syrian who dares to speak out

HOMS, Syria?? Rushing out of the Rawda Cafe in the heart of Homs, the man berated journalists for not visiting rebel-held areas of the city. "Killing is everywhere," he screamed.

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"I am 65 years old and I have no life ? what happened to my country, what happened to my country?"

His agitation drew a crowd of supporters of President Bashar Assad who accused gunmen of stirring violence in Homs, scene of some of the worst bloodshed of the 10-month uprising.

"What are you doing here? Go to Baba Amro, go to Khaldiya," the man continued, referring to opposition strongholds which activists say have come under heavy fire from Assad's forces.

"What are you seeing here? Everything is clear in Syria, everything is clear," the man shouted. Until then, the journalists accompanied by heavy security had been struggling to find Homs residents to speak to on a government-organized trip.

People try to calm him down
When asked what he thought was happening in Syria, the man shouted: "Ask him, ask the president what is going on in Syria, what is going on in the country. Don't ask me."

The United Nations say 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown, but authorities say they are fighting terrorist groups who they say have killed 2,000 soldiers and police.

Some of the men attracted by the commotion tried to calm the man down and take him back inside the cafe. The crowd grew, with many pro-Assad voices.

"What are you talking about? The city is safe," another man told him.

But he hit back: "How could you say that? How could you say it's all safe ? can you walk around?"

"I go wherever I want," the other man countered.

The man turned to the journalists and said: "They will come and get me, I fear for my life, nobody will hear about me if I give my name now. They will torture me, I will disappear."

'He is security'
A man in his 50s whispered: "You see this man saying it's safe? He is security, from the intelligence."

Two old men standing next to him nodded, with angry looks on their faces.

"Do not listen to them, they're security," one of them said. The other two nodded.

Assad supporters said their lives had become a nightmare and they did not feel safe.

Video: Inside Syria: the untold story (on this page)

"The city is full of armed groups, they have killed us and raped our women," shouted one man.

Another shouted: "We were fine until the armed gangs appeared, they have caused the misery."

The man who started the scene tried to argue but his friends pushed him back inside the cafe.

The crowd dispersed.

Reuters

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46113926/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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New discoveries in cell aging

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Researchers have quantified with precision the effect of protein aggregation on the cell aging processes using as models the Escherichia coli bacteria and the molecule which is thought to trigger Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have demonstrated that the effect can be predicted before it occurs. Protein aggregation is related to several diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases.

The research, published recently in the Journal of Molecular Biology, provides an extremely reliable system with which to model and quantify the effect of protein aggregation on the viability, division and aging of cells. It also aids in further understanding the natural evolution of proteins. According to Salvador Ventura, researcher at IBB and director of the research project, "it will serve to develop computer approximations to predict the effects aggregation has on cell aging, as well as to search for molecules that act as natural chaperones, highly conserved proteins which are present also in humans and which have the ability to reduce this effect in the bacteria."

Although it is widely accepted that bad folding and aggregation of proteins reduces the cell's ability to survive and reproduce, the damage caused had not been previously measured experimentally as precisely as it was in this research.

In previous studies scientists had verified that the expression of the Alzheimer's AB42 peptide in bacteria induces the process of protein aggregation. Now they have demonstrated that this effect is coded in the protein aggregation sequence and that it depends on intrinsic properties, not on a direct response from within the cell. This makes it possible to predict the effect. Scientists also demonstrated that damage caused to the bacteria is controlled by molecular chaperones, which reduce the tendency of proteins to aggregate and favour cell survival.

In addition to researchers from IBB and the UAB Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, participating in the project were scientists from the Biophysics Unit at CSIC-UPV, the University of the Basque Country, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia and the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universitat Aut?noma de Barcelona.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Anna Villar-Pique, Natalia S. de Groot, Raimon Sabat?, Sergio P. Acebr?n, Garbi?e Celaya, Xavier Fern?ndez-Busquets, Arturo Muga, Salvador Ventura. The Effect of Amyloidogenic Peptides on Bacterial Aging Correlates with Their Intrinsic Aggregation Propensity. Journal of Molecular Biology, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2011.12.014

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/VTbtVfBvo9s/120123101831.htm

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Official: possibility of unregistered passengers (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Unregistered passengers might have been aboard the stricken cruise liner that capsized off this Tuscan island, a top rescue official said Sunday, raising the possibility that the number of missing might be higher than the 20 previously announced.

Rescuers, meanwhile, resumed searching the above-water section of the Costa Concordia but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies.

"There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship, Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the rescue effort, told reporters at a briefing on the island of Giglio, where the ship, with 4,200 people aboard rammed a reef and sliced open its hull on Jan. 13 before turning over on its side.

Gabrielli said that relatives of a Hungarian woman have told Italian authorities that she had telephoned them from aboard the ship and that they haven't heard from her since the accident. He said it was possible that a woman's body pulled from the wreckage by divers on Saturday might be that of the unregistered passenger.

But the identity of that body and of three male bodies, all badly decomposed after days in the water, have yet to be established. Gabrielli said they have identified the other 12 bodies: four French, an Italian, a Hungarian, a German and a Spanish national.

Until Sunday, authorities had said that 20 people are still missing.

The search had been halted for several hours early Sunday, after instrument readings indicated that the Concordia has shifted a bit on its precarious perch on a seabed just outside Giglio's port. A few meters (yards) away, the sea bottom drops off suddenly, by some 20-30 meters (65-100 feet), and if the Concordia should abruptly roll off its ledge, rescuers could be trapped inside.

When instrument data indicated the vessel had stabilized again, rescuers went back in, but only explored the above-water section. Choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part of the ship, including the restaurant and evacuation staging areas where survivors have indicated that people who did not make it into lifeboats during the chaotic evacuation could have remained.

Passengers were dining at a gala supper when the Concordia sailed close to Giglio and struck the reef, which is indicated on maritime and even tourist maps.

There are also fears that the Concordia's double-bottom fuel tanks could rupture in case of sudden shifting, spilling 2,200 metric tons (almost 500,000 million gallons) of heavy fuel into pristine sea around Giglio, which is part of a seven-island archipelago in some of the Mediterranean's most pristine waters and a prized fishing area.

But Gabrielli said pollutants found near the ship have been detergents and other substances, including chlorine, apparently from the wreck of the ship, which carried some 3,200 passengers and a crew of 1,000. Any fuel traces found were "compatible with what you find in a port," he said.

Ferries and cargo ships regularly call at Giglio's port.

Sophisticated oil-removal equipment has been standing by, waiting for the search-and-rescue operations to conclude before workers can start extracting the fuel in the tanks.

The Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest as prosecutors investigate him for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many were still aboard.

Operator Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said that Capt. Schettino had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island and impress passengers.

Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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Obama honors Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barak Obama holds up a Boston Bruins hockey jersey during a ceremony where he honored the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Team owner Jeremy Jacobs is at left.(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama saluted the NHL's Boston Bruins for their 2011 Stanley Cup championship on Monday, citing the city's run of professional team championships in recent years.

The Bruins won their first Stanley Cup title in 39 years last June after a bruising seven-game final series against the Vancouver Canucks.

It was the latest in a string of Boston sports championships, including the Celtics in 2008, the Red Sox in 2007 and the New England Patriots in 2005. The Patriots play in next month's Super Bowl.

"The Bruins, the Sox, the Celtics, now the Patriots. Enough already, Boston," Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. "What's going on, huh?"

Obama also jokingly invoked some New England slang in welcoming the Bruins, along with the Stanley Cup, to the White House.

"I know you are all wicked happy to be here," he said.

The president said there was no better image of the Bruins' dominance than when Zdeno Chara, the team's 6-foot-9 defenseman, hoisted the Stanley Cup above his head in Vancouver in celebration last spring.

"Which is, I'm sure, the highest that the Stanley Cup had ever been," he said.

Obama drew laughter from the crowd when he cited the scrappy play of Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who emerged as a star with five goals in the last five games of the finals against Vancouver.

"'The 'Little Ball of Hate' shrugged off the rookie jitters," said Obama, adding "What's up with that nickname, man?"

There was a notable no-show. Goalie Tim Thomas, who was the playoff MVP last year, chose not to attend the event, a team spokesman said.

Obama praised the teamwork of the six-time champions.

"Together, these players proved that teamwork is everything," he said. "It can overcome injuries, it can overcome long odds."

Obama praised the team for its work off the ice as well, noting the Boston Bruins Foundation has donated more than $7 million to charities in New England.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-23-Obama-Bruins/id-a4c1676755b140b8ac26b8a25168bd54

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Greece hopes for debt relief deal `very soon' (AP)

ATHENS, Greece ? Greece is confident a debt relief deal with private creditors that is crucial to avoid default can be reached "very soon," a government spokesman said Friday.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos met for a third day with negotiators from the Institute of International Finance, which represents the private creditors who are being asked to take a loss on their bond holdings to lighten Greece's debt load by euro100 billion ($129 billion).

"The atmosphere of the talks is good. They are continuing today and we hope they will be concluded very soon," government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told private Radio 9. "This is very important for the sustainability of the national debt and our ability to handle the debt."

Papademos was joined by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos at two separate meetings Friday with two top Institute of International Finance officials, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre.

The negotiations also were discussed via a teleconference with eurozone officials, Venizelos said.

An agreement is needed if Greece is to get the next batch of bailout cash to prevent a devastating debt default. Greece does not have enough money to cover a euro14.5 billion bond repayment in March.

The bond-swap deal is part of a second bailout agreed by eurozone countries, worth euro130 billion ($168 billion) in loans and support for banks.

Under the proposed deal, private creditors would cancel 50 percent of their Greek debt in exchange of a cash payment and new bonds with a longer maturity. But the negotiations stalled last week over a disagreement on the interest rate those new bonds would have.

The two sides are now considering a proposal to set an interest rate of below 4 percent that would gradually increase until 2020, according to European officials.

Louka Katseli, a minister in Greece's previous Socialist government, said the talks are being complicated by the involvement of a large number of parties with a stake in the debt deal.

"This does not only involve Greece and the creditors," Katseli told private Skai television.

Heavily involved behind the scenes are countries such as Germany, which is paying the bulk of Greece's rescue loans, and the IMF, which is also involved in the bailouts. In addition, there are the individual bond holders such as hedge funds which have bought Greek bonds but also hold default insurance, Katseli said.

Despite caution in European markets, shares on the Athens Stock Exchange rose 2.7 percent to 708.18 on Friday in anticipation of a deal.

"Certainly we will have an agreement, and the extent and all the details of this agreement will determine whether the markets will take this as a good signal or as a bad signal," Aggelos Tsakanikas, head of research at the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research, told AP Television. "We have to reduce our debt. ... It's something that is very important for the Greek economy."

Also Friday, international debt inspectors arrived in Athens to assess whether Greece is doing enough to get more bailout cash.

Officials from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund met with Venizelos. They will scrutinize Greece's public finances to make sure it is on track with painful austerity reforms needed to keep tapping rescue loans.

Near-bankrupt Greece has been surviving on a euro110 billion ($142.02 billion) rescue loan program from European countries and the IMF since May 2010, but requires additional help to meet its funding needs.

__

AP business writer Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels and AP Television's Nektina Efthymiou in Athens contributed.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects to 4th Ld-Writethru. Updates with creditors resuming talks, Greek stocks rising on anticipation of deal, comment from analyst. AP Video.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greece_financial_crisis

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Official: possibility of unregistered passengers (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Unregistered passengers might have been aboard the stricken cruise liner that capsized off this Tuscan island, a top rescue official said Sunday, raising the possibility that the number of missing might be higher than previously announced.

Divers, meanwhile, pulled out a woman's body from the capsized Costa Concordia on Sunday, raising to 13 the number of people dead in the Jan. 13 accident.

Civil protection official Francesca Maffini told reporters the victim was wearing a life vest and was found in the rear of a submerged portion of a ship by a team of fire department divers.

Earlier, Italian authorities raised the possibility that the real number of the missing was unknown because some unregistered passengers might have been aboard. As of Sunday, 19 people are listed as missing, but that number could be higher.

"There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship, Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the rescue effort, told reporters at a briefing on the island of Giglio, where the ship, with 4,200 people aboard rammed a reef and sliced open its hull on Jan. 13 before turning over on its side.

Gabrielli said that relatives of a Hungarian woman have told Italian authorities that she had telephoned them from aboard the ship and that they haven't heard from her since the accident. He said it was possible that a woman's body pulled from the wreckage by divers on Saturday might be that of the unregistered passenger.

But one of Concordia's officers, who's recovering from a broken leg suffered during the evacuation, dismissed the allegation that such passengers were on the ship.

"Everyone is registered and photographed. Everything's electronic," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Manrico Giampedroni as saying.

Authorities are trying to identify five corpses who are badly decomposed after spending a long time in the water.

Gabrielli said they have identified the other eight bodies: four French, an Italian, a Hungarian, a German and a Spanish national.

The missing include French passengers, an elderly American couple, a Peruvian crewwoman and an Indian crewman and an Italian father and his five-year-old daughter. Some of their relatives were briefed by rescuers Sunday, and also met with Pierluigi Foschi, the CEO of Costa Crociere, SpA ? the ship's operator ? who viewed the crippled cruise liner from a boat.

France's ambassador to Italy, Alain Le Roy, recounted Foschi's visit.

"He came to see the families, all families. He met the French family. He met the American family. I am sure he is meeting other families, mostly to express his compassion ... to say that Costa will do everything possible to find the people, to compensate families in any way."

The search had been halted for several hours early Sunday, after instrument readings indicated that the Concordia has shifted a bit on its precarious perch on a seabed just outside Giglio's port. A few meters (yards) away, the sea bottom drops off suddenly, by some 20-30 meters (65-100 feet), and if the Concordia should abruptly roll off its ledge, rescuers could be trapped inside.

When instrument data indicated the vessel had stabilized again, rescuers went back in, but only explored the above-water section and evacuation staging areas where survivors have indicated that people who did not make it into lifeboats during the chaotic evacuation could have remained.

Passengers were dining at a gala supper when the Concordia sailed close to Giglio and struck the reef, which is indicated on maritime and even tourist maps.

There are also fears that the Concordia's double-bottom fuel tanks could rupture in case of sudden shifting, spilling 2,200 metric tons (almost 500,000 million gallons) of heavy fuel into pristine sea around Giglio, which is part of a seven-island archipelago in some of the Mediterranean's most pristine waters and a prized fishing area.

But Gabrielli said pollutants found near the ship have been detergents and other substances, including chlorine, apparently from the wreck of the ship, which carried some 3,200 passengers and a crew of 1,000. Any fuel traces found were "compatible with what you find in a port," he said.

Ferries and cargo ships regularly call at Giglio's port.

Sophisticated oil-removal equipment has been standing by, waiting for the search-and-rescue operations to conclude before workers can start extracting the fuel in the tanks.

Giglio Mayor Sergio Orpelli told Sky TG24 TV that it was tentatively planned to begin fuel-removal operations on Monday but that the timetable ultimately depends on when the rescue efforts are concluded. "No hopes have been abandoned that someone might still be alive," Orpelli said.

Coast guard and fire rescue teams have said that the search will go on, as long as the weather holds and the Concordia stays stable.

The Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest as prosecutors investigate him for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many were still aboard.

Operator Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said that Capt. Schettino had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island and impress passengers.

Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.

Rome daily La Repubblica, citing what Schettino allegedly told prosecutors in Grosetto, Tuscany, when he was interrogated last week, quoted him as saying that Costa Crociere was aware of the "recurring practice" of nearing coastlines to salute those ashore. Schettino is quoted as saying that such a maneuver was planned by Costa executives before the ship left the port of Civitavecchia before dinner time on Jan. 13 to gain publicity for the company.

It was not immediately possible to confirm Schettino's allegations. Prosecutors cannot comment on details of a probe while it is still being conducted, and the office of Schettino's lawyer was closed Sunday.

Marco De Luca, a Costa Crociere lawyer, said the company is "an injured party" in the tragedy, which Costa executives have blamed on the captain's failure to follow the programmed route.

Giglio Mayor Orpelli said such "salutes" by passing cruise ships are rare.

Orpelli insisted that before the ill-fated Jan. 13 approach by the Concordia near the reef, the last previous time was on Aug. 14, when the island was celebrating a summer festival in the port, and that the maneuver was closely coordinated with island and navigational authorities. That summer salute was "carried out in perfect safety," the mayor told Sky, adding that he thanked the captain of that voyage "and told him to thank his crew."

Orpelli said that island officials were unaware of the Jan. 13 plan for such a salute.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome. Fulvio Paolocci reported from Giglio.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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America Is Open for Business | The White House

Yesterday, President Obama traveled to Disney World to announce new initiatives to significantly increase travel and tourism in the United States.?The fact is, each year, tens of millions of people from around the world visit the U.S.? In 2010, the travel and tourism industry generated over $134 billion dollars for the American economy.? It supported 7.5 million jobs in 2010. The President wants these numbers to grow.?

He traveled down to the Magic Kingdom yesterday to deliver one message: America is open for business.?

The President wants the United States to be the number one tourist destination in the world.?It?s good for businesses and it?s good for the economy as a whole. More tourists means more money spent in our cities and towns across the nation. It means more people will be renting cars, dining out, checking into hotels and checking out the sights and sounds of America.? That means more jobs.?

The President will continue to do everything he can to rebuild an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded, and where anyone can make it if they try.?He wants to restore the economic security for the middle class and those trying to reach it.?Yesterday?s announcement was an important step to put folks back to work, and he?ll keep at it and continue to do everything he can to strengthen the economy.

The President?s announcement will have an impact on communities all over the United States.?Let?s take a look at the coverage from local media outlets across the country:

Orlando Sentinel ? Obama at Disney: 'America is open for business'

President Barack Obama promised Florida's tourism industry Thursday that he intends to open the door wider to international tourists and was greeted with cheers in a state where increased foreign visitors are seen as one of the best hopes for future jobs.

Even Obama critic U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, welcomed the presidential directives, if only with a "what took him so long?" spin.

Arizona Republic ? Obama touting tourism for jobs

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he wants to create more jobs by drawing more international tourists to the United States, a plan White House officials said would especially benefit states like Arizona, home to the Grand Canyon and other national parks.

Creating jobs has become a central part of Obama's re-election campaign. On Wednesday, Obama will visit the Valley as part of a five-state tour to build upon themes -- likely jobs and economic development -- that he will emphasize Tuesday in his annual address to Congress.

Las Vegas Review-Journal ? Las Vegas Officials Welcome Obama?s Tourism Push

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a new strategy to boost foreign tourism in the U.S., telling an audience at Walt Disney World he wanted America to become the world?s top travel destination.

?America is open for business.? We want to welcome you,? Obama declared in his talk in front of the Cinderella Castle in the heart of the Magic Kingdom outside Orlando, Fla.

McClatchy/Cleveland Plain Dealer ? Obama, at Disney World, unveils plan to ease tourist travel to United States

ORLANDO, Fla. -- President Barack Obama's visit to Walt Disney World on Thursday was an appeal as much to Brazilians and their dollars as to Florida voters and their jobs. But it was a brief one, highlighted by a speech that lasted just 13 minutes.

As expected, Obama announced he intends to expand the U.S. State Department's Global Entry Program for trusted international visitors; expand and accelerate visa application processing for such countries as Brazil, India and China; and attempt to add more countries to the Visa Waiver Program that allows foreigners from 36 countries to skip the visa process.

Kansas City Star ? Missouri senator praises White House tourism initiatives

WASHINGTON | Sen. Roy Blunt wants to see more foreign tourists in Missouri and believes that a new White House plan that he helped write moves toward that goal.

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered steps to ease red tape for foreign visitors in an initiative he said would create tourism jobs in the United States.

Tampa Bay Times (Editorial) ? Florida tourism gets jolt from Obama

Florida is accustomed to seeing plenty of visitors in January, especially in an election year. But the visit Thursday by President Barack Obama could mark a real boost for the state's economy. The president unveiled a new strategy to attract international tourists, which could bring more cash-flush foreigners to Florida. The plan also dovetails perfectly with the push across the region to expand the global appeal of Tampa Bay.

Raleigh NBC17 ? President Obama touts NC's tourism efforts

RALEIGH, N.C. -- President Obama is touting a plan to boost tourism in the United States, pointing to North Carolina as a state where eco-tourism and outdoor activities boost tourism.

Obama said he is looking at ways to expand the global entry program, which helps pre-screen international visitors at security checkpoints. That will make it easier and safer for frequent travelers to get into the U.S.

Salt Lake Tribune ? Obama encourages tourism to national parks

Some of Utah?s most famous travel destinations might be a bit more crowded this summer if a new White House effort is successful.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order Thursday, aiming to boost international tourism to the United States in an effort to spur job creation. Part of the initiative seeks to promote visits to national parks, including Utah?s scenic redrock country.

Las Vegas Sun: Nevadans applaud President Obama?s tourism initiative

Tourism industry leaders from across the country applauded President Barack Obama today for signing an executive order and announcing initiatives that should increase travel to the United States.

Against the backdrop of Florida's Disney World, Obama announced his new plan to assist a fledgling renaissance in the country?s tourism sector ? one that industry executives believe will also pay dividends in Las Vegas.

Honolulu Star Advertiser - Obama move called tourism boon

State and industry officials say the action will increase visitor numbers. Hawaii's economy could see gains from a national strategy that aims to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and makes it easier for foreign visitors, especially from China and Taiwan, to get visas. An executive order President Barack Obama signed Thursday marks the first time that the U.S. has rolled out a national travel strategy and is the culmination of more than a year of lobbying by politicians and travel leaders nationwide and in Hawaii. ?Hawaii's economy could see gains from a national strategy that aims to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and makes it easier for foreign visitors, especially from China and Taiwan, to get visas.

Hawaii News Now ? Obama signs off on new tourism measures

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) ? Local officials are applauding an Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama on Thursday, saying it contains several new measures that will help increase travel and tourism to Hawaii.

The Executive Order establishing "Visa and Foreign Visitor Processing Goals and the Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness" stipulates that non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil will increase by 40% in 2012 while also ensuring that 80% of non-immigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of their being received. A new website with information and statistics on visa processes will be designed to assist travelers and the tourism industry.

Sun Sentinel ? Obama tourism plan aims to bring more Brazilians to Florida

Expect more high-spending Brazilian tourists in South Florida and more tourism jobs, too, now that President Barack Obama is making a push to lure more foreign travelers to the United States.

Obama's tourism plan, unveiled Thursday in Orlando, adds dozens of embassy workers to process U.S. travel visas in Brazil, where wait times for visa appointments average three months in some cities.

Dayton Beach News Journal (FL) - Locals say president's tourism plan would help

DAYTONA BEACH -- President Barack Obama visited Disney World on Thursday to announce tourism initiatives for the entire country, and local tourism experts say they could dovetail well with the area's tourism efforts already in place.

The president issued an executive order making it easier for international visitors to secure visas -- specifically visitors in China and Brazil -- and announced a national tourism task force to promote travel opportunities.

Florida News Press ? Obama invite OK with Southwest Florida

Local industry experts encouraged as president tells worldwide visitors "America is open for business."

Southwest Florida tourism and hospitality leaders warmly greeted President Barack Obama?s new campaign, announced Thursday in Orlando, to make the United States the world?s top travel destination.

They liked his overtures to the Brazilian market, in particular, and his recognition of tourism as an economic engine, in general.

Central Florida News ? Orlando travel experts react to Obama's focus on Brazil in new tourism push

ORLANDO ? The instant local travel agent, and Brazil native Ricardo Pereira found out about President Barack Obama's "We Can't Wait" tourism plan, he knew the idea was a good one.

?Business is going to be incredible, not only for the Brazilians here, but the whole [state of] Florida,? explained Meridan Tours & Travel Owner Ricardo Pereira.

San Francisco KGO-ABC ? Obama's tourism push much appreciated in SF

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- President Obama visited the happiest place on Earth Thursday to talk tourism and his announcement Thursday has implications far beyond the borders of the Magic Kingdom.

The president says his trip to Walt Disney World is the first time his daughters have envied his job.

Desert Sun (CA) ? Local tourism on rise amid national push

Coachella Valley tourism leaders hailed a new travel industry report that shows yet another month of double-digit occupancy and revenue growth.

The Smith Travel Research report for December says the Palm Springs area increased its hotel occupancy levels 13.3 percent compared to the same month in 2010, and enjoyed a 19 percent gain in revenue per room.

Josh Earnest is Principal Deputy Press Secretary.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/20/america-open-business

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