Thursday, July 18, 2013
Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Placester Unveils Platform To Help Developers Build Real Estate Sites
Real estate publishing service?Placester unveiled today a new platform that it says will enable agents and developers to build and launch industry websites and applications. Included in this platform are several components: a RESTful API, an IDX plugin for WordPress, and themes built for the WordPress Real Estate Framework.
Sometimes considered to be the ?Wix for real estate?, Placester is a TechStars Boston alumnus founded in 2009 that gives real estate agents the means to create their own marketing site. It competes against the likes of IDX Broker and Zillow.
Using an open-source platform, Placester hopes that it will help enable realtors and developers to build websites and applications that is completely customizable based on their needs. Using its framework, the company says developers can create their own themes using one of the presets provided by a designer.
Placester?s co-founder and CTO Frederick Townes says, ?By sharing the tools we?ve used to provide easy-to-use solutions for many of the prominent professionals and businesses in North America, we?ve set the stage for a level of innovation and engagement on the web??
Some of the benefits highlighted by the company include the ability for agents to customize their search and property detail pages so that it?s sorted according to any kind of data provided by a multiple listing service (MLS). What this means is that the search algorithm can be adjusted to suit the needs of not only the realtor, but also the audience that they are catering to.
But it?s also more than just a website. Through the use of its RESTful API, developers can bring real estate listings away from the Web and in applications. Right now, the company?s API is being used on two real estate apps: Contactually and Follow Up Boss.
Placester?s platform is available to real estate agents and developers in the US and Canada. It is also free to use.
The company has over a thousand paying sites on its service, while experiencing a 20 percent month-over-month sales growth.
In April, Placester raised $2.5 million in a seed round led by Boston-based Romulus Capital to help it expand its online marketing offerings throughout the United States.
Photo credit: Thinkstock
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Monday, July 15, 2013
Curso gratuito de Objective-C, para aprender a programar para iOS (iPhone, iPad, Mac y iPod)
Eric Allam es el responsable por este curso que, impartido en Code School de forma gratuita, ayudar? a conocer las bases de Objective-C, necesario para aprender a programar aplicaciones para dispositivos de Apple.
Son cinco niveles, sin requerir ning?n prerequisito, y forman parte de un curso m?s completo que, tambi?n disponible en Code School, profundiza m?s en toda la programaci?n para estas plataformas, con ejemplos pr?cticos, secciones especialmente dedicadas a mapas y mensajes, aplicaciones para crear juegos, etc.
Code School ofrece muchos cursos gratuitos relacionados con el mundo de la programaci?n, tiene un prestigio tan alto que en algunas ocasiones Google ha colaborado con ellos para lanzar cursos gratuitos, como ?ste para desarrolladores que os presentamos hace pocos meses.
Si no ten?is ning?n conocimiento previo de programaci?n os recomiendo que entr?is primero en codecademy.com para, una vez entendidas las bases, poder acceder a estas unidades, aunque no ser?a la primera vez que alguien que no tiene experiencia previa en un lenguaje espec?fico consigue hacer grandes maravillas con paciencia, determinaci?n y muchas horas de pr?ctica.
El curso est? en ingl?s, si dese?is algo en nuestro idioma recordad esta lista de sitios con tutoriales para programar para iphone que os presentamos hace ya dos a?os.
Link: codeschool.com
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WwwhatsNew/~3/CXHxaFx8C28/story01.htm
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Vietnam, Italy step up financial ties | The Vietnam Times
Vietnam, Italy step up financial ties
Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan is on a visit to Italy from June 15-20 to seek stronger ties with Italy?s Ministry of Economy and Finance..?VNA/VNS Photo
ITALY (VNS)?Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan is on a visit to Italy from June 15-20 to seek stronger ties with Italy?s Ministry of Economy and Finance.
At a working session with Italian Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Stefano Fassina on June 17, deputy minister Anh said he hopes the two countries? Governments and finance ministries will set out concrete plans of action to increase economic links in general and cooperation in finance-customs, tax and debt management in particular.
He urged the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance to play an active role in promoting the friendship between the two countries.
The Vietnamese Deputy Minister spoke highly of Italy?s economic cooperation with Vietnam. He expressed hope for more direct investment from Italy in Vietnam, adding that the Vietnamese finance ministry will create favourable, equal and transparent conditions for Italian businesses who want to operate in Vietnam.
In reply, the Italian Deputy Minister appreciated Tuan?s visit saying that it is a step to realise agreements reached by the two countries? high-ranking leaders earlier this year.
The Vietnamese delegation is scheduled to have working sessions with experts at the Italian ministry. The two sides hope the sessions will map out measures to fulfill bilateral cooperation programmes in the time to come.?VNS
Source: http://vietnamtimes.com.vn/vietnam-italy-step-up-financial-ties/
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Does France have right plan to revive its economy?
PARIS (AP) ? The man charged with reviving France's shrinking economy and attracting businesses to invest there is gaining a reputation for doing the opposite.
As the country's first-ever minister for industrial renewal, Arnaud Montebourg has told the world's largest steelmaker it is not welcome in France; exchanged angry letters with the head of an American tire company he was supposedly wooing; and scuttled Yahoo's offer to buy the majority of a video-sharing website.
Montebourg, a 50-year-old lawyer from Burgundy, is the public face of President Francois Hollande's plan to revitalize Europe's second-largest economy, which is in recession and grappling with 11 percent unemployment. The plan is to make the French economy more competitive globally ? especially for manufacturers ? by making it easier to fire workers, offering a payroll tax credit and investing in small businesses.
Economists have praised the labor reforms as a step in the right direction. But mostly they say France's economic plan is all wrong: It is too complicated; it favors a top-down approach to innovation; and it ignores some of the most serious problems plaguing France's economy, such as high labor costs.
And then there is Montebourg, whose public spats with international companies and efforts to block layoffs are making France look like an unappealing place to do business.
In fairness to Montebourg, he's not so much the problem as he is the symbol of it, analysts say. Even if Hollande were to replace him ? and that's looking increasingly likely ? it's unclear whether the substance of the industrial renewal strategy would change.
The sheer size of France's economy has cushioned it somewhat from the worst of Europe's debt crisis, which has brought depression-level unemployment to countries like Spain and Greece. It is home to many huge industrial companies, like EADS, parent company to plane-maker Airbus; Total, the world's fifth-largest investor-owned oil company; and Sanofi, the world's fourth-largest pharmaceutical company. France is also a cradle for design, high fashion and fine wine, embodied by world leaders like LVMH and L'Oreal.
But make no mistake, analysts warn: The French economy, which had no growth in 2012 and shrank at an annualized rate of 0.8 percent in the first three months of 2013, is in slow-motion free fall.
Profit margins at French companies are the lowest they have been in 30 years. In the past decade, one in six industrial jobs has been lost. And economists forecast unemployment will rise to 11.6 percent next year.
Hollande says the decline in French manufacturing ? from 16 percent of gross domestic product in 1999 to 10.7 percent a decade later ? is at the heart of his country's stagnation. Many European economies have seen a similar trend, but France's slide has been more pronounced than most. Reverse the decline, Hollande believes, and you reverse the stagnation.
"The goal of reindustrialization is a perfectly legitimate goal. The only question to ask for France is ... whether it's too late," says Elie Cohen, an economist at Sciences Po university in Paris. "It's probably too late."
Serge Lelard, who started a plastics company called Microplast in 1984, feels the same way. Montebourg, who buzzes around France touring businesses on a near-weekly basis, recently visited Microplast's factory outside Paris. He held it up as an example of the kind of small manufacturing businesses that France needs to keep and attract.
But Lelard is dismissive of the government's reindustrialization plan. He says there is too much talk and not enough action that addresses the competitive disadvantages French companies face in the global marketplace.
Microplast, which sells plastic bits that connect the wires in cars, has struggled along with the French auto industry. Lelard is pessimistic about the company's chances of survival.
France's economic challenges are rooted in government policies that protect workers at the expense of their employers. It has the highest payroll taxes in the European Union to fund generous health and retirement benefits. It has the highest tax on capital, which discourages investment. It aggressively fights companies that try to outsource jobs. And it makes firing an employee expensive and difficult.
These problems have existed for decades, but a growing global economy and France's control over its own currency and spending policies masked them. Slowly, however, those masks have been removed.
First, the euro was introduced at the turn of the millennium. Europe's strongest economies, like Germany, gained a competitive advantage: The value of the euro, held down by the weaker nations that used it, made German exports more affordable overseas. By contrast, countries like France suffered because the euro was valued more highly than their own currency, making French exports more expensive for buyers outside the eurozone.
Then the global recession dried up demand for French products at home and around the world. Finally, Europe's debt crisis prompted the government to cut spending and raise some taxes to reduce its budget deficit.
With these crutches pulled away, France's industry was pushed to its breaking point.
But Hollande, a Socialist, came to power last year by promising more of the same: He vowed to spark growth without cutting generous benefits.
There are three main planks to Hollande's reindustrialization plan: up to a 6 percent rebate for companies on some payroll taxes, labor reforms that make it easier to fire employees or cut their salaries during hard times, and a public investment bank with 42 billion euros ($55 billion) to invest in small businesses.
But new programs are announced frequently. Millions in grants and other incentives have been promised for everything from spurring the construction of electric cars to bringing robots to factory floors.
"That's exactly what you should not do. They're ... complicating instead of simplifying," says Anders Aslund, an economist with the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Aslund says the government should avoid giving grants for specific industries and instead help all industries ? with permanent tax breaks, for example.
Last year, Montebourg unveiled a plan to give several hundred million euros in grants and tax credits to car companies and subcontractors in an effort to encourage the development of electric cars and batteries.
But economists say the French government should not try to invent successful sectors. Never mind that France is an unlikely place to incubate an auto revolution. Its car industry can't compete with global rivals like Volkswagen and Hyundai that have lower labor costs and stronger cultures of innovation. For example, French research institutions lack the strong links to industry that allow entrepreneurs in other countries to quickly convert lab discoveries into products.
The flip side of France's efforts to create booming new industries is its aversion to letting struggling ones die out.
"A saved job is always a victory," Montebourg, who is on the far left of the Socialist party, said at a recent lunch with journalists. He declined to be interviewed for this story.
But that's not how many economists see it. Part of Germany's success is its willingness to let some lower-level manufacturing jobs move to other countries, says Christian Ketels, a researcher at Harvard Business School. That allows German companies to stay competitive and keep high-skilled, higher-paid jobs at home.
"To my knowledge, France is really the only country in Europe that is upset about outsourcing," says Aslund.
One of the most glaring examples of this no-job-left-behind policy has been France's campaign to block steelmaker ArcelorMittal from shuttering the two blast furnaces its plant in Lorraine, in eastern France ? in spite of the fact that local mines are used up, it's far from ports and its furnaces are out of date.
That plant is "a perfect example of what you should close down," says Aslund.
Instead, Montebourg took up the cause, threatening to nationalize the plant and declaring that the company wasn't welcome in France. It's unclear how much of this rhetoric was in line with government policy ? the suggestions of nationalization were quickly struck down by the prime minister ? but the affair deeply bruised France's reputation as a serious place for business. In the end, the company will shutter the furnaces but other operations at the plant will continue.
Montebourg also tried to save a Goodyear plant in northern France by asking American tire manufacturer Titan if it was willing to invest. The answer from Titan's CEO mocked France's work practices in an embarrassing public letter ? and Montebourg took the bait, shooting back an equally chest-thumping missive.
There looks to be little hope of saving the Goodyear plant, but litigation could drag on for months if not years.
Just this month, Montebourg vetoed Yahoo's attempt to take a 75 percent stake in video-sharing website, Dailymotion. Citing concerns about Yahoo's health as a company, Montebourg said the government, which owns a stake in Dailymotion's owner, France Telecom, would only approve a 50-50 deal. Yahoo walked away.
Business owners say that the government remains more of a hindrance than a help. There are too many regulations and too much paperwork even for mundane tasks.
But the fundamental problem French manufacturers face is simple: Workers get paid too much to make products that cost too little.
The French government argues that its hourly labor costs are not much higher than Germany's ? 34.20 euros per hour on average in 2012 versus 30.40 euros per hour, according to Eurostat. But France's range of products ? with some notable exceptions, like Chanel handbags or Moet & Chandon champagne ? is generally of a lower quality than Germany's.
In other words, if it costs the same to make a Peugeot as it does a BMW, guess which company is going to have more left over to reinvest in innovation? And investing in innovation is how you make a Peugeot more like a BMW.
And it's not even that France pays top dollar to attract the best workers. Its wages are above average, though not spectacularly so. But its payroll taxes are the highest in Europe.
The government's new "competitiveness tax credit," which will eventually give companies up to 6 percent back on some workers' salaries, is a step toward lessening this burden for a time. Early surveys, however, show few companies are taking advantage of it, according to study by consultancy Lowendalmasai.
How come? The paperwork is too complex.
___
Follow Sarah DiLorenzo at http://twitter.com/sdilorenzo.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/does-france-plan-revive-economy-092441481.html
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Kristen Ellis-Henderson: Morgan at 18
Recently two friends of mine shared the same post on my Facebook page. I clicked to find a photo of a young girl holding up a cover of Time, only this cover didn't have Obama or the pope or even Ellen on it. It was the cover featuring a photo of me kissing my wife, the April 8, 2013, issue with the headline "Gay Marriage Already Won":
Once I got over the jolt of seeing my wife and me kissing on the cover of Time (not because we're kissing but because it's the cover of Time), I read the story about a really brave girl doing something that I would not have had the courage to do at her age.
Morgan Sisk is a heterosexual 18-year-old girl from Sundown, Texas. She is a senior in high school, and she's been named "most political" in her class. On the day when her "senior superlatives" photo was to be taken for the yearbook, Morgan wanted to pose holding a magazine cover that made a political statement that she believed in. She chose the April 8 issue of Time:
But the photographer refused to take her picture holding the cover, and the "most political" boy refused to pose in the shot with her. So Morgan went to her principal, but instead of supporting her, he told her that she could not pose with the Time cover. In fact, he actually called Morgan's mother in hopes that she would talk some sense into Morgan.
Acceptance. Love. Tolerance. These are all learned behaviors. It's safe to assume that someone as brave and outspoken as Morgan would have been influenced by a person, or likely many people, who love, accept and tolerate all different types of people. The principal learned quickly that Morgan was raised in a home that supports equality for all human beings. After a heated phone call, Morgan's mother took the day off from work to argue Morgan's point alongside her at the school.
Morgan, Morgan's mother and equality won the argument. Morgan posed with the April 8 cover of Time in her hand.
In Morgan's own words, "This event may seem small, but in all honesty, it sent a shock wave through our staunchly Christian town that has a population of only 1,300 people."
One morning in March, my wife Sarah and I drove into New York City to pose for a photo at the Time-Life Building. During the car ride we discussed all the cons that could come with our decision if we were the chosen couple for the "kissing cover." We voiced our fears for the safety of our children and that of our extended families and friends, and we discussed the attention that the cover might bring to our community and the church we were married in.
It never occurred to us that our choice to pose for the cover of Time would result in an 18-year-old high school senior from Sundown, Texas, becoming a hero of a movement. What Morgan did by standing up for my family will save lives. And what her mother did alongside her will help other mothers -- mothers whose kids are struggling with their own sexuality, mothers who need to teach their own children tolerance, love and acceptance -- do the right thing.
Morgan, this "small event" is exactly why my wife and I chose to kiss on the cover of Time. If this is you at 18, I can't wait to see you at 20.
?
Follow Kristen Ellis-Henderson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/antigonerising
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Saturday, April 20, 2013
5-Year-Old Indian Girl In Critical Condition After Alleged Raped, Days Of Torture
A 5-year-old girl is in critical condition at an Indian hospital after a man allegedly raped and tortured her over the course of several days, according to multiple reports.
The Times of India writes that the girl, who doctors said weighed under 50 lbs when she was admitted to the hospital, had an infection and had to have surgery to remove a candle and a bottle of hair oil that were found inside her.
The girl was located Wednesday in an apartment of the New Delhi building where she lived with her family, The Indian Express reports, noting that she had cuts on her neck and bite marks on her face and chest, presumably from her attacker.
Moreover, the medical superintendent of the hospital said she had a fever and that her blood pressure was "way below normal" when she was examined, per The Hindustan Times.
The girl had been missing for two days (four days, The Times of India says) when neighbors told her parents they heard screams from a first-floor apartment and kicked in the door, The Indian Express reports.
Her mother says the girl was kidnapped by a neighbor and raped, but that the neighbor has since absconded, according to The Times of India. The Indian Express notes that police have identified a 24-year-old suspect who lives in the building and are currently tracking him down.
The girl's father claims that city police initially refused to file a crime report and later attempted to buy his family's silence on the matter by giving him 2,000 Rupees (about $37), The Times Of India reported. An inquiry has been opened to investigate police misconduct, and three New Delhi police officials have been suspended, New Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said, according to The Indian Express.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday that he was "deeply disturbed" by the crime. That same day, a protest erupted outside the New Delhi Hospital where the girl was recovering.
India has received much international attention in the wake of a young student's death after a brutal gang rape in December 2012, which also happened in New Delhi. The 23-year-old physiotherapy student's attackers inserted a metal rod inside her that had pulled out most of her intestines when it was removed, one of her doctors said in December.
In early February, India passed a series of measures into law, imposing harsher penalties for convicted rapists. Among other things, the new laws dramatically increase prison terms for rape and also outlaw sexual assault and stalking.
But the recent measures, which were rammed through the legislature to quench public desire for reform, fall short of outlawing marital rape and cannot be used to prosecute members of the army.
Related on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/5-year-old-india-rape-torture_n_3118340.html
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Scientists reveal quirky feature of Lyme disease bacteria
Friday, March 22, 2013
Scientists have confirmed that the pathogen that causes Lyme Disease?unlike any other known organism?can exist without iron, a metal that all other life needs to make proteins and enzymes. Instead of iron, the bacteria substitute manganese to make an essential enzyme, thus eluding immune system defenses that protect the body by starving pathogens of iron.
To cause disease, Borrelia burgdorferi requires unusually high levels of manganese, scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Texas reported. Their study, published March 22, 2013, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, may explain some mysteries about why Lyme Disease is slow-growing and hard to detect and treat. The findings also open the door to search for new therapies to thwart the bacterium by targeting manganese.
"When we become infected with pathogens, from tuberculosis to yeast infections, the body has natural immunological responses," said Valeria Culotta, a molecular biologist at the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health. The liver produces hepcidin, a hormone that inhibits iron from being absorbed in the gut and also prevents it from getting into the bloodstream. "We become anemic, which is one reason we feel terrible, but it effectively starves pathogens of iron they need to grow and survive," she said.
Borrelia, with no need for iron,has evolved to evade that defense mechanism. In 2000, groundbreaking research on Borrelia's genome by James Posey and Frank Gherardini at the University of Georgia showed that the bacterium has no genes that code to make iron-containing proteins and typically do not accumulate any detectable iron.
Culotta's lab at JHU investigates what she called "metal-trafficking" in organisms??the biochemical mechanisms that cells and pathogens such as Borrelia use to acquire and manipulate metal ions for their biological purposes.
"If Borrelia doesn't use iron, what does it use?" Culotta asked.
To find out, Culotta's lab joined forces with Mak Saito, a marine chemist at WHOI, who had developed techniques to explore how marine life uses metals. Saito was particularly intrigued because of the high incidence of Lyme Disease on Cape Cod, where WHOI is located, and because he specializes in metalloproteins, which contain iron, zinc, cobalt, and other elements often seen in vitamin supplements. The metals serve as linchpins, binding to enzymes. They help determine the enzymes' distinctive three-dimensional shapes and the specific chemical reactions they catalyze.
It's difficult to identify what metals are within proteins because typical analyses break apart proteins, often separating metal from protein. Saito used a liquid chromatography mass spectrometer to distinguish and measure separate individual Borrelia proteins according to their chemical properties and infinitesimal differences in their masses. Then he used an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer to detect and measure metals down to parts per trillion. Together, the combined analyses not only measured the amounts of metals and proteins, they showed that the metals are components of the proteins.
"The tools he has are fantastic," Culotta said. "Not too many people have this set of tools to detect metalloproteins."
The experiments revealed that instead of iron, Borrelia uses that element's next-door neighbor on the periodic chart, manganese, in certain Borrelia enzymes. These include an amino peptidase and an important antioxidant enzyme called superoxide dismutase.
Superoxide dismutase protects the pathogens against a second defense mechanism that the body throws against them. The body bombards pathogens with superoxide radicals, highly reactive molecules that cause damage within the pathogens. Superoxide dismutase is like an antioxidant that neutralizes the superoxides so that the pathogens can continue to grow.
The discoveries open new possibilities for therapies, Culotta said. "The only therapy for Lyme Disease right now are antibiotics like penicillin, which are effective if the disease is detected early enough. It works by attacking the bacteria's cell walls. But certain forms of Borrelia, such as the L-form, can be resistant because they are deficient in cell walls."
"So we'd like to find targets inside pathogenic cell that could thwart their growth," she continued. "The best targets are enzymes that the pathogens have, but people do not, so they would kill the pathogens but not harm people." Borrelia's distinctive manganese-containing enzymes such as superoxide dismutase may have such attributes.
In search of new avenues of attack, the groups are planning to expand their collaborative efforts by mapping out all the metal-binding proteins that Borellia uses and investigating biochemical mechanisms that the bacteria use to acquire manganese and directs it into essential enzymes. Knowing details of how that happens offers ways to disrupt the process and deter Lyme Disease.
###
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: http://www.whoi.edu
Thanks to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127404/Scientists_reveal_quirky_feature_of_Lyme_disease_bacteria
US, Afghanistan OK detention center transfer
FILE ? This March 23, 2011, file photo shows Afghan detainees through a wire mesh fence inside the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)
FILE ? This March 23, 2011, file photo shows Afghan detainees through a wire mesh fence inside the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)
FILE ? This Sept. 27, 2010, file photo reviewed by the U.S. military, shows a U.S. military guard walking a corridor between detainee cells at the Parwan detention facility near Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)
FILE ? In this March 23, 2011, file photo a U.S. military guard watches over detainee cells inside the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan control, the Pentagon said Saturday, two weeks after negotiations broke down over whether the U.S. would have the power to block the release of some detainees.
According to a senior U.S. official, a key element to the agreement is that the Afghans can invoke a procedure that insures prisoners considered dangerous would not be released from the detention center. The agreement also includes a provision that allows the two sides to work together to resolve any differences. The official lacked authorization to discuss the details of the agreement publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Transfer of the Parwan detention center on Monday is critical to the ongoing effort to gradually shift control of the country's security to the Afghans as the U.S. and allies move toward the full withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014.
Afghans demanded control of the center, but U.S. officials have worried that the most threatening detainees would be freed once the U.S. transferred control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations.
The senior official said U.S. and Afghan officials who are familiar with the detainees would meet to assess the potential danger of their release to coalition forces. The official said that more senior level officials could be brought in if there are disagreements but that to date the two sides have been able to agree without bringing in those higher authorities.
Disagreements over the detention facility, which also included whether Afghans can be held without trial, had thrown a pall over the ongoing negotiations for a bilateral security agreement that would govern the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after 2014.
Currently, there is an Afghan administrator of the Parwan prison, but the Americans have power to veto the release of detainees. The prisoners held under American authority do not have the right to a trial because the U.S. considers them part of an ongoing conflict.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said Hagel "welcomed President Karzai's commitment that the transfer will be carried out in a way that ensures the safety of the Afghan people and coalition forces by keeping dangerous individuals detained in a secure and humane manner in accordance with Afghan law."
Last weekend Hagel spoke with Karzai, and officials said the two men agreed to resolve the thorny issue within a week.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, has also been working to resolve the matter ? one of several divisive issues that soured relations between the U.S., its allies and the Afghans in recent weeks.
The U.S. had been scheduled to hold a ceremony marking the transfer of control two weeks ago, during Hagel's first visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary. That ceremony was called off after negotiations broke down.
In addition to disputes over the Parwan facility, the U.S.-led coalition and Afghans have wrangled over several other difficult issues. Last month, Karzai insisted that the coalition forces cease all airstrikes, after a NATO assault caused civilian casualties.
More recently, Karzai demanded that U.S. special operations forces leave Wardak province after allegations that U.S. commandos and their Afghan partners abused local citizens. Dunford has denied the charges.
Earlier this week, the two sides reached an agreement on the Wardak issue. Dunford agreed to remove a team of commandos from Wardak's Nirkh district and transition security of that area to the Afghans as soon as possible.
U.S. special operations forces would remain in other parts of the restive province, while the coalition continues to work to transition those areas also to the Afghans.
U.S. officials have made no final decision on how many troops might remain in Afghanistan after 2014, although they have said as many as many as 12,000 U.S. and coalition forces could remain.
There currently are 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a 2010 peak of 100,000.
___
Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbaldor
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