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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

African American blood cancer patients do fare worse

By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite receiving similar cancer treatment as other patients, African Americans with a common form of leukemia didn't live as long in a new study that was aimed at understanding the racial disparity in cancer outcomes.

"We don't have an answer" to explain it, said Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli, the study's senior author and an associate professor of medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Though all patients received equal medical treatment, the black patients tended to have chromosome mutations and other characteristics that are known to be linked with a worse prognosis.

It's likely "not related to the treatment," Ferrajoli speculated, "it's probably a different biology."

Previous studies have found that African Americans are more likely to die from cancer than whites (see Reuters Health story of February 5, 2013 here:).

For instance, researchers reported last year that blacks have a greater chance of dying after a kidney cancer diagnosis, despite having better odds of developing a more easy-to-treat form of the cancer.

Other research has shown that black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women.

The reasons for these disparities are not certain, but experts have often pointed to delays in diagnosis or treatment resulting from difficulty accessing care or differences in socioeconomic status, Ferrajoli said.

To look at what other differences might exist among patients with blood cancer, Ferrajoli and her colleagues examined medical records from MD Anderson and from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

Over a five-year period, between 1997 and 2011, more than 1,600 patients were treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the second most common form of leukemia.

About four out of every 100,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with CLL each year.

Of those in Ferrajoli's study, 84 were African American and 1,571 were not.

Her group found evidence that African American patients received the same quality of treatment as the other patients.

However, 56 percent of the African American patients had a complete response to treatment while 58 percent of patients in the other group also went into remission, the researchers report in the journal Cancer.

"We noted that when we treated (African Americans), they will respond in a similar way to the rest of the population, but their responses don't last. They had worse outcomes," Ferrajoli told Reuters Health.

Over years of follow up, the researchers found that 21 percent of the African American patients and nine percent of the other patients died.

In addition, African American patients typically went 36 months without a recurrence of the cancer, while the other patients made it 61 months.

Ferrajoli said there must be some differences in the cancer between African American and other patients to explain why they don't fare as well.

Her team did find differences among the groups at the outset.

Prior to the start of treatment, African American patients were more likely to have factors associated with more difficult CLL cases, such as lower hemoglobin levels and higher rates of a particular chromosome mutation.

But even after taking those issues into account, race continued to be a risk factor for a worse outcome.

"The demonstration that these differences in survival persist even when similar therapies are administered for CLL is a novel finding, and it suggests that (African American) patients may have different disease biology than (non-black) patients," said Dr. Christopher Flowers, an associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine, in an editorial accompanying the study.

Ferrajoli said it will be important to investigate the potential biological explanations so that treatments can be tailored to address these differences.

Her findings don't rule out that non-biological differences might still play a role in other cancers.

"For other diseases, there may be differences in treatment...but not for ours at this point," Ferrajoli said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/13FEsNd and http://bit.ly/13x4vau Cancer, online July 8, 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/african-american-blood-cancer-patients-fare-worse-184416134.html

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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Putin: Snowden must stop leaking secrets to stay

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a news conference after the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 1, 2013. Russia's President Vladimir Putin says that National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden will have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, something he says Snowden doesn't want to do. Putin, speaking at a news conference Monday, insisted that Snowden isn't a Russian agent and that Russian security agencies haven't contacted him. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, Pool)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, front, Bolivian President Evo Morales, second right, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, left, attend the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Maxim Shemetov, Pool)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, centre, and Bolivian President Evo Morales, right, arrive to pose for a photo at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander Nemenov, Pool)

A demonstrator protests with a poster against espionage programs in Hanover, Germany, 29 June 2013. A coalition for action consisting of representatives from politcs, unions and Blockupy and Anonymous activists protests against NSA espionage PRISM as well as the surveillance practices of British Secret Service GCHQ. Photo by: Peter Steffen/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Monday that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden will have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, but he believes that Snowden has no intention of doing so.

Putin's statement came hours after Snowden asked for political asylum, according to the Interfax news agency, citing a consular official at the Moscow airport where the leaker has been caught in legal limbo for more than a week.

President Barack Obama said there have been high-level discussions between the U.S. and Russia about Snowden's expulsion, though Putin repeated that Russia will not send Snowden back to the United States.

Putin's stance could reflect a reluctance to shelter Snowden, which would hurt already strained U.S.-Russian ties. At the same time, the Russian leader seemed to keep the door open to allowing him to stay, a move that would follow years of anti-American rhetoric popular with Putin's core support base of industrial workers and state employees.

"If he wants to go somewhere and there are those who would take him, he is welcome to do so," Putin said at a news conference. "If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his activities aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners, no matter how strange it may sound coming from my lips."

Snowden has been stuck in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. The U.S. has annulled his passport, and Ecuador, where he has hoped to get asylum, has been coy about whether it would take him.

The Interfax news agency quoted Kim Shevchenko, the duty officer at the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular office in the airport, as saying that Snowden's representative, Sarah Harrison, handed over his request for asylum late Sunday.

Putin didn't mention his move to seek asylum in Russia, and his spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say what the response could be.

Putin insisted that Snowden isn't a Russian agent and that Russian security agencies haven't contacted him.

"He's not our agent and hasn't cooperated with us," Putin said at a news conference. "I'm saying with all responsibility that he's not cooperating with us even now, and we aren't working with him."

Snowden doesn't want to stop his efforts to reveal information about the U.S. surveillance program likely because he considers himself a rights activist and a "new dissident," Putin said.

"Just because he feels that he is a human rights defender, a rights activist, he doesn't seem to have any intention to stop such work," Putin said.

The newspaper Izvestia, a Kremlin mouthpiece, speculated Monday that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is attending a summit of gas exporting nations in Moscow, would take Snowden with him when he leaves. The newspaper, citing a Kremlin source, said Putin would discuss Snowden with Maduro during their one-on-one meeting Tuesday, but Putin said he didn't know if any of the summit participants would help Snowden.

The U.S. has appeared to back off tough public words as it tries to broker Snowden's return, in part to avoid increasing tensions as Obama looks for Russia's cooperation in finding a path to peace in Syria.

Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia's presidential Security Council, said in televised remarks Monday that Putin and Obama had ordered their security agencies to search for a way out of the situation: "It's not an easy task, because they need to find a solution in the framework of international law. There is no such norm, there is no a ready recipe." Obama would not confirm that Russian and U.S. law enforcement agencies were working together.

Three U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the Snowden case, said Washington's efforts are focused primarily on getting Russia to deport Snowden either directly to the United States or to a third country, possibly in eastern Europe, that would then hand him over to U.S. authorities.

At the same time, the officials said they are trying to discourage Maduro from getting involved, warning that it would severely impair a nascent rapprochement between the U.S. and Venezuela.

Putin's comments come as Obama's administration is facing a breakdown in confidence from key allies over secret programs that reportedly installed covert listening devices in EU offices. Europe's outage was triggered by a Sunday report by German news weekly Der Spiegel that the NSA bugged diplomats from friendly nations ? such as the EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels.

The report was partly based on the ongoing series of revelations of U.S. eavesdropping leaked by Snowden.

Many European countries had so far been muted about revelations of the wide net cast by U.S. surveillance programs aimed at preventing terrorist attacks, but their reaction to the latest reports indicate Washington's allies are unlikely to let the matter drop without at least a strong show of outrage.

Obama maintained that all nations in the world with intelligence services try to understand what other nations are thinking. He added the U.S. is still evaluating the Spiegel report, adding that the U.S. will provide all the information European allies are requesting.

French President Francois Hollande demanded that the U.S. immediately stop the alleged eavesdropping and suggested that the widening surveillance scandal could derail negotiations for a free-trade deal potentially worth billions.

"We cannot accept this kind of behavior from partners and allies," Hollande said on French television on Monday.

In a sign of the distrust the report had sowed, the German government launched a review of its secure government communications network and the EU's executive, the European Commission, ordered "a comprehensive ad hoc security sweep."

"Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin. "We're not in the Cold War anymore."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he didn't know the details of the allegations, but tried to downplay them, maintaining that many nations undertake various activities to protect their national interests. He failed to quell the outrage from allies, including France, Germany and Italy.

It's unclear how widespread similar practices actually are. But some in Europe have raised concerns that U.S. efforts include economic espionage. When asked whether Germany spies on its allies, Seibert responded: "It's not the policy of the German government to eavesdrop on friendly states in their embassies. That should be obvious."

According to Der Spiegel's report, the NSA planted bugs in the EU's diplomatic offices in Washington and infiltrated the building's computer network. Similar measures were taken at the EU's mission to the United Nations in New York, the magazine said.

It also reported that the NSA used secure facilities at NATO headquarters in Brussels to dial into telephone maintenance systems that would have allowed it to intercept senior officials' calls and Internet traffic at a key EU office nearby.

___

AP correspondents Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris, Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Raf Casert in Brussels, Deb Riechmann in Brunei, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Julie Pace in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Matthew Lee and Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-07-01-NSA%20Surveillance/id-9aeb6b2294c04341919e31bc8afd2b5c

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Insurance Costs Set for a Jolt (WSJ)

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Monday, July 1, 2013

New NSA spying allegations rile European allies

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration faced a breakdown in confidence Sunday from key foreign allies who threatened investigations and sanctions against the U.S. over secret surveillance programs that reportedly installed covert listening devices in European Union offices.

U.S. intelligence officials said they will directly discuss with EU officials the new allegations, reported in Sunday's editions of the German news weekly Der Spiegel. But the former head of the CIA and National Security Agency urged the White House to make the spy programs more transparent to calm public fears about the American government's snooping.

It was the latest backlash in a nearly monthlong global debate over the reach of U.S. surveillance that aims to prevent terror attacks. The two programs, both run by the NSA, pick up millions of telephone and Internet records that are routed through American networks each day. They have raised sharp concerns about whether they violate public privacy rights at home and abroad.

Several European officials ? including in Germany, Italy, France, Luxembourg and the EU government itself ? said the new revelations could scuttle ongoing negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade treaty that, ultimately, seeks to create jobs and boost commerce by billions annually in what would be the world's largest free trade area.

"Partners do not spy on each other," said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding. "We cannot negotiate over a big trans-Atlantic market if there is the slightest doubt that our partners are carrying out spying activities on the offices of our negotiators. The American authorities should eliminate any such doubt swiftly."

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he was "deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices." And Luxembourg Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Jean Asselborn said he had no reason to doubt the Der Spiegel report and rejected the notion that security concerns trump the broad U.S. surveillance authorities.

"We have to re-establish immediately confidence on the highest level of the European Union and the United States," Asselborn told The Associated Press.

According to Der Spiegel, the NSA planted bugs in the EU's diplomatic offices in Washington and infiltrated the building's computer network. Similar measures were taken at the EU's mission to the United Nations in New York, the magazine said. It also reported that the NSA used secure facilities at NATO headquarters in Brussels to dial into telephone maintenance systems that would have allowed it to intercept senior officials' calls and Internet traffic at a key EU office nearby.

The Spiegel report cited classified U.S. documents taken by NSA leaker and former contractor Edward Snowden that the magazine said it had partly seen. It did not publish the alleged NSA documents it cited nor say how it obtained access to them. But one of the report's authors is Laura Poitras, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who interviewed Snowden while he was holed up in Hong Kong.

Britain's The Guardian newspaper also published an article Sunday alleging NSA surveillance of the EU offices, citing classified documents provided by Snowden. The Guardian said one document lists 38 NSA "targets," including embassies and missions of U.S. allies like France, Italy, Greece, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India and Turkey.

In Washington, a statement from the national intelligence director's office said U.S. officials planned to respond to the concerns with their EU counterparts and through diplomatic channels with specific nations.

However, "as a matter of policy, we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations," the statement concluded. It did not provide further details.

NSA Director Keith Alexander last week said the government stopped gathering U.S. citizens' Internet data in 2011. But the NSA programs that sweep up foreigners' data through U.S. servers to pin down potential threats to Americans from abroad continue.

Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden downplayed the European outrage over the programs, saying they "should look first and find out what their own governments are doing." But Hayden said the Obama administration should try to head off public criticism by being more open about the top-secret programs so "people know exactly what it is we are doing in this balance between privacy and security."

"The more they know, the more comfortable they will feel," Hayden said. "Frankly, I think we ought to be doing a bit more to explain what it is we're doing, why, and the very tight safeguards under which we're operating."

Hayden also defended a secretive U.S. court that weighs whether to allow the government to seize Internet and phone records from private companies. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is made up of federal judges but does not consider objections from defense attorneys in considering the government's request for records.

Last year, the government asked the court to approve 1,789 applications to spy on foreign intelligence targets, according to a Justice Department notice to Congress dated April 30. The court approved all but one ? and that was withdrawn by the government.

Critics have derided the court as a rubber-stamp approval for the government, sparking an unusual response last week in The Washington Post by its former chief judge. In a statement to the newspaper, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly refuted a draft NSA inspector general's report that suggested the court collaborated with the executive branch instead of maintaining judicial independence. Kollar-Kotelly was the court's chief judge from 2002 to 2006, when some of the surveillance programs were under way.

Some European counties have much stronger privacy laws than does the U.S. In Germany, where criticism of the NSA's surveillance programs has been particularly vocal, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger likened the spying outlined in the Der Spiegel report to "methods used by enemies during the Cold War." German federal prosecutors are examining whether the reported U.S. electronic surveillance programs broke German laws.

Green Party leaders in the European Parliament called for an immediate investigation into the claims and called for existing U.S.-EU agreements on the exchange of bank transfer and passenger record information to be canceled. Both programs have been labeled as unwarranted infringements of citizens' privacy by left-wing and libertarian lawmakers in Europe.

The dispute also has jeopardized diplomatic relations between the U.S. and some of it its most unreliable allies, including China, Russia and Ecuador.

Snowden, who tuned 30 last week, revealed himself as the document leaker in June interviews in Hong Kong, but fled to Russia before China's government could turn him over to U.S. officials. Snowden is now believed to be holed up in a transit zone in Moscow's international airport, where Russian officials say they have no authority to catch him since he technically has not crossed immigration borders.

It's also believed Snowden is seeking political asylum from Ecuador. But Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa signaled in an AP interview Sunday that it's unlikely Snowden will end up there. Correa portrayed Russia as entirely the masters of Snowden's fate, and the Kremlin said it will take public opinion and the views of human rights activists into account when considering his case. That could lay the groundwork for Snowden to seek asylum in Russia.

Outgoing National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said U.S. and Russian law enforcement officials are discussing how to deal with Snowden, who is wanted on espionage charges. "The sooner that this can be resolved, the better," Donilon said in an interview on CNN.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has a different take on what to do with Snowden. "I think it's pretty good that he's stuck in the Moscow airport," Pelosi, D-Calif., said on NBC's "Meet the Press." ''That's ok with me. He can stay there, that's fine."

___

Jordans reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Brussels, Greg Keller in Paris, Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Jovana Gec in Zagreb, Croatia, Lynn Berry in Moscow and Michael Weissenstein in Portoviejo, Ecuador, contributed to this report.

___

Lara Jakes and Frank Jordans can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP and http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-30-NSA%20Surveillance/id-682bb12f601f4490ae76a0f7c6dd3eec

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Immigration bill faces uncertain future in House

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The immigration debate is shifting to the Republican-led House, where lawmakers have shown little appetite for the large-scale, comprehensive approach their Senate colleagues embraced last week.

The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Sunday that any attempt at comprehensive immigration legislation cannot offer a "special pathway to citizenship" for those in the United States illegally. Democrats have called that position a deal-breaker.

Meanwhile, both parties eyed the politics that could yield electoral victories or irrelevance among the growing Hispanic voting bloc.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican who leads the House Judiciary Committee, said he does not foresee a proposal that could provide a simple mechanism for immigrants here illegally to earn full standing as U.S. citizens. His committee members have been working on bills that address individual concerns but have not written a comprehensive proposal to match the Senate's effort.

A pathway to legal standing, similar to that of immigrants who have green cards, could be an option, he said.

Unacceptable, said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

"No Democrat will vote for any bill without a path to citizenship," said Schumer, who helped write the Senate immigration plan that passed that chamber last week.

The Senate bill would provide a long and difficult pathway to citizenship for those living in the country illegally, as well as tough measures to secure the border. In the Democratic-controlled Senate, 14 Republicans joined all Democratic senators and independents in the 68-32 vote.

In the Republican-led House, conservatives have stood opposed to any pathway to citizenship for those workers. House lawmakers have urged a piecemeal approach to the thorny issue instead of the Senate's sweeping effort. House Speaker John Boehner has ruled out taking up the Senate bill and said the Republican-controlled chamber would chart its own version of the legislation with a focus on border security.

Illustrating the strong opposition among conservative lawmakers, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said flatly: "The Senate bill is not going to pass."

If immigration falls, so too could the GOP's national prospects.

Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and an author of the current Senate immigration bill, said "Speaker Boehner has a tough job ahead" to convince his caucus to act.

"Republicans realize the implications of the future of the Republican Party in America if we don't get this issue behind us," McCain said.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi similarly predictied electoral doom if Republicans thwart the efforts to address the estimated 11 million immigrants now in the United States illegally. She said Republicans should follow the Senate's lead "if they ever want to win a presidential race."

"We wouldn't even be where we are right now had it not been that 70 percent of Hispanics voted for President Obama, voted Democratic in the last election," Pelosi said. "That caused an epiphany in the Senate, that's for sure. So, all of a sudden now, we have already passed comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. That's a big victory."

In 2012, Obama won re-election with the backing of 71 percent of Hispanic voters and 73 percent of Asian-American voters. A thwarted immigration overhaul could again push those voting blocs toward the Democrats' side.

If an immigration bill fails, Democrats stood ready to blame Boehner and his party.

"Will he allow a small group, maybe even a majority of his caucus, to control the debate and the future on this issue?" asked Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. "If he decides to do that, we will then end in a stalemate and an impasse once again."

Goodlatte and Gutierrez spoke to CNN's "State of the Union." Schumer, Gowdy and McCain were on "Fox News Sunday." Pelosi was on NBC's "Meet the Press."

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-bill-faces-uncertain-future-house-082345865.html

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Ala. county files plan to exit $4.2B bankruptcy (Providence Journal)

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Phoenix, Las Vegas bake in scorching heat

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (AP) ? Dan Kail was vacationing in Las Vegas when he heard that the temperature at Death Valley could approach 130 degrees this weekend. He didn't hesitate to make a trip to the desert location that is typically the hottest place on the planet.

"Coming to Death Valley in the summertime has always been on the top of my bucket list," the 67-year-old Pittsburgh man said. "When I found out it might set a record I rented a car and drove straight over. If it goes above 130 I will have something to brag about."

The forecast called for Death Valley to reach 128 degrees Saturday as part of a heat wave that has caused large parts of the western U.S. to suffer. Death Valley's record high of 134 degrees, set a century ago, stands as the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

"The wind out here is like being in front of a blast furnace," Kail said.

As temperatures soared in Las Vegas Friday, 200 people were treated for heat problems at an outdoor concert, Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said.

Thirty of them were hospitalized for heat-related injuries at Vans Warped Tour at Silverton Casino as temps reached 115.

Most of the others "were essentially provided shade and water and a place to sit down," Pappa said.

It was expected to get even hotter in Las Vegas over the weekend.

Phoenix reached 116 on Friday ? 2 degrees short of the expected high ? in part because a light layer of smoke from wildfires in neighboring New Mexico shielded the blazing sun, the National Weather Service said. Phoenix was forecast to hit nearly 120. The record in Phoenix is 122.

The heat was so punishing that rangers took up positions at trailheads at Lake Mead in Nevada to persuade people not to hike. Zookeepers in Phoenix hosed down the elephants and fed tigers frozen fish snacks. Dogs were at risk of burning their paws on scorched pavement, and airlines kept close watch on the heat for fear that it could cause flights to be delayed.

The heat wasn't expected to break until Monday or Tuesday.

The scorching weather presented problems for airlines because high temperatures can make it more difficult for planes to take off. Hot air reduces lift and also can diminish engine performance. Planes taking off in the heat may need longer runways or may have to shed weight by carrying less fuel or cargo.

Smaller jets and propeller planes are more likely to be affected than bigger airliners that are better equipped for extreme temperatures.

Temperatures are also expected to soar across Utah and into Wyoming and Idaho, with triple-digit heat forecast for the Boise area. Cities in Washington state that are better known for cool, rainy weather should break the 90s next week.

"This is the hottest time of the year, but the temperatures that we'll be looking at for Friday through Sunday, they'll be toward the top," said weather service meteorologist Mark O'Malley. "It's going to be baking hot across much of the entire West."

The heat is the result of a high-pressure system brought on by a shift in the jet stream, the high-altitude air current that dictates weather patterns. The jet stream has been more erratic in the past few years.

Health officials warned people to be extremely careful when venturing outdoors. The risks include not only dehydration and heat stroke but burns from the concrete and asphalt. Dogs can suffer burns and blisters on their paws by walking on hot pavement.

"You will see people who go out walking with their dog at noon or in the middle of the day and don't bring enough water and it gets tragic pretty quickly," said Bretta Nelson, spokeswoman for the Arizona Humane Society. "You just don't want to find out the hard way."

Cooling stations were set up to shelter the homeless and elderly people who can't afford to run their air conditioners. In Phoenix, Joe Arpaio, the famously hard-nosed sheriff who runs a tent jail, planned to distribute ice cream and cold towels to inmates this weekend.

Officials said personnel were added to the Border Patrol's search-and-rescue unit because of the danger to people trying to slip across the Mexican border. At least seven people have been found dead in the last week in Arizona after falling victim to the brutal desert heat.

In June 1990, when Phoenix hit 122 degrees, airlines were forced to cease flights for several hours because of a lack of data from the manufacturers on how the aircraft would operate in such extreme heat.

US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher said the airline now knows that its Boeings can fly at up to 126 degrees, and its Airbus fleet can operate at up to 127.

While the heat in Las Vegas is expected to peak Sunday, it's unlikely to sideline the first round of the four-week Bikini Invitational tournament.

"I feel sorry for those poor girls having to strut themselves in 115 degrees, but there's $100,000 up for grabs," said Hard Rock casino spokeswoman Abigail Miller. "I think the girls are willing to make the sacrifice."

___

Skoloff reported from Phoenix. Also contributing were Robert Jablon in Los Angeles, Julie Jacobson and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, Michelle Price in Salt Lake City, Cristina Silva and Bob Christie in Phoenix, and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/phoenix-las-vegas-bake-scorching-heat-202602575.html

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