A training missile fell off an Apache helicopter and landed near houses in Texas -

A training missile fell off an Apache helicopter and landed near houses in Texas - 


A training missile fell off an Apache helicopter and landed near houses in Texas, forcing 100 homes to be evacuated.
The 100-pound, 6-foot piece of metal dropped out of the sky in Killeen, near the Fort Hood military base, on Tuesday evening, MyFoxAustin.com reported.
The missile dropped near the home of Kenton Davis, whose children were playing outside and alerted Davis when they saw the missile hit the ground.
"I think I broke half of it trying to pull it out until I realized what it was when I lifted it up and read the bottom of it so ... yeah," he said.

According to MyFoxAustin, III Corps Chief Aviation Col. Howard Arey says the piece of metal is an M-36 Captive Flight missile, a training device that allows Apache crews to simulate missile engagements and it is never intended to leave the helicopter. He says these types of devices don't have a warhead or propulsion.
Arey says the men inside the Apache had no way to tell the device had fallen off the helicopter, but they were called back to base once it was reported.
Fort Hood says the investigation into what caused the device to fall is ongoing.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/17/fort-hood-training-missile-falls-from-sky-in-texas/?test=latestnews

Boy finds piece of finger in Arby’s sandwich - employee cut finger on a meat slicer and left without telling anyone -

Boy finds piece of finger in Arby’s sandwich - employee cut finger on a meat slicer and left without telling anyone - 


The restaurant chain Arby’s has apologized after a Michigan teen bit into the fleshy, severed pad of an employee’s finger that had found its way into the boy’s junior roast beef sandwich.


John Gray, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based chain, issued a statement Wednesday apologizing to 14-year-old Ryan Hart and describing last Friday’s incident in Jackson, Mich., as an “isolated and unfortunate accident.”


Ryan told the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Wednesday that he had nearly finished the sandwich when spit out a piece that tasted like rubber and was tough to chew.


Jackson County health officials say the employee apparently cut her finger on a meat slicer and left her station without telling anyone. He says her co-workers stopped filling orders once they found out.


Read more - 
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1179858--boy-finds-piece-of-finger-in-arby-s-sandwich

Rise of the 'smartphone face' - sagging jowls, smartphone could cause facial skin and muscle to lose its elasticity -

Rise of the 'smartphone face' - sagging jowls, smartphone could cause facial skin and muscle to lose its elasticity - 



Technology addicts may be at risk of sagging jowls, according to aesthetic experts.
It is believed that smartphone and laptop use, could cause facial skin and muscle to lose its elasticity as people spend an increasing amount of time sitting with their heads bent. 
It is now believed that the phenomenon, dubbed 'smartphone face' could be behind the growing trend for skin tightening treatments and chin implants which cost around £4,290.
According to statistics released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) 'chinplants' are becoming the fastest growing cosmetic surgery trend.
In 2011 its popularity grew more than breast augmentation, Botox and liposuction combined.
And a number of leading doctors believe that technology could be behind the growing trend, as poor posture can promote saggy jowls, double chins and 'marionette lines' - the creases from the corners of the mouth down the chin.
Confirming the condition, coined 'smartphone face', Dr Mervyn Patterson of the Woodford Medical group told the Evening Standard: 'If you sit for hours with your head bent slightly forward, staring at your iPhone or laptop screen, you may shorten the neck muscles and increase the gravitational pull on the jowl area, leading to a drooping jawline.'




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2144663/Rise-Smartphone-face-Is-technology-blame-sagging-complexions.html

Kodak confirms it had weapons-grade uranium in underground lab - about 3½ pounds -

Kodak confirms it had weapons-grade uranium in underground lab - about 3½ pounds - 


Kodak -- the company known for decades for its cameras and film -- this week confirmed it used weapons-grade uranium in an underground lab in upstate New York for upwards of 30 years.
A company spokesman and a former scientist for the firm say there was not enough material to sustain a nuclear chain reaction.
Former Kodak researcher Albert Filo said the uranium was alloyed with aluminum in plates sealed in sleeves that were not moved for three decades. The amount of fuel was about 3½ pounds, which experts say is less than one-tenth of the amount necessary to make a crude nuclear device.
The alloyed material "could not be readily converted to make a nuclear weapon," said Eastman Kodak spokesman Christopher Veronda. "Disassembling the device and removing these plates was a process that took highly trained experts more than a day to perform."
But advocates for preventing nuclear proliferation say it highlights the risk that terrorists could obtain enough fuel to build a nuclear device.
"In this day and age, no one should be allowed to possess nuclear-weapons-usable material without providing an armed defense of that material," said Edwin Lyman, a nuclear physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"There really should be an effort to eliminate the use of materials in commercial companies that could be used by terrorists to make nuclear weapons," he said.
Kodak turned the material over to the government in 2007, under heavy security. But for more than 30 years, the company had a device called a californium neutron flux multiplier, or CFX, in a specially built labyrinth beneath Building 82 at its labs near Rochester, New York. The device was about the size of a refrigerator.
It was not a reactor, but rather a hunk of metal emitting radiation. Its purpose was to create a beam of neutrons to use for scanning and testing other materials. The device's primary source of neutron radiation was the radioactive element californium, but the stream of neutrons produced by the californium was multiplied by passing it through a lattice of highly enriched uranium U-235, whose nuclear fission released additional neutrons.
According to a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Kodak's uranium was highly enriched -- to a level approaching 93.4%. That is the type of weapons-grade material that U.S. government agencies are trying to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on. (For the sake of comparison, Iran claims to have enriched uranium to 20%, leading Western nations to impose sanctions on the country in an effort to prevent Iran from pursuing further enrichment.)
Lyman acknowledges that the quantity was not enough to make a bomb. "But you can always imagine," he said, "an adversary that was coordinated could steal enough in different areas to kind of consolidate, and have enough for a bomb."
While Kodak did not have armed guards, Filo said that there were security procedures in place to prevent any unauthorized access to the uranium. Also, he said, it would take hours or days for anyone to dismantle the CFX and extract the nuclear fuel.


Read more - 
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/15/us/new-york-kodak-uranium/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Florida students' test scores drop, so the state lowers the passing grade... -

Florida students' test scores drop, so the state lowers the passing grade... - 


The Board of Education decided in an emergency meeting Tuesday to lower the passing grade on the writing portion of Florida's standardized test after preliminary results showed a drastic drop in student passing scores.


The results indicated only about a third of students would pass this year's tougher Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test exam, compared with a passing rate of 80 percent or more last year.


"They've asked students to do more, but that's pretty dramatic," said Florida Education Association spokesman Mark Pudlow. "We need to examine what led to this, not just paper over the problem."



The results provide another opening to critics of high-stakes testing. The statewide teachers union has opposed Florida's use of standardized tests to evaluate teachers and grade schools.


"Our students must know how to read and write, and our education system must be able to measure and benchmark their progress so we can set clear education goals," said Gov. Rick Scott in a statement Monday. "The significant contrast in this year's writing scores is an obvious indication that the Department of Education needs to review the issue and recommend an action plan so that our schools, parents, teachers and students have a clear understanding of the results."


Results on the FCAT are the major factor for determining grades the state uses to reward top schools and sanction those at the bottom of the spectrum.


This is the first year students and schools will be assessed on the basis of tougher tests and scoring systems, expecting to result in more students failing the FCAT and lower school grades.


The board, though, agreed at its regular meeting last week not to let any school drop more than one letter grade this year to help them adjust to the rigorous new standards.


The writing exam was made more difficult by increasing expectations for proper punctuation, capitalization, spelling and sentence structure. The board also increased the passing grade from 3.5 to 4 on scale of zero to 6.


The preliminary results show only 27 percent of fourth-graders received a passing score compared with 81 percent last year.


For eighth-graders it was 33 percent — down from 82 percent in 2011. For 10th-graders it was 38 percent — a drop from 80 percent last year.


The lower passing score is expected to increase the number of students passing the exam to 48 percent for fourth grade, 52 percent for eighth grade and 60 percent for 10th grade, still well below last year's results.


"This incident again demonstrates that Florida school grades reflect profoundly political decisions, not objective measures of teaching and learning," said spokesman for FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing in Jamaica Plain, Mass, Bob Schaeffer, in an email. "How can a measure which fluctuates from 81 percent to 27 percent 'proficient' in just one year even meet the laugh test?"


Read more - 
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Passing-score-lowered-for-FCAT-Writing-exam/-/1637132/13396234/-/k1ckc2z/-/index.html

U.S. Stimulus Dollars Fund Studies into Sexual History and Erectile Dysfunction -

U.S. Stimulus Dollars Fund Studies into Sexual History and Erectile Dysfunction - 


The NBC Investigative Unit has raised questions about two grants totaling nearly $1.5 million dollars distributed to the University of California San Francisco. The money was part of the federal stimulus program and went to studies into the erectile dysfunction of overweight middle aged men and the accurate reporting of someone's sexual history.


This is part of our ongoing series of investigations by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit into who got federal stimulus dollars, and why some projects did not break ground more than two years after receiving the grant.


The Investigative Unit looked closely at the federal government's decision to spend nearly $1.5 million dollars of taxpayer money, money that came here to California. Grant number 1R01HD056950-01A2 was among the thousands of grants funded, receiving $1.2 million dollars. This grant studied how to improve the accuracy of how people responded to questions about their sexual history.


"If you honestly report on your sexual activity and number of partners?" Scott Amey with asked with a sigh. "That's a good one."


Amey is the general council for  POGO, the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington D.C. nonpartisan non-profit government watchdog group. During our interview with an NBC crew he tried to explain why the government used that many tax dollars to improve self reports about high risk sexual behavior.


"I don't think most tax payers would think that would be a justified spending of stimulus money to conduct a sex study over fixing bridges and roads that are crumbling every day," Amey added.


NBC Bay Area talked to the University of California San Francisco, the institution that received the grant. "Does it make you wonder a little bit, stimulus money for a study like this?" Kovaleski asked Jeff Sheehy, who works at the UCSF Aids Research Center. "No it doesn't," he answered. "Because to my mind we save money if we get better health outcomes."


According to the grant, a good portion of the study will "Improve the accuracy of responses to questions," specifically questions about a person's sexual behavior. "Playing devil's advocate," Kovaleski said to Sheehy, "Do taxpayers need to spend $1.2 million dollars to figure this out?""The judgment wasn't one that I was asked," Sheehy replied.


The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit discovered that for $1.2 million dollars, taxpayers funded a study that included 200 videotaped interviews at $6000 per interview. Kovaleski asked Sheehy to justify the spending. "I think the average person is going to look at $1.2 million dollars to interview 200 people and say Wow!" Sheehy defended the study. "I understand people could look at it and have issues but this is research," he said.


Kovaleski then asked about jobs. "How many jobs did this $1.26 million dollars create?" "Well I can't really say," Sheehy said. "There were eleven researchers hired on the job, two consultants. Well I can't say. This has not been evaluated for job creation."


Read more - 
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Stimulus-Grants-Fund-Erectile-Dysfunction-And-Sexual-Habits-Studies-151195105.html

Sugar can make you dumb - Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower -

Sugar can make you dumb - Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower - 




Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists who published a study Tuesday showing how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup sapped lab rats' memories.
Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) fed two groups of rats a solution containing high-fructose corn syrup -- a common ingredient in processed foods -- as drinking water for six weeks.
One group of rats was supplemented with brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while the other group was not.
Before the sugar drinks began, the rats were enrolled in a five-day training session in a complicated maze. After six weeks on the sweet solution, the rats were then placed back in the maze to see how they fared.
"The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
"Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats' ability to think clearly and recall the route they'd learned six weeks earlier."
A closer look at the rat brains revealed that those who were not fed DHA supplements had also developed signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar and regulates brain function.
"Because insulin can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss," Gomez-Pinilla said.
In other words, eating too much fructose could interfere with insulin's ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar, which is necessary for processing thoughts and emotions.
"Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," Gomez-Pinilla said.
"Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."
High-fructose corn syrup is commonly found in soda, condiments, applesauce, baby food and other processed snacks.
The average American consumes more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
While the study did not say what the equivalent might be for a human to consume as much high-fructose corn syrup as the rats did, researchers said it provides some evidence that metabolic syndrome can affect the mind as well as the body.
"Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Gomez-Pinilla.
"Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage."


Read more - 
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/sugar-dumb-us-scientists-warn-190918006.html

Anxious Greeks have withdrawn $893 million from the nation’s banks since the inconclusive May 6 -

Anxious Greeks have withdrawn $893 million from the nation’s banks since the inconclusive May 6 - 


While the long-term decline in bank deposits over the past 3 years has been well documented both on Zero Hedge and elsewhere, it is the most recent, acute post-election phase that has not gotten much coverage. Minutes ago Bloomberg sent out a notice that things in Greece may be on the verge of the final collapse. From Bloomberg: "Anxious Greeks have withdrawn as much as 700 million euros ($893 million) from the nation’s banks since the inconclusive May 6 election, President Karolos Papoulias told party leaders yesterday, according to a transcript of the meeting posted on the presidency’s website today. Papoulias said he got the information from the head of the Bank of Greece, the central bank, George Provopoulos, according to the transcript." While this was likely a negotiation talking point to facilitate the formation of the government, the reality as we now know is that there has been NO government formed, which now means that the bank run will only get worse. Needless to say, a Greek banking system which is now virtually shut out of any extrenal funding except for the ELA, where it has a few billions euros in access left, will be unable to deal with hundreds of millions in deposit outflows.


This may be the beginning of the end for Greece, just as Buiter and later JPM warned over the weekend.


Read more - 
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/has-greek-bank-run-started

U.S. is the Fattest Country In The World: The Top Food Offenders That Make Us Fat -

U.S. is the Fattest Country In The World: The Top Food Offenders That Make Us Fat - 


Well, at least in terms of very developed nations with larger populations. The evidence is all around us and even a brief public outing will confirm it. We are one fat country. We love to eat and all the wrong foods. The problem is more related to what we eat rather than how much we eat. The culprits are not always so obvious either. Gone are the days when it was only fast food that would add to our waistline. Today it's everyday foods that are suspect.


MRI scan of a morbidly obese 250 pound woman (left) and healthier 120 pound woman (right). The areas of pronounced subcutaneous fat are evident on the obese woman. In this upright standing position, notice the subcutaneous fat around the neck, shoulders, arms, chest, waist, thighs, and even calves. Also, notice the repositioning of her shoulder joint and hip joint, pronounced angle of the humerus (arm bone) and angle of femur (thigh bone), and the positioning of knee and ankle joints. Other anomolies include the enlarged heart and greater omentum (fat deposition that hangs down from the stomach in front of the small intestines). 


The growing problem of obesity is associated with multiple morbidities, including increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, sleep apnea, and cancer. Obesity promotes disability, decreases productivity, and shortens life span. Although much attention has been focused on diet and exercise, these strategies alone are not effective in preventing obesity and maintaining weight loss. 


In fact, there are many experts to this day who continue to fault a lack of exercise as a primary contributor to obesity. “The United States is the fattest country in the world,” said Geoffrey Godbey, professor emeritus of recreation, park and tourism management, Penn State. “The amount of exercise Americans get has become a major concern.”


Godbey and fellow Penn State colleagues are among the thousands of researchers who receive millions in grants reiterating the same message every year to Americans. The failed message of "we don't exercise enough" does little to improve the outlook on physical activity for the average person. Moreover, it's not really the major contributor to weight gain, at least not the kind of weight gain we're seeing in America.


The development of pharmacological approaches for obesity treatment has been dogged by poor efficacy and serious side effects. Although the causes of obesity are very simple, the biology is very complex. So besides lack of physical activity and sleep, let's focus on the top food offenders responsible for the rise in our girth.


Top Food Offenders


A Harvard study last year in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the quality of your food matters more than its calorie count.


Intuitively, we know that gorging on burgers and French fries and slurping down soda leads to more weight gain than eating fresh fruits, veggies and brown rice. But in the most comprehensive and detailed study of its kind, researchers have figured out exactly how much weight gain is associated with the consumption of certain foods.


Topping the list of culprits are sweetened drinks, fried foods, and any form of potatoes. The biggest cause of weight gain was eating french fries; every extra serving of fries eaten in a day was linked to a gain of more than three pounds, while eating an extra serving of potato chips led to 1.69 pounds. Other diet busters included refined grains (like white rice and white bread).


Some of the worst food offenders (pounds gained for every additional serving per day over four years):


French fries (over three pounds)


Potato chips (1.69 pounds)


Potatoes (1.28 pounds)


Sugar-sweetened drinks (one pound)


Processed meats (0.93 pounds)


The results show us what everyone knows -- eating junk food and starchy foods can be bad news for your waistline -- but the data are useful for quantifying just how much that extra bag of chips can hurt you, as well as how making the switch to whole healthy foods can help. 


However, that isn't the whole story. Two often overlooked contributors to obesity are food additives and genetically modified foods.


GMO and Food Additives


Many have suggested that these two forms of artificial foods are akin to chemical terrorism in the food supply. Between genetically modified foods, and the toxicity of artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners and adulterants, our entire food supply is contaminated.


A study showed that genetically-modified (GM) food is contributing to the obesity epidemic. Researchers found that GM corn fed to mice led to an increase in overall body weight of almost 4%, while also increasing the weight of their livers by up to 11%. 


Wheat's biochemical code causes hormone disruption that is linked to diabetes and obesity. 


GM foods have also been shown to cause organ damage, sterility, and diabetes in mammals.


So where do we find genetically modified foods? In every processed food that contains corn, soy, wheat and emulsifiers. That makes up about 90% of processed foods. Even babies are not safe. But it doesn't stop there. Fresh produce is also now GM. 


Genetically modified strains of broccoli have been launched in UK supermarkets as a testing ground before they are inevitably introduced into the United States, Canada and Australia.


Biotech companies are now looking to make profits at the expense of health by using genetic engineering to alter the breeding objectives in several countries. An approval application for the food and feed use of LL62 genetically modified rice has been submitted to the EU. It is still undergoing safety evaluations but is expected to pass. This GM rice cultivar was genetically engineered to be resistant to an herbicide. 


The genetic code of the apple has been mapped by researchers, paving the way for gene silencing and other manipulations by scientists to continue altering the food supply under the guise of creating healthier fruits.


A University of Arkansas researcher found genetically modified canola growing wild in Dakota -- in addition, she found two different GM varieties had interbred to produce a completely new GM canola. 


Even chocolate is not safe. With the intention of flooding 70% of the global cocoa supply with genetically modified (GMO) cocoa tree hybrids, a collaboration involving Mars, USDA and IBM is accelerating this process. 



Chemical Sweeteners


Chemical sweeteners are another huge problem. A growing number of clinicians and scientists are finding that excitotoxins such as MSG play a critical role in the development of several neurological disorders and specific types of obesity.


The obesity epidemic has only increased since diet foods and beverages gained popularity. 


The body has a self-regulating mechanism, a kind of thermostat that measures the amount of energy (or calories) it can obtain from a particular meal. When your body has received enough energy from the food you have eaten, then your mouth, stomach, intestines, and liver send messages to the brain that all energy requirements have been met. 


Subsequently, your nervous system secretes hormones that stop your desire for more food. This point of saturation is essential for your wellbeing, for without it you would continuously want to eat and never feel satisfied. If, for instance, during one particular meal, you eat foods that contain only very little energy or at least not enough to fulfill your energy requirements, then your body will tempt you to eat more during the next meal. This way, the body makes up for the loss of energy during the previous meal. The same happens when your digestive ability is low and you are not deriving sufficient energy from the food you eat.


Because artificial sweeteners are low-energy foods and non-physiological, the body deals with them in the same way as described above. It recognizes their complete absence of potential energy and signals "low energy." As a result, it stimulates the desire for more food. This principle is a well-known and commonly applied practice, both in the food industry and in animal feeding. Animal feeds contain highly concentrated saccharin to stimulate the animal's appetite so that they eat more frequently and grow fat faster. The same mechanism applies to the human body, including children.


For both humans and animals, aspartame, neotame, sucralose, saccharin, sodium cyclamate and other sweeteners belong to the category of "sweet" food. If you eat artificial sweeteners, the body naturally responds to their sweet taste by secreting insulin. Rather than receiving sugar in the blood as expected, however, it receives a combination of protein compounds. 


A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: those with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.


Doing its normal job, the pancreas has already prepared a portion of insulin that now floats about in the bloodstream searching for the expected sugar. Since it isn't found there, the insulin removes some of the blood sugar instead. This effectively lowers your sugar levels. However, since this situation can be life-endangering, your body quickly signals "hunger" which becomes a sudden, strong "craving." Since foods with artificial sweeteners are not able to meet the demand for an increase in blood sugar, you begin to look for sugary foods.


Instead of saving the calories that are contained in ordinary sugar, you have artificially increased your need and appetite for more sweet food. If you try to satisfy this desire by eating more foods containing artificial sweeteners (without calories), the urge to eat will become even stronger than before and you will start overeating. Researchers have found that the urge to eat more food after ingesting artificial sweeteners in a drink can last up to 90 minutes, even when all blood tests show normal values.


The contributors to obesity are many. The simplistic equation offered to us by public health agencies is not only short-sighted, but irresponsible. If lack of exercise and avoiding "bad" foods (as per government recommendations) was the only problem, we would have a much larger percentage of the population maintaining a healthier weight. Moreover, we would not have such repetitive frequency of fast food restaurants on every corner. The problem stems from what most people don't know, and not from common knowledge. If we ever start removing chemical toxins and genetically modified foods from the food supply, you will start to see a "real shift" towards healthier bodies and healthier people, something we haven't seen in a very long time.


Read more - 
http://preventdisease.com/news/12/051212_US-is-the-Fattest-Country-In-The-World-The-Top-Food-Offenders-That-Make-Us-Fat.shtml

U.S. lawmakers have been unusually silent as a Chinese bank to takes over 13 bank branches in New York and California -

U.S. lawmakers have been unusually silent as a Chinese bank to takes over 13 bank branches in New York and California - 


U.S. lawmakers have been unusually silent about federal regulators' decision to allow a Chinese bank to take over 13 bank branches in New York and California, suggesting that they think American banks have much to gain.


Members of both parties usually relish the chance to bash China on everything from government subsidies to the yuan's exchange rate. Yet Wednesday's decision by the Federal Reserve to certify a Chinese bank acquisition for the first time was met by near-universal silence.


Scott Talbott, the head lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, said that's unsurprising. The U.S. wants China to open up its financial services market – foreign ownership of Chinese banks is limited to 25 percent – and allowing a Chinese presence in the U.S. is seen as a necessary trade-off.
“What this boils down to is that there are a ton more potential customers in China for U.S. banks than there are potential customers for the Chinese here,” Talbott said. “So in the long run, the approval is going to benefit the U.S.”


Wednesday's decision allows Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which is 70 percent owned by the Chinese government, to take an 80 percent stake in a Hong Kong-based bank with 13 branches in the U.S. The Fed also allowed two other Chinese banks to open branches in New York and Chicago.


The decision came days after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner met with top Chinese officials for annual talks in Beijing. China agreed during those talks to allow foreigners a greater stake in Chinese brokerage firms.


Read more - 
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/asia-pacific/227035-lawmakers-largely-silent-on-chinese-takeover-of-us-bank-branches