Police vow to solve shootings of 19 in New Orleans

New Orleans Police investigate shooting at the intersection Frenchman Street at N. Villere on Mother's Day in New Orleans, Sunday May 12, 2013. Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a Mother's Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 17, police said. (AP Photo/Doug Parker)

New Orleans Police investigate shooting at the intersection Frenchman Street at N. Villere on Mother's Day in New Orleans, Sunday May 12, 2013. Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a Mother's Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 17, police said. (AP Photo/Doug Parker)

New Orleans Police investigate shooting at the intersection Frenchman Street at N. Villere on Mother's Day in New Orleans, Sunday May 12, 2013. Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a Mother's Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 17, police said. (AP Photo/Doug Parker)

New Orleans Police investigate shooting at the intersection Frenchman Street at N. Villere on Mother's Day in New Orleans, Sunday May 12, 2013. Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a Mother's Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 17, police said. (AP Photo/Doug Parker)

New Orleans police officer collects evidence at the scene of a shooting at the intersection Frenchman Street at N. Villere on Mother's Day in New Orleans, Sunday May 12, 2013. Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a Mother's Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 17, police said. (AP Photo/Doug Parker)

Map locates News Orlean???s 7th Ward, where gunmen opened fire on a Mother???s Day neighborhood parade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Video released early Monday by New Orleans police shows a possible suspect in the Mother's Day gunfire that wounded 19 people during a neighborhood parade.

The grainy surveillance video shows a crowd suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground. They appear to be running from a man who turns and runs out of the picture. The person is wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants. The image isn't clear but police say they hope someone will recognize him and notify investigators.

Still pictures of the suspect have been posted on YouTube, police said.

Police believe more than one gun was fired in the burst of Sunday afternoon violence ? the latest to flare up around a celebration this year ? and they have vowed to swiftly track down those responsible. Detectives were conducting interviews, collecting any surveillance video they could find and gathering evidence from the scene. Cell phone video taken in the aftermath of the shooting shows victims lying on the ground, blood on the pavement and others bending over to comfort them.

Police also say the reward for information leading to arrests and indictments in the case is $10,000.

At least three of the victims were seriously wounded. Of the rest, many were grazed and authorities said that, overall, most wounds were not life threatening. No deaths were reported.

The victims included 10 men, seven women, a boy and a girl. The children, both 10 years old, were grazed and in good condition.

It's not the first time gunfire has shattered a festive mood in the city this year. Five people were wounded in January after a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, and four were wounded in a shooting in the French Quarter in the days leading up to Mardi Gras.

"The specialness of the day doesn't appear to interrupt the relentless drumbeat of violence," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said at a news conference outside a hospital where victims were being treated Sunday night.

Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New Orleans, said federal investigators have no indication the shooting was an act of terrorism.

"It's strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans," she said.

As many as 400 people came out for the second-line procession ? a boisterous New Orleans tradition ? though only half that many were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting, Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said. Officers were interspersed with the marchers, which is routine for such events.

Police saw three suspects running from the scene. No arrests had been made as of late Sunday.

Outside the hospital Sunday night, Leonard Temple became teary as he talked about a friend who was in surgery after being shot three times during the parade. Temple was told the man was hit while trying to push his own daughter out of the way.

"People were just hanging out. We were just chilling. And this happened. Bad things always happen to good people," said Temple, who was at the parade but didn't see the shootings.

Second-line parades are loose processions in which people dance down the street, often following behind a brass band. They can be planned events or impromptu offshoots of other celebrations. They trace their origins to the city's famous jazz funerals.

A social club called The Original Big 7 organized Sunday's event. The group was founded in 1996 at the Saint Bernard housing projects, according to its MySpace page.

The neighborhood where the shooting happened is a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the 7th Ward's population was about 60 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina level.

The crime scene was about 1.5 miles from the heart of the French Quarter and near the Treme neighborhood, which has been the centerpiece for the HBO TV series "Treme."

Sunday's violence comes at a time when the city is struggling to pay for tens of millions of dollars required under federal consent decrees to reform the police department and the city jail.

Shootings at parades and neighborhood celebrations have become more common in recent years as the city has struggled with street crime, sometimes gang-related.

In January, police said a feud resulted in the drive-by shooting that wounded five people about 30 minutes after a parade had passed by on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The next month, four people were shot following an argument in the French Quarter during the last weekend of partying before Mardi Gras. Arrests were made in both cases.

Police vowed to solve Sunday's shooting, too. Serpas said it wasn't clear if particular people in the second line were targeted, or if the shots were fired at random.

"We'll get them. We have good resources in this neighborhood," Serpas said.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman and Kevin McGill in New Orleans and AP Radio reporter Jackie Quinn in Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-13-US-Mother's-Day-Parade-Shooting/id-37148b4977f94bcd8d8d4b0c3569c6c8

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Leap in leukemia treatment reported by Dartmouth researchers

Public release date: 13-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Robin Dutcher
robin.dutcher@hitchcock.org
603-653-9056
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) have found a combination of drugs to potentially treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) more effectively. The research was published online on May 3, 2013, and it will appear as a letter in the journal Leukemia, a publication of the prestigious Nature Publishing Group. The study helps address a basic problem of treating CLL.

CLL lives both in the blood in circulation, and in lymph nodes and bone marrow. The former is relatively easy to kill, but the disease recurs because of resistant CLL cells in the lymph nodes and bone marrow. The researchers found an innovative drug combination that targets the stubborn CLL cells.

"We have been studying the mechanism in the cancer cells that causes the resistance to treatment," says Alan Eastman, the senior researcher on the team and a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, "and that in turn, led us to find drugs that target the resistance." Eastman led the team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center that also included Ryan Soderquist, Darcy Bates, and Alexey Danilov.

The researchers found a very effective drug combination of gossypol plus navitoclax to kill CLL cells. "Both drugs have been given to patients, but never in combination, because no one had the mechanistic rationale for doing that. Now we have what we think is the most promising drug combination so far for the treatment of CLL," says Eastman.

CLL cells in the lymph nodes have an increased level of a protein known as BCL-X. Gossypol likely inhibits this protein, which allows the navitoclax to work more effectively to kill the cancer cells. Eastman and his team tested this drug combination on CLL immediately after they came out of the patients.

The willingness of the patients to participate was integral to this study," Eastman adds. "After 40 years of research, I think this is the most promising idea I have had that might truly impact patient outcome." The researchers hope a clinical trial will soon follow.

###

This research direction was catalyzed by a Prouty pilot grant from NCCC and is now supported by a Translational Research Grant from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 13-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Robin Dutcher
robin.dutcher@hitchcock.org
603-653-9056
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) have found a combination of drugs to potentially treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) more effectively. The research was published online on May 3, 2013, and it will appear as a letter in the journal Leukemia, a publication of the prestigious Nature Publishing Group. The study helps address a basic problem of treating CLL.

CLL lives both in the blood in circulation, and in lymph nodes and bone marrow. The former is relatively easy to kill, but the disease recurs because of resistant CLL cells in the lymph nodes and bone marrow. The researchers found an innovative drug combination that targets the stubborn CLL cells.

"We have been studying the mechanism in the cancer cells that causes the resistance to treatment," says Alan Eastman, the senior researcher on the team and a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, "and that in turn, led us to find drugs that target the resistance." Eastman led the team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center that also included Ryan Soderquist, Darcy Bates, and Alexey Danilov.

The researchers found a very effective drug combination of gossypol plus navitoclax to kill CLL cells. "Both drugs have been given to patients, but never in combination, because no one had the mechanistic rationale for doing that. Now we have what we think is the most promising drug combination so far for the treatment of CLL," says Eastman.

CLL cells in the lymph nodes have an increased level of a protein known as BCL-X. Gossypol likely inhibits this protein, which allows the navitoclax to work more effectively to kill the cancer cells. Eastman and his team tested this drug combination on CLL immediately after they came out of the patients.

The willingness of the patients to participate was integral to this study," Eastman adds. "After 40 years of research, I think this is the most promising idea I have had that might truly impact patient outcome." The researchers hope a clinical trial will soon follow.

###

This research direction was catalyzed by a Prouty pilot grant from NCCC and is now supported by a Translational Research Grant from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/dmc-lil051313.php

BLK Water

Prince Harry supports vets, opens Warrior Games

>>> prince harry . to some, he's like prince charming . making his way across the country in the u.s. today. today, the combat helicopter pilot is showing his support for wounded veterans. ben fogel is in colorado springs this morning with more on the prince's trip. good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, erica. well, prince harry 's on the second stop of his u.s. tour. here in colorado, the prince is soldiering on to bring more attention to a cause close to his heart. here he's especially known as captain wales . it is his main reason for being in the usa -- the warrior games. a competition for injured soldiers the focus of the prince's trip.

>> i think this particular competition he wanted to highlight, because he's heard about it, and he said we have to make the schedule work.

>> reporter: those serious about this cause, prince harry didn't leave his sense of humor about. when speaking about his willingness to participate when he heard about the games last year.

>> a year ago, i was in washington on the ambassador's lawn and planting a tree.

>> reporter: and he was prince charming to misty. he gave you a gift?

>> two.

>> reporter: the prince opened the games, welcoming the teams from the u.s. forces and britain, along with paraolympian and former naval officer bradley snyder and missy franklin, who celebrated her 18th birthday the night before. an event with the prince. prince harry wish you a birthday?

>> he did. it was incredible.

>> reporter: later, the prince hit the court for a game of volleyball and a game of chase. the three-time gold medal winner from beach volleyball . bringing the british team to a victory over the u.s. in sitting volleyball . well, today, prince harry will be taking in a cycling event at the warrior games before handing out medals and touring the air force academy where i am now. he will continue east for new york, new jersey and connecticut. erica?

>> you can better believe there are people waiting for him in those parts as well. thanks.

>>> up next, the 20-year-old trying

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NY man finishes writing out entire Bible by hand

SPENCERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) ? At last, it is written.

Four years after he began his project to write out every word of the Bible, Phillip Patterson penned the very last lines Saturday at an upstate New York church.

"Every single curly-q, every single loop, it was all worth it," said Patterson, 63, moments after inking the final two verses of the King James Bible. "I'm really going to miss this writing."

It took Patterson just a few minutes to copy the final lines of the Book of Revelation before a crowd of about 125 people at St. Peter's Presbyterian Church in Spencertown. He ended the ceremony by saying "Amen."

Patterson, of Philmont, began copying the complete King James Bible in his neat, looping handwriting in 2009. He spent two years copying the first five books of the Bible as a prototype before starting fresh. He said he'll spend about another year working on the book's binding and covers before donating the fully completed Bible ? more than 2,400 pages ? to St. Peter's as a gift.

For now, he said, he'll just have to get used to his new life without holding a Pigma Micron pen every day.

"I'm going to miss the writing, that's what I'm going to miss," he said. "My fingers are fine, no callouses."

Patterson has said he started the project to learn about the Bible, not as a spiritual quest. But he said the project has helped him become more patient, confident and loving.

The project was slowed by his health problems, including AIDS and anemia. The retired interior designer relies on two canes and leans on walls and furniture to get around his apartment near the Massachusetts border.

Paterson worked as much as 14 hours a day on his project.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-man-finishes-writing-entire-bible-hand-014023251.html

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Graphene joins the race to redefine the ampere

May 12, 2013 ? A new joint innovation by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world's first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in a paper today in Nature Nanotechnology, provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge.

The international system of units (SI) comprises seven base units (the metre, kilogram, second, Kelvin, ampere, mole and candela). Ideally these should be stable over time and universally reproducible. This requires definitions based on fundamental constants of nature which are the same wherever you measure them.

The present definition of the Ampere, however, is vulnerable to drift and instability. This is not sufficient to meet the accuracy needs of present and certainly future electrical measurement. The highest global measurement authority, the Conf?rence G?n?rale des Poids et Mesures, has proposed that the ampere be re-defined in terms of the electron charge.

The frontrunner in this race to redefine the ampere is the single-electron pump (SEP). SEPs create a flow of individual electrons by shuttling them in to a quantum dot -- a particle holding pen -- and emitting them one at a time and at a well-defined rate. The paper published today describes how a graphene SEP has been successfully produced and characterised for the first time, and confirms its properties are extremely well suited to this application.

A good SEP pumps precisely one electron at a time to ensure accuracy, and pumps them quickly to generate a sufficiently large current. Up to now the development of a practical electron pump has been a two-horse race. Tuneable barrier pumps use traditional semiconductors and have the advantage of speed, while the hybrid turnstile utilises superconductivity and has the advantage that many can be put in parallel. Traditional metallic pumps, thought to be not worth pursuing, have been given a new lease of life by fabricating them out of the world's most famous super-material -- graphene.

Previous metallic SEPs made of aluminium are very accurate, but pump electrons too slowly for making a practical current standard. Graphene's unique semimetallic two-dimensional structure has just the right properties to let electrons on and off the quantum dot very quickly, creating a fast enough electron flow -- at near gigahertz frequency -- to create a current standard. The Achillies heel of metallic pumps, slow pumping speed, has thus been overcome by exploiting the unique properties of graphene.

The scientist at NPL and Cambridge still need to optimise the material and make more accurate measurements, but today's paper marks a major step forward in the road towards using graphene to redefine the ampere.

The realisation of the ampere is currently derived indirectly from resistance or voltage, which can be realised separately using the quantum Hall effect and the Josephson Effect. A fundamental definition of the ampere would allow a direct realisation that National Measurement Institutes around the world could adopt. This would shorten the chain for calibrating current-measuring equipment, saving time and money for industries billing for electricity and using ionising radiation for cancer treatment.

Current, voltage and resistance are directly correlated. Because we measure resistance and voltage based on fundamental constants -- electron charge and Planck's constant -- being able to measure current would also allow us to confirm the universality of these constants on which many precise measurements rely.

Graphene is not the last word in creating an ampere standard. NPL and others are investigating various methods of defining current based on electron charge. But today's paper suggests graphene SEPs could hold the answer. Also, any redefinition will have to wait until the Kilogram has been redefined. This definition, due to be decided soon, will fix the value of electronic charge, on which any electron-based definition of the ampere will depend.

Today's paper will also have important implications beyond measurement. Accurate SEPs operating at high frequency and accuracy can be used to make electrons collide and form entangled electron pairs. Entanglement is believed to be a fundamental resource for quantum computing, and for answering fundamental questions in quantum mechanics.

Malcolm Connolly, a research associate based in the Semiconductor Physics group at Cambridge, says: "This paper describes how we have successfully produced the first graphene single-electron pump. We have work to do before we can use this research to redefine the ampere, but this is a major step towards that goal. We have shown that graphene outperforms other materials used to make this style of SEP. It is robust, easier to produce, and operates at higher frequency. Graphene is constantly revealing exciting new applications and as our understanding of the material advances rapidly, we seem able to do more and more with it."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/_n1XFFUNADE/130512141212.htm

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Snow's melting: Time to find budget hiking boots

By Kara Reinhardt, Cheapism.com

The Merrell Moab Ventilator is a low-cut hiking shoe, an increasingly popular and affordable alternative to higher-cut boots.

April showers and spring snowmelt signal that it?s time to trade in ski boots and snowshoes for hiking boots. Of course, those harbingers of warm weather also turn hiking trails to muck. Opt for a cut-rate pair of boots, and you could easily wind up with wet, blistered feet and a muddy rump. You could also wind up with a high-quality hiking shoe or even a reliable mid-cut boot for under $100.

Cheapism.com has highlighted four top picks, all of which come in men?s and women?s versions.

• The Merrell Moab Ventilator (starting at $72) has been labeled an excellent value in side-by-side comparisons by outdoor gear experts. This is a supportive hiking shoe that grips the trail with deep 5-millimeter lugs, or treads, yet it?s lightweight and very comfortable, according to online reviews. While the Ventilator is not waterproof (pricier Moab models are), it has a highly breathable mesh upper that allows it to dry out quickly in warm weather. The namesake ventilation further helps prevent blisters by airing out hot, sweaty feet. (Where to buy)
• The Keen Alamosa WP (starting at $72) caters to hikers who prefer a waterproof shoe. In this price range the term is often used loosely, but reviewers verify that the waterproof membrane that lines this shoe prevents water from leaking through. They also note the sturdy yet extremely lightweight construction, including durable, suede-like nubuck leather and a rubber bumper on the toe. (Where to buy)
• The mid-cut L.L. Bean Waterproof Trail Model Hikers (starting at $90) are classic hiking boots that come up higher on the ankle to provide additional support and protection. The mid-cut design alone is often enough to price a shoe over $100 and this budget pair is waterproof to boot (no pun intended). Again, numerous reviewers vouch for the effectiveness of the waterproof lining. (Where to buy)
• The Salomon Synapse (starting at $60) is uniquely designed for trail running, or for covering a lot of ground quickly. The midsole is tilted downward, toward the toe, to propel the wearer forward. A record holder who completed the fastest end-to-end hike of the Appalachian Trail wore these inexpensive shoes to accomplish her feat. Novices, too, have found them durable and supremely comfortable. (Where to buy)

Light hiking shoes dominate the low end of the market and have become a popular alternative to heavy-duty backpacking boots. A multi-day trip with a heavy pack over rough, uneven terrain calls for a burly boot with a higher price tag. But for day hikes that don?t venture off the trail, many hikers prefer nimbler footwear. While that often means a low-cut shoe, a few mid-cut boots, such as L.L. Bean?s Trail Model Hikers, offer similarly light weight and low cost.

Another hallmark of this type of shoe is a sole that?s supportive without being too stiff. All four pairs listed above manage to walk that line, reviewers say. They feature foot beds made from cushy EVA, or ethylene vinyl acetate. However, nothing will make a boot comfortable if it doesn?t fit correctly. Outside magazine explains exactly how to find the right one for you.

Related from Cheapism:
Cheap hiking boots buying guide
Cheap tent recommendations
The best cheap binoculars
Sleeping bag reviews and recommendations

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Your instant coffee may be about to go gourmet, for the same price

Marcy Nicholson , Reuters ? ? ? 6 hrs.

Instant coffee drinkers may soon be getting a more gourmet brew than they realize at no extra cost as roasters consider adding higher-quality arabica beans into their blends.

Soaring demand for instant coffee in emerging markets has caused demand growth for caffeine-rich robusta coffee, widely used in soluble coffee, to outpace that for arabica beans, which dominate the gourmet ground-coffee market. That has pushed the typically cheaper and lower-quality beans to almost par with some arabicas.

With the price of some arabicas near that of robusta, some instant coffee makers have already taken the rare step of adding the typically more expensive arabica to their highly secretive blends, coffee buyers said.

The move marks a possible a precursor that other coffee makers who currently use robusta in their blends may be reverting their blends to include more higher quality arabica beans, a change that could soften the current surge in robusta demand. This is coming less than two years after several shifted in the other direction.

"Since early this year, we are seeing roasters replacing robusta for low grade arabica in the lower quality soluble coffees," said Freddie Schol, trading manager for Nedcoffee in Amsterdam.

Soluble, or instant coffee, is usually made from robusta beans, known for acidic flavors and higher caffeine content.

The taste for instant coffee in Asia has surged, with consumers in China buying more than 40,000 metric tons (44,092 tons) of it in 2012, up 9 percent from 2011 and up 43 percent from 2008, Euromonitor International data showed.

That equates to roughly 59 million cups a day of instant brew, more than double the instant coffee purchases in the United States, where demand is relatively flat.

Robusta usage has also risen after the 2011 arabica rally forced many roasters to adjust or create new blends with higher robusta content.

Nedcoffee, a large coffee trading company headquartered in Amsterdam, buys 150,000 metric tons (2.5 million 60-kilogram bags) of coffee annually, with 99 percent of this being robusta, an amount that equates to roughly 10 percent of Vietnam's entire crop. It has procurement and processing plants in Ivory Coast, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Arabica gets cheaper
On the physical market, prices of some low grade arabica beans have fallen to below high-quality robusta, importers said.

Uganda drugar beans, an unwashed and low-quality arabica, stored in U.S. warehouses, recently fetched roughly $1.15 per lb while Uganda standard robusta was valued at about $1.18 per lb, U.S. importers said.

Instant coffee processors do not appear to be the only ones adding arabica beans their blends.

"(Roasters) are thinking about it now and some of them are already doing it, but it's going to be gradual," said Ernesto Alvarez, chief executive of COEX Coffee Group in Miami.

There is no data available to show this trend, but Alvarez said that he has already started selling some discounted mild arabica beans to a company that had previously increased its usage of robusta in its blends due to the rally in arabicas.

"As the arbitrage narrows, it makes natural sense that they would begin to shift at these levels back into arabica in the future," said one U.S. coffee buyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, referring to the difference in price between arabica and robusta beans.

Coffee has been volatile since arabica prices on ICE Futures U.S. more than doubled over 11 months to above $3 per lb in May 2011 as speculators piled into the market.

The rally pushed the arabica premium on the futures market over robusta to nearly $1.90 per lb in 2011, well above the premium that ranged between 35 and 85 cents in 2009 and 2010. In March it dropped to around 35 cents, the lowest level in four years, and a level many dealers consider historically normal.

While several coffee dealers expect the premium will drop further to 20 cents, others anticipate it will rise. On Tuesday, the premium sat around 45 cents.

So far the switch in beans is limited in scale. A blend change is easier for instant coffee makers or small roasters than the large roasters, several coffee buyers said.

Analysts said arabica's premium would need to be around 35 cents for months before larger roasters would adjust their blends, a process that involves extensive research to ensure the taste profile isn't significantly altered.

"I don't think we're at the point where we can definitely say there's massive shifting happening, but incrementally we have to believe that it's happening behind the scenes," the U.S. buyer said.

Americans drink more robusta
While U.S. instant coffee consumption has flatlined, Americans are drinking more brewed coffee made from robusta beans, adding to mounting pressure on global supplies.

Total consumption of robusta in brewed coffee climbed by 7 percent in the United States in 2012, up from 3.9 percent growth in 2011 and 3.6 percent in 2010, according to StudyLogic, a U.S. market research firm.

This compares with a small 1.9 percent climb in demand for brewed arabica in 2012, versus a year-over-year increase of 4.1 percent in 2011 and 5.4 percent rise in 2010.

Global robusta exports jumped a whopping 24 percent to 46.6 million 60-kilogram bags in the 2012 calendar year, versus 2011, while arabica exports dropped by 0.8 percent to 66.5 million bags, International Coffee Organization data showed.

Several U.S. importers have said they are concerned about securing robusta supplies later this year, with one wondering if he will have problems as early as August if demand continues to climb at its current pace.

"There's too much demand for coffee. At the rate we're going, I don't know how that's going to be met," said COEX's Alvarez.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

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