The disease, known as "citrus greening" or huanglongbing, is caused by a bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. The bacteria are spread from tree to tree by a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid,reports.

A tree affected by citrus greening may not show symptoms for years. Eventually, however, the leaves turn yellow and fall, while the tree's fruit fails to mature, falling to the ground prematurely before the tree slowly dies. []

"We have got a real big problem," Vic Story, a lifelong Florida citrus grower, told The Times. "It's definitely the biggest threat in my lifetime, and I'm 68. This is a tree killer."

There is no known cure for citrus greening (which also affects grapefruit, lemons and other citrus crops), despite the best efforts of numerous research labs. The Candidatus bacteria is so devastating to citrus crops that it was classified as a bioterror weapon in 2003, reports.

A global blight

Though the Sunshine State is now the most critically affected all 32 of Florida's citrus-growing counties have reported the disease the blight has also been found in California, Arizona, Texas and other states. China, Mexico and Brazil are also grappling with infestations.

And it keeps coming: Between 1985 and 2003, officials intercepted 170 cases of Asian citrus psyllids entering U.S. ports on plant material, according to a report from the University of California, Davis, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

"The industry that made Florida, that is synonymous with Florida, that is a staple on every American breakfast table, is totally threatened," Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida told The Times. "If we don't find a cure, it will eliminate the citrus industry."

An industry under assault

Citrus greening isn't the only problem threatening the state's citrus industry, which employs more than 75,000 people. Rainfall in Florida this year has been 40 percent to 70 percent below the average of the past 30 years,reports.

Hurricanes, canker disease (another bacterial infection of citrus fruits), hard freezes and the vagaries of the international orange market, which Brazil dominates, have also battered Florida's citrus industry.

Agricultural economists have taken note of the toll exacted by citrus greening and other threats to Florida's most iconic crop. In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut Florida's orange crop forecast for the fifth straight month; in October 2012, the department had estimated 154 million boxes, but now expects the state to produce about 11 percent less, or roughly 138 million boxes.

Researchers fight back

The industry isn't giving up easily, however. In the past six years, citrus growers have spent $60 million to establish a research center seeking to eradicate citrus greening, according to .

Florida lawmakers have also approved an $8 million fund for research into the condition, while Washington State University has begun a $9-million, five-year project to develop genetically modified psyllids that cannot transmit citrus greening.

Even Coca-Cola is fighting back: The company, which owns Minute Maid, has announced plans to invest $2 billion to plant 25,000 acres of new Florida orange groves.

Coca-Cola's investment is "a real morale boost to the industry and a sign they have confidence we will find a cure for greening," Adam Putnam, Floridas agriculture commissioner, told The Times.

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WASHINGTON, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) today applauded the United States Senate for the passage of The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 in a 69-27 vote. The bipartisan legislation gives states the authority to choose to require online sellers to collect sales taxes just like brick-and-mortar retailers already do. The bill, which provides a common-sense solution to a decades-old problem that has created a distorted marketplace, is designed to promote fairness and compliance, without burdening free enterprise.

"The shopping center industry would like to thank Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) for their resolute dedication to moving this critical piece of legislation through the Senate," said Michael P. Kercheval, president and CEO of ICSC. "The Marketplace Fairness Act creates a fair marketplace that protects retailers, restores the states' ability to manage their own fiscal policies and strengthens the United States' free enterprise system."

Sixty-nine Senators from both parties voted in favor of S. 743, demonstrating the tremendous momentum for creating a fair, competitive marketplace. The bipartisan passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act sends a strong message to the House of Representatives, where a companion bill, H.R. 684, was introduced in February.

"For the past two decades, the retail environment has dramatically changed. To keep pace with those changes, our laws must evolve," said Betsy Laird, senior vice president of global public policy of ICSC. "The Senate acknowledged this through the passage of this legislation and we now look to the House to continue the momentum and bring H.R. 684 to a vote."

ICSC has promoted sales tax fairness for over a decade, advocating that a "sale is a sale" regardless of whether the purchase takes place on Main Street, at shopping centers, over the Internet or with a smart phone. For more information about sales tax fairness and how the current sales tax system is unable to support the 21st century retail marketplace please visit .

About ICSC Founded in 1957, ICSC is the premier global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 58,000 members in over 90 countries include shopping center owners, retailers, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, and brokers as well as academics and public officials. As the global industry trade association, ICSC links with more than 25 national and regional shopping center councils throughout the world. For more information, visit

SOURCE International Council of Shopping Centers

Circling, bounding over and pawing at a mound of garbage bags, the four dogs quickly have rodents on the run.

"Come on ... I mean, 'tally ho!' says one of their owners, Susan Friedenberg. In a whirl of barks, pants and wagging tails, dogs tunnel among the bags and bolt down the alley as their quarry tries to scurry away.

Within five minutes, the city has two fewer rats.

In a scrappy, streetwise cousin of mannerly countryside fox hunts, on terrain far from the European farms and fields where many of the dogs' ancestors were bred to scramble after vermin and foxes, their masters sport trash-poking sticks instead of riding crops and say it's just as viable an exercise for the animals' centuries-old skills.

"It's about maintaining the breed type through actual work," says Richard Reynolds, a New Jersey-based business analyst and longtime dog breeder who might be considered the group's organizer if it would accept being called organized.

Known with a chuckle as the Ryders Alley Trencher-fed Society parse the acronym the rodent-hunters have been scouring downtown byways for more than a decade, meeting weekly when weather allows.

On a couple of recent nights, an eclectic group of ratters converged on an alley near City Hall about an hour after sunset. The lineups included two border terriers; a wire-haired dachshund; a Jack Russell terrier/Australian cattle dog mix; a Patterdale terrier, an intense, no-nonsense breed that's uncommon in this country; and a feist, a type of dog developed in the American South to tree squirrels.

"Get 'im! Go!" Serge Lozach yelled as his cairn terrier, Hudson, streaked down an alley after a fleeing rat. Unlike many of the other owners, Lozach doesn't breed or show dogs, but he has taken Hudson to several alley hunts.

"I like watching him have fun," Lozach said.

Although the dogs have hunting instincts, it takes training to capitalize on them. Just because your pet runs after backyard squirrels doesn't mean it could ever catch one.

When at its best, the alley pack works together. One dog will sniff out a rat and signal its whereabouts, often by barking. Another leaps at the hideaway to rout the quarry, and then a third lurches to catch it as it flees. A rat that scuttles into the open might get caught in a rundown, or even a tug of war, between dogs that circle and flank it.

After making a kill with a bite or a shake, the hunters trot back, rat in mouth, and allow their owners to take it from their jaws. The night's kill ends up in a trash bin.

There's no official estimate of how many rats rove the city's streets, basements, parks and subways. But there are plenty.

Officials have tried a number of innovative tactics to rout them, including a 2007 city Health Department initiative that sent inspectors with hand-held computers to map infestations in a Bronx neighborhood and then followed up with owners to address the problems.

Recently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to let an Arizona-based company test a form of rat birth control by setting out bait in some subway stations this summer.

But the terrier forays are an unofficial undertaking, and participants say they're less about killing rats than giving dogs the experience of chasing them. The Health Department declined to comment on the hunts.

The idea has a long history. A noted 1851 examination of working-class life in London describes rat-catchers working the city's streets with ferrets and terriers. More recently, a rat-catching dachshund got attention in Seattle when its owner happened by while City Councilman Tom Rasmussen was checking out a downtown cleanup program in 2010. Rasmussen snapped a picture of the dog, rat in mouth, and posted the photo on his website.

There's even an American dog breed called a rat terrier, though its origins lie on farms.

Rat-tracking recently became an official canine sport, called "barn hunt." Dogs get two minutes to sniff around a hay-bale maze and indicate where they smell a rat concealed in a crush-proof, aerated tube; the dog never catches the quarry. Dozens of dogs competed in the first trials this past month in Columbia, Mo.

While dog owners may see it as time-honored pursuit, rat-hunting riles animal-rights advocates. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which opposes hunting in general, expressed outrage after video of a dog snatching rats in a New York City park surfaced online two years ago. PETA Spokesman Martin Mersereau calls the alley rat quests "a twisted blood sport masquerading as rodent control."

Reynolds counters that "there are lots of worse things that people do to rats," noting that poisons can sicken the animals for hours.

As for the dogs, they have sometimes gotten stuck in waste bins or tumbled into holes, and a recent night left two with scrapes. But Reynolds says none has ever been seriously hurt or fallen ill.

In one recent foray, the dogs dispatched 13 rats within about a half-hour.

The dogs prowled and prodded for about 90 more minutes before the group gave up for the night. But not to worry, said dachshund owner Trudy Kawami.

"There will always be a million rats in the naked city."

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

The duel began Monday with the release of a free iPhone and iPad app that features Google Now, a technology that performs many of the same functions as Siri.

It's the first time that Google Now has been available on smartphones and tablet computers that aren't running on the latest version of Google's Android software. The technology, which debuted nine months ago, is being included in an upgrade to Google's search application for iOS, the Apple Inc. software that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It's up to each user to decide whether to activate Google Now within the redesigned Google Search app, which is available through Apple's app store.

Siri tried to dismiss the competitive threat. When asked for an opinion about Google Now, Siri responded: "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather Google later."

Mike Allton, a St. Charles, Mo., resident who has owned an iPhone for four years, could hardly wait to check out Google Now, even if Siri might interpret it as a betrayal.

Siri "is looking a little green with envy," Allton, 36, said with a laugh after he installed Google's new app. "I love Apple products, but I like to see the competition because it probably will lead to even more improvements. I believe this technology is going to be even more deeply ingrained in our lives a few years from now."

Other iPhone users even those who have grown fond of Siri welcomed Google Now's arrival to iOS in mostly enthusiastic and sometimes amusing remarks posted on Twitter and Google Plus. One person joked that Google Now is so helpful that the technology prompted him to wash his hands after using the bathroom. The biggest gripe was about the possibility of Google Now's location-tracking features draining a device's battery more quickly.

Google Now's invasion of Siri's turf marks Google Inc.'s latest attempt to lure iPhone and iPad users away from a service that Apple built into its own devices.

Google quickly won over millions of iPhone users in December when it released a mapping application to replace the navigation system that Apple dumped when it redesigned iOS last fall. Apple's maps application proved to be inferior to Google's ousted service. The app's bugs and glitches made Apple the butt of jokes and fueled demand for Google to develop a new option.

Apple has been losing to Google on other fronts in a rapidly growing mobile computing market, an arena that was revolutionized with the iPhone's release in 2007. Smartphones and tablet computers running Google's free Android software have been steadily expanding their market share in recent years, partly because they tend to be less expensive than the iPhone and iPad. In 2012, Android devices held about 69 percent of the smartphone market while iOS had about 19 percent, according to the research firm IDC.

Android's success has been particularly galling for Apple because its late CEO, Steve Jobs, believed Google stole many of its ideas for the software from the iPhone. That led to a series of court battles over allegations of patent infringement, including a high-profile trial last year that culminated in Apple winning hundreds of millions in damages from Samsung Electronics, the top seller of Android phones. That dispute is still embroiled in appeals.

The rise of Android also is squeezing Apple's profit margins and has contributed to a nearly 40 percent drop in the company's stock price since it peaked at $705.07 last September around the time that the iPhone 5 came out.

Android's popularity is good news for Google because the company's services are built into most versions of the operating system. That brings more traffic to Google services, creating more opportunities for the company to sell ads the main source of Google's revenue.

Siri is billed by Apple as an "intelligent feature." Since the technology's release in October 2011, Apple has made it a centerpiece of some marketing campaigns that depict Siri and its automated female voice as an endearing and occasionally even pithy companion.

Google believes its Siri counterpart is smarter because Google Now is designed to learn about a user's preferences and then provide helpful information before it's even asked to do so. The technology draws upon information that Google gleans from search requests other interactions with the company's other services. Knowing a person's location also helps Google Now serve up helpful information without being asked.

"This concept of predicting your needs and showing you them at the right time is unique to Google Now," said Baris Gultekin, Google Now's director of product management. "We want computers to do the hard work so our users can focus on what matters to them so they can get on with their lives."

If the technology is working right, Google Now is supposed to do things like automatically tell people what the local weather is like when they wake up to help decide what to wear and provide a report on traffic conditions for the commute to work. During the day, Google Now might provide an update on the score of a user's favorite sports team or a stock quote of a company in a user's investment portfolio. On a Friday evening, Google Now might offer suggestions for movies to see or other weekend events tailored to a user's interests. For international travelers, Google Now might provide currency conversion rates, language translations of common phrases and the time back home.

Most of this automatic information is provided in summaries that Google calls "cards." Like Siri, Google Now also is equipped with voice technology that allows it to respond to questions and interact with users, though it hasn't shown the wit that delights some of Siri's users.

The Google Now app for iOS isn't as comprehensive as the Android app, which only works on devices running on the latest version of Android known as "Jelly Bean." Some of the Android features missing from Google Now's iOS app include cards for showing airline boarding passes and movie tickets bought though online vendor Fandango. Both of those options are available on the iOS through Apple's built-in Passbook feature that's designed to be a digital wallet.

Google Now's expansion on to the iOS underscores Google's ambitions for the service. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., views it as a pivotal tool in its effort to peer deeper into its users' brains. In doing so, Google believes it will be able to provide more useful services and also show more relevant ads. For Google Now to become more intuitive, it needs to widen its availability.

"The more you use Google Now, we will have a better chance of understanding what your needs are and providing you with the right information," Gultekin said. "It's a virtuous cycle."

Shawn Jacob, a student at the University of North Texas, activated Google Now on his iPhone Monday and was startled by how much the service already knew about him when he logged in for the first time. "I was blown away," Jacob, 21, said. "It made me wonder if I really want Google to know this much about me. It's like Google wants to take over the world."

Gultekin declined to discuss whether there are plans to make Google Now apps for mobile devices running on Microsoft's Windows system. He also refused to comment on speculation circulating in technology blogs that a Web version of Google Now will be offered as a replacement for iGoogle, a tool that allows people to encircle the Google search engine with a variety of services suited to their tastes. IGoogle is scheduled to close in November.

___

Online:

http://www.google.com/landing/now/

(Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc reported disappointing first-quarter sales on a surprising downturn for its Januvia diabetes medicine, the company's biggest product and usual earnings driver, and the drugmaker cut its profit forecast for the full year.

Shares of Merck fell 3.1 percent in premarket trading.

The drugmaker's earnings beat forecasts for the quarter, thanks largely to a favorable tax rate, but the quarterly results were overshadowed by Januvia's plight.

Merck reported net income of $1.59 billion, or 52 cents per share, compared with $1.74 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter, when it took charges for $1.6 billion of acquisition and restructuring costs.

Excluding special items, Merck earned 85 cents per share. Analysts on average were expecting 79 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Global sales fell 9 percent to $10.7 billion, below the $11.09 billion Wall Street was expecting.

Jefferies & Co analyst Jeffrey Holford said weak sales of Januvia and a similar drug called Janumet were the main reason company sales missed the mark during the quarter. He said weak sales of the diabetes drugs, and recent setbacks for a number of Merck's experimental drugs, were a cause for worry.

Merck said its board had authorized additional purchases of up to $15 billion of the company's common stock, and that it would make repurchases of about $7.5 billion over the next 12 months.

"The $15 billion share repurchase program announcement is a positive for investors, but doesn't address poor recent research and development productivity and may be viewed as a temporary band-aid to cover a worrying decline in the growth of Januvia," Holford said in a research report.

Sales of Januvia, one of the company's fastest-growing medicines in recent years, fell 4 percent to $884 million, while sales of Janumet rose 4 percent to $409 million. Combined sales of the medicines fell 1 percent to $1.3 billion. By contrast sales of the drugs jumped 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively in the prior quarter.

Merck said their decline was due to 5 percent lower sales in the United States, driven by reduced customer inventory levels, which were partly offset by higher overseas sales.

Sales of asthma drug Singulair plunged 75 percent to $337 million. The pill was Merck's biggest product, with annual sales of $6 billion, before cheaper generics flooded the U.S. market last August.

The company's animal health business posted quarterly sales of $840 million, a 2 percent gain, while sales of Merck's array of consumer care products rose 3 percent to $571 million.

The company said it expects full-year 2013 earnings, excluding special items, of $3.45 to $3.55 per share. That is below the $3.60 to $3.70 it had forecast in February.

In lowering its profit view, Merck cited "pressures on sales that are greater than previously anticipated," including the stronger dollar, new research programs and higher taxes.

Merck shares were trading at $45.50 compared with their closing price of $47.00 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn and Chizu Nomiyama)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed about 1 percent higher on Thursday, led by tech shares, after weekly jobless claims figures pointed to improving labor market conditions a day before the closely watched monthly payroll report.

The European Central Bank also lifted sentiment, putting the S&P 500 at another all-time closing high, as the ECB cut interest rates for the first time in 10 months and held out the possibility of further action if necessary to boost the euro zone economy.

The move follows Wednesday's Federal Reserve statement in which the Fed said it will continue its bond buying scheme to keep interest rates low and spur growth, and would step up purchases if needed.

"This shows that central banks are very determined to ensure that the system is stable and that the global economy continues to be propped up if needed," said Weyman Gong, chief investment strategist at Signature in Norfolk, Virginia. "This makes us very comfortable with U.S. markets for the rest of the year."

Jobless claims fell sharply in the latest week, dropping to their lowest since the early days of the 2007-09 recession.

The data follows a string of underwhelming reports, including a slow rate of growth in factory activity in the U.S. and China, which added to concerns about the pace of growth going into the April jobs report. Analysts are looking for 145,000 jobs to have been added in the month, up from the 88,000 added in March.

"U.S. markets are very focused on jobs, and the claims report suggests the positive trend of hiring could be continuing," said Gong, who helps oversee $2.5 billion.

The Nasdaq advanced on strength large-cap tech shares like Apple Inc , which rose 1.4 percent to $445.52, and Amazon.com Inc , up 1.7 percent to $252.55. The PHLX semiconductor indexrose 1.4 percent after earlier hitting its highest level in two years.

Facebook Incjumped 5.6 percent to $28.97 after posting strong mobile advertising revenue growth in the first quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial averagewas up 130.63 points, or 0.89 percent, at 14,831.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexwas up 14.87 points, or 0.94 percent, at 1,597.57. The Nasdaq Composite Indexwas up 41.49 points, or 1.26 percent, at 3,340.62.

The S&P ended at a record level and hit a record high intraday level of 1,598.58 earlier in the session. About 74 percent of stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange closed higher while 73 percent of Nasdaq-listed shares closed up.

Visarose 5.6 percent to $175.40 a day after reporting strong quarterly results and growth in the key U.S. market. The stock earlier advanced to an all-time high.

General Motorsrose 3.2 percent to $31.16 after reporting a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit as its North American business improved and its loss in Europe was smaller than Wall Street estimated.

With 76 percent of the S&P 500 having reported, 68.5 percent have topped profit expectations, more than the 67 percent average over the past four quarters. However, only 45.6 percent have topped revenue expectations, below the 52 percent beat rate over the past year.

After the market closed, American International Group Incrose 2.6 percent to $43.22 after reporting its first-quarter results, while LinkedIn Corpslumped 11 percent after its results.

Gilead Sciencesshares jumped 4.1 percent to $52.18 after its combination hepatitis C pill proved effective in a small trial.

Volume was light, with about 6.02 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, below the daily average so far this year of about 6.36 billion shares.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Stanton underwent an MRI exam Tuesday and said the diagnosis was a grade-two strain on the one-to-three scale for the injury. He was hurt trying to beat out a grounder in Monday's 15-inning victory over the New York Mets, and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

The injury occurred just as last year's NL slugging leader showed signs of emerging from a prolonged slump to start the season. He hit his first home run Saturday and two more Sunday.

"Awesome timing," Stanton said facetiously. "It's a tough break. Pretty frustrating. It's just one of those freak things. There's never a good time, but this was probably one of the worst times to do it."

Last year Stanton hit 37 home runs despite missing 39 games because of injuries. Now the Marlins, already saddled with the worst record in the majors, will be without their best hitter for several weeks.

"If we could just erase all of April, that would be lovely," Stanton said.

He'll be replaced in right field by 22-year-old Marcell Ozuna, who was recalled from Double-A Jacksonville to make his major-league debut.

"When I received the call, I felt very excited," Ozuna said. "I didn't sleep last night."

With Stanton due to become eligible for arbitration after the season, there's already speculation the thrifty Marlins will trade him, and Ozuna would be the leading replacement candidate.

The Dominican was hitting .333 with five homers and 15 RBIs in 10 games with Jacksonville. He's a career .274 hitter in the minors who hit at least 22 home runs each of the past three seasons.

Lillard, the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft, was not the highest profile rookie entering the season but he quickly claimed the spotlight to be the unanimous selection for theEddie Gottlieb Trophy.

The six-foot three-inch guard averaged 19 points per game and 6.5 assists while finishing with 185 three-pointers to set a new rookie record.

"When I first got drafted, I knew that I was up against it. There was a lot of doubt," Lillard told reporters in a television interview. "I just wanted to help the team and exceed people's expectations. It's an honor."

Lillard is just the fourth rookie to win the award unanimously, joining Blake Griffin (2011), David Robinson (1990) and Ralph Sampson (1984).

More importantly, he proved to be one of Portland's most consistent performers, and was the only Blazer to appear in all 82 games. (Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

One person's lost iPhone is another man's income.

A story in thefollows Eliel Santos on his hunt for cash, jewelry and technologyall dropped and probably assumed gone forever down the subway grates.

Santos has been snagging subway loot for the past eight years. He uses dental floss, mousetrap glueand a sharp eye. And what he finds, he pawns. He's good at it, too: The Puerto Rican native, who lives in the Bronx, checks grates from 23rd street to 47th street, making about $150 a day.

If you drop it, Im going to pick it upso be careful, the 38-year-old told the Post.

But Santos also provides a pro bono service: He helps the frantic find items theyve dropped, once finding a mans keys and another mans wedding ring. Hes rewarded by their thanks and, usually, some cash.

Times Square, he said, is a particularly good place for dropped cash and iPhones: When people text while they are standing on a grate, their phones fall in, he said.

His biggest one-day haul: a diamond-and-gold bracelet he pawned for $1,800. Another day he found three dropped iPhones. I have a lot of patience and optimism, he said.

If I want something," Santos added, "Im going to get it.

Subway grates are notorious for swallowing treasured items. But sometimes, there are happy endings. Last year, when a New York City woman lost her ring, she called the nonemergency 311 line and a Con Ed employee searched undergroundand actually .

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite indexwas up 2.79 points, or 0.02 percent, at 12,315.46 shortly after noon.

(Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)