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Special Humanitarian Parole Program for Haitian Orphans Draws to a Close at Request of Haitian GovernmentUSCIS Update

USCIS

WASHINGTON – The Haiti government has requested that the United States provide them with a final list of orphans being considered under the Special Humanitarian Parole Program for Haitian Orphans. As a result, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will stop accepting new requests for consideration under the special program as of April 14, 2010, and will resume regular processing of intercountry adoptions.

USCIS believes the vast majority of adoption requests for orphans who meet the criteria of the special program have already been submitted. Since January 18, USCIS has authorized parole for more than 1,000 orphans under the special program, and as of April 5, approximately 340 cases are still being considered. The unprecedented program included safeguards to ensure that each child granted parole was truly available for adoption and had been matched to a suitable U.S. citizen for adoption.

In response to the emergency situation in Haiti following the January 12 earthquake, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano authorized the use of parole for two specific and limited groups of Haitian children:

* Children who either had full and final adoptions completed by their U.S. parents before the earthquake and who were legally confirmed as eligible for intercountry adoption by the government of Haiti.
* Children who were far enough along in the adoption process that both the U.S. and Haitian governments could verify the identity and eligibility of the children for adoption, and the U.S. government could confirm the suitability of the adoptive parents.

Going forward, intercountry adoption cases involving Haitian orphans will again be processed through normal procedures. The government of Haiti has already begun accepting new documents for adoption cases and the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince has resumed regular processing.

More information about humanitarian parole and intercountry adoption is available online at www.uscis.gov/humanitarianparole and www.uscis.gov/adoptions, or by calling USCIS toll-free at (800) 375-5283.

USCIS Continues to Accept FY 2011 H-1B Petitions

Source: USCIS

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it continues to accept H-1B nonimmigrant petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011) cap. USCIS will monitor the number of petitions received for both the 65,000 general cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption.

USCIS has received approximately 13,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap. The agency has received approximately 5,600 petitions for individuals with advanced degrees.

USCIS will provide regular updates on the processing of FY 2011 H-1B petitions. These updates and helpful filing information can be found at USCIS’ Web site. Should USCIS receive the necessary number of petitions to meet the cap, it will issue an update to advise the public, that the FY 2011 H-1B cap has been met as of a certain date (the “final receipt date”). The final receipt date will be based on the date USCIS physically receives the petition, not the date that the petition has been postmarked. The date USCIS informs the public that the cap has been reached may differ from the actual final receipt date.

To ensure a fair system, USCIS may randomly select the number of petitions required to reach the numerical limit from the petitions received on the final receipt date. USCIS will reject cap subject petitions that are not selected, as well as those received after the final receipt date.

For cases filed for premium processing during the initial five-day filing window of April 1-7, the 15-day premium processing period began April 7. For cases filed for premium processing after the filing window, the premium processing period begins on the date that the petition is physically received at the correct USCIS Service Center.

Petitions filed by employers who are exempt from the cap or petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap within the past six years will not count toward the congressionally mandated H-1B cap.

Therefore, USCIS will continue to process all petitions filed. For more information on USCIS and its programs, visit www.uscis.gov.

H-1B in General: U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.

Avoid Common Mistakes When Filing Your Tax Return


IR-2010-46

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers to review their tax returns for common errors that could result in delayed refunds. Here are some ways to avoid common tax return errors.

File electronically. If you e-file or Free File, tax software will do the calculations, flag common errors and prompt you for missing information.

Remember Making Work Pay. The Making Work Pay tax credit –– available in 2009 and 2010 –– is worth up to $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples. Most people got it as a reduction to their paycheck withholding. Form 1040 filers must complete Schedule M, attach it to their returns, and claim the credit to benefit from it. (Tax software handles these calculations automatically for e-filers.) Also, if you received the one-time Economic Recovery Payment, you need to reduce your Making Work Pay credit by that amount. Taxpayers who are not certain whether they received the economic recovery payment can find out with the help of an online tool, Did I Receive a 2009 Economic Recovery Payment? If you don’t have access to the IRS Web site, call 866-234-2942.

Claiming the Homebuyer Credit? If you claim the first-time homebuyer credit, complete Form 5405, and include it along with the settlement document, such as a HUD-1. More information is available on the homebuyer page.

Use the peel-off label if you mail a paper return. Paper filers may line through and make corrections right on the label. Be sure to fill in your Social Security number in the box provided on the return. If you do not have a peel-off label, fill in all requested information clearly, including Social Security numbers.

Check only one filing status. Also, check the appropriate exemption boxes. When you enter Social Security numbers, make sure they are correct.

Double check all figures. While software catches and prevents many errors on e-file returns, math errors remain common on paper returns.

Get the Right Routing and Account Numbers. Make sure the financial institution routing and account numbers you have entered on the return for direct deposit of your refund are accurate. Incorrect numbers can cause your refund to be delayed or deposited into the wrong account.

Sign and date the return. If you are filing a joint return, both you and your spouse must sign and date the return. E-filers can sign using a self-selected personal identification number (PIN).

Attach Forms To the Front of the Return. Paper filers need to attach W-2s and other forms that reflect tax withholding, as well as other necessary forms and schedules, to the front of their returns.

Do you owe tax? If so, a number of e-payment options are available. Or send a check or money order payable to the “United States Treasury.”

Scientists Explore Origins of 'Supervolcanoes' on the Sea Floor

Ancient goliaths blamed for multiple mass extinctions

"Supervolcanoes" have been blamed for multiple mass extinctions in Earth's history, but the cause of their massive eruptions is unknown.

Despite their global impact, the eruptions' origin and triggering mechanisms have remained unexplained. New data obtained during a recent Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) expedition in the Pacific Ocean may provide clues to unlocking this mystery.

To explore the origins of these seafloor giants, scientists drilled into a large, 145 million-year-old underwater volcanic mountain chain off the coast of Japan.

IODP Expedition 324: Shatsky Rise Formation took place onboard the scientific ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution from September 4 to November 4, 2009. Preliminary results of the voyage are emerging.

"'Supervolcanoes' emitted large amounts of gases and particles into the atmosphere, and re-paved the ocean floor," says Rodey Batiza, marine geosciences section head in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Ocean Sciences, which co-funded the research.

The result?

"Loss of species, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and changes in ocean circulation," says Batiza.

In fall 2009, an international team of scientists participating in IODP Expedition 324 drilled five sites in the ocean floor. They studied the origin of the 145 million-year-old Shatsky Rise volcanic mountain chain.

Located 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Japan, Shatsky Rise measures roughly the size of California.

This underwater mountain chain is one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world: the top of Shatsky Rise lies three and a half kilometers (about two miles) below the sea's surface, while its base plunges to nearly six kilometers (four miles) beneath the surface.

Shatsky Rise is composed of layers of hardened lava, with individual lava flows that are up to 23 meters (75 feet) thick.

"Seafloor supervolcanoes are characterized by the eruption of enormous volumes of lava," says William Sager of Texas A&M University, who led the expedition with co-chief scientist Takashi Sano of Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo. "Studying their formation is critical to understanding the processes of volcanism, and the movement of material from Earth's interior to its surface."

About a dozen supervolcanoes exist on Earth; some are on land, while others lie at the bottom of the ocean. Those found on the seafloor are often referred to as large oceanic plateaus.

Current scientific thinking suggests that these supervolcanoes were caused by eruptions over a period of a few million years or less--a rapid pace in geologic time.

Each of these supervolcanoes produced several million cubic kilometers of lava--about three hundred times the volume of all the Great Lakes combined--dwarfing the volume of lava produced by the largest present-day volcanoes in places like Hawaii.

Since the 1960s, geologists have debated the formation and origin of these large oceanic plateaus. The mystery lies in the origin of the magma, molten rock that forms within the Earth.

A magma source rising from deep within the Earth has a different chemical composition than magma that forms just below Earth's crust. Some large oceanic plateaus show signs of a deep-mantle origin. Others exhibit chemical signatures indicative of magma from a much shallower depth.

The IODP Shatsky Rise expedition focused on deciphering the relationship between supervolcano formation and the boundaries of tectonic plates, crucial to understanding what triggers supervolcano formation.

A widely-accepted explanation for oceanic plateaus is that they form when magma in the form of a "plume head" rises from deep within the Earth to the surface.

An alternative theory suggests that large oceanic plateaus can originate at the intersection of three tectonic plates, known as a "triple junction."

Shatsky Rise could play a key role in this debate, because it formed at a triple junction. However, it also displays characteristics that could be explained by the plume head model.

"Shatsky Rise is one of the best places in the world to study the origin of supervolcanoes," says Sager. "What makes Shatsky Rise unique is that it's the only supervolcano to have formed during a time when Earth's magnetic field reversed frequently."

This process creates "magnetic stripe" patterns in the seafloor. "We can use these magnetic stripes to decipher the timing of the eruption," says Sager, "and the spatial relationship of Shatsky Rise to the surrounding tectonic plates and triple junctions."

Sediments and microfossils collected during the expedition indicate that parts of the Shatsky Rise plateau were at one time at or above sea level, and formed an archipelago during the early Cretaceous period (about 145 million years ago).

Shipboard lab studies show that much of the lava erupted rapidly, and that Shatsky Rise formed at or near the equator.

As analyses continue, data collected during this expedition will help scientists resolve the 50 year-old debate about the origin and nature of large oceanic plateaus.

The JOIDES Resolution is one of the primary research vessels of IODP, an international marine research program dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth through drilling, coring, and monitoring the subseafloor. The vessel is operated by the U.S. Implementing Organization of IODP, consisting of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Texas A&M University, and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.

IODP is supported by two lead agencies: the U.S. National Science Foundation and Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.

Additional program support comes from the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), the Australian-New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC), India's Ministry of Earth Sciences, the People's Republic of China (Ministry of Science and Technology), and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.

-NSF-

Many Hispanics Lack Access to Colon Cancer Screening

They typically live in areas where it's tougher to get colonoscopies, study finds.

MONDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- Colorectal cancer screening tests, such as colonoscopies, are harder to find in areas of the United States with large Hispanic populations, new research suggests.

The finding could help explain why Hispanics are less likely to get screened than non-Hispanic whites, the study authors said.

A group led by Dr. Jennifer Haas of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston examined statistics on colorectal screening taken from a national health survey, Medicare data and a cancer monitoring program.

The researchers found that Hispanics typically lived in counties with less access to the screening tests. Residents were more likely to be screened if the tests were more available in their regions.

The findings suggest "that interventions designed to reduce disparities in the use of colorectal cancer screening or stage at diagnosis should consider not only improving local capacity for screening but also address other characteristics of the areas that may limit the dissemination of information about the importance of colorectal cancer screening," the study authors wrote.

The report is published online April 12 in the journal Cancer.

An estimated one in 19 people will develop colorectal cancer in their lives.

More information

There's more on colon cancer screening at the American Cancer Society. External Links Disclaimer Logo

(SOURCE: American Cancer Society, news release, April 12, 2010)