Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Bark for Barack: Obama campaign courts ???pet lovers??? (Daily Caller)

Does your dog ?bark for Barack?? If he does, there?s now a Facebook group (and a campaign button) for you.

The Obama campaign began targeting an oft-ignored demographic on Monday, creating ?Pet Lovers for Obama,? a Facebook group for people whose pets love Obama as much as they do.

On the page, pet lovers can purchase an ?I bark for Barack? magnet for their car, featuring Bo, the Obama family?s Portuguese Water Dog.

Others can post pictures of the way their own dog, cat or fish (so far these are the only members of the animal kingdom represented) shows its support for the president. For instance, Paul Anka, a Betta fish, proudly displays an ?I bark for Barack? button in his tank ? inability to bark not withstanding. Fraternal twin cats Max and Maddie sport ?Cats for Obama? collars. Dakota the dog gets walked on an Obama 2012 leash.

In the spirit, Obama adviser David Axelrod tweeted a photo on Tuesday of Bo riding with the president in the motorcade en route to PetSmart for some Christmas shopping.

?How loving owners transport their dogs,? Axelrod tweeted with the picture. ABC points out that this is a jab at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who once transported his dog in a very different manner: Strapping him to the roof of the car in his dog carrier as the family drove from Boston to Ontario, Canada.

If the Republican candidates want to enter the fray and fight Obama for the support of this crucial demographic, The Daily Caller has some suggestions. For Romney: ?I ruff for Romney,? or maybe even ?I ride on roofs for Romney.? ?I slobber for Santorum? is the obvious choice for the former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Supporters of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich could display an ?I growl for Gingrich? sticker. And Ron Paul ? ever the odd man out ? should take a different route and aim for the cat lover?s vote with, ?I purr for Paul.?

Join the conversation on The Daily Caller

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

Bark for Barack: Obama campaign courts 'pet lovers'

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20120131/pl_dailycaller/barkforbarackobamacampaigncourtspetlovers

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Intel quietly outs seven new Sandy Bridge CPUs to check we're paying attention

Intel quietly outs seven new Sandy Bridge CPUs to check we're pay attention
Intel opened its back door and shuttled out a refresh of its chips without so much as a phone call, typical! Three desktop Core i5 chips made their way into the big bad world, the i5-2550K replacing the i5-2500K, the i5-2450P replacing the i5-2400 and the i5-2380P replacing the i5-2320. There's a suspicion that the P that follows the two latter models means the GPUs have been disabled / removed to differentiate the price. The four Celerons, two low-voltage, two ultra-low voltage similarly replace older models, from the $70 B720 (replacing the B710) through to the $134 Celeron 867, supplanting the 857. If that list of numbers hasn't whetted your appetite for, erm, more numbers, then head on past for detail so comprehensive you'll have to make sure it's covered by your HMO.

[Thanks, Malek]

Continue reading Intel quietly outs seven new Sandy Bridge CPUs to check we're paying attention

Intel quietly outs seven new Sandy Bridge CPUs to check we're paying attention originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, 29 January 2012

Iran upbeat on nuclear visit, delays EU oil ban

Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions on Sunday, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to such sales to the European Union.

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The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began on Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be "professional" or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will seek to advance efforts to resolve a row about nuclear work which Iran says is for making electricity but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tensions with the West rose this month when Washington and the European Union (EU) imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest oil exporter to sell its crude.

In a remark suggesting Iran would fight sanctions with sanctions, Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to "some" countries.

Rostam Qasemi did not identify the countries but was speaking less than a week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1.

"Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries," the state news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying.

Iranian lawmakers had been due to debate a bill on Sunday that could have cut off oil supplies to the EU in days, in a move calculated to hit ailing European economies before the EU-wide ban on took effect.

But Iranian MPs postponed discussing the measure.

"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr.

Iranian officials say sanctions have had no impact on the country.

"Iranian oil has its own market, even if we cut our exports to Europe," oil minister Qasemi said.

Another lawmaker, Mohammad Karim Abedi, said the bill would oblige the government to cut Iran's oil supplies to the European Union for five to 15 years, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.

The Mehr news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit."

"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities."

Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional and technical" job or suffer the consequences.

"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Larijani, state media reported.

"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."

Iran's parliament in the past has approved bills to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped the Islamic state would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."

The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late on Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy's Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.

"The European companies will have to abide by the provisions of the buyback contracts," Ahmad Qalebani told the ISNA news agency. "If they act otherwise, they will be the parties to incur the relevant losses and will subject the repatriation of their capital to problems."

Italy's Eni is owed $1.4-1.5 billion in oil for contracts it executed in Iran in 2000 and 2001 and has been assured by EU policymakers its buyback contracts will not be part of the European embargo, but the prospect of Iran acting first may put that into doubt.

Eni declined to comment on Sunday.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.

Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran's standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.

Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.

The IAEA's visit may be an opportunity to defuse some of the tension. Director General Yukiya Amano has called on Iran to show a "constructive spirit" and Tehran has said it is willing to discuss "any issues" of interest to the U.N. agency, including the military-linked concerns.

But Western diplomats, who have often accused Iran of using such offers of dialogue as a stalling tactic while it presses ahead with its nuclear program, say they doubt Tehran will show the kind of concrete cooperation the IAEA wants.

They say Iran may offer limited concessions and transparency to try to ease intensifying international pressure, but that this is unlikely to amount to the full cooperation required.

The outcome could determine whether Iran will face further isolation or whether there are prospects for resuming wider talks between Tehran and the major powers on the nuclear row.

Salehi said Iran "soon" would write a letter to the E.U.'s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to discuss "a date and venue" for fresh nuclear talks.

"Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in this letter, which may be sent in the coming days, also may mention other issues as well," Salehi said, without elaborating.

The last round of talks in January 2011 between Jalili and Ashton, who represents major powers, failed over Iran's refusal to halt its sensitive nuclear work.

"The talks will be successful as the other party seems interested in finding a way out of this deadlock," Salehi said.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46180904/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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Saturday, 28 January 2012

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Analyze this (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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How Boxee may accelerate cord cutting with the social Live TV tuner (Digital Trends)

boxee-live-tv

Rolling out to consumers as of today, Boxee announced the shipment of the?Live TV tuner on the company?s official blog. The dongle plugs into the back of the Boxee Box hardware and provides over-the-air high definition television stations through the system?s user interface. Connecting into one of the two USB ports on the back of the unit, the $50 dongle also connects to an included?passive antenna. However, the owner can also choose to connect the dongle to a stronger indoor antenna like the Mohu Leaf or feed basic cable via a coaxial connection into the Boxee Box. Boxee Box owners that have already cut out an expensive cable or?satellite?plan in regards to television content may be able to take advantage of a basic cable option when already paying for Internet service.

Once the owner boots up the Boxee box, they will notice a new icon on the screen called ?Live TV? within the main menu bar. Launching the application will?immediately?bring up the most recent station and the user can launch a guide on the left side of the screen to browse channel listings. While listings are very limited compared to a service like TiVo, users will be able to see the name of the program as well as the time slot. Users will also be able to view friends that are currently watching the same program as well. Channels within the guide can be renamed to actual network names or completely removed if the channel doesn?t provide any useful programming.

Boxee is currently looking into DVR possibilities with future updates of the service. Any DVR functionality would likely have to utilize a third-party external hard drive or Boxee-branded?peripheral?to work correctly. However,?Boxee officials have started rolling out the Boxee Box version 1.5 update to all users. This update includes features like Rotten Tomatoes integration into movie information, an improved search function, changes to navigation within the user interface, improved filtering on library screens, browser pop-up management, Live TV compatibility and a series of bug fixes. For more information on the entire series of changes, users can check out the release notes for the update.

Boxee?s social weapon: Frictionless sharing

Live-TV-osdIn terms of?accelerating?the progress of cord cutting within mainstream consumers, the most interesting inclusion within this update involves Facebook social account pairing and how that ties into Open Graph efforts. Once the user enables sharing through the Live TV Timeline App, Boxee Box actions are fed automatically to the Facebook Ticker as well as the Facebook Timeline. Similar to the integration used by apps like Spotify, the Facebook Ticker shows the latest show that the Boxee Box owner is watching. For instance, watching the live feed of the upcoming Super Bowl will make a status update appear within the Ticker regarding the football game.?

The Timeline entry that???s automatically created on the user???s Facebook page is a collection of recent Boxee actions. When a Facebook friend clicks the link in the Ticker or on the Timeline, they are sent to a page Boxee has created for the episode, movie or event. Assuming the friend is also a Boxee user, they can mark the episode to watch at a later time or add the program to their favorites list. In addition, users can opt out of the sharing feature at any time and still keep the Facebook account connected to see what their Facebook friends are watching.  

Arguably, one of Boxee?s key strategic advantages over cable and?satellite?companies is the adoption speed of social sharing features. Assuming frictionless sharing through Facebook is an effective marketing tool, Boxee can potentially expose a vast number of mainstream users to the Boxee platform without spending money on advertising. While the Live TV tuner somewhat levels the playing field between Boxee and companies like Time Warner or DirecTV, sharing Live TV?content on Facebook without any required, continual user action is going to be difficult to match.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120125/tc_digitaltrends/howboxeemayacceleratecordcuttingwiththesociallivetvtuner

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Wednesday, 25 January 2012

At PSU, tension over ouster, then grief for JoePa

Candles on the steps of Old Main on the Penn State University campus spell out "Joe" in remembrance of former football coach Joe Paterno during a memorial service on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday at the age of 85 after battling lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Candles on the steps of Old Main on the Penn State University campus spell out "Joe" in remembrance of former football coach Joe Paterno during a memorial service on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday at the age of 85 after battling lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A candle light gathering honoring legendary football coach Joe Paterno, who died Sunday morning, Jan. 22, 2012, is held on the lawn in front of Old Main the Penn State campus Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 in State College,Pa.. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A crowd gathers for a candle light vigil honoring late football coach Joe Paterno outside Old Main on the Penn State campus in State College, Pa., Sunday, January 22, 2012. Paterno State College (AP Photo/The Citizens' Voice, Kristen Mullen)

Penn State students hold a sign as they gather in remembrance around a statue of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State campus Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College,Pa.. Paterno died in a State College hospital Sunday morning after battling lung cancer.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

(AP) ? Anguished by an unthinkable scandal that shook a university and tarnished the proud football program, many in the Penn State community rallied around a common cause.

They mourned coach Joe Paterno's dismissal and questioned the motives and tactics of school leaders who pushed out the Hall of Famer in November in the wake of child sex abuse charges against a retired assistant coach.

Alumni, fans and students already racked by emotions were jolted by a much greater loss when Paterno died Sunday of lung cancer at age 85 ? and the grieving process again could be complicated following two tense months that often had the Paterno family and the school at odds.

"I feel like from the inside looking out that most people forget that he donated his whole life to the program. ... And everything that he donated to that school, people tend to look over that," defensive end Jack Crawford, who just completed his senior season with the Nittany Lions, said Sunday from Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Ala.

"It was tough to swallow. It was harder to swallow when he first got fired. It was a sad moment for the whole Penn State family."

A family seemingly torn Nov. 5 after retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with the first of dozens of counts of abuse allegations. Sandusky has maintained his innocence and is awaiting trial. Paterno testified before a state grand jury investigating Sandusky, and authorities said he wasn't a target of the probe.

It ended up being his undoing anyway.

Paterno fulfilled his legal obligation by reporting a 2002 allegation relayed by a graduate assistant to his university superior. But the state's top cop chastised Paterno, among other school leaders, for failing to fulfill a moral duty to do more and take the allegation to police.

Paterno himself said he "wished he could have done more" when he announced his retirement plans the morning of Nov. 9 before getting ousted by the university Board of Trustees that evening.

"I am saddened to hear the news of Joe Paterno's passing. Joe was a genuinely good person," longtime Nebraska coach and current athletic director Tom Osborne said. "Anybody who knew Joe feels badly about the circumstances. I suspect the emotional turmoil of the last few weeks might have played into it."

That turmoil stretched to Paterno's final days.

Diagnosed with lung cancer days after getting fired, Paterno entered the hospital Jan. 13 for what his family then said was a minor complication from treatments that included radiation and chemotherapy. Mount Nittany Medical Center was barely a half-mile from Beaver Stadium, the Nittany Lions' home field that Paterno helped make into one of college football's shrines during his 46 seasons as Penn State head coach.

While in the hospital, trustees just a couple miles away at a campus hotel on Thursday told of why they fired Paterno and cited in part a failure to fulfill his moral responsibility in connection with the 2002 allegation. His lawyer, Wick Sollers, called the allegations self-serving and reiterated that Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations.

"I think his legacy should be everything wonderful he did here for Penn State and for the community. That's what I hope," Karen Long, 70, of State College, said at the women's basketball game Sunday afternoon between Iowa and Penn State. "I don't think he was treated fairly, though. Just the way they handled firing him was awful."

Against that backdrop, school leaders, the Paterno family and the university community fractured by the scandal appear to be slowly mending relationships.

In recent weeks, university leaders have indicated they intend to honor Paterno's contributions on and off the field ? a sharp contrast to tones sounded in the frantic first week of the scandal. Back then, for instance, school President Rodney Erickson said Paterno was welcome to football games just like any other member of the public.

Paterno won two national championships and a Division I record 409 victories to turn Penn State into a name-brand program. Off the field, Paterno and his wife, Sue, donated millions back to the university, including the library.

"His and Sue's contributions are as much about ensuring student success as the many endowments and the library bearing the Paterno name," said Barbara Dewey, Penn State's dean of University Libraries.

Memorial service and funeral plans weren't ready yet Sunday night, though it appeared the family and the school were coordinating efforts.

Perhaps one last chance to say goodbye for a Penn State community that often took its cues on fall weekends from JoePa.

"No matter what people say, you can't take away what he did for Penn State and college football," former cornerback D'Anton Lynn said. "I don't think there will ever be a college coach that will ever have that impact again."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-23-Paterno-The%20Final%20Goodbye/id-769de8769fc9412b9ea860faefbe2240

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Sex no more strenuous than golf, expert says

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Good news for heart disease and stroke patients: For most patients, it's probably safe to have sex. "For a patient who has sex with a familiar partner in a familiar setting, sexual activity generally is safe and no more strenuous than golf," said Loyola University Health System cardiologist Dr. John Moran.

Moran concurs with a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, which says that men and women with stable cardiovascular disease and no or minimal symptoms during routine activities can engage in sexual activity.

Loyola stroke specialist Dr. Jos? Biller said that resuming sexual activity and intimacy is important both to patients and to their partners.

"Enhanced communication and post-stroke sexual education are paramount to a healthy, ongoing relationship," Biller said.

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123114255.htm

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FBI: Jailed terror plotter wanted witnesses slain

(AP) ? A North Carolina man sentenced to prison recently as part of a homegrown terrorist ring has been accused in a federal court document of plotting to kill witnesses who testified against him at trial.

An affidavit unsealed in federal court Monday accuses Hysen Sherifi of plotting against the witnesses from his jail cell. Authorities say an FBI informant posing as a hit man met with Sherifi's brother and a female friend and accepted $5,000 and a photo of an intended victim.

FBI agents have arrested the brother, Shkumbin Sherifi, and Nevine Aly Elshiekh, a school teacher. Now in federal custody at the New Hanover County Jail, each is charged with a felony count of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

Hysen Sherifi, 27, was sentenced to 45 years in prison earlier this month in what prosecutors described as a conspiracy to attack the Marine base at Quantico, Va., and targets abroad. Five others, including construction contractor Daniel Patrick Boyd, have been sentenced to federal prison terms for terrorism charges related to raising money, stockpiling weapons and training in preparation for jihadist attacks.

No charges have been filed at this time against Hysen Sherifi related to the new plot, according to a search of a federal court database.

Shkumbin Sherifi and Elshiekh await a scheduled first appearance Friday in federal court in Wilmington. The two have applied for court appointed lawyers, who have not yet been assigned.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh has released no information about those arrested.

In a 10-page affidavit filed under seal Friday, FBI Special Agent James Langtry writes that he developed a source as a confidential informant inside the New Hanover County Jail near Wilmington, where Hysen Sherifi was sent after a jury convicted him in October.

The informant soon befriended Sherifi, who requested help in hiring someone to kill three people who had testified against him at his trial, according to the affidavit. Sherifi specified that he wanted the witnesses beheaded and that he would be provided photos of the severed heads as confirmation of the deaths, according to the document.

FBI agents said in the document that they arranged for a second informant to pose as a hit man and monitored Sherifi during a series of jailhouse visits with Elshiekh.

Following a Dec. 21 visit at the jail, Elshiekh left a voicemail on the fake hit man's cell phone, identifying herself as "Hysen Sherifi's friend," according to the affidavit. It added that the FBI observed and recorded subsequent meetings between Elshiekh and the fake hit man, during which she provided names, addresses and photos of those targeted and $750 in cash toward the first murder.

Agents also observed Elshiekh meeting with Shkumbin Sherifi, who met with the FBI's fake hitman on Jan. 8, the court document said. According to the affidavit, the brother traveled from Raleigh to Wilmington to provide the hit man another $4,250 in cash.

The affidavit provides no information about the nature of the relationship between Hysen Sherifi and Elshiekh, but a woman with that same name was quoted in media reports from last year's terrorism trial in New Bern. The names of the witnesses allegedly targeted were redacted from the affidavit.

Nevine Elshiekh is listed as a special education teacher on the website for Sterling Montessori Academy, a charter school in Mooresville. Bill Zajic, the school's executive director, did not return a message from the Associated Press on Tuesday.

No one answered the phone at Elshiekh's Raleigh home Tuesday.

The Sherifi brothers and other family members emigrated from Kosovo following the wars that ravaged the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. A call to the Sherifi family home in Raleigh on Tuesday was not returned.

Hysen Sherifi and others arrested in the terrorism conspiracy were members of the Islamic Association of Raleigh, the largest Muslim congregation in the Triangle. Several members of the mosque also routinely made the 4-hour round trip for the trial in New Bern to support the accused, who they described as innocent men being railroaded by overzealous federal authorities.

Messages to the media contact listed for the mosque were not returned.

_

Follow AP writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-24-NC%20Terror%20Arrests/id-a5aaf39202054a38ab87e75b293a73df

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Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Trash Talk: 49ers' Harbaugh don't do handshakes

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Four-time champion Roger Federer beat Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday to advance to the Australian Open semifinals for the ninth consecutive year.

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Defending champion Kim Clijsters has defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the Australian Open quarterfinals, ensuring Wozniacki will lose the No. 1 ranking.

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Monday, 23 January 2012

Beijing releases pollution data; US figures higher (AP)

BEIJING ? Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.

The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.

The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.

The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 milligrams per cubic meter, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate." Its readings are posted on Twitter.

Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.

"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."

The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.

Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."

"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.

"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.

___

Online:

Beijing center's readings (in Chinese): http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/

The U.S. Embassy's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/beijingair

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_as/as_china_air_quality

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Schoolkids Name Moon Orbiters

60-Second Science60-Second Science | Space

GRAIL A and B, the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory lunar moon satellites, are now Ebb and Flow, courtesy of Montana students. Cynthia Graber reports.

More 60-Second Science

Two washing-machine-sized satellites recently went into orbit around the moon. In March, they?ll start to gather detailed data about the quirks of the moon?s gravity. The working names for the satellites have been GRAIL A and B, for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory. But they just got new names?courtesy of fourth graders from Bozeman, Montana.

NASA invited U.S. students to submit essays with suggested names. The Bozeman entry was picked out of more than 900 schools representing 11,000 students. The winners impressed the judges with their careful research about the goal of the mission. Because the moon?s gravity gives us our tides, the kids suggested GRAIL A and B?s new handles: Ebb and Flow.

The mission is NASA?s first with instruments aboard entirely dedicated to education. Each satellite has a small camera that middle school students can request be aimed at target areas on the moon for study.

The winning essay writers said that what are now called Ebb and Flow are on a journey, just as the moon is on a journey around the Earth. And as the students have begun their own journey, of scientific exploration.

?Cynthia Graber

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]?


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=811c1a9ccbae289008963e3b1acb5577

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Sunday, 22 January 2012

Sativex, Pot-Based Prescription Drug, Seeks FDA Approval

SAN FRANCISCO -- A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.

A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents_ a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain. And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.

Sativex contains marijuana's two best known components ? delta 9-THC and cannabidiol ? and already has been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for a different usage, relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

FDA approval would represent an important milestone in the nation's often uneasy relationship with marijuana, which 16 states and the District of Columbia already allow residents to use legally with doctors' recommendations. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration categorizes pot as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but the availability of a chemically similar prescription drug could increase pressure on the federal government to revisit its position and encourage other drug companies to follow in GW Pharma's footsteps.

"There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing," said Aron Lichtman, a Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacology professor and president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. "It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, `If there is this demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.'"

Possessing marijuana still is illegal in the United Kingdom, but about a decade ago GW Pharma's founder, Dr. Geoffrey Guy, received permission to grow it to develop a prescription drug. Guy proposed the idea at a scientific conference that heard anecdotal evidence that pot provides relief to multiple sclerosis patients, and the British government welcomed it as a potential way "to draw a clear line between recreational and medicinal use," company spokesman Mark Rogerson said.

In addition to exploring new applications for Sativex, the company is developing drugs with different cannabis formulations.

"We were the first ones to charge forward and a lot of people were watching to see what happened to us," Rogerson said. "I think we are clearly past that stage."

In 1985, the FDA approved two drug capsules containing synthetic THC, Marinol and Cesamet, to ease side-effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. The agency eventually allowed Marinol to be prescribed to stimulate the appetites of AIDS patients. The drug's patent expired last year, and other U.S. companies have been developing formulations that could be administered through dissolving pills, creams and skin patches and perhaps be used for other ailments.

Doctors and multiple sclerosis patients are cautiously optimistic about Sativex. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has not endorsed marijuana use by patients, but the organization is sponsoring a study by a University of California, Davis neurologist to determine how smoking marijuana compares to Marinol in addressing painful muscle spasms.

"The cannabinoids and marijuana will, eventually, likely be part of the clinician's armamentarium, if they are shown to be clinically beneficial," said Timothy Coetzee, the society's chief research officer. "The big unknown in my mind is whether they are clearly beneficial."

Opponents and supporters of crude marijuana's effectiveness generally agree that more research is needed. And marijuana advocates fear that the government will use any new prescription products to justify a continued prohibition on marijuana use. .

"To the extent that companies can produce effective medication that utilizes the components of the plant, that's great. But that should not be the exclusive access for people who want to be able to use medical marijuana," Americans for Safe Access spokesman Kris Hermes said. "That's the race against time, in terms of how quickly can we put pressure on the federal government to recognize the plant has medical use versus the government coming out with the magic bullet pharmaceutical pill."

Interest in new and better marijuana-based medicines has been building since the discovery in the late 1980s and 1990s that mammals have receptors in their central nervous systems, several organs and immune systems for the chemicals in botanical cannabis and that their bodies also produce natural cannabinoids that work on the same receptors.

One of the first drugs to build on those breakthroughs was an anti-obesity medication that blocked the same chemical receptors that trigger the munchies in pot smokers. Under the name Acomplia, it was approved throughout Europe and heralded as a possible new treatment for smoking cessation and metabolic disorders that can lead to heart attacks.

The FDA was reviewing its safety as a diet drug when follow-up studies showed that people taking the drug were at heightened risk of suicide and other psychiatric disorders. French manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis, pulled it from the market in late 2008.

Given that drug companies already were reluctant "to touch anything that is THC-like with a 10-foot- pole," the setback had a chilling effect on cannabinoid drug development, according to Lichtman.

"Big companies like Merck and Pfizer were developing their own versions (of Acomplia), so all of those programs they spent millions and millions on just went away..." he said.

But scientists and drug companies that are exploring pot's promise predict the path will ultimately be successful, if long and littered with setbacks.

One is Alexandros Makriyannis, director of the Center for Drug Discovery at Northeastern University and founder of a small Boston company that hopes to market synthetic pain products that are chemically unrelated to marijuana, but work similarly on the body or inhibit the cannabinoid receptors. He also has been working on a compound that functions like the failed Acomplia but without the depressive effects.

"I think within five to 10 years, we should get something," Makriyannis said.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/sativex-pot-prescription-drug_n_1222055.html

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Stocks add to steady climb; Dow gains 45 (AP)

NEW YORK ? Strong corporate earnings reports and the lowest unemployment claims in almost four years gave investors more reasons Thursday to take risks on stocks, and the market continued its quiet but solid January climb.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 45.03 points to close at 12,623.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 6.46 points to close at 1,314.50. Both averages are at their highest since July.

Volume was slightly above average. The market has been subdued this year: The S&P has moved up or down 1 percent or more only twice, and the Dow has moved 100 points only once, a 179-point gain on opening day, Jan. 3.

But the gains have been steady. The S&P has closed higher 10 of 12 days, and all three major averages have recorded healthy advances for the young year ? 3.3 percent for the Dow, 4.4 percent for the S&P and 7 percent for the Nasdaq composite index.

Investors appear ready to believe that the economic recovery is for real and getting stronger.

"The market is screaming loud and clear," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist with ING Investment Management. "Prices have lagged fundamentals, and now they're catching up."

After the market closed, Google stock plunged more than 10 percent after its earnings per share badly missed Wall Street expectations. Intel and Microsoft rose slightly in after-hours trading after more encouraging reports.

In a sign of a bigger appetite for risk, investors moved money out of U.S. debt, a haven during the stock market's volatile second half of 2011. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note increased to 1.98 percent from 1.90 percent Wednesday.

The market was led by industries that tend to perform best when the economy is getting stronger ? consumer discretionary stocks, financials and industrial companies.

Of the 10 categories of stocks in the S&P 500, the only one that lost considerable ground was utilities ? a safe play for investors during turbulent times and the best-performing category last year.

Cote said the market's gains could accelerate as investors begin to focus more on economic fundamentals in the United States instead of worries about their exposure to risk.

And the economic news Thursday was good: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008. The decline added to evidence that the job market is strengthening.

U.S. consumer prices were unchanged last month, a signal inflation is under control. In the housing market, a third straight increase in single-family home building in December was offset by a drop in apartment construction.

France and Spain also held successful bond auctions, easing concerns about the debt crisis in Europe. As global risk factors subside, Cote predicts that markets will see "a strong snap-back rally."

Bank of America rose 2 percent and Morgan Stanley rose 5 percent after reporting encouraging financial results. Bank of America returned to a profit in the last three months of 2011, while Morgan Stanley's loss was much less than forecast.

Renewable Energy Group Inc., the nation's largest producer of biodiesel, edged up 10 cents to $10.10 on its first day of trading. It was the first initial public offering of stock this year.

Trading was halted in shares of Eastman Kodak, the iconic photography company, after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Kodak could not find a buyer for its trove of 1,100 digital imaging patents.

The Dow's gain for the day amounted to 0.4 percent. The S&P's came to 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq added 18.62 points, or 18.62 points, to close at 2,788.33.

Among other stocks in the news:

? eBay Inc., the online auction company, rose 3.9 percent after it beat Wall Street earnings forecasts and gave a healthy outlook for the year.

? Southwest Airlines Co. rose 3.1 percent after it said its fourth-quarter net income and revenue jumped. Southwest said it expects strong revenue in the first quarter too, based on passenger-booking trends.

? Johnson Controls Inc., an auto parts and building equipment maker based in Milwaukee, fell 8.8 percent. Its profit and revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. It also cut its forecasts, blaming weaker auto production in Europe, a lower euro and poor demand for batteries.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

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Saturday, 21 January 2012

Wall Street rises on bank results, but Google sinks late (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks rose for the third straight day on Thursday, sparked by results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley and as the latest jobless claims dropped to a near four-year low.

The S&P 500 hit a fresh five-month high, with the industrials, consumer discretionary stocks and financials leading gains.

Tech shares advanced ahead of earnings from a number of bellwethers expected after the close.

But reports after the bell were mixed. Google (GOOG.O) fell short of Wall Street's lofty expectations, and its shares dropped 10 percent to $575.50.

"Google was the big disappointment because so much of their emphasis is developing products, specifically Android, where more dollars are going out than they anticipated," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

In the regular session, Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) climbed 2.4 percent to $6.96 after it reported it swung to a fourth-quarter profit from a year-ago loss. Morgan Stanley (MS.N) reported a loss that was narrower than expected, sparking a 5.4 percent jump in its stock to $18.28.

"We think (financials) have pretty much bottomed here in the U.S.," said Paul Simon, chief investment officer at Tactical Allocation Group in Birmingham, Michigan.

"They represent some compelling value. We think a lot of the bad news has been discounted, and you've seen stock prices rallying in the beginning of the year," said Simon, whose firm has been buying financials.

Financial shares have rallied since the start of the year. The S&P financial index (.GSPF) is up 8.1 percent so far for 2012, helping to push the S&P 500 up 4.5 percent for the year.

In the latest snapshot of the U.S. economy, data showed the number of Americans filing for new jobless benefits dropped to nearly a four-year low last week. It added to views that the economy is slowly moving forward.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 45.03 points, or 0.36 percent, to end at 12,623.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) gained 6.46 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,314.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) climbed 18.62 points, or 0.67 percent, to close at 2,788.33.

Semiconductor stocks also advanced, with the PHLX SOX Index (.SOX) rising 1.9 percent. Xilinx Inc (XLNX.O) shot up 1 percent to $35.64 a day after issuing an upbeat forecast.

IBM UP LATE, AMEX SLIPS

Among other major tech companies reporting after the close, IBM (IBM.N) said it sees 10 percent earnings growth in 2012, and its shares rose 2.5 percent to $184.94.

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT.O) gained 1.9 percent to $28.64 in extended trading, and shares of Intel (INTC.O) added 0.5 percent to $25.75, both after reporting results.

American Express (AXP.N) also posted results after the bell, and its shares slid 1.9 percent in extended trading to $49.98.

In a sign of optimism about Europe, both Spain and France drew strong demand at government debt auctions.

With the S&P 500 having broken above the 1,300 level, it looks set to hit the 1,360-1,370 area, said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Asset Management in Boston.

"That (area) represents the May 2011 high ... and I believe we will see that during this earnings season," Zaro said.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (.DJT) gained 1.6 percent, with shares of Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) rising 2.2 percent to $112.18 after reporting quarterly profit and revenue that beat estimates.

Volume totaled about 7.6 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, above the daily average of 6.68 billion, and the highest since December 16.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. On the Nasdaq, nearly three stocks rose for every two that fell.

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica and Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Death row inmate wins new hearing over mail mix-up (AP)

WASHINGTON ? An Alabama death row inmate deserves a new court hearing because his lawyers at a top-flight New York firm abandoned him, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a case one justice called "a veritable perfect storm of misfortune."

The court voted 7-2 to reverse a federal appeals court ruling that cut off appeals for Cory Maples, who was convicted of killing two men execution-style in 1995. Maples missed a deadline to appeal when court notices to his lawyers at the Sullivan and Cromwell firm were returned unopened and a local court clerk took no further action. The lawyers at the prominent New York firm had been representing Maples without charge.

Deadlines usually are sacrosanct at the high court, where defendants also typically are held responsible for the mistakes of their lawyers.

But Maples' case is different because he is facing execution and his lawyers didn't simply err, they abandoned him, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her majority opinion.

"Through no fault of his own, Maples, an inmate on death row, was left unrepresented at a critical time," Ginsburg said in an opinion that also criticized Alabama for using inexperienced lawyers and paying them poorly to represent defendants in death penalty cases.

But Justice Samuel Alito, who often votes against criminal defendants, said in a separate opinion that Maples' circumstances were unique. "What occurred here was not a predictable consequence of the Alabama system, but a veritable perfect storm of misfortune," Alito said

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Scalia said the court should have stuck with its usual practice of holding defendants responsible for their lawyers' mistakes. "One suspects that today's decision is motivated in large part by an understandable sense of frustration" with Alabama's refusal to waive its deadlines in this case, Scalia said in an opinion joined by Thomas.

The quality of Maples' representation was an issue from the start of his case. A jury convicted him of killing two men in Morgan County in northern Alabama and sentenced him to death by a 10-2 vote. One of Maples' lawyers told jurors the defense team "may appear to be stumbling around in the dark."

His legal case appeared to brighten, however, when the Sullivan and Cromwell lawyers agreed to represent him for free in his appeals. The New York-based firm has 800 lawyers and offices in a dozen cities.

From December 2001 until May 2003 not much happened in the case. But then an Alabama court rejected claims that had been prepared and filed on Maples' behalf by the firm's lawyers. The court sent a notice to the lawyers, as well as a local attorney in Alabama, starting a 42-day clock for appealing the order.

What neither the court nor Maples knew was that during the previous summer both lawyers had left Sullivan and Cromwell, one for a job in Europe and the other to clerk for a federal judge. "The attorneys Maples thought were vigilantly representing him had abandoned the case. They did not inform Maples or the Alabama court of this reality," Ginsburg said.

The notices sent to the firm were not passed to other lawyers but were returned to Alabama. The local lawyer did nothing, thinking the New Yorkers were on the case. The court clerk likewise did nothing when the notices came back indicating the lawyers were no longer at the firm, even though the lawyers' personal telephone numbers and home addresses were in the court's file on Maples.

Only after the deadline passed did Maples find out what had happened. Other lawyers at Sullivan and Cromwell tried to continue the appeal, but both state and federal courts ruled that Maples was out of luck.

Wednesday's decision leaves Maples on death row with his conviction and sentence in place. But it means a court will hear his claims that his inexperienced, poorly paid trial lawyers did such a bad job on his behalf that their work violated the Constitution's guarantee of representation for criminal defendants.

The case is Maples v. Thomas, 10-63.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_return_to_sender

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Friday, 20 January 2012

Afrojack Readies First Album In Los Angeles

Award-winning DJ/producer is also overseeing Paris Hilton's new music project.
By Akshay Bhansali


Paris Hilton and Afrojack
Photo: Danny Mahoney/ XS Nightclub

Afrojack is in Los Angeles, and not just for a stopover. The award-winning DJ/producer will be anchored to the City of Angels, hunkered down in the studio to work on music. A lot of music.

Paris Hilton confirmed at the Golden Globes that Afrojack is producing her next album. The two were recently in the studio working with LMFAO's Redfoo. And on top of all that, Afrojack (real name Nick Van de Wall) is also working on his own first album.

"I'm in the studio now for two months in Los Angeles," Afrojack told MTV News recently before an epic resident set at Las Vegas' dance-music mecca, XS Nightclub. "I have two studios booked and I have a big house and we are all staying there and just thinking about not only producing my album, but just producing other songs for other people."

His next single, "Can't Stop Me Now," a collaboration with Shermanology, is the only confirmed collabo he could reveal. But fans can be sure that Afrojack is looking to work with plenty of other artists while he's in L.A.

"I've met a lot of people in the last two years around the world, and I'm pretty sure they are going to be on the album," Van de Wall said, mentioning Omarion, Redfoo, Chris Brown and Ne-Yo as possibilities.

"I did a remix for Leona Lewis, and I really loved her voice. I want to have her on the album," he added, referring to his Grammy-nominated remix of Lewis' "Collide." "And I'm going to work with my own boys. I'm gonna do collabs with R3hab, with Quintino and Shermanology."

After the radio success of "Give Me Everything," Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now," and Beyonce's "Run The World (Girls)," one has to wonder: Will Afrojack's coming album be more pop or club? Is it turns out, maybe both.

"I'm still thinking," he revealed. "I could do club, but then the pop side wouldn't understand. And if it's just pop, the club side wouldn't understand. I think I'm just going to do both. I think it's just going be a totally different thing. Let's see what happens. It's my first album!"

Should Afrojack focus on pop or club? Sound off in the comments section!

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677575/afrojack-first-album.jhtml

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