     |
jazz fest zurich classic selena lamichael james lamichael james acl earthquake los angeles
Monday, April 29, 2013
Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The battle to raise awareness has been won. So why aren?t more lives being saved?
Italy forms new government after 2-month stalemate
ROME (AP) ? Center-left leader Enrico Letta forged a new Italian government Saturday in a coalition with former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives, an unusual alliance of bitter rivals that broke a two-month political stalemate from inconclusive elections in the recession-mired country.
The daunting achievement was pulled off by Letta, who will be sworn in as premier along with the new Cabinet on Sunday at the presidential Quirinal Palace.
Letta, 46, is a moderate with a reputation as a political bridge-builder. He is also the nephew Berlusconi's longtime adviser, Gianni Letta, a relationship seen as smoothing over often nasty interaction between the two main coalition partners.
Serving as deputy premier and interior minister will be Berlusconi's top political aide, Angelino Alfano. He is a former justice minister who was the architect of legislation that critics say was tailor-made to help media mogul Berlusconi in his many judicial woes.
The creation of the coalition capped the latest political comeback for Berlusconi, who was forced to resign in 2011 as Italy slid deeper in to the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.
On Monday, Letta will be expected to lay out his strategy in Parliament in seeking required confidence votes from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
"We negotiated for the formation of the government without throwing up any stop signs," Berlusconi told one of his TV networks. "That's how we contributed to forming a government in short time" after Letta was tapped Wednesday.
Berlusconi, a fervent anti-Communist, views Italy's left as a personal nemesis, and Letta's Democratic Party has some of its roots in what was the West's largest Communist Party.
Letta expressed "sober satisfaction over the team we put together and its willingness" to form a coalition.
Only a few weeks earlier, the head of the Democrats, Pier Luigi Bersani, resigned from the party post in humiliation and he refused Berlusconi's offer for a "grand coalition" and futilely tried to form a government without the center-right. Letta was a Bersani loyalist.
Bersani hailed the coalition formula as a "necessary compromise" that gives the country "freshness and solidarity."
The No. 3 bloc in Parliament, the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement, is led by comic Beppe Grillo, who ruled out any alliance with the largely sullied political class that has ruled Italy for decades.
President Giorgio Napolitano, who tasked Letta with creating a government out of bitter rivals, called upon the coalition partners to work "in a spirit of absolute, indispensable cohesion" as they work for sorely needed political and economic reforms.
"I hope there is maximum cohesion," Napolitano said.
The 87-year-old head of state sounded almost breathless as he expressed confidence the rivals could work together "without conflict or prejudices to find the right solutions" to the country's pressing economic and political problems.
Napolitano didn't name the challenges, but they include fighting unemployment, especially for young people, and corruption sullying much of the political class.
Napolitano said: "It was and is the only possible government," and one "whose formation couldn't be delayed further, in the interest of our country and of Europe."
He reluctantly agreed to be re-elected by Parliament earlier this month for another seven-year term because of the political instability.
Italy's economy is No. 3 among eurozone members, and financial markets have been anxiously watching to see if an effective government could be formed to carry on with outgoing Premier Mario Monti's efforts to keep the country from sliding into the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.
Voters, fed up with new and higher taxes, including a despised property tax revived by Monti, rejected his severe austerity policies.
The small centrist party created in time for the election by Monti, an economist and former European Union commissioner, will participate in the coalition, although Monti won't be in the Cabinet, which is heavy on two novelties ? a large presence of female ministers and Italy's first black minister.
A native of Congo, Cecile Kyenge is a doctor who will serve as minister of integration. Proposals to make it easier for Italy' growing immigrant population to become citizens have gone nowhere in Parliament amid fierce opposition from the anti-immigrant Northern League party. The party, a Berlusconi ally, isn't in the new government.
Prominent among the women in the Cabinet is Emma Bonino, a former EU commissioner and Radical Party leader who will serve as foreign minister. Olympic gold medal kayaker Josefa Idem was tapped as minister of equal opportunity and sports.
Letta comes from a moderate wing of the left-rooted Democratic Party that is close to the Vatican. Since Parliament always includes an array of lawmakers enjoying good ties to the politically influential Catholic church in Italy, this was one more qualification on Letta's bridge-building resume.
The father of three, he lives in Rome's working-class Testaccio neighborhood. When he was tapped by Napolitano on Wednesday, he drove his own car to the Quirinal Palace, in what was seen as a photo opportunity gesture to Italian taxpayers who widely despise the huge fleet of luxury cars that shuttles around ministers and lawmakers.
In 1998, when he was 32, Letta became the youngest minister in Italy's history when he served as minister for European policy for then-Premier Massimo D'Alema, an ex-Communist leader. Letta seemed a natural for that post. He spent his childhood in Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament, and studied international law before jumping into politics.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-forms-government-2-month-stalemate-153710380.html
derrick rose torn acl pacers undrafted free agents braveheart roy orbison the third man 2012 nfl draft order
Collapsed building owner arrested on India border
SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? The owner of an illegally-constructed building that collapsed last week in a deadly heap in a Dhaka suburb was arrested at a border crossing with India on Sunday in a dramatic operation by members of an elite commando force, a government minister said.
A fleeing Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested near the land-crossing in Benapole in western Bangladesh, just as he was about to cross into India's West Bengal state, said Jahangir Kabir Nanak, junior minister for local government. He said Rana is being brought back by helicopter to the capital Dhaka where he faces charges of negligence.
The arrest by the Rapid Action Battalion was announced on a loudspeaker at the site of the collapsed building in a Dhaka suburb, where people greeted it with cheers and claps. At least 362 people are confirmed to have died in the collapse of the 8-story building on Wednesday. Three of its floors were built illegally.
The death toll is expected to rise but it is already the deadliest tragedy to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which is worth $20 billion annually and a mainstay of the economy. The collapse and previous disasters in garment factories have focused attention on the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.
Rana, a small-time politician from the ruling party, had been on the run since Wednesday. He last appeared in public in front of Rana Plaza on Tuesday after huge cracks appeared in the structure. However, he assured tenants, including five garment factories, that the building was safe.
A bank and some shops on the first floor shut their premises on Wednesday after police ordered an evacuation, but managers of the garment factories on the upper floor told workers to continue their shifts.
Hours later Rana Plaza was reduced to rubble, and most victims were crushed by massive blocks of concrete and mortar falling on them. A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside it when it collapsed. About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.
On Sunday, rescuers located nine people alive inside the rubble on Sunday, as authorities announced they will now use heavy equipment to drill a central hole from the top to look for survivors and dead bodies.
Army Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the coordinator of the rescue operations, said they will try to save the nine people first by manually shifting concrete blocks with the help of light equipment such as pick axes and shovels.
"But if we fail we will start our next phase within hours," which would involve manual efforts as well as heavy equipment, including hydraulic cranes and cutters to bore a hole from the top of the collapsed building, he told reporters.
The purpose is to "continue the operation to recover both survivors and dead bodies. In this stage, we have no other choice but to use some heavy equipment. We will start it within a few hours. Manual operation and use of small equipment is not enough," he said.
The work will be carried out carefully so as not to mutilate bodies, he said. All the equipment is in place, "from a small blade to everything. We have engaged many private sector companies which supplied us equipment, even some heavy ones."
In rare good news, a female worker was pulled out alive on Sunday. Hasan Akbari, a rescuer, said when he tried to extricate a man next to the woman, "he said his body was being torn apart. So I had to let go. But God willing, we will be able to rescue him with more help very soon."
On Saturday, police took six people into custody, including three owners of two factories who were placed under arrest. Also under detention are Rana's wife and two government engineers who were involved in giving approval for the building design.
Local television stations reported that the Bangladesh High Court has frozen the bank accounts of the owners of all five garment factories in the collapsed building.
Working round-the-clock, rescuers have used bare hands and shovels, passing chunks of brick and concrete down a human chain away from the collapsed structure. On the ground, mixed in the debris were several pairs of pink cotton pants, a mud-covered navy blue sock and a pile of green uncut fabric.
The badly decomposed bodies pulled out of the rubble were kept at a makeshift morgue at the nearby Adharchandra High School before being handed over to families. Many people milled around at the school, waving photos of their missing loved ones.
Rana was a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front. His arrest, and that of the factory owners, was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.
The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. But since then very little has changed in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands.
Bangladesh's garment industry was the third largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is the equivalent of about $38 a month.
Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.
The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.
Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.
Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.
__
AP writers Farid Hossain and Gillian Wong in Dhaka contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/collapsed-building-owner-arrested-india-border-092723478.html
hunger games premiere red meat bachelor ben jon hamm kim kardashian law school rankings ncaa bracket predictions jeff foxworthy
Two bizarre endings mar UFC 159 prelims
The UFC debut of two Strikeforce light heavyweights was spoiled by a odd ending. Ovince St-Preux beat Gian Villante in a majority technical decision after the fight was stopped because of a poke to the eye.
After a back-and-forth, but not entirely thrilling bout, St-Preux threw a punch and accidentally poked Villante in the eye. Villante stepped back and crouched down, indicating to referee Kevin Mulhall that there was a problem with the eye. Mulhall asked Villante if he could see, and Villante said no, he couldn't see.
At that point, Mulhall waved his arms and the fight was stopped. Villante protested, but the fight was over. Because the round had started, it had to be judged. The scores were 30-28, 29-28 and 29-29 in St-Preux's favor.
?I couldn?t see. He did poke me in the eye so I don?t know," Villante said after the fight. "He said the fight was over and I didn?t expect that because I was just reacting to his question. I got poked and my eye was closed up so I thought he would stop it but he didn?t, he just kind of looked at me. I don?t understand how you score thirty seconds of a round and that?s how I lost? We were just getting going and I got poked in the eye. I don?t know what to say.?
Mulhall's stoppage adhered to the eyepoke rule, if not literally, then in spirit. When a fighter says he can't see, the fight is stopped. However, Mulhall could have used better communication and followed procedures. It would have been better if he explained to Villante that he didn't have time to recover and that the fight would be stopped if he said he couldn't see.
UFC 159's weird streak continued in the very next bout. Rustam Khabilov and Yancy Medeiros' fight was stopped halfway through the first round. Medeiros defended a Khabilov takedown attempt, but hit his hand awkwardly. His thumb ended up pointing a way thumbs are not supposed to point and the bout was stopped at 2:32 of the first round.
Two weird endings marred the preliminary card, but the UFC rarely lets a weird ending go. Quite often, these fights get a rematch, so don't be shocked if you see these fights happen again on a card this summer.
Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? New Cardinals DB Tyrann Mathieu continues to raise red flags
? Toronto Raptors reportedly mulling offer to Phil Jackson
? Owner Jeffrey Loria further alienates Marlins, fans with lineup mandate
? Packers announce long-term contract extension for Aaron Rodgers
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/two-bizarre-endings-mar-ufc-159-prelims-020815615.html
Kids Choice Awards 2013 Joe Weider Florida Gulf Coast Golf Channel Andy Enfield La Salle University the voice
Synergist Founder Hopes To Raise $25K Using The Company's Own Crowdfunding Platform
Sites like Kickstarter have been used to crowdfund a wide range of projects, but I don't think they've ever done what Synergist is attempting today ? they've never crowdfunded themselves. The site was founded by 17-year-old Jared Kleinert, who described Synergist as a mix of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding for social enterprises (i.e., organizations that aim to do good, rather than make money, but apply commercial strategies to achieve those aims). The funding mechanism is pretty similar to Kickstarter ? projects need to reach their funding target in order to receive any money, and the money is given for rewards, not equity. But Kleinert emphasized that the fundraising is really only a small part of the process.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qZLIR-aB_w8/
National Hurricane Center Zeek Rewards vanessa bryant vanessa bryant Prince Harry naked Prince Harry Vegas Melky Cabrera
Thunder take 3-0 series lead with 104-101 win
HOUSTON (AP) ? Kevin Durant was in uncharted territory on Saturday night, playing in his first game without friend and teammate Russell Westbrook.
Durant knew it would be different, but vowed to do whatever he could to carry his team through this difficult period.
He delivered on that promise by scoring 41 points and helping Oklahoma City fight off Houston's late rally to beat the Rockets 104-101 for a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven playoff series.
"I didn't feel the same," Durant said. "And I knew I just had to give my all from here on out ... every game is for him."
Durant checked his phone moments after leaving the court and smiled recalling the text messages he received from Westbrook.
"He texted me at halftime and right after the game," Durant said. "Just said congrats and that he loved me."
Durant scored 27 points in the first half, and the Thunder led by 26 points before a big third-quarter rally by the Rockets put them within striking distance.
Houston regained the lead with about 4 minutes left, and was up with less than a minute remaining. But Durant hit a 3-pointer, which bounced off the rim before falling in, to put Oklahoma City on top 100-99.
"We didn't want to give up any 3s," Houston's James Harden said. "He just made a lucky shot. It was good defense. It just went in and took some of the energy out of us."
A turnover by Harden gave the Thunder the ball back and Derek Fisher made two free throws to push the lead to three. Harden made a layup, but Reggie Jackson hit two more free throws after that.
Houston had a last chance, but Carlos Delfino's 3-pointer fell short.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks was impressed that his team was able to win despite losing its All-Star point guard.
"It's been an emotional time the last 48 hours," Brooks said. "We all love what Russell (Westbrook) is about. He's got probably the biggest heart I've ever been around."
Fisher said it was difficult getting through these last couple of days, but the 16-year veteran said he was there to help the younger guys deal with the loss of Westbrook.
"We're still grieving, so to speak, as a team," Fisher said. "But that's why I'm here, and that's why this is a team. Injuries and bad things happen in sports, but we still have to figure out a way to get things done."
Harden scored 30 points for the Rockets in the first playoff game in Houston since 2009. The Rockets will be at home again for Game 4 on Monday night.
Westbrook was injured in Game 2 and had season-ending right knee surgery Saturday. It was the first time Durant had played a pro game without Westbrook, who hadn't missed a game in his career before Saturday.
Durant's 41 points equaled a playoff career high, and he also had 14 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. He sat down for just 44 seconds on Saturday.
"Kevin has done a great job of being a playmaker all season long," Brooks said. "He's an amazing scorer, and he sets up a lot of guys to get easy buckets."
Jackson made his first career start in place of Westbrook and had 14 points, and Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Chandler Parsons had a tying 3-pointer for Houston with 5:46 left, and Delfino put the Rockets in front for the first time since early in the first quarter when he connected from long range to make it 94-93 about 2 minutes later.
Ibaka made four straight points after that, ending with a reverse layup, to make it 97-94 with about a minute and a half left.
Harden hit a pair of free throws. Then Francisco Garcia's 3-pointer put them up 99-97 with 45 seconds left, before the clutch shot by Durant.
The Rockets rallied from a 15-point deficit to take a lead in the fourth quarter in Game 2. But they weren't able to hold on and Oklahoma City got the 105-102 win.
It was much the same this time, as Houston went up late only to fall again.
"We've got to find a way to win those games," Houston coach Kevin McHale said.
Harden complained that he and his teammates were sluggish and lacked energy early. He knows that won't cut it if they expect to win on Monday.
"We have to have that energy from the beginning of the game to the end of the game," he said. "We can't have droughts. You have to play a solid game for 48 minutes."
Westbrook's absence didn't seem to bother Oklahoma City early, as Durant had the big first half and the Thunder looked to be in complete control.
Things changed in the third quarter when Durant was limited offensively and Houston outscored the Thunder 27-14 in the period.
Houston point guard Jeremy Lin, who bruised a chest muscle in Game 2, started but scored only two points in about 18 minutes.
Parsons scored 21 points, and Garcia had 18.
After a big run got Houston within eight in the third quarter, Garcia and Harden made 3-pointers around a dunk by Durant to whittle the lead to 80-76 entering the last quarter.
Durant was scoreless in the third until his dunk with 27 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Thunder led by 19 points when the Rockets used a 16-5 surge to get to 78-70 with 2? minutes left in the third. The Rockets harassed Oklahoma City into three turnovers in that stretch, and Durant went cold as he missed four shots.
NOTES: Garcia and McHale received technical fouls in the first quarter. ... Pitching great Roger Clemens and Houston Texans star receiver Andre Johnson attended the game.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thunder-3-0-series-lead-104-101-win-042836906.html
denver post Scandal denver broncos new england patriots Zayn Malik miss america 2013 Oscar Nominations
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Austerity is hurting our health, say researchers
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Austerity is having a devastating effect on health in Europe and North America, driving suicide, depression and infectious diseases and reducing access to medicines and care, researchers said on Monday.
Detailing a decade of research, Oxford University political economist David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu, an assistant professor of medicine and an epidemiologist at Stanford University, said their findings show austerity is seriously bad for health.
In a book to be published this week, the researchers say more than 10,000 suicides and up to a million cases of depression have been diagnosed during what they call the "Great Recession" and its accompanying austerity across Europe and North America.
In Greece, moves like cutting HIV prevention budgets have coincided with rates of the AIDS-causing virus rising by more than 200 percent since 2011 - driven in part by increasing drug abuse in the context of a 50 percent youth unemployment rate.
Greece also experienced its first malaria outbreak in decades following budget cuts to mosquito-spraying programs.
And more than five million Americans have lost access to healthcare during the latest recession, they argue, while in Britain, some 10,000 families have been pushed into homelessness by the government's austerity budget.
"Our politicians need to take into account the serious - and in some cases profound - health consequences of economic choices," said David Stuckler, a senior researcher at Oxford University and co-author The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills
"The harms we have found include HIV and malaria outbreaks, shortages of essential medicines, lost healthcare access, and an avoidable epidemic of alcohol abuse, depression and suicide," he said in a statement. "Austerity is having a devastating effect."
Previous studies by Stuckler published in journals such as The Lancet and the British Medical Journal have linked rising suicide rates in some parts of Europe to biting austerity measures, and found HIV epidemics to be spreading amid cutbacks in services to vulnerable people.
But Stuckler and Basu said negative public health effects are not inevitable, even during the worst economic disasters.
Using data from the Great Depression of the 1930s, to post-communist Russia and from some examples of the current economic downturn, they say financial crises can be prevented from becoming epidemics - if governments respond effectively.
As an example, they say, Sweden's active labor market programs helped the numbers of suicides to fall there during its recession, a big rise in unemployment. Neighboring countries with no such programs saw large increases in suicides.
And during the 1930s depression in the United States, each extra $100 of relief spending from the American New Deal led to about 20 fewer deaths per 1,000 births, four fewer suicides per 100,000 people and 18 fewer pneumonia deaths per 100,000 people.
"Ultimately what we show is that worsening health is not an inevitable consequence of economic recessions. It's a political choice," Basu said in the statement.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/austerity-hurting-health-researchers-231119361.html
Dorner Banana Joe state of the union fat tuesday ash wednesday kate middleton marco rubio
Friday, April 26, 2013
Flurry: U.S. App Audience Now Roughly Equal To Internet Users On Laptops & Desktops
While the time spent in apps may be starting to challenge television, mobile analytics firm Flurry examined today what it takes to reach a TV-sized audience on mobile, comparing U.S. app usage to traditional media as well as to other online audience measurements. During “primetime,” which for apps also includes those “after-work” hours of around 7 to 10 p.m., app usage among the top 250 iOS and Android applications spikes to a peak of 52 million consumers, the company found. App usage tends to drop off overnight, and weekends see higher daytime app usage through the day (9-5). During the normal workday, people use apps at least 75 percent as much as on weekends, the data shows. Of course, this is collective usage. In order to target an audience that size using traditional media, you would need to combine the audiences of the three most highly rated primetime TV shows on a good week, says Flurry. Or you’d have to combine the circulation of the largest 200 weekend newspapers in the U.S. “We believe this comparison says a couple of important things about the app audience: first that it has reached critical mass, and second that it is still highly fragmented relative to more traditional forms of media,” notes Flurry head of research Mary Ellen Gordon?on the company blog. The firm also noted that reaching the key 18 to 49-year-old demographic using traditional media will become increasingly difficult as they turn towards digital media more. Flurry cited a report from Morgan Stanley, which showed that there has been a 50 percent decline in TV audience ratings since 2002, illustrating this point. For what it’s worth, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings pointed to this same trend in a mission statement released yesterday, noting specifically that we’re moving towards a time when apps will replace channels. “Existing networks that fail to develop first-class apps will lose viewing and revenue,” Hastings said. It may be some time yet until that transition completes (if you even believe in this “either/or” scenario, that is). But meanwhile, when app usage is compared with the Internet audience using desktops and laptops, things are more even.?During February, for example, Flurry saw 224 million monthly actives using mobile apps in the U.S. That same month, comScore reported 221 million desktop and laptop users of the top 50 U.S. digital properties. Or in other words, though the app audience is fragmented,Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/osA3B1EyQ_E/
lesotho a wrinkle in time benjamin netanyahu storm shelters nick lachey lifelock chevy volt
Thursday, April 25, 2013
There Were Two Board Game-Related Assaults & Arrests Last ...
Board games are good, clean old fashioned fun for friends and family. The weekend is the perfect time for friends and family to get together and play board games. Of the millions of people who played board games with friends and family this past weekend, at least two people lost their damn minds.
First, an incident from Indiana via the?Valparaiso?News:
Officers said a 21-year-old Wanatah man said he was at a nearby home playing Monopoly with friends when the Ramirez?s dog walked on the the game board.
The man said he told Ramirez to remove the dog, which made him angry. According to police Ramirez calmed down, but later went outside to smoke, came back inside, picked up a wine bottle and ?clubbed?? the man in the face.
Reasonable enough! Now for a story from West?Virginia?via?The Journal:
Barbour told police that he and his wife were playing a board game and that he accused her of cheating. He said they began to argue, and he alleged that his wife flipped a table and threw a chair at him, records show.
Barbour?s wife told police that they had another couple over and they were playing the board game. She said the other couple left because Barbour kept ?flipping out? over the game. She said they had been drinking all evening and alleged that Barbour pushed the whole board game off of a table, stood up and threw a red chair at her. She said the chair hit a wall and struck her, knocking her down, records show.
The author of this story should be fired for not finding out and including the game at the heart of this dispute. Be careful out there folks. There?s another weekend on the way and that means the temptation to play a board game will present itself. You now know how badly that could end.
');script.type='text/javascript';script.src='http://widget.crowdignite.com/widgets/28794?_ci_wid=_CI_widget_'+_CI.counter;script.async=true;ref.parentNode.insertBefore(script,ref);})();/*]]>*/
donald payne elizabeth berkley lenny dykstra mlb 12 the show sabu franchise tag lesotho
Learn the Best Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts with This Elegant Cheat Sheet
We love keyboard shortcuts and we love Gmail. This minimalistic Gmail cheat sheet brings the two together, visually highlighting the shortcuts that will help you use Gmail faster and easier.
Of course, if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled in Gmail (you have to go into your settings to turn them on), you can hit the question mark (?) for Gmail's own pop-up keyboard reference. This cheat sheet, however, is a great visual reference, which might make learning and understanding the shortcuts a bit easier. Also, you can save it to your desktop or post it in your office for a quick look every now and then.
Here it is for you to save (by right-clicking on the image):
Visualeks | via Gizmodo
colton dixon houston weather dwyane wade the night they drove old dixie down levon robbie robertson the curious case of benjamin button
Hubble looks to future after a sterling 23 years
NASA
The Hubble Space Telescope got one last overhaul in May 2009 by NASA astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis and has been sending home stunning new photos since. Seen here, the iconic space telescope orbits high above the Earth, after it was released at the close of the STS-125 servicing mission to once more gaze deep into the universe.
By Mike Wall
Space.com
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope celebrates a whopping 23 years in orbit today, but astronomers are hopeful that the iconic instrument can keep studying the heavens for years to come.
The Hubble team is aiming to keep the telescope ? which launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990 ? operating through 2020. That would ensure at least one year of overlap with its $8.8 billion successor, the James Webb Space Telescope(JWST), which is slated to launch in late 2018.
"At this point in time, that appears to be feasible," said Hubble Mission Office head Ken Sembach of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., which manages Hubble's science operations. [Hubble's Latest Amazing Photos]
"It may not be operating quite as well as it's operating today, because it will degrade with time, obviously," Sembach told Space.com. "But that's our hope, and that's our plan, and we expect that that should actually be possible."
A bumpy start
Though the Hubble Space Telescope is known today for its gorgeous cosmic images and contributions to astronomy ? its observations revealed, for example, that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, leading astronomers to propose the existence of a mysterious force called dark energy ? the telescope's mission had a decidedly bumpy start.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
This new Hubble image, captured and released Friday to celebrate the telescope's 23rd year in orbit, shows part of the sky in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter). Rising like a giant seahorse from turbulent waves of dust and gas is the Horsehead Nebula, otherwise known as Barnard 33.
Hubble launched with a primary mirror that was ground to the wrong prescription, and many of the images it captured in its first three years were thus frustratingly fuzzy. [How the Hubble Space Telescope Works (Infographic)]
"Hubble was the butt of a lot of jokes ? satirizing cartoons, in newspapers and on late-night talk shows," Sembach said. "The poor observatory was kind of a laughingstock there in the beginning."
But Hubble was designed to be serviced by spacewalking astronauts, and the problem was solved with the installation of corrective optics in December 1993. Astronauts repaired and upgraded Hubble four more times over the years, once each in 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2009.
This on-orbit attention played a major role in extending Hubble's surprising scientific lifetime, Sembach said.
"I don't think when Hubble was first envisioned that anybody expected it to last more than five or 10 years, let alone 20 years," he said. "I think that the repairs and everything else that has been done to the observatory have been far more spectacular than had ever been envisioned originally."
Teaming up with JWST
NASA has committed to funding Hubble through April 30, 2016. But support for the telescope ? whose annual operating costs total about $98 million ? should continue beyond that, Sembach said, provided Hubble keeps returning good data.
"As long as the observatory remains scientifically productive, I think that the country will still be willing to support the great science that it's producing," he said. "If it gets to the point that the science isn't compelling anymore, then that will be the time to turn it off."
There will be no more servicing missions now that NASA's space shuttle fleet is retired, so the telescope is on its own.?If Hubble does manage to hang on through 2020, it and JWST will make a powerful observing team, Sembach added, with Hubble's sharp vision in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths complementing the infared-optimized JWST well.?
"There's going to be all kinds of discoveries coming from JWST in its first year or two of observations," Sembach said. "There are going to be many things that you'd like to have exquisite optical images of that JWST's looking at in the infrared."
Such observations could not always be made by the two telescopes sequentially. They'd both have to be operating simultaneously, for example, to study one-off cosmic events like?supernova explosions?or the spectacular 1994 crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter, said STScI astronomer Mario Livio.
"Things that are time-critical ? there is no other way of doing it, other than the two telescopes overlapping," Livio said.
Looking ahead, and looking back
Astronomers have used Hubble, which is a joint effort involving NASA and the European Space Agency, ?to investigate a variety of cosmic phenomena and objects over its first 23 years, and the telescope's workload will be similarly diverse in the future. But Sembach mentioned a few areas that should receive particular attention in the coming years.
One is exoplanetresearch. Hubble was the first instrument to obtain the spectrum of an alien planet's atmosphere, Sembach said, and scientists are eager to do more such work as the tally of known worlds beyond our solar system continues to grow.
Hubble will also devote considerable observing time over the next three years to a project called Hubble's Frontier Fields, which should reveal the most distant objects known in the universe, Sembach said.
Frontier Fieldsfollows in the footsteps of three other Hubble efforts that spotted extremely far-flung cosmic objects ? the groundbreaking Deep Field photo in 1996, 2004's Ultra Deep Field and the eXtreme Deep Field in 2012.
Such work will add to Hubble's legacy, which Sembach said is already impressive on the scientific and popular-culture fronts.
"For astronomers, Hubble is the go-to observatory. If you have something that you really need to understand ? you really want to know about it in detail ? the observatory of choice is almost always Hubble," Sembach said, noting that the telescope has made more than 1 million science observations, which have led to the publication of more than 11,000 scientific papers.
"And from the American public's standpoint, I think it's really hard to underestimate the impact that Hubble's had. There are Hubble pictures on classroom walls in just about every school in the country. You see Hubble imagery on television shows, you see it in books, you see it in art," he added. "I think it's become part of the culture."
Livio echoed those sentiments.
"Ask any person on the street the name of one telescope, and they'll say Hubble," he said. "So that just shows you the level of impact."
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall?and Google+.?Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?Space.com.
Copyright 2013 Space.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
katy perry Rihanna Katy Perry Grammys 2013 taylor swift taylor swift Ed Sheeran Fun
Facts About Hearing Aid Repairs ? Information Catalog Directory
Hearing aid repairs is an important part of owning the hearing devices. For these devices to perform their work to the fullest, the owner must maintain them well. Failure to do this will result in the devices malfunctioning.
One of the reasons why these devices need repair is the fact that wax will always accumulate in the ears. There are those devices that are worn inside the ear canal; these are the most affected compared to the ones that are worn outside the ear. This is because of the fact that there is more wax inside the ear than outside.
Water is another factor will necessitate these aid repairs. It should be noted that these aids are basically electrostatics devices. This means that water should not be allowed to penetrate into the circuits. This is because water will essentially cause a short circuit.
There are some instances when the devices may malfunction because of an electronic problem. These circumstances are rare. It should be noted that this situation can only be handled by the experts. Attempting to fix such a situation on your own can have a lot of implications. You may lose the warranty that you had for the device. This can be a big blow if the gadget was expensive. This means that you now have to pay for the device to be repaired.
Hearing aid repairs needs to be done regularly so that the wearer can be assured of their performance. The smaller devices need to be assessed more often than the larger ones. The reason for this is that these are more susceptible to damage than the larger ones.
The frequency of repair or maintenance may be influenced by a lot of factors. This is obviously how much a person sweats or how much works they form. This means that the more you sweat, the more frequently you should take your devices for maintenance. The more wax you form, the more times you need to seek maintenance. Generally, the smaller devices need repair after every 8 months. The larger devices on the other hand will need repair after 15 months.
Maintenance of these devices can be done the user of the device. This means that they can clean the device alone. This applies only for the minor cleaning. If the device needs to be checked inside, then this should be done by either the manufacturer or the audiologist. This is because doing this alone can result in damaging the equipment.
While cleaning the device, never use water. It should be known that water can have negative implication on the functioning of this device. The reason for this is that water can easily cause a short circuit which is damaging to the device.
Hearing aid repairs can attract a variety of charges. The difference on the amount charged is based on a number of factors. One of those factors is the type of device. The smaller devices will always cost more than the larger ones. The other factor is the type of repair that needs to be done.
Read more about Facts About Hearing Aid Repairs visiting our website.
Didn't Find What You Are Looking For? Search Our Site NOW!
Source: http://wazupublishing.com/facts-about-hearing-aid-repairs/
gisele bundchen the bourne legacy roland martin suspended lake vostok montgomery county public schools the river dr dog
Lawmakers ask who knew what about bomb suspect
FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)
FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)
Pallbearers carry the casket of fallen Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier into St. Patrick's Church before a funeral Mass, in Stoneham, Mass., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Collier was fatally shot on the MIT campus Thursday, April 18, 2013. Authorities allege that the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were responsible. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
This undated photo provided by Bill Richard shows his son, Martin Richard, in Boston. Martin Richard, 8, was among the at least three people killed in the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Richard)
Investigators from the FBI inspect the boat where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding on Friday night in a backyard in Watertown, Mass., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. There is blood spattered on the wheel fender of the trailer and bullet holes in the hull of the boat. Tsarnaev had gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs and hands when he was captured hiding out in the boat on Friday night, April 19, 2013. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L. Ryan) BOSTON HERALD OUT; QUINCY OUT; NO SALES
A man sweeps around the outdoor seating area at a business on Boylston Street in Boston Tuesday, April 23, 2013 about two blocks from the Boston Marathon finish line where two bombings killed three people and injured many. Boylston Street businesses near the finish area remain closed to the public, but business owners are slowly being allowed to prepare to re-open. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
BOSTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are asking tough questions about how the government tracked suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he traveled to Russia last year, renewing criticism from after the Sept. 11 attacks that failure to share intelligence may have contributed to last week's deadly assault.
Following a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill with the FBI and other law enforcement officials on Tuesday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it doesn't appear yet that anyone "dropped the ball." But he said he was asking all the federal agencies for more information about who knew what about the suspect.
"There still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information ... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case," said committee member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Lawmakers intensified their scrutiny as funerals were held Tuesday for an 8-year-old boy killed in the bombings and a campus police officer who authorities said was shot by Tsarnaev and his younger brother days later. While family said that the older Tsarnaev had been influenced by a Muslim convert to follow a strict type of Islam, brother 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained hospitalized after days of questioning over his role in the attacks. Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police last week.
Conflicting stories appeared to emerge about which agencies knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's six-month trip to Russia last year how they handled it. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration legislation that her agency knew about Tsarnaev's journey to his homeland.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the FBI "told me they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back."
Information-sharing failures between agencies prompted an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Meanwhile, evidence mounted that Tsarnaev had embraced a radical, anti-American strain of Islam. Family members blamed the influence of a Muslim convert, known only to the family as Misha, for steering him toward a strict type of Islam.
"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence.
Authorities don't believe Tsarnaev or his brother had links to terror groups. However, two U.S. officials said that Tsarnaev frequently looked at extremist websites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine has endorsed lone-wolf terror attacks.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
A memorial service was scheduled Wednesday for Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26, who authorities said was shot to death by the Tsarnaev brothers three days after the bombings. Vice President Joe Biden was expected to speak.
Funerals were held Tuesday for Collier and 8-year-old Martin Richard. Martin, a schoolboy from Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, the youngest of those killed by blasts near the marathon finish line, was laid to rest after a family-only funeral Mass.
"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," the family said in a statement. "This has been the most difficult week of our lives."
The Richards family said they would hold a public memorial service for Martin in the coming weeks.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition was upgraded from serious to fair Tuesday as investigators continued building their case against him.
He could face the death penalty after being charged Monday with joining forces with his brother in setting off shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. Three people were killed and over 260 injured. About 50 were still hospitalized.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban Boston backyard on Friday.
In Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said after his panel was briefed by federal law enforcement officials that there is "no question" that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was "the dominant force" behind the attacks, and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant groups overseas.
The brothers' parents are from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus, where Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Russia.
Family members reached in the U.S. and abroad by The Associated Press said Tamerlan was influenced by a Muslim convert known only as Misha.
After befriending Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing, stopped studying music and began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to family members, who said he turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind 9/11.
"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," recalled Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He spoke by telephone from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The brothers, who came to the U.S. from Russia a decade ago, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect, but were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.
Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a heavyset bald man with a reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.
Napolitano said Tuesday that her agency knew of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia. She said that even though the suspect's name was misspelled on a travel document, redundancies in the system allowed his departure to be captured by U.S. authorities in January 2012.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy official said U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia to speak to the brothers' parents, hoping to learn more about their motives.
In other developments:
? A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Tsarnaeva, said his client "is doing everything she can to assist with the investigation," although he would not say whether she had spoken with federal authorities. Another lawyer for Tsarnaeva said the 24-year-old deeply mourned the loss of innocent victims in the bombings.
? The Massachusetts state House turned aside a bid by several lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases, including the murder of police officers. In a 119-38 vote, the House sent the proposal to a study committee rather than advance it to an up-or-down vote.
? In New Jersey, the sisters of the suspects, Ailina and Bella Tsarnaeva, issued a statement saying they were saddened to "see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act." Later, in brief remarks to several news outlets, Ailina described her elder brother as a "kind and loving man." She said of both brothers: "I have no idea what got into them" and also that "at the end of the day no one knows the truth."
? Phantom Fireworks of Seabrook, N.H., said Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought 48 mortar shells at the store in February. Company Vice President William Weimer, however, said the amount of gunpowder that could be extracted from the fireworks would not have been enough for the Boston bombs.
? Boylston Street, where the blasts occurred, was scheduled to reopen to the public at 3 a.m. Wednesday. It had been closed since the bombings.
? A fund created to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks has generated $20 million. Mayor Thomas Menino said more than 50,000 donors from across the world have made donations to One Fund Boston.
___
Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Matt Apuzzo, and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.
Associated Pressufc 144 results acura nsx all star weekend 2012 giada de laurentiis howard hughes nationwide race wanderlust
Deeia Beck confirmed as public insurance counsel | Trail Blazers Blog
Deeia Beck, who represents consumers in insurance matters, was reappointed to her post in a unanimous Senate vote Wednesday despite a rocky confirmation hearing.
In that hearing, Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, wanted to know why Beck had stood up Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, for a meeting. She said no such meeting had been scheduled. Fraser said that?s not what Hancock told him. Beck said she?d take a lie detector test.
Some of the questions involved her involvement in politics in her once hometown of Fort Worth and if she had contributed to a rival of Hancock.
Her confirmation had been held up for more than two months.
Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said that Beck was able to communicate with senators during that lapsed time and apparently worked out any misunderstandings.
mia amar e stoudemire m.i.a. adrianne curry hoekstra best superbowl commercials 2012 best super bowl ads
ALS trial shows novel therapy is safe
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
An investigational treatment for an inherited form of Lou Gehrig's disease has passed an early phase clinical trial for safety, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Massachusetts General Hospital report.
The researchers have shown that the therapy produced no serious side effects in patients with the disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The phase 1 trial's results, available online in Lancet Neurology, also demonstrate that the drug was successfully introduced into the central nervous system.
The treatment uses a technique that shuts off the mutated gene that causes the disease. This approach had never been tested against a condition that damages nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
"These results let us move forward in the development of this treatment and also suggest that it's time to think about applying this same approach to other mutated genes that cause central nervous system disorders," says lead author Timothy Miller, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at Washington University. "These could include some forms of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and other conditions."
ALS destroys nerves that control muscles, gradually leading to paralysis and death. For treatment of the disease, the sole FDA-approved medication, Riluzole, has only a marginal effect.
Most cases of ALS are sporadic, but about 10 percent are linked to inherited mutations. Scientists have identified changes in 10 genes that can cause ALS and are still looking for others.
The study focused on a form of ALS caused by mutations in a gene called SOD1, which account for 2 percent of all ALS cases. Researchers have found more than 100 mutations in the SOD1 gene that cause ALS.
"At the molecular level, these mutations affect the properties of the SOD1 protein in a variety of ways, but they all lead to ALS," says Miller, who is director of the Christopher Wells Hobler Lab for ALS Research at the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at Washington University.
Rather than try to understand how each mutation causes ALS, Miller and his colleagues focused on blocking production of the SOD1 protein using a technique called antisense therapy.
To make a protein, cells have to copy the protein-building instructions from the gene. Antisense therapy blocks the cell from using these copies, allowing researchers to selectively silence individual genes.
"Antisense therapy has been considered and tested for a variety of disorders over the past several decades," Miller says. "For example, the FDA recently approved an antisense therapy called Kynamro for familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited condition that increases cholesterol levels in the blood."
Miller and colleagues at the University of California-San Diego devised an antisense drug for SOD1 and successfully tested it in an animal model of the disease.
Merit Cudkowicz, MD, chief of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, was co-PI of the phase I clinical safety trial described in the new paper. Clinicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Methodist Neurological Institute in Houston gave antisense therapy or a placebo to 21 patients with SOD1-related ALS. Treatment consisted of spinal infusions that lasted 11 hours.
The scientists found no significant difference between side effects in the control and treatment groups. Headache and back pain, both of which are often associated with spinal infusion, were among the most common side effects.
Immediately after the injections, the researchers took spinal fluid samples. This let them confirm the antisense drug was circulating in the spinal fluid of patients who received the treatment.
To treat SOD1-related ALS in the upcoming phase II trial, researchers will need to increase the dosage of the antisense drug. As the dose rises, they will watch to ensure that the therapy does not cause harmful inflammation or other side effects as it lowers SOD1 protein levels.
"All the information that we have so far suggests lowering SOD1 will be safe," Miller says. "In fact, completely disabling SOD1 in mice seems to have little to no effect. We think it will be OK in patients, but we won't know for sure until we've conducted further trials."
The therapy may one day be helpful in the more common, noninherited forms of ALS, some of which may be linked to problems with the SOD1 protein.
"Before we can consider using this same therapy for sporadic ALS, we need more evidence that SOD1 is a major contributor to these forms of the disorder," Miller says.
###
Washington University School of Medicine: http://www.medicine.wustl.edu
Thanks to Washington University School of Medicine for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 60 time(s).
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127890/ALS_trial_shows_novel_therapy_is_safe
living social Earthquake Costa Rica Clinton speech Michael Strahan Griselda Blanco Michelle Obama Speech eva longoria
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Good Reads: China's 'cyber cage,' millennium goals update, toddlers and tech, space diving
The round-up of Good Reads this week includes how the Internet could erode China's authoritarianism, the status of the UN millennium development goals, how parents introduce technology to children, and space-diver Felix Baumgartner's superhero suit.
Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a space capsule 130,000 miles above Earth.
Red Bull Stratos/AP/File
EnlargeFreedom is the ethos of the Internet, allowing people to express opinions and organize in the digital sphere. That is, unless you live in a country that manipulates users? online experiences with a ?cyber cage.?
Skip to next paragraph Allison TerryCorrespondent
Allison Terry works on national news desk for the Christian Science Monitor. She also contributes to the culture section and Global News blog.
Recent posts
' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
China, at the top of this list, has allowed its citizens to benefit from the Internet?s economic mobility while still controlling its political and social impact. As some dissidents have said, ?freedom is knowing how big your cage is,? reports The Economist.
It?s a method of governing the Internet that is antithetical to the Western model of free speech. Further, China?s ?adaptive authoritarianism? is serving as a model for other countries (such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ethiopia) looking to profit from the Internet even as they control it. But even with this paternalistic approach, The Economist argues that the Internet may still have a destabilizing impact on the foundation of China?s authoritarianism. As online access spreads ? especially via mobile phones ? the democratic nature of the Internet may eventually bring political change to China.
?When, many years from now, history books about this period come to be written, the internet may well turn out to have been an agent not of political upheaval in China but of authoritarian adaptation before the upheaval, building up expectations for better government while delaying the kind of political transformation needed to deliver it,? states the report. ?That may seem paradoxical, but it makes sense for a party intent on staying in power for as long as it can.?
Planning for progress
The number of people living in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 a day) dropped from 43 percent in 1990 to about 21 percent in 2010, one indicator that the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have had some measure of success. Reducing extreme poverty by half was achieved five years before its 2015 deadline.
Before governments, multilateral institutions, and nongovernmental organizations set new international development agendas, the accomplishments and shortcomings of MDGs need to be closely examined, writes John W. McArthur in Foreign Affairs.
?The MDGs have helped mobilize and guide development efforts by emphasizing outcomes. They have encouraged world leaders to tackle multiple dimensions of poverty at the same time and have provided a standard that advocates on the ground can hold their governments to,? writes Mr. McArthur. ?Even in countries where politicians might not directly credit the MDGs, the global effort has informed local perspectives and priorities. The goals have improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people. They have shown how much can be achieved when ambitious and specific targets are matched with rigorous thinking, serious resources, and a collaborative global spirit.?
Looking forward to the next generation of development, McArthur said that low-income countries must have a greater voice in outlining the goals, and government accountability must be a priority.
Too young for a tablet?
To some parents these days, it may seem as if their toddlers ? or in some cases, infants ? are increasingly tech savvy, especially when it comes to tablets. With more than 40,000 kids? games and applications in iTunes and Google Play, it?s no surprise that such young children have mastered technology, writes Hanna Rosin in The Atlantic.
?It did not seem beyond the range of possibility that if Norman Rockwell were alive, he would paint the two curly-haired boys bent over the screen, one small finger guiding a smaller one across, down, and across again to make, in their triumphant finale, the small z,? Ms. Rosin writes.
On the downside, however, is the extra worry that parents have about what impact technology is having on their children?s development.
?Parents end up treating tablets like precision surgical instruments, gadgets that might perform miracles for their child?s IQ and help him win some nifty robotics competition ? but only if they are used just so,? she writes. ?Otherwise, their child could end up one of those sad, pale creatures who can?t make eye contact and has an avatar for a girlfriend.?
A superhero fall from space
What does it take to jump out of a space capsule 130,000 feet above Earth? Lots of coaching, according to Felix Baumgartner, the man who set the record for highest human free-fall last October, while also breaking the speed of sound.
In a Vanity Fair profile, William Langewiesche describes how Mr. Baumgartner spent five years preparing for the feat with a team of veteran aerospace engineers, test pilots, and a sports psychologist. Baumgartner struggled with the idea of wearing his spacesuit, so his psychologist told him to think of it as a superhero outfit.
?If you put it on and look in a mirror, you look like a hero, you know? There aren?t many people in the world who have their own suit,? Baumgartner said. ?Even astronauts, they don?t have custom-made suits.... It protects me. It gives me the right to be there at 130,000 feet.?
southern university biggest loser TJ Lane lindsey vonn lindsey vonn nit first day of spring
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Kerry: NATO needs plan for Syrian chemical weapons
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Avramopoulos, left, talks with Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Avramopoulos, left, talks with Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with Italy's Foreign Minister Mario Monti, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with Italy's Foreign Minister Mario Monti, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Avramopoulos, center, talks to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as they pose for a group photo, during the NATO-Russia Council during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Italy's Foreign Minister Mario Monti, left, talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle prior to the NATO-Russia Council during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO on Tuesday to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria on the same day that a senior Israeli military intelligence official said Syrian President Bashar Assad had used such weapons last month in his battle against insurgents.
It was the first time Israel had accused the embattled Syrian leader of using his stockpile of nonconventional weapons.
The assessment, based on visual evidence, could raise pressure on the U.S. and other Western countries to intervene in Syria. Britain and France recently announced that they had evidence that Assad's government had used chemical weapons.
President Barack Obama has warned that the use of chemical weapons by Assad would be a "game changer" and has hinted that it could draw intervention.
But White House spokesman Jay Carney said while the administration is continuing to monitor and investigate whether the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, it has "not come to the conclusion that there has been that use."
"But it is something that is of great concern to us, to our partners, and obviously unacceptable as the president made clear," Carney said.
Despite the deteriorating situation, NATO officials say there is virtually no chance the alliance will intervene in the civil war. More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the United Nations. The violence also has forced more than 1 million Syrians to seek safety abroad, and more are leaving by the day, burdening neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.
On Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the head of research and analysis in Israeli military intelligence, told a security conference in Tel Aviv that Assad had used chemical weapons multiple times. Among the incidents were attacks documented by the French and British near Damascus last month.
He cited images of people hurt, but gave no indication he had other evidence, such as soil samples, typically used to verify chemical weapons use.
"To the best of our professional understanding, the regime used lethal chemical weapons against the militants in a series of incidents over the past months, including the relatively famous incident of March 19," Brun said. "Shrunken pupils, foaming at the mouth and other signs indicate, in our view, that lethal chemical weapons were used."
He said sarin, a lethal nerve agent, was probably used. He also said the Syrian regime was using less lethal chemical weapons. And he appeared to lament the lack of response by the international community.
"The fact that chemical weapons were used without an appropriate response is a very disturbing development because it could signal that such a thing is legitimate," he said.
Israel, which borders Syria, has been warily watching the Syrian civil war since fighting erupted there in March 2011. Although Assad is a bitter enemy, Israel has been careful not to take sides, partly because the Assad family has kept the border with Israel quiet for 40 years and partly because of fears of what might happen if he were toppled.
Israeli officials are concerned that Assad's stockpile of chemical weapons and other advanced arms could reach the hands of his ally, the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, or Islamic extremist groups trying to oust him from Syria.
Kerry, attending his first meeting of NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, as America's top diplomat, said contingency plans should be put in place to guard against the threat of a chemical strike. Turkey, a member of the military alliance, borders Syria and would be most at risk from such an attack. NATO has already deployed Patriot missile batteries in Turkey.
"Planning regarding Syria, such as what (NATO) has already done, is an appropriate undertaking for the alliance," Kerry told NATO foreign ministers. "We should also carefully and collectively consider how NATO is prepared to respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat."
Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance is "extremely concerned about the use of ballistic missiles in Syria and the possible use of chemical weapons." However, he also noted that NATO has not been asked to intervene.
"There is no call for NATO to play a role, but if these challenges remain unaddressed they could directly affect our own security," he told reporters. "So we will continue to remain extremely vigilant."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Brussels to talk with his counterparts from NATO countries, said Russia would want any investigation of whether chemical weapons have been used to be conducted by experts and concern only the specific report being investigated.
Speaking through a translator in a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Lavrov said that, in March, after each side in Syria's civil war accused the other of using chemical weapons in northern Aleppo province, the U.N. investigation became politicized and overly broad. Instead of sending experts to study the specific area and the specific allegation, Lavrov said investigators demanded access to all facilities in the country and the right to interview all Syrian citizens.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman George Little said the U.S. "continues to assess reports of chemical weapons use in Syria."
"The use of such weapons would be entirely unacceptable," he added.
Later in the day, Kerry appeared to try to soften his earlier remarks, saying he had no way of knowing what the facts were.
"I didn't ask for additional planning," he said. "I think it might have been the secretary general or somebody who commented that we may need to do some additional planning. But there is no specific request. What there was from me was a very clear statement about the threat of chemical weapons and the potential for chemical weapons generically to fall into bad hands."
He also said the Obama administration is "looking at every option that could possibly end the violence and usher in a political transition" and that plans need to be made now to ensure that there is no power vacuum when that takes place. He said increasing aid to the Syrian National Coalition and its military command, the Supreme Military Council, would be critical to that effort.
Many of NATO's 28 members also belong to the European Union, which on Monday lifted its oil embargo on Syria to provide more economic support to the rebels and is now considering easing an arms embargo on the country to allow weapons transfers to those fighting the Assad regime.
Kerry did not mention the possible easing of the EU embargo but he did say that NATO should begin to think about taking on a larger role in planning for a post-Assad Syria, particularly in dealing with the country's chemical weapons stockpiles.
The NATO ministers were also working Tuesday on defining how the alliance would support Afghan forces after 2014, when NATO will no longer have a combat role.
With next year's transition date looming, Kerry will host three-way talks in Brussels on Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top Pakistani officials aimed at speeding possible reconciliation talks with the Taliban and improving trust and cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On the sidelines of the NATO meeting, Kerry met Lavrov to discuss a range of issues, including Syria. He also thanked Lavrov for Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement of condolence to the U.S. for last week's bombings at the Boston Marathon blamed on two ethnic Chechen brothers.
___
Associated Press writers Ariel David in Tel Aviv, Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations, and Kimberly Dozier and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Don Melvin can be reached at https://twitter.com/Don_Melvin
Associated Pressanne hathaway Castel Gandolfo Silver Linings Playbook daniel day lewis Life of Pi Christoph Waltz Quvenzhané Wallis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)