Wall Street Week Ahead: Fed fears may be gone but brace for volatility

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Panic selling on fears of an early exit of the U.S. Federal Reserve's stimulus efforts may be over, but the stock market may still face wild intraday swings as investors scramble to position themselves for Friday's payrolls report.

Trading volume is likely to be thin, with a half-day session on Wednesday and markets closed for the Independence Day holiday on Thursday. Both the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims and employment report for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT).

"Non-farm payrolls generally cause more volatility in the market, but how many times do you see weekly claims and payrolls coming out the same day on a shortened trading week? That will certainly cause a lot of volatility," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab & Co Austin, Texas.

In the options market, traders were active in the put weekly options on the S&P 500 <.spx>. These short-term options have a week-long life span and expire on July 5. Put options are generally viewed as bearish bets against the market.

"We've seen some buying pop up in the weeklies for next week. The most active ones are the 1,600 puts on the SPX," said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at online brokerage firm TD Ameritrade in Chicago.

"We will probably see more hedging activity early next week and perhaps higher intraday swings as people try to figure out their option positions going into the holiday with the employment report due the next day."

June's employment report could offer clues on the timing of the Fed's eventual tapering of its bond purchases. Non-farm payrolls are expected at 170,000, below the 194,000 six-month moving average. The unemployment rate is seen dipping to 7.5 percent from 7.6 percent.

Manufacturing will also be in the spotlight next week. The Institute for Supply Management is expected to report on Monday that factory activity expanded in June after a surprise contraction in May.

While U.S. markets are closed on Thursday, the Bank of England monetary policy meets for the first time under the chairmanship Governor Mark Carney.

The European Central Bank, which also holds its monetary meeting on Thursday, is not expected to change rates, but President Mario Draghi may discuss just how much longer the ECB will stick with extraordinary policy settings.

SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

The S&P 500 on Friday posted the best first half of the year since 1998, rising more than 13 percent in the first six months of 2013, fueled by U.S. monetary stimulus.

"I think that the market's pretty fairly valued, so we would be surprised if you saw the same kind of rally like you saw in the first half of the year, but it doesn't seem to be a catastrophic environment, like you're going off the cliff either," said Steven Baffico, chief executive officer at Four Wood Capital Partners in New York.

For the quarter, the S&P 500 was up 2.3 percent but for the month, the S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent on concerns of an early exit by the Fed's supportive measures.

A Reuters survey of 53 investors across the United States, Europe and Japan released on Friday found that funds had already cut their average equity holdings in June to a nine-month low due to the recent volatility and had held more cash.

The equities market took a hit last week after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled the central bank would begin to slow the pace of its bond buying later this year if the economy improves as forecast. Since then, a number of Fed speakers have sought to calm markets, giving assurances the stimulus efforts are going to be in place for awhile.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley, who said markets are "quite out of sync" with the Fed, will speak on economic conditions on Tuesday.

"I think the panic selling from the Fed is pretty much over. Now they (Fed officials) are coming out and saying unanimously that 'we haven't changed at all, and we are possibly tapering in the fall depending on the data,'" Frederick said.

"I think the market is believing that now, and I don't expect anything surprisingly different from the Fed speaker next week."

(Additional reporting by Alison Griswold; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-week-ahead-fed-fears-may-gone-221408580.html

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This Is the Best Looking Reusable Grocery Sack You've Ever Seen

Storage, storage, storage. You can never have enough storage. Especially versatile, multipurpose storage, like the Pia canvas carryall. It doesn't scream the name of some grocery store and it has a nice design.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/r-5HV6z1QDc/this-is-the-best-looking-reusable-grocery-sack-youve-e-612945500

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Eminem Details Depths Of Drug Addiction: 'My Bottom Was Gonna Be Death'

In the new documentary 'How To Make Money Selling Drugs,' Em opens up about his battle with prescription pills.
By James Montgomery

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709712/eminem-how-to-make-money-selling-drugs-documentary.jhtml

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US boss held in China leaves plant after payout

BEIJING (AP) ? An American boss detained nearly a week by his company's Chinese workers left the Beijing factory Thursday after he and a labor representative said the two sides reached agreement in a pay dispute.

Chip Starnes, who said he was "saddened" by the experience, told The Associated Press a deal was reached overnight to pay the scores of workers who had demanded severance packages similar to ones given to laid-off co-workers in a phased-out division, even though the company said the remaining workers weren't being laid off.

Remaining workers at the medical supply plant in Huairou district, on the outskirts of Beijing, had said they believed the entire factory was shutting down, that the company owed unpaid salary and that they saw equipment being packed and itemized for shipping to India.

Starnes said the workers' demands were unjustified. Neither he nor district labor official Chu Lixiang gave details of the agreed compensation. Chu said all the workers would be terminated, and Starnes said some of them would be rehired later.

"It has been resolved to each side's satisfaction," Chu told reporters at a conference room at the plant in late morning. She said they had been sorting out paperwork until 5 a.m. and that 97 workers had signed settlement agreements.

Starnes, a co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, had quietly departed the factory grounds by the time Chu spoke, returning to his hotel in Beijing.

"Yes!! Out and back at hotel," Starnes wrote in a text message. "Showered... 9 pounds lost during the ordeal!!!!!!"

Police in Huairou district had made no moves to halt the labor action but guarded the plant and said they were guaranteeing Starnes' safety while local labor officials brokered negotiations.

It is not rare in China for managers to be held by workers demanding back pay or other benefits, often from their Chinese owners. Police are reluctant to intervene, as they consider it a business dispute, and local officials typically are eager to see the matter resolved in the way least likely to fuel unrest.

The labor action reflected growing uneasiness among workers about their jobs amid China's slowing economic growth and the sense that growing labor costs make the country less attractive for some foreign-owned factories.

About 80 workers had started blocking all exits starting last Friday, and Starnes had spoken to reporters in recent days through the barred window of his factory office.

Earlier Thursday, he said in a telephone interview that he had been forced to give in to what he considered unjustified demands. He summed up the past several days as "humiliating, embarrassing." At the beginning of his captivity, workers had deprived him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office, he said.

"We have transferred our funds from the U.S.," he said. "I am basically free to go when the funds hit the account here of the company."

Starnes told the AP he planned to get back to business, and even rehire some of the workers who had been holding him. "We're going to take Thursday off to let the dust settle, and we're going to be rehiring a lot of the previous workers on new contracts as of Friday," he said.

Starnes previously said the company had been winding down its plastics division, with plans to move it to Mumbai. When he arrived in Beijing last week to lay off the last 30 people, workers in other divisions started demanding similar severance packages.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-boss-held-china-leaves-plant-payout-044656354.html

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Republicans Answer Obama With Drilling Bill

Just one day after President Obama unveiled his plan to bypass Congress and combat climate change using executive-branch regulations, House Republican leaders touted their proposal to vote Friday on legislation to expand offshore oil and natural-gas drilling.

The bill, sponsored by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., would require the Obama administration to implement a five-year leasing plan that moves forward with oil and gas drilling off the coasts of California, the Eastern states, and the Gulf of Mexico.

The bill is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the White House has threatened a veto. But the move is one more piece of evidence of the great distance between Obama and Republican leaders on combating climate change.

As long as both sides are talking past each other and pushing radically different policies, a bipartisan solution to climate change will remain elusive.

?Contrast [the bill] with the president?s policies,? Hastings said in the briefing Wednesday. ?Yesterday he made it pretty clear his energy policy essentially is a tax on energy.?

When asked about Obama?s climate-change plan, congressional Republicans focus almost exclusively on what they say would be its detrimental economic effects, and they ignore the scientific consensus that finds that human consumption of fossil fuels causes the Earth?s temperature to rise.

?Our argument with the president right now is, he?s picking winners and losers,? said House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who refused to even use the word ?science? when asked whether Republicans think the science of climate change is settled.

In his speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday, Obama argued that the science behind global warming compels urgent action. ?I don?t have much patience for anyone who denies that this challenge is real,? Obama said. ?We don?t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society. Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it?s not going to protect you from the coming storm.?

Asked whether he thinks climate-change science is as convincing as Obama says it is, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., retorted: ?He talked about the Flat Earth Society. We have a very flat economy.?

?You used the word compelling,? Barrasso told a reporter. ?And I don?t think so. I think you have to focus on the American economy. The costs of the regulations are real. And the benefits are unknown.?

Meanwhile, some advocates of climate change are encouraging a focus on science and the health effects over economics. A talking-points memo sent Monday night ahead of Obama?s speech told the president?s supporters to downplay economic arguments and words like ?regulations.?

The memo includes a ?do?s and don?t?s? list of phrases to use when advocating for action on climate change. ?Do discuss modernizing and retooling power plants and innovation that will create green jobs,? reads one part of the 14-page memo. ?Don?t try to suggest net job increases.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-answer-obama-drilling-bill-215902075.html

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Novelicious Chats To... Isabelle Grey - Novelicious.com | The ...

Isabelle Grey is an?author and screen writer and?her new novel, The Bad Mother, is out now. Here's our review.??Isabelle has answered a few questions for our Novelicious readers.

Can you tell us a little about your average writing day??

I prefer to sit down at my desk and get started before my brain is fully awake. Maybe it?s to do with ?left brain/right brain?, but I find that if I pick up where I left off the day before without very much conscious thought about how or where I ?ought? to be going next, it all flows much better. On the same principle, if I get stuck, I go and do some ironing while listening to the radio, and it?s astonishing how often I hear some snippet that sparks just the idea I need! If I run out of steam then I do all the other stuff on my desk that needs attention, and eventually go and stir and chop in the kitchen.

When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration??

No, my characters have to be able to run free! However, I do take notes from newspaper and magazine articles or TV documentaries. And I listen in to the conversations of strangers on public transport. As a screenwriter I like to catch the rhythm and humour in how people speak, especially if I?m writing about a specific area of work, when I try to talk to someone who actually does the job. Work jokes are always revealing, especially in the more macabre professions!

What is your favourite Women?s Fiction book of all time and why?

Oh, impossible to answer! Jane Austen, of course. Pride and Prejudice and Emma are peerless, and I love the poignancy of Persuasion. I also love Edith Wharton, Edna O?Brien?s first novels, Daphne du Maurier, and a special, if rather sad, favourite, The Rector?s Daughter by F.M. Mayor.

What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?

I plan quite carefully, but then feel absolutely free to abandon the plan if it isn?t working or a better route presents itself. I stop and take stock about a third of the way in, re-shape the story if necessary, and then keep going. The third draft is usually pretty much there, and it?s my favourite bit of the process, when I begin to feel like I know what I?m dealing with.

What was your journey to being a published author?

I always wanted to write, and became a freelance journalist soon after leaving university. I also wrote several non-fiction books before starting to write television drama nearly thirty years ago. I?ve come to fiction relatively late.

What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?

That it?s glamorous or exciting or necessarily well paid! Watching a novelist at work must be worse than watching paint dry.

What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?

Keep asking endless questions of your story and characters. Why is she like that? What does she want? Why? How is he going to get out of that? What does that signify? What does she really feel about him? Why? What happens now?

What are you working on at the moment?

A couple of TV projects, and also my third book for Quercus, a crime novel called Good Girls Don?t Die.

Thanks, Isabelle!

Source: http://www.novelicious.com/2013/06/novelicious-chats-to-isabelle-grey.html

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Snowden becomes 'tasty morsel' for spies

By Lidia Kelly

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Edward Snowden's disappearance from view has heightened speculation that the former U.S. spy agency contractor may be talking to Russian secret services, which see him as a "tasty morsel" that is too good to miss.

Even a flat denial by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday is unlikely to end whispers that Snowden may have been interviewed by intelligence officers anxious to get their hands on whatever information he has not yet leaked.

Some experts say Russia might even try to hand him over to the United States in a Cold War-style exchange, although this seemed less likely after Putin ruled out his extradition to face espionage charges back home.

"He is a tasty morsel for any, any secret service, including ours. Any secret service would love to talk to him," said a Russian security source.

Snowden, charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs, left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday and the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said he was heading for Ecuador, where he wants political asylum.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters. But a former officer of its Soviet predecessor, the KGB, said Russia was unlikely to miss out, assuming Snowden is willing to cooperate.

"It would be silly to pass on such an opportunity to get information that is very difficult, impossible or expensive to get in any other way," said the ex-officer, Lev Korolkov.

U.S. Senator John McCain, a Republican opponent of President Barack Obama, said Putin - also a former Soviet agent - would grab the chance. "He is ... an old KGB colonel apparatchik that has disdain for democracy and the things we stand for and believe in," McCain said on CNN on Tuesday. "If he sees a situation he'll take advantage of it."

Speculation about an FSB role in Snowden's arrival from Hong Kong began with the plane's touchdown on Sunday, when about two dozen plain-clothed security agents were spotted monitoring the transit zone, at times accompanied by uniformed policemen.

Ecuador's ambassador to Russia, Patricio Alberto Chavez Zavala, got to the transit zone soon after Snowden landed. Then the agents and police blocked the entrance to one of the lounges. Some remained all night and into the next day,

But there was no sign of Snowden, who Putin said on Tuesday was still in the transit area at Sheremetyevo airport.

Snowden has said he accepted a job as a systems administrator at contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked for about three months, to gain access to details of the U.S. National Security Agency's surveillance programs.

U.S. officials said intelligence agencies were concerned they did not know how much sensitive material Snowden had, and that he may have taken more documents than initially estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence agencies.

ASSESSING SNOWDEN'S VALUE

Russian political analyst Pavel Salin suggested the Kremlin's near silence on Snowden for more than 36 hours after he arrived was a stalling tactic. "Now they are assessing how useful he may be. His value depends on the information he has," he said.

Korolkov said that is unclear. "We don't know what really is in his possession and how much of an interest he is. All that he can say could already be known," he said. "But he is of interest (to Russia) for a number of other reasons."

Analysts said Snowden could be useful for a Cold War-style spy swap or as a propaganda tool for Russia, which frequently accuses the United States of violating the principles of freedom and democracy that it tries to press on others.

Putin, asked on Tuesday about the U.S. request to hand Snowden over, questioned whether the American and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is also a fugitive from justice, should be treated as criminals and jailed.

Deputy parliament speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has proposed Snowden be exchanged for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer whose jailing in the United States angered Moscow. The United States has refused Russian requests for his repatriation.

Korolkov, and the security service source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russia would follow a common international practice in using Snowden in negotiations over Bout. "This is how it is done in the world. It would be in the government's advantage not to give Snowden back," Korolkov said.

The source said: "Russia has some negotiating advantage here."

But there are risks for both countries in taking the dispute over Snowden too far.

"It's a very, very important moment for the entire U.S.-Russia relationship: We are really at a point that will define the relationship for the foreseeable future," said Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think-tank.

Korolkov predicted the Kremlin will tread carefully. "Russia is not at all interested in entering into a conflict with such a geopolitical opponent and political partner as the United States," he said.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Thomas Grove and Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Steve Gutterman and David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-spies-may-chatting-tasty-morsel-snowden-202755572.html

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The executed: A glance at 10 key Texas executions

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) ? Texas is approaching its 500th lethal injection since the Supreme Court in 1976 cleared the way to resume executions in the United States. The execution total in Texas is by far the largest in the country. Here are eight noteworthy executions since that ruling:

? Dec. 7, 1982: Charlie Brooks, No. 1, the first Texas inmate executed after the Supreme Court in 1976 reinstated the death penalty. Brooks also was the first U.S. prisoner to die by lethal injection. He abducted and killed a Fort Worth car lot employee during a test drive.

? Dec. 13, 1988: Raymond Landry, No. 29, whose execution was interrupted when a needle containing the lethal chemicals popped out of his arm. Prison technicians re-inserted it and Landry died. It was the first of two such needle "blowouts" in the death chamber. Landry was condemned for the fatal shooting of Kosmas Prittis, a Houston restaurant owner, during a robbery.

? Feb. 9, 1996: Leo Jenkins, No. 105, whose execution was the first in Texas where relatives or friends of the murder victims in the case were allowed to witness the punishment. Victims' rights supporters had pushed for the change after earlier executions in Texas allowed only friends or relatives of the prisoner to be present. Jenkins was convicted of killing Mark Kelley and his sister, Kara Voss, during a robbery at their family-owned pawn shop in Houston. Their parents were among those watching Jenkins die.

? Feb. 3, 1998: Karla Tucker, No. 145, the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War. Tucker's born-again-Christian conversion and persuasive TV interviews sparked debate over whether her redemption should justify commuting her sentence to life. Tucker was convicted of using a pickax to kill Jerry Lynn Dean during a burglary of his Houston apartment. A woman with Dean also was killed. On a tape recording played at her trial, Tucker said she had an orgasm each time she swung the ax into their bodies.

? Nov. 17, 1998: Kenneth McDuff, No. 161, who was on death row in 1968 when the Supreme Court halted executions. His sentence was commuted to life and he was later paroled. A free man, McDuff was arrested for the abduction-murder of Melissa Ann Northrup of Waco and sentenced to death again. At the time of his execution, he was believed to be the only prisoner who was paroled from death row only to be returned there for another killing.

? March 14, 2000: Ponchai Wilkerson, No. 210, who stunned prison officials when, after declining to make a final statement, he spit out a handcuff key he had hidden in his mouth. Wilkerson had been convicted of the fatal shooting of a Houston jewelry store employee, Chung Myong Yi, during a robbery.

? June 22, 2000: Gary Graham, No. 222, whose loud claims of innocence and racism brought robed Ku Klux Klansmen and gun-toting Black Panthers to Huntsville. The two groups had a tense stand-off while Texas state troopers in riot gear watched. Graham ranted at length in the death chamber that he was being lynched. He had been convicted of killing an Arizona man, Bobby Lambert, during a robbery outside a Houston supermarket.

? Feb. 17, 2004: Cameron Todd Willingham, No. 320, whose arson-murder case became more famous after his death when a new investigation cast doubt on the arson evidence that led to his conviction. Willingham maintained his innocence and berated his ex-wife in an obscenity-filled final statement. He was convicted of the deaths of his three young daughters, Amber, 2, and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron.

? June 27, 2006: Angel Resendiz, No. 368, a drifter known as the "Railroad Killer." Resendiz earned a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted list as he hopped aboard freight trains and committed indiscriminate and particularly gruesome killings in places near railroad tracks. He was convicted in the death of Claudia Benton, a Houston-area physician attacked at her home.

? July 18, 2012: Yokamon Hearn, No. 483, the first Texas prisoner given a single dose of pentobarbital as the lethal injection drug. Drugs used in the previous three-drug process became unavailable after manufacturers bowed to pressure from death penalty opponents. The change in reaction among inmates given the single drug has been negligible. Hearn was convicted of the fatal abduction and robbery of Frank Meziere during a carjacking in Dallas County.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/executed-glance-10-key-texas-executions-182532298.html

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Asian markets still shaky on China credit concern

LONDON (AP) ? Asia's main stock markets continued to fall Tuesday on concerns that trouble in China's credit system could hurt growth in the world's second-largest economy. Markets stabilized elsewhere, however, with European indexes rebounding.

Chinese stocks extended the previous day's heady declines as investors worried that measures to curb so-called shadow banking ? the unregulated lending to companies starved of credit by China's traditional banks ? would cause an increase in borrowing rates for many companies, hurting business.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell another 0.2 percent to close at 1,959.51 after plunging nearly 6 percent the day before, its biggest loss in four years.

The jitters caused a sell-off across the globe on Monday, but nerves seemed steadier outside Asia on Tuesday.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 recovered some of the previous day's losses, adding 1 percent to 6,087.44 in early trading. Germany's DAX rose 1.5 percent to 7,809.23 and France's CAC-40 gained 1.4 percent to 3,645.77.

Wall Street also appeared set to recoup losses from the day before. Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial futures were up 0.6 percent to 14,672. The broader S&P 500 futures were also 0.6 percent higher, at 1,576.30.

Besides China's credit problems, markets have also been jolted by an increase in U.S. bond yields. The rise is due to expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon start winding down its monetary stimulus, allowing borrowing rates to edge up from their current lows as the economy improves.

The Fed's bond-buying stimulus program has been keeping rates low, encouraging traders to buy riskier assets such as stocks and to invest in emerging markets, driving many equity indexes to record or multiyear highs. Concern over how markets will handle the end to the program, however, has made investors nervous and caused volatility.

Investors will later in the day monitor U.S. figures on durable goods sales and consumer confidence to judge the strength of household spending, a key pillar of the world's largest economy.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 19,855.72, overcoming earlier losses, while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.2 percent to 879.93.

Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 0.7 percent to 12,969.34. South Korea's Kospi dropped 1 percent to 1,780.63 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3 percent to 4,656. Stocks in the Philippines and Indonesia also declined while India and Singapore gained.

In energy markets, the benchmark oil contract for August delivery was up 62 cents to $95.80 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.49 to close at $95.18 in New York on Monday.

In currencies, the euro was steady at $1.3119 while the dollar fell 0.5 percent against the Japanese yen, to 97.26 yen.

___

Youkyung Lee in Seoul, South Korea, and Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-markets-still-shaky-china-credit-concern-105358185.html

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Militant Leader Captured in Central Somalia (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Tim O'Brien wins $100,000 military writing prize

NEW YORK (AP) ? A $100,000 prize for military writing has been awarded to an author of fiction.

Tim O'Brien, known for books such as "The Things They Carried" and "In the Lake of the Woods," has received the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award.

The honor, announced Tuesday, has previously been given to acclaimed historians such as James McPherson and Rick Atkinson. O'Brien is the first fiction writer to win.

The 66-year-old O'Brien served in the Vietnam War from 1968-70 and often draws directly on his experiences as a soldier.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tim-obrien-wins-100-000-military-writing-prize-131612933.html

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AT&T mobile boss says HTC First fire sale worked ? R.I.P Facebook phone

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown, on probation for beating his former girlfriend, was charged on Tuesday with a hit-and-run and driving without a valid license in connection with a May 21 traffic accident in Los Angeles. Brown, 24, allegedly rear-ended another car and faces up to six months in jail on each misdemeanor charge, L.A. City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. He will be arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 15, Mateljan said. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/t-mobile-boss-says-htc-first-fire-sale-145016825.html

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Lebanese troops secure hardline cleric's complex

BEIRUT (AP) ? Lebanese troops detonated booby traps at a complex captured from followers of a hardline Sunni cleric on Tuesday, securing the area after two days of fighting that left dozens dead in the port city of Sidon.

Soldiers who blocked off several office and residential buildings around the mosque where Ahmad al-Assir once preached told reporters they were clearing the complex of explosives. An Associated Press photographer on the scene heard several explosions and saw black smoke billowing during the operation.

The fate of Al-Assir, a maverick Sunni sheik who controlled the complex for about two years, is unknown. His rapid rise in popularity among Sunnis underscored the deep frustration of many Lebanese who resent the influence Shiites have gained in government via the militant group Hezbollah.

Official reports said at least 17 soldiers were killed and 50 were wounded in the fighting while more than 20 of al-Assir's supporters died in the battle, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.

The fighting, some of the worst involving Lebanese troops in years, was seen as a test of the weak government's ability to contain the furies unleashed by the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Despite the heavy death toll, the military appeared to have successfully put down the threat from al-Assir and his armed supporters by late Monday.

The officials said troops raided several apartments around Sidon on Tuesday in search of al-Assir's followers. Security was tight in hospitals where wounded militants were being treated, they added, with even relatives prevented from visiting them.

"I was surprised. This was not a mosque. It was a security center," outgoing Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told reporters after touring the Bilal bin Rabbah complex in Sidon where al-Assir's supporters had been holed up. He said among the detainees who were fighting with al-Assir were foreigners.

"They brought in foreigners to kill Lebanese," Charbel said, without giving nationalities other than a Sudanese who was detained Tuesday.

President Michel Suleiman said in a statement that army command has been given the "political support" to retaliate against groups that threaten national security.

By noon, streets around al-Assir's complex were packed with people who came to inspect their homes and shops, many of which were damaged during the fighting. Lebanese commandos patrolled streets littered with cars that were burnt-out and riddled with bullets.

Inside the complex, a seven-story building was pockmarked with shells and bullet holes and the top two floors appeared totally burnt. The small mosque where al-Assir preached appeared intact. Troops had avoided hitting it directly.

A woman who came to the area weeping asked to be allowed to enter the complex to see if her son was there. "I saw his picture on TV and he was dead," she screamed, before soldiers directed her search to the hospital morgue.

Earlier Tuesday, the bodies of six fighters were found in the complex and on roofs of nearby buildings. They were later taken away in Lebanese Red Cross ambulances.

The state-run National News Agency reported Tuesday that military prosecutor Saqr Saqr has asked military intelligence to open an investigation into the Sidon clashes and begin interrogating some 40 detainees. On Monday, Saqr issued arrest warrants for al-Assir and 123 of his supporters.

The U.S. embassy in Beirut urged Americans to avoid all travel to Lebanon because of safety and security concerns. "U.S. citizens living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks," it said.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the attacks by militants against the Lebanese Armed Forces, which have resulted in the deaths of a number of soldiers and civilians," said U.S. State Department Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell. He added that the U.S. is fully committed to Lebanon's stability, sovereignty, and independence and said Washington will continue to assist and train security forces.

Sidon, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Beirut, had largely been spared from violence plaguing Lebanon's border areas where Syria's civil war has been spilling over. Fighting in the Mediterranean city began Sunday after troops arrested an al-Assir follower. The army says the cleric's supporters opened fire without provocation on an army checkpoint.

The fighting in Sidon is the bloodiest involving the army since the military fought a three-month battle in 2007 against the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam group inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared in northern Lebanon. The Lebanese army crushed the group, but the clashes killed more than 170 soldiers.

Syria's civil war has been bleeding into Lebanon for the past year, following similar sectarian lines of Sunni and Shiite camps. Overstretched and outgunned by militias, the military has struggled on multiple fronts in the eastern Bekaa valley and the northern city of Tripoli, where armed factions have fought street battles that often last several days.

Al-Assir, a 45-year-old cleric, supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Also Tuesday, a roadside bomb exploded on the key highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital without causing casualties, security officials said. They said the small bomb went off early in the morning near the town of Barr Elias, a few kilometers (miles) from the border crossing point of Masnaa.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. It was the second such attack on the highway within weeks.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanese-troops-secure-hardline-clerics-complex-111029152.html

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Carrey kicks his 'Kick-Ass 2' for being too violent

Movies

Randee Dawn NBC News contributor

2 hours ago

Universal

Jim Carrey in "Kick-Ass 2."

"Kick-Ass 2" won't be in theaters until August, but it already has a major detractor slamming the film on Twitter: Jim Carrey, one of its stars.

Carrey took to Twitter on Sunday to denounce the film, a satirical look at the superhero genre that's a follow up to 2010's "Kick-Ass," saying that he could no longer support the film in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. last December.

The 51-year old actor, who plays Col. Stars and Stripes and pairs up with the titular superhero, later added:

The film began shooting in July 2012 and wrapped production around Thanksgiving of last year.

The creator of the comic book series "Kick-Ass" is based on, Mark Millar, shot back at the Twitter comments on his website's comments forum.

After praising Carrey's talents and his performance in the film, Millar says he was "baffled by this sudden announcement" and Carrey's timing of his thoughts. "Nothing seen in this picture wasn't in the screenplay eighteen months ago," he added.

"Like Jim, I'm horrified by real-life violence," wrote Millar, "but 'Kick-Ass 2' isn't a documentary. ... ('K)ick-Ass' avoids the usual bloodless body-count of most big summer pictures and focuses instead on the CONSEQUENCES of violence. ... Ironically, Jim's character in 'Kick-Ass 2' is a Born-Again Christian and the big deal we made of the fact that he refuses to fire a gun is something he told us attracted him to the role in the first place."

Millar also said that "our audience is smart enough to know they're all pretending and we should instead just sit back and enjoy the serotonin release of seeing bad guys meet bad ends as much as we enjoyed seeing the Death Star (in "Star Wars") exploding."

Carrey has been a proponent of gun control for some time, and recently made headlines by mocking gun enthusiasts in a short video reminiscent of "Hee Haw." He also wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post in April, looking for some form of moderation.

"(Gun control) thugs, though menacing, are a minority but they will have their way if good people don't step forward now and make a difference," he said. "Every American has the right to speak their mind. Every American has the right to bear arms. But it is up to every American to draw the line when it comes to the type of guns that are considered a reasonable means of self-defense."

(Warning: Video has some vulgar language.)

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/jim-carrey-slams-his-kick-ass-2-film-being-too-6C10424009

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Promising new device detects disease with drop of blood

June 24, 2013 ? An NJIT research professor known for his cutting-edge work with carbon nanotubes is overseeing the manufacture of a prototype lab-on-a-chip that would someday enable a physician to detect disease or virus from just one drop of liquid, including blood. A new study describes how NJIT research professors Reginald Farrow and Alokik Kanwal, his former postdoctoral fellow, and their team have created a carbon nanotube-based device to noninvasively and quickly detect mobile single cells with the potential to maintain a high degree of spatial resolution.

"Using sensors, we created a device that will allow medical personnel to put a tiny drop of liquid on the active area of the device and measure the cells' electrical properties," said Farrow, the recipient of NJIT's highest research honor, the NJIT Board of Overseers Excellence in Research Prize and Medal. "Although we are not the only people by any means doing this kind of work, what we think is unique is how we measure the electrical properties or patterns of cells and how those properties differ between cell types."

In the article, the NJIT researchers evaluated three different types of cells using three different electrical probes. "It was an exploratory study and we don't want to say that we have a signature," Farrow added. "What we do say here is that these cells differ based on electrical properties. Establishing a signature, however, will take time, although we know that the distribution of electrical charges in a healthy cell changes markedly when it becomes sick."

This research was originally funded by the military as a means to identify biological warfare agents. However, Farrow believes that usage can go much further and potentially detect viruses, bacteria, even cancer. The research may also someday even assess the health of good cells, such as brain neurons. Since 2010, three U.S. patents, "Method of forming nanotube vertical field effect transistor," #7,736,979 (2010); "Nanotube device and method of fabrication" #7,964,143 (2011); "Nanotube device and method of fabrication" #8,257,566 (2012) were awarded for this device. In addition, more patents have been filed.

The device (shown in photo) utilizes standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies for fabrication, allowing it to be easily scalable (down to a few nanometers). Nanotubes are deposited using electrophoresis after fabrication in order to maintain CMOS compatibility.

The devices are spaced by six microns which is the same size or smaller than a single cell. To demonstrate its capability to detect cells, the researchers performed impedance spectroscopy on mobile human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, neurons from mice, and yeast cells. Measurements were performed with and without cells and with and without nanotubes. Nanotubes were found to be crucial to successfully detect the presence of cells.

Carbon nanotubes are very strong, electrically conductive structures a single nanometer in diameter. That's one-billionth of a meter, or approximately ten hydrogen atoms in a row. Farrow's breakthrough is a controlled method for firmly bonding one of these submicroscopic, crystalline electrical wires to a specific location on a substrate. His method also introduces the option of simultaneously bonding an array of millions of nanotubes and efficiently manufacturing many devices at the same time.

Being able to position single carbon nanotubes that have specific properties opens the door to further significant advances. Other possibilities include an artificial pancreas, three-dimensional electronic circuits and nanoscale fuel cells with unparalleled energy density.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/m9BV1FYvmTk/130624093520.htm

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Action needed to help tobacco users quit across the globe

Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ben Norman
Sciencenewsroom@wiley.com
44-012-437-70375
Wiley

More than half of the countries who signed the WHO 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have not formed plans to help tobacco users quit.

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is a treaty developed to tackle the global tobacco epidemic that is killing 5 million people each year. It came into force in 2005 and is legally binding in 175 countries. The FCTC requires each country to develop plans to help tobacco users in their population to stop -- plans that should be based on strong scientific evidence for what works.

Two surveys of 121 countries just published in the scientific journal Addiction reveal that more than half of those countries have yet to develop these plans.

Just 53 of the 121 countries surveyed (44%) report having treatment guidelines: 75% of the high-income countries; 42% of upper-middle-income countries, 30% of lower-middle-income countries and only 11% of low-income countries.

Only one-fifth of the countries surveyed had a dedicated budget for treating tobacco dependence.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Robert West, Editor-in-Chief of Addiction, said: "Tobacco dependence treatment is a very inexpensive way of saving lives, much cheaper and more effective than many of the clinical services routinely provided by health systems worldwide. These reports map out for the first time the work that needs to be done to make this treatment accessible to those who could benefit from it. I hope they will be a spur to action."

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?

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

Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ben Norman
Sciencenewsroom@wiley.com
44-012-437-70375
Wiley

More than half of the countries who signed the WHO 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have not formed plans to help tobacco users quit.

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is a treaty developed to tackle the global tobacco epidemic that is killing 5 million people each year. It came into force in 2005 and is legally binding in 175 countries. The FCTC requires each country to develop plans to help tobacco users in their population to stop -- plans that should be based on strong scientific evidence for what works.

Two surveys of 121 countries just published in the scientific journal Addiction reveal that more than half of those countries have yet to develop these plans.

Just 53 of the 121 countries surveyed (44%) report having treatment guidelines: 75% of the high-income countries; 42% of upper-middle-income countries, 30% of lower-middle-income countries and only 11% of low-income countries.

Only one-fifth of the countries surveyed had a dedicated budget for treating tobacco dependence.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Robert West, Editor-in-Chief of Addiction, said: "Tobacco dependence treatment is a very inexpensive way of saving lives, much cheaper and more effective than many of the clinical services routinely provided by health systems worldwide. These reports map out for the first time the work that needs to be done to make this treatment accessible to those who could benefit from it. I hope they will be a spur to action."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/w-ant062413.php

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Tightrope walk over Ariz. gorge draws 13M viewers

Aerialist Nik Wallenda near the end of his quarter mile walk over the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona on Sunday, June 23, 2013. The daredevil successfully traversed the tightrope strung 1,500 feet above the chasm near the Grand Canyon in just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the cable swayed. (AP Photos/Discovery Channel, Tiffany Brown)

Aerialist Nik Wallenda near the end of his quarter mile walk over the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona on Sunday, June 23, 2013. The daredevil successfully traversed the tightrope strung 1,500 feet above the chasm near the Grand Canyon in just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the cable swayed. (AP Photos/Discovery Channel, Tiffany Brown)

In this photo provided by the Discovery Channel, aerialist Nik Wallenda walks a 2-inch-thick steel cable taking him a quarter mile over the Little Colorado River Gorge, Ariz. on Sunday, June 23, 2013. The daredevil successfully traversed the tightrope strung 1,500 feet above the chasm near the Grand Canyon in just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the cable swayed. (AP Photos/Discovery Channel, Tiffany Brown)

Daredevil Nik Wallenda smiles during a news conference after crossing a tightrope 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge Sunday, June 23, 2013, on the Navajo reservation outside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. Wallenda completed the tightrope walk that took him a quarter mile across the gorge in just more than 22 minutes. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Daredevil Nik Wallenda crosses a tightrope 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge Sunday, June 23, 2013, on the Navajo reservation outside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LITTLE COLORADO RIVER GORGE, Ariz. (AP) ? Aerialist Nik Wallenda's tightrope walk over a gorge near the Grand Canyon drew nearly 13 million viewers to the live television broadcast.

The Discovery Channel said Monday that the quarter-mile stunt at the Little Colorado River Gorge was among the most highly viewed shows in the station's history.

It also prompted 1.3 million tweets Sunday, making it one of the top trending topics.

Wallenda took 22 minutes to cross the 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet above the dry river bed. He did it without a harness or safety net.

The well-known daredevil contended with the wind and repeatedly called on God to calm the swaying cable.

He wore a microphone and two cameras, one that looked down on the river bed and one that faced straight ahead.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-24-Wallenda-Ratings/id-89d2fc05b4c14795a78afba649e08611

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Mystery of the gigantic storm on Saturn

June 24, 2013 ? We now understand the nature of the giant storms on Saturn. Through the analysis of images sent from the Cassini space probe belonging to the North American and European space agencies (NASA and ESA respectively), as well as the computer models of the storms and the examination of the clouds therein, the Planetary Sciences Group of the University of the Basque Country has managed to explain the behaviour of these storms for the very first time. The article explaining the discovery, the lead author being Enrique Garc?a Melendo, researcher at the Fundaci? Observatori Esteve Duran -- Institut de Ci?ncies de l'Espai, of Catalonia, was published in Nature Geosciences.

Approximately once every Saturnian year -- equivalent to 30 Earth years -- an enormous storm is produced on the ringed planet and which affects the aspect of its atmosphere on a global scale. These gigantic storms are known as Great White Spots, due to the appearance they have on the atmosphere of the planet. The first observation of one of these was made in 1876; the Great White Spot of 2010 was the sixth one to be observed. On this occasion the Cassini space vehicle was able to obtain very high resolution images of this great meteorological structure. The storm initiated as a small brilliant white cloud in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere of the planet, and grew rapidly and remained active for more than seven months. Over this time an amalgam of white clouds was generated which expanded to form a cloudy and turbulent ring with a surface area of thousands of millions of square kilometres. Two year age the Planetary Sciences Group presented a first study of the storm and which was published on the front cover of Nature on the 7th of July, 2011. Now, with this new research, the hidden secrets of the phenomenon have been revealed, studying in detail the "head" and the "focus" of the Great White Spot.

The team of astronomers analysed the images taken from the Cassini probe in order to measure the winds in the "head" of the storm, the focus where the activity originated. In this region the storm interacts with the circulating atmosphere, forming very intense sustained winds, typically of 500 kilometres an hour. "We did not expect to find such violent circulation in the region of the development of the storm, which is a symptom of the particularly violent interaction between the storm and the planet's atmosphere," commented Enrique Garc?a. They were also able to determine that these storm clouds are at 40 km above the planet's own clouds.

Information about the mechanisms causing meteorological phenomena

The research revealed the mechanism that produces this phenomenology. The team of scientists designed mathematical models capable of reproducing the storm on a computer, providing a physical explanation for the behaviour of this giant storm and for its lengthy duration. The calculations show that the focus of the storm is deeply embedded, some 300 km above the visible clouds. The storm transports enormous quantities of moist gas in water vapour to the highest levels of the planet, forming visible clouds and liberating enormous quantities of energy. This injection of energy interacts violently with the dominant wind of Saturn to produce wind storms of 500 km/h. The research also showed that, despite the enormous activity of the storm, this was not able to substantially modify the prevailing winds which blow permanently in the same direction as Earth's parallels, but they did interact violently with them. An important part of the computer's calculations were made thanks to the Centre de Serveis Cient?fics i Acad?mics de Catalunya (CESCA), and the computer services at the Institut de Ci?ncies de l'Espai (ICE), also based in the Catalan capital of Barcelona.

Apart from the curiosity of knowing the physical processes underlying the formation of these giant storms on Saturn, the study of these phenomena enable us to enhance our knowledge of the models employed in research into meteorology and the behaviour of Earth's atmosphere, in a very different environment and impossible to simulate in a laboratory. "The storms on Saturn are, in a way, a test bank of the physical mechanisms underlying the generation of similar meteorological phenomena on Earth," commented Agust?n S?nchez Lavega, Director of the Planetary Sciences Group at the UPV/EHU.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/0vE3bz4zmR0/130624075753.htm

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A Rifle-Turned-Slingshot That Shoots Knives Is Terrifying

This week Joerg busted out the deactivated M16A1 rifle (which he obviously has) and turned it into a slingshot. The launcher band mounts on the underside of the rifle barrel, and the weapon shoots two Cold Steel "Hide Out" neck knives aka really scary/sharp little suckers.

The slingshot can shoot two knives at once or one at a time. The best image from this video is probably Joerg testing the slingshot on a watermelon and then breaking it open to reveal the two knives inside. I wonder where The Slingshot Channel gets all its test fruit.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/a-rifle-turned-slingshot-that-shoots-knives-is-terrifyi-549943481

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Wells breaks out with big hit, Yanks beat Rays 7-5

NEW YORK (AP) ? Vernon Wells broke out of his big slump with a pinch-hit, three-run double, and the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-5 on Saturday.

Wells was in a 9-for-87 slide that landed him on the bench the past two days, with rookie outfielder Zoilo Almonte starting in his place. But with the Yankees trailing 5-4 in the seventh inning, Wells batted for No. 9 hitter Chris Stewart with the bases loaded and two outs.

Wells' drive to right-center bounced above the top of the wall, where it hit a fan's glove and was ruled fan interference.

The umpires allowed all three runners to cross home plate, determining David Adams would have scored from first base if not for the fan interference. They sent Wells back to second, but the Yankees suddenly had a 7-5 lead.

Rays manager Joe Maddon argued that it should have been called a ground-rule double, with only two runs scoring.

Tampa Bay led 5-3 after top prospect Wil Myers hit a grand slam for his first career home run in the sixth.

Wells' clutch hit got CC Sabathia (8-5) off the hook after he allowed five runs in seven innings. Mariano Rivera worked a scoreless ninth for his 26th save.

Meanwhile, Almonte kept up his hot hitting, starting in Wells' place in left field. On Friday night, he went 3 for 4 with a home run. He was 1 for 2 with two walks and three RBIs on Saturday.

David Robertson came on after the Yankees took the lead and pitched a perfect eighth with two strikeouts.

Joel Peralta (1-4) took over for the Rays in the seventh and immediately got in trouble. He loaded the bases on two walks and Lyle Overbay's double, and was pulled for Jake McGee.

McGee struck out Jayson Nix for the second out but walked Adams to force in a run, the second time the Yankees scored on a bases-loaded walk.

Wells then batted for Stewart, who was 0 for 3 with a double play to end a second-inning threat.

The Rays trailed 3-1 when the Yankees intentionally walked Evan Longoria with two outs to get to Myers.

The rookie came in hitting .190 in five games since he was called up from the minors at the beginning of the week. He'd had exactly one hit in four straight games before going 3 for 4 on Saturday in his first start as a designated hitter.

Longoria was 2 for 2 with a double and a solo homer that accounted for the Rays' lone run when the Yankees intentionally walked him. On a 1-2 count, Myers hit a high fly to center. Brett Gardner jumped at the fence and the ball bounced off the webbing of his glove and into the stands, though it appeared to already be over the wall when he touched it.

Rays rookie starter Alex Colome is yet to allow an earned run over 10 innings in two career starts. He gave up three unearned runs, five hits and five walks with three strikeouts in 4 1-3 innings.

With two outs in the third, Almonte singled on a two-strike count to drive in two runs and give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. He walked with the bases loaded in the fifth.

NOTES: Myers became the second player in club history to hit a grand slam for his first career homer. Jorge Velandia did it in 2007, also against the Yankees. ... Rays LHP Alex Torres allowed no hits and struck out three in 1 2-3 innings, extending his scoreless streak to open the season to 20 innings. ... Yankees 2B Robinson Cano had a career-high four walks. ... RHP Ivan Nova (2-1) looks to extend his career record against Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium to 5-0 on Sunday, the park's 67th Old-Timers' Day. Rays RHP Chris Archer (1-3), their second straight rookie starter, is 0-5 on the road in his career.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wells-breaks-big-hit-yanks-beat-rays-7-204853459.html

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Findings emphasize importance of vitamin D in pregnancy

June 22, 2013 ? Pregnant women pass low levels of vitamin D on to their babies at almost three times the extent previously thought, according to new research carried out at London's Kingston University.

While current studies suggest that around a fifth (19 per cent) of a newborn baby's supply or deficiency of vitamin D comes directly from its mother, experts from Kingston's School of Life Sciences have discovered that the figure is, in fact, almost three times as high at 56 per cent. The results have been revealed using a new measuring technique, developed in the laboratories at Kingston, which is able to examine eight different forms of vitamin D in greater detail for the first time.

The study, just published in Nutrition Journal, focused on 120 samples taken from 60 Greek mothers and their babies. The research was conducted with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Although the Mediterranean nation enjoys more hours of sunshine than the United Kingdom, the research revealed that many of the mothers had low levels of vitamin D, suggesting that what they ate was an equally important source.

Professor Declan Naughton, who headed the Kingston University research team, said the findings made it more important than ever that mothers-to-be received the key nutrient not only through sunlight but also through foods such as oily fish. "The impact that mothers deficient in vitamin D have on their babies' levels is a much bigger problem than we thought," Professor Naughton said. "Maintaining good supplies during pregnancy is clearly of vital importance for both mothers' and babies' long term health."

Lack of the vitamin in pregnant women has been linked to diabetes and increased rates of caesarean section births, while babies can be smaller than average. In children, the deficiency can cause rickets -- a soft bone disease.

Vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining good levels of calcium and phosphate which help form healthy bones and teeth. The two main forms are vitamin D3, which primarily comes from sunlight, and D2 which is found in a small number of foods including egg yolk, mushrooms, farmed salmon, mackerel, sardines and fortified bread and cereals. Processes in the body convert the vitamin into what is known as the circulating form -- the type commonly measured in routine blood tests -- followed by the active form -- the type that promotes calcium absorption, cell growth and immunity.

Professor Naughton and his team found that the type of vitamin D commonly measured in blood tests was not as reliable an indicator of vitamin D activity as other strands. They went on to discover that two epimer forms, previously thought to be unimportant, influenced levels in babies. "This shows the need for more accurate measurement to assess levels of vitamin D as well as the need to look more closely at its different forms," Professor Naughton said.

Further clinical studies would be required to examine the effectiveness of vitamin D supplements in pregnant women to see whether particular factors made it difficult for them to absorb the nutrient, Professor Naughton added.

The research forms part of wider investigations being conducted by Professor Naughton and his team into vitamin D's role in conditions including Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/eecPir_52FI/130622154450.htm

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Development of nonvolatile liquid anthracenes for facile full-color luminescence tuning: Application to foldable light-emitting devices expected

June 23, 2013 ? A research team headed by Dr. Takashi Nakanishi, a Principal Researcher of the NIMS Organic Materials Group, Polymer Materials Unit, developed a full-colour tunable luminescent liquid material with excellent light stability based on an anthracene molecule, which is a general organic fluorescent dye.

A research team headed by Dr. Takashi Nakanishi, a Principal Researcher of the Organic Materials Group (Group Leader: Masayuki Takeuchi), Polymer Materials Unit (Unit Director: Izumi Ichinose) of the National Institute for Materials Science (President: Sukekatsu Ushioda), developed a full-colour tunable luminescent liquid material with excellent photostability based on anthracene, which is a general organic fluorescent dye.

In the development of full-colour display monitors, mobile devices, and other electronic devices, organic molecular and polymer materials are essentially important, as they offer advantages such as light weight, flexibility, and printability. However, in virtually all cases, the light-emitting organic molecular materials developed until now have had difficulties to demonstrate their inherent luminescent performance due to various problems, which include low photostability (durability to prevent discoloration or decolorization under photoirradiation) and aggregation of molecules in the coating process. Moreover, from the viewpoint of production of flexible devices, materials should be free of deterioration of the continuous emissive layer, even when subjected to excessive bending and folding. On the other hand, development of organic molecular materials which enable simple, low-cost manufacture of full-colour luminescence devices, in comparison with individual synthesis of organic molecular materials that display various luminescent colours, is also desired.

The team led by Dr. Nakanishi developed a blue-emitting liquid material which is free of aggregation among adjacent anthracene parts, has a melting point of approximately -60 ?C, and is thermally stable up to about 300 ?C, by attaching highly flexible branched alkyl chains around an anthracene core moiety, which is a fluorescent general dye molecule. This material is a low-viscosity liquid with viscosity of approximately 0.3 Pa-s at room temperature and is a blue-emitting with an absolute fluorescence quantum yield of ca. 55% and photostable more than 5~10 times longer lifetime than that of commercially-available anthracene dyes. Furthermore, because other luminescent dye molecules can be doped homogeneously in this liquid, it was found that full-colour luminescence tuning is available assisted by up to 96% fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) of dyes by single blue-light (365nm) excitation.

In this research, a blue-emitting anthracene liquid with excellent photostability was synthesized, and a liquid material which displays high quality full-colour luminescence and precise luminescence tuning by the facile operation of doping the liquid with other dyes was developed. Since the nonvolatile liquid material developed in this work can be coated on the surface of various substrates, production of organic multicolour devices with stable single color excitation can be expected. A continuous active emitting layer can be maintained, without breaking or interruption even when bent and folded, which is a favorable property for the development of foldable flexible devices.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/wiw-4VNFXlY/130623153502.htm

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Afghans rush to learn risky art of defusing bombs

CAMP BLACK HORSE, Afghanistan (AP) ? In a desolate field outside Kabul, an Afghan soldier hunches over a knee-high robot equipped with cameras, multidirectional pincers and tank-treads built for rough terrain. Carefully, he attaches four bottles of water and a tiny explosive charge to the robot. He uses a remote control to guide it 50 meters (yards) away to his target: a simulated backpack bomb.

"Explosion! Explosion! Explosion!" shouts the soldier, Naqibullah Qarizada, in a warning to others nearby. Then he remotely detonates the charge.

A small dust cloud kicks up. If all has gone well, the blast has pushed the water into the bomb with enough force to knock out its triggering mechanism. But to be safe, his partner, Hayatullah, climbs into a heavy protective suit before lumbering over to pluck out the blasting cap and seal it in a fortified box.

The two men are among hundreds of Afghan soldiers training to take over the dangerous fight against the war's biggest killers: the Taliban-planted bombs known as IEDs that kill and maim thousands of people each year on and around the country's roads and towns.

A few years ago, there were almost no Afghan bomb disposal experts. Now, there are 369 ? but that's far from enough. The international coalition is rushing to train hundreds more before the exit of most coalition forces by the end of next year.

Each day on average, two to three roadside or buried bombs explode somewhere in Afghanistan, according to numbers compiled by the United Nations, which says that the explosives killed 868 civilians last year, 40 percent of the civilian deaths in insurgent attacks. Among international forces, buried or roadside bombs accounted for 64 percent of the 3,300 coalition troops killed or wounded last year, the NATO force says.

Known in military parlance as improvised explosives devices (IEDs), the bombs have long been a favorite Taliban weapon that can be remotely detonated by radio or mobile phone when a target passes by or triggered by pressure, like a vehicle driving over it.

The U.S. military has over the years developed advanced detection and disposal techniques that manage to defuse about 40 to 50 IEDs each day, says Col. Ace Campbell, chief of the Counter-IED training unit. The coalition is working to transfer that knowledge to the Afghans who will be responsible once most foreign troops leave next year, and Campbell says Afghan teams are now finding and disposing about half of the bombs most days.

"Whenever I hear about an IED or I find one myself ? maybe you will laugh, but I become very happy," says Hayatullah, 28, who has completed the highest level of training and like many Afghans uses just one name. "I am happy because it is my duty to defuse it, and I will save the lives of several people."

Hayatullah also has a personal reason for his chosen profession ? his father was killed in a mine explosion. He was just 13 when unknown attackers planted two anti-personnel mines outside their home in Parwan province, and he says the memory fuels his desire to save others.

The country's main bomb disposal school is located at Camp Black Horse, set among a dust-swept field on Kabul's eastern outskirts, where a rusted-out Russian tank looms on a distant hill, a reminder of Afghanistan's long legacy of war dating back to the 1980s Soviet occupation.

Here, a team of about 160 instructors runs 19 different courses, ranging from a basic four-week awareness program for regular Afghan soldiers to the eight-month advanced "IED defeat" course that is a slightly shorter version of the U.S. Army's own counter-explosives training.

"We are giving them the best instruction that we have available, and they are picking it up," said U.S. Army Maj. Joel Smith, one of the training program's leaders. "Some are getting killed, some are dropping out, but their numbers are growing."

Still, it is a race against time to produce enough experts to fill the gap left by foreign troops' withdrawal. On Tuesday, NATO formally handed over full security responsibility to Afghanistan's fledgling 350,000-strong security forces, though many of the remaining foreign troops will stay until next year in a support and training role.

The goal is to have 318 full-fledged Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams, each with two or three Afghan experts, spread out around the country. But Afghan security forces now have less than 60 percent of the bomb specialists they need ? hence the fever pitch of training.

"These guys are on a more accelerated program due to necessity," Smith said.

Equipping the Afghan teams is also a challenge. The coalition plans to distribute 12,000 metal detectors to regular police and army units, and each of the specialized disposal teams is slated to receive one of the high-tech robots that Qarizada and Hayatullah were working with. But Smith said each of the robots costs $17,000, and so far only about half of those needed are in the hands of Afghan teams. And that is not even taking into account who will maintain the sophisticated machines in a country where dust clogs nearly every machine and technical expertise is scarce.

Bomb disposal units gained widespread fame with the 2008 film "The Hurt Locker," but in real life the process ? while still dangerous ? is much slower and more methodical. The ultimate goal is to try not to approach a live bomb until it's been neutralized, which is the point of the exercise with the robot and the protective suit.

But with thousands of buried bombs and more being planted every day, it's impossible to have such sophisticated tools everywhere. That's why the program also trains regular Afghan army and police for four weeks in how to recognize signs of a smaller IED ? freshly moved earth, or perhaps a conveniently placed culvert next to a bridge ? and neutralize it in the crudest but simplest way: setting a smaller charge, moving far, far away and blowing it up in place.

Even such basic disposal takes weeks of training. Sitting attentively on rows of benches under a lean-to in the field, a group of Afghan soldiers listens to contractor James Webber, a former U.S. Air Force bomb disposal expert, as he explains how long to make a fuse so whoever sets it can then dash away for four minutes, or 240 seconds, to safety before the charge blows.

"So, 240 seconds divided by our burn rate - what do you get? Anyone got a calculator?" Webber asks.

The recruits nod, squint, calculate.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghans-rush-learn-risky-art-defusing-bombs-062833351.html

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