Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/justin-bieber-photo-shoot-contract-no-selena-gomez-music/
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Sunday, June 30, 2013
Penguins? Bylsma to coach US Olympic team in Sochi (Yahoo! Sports)
Penguins? Bylsma to coach US Olympic team in Sochi (Yahoo! Sports)
Dan Bylsma has never coached hockey at the international level. The Pittsburgh Penguins coach does, however, know how to win while juggling a roster dotted with superstars.
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Source: http://www.hockeyvox.com/penguins-bylsma-to-coach-us-olympic-team-in-sochi-yahoo-sports/
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Saturday, June 29, 2013
How 'parrot dinosaur' switched from four feet to two as it grew
June 28, 2013 ? Tracking the growth of dinosaurs and how they changed as they grew is difficult. Using a combination of biomechanical analysis and bone histology, palaeontologists from Beijing, Bristol, and Bonn have shown how one of the best-known dinosaurs switched from four feet to two as it grew.
Psittacosaurus, the 'parrot dinosaur' is known from more than 1000 specimens from the Cretaceous, 100 million years ago, of China and other parts of east Asia. As part of his PhD thesis at the University of Bristol, Qi Zhao, now on the staff of the Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology in Beijing, carried out the intricate study on bones of babies, juveniles and adults.
Dr Zhao said: "Some of the bones from baby Psittacosaurus were only a few millimetres across, so I had to handle them extremely carefully to be able to make useful bone sections. I also had to be sure to cause as little damage to these valuable specimens as possible."
With special permission from the Beijing Institute, Zhao sectioned two arm and two leg bones from 16 individual dinosaurs, ranging in age from less than one year to 10 years old, or fully-grown. He did the intricate sectioning work in a special palaeohistology laboratory in Bonn, Germany,
The one-year-olds had long arms and short legs, and scuttled about on all fours soon after hatching. The bone sections showed that the arm bones were growing fastest when the animals were ages one to three years. Then, from four to six years, arm growth slowed down, and the leg bones showed a massive growth spurt, meaning they ended up twice as long as the arms, necessary for an animal that stood up on its hind legs as an adult.
Professor Xing Xu of the Beijing Institute, one of Dr Zhao's thesis supervisors, said: "This remarkable study, the first of its kind, shows how much information is locked in the bones of dinosaurs. We are delighted the study worked so well, and see many ways to use the new methods to understand even more about the astonishing lives of the dinosaurs."
Professor Mike Benton of the University of Bristol, Dr Zhao's other PhD supervisor, said: "These kinds of studies can also throw light on the evolution of a dinosaur like Psittacosaurus. Having four-legged babies and juveniles suggests that at some time in their ancestry, both juveniles and adults were also four-legged, and Psittacosaurus and dinosaurs in general became secondarily bipedal."
The paper is published in Nature Communications.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/INNYKIOaV7U/130628092147.htm
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Rescuers believe American schooner carrying 7 sank
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? Rescue crews searching for a classic American schooner carrying seven people believe the boat sank between New Zealand and Australia, although they haven't given up hope of finding survivors.
A third day of aerial searches Friday turned up no sign of the 85-year-old wooden sailboat or its crew. Named Nina, the boat left New Zealand on May 29 bound for Australia. The last known contact with the crew was on June 4. Rescuers were alerted the boat was missing on June 14, but weren't unduly worried at first because the emergency locator beacon had not been activated.
The six Americans on board include captain David Dyche, 58, his wife, Rosemary, 60, and their son David, 17. Also aboard was their friend Evi Nemeth, 73, a man aged 28, a woman aged 18, and a British man aged 35.
The leader of Friday's search efforts, Neville Blakemore of New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre, said it's now logical to assume the 70-foot (21-meter) boat sank in a storm but added that it's possible some crew members survived either in the life raft that was aboard or by making land.
On the day the boat went missing, a storm hit the area with winds gusting up to 110 kilometers (68 miles) per hour and waves of up to 8 meters (26 feet).
Blakemore said the Southern Hemisphere winter months tend to produce the year's worst storms, although he added that he wouldn't normally expect a sturdy and well-maintained craft like the Nina to sink in a storm like the one in early June.
Friday's search focused on the coastline around northern New Zealand, including the small Three Kings Islands. Rescuers were looking for wreckage or the life raft.
Blakemore said plane searches earlier this week covered a wide band of ocean between New Zealand and Australia. He said searchers were considering their options for the weekend.
He said the logical conclusion is that the boat sank rapidly, preventing the crew from activating the locator beacon or using other devices aboard, including a satellite phone and a spot beacon. He said that unlike many locator beacons, the one aboard the Nina is not activated by water pressure and wouldn't start automatically if the boat sank.
Dyche is a qualified captain, and he and his family are experienced sailors. Blakemore said the family had been sailing around the world for several years and was often joined on different legs by friends and sailors they met along the way.
Susan Payne, harbor master of the St. Andrews Marina near Panama City, Florida, said the couple left Panama City in the Nina a couple of years ago and sailed to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, where they prepared for the trip.
New Zealand meteorologist Bob McDavitt was the last person known to have been in contact with the schooner, when the boat was about 370 nautical miles west of New Zealand.
He said Nemeth called him by satellite phone on June 3 and said, "The weather's turned nasty, how do we get away from it?"
He advised them to head south and brace for the storm.
The next day he got a text message, the last known communication: "ANY UPDATE 4 NINA? ... EVI"
McDavitt said he advised the crew to stay put and ride out the storm another day. He continued sending messages the next few days, but didn't hear back. Friends of the crew got in touch with McDavitt soon after that, and then alerted authorities.
___
Associated Press writer Melissa Nelson-Gabriel in Pensacola, Florida, contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rescuers-believe-american-schooner-carrying-7-sank-053935827.html
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Robotic players play their own football World Cup
Robotic players play their own football World Cup
Sports has come a long way, especially with the introduction of technology, as can be witnessed with robots getting involved in a game of football. It has become a huge hit as well with not only the teams participating but also those who watch the game. It is a visual treat. As a result of the popularity, even world cup competitions are being held.
Amsterdam University team member in the world cup told AFP, ?You have two teams of five robots. In this competition, everyone works with the same robot. The goal is to have each person take charge of the program running their robots. The machines can't be guided once they are on the pitch, so they just have to play, while respecting the FIFA rules.? It is surprising that even such competitions are conducted under FIFA rules. But one also needs to understand that this sport, which is originally played among humans, is different when robots are involved, as it becomes completely mechanical. They dance on the tunes of those who are in charge of robots. So, they must know these robots at the back of their mind, especially their running movements and functioning in order to defeat their opponents by scoring goals.Dan Pedilha, Engineering student from Australia, said, ?It is not just about football. It is the technology behind the robots. We develop things like vision of detecting the ball. These are all the sort of technologies that can be transferred to different industries, to do a lot of things like wireless communication between robots.
'; } google_adnum = google_adnum + google_ads.length; document.write(u); return; } google_ad_client = 'ca-pub-9372192619832074';google_ad_output = 'js';google_ad_type = 'text';google_feedback = 'on';google_language = 'en';google_encoding = 'utf8'; google_max_num_ads = '4'; google_ad_channel='9376826742';Source: http://www.merinews.com/article/robotic-players-play-their-own-football-world-cup/15887367.shtml
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Final gov't birth control rule for faith groups (The Arizona Republic)
Friday, June 28, 2013
Consumer sentiment ends June to near six-year high
By Richard Leong
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer sentiment improved in late June, ending the month close to a near six-year high set in May, as optimism among higher-income families rose to its strongest level in six years, a survey released on Friday showed.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment was 84.1 points, just slightly below a near six-year high of 84.5 in May. The late-June figure was higher than the preliminary reading of 82.7.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the final June reading of 82.8.
"Consumers believe the (economic) recovery has achieved an upward momentum that will not be easily reversed," survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.
He added the recent drop in stock prices and the jump in mortgage rates have not caused a deterioration in consumers' view on the economy.
"To be sure, few high or low income consumers expect the economy to post robust gains or think the unemployment rate will drastically shrink during the year ahead," Curtin said.
Consumer sentiment is considered by some economists as a predictor on consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the U.S. economy.
The latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan data was consistent with the June consumer confidence readings from the Conference Board released earlier this week. The research group's U.S. consumer confidence index rose to 81.4 this month, the highest since January 2008.
Household expenditures, however, have remained sluggish despite improving optimism. Consumer spending grew at an annualized 2.6 percent in first quarter, faster than the 1.8 percent pace in the last three months of 2012 but slower than an earlier government estimate of 3.4 percent.
The barometer of current economic conditions ended at 93.8 in June, down from 98.0 in May. This was above an early June reading of 92.1 and economists' forecast of 92.8.
The survey's gauge of consumer expectations ended June at its highest level since October at 77.8, up from 75.8 in May. The latest reading was stronger than the preliminary June figure of 76.7. Economists had projected a late-June figure of 77.0.
Other areas of the U.S. economy have been uneven, which economists have blamed on higher taxes and federal budget cuts. Weak overseas growth especially in China has been a drag on business activities and hiring, economists say.
The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago said its index on Midwest business activity posted a steeper-than-expected drop in June to 51.6. A reading below 50 points suggests business contraction.
"It's not firmly in expansion territory where businesses are ready to hire and invest," said Tim Quinlan, an economist with Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.
HIGHER-INCOME FAMILIES
There was a divergence in outlook between higher-income families and lower-income ones, according to the latest Thomson Reuters and University of Michigan consumer survey.
Higher-income households showed increased optimism about their incomes and wealth, while lower-income ones reported less optimism. Families in the top third income bracket were the most optimistic since the June 2007 survey.
Rising home and stock prices likely bolstered sentiment among wealthier families, although gains on Wall Street were reduced by a recent market sell-off due to worries that the Federal Reserve might pare its $85 billion monthly bond purchases later this year.
Still, the Standard & Poor's 500 index is currently up 2.1 percent for the quarter and 12.4 percent for the year, its best first-half performance since 1998, though it is on track for its first monthly loss since October.
Domestic single-family home prices posted their biggest annual gain in seven years in April, according to data from S&P/Case Shiller released on Tuesday.
The survey's one-year inflation expectation ended June at 3.0 percent down from 3.1 percent in May and from the 3.2 percent in early this month.
The survey's five-to-10-year inflation outlook ended unchanged at 2.9 percent for a third straight month. It dipped from 3 percent in early June.
(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/consumer-sentiment-improves-june-135623050.html
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Olloclip announces 2x telephoto lens for iPhone 5, we go hands-on
Remember the Olloclip lens for the iPhone 4? That model's done mighty well in Apple retail stores, so it's only fitting that there's a follow-up. Today at the CE Week line show in New York, we got a look at the company's upcoming telephoto lens, which complements the original clip-on by adding 2X magnification. Priced at $100 versus $70 for its predecessor, the accessory offers a circular polarizing lens on the other side, keeping in line with the company's existing two-in-one design. You can get the standalone clip-on lens for the aforementioned price when the gadget debuts in July -- it's compatible with Olloclip's previously announced $49 iPhone 5 case as well.
Zach Honig contributed to this report.
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Defense challenges testimony of woman on phone with Trayvon Martin
By Barbara Liston
SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - A woman who was on the phone with unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin moments before he was shot by a neighborhood watchman rejected attempts by a lawyer in a Florida court to depict Martin as the aggressor in a struggle that ended in his death.
A former resident of the gated community where Martin was killed also testified on Thursday that she saw the watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, on top of Martin during the fatal encounter.
During an argumentative cross-examination of the phone call witness, 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel, a defense lawyer said that she embellished her account of the conversation with her longtime school friend after news coverage portrayed the shooting as "a racial thing."
In earlier testimony in Seminole County criminal court on Wednesday, Jeantel said that shortly before Martin was fatally shot, he complained about a "creepy" man who seemed to be hunting him down as he walked back to the house where he was staying with his father.
Jeantel repeatedly denied altering her story and said she never watched the news.
On Thursday, Jeantel also rejected defense attorney Don West's attempts to depict Martin as the aggressor in the fight that ended with his death, a portrayal that would support Zimmerman's claim that he fired in self defense.
She suggested Martin would have ended the phone call first if he was preparing to attack someone.
West asked whether the noises Jeantel heard on the phone call could have been Martin smashing Zimmerman in the face.
She refused to agree with West that Martin hid and approached Zimmerman. "Trayvon told me the man was behind him and kept being close by him," Jeantel said.
Zimmerman, 29, was a neighborhood watch volunteer in the Retreat at Twin Lakes community in the central Florida town of Sanford at the time of the February 26, 2012 shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Martin was a guest of one of the homeowners and was returning after buying snacks at a convenience store when he was shot in the chest during a confrontation with Zimmerman.
The case triggered civil rights protests and debates about the treatment of black Americans in the U.S. justice system, since police did not arrest Zimmerman, who is part Hispanic, for 44 days.
WHO WAS ON TOP DURING SCUFFLE?
A former Twin Lakes resident testified on Thursday that she heard the scuffle behind her home and heard someone yelling "help."
Speaking through a translator, Colombian-born Selma Mora testified that the person who was on top during the scuffle was the one who survived the fight, and that he got up and walked away after the gunshot was heard.
The person on top was wearing a garment in "some sort of a pattern between blacks and reds," she said, which were the colors of a jacket that Zimmerman was wearing that night.
So far, three former residents have testified for the prosecution that they saw someone who appeared to be Zimmerman on top during the incident, which took place by a walkway between units in the community of townhomes.
Even though several were close enough to hear the struggle, the prosecution highlighted the fact that none of them heard a crude death threat that Zimmerman says Martin made moments before he shot him.
One neighbor who was watching TV with her husband at the time told the court on Thursday it sounded so close that she thought the fight might end up crashing into her back porch.
"They kept getting closer and closer," said Jenna Lauer, who muted her television when she heard the cries for help.
The defense is expected to have witnesses who will provide a different version of events, with Martin on top during the scuffle.
Prosecutors say Zimmerman profiled Martin, suspecting him of being up to no good, and killed him in an act of vigilante justice. The defense says Zimmerman was out doing his job as part of the neighborhood watch and simply trying to investigate something that he perceived as suspicious.
Zimmerman does not deny killing Martin. He says he did so only after he was attacked and Martin smashed his head repeatedly into a concrete sidewalk.
ATTENTIVE JURY
The jurors paid close attention to Jeantel's testimony, taking notes and asking several times for her testimony to be repeated because they could not hear her soft-spoken, sometimes mumbled, words.
Jeantel has acknowledged she lied about her age and about her reason for skipping Martin's funeral. Jeantel said she was merely seeking anonymity and never imagined she would be called as a witness.
The prosecution faces a tall order to win a conviction for second-degree murder, and under Florida law must convince all six jurors that Zimmerman acted with "ill will" or "hatred" and "an indifference to human life."
Under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which was approved in 2005 and has since been copied by about 30 other states, people fearing for their lives can use deadly force without having to retreat from a confrontation, even when it is possible.
(Writing by Jane Sutton and David Adams; Editing by Grant McCool and Bernard Orr)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/defense-seeks-undermine-key-witness-trayvon-martin-case-100606050.html
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Clinton, Obama Slip in Popularity; Uncertainty About Rubio Stays High
President Obama and Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton has lost some ground in personal favorability this year, but continues to outpace both Barack Obama and, by a wide margin, Marco Rubio - like Clinton, a possible successor to Obama - in this basic measure of public popularity.
Six in 10 Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll see Clinton favorably, down 6 percentage points from her career high in January. Obama's seen favorably by 53 percent, down 7 points from January and back to his pre-re-election level across most of 2012.
See PDF with full results, charts and tables here.
Rubio, a Republican U.S. senator from Florida involved in the immigration reform effort, is far less known on the national stage. Half of Americans express no opinion of him at all, similar to its level last August, when he first was being mooted as a possible presidential candidate. The rest divide evenly on Rubio in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates.
The single-digit comedowns for Obama and Clinton are unsurprising. Since his re-election, the president's waded into contentious policy areas such as gun control and immigration, while dealing with the Internal Revenue Service and National Security Administration controversies. Obama's job approval likewise is off from his post-election high in ABC/Post polls.
Clinton, for her part, has stepped away from her popular role as secretary of state and may be seen in an increasingly partisan light given wide discussion of her possible candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Last week she said she hopes to see a woman president, and, even without being a formal candidate, was endorsed by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri). A campaign fundraising committee has been created to support Clinton (without her endorsement), as has one to oppose her.
GROUPS - Indicating increased partisanship, Clinton's popularity since January has dropped by 10 points among Republicans and among "somewhat" conservative Americans; she's also lost 9 points among whites, 10 points among seniors and 11 points among college graduates.
Obama, on the other hand, has lost ground disproportionately among some key Democratic-leaning groups, down 12 points in favorability among liberals, 10 points among those without a college degree, and 9 points each among nonwhites and people with household incomes less than $50,000 a year. His favorable rating also is down 11 points among independents, dipping just below the halfway mark.
While Rubio retains a broad recognition deficit, partisan divisions about him have lessened from last August, with negative views among Democrats down by 13 points and positive views among Republicans down by 11 points. His support for immigration reform - a cause more popular among Democrats than among Republicans - may be a factor.
METHODOLOGY - This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cell phone June 19-23, 2013, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,010 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points. The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling, data collection and tabulation by SSRS/Social Science Research Solutions of Media, Pa.
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Ireland to pay $45M to Catholic laundry workers
DUBLIN (AP) -- Ireland will pay several hundred former residents of Catholic-run Magdalene laundries at least 34.5 million euros ($45 million) to compensate them for their years of unpaid labor and public shame, the government announced Wednesday following a decade-long campaign by former residents of the workhouses.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter apologized to the women ? an estimated 770 survivors out of more than 10,000 who lived in the dozen facilities from 1922 to 1996 ? that it had taken so long for them to receive compensation. The move marked the latest step in a two-decade effort by Ireland to investigate and redress human rights abuses in its Catholic institutions.
Shatter's decision came four months after a government-commissioned probe found that women consigned to the laundries were broadly branded "fallen" women, a euphemism for prostitutes. The investigation found that few actually were, while most instead were victims of poverty, homelessness and dysfunctional families in a state lacking the facilities to care for them.
In remarks to former Magdalenes, some of them in the press-conference audience, Shatter said he hoped they would accept the compensation plans as "a sincere expression of the state's regret for failing you in the past, its recognition of your current needs, and its commitment to respecting your dignity and human rights as full, equal members of our nation."
And in a challenge to the four orders of nuns that ran the workhouses, Shatter called on them to help pay the bill.
The orders ? the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge, the Sisters of Charity, and the Good Shepherd Sisters ? all issued statements welcoming the payments plan. None offered any pledge to contribute and insisted their staff had done the best they could at the time, given the state's own inability to care for the women.
The nuns noted that they still were providing homes to more than 100 former laundry workers who chose to remain in church care when the last of the laundries closed, while virtually none of the nuns involved in running the workhouses was still alive today.
"We wish we had provided a better and more comprehensive service and shown more empathy, but we were also part of a system that had little comprehension or understanding of how to truly care for these women," said the Good Shepherd Sisters, who ran four laundries in Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford. "We always acted in good faith and many of our sisters dedicated their entire lives to this work."
Shatter said the total cost of payments could reach 58 million euros ($75.5 million) if the maximum number of eligible women worldwide applies. The tax-free payments would range from 11,500 euros ($15,000), for women who spent less than three months working in a laundry, to up to 100,000 euros ($130,000) for those who spent 10 years or more there.
As part of the plans, former Magdalenes also will receive state-funded retirement pensions and free medical care at state-funded facilities.
Activists representing the so-called "Maggies" had demanded justice and state compensation since 2002, when a previous government launched a compensation fund for people abused in Catholic-run orphanages and workhouses for children.
Former Magdalene residents were declared ineligible, as the government contended that the laundries were privately run institutions with negligible state involvement. Taxpayers since have paid more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to more than 13,000 people who suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse in the children's residences.
A government-commissioned investigation in February found that the state was legally responsible for overseeing the laundries, too. Prime Minister Enda Kenny offered an official apology for what he called "a cruel, pitiless Ireland" that had abused the women with " untrue and offensive stereotypes."
Investigators trawling through decades of the laundries' residency records found that more than a quarter of women were directly committed to the laundries by public officials, such as judges or truancy officers, and all residents spent their days in menial labor without access to education.
Most did laundry for hotels, hospitals and prisons, while others scrubbed floors or made rosary beads for the church's profit.
The report found that the average length of stay was just seven months, not the lifetime imprisonment commonly depicted in fictional works. It said 14 percent stayed more than five years, and 8 percent more than a decade.
Many hundreds checked into the facilities repeatedly for short periods, reflecting their poverty and the Irish state's inadequate facilities for homeless women. And until the 1970s, judges often ordered women guilty of crimes ranging from shoplifting to infanticide into the laundries rather than Ireland's male-dominated prison system.
The report did dispute depictions in popular culture of physical beatings in the institutions, noting that many Magdalene residents had transferred there as teenagers from Catholic-run industrial schools where such violence was common, and some survivors in their adult recollections failed to distinguish between the two. It found no evidence of such attacks in the nuns' care and, specifically, no complaints of sexual abuse by the nuns.
___
Online:
Ireland's compensation plans, http://bit.ly/19Ce2vt
Magdalene Laundries report, http://www.idcmagdalen.ie/
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ireland-pay-45m-catholic-laundry-152955390.html
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On Its 2-Year Anniversary, Onswipe Says It Has Delivered Tablet Content To 125M+ iOS Users
To celebrate the second anniversary of its launch, touch publishing startup Onswipe is releasing its first Onswipe Sage report, offering data on who's actually reading its publishers' content. The big number, which is both a nice bragging point for Onswipe and a sign that its data has some broader significance, is 127,733,480 ? that's how many iOS users the company has served in the past two years (as of last night, at least). Back in December, CEO and co-founder Jason Baptiste said that Onswipe was serving 10 million monthly active users, and he told me that number is now in the "tens of millions," but this is the first time Onswipe has released a total user count.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/FbTXG4LOPvI/
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John Bolton is Almost Considering a Presidential Run (Again)
The 2016 campaign just got its best early candidacy rumor: John Bolton, the Mark Twain look-alike who served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under the Bush administration, is thinking about a run for president.?
RELATED: Michelle Obama 2016: Why Not?
Of course, we've been here before, when a Bolton run was rumored for 2012. It didn't pan out, for a number of reasons.
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In any case, according the National Review's Robert Costa,, Bolton is in the rumored running this time as an antidote to Rand Paul among the GOP's neocon hawkosphere. Here's his take:?
"Later this year and throughout 2014, the former Reagan and Bush official?will begin an informal?national tour.?He?ll give speeches, huddle with GOP?leaders, and push back against the party?s libertarian shift. He?ll make the case for a muscular?foreign policy."?
The bespectacled former diplomat would then look to raise his profile nationally, according to the report. He's already a common presence on the conservative media and speech circuits. So presumably that profile-raising would involve reaching out beyond his already familiar base. As a preview of how that would likely go, here's Bolton speaking at the NRA annual meeting:?
RELATED: Would We Call Chris Christie Fat So Often If He Were a Woman?
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But this isn't a story about who might take the GOP nod for the presidency in 2016. Bolton's chances of doing that are astronomically low. And Rand Paul isn't exactly a frontrunner, himself. The interesting thing here is that a faction of the party thinks a Bolton run could actually work. And if the Review is right, then so does Bolton.?
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/john-bolton-almost-considering-presidential-run-again-022940476.html
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
APNewsBreak: Inquiry: NY sex abuse conviction OK
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) ? There is no reason to overturn the conviction of a man in a notorious 1980s sex abuse scandal, New York prosecutors announced Monday after a three-year review.
The review was prompted after the 2003 Oscar-nominated documentary "Capturing the Friedmans" questioned whether Jesse Friedman had been wrongfully prosecuted.
But Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice released a 168-page report Monday that concluded there was strong reason to investigate and prosecute both Friedman and his father, Arnold, when the scandal erupted in 1987. The new inquiry also concluded that father and son had abused young boys taking computer classes in the basement of their Great Neck, Long Island, home.
Neither Friedman, now an online bookseller and 44 years old, nor his attorney immediately commented. His advisers were planning an afternoon news conference to discuss the report.
Rice's review was prompted after Friedman appealed his conviction following the film's release. A federal appeals court in 2010 refused to overturn the conviction, but encouraged Rice ? who was not the prosecutor in the original case ? to review the case.
"By any impartial analysis, the re-investigation process prompted by Jesse Friedman, his advocates and the 2nd Circuit, has only increased confidence in the integrity of Jesse Friedman's guilty plea and adjudication as a sex offender," the report stated.
About a half-dozen prosecutors, supplemented by an independent review team that included noted defense attorney Barry Scheck, investigated claims that police used flawed interview techniques, employed hypnotism to elicit victims' memories and took advantage of a moral panic that was sweeping the country in the late 1980s. It also examined whether Friedman had caved to pressure from a county court judge and prosecutors to plead guilty.
The report released Monday methodically addressed all those criticisms.
During the first two weeks of the investigation, at least 35 children were interviewed by a team of 12 detectives working in two-person teams, the report said. No single detective dominated the investigation and different teams obtained incriminating statements from different victims, the report said.
"Given the compressed timeline, it is unlikely that detectives would have been able to repeatedly visit any one household for hours at a time to induce a child to make false accusations," the report said.
The review team said it found no credible evidence that hypnosis was used by investigators on any child.
The Friedman case has drawn comparisons to the 1980s California McMartin preschool scandal, but the investigators said they "were in no way similar." In the McMartin case, the report noted, more than 200 preschool children described being sexually abused by teachers, but only after months of highly suggestive questioning by social workers working with prosecutors. The report noted in the Friedman case, the victims were more than twice as old as the McMartin preschoolers and many in the Friedman case disclosed abuse quickly.
On the issue of coercion, the review found that Friedman played a central role in his own defense.
"Primary sources, including letters, audio and videotapes, show Jesse as a maker of his own destiny," the report said. "Jesse pled guilty because his own calculations showed it to be the optimal strategy in light of the choices available to him, not because someone else forced him to do so."
The panel also noted that after his guilty plea, Friedman went on "The Geraldo Rivera Show" against his attorney's advice and re-affirmed his guilt and discussed the abuse he and his father inflicted on the children.
The panel also re-interviewed parents of some of the victims and found none "have any reason today to disbelieve that their sons were victims of the Friedmans."
The parents described their children having emotional problems, including bed wetting, defecating in their clothing, sleeplessness, nightmares, stuttering, a decline in school performance, separation anxiety and an overwhelming sense of fear.
"Jesse remained quiet until a movie brought him back into the limelight he craved," the report said. "Today his numerous statements are contradicted by many others. His explanations for doing things he did and saying the things he said are tortured and strain credulity.
"In short, there is no statement that Jesse makes today that can be trusted."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-inquiry-ny-sex-abuse-conviction-ok-151901996.html
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Prosecutor opens with Zimmerman's obscenity
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? A prosecutor told jurors in opening statements Monday that George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin "because he wanted to," not because he had to, while a defense attorney said the neighborhood watch volunteer shot the teen in self-defense to stop him from smashing Zimmerman's head into a concrete sidewalk.
The opposing attorneys squared off on the first day of testimony in a trial that has attracted international attention and prompted nationwide debates about racial profiling, vigilantism and the laws governing the use of deadly force.
Defense attorney Don West used a joke in his opening statements to illustrate the difficulty of picking a jury amid such widespread publicity.
"Knock. Knock," West said.
"Who is there?"
"George Zimmerman."
"George Zimmerman who?"
"Ah, good. You're on the jury."
Included among the millions likely to be following the case are civil rights leaders the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who joined national protests in the weeks before prosecutors filed second-degree murder charges against Zimmerman. The charges came 44 days after the shooting.
Zimmerman, 29, who identifies himself as Hispanic, has denied that his confrontation with Martin before the shooting had anything to do with race. His mother was born in Peru. His father is a white American. Martin was black.
But just before opening statements began, Martin's parents sent out an urgent plea to their supporters to pray with them for justice, while their family attorney, Benjamin Crump, described the case as clear cut.
"There are two important facts in this case: No. 1: George Zimmerman was a grown man with a gun, and No. 2: Trayvon Martin was a minor who had no blood on his hands. Literally no blood on his hands. ... We believe that the evidence is overwhelming to hold George Zimmerman accountable for killing Trayvon Martin."
Prosecutor John Guy's first words to jurors recounted what Zimmerman told a police dispatcher in a call shortly before the fatal confrontation with Martin: "F------ punks. These a-------. They always get away."
Zimmerman was profiling Martin as he followed him through the gated community where Zimmerman lived and Martin was visiting, Guy said. He said Zimmerman viewed the teen "as someone about to a commit a crime in his neighborhood."
"And he acted on it. That's why we're here," the prosecutor said.
Zimmerman didn't have to shoot Martin, Guy said.
"He shot him for the worst of all reasons: because he wanted to," he said.
West told jurors a different story: Zimmerman was being viciously attacked when he shot Martin, he said. He was sucker-punched by Martin, who then pounded Zimmerman's head into the concrete sidewalk.
"He had just taken tremendous blows to his face, tremendous blows to his head," said West, after showing jurors photos taken by Zimmerman's neighbors of a bloodied and bruised neighborhood watch volunteer.
Later, West said it was not true that Martin was unarmed.
"Trayvon Martin armed himself with a concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman's head," West said.
West also played for jurors the call to a police dispatcher in which Zimmerman used the obscenities.
Martin had opportunities to go home after Zimmerman followed him and then lost track of him, but instead the teen confronted the neighborhood watch volunteer, West said.
Guy argued, however, that there is no evidence to back up other claims by Zimmerman, including that Martin had his hands over Zimmerman's mouth. Guy said none of Zimmerman's DNA was found on Martin's body. The prosecutor also said Zimmerman's claim that he had to fire because Martin was reaching for his firearm is false since none of Martin's DNA was on the gun or holster.
Zimmerman is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder, claiming self-defense. If he is convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman spotted Martin, whom he did not recognize, walking in the gated townhome community where Zimmerman and the fiancee of Martin's father lived. There had been a rash of recent break-ins and Zimmerman was wary of strangers walking through the complex.
The two eventually got into a struggle and Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest with his 9mm handgun. He was charged 44 days after the shooting, only after a special prosecutor was appointed to review the case and after protests. The delay in the arrest prompted protests nationwide.
Two police dispatch phone calls will be important evidence for both sides' cases.
The first is a call Zimmerman made to a nonemergency police dispatcher, who told him he didn't need to be following Martin.
The second 911 call captures screams from the confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin. Martin's parents said the screams are from their son while Zimmerman's father contends they belong to his son.
Nelson ruled last weekend that audio experts for the prosecution won't be able to testify that the screams belong to Martin, saying the methods the experts used were unreliable.
Both calls were played for jurors by the defense in opening statements. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, left the courtroom before the second call was played.
Opening statements were made two weeks after jury selection began. Attorneys picked six jurors and four alternates after quizzing the jury pool questions about how much they knew about the case and their views on guns and self-defense.
The prosecution took a little more than a half-hour to make an opening statement. The defense took more than two-and-a-half hours.
___
Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower
Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prosecutor-opens-zimmermans-obscenity-135419217.html
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Respawn Entertainment talks Xbox Live Cloud, praises its multiplayer servers
Microsoft's been quick to point out how it's beefing up the Xbox Live Cloud in preparation for its next wunderconsole, and now Respawn Entertainment is stepping in to detail just what Redmond's architecture means for multiplayer on Titanfall. The firm's Jon Shiring, who works with the game's cloud computing integration, says that the next-gen title boasts vastly improved online play since it leans on Ballmer and Company's cloud hardware instead of users to host sessions. By taking advantage of Microsoft's servers, the futuristic shooter benefits from more reliable bandwidth, snappier matchmaking times, extra CPU power and the elimination of latency-based host advantage and hacked-host cheating, to boot. Naturally, using dedicated servers can cost a ton, but Respawn says Microsoft managed to keep things comparatively inexpensive for developers, in part thanks to its Azure tech. For the dev's comprehensive write-up on just what this revamped Xbox Live architecture may mean for gaming, click the source link below.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: Respawn Entertainment
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/hvX6s50qqfw/
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Migrating animals add new depth to how the ocean 'breathes'
June 24, 2013 ? The oxygen content of the ocean may be subject to frequent ups and downs in a very literal sense -- that is, in the form of the numerous sea creatures that dine near the surface at night then submerge into the safety of deeper, darker waters at daybreak.
Research begun at Princeton University and recently reported on in the journal Nature Geoscience found that animals ranging from plankton to small fish consume vast amounts of what little oxygen is available in the ocean's aptly named "oxygen minimum zone" daily. The sheer number of organisms that seek refuge in water roughly 200- to 650-meters deep (650 to 2,000 feet) every day result in the global consumption of between 10 and 40 percent of the oxygen available at these depths.
The findings reveal a crucial and underappreciated role that animals have in ocean chemistry on a global scale, explained first author Daniele Bianchi, a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University who began the project as a doctoral student of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at Princeton.
"In a sense, this research should change how we think of the ocean's metabolism," Bianchi said. "Scientists know that there is this massive migration, but no one has really tried to estimate how it impacts the chemistry of the ocean.
"Generally, scientists have thought that microbes and bacteria primarily consume oxygen in the deeper ocean," Bianchi said. "What we're saying here is that animals that migrate during the day are a big source of oxygen depletion. We provide the first global data set to say that."
Much of the deep ocean can replenish (often just barely) the oxygen consumed during these mass migrations, which are known as diel vertical migrations (DVMs).
But the balance between DVMs and the limited deep-water oxygen supply could be easily upset, Bianchi said -- particularly by climate change, which is predicted to further decrease levels of oxygen in the ocean. That could mean these animals would not be able to descend as deep, putting them at the mercy of predators and inflicting their oxygen-sucking ways on a new ocean zone.
"If the ocean oxygen changes, then the depth of these migrations also will change. We can expect potential changes in the interactions between larger guys and little guys," Bianchi said. "What complicates this story is that if these animals are responsible for a chunk of oxygen depletion in general, then a change in their habits might have a feedback in terms of oxygen levels in other parts of the deeper ocean."
The researchers produced a global model of DVM depths and oxygen depletion by mining acoustic oceanic data collected by 389 American and British research cruises between 1990 and 2011. Using the background readings caused by the sound of animals as they ascended and descended, the researchers identified more than 4,000 DVM events.
They then chemically analyzed samples from DVM-event locations to create a model that could correlate DVM depth with oxygen depletion. With that data, the researchers concluded that DVMs indeed intensify the oxygen deficit within oxygen minimum zones.
"You can say that the whole ecosystem does this migration -- chances are that if it swims, it does this kind of migration," Bianchi said. "Before, scientists tended to ignore this big chunk of the ecosystem when thinking of ocean chemistry. We are saying that they are quite important and can't be ignored."
Bianchi conducted the data analysis and model development at McGill with assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences Eric Galbraith and McGill doctoral student David Carozza. Initial research of the acoustic data and development of the migration model was conducted at Princeton with K. Allison Smith (published as K.A.S. Mislan), a postdoctoral research associate in the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and Charles Stock, a researcher with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/NeinHNYdfDo/130624144822.htm
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Sunday, June 23, 2013
Police disperse protesters in Istanbul square
ISTANBUL (AP) ? Turkish police used water cannon to disperse thousands gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square on Saturday to observe a memorial for four people killed during recent anti-government protests. The officers later fired tear gas and rubber bullets to scatter demonstrators who regrouped in side streets.
The police move came as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that foreign-led conspirators he alleges are behind the anti-government movement in his country also are fomenting the recent unrest in Brazil.
The protests in Turkey erupted three weeks ago after riot police brutally cracked down on peaceful environmental activists who opposed plans to develop Gezi Park, which lies next to Taksim. The demonstrations soon turned into expressions of discontent with what critics say is Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian and meddlesome ways.
Erdogan, who took power a decade ago, denies he is authoritarian and, as evidence of his popularity, points to elections in 2011 that returned his party to power with 50 percent of the vote and gave him a third term in office.
On Saturday, demonstrators converged in Taksim, where they laid down carnations in remembrance of at least three protesters and a police officer killed in the rallies. For about two hours, protesters shouted anti-government slogans and demanded that Erdogan resign before police warned them to leave the square.
Some demonstrators tried to give carnations to the security forces watching over the square, shouting: "Police, don't betray your people." But after their warnings to disperse were ignored, police pushed back protesters with water cannon, even chasing stragglers down side streets and apparently blocking entrances to the square.
An Associated Press journalist said police drove back protesters into side streets off Taksim ? including the main pedestrian shopping street Istiklal ? and later fired several rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets to scatter the crowds who refused to disperse. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
Police in the capital, Ankara, also sprayed tear gas and pressurized water to break up hundreds of protesters who gathered in two neighborhoods, wanting to march to the city's main square, the Dogan news agency reported.
Last week, police had used water cannon as well as tear gas and rubber bullets to clear Taksim and end an occupation of Gezi Park by activists. But the demonstrations had largely subsided in Istanbul in recent days, with many protesters using a new, more passive approach of airing their grievances: standing motionless.
Erdogan has faced fierce international criticism for his government's crackdown on the protests, but he has defended his administration's actions as well as the tough police tactics. He also has blamed the protests on unspecified foreign forces, bankers and foreign and Turkish media outlets he says want to harm Turkish interests.
Brazil, meanwhile, has been hit by mass rallies set off this month by a 10-cent hike in bus and subway fares in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere. The protests soon moved beyond that issue to tap into widespread frustration in the South American nation over a range of issues, including high taxes and woeful public services.
During an address to tens of thousands of his backers in the Black Sea coastal city of Samsun, the latest stop in a series of rallies he has called to shore up his political support, Erdogan declared that Brazil was the target of the same conspirators he claims are trying to destabilize Turkey.
"The same game is now being played over Brazil," Erdogan said. "The symbols are the same, the posters are the same, Twitter, Facebook are the same, the international media is the same. They (the protests) are being led from the same center.
"They are doing their best to achieve in Brazil what they could not achieve in Turkey. It's the same game, the same trap, the same aim."
___
Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-disperse-protesters-istanbul-square-175034762.html
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Snowden in a 'safe place' as U.S. prepares to seek extradition
By Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has filed espionage charges against Edward Snowden, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who admitted revealing secret surveillance programs to media outlets, according to a court document made public on Friday.
The charges are the government's first step in what could be a long legal battle to return Snowden from Hong Kong, where he is believed to be in hiding, and try him in a U.S. court. A Hong Kong newspaper said he was under police protection, but the territory's authorities declined to comment.
Snowden was charged with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, said the criminal complaint, which was dated June 14.
The latter two offenses fall under the U.S. Espionage Act and carry penalties of fines and up to 10 years in prison.
A single page of the complaint was unsealed on Friday. An accompanying affidavit remained under seal.
Two U.S. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was preparing to seek Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong, which is part of China but has wide-ranging autonomy, including an independent judiciary.
The Washington Post, which first reported the criminal complaint earlier on Friday, said the United States had asked Hong Kong to detain Snowden on a provisional arrest warrant.
Hong Kong's Chinese-language Apple Daily quoted police sources as saying that anti-terrorism officers had contacted Snowden, arranged a safe house for him and provided protection. However, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) said Snowden was not in police protection but was in a "safe place" in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Andy Tsang declined to comment other than to say Hong Kong would deal with the case in accordance with the law.
Snowden earlier this month admitted leaking secrets about classified U.S. surveillance programs, creating a public uproar. Supporters say he is a whistleblower, while critics call him a criminal and perhaps even a traitor.
He disclosed documents detailing U.S. telephone and Internet surveillance efforts to the Washington Post and Britain's Guardian newspaper.
On Saturday, Hong Kong's SCMP said Snowden had divulged information to the newspaper showing how computers in Hong Kong and China had been targeted.
The SCMP said documents and statements by Snowden show the NSA program had hacked major Chinese telecoms companies to access text messages, attacked China's top Tsinghua University, and hacked the Hong Kong headquarters of Pacnet, which has an extensive fiber optic submarine network.
The criminal complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Snowden's former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is located.
That judicial district has seen a number of high-profile prosecutions, including the spy case against former FBI agent Robert Hanssen and the case of al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui. Both were convicted.
'ACTIVE EXTRADITION RELATIONSHIP'
Documents leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of Internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies such as Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.
They also showed that the government had worked through the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to gather so-called metadata - such as the time, duration and telephone numbers called - on all calls carried by service providers such as Verizon.
President Barack Obama and his intelligence chiefs have vigorously defended the programs, saying they are regulated by law and that Congress was notified. They say the programs have been used to thwart militant plots and do not target Americans' personal lives.
U.S. federal prosecutors, by filing a criminal complaint, lay claim to a legal basis to make an extradition request of the authorities in Hong Kong, the Post reported. The prosecutors now have 60 days to file an indictment and can then take steps to secure Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong for a criminal trial in the United States, the newspaper reported.
The United States and Hong Kong have "excellent cooperation" and as a result of agreements, "there is an active extradition relationship between Hong Kong and the United States," a U.S. law enforcement official told Reuters.
Since the United States and Hong Kong signed an extradition treaty in 1998, scores of Americans have been sent back home to face trial. However, the process can take years, lawyers say.
Under Hong Kong's extradition process, a request would first go to Hong Kong's chief executive. A magistrate would issue a formal warrant for Snowden's arrest if the chief executive agrees the case should proceed.
Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said the first charge of theft against Snowden might find an equivalent charge in Hong Kong, needed to allow extradition proceedings to move forward, but the unauthorized communication and willful communication charges may be sticking points that lead to litigation and dispute in the courts.
What ever the Hong Kong courts decide could be vetoed by the territory's leader or Beijing on foreign affairs or defense grounds.
An Icelandic businessman linked to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said on Thursday he had readied a private plane in China to fly Snowden to Iceland if Iceland's government would grant asylum.
Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden.
(Additional reporting by James Pomfret, Venus Wu and Grace Li in HONG KONG; Editing by Warren Strobel, Peter Cooney and Neil Fullick)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-files-espionage-charges-against-snowden-over-leaks-015108216.html
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Gunmen kill 9 foreign tourists, 1 Pakistani
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Gunmen wearing police uniforms killed nine foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn Sunday as they were visiting one of the world's highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan, officials said.
The foreigners who were killed included five Ukrainians, three Chinese and one Russian, said Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. One Chinese tourist was rescued, he said. Earlier reports indicated 11 foreign tourists were killed.
The attack took place at the base camp of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world. It's unclear if they were planning to climb the mountain or were just visiting the base camp, which is located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.
The shooting is likely to damage the country's struggling tourism industry. Pakistan's mountainous north ? considered until now relatively safe ? is one of the main attractions in a country beset with insurgency and other political instability.
The gunmen were wearing uniforms used by the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary police force that patrols the area, said a senior local government official. The attackers beat up the Pakistanis who were accompanying the tourists, took their money and tied them up, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
They checked the identities of the Pakistanis and shot to death one of them, possibly because he was a minority Shiite Muslim, said the official. Although Gilgit-Baltistan is a relatively peaceful area, it has experienced attacks by radical Sunni Muslims on Shiites in recent years.
The attackers took the money and passports from the foreigners and then gunned them down, said the official. It's unclear how the Chinese tourist who was rescued managed to avoid being killed.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Many foreign tourists stay away from Pakistan because of the perceived danger of visiting a country that is home to a large number of Islamic militant groups, such as the Taliban and al-Qaida, which mostly reside in the northwest near the Afghan border. But a relatively small number of intrepid foreigners visit Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer to marvel at the peaks of the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, including K2, the second highest mountain in the world.
Syed Mehdi Shah, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, condemned the attack and expressed fear that it would seriously damage the region's tourism industry.
"A lot of tourists come to this area in the summer, and our local people work to earn money from these people," said Shah. "This will not only affect our area, but will adversely affect all of Pakistan."
Shah said authorities are still trying to get more information about exactly what happened to the tourists. The area where the attack occurred, Bunar Nala, is only accessible by foot or on horseback, and communications can be difficult, said Shah. Bunar Nala is on one of three routes to reach Nanga Parbat, he said.
The area has been cordoned off by police and paramilitary soldiers, and a military helicopter is searching the area, said Shah. The military plans to airlift the bodies of the foreign tourists to Islamabad, he said.
"God willing we will find the perpetrators of this tragic incident," said Shah.
The government suspended the top police chief in Gilgit-Baltistan following the attack and has ordered an inquiry into the incident, said Khan, the interior minister.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-kill-9-foreign-tourists-1-pakistani-065625971.html
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