রবিবার, ৩০ জুন, ২০১৩

Grenada to punish offensive online comments

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Those found guilty of making offensive comments on Facebook or Twitter in the country of Grenada could be fined up to $37,000 or face three years in prison.

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada ? Legislators in Grenada have approved a bill that makes it a crime to offend people through websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The measure was approved as part of an electronic crimes bill passed late Friday in the tiny eastern Caribbean island. The same bill also imposes penalties on other online activities including electronic stalking and identity theft.

"We have problems when some use the technology to engage in mischief," said Legal Affairs Minister Elvin Nimrod. "We have to put structures in place to ensure that persons and, in some cases, companies and characters are not tarnished."

According to the bill, which is the first of its kind in the Caribbean, complaints about offensive comments would be filed with police. A judge would then decide if the message was offensive.

Those found guilty could be fined up to $37,000 or face three years in prison.

"A person will be able to take that evidence of the posting and use it as evidence in the court," Nimrod said. "People have to act responsibly to others."

The bill also makes it a crime to distribute child pornography, imposing fines of up to $111,000 and a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Sts. Peter and Paul Church of Norwich marks 75th anniversary

Longtime parishioners of Saints Peter and Paul Church said Saturday that the Norwich church is like another family to them, with strong ties to the community.

The church on Elizabeth Street celebrated its 75th anniversary on Saturday afternoon, the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.

The Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, bishop of Norwich, celebrated Mass, which was followed by a reception of about 140 people in the church hall.

?This is a special occasion for us and our whole parish,? its pastor, The Rev. Leszek T. Janik, said. ?It?s an honor for me to be with these people and celebrate together a significant anniversary.?

Janik, pastor for the last two years, said parishioners are very dedicated.

?We have so many different groups of people involved on a regular basis in many different ministries in the church, like the Altar Society, in charge of decorating the church on a regular basis.?

The society has about 15 regular members that decorate the church for different observances.

?It?s very meaningful, and very visible,? Janik said.

Carol Cieslukowski has been a parishioner since she was a young girl.

?It?s my church,? she said. ?Over the years it?s had a lot of activities and been very involved with sports for youth from the west side. We all grew up with it. It?s family.?

The parish community was established in 1936 and the cornerstone was laid a year later. The first Mass was celebrated on Easter Sunday, 1938.

Built to accommodate 600 worshippers, the church was designed in Romanesque style. Donations from parishioners, card parties and lawn festivals helped fund construction costs.

The church underwent a significant exterior and interior renovation in 2011 and 2012, Parish Chairman Daniel Leone said.

The parishioners are what give Saints Peter and Paul strength, Leone, a member since 1975, said.

?People are faithful. It?s the Catholic belief. People are so giving of their time and treasure.?

Leone and his young family moved to the area in 1975 and began attending Mass at the church.

?My children had their confirmations and first communions here,? he said. ?It sure has a lot of memories.?

Source: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/carousel/x997475507/Sts-Peter-and-Paul-Church-of-Norwich-marks-75th-anniversary?rssfeed=true

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শনিবার, ২৯ জুন, ২০১৩

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/strange_science/~3/INNYKIOaV7U/130628092147.htm

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House Republicans mull ways to advance immigration bill

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects for congressional passage of a U.S. immigration overhaul looked bleak on Friday, but some House Republicans signaled they would offer a way for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country to get legal status that could be portrayed as something other than a pathway to citizenship.

The Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday approved a bipartisan immigration bill backed by President Barack Obama, but leaders of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are not expected to take action on the measure.

Instead, the House is charting its own course because many conservative Republicans firmly oppose the citizenship provisions in the Senate version as "amnesty" for law-breakers.

But a proposal being talked about in the House as an alternative to the Senate bill would offer possible citizenship in the future after current illegal immigrants spend at least a decade in a legalized status short of citizenship. The approach is similar to the Senate-passed bill.

The difference may be one of semantics, in which the term "pathway to citizenship" can be averted. But the House approach might offer at least a glimmer of hope for enactment of immigration reform any time soon - in part just because it would originate in the Republican-controlled chamber.

Republican Representative John Carter of Texas, one of seven Republicans and Democrats who have been working privately on a House immigration bill, is among those crafting the alternative.

When asked how the House might address the central challenge of what to do about the 11 million illegal immigrants - most of them Hispanics - Carter sketched out a plan that tracks closely to the measure passed in the Senate.

In his approach, the 11 million would spend 10 years in a legalized status that provides them with work permits. At some point after that, they could be considered for permanent resident status, followed by possible citizenship.

A senior House aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said such a plan could be presented in the House later this year, but that it would have to contain some tougher provisions than the Senate measure.

Underscoring the sensitivity of doing anything that looks like House Republicans are embracing "amnesty," the aide added: "If you (in the media) call it a 'pathway to citizenship' you will be responsible for killing immigration reform."

The Senate bill, approved on Thursday by a 68-32 vote with 14 of the Senate's 46 Republicans going along, would put millions of illegal immigrants on a pathway to legal status and citizenship. Republicans in the House immediately called it "dead on arrival."

HISPANIC VOTERS

Hispanics, a fast-growing segment of the U.S. population, voted overwhelming for Obama, a Democrat, in last year's election. Some Republicans have expressed concern about hurting their party for years to come by continuing to alienate Hispanics on the immigration issue.

House Speaker John Boehner has said he will not advance an immigration bill unless it has the support of a majority of the House's 234 Republicans, ruling out chances of a Senate bill passed largely by Democrats with some Republican support.

Many saw that as the death knell for comprehensive immigration reform since so many House Republicans are thought to oppose the pathway to citizenship.

Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma said in an interview that he did not envision an immigration bill on the House floor this year "unless it's very late in the year" and "may go into next year" as lawmakers deal with more pressing budget and financial issues.

Referring to Boehner's conditions, Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said: "That's anti-democratic and I'm afraid that could doom the prospects of immigration reform." Appearing on MSNBC, Van Hollen added, "No one's giving up yet. I still think there's great hope. But that was not a promising statement."

Republican Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who chairs a House panel that oversees immigration, on Thursday was asked by Reuters whether the Senate's immigration reform bill was dead in the House. He responded: "Dead has a certain finality to it. I would say it's on life support."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Obama administration in coming days will do what it can to try to build support in the House.

At least some House Republicans publicly support a pathway to citizenship for the illegal immigrants already in the country. Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama, a member of the House Judiciary Committee that has been writing more limited immigration bills, has become an outspoken advocate of ending the deportation fears of these 11 million people.

"A path to citizenship is not popular in Alabama. However, I have stated - against public opinion in my state - that I am for a path to citizenship because I don't believe in second-class citizens," Bachus told Reuters.

He added, "If you don't have a pathway to citizenship, you create an underclass."

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Fred Barbash and Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-republicans-mull-ways-advance-immigration-bill-220814530.html

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Methane in Pennsylvania Groundwater May Originate in Fracked Gas Wells

A new study links elevated levels of methane and other gases in groundwater to nearby hydraulic fracturing wells on the Marcellus Shale, and suggests the problem lies in poorly designed well casings


Gas wells in north central Pennsylvania

Marcellus Fracking: Gas wells in north central Pennsylvania Image: Gerry Dincher

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Are natural gas wells in northeastern Pennsylvania contaminating the groundwater supply? Some researchers think so.

Scientists at Duke University detected elevated levels of methane, ethane and propane in groundwater samples near active fracking sites. The scientists conclude that the gasses come from the wells, not natural sources, but that the problem could be solved with better-designed casings. "We think there's a well-integrity problem in this part of the Marcellus,? says Robert Jackson, a professor at Duke and lead author on the paper describing the findings. "And well problems are relatively easily fixed. They?re especially easier to fix than if there's some fundamental problem with fracking."

Hydraulic fracturing?more commonly referred to as fracking?extracts natural gas reserves that are unreachable by conventional techniques. The process requires drilling wells thousands of meters down and then blasting them with a mix of water, sand and chemicals to induce fractures in the underlying rock. Gas seeps through these fractures and flows back up the well where it is captured.

But if the wells aren?t properly sealed, then gas can leak into the groundwater. The wells are lined with metal casings that prevent extracted gas and contaminated water from leaching into the surrounding rock. To block gas from flowing up the outside of the well shaft, engineers pour cement around the outer casing to plug any gaps. If the cement or casing isn?t properly set, then gas from deep shale deposits can find its way in to shallow groundwater. If the casing ruptures, fracking chemicals can also enter the water supply.

The researchers sampled well water from 141 homes in six counties. Many of the samples contained methane, but those wells within one kilometer of a gas well showed concentrations six times higher than average. Ethane in those nearby homes was 23 times above that of homes farther away. Ten homes also showed traces of propane.

The paper, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, builds on a previous study done in 2011. The researchers added 81 homes to their data and expanded their analysis to identify the source of the stray gases.

There are many natural sources of methane, none of which have to do with fracking. Microbes, for example, produce methane as they break down organic matter. Shallow gas pockets also can find their way through underground fissures and into water supplies. But methane has a way of telling researchers where it came from. Its molecule consists of one carbon atom attached to four hydrogen atoms. But not all carbon atoms are alike; some are slightly heavier than others. These heavier flavors, or isotopes, of methane can tell scientists where the gas has been. Microbes, for example, favor lighter carbon atoms. Deep natural gas reserves, like the Marcellus shale, tend to be heavier. Isotope analysis showed gases that look like they come from the Marcellus Formation.

The appearance of ethane and propane also rules out microbes as a source in some cases. Biological sources of methane do not produce ethane and propane. Beyond one kilometer from the gas wells the background level of ethane and propane is almost zero. But within that radius, the level jumps dramatically. ?Where we find higher methane concentrations,? Jackson explains, ?sometimes it looks like natural background, sometimes it looks like Marcellus gas. When it?s Marcellus gas, that points to a problem with well casings.? He points out that the elevated gas level is not a criticism of fracking itself, but it does suggest that there are well problems and that these need to be addressed. ?The place to start is well integrity.?

Fred Baldassare, owner and senior geochemist at ECHELON Applied Geosciences Consulting, disagrees. ?I don?t get a really strong sense of where they collected the water samples from,? he says. Without that information, he explained, it is difficult to independently assess the Duke study?s conclusions. ECHELON investigates stray gas incidents for clients such as the Marcellus Shale Coalition and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/ScientificAmerican-News/~3/MT6-xNKFr3M/article.cfm

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শুক্রবার, ২৮ জুন, ২০১৩

New rules aim to rid schools of junk foods

WASHINGTON (AP) ? High-calorie sports drinks and candy bars will be removed from school vending machines and cafeteria lines as soon as next year, replaced with diet drinks, granola bars and other healthier items.

The Agriculture Department said Thursday that for the first time it will make sure that all foods sold in the nation's 100,000 schools are healthier by expanding fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits to almost everything sold during the school day.

That includes snacks sold around the school and foods on the "a la carte" line in cafeterias, which never have been regulated before. The new rules, proposed in February and made final this week, also would allow states to regulate student bake sales.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. The rules have the potential to transform what many children eat at school.

While some schools already have made improvements in their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods. Standards put into place at the beginning of the 2012 school year already regulate the nutritional content of free and low-cost school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government. However most lunchrooms also have the "a la carte" lines that sell other foods ? often greasy foods like mozzarella sticks and nachos. Under the rules, those lines could offer healthier pizzas, low-fat hamburgers, fruit cups or yogurt, among other foods that meet the standards.

One of the biggest changes under the rules will be a near-ban on high-calorie sports drinks, which many beverage companies added to school vending machines to replace high-calorie sodas that they pulled in response to criticism from the public health community.

The rule would only allow sales in high schools of sodas and sports drinks that contain 60 calories or less in a 12-ounce serving, banning the highest-calorie versions of those beverages.

Many companies already have developed low-calorie sports drinks ? Gatorade's G2, for example ? and many diet teas and diet sodas are also available for sale.

Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, carbonated water, 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, and low fat and fat-free milk, including nonfat flavored milks.

First lady Michelle Obama, an advocate for healthy eating and efforts to reduce childhood obesity, pointed out that many working parents don't have control over what their kids eat when they're not at home.

"That's why as a mom myself, I am so excited that schools will now be offering healthier choices to students and reinforcing the work we do at home to help our kids stay healthy," Mrs. Obama said in a statement.

At a congressional hearing, a school nutritionist said Thursday that schools have had difficulty adjusting to the 2012 changes, and the new "a la carte" standards could also be a hardship.

Sandra Ford, president of the School Nutrition Association and director of food and nutrition services for a school district in Bradenton, Fla., said in prepared testimony that the healthier foods have been expensive and participation has declined since the standards went into effect. She also predicted that her school district could lose $975,000 a year under the new "a la carte" guidelines because they would have to eliminate many of the foods they currently sell.

"The new meal pattern requirements have significantly increased the expense of preparing school meals, at a time when food costs were already on the rise," she said.

Ford called on the USDA to permanently do away with the limits on grains and proteins, saying they hampered her school district's ability to serve sandwiches and salads with chicken on top that had proved popular with students.

The Government Accountability Office said it visited eight districts around the country and found that in most districts students were having trouble adjusting to some of the new foods, leading to increased food waste and decreased participation in the school lunch program.

However, the agency said in a report that most students spoke positively about eating healthier foods and predicted they will get used to the changes over time.

One principle of the new rules is not just to cut down on unhealthy foods but to increase the number of healthier foods sold. The standards encourage more whole grains, low-fat dairy, fruits, vegetables and lean proteins.

"It's not enough for it to be low in problem nutrients, it also has to provide positive nutritional benefits," says Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest who has lobbied for the new rules. "There has to be some food in the food."

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Last year's rules making main lunch fare more nutritious faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department left one of the more controversial parts of the rule, the regulation of in-school fundraisers like bake sales, up to the states.

The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The USDA so far has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government temporarily relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law three years ago.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rules-aim-rid-schools-junk-foods-100107920.html

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'Sweetest comeback': Twinkies to hit shelves July 15

Food

June 23, 2013 at 3:47 PM ET

This undated image provided by Hostess Brands LLC shows a box of Twinkies. Twinkies will be back on shelves by July 15, 2013, after its predecessor co...

AP / Hostess Brands

Twinkies will return to store shelves by July 15, 2013, after its predecessor company went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with unions last year. The brands have since been purchased y Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management.

Hostess is betting on a sweet comeback for Twinkies when they return to shelves next month.

The company that went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with its unionized workers last year is back up and running under new owners and a leaner structure. It says it plans to have Twinkies and other snack cakes back on shelves starting July 15.

Based on the outpouring of nostalgia sparked by its demise, Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return next month for Twinkies and other sugary treats, such as CupCakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bare the tag line "The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever."

"A lot of impostor products have come to the market while Hostess has been off the shelves," says Daren Metropoulos, a principal of the investment firm Metropoulos & Co., which teamed up with Apollo Global Management to buy a variety of Hostess snacks.

Hostess Brands Inc. was struggling for years before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in early 2012. Workers blamed the troubles on years of mismanagement, as well as a failure of executives to invest in brands to keep up with changing tastes. The company said it was weighed down by higher pension and medical costs than its competitors, whose employees weren't unionized.

To steer it through its bankruptcy reorganization, Hostess hired restructuring expert Greg Rayburn as its CEO. But Rayburn ultimately failed to reach a contract agreement with its second largest union. In November, he blamed striking workers for crippling the company's ability to maintain normal production and announced that Hostess would liquidate.

The shuttering triggered a rush on Hostess snack cakes, with stores selling out of the most popular brands within hours.

About 15,000 unionized workers lost their jobs in the aftermath.

In unwinding its business, Hostess sold off its brands in chunks to different buyers. Its major bread brands including Wonder were sold to Flowers Foods, which makes Tastykakes. McKee Foods, which makes Little Debbie snack cakes, snapped up Drake's Cake, which includes Devil Dogs and Yodels.

Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Twinkies and other Hostess cakes for $410 million.

Apollo Global Management, founded by Leon Black, is known for buying troubled brands then selling them for a profit; its investments include fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. Metropoulos & Co., which has revamped then sold off brands including Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee, also owns Pabst Brewing Co.

That could mean some cross-promotional marketing is in store.

"There is certainly a natural association with the two," Metropoulos said. "There could be some opportunities for them to seen together."

The trimmed-down Hostess Brands LLC has a far less costly operating structure than the predecessor company. Some of the previous workers were hired back, but they're no longer unionized.

Hostess will also now deliver to warehouses that supply retailers, rather than delivering directly to stores, said Rich Seban, the president of Hostess who previously served as chief operating officer. That will greatly expand its reach, letting it deliver to dollar stores and nearly all convenience stores in the U.S.

Previously, he said Hostess was only able to reach about a third of the country's 150,000 convenience stores.

Production was also consolidated, from 11 bakery plants to four ? one each in Georgia, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana. The headquarters were moved from Texas to Kansas City, Mo., where Hostess was previously based and still had some accounting offices.

In the months since they vanished from shelves, the cakes have been getting a few touchups as well. For the CupCakes, the company is now using dark cocoa instead of milk chocolate to give them a richer, darker appearance.

Seban stressed that the changes were to improve the cakes, not to cut costs. Prices for the cakes will remain the same; a box of 10 Twinkies will cost $3.99.

Looking ahead, Seban sees Hostess expanding its product lineup. He noted that Hostess cakes are known for three basic textures: the spongy cake, the creamy filling and the thicker icing. But he said different textures ? such as crunchy ? could be introduced, as well as different flavors.

"We can have some fun with that mixture," he said.

He also said there are many trendy health attributes the company could tap into, such as gluten-free, added fiber, low sugar and low sodium.

During bankruptcy proceedings, Hostess had said that its overall sales had been declining, although the company didn't give a breakout on the performance of individual brands. But Seban is confident Twinkies will have staying power beyond its re-launch.

As for the literal shelf-life, Seban is quick to refute the snack cake's fabled indestructibility.

"Forty-five days ? that's it," he said. "They don't last forever."

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? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2dded3f2/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Csweetest0Ecomeback0Etwinkies0Ehit0Eshelves0Ejuly0E150E6C10A423619/story01.htm

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Verizon 4G LTE reaches 500th market, initial network build-out now complete

Verizon 4G LTE reaches 500th market, initial network buildout now complete

Verizon was the first US carrier to launch (and famously fumble) its LTE rollout back in 2010, but its long road to 4G nationwide coverage has finally come to a near close. As of today, the operator's LTE footprint now blankets more than 298 million people in 500 markets across the US, with Parkersburg, West Virginia claiming that 500th market distinction. It's a milestone Verizon managed to achieve in a little over two years' time, as the company's Chief Network Officer Nicola Palmer was quick to point out. The completion of this initial LTE rollout also brings Alaska into Verizon's coverage map as early as next month -- a territory that, before today, didn't even have 3G -- marking the carrier's network as available in all 50 states.

With a full LTE expansion, however, comes network congestion problems, as subscribers in major cities like New York are already starting to experience. Palmer assured us that solutions are currently underway to shore up capacity in these LTE markets. Verizon's AWS holdings, in particular, should serve to augment LTE reception in select areas starting in the second half of this year. The same goes for small cell site deployment, which Palmer stressed is an LTE-only initiative. News on the carrier's plans for LTE-Advanced remain just as vague as ever, with Palmer positioning the standard as yet another tool to enhance current LTE capacity. Unfortunately, she wouldn't commit to a timeframe for LTE-A nor address concerns about the potential for new pricing tiers when it does eventually launch. Still, Verizon subs will at least have VoLTE (voice over LTE) to look forward to next year -- that is, when it eventually clears the company's rigorous lab and field testing.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/verizon-4g-lte-network-500-markets/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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High court gay marriage decisions due Wednesday

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court is meeting to deliver opinions in two cases that could dramatically alter the rights of gay people across the United States.

The justices are expected to decide their first-ever cases about gay marriage Wednesday in their last session before the court's summer break. Hours before the court was to issue its rulings, crowds began lining up outside the Supreme Court building in hopes of getting a seat inside the courtroom.

The issues before the court are California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which denies legally married gay Americans a range of tax, health and pension benefits otherwise available to married couples.

The broadest possible ruling would give gay Americans the same constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals. But several narrower paths also are available, including technical legal outcomes in which the court could end up saying very little about same-sex marriage.

If the court overturns California's Proposition 8 or allows lower court rulings that struck down the ban to stand, it will take about a month for same-sex weddings to resume for the first time since 2008, San Francisco officials have said.

The high court rulings are arriving amid rapid change regarding gay marriage. The number of states permitting same-sex partners to wed has doubled from six to 12 in less than a year, with voter approval in three states in November, followed by legislative endorsement in three others in the spring.

At the same time, an effort to legalize gay marriage in Illinois stalled before the state's legislative session ended last month. And 30 states have same-sex marriage bans enshrined in their constitutions.

Among those waiting outside for the opportunity to hear the justices read their opinions was Ian Holloway, 34, of Los Angeles, who said he and his partner were optimistic the court would strike down his state's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in his state.

"We have rings ready. We're ready to go as soon as the decision comes down," he said. Others outside the court carried signs reading "2 moms make a right" and "I Do' Support Marriage Equality."

While most spectators appeared to be in favor of gay marriage, there were those against. Larry Cirignano, 57, said he had driven four hours from his home in Far Hills, N.J., when he heard Wednesday would be decision day. He carried a sign that read "M=" followed by symbols for man and woman.

Massachusetts was the first state to allow same-sex couples to marry, in 2004. Same-sex marriage also is legal, or soon will be, in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Roughly 18,000 same-sex couples got married in California in less than five months in 2008, after the California Supreme Court struck down a state code provision prohibiting gay unions.

California voters approved Proposition 8 in November of that year, writing the ban into the state's constitution.

Two same-sex couples challenged the provision as unconstitutional and federal courts in California agreed.

The federal marriage law, known by its acronym DOMA, defines marriage as between a man and a woman for the purpose of deciding who can receive a range of federal benefits. Another provision not being challenged for the time being allows states to withhold recognition of same-sex marriages from other states.

DOMA easily passed Congress and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the year of his re-election.

Several federal district and appeals courts struck down the provision. In 2011, the Obama administration abandoned its defense of the law but continued to enforce it. House Republicans are now defending DOMA in the courts. President Barack Obama subsequently endorsed gay marriage in 2012.

The justices chose for their review the case of 83-year-old Edith Windsor of New York, who sued to challenge a $363,000 federal estate tax bill after her partner of 44 years died in 2009.

Windsor, who goes by Edie, married Thea Spyer in 2007 after doctors told them Spyer would not live much longer. She suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years. Spyer left everything she had to Windsor.

Windsor would have paid nothing in inheritance taxes if she had been married to a man.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-gay-marriage-decisions-due-wednesday-071439132.html

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৭ জুন, ২০১৩

US suspending Bangladesh trade benefits after factory tragedies - source

Retail

2 hours ago

People rescue garment workers trapped under rubble at the Rana Plaza building after it collapsed, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka in this Apr...

ANDREW BIRAJ / Reuters

People rescue garment workers trapped under rubble at the Rana Plaza building after it collapsed, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka in this April 24, 2013 file photo. Sources says President Obama will suspend U.S. trade benefits to Bangladesh.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce on Thursday that the United States is suspending trade benefits for Bangladesh after two tragedies in a year in the country's garment sector that killed more than 1,200 workers, a congressional source said.

U.S. trade officials have said they expected Obama to announce a decision on the matter by the end of June. The U.S. Trade Representative's office did not have an immediate comment on whether an announcement would come Thursday.

Suspending Bangladesh from the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program would increase U.S. duties on an array of products the Asian country exports to the United States, such as tobacco, sporting equipment, porcelain china, plastic products and a small amount of textile products.

But it would not directly affect Bangladesh's main export, clothing, since garments are not eligible for duty cuts under the GSP program, which was created in 1976 to help economic development in the world's poorest countries and to reduce import costs for U.S. companies.

In 2012, Bangladesh was spared about $2 million in U.S. duties on about $35 million worth of goods under GSP, but it paid about $732 million in U.S. duties on $4.9 billion of clothing exports not covered by the program, according to Ed Gresser, a trade analyst with the GlobalWorks Foundation.

Still, Obama's decision would be a repudiation of working conditions in Bangladesh following the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building in April that killed 1,129 people and the Tazreen factory fire in November that killed 112. Clothing for several American and European retailers is made in Bangladesh.

It also could influence the European Union's decision whether to suspend trade benefits for Bangladesh, which would have far more impact since Bangladesh's clothing and textiles exports receive duty-free treatment there.

The EU imported roughly 9.2 billion euros ($12.13 billion) of goods from Bangladesh last year, according to data from the EU's executive, the European Commission.

Clothing and textile products ranging from towels and bedding accounted for almost 93 percent of those goods.

EU officials have threatened to kick Bangladesh out of the program - a process that could take more than a year - unless it improves worker safety conditions.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2de37be3/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cus0Esuspending0Ebangladesh0Etrade0Ebenefits0Eafter0Efactory0Etragedies0Esource0E6C10A467534/story01.htm

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Body of NYC storm victim lay undetected for months

NEW YORK (AP) ? In the chaotic days after Superstorm Sandy, an army of aid workers streamed onto the flood-ravaged Rockaway Peninsula looking for anyone who needed help. Health workers and National Guard troops went door to door. City inspectors checked thousands of dwellings for damage. Seaside neighborhoods teemed with utility crews, Red Cross trucks and crews clearing debris.

Yet, even as the months dragged by, nobody thought to look inside the tiny construction trailer rusting away in a junk-filled lot at the corner of Beach 40th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard.

If they had, they would have found the body of Keith Lancaster, a quiet handyman who appeared to have been using the trailer as a home the night Sandy sent 5 feet of water churning through the neighborhood.

It took until April 5 before an acquaintance finally went to check on the 62-year-old's whereabouts and found his partially skeletonized remains. His body lay near a calendar that hadn't been turned since October and prescription pill bottles last refilled in the fall.

New York City's medical examiner announced this week that Lancaster had drowned, making him the 44th person ruled to have died in New York City because of the storm.

Neighborhood residents described Lancaster as a loner and something of a drifter, and police said he had never been reported missing. No one stepped forward to claim his body from the city morgue, either, after he was finally discovered this spring. He was buried in a potter's field on an island in Long Island Sound, the medical examiner's office said. A police missing-person squad is still trying to identify any relatives.

But in life, he was well liked by some of the people who saw him sweeping sidewalks around the vacant lot where he sometimes slept.

"When we first moved here, he weeded our entire backyard," said Gerald Sylvester, 55, a retired transit worker who lives in a small bungalow just feet from the trailer where Lancaster died.

Sylvester and his wife, Carrie Vaughan, 60, said Lancaster also mended their fence and once fixed an outdoor light at their house ? but he always refused any money for his help. He wouldn't take any food, either, when they offered, and politely declined their invitations to come inside, explaining he didn't like to go into people's houses.

"He didn't talk a lot, but if he knew you, you could have a decent conversation," said Vaughan. "He was very nice. A gentleman at all times."

She said it wasn't entirely clear where he was living. Lancaster, who the family said looked slightly frail, told her he didn't want to settle in one place.

As the storm approached and the neighborhood evacuated, Sylvester said he went looking for Lancaster to see if he wanted to leave with the family, but never found him.

After the Oct. 29 storm, many neighborhood residents were unable to return to their homes. Even today, some buildings remain empty or under repair. Vaughan and Sylvester were away for two months, living in a FEMA-funded apartment, before they came back.

The lot where Lancaster's trailer sat has been vacant for many years and, at just 15 feet wide, is easy to miss. Someone passing by would probably assume, wrongly, that it is the side yard of one of the bungalows that sit next door.

The company that owns the plot, the Master Sheet Co., hasn't paid any property taxes on the parcel for years, according to city records, and it wasn't clear whether anyone associated with the business was aware someone was living on the property. A lawyer for the owners, Robert Rosenblatt, said Wednesday that he wasn't immediately able to reach his clients.

New York City's Office of Emergency Management spokesman Christopher Miller said that search and rescue teams searched 30,000 homes in areas hit by the storm, but hadn't entered the trailer.

"As nobody had reported the deceased missing and we had no reason to believe that someone had been (illegally) residing in the trailer, we did not seek access to the structure," he said in an email.

The lot where Lancaster died remained filled with junk this week, including an old office chair, plastic crates and bottles and stuffed animals. The trailer ? barely big enough to stand in ? is itself filled with trash.

Vaughan said that when her family returned home, she wondered what had become of Lancaster, but never suspected that he had been killed or that his body was in the trailer, which sits on cinder blocks just a few feet from her home.

"He was like a fixture of the community. We were wondering what happened to him," said Vaughan. "We would've taken him with us."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/body-nyc-storm-victim-lay-undetected-months-065513402.html

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Massachusetts Special Election Results: Ed Markey Beats Gabriel Gomez

  • John Kerry (2013-Present)

    John Kerry leaves a Senate Foreign Relations Committee markup on Jan. 29, 2013 after a vote was held on his confirmation as Secretary of State. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Hillary Clinton (2009-13)

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at a press conference on November 14, 2012. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Condoleezza Rice (2005-09)

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talks about the State Department's 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices during a March 11, 2008 briefing in Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Colin Powell (2001-05)

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks on June 22, 2004, about a corrected version of an inaccurate terrorism report issued by the government. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Madeleine Albright (1997-2001)

    U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright delivers a Russia policy briefing on September 16, 1999 in Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Warren Christopher (1993-97)

    U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher briefs reporters on the peace process in Bosnia during a Dec. 8, 1995 press conference. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Lawrence Eagleburger (1992-93)

    Then-acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger listens to a reporter's question during a Nov. 18, 1992 news conference at the State Department. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • James Baker (1989-92)

    James Baker III waves to his associates at the US State Department on August 13, 1992. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • George P. Shultz (1982-89)

    U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz listens to a question during his first day of testimony before Iran-Contra investigators on July 23, 1987 in Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Alexander Haig (1981-82)

    Alexander Haig, Secretary of State-designate, a Reagan nominee on Monday, Dec. 23, 1980 in Washington for the announcement of selections. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Edmund Muskie (1980-81)

    (Pictured left) Freed hostage Richard Queen, right, greets well wishers at the State Department on Monday, July 21, 1980 in Washington. At left is Secretary of State Edmund Muskie. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Cyrus Vance (1977-80)

    Cyrus Vance, U.S. Secretary of State, pictured in 1979. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Henry Kissinger (1973-77)

    Secretary of State Henry Kissinger announces during an April 29, 1975 press conference in Washington that the evacuation of Americans from Vietnam and Saigon is complete, thus ending US involvement. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • William P. Rogers (1969-73)

    Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, left, and Secretary of State William P. Rogers begin talks at the Department of State on Feb. 7, 1972 in Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Dean Rusk (1961-69)

    Secretary of State Dean Rusk is shown during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on March 1, 1962. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Christian Herter (1959-61)

    President Dwight Eisenhower, left, says goodbye to Secretary of State Christian Herter in Gettsburg, Pennsylvania, on May 2, 1959 as Herter is about to board a helicopter on the President's farm to return to Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • John Foster Dulles (1953-59)

    U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (left) gets together with South Korean President Syngman Rhee in Seoul on August 4, 1953. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Dean Acheson (1949-53)

    U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson speaks from the State Department on Nov. 29, 1950 in Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • George C. Marshall (1947-49)

    Gen. George C. Marshall poses in his Red Cross office on Sept. 13, 1950 in Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • James F. Byrnes (1945-47)

    James F. Byrnes, United States Secretary of State, links arms with Associated Press correspondent, John Hightower, at Central Hall, Westminster in London, Jan. 15, 1946. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Edward Reilly Stettinius (1944-45)

    France's Foreign Minister Georges Bidault makes a VE Day radio statement from the Opera House in San Francisco, CA, May 8, 1945. Seated at the far right U.S. Secretary of State Edward Stettinius. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>) <em><strong>Correction</strong>: An earlier version of this text misspelled Stettinius' surname.</em>

  • Cordell Hull (1933-44)

    U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt is greeted by Secretary of State Cordell Hull on Sept. 15, 1938 in Washington. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Henry Lewis Stimson (1929-33)

    Henry Lewis Stimson, American Secretary of State for War shown around July 1931. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Frank B. Kellogg (1925-29)

    Former United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg on Aug. 17, 1936 at Waterloo Station in London. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Charles Evans Hughes (1921-25)

    (Center) Former Secretary of State and Chief justice Charles Evans Hughes, pictured on on March 27, 1931. (Source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/">U.S. Department Of State</a>)

  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/massachusetts-special-election-results_n_3499592.html

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    Mongolian president wins second term amid focus on mining curbs

    ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Mongolia's incumbent president, Tsakhia Elbegdorj, who wants more controls on foreign mining investments, has emerged as the winner of Wednesday's polls with a narrow majority of votes cast, the country's election commission said on Thursday.

    Elbegdorj, 50, who has served as president since 2009, was the overwhelming favorite in the contest, played out amid worries about Mongolia's faltering economy as well as the growing role of foreign mining firms.

    The commission said Elbegdorj got 50.23 percent of the votes, beating a former wrestling champion, Bat-Erdene Badmaanyambuu of the Mongolian People's Party, and health minister Udval Natsag, of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.

    The lower-than-expected margin of victory could be traced to low turnout, said Julian Dierkes, an expert in Mongolian politics at the University of British Columbia, adding that participation was 10 percent lower than the last election.

    "The consensus was that Elbegdorj was winning and I suspect that a lot of potential voters thought he was winning anyway, and didn't vote," said Dierkes, who is in Ulan Bator to monitor the election.

    Elbegdorj's narrow victory, even if it is not contested by the opposition, is not expected to allay the concerns of foreign investors worried about growing government interference in the country's booming mining sector.

    The win preserves the dominance of the Mongolian Democratic Party, which won the most seats, though not an absolute majority, in last year's parliamentary vote, and heads a coalition government keen to regulate foreign investments.

    Elbegdorj is a free-market advocate, but his government has increasingly adopted a more "resource nationalist" approach, with laws to give the country a bigger stake in "strategic assets", such as mines.

    It also aims to rework a landmark 2009 investment pact to develop the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine.

    The vote took place amid rising concern over Mongolia's resource-dependent economy, with falling commodity prices and weakening demand from China expected to erode growth and undermine spending plans.

    The economy grew 12 percent last year and 17 percent in 2011, as mining investment poured in and mineral exports to China surged.

    But growth could slow to 5.5 percent in 2013, the Mongolian Investment Banking Group said this week, if the Oyu Tolgoi project is not launched on schedule.

    Mongolia is in dispute with Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto over how it will repatriate profits from Oyu Tolgoi, whose launch has been delayed twice this month.

    A controversial new mining bill championed by Elbegdorj will also be high on the agenda.

    "The biggest implication is continuity -- his campaign was that he had done well for four years and wanted a chance to do more," said Dierkes. "But mining and resources is on the top of everyone's agenda and here he will keep going."

    (Reporting by Max Duncan, Terrence Edwards and David Stanway; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mongolian-president-wins-second-term-amid-focus-mining-033224558.html

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    বুধবার, ২৬ জুন, ২০১৩

    Was first curveball thrown 2 million years ago?

    FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

    FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

    (AP) ? It's a big year for throwing. The greatest closer in baseball history, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, is retiring. Aroldis Chapman, the overpowering Cincinnati Reds reliever, continues to fire fastballs beyond 100 mph.

    And now some scientists say they've figured out when our human ancestors first started throwing with accuracy and fire power, as only people can: Nearly 2 million years ago.

    That's what researchers conclude in a study released Wednesday by the journal Nature. There's plenty of skepticism about their conclusion. But the new paper contends that this throwing ability probably helped our ancient ancestor Homo erectus hunt, allowing him to toss weapons ? probably rocks and sharpened wooden spears.

    The human throwing ability is unique. Not even a chimp, our closest living relative and a creature noted for strength, can throw nearly as fast as a 12-year-old Little Leaguer, says lead study author Neil Roach of George Washington University.

    To find out how humans developed this ability, Roach and co-authors analyzed the throwing motions of 20 collegiate baseball players. Sometimes the players wore braces to mimic the anatomy of human ancestors, to see how anatomical changes affected throwing ability.

    The human secret to throwing, the researchers propose, is that when the arm is cocked, it stores energy by stretching tendons, ligaments and muscles crossing the shoulder. It's like pulling back on a slingshot. Releasing that "elastic energy" makes the arm whip forward to make the throw.

    That trick, in turn, was made possible by three anatomical changes in human evolution that affected the waist, shoulders and arms, the researchers concluded. And Homo erectus, which appeared about 2 million years ago, is the first ancient relative to combine those three changes, they said.

    But others think the throwing ability must have appeared sometime later in human evolution.

    Susan Larson, an anatomist at Stony Brook University in New York who didn't participate in the study, said the paper is the first to claim that elastic energy storage occurs in arms, rather than just in legs. The bouncing gait of a kangaroo is due to that phenomenon, she said, and the human Achilles tendon stores energy to help people walk.

    The new analysis offers good evidence that the shoulder is storing elastic energy, even though the shoulder doesn't have the long tendons that do that job in legs, she said. So maybe other tissues can do it too, she said.

    But Larson, an expert on evolution of the human shoulder, said she does not think Homo erectus could throw like a modern human. She said she believes its shoulders were too narrow and that the orientation of the shoulder joint on the body would make overhand throwing "more or less impossible."

    Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution, said he is "not at all convinced" by the paper's argument about when and why throwing appeared.

    The authors did not present any data to counter Larson's published work that indicates the erectus shoulder was ill-suited for throwing, he said.

    And it is "a stretch" to say that throwing would give erectus an advantage in hunting, Potts said. Large animals have to be pierced in specific spots for a kill, which would seem to require more accuracy than one could expect erectus to achieve from a distance, he said.

    Potts noted that the earliest known spears, which date from about 400,000 years ago, were used for thrusting rather than throwing.

    ___ Online:

    Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature

    ___

    Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-26-Throwing%20Arm/id-7a703efec63540ec941b295e44c70252

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    মঙ্গলবার, ২৫ জুন, ২০১৩

    &#39;Fundamentally Different,&#39; Top Investor Says - AOL Real Estate

    house shaped stack of coins symbolizes real estate investingBy Paul Toscano

    Marc Nemer, the CEO of Cole Real Estate Investments, one of the largest publicly traded REITs, said that a recovery is under way with fundamentals noticeably improving in the market.

    "It's fundamentally different out there," Nemer told "Squawk on the Street" Friday, when asked how the market today compares with the period six months prior.

    Nemer said that his company focuses on "necessity-based" properties, which are less subject to discretionary spending at the consumer level. "The kind of properties we're focused on are doing very well right now."

    According to the company, Cole invests primarily in single-tenant commercial real estate, leasing the properties under long-term leases. Cole's portfolio of tenants includes such companies as Walgreen, Dr. Pepper Snapple, PetSmart, Microsoft, Apollo Group's University of Phoenix and more. In 2012, Cole's portfolio topped $10 billion.

    "Development is coming back a little bit, which is an indication that things are improving, but that is slow," he said. "Being one of the most active investors, we are able to take advantage of opportunities in the market right now."

    With a dividend yield of nearly 6.5 percent, Nemer said that the payouts are backed up by a strong portfolio of income-generating collateral. "It's very compelling right now," he said.

    With markets that are sensitive to a looming rise in interest rates, Nemer said that his company is "relatively isolated from a fundamental standpoint" for the eventuality of higher rates. "We've been taking advantage of historically low interest rates for some time, locking in long-term fixed-rate debt."

    More on CNBC:
    From Recovery to Bubble Already?
    Rising Home Prices Are 'Unsustainable'
    Billionaire's Real Estate Playbook

    More on AOL Real Estate:
    Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
    Find
    homes for sale in your area.
    Find
    foreclosures in your area.

    Find homes for rent.

    Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

    Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/06/24/real-estate-market-fundamentally-different-top-investor-says/

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    Mad Catz R.A.T. M


    Gaming mice are usually complicated affairs, and wireless gaming mice tend to be even more involved. Besides a cable, high-end gaming mice usually have a charging cradle and are designed to sit quietly on a desk when not in use. This is great if you have a desktop gaming system, but if you like traveling around with a gaming notebook, it feels a bit bulky. Mad Catz's mobile gaming mice offer an alternative. The R.A.T. M is a particularly small, portable gaming mouse with all of the extra buttons and laser sensor resolution (6,400 dpi) you could want, but at $129.99 (direct) it's very pricey and it's just a little too small to be comfortable, especially compared to the you-won't-notice-it's-much-bigger-in-your-bag M.O.U.S. 9, which costs the same and will cause less cramps for larger hands.

    Design
    The R.A.T. M feels like a more compact version of Madcatz' other R.A.T. mice, and is dwarfed even by the M.O.U.S. 9, a similar MadCatz wireless mouse. The mouse takes Mad Catz' distinctive shape, with an angular, futuristic profile punctuated by a large thumb rest, an index finger button located to the left of the regular left mouse button, and a prominent, ridged metal wheel. Besides the additional index finger button, the mouse has two thumb buttons and a four-way directional nub on the thumb rest, plus a switch located just under the mouse wheel that toggles between high and low sensitivity.

    Under the R.A.T. M, a small USB receiver sits in a spring-loaded hole, so you don't have to worry about losing it when the mouse isn't in use. A small switch under the optical sensor turns the mouse on and off. A battery compartment sits under the palm rest and holds two AAA batteries. The mouse comes with a drawstring pouch made of a black mesh material, for keeping the mouse safe when traveling.

    Comfort
    While it's small, the palm rest can extend slightly to fit larger hands. Unfortunately, even with the palm rest completely extended, the mouse is too small to use comfortably under my large hand. With my fingers placed on the mouse buttons, the rest barely reaches the upper part of my palm, and the heel of my hand gets no support at all. It really feels like a mini-mouse. Everything feels smaller than the R.A.T. 9 or M.O.U.S. 9, and for my Herculean mitts that means wrist cramping after extended use. If you have smaller hands, the R.A.T. M might be a refreshing change of pace and a much more comfortable mouse, but for me it just felt far too tiny. Adding insult to injury, the palm rest has no locking mechanism, so it tends to push back into the mouse when in use.

    The R.A.T. M measures less than 4.3 inches long with the palm rest fully extended, shorter than most gaming mice. For reference, the Corsair Vengeance M65 measures 4.7 inches in length, the Logitech Touch Mouse T620 measures 4.4 inches in length, a house mouse (mus musclus) can grow up to 3.9 inches in length not including tail, and a brown rat (rattus norveigus) can reach up to 10 inches in length not including tail. Incidentally, rattus norveigus make surprisingly good, intelligent pets.

    Despite the size, the R.A.T. M feels responsive, like other mice in Mad Catz' catalog. It uses a 6,400 dots-per-inch laser sensor to track movement, and I had no problem with precision when playing games connected to a notebook.

    The Mad Catz R.A.T. M packs some great design elements and a very good laser sensor into a tiny, pocketable gaming mouse you can take with you on the go. However, its small size can be a hindrance for gamers with large hands, and its $130 price tag is pretty intimidating for what you get. The small size doesn't quite justify the premium you pay, especially when the excellent Logitech G700s?is available for $30 less. If you're unwilling to compromise on the buttons and sensitivity of a gaming mouse, there's no reason to compromise on the size of the mouse and how it feels in the hand. If you just want a functional wireless mouse, the Logitech Touch Mouse?is available for half the price of the R.A.T. M, and the Mad Catz M.O.U.S. 9 offers a larger, more comfortable fit (while still built for portability) than the R.A.T. M.?

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/wNrFvMvai_k/0,2817,2420648,00.asp

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    Immigration bill clears Senate test

    WASHINGTON (AP) ? Historic immigration legislation cleared a key Senate hurdle with votes to spare on Monday, pointing the way to near-certain passage within days for $30 billion worth of new security measures along the border with Mexico and an unprecedented chance at citizenship for millions living in the country illegally.

    The vote was 67-27, seven more than the 60 needed, with 15 Republicans agreeing to advance legislation at the top of President Barack Obama's second-term domestic agenda.

    The vote came as Obama campaigned from the White House for the bill, saying, "now is the time" to overhaul an immigration system that even critics of the legislation agree needs reform.

    Last-minute frustration was evident among opponents. In an unusual slap at members of his own party as well as Democrats, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said it appeared that lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle "very much want a fig leaf" on border security to justify a vote for immigration.

    Senate passage on Thursday or Friday would send the issue to the House, where conservative Republicans in the majority oppose citizenship for anyone living in the country illegally.

    Some GOP lawmakers have appealed to Speaker John Boehner not to permit any immigration legislation to come to a vote for fear that whatever its contents, it would open the door to an unpalatable compromise with the Senate. At the same time, the House Judiciary Committee is in the midst of approving a handful of measures related to immigration, action that ordinarily is a prelude to votes in the full House.

    "Now is the time to do it," Obama said at the White House before meeting with nine business executives who support a change in immigration laws. He added, "I hope that we can get the strongest possible vote out of the Senate so that we can then move to the House and get this done before the summer break" beginning in early August.

    He said the measure would be good for the economy, for business and for workers who are "oftentimes exploited at low wages."

    As for the overall economy, he said, "I think every business leader here feels confident that they'll be in a stronger position to continue to innovate, to continue to invest, to continue to create jobs and ensure that this continues to be the land of opportunity for generations to come."

    Opponents saw it otherwise. "It will encourage more illegal immigration and must be stopped," Cruz exhorted supporters via email, urging them to contact their own senators with a plea to defeat the measure.

    Leaving little to chance, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced it was launching a new seven-figure ad buy Monday in support of the bill. "Call Congress. End de facto amnesty. Create jobs and economic growth by supporting conservative immigration reforms," the ad said.

    Senate officials said some changes were still possible to the bill before it leaves the Senate - alterations that would swell the vote total.

    At the same time, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who voted to advance the measure during the day, said he may yet end up opposing it unless he wins a pair of changes he is seeking.

    Senate Democrats were unified on the vote.

    Republicans were anything on a bill that some party leaders say offers the GOP a chance to show a more welcoming face to Hispanic voters, yet tea party-aligned lawmakers assail as amnesty for those who have violated the law.

    The party's two top Senate leaders, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas, voted against advancing the measure. Both are seeking new terms next year.

    Among potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was an enthusiastic supporter of the bill, while Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky were opposed.

    The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the legislation will reduce the deficit and increase economic growth in each of the next two decades. It is also predicting unemployment will rise slightly through 2020, and that average wages will move lower over a decade.

    At its core, the legislation in the Senate would create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. It also calls for billions of dollars to be spent on manpower and technology to secure the 2,000-mile border with Mexico, including a doubling of the Border Patrol with 20,000 new agents.

    The measure also would create a new program for temporary farm laborers to come into the country, and another for lower-skilled workers to emigrate permanently. At the same time, it calls for an expansion of an existing visa program for highly-skilled workers, a gesture to high tech companies that rely heavily on foreigners.

    In addition to border security, the measure phases in a mandatory program for employers to verify the legal status of potential workers, and separate effort to track the comings and goings of foreigners at some of the nation's airports.

    The legislation was originally drafted by a bipartisan Gang of 8, four senators from each party who negotiated a series of political trade-offs over several months.

    The addition of the tougher border security provisions came after CBO informed lawmakers that they could potentially spend tens of billions of dollars to sweeten the bill without fearing higher deficits.

    The result was a series of changes negotiated between the Gang of 8 and Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee. Different, lesser-noticed provisions helped other lawmakers swing behind the measure.

    In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, likened some of them to "earmarks," the now-banned practice of directing federal funds to the pet projects of individual lawmakers.

    He cited a provision creating a $1.5 billion jobs fund for low-income youth and pair of changes to benefit the seafood processing industry in Alaska. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., issued a statement on Friday trumpeting the benefits of the first; Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Mark Begich, a Democrat, took credit for the two others.

    Grassley also raised questions about the origin of a detailed list of planes, sensors, cameras and other equipment to be placed along the southern border.

    "Who provided the amendment sponsors with this list?" asked Grassley, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee that approved an earlier version of the bill. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano "did not provide the committee with any list. Did Sikorsky, Cessna and Northrup Grumann send up a wish list to certain members of the Senate?"

    Randy Belote, a spokesman for Northrup Grumann, said in an email the firm has "not had the opportunity to review the comments nor... provided the committee a 'wish list' of its systems to consider."

    Officials at the other two companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-bill-clears-senate-test-225923799.html

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    সোমবার, ২৪ জুন, ২০১৩

    Inhabitat's Week in Green: flying bicycle, tatooed fruits and a wireless EV-charging system

    Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

    DNP Inhabitat's Week in Green TKTKTK

    This week, the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar -- the world's largest solar-powered boat -- docked in downtown Manhattan, and Inhabitat was on the scene to tour the 115-foot Swiss catamaran and learn about its latest trans-Atlantic voyage. The PlanetSolar team isn't the only one pioneering new technologies, though. Google announced plans to deploy fleets of solar-powered balloons to bring the internet to remote locations around the world. A pair of British men debuted the world's first flying bicycle, which combines a bike with a fan-powered paraglider. A 16-year-old developed a cleaner, more efficient way to create biofuel from algae, and Coca-Cola produced a classic Coke bottle that's made entirely from ice that melts away when you're finished with it.

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    Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/23/flying-bicycle-tatooed-fruits-and-wireless-ev-charging/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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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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