Mills College Students Featured in Huffington Post and Student Voice Blogs

Oakland, CA?April 12, 2013 Embodying the spirit of Mills students who take active roles in speaking out on social issues, Theresa Soares ?16 and Natalie Meier ?15 were featured on Huffington Post and Student Voice blogs. Both women are involved with Student Voice, an international network designed to empower students by providing them with the tools they need to use their voice in policy discussions.

Soares? blog, ?Imagining Students as the Solution: Redefining Youth, Starting with ?Our? Stories,? was featured by both the Huffington Post and Student Voice.

In addition, Meier, an active member of several leadership and social-action groups at Mills, has been featured in several Student Voice blogs this year, including ?Lessons on Raising Your Voice.?

Soares also organized and will co-host Student Voice LIVE, a streaming video summit taking place Saturday, April 13, 2013, from Microsoft's New York City office.

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Source: http://www.mills.edu/news/2013/newsstory-04122013-TheresaSoaresNatalieMeier.php

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Connection between inflammatory stimulus and Parkinson's disease examined

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive degenerative disease affecting a person's ability to coordinate and control their muscle movement. What starts out as a tremor in a finger will eventually lead to difficulty in writing and speaking, and ultimately the inability to walk without assistance. Since the 1950s research has shown that people with Parkinson's have decreased levels of the chemical dopamine in their brains, which is involved in sending messages to the part of the brain that controls coordination and movement. Subsequent research has found that dopamine-generating cells, known as dopaminergic neurons, are also absent in a specific area of the brain in those with PD.

The precise cause or causes of PD is unknown, but there is a consensus that an inflammatory event or episode is involved in the initiation of neurodegeneration, and that chronic neuroinflammation is a sustaining and exacerbating reason for the loss of the dopaminergic neurons. A new study conducted by a team of Texas researchers brings the understanding of inflammation's role a step further. They have found that a single, high-dose exposure of an experimental inflammatory agent in an animal model causes changes in brain tissue that are similar to those associated with the development of the disease.

The study was conducted by Roger Bick and his colleagues Marie-Francoise Doursout, Michael S. Schurdell, Lauren M. Young, Uzondu Osuagwu, Diana M. Hook, Brian J. Poindexter, Mya C. Schiess, and Diane L. M. Bick, all at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, Tex. Dr. Schiess presented the team's findings at last week's Experimental Biology 2013 meeting, held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, Mass. Their poster presentation was entitled, "Inflammatory cells and cytokines in the olfactory bulb of a rat model of neuroinflammation; Insights into neurodegeneration?" The full study will appear in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research.

Methodology

In the study, the researchers examined inflammatory cell and cytokine production in brain tissue from a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated rat model that mimics many of the neuropathologic changes associated with PD. Concurrently, they monitored the appearance of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a neuronal protective agent, and circulating nitric oxide (NO) levels. They also examined the immune system associated cells in the olfactory bulb of the brain. It is known that Parkinson's starts with this mechanism.

Twelve male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with intravenous LPS in saline, 12 control rats were treated with saline, and all were maintained for up to 48 hours before euthanasia and brain removal. Brains were removed from both groups at defined times, blood and other tests were conducted, and images of various sections of the brain, including the olfactory bulb, cortex and cerebellum, were taken using fluorescent microscopy.

Results and Conclusions

In general, the researchers found that a single injection of LPS elicited a systemic inflammatory response in the rats, as indicated by an elevation in certain circulatory cytokines. Tissue taken from the olfactory bulb showed the presence of immune associated cells. Individual cytokines within the olfactory bulb showed an increase in certain types of cytokines. Taken together, the complete analysis indicated that the single dose of LPS stimulated an inflammatory response that closely resembled the hallmarks of the development of the disease.

The results suggest an involvement of both the peripheral and the central nervous system immune components in response to inflammation and inflammatory episodes.

As a result, the researchers suggest:

(1) inflammation initiates an immune response;

(2) the presence of continuing and increasing pro-inflammatory mechanisms results in a process whereby cellular protective mechanisms are overcome and the more susceptible cells, such as the dopaminergic neurons, enter into cell death pathways; and

(3) this leads to a series of events that are a key part of the progression of PD.

Next Steps

Neuroinflammation is a significant problem for those with PD, and it persists throughout the course of this debilitating illness. Understanding of the essential processes behind it is the best pathway to finding therapeutic approaches to address it. This study highlights an opportunity to better understand the role inflammation plays in the process.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/qi1fywvespI/130429175904.htm

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Navy Blue Angels, Air Force Thunderbirds grounded by budget sequester

Automatic sequester budget cuts mean an end to the 2013 season for the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds. The real losers may be local economies benefitting from air shows.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / April 28, 2013

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland last year. The Navy has cancelled the remaining 2013 performances of its Flight Demonstration Squadron. The Air Force Thunderbirds have cancelled the rest of their shows for the year as well.

Stelios Varias/REUTERS

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Travelers across the US are pleased that furloughs for air traffic controllers have been cancelled. Aside from the usual delays for weather and maintenance problems, that means fewer hours trapped on the tarmac or looking for places to charge smart phones in airport terminals.

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But there?s another group of frequent flyers who?ve been grounded by across-the-board budget cuts due to the sequester: Navy and Air Force flight demonstration teams, those aerial hotshots whose main purpose is to enhance public relations, attract new recruits, and reflect patriotism with what?s been bumper-stickered as ?The Sound of Freedom.?

There are plenty of other air shows around the country, such as the ?Vidalia Onion Festival Air Show? in Georgia and the ?Take to the Skies AirFest? in Durant, Okla. They just won?t feature the Air Force Thunderbirds or the Navy Blue Angels flying genuine fighter jets. Or the Army?s Golden Knights parachute team.

All three have cancelled their season.

John Cudahy. president of the International Council of Air Shows tells the Associated Press that about 200 of the nation's 300 air shows have been affected by the federal budget cuts and 60 have already been cancelled. He said more cancellations are expected, and some shows may never come back.

"The worst case is that they either cancel and go out of business, or they don't cancel and they have such poor attendance and they go out of business," he said. Economic impact studies indicate the shows are worth $1 billion to $2 billion nationwide, Cudahy estimates.

"Having the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels is like having the Super Bowl, it's a household name," Bill Walkup, manager of the Martinsburg, W.V. airport told the AP.

When the Thunderbirds performed there in 2010, the show drew 88,000 people. Without a jet team, the show typically draws 15,000 or fewer. When they learned there?d be no Thunderbirds, organizers cancelled this year?s show.

Thunderbirds spokesman Maj. Darrick Lee said a typical season averages about $9.75 million and the Air Force needs to focus its resources now on its mission in Afghanistan. Team members are still doing local public appearances that have little or no cost, including autograph-signing sessions at schools and other venues.

"Would we prefer to be flying? Of course," Maj. Lee said. But, he added, "We encourage folks to go and have a good time with or without us."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/cKG_5tBqj_k/Navy-Blue-Angels-Air-Force-Thunderbirds-grounded-by-budget-sequester

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Everything You Need to Grill Everything But Steak

Your grill may be an altar for red meat but why partake only in steak when there are so many other delicious animals and vegetables to try? Here?s what you?ll need to roast birds and bivalves alongside your bevy of beef.

Poultry

Beer Can Chicken is both delicious and easily prepared, even if you?re already three sheets to the wind. Take a medium (4 pound) roaster chicken, remove the giblets, and rinse out the cavity and exterior. Pat it dry with a paper towel and rub it down, inside and out, with salt, pepper, and your favorite dry rub. Crack open a fresh can of beer, drink half of it. Now drink the other half. Open a new brew, drink half of this one, then set it on a firm, level surface and jam the open end of the bird carcass over the open end of the beer can, like Martha Stewart eating a turkey. At this point, you can either attempt to set the bird on the grill using its legs and the bottom end of the can like a tripod or you can use something like the Bayou Classic ChickCAN Rack. This stainless steel rack fits between the can and the bird, securely holding both atop a 7-inch diameter base.

It doesn?t take much to make delectable barbecue chicken either. Marinate the various pieces?thighs, wings, drumsticks, and breasts overnight (a 1/2 cup of soy sauce with an Italian seasoning packet works well, for example) then toss them on the grill for a half hour until the outside is crispy brown and the inside is no longer pink. Slather with barbecue sauce and you?re done. If the drippings keep causing flare ups or the skin starts to stick to the grill, try using a wing and drumstick rack. This device hangs the various chicken bits over a shallow drip tray, catching the grease before it hits the flame.

Seafood

Nothing beats grilling a trout you?ve freshly caught yourself. Wrapping the cleaned fish in aluminum foil with herbs and lemon is a popular method but doesn't really create that smokey flavor you?d expect from barbecue. Instead of foil, marinate the fish in a mix of olive oil, basil, parsely, rosemary, garlic (2 cloves) and basil overnight, then spread the meat over the flame using a rack. This lets the meat absorb the BBQ essence without burning the delicate skin to the grills.

Grilled oysters are freakin? delicious?especially with a little butter, herbs, and pepper?grilling oysters, on the other hand, is a pain in the ass. The little bastards will go sliding out of their shells at a moment?s notice. To keep your bivalves in line, don?t just stack them willy-nilly on the grill, set them securely in an oyster rack for the five minutes they take to cook.

Veggies

The great thing about jalapenos is that you can stuff just about anything into them?sausage, cheese, bay shrimp, smaller peppers?and it will still come out delicious. And with a jalapeno rack, you'll be able to stuff them more easily and lose less filling to the fire once they get to the grill. Jalapeno racks hold the pepper upright, which leaves you with both hands for filling and prevents the filling from extruding from the open end while it grills.

Your backyard barbecue may be a mecca of meat but without a little greenery no meal is complete. Coarsely chop some carrots, zucchini, white and red onions, cauliflower, and mushrooms, then put them in a ziplock bag with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Shake the bag until the veggies are coated then dump them into a grilling basket like this one from Weber. The basket keeps the delicate veggies concentrated in one easy place, making it easier to reposition them on the grill as they cook or as you add meat.

Chimera

Who says you have to eat just one kind of meat at a time? This is America, dammit, the land of opportunity, nation of choices. And if you choose to eat all of the meats all of the times, then by gawd, you shall. First, there?s the unlimited skewer technique: Marinate your desired cubes of meat (chicken, steak, lamb, prawns, etc) and vegetables, then load them onto a flexible cable skewer and drape it over a grill. With a sufficiently long cable, you?ll be able to effectively loop the kebabs, pulling cooked pieces off one end as new bits are added to the other.

Second, you can always just entomb your favored flavors of meat in a ground beef casket using a burger press. This device allows you to create stuffed burgers (they?re cheesier on the inside). Beyond the joys of a burger that bleeds cheddar, anything listed above can be used (in any combination) as well. Let your stomach?s imagination run wild.

[Images - Top: Lev Kropotov / Shutterstock, Chicken: amenic181 / Shutterstock, Veggies: Igor Dutina / Shutterstock, Seafood: Kostenko Maxim / Shutterstock, Chimera: Christopher "Pacula" Corkum]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/everything-you-need-to-grill-everything-but-steak-484753430

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Man stabs 4 people at church in Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? Police say a man stabbed four people at a Catholic church in Albuquerque as a Sunday mass was nearing its end.

Police spokesman Robert Gibbs says a man in his 20s jumped over several pews at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church around noon Sunday and walked up to the choir area where he began his attack.

The injuries to the four church-goers weren't life-threatening. All four were being treated at hospitals.

An off-duty police officer and others at the church subdued the attacker and held him down until police arrived.

Gibbs says the attacker is in custody but that police don't yet know his identity, the motive for the stabbings, whether he had any ties to the victims or whether he regularly attended the church.

The stabbings occurred as the choir had just begun its closing hymns.

Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan released a statement saying he was saddened by the attack. "I pray for all who have been harmed, their families, the parishioners and that nothing like this will ever happen again," Sheehan said.

The church didn't immediately return calls seeking comment on Sunday afternoon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-stabs-4-people-church-albuquerque-203516533.html

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?Spring Training? Is an Experiment in Full-Body Art | Triangle Arts ...

PlayMakers Repertory Company and Carolina Performing Arts are presenting the world premiere of ?Spring Training,? written and performed by Universes, on April 24-28 in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre

Coming-of-age stories or the ?bildungsroman? are known for being brutally honest and intense. PlayMakers Repertory Company?s second stage series production of Spring Training is as honest and intense as a fan of the genre might expect, but it is not without its flaws.

The show features four artists presenting song and movement, interspersed with telling dramatic monologues that focus on what it means to be a minority in America, both in the changing currents of the past and in today?s not-so-different-as-one-might-expect world. ?The monologues are centered upon hispanic Ricky, young and innocent Trevor, Miss Geneva Maybell Martin, and a young hispanic girl who has lost her mother to murder. All of these characters, as the story shows, have been through life at its hardest and have lived to tell about it. While the monologues are filled with beautiful imagery?think a brown paper bag communion?poetic language, and hauntingly detailed place settings, the presentation itself falls disappointingly short.

All of the perfomers are on-book, a fact that could be understood and even overlooked if it didn?t cause noticeable stumbling and cast-confusion throughout. Furthermore, the performance?s symoblic moments, which have the potential to be poignant, would have hit harder if they weren?t so hammered in towards the end.

All of this is not to say, however, that the production doesn?t have merit. One gets the feeling that with a little more effort, the performers could have delivered a powerful message about the current state of our country, its educational system, and how we deal with one another in general. Speaking more positively, however, the artists do incorporate their entire bodies into the production. Clapping hands turn into the baking of goods that one character references, and seamless transitions abound throughout. Though beautifully written, Universes? Spring Training has a way to go before it can have the impact on viewers that the writing demands.

PlayMakers Repertory Company presents SPRING TRAINING, a world premiere by Universes at 7:30 p.m. April 27 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 28 in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

TICKETS: $15-$40 ($10 UNC students and $12 other students).

BOX OFFICE: 919-962-PLAY or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-843-2311, gerdts@email.unc.edu, or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/groupsales.aspx.

SHOW: http://www.playmakersrep.org/springtraining.

VIDEO PREVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aZWKbKXhZoo.

NEWS RELEASE: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5979/66/.

PRESENTERS:

PlayMakers Repertory Company: http://www.playmakersrep.org/.

Carolina Performing Arts: https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/.

BLOG (PlayMakersPage to Stage): http://playmakersrep.blogspot.com/.

VENUE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/aboutus/kenan.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo.

PARKING: http://playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo/currentparking.

OTHER LINKS:

Spring Training (play): http://www.universesonstage.com/page11/page49/index.html (official web page).

Universes (poet-performers): http://www.universesonstage.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universes_%28poetic_theatre_ensemble%29 (Wikipedia).

Chay Yew (director): http://www.victorygardens.org/about/chayyewbio.php (Victory Gardens Theater bio) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chay_Yew (Wikipedia).
?The Rite of Spring at 100? https://www.theriteofspringat100.org/ (official website).

Tagged as: Carolina Performing Arts, Chay Yew, PlayMakers Rep, PlayMakers Repertory Company, PRC, Spring Training, Universes

Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/04/spring-training-is-an-experiment-in-full-body-art/

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Owner of collapsed building arrested on India border

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? The owner of an illegally-constructed building that collapsed last week in a deadly heap in a Dhaka suburb was arrested at a border crossing with India on Sunday in a dramatic operation by members of an elite commando force, a government minister said.

A fleeing Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested near the land-crossing in Benapole in western Bangladesh, just as he was about to cross into India's West Bengal state, said Jahangir Kabir Nanak, junior minister for local government. He said Rana is being brought back by helicopter to the capital Dhaka where he faces charges of negligence.

The arrest by the Rapid Action Battalion was announced on a loudspeaker at the site of the collapsed building in a Dhaka suburb, where people greeted it with cheers and claps. At least 362 people are confirmed to have died in the collapse of the 8-story building on Wednesday. Three of its floors were built illegally.

The death toll is expected to rise but it is already the deadliest tragedy to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which is worth $20 billion annually and a mainstay of the economy. The collapse and previous disasters in garment factories have focused attention on the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.

Rana, a small-time politician from the ruling party, had been on the run since Wednesday. He last appeared in public in front of Rana Plaza on Tuesday after huge cracks appeared in the structure. However, he assured tenants, including five garment factories, that the building was safe.

A bank and some shops on the first floor shut their premises on Wednesday after police ordered an evacuation, but managers of the garment factories on the upper floor told workers to continue their shifts.

Hours later Rana Plaza was reduced to rubble, and most victims were crushed by massive blocks of concrete and mortar falling on them. A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside it when it collapsed. About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.

On Sunday, rescuers located nine people alive inside the rubble on Sunday, as authorities announced they will now use heavy equipment to drill a central hole from the top to look for survivors and dead bodies.

Army Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the coordinator of the rescue operations, said they will try to save the nine people first by manually shifting concrete blocks with the help of light equipment such as pick axes and shovels.

"But if we fail we will start our next phase within hours," which would involve manual efforts as well as heavy equipment, including hydraulic cranes and cutters to bore a hole from the top of the collapsed building, he told reporters.

The purpose is to "continue the operation to recover both survivors and dead bodies. In this stage, we have no other choice but to use some heavy equipment. We will start it within a few hours. Manual operation and use of small equipment is not enough," he said.

The work will be carried out carefully so as not to mutilate bodies, he said. All the equipment is in place, "from a small blade to everything. We have engaged many private sector companies which supplied us equipment, even some heavy ones."

In rare good news, a female worker was pulled out alive on Sunday. Hasan Akbari, a rescuer, said when he tried to extricate a man next to the woman, "he said his body was being torn apart. So I had to let go. But God willing, we will be able to rescue him with more help very soon."

On Saturday, police took six people into custody, including three owners of two factories who were placed under arrest. Also under detention Rana's wife and two government engineers who were involved in giving approval for the building design.

Working round-the-clock, rescuers have used bare hands and shovels, passing chunks of brick and concrete down a human chain away from the collapsed structure. On the ground, mixed in the debris were several pairs of pink cotton pants, a mud-covered navy blue sock and a pile of green uncut fabric.

The badly decomposed bodies pulled out of the rubble were kept at a makeshift morgue at the nearby Adharchandra High School before being handed over to families. Many people milled around at the school, waving photos of their missing loved ones.

Rana was a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front. His arrest, and that of the factory owners, was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.

The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. But since then very little has changed in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands.

Bangladesh's garment industry was the third largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is the equivalent of about $38 a month.

Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.

The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.

Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.

Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.

__

AP writers Farid Hossain and Gillian Wong in Dhaka contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/collapsed-building-owner-arrested-india-border-092723478.html

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Controllers to return; flight delays sway Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Furloughed air traffic controllers will soon be heading back to work, ending a week of coast-to-coast flight delays that left thousands of travelers frustrated and furious.

Unable to ignore the travelers' anger, Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation Friday to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to withdraw the furloughs. The vote underscored a shift by Democrats who had insisted on erasing all of this year's $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts, not just the most publicly painful ones, for fear of losing leverage to restore money for Head Start and other programs with less lobbying clout and popular support.

With President Barack Obama's promised signature, the measure will erase one of the most stinging and publicly visible consequences of the budget-wide cuts known as the sequester.

Friday's House approval was 361-41 and followed the previous evening's passage by the Senate, which didn't even bother with a roll call. Lawmakers then streamed toward the exits ? and airports ? for a weeklong spring recess.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would sign the bill, but Carney complained that the measure left the rest of the sequester intact.

"This is a Band-Aid solution. It does not solve the bigger problem," he said. Using the same Band-Aid comparison, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said that "the sequester needs triple bypass surgery."

The FAA and Transportation Department did not respond to repeated questions about when the controllers' furloughs would end. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who helped craft the measure, was told by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Friday that the agency is "doing everything they can to get things back on track as quickly as possible," said Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley.

In the week since the furloughs began, news accounts have prominently featured nightmarish tales of delayed flights and stranded air passengers. Republicans have used the situation to accuse the Obama administration of purposely forcing the controllers to take unpaid days off to dial up public pressure on Congress to roll back the sequester.

"The president has an obligation to implement these cuts in a way that respects the American people, rather than using them for political leverage," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a written statement.

"Unfortunately for this administration, the term 'sequester' has become synonymous with fear," Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said during the debate.

Halting the furloughs was the latest example of lawmakers easing parts of the sequester that became too painful.

They previously used a separate, wide-ranging spending bill to provide more money for meat and poultry inspectors. Attorney General Eric Holder cited extra funds in that same bill as the reason the Justice Department would be able to avoid furloughs. Transportation Security Administration employees also have gotten relief.

The Obama administration and congressional Democrats ? backed by many fiscal experts ? say the sequester law gives agencies little maneuverability, requiring them to spread cuts evenly among most budget accounts. The Federal Aviation Administration was achieving about a third of its required $637 million in cuts by furloughing nearly all its workers ? including the 15,000 air traffic controllers ? one day every two weeks.

Obama and his Democratic allies want to roll back the entire sequester, with the White House proposing a substitute mix of spending cuts and tax increases that Republicans have rejected. The GOP has proposed replacing the across-the-board spending cuts with others, many of them aimed at programs Democrats defend.

That has left many Democrats reluctant to ease across-the-board cuts for individual programs that cause a public outcry because they worry that would relieve pressure on Republicans to undo the entire sequester.

"While there is a little bit of leverage and pressure, let's broaden it to the sequester as a whole," Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., told reporters before voting against the bill.

Said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.: "How can we sit there and say, 'Four million Meals on Wheels for seniors gone? But that's not important. Over 70,000 children off Head Start. But that's not important.' What is important is for Republicans to hold a hard line" on budget cuts.

Even so, the complaints about flying delays became too intense, and in the end only 29 Democrats and 12 Republicans voted against the measure Friday in the House. The FAA said there had been at least 863 flights delayed on Wednesday attributed to the furloughs, with hundreds of others daily since the furloughs began last Sunday.

The bill would let the FAA use up to $253 million from an airport improvement program and other accounts to halt the furloughs through the Sept. 30 end of the government's fiscal year. The money can be used for other FAA operations, too, including keeping open small airport towers around the country that the agency said it would shut to satisfy the spending cuts.

But Democrats were bitter Friday that cuts in many federal programs remain. Besides the Head Start pre-school program, they complained about ongoing cuts for health research, feeding programs for poor women, children and the elderly and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and about furloughs of civilian Pentagon workers.

"Let's get a big deal. Let's deal with all the adverse consequences of the sequester," said No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer, whose Maryland district has many civil servants and who voted no.

Congressional approval was hailed by groups representing the airline industry and the union representing controllers.

"The winners here are the customers who will be spared from lengthy and needless delays," said Nicholas E. Calio, president of Airlines for America, representing major carriers.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said the week of problems showed that a "fully staffed air traffic control workforce is necessary for our national airspace system to operate at full capacity."

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Joan Lowy and Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/controllers-return-flight-delays-sway-congress-210602052.html

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Computer scientists suggest new spin on origins of evolvability: Competition to survive not necessary?

Apr. 26, 2013 ? Scientists have long observed that species seem to have become increasingly capable of evolving in response to changes in the environment. But computer science researchers now say that the popular explanation of competition to survive in nature may not actually be necessary for evolvability to increase.

In a paper published this week in PLOS ONE, the researchers report that evolvability can increase over generations regardless of whether species are competing for food, habitat or other factors.

Using a simulated model they designed to mimic how organisms evolve, the researchers saw increasing evolvability even without competitive pressure.

"The explanation is that evolvable organisms separate themselves naturally from less evolvable organisms over time simply by becoming increasingly diverse," said Kenneth O. Stanley, an associate professor at the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida. He co-wrote the paper about the study along with lead author Joel Lehman, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin.

The finding could have implications for the origins of evolvability in many species.

"When new species appear in the future, they are most likely descendants of those that were evolvable in the past," Lehman said. "The result is that evolvable species accumulate over time even without selective pressure."

During the simulations, the team's simulated organisms became more evolvable without any pressure from other organisms out-competing them. The simulations were based on a conceptual algorithm.

"The algorithms used for the simulations are abstractly based on how organisms are evolved, but not on any particular real-life organism," explained Lehman.

The team's hypothesis is unique and is in contrast to most popular theories for why evolvability increases.

"An important implication of this result is that traditional selective and adaptive explanations for phenomena such as increasing evolvability deserve more scrutiny and may turn out unnecessary in some cases," Stanley said.

Stanley is an associate professor at UCF. He has a bachelor's of science in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He has over 70 publications in competitive venues and has secured grants worth more than $1 million. His works in artificial intelligence and evolutionary computation have been cited more than 4,000 times.

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Journal Reference:

1. Joel Lehman, Kenneth O. Stanley. Evolvability Is Inevitable: Increasing Evolvability without the Pressure to Adapt. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e62186 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062186

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/yFudqCEhgpw/130426115612.htm

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Valeant in talks to buy Actavis for over $13 billion: WSJ

(Reuters) - Canada's biggest listed drug maker, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc , is in talks to buy generic drugmaker Actavis Inc for more than $13 billion, Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The companies had been working towards an all-stock deal, when some of Actavis' directors came out against it around the middle of this week. But executives on the two sides are still working to resurrect the deal, the journal said.

Valeant said in February it was in talks to make more acquisitions, and it remains open to discuss a potential "merger of equals."

Shares of Actavis, which has a market capitalization of $12.9 billion, have risen about 12 percent in the past three months.

Actavis, the third-largest global generic drugmaker, changed its name in January from Watson after buying Actavis as part of its strategy to expand in international markets and offer more specialty drugs.

Valeant and Actavis could not be immediately reached for comments outside of business hours.

(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/valeant-talks-buy-actavis-over-13-billion-wsj-234723131.html

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Jenelle Evans Claims In-Laws Stole iPad, Fears Nude Photo Leak

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/jenelle-evans-claims-in-laws-stole-ipad-fears-another-nude-photo/

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Leave Her Alone! Stars Defend Kim Kardashian?s Pregnancy Style

Celebs including Gwyneth Paltrow, Jenna Dewan-Tatum and Molly Sims react to critics of Kim Kardashian's maternity style and changing pregnant body.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/1KPZGqgjQoE/

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AllThingsD: Gates, Ballmer and Sean Parker join Zuckerberg's FWD.us lobby group

Mark Zuckerberg showed he's more than just a social butterfly earlier this month, forming the tech-focused political lobby group FWD.us alongside some other big names in the industry. Now, according to AllThingsD, a few more heavy-hitters have signed up to offer their expertise, including Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Sean Parker and Intuit CEO Brad Smith. Not a bad crew to have on your side when technology issues are up for discussion, especially Ballmer -- he's notoriously good at getting his point across.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Verge

Source: AllThingsD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/26/fwd.us-gates-ballmer-parker-join/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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MightyText web app lets you sync photos, videos from Android to PC

Ever since its official introduction two years ago, MightyText has seemed to expand its laundry list of features on an annual basis. Today is no exception, as the company is now adding "iCloud-like" syncing to its web app. As a refresher, MightyText acts as a client that syncs information between your computer and your Android device, giving you the ability to read and send SMS / MMS, look at your contacts, view your call logs and more from any browser. Now, photos and videos -- along with an indicator and notifications regarding your phone's battery life -- are getting thrown into the mix as well. You can auto-upload (over WiFi and data, though you can opt out of the latter) your multimedia as you capture them, and once it arrives on the web app, it's easily downloadable or shareable, depending on what you want to do.

While the feature is in beta, there's also no limit to how much storage space you use up, and there's no auto-delete function after any amount of time, so feel free to upload to your heart's content. The only setback is that the images are compressed to ease the burden on your bandwidth (and data plan), so you'll want to seek out other services if you need the full enchiladas. MightyText's official statement on the new features is below the break, as is a link to check out their web app.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Software, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/DoQ5VmWmzEY/

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Ticket scalping for a murder trial?

PHOENIX (AP) ? Ticket scalping is nothing new in the sports and music world, but for a murder trial?

Dozens of people flock to court each day for a chance to score one of a handful of seats open to the public in Jodi Arias' ongoing murder trial in Arizona. The seats are provided on a first-come, first-serve basis, and nearly four months into the trial, the crowds are growing.

This week, one trial regular sold her spot to another person for $200 ? and both got reprimands from the court on Tuesday.

Desiree Lee, a regular attendee, said another woman had traveled from Michigan to see the trial but couldn't get a seat because she was too far back in line.

"She was asking a couple of people ahead of me if they wanted to sell their seats," Lee, who lives in the area, told ABC15 in Phoenix. "I said yes because I can come every day if I wanted to ... I seriously didn't know I was going to get in trouble.

"I'm a little embarrassed more than anything," Lee added.

She said she was told to return the money. The purchaser kept her seat for free.

Court officials confirmed the incident. The court's rules prohibit saving spots in line, and that's why the woman was asked to give the money back, although she doesn't face any charges.

The message played for callers to the judge's courtroom explains that seats are indeed limited.

"This is a public trial, but it's likely you will not get a seat," the message says.

Arias faces a potential death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder in the June 2008 killing of her one-time boyfriend at his suburban Phoenix home. Authorities say she planned the attack on Travis Alexander in a jealous rage. Arias initially denied involvement then later blamed it on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense.

The trial continued Wednesday afternoon as the prosecution called witnesses ahead of closing arguments next week. A medical examiner is expected to testify Thursday.

While there is no specific law preventing the public from selling their spot in line to get into the trial, Phoenix criminal defense lawyer Julio Laboy said it undermines the seriousness of the case.

"I think this particular trial has brought out so many salacious facts and sordid details that what happens is people lose sight of how very real this is," Laboy said Wednesday. "Whether you like Jodi Arias or not, whether you side with Travis Alexander or not, for these families, it's very real."

One person is dead and another is on trial for her life, Laboy said.

"It's extremely disheartening, as if people were bartering to get into a Yankees game," he said. "For Jodi Arias, this is her life on the line."

Others said the antics aren't unusual, and even occur at the nation's highest court in Washington.

"As distasteful as it is to most people, it happens at the U.S. Supreme Court each time there's a big case," said San Francisco criminal defense lawyer Michael Cardoza. "It's distasteful, but it's not unusual."

In fact, during the highly publicized Scott Peterson murder trial in 2004 in the San Francisco area, where Peterson was convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of his pregnant wife, Laci, hundreds of trial enthusiasts would show up at the courthouse each day for a chance to score one of about 28 seats open to the public.

Court officials there operated a lottery system, not first-come first-serve, drawing random numbers and calling them out to the applause of each winner. The tickets in that case could not be transferred or sold.

The entire Arias case has devolved into a spectacle.

The Arizona Republic reported that Arias' defense attorney Jennifer Willmott has received a death threat, according to Maricopa County authorities, but she declined to pursue the matter.

Adding to the spectacle, Arias is profiting from her notoriety by selling drawings from jail on a website operated by a third party, her mother, Sandra Arias, has said. According to the site, some pieces are fetching more than a $1,000, and Sandra Arias said the money is being used to help pay for family expenses. Nothing prevents Arias from profiting from her notoriety given she hasn't been convicted of a crime.

A woman who attends the trial regularly says she is operating a Twitter account on Arias' behalf, gathering comments from the defendant via jail phone calls. Some of the Tweets have consisted of religious quotes, while others attack the prosecutor and TV pundits.

The Associated Press cannot confirm, aside from with family and friends, whether the Twitter account or website are actually her words or her artwork.

___

Brian Skoloff can be followed at https://twitter.com/bskoloff

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arias-spectacle-grows-trial-seat-sold-200-182132614.html

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Real Estate Q&A: How to Get Out of a Land Deal Gone Bad | RISMedia

By Gary Singer ?Print Article

(MCT)?QUESTION: I bought a vacant lot a few years ago on the Internet, sight unseen. Turns out, the property is unusable because it?s on the edge of a development and on a deep slope. I found out that it is part of an association, and the dues now have exceeded the value of the property. I want out of the deal but am afraid of the ramifications. What can I do?

ANSWER: Never buy anything sight unseen. You must always do your due diligence. As the owner of the property, you are responsible for all the obligations, such as association dues and property taxes. You can?t simply give the lot back unless the seller agrees to take it. But if the seller lied to you about the property, you may have some recourse in court.

I do not recommend stiffing the association on the dues because you could become personally liable and end up with a judgment against you. In that case, the association could garnish your wages. You should also make sure that the property is being maintained until you are able to unload it, because you don?t want to be hit with code enforcement fines that could make getting rid of it more complicated.

If you can?t find another buyer, strongly consider giving the land to a local charity. Contact real estate agents and charities in your area to see if they may be able to help you resolve this situation.

Gary M. Singer is a Florida attorney and board-certified as an expert in real estate law by the Florida Bar. He is the chairperson of the Real Estate Section of the Broward County Bar Association and is an adjunct professor for the Nova Southeastern University Paralegal Studies program.

?2013 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Distributed by MCT Information Services

Copyright? 2013 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

Source: http://rismedia.com/2013-04-20/real-estate-qa-how-to-get-out-of-a-land-deal-gone-bad/

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Apple to dole out $100B to shareholders

In this Monday April 1, 2013 photo, a man leaves an Apple store with an iPhone and an iPad in his hands in central Beijing, China. Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone and iPad, reports quarterly financial results after the market closes on Tuesday. April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

In this Monday April 1, 2013 photo, a man leaves an Apple store with an iPhone and an iPad in his hands in central Beijing, China. Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone and iPad, reports quarterly financial results after the market closes on Tuesday. April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Apple is opening the doors to its bank vault, saying it will distribute $100 billion in cash to its shareholders by the end of 2015. At the same time, the company said revenue for the current quarter could fall from the year before, which would be the first decline in many years.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also suggested that the company won't release any new products until the fall, contrary to expectations that there would be a new iPhone and iPads out this summer.

Apple Inc. on Tuesday said it will expand its share buyback program to $60 billion ? the largest buyback authorization in history. It is also raising its dividend by 15 percent from $2.65 to $3.05 per share. That equates to a dividend yield of 3 percent at current stock prices. The average yield for the 20 largest dividend-paying companies in the U.S. is 3.1 percent, according to Standard & Poor's.

Investors have been clamoring for Apple to give them access to its cash hoard, which ended March at an unprecedented $145 billion. Apple's tight grip on its cash, along with the lack of ground-breaking new products has been blamed for the steep decline in its stock price over the winter.

News of the cash bonanza coincided with the company's release of a poor quarterly outlook for the three-month period that ends in June.

Apple released its fiscal second quarter earnings after the stock market closed Tuesday. The company's stock initially rose 5 percent to $425 in extended trading, then retreated $2.63, or 0.7 percent, to $403.50 as the CEO talked about new products arriving in the fall.

The shares are still down 40 percent from a peak of $705.07 hit on Sept. 21, when the iPhone 5 went on sale.

"The decline in Apple's stock price over the last couple of quarters has been very frustrating for all of us ... but we'll continue to do what we do best," CEO Tim Cook said on a conference call with analysts after the release of the results. But he reinforced that the company's job is not to boost its stock price in the short term.

"The most important objective for Apple will always be creating innovative products," he added.

Apple's results beat the consensus estimate of analysts who follow the company, though it posted its first profit decline in ten years.

Net income was $9.5 billion, or $10.09 per share, down 18 percent from $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per share, in the same period a year ago.

Revenue was $43.6 billion, up 11 percent from last year's $39.2 billion.

Analysts were expecting earnings of $9.97 per share on revenue of $42.3 billion, according to FactSet.

For the quarter that just started, Apple said it expects sales of $33.5 billion to $35.5 billion. In the same quarter last year, sales were $35 billion. Wall Street was expecting sales of $38 billion.

The June quarter is generally a weak one for Apple, since consumers tend to wait for the next iPhone, which the company usually releases in the fall. But a year-over-year decline is a signal that Apple is failing to capitalize on the continued growth of smartphone sales. Sales are tapering off in U.S. and other mature markets, and not many consumers in India and China can afford iPhones.

"Our fiscal 2012 results were incredibly strong and that's making comparisons very difficult this year," said Cook.

Apple shipped 37.4 million iPhones in the latest quarter, up 7 percent from a year ago. That confounded expectations that shipments might fall, but it was still a weak number compared to many previous quarters, when shipments doubled year over year. The average wholesale price of an iPhone also fell to $613 as Apple cut the price of its oldest model, the iPhone 4, to appeal to buyers in developing countries.

Apple started paying a dividend last summer and has been buying back a modest number of shares, enough to balance the dilution created by its employee stock option program but not to make a dent in its cash pile. The company says it's now expanding the buybacks, which started in October and are set to run till the end of 2015, from $10 billion to $60 billion. It's raising the quarterly dividend starting with the payment due May 16.

The company has faced continued pressure from Wall Street over the use of its cash, which earns less than 1 percent in interest. Investors reason that if the company has no better use for the money, it should be handing it over to shareholders. The company had said it was considering ways to use the money, and this year engaged in a public debate with a hedge fund manager who wanted it to institute a new class of shares to attract dividend-loving investors.

Paradoxically, cash-flush Apple will be borrowing money to support the buybacks and dividends. That's because two-thirds of its cash resides in overseas accounts. It doesn't bring the money into the U.S. because it prefers not to pay U.S. corporate income taxes on it. Instead, it will be using cash from U.S.-derived revenue and U.S. accounts, plus borrowed money.

Apple is effectively betting that the U.S. federal corporate tax rate of 35 percent ? one of the highest in the world ? will come down in the future, or that there will be a tax repatriation amnesty period, as there was in 2004.

When a company starts doling out its cash to shareholders, it's usually a sign that its growth is stalling and it's finding it hard to identify good ways to invest in its own business. But Apple is still growing fast by the standards of large companies, and its cash pile-up is a reflection of the extraordinary success of the iPhone.

Compared to its earnings, Apple's stock price is low. In buying Apple stock, investors are paying $9.20 for every dollar of Apple's annual net income. By comparison, they're willing to pay $24 for every dollar of Google's profit.

That suggests investors have concluded Apple will never again launch a revolutionary product like the iPhone or iPad. The commitment to bigger buybacks may reinforce that impression, said David Tan, a Georgetown University assistant professor of strategy who focuses on technology.

"How are we going to read into what this move says about Apple's long-term prospects?" Tan said. "Does this mean this is all that Apple has left to offer or is this just something temporary while we wait for the next big thing from the company?"

Investors have grown increasingly frustrated with Apple. The company has only been releasing updates to its existing line of mobile devices and computers since Cook became CEO 20 months ago instead of blazing technological trails as it did with the iPod's 2001 unveiling, the iPhone's 2007 debut and the iPad's introduction in 2010, said Lauren Balter, an analyst for Oracle Investment Research. At the same time, Samsung Electronics has been gaining market share with larger smartphone screens and other features while Google Inc. is creating a buzz with its own Nexus tablets. Google is also expanding into "wearable computing" with Internet-connected glasses that are expected to go on sale late this year or early next year.

"The market is tired of the same old thing at Apple," Balter said. "Investors are looking for innovation. The reality is that people are looking at other products now and they are looking at other cool features from competitors."

Apple is rumored to be working on a "smart" watch and a revolutionary TV set, but it hasn't confirmed that. On Tuesday's call, Cook sounded slightly more open to making an iPhone with a larger screen, saying merely that Apple would not ship a phone with a larger screen as long as that meant tradeoffs in other measures of screen quality, like brightness.

Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross said now that Apple has laid out plans for its cash hoard, investor focus will shift back to Apple's upcoming products.

"What I am hoping is now that we have gotten through this, people will start focusing a little bit more on the fundamentals," Cross said. "And I think the fundamentals this quarter showed that demand remains strong for their products. I don't think the Apple brand has been diminished at all, based on the numbers we have seen."

___

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this report from San Francisco.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-23-Earns-Apple/id-3b511609cfc64e908306358f84616d17

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Evan Rachel Wood?s Most Bump-Worthy Looks from Tribeca Film Festival

See our picks of Evan Rachel Wood's most stylish looks from the Tribeca Film Festival.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/ivDLHj5afWY/

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Stock index futures signal mixed open

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.07 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.02 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.04 percent at 0935 GMT.

Soft Chinese data, showing barely any growth in factory activity in the world's second-biggest economy in April, raised concerns in international markets about the health of the global economy.

Netflix Inc will be in the spotlight after it posted solid subscriber growth and better-than-expected profits in the first quarter, sending its shares soaring 24 percent in after-hours trade.

Texas Instruments Inc posted first-quarter results slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations and forecast growth for the current quarter on improving demand for its chips.

Sprint Nextel said on Monday that its board had formed a special committee of independent directors to review Dish Network's $25.5 billion takeover bid for the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider.

Insurer ACE Ltd reported a quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates as commercial insurance rates continued to improve in the United States, and it raised its profit expectations for the year.

Credit Suisse Group AG has agreed to sell a private equity business to Blackstone Group , the latest move by an investment bank to sell a business with illiquid assets in order to appease regulators and bolster its balance sheet.

A consumer protection agency in Brazil has taken aim at the Happy Meal, fining McDonald's Corp on Monday for targeting children with its advertising and toys. The Procon agency in the state of Sao Paulo fined the fast-food company 3.2 million reais ($1.6 million), adding fuel to a global debate about fast food and public health.

On the macro front, investors awaited Markit's flash U.S. manufacturing PMI for April. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 54.0 compared 54.6 in the final March release.

On the earnings side, a batch of results was expected from companies such as Amgen , DuPont , Lockheed Martin , Xerox Corp. and Yum! Brands Inc. .

European shares rose on Tuesday as upbeat earnings and outlooks from a number of companies such as Richemont and STMicroelectronics overshadowed concerns about the global economy after the Chinese data and a purchasing managers' survey showing a sharp drop in German business activity.

U.S. stocks climbed on Monday as last week's sharp losses brought buyers back to the market and Microsoft Corp shares jumped after an activist investor took a stake in the company.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 19.66 points, or 0.14 percent, to 14,567.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 7.25 points, or 0.47 percent, to 1,562.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> advanced 27.50 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 3,233.55.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-signal-mixed-open-100239310--finance.html

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Samsung Galaxy S4 versus HTC One: The editors face off

The UK's Alex Dobie and the USA's Phil Nickinson take on two of the year's hottest phones

With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Android smartphone battle lines are drawn. Samsung’s new flagship will go up against the HTC One, and it’s sure to be a fierce fight. Samsung needs to maintain the lead it established in 2012; for HTC, the future of the company depends on the success of the HTC One.

So which one should you buy? As always, it’s never as simple as recommending one device over the other. That’s why we’re launching into a little discussion with Alex and Phil, where we’ll try to spell out exactly where each device is strongest.

Join us after the break as we go back and forth on the HTC One versus Galaxy S4. There’s also a good old-fashioned video comparison, if you’re into that sort of thing.

More: Samsung Galaxy S4 review

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Q9Tq4-60L6g/story01.htm

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Millionaire businessman goes to jail for selling fake bomb detectors

LONDON (AP) ? A millionaire businessman who sold fake bomb detectors that were based on a novelty golf ball finder to countries including Iraq was convicted Tuesday of fraud in a British court.

Police investigators said the bogus devices put people's safety at risk.

James McCormick, 56, is said to have made an estimated 50 million pounds ($76 million) from sales of his detectors, which claimed to be able to find explosives, drugs and people from planes, under water, underground and through walls. They could purportedly detect at distance and bypass "all known forms of concealment."

But experts said the hand-held devices, which were sold for up to 27,000 pounds ($41,000) each, in fact lacked "any grounding in science" and were "completely ineffectual as a piece of detection equipment."

"The devices did not work, and he knew they did not work," prosecutor Richard Whittam said. One of the earlier models McCormick sold was based on a novelty machine for finding golf balls that could be bought in the U.S. for less than $20, he added.

The detectors were sold to military and police forces around the world, including Iraq, Niger, Georgia, Egypt and Thailand.

Nigel Rock, an investigating officer with the Avon and Somerset Constabulary ? the police force that arrested McCormick in 2010 ? said the businessman sold 6,000 devices to Iraq for more than $40 million between 2008 and 2010.

"The devices were used at numerous checkpoints within Iraq during this period. It is clear that both civilians and armed forces personnel were put at significant risk in relying upon this equipment," Rock said.

McCormick was found guilty of three counts of fraud at London's Central Criminal Court. He will be sentenced on May 2.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-man-convicted-selling-fake-bomb-detectors-131902046--finance.html

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