CrunchWeek: Sean Parker's TechCrunch Post, VCs Get Into PR And Journalism, SnapChat Snaps Up $80 Million

Whatever happened to the slow and lazy summer news weeks of yore? This past week certainly wasn't one of them, as evidenced by all the fun stuff we had to talk about during this episode of CrunchWeek. Leena Rao, Anthony Ha and I piled ourselves into the TechCrunch TV studio to discuss some of the most interesting tech news stories from the past seven days: Sean Parker's epic guest post on TechCrunch in which he tackled the criticism of his wedding and the larger state of modern journalism, venture capital firms such as First Round Capital expanding into publishing their own content, and SnapChat's $80 million round of funding ($20 million of which went straight to the app's two young cofounders.)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/5CKfqZ10Pr0/

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A Georgia Bulldawg Wedding

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Source: http://spotted.onlineathens.com/galleries/432608/

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The Civil War: Vicksburg National Military Park

The Siege of Vicksburg took place from May 18th to July 4th, 1863. After failing to take the city by force, Union General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee laid siege to the city, held by Confederate General John C. Pemberton and his forces. On July, 4th, after 47 days, General Pemberton surrendered; and Vicksburg?the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River?was turned over to General Grant and the Union. In this program, we?tour Vicksburg National Military Park with Tim Kavanaugh, the park's supervisory ranger for interpretation.

Source: http://www.c-span.org/Events/The-Civil-War-Vicksburg-National-Military-Park/10737440210/

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Bulls cut ties with lead assistant coach Ron Adams

Posted by Inside Hoops

Jun 29

In a surprising move, the Bulls will not renew the contract of lead assistant coach Ron Adams.

Adams, in his second stint with the Bulls, came to Chicago following a successful run as Scott Brooks? lead assistant in Oklahoma City. A longtime friend of Tom Thibodeau?s, Adams left the Thunder to be closer to his family, who remained in the Chicago area for school reasons following Adams? first stint with the Bulls under Scott Skiles.

According to sources, general manager Gar Forman made the decision, not Thibodeau. Forman informed Adams on Friday.

Reported by K.C. Johnson of the?Chicago Tribune

Source: http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=13616

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Funeral held for man in ex-Patriot's murder case

AAA??Jun. 29, 2013?11:17 AM ET
Funeral held for man in ex-Patriot's murder case
AP

This booking photo released via the website of the Broward County Sheriff's Office shows Ernest Wallace, arrested June 28, 2013 when he surrendered at a police station in Miramar, Fla. Authorities had been seeking Wallace on a charge of acting as an accessory after the murder of Ovid Lloyd on June 17 in North Attleborough, Mass. Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been charged with Lloyd's murder. (AP Photo/Broward County Sheriff's Office)

This booking photo released via the website of the Broward County Sheriff's Office shows Ernest Wallace, arrested June 28, 2013 when he surrendered at a police station in Miramar, Fla. Authorities had been seeking Wallace on a charge of acting as an accessory after the murder of Ovid Lloyd on June 17 in North Attleborough, Mass. Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been charged with Lloyd's murder. (AP Photo/Broward County Sheriff's Office)

Carlos Ortiz, left, stands in Attleboro District Court for his arraignment on weapons charges, Friday, June 28, 2013 in Attleboro, Mass. Ortiz was arrested Wednesday in Bristol, Conn., in connection with the murder case against former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez , now charged in the murder of Odin Lloyd. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, George Rizer, Pool)

Carlos Ortiz is led into Attleboro District Court for his arraignment on weapons charges, Friday, June 28, 2013 in Attleboro, Mass. Ortiz was arrested Wednesday in Bristol, Conn., in connection with the murder case against former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez , now charged in the murder of Odin Lloyd. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mark Stockwell) MAGS OUT. MANDATORY CREDIT.

Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, left, stands as Assistant District Attorney Bomberg speaks during the arraignment of Carlos Ortiz, Friday, June 28, 2013 in Attleboro, Mass. Ortiz was arrested Wednesday in Bristol, Conn., in connection with the murder case against former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez , now charged in the murder of Odin Lloyd. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mark Stockwell, Pool)

BOSTON (AP) ? Dozens of relatives, friends and well-wishers have gathered at a church in Boston for the funeral of a semi-pro football player whose killing led to murder and weapons charges against former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.

Odin Lloyd was found shot to death near Hernandez's home. Police arrested Hernandez on Wednesday at his home and charged him with orchestrating the execution-style shooting.

Mourners gathered at Church of the Holy Spirit in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood Saturday morning for Lloyd's funeral.

Prosecutors allege Hernandez arranged the killing because Lloyd talked to the wrong people at a nightclub.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail. Two other men are also in custody. Prosecutors allege the three suspects were in a car with Lloyd shortly before his death.

Associated PressNews Topics: General news, Sports, Funerals and memorial services, Shootings, Violent crime, Celebrity deaths, Crime, NFL football, Homicide, Celebrity, Entertainment, Arts and entertainment, Professional football, Football

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-29-Hernandez-Lloyd's%20Funeral/id-0bd2b7a3b89446878a54150b6a115775

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Microsoft develops technology to turn your smartphone into a mood ring

Well, the hits just keep on coming. Grease being Paula Deen has not just been dropped from her ham company in the wake of her racist remark scandal. She's also been dumped by Walmart, and now Home Depot, and diabeetus drug company Novo Nordisk. All because she admitted to saying and doing some racist things years ago in a deposition. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-develops-technology-turn-smartphone-mood-ring-023016486.html

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98% Before Midnight

All Critics (146) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (142) | Rotten (3)

Hawke and Delpy remain as charming as ever, and their combined goofiness is more endearing than annoying.

Love is messy here, life cannot be controlled, satisfaction is far from guaranteed. Romance is rocky at best. But romance still is.

Though "Before Midnight" is often uncomfortable to watch, it's never less than mesmerizing - and ultimately, a joy to walk with this prickly but fascinating couple again.

"Before Midnight" is heartbreaking, but not because of Jesse and Celine. It's the filmmakers' passions that seem to have cooled.

Before Midnight is fascinating to watch, and so long as Celine and Jesse are communicating, there's still hope.

How (Jesse and Celine) try to rekindle that flame is what drives Midnight, a film that feels so authentic it's like overhearing a conversation you're not sure you should be hearing.

Loving words mix with personal attacks, the magic moments with the unintended slights, as we witness the occasional desperation of imperfect people doing the best they can when life moves beyond meet-cute and courtship. That's authentic.

Linklater and his players bring an end to the fantasy and welcome the thrilling ups and bitter downs of reality to this love story.

Like the first two films, it reflects the real world in a way that seems almost preternatural. It's just that, here, the real world is a harsher, more disappointing place.

The duo, clearly so comfortable in their characters' skin, indulge in intelligent banter, sharp humour and emotional truths.

So much better written than contemporary novels, this film is a literary as well as cinematic achievement to cherish. For grown-ups.

As before, it's often very funny, with Jesse and Celine swapping Woody Allen-esque one-liners - nicely snarky, appealingly abrasive.

The acting, the dialogue and direction are superb.

None of the films is faultless in itself, but, tinted with complementary tones, the complete cycle comes as close to perfection as any trilogy in cinema history.

Marvelous. It's impossible to shake the feeling that we are merely eavesdropping on reality. Witty, wise, and -- most important of all -- truly romantic in ways that movies usually aren't.

It's been 18 years since Hawke, Delpy and Linklater introduced us to Jesse and Celine, and their story just gets richer, funnier and more punchy each time we see them. In 1995's Before Sunrise, they were idealistic 23-year-olds.

Hawke and Delpy are as believably real as any screen couple can ever be.

This is one of the few sequels for which the cliche 'eagerly awaited' is truly applicable.

Predictably, it's just as great as the first two.

By the end, Before Midnight inches towards a dawn of charm. But it's a troubled trip.

As an organic experiment in collaboration between actors and director, it is a triumph, co-created and co-owned by Delpy, Linklater and Hawke.

Hawke and Delpy, who are both credited on the script too, have never found co-stars to bounce off more nimbly or bring out richer nuances in their acting.

The performances and dialogue are wonderfully naturalistic; a reminder that the best special effects are often the cheapest.

Before Midnight is about the nature of long-term relationships, and the way love deepens and grows but also finds itself subject to the complications of maturity. Smart, insightful, and poignant.

For those who witnessed Jesse and Celine's tentative getting together as inter railing students almost twenty years ago, it's reassuring to see them still in love.

Brilliantly directed, superbly written and impeccably acted, this is a thoroughly enjoyable, thought-provoking and emotionally engaging drama that perfectly complements the previous two films.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/before_midnight_2013/

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T-Mobile buys wireless spectrum from U.S. Cellular for $308 million

Signage for a T-Mobile store is pictured in downtown Los Angeles, California August 31, 2011. REUTERS/Fred??

(Reuters) - T-Mobile US Inc agreed to buy wireless spectrum covering the Mississippi Valley region from U.S. Cellular Corp for about $308 million in cash.

The fourth-largest U.S. wireless service provider said the additional spectrum will allow it to expand its 4G LTE network across 29 markets covering 32 million people in several southern states.

(Reporting by Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Kurian)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/t-mobile-buys-wireless-spectrum-u-cellular-308-123352590.html

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Exploding Bullets Frozen In Plexiglass Are Terrifyingly Beautiful

Just because a piece of glass might claim to be "bulletproof" doesn't necessarily mean that it's actually, well, bulletproof. But if your bullet-resistant glass is sturdy enough, that speeding bullet will usually just end up lodged in layers of polycarbonate. That's what intrigues photographer Deborah Bay.

She recently found herself struck by the unexpected beauty of a bullet lodged in a slab of plexiglass. Speaking to The Smithsonian, Bay explains:

I thought it was intriguing. You could see all the fragments of metal. You could see the spray of the shattered plastic and then you could see the trajectory lines that were running through the panel of plexiglass.

Eventually, Bay recruited the help of some friendly cops, who gladly obliged her by shooting off a veritable cornucopia of bullets into bulletproof, plexiglass panels. Then, moving the glass to a black backdrop, she used a medium format camera with a macro lens and creatively colored lighting to produce the series entitled "The Big Bang." As The Smithsonian notes:

The patterns that the projectiles leave on the plexiglass on impact look like galaxies, stars and meteors flying through space. The more the photographer combs collections of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, the more she sees the resemblance. It?s this intuitive leap from the macro to the cosmic that inspired the series? clever name.

While undeniably beautiful, the photographs are also highly topical?gun control currently being a major point of partisan contention. And Bay is very aware of this, particularly as a resident of Texas, a state with 51 million registered firearms. The irony of the title paired with such a destructive subject matter highlight's Bay's ultimate goal: ?I just want people to think about what these bullets can do.?

You can see the entire photo series over on her website or, if you happen to be in Santa Barbara California between July 16 and August 25, in person at Wall Space Gallery. [Smithsonian Magazine]

Images courtesy of ?Deborah Bay.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/exploding-bullets-frozen-in-plexiglass-are-terrifyingly-610736872

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This Climate Fix Might Be Decades Ahead Of Its Time

Link Information - Click to View

This Climate Fix Might Be Decades Ahead Of Its Time
Researchers are developing a technology that could draw carbon dioxide directly out of the air. It's very expensive now, but it works, and one company is already trying to identify a market for all that captured greenhouse gas.

Source: NPR
Posted on: Thursday, Jun 27, 2013, 8:51am
Views: 9

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128808/This_Climate_Fix_Might_Be_Decades_Ahead_Of_Its_Time

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'White House Down' review: impeach the movie, elect Channing Tatum

By Leah Rozen

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Sometimes movie stars grow on you, with familiarity breeding fondness. It's taken time but Channing Tatum has finally won me over with his goofy, lunkish charm.

Good thing, too, since he's front and center in the shameless bonfire of gunfire, explosions and macho hyperbolic heroics that is "White House Down," the latest over-the-top offering from director-producer-blockbuster specialist Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012").

Emmerich, of course, notoriously annihilated the White House and most of Washington, D.C., in "Independence Day," a movie about an extraterrestrial invasion. In "White House Down," it's the Capitol that gets blown up, and this time it's human bad guys who are the invaders, taking over the White House at gunpoint.

Tatum plays John Cale, a Capitol Hill policeman and Afghanistan War vet who just happens to be accompanying his precocious daughter, Emily (Joey King), on a guided tour of the White House that day. During the course of the tour, President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx), an idealistic former academic who chomps on Nicorette to keep from smoking - hmm, remind you of anyone? - stops by to greet the visitors and grants young Emily a brief interview for her video blog.

Minutes later, a group of heavily armed gunmen, who'd been posing as repairman, put into operation with military precision a takeover of the White House. Pulling out major weaponry, they start firing, slaughtering the President's entire protective detail and bevies of bureaucrats.

Cale quickly unites with President Sawyer, trying his best to protect the leader of the free world and keep him out of the bad guys' hands. As the two sneak around the Executive Mansion, trying to elude the gunmen and get to safety, they're also attempting to figure out what the heck is happening and who's behind the takeover.

At the same time, in a secure bunker elsewhere, a group of high level security personnel (Maggie Gyllenhaal), military officers (Lance Reddick) and elected figures (Richard Jenkins) gather to investigate the identities and motives of the White House invaders and how best to save the President and the nation.

The cat-and-mouse game in "White House" goes on and on (the movie runs for two hours and 17 minutes), growing more preposterous and silly by the scene. This totally is the stuff of action movies, not real life.

It's kind of fun, in a dopey way, for a while, but then it's just noise and firepower and boys with their toys.

As for the acting, Tatum proves a sturdy action hero, stripping down to a sleeveless undershirt in record time and projecting resolute concern. This guy is Aldo Ray all over again, only he's going to have a longer and more successful career.

Foxx goes with the flow, doing a sly take on the current occupant of the White House, making his President Sawyer both noble and ready to rumble. In supporting roles, Gyllenhaal, Reddick, Jenkins, James Woods and Jason Clarke all deliver when asked to, and Nicolas Wright earns laughs as a know-it-all White House tour guide who's appalled by the gunmen's disregard for historical White House antiques.

I'll give "White House Down" this: For sheer chutzpah, both in terms of product placement and situational believability, it will be hard for any other movie this summer to top a scene in which a bad guy has the temerity to grab President Sawyer by the ankles.

The Commander in Chief, having earlier in the story swapped his heavy dress shoes for pricey, fleet-making sneakers, fights the man off, scolding, "Don't touch the Jordans!"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-down-review-impeach-movie-elect-channing-000214156.html

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Lawyers file appeal to halt 5th Nigerian execution

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ? Human rights lawyers have filed an urgent appeal to try to prevent Nigerian authorities from executing a convicted armed robber by firing squad, two organizations said Thursday.

The suit filed Wednesday argues it is unconstitutional to deny an appeal to the man sentenced by a military tribunal in 1995, when Nigeria was under military dictatorship.

They said Thankgod Ebhos has been in prison since 1988. In 1995, when Nigeria was still under military dictatorship, he was tried under a section of the Robbery and Firearms Act that does not allow for an appeal against a judgment of a military tribunal. Ebhos was sentenced while Nigeria was under a military dictatorship notorious for unfair trials and torturing confessions from detainees.

On Monday, Ebhos was dragged to the gallows where he watched four fellow death-row inmates hanged at Benin State Prison in southern Edo state.

The hangings ended a seven-year moratorium on the death penalty in Nigeria.

Ebhos was reprieved because prison officials were not equipped to carry out his sentence of shooting by a firing squad, said Edo state Attorney General Henry Idahagbon.

"Why they have been in prison so long and not executed I do not know and cannot say," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He blamed "some people not wanting to do their job" ? an apparent reference to President Goodluck Jonathan's recent statements which urged governors to sign death warrants, no matter how painful they find it.

Idahagbon, who is also the state commissioner for justice, said he did not know when Ebhos may be executed. "I'm speculating but suspect prison authorities have to work with the military authorities to have the convict shot," he said.

"Any execution of the sentence of death passed on him by the military tribunal will be unlawful and further undermine respect for the rule of law in Nigeria," said the statement signed by director Justine Ijeomah of the Human Rights, Social Development and Environmental Foundation and Chino Obiagwu of the Legal Defense and Assistance Project.

The appeal was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawyers-file-appeal-halt-5th-nigerian-execution-103715607.html

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New brain imaging study provides support for the notion of food addiction

June 26, 2013 ? Consuming highly processed carbohydrates can cause excess hunger and stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, according to a Boston Children's Hospital research team led by David Ludwig, MD, PhD director, New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center. These findings suggest that limiting these "high-glycemic index" foods could help obese individuals avoid overeating.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on June 26, 2013, investigates how food intake is regulated by dopamine-containing pleasure centers of the brain.

"Beyond reward and craving, this part of the brain is also linked to substance abuse and dependence, which raises the question as to whether certain foods might be addictive," says Ludwig.

To examine the link, researchers measured blood glucose levels and hunger, while also using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to observe brain activity during the crucial four-hour period after a meal, which influences eating behavior at the next meal. Evaluating patients in this time frame is one novel aspect of this study, whereas previous studies have evaluated patients with an MRI soon after eating.

Twelve overweight or obese men consumed test meals designed as milkshakes with the same calories, taste and sweetness. The two milkshakes were essentially the same; the only difference was that one contained rapidly digesting (high-glycemic index) carbohydrates and the other slowly digesting (low-glycemic index) carbohydrates.

After participants consumed the high-glycemic index milkshake, they experienced an initial surge in blood sugar levels, followed by sharp crash four hours later.

This decrease in blood glucose was associated with excessive hunger and intense activation of the nucleus accumbens, a critical brain region involved in addictive behaviors.

Prior studies of food addiction have compared patient reactions to drastically different types of foods, such as high-calorie cheesecake versus boiled vegetables.

Another novel aspect of this study is how a specific dietary factor that is distinct from calories or sweetness, could alter brain function and promote overeating.

"These findings suggest that limiting high-glycemic index carbohydrates like white bread and potatoes could help obese individuals reduce cravings and control the urge to overeat," says Ludwig.

Though the concept of food addiction remains provocative, the findings suggest that more interventional and observational studies be done. Additional research will hopefully inform clinicians about the subjective experience of food addiction, and how we can potentially treat these patients and regulate their weight.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/abl9M9AB9ZE/130626153922.htm

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Iraq: Kurdish list wins largest bloc in Ninevah

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi electoral officials say a Kurdish coalition has won the largest single bloc of seats in provincial elections in the restive northern province of Ninevah, though it fell short of a majority.

The Independent High Electoral commission announced that the Kurdish-backed al-Taakhi list won 11 of 39 provincial council seats up for grabs.

Ninevah borders Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region and has a sizable Kurdish minority. Many of the remaining seats went to Arab parties.

Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi's Sunni Arab-backed United bloc came in second, with eight seats. The Loyalty to Ninevah party, backed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was third with four seats.

Residents in Ninevah and neighboring Anbar province voted last week in local elections that had been delayed due to security concerns.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-kurdish-list-wins-largest-bloc-ninevah-123145084.html

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Court: Compensation may be due for permit denial

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court says governments that withhold development permits may owe compensation to property owners.

The 5-4 decision came Tuesday in a case involving a 15-acre plot owned by Coy Koontz in the Orlando area. He wanted permits from the local water management district to develop land classified as environmentally sensitive.

Negotiations over the permits failed when the owner would not agree to conditions that included reducing the size of his project and paying for work on nearby government-owned land. Koontz sued, asserting that the agency's conditions were so strict that they amounted to a taking of his property, which the Constitution prohibits without "just compensation."

The Florida Supreme Court ruled for the agency, but the justices overturned that decision and sent the case back.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-compensation-may-due-permit-denial-152136751.html

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Senate passage of immigration bill on track

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate passage of historic immigration legislation offering citizenship to millions looks near-certain after the bill cleared a key hurdle with votes to spare.

A final vote in the Senate 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 House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, 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.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday that the Senate's advancement of stronger border security measures makes it "even more likely" that immigration reform will pass the House and become law. He said that the House won't take up the Senate bill but will do its own legislation, and added, "the majority of Republicans support the border security" as the keystone of immigration reform. He spoke on CBS' "This Morning."

"Now is the time to do it," President Barack Obama said Monday at the White House before meeting with nine business executives who support a change in immigration laws. "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.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday she thinks it's important for the House to have its own bill and said, "Let's be optimistic about it."

Pelosi told CNN she thinks it has an excellent chance of passing there because GOP lawmakers are the party's poor showing with Hispanic voters in last year's presidential election "sends an eloquent message" to them.

Obama's prodding came several hours before the Senate voted 67-27 to advance the measure over a procedural hurdle. The tally was seven more than the 60 needed, with 15 Republicans joining Democrats in voting yes.

"I think we're building momentum," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who worked with Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., on a $38 billion package of security improvements that helped bring Republicans on board by doubling the number of border patrol agents and calling for hundreds of miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico. Those changes brought border security spending in the bill to $46 billion.

"The bill has been improved dramatically tonight by this vote, there's no question," Corker said. "My sense is we're going to pass an immigration bill out of the United States Senate which will be no doubt historic and I think something that's very, very important to this nation."

Last-minute frustration was evident among opponents. In an unusual slap at members of his own party as well as Democrats, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-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 officials said some changes were still possible to the bill before it leaves the Senate ? alterations that would swell the number of votes in favor.

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 changes he is seeking.

Senate Democrats were unified on the vote.

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

At its core, the Senate bill would create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States.

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 calls for a separate program to track the comings and goings of foreigners at the nation's seaports and airports.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-passage-immigration-bill-track-072413891.html

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How fish swim: Researchers examine mechanical bases for the emergence of undulatory swimmers

June 24, 2013 ? How do fish swim? It is a simple question, but there is no simple answer.

Researchers at Northwestern University have revealed some of the mechanical properties that allow fish to perform their complex movements. Their findings, published on June 13 in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, could provide insights in evolutionary biology and lead to an understanding of the neural control of movement and development of bio-inspired underwater vehicles.

"If we could play God and create an undulatory swimmer, how stiff should its body be? At what wave frequency should its body undulate so it moves at its top speed? How does its brain control those movements?" said Neelesh Patankar, professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. "Millennia ago, undulatory swimmers like eels that had the right mechanical properties are the ones that would have survived."

The researchers used computational methods to test assumptions about the preferred evolutionary characteristics. For example, species with low muscle activation frequency and high body stiffness are the most successful; the researchers found the optimal values for each property.

"The stiffness that we predict for good swimming characteristics is, in fact, the same as the experimentally determined stiffness of undulatory swimmers with a backbone," said Amneet Bhalla, graduate student in mechanical engineering at McCormick and one of the paper's authors.

"Thus, our results suggest that precursors of a backbone would have given rise to animals with the appropriate body stiffness," added Patankar. "We hypothesize that this would have been mechanically beneficial to the evolutionary emergence of swimming vertebrates."

In addition, species must be resilient to small changes in physical characteristics from one generation to the next. The researchers confirmed that the ability to swim, while dependent upon mechanical parameters, is not sensitive to minor generational changes; as long as the body stiffness is above a certain value, the ability to swim quickly is insensitive to the value of the stiffness, the researchers found.

Finally, making a connection to the neural control of movement, the researchers analyzed the curvature of its undulations to determine if it was the result of a single bending torque, or if precise bending torques were necessary at every point along its body. They learned that a simple movement pattern gives rise to the complicated-looking deformation.

"This suggests that the animal does not need precise control of its movements," Patankar said.

To make these determinations, the researchers applied a common physics concept known as "spring mass damper" -- a model, applied to everything from car suspension to Slinkies, that determines movement in systems that are losing energy -- to the body of the fish.

This novel approach for the first time unified the concepts of active and passive swimming -- swimming in which forcing comes from within the fish (active) or from the surrounding water (passive) -- by calculating the conditions necessary for the fish to swim both actively and passively.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/D8e-ngzQywE/130624133129.htm

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Sony Xperia Z Ultra official with 6.4-inch 1080p screen and 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 chip, global launch in Q3 2013

Sony's unveiled its latest addition to its Xperia Z series, a new smartphone that blurs the line between smartphone and tablet once more -- the appropriately named Xperia Z Ultra. Packing a 6.4-inch display that runs at 1080p resolution, it bests other similarly gigantic superphones that all currently hover around 720p. This new screen is paired with Qualcomm's latest and greatest mobile processor, the impressively potent 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800, 2GB of RAM and 4G LTE connectivity too.

It all weighs in at 212 grams (over 50 grams more than the Xperia Z) but the body has been slimmed down to a mere 6.5mm uniform thickness, jostling with the barely announced Ascend P6 for title of thinnest phone despite those high-end specifications (and screen dimensions). There's 16GB of built-in storage, 11GB of which is user-accessible, while a microSD slot will add an additional 64GB if needed. To power that screen, Sony has also cranked the battery pack up to 3,000mAh and we're hoping that will be enough for all those high-end components it'll be powering. There's no specifics on LTE bands just yet, but the phone also packs a pentaband HSPA radio, ensuring the global model will play nice on AT&T's 3G service, at least, when it launches later this year. We've got more details (especially on that display) after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/25/sony-xperia-z-ultra/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Zimmerman jurors begin life in sequestration

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? The six jurors and four alternates who will hear opening statements Monday in George Zimmerman's murder trial are beginning their time together in a sequestered bubble: They won't return to their homes for weeks, contact with family and friends will be limited, and Internet and phone usage is restricted.

Court officials are keeping mum about the details of the jury sequestration, which begins this week. But if past cases are any example, the Zimmerman jurors won't be able to tweet or blog. They'll read only newspapers that have been censored of anything dealing with the case. They will do almost everything together as a group. In their hotel rooms, TV news channels will be inaccessible and landline telephones likely will be removed. Deputies will keep the jurors' cellphones and give them back once a day so they can call loved ones and friends.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys say the sequestration is necessary to eliminate jurors' exposure to outside influences as they consider whether the neighborhood watch volunteer committed murder last year when he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. After spending almost two weeks picking a jury, the attorneys will make opening statements Monday.

"Your contact with the outside world will be severely limited," prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda warned potential jurors last week.

Potential jurors looked surprised and glum as the details sank in. One potential juror, a woman who wasn't picked, asked whether court sessions would be held seven days a week during the trial since jurors weren't going to go home. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson said, "No."

"So everyone else will get to go home on weekends but us?" the potential juror asked.

The judge answered "yes" and tried to reassure potential jurors that they wouldn't be cooped up in hotel rooms when not at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford. Nelson explained that their meals, transportation and personal needs would be taken care of.

"There will be planned activities for you," the judge said.

The Seminole County's Clerk of Courts has budgeted $150 per person per day to cover room, board and entertainment for the length of the trial, said Maryanne Morse, the clerk. Given that it could last from two weeks to a month, the total cost of sequestration could range from $21,000 to $45,000. That doesn't include the cost of keeping deputies assigned to the group for security.

Court spokeswoman Michelle Kennedy wouldn't comment on the details or logistics of sequestration, or even how jurors will be spend the Fourth of July.

"Their comfort is going to be our top priority," Kennedy said.

A 2007 survey for the National Center for State Courts said that about a quarter of state trials have sequestered juries. But NCSC analyst Gregory Hurley said that number is unreliable since "sequester" wasn't clearly defined, and there was some confusion about its definition. Some respondents defined the term "sequestered" to include deliberations in which the jury was kept together during routine breaks but not overnight.

The six jurors and four alternates in Zimmerman's trial were whittled down from a pool of 40 candidates who had made it into a second round of interviews after questions about their views on firearms, self-defense and crime. The jurors are all women, and the alternates are two men and two women. Their identities are not being released to protect their privacy.

Zimmerman, 29, says he acted in self-defense in shooting Martin in the central Florida community of Sanford, where Zimmerman lived.

Martin's shooting death on Feb. 26, 2012 ? and the initial decision not to charge him ? led to public outrage and demonstrations around the nation, with some accusing Sanford police of failing to thoroughly investigate the shooting.

Prosecutors have said Zimmerman, while a neighborhood watch volunteer for his community, profiled the black teenager as Martin walked back from a convenience store to the home of his father's fiancee. Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic.

In 2011, just about 20 miles from the court in Seminole County, the Orange County Courthouse in downtown Orlando sequestered jurors in another high-profile case: the Casey Anthony murder trial. Jurors were sequestered for six weeks in 2011 as they listened to testimony about the young mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter. Anthony was acquitted of murder.

The Anthony jury was almost twice the size of the Zimmerman jury. The trial went on twice as long as the Zimmerman trial is expected to last. In Florida, 12 jurors are required only for criminal trials involving capital cases, when the death penalty is on the table if there's a conviction.

In picking a hotel for the Anthony jurors, court officials in Orange County wanted laundry facilities, a gym so jurors could exercise, and a private dining area where they could eat most meals out of the public's view, said courts spokeswoman Karen Levey. When jurors went to local restaurants for lunch or dinner, it was only at places with private dining areas. Televisions were turned off, and newspapers were removed.

Jurors were allowed to watch movie DVDs in their hotel rooms, but the movies had to be approved by prosecutors and defense attorneys. The crime thriller "Primal Fear" didn't make the cut. Neither did Ice Cube's "Are We There Yet?" The cable provider to the hotel reconfigured the televisions in the jurors' hotel rooms to eliminate news programs. But as attention to the trial grew, promotions about trial coverage started popping up on channels that previously had been deemed safe and those also were removed from jurors' selection, Levey said.

By the end of the trial, only one channel remained: the Home Shopping Network.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimmerman-jurors-begin-life-sequestration-134044980.html

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Can An Old Massachusetts Fishing Port Light The World Again?

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick joined state officials, clean energy advocates and union representatives to break ground for the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

Jesse Costa/WBUR

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick joined state officials, clean energy advocates and union representatives to break ground for the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

Jesse Costa/WBUR

A shabby old fishing port on the South Coast of Massachusetts was once known as the City That Lit the World. Its whale oil powered candles and lamps around the country.

Now, the city is trying to rekindle that flame with an alternative form of energy: offshore wind.

A Distant History Of Wealth

New Bedford's glory days are long gone. The city suffers from a long list of woes ? high crime, persistent unemployment and poor public schools.

For generations, the sea was New Bedford's lifeblood. Now, the water is still there, but the wealth is gone.

You can see just a glimmer of New Bedford's old opulence shining through its cobblestone streets and the whaling captains' old mansions.

"On the eve of the Civil War, New Bedford was the wealthiest city per capita in the United States," says Mayor Jon Mitchell. "New Bedford was to whaling what Detroit was to automobiles."

Striving For New Opportunities

On a chilly May morning, Mitchell joined state officials and local union representatives to break ground on the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

The port is being described as the first of its kind in the country ? big enough to transport wind blades the length of a football field. Locals hope it will serve as the hub for the offshore wind industry and bring in jobs. New Bedford's current employment rate is among the worst in the state.

The Energy Department estimates that if the U.S. takes advantage of its wind potential by 2030, some 20,000 jobs could sprout up around the offshore wind industry.

A quarter of the nation's wind reserves lie just south of Martha's Vineyard, and New Bedford is the closest deep-water port. Mitchell says his city is sitting on the Saudi Arabia of wind.

"New Bedford is the biggest commercial fishing port in America," says Mitchell. "We know what we're doing out on the water."

Contagious Optimism

The mayor's optimism is rubbing off on Justin Silvia, who wakes up at 3:30 am to drive more than an hour to get to his job as a heavy equipment operator. He says he would love to find work closer to home so he could spend time with his three kids. He's trying to land himself a job on this port project.

"There's definitely a big buzz in the area as far as how many jobs it's going to create. I mean, the main focus is get as many New Bedford unemployed workers that are capable and trained properly," he says.

New Bedford is already working with Bristol Community College to secure grants that will train displaced workers.

Skepticism Remains ? On The Water And Off

But not all of the folks on the water think offshore wind is the solution to all the city's troubles. Fishermen have been struggling to find work in recent years as the government declared certain waters off limits.

Tony Alvernaz is a fisherman in New Bedford. He wonders how fishermen will be able to navigate around giant wind turbines to find healthy fish.

"New Bedford has been a seafaring city for how many years, how many centuries? And so let's do away with that; let's bring on the wind farm. Is that the answer? I don't think so," he says.

Matt Kaplan, a wind analyst for IHS Emerging Energy Research in Cambridge, says it's a big bet. "Offshore wind will have to be tied to creating jobs in order to really be successful here because of the premium cost."

Kaplan says the problem is that no matter how strong the wind gusts blow, local utility companies have to be willing to pay a premium for pricey offshore wind energy. For now, there are federal subsidies that help nudge development along, but there is no guarantee that the government's helping hand will always be there.

Still, Kaplan said it helps that New Bedford is first in designing an offshore wind-friendly port.

"But whether that's going to make New Bedford the one-stop shop moving forward forever, for being the only port for offshore wind, I think it's a really tough call just because of the need to really create local jobs in each state that has one of these projects," Kaplan says.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/06/24/190687185/can-an-old-massachusetts-fishing-port-light-the-world-again?ft=1&f=1007

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New Android apps worth downloading: eGifter, Where?s My Mickey?, Into the Dead update

Need to give a gift to a friend or family member at the last minute? You might check out eGifter, an app that connects you with gift cards that you can often get at a discount and give to people through Facebook. We've also got some great games for today's apps worth downloading column: Where's My Mickey?, the latest title in Disney's Where's My Water? puzzle game franchise, and the updated Into the Dead, a first-person endless running game about sprinting around zombies.

What?s it about? Give gift cards to friends and family quickly and easily with eGifter.

What?s cool? Buying gifts is almost always a big to-do, even when it's for someone for whom shopping is easy or a gift for which you're excited. Between visiting stores, shopping around, and trying to find ?the perfect thing,? gift-giving can be stressful. Gift app eGifter looks to make gift-giving a bit simpler, allowing you to link into Facebook to find your friends and family and gift-giving events that are coming up, and then find and send gift cards straight from your device. The best part is, often gift cards are free or discounted, allowing you to save a little money, too.

Who?s it for? If you're in need of a quick and easy gift to give and want to save money, try eGifter.

What?s it like? Try Treater and Gift & Take for more mobile gift-giving opportunities.

What?s it about? Help Mickey get water in the latest entry into Disney's Where's My Water? series of puzzle games.

What?s cool? Like the other Where's My Water? games, Where's My Mickey? is about solving puzzles to get water through a series of levels and into pipes. In past games, the goal has been to dig paths for the water to travel through the ground. In Where's My Mickey?, things are much more based on weather. Players have to manipulate things like clouds in order to get water into the right set of pipes to clear each level. Where's My Mickey? includes 20 levels that are specifically optimized for tablets, and also has more characters and levels coming in the future.

Who?s it for? Puzzle game and Disney fans are the target audience for this one.

What?s it like? Try Where's My Water? and Where's My Perry?, two more games in the franchise that are a lot of fun.

What?s it about? Escape the zombie hordes in Into the Dead, a runner title in which players control a fleeing human from a first-person perspective.

What?s cool? Into the Dead begins with a helicopter crash that throws you, a lone survivor, into a huge field filled with the shambling undead. An endless runner from a first-person perspective, the game sends you running through the zombies and tasks you with dodging around them to the left or right. You can also nab a gun and other power-ups along the way to help keep you alive. Into the Dead's new update adds the ?canine perk,? which gives you the benefit of a dog to help keep you alive, new online leaderboards that show you the scores of your Facebook friends, and more.

Who?s it for? If you like runners or zombie games, Into the Dead takes a great, dark approach to both.

What?s it like? For more great running titles, check out Temple Run 2 and Rayman: Jungle Run.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/13553-new-android-apps-worth-downloading-egifter-wheres-my-mickey-into-the-dead-update

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Snowden charges first step in long extradition process

By Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has filed espionage charges against Edward Snowden, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who admitted revealing secret surveillance programs to media outlets, according to a court document made public on Friday.

The charges are the government's first step in what could be a long legal battle to return Snowden from Hong Kong, where he is believed to be in hiding, and try him in a U.S. court. A Hong Kong newspaper said he was under police protection, but the territory's authorities declined to comment.

Snowden was charged with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, said the criminal complaint, which was dated June 14.

The latter two offenses fall under the U.S. Espionage Act and carry penalties of fines and up to 10 years in prison.

A single page of the complaint was unsealed on Friday. An accompanying affidavit remained under seal.

Two U.S. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was preparing to seek Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong, which is part of China but has wide-ranging autonomy, including an independent judiciary.

The Washington Post, which first reported the criminal complaint earlier on Friday, said the United States had asked Hong Kong to detain Snowden on a provisional arrest warrant.

Hong Kong's Chinese-language Apple Daily quoted police sources as saying that anti-terrorism officers had contacted Snowden, arranged a safe house for him and provided protection.

The report said the police had checked his documents but had not discussed other matters or taken any statements.

Hong Kong Police Commissioner Andy Tsang declined to comment other than to say Hong Kong would deal with the case in accordance with the law.

Snowden earlier this month admitted leaking secrets about classified U.S. surveillance programs, creating a public uproar. Supporters say he is a whistleblower, while critics call him a criminal and perhaps even a traitor.

He disclosed documents detailing U.S. telephone and Internet surveillance efforts to the Washington Post and Britain's Guardian newspaper.

The criminal complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Snowden's former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is located.

That judicial district has seen a number of high-profile prosecutions, including the spy case against former FBI agent Robert Hanssen and the case of al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui. Both were convicted.

'ACTIVE EXTRADITION RELATIONSHIP'

Documents leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of Internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies such as Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

They also showed that the government had worked through the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to gather so-called metadata - such as the time, duration and telephone numbers called - on all calls carried by service providers such as Verizon.

President Barack Obama and his intelligence chiefs have vigorously defended the programs, saying they are regulated by law and that Congress was notified. They say the programs have been used to thwart militant plots and do not target Americans' personal lives.

U.S. federal prosecutors, by filing a criminal complaint, lay claim to a legal basis to make an extradition request of the authorities in Hong Kong, the Post reported. The prosecutors now have 60 days to file an indictment and can then take steps to secure Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong for a criminal trial in the United States, the newspaper reported.

The United States and Hong Kong have "excellent cooperation" and as a result of agreements, "there is an active extradition relationship between Hong Kong and the United States," a U.S. law enforcement official told Reuters.

Since the United States and Hong Kong signed an extradition treaty in 1998, scores of Americans have been sent back home to face trial. However, the process can take years, lawyers say.

Under Hong Kong's extradition process, a request would first go to Hong Kong's chief executive. A magistrate would issue a formal warrant for Snowden's arrest if the chief executive agrees the case should proceed.

Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said the first charge of theft against Snowden might find an equivalent charge in Hong Kong, needed to allow extradition proceedings to move forward, but the unauthorized communication and willful communication charges may be sticking points that lead to litigation and dispute in the courts.

Whatever the Hong Kong courts decide could be vetoed by the territory's leader or Beijing on foreign affairs or defense grounds.

An Icelandic businessman linked to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said on Thursday he had readied a private plane in China to fly Snowden to Iceland if Iceland's government would grant asylum.

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden.

(Additional reporting by James Pomfret, Venus Wu and Grace Li in HONG KONG; Editing by Warren Strobel, Peter Cooney and Neil Fullick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-files-espionage-charges-against-snowden-over-leaks-015108216.html

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Israel appoints new central bank chief

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel has appointed respected banker Jacob Frenkel as the next governor of the Bank of Israel.

It will be Frenkel's second term in the position. The current governor, Stanley Fischer, will be leaving the position at the end of this month after eight years in office.

The appointment must be approved by Israel's Cabinet, but significant opposition is unlikely.

Frenkel won praise for his role as central bank chief from 1991 to 2000 for his part in reducing inflation, liberalizing financial markets and integrating Israel's economy into the global financial system.

He has since worked in international finance. Frenkel, 70, is currently chairman of JPMorgan Chase International.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the decision Sunday in a statement sent to news media.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-appoints-central-bank-chief-203511430.html

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New player is critical to unleashing T cells against disease

June 23, 2013 ? A major study from researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology provides new revelations about the intricate pathways involved in turning on T cells, the body's most important disease-fighting cells, and was published today in the scientific journal Nature.

The La Jolla Institute team is the first to prove that a certain type of protein, called septins, play a critical role in activating a calcium channel on the surface of the T cell. The channel is the portal through which calcium enters T cells from the blood stream, an action essential for the T cell's survival, activation, and ability to fight disease.

Patrick Hogan and Anjana Rao, Ph.D.s, are senior authors on the paper and Sonia Sharma and Ariel Quintana, Ph.D.s, are co-first authors. Drs. Sharma, Rao and Hogan are former researchers at Harvard Medical School with high-level genetics expertise who joined the La Jolla Institute in 2010. Dr. Quintana conducted advanced microscopy that was a major aspect of the study.

Dr. Hogan describes the discovery as another important step in understanding the overall functioning of T cells -- knowledge from which new, more precisely targeted drugs to treat diseases ranging from cancer to viral infections can emerge. "It's like working on an engine, you have to know what all the parts are doing to repair it," he says. "We want to understand the basic machinery inside a T cell. This will enable us to target the specific pressure points to turn up a T cell response against a tumor or virus or to turn it down in the case of autoimmune diseases."

The findings were published in a Nature paper entitled "An siRNA screen for NFAT activation identifies septins as coordinators of store-operated Ca2+ entry."

"We have found that the septin protein is a very strong regulator of the calcium response, which is essential for activating immune cells," says Dr. Sharma, who was recently appointed to a faculty position, and now leads her own independent laboratory at the La Jolla Institute, in addition to serving as scientific director of the newly established RNAi screening center.

Dr. Hogan says the discovery took the research team by surprise. "We knew septins existed in the cellular plasma (surface) membrane, but we didn't know they had anything to do with calcium signaling," he says. Septins are known to build scaffolding to provide structural support during cell division.

This finding builds on Dr. Rao and Dr. Hogan's groundbreaking discovery in 2006 showing that the protein ORAI1 forms the pore of the calcium channel. The channel's entryway had been one of the most sought after mysteries in biomedical science because it is the gateway to T cell functioning and, consequently, to better understanding how the body uses these cells to fight disease.

To the research team's surprise, the septins were forming a ring around the calcium channel. "We aren't sure why, but we theorize that the septins are rearranging the cellular membrane's structure to "corral" the key proteins STIM and ORAI1, and maybe other factors needed for the calcium channel to operate," says Dr. Hogan.

Dr. Sharma adds that, "essentially we believe the septins are choreographing the interaction of these two proteins that are important in instigating the immune response." Without the septins' involvement, T cell activation does not occur.

In the study, the researchers devised a simple visual readout of activity in a main pathway responsible for activation of T cells -- the same pathway that is targeted by the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin A that is used clinically -- and looked for impairment of the activity when individual genes were, in effect, deleted. After sorting through the roughly 20,000 human genes, they turned up 887 gene "hits," says Dr. Hogan.

With further experiments, they should be able to classify those hits into genes that affect the calcium channel itself and genes that act later in the pathway. "We are hopeful that one or more of these genes can be used as a clinical target for new drugs to treat transplant rejection and immune diseases, some of the same indications now treated with cyclosporine A," adds Dr. Hogan. He believes that a medication aimed at an early step of calcium entry through the ORAI channel could be more effective and have fewer side effects than cyclosporin A, which targets a later step in the pathway and can cause complications such as kidney disease.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/uf267gV8CMA/130623144925.htm

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Google Is Reportedly Working On A Service To Help You Share Your Gadgets, Clothes And Other Stuff With Friends

So here is one of the weirder rumors coming out of Mountain View we've seen in a bit: as Google Operating System's Alex Chitu reports, Google is apparently working on an app called Google Mine that is meant to help you share your real-world items like CDs, cars, bikes, gadgets or clothes with your friends. The service, which is apparently closely integrated with Google+ is said to be in private beta testing within Google right now.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ZMBvOiCMtpw/

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India monsoon floods kill at least 560, with thousands missing

By Sruthi Gottipati

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Flash floods and landslides triggered by early monsoon rains have killed at least 560 people in northern India and left tens of thousands missing, officials said on Saturday, with the death toll expected to rise significantly.

Houses and small apartment blocks on the banks of the Ganges, India's longest river and sacred to Hindus, have toppled into the rushing, swollen waters and been swept away with cars and trucks.

Thousands of military servicemen are involved in rescue operations, with air force helicopters plucking survivors, many of them Hindu pilgrims and tourists, from the foothills of the Himalayas.

About 33,000 people had been rescued so far this week, according to the home ministry. Railways were running special trains from the devastated areas to take people home.

"Whatever is humanly possible is being done," Manish Tewari, the minister of information and broadcasting, told reporters.

The rains had eased on Saturday but more rain is expected early next week.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered 200,000 rupees ($3,400) to each of the families of those who have lost their lives and 50,000 rupees ($840) to the injured from his national relief fund. He also pledged money to people who have lost their homes.

Singh promised 10 billion rupees ($167 million) to Uttarakhand, home to the gods in Hindu mythology and the hardest-hit state, for disaster relief.

So far, the rains have not hit the summer sowing season in northern India, as planting of rice, sugar, cotton and other agricultural produce is not yet in full swing.

Heavy rain early in the June-September season makes planting easier, but if flooding persists, stagnant water can delay sowing or damage early rice shoots.

(Additional reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-monsoon-floods-kill-least-560-thousands-missing-063101300.html

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Kerry: Political solution urgently needed in Syria

U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Susan Ziadeh, left, walks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, second from left, and Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhroo, Qatari Chief of Protocol, on Kerry's arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry began the overseas trip plunging into two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Susan Ziadeh, left, walks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, second from left, and Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhroo, Qatari Chief of Protocol, on Kerry's arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry began the overseas trip plunging into two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks through the airport with Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhroo, Qatari Chief of Protocol, left, after being greeted on arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry began an overseas trip plunging into two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, not pictured, is secured in his vehicle on arrival in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Kerry is expected to attend a meeting of the London 11. The Secretary has begun the overseas trip with two thorny foreign policy problems facing the Obama administration: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Saturday for an urgent political resolution to the war in Syria, saying that unless the bloodshed stops, the region could descend into a chaotic sectarian conflict.

Kerry met in Doha with 10 of his counterparts from Arab and European nations to coordinate aid to the embattled rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad in a two-year civil war that has left 93,000 dead. All the nations in attendance agreed to step up aid to the rebels, Kerry said.

While he offered no specifics, Kerry said the assistance would help change the balance on the battlefield, where regime forces have scored recent victories. Kerry blamed Assad for the deteriorating situation in Syria, saying that while the international community was attempting to hold a conference to set up a transitional government, Assad invited Iranian and Hezbollah fighters to bolster his troops.

It was Kerry's first meeting with his counterparts about aid to the Syrian rebels since President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would send lethal aid to the opposition despite concern that weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists in Syria. That decision was partly based on a U.S. intelligence assessment that Assad had used chemical weapons, but Kerry expressed deeper concern about Iran and Hezbollah fighters.

"That is a very, very dangerous development," Kerry said. "Hezbollah is a proxy for Iran. ... Hezbollah in addition to that is a terrorist organization."

Kerry blamed Hezbollah and Assad with thwarting efforts to diffuse sectarian rebels and to negotiate a settlement.

"We're looking at a very dangerous situation," that had transformed "into a much more volatile, potentially explosive situation that could involve the entire region," Kerry said.

The war already has spilled into neighboring countries and is increasingly being fought along sectarian lines, pitting Sunni against Shiite Muslims and threatening the stability of Syria's neighbors.

Kerry met with his counterparts in the Qatari capital on the first stop of a seven-nation trip through the Mideast and Asia where he is tackling difficult foreign policy issues ? from finding peace between the Israelis and Palestinians to trying to gain traction on U.S. talks with the Taliban to end the Afghanistan war. James Dobbins, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrived in Doha on Saturday, but talks with the Taliban have not been scheduled.

Kerry seemed to put the ball in the Taliban's court, saying the Americans and Qataris were all on board to help negotiate a political resolution to the war and it was up to the Taliban to come to the table at a new political office they opened last week in Doha. "We are waiting to find out whether the Taliban will respond, Kerry said.

"We will see if we can get back on track. I don't know whether that's possible or not," Kerry said. "If there is not a decision made by the Taliban to move forward in short order, then we may have to consider whether the office has to be closed."

On Syria, Kerry has been pressing hard on Russia to back an international conference intended to end the bloodshed in Syria and allow a transitional government to move the country beyond civil war.

Russia has been the key ally of Assad's regime throughout the two-year conflict.

Top U.S. diplomats are ready to go to Geneva to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other officials next week to advance the political process, Kerry said. The date and location of the international conference on Syria haven't been announced, but it's already being dubbed "Geneva 2" because a similar event was held there a year ago.

On Friday, Russia's foreign minister said Washington was sending contradictory signals on Syria that could derail an international conference intended to end that country's civil war, warning that U.S. talk about a possible no-fly zone would only encourage the rebels to keep fighting.

Sergey Lavrov also criticized demands that Assad step down. Russian leaders warn that if Assad steps aside, the resulting power vacuum could be quickly filled by al-Qaida connected rebels, who are well-armed and aggressive.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-22-ML-Kerry/id-43dc6db8a6eb4aa082889beb2ab63918

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