Neala: ফেব্রুয়ারী 2013

বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৮ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

'Missing' Calif. couple found safe in Peru

LIMA (Reuters) - A young California couple feared by family to have been abducted while on a cycling trip through Peru have safely surfaced on a river boat headed for Ecuador, surprised to learn they were subjects of an international search, the Peruvian government said on Tuesday.

"The American tourists are continuing to enjoy their trip in the Peruvian Amazon," the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism said in a statement, adding that a national police official had spoken with the couple and found them to be "in good health."

Garrett Hand and his girlfriend, Jamie Neal, both 25, had last been heard from by friends and relatives about a month ago, according to co-workers and a statement issued on Monday by the U.S. Embassy in Lima, the Peruvian capital.

The embassy said then that Peruvian authorities had mounted a search for the pair, who are residents of Oakland, California.

The couple were said to have vanished while en route to Lima from Cusco, in the mountainous southeastern Peruvian interior near the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu, an area where U.S. citizens have been warned by the embassy of kidnapping risks.

That advisory last month was widely interpreted as linked to efforts by a remnant band of Maoist Shining Path rebels to repel a government push to regain control of jungle valleys that are rife with coca cultivation and cocaine trafficking.

Friends and family of Hand and Neal said they worried the pair had been abducted and that their bank accounts had remained idle since they disappeared.

But a day after relatives and co-workers went public with efforts to organize a search for the couple, the Peruvian government said national police had caught up with the duo in the northern village of Angoteros along the Napo River.

SURPRISED BY CONCERN

The tourism ministry said the couple were passengers on a boat headed up the river, a tributary of the Amazon, to a town on the border with Ecuador.

The couple "were surprised by the concern generated by family, friends and the international community after the cessation of their communications in late January," a ministry statement said.

It added that the pair had been traveling overland by bicycle, bus and river boat through remote areas where access to telephones and the Internet was limited.

Meanwhile, Hand's mother, Francine Fitzgerald, posted a message on Facebook saying she had been informed by U.S. Embassy and Peruvian authorities that the couple were spotted in a remote village and were now on a river boat.

She gave few other details but said she would not be satisfied until receiving "proof of life" from her son.

"Proof of life is my son's voice on the phone and a picture of him holding the missing poster," she wrote.

ABC News reported on Tuesday that the tourism ministry was sending a crew with video cameras to the location where the couple's boat is scheduled to dock on Wednesday to show they are alive and well.

The U.S. Embassy issued a separate statement saying it was aware of "reports that the missing U.S. citizens have been located," adding, "we are working with local authorities to confirm those reports."

The location of the couple in northern Peru was reinforced by previous accounts from police and officials of an ecological community in the Amazonian region of Iquitos. They had told Reuters earlier this week that Hand and Neal were seen embarking on an upriver boat trip toward Ecuador on February 16, three weeks after their families had last heard from them.

(Additional reporting by Laila Kearney in San Francisco; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Bernard Orr and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/california-couple-feared-missing-peru-turn-safe-river-032218405.html

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রবিবার, ২৪ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Obama Pressures Great Britain Not to Leave European Union

by Josiah Cantrall 23 Feb 2013, 3:09 PM PDT post a comment

Yet with the EU?s stability already in question, foreign leaders have quickly moved to voice their opposition. Most notably, the Obama administration has said the UK?s continuing membership in the EU is "in the American interest."

Despite these objections, Britain is no longer convinced their best interests are being served by remaining in the union. Speaking exclusively to Breitbart News, Andrew Rosindell M.P. (Member of Parliament) noted every year membership in the EU costs the UK $250 billion, or 6,000 pounds per UK family.?

Of even greater concern is UK?s loss of sovereignty, with 75% of their regulations coming from unelected bureaucrats at the EU. British citizens are especially enraged by legislation such as the European Arrest Warrant--which ended their ancient right to habeas corpus.

Though personally opposed to a British departure, David Cameron is facing an electorate that is becoming increasingly skeptical of the EU. A recent survey by Populus for The Times?found 82% of UK citizens want a referendum on Britain?s membership in the EU.?

Despite years of parliamentary opposition, a national movement has emerged; to date, ninety members of parliament have signed ?The People?s Pledge: Campaign for an EU Referendum.?

Prime Minister Cameron?s views are now at odds with his own party?s. In 2010, much like the Tea Party wave that swept America, Eurosceptic candidates enjoyed massive success at the ballot box. Since then, Cameron?s Conservative party has faced an internal civil war between its pro-EU fraction and their Eurosceptic counterparts. Before his recent decision to allow a referendum, in a vote on a three line whip (where strictest party discipline is required), 81 Members of Parliament voted against the prime minister.

Younger voters who favor lower taxes and freer trade are pulling the Conservative party further to the right. Andrew Rosindell M.P. believes, ?Members of the Conservative Future (the youth wing of the Conservative Party) are overwhelming Eurosceptic and regularly advocate for reform of the EU.? They are quick to note three of the most prosperous nations per capita in Europe are Switzerland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. What is common to all three? Not one of them belongs to the European Union.

Further complicating matters is the emergence of the UK Independence Party and their promise to completely withdraw Britain from the EU. Momentum seems to be on their side, with the latest popular opinion poll showing them in third place--easily beating the Conservative party?s coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats. In the upcoming election, most experts believe the party will gain a majority of the UK?s representatives to the EU.

Conservative politicians are carefully watching the Independence Party?s popularity soar in unison with the public?s opposition to the EU. Many fear people will split their votes between the Independence and Conservative parties, allowing Labour to gain control of Parliament. Losing the next election is now a greater concern for the party than the repercussions of disagreeing with Cameron. Boris Johnson, mayor of London and prominent rival of Cameron?s, recently said, ?I don?t? think that leaving the EU is the end of the world.?

Still, the Independence Party isn?t convinced of their counterpart?s change of heart. To them, leaving the EU isn?t a means to electoral power, but rather the only hope of preserving the UK?s freedom and sovereignty. Lord Christopher Monckton, former advisor to Margaret Thatcher and immediate past deputy party leader, is especially concerned by Europe?s willingness to cede control to unelected supranational and increasingly global bodies.?

In an exclusive interview for Breitbart News, Monckton said, ?The EU is not subject to any jurisdiction at all. They are a law unto themselves. They are also beyond the reach of any electorate and those who are not subject to any law will tend to act lawlessly.?

It doesn?t matter if everyone agrees with Monckton or not, frustration with the EU has reached the point where politicians can no longer act oblivious.

Andrew Rosindell?s M.P. reflections perfectly capture the electorate?s mood, ?Our ancestors did not fight for to uphold the Union Flag and to defend our freedom and democracy, only for it to be slowly ebbed away by politicians and miscellaneous bureaucrats. I am constantly asked by my constituents on the streets and doorsteps of Romford why we have had no referendum on Britain?s relationship on the EU since 1975? I wonder why myself.?

Rather than supporting British sovereignty, however, the Obama administration has issued a soft threat--warning a departure from the EU would weaken London?s global standing and relationship with Washington.?

Speaking for the administration, Philip Gordon, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs stated, ?We welcome an outward-looking European Union with Britain in it. We benefit when the EU is unified, speaking with a single voice.?

In response, Lord Monckton reasoned, ?The main reason why Britain wants to leave the EU is precisely the centralization of its ?speaking voice? in the hands of unelected bureaucrats. The Obama administration's true reason for wanting to keep the UK imprisoned in the EU is that the EU is a totalitarian Socialist project that Obama favors." Monckton claims, "The EU is indeed anti-American, and was largely founded as a xenophobic attempt to rival the size and strength of the U.S.?

Is the EU actually anti-American? Many would argue the contrary, but what can?t be denied is the US?s recent trend of European style policies. The Obama administration has taken control of a substantial portion of the nation?s automotive industry, financial institutions, and health-care system. Most European nations took these same steps decades ago.?

The Obama administration has also heavily pushed for a ratification of the UN Conventions on the Right of Persons with Disabilities and the Law of the Sea. Both treaties would give international bureaucrats veto authority over US law. Critics believe, if passed, these measures would give the UN control over parental decision making for disabled children and force the US to comply with international carbon emission caps. Could US citizens one day lose their right to habeas corpus as their British counterparts already have?

Not surprisingly, the Obama administration?s favoritism of European style ?democracy? is producing many of the same results. Both continents are experiencing high unemployment and civil unrest, while the US dollar, like the euro, continues to lose value, resulting in rapid inflation.?

When Greece?s financial crisis began in 2009, their national debt to GDP ratio was 113.4%. In 2012, the US?s ratio surpassed 100% and continues to climb upwards. If this trend isn?t reversed quickly, the US cannot hope to avoid the same consequences.

Financially, the US cannot afford to follow the European Union?s example; however, Lord Monckton feels there is more at stake than a monetary crisis. ?The globalization of political power will be fatal to democracy. Where it is accompanied by the globalization of groupthink, the once-cheerful international market-place for competing ideas and ideologies will come to be replaced by a single party line (excitingly rebranded "consensus") that is intended to empower and enrich the global?classe politique?at the expense of the rest of us,? he claims.

America and the United Kingdom are facing many of the same issues. There is only one difference. The EU has already experienced ?solutions? similar to President Obama?s. Before the President follows the EU?s policies any further, he should first ask Britain why they want out.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BigPeace/~3/uQV7fXOpz9Y/Obama-supports-EU-s-totalitarian-social-project

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Armani, Dior rack up fashion wins at Oscars

Actress Jessica Chastain arrives at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP)

Actress Jennifer Lawrence arrives at the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Actress Quvenzhane Wallis arrives at the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Actress Zoe Saldana arrives at the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Amy Adams arrives at the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Forget Jessica Chastain vs. Jennifer Lawrence. The most heated contest on the Oscars red carpet could be the one between Giorgio Armani and Dior Haute Couture.

Giorgio Armani could claim some big wins: the designer dressed Chastain, Naomi Watts and Quvenzhane Wallis on Sunday night. Dior dressed Lawrence and Charlize Theron ? both are spokesmodels ? who hit it right in white.

Chastain, in a glistening copper-tone strapless gown with mermaid hem, looked like an old-world glamorous movie star, especially with her oversized vintage Harry Winston diamond earrings and bright red lipstick.

"I chose it because to me it was a throwback to old Hollywood," she said. "It's a very 'Happy birthday, Mr. President' dress."

Watts wore a gunmetal beaded gown with a geometric cutout on the bodice, also by Armani.

Quvenzhane (kwuh-VEHN'-juh-nay), with a silver headband in her hair and carrying a bedazzled puppy purse, wore an Armani Junior navy-blue dress with black, navy and silver jewels scattered on the skirt and a big bow on the back. She had another Armani dress, a pink one, ready for the afterparty. "I liked it because it was sparkly and puffy."

Lawrence was the belle of the ball in a white-and-pale pink strapless gown with fitted bustier and poufy hemline, sophisticated pulled-back hair, diamond-ball earrings and a delicate long necklace that hung down in back. Theron was sleek in an angular strapless dress with a fashion-right peplum and a buzz-cut hairdo.

Christos Garkinos, longtime red-carpet watcher and owner of Decades vintage store in Los Angeles, said, "You could have turned the TV off right when Charlize Theron came on. She was perfect."

The more interesting chatter, however, could be about the Jane Fondas and Sally Fields of the world. Fonda wore bright taxicab yellow Versace and Sally Field was in bright red.

"Women of a certain age almost gave the feeling that the older you get, the bolder you get," Garkinos said.

Hal Rubenstein, editor at large of InStyle magazine, was pretty impressed by 86-year-old Emmanuelle Riva in Lanvin. "Jane Fonda looks amazing because she's Jane Fonda, but Emmanuelle Riva was so elegant."

Another look that had people talking was Anne Hathaway's pale pink Prada dress. Rubenstein called the dress and Tiffany & Co. necklace "an Audrey Hepburn moment."

Garkinos wasn't as kind. Thanks to some awkwardly placed darts in the bust, he said it was more like Gwyneth Paltrow's big Academy Awards moment, when she wore a lovely Ralph Lauren pink dress but the fit wasn't quite right.

Hathaway, before the show, said her dress with a seemingly sweet vibe but with a strategically open back and sexy sides, was a last-minute choice. "It fit my mood and place where I'm at right now."

It almost seemed there were two routes to the red carpet, said Rubenstein: incredibly beaded and eye-catching, worn by Nicole Kidman in L'Wren Scott, Halle Berry in Versace, and Stacy Keibler in Naeem Khan; or a simple color with a great silhouette. He puts Lawrence, Reese Witherspoon in a strapless royal-blue Louis Vuitton gown with a black strip at the bustline and Jennifer Aniston in a Valentino red strapless gown in that camp.

"For some, there was a pull back to not do a lot, and that's where fashion is as well," Rubenstein said.

Amanda Seyfried's metallic halter dress by Alexander McQueen with a keyhole opening was three months in the making, and Berry said she trusted Donatella Versace to dress her like the Bond girl that she has been on the big screen. She ended up in a silver beaded-and-black gown with long sleeves and V neck.

Jennifer Hudson's shiny, second-skin blue Roberto Cavalli almost looked like an animal print.

Kristen Stewart had on an even paler blush gown; hers a hand-beaded strapless with tulle inserts by Reem Acra. She accentuated her gown with a 19th-century Fred Leighton necklace with 91 graduated diamonds.

Jennifer Garner chose a violet-colored Gucci with cascading ruffles in the back. Her 200-carat diamond-and-dark platinum necklace from the Neil Lane archives was a big statement.

Beaded gowns had a strong presence, worn by Sandra Bullock, in a fully embroidered Elie Saab; Renee Zellweger, in sleek Carolina Herrera; and Adele in Jenny Packham. Catherine Zeta-Jones was statuesque in an all-gold Zuhair Muhad. Queen Latifah's white V-neck tank dress by Badgley Mischka had a lot of sparkle on the straps.

Salma Hayek's midnight-blue velvet Alexander McQueen gown had a gold embellished collar, and she carried a gold skull box clutch.

Helen Hunt wore a little bit of her conscience along with her blue column gown. It was from fast-fashion retailer H&M. She chose it because it was both accessible and because the company has launched a substantial green initiative. She did wear it, however, with hundreds of thousands of dollars of borrowed jewels.

For the men, the trend was beards, with George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones, among them.

___

Associated Press Writer Beth Harris contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-24-Oscars-Fashion/id-fcd1a10f34b84b3788f8a83adadd52c2

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Laser mastery narrows down sources of superconductivity

Feb. 24, 2013 ? Identifying the mysterious mechanism underlying high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) remains one of the most important and tantalizing puzzles in physics. This remarkable phenomenon allows electric current to pass with perfect efficiency through materials chilled to subzero temperatures, and it may play an essential role in revolutionizing the entire electricity chain, from generation to transmission and grid-scale storage. Pinning down one of the possible explanations for HTS -- fleeting fluctuations called charge-density waves (CDWs) -- could help solve the mystery and pave the way for rapid technological advances.

Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have combined two state-of-the-art experimental techniques to study those electron waves with unprecedented precision in two-dimensional, custom-grown materials. The surprising results, published online February 24, 2013, in the journal Nature Materials, reveal that CDWs cannot be the root cause of the unparalleled power conveyance in HTS materials. In fact, CDW formation is an independent and likely competing instability.

"It has been difficult to determine whether or not dynamic or fluctuating CDWs even exist in HTS materials, much less identify their role," said Brookhaven Lab physicist and study coauthor Ivan Bozovic. "Do they compete with the HTS state, or are they perhaps the very essence of the phenomenon? That question has now been answered by targeted experimentation."

Custom-grown Superconductors

Electricity travels imperfectly through traditional metallic conductors, losing energy as heat due to a kind of atomic-scale friction. Impurities in these materials also cause electrons to scatter and stumble, but superconductors can overcome this hurdle -- assuming the synthesis process is precise.

For this experiment, Bozovic used a custom-built molecular beam epitaxy system at Brookhaven Lab to grow thin films of LaSrCuO, an HTS cuprate (copper-oxide) compound. The metallic cuprates, assembled one atomic layer at a time, are separated by insulating planes of lanthanum and strontium oxides, resulting in what's called a quasi-two-dimensional conductor. When cooled down to a low enough temperature -- less than 100 degrees Kelvin -- strange electron waves began to ripple through that 2D matrix. At even lower temperatures, these films became superconducting.

Electron Sea

"In quasi-two-dimensional metals, low temperatures frequently bring about interesting collective states called charge-density waves," Bozovic said. "They resemble waves rolling across the surface of a lake under a breeze, except that instead of water, here we actually have a sea of mobile electrons."

Once a CDW forms, the electron density loses uniformity as the ripples rise and fall. These waves can be described by familiar parameters: amplitude (height of the waves), wavelength (distance between waves), and phase (the wave's position on the material). Detecting CDWs typically requires high-intensity x-rays, such as those provided by synchrotron light sources like Brookhaven's NSLS and, soon, NSLS-II. And even then, the technique only works if the waves are essentially frozen upon formation. However, if CDWs actually fluctuate rapidly, they may escape detection by x-ray diffraction, which typically requires a long exposure time that blurs fast motion.

Measuring Rolling Waves

To catch CDWs in action, a research group at MIT led by physicist Nuh Gedik used an advanced ultrafast spectroscopy technique. Intense laser pulses called "pumps" cause excitations in the superconducting films, which are then probed by measuring the film reflectance with a second light pulse -- this is called a pump-probe process. The second pulse is delayed by precise time intervals, and the series of measurements allow the lifetime of the excitation to be determined.

In a more sophisticated variant of the technique, largely pioneered by Gedik, the standard single pump beam is replaced by two beams hitting the surface from different sides simultaneously. This generates a standing wave of controlled wavelength in the film, but it disappears rapidly as the electrons relax back into their original state.

This technique was applied to the atomically perfect LaSrCuO films synthesized at Brookhaven Lab. In films with a critical temperature of 26 degrees Kelvin (the threshold beyond which the superconductivity breaks down), the researchers discovered two new short-lived excitations -- both caused by fluctuating CDWs.

Gedik's technique even allowed the researchers to record the lifetime of CDW fluctuations -- just 2 picoseconds (a millionth of a millionth of a second) under the coldest conditions and becoming briefer as the temperatures rose. These waves then vanished entirely at about 100 Kelvin, actually surviving at much higher temperatures than superconductivity.

Ruling out a Suspect

The researchers then hunted for those same signatures in cuprate films with slightly different chemical compositions and a greater density of mobile electrons. The results were both unexpected and significant for the future of HTS research.

"Interestingly, the superconducting sample with the highest critical temperature, about 39 Kelvin, showed no CDW signatures at all," Gedik said.

The consistent emergence of CDWs would have bolstered the conjecture that they play an essential role in high-temperature superconductivity. Instead, the new technique's successful detection of such electron waves in one sample but not in another (with even higher critical temperature) indicates that another mechanism must be driving the emergence of HTS.

"Results like this bring us closer to understanding the mystery of HTS, considered by many to be one of the greatest problems in physics today," Bozovic said. "The source of this extraordinary phenomenon is slowly but surely running out of places to hide."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/R3e5kmat5ag/130224142911.htm

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শুক্রবার, ২২ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Photos: Warrior's treasure-filled grave found in Russia

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't bother me until recently. Doug had a party, and while he was drunk he told one of his buddies -- in front of me -- that he should watch a certain porn film starring his ex-girlfriend. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/treasure-filled-warrior-s-grave-found-slideshow/

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২১ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

T. Boone Pickens is Bloomberg's No. 1 fan

T. Boone Pickens and Bloomberg outside New York City Hall (Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)NEW YORK?Michael Bloomberg remains cagey about whether he?ll someday run for president. But the outgoing New York City mayor received a notable show of support on Thursday from one of the country?s biggest political donors who has spent tens of millions of dollars in the past to elect presidential candidates.

T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire energy mogul from Texas, joined Bloomberg at a press conference outside New York?s City Hall to unveil the city?s first natural-gas-powered food truck and to talk about clean energy efforts?an issue both he and the mayor are passionate about.

Speaking to a large group of reporters and political types on a frigid February morning, both men showered each other with compliments. Bloomberg praised Pickens as ?one of the great Americans? in business and someone who has emerged as a ?powerful voice? for clean energy efforts.

?I used to read about T. Boone Pickens in the paper, and I never thought I?d know him on a first-name basis,? Bloomberg said.

A few seconds later, Pickens returned the compliment, telling Bloomberg, ?Mayor, if you were in Washington today, we?d be a hell of a lot better off than where we are.?

Bloomberg beamed, as several people applauded.

Pickens has been a longtime backer of Republican parties and candidates, including former President George W. Bush. In 2004, Pickens was one of the early contributors to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a shadowy political group that spent millions on television ads attacking then-Sen. John Kerry?s White House bid. In 2008, Pickens was a prominent supporter of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani?s bid for the GOP nomination.

But during the ?08 campaign, Pickens reinvented himself as a green energy activist, directing more of his wealth toward promoting alternative energy like wind. In a surprising turn, Pickens later worked with Kerry on a climate-change bill in Washington that included subsidies for natural-gas-powered vehicles?one of Pickens? pet issues.

On Thursday, Bloomberg implied the men had grown close over their belief that the country needs to rely less on oil and more on natural gas and other clean energy. Together, they toured the Neopolitan Express, a new food truck that serves pizza from its 900-degree electric oven, which is fully powered by compressed natural gas. The truck, the first of its kind in New York, was funded in part with investment from Clean Energy Fuels Corp., one of Pickens? companies.

?Every slice comes with a breath of fresh air,? Bloomberg said at one point, reading from a prepared statement. He paused and then ad-libbed, "Uh, who wrote that I have no idea, but somebody on our staff is very creative and clever and should work for WPP,? the London-based advertising conglomerate.

After the press conference, Pickens ignored a question about whether he would support a Bloomberg bid for the White House. Instead, he and the mayor walked back inside City Hall together, deep in conversation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/t-boone-pickens-praises-bloomberg-d-better-off-192215237--politics.html

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'For Better or Worse' moves from TBS to OWN

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Oprah Winfrey's cable channel says it will be the new home of the sitcom "For Better or Worse."

Tyler Perry's comedy series will move from TBS to OWN for its third season, starting this fall. OWN announced Wednesday that it's also getting rerun rights for the show's first two years.

"For Better or Worse" is about three couples dealing with the challenges of dating and married life. OWN says the original cast, including Tasha Smith and Michael Jai White, will remain with the show. Production on season three begins in April.

The comedy will be OWN's third scripted series from Perry, who has a deal with OWN to produce TV shows and other projects. The first two original series, a sitcom and a drama, are scheduled to debut in May.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/better-worse-moves-tbs-own-224129122.html

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Diamond heist hits Swiss plane on Brussels tarmac

A gate is locked by a chain near to where men made a whole in a fence next to the tarmac at Brussels international airport, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Police on Tuesday are looking for eight men who made a hole in a security fence of Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and robbed tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

Airport security officers stand near a fence that was cut next to the tarmac, at Brussels international airport, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Police on Tuesday were looking for eight men who made a hole in a security fence of Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and robbed tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

Workers place concrete blocks to block access to a security fence next to the tarmac, at Brussels international airport, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Eight masked gunmen made a hole in a security fence at Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and snatched some $50 million worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane without firing a shot, authorities said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

Baggage carts make their way past a Helvetic Airways aircraft from which millions' of dollars worth of diamonds were stolen on the tarmac of Brussels international airport, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Eight armed and masked men made a hole in a security fence at Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and snatched millions of dollars' worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane without firing a shot, authorities said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

An armored truck of Brinks Diamond & Jewelry Services arrives at the cargo section of Brussels international airport, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Police on Tuesday are looking for eight men who made a hole in a security fence of Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and robbed tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? When the armored van set off for Brussels airport carrying $50 million worth of precious stones from Antwerp's high-security diamond district, eight robbers knew exactly what was up.

One of the biggest diamond heists of recent memory was about to go down.

The Belgian port city of Antwerp is the world capital of diamond-cutting. Over the years, the city's close-knit diamond community has created one of Europe's most secure zones, with some 2,000 surveillance cameras, police monitoring and countless identity controls to protect its $200 million in daily trade of rough and polished gems.

Antwerp, which lies 43 kilometers (27 miles) from the airport, had been hit by a major heist in 2003 and had learned its lesson.

"We are just about the safest place in Belgium," said Antwerp World Diamond Center spokeswoman Caroline De Wolf.

And once Swiss Flight LX789 was airborne Monday night on its way to Zurich, a cache of diamonds tucked safely in its hold, that would not be a great place for a robbery either.

But the airport's 25-kilometer perimeter fence and the transfer of the diamonds from the security van on the tarmac to the hold of the Fokker 100 twin engine jet ? now that held potential.

Bingo.

After weeks of lashing rain, snow, sleet and black ice, Monday evening was finally was as good as it gets in late winter in Belgium. Crisp, cold air meant dry roads for a perfect getaway, and winter's early darkness was a blessing for those needing stealth.

About 20 minutes before the flight's planned 8:05 p.m. departure, the robbers used a construction site outside the airport fence in which to hide. Then in two black cars with blue police lights flashing, they forced their way through the fence and onto the tarmac, speeding straight to pier A.

That was right where the armored car had just finished transferring the diamonds into the Fokker.

Dressed in dark police clothing and hoods, the thieves halted by the plane, whipped out machine guns and stopped the pilots and the transport security crew in their tracks.

The 29 passengers?

"They saw nothing," Anja Bijnens of the Brussels prosecutor's office said Tuesday. "They never fired a shot. They never injured anyone."

With speed and precision, the thieves opened the plane's hold, picked out 120 parcels and loaded them into the cars.

"Afterward, they made a high-speed getaway," Bijnens said, estimating the whole operation took about five minutes.

By late Tuesday, investigators had found the charred remains of a van most likely used in the heist but little else.

Behind them, the robbers left embarrassed airport officials trying to explain how thieves could so smoothly get into the airport, stage a robbery and make a clean getaway. Diamond industry officials who pride themselves on the security of their trade were equally mortified.

Airport spokesman Jan Van Der Cruijsse could not explain how the area could be so vulnerable ? not only to theft, but possibly to terrorism.

"'We abide by the most stringent rules," he said, noting the same apply to other European airports. "It has always been clear we meet all the requirements."

Philip Baum, an aviation security consultant in Britain, called the robbery unsettling ? not just because the fence was breached, but because the response did not appear to have been immediate. That, he said, raised questions as to whether alarms were ringing in the right places.

"It does seem very worrying that someone can actually have the time to drive two vehicles onto the airport, effect the robbery, and drive out without being intercepted," Baum said, raising the specter that terrorists could exploits such lapses as well.

Air transport is considered the safest way of transporting small high-value items, logistics experts say, a fact reflected by relatively cheap insurance policies.

Unlike a car or a truck, an airplane is unlikely to be waylaid by robbers once it has taken off. It's also considered to be very secure before the departure and after its arrival because the aircraft is always within the confines of an airport, which are normally highly secured areas.

The parcels contained rough and polished stones heading for Switzerland, where many of the 120 parcels were intended for different handlers.

For the diamond industry, Monday's robbery raised significant economic concerns.

"What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum," De Wolf said, giving an estimate of $50 million.

A decade ago, Antwerp was hit by one of the biggest diamond heists in history, when robbers disabled an alarm system and took precious stones, jewels, gold and securities from 123 of the 160 high-security vaults at Antwerp's Diamond Center. The loot was so abundant that the thieves even had to even leave some of it behind, police said, estimating the 2003 robbery to be worth about $100 million at the time.

Monday's heist, though, was a fresh blow to Antwerp's major industry, which prides itself on discretion and security.

"This is causing quite some unrest," said De Wolf. "It was incredible how easily it all went. This is worrying in terms of competitiveness, since other diamond centers are ready to pounce and take over our position."

___

Juergen Baetz and Don Melvin contributed to this report from Brussels.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-19-Belgium-Diamond%20Heist/id-743d5fdb98b847c7a19fe971c2826906

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Miami awaits notice of allegations from NCAA

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) ? There was a spirit of cooperation that hovered throughout much of the NCAA's long probe of Miami athletics, so much so that the sides used to call the proceedings a joint inquiry.

That's not the case anymore.

And especially not now ? not after a day during which the NCAA defended its mistakes and Miami demanded a speedy resolution.

With the long-awaited notice of allegations against Miami looming ? and possibly being prepared for delivery by the NCAA as early as Tuesday ? the sides both made strong statements on Monday, first when the NCAA said its "missteps" would not derail the case, then when the Hurricanes rebutted by calling the probe "unprofessional and unethical."

"This is going to go forward," NCAA President Mark Emmert said.

Countered Miami President Donna Shalala: "We have been wronged."

A legal battle now seems possible, especially since Miami made its position clear on Monday: It will not accept any other sanctions other than the stiff ones it already has self-inflicted, a list that includes missing three postseason football games, holding back some football scholarships and declaring several players ineligible after they were found to be involved in wrongdoing.

"This process must come to a swift resolution, which includes no additional punitive measures beyond those already self-imposed," Shalala wrote.

The saga began with a Miami booster alleging that he plied athletes, recruits and coaches with impermissible benefits such as cash, yacht trips, lavish dinners and strip-club outings. In the past few weeks, the NCAA has had to acknowledge that it paid that booster's attorney to use subpoena power to depose witnesses who were unwilling to cooperate with the investigation.

The NCAA said it paid Maria Elena Perez, the attorney for former booster Nevin Shapiro, more than $19,000 for work she performed, primarily using subpoena power to ask questions on the association's behalf and doing so under the guise of a bankruptcy case. The NCAA does not have subpoena power and was not involved in Shapiro's bankruptcy proceedings.

Upon learning that Perez was willing to participate with investigators, members of the NCAA's legal team urged the enforcement department not to proceed, though they apparently were ignored. And now the depositions given by former Miami equipment-room staffer Sean Allen and former Shapiro business partner Michael Huyghue ? along with any other lead that came out of their interviews ? have been tossed from the NCAA's case against the Hurricanes.

"Based upon our review, it is our opinion that the current assertions in the U. Miami Investigative Record are not based on evidence that is derived, directly or indirectly, from the depositions of Mr. Allen or Mr. Huyghue," said a report into the NCAA's relationship with Perez.

The report was ordered last month after wrongdoing within the NCAA office was first acknowledged.

Perez did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Florida Bar said last week that it has opened a file to see if Perez broke any rules through her involvement in the Miami-NCAA matter.

"Sadly the NCAA has not lived up to their own core principles," Shalala wrote. "The lengthy and already flawed investigation has demonstrated a disappointing pattern of unprofessional and unethical behavior. By the NCAA leadership's own admission, the University of Miami has suffered from inappropriate practices by NCAA staff."

Some of those NCAA staff are gone now, most recently and notably Julie Roe Lach. She was the NCAA's vice president for enforcement ? its top cop ? since 2010, and is now being replaced on a temporary basis by Jonathan Duncan, a lawyer with extensive experience working with the association.

"Obviously, this is an outcome that nobody wants to see on their watch or anyone else's," Emmert said. "This is something that's an embarrassment to the association and our staff."

Lach was part of the chain that approved payments to Perez, the attorney for Shapiro, a convicted Ponzi scheme architect now serving a 20-year term in federal prison. According to a 52-page report commissioned by the NCAA and released Monday, Perez offered her help to the NCAA in the form of "using bankruptcy subpoenas to compel depositions from witnesses who had refused to cooperate."

The NCAA, in turn, provided her with specific questions to ask, those coming in an email from former investigator Ameen Najjar, dated Dec. 18, 2011. "Maria, Listed below are a number of areas we would like you to explore," began the email from Najjar.

From there, he listed 34 questions, none of which seems to be in any way related to a bankruptcy case.

According to the NCAA, Perez billed the NCAA $57,115 for work performed from October 2011 through July 2012 ? though Lach and other officials were expecting the amount of her work to cost roughly $15,000.

One email released by the NCAA from an investigator who worked on the case said they wanted her to depose Allen because the NCAA "did not think he would interview with us again" otherwise.

Another point in the report was that an NCAA staffer bought a prepaid cellphone and paid for Shapiro's prison phone calls. The NCAA spent about $8,200 "to fund communications with Mr. Shapiro, including transfers of approximately $4,500 to his prison commissary account."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/miami-awaits-notice-allegations-ncaa-081856587--spt.html

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Carlsberg hit by rocky Russian market and rising costs

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish brewer Carlsberg has scrapped its profit margin target for eastern Europe, blaming volatile markets and raw material costs, and damping hopes the region can offset sluggish demand in western Europe.

The world's fourth-biggest brewer said on Monday sales growth had stalled in its key Russian market and the cost of an efficiency drive in western Europe would cap earnings growth this year, sending its shares down as much as 7 percent.

"The change in long-term financial targets is probably the most disappointing element in the report," said Sydbank analyst Morten Imsgaard.

"It helps paint a picture of a brewery which is not entirely in control of factors which are decisive for earnings," he said.

Carlsberg, like bigger rivals AB Inbev , SABMiller and Heineken , is relying on emerging markets to offset weak beer sales in recession-hit western Europe and help it cope with volatile prices for raw materials like barley, energy and packaging.

The group has built up a market-leading position in Russia in the hope its burgeoning middle classes will drive growth and reduce its reliance on western Europe, which currently accounts for just over 60 percent of sales.

However, growth rates in Russia have been has been hurt by a government drive aimed at curbing alcohol abuse, with measures taken including excise tax increases and a ban on advertising in all media, including the internet.

"Several events, both within and beyond our control, have and will continue to impact margins," Carlsberg said as it scrapped its target for an operating profit margin of 26-29 percent for eastern Europe by 2015. The group made an operating margin in the region of 21.7 percent in 2011.

Carlsberg did give a longer-term target for average growth in adjusted underlying earnings per share of more than 10 percent per year.

However, it forecast operating earnings this year would reach only around 10 billion Danish crowns ($1.79 billion) from 9.8 billion in 2012, lagging an average forecast of 11 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts.

"The guidance they give for 2013 is not particularly aggressive." said Alm Brand analyst Stig Nymann. "I don't really see anything positive."

Carlsberg said an efficiency drive in western Europe, which includes centrally managing all procurement, production, planning and logistics, would hurt in the short term.

The revamp, while helping operating margins in the region in the long term, would cost 300-400 million crowns this year, 400-500 million in 2014 and 500 million in 2015, it said.

RUSSIA STALLS

Carlsberg, whose brands include Baltika and Tuborg, said sales growth in Russia stalled in the fourth quarter. That was better than a broader market decline of 2-3 percent, it said, but down from growth of about 2 percent in the third quarter.

Chief executive Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen offered little hope the Russian market would see much improvement this year, citing restrictions on mobile beer stalls.

"Driven by the short-term interruption from the closure of sales from non-stationary outlets, we believe a flattish market is likely," Rasmussen said.

A year ago, Carlsberg replaced the head of Russian division Baltika Breweries to address slowing sales at that time.

Its market share in Russia fell to 38.3 percent in the fourth quarter from 38.9 percent in the third, ending a string of three consecutive quarters of improvement.

Fourth-quarter operating profit before one-off items was 2.15 billion crowns, missing analysts' average forecast of 2.3 billion.

Eastern Europe accounted for 4.6 billion crowns of sales, or around 29 percent, while western Europe accounted for 9.2 billion crowns, or 61 percent.

Last week Heineken, the world's third-largest brewer, reported higher-than-expected 2012 profit on the back of sharply increased earnings from Africa and the Americas and forecast higher volumes and revenue this year.

At 7.50 a.m. ET, Carlsberg shares were down 6.9 percent at 561 crowns, the biggest fall by a European blue-chip stock <.fteu3>.

($1 = 5.5874 Danish crowns)

(Additional reporting by Teis Jensen; Editing by Ritsuko Ando and Mark Potter)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/carlsberg-profit-lags-russia-stalls-070831093--sector.html

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মঙ্গলবার, ১৯ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Security group suspects Chinese military is behind hacking attacks

BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A secretive Chinese military unit is believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks, a U.S. computer security company said, prompting a strong denial by China and accusations that it was in fact the victim of U.S. hacking.

The company, Mandiant, identified the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based Unit 61398 as the most likely driving force behind the hacking. Mandiant said it believed the unit had carried out "sustained" attacks on a wide range of industries.

"The nature of 'Unit 61398's' work is considered by China to be a state secret; however, we believe it engages in harmful 'Computer Network Operations'," Mandiant said in a report released in the United States on Monday.

"It is time to acknowledge the threat is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively," it said.

China's Defense Ministry issued a flat denial of the accusations and called them "unprofessional". It said hacking attacks are a global problem and that China is one of world's biggest victims of cyber assaults.

"The Chinese army has never supported any hacking activity," the Defense Ministry said in a brief faxed statement to Reuters. "Statements about the Chinese army engaging in cyber attacks are unprofessional and not in line with facts."

Unit 61398 is located in Shanghai's Pudong district, China's financial and banking hub, and is staffed by perhaps thousands of people proficient in English as well as computer programming and network operations, Mandiant said in its report.

The unit had stolen "hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations across a diverse set of industries beginning as early as 2006", it said.

Most of the victims were located in the United States, with smaller numbers in Canada and Britain. The information stolen ranged from details on mergers and acquisitions to the emails of senior employees, the company said.

The 12-storey building, which houses the unit, sits in an unassuming residential area and is surrounded by a wall adorned with military propaganda photos and slogans; outside the gate a sign warns members of the public they are in a restricted military area and should not take pictures.

There were no obvious signs of extra security on Tuesday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the government firmly opposed hacking, adding that it doubted the evidence provided in the U.S. security group's report.

"Hacking attacks are transnational and anonymous. Determining their origins are extremely difficult. We don't know how the evidence in this so-called report can be tenable," spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

"Arbitrary criticism based on rudimentary data is irresponsible, unprofessional and not helpful in resolving the issue."

Hong cited a Chinese study which pointed to the United States as being behind hacking in China.

"Of the above mentioned Internet hacking attacks, attacks originating from the United States rank first."

"ECONOMIC CYBER ESPIONAGE"

Some experts said they doubted Chinese government denials.

"The PLA plays a key role in China's multi-faceted security strategy, so it makes sense that its resources would be used to facilitate economic cyber espionage that helps the Chinese economy," said Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer and co-founder of CrowdStrike, one of Mandiant's competitors.

Though privately held and little known to the general public, Mandiant is one of a handful of U.S. cyber-security companies that specialize in attempting to detect, prevent and trace the most advanced hacking attacks, instead of the garden-variety viruses and criminal intrusions that befoul corporate networks on a daily basis.

But Mandiant does not promote its analysis in public and only rarely issues topical papers about changes in techniques or behaviors.

It has never before given the apparent proper names of suspected hackers or directly tied them to a military branch of the Chinese government, giving the new report special resonance.

The company published details of the attack programs and dummy websites used to infiltrate U.S. companies, typically via deceptive emails.

U.S. officials have complained in the past to China about sanctioned trade-secret theft, but have had a limited public record to point to.

Mandiant said it knew the PLA would shift tactics and programs in response to its report but concluded that the disclosure was worth it because of the scale of the harm and the ability of China to issue denials in the past and duck accountability.

The company traced Unit 61398's presence on the Internet - including registration data for a question-and-answer session with a Chinese professor and numeric Internet addresses within a block assigned to the PLA unit - and concluded that it was a major contributor to operations against the U.S. companies.

Members of Congress and intelligence authorities in the United States have publicized the same general conclusions: that economic espionage is an official mission of the PLA and other elements of the Chinese government, and that hacking is a primary method.

In November 2011, the U.S. National Counterintelligence Executive publicly decried China in particular as the biggest known thief of U.S. trade secrets.

The Mandiant report comes a week after U.S. President Barack Obama issued a long-awaited executive order aimed at getting the private owners of power plants and other critical infrastructure to share data on attacks with officials and to begin to follow consensus best practices on security.

Both U.S. Democrats and Republicans have said more powerful legislation is needed, citing Chinese penetration not just of the largest companies but of operations essential to a functioning country, including those comprising the electric grid.

(Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Koh Gui Qing in BEIJING, Carlos Barria in SHANGHAI and Jim Finkle in BOSTON; Editing by Robert Birsel and Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/security-group-suspects-chinese-military-behind-hacking-attacks-055727982.html

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Latest New York sports

Published: February 19, 2013 3:31 AM
By The Associated Press ?

SENATORS-DEVILS

Silfverberg, Bishop help Senators top Devils in SO

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Jakob Silfverberg beat Martin Brodeur to his stick side in the shootout and goalie Ben Bishop turned aside 30 shots for his first victory of the season, giving the Ottawa Senators a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Monday.

Silfverberg, who also had an assist on the Senators' regulation goal, skated in on Brodeur in the shootout and fired a right-handed wrist shot which caught the NHL's all-time wins leader by surprise. When Bishop stopped former Senator Bobby Butler on the Devils' third shootout attempt, Ottawa (8-6-2) had its third road win of the season.

Stephen Gionta scored his second goal of the season in the opening minutes of the game and Brodeur made 29 saves for New Jersey.

Daniel Alfredsson scored in the third period for Ottawa.

YANKEES-JETER

Jeter takes part in most drills with Yankees

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Derek Jeter has taken part in most of the drills during the New York Yankees' first full-squad workout.

The 38-year-old captain participated in on-field batting practice Monday for the first time since ankle surgery last October. Jeter, who has been hitting in an indoor cage, also took part in a 25-minute defensive session at shortstop.

Although he didn't take part in agility or running, Jeter jogged onto the field at Steinbrenner Field to a loud ovation from several hundred fans. They cheered when Jeter lined a ball to right on his first BP swing.

Jeter broke his left ankle lunging for a grounder in the AL championship series opener against Detroit on Oct. 1 and had surgery a week later. He says he will be in the lineup for opening day against Boston on April 1.

METS-WRIGHT

Mets' David Wright believes he can win in New York

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) -- David Wright has some unfinished business in New York, and he still has faith he can win with the Mets.

The third baseman re-signed this winter for another eight years and $138 million, a contract he says gave him some peace of mind about his future.

Wright says "when you put together a room full of those young, energetic players, those types of teams can be scary."

The Mets started 46-40 last season but won just 28 of their last 76 games. In nine years in the majors, Wright has been to the playoffs once, in 2006.

Manager Terry Collins says Wright has long been a leader in the clubhouse, but that role has become even more important as the team gets younger.

BILLS-BYRD

Source: Bills plan to meet with S Byrd at combine

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- A person familiar with the status of contract negotiations between the Buffalo Bills and safety Jairus Byrd has told The Associated Press the two sides are expected to meet at the NFL combine, which opens this week in Indianapolis.

The person spoke Monday on the condition of anonymity because of the Bills' policy of not discussing contract talks.

The person says there have previously been no formal contract talks between the Bills and Byrd, who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next month. The person adds, there has so far been no discussion as to whether the Bills intend to place a franchise tag on Byrd to retain the fourth-year player's rights.

Byrd is a four-year starter, and was selected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie.

AQUEDUCT

Saginaw wins Aqueduct's Hollie Hughes Stakes

NEW YORK (AP) -- Saginaw picked up where he left off last season, winning the $73,500 Hollie Hughes Stakes for New York breds at Aqueduct.

A 10-time winner in 2012, Saginaw returned with a game effort as the 3-5 favorite. The 7-year-old gelding trained by David Jacobson reeled in the pacesetting Readytodefer by a head for his 17th win in 36 starts.

The time was 1:10.51 for the six furlongs with Junior Alvarado aboard.

Saginaw paid $3.20, $2.10 and $2.10. Readytodefer, the 2-1 second choice, paid $2.80 and $2.10 while Be Bullish paid $2.40 to show.

HOFSTRA-DREXEL

Lee, Massenat lead Drexel over Hofstra 63-54

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Damion Lee scored 17 points and Frantz Massenat added 16 Monday night as Drexel defeated Hofstra 63-54 for a sweep of their Colonial Athletic Association season series.

A 3-pointer by Massenat gave the Dragons (11-15, 7-7) a 45-32 lead with 14:15 remaining. The Pride (6-21, 3-11) got it down to five points, 52-47, on Taran Buie's 3-pointer with 7:17 left, but Lee answered with a 3-pointer for Drexel. Layups by Daryl McCoy and Lee made it 59-47.

Stevie Mejia scored 22 points for Hofstra, which lost for the 10th time in 11 games. The senior guard had 14 of his points in the first half, but the Pride went into the break trailing 33-23.

Drexel won this season's first meeting 55-52 on Jan. 23. Buie hit seven 3-pointers for Hofstra to tie a school record, but Massenat's 50-footer at the buzzer won it for the Dragons.

RUTGERS-VILLANOVA

Villanova beats Rutgers 71-63, wins 4th of last 5

VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) -- Ryan Arcidiacono, JayVaughn Pinkston and Darrun Hilliard scored 14 points each to lead Villanova to a 71-63 victory over Rutgers on Monday night.

The win keeps alive the chance for an NCAA at-large bid for Villanova (17-10, 8-6 Big East), which has won four of its last five. The Wildcats overcame a poor first half and a 12-point second-half deficit.

Myles Mack had a game-high 24 points for Rutgers (13-12, 4-10), which has lost eight of its last nine games.

Rutgers played without leading scorer Eli Carter, who fractured his right fibula in Saturday's loss at DePaul. Carter, who averaged 14.9 points per game, will miss the rest of the season.

Mouphtaou Yarou had 12 rebounds and 10 points for Villanova, which had five players score in double figures. James Bell added 11 points.

IONA-FAIRFIELD

Needham's trey lifts Fairfield over Iona 66-64

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- Derek Needham scored 17 points, including a game-winning 3-pointer with 5 seconds left to lift Fairfield over Iona 66-64 Monday.

Justin Jenkins added 12 points and Maurice Barrow chipped in 10 points for the Stags, who have won six of their last seven games after losing five straight.

Fairfield (17-11, 8-7 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) trailed 61-54 with 3:48 remaining but outscored Iona 9-0 over the next 3 minutes to take a 63-61 lead.

Lamont Jones converted a three-point play with 21 seconds showing to help Iona (15-12, 9-7) regain the lead but Needham's trey on the Stags' next possession sealed it.

Fairfield dished out 17 assists, compared to eight for Iona.

Jones finished with 29 points for Iona, which has lost five of its last six games by a combined 10 points. Sean Armand (14 points) hit two 3s and broke Iona's all-time single-season record of 96 by one.

FOOTBALL PLAYER ARRESTED

NFL player accused of having gun at NY airport

NEW YORK (AP) -- Authorities say an NFL player has been arrested at a New York airport after police found a handgun in his luggage.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Da'Quan Bowers was arraigned Monday on charges of criminal possession of a weapon and posted $10,000 bond.

Bowers was arrested at LaGuardia Airport as he was about to board a US Airways flight to Raleigh, N.C. Authorities say the .40-caliber weapon was found during a search of his carry-on bag.

Efforts to reach his attorney were unsuccessful. The Buccaneers haven't returned messages seeking comment.

Bowers played college football for Clemson University and was chosen by the Buccaneers in the 2011 NFL draft.

Former Giants star Plaxico Burress was arrested on the same charge after he accidentally shot himself in a nightclub in 2008.

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Source: http://www.newsday.com/latest-new-york-sports-1.4670700

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How Google?s PageRank Algorithm Screwed the Online Writer (and What They Did to Fix It)

Image of Vintage Corkscrew

In many ways, this century has mostly been a dark time for online writers.

Huh? You mean the Internet ? the most significant publishing revolution since Gutenberg ? hasn?t been good for writers?!

Yes. And no.

Here?s the thing, good content writers got squeezed out during the early days of Google?s PageRank algorithm. As I?ll explain later, the importance was placed on the page, which created a nasty race to the bottom as far as writer?s value was concerned.

Thankfully, Google has recently changed its tune, and the web writer is about to profit from that change like never before ?

And don?t miss the 20-part checklist on how to succeed in today?s Google rankings at the end of this post ?

Here?s what to expect in this post

In the last post in our Author Rank series I wrote about why writers and content creators should care about Author Rank (it?s not just because Hunter S. Thompson would).

In this post we?ll explore the early phases of Author Rank. You?ll discover:

Google?s original attempt at evaluating web pages with PageRank
The abuse of PageRank ? and the ugly consequences for the writer
Google?s response to that abuse (hint: their response rhymes with ?Amanda?)
A 20-point checklist on creating high-quality content in a new web era

Let?s go.

Google?s original scheme to evaluate content

Google?s PageRank algorithm attempts to judge the relevancy of a page by asking two questions:

How many links point to a particular web page?
How valuable are those links?

In practice, the theory is this: when you have two identical pages on training for a marathon, the one with the most links pointing to that page should rank higher in the search engines.

However, the quality of those links matters a lot.

If both pages have ten links pointing to them, but one of the pages has links coming from Runner?s World and the Ironman Triathlon, that page is going to be deemed more authoritative than the other.

In addition, a page with ten high-quality links could potentially outrank a page with 100 low-quality links.

In other words, PageRank rewarded keyword-rich content that attracted high quality incoming links. But this occurred in an era when competition and content on the web was relatively low ? and social networking sites were but a twinkle in the eye of the Internet.

The rules changed in the early 2000?s.

How to game PageRank (and the mutiny against the writer)

The problem with PageRank was that you could game it.

Bad marketers realized that all they had to do to attract links (and grow traffic) was create and publish horrible, keyword-rich content that was brief, unoriginal, and shallow ?

Then lazy marketers took it one step further ? they created even more content on other sites (blogging networks, content farms, or a string of web properties) and linked that new content back to their main site and pages.

Sites like e-How, HubPages.com and ChaCha.com ? and a million service industry blogs like doctors, lawyers, real estate and so on ? blossomed.

Rankings soared. Traffic blew up. And in this era, demand for ?content? (in the worst sense of that word) erupted.

Sadly, it was also a mutiny against the writer. In this scheme, the author didn?t matter. Just the content. The watchword was that content was king. But the throne was empty.

Publishers demanded volume over value, and so writers were in a pickle. Finding work was not hard, but finding meaningful work was. And finding work for more than fifteen dollars an hour was even harder.

Erin Griffith summarized the position writers found themselves in:

It?s much easier to hire an anonymous consultant or copywriter to churn out content sans byline. No one cares who those writers are as long as the content they produce is viewed as legit to the almighty Google.

And of course, Google allowed spam to run riot. Content farms, blogging networks, and other unnatural linking schemes cropped up everywhere.

Link building became a hot business as SEO consultants demonstrated they could get a website ranked by simply creating a mountain of cheap content.

True, there were those who were creating high-quality content with credibility, identity, and authority ? but there was so much noise Google needed to do something about the hot mess it had helped create.

And in February 2011, Google rolled out one of the most punishing algorithmic updates on the books ? an update that affected the ranking of an entire site, rather than just a page or section of that site.

Within days, entire content empires were leveled.

Panda eats, shoots weak content, and leaves

The update I?m talking about is called Panda.

And while Google?s Panda doesn?t eat, and will likely never leave, it did shoot bad content dead. The story goes that the update was named after one of the core engineers behind Panda.

To say that Panda pummeled the cheap link-building, content-farm model is an understatement. Within hours of its release, entire large sites were virtually wiped out of search engine listing existence.

AssociatedContent.com.
Sweet101.com
Encyclopedia.com
HowToDoThings.com
Answers.com
eHow.com

Keep in mind, these sites weren?t de-indexed (removed from Google?s database). Google just stopped artificially rewarding them ? which plummeted their rankings to the point of near obscurity.

Talk about a buzz kill. And it?s telling which large sites didn?t get punished:

WordPress.com
Squidoo.com
City-Data.com

Other sites that were not punished by Panda included Copyblogger, Mashable, and Search Engine Journal.

On these sites, content is original, useful, and ultra-specific. Content is epic.

Your 20-point checklist for creating high-quality content

Panda wasn?t (by any means) a flawless update.

Some people felt they were unfairly punished. Others were just confused. In response, Google pointed webmasters and bloggers to their web writing guidelines.

Those guidelines boiled down to these rules:

Care ? deeply ? about the quality of your writing, and about your audience.
Go deep with original research.
Share a never-before-seen interview.
Avoid redundant, duplicated, or stolen content.
Build so much trust with your audience that people would be happy to hand over their credit card.
Build your authority ? and your site?s authority.
Spell correctly.
Fix factual errors.
Repair bad grammar.
Write for humans ? not machines.
Create something nobody has ever seen before.
Remain balanced and worthy of your audience?s trust.
Cover a topic comprehensively (don?t aim for an arbitrary word count and stop once you reach it).
Avoid the obvious. If thirty people have already reported on the Facebook Graph Search, then find something else to write about (unless you have information nobody else does).
Create something strangers want to share and bookmark.
Don?t overuse promotions, calls-to-action, and ads.
Write something a good magazine or journal would print.
Steer clear of short and useless.
Spend an insane amount of time on detail.
Create something people want to talk about (preferably positively).

If you want to take your content creation to the next level, use the above points as a checklist before you publish your content. Run every single article through it. In fact, print this list out and tape it next to your desk.

Remember, the web needs content. Useful, original, and ultra-specific content.

Over to you ?

The good news is that if you?re an exceptional web writer, then February 24, 2011 was your day.

Panda was a significant step in bringing you (the writer) back to the central position of ruling the content roost once again ? of running the show.

Fortunately, there is even better news for good web writers, which I?ll explain in our next post in this series ? 7 Ways Successful Writers Use Google+ Effectively.

Stay tuned.

Do you have any ideas to add to the checklist? Please share in the comments.

(And a gold star for those who picked up on my nod to Lynn Truss? phenomenal book ?Eats, Shoots & Leaves.?)

About the Author: Demian Farnworth is Chief Copywriter for Copyblogger Media. Follow him on Twitter or Google+.

Living organisms need antifreeze to survive in the cold

Feb. 18, 2013 ? If you thought antifreeze was only something that was necessary to keep your car from freezing up in the winter, think again. Plants and animals living in cold climates have natural antifreeze proteins (AFPs) which prevent ice growth and crystallization of organic fluid matter. Without such antifreeze, living matter would suffer from frost damage and even death.

Production of such antifreeze proteins is one of the major evolutionary routes taken by a variety of organisms, including fish, insects, bacteria, plants and fungi. Understanding how this mechanism works is not only significant in itself, but also has important implications for improving the world's food and medicinal production, believe researchers from Israel, Canada and the US who investigated how the process works.

Working on unraveling the AFP enigma were scientists from the lab of Dr. Ido Braslavsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and from Ohio University in the US, in collaboration with Prof. Peter L. Davies from Queens University (Ontario, Canada) and Prof. Alex Groisman from the University of California (San Diego, CA).

Despite half a century of research, the mechanism underlying the activity of the natural antifreeze proteins is still unclear. One of the debates in the academic community regards the chemistry and physics behind the interactions of antifreeze proteins and ice. In particular, there is an ongoing argument over whether the binding of the proteins to ice is reversible and whether continued presence of these proteins in solution is necessary for prevention of ice growth.

The challenge in unraveling these questions stems from a variety of technical problems associated with the growth and tracking of tiny ice crystals in an environment that mimics the surroundings of the antifreeze proteins in nature.

The Hebrew University researchers studied the antifreeze protein of the yellow mealworm. This protein is a hyperactive AFP with a potency to arrest ice growth that is hundreds of times greater than the potency of fish and plant AFPs.

In their study, published in the American journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), the international team of researchers biochemically created a fluorescent marker version of the AFP that allowed for direct observation under a microscope lens. They injected this protein into custom-designed microfluidic devices with minute diameter channels.

The microfluidic devices were placed in cooling units engineered with a temperature control at the level of a few thousandth of a degree, so that ice crystals of 20 to 50 micrometers could be grown and melted controllably, all under microscopic observation.

Using their specialized system, the researchers were able to show that ice grown and incubated in an antifreeze solution remains coated with protein and therefore protected. They further showed that the AFPs bind ice directly and strongly enough so as to prevent the ice from growth even after there is no longer any further presence of protein in the solution.

The significance of the findings published in this study is not only on the scientific level but also practical. For example, fish AFPs are already used in low-fat ice cream to prevent ice recrystallization, thereby maintaining a soft, creamy texture. These proteins could be used in other frozen foods for maintaining the desired texture without additional fats, say the researchers.

In medicine, AFPs can be used to improve the quality of sperm, ovules and embryos stored in a frozen state, and for cold or cyropreservation of organs (freezing at extremely low temperatures) for transplantation. They can also be used in cryosurgery and in agriculture.

Other studies on AFPs focus on preparation of recombinant plants and fish with improved survival rates under cold and dehydration conditions. Such recombinant crops may improve food dispersion over the world, the researchers believe.