Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/301104485?client_source=feed&format=rss
office space shell houston open mega millions winners anthony davis toure patti smith lottery winners
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Amazon In Your Living Room: Company Is Reportedly Launching Its Own TV Set-Top Box This Fall
According to a report from Bloomberg Businessweek, e-commerce behemoth Amazon is preparing to launch a set-top box this fall, in hopes that you’ll consume all of your content through its spin on the now-common device. The company is already working hard to push its Kindle line to consumers, and this box would be for people who don’t want to deal with the fanciness of Apple products, the gaming nature of Microsoft’s XBox, the half-baked Google TV or the little engine that could, Roku. Yes, this is a crowded market, but Amazon has something that these other companies don’t have, which is warehouses full of things to sell to people while they watch TV. I imagine that you’ll be able to shop as you would online or on your mobile device, right on your TV set. That means that the temptation to pick up that new TV, while you’re watching your old crappy one, could overcome you during a show. One button click and a new TV could be on the way. Think of it as Home Shopping 2.0. With some interesting programming to watch, of course. Instead of acquiring a smaller company that already has its own product in the wild, Amazon has decided to build this in-house, under its Lab126 umbrella in Cupertino. Amazon has been building up its content viewers by bundling it with Amazon Prime shipping for free, trying to entice anyone who is already spending regular money with them to try other things out. What shipping has to do with free movies and TV, I don’t know, but customers seem to be happy with it thus far. Reasons for doing a set-top box are obvious, with its original content being the most popular on the platform since it launched. As Amazon finds its way to more niche shows that it can present exclusively, the reasons to grab an Amazon-branded device for your TV makes more sense. In the same way that Apple leverages each of its devices to sell new ones, Amazon is learning how it’s done. It also doesn’t help that it has millions of shoppers visiting its site daily looking for new things. Some could say that Amazon is late to the game, but I see Jeff Bezos and company taking smart, calculated steps to capitalize on mistakes made by others, much like it did with the Kindle, staying close to a purer paperback-esqueSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bb__IL0o0I0/
Stephanie Bongiovi stanford football guy fieri Jill Kelley hope solo hope solo tesla model s
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Saga 12 and the story of the four failures
Recently a story on Image Comics claimed Apple's App Store "banned" a comic book, Saga 12, from a comic book app, Comics by comiXology, for content reasons. An uproar followed that story so closely that it actually seemed to overtake it at times. The original story turned out to be incorrect. According to comiXology, they assumed Apple would have a problem with the content and so decided on their own not to release it. They were wrong. Apple was fine with it. They subsequently released it. Though the original story still hasn't been updated to reflect any of that, a new story has been posted on Image Comics addressing the matter. So what does this all tell us?
- Apple failed to create an environment where distributors like comiXology could focus on releasing great content like Saga 12 instead of wasting time and energy fearing what might or might not get them in trouble with the App Store review team.
- comiXology failed to check with Apple before deciding not to release Saga 12 through their App Store apps, and to properly communicate that choice to the content creators, Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples and Image Comics.
- Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples and Image Comics failed to check with comiXolgy as to the real reason for Saga 12 not being released before posting their misinterpretation of events to the internet.
- Many media outlets and vocal consumers failed to check with Apple or comiXology before losing our collective online minds.
There are no pats on the back for this one. No I-told-you-sos either. There is, however, a learning opportunity, and a chance to improve the way we all do things. More certainty. More courage. More consideration. More care.
Yes, it was a collective failure, but from it could come a collective success. Let's put just as much energy into that.
     |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/u56VIxlQL1c/story01.htm
Friday, April 12, 2013
Sen. Manchin Breaks Down in Tears Meeting With Newtown Parents (ABC News)
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Sony Xperia ZL review: a giant phone in a surprisingly compact frame
Sony took a rather unusual path with its flagship smartphone for 2013: it designed the hardware twice. The Xperia Z is ostensibly the star of the show with its glass body and waterproofing, but it's launching alongside the Xperia ZL, an equally brawny, yet plainer sibling. On a spec sheet, there's no apparent reason for the ZL to exist when its features almost perfectly match those of the slimmer and more stylish Z.
Still, it's precisely that emphasis on function over form that might just win the day. Sony bills the ZL as the most compact 5-inch smartphone on the market, which could win over folks who see large-screened phones as unwieldy. But is it enough to challenge conventional thinking on big phones, especially in light of fiercer competition? And is there anything special lurking underneath the ZL's reworked hood? Read on and we'll let you know whether the second device in Sony's dual-phone strategy is strong enough to outshine the Z -- and, more importantly, its rivals.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/iwcFAiutYAo/
godaddy did the groundhog see his shadow Ray Lewis Murder UFC 156 my bloody valentine Super Bowl Winners what time does the superbowl start
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Tin nanocrystals for the battery of the future
Apr. 8, 2013 ? More powerful batteries could help electric cars achieve a considerably larger range and thus a breakthrough on the market. A new nanomaterial for lithium ion batteries developed in the labs of chemists at ETH Zurich and Empa could come into play here.
They provide power for electric cars, electric bicycles, smartphones and laptops; nowadays, rechargeable lithium ion batteries are the storage media of choice when it comes to supplying a large amount of energy in a small space and light weight. All over the world, scientists are currently researching a new generation of such batteries with an improved performance. Scientists headed by Maksym Kovalenko from the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry at ETH Zurich and Empa have now developed a nanomaterial which enables considerably more power to be stored in lithium ion batteries.
The nanomaterial is composed of tiny tin crystals, which are to be deployed at the minus pole of the batteries (anode). When charging the batteries, lithium ions are absorbed at this electrode; while discharging, they are released again (see box). "The more lithium ions the electrodes can absorb and release -- the better they can breathe, as it were -- the more energy can be stored in a battery," explains Kovalenko.
Uniform crystals
The element tin is ideal for this: every tin atom can absorb at least four lithium ions. However, the challenge is to deal with the volume change of tin electrodes: tin crystal becomes up to three times bigger if it absorbs a lot of lithium ions and shrinks again when it releases them back. The scientists thus resorted to nanotechnology: they produced the tiniest tin nanocrystals and embedded a large number of them in a porous, conductive permeable carbon matrix. Much like how a sponge can suck up water and release it again, an electrode constructed in this way can absorb lithium ions while charging and release them when discharging. If the electrode were made of a compact tin block, this would practically be impossible.
During the development of the nanomaterial, the issue of the ideal size for the nanocrystals arose, which also carries the challenge of producing uniform crystals. "The trick here was to separate the two basic steps in the formation of the crystals -- the formation of as small as a crystal nucleus as possible on the one hand and its subsequent growth on the other," explains Kovalenko. By influencing the time and temperature of the growth phase, the scientists were able to control the size of the crystals. "We are the first to produce such small tin crystals with such precision," says the scientist.
Larger cycle stability
Using uniform tin nanocrystals, carbon, and binding agents, the scientists produced different test electrodes for batteries. "This enables twice as much power to be stored compared to conventional electrodes," says Kovalenko. The size of the nanocrystals did not affect the storage capacity during the initial charging and discharging cycle. After a few charging and discharging cycles, however, differences caused by the crystal size became apparent: batteries with ten-nanometre crystals in the electrodes were able to store considerably more energy than ones with twice the diameter. The scientists assume that the smaller crystals perform better because they can absorb and release lithium ions more effectively. "Ten-nanometre tin crystals thus seem to be just the ticket for lithium ion batteries," says Kovalenko.
As the scientists now know the ideal size for the tin nanocrystals, they would like to turn their attention to the remaining challenges of producing optimum tin electrodes in further research projects. These include the choice of the best possible carbon matrix and binding agent for the electrodes, and the electrodes' ideal microscopic structure. Moreover, an optimal and stable electrolyte liquid in which the lithium ions can travel back and forth between the two poles in the battery also needs to be selected. Ultimately, the production costs are also an issue, which the researchers are looking to reduce by testing which cost-effective base materials are suitable for electrode production. The aim is to prepare batteries with an increased energy storage capacity and lifespan for the market, in collaboration with a Swiss industrial partner.
How lithium ion batteries work
In lithium ion batteries, the energy is stored in the form of positively charged lithium atoms (ions) that are found at the minus pole in a charged battery. If energy is taken from the battery, negatively charged electrons flow from the minus pole to the plus pole via the external circuit. To balance the charge, positively charged lithium ions also flow from the minus pole to the plus pole. However, these travel in the electrolyte fluid inside the battery. The process is reversible: lithium ion batteries can be recharged with electricity. In most lithium ion batteries these days, the plus pole is composed of the transition metal oxides cobalt, nickel, and manganese, the minus pole of graphite. In more powerful lithium ion batteries of the next generation, however, elements such as tin or silicon may well be used at the minus pole.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by ETH Zurich. The original article was written by Fabio Bergamin.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Kostiantyn Kravchyk, Loredana Protesescu, Maryna I. Bodnarchuk, Frank Krumeich, Maksym Yarema, Marc Walter, Christoph Guntlin, Maksym V. Kovalenko. Monodisperse and Inorganically Capped Sn and Sn/SnO2Nanocrystals for High-Performance Li-Ion Battery Anodes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013; 135 (11): 4199 DOI: 10.1021/ja312604r
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
broncos broncos lehigh walking dead season finale matt flynn denver news frozen planet
Micro Gaming Console GameStick Delays Shipments Until June ...
by Glen Tickle | 12:00 pm, April 7th, 2013
The GameStick micro console by PlayJam caught our attention with its wildly popular Kickstarter campaign that netted more than six times its goal of $100,000. It?s a clever idea ? placing an entire console on something the size of a flash drive that can be easily plugged into a television?s HDMI port. The problem is that GameStick became a little too popular, and not just for gaming hipsters. The huge number of backers means GameStick has had to delay shipment of units for backers until June.
GameStick will be shipping its developer units ? about 600 ? out on time, but the units promised to early backers of the project on Kickstarter have been delayed. That?s because instead of having to produce and ship a few thousand consoles as expected, they actually have to produce and ship tens of thousands of units. That creates more problems than just the extra time needed to build the tiny game systems.
Due to the larger-than-anticipated order, the GameStick consoles will have to be shipped from the manufacturer by boat rather than by plane. In almost every case, planes are faster than boats, but they can?t carry as much weight. The system was supposed to ship to backers this month, but now it seem folks will just have to be a bit more patient as they wait for their tiny game console.
(Kickstarter via Engadget, image via PlayJam)
Source: http://www.geekosystem.com/gamestick-delays/
brad and angelina herniated disc luke scott tom benson royals nicole richie lyme disease symptoms
SKorea: NKorea may be preparing to test missile
A South Korean soldier closes a military gate in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A South Korean soldier closes a military gate in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A North Korean military guard post is seen near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A South Korean Army soldier salutes as a military vehicle crosses the barricaded Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom, that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea said its top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington due to current tension with North Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
People watch a TV program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea?s top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington because of escalating tension with North Korea that have also led more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
North Koreans, working at a field in North Korea's Kaepoong, are viewed from the unification observation post near the border village of Panmunjom, that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea said its top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington due to current tension with North Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul.
North Korea's warning last week followed weeks of war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the U.S. for ongoing joint military drills, and for their support of U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang's Feb. 12 nuclear test. Many nations are deciding what to do about the notice, which said their diplomats' safety in Pyongyang cannot be guaranteed beginning this Wednesday.
Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang led South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce Sunday that its chairman had put off a visit to Washington. The U.S. military said its top commander in South Korea had also canceled a trip to Washington. The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch.
His description suggests that the missile could be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).
Citing North Korea's suggestion that diplomats leave the country, South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director said Pyongyang may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.
During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks ? which also include China, Russia and Japan ? that it abandoned in 2009.
The roughly two dozen countries with embassies in North Korea had not yet announced whether they would evacuate their staffs.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague suggested that North Korea's comments about foreign diplomats are "consistent" with a regime that is using the prospect of an external threat to justify its militarization to its people.
"I haven't seen any immediate need to respond to that by moving our diplomats out of there," he told the BBC on Saturday. "We will keep this under close review with our allies, but we shouldn't respond and play to that rhetoric and that presentation of an external threat every time they come out with it."
Germany said its embassy in Pyongyang would stay open for at least the time being.
"The situation there is tense but calm," a German Foreign Office official, who declined to be named in line with department policy, said in an email. "The security and danger of the situation is constantly being evaluated. The different international embassies there are in close touch with each other."
Indonesia's foreign affairs ministry said it was considering a plan to evacuate its diplomats. A statement released by the ministry on Saturday said that its embassy in Pyongyang has been preparing a contingency plan to anticipate the worst-case scenario, and that the Indonesian foreign minister is communicating with the staff there to monitor the situation.
India also said it was monitoring events. "We have been informed about it," said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for India's external affairs ministry. "We are in constant touch with our embassy and are monitoring the situation. We will carefully consider all aspects and decide well in time."
Seoul and Washington, which lack diplomatic relations with the North, are taking the threats seriously, though they say they have seen no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a large-scale attack.
Kim Jang-soo said the North would face "severalfold damages" for any hostilities. Since 2010, when attacks Seoul blames on North Korea killed 50 people, South Korea has vowed to aggressively respond to any future attack.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo had planned to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Martin Dempsey, in Washington on April 16 for regular talks. But tensions on the Korean Peninsula are so high that Jung cannot take a long trip away from South Korea, so the meeting will be rescheduled, a South Korean Joint Chiefs officer said Sunday. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.
The top U.S. military commander in South Korea, Gen. James Thurman, will not make a planned trip to Washington this week to testify before Congress because of tensions with North Korea. In an email Sunday to The Associated Press, Army Col. Amy Hannah said Thurman would remain in Seoul as "a prudent measure." He was scheduled to testify on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The U.S. Defense Department has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for this week because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis, a senior defense official told The Associated Press.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to delay the test at an Air Force base in California until sometime next month, the official said Saturday. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the test delay and requested anonymity.
In recent weeks, the U.S. has followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills.
In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.
The U.S. military also is considering deploying an intelligence drone at the Misawa Air Base in northern Japan to step up surveillance of North Korea, a Japanese Defense Ministry official said Sunday.
Three Global Hawk surveillance planes are deployed on Guam and one of them is being considered for deployment in Japan, the official said on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak about the issue.
Also on Sunday, Iran's foreign ministry urged all sides to exercise restraint and not to move toward "provocative behavior."
"We think that the event that is intensifying between North Korea, South Korea and the United states should be controlled as soon as possible," Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying. "Both parties should not move toward a corner in which there is a threatening climate."
Mehmanparast's comments came two days after Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, the deputy chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, reportedly said that North Korea had "no choice except confronting the U.S."
North Korea successfully shot a satellite into space in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February. It has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, though many analysts say the North hasn't achieved the technology to manufacture a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S.
North Korea also raised tensions Wednesday when it barred South Koreans and supply trucks from entering the Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for the past decade.
North Korea is not forcing South Korean managers to leave the factory complex, and nearly 520 of them remained at Kaesong on Sunday. But the entry ban at the park, the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project, is posing a serious challenge to many of the more than 120 South Korean firms there because they are running out of raw materials and are short on replacement workers.
Nine more firms, including food and textile companies, have stopped operations at Kaesong, bringing to 13 the total number of companies that have done so, South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement Sunday.
North Korea briefly restricted the heavily fortified border crossing at Kaesong in 2009 ? also during South Korea-U.S. drills ? but manufacturers fear the current border shutdown could last longer.
___
AP writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Robert Burns in Bagram, Afghanistan, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Louise Watt in Beijing, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Associated Presstenebrae the lake house petrino arkansas roy williams divine mercy chaplet matt lauer albert pujols
Monday, April 8, 2013
'President Hillary Clinton?' In mock election, she wallops the competition. (+video)
Political professionals and grassroots supporters are organizing and raising money in case Hillary Clinton runs for the presidency in 2016. So far, she's leading potential opponents of both parties.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking at the Women in the World Conference on Friday in New York. Clinton is working on a memoir and policy book about her years with the Obama administration. The book is tentatively scheduled for June 2014.
Marc Bryan-Brown/Women in the World/AP
EnlargeIt may be the weekend for the ?Final Four? in the NCAA basketball championship. But for political junkies out there, the ?Sweet Sixteen? already has been whittled down to the two major party candidates in the 2016 presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Marco Rubio.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
That is, if you believe the chart concocted by the Washington Post the other day pitting 32 possible candidates among Republicans and Democrats who (in their dreams, at least) have a shot at the White House.
More on that later. But former first lady, US Senator, and Secretary of State Clinton seemed to be all over the news this week.
Among the headlines: ?Be Afraid, GOP: Hillary Clinton Is Back and She Will Beat You in 2016? (The Daily Beast). ?A viewer's guide to Hillary Clinton Fever? (Politico). ?James Carville Joins Hillary Clinton Super PAC? (Huffington Post). ?Hillary 2016 Supporters Are an Intrepid Bunch? (Slate).
Even the nay-sayers kept Clinton?s name in the news. ?Hillary Clinton, a mistake for 2016? (CNN). ?Hopefully the Worst Column Anyone Will Write About Hillary Clinton During This Slow News Week? (Slate again).
Part of the buzz no doubt is tied to the (not surprising) news that she has another book deal with Simon & Schuster ? a memoir about her years in the Obama administration.
Financial terms have not been disclosed, the Associated Press reports. Clinton reportedly received $8 million for her 2003 memoir, "Living History," also published by Simon & Schuster. This new book is untitled so far, but it?s scheduled to come out in June 2014 ? right in the middle of the mid-term elections campaign.
Meanwhile, a ?Ready for Hillary? political action committee has formed up.
?It?s a shadow campaign set up at least two years before Clinton will actually decide whether or not to run for president,? reports Slate?s David Wegel. ?It?ll raise money, sell merchandise, and build lists until the actual Clinton campaign bursts to life. And then it will change its name to ?Ready PAC,? raise money, sell merchandise, and build lists, etc.?
rail gun harrisburg top chef texas great pacific garbage patch ben affleck and jennifer garner google privacy changes windows 8 preview
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Suicide bomber kills 20 at political rally in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) ? A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday at a lunch hosted by a Sunni candidate in Iraq's upcoming regional elections, killing 20 people, officials said.
The blast ripped through a hospitality tent pitched next to the house of Muthana al-Jourani, who is running for the provincial council and held the lunch rally for supporters, councilman Sadiq al-Huseini said.
The attack took place in Baqouba, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city some 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Insurgent attacks and sectarian bloodletting have been rampant there in the decade since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Violence is expected to surge in the run up to Iraq's provincial elections on April 20.
A health official and police officer who provided details about the attack spoke anonymously because they weren't authorized to speak to media.
The police officer said al-Jourani, who was injured in the attack, had not requested any extra security for the political event.
In the city's morgue, at least 10 bodies lay strewn on the ground, draped in black plastic sheets. Emergency crews treated the wounded. At the site of the bombing, white plastic chairs were overturned and men, apparently in shock, stood dazed in blood-stained clothing.
Eyewitness Ahmad al-Hadlouj, a 34-year-old who was wounded in the blast, said hundreds of people had gathered in the side street for the rally. His father, a member of the candidate's political bloc, was also wounded.
"This is our blood (shed) for the people," said al-Hadlouj. "We will still participate in elections."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the police officer said the attack was the hallmark of al-Qaida militants who have used suicide bombers, car bombings and coordinated attacks to try to destabilize the country and undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government. Hard-line Sunni extremists see Shiites and those who work with them as heretics.
A wave of deadly bombings and attacks in March prompted Iraqi officials to conclude that al-Qaida's Iraqi branch, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, has been getting stronger. They say rising lawlessness on the Syria-Iraq frontier and cross-border cooperation with the Syrian militant group Nusra Front has improved the militants' supply of weapons and foreign fighters.
____
Follow Abdul-Zahra on twitter.com/qabdulzahra
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-20-political-rally-iraq-113417360.html
halftime super bowl 2012 super bowl score madonna super bowl performance madonna half time m.i.a super bowl coin toss best superbowl commercials
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
AP IMPACT: Cartels dispatch agents deep inside US
In this Feb. 14, 2013 photo, Art Bilek, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, left, announces that Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, has been named Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, during a news conference in Chicago. Looking on is Jack Riley, right, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago and Peter Bensinger, former Administrator of the United States DEA. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
In this Feb. 14, 2013 photo, Art Bilek, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, left, announces that Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, has been named Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, during a news conference in Chicago. Looking on is Jack Riley, right, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago and Peter Bensinger, former Administrator of the United States DEA. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
In this Dec. 11, 2012 file photo, Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago, points out local Mexican drug cartel problem areas on a map in the new interagency Strike Force office in Chicago. Looking on is DEA agent Vince Balbo. The ruthless syndicates have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
This 2009 photo provided by the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department in Lawrenceville, Ga., shows reputed cartel operative Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez after his arrest in a suburb of Atlanta. Hernandez-Rodriguez was later convicted of sweeping drug trafficking charges. Prosecutors said he was a high-ranking figure in the La Familia cartel, sent to the U.S. to run a drug cell. His defense lawyers denied he was a major figure in the cartel. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Gwinnett County Sheriff?s Department)
This photo dated in 2007 from federal court documents provided by attorneys for Jose Gonzales-Zavala shows Gonzales-Zavala with two of his children allegedly taken in Mexico. Prosecutors say Gonzales-Zavala was a member of the La Familia cartel, based in southwestern Mexico, and dispatched to the Chicago area to oversee one of the cartel's lucrative trafficking cells. His defense team entered the photograph into evidence during the sentence stage of his case in arguing for leniency. In 2011, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a federal judge in Chicago. (AP Photo/Attorneys for Jose Gonzales-Zavala)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2009 file photo, weapons and drugs seized in special joint operation conducted with the Drug Enforecement Administration against the La Familia drug cartel based out of Michoacan, Mexico and operating in San Bernardino and surrounding counties, are on display at a news conference at sheriff's headquarters in San Bernardino, Calif. Drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
CHICAGO (AP) ? Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States ? an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.
If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.
Cartel activity in the U.S. is certainly not new. Starting in the 1990s, the ruthless syndicates became the nation's No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, using unaffiliated middlemen to smuggle cocaine, marijuana and heroin beyond the border or even to grow pot here.
But a wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. Cartel operatives are suspected of running drug-distribution networks in at least nine non-border states, often in middle-class suburbs in the Midwest, South and Northeast.
"It's probably the most serious threat the United States has faced from organized crime," said Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office.
The cartel threat looms so large that one of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpins ? a man who has never set foot in Chicago ? was recently named the city's Public Enemy No. 1, the same notorious label once assigned to Al Capone.
The Chicago Crime Commission, a non-government agency that tracks crime trends in the region, said it considers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman even more menacing than Capone because Guzman leads the deadly Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in Chicago and in many cities across the U.S.
Years ago, Mexico faced the same problem ? of then-nascent cartels expanding their power ? "and didn't nip the problem in the bud," said Jack Killorin, head of an anti-trafficking program in Atlanta for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "And see where they are now."
Riley sounds a similar alarm: "People think, 'The border's 1,700 miles away. This isn't our problem.' Well, it is. These days, we operate as if Chicago is on the border."
Border states from Texas to California have long grappled with a cartel presence. But cases involving cartel members have now emerged in the suburbs of Chicago and Atlanta, as well as Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and rural North Carolina. Suspects have also surfaced in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Mexican drug cartels "are taking over our neighborhoods," Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane warned a legislative committee in February. State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan disputed her claim, saying cartels are primarily drug suppliers, not the ones trafficking drugs on the ground.
For years, cartels were more inclined to make deals in Mexico with American traffickers, who would then handle transportation to and distribution within major cities, said Art Bilek, a former organized crime investigator who is now executive vice president of the crime commission.
As their organizations grew more sophisticated, the cartels began scheming to keep more profits for themselves. So leaders sought to cut out middlemen and assume more direct control, pushing aside American traffickers, he said.
Beginning two or three years ago, authorities noticed that cartels were putting "deputies on the ground here," Bilek said. "Chicago became such a massive market ... it was critical that they had firm control."
To help fight the syndicates, Chicago recently opened a first-of-its-kind facility at a secret location where 70 federal agents work side-by-side with police and prosecutors. Their primary focus is the point of contact between suburban-based cartel operatives and city street gangs who act as retail salesmen. That is when both sides are most vulnerable to detection, when they are most likely to meet in the open or use cellphones that can be wiretapped.
Others are skeptical about claims cartels are expanding their presence, saying law-enforcement agencies are prone to exaggerating threats to justify bigger budgets.
David Shirk, of the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute, said there is a dearth of reliable intelligence that cartels are dispatching operatives from Mexico on a large scale.
"We know astonishingly little about the structure and dynamics of cartels north of the border," Shirk said. "We need to be very cautious about the assumptions we make."
Statistics from the DEA suggest a heightened cartel presence in more U.S. cities. In 2008, around 230 American communities reported some level of cartel presence. That number climbed to more than 1,200 in 2011, the most recent year for which information is available, though the increase is partly due to better reporting.
Federal agents and local police say they have become more adept at identifying cartel members or operatives using wiretapped conversations, informants or confessions. Hundreds of court documents reviewed by the AP appear to support those statements.
"This is the first time we've been seeing it ? cartels who have their operatives actually sent here," said Richard Pearson, a lieutenant with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, which arrested four alleged operatives of the Zetas cartel in November in the suburb of Okolona.
People who live on the tree-lined street where authorities seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana and more than $1 million in cash were shocked to learn their low-key neighbors were accused of working for one of Mexico's most violent drug syndicates, Pearson said.
One of the best documented cases is Jose Gonzalez-Zavala, who was dispatched to the U.S. by the La Familia cartel, according to court filings.
In 2008, the former taxi driver and father of five moved into a spacious home at 1416 Brookfield Drive in a middle-class neighborhood of Joliet, southwest of Chicago. From there, court papers indicate, he oversaw wholesale shipments of cocaine in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.
Wiretap transcripts reveal he called an unidentified cartel boss in Mexico almost every day, displaying the deference any midlevel executive might show to someone higher up the corporate ladder. Once he stammered as he explained that one customer would not pay a debt until after a trip.
"No," snaps the boss. "What we need is for him to pay."
The same cartel assigned Jorge Guadalupe Ayala-German to guard a Chicago-area stash house for $300 a week, plus a promised $35,000 lump-sum payment once he returned to Mexico after a year or two, according to court documents.
Ayala-German brought his wife and child to help give the house the appearance of an ordinary family residence. But he was arrested before he could return home and pleaded guilty to multiple trafficking charges. He will be sentenced later this year.
Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez was convicted in 2011 of heading a massive drug operation in suburban Atlanta's Gwinnett County. The chief prosecutor said he and his associates were high-ranking figures in the La Familia cartel ? an allegation defense lawyers denied.
And at the end of February outside Columbus, Ohio, authorities arrested 34-year-old Isaac Eli Perez Neri, who allegedly told investigators he was a debt collector for the Sinaloa cartel.
An Atlanta attorney who has represented reputed cartel members says authorities sometimes overstate the threat such men pose.
"Often, you have a kid whose first time leaving Mexico is sleeping on a mattress at a stash house playing Game Boy, eating Burger King, just checking drugs or money in and out," said Bruce Harvey. "Then he's arrested and gets a gargantuan sentence. It's sad."
Typically, cartel operatives are not U.S. citizens and make no attempt to acquire visas, choosing instead to sneak across the border. They are so accustomed to slipping back and forth between the two countries that they regularly return home for family weddings and holidays, Riley said.
Because cartels accumulate houses full of cash, they run the constant risk associates will skim off the top. That points to the main reason cartels prefer their own people: Trust is hard to come by in their cutthroat world. There's also a fear factor. Cartels can exert more control on their operatives than on middlemen, often by threatening to torture or kill loved ones back home.
Danny Porter, chief prosecutor in Gwinnett County, Ga., said he has tried to entice dozens of suspected cartel members to cooperate with American authorities. Nearly all declined. Some laughed in his face.
"They say, 'We are more scared of them (the cartels) than we are of you. We talk and they'll boil our family in acid,'" Porter said. "Their families are essentially hostages."
Citing the safety of his own family, Gonzalez-Zavala declined to cooperate with authorities in exchange for years being shaved off his 40-year sentence.
In other cases, cartel brass send their own family members to the U.S.
"They're sometimes married or related to people in the cartels," Porter said. "They don't hire casual labor." So meticulous have cartels become that some even have operatives fill out job applications before being dispatched to the U.S., Riley added.
In Mexico, the cartels are known for a staggering number of killings ? more than 50,000, according to one tally. Beheadings are sometimes a signature.
So far, cartels don't appear to be directly responsible for large numbers of slayings in the United States, though the Texas Department of Public Safety reported 22 killings and five kidnappings in Texas at the hands of Mexican cartels from 2010 through mid- 2011.
Still, police worry that increased cartel activity could fuel heightened violence.
In Chicago, the police commander who oversees narcotics investigations, James O'Grady, said street-gang disputes over turf account for most of the city's uptick in murders last year, when slayings topped 500 for the first time since 2008. Although the cartels aren't dictating the territorial wars, they are the source of drugs.
Riley's assessment is stark: He argues that the cartels should be seen as an underlying cause of Chicago's disturbingly high murder rate.
"They are the puppeteers," he said. "Maybe the shooter didn't know and maybe the victim didn't know that. But if you follow it down the line, the cartels are ultimately responsible."
___
Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm .
Associated Pressharrison barnes brett ratner stevie nicks anchorman capybara duggars peter facinelli
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
SpaceX Dragon cargo ship leaves space station
This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft as it is backed away from the International Space Station early Tuesday March 26, 2013 by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. The Dragon is expected to splash down in the eastern Pacific ocean approximately 246 miles off the coast of Baja Calif., later this morning. (AP Photo/NASA)
This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft as it is backed away from the International Space Station early Tuesday March 26, 2013 by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. The Dragon is expected to splash down in the eastern Pacific ocean approximately 246 miles off the coast of Baja Calif., later this morning. (AP Photo/NASA)
This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft after it was detached from the International Space Station early Tuesday March 26, 2013 by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. The two spacecraft were traveling Canada at the time. The rising sun and the curvature of the earth can be seen behind the spacecraft. The Dragon is expected to splash down in the eastern Pacific ocean approximately 246 miles off the coast of Baja Calif., later this morning. (AP Photo/NASA)
This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft as it is backed away from the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm early Tuesday March 26, 2013 on it's return to earth. The Dragon is expected to splash down in the eastern Pacific ocean approximately 246 miles off the coast of Baja Calif., later this morning. (AP Photo/NASA)
This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft after it was detached from the International Space Station at 4:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday March 26, 2013 by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. The two spacecraft were traveling over the western edge of California at the time. The Dragon is expected to splash down in the eastern Pacific ocean approximatel 246 miles off the coast of Baja Calif. later this morning.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? The Dragon cargo ship has left the International Space Station and is on its way back to Earth.
Astronauts released the unmanned cargo ship from the end of the space station's giant robot arm Tuesday morning.
The parting occurred about 250 miles over the South Pacific. The privately owned spacecraft will splash down in the Pacific early in the afternoon. It's returning science samples and old space station equipment.
The California-based SpaceX company launched the Dragon from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at the beginning of March. NASA is paying SpaceX to periodically supply the space station.
Mechanical trouble caused a one-day delay in Dragon's arrival to the space station.
Three people are aboard the space station right now. They'll be joined by three more following this week's Soyuz launch from Kazakhstan.
Associated PressFrys tryptophan BestBuy.com Kohls Black Friday www.walmart.com Macho Camacho Rise of the Guardians
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Biden Schmoozes With Nuns in Latest 'Being Biden' Audio
In the second installment of his "Being Biden" audio series, Vice President Joe Biden recaps a moment he shared with two nuns, whom he described as "lovely women," outside of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City earlier this week when he attended the Inauguration Mass of Pope Francis.
"What you see is, I had just walked out the side door of St. Peter's Basilica after meeting and getting the opportunity to shake hands and a great conversation with Pope Francis, and the first people I saw were a group of nuns who to me epitomize everything Pope Francis talked about in his homily and what he stands for about generosity to other people, about reaching out, about making it a point to understand that we are our brother's keeper," Biden said in the installment called "A Good Omen."
Biden, the nation's highest-ranking Roman Catholic, led the presidential delegation to Pope Francis' investiture earlier this week and was accompanied by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Gov. Susana Martinez, R-N.M.
"In his homily, the pope said being human means respecting each of God's creatures, responding and respecting the environment in which we live," Biden said. "He said it means protecting people, showing love and concern for each other, every person, every child, elderly, those in need were often the last we think of and that's what in my experience being raised as a Catholic and educated by the nuns, that's what those, those lovely women I'm talking to symbolize to me. So I thought it was a good omen.
"We are our brother's keeper. We have an obligation and I think that's the way, the only way we're going to make the world better and safer.
"It translates at home with the simple things like making sure we fix the broken immigration system, making sure we make our neighborhoods safer by having rationale gun safety and international relations, reaching out and have war as the last option to protect our interests and so it was an exciting time. It gave me a lot of hope and, again, I'll close where I began. Just look at the expression in the faces of those two nuns. You can tell they share my view," he said.
Biden launched his "Being Biden" series last week and described the importance of the Second Amendment to him and the hunters to whom he served rolls at a wild-game dinner earlier this month.
Also Read2013 Calendar chris christie sofia vergara American Horror Story Patti Page anonymous texas chainsaw massacre
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
93% Amour
February 25, 2013:
RT's Oscar Picks 2013 - ResultsWe at Rotten Tomatoes freely admit we're not the world's greatest Oscar prognosticators. Still, we...
February 24, 2013:
2013 Academy Awards WinnersThe 85th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 24th in Los Angeles, and if...
Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771307454/
bonnaroo 2012 lineup twisted metal sea lion si swimsuit 2012 westminster dog show abe lincoln vampire hunter xi jinping
Weight gain after quitting smoking does not negate health benefits
Mar. 12, 2013 ? An analysis of data from the Framingham Offspring Study -- a long-term study that follows children of participants in the original Framingham Heart Study -- may have answered a question that has troubled individuals considering stopping smoking: do the health effects of any weight gained after quitting outweigh the known cardiovascular benefits of smoking cessation? The report in the March 13 issue of JAMA concludes that the benefits of stopping smoking far exceed any weight-gain associated risk.
"Among people without diabetes, those who stopped smoking had a 50 percent reduction in the risk for heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death, and accounting for any weight increase didn't change that risk reduction," says James Meigs, MD, MPH, of the General Medicine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) senior author of the JAMA report. "In patients with diabetes -- among whom weight gain is a particular concern -- we saw the same pattern of a large risk reduction regardless of weight gained."
No study has previously investigated whether smoking-cessation-associated weight gain increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. One did look at the effects on risk factors such as blood pressure and lipid levels, but none have analyzed the actual occurence of cardiovascular events. Participants in the Framingham Offspring Study, which began in 1971, have a comprehensive medical exam and history taken every four to six years. The current investigation analyzed data from participant visits conducted from the mid 1980s into the mid-2000s, which covering the third to eighth visits for the overall study. The number of participants at each exam cycle ranged from almost 2,400 to about 3,250, totalling 11,148 individual person-exams.
Based on information gathered at each exam, participants were categorized as never smokers, current smokers, recent quitters -- who had stopped smoking since their last exam -- and long-term quitters. At the third study visit, 31 percent of participants were current smokers, and by the eighth visit only 13 percent continued to smoke. A general trend toward weight gain was seen across all study participants. Smokers, never smokers, and long-term quitters gained an average of 1 to 2 pounds between study visits, while recent quitters had gained an average of 5 to 10 pounds since their previous visit. But no matter how much weight they gained, the risk of cardiovascular events in the six years after quitting dropped in half for participants without diabetes. A similar drop in the incidence of cardiovascular events was seen in participants with diabetes, but it did not reach statistical significance, probably because less than 15 percent of the overall group was know to have diabetes.
"We now can say without question that stopping smoking has a very positive effect on cardiovascular risk for patients with and without diabetes, even if they experience the moderate weight gain seen in this study, which matches post-cessation weight increase reported in other studies," says Meigs, an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts General Hospital.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
- Carole Clair et al. Association of Smoking Cessation and Weight Change With Cardiovascular Disease Among Adults With and Without Diabetes. JAMA, 2013 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.1644
- Clair C, Rigotti NA, Porneala B, et al. Association of Smoking Cessation and Weight Change With Cardiovascular Disease Among Adults With and Without Diabetes. JAMA, 2013; 309 (10): 1014-1021 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.1644
- Fiore MC, Baker TB. Should Clinicians Encourage Smoking Cessation for Every Patient Who Smokes? JAMA, 2013; 309 (10): 1032-1033 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.1793
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/F9A1K-MVYWM/130312161201.htm
mick jagger Newton Shooting Newtown Shooting Gangnam Style Ryan Lanza Sandy Hook kanye west
Greener Alternative Sources of Electricity | Corbitoness | FAMILY ...
In today?s age of technology, electricity is something we cannot do without. Unfortunately, most of the electricity we use is generated from fossil fuels which emit pollutants and greenhouse gases. Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and other pollutants contribute greatly to the formation of acid rain and the further degradation of the ozone layer. This is the only habitual planet known so far and naturally, we would want to preserve it for future generations.
One option for sustainable living is the use of natural gas as a source of energy in the home. Though sourced from fossil fuels, natural gas is cleanest of all fossil fuels and thus decreases harmful pollution levels. Moreover, natural gas costs over 50% less than electricity. Natural gas appliances have also become more efficient which translates to greater savings and lesser carbon footprint. Though more expensive when purchased, these appliances are very efficient and cost effective. Natural gas can be used not only for heating and cooking but also for cooling homes through natural gas powered air conditioning.
Not all residential appliances can run on natural gas though. Television, microwave ovens, blenders and other such appliances require electricity. What you can do is ask your local energy provider if Green Power is available in your area. This is electricity generated by renewable energy generators from sources that produce no greenhouse emissions. These sources include wind power, solar, biogas and mini hydro.
To maximize savings, a combination of both power sources would be ideal. You may opt to use Green Power for electrical appliances and use natural gas for your cooking needs as well as indoor heating or cooling. Whichever source you choose or is available in your area, what?s most important is that you make green living your family?s lifestyle.
" ); (function() { var nn = document.createElement('script'); nn.type = 'text/javascript'; nn.src = 'http://synad2.nuffnang.com.ph/lr.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(nn, s.nextSibling); })();
Source: http://www.corbitoness.com/home/greener-alternative-sources-of-electricity/
wrestlemania country music awards 2012 wrestlemania 28 results earl scruggs game of thrones wrestlemania 28 game of thrones season 2
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)