Satellite communication Technology Development | myownblog

Satellites have been orbiting the earth amazing decades now, And are constantly resulting in the evolution of global communication.

Satellite cell Replica Girard Perregaux Watches phones have made it possible for people to make phone calls from from any location, No matter how remote their whereabouts, And have been extremely useful in coordination of many activities cover anything from scientific exploration to military operations.

Portable satellite radio is another significant benefit of technology that has emerged in recent years, Allowing users to subscribe to and access radio channels from everywhere for either entertainment or informational purposes.

One small problem with satellite communication technology, then again, Is the sheer distance involved in mingling with orbiting satellites, Which can cause a slight Rolex Sea Dweller Fake Watches delay in sign time. this kind of, needless to, Is of no conclusion to satellite radio, But it could be a slight problem for two-Way communication software program as broadband and phone.

the only method to reduce the time delay involved in satellite transmission is to use lower orbits for satellites, De Witt Replica Thus reducing the distance involved in transmitting. Lower orbits happen to be being used for some purposes, But there are many challenges that must be overcome in order to make such a transition.

Advancements in satellite technology have been plentiful in recent years, And more are expected later on in life. It will be very interesting to watch the roll-out of this evolving technology over the coming years and beyond

Source: http://lockierstayle.edublogs.org/2013/03/28/satellite-communication-technology-development/

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Major oil companies testify on oil tax change

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- A proposed overhaul of Alaska's oil tax structure would be a vast improvement over the existing system and should lead to more investment, but it has some problem areas, industry representatives told the House Resources Committee on Tuesday.

Dan Seckers, tax counsel for Exxon Mobil Corp., said SB21 would make Alaska more competitive ? a point that's been underscored by consultants to the Legislature and Gov. Sean Parnell's administration ? and it should lead to more investment. But he said he "would love" for Alaska to become more attractive than it would be under the proposal.

The committee is working on SB21, which is aimed at making Alaska more competitive for investment dollars and increasing oil production. The North Slope's major players ? BP PLC, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil ? testified Tuesday evening. The committee planned to hear from smaller producers and explorers Wednesday.

Committee co-chair Eric Feige has said he hopes to advance a bill sometime next week. The bill would then go to the House Finance Committee. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn April 14.

Alaska relies heavily on oil revenues to run. Production has been on a downward trend since the late 1980s but higher prices in recent years have helped mask the impact of the decline.

Some of the testimony went beyond talk of whether SB21 would make Alaska more competitive to whether it would make Alaska attractive enough to draw the kind of investment the state wants to see.

Damian Bilbao, head of finance for BP Alaska, said the bill would put Alaska "back in the game" but agreed with the other industry representatives that changes to the bill would make it better and reduce uncertainty for the companies.

Alaska's existing oil tax structure, passed in 2007, features a 25 percent base tax rate and a progressive surcharge that's triggered when a company's production tax value hits $30 a barrel. The idea when it passed was that the state would help companies on the front end with things like tax credits and share profits on the back end when oil flowed and prices were high.

Companies have said the surcharge ? credited with helping fatten state coffers in recent years ? eats too deeply into their profits when prices are high, discouraging new investment. Alaska's revenue commissioner has said he's seen no evidence that tax credits to oil companies ? which could top $1 billion next year ? have led to increased production.

SB21, which narrowly passed the Senate last week, would eliminate the surcharge and revamp the suite of tax credits with a goal of focusing incentives on production. The latest version of the bill would raise the base tax rate to 35 percent, provide a $5 credit for each taxable barrel of oil produced and provide a 20 percent tax break, known as a gross revenue exclusion, for oil from new fields and new oil from legacy fields, long the mainstays of Alaska's oil industry.

Seckers and representatives of ConocoPhillips said the bill is an improvement over what is now in place. But they said the tax rate under SB21 is too high and they wanted greater clarity on what oil would qualify for the gross revenue exclusion, an issue also raised by Bilbao. Seckers also questioned whether a $5-per-barrel allowance was enough to balance other provisions of the bill, like the base tax rate.

Bob Heinrich, vice president of finance for ConocoPhillips Alaska, said the proposal would represent a tax increase at lower oil prices. Given Alaska's high-cost environment, he said the bill doesn't go far enough toward improving Alaska's overall competitiveness.

___

Follow Becky Bohrer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/beckybohrerap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/major-oil-companies-testify-oil-023639911.html

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Dad denies using daughter in child-porn extortion plot after professor's suicide

FBI agents say a blackmail scheme concocted by another man who used photos of an underage girl in a catfish scam may have caused a Texas A&M professor to commit suicide. KPRC's Irika Sargent reports.

By Juan A. Lozano, The Associated Press

HOUSTON -- A Louisiana man denied on Tuesday that he used his daughter to lure a college professor into a sexually explicit online relationship and then blackmailed him.

The professor, James Arnt Aune, of Texas A&M University, jumped to his death from the roof of a campus parking garage in January after paying part of an alleged demand for $5,000, sending a text to the man saying "Killing myself now. And u will be prosecuted for black mail."

Authorities allege that Aune, 59, was one of many victims of the same scam by the man. The Associated Press isn't naming him to protect the identity of his daughter.

Aune, who headed the school's Department of Communication, battled depression in recent years. He struggled with the administrative duties of being a department head, and he was badly shaken by his 2007 battle with prostate cancer, his widow said. "He never really came all the way back," Miriam Aune said of his surviving cancer.

He began drinking heavily, and in December he started a sexually explicit online relationship with what he thought was an underage girl, according to prosecutors. He was soon contacted by a man purporting to be her outraged father, who threatened to expose Aune unless he paid him $5,000.

Aune paid the man $1,500, but he didn't know if he could come up with the rest, authorities say.

The alleged blackmailer pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a Houston federal courtroom to an extortion charge.

The 37-year-old Metairie, La., resident was ordered to remain in jail without bail, and his trial is scheduled for May 28. If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail.

'A weak moment'
In the criminal complaint, prosecutors contend that the man's daughter told authorities in Louisiana in 2011 that her father took naked photos and videos of her and used them "to scam men" through MocoSpace, a social networking website mainly for mobile devices. On the site, "she would meet men, get their phone numbers and send them pictures and videos then (her father) would call them and say how she was his daughter and how she would need counseling and they had to pay for it."

At the time of that 2011 interview, her father was facing two counts of oral sexual battery and two counts of aggravated incest. The charges were dropped in February 2012 due to a lack of corroborating evidence, said Rachael Domiano, a spokeswoman for the 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office in Louisiana.

It wasn't clear from the criminal complaint if prosecutors believe the defendant's daughter actually interacted with Aune, or if her image was used to allegedly dupe him.

Miriam Aune, 56, told The Associated Press that investigators told her that the defendant communicated with her husband and other men, pretending to be his daughter.

She said her husband told her he began the online chats sometime in December and the defendant then asked for money.

According to court records, undated texts show Aune scrambling to put money on prepaid credit cards and asking for his forgiveness, saying "I am very sorry. It was a weak moment."

A week before his suicide, James Aune confessed to his wife. Miriam Aune said her husband never told her why he did it.

"I was just telling him there was nothing that we couldn't get through. We have two autistic children we have raised to adulthood. We've been through rough stuff. I thought we could get through this," Miriam Aune said.

According to a criminal complaint, the defendant continued bombarding Aune with profanity laced emails, texts and voicemails, including a Jan. 7 email in which he warned Aune that he had until noon the next day to pay or else "the police, your place of employment, students, ALL OVER THE INTERNET ...ALL OF THEM will be able to see your conversations, texts, pictures you sent ...."

On Jan. 8 at 9:21 a.m., the defendant texted, "3 more hours. If i don't hear from you the calls start," according the criminal complaint by FBI agent Nikki Allen. Just over an hour later, Aune replied with the text to say he was taking his own life.

Miriam Aune doesn't excuse her husband's actions. She said it was his decision to go online and begin the conversations.

"It just shows you anybody can slip off the path. I know a lot of people are very surprised by this. He was very human with flaws, just like all of us," she said.?

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

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a0b8c09/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C270C174841920Edad0Edenies0Eusing0Edaughter0Ein0Echild0Eporn0Eextortion0Eplot0Eafter0Eprofessors0Esuicide0Dlite/story01.htm

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Energy policies 'reduce bill rises'

27 March 2013 Last updated at 04:22 ET

Energy policies will cushion consumers from price rises, but only after contributing to a rise in average household bills, a report has said.

By 2020, bills will be 11% - or ?166 - lower than they would otherwise have been, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change's report.

It looked at policies such as a drive to boost home insulation and promote energy efficient boiler installation.

Labour accused the government of masking the effect of its policies.

Downward trend

Savings generated from policies on energy efficiency and climate change are already having an impact and will increase over the next decade, the report said.

Household dual fuel bills are estimated to be on average 5% - or ?64 - lower now than they would be without these policies, it said.

Nearly half of the average household dual fuel energy bill, or about 47%, is made up of fossil fuel prices, or ?598, with the second largest cost attributed to network costs or transport and distribution of energy, at 20%, or ?257.

Government policies on energy and climate change account for 9%, or ?112 of this bill - with ?30 of this spent on renewable energy policies, including ?9 on on-shore and ?9 on off-shore wind.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

We are doing all we can to offset these global energy price rises?

End Quote Ed Davey Energy and Climate Change Secretary

More than half of the energy and climate change policy costs in household bills are spent on measures to target the fuel poor and energy efficiency.

The report showed that 85% of the rise in household bills between 2010 and 2012 was from wholesale energy costs and network costs and 15% as a result of government policies.

Household energy consumption has been on a downward trend since 2005, partly as a result of energy efficiency measures already in place, according to the report.

By 2020 around 12 million boilers will have been replaced with more energy efficient models, it said.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: "Global gas price hikes are squeezing households. They are beyond any government's control and, by all serious predictions, are likely to continue rising.

"We are doing all we can to offset these global energy price rises, and while we have more to do, this new study shows our policies are putting a cushion between global prices and the bills we all pay."

Caroline Flint, shadow energy and climate change secretary, said: "The government's underhand attempt to mask the real impact of its policies on families' energy bills is shameful... Instead of cooking the books to trick people into thinking their energy bills will be lower, ministers should get behind Labour's plans to overhaul the energy market and deliver fair prices for the public."

'Less positive'

The report also found that businesses that are medium-sized users of energy currently face energy costs that are on average 21% higher as a result of energy and climate change policies, with this figure rising to 22% by 2020.

Large energy-intensive users currently face energy costs that are on average between one and 14% higher as a result of policies, with this rising to between six and 36% by 2020.

The estimates did not include measures the government was currently considering to reduce the impact of low carbon policies on the costs of electricity for energy intensive industries, including a ?250m package of compensation for industry to 2014/2015.

Mr Davey said: "The picture for business is less positive, which is why our new proposals to exempt and compensate the most energy intensive industries from certain policy impacts is crucial. Nothing would be gained from forcing industry, jobs and emissions abroad."

Steve Radley, policy director at EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, said: "Measures to shield the most energy-intensive industries from a portion of the costs will make a difference but, unless we get a grip on spiralling policy costs, steeply rising electricity prices for the rest of the sector risk making the UK an increasingly unattractive location for industrial investment and undermining efforts to rebalance the economy.

"The first step is scrapping costly policies with questionable environmental impact, such as the carbon price floor and the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, as soon as public finances allow."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21949758#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Researchers discover the brain origins of variation in pathological anxiety

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

New findings from nonhuman primates suggest that an overactive core circuit in the brain, and its interaction with other specialized circuits, accounts for the variability in symptoms shown by patients with severe anxiety. In a brain-imaging study to be published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health describe work that for the first time provides an understanding of the root causes of clinical variability in anxiety disorders.

Using a well-established nonhuman primate model of childhood anxiety, the scientists identified a core circuit that is chronically over-active in all anxious individuals, regardless of their particular pattern of symptoms. They also identified a set of more specialized circuits that are over- or under-active in individuals prone to particular symptoms, such as chronically high levels of the stress-hormone cortisol.

"These findings provide important new insights into altered brain functioning that explain why people with anxiety have such different symptoms and clinical presentations, and it also gives us new ideas, based on an understanding of altered brain function, for helping people with different types of anxiety,'' says Dr. Ned Kalin, senior author, chair of Psychiatry and director of the HealthEmotions Research Institute.

"There is a large need for new treatment strategies, because our current treatments don't work well for many anxious adults and children who come to us for help."

In the study, key anxiety-related symptoms were measured in 238 young rhesus monkeys using behavioral and hormonal measurement procedures similar to those routinely used to assess extreme shyness in children. Young monkeys are ideally suited for these studies because of their similarities in brain development and social behavior, Kalin noted. Variation in brain activity was quantified in the monkeys using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, a method that is also used in humans.

Combining behavioral measures of shyness, physiological measures of the stress-hormone cortisol, and brain metabolic imaging, co-lead authors Dr. Alexander Shackman, Andrew Fox, and their collaborators showed that a core neural system marked by elevated activity in the central nucleus of the amygdala was a consistent brain signature shared by young monkeys with chronically high levels of anxiety. This was true despite striking differences across monkeys in the predominance of particular anxiety-related symptoms.

The Wisconsin researchers also showed that young monkeys with particular anxiety profiles, such as high levels of shyness, showed changes in symptom-specific brain circuits. Finally, Shackman, Fox, and colleagues uncovered evidence that the two kinds of brain circuits, one shared by all anxious individuals, the other specific to those with particular symptoms, work together to produce different presentations of pathological anxiety.

The new study builds upon earlier work by the Kalin laboratory demonstrating that activity in the amygdala is strongly shaped by early-life experiences, such as parenting and social interactions. They hypothesize that extreme anxiety stems from problems with the normal maturation of brain systems involved in emotional learning, which suggests that anxious children have difficulty learning to effectively regulate brain anxiety circuits. Taken together, this line of research sets the stage for improved strategies for preventing extreme childhood anxiety from blossoming into full-blown anxiety disorders.

"This means the amygdala is an extremely attractive target for new, broad-spectrum anxiety treatments,'' says Shackman. "The central nucleus of the amygdala is a uniquely malleable substrate for anxiety, one that can help to trigger a wide range of symptoms."

The work also suggests more specific brain targets for different symptom profiles. Such therapies could range from new, more selectively targeted medications to intensive therapies that seek to re-train the amygdala, ranging from conventional cognitive-behavioral therapies to training in mindfulness and other techniques, Shackman noted. To further understand the clinical significance of these observations, the laboratory is conducting a parallel study in young children suffering from anxiety disorders.

###

University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://www.wisc.edu

Thanks to University of Wisconsin-Madison for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127463/Researchers_discover_the_brain_origins_of_variation_in_pathological_anxiety

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Official says US seeks Arab states for peace push

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? The U.S. is seeking to bring Arab countries into efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that broke down more than four years ago, a senior Palestinian official said Monday.

Also Monday, the Israeli government said it would resume regular transfers of millions of dollars in tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, a step bound to ease the self-rule government's protracted cash crisis.

The decision came just days after President Barack Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a visit to the region. Obama has said stabilizing the Palestinian Authority, which has buckled under mounting debt, is key to U.S. peace efforts.

However, there are wide gaps on the terms of renewing talks. The Palestinians say Israel must freeze settlement building on lands it captured in 1967 before any negotiations can resume. Israel says the issue of settlements can be addressed during negotiations.

Obama has sided with the Israeli view, and it is not clear how the U.S. can bring the Palestinians back to the table without a settlement freeze.

Arab countries are now being asked to help, said Yasser Abed-Rabbo, a top official in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

"U.S. efforts will increase in coming weeks and will include other Arab parties, such as Jordan and Egypt," Abed-Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio, adding that an Arab League delegation is to visit Washington as part of these efforts.

However, he said there would be no flexibility on Palestinian demands for a settlement freeze.

"For us, the important thing is the substance, such as the full settlement freeze and the recognition of the 1967 borders," he said.

The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem ? territories Israel captured in 1967 ? but are ready to negotiate border changes, provided the 1967 frontier is the baseline.

Palestinian officials say they cannot return to talks without such a clear framework, arguing that open-ended negotiations will simply provide diplomatic cover to Israel to keep expanding settlements.

"We fear they (the Israelis) would waste time by getting us into a bargaining process over details and steps here and there, and in this way would waste two to three years and then get us to wait for a new U.S. administration," Abed-Rabbo said.

Netanyahu has said he is willing to resume talks immediately. However, he has said he will not relinquish control over east Jerusalem and has refused to recognize the 1967 lines as a starting point for talks.

For 10 months during his previous term, Netanyahu curbed settlement building as part of a U.S. push to bring the Palestinians back to the table, but negotiations never got off the ground.

Successive Israeli governments have built dozens of settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, now home to more than half a million Israelis. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, dismantling almost two dozen settlements there, but sharply restricts access to the territory.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that the Palestinians would wait two to three months to see if a new U.S. push to restart talks will yield results.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu said he has instructed Finance Minister Yair Lapid to resume the monthly transfer of taxes and customs duties Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

The decision was announced on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, and Israeli officials were not available to further comment.

Israel froze the transfers of about $100 million a month after a successful Palestinian bid in November to win U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine in the lands Israel captured in 1967. Israel has released some money since then, but not on schedule.

The office of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said it expects Israel will now transfer the money regularly.

The transfers are a key component of the Palestinian Authority's budget. In recent months, the self-rule government, which administers about 38 percent of the West Bank, has struggled to pay salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants, the backbone of the local economy, and repay its debt to the private sector.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/official-says-us-seeks-arab-states-peace-push-155317484.html

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DNA damage occurs as part of normal brain activity, scientists discover

Mar. 24, 2013 ? Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that a certain type of DNA damage long thought to be particularly detrimental to brain cells can actually be part of a regular, non-harmful process. The team further found that disruptions to this process occur in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease -- and identified two therapeutic strategies that reduce these disruptions.

Scientists have long known that DNA damage occurs in every cell, accumulating as we age. But a particular type of DNA damage, known as a double-strand break, or DSB, has long been considered a major force behind age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer's. Today, researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Senior Investigator Lennart Mucke, MD, report in Nature Neuroscience that DSBs in neuronal cells in the brain can also be part of normal brain functions such as learning -- as long as the DSBs are tightly controlled and repaired in good time. Further, the accumulation of the amyloid-beta protein in the brain -- widely thought to be a major cause of Alzheimer's disease -- increases the number of neurons with DSBs and delays their repair.

"It is both novel and intriguing team's finding that the accumulation and repair of DSBs may be part of normal learning," said Fred H. Gage, PhD, of the Salk Institute who was not involved in this study. "Their discovery that the Alzheimer's-like mice exhibited higher baseline DSBs, which weren't repaired, increases these findings' relevance and provides new understanding of this deadly disease's underlying mechanisms."

In laboratory experiments, two groups of mice explored a new environment filled with unfamiliar sights, smells and textures. One group was genetically modified to simulate key aspects of Alzheimer's, and the other was a healthy, control group. As the mice explored, their neurons became stimulated as they processed new information. After two hours, the mice were returned to their familiar, home environment.

The investigators then examined the neurons of the mice for markers of DSBs. The control group showed an increase in DSBs right after they explored the new environment -- but after being returned to their home environment, DSB levels dropped.

"We were initially surprised to find neuronal DSBs in the brains of healthy mice," said Elsa Suberbielle, DVM, PhD, Gladstone postdoctoral fellow and the paper's lead author. "But the close link between neuronal stimulation and DSBs, and the finding that these DSBs were repaired after the mice returned to their home environment, suggest that DSBs are an integral part of normal brain activity. We think that this damage-and-repair pattern might help the animals learn by facilitating rapid changes in the conversion of neuronal DNA into proteins that are involved in forming memories."

The group of mice modified to simulate Alzheimer's had higher DSB levels at the start -- levels that rose even higher during neuronal stimulation. In addition, the team noticed a substantial delay in the DNA-repair process.

To counteract the accumulation of DSBs, the team first used a therapeutic approach built on two recent studies -- one of which was led by Dr. Mucke and his team -- that showed the widely used anti-epileptic drug levetiracetam could improve neuronal communication and memory in both mouse models of Alzheimer's and in humans in the disease's earliest stages. The mice they treated with the FDA-approved drug had fewer DSBs. In their second strategy, they genetically modified mice to lack the brain protein called tau -- another protein implicated in Alzheimer's. This manipulation, which they had previously found to prevent abnormal brain activity, also prevented the excessive accumulation of DSBs.

The team's findings suggest that restoring proper neuronal communication is important for staving off the effects of Alzheimer's -- perhaps by maintaining the delicate balance between DNA damage and repair.

"Currently, we have no effective treatments to slow, prevent or halt Alzheimer's, from which more than 5 million people suffer in the United States alone," said Dr. Mucke, who directs neurological research at Gladstone and is a professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, with which Gladstone is affiliated. "The need to decipher the causes of Alzheimer's and to find better therapeutic solutions has never been more important -- or urgent. Our results suggest that readily available drugs could help protect neurons against some of the damages inflicted by this illness. In the future, we will further explore these therapeutic strategies. We also hope to gain a deeper understanding of the role that DSBs play in learning and memory -- and in the disruption of these important brain functions by Alzheimer's disease."

Other scientists who participated in this research at Gladstone include Pascal Sanchez, PhD, Alexxai Kravitz, PhD, Xin Wang, Kaitlyn Ho, Kirsten Eilertson, PhD, Nino Devidze, PhD, and Anatol Kreitzer, PhD. This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Gladstone Institutes, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Elsa Suberbielle, Pascal E Sanchez, Alexxai V Kravitz, Xin Wang, Kaitlyn Ho, Kirsten Eilertson, Nino Devidze, Anatol C Kreitzer, Lennart Mucke. Physiologic brain activity causes DNA double-strand breaks in neurons, with exacerbation by amyloid-?. Nature Neuroscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nn.3356

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/~3/3lJ_jfJlNac/130324152259.htm

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Survivors of Calif sailboat race accident released

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Five sailors who survived when their boat smashed into rocks during a race in storm-churned seas off Southern California, killing a fellow crewmember, have been released from San Diego hospitals.

The survivors were treated for cuts, bruises and hypothermia, Chuck Hope, commodore of the San Diego Yacht Club, told UT San Diego Sunday (http://bit.ly/14KsMEg). The yacht club was a co-host of the 139-nautical-mile Islands Race.

The five crewmembers of the Uncontrollable Urge were rescued after the 32-foot sailboat lost its steering and the craft began drifting toward San Clemente Island, where it broke apart, Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Gawrelli said Saturday.

Craig Thomas Williams, a 36-year-old architect from Serra Mesa, was killed. Race officials identified the other crew members as James Gilmore, the skipper and owner of the boat; Mike Skillicorn; Doug Pajak; Ryan Georgianna; and Vince Valdes.

On Friday night, the crew radioed the mayday call and also activated a feature on the boat that provides authorities with GPS coordinates and other crucial information, she said. But the crew then declined assistance and instead requested a tow boat. Stormy conditions, however, kept the tow boat from getting to them.

"They were not in immediate danger and thought they would be able to manage completing the race and get assistance on their own," Hope said. "Then things got worse."

He said the crew couldn't deploy a life raft or anchor the boat. They abandoned ship when the boat entered the surf line and broke apart.

When the Coast Guard reached the crew, they found Williams unresponsive in the water, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office said. He and the other five crew members were hoisted into a helicopter and flown to a hospital.

Williams was a member of the Silver Gate Yacht Club in San Diego, where the Uncontrollable Urge is docked, said Carey Storm, the club's commodore.

"This is a very difficult time for the Williams family, the skipper of Uncontrollable Urge and the other surviving crew members," Carey Storm said. "(The club) and the entire Southern California racing community is a close family, and the loss of one of our members impacts us all greatly."

Carey said Sunday that a memorial fund has been established to help support Williams' young daughter and wife, who is pregnant.

Gilmore, the owner of the Uncontrollable Urge, tweeted Friday that he was taking the new boat on its first race, and noted that the forecast called for 25-knot winds.

"Gonna see what this boat can do!" he tweeted.

Hope said the Uncontrollable Urge was known within the sailboat racing circuit and that its crew and skipper were experienced.

"Those guys been around, they're very good sailors," he said. "This was not a case of someone getting in over their head."

He said stormy conditions in the open seas caused equipment failures for two other boats, forcing their crews to drop from the race. The Uncontrollable Urge crew radioed that the boat's rudder failed.

"This was not an isolated incident," Hope said. "Conditions were pretty fierce."

The overnight race began in Newport Harbor in Orange County on Friday and was to take participants around Catalina and San Clemente islands before finishing off in San Diego's Point Loma.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-10-Sailboat%20Race%20Death/id-eefe600fb7b04c76b14052f91317a904

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EU bans cosmetics with animal-tested ingredients

BRUSSELS (AP) ? The European Union is banning the sale of new cosmetic products containing ingredients tested on animals.

The 27-country bloc's executive arm, the European Commission, said Monday the ban will take effect immediately.

Animal rights groups cheered the news, but industry trade body Cosmetics Europe said the ban comes too early and "acts as a brake on innovation."

The EU has banned animal testing of finished cosmetic products since 2004. The ban on cosmetics containing animal-tested ingredients was first decided four years ago but initially left loopholes for certain tests following resistance from cosmetics companies.

While the industry's rabbits and guinea pigs will now be spared, consumers are unlikely to notice immediate changes because products containing ingredients that were tested on animals before the ban can remain on the shelves.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-11-Europe-Animal%20Testing%20Ban/id-07e2a24813b3494f9a7768a5868b89bc

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Easter Activities for Babies and Toddlers on hands on : as we grow

Easter is just around the corner. Here are some fun Hands on activities, crafts, books and sign language for your baby or toddler to enjoy for Easter! Don?t wait! Bring out the eggs and bunnies now for hours of fun!

Submitted by Kim Vij at The Educators? Spin On It.

Categories: Creative Articles from Hands on Moms!
Topics: Holiday Activities & Crafts by Hands on Moms

Source: http://handsonaswegrow.com/easter-activities-for-babies-and-toddlers/

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Large Explosion Reported In Kabul During Hagel Visit

KABUL, March 9 (Reuters) - A blast was heard in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The explosion was heard near the Afghan Defence Ministry, said a defence official. An ISAF spokesman said Hagel was nowhere near the explosion. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/09/explosion-kabul-hagel-visit_n_2841805.html

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New clues to how flu virus spreads

Mar. 7, 2013 ? People may more likely be exposed to the flu through airborne virus than previously thought, according to new research from the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The study also found that when flu patients wear a surgical mask, the release of virus in even the smallest airborne droplets can be significantly reduced.

"People are generally surprised to learn that scientists don't know for sure how flu spreads," says Donald Milton, M.D., Dr.P.H., who directs the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and led the study of influenza virus aerosols published in the journal PLOS Pathogens on March 7, 2013.

"Our study provides new evidence that there is nearly nine times more influenza virus present the smallest airborne droplets in the breath exhaled from those infected with flu than in the larger droplets that would be expected to carry more virus," explains Dr. Milton. "This has important implications for how we prevent the spread of flu."

Routes of flu transmission include:

1) direct or indirect (e.g., doorknobs, keyboards) contact with an infected person,

2) contact via large droplet spray from a respiratory fluid (via coughs and sneezes), and

3) inhalation of fine airborne particles, which are generated by the release of smaller, virus-containing droplets via normal breathing and coughing. The relative importance of these modes of influenza transmission has not been well understood, but is critical in devising effective interventions to protect healthcare workers and vulnerable people, such as infants and the elderly.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends that persons with influenza wear surgical masks to prevent transmission to susceptible individuals. Yet, this recommendation has been supported so far by only one study of mask impact on the containment of large droplet spray during influenza infection. Maryland's study is the first to provide data showing that using a surgical mask can reduce the release of even the smallest droplets containing infectious virus. For this reason, health care facilities should put surgical masks on those suspected of having influenza, and individuals with influenza can protect their families by wearing a mask.

Study Methods

Dr. Milton and his research team, including scientists from Harvard and Boston University Schools of Public Health and the University of Hong Kong, collected the exhaled breath from 38 flu patients and tested both the coarse (? 5 ?m) and fine (< 5 ?m) particles for the number of viruses using molecular methods. They found that the fine particles had 8.8 times more virus than the coarse particles (larger but still airborne droplets). They also tested the airborne droplets for "culturable" virus and found that virus was not only abundant in some cases, but infectious. However, there was a big range of how many viruses people put into the air -- some were undetectable while others put out over 100,000 every 30 minutes.

The researchers also tested the impact of wearing a surgical mask on the virus shedding into airborne droplets. Wearing a surgical mask significantly decreased the presence of virus in airborne droplets from exhaled breath. There was a 2.8 fold reduction in the amount of virus shed into the smallest droplets, and a 3.4 fold overall reduction in virus shed in both the coarse and fine and airborne particles.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Maryland.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Donald K. Milton, M. Patricia Fabian, Benjamin J. Cowling, Michael L. Grantham, James J. McDevitt. Influenza Virus Aerosols in Human Exhaled Breath: Particle Size, Culturability, and Effect of Surgical Masks. PLoS Pathogens, 2013; 9 (3): e1003205 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003205

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/most_popular/~3/ba7Y1YPqyms/130307190637.htm

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Human brain treats prosthetic devices as part of the body

Mar. 6, 2013 ? People with spinal cord injuries show strong association of wheelchairs as part of their body, not extension of immobile limbs.

The human brain can learn to treat relevant prosthetics as a substitute for a non-working body part, according to research published March 6 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Mariella Pazzaglia and colleagues from Sapienza University and IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia of Rome in Italy, supported by the International Foundation for Research in Paraplegie.

The researchers found that wheelchair-bound study participants with spinal cord injuries perceived their body's edges as being plastic and flexible to include the wheelchair, independent of time since their injury or experience with using a wheelchair. Patients with lower spinal cord injuries who retained upper body movement showed a stronger association of the wheelchair with their body than those who had spinal cord impairments in the entire body.

According to the authors, this suggests that rather than being thought of only as an extension of the immobile limbs, the wheelchairs had become tangible, functional substitutes for the affected body part. As Pazzaglia explains, "The corporeal awareness of the tool emerges not merely as an extension of the body but as a substitute for, and part of, the functional self."

Previous studies have shown that people with prosthetic devices that extend or restore movement may make such tools part of their physical identity, but whether this integration was due to prolonged use or a result of altered sensory input was unclear. Based on the results of this study, the authors suggest that it may be the latter, as the brain appears to continuously update bodily signals to incorporate these tools into a sense of the body. The study concludes that this ability may have applications in rehabilitation of physically impaired people.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

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Journal Reference:

1. Mariella Pazzaglia, Giulia Galli, Giorgio Scivoletto, Marco Molinari. A Functionally Relevant Tool for the Body following Spinal Cord Injury. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e58312 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058312

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/top_news/~3/eElc3Ru6C_0/130306221135.htm

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Endangered bat could slow highway construction

All it takes to derail a $31 million interchange: one bat.

The sole female Indiana bat found near a highway construction project in West Des Moines, Iowa, has become a roadblock to an interchange being built to bring more development to the area and ease traffic congestion. That's because the tiny, brown-furred creature, which weighs a mere one-quarter ounce, is on the state and federal endangered species list.

Officials reason where there?s one bat, there are probably more, including baby bats. They have asked for construction to stop until a study can be conducted of the area.

Kraig McPeak from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explained to local station KCCI, ?It simply identifies the areas that are most sensitive to the bat and then we just work with whomever?s doing the project to minimize impact to the areas.?

West Des Moines Mayor Steve Gaer told KCCI the study was bad timing. "If it was needed we would have rather done it years ago when we built the bridge [that the interchange will connect to], and then we could have addressed it at that time."

The study can?t start until May, after the bats are done hibernating. The interchange project, meanwhile, might be delayed four or five months.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/endangered-bat-stops-highway-construction-161242600.html

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Alga borrows genes to beat the heat, acid and toxic metals

Such genetic theft from bacteria and archaea is unusual

By Tina Hesman Saey

Web edition: March 7, 2013

Enlarge

Sulfur (yellow) that coats this rock from the found in the Reykjanes region near Reykjavik, Iceland, doesn?t stop a red alga called Galdieria sulphuraria (green) from growing. The alga borrowed most of the genes it needs to withstand toxic metals from bacteria.

Credit: Image courtesy of Christine Oesterhelt

Life is hard in hot volcanic pools laden with salt, acid, sulfur and toxic metals, but a red alga called Galdieria sulphuraria thrives in such environments with a little genetic help from some microbial buddies. The alga borrowed at least 5 percent of its genes from bacteria and archaea that live in extreme conditions, Gerald Sch?nknecht of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and his colleagues report in the March 8 Science.

That amount of borrowing is unusual among eukaryotes, organisms that store DNA in a nucleus. Eukaryotes tend to evolve new capabilities by copying old genes, with mutations gradually altering the function of redundant copies. By contrast, bacteria and archaea routinely swap genes among themselves, picking up new abilities along the way.

In its ancient past, G. sulphuraria snagged genes from bacteria and archaea that now help it cope with heat, salt and toxic metals, the researchers found by comparing the alga?s genetic makeup with those of other species.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348782/title/Alga_borrows_genes_to_beat_the_heat_acid_and_toxic_metals

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Industrial chemicals found in food samples

Mar. 6, 2013 ? Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have discovered phthalates, industrial chemicals, in common foods purchased in the United States. Phthalates can be found in a variety of products and food packaging material, child-care articles and medical devices.

"Although it's not completely understood how phthalates get into our food, packaging may be a contributor to the levels of the toxin in food," said lead investigator Arnold Schecter, M.D., M.P.H., professor of environmental health at The University of Texas School of Public Health Dallas Regional campus, part of UTHealth.

The study is published in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives. Schecter believes this is the first study to compile an analysis of phthalates in foods found in the United States. National Institutes of Health researcher Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., is the senior author on the study publication.

"It's unfortunate that we have these toxic chemicals in our bodies," said Schecter. "However, this is not a cause for alarm because the amount of phthalates found in the food falls below what the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe. But it is cause for concern because these toxins and others previous reported by this group do not belong in our food or our bodies."

Phthalates are synthetic compounds that are used as a plasticizers and in personal care products such a shampoo, soap, perfumes and other common household products. According to Schecter, exposure to phthalates has been reported to be associated with harmful effects including reproductive changes such as damage in sperm, premature breast development in girls and premature birth.

A sample of 72 commonly consumed foods including pizza, meats and beverages from supermarkets in Albany, N.Y., were purchased and tested for the presence of phthalates. Researchers detected some level of phthalate in every food product they sampled, Schecter said.

Schecter believes further research is necessary to fully characterize phthalates in U.S. foods.

The study was funded by the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation.

In other studies, Schecter and his colleagues have found bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical produced in large quantities for use primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), a widely-used flame retardant, in foods. Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), another kind of flame retardant, was found in butter and its paper wrapping, which led to butter contamination.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Schecter A, Lorber M, Guo Y, Wu Q, Yun SH, Kannan K, Hommel M, Imran N, Hynan LS, Cheng D, Colacino JA, Birnbaum LS. Phthalate Concentrations and Dietary Exposure from Food Purchased in New York State. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2013 DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1206367

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/top_news/top_science/~3/1n3ZDWEjtt4/130307124701.htm

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French speaking/writing person - PeoplePerHour.com

• Posted: 2 days ago
• Remote
• 5 proposals
• #224381

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Description

I need a French speaking person who can animate and write up my blog - twitter and email newsletters in the French language as my written French is bad

Cool, let's get this job done!

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There are no clarification questions.

Source: http://www.peopleperhour.com/job/french-speaking-writing-person-224381

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Cable questions emphasis on austerity

LONDON (Reuters) - The business secretary questioned the coalition government's focus on debt cutting on Wednesday in the most explicit terms he has used so far, saying it may be time to borrow to invest in infrastructure.

Vince Cable's intervention, in an article for the New Statesman magazine, potentially puts the Lib Dem at odds with his Conservative coalition partner and Chancellor George Osborne, who has championed deficit reduction.

The opposition Labour party, who say austerity policies are damaging the economy, said Cable was "seeing sense".

Osborne will present his annual budget statement on March 20 under heavy pressure to revive an economy that risks sinking into its third recession in four years.

Nonetheless, most economists do not expect him to approve any significant extra investment, because the government is already two years behind on its original plan to largely eliminate Britain's budget deficit by the next election in 2015.

Cable said the higher interest rates that extra borrowing might bring would be justified by improvements to growth.

He asked whether "the balance of risks" had changed since the two parties formed their governing alliance in 2010, at the height of fears about sovereign default and at a time when the budget deficit exceeded 11 percent of gross domestic product.

The "question is whether the government ... should borrow more, at current very low interest rates, in order to finance more capital spending," he said.

"Such a strategy does not undermine the central objective of reducing the structural deficit, and may assist it by reviving growth," Cable added.

Because British sovereign borrowing has a long maturity, the risk of a debt spiral where refinancing becomes impossible was relatively low, he said.

"The effect on our fiscal situation of higher interest rates is in fact nowhere near as bad as having weak growth," he said.

Cable and other Liberal Democrat ministers have been pushing for more capital spending, particularly in house building.

"Such a programme would ... target two significant bottlenecks to growth, infrastructure and housing," Cable said.

(Reporting by Tim Castle; editing by David Milliken/Ruth Pitchford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cable-questions-emphasis-austerity-193642809--business.html

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Netanyahu gets 2 more weeks to form coalition

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israeli President Shimon Peres on Saturday granted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu another two weeks to form a governing coalition, after Netanyahu failed to build a broad coalition including ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

In a televised address, Netanyahu told Peres that he has yet to build a coalition because some parties wish to "boycott" an entire Israeli demographic. It was a reference to the nationalist Jewish Home and centrist Yesh Atid parties, which have refused to join his coalition if it includes the ultra-Orthodox.

If Netanyahu fails to reach a government in two weeks, political newcomer Yair Lapid who heads Yesh Atid, Israel's second largest party, could be offered the chance to form the coalition, or new elections could be held.

Jewish Home and Yesh Atid are keen to end a controversial system of military draft exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox seminary students, who are allowed to study Jewish texts in lieu of military service. The two parties have been unwilling to sit in a government with ultra-Orthodox factions that don't want to see an end to the exemptions that date to the founding of the country.

But Netanyahu is keen on including ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition because they have been loyal political partners in the past and their numbers add stability to his governing coalition.

Netanyahu said he believes the parties will come to an understanding about the draft exemptions, and that ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis will eventually accept them. He took a jab at the pro-settler Jewish Home party, saying that those who refused to align with specific sectors of Israeli society are acting like those around the world who wage boycotts against settlement activities.

"Who should understand this more than anyone is the settler population in Judea and Samaria, which experience boycotts on a daily basis," said Netanyahu.

He urged parties to join him to build a wide coalition that would unite the nation, saying that throughout history Jews have "undergone many tragedies because of baseless hate and brotherly strife."

Netanyahu has been struggling to form a coalition since January elections. His Likud-Yisrael Beitenu bloc won 31 seats in the 120-seat parliament, far short of the 61-seat majority he needs.

Last week, Netanyahu added his first coalition partner, former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, to serve as justice minister in his government as well as chief negotiator handling peace efforts with the Palestinians. But that appointment upset the Jewish Home party, which opposes negotiations with the Palestinians and has indicated that it does not want the dovish Livni to handle the peace process if it joins Netanyahu's coalition.

It will be virtually impossible for Netanyahu to form a government without support of the Yesh Atid and Jewish Home parties. For now, those parties are maintaining a common front, signaling that Netanyahu has to make a choice between them and the ultra-Orthodox.

Israeli analysts believe Netanyahu will, in fact, succeed in building a coalition, likely without the ultra-Orthodox.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-gets-2-more-weeks-form-coalition-184414815.html

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Kerry says US releasing millions in aid to Egypt

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, shakes hands with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday, March 3, 2013. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Egypt's president Sunday, wrapping up a visit to the deeply divided country with an appeal for unity and reform. The U.S. is deeply concerned that continued instability in Egypt will have broader consequences in a region already rocked by unrest. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, shakes hands with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday, March 3, 2013. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Egypt's president Sunday, wrapping up a visit to the deeply divided country with an appeal for unity and reform. The U.S. is deeply concerned that continued instability in Egypt will have broader consequences in a region already rocked by unrest. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves goodbye as he leaves Cairo, Egypt en route to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, March 3, 2013. Kerry met with Egypt's president Sunday, wrapping up a visit to the deeply divided country with an appeal for unity and reform. The U.S. is deeply concerned that continued instability in Egypt will have broader consequences in a region already rocked by unrest. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, left, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi take their seats at the starts of their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday, March 3, 2013. Kerry met with Egypt's president Sunday, wrapping up a visit to the deeply divided country with an appeal for unity and reform. The U.S. is deeply concerned that continued instability in Egypt will have broader consequences in a region already rocked by unrest. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday, March 3, 2013. Kerry met with Egypt's president Sunday, wrapping up a visit to the deeply divided country with an appeal for unity and reform. The U.S. is deeply concerned that continued instability in Egypt will have broader consequences in a region already rocked by unrest. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, walks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, on arrival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, March 3, 2013. Saudi Arabia is the seventh leg of Kerry's first official overseas trip. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

CAIRO (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday rewarded Egypt for President Mohammed Morsi's pledges of political and economic reforms by releasing $250 million in American aid to support the country's "future as a democracy."

Yet Kerry also served notice that the Obama administration will keep close watch on how Morsi, who came to power in June as Egypt's first freely elected president, honors his commitment and that additional U.S. assistance would depend on it.

"The path to that future has clearly been difficult and much work remains," Kerry said in a statement after wrapping up two days of meetings in Egypt, a deeply divided country in the wake of the revolution that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt is trying to meet conditions to close on a $4.8 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund. An agreement would unlock more of the $1 billion in U.S. assistance promised by President Barack Obama last year and set to begin flowing with Kerry's announcement.

"The United States can and wants to do more," Kerry said. "Reaching an agreement with the IMF will require further effort on the part of the Egyptian government and broad support for reform by all Egyptians. When Egypt takes the difficult steps to strengthen its economy and build political unity and justice, we will work with our Congress at home on additional support."

Kerry cited Egypt's "extreme needs" and Morsi's "assurances that he plans to complete the IMF process" when he told the president that the U.S. would provide $190 million of a long-term $450 million pledge "in a good-faith effort to spur reform and help the Egyptian people at this difficult time." The release of the rest of the $450 million and the other $550 million tranche of the $1 billion that Obama announced will be tied to successful reforms, officials said.

Separately, the top U.S. diplomat announced $60 million for a new fund for "direct support of key engines of democratic change," including Egypt's entrepreneurs and its young people. Kerry held out the prospect of U.S. assistance to this fund climbing to $300 million over time.

Recapping his meetings with political figures, business leaders and representatives of outside groups, Kerry said he heard of their "deep concern about the political course of their country, the need to strengthen human rights protections, justice and the rule of law, and their fundamental anxiety about the economic future of Egypt."

Those issues came up in "a very candid and constructive manner" during Kerry's talks with Morsi.

"It is clear that more hard work and compromise will be required to restore unity, political stability and economic health to Egypt," Kerry said.

Syria and Iran were topics of discussion, according to officials.

With parliamentary elections in April approaching and liberal and secular opponents of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood saying they will boycott, Kerry called the vote "a particularly critical step" in Egypt's democratic transition.

Violent clashes between protesters and security forces have created an environment of insecurity, complicating Egyptian efforts to secure vital international aid.

Officials in the Egyptian presidency said Kerry stressed the need for consensus with the opposition in order to restore confidence in Egypt that it can ride out the crisis. Morsi was reported to have expressed the importance of Egypt's relationship with United States, which is based on "mutual respect," and focused on the importance of the democratic process in building a strong and stable nation.

Kerry made clear that in all his meetings, he conveyed the message that Egyptians who rose up and overthrew Mubarak "did not risk their lives to see that opportunity for a brighter future squandered."

On Saturday, he told the country's bickering politicians that they must overcome differences to get Egypt's faltering economy back on track and maintain its leadership role in the volatile Middle East.

The U.S. is deeply concerned that continued instability in Egypt will have broader consequences in a region already rocked by unrest.

U.S. officials said Kerry planned to stress the importance of upholding Egypt's peace agreement with Israel, cracking down on weapons smuggling to extremists in the Gaza Strip and policing the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula while continuing to play a positive role in Syria's civil war.

The impact of Kerry's message of unity to the opposition coalition seemingly was blunted when only six of the 11 guests invited by the U.S. Embassy turned up for a Saturday session with him and three of those six said they still intended to boycott the April parliamentary election, according to participants.

Kerry said that the U.S. would not pick sides in Egypt, and he appealed to all sides to come together around human rights, freedom and speech and religious tolerance.

In an apparent nod to the current stalemate in Washington over the U.S. federal budget, Kerry acknowledged after meeting Foreign Minister Kamel Amr that compromise is difficult yet imperative.

"I say with both humility and with a great deal of respect that getting there requires a genuine give-and-take among Egypt's political leaders and civil society groups just as we are continuing to struggle with that in our own country," he said. 'There must be a willingness on all sides to make meaningful compromises on the issues that matter most to all of the Egyptian people."

The opposition accuses Morsi and the Brotherhood of following in the footsteps of Mubarak, failing to carry out reforms and trying to install a more religiously conservative system.

Morsi's administration and the Brotherhood say their foes, who have trailed significantly behind Islamists in all elections since the uprising against Mubarak, are running away from the challenge of the ballot box and are trying to overturn democratic gains.

After meeting Morsi and his defense and intelligence chiefs on Sunday, Kerry flew to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and planned later stops in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where his focus is expected to be the crisis in Syria and Iran.

Kerry is set to return to Washington on Wednesday.

___

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy contributed to this report.

___

Online:

State Department: http://www.state.gov/secretary/travel/2013/205086.htm

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-03-Kerry/id-6984e3c5d2b04a998acfba1bcf74be57

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Reader Who Bought Huge Arsenal Of Guns Online - Business Insider

Recently we posted a set of Uzi pictures that a reader sent us. The reader bought the weapon at a gun show, and as far as we know followed all state and federal laws.

The response from other readers was explosive. At least one commenter claimed he was writing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to complain.

Well, we have now heard from the gun-buyer again.

He says his IP address is now blocked from visiting gun and ammunition websites from his phone and home computers.

He has had no visits by law enforcement.

But he thinks the government has found him and is now blocking him.

The government does not centrally control the Internet, so this seems unlikely. But assuming the reader remains unable to access weapons sites, it will be interesting to figure out what is really going on. Most likely, if anyone is "blocking" the reader, it's his Internet Service Provider. (But even that would raise some interesting questions ... )

Here's a screenshot from his phone.?

Robert Johnson

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/gun-buyer-ip-address-blocked-2013-3

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