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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Chopper crash kills five South African soldiers on rhino patrol
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Five South African soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday while they were on patrol for rhino poachers in the Kruger National Park, the defense department said on Sunday.
A spokesman said the five were taking part in "Operation Rhino", in which the army is trying to stop the slaughter of the animals for their horns, worth more than their weight in gold. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
On Wednesday, three suspected poachers were killed in a shoot-out with rangers in the vast Kruger, where the killing of the animals has become rampant.
So far this year, 188 rhinos have been poached in South Africa, 135 in Kruger alone, according to government figures released this week.
In 2012, 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa, a 50 percent rise on the previous year and double the number killed illegally in 2010.
Surging demand from newly affluent consumers in Vietnam and China, where rhino horn is highly prized for medicinal purposes, is behind the onslaught.
South Africa hosts most of the world's white rhino - over 18,000 - and about 40 percent of the rarer black rhino.
Many of the poachers in Kruger come from poor villages in neighboring Mozambique. Elsewhere in Africa, the poaching of elephants for their ivory has also been on the rise.
(Reporting and writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Andrew Roche)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chopper-crash-kills-five-south-african-soldiers-rhino-082649187.html
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The Orlando Limousine Service and Discovering It | Oregon Attractions
In these times, transportation is definitely something, which holds importance. There are even more reasons becoming apparent in recent years. Owning a car, or flying by private plane are two of the methods of transportation. It can be said that there are some far more interesting methods of transportation, which are frequently forgotten. Traveling by limousine is definitely an interesting opportunity, and if you find yourself in Orlando, you should look up a good Orlando limousine service for proper transportation.
There are a lot of people out there, who think of limousine travel as a benefit reserved only for the rich. Even though this is true to some extent, there are still good reasons to try it out. If you want to reach your hotel from the airport efficiently, and you want to do so in comfort, you should try to find a good limousine service in Orlando. To set another example, you might want to bring your lover the trip of a lifetime. There are a lot of viable applications for this sort of service, and you should get familiarized with all of them.
Making use of the services of a proper Orlando limousine service offers a wide range of benefits too. It is easy to state that the drivers employed by such agencies are always experienced, and you can expect a lot of the driving quality. You will simply have to give the team at the agency at a call and tell them what you want, and you can enjoy a full range of various luxuries during the ride. Luxurious traveling can easily be called one of the best things you can enjoy in your life, and you should not miss out on the many opportunities out there.
For finding a good limousine service in Orlando, you do not need a lot of things. You will just have to contact a company. The team of specialists tasked with helping you, will set up a quote in no time, which will give you information on their offers and prices. The choice will come by itself after you do that. You should know that quality varies from agency to agency though, and you need to keep it in mind. Obtaining some feedback is your best bet when it comes to that. If you want honest opinions from users, you should head to one of the many online forums.
Trying out what a good Orlando limousine service can offer you is something great. A good ride in a limousine will be the ultimate addition to your vacation spent in luxury in a nice hotel. You can expect great enjoyment from such a service, even if finding the right provider is a bit slow. Riding in a limousine is one of the best things you can enjoy, as it is one of the rarest as well. You should never hesitate to try it out, as it will bring the comfort and luxury, which your vacation requires.
For more Orlando Limousine information visit: bluediamondlimousines.com
Source: http://oregonattractions.net/travel-leisure/the-orlando-limousine-service-and-discovering-it/
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
BMW announces compatibility with four new iOS apps, removable in-car LTE router, we go hands-on
At this year's New York International Auto Show BMW is expanding its portfolio of connected apps -- by four. The company announced iOS integration for Audible, Glympse, Rhapsody and TuneIn Radio and we couldn't help but swing by to check them all out. This integration (which also will work on Connected Minis) entails an update to those existing iOS apps. In other words, you won't need a dedicated BMW app nor second versions of these individual apps. You can use the ones you already know and love.
Join us below for a little more information on how that works, and a look at the company's in-car LTE router that's also on display.
Filed under: Transportation, Software
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/5IleF3e4VBU/
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Curry sends Duke past Michigan State 71-61
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Seth Curry shot Duke right into the regional finals ? and put Mike Krzyzewski on the verge of another milestone.
Curry scored 29 points and the Blue Devils beat Michigan State 71-61 on Friday night to advance to the Midwest Regional final in the NCAA tournament.
"Seth was just at a different level than anyone else on the court offensively tonight," Krzyzewski said. "To get 29 points in a game like this against a good team is just incredible."
If No. 2 seed Duke (30-5) beats top-seeded Louisville (32-5) in Sunday's regional final, Krzyzewski would tie John Wooden's record with 12 Final Four trips.
Third-seeded Michigan State (27-9) just couldn't keep up with Curry and Duke's shooters. Keith Appling had 16 points for the Spartans, and Adreian Payne finished with 14.
Curry's sixth 3-pointer of the game broke a 38-38 tie early in the second half, sending Duke on a 9-0 run. It also matched the school record for most 3s in an NCAA tourney game, most recently accomplished by Jason Williams on March 22, 2001, against UCLA.
The Blue Devils never trailed again.
Rasheed Sulaimon had 16 points and Mason Plumlee finished with 14 for Duke.
The win comes 16 months after Duke beat Michigan State to give Krzyzewski the NCAA record for wins. Now, one year after falling to Lehigh in the second round of the tournament, Krzyzewski is on the verge of breaking a second-place tie with North Carolina's Dean Smith and matching Wooden's mark.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino has made six appearances in the Final Four. Another win would tie him for fourth with Roy Williams in a game that likely will be played in front of another highly partisan Cardinals crowd.
But this night belonged to Curry, who averaged 21.5 points in the Blue Devils' first two tourney games. He scored 14 in the first half and when he hit his third 3 of the second half with 17:10 left, Duke took off.
"I was just trying to set up my cuts a little better," Curry said of the opening part of the second half. "The guys were setting screens a little better, so I credit my teammates to get me open and get me into a rhythm."
The Blue Devils finally broke open the back-and-forth game by scoring five straight points midway through the second half, extending the lead to 56-46. It never trailed again in an entertaining contest between two of college basketball's most successful coaches.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, coach Tom Izzo's son's prediction of a Duke victory proved to be correct, preventing a third Big Ten team from reaching the regional finals.
"They're a good team, they played well, Curry hurt us, no question about it," Izzo said. "We didn't quit, we hung in there. I thought we played poorly for us, but the better team won tonight."
The first half was played to a near draw with four ties and eight lead changes.
Michigan State grabbed an 18-17 lead on Derrick Nix's tip-in with 9:52 left in the first half, but Curry then scored nine points in an 11-2 run for the Blue Devils. He was fouled by Travis Trice while attempting a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to make it 28-20 with 4:59 remaining.
Back came the Spartans, who clamped down on defense and closed to 32-31 at halftime.
The game remained close until Curry sparked a 9-0 spree in the second half that made it 47-38 with 13:47 remaining. Curry opened the run with a tiebreaking 3-pointer and Mason Plumlee had consecutive baskets before Curry scored again.
Michigan State closed to 65-58 with 1:32 to go, but couldn't get any closer.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/curry-sends-duke-past-michigan-state-71-61-042841850--spt.html
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Friday, March 29, 2013
Pope refers to "Muslim brothers" on Good Friday
ROME (AP) ? Pope Francis reached out in friendship to "so many Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.
The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.
With torches lighting the way, the faithful carried a cross to different stations, where meditations and prayers were read out recalling the final hours of Jesus' life and his crucifixion.
This year, the prayers were composed by young Lebanese, and many recalled the plight of minority Christians in the region, where wars have forced thousands to flee their homelands. The meditations called for an end to "violent fundamentalism," terrorism and the "wars and violence which in our days devastate various countries in the Middle East."
Francis, who became pope just over two weeks ago, chose, however, to stress Christians' positive relations with Muslims in the region in his brief comments at the end of the ceremony.
Standing on a platform overlooking the procession route, Francis recalled Benedict XVI's 2012 visit to Lebanon when "we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others."
"That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world, a sign of hope," he said.
Friday's outreach followed Francis' eyebrow-raising gesture a day earlier, when he washed and kissed the feet of two women, one a Muslim, in the Holy Thursday ritual that commemorates Jesus' washing of his apostles' feet during the Last Supper before his crucifixion.
Breaking with tradition, Francis performed the ritual on 12 inmates at a juvenile detention center, rather than in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica, where in the past, 12 priests have been chosen to represent Jesus' disciples.
Before he became pope, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio long cultivated warm relations with Muslim leaders in his native Argentina. In one of his first speeches as pope, he called for the church and the West in general to "intensify" relations with the Muslim world.
The Vatican's relations with Islam hit several bumps during Benedict XVI's papacy, when he outraged Muslims with a 2006 speech quoting a Byzantine emperor as saying some of Prophet Muhammad's teachings were "evil and inhuman." And in 2011, the pre-eminent institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world, Cairo's Al-Azhar institute, froze dialogue with the Vatican to protest Benedict's call for greater protection of Christians in Egypt.
However, Francis' past outreach to the Muslim community in Argentina seems to have changed that. Al-Azhar's chief imam, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, sent a message of congratulations to Francis on his election and said he hoped for cooperation.
The Vatican's efforts to reconcile with the Islamic world have not been welcomed by all. Italy's most famous Muslim convert to Catholicism, Magdi Allam, announced last week he was leaving the church because of its "soft" stance on Islam. Allam was baptized by Benedict XVI in 2008 during the high-profile Easter Vigil service when the pope traditionally baptizes a handful of adults. There has been no Vatican comment on his about-face.
Thousands of people packed the Colosseum and surrounding areas for the nighttime procession, holding candles wrapped in paper globes as Francis sat in silent prayer as a giant torch-lit crucifix twinkled nearby. Some in the crowd had Lebanese flags around their shoulders in an indication of the special role Lebanese faithful played in this year's procession.
Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East ? nearly 40 percent of the country's 4 million people, with Maronite Catholics the largest sect. As civil war has raged in neighboring Syria, Lebanon's Christian community has been divided between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Overall, Christians in the Middle East have been uneasy as the Arab Spring has led to the strengthening of Islamist groups in most countries that have experienced uprisings. Thousands of Christians have fled the region ? a phenomenon that the Vatican has lamented, given Christianity's roots in the Holy Land.
"How sad it is to see this blessed land suffer in its children, who relentlessly tear one another to pieces and die!" said one of the Good Friday meditations. "It seems that nothing can overcome evil, terrorism, murder and hatred."
Francis picked up on that message, saying Christ's death on the cross is "the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us."
"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the cross upon themselves as Jesus did," he said.
At the end of the ceremony, a male choir sang a haunting Arabic hymn, a reflection of the Eastern rite influence that infused the ceremony.
On Saturday, Francis presides over the solemn Easter Vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica and on Sunday, he celebrates Easter Mass and delivers an important speech. Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.
In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Friday "we'll have to see" what Francis does with the multilingual greetings.
The Good Friday procession was conducted entirely in Italian, whereas in years past the core elements recounting what happens at each station would be recited in a variety of languages.
___
Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-refers-muslim-brothers-good-friday-001145243.html
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Prebiotics: Do supplements in baby formula help prevent allergies?
Mar. 25, 2013 ? Prebiotic supplements in infant formula may help to prevent eczema, according to a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. However, the review highlights a lack of high quality evidence for the effects of prebiotics in preventing allergies.
It is thought that bacteria lining the gut may play an important role in a child developing sensitivities to certain foods and allergens, regulating immune responses and determining how they will react to the same substances in later life. Prebiotics are indigestible components of breast milk, fruit and vegetables that stimulate the growth and activity of healthy bacteria in the gut. They are distinct from probiotics, which are cultures of live bacteria such as those added to yoghurts and infant formula. Prebiotics can also be added to infant formula. However, it is unclear exactly what effect these supplements have on the development of allergies.
The researchers drew together data from four studies involving a total of 1,428 children. Children were given formula containing prebiotic supplements or, as a control, standard formula. Studies followed children to between four months and two years of age and reported the number who developed allergies. Eczema was significantly reduced in children who were fed formula containing prebiotics. Only two studies investigated asthma. The number of children who developed asthma was similar whether they were given formula with added prebiotics or without. In one study looking at urticaria (hives), giving children formula containing prebiotics did not prevent any cases of the allergy.
Only one study assessed the effect of giving formula containing prebiotics to high-risk children, who had close family members with allergies. In this study, prebiotics reduced both eczema and asthma, but there were no significant reductions in allergies overall in high-risk children. "Given these findings, it remains unclear whether the use of prebiotics should be restricted to infants at high risk of allergy or may have an effect in low risk populations," said lead researcher, John Sinn of the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia.
"Overall, we found some evidence that infant formula containing prebiotic supplements can help prevent eczema in children up to two years of age," said Sinn. "However, the quality of existing evidence is generally low or very low. More high quality research is needed before we can recommend routine use of prebiotics for prevention of allergy."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wiley.
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Journal Reference:
- JK Sinn, DA Osborn. Prebiotics in infants for prevention of allergy and food hypersensitivity. The Cochrane Library, 2013 (in press) DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006474
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_health/~3/szTO79OWy3I/130328075716.htm
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Thursday, March 28, 2013
Sean Penn's son slurs paparazzo in altercation
By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor
Sean Penn has never been a fan of the paparazzi, and based on an incident caught on tape Tuesday, neither is his 19-year-old son Hopper Penn.
Zodiac / Splash News
Hopper Penn gets into an altercation with a photographer while visiting an office building with dad Sean Penn on Tuesday in Beverly Hills.
The younger Penn was following his father into a Beverly Hills building Tuesday when the incident occurred. Sean sauntered past the clicking photographers without a word or acknowledgment, but his son walked over from across the street and began engaging the photographers. Based on a video shot by one of the snappers, Hopper pushed past him (possibly making contact) and the two began engaging in a verbal altercation.?
"What the hell?" the photographer who got pushed aside said.
"You f------ kidding me?" Hopper shot back, never pausing.
"You kidding me?" the photographer continued, following him into the building. "Don't play yourself. Don't ever do that, dude."
Hopper shot his middle finger in the air and the verbal parrying continued. But then it took a more aggressive turn, as Hopper's retreating figure first called the photographer a homosexual slur.
"That the kind of talk you're teaching him, Sean?" the photographer, undeterred, called down the emptying hallway.
Hopper's last riposte was to shoot back that the photographer, who was African-American, was a "f------ n-----."
"Oh, word?" the photographer, now outraged, called out.
Police showed up at the scene, according to E! Online, and the photographer is seen in another video showing officers footage on his camera. The photographer declined to press charges. No one was cited.
Hopper later issued a statement, saying, "I was accosted by paparazzi and made to feel like an animal -- threatened and under attack, but that does not condone my own actions. ... I deeply regret my choice of words."
Sean Penn's own altercations with the paparazzi have been well documented. Here's video from 2010 of the actor kicking a photographer. And here's a classic image from back in the Madonna days of Penn throwing a punch.?
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Fall Out Boy 'Came To Win' Against Smashing Pumpkins In March Madness
Fall Out Boy are claiming Windy City supremacy in MTV's Musical March Madness.
By James Montgomery
Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704496/musical-march-madness-fall-out-boy-smashing-pumpkins.jhtml
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Mindfulness improves reading ability, working memory, and task-focus
Mar. 26, 2013 ? If you think your inability to concentrate is a hopeless condition, think again -- and breathe, and focus. According to a study by researchers at the UC Santa Barbara, as little as two weeks of mindfulness training can significantly improve one's reading comprehension, working memory capacity, and ability to focus.
Their findings were recently published online in the empirical psychology journal Psychological Science.
"What surprised me the most was actually the clarity of the results," said Michael Mrazek, graduate student researcher in psychology and the lead and corresponding author of the paper, "Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering." "Even with a rigorous design and effective training program, it wouldn't be unusual to find mixed results. But we found reduced mind-wandering in every way we measured it."
Many psychologists define mindfulness as a state of non-distraction characterized by full engagement with our current task or situation. For much of our waking hours, however, we are anything but mindful. We tend to replay past events -- like the fight we just had or the person who just cut us off on the freeway -- or we think ahead to future circumstances, such as our plans for the weekend.
Mind-wandering may not be a serious issue in many circumstances, but in tasks requiring attention, the ability to stay focused is crucial.
To investigate whether mindfulness training can reduce mind-wandering and thereby improve performance, the scientists randomly assigned 48 undergraduate students to either a class that taught the practice of mindfulness or a class that covered fundamental topics in nutrition. Both classes were taught by professionals with extensive teaching experience in their fields. Within a week before the classes, the students were given two tests: a modified verbal reasoning test from the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and a working memory capacity (WMC) test. Mind-wandering during both tests was also measured.
The mindfulness classes provided a conceptual introduction along with practical instruction on how to practice mindfulness in both targeted exercises and daily life. Meanwhile, the nutrition class taught nutrition science and strategies for healthy eating, and required students to log their daily food intake.
Within a week after the classes ended, the students were tested again. Their scores indicated that the mindfulness group significantly improved on both the verbal GRE test and the working memory capacity test. They also mind-wandered less during testing. None of these changes were true of the nutrition group.
"This is the most complete and rigorous demonstration that mindfulness can reduce mind-wandering, one of the clearest demonstrations that mindfulness can improve working memory and reading, and the first study to tie all this together to show that mind-wandering mediates the improvements in performance," said Mrazek. He added that the research establishes with greater certainty that some cognitive abilities often seen as immutable, such as working memory capacity, can be improved through mindfulness training.
Mrazek and the rest of the research team -- which includes Michael S. Franklin, project scientist; mindfulness teacher and research specialist Dawa Tarchin Phillips; graduate student Benjamin Baird; and senior investigator Jonathan Schooler, professor of psychological and brain sciences -- are extending their work by investigating whether similar results can be achieved with younger populations, or with web-based mindfulness interventions. They are also examining whether or not the benefits of mindfulness can be compounded by a program of personal development that also targets nutrition, exercise, sleep, and personal relationships.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Santa Barbara.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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_health/~3/pvpafk1DiYo/130326133339.htm
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
So ? Marissa Mayer Is Paying A 17-Year-Old $30 ... - Business Insider
? |
Summly made a news aggregation app.
According to All Things D, Yahoo paid $30 million ? 90 percent cash.
$30 million isn't much for Yahoo, which has more than $4 billion in cash (and access to much more).
But there are some elements to this deal that make even that small price seem strange.
Summly never really set the world on fire. It had fewer than one million downloads.?Yahoo is shutting Summly down.
So basically, Yahoo is acquiring Summly's talent.
Summly's talent is ?founder Nick D'Aloisio and two other people. Yahoo is saying D'Aloisio's?is to lead Yahoo more boldly into the world of mobile.?
A source tells All Things D his job is to "be a great person to put in front of the media and consumers with Mayer to make Yahoo seem like it is a place that loves both entrepreneurs and mobile experiences."
But D'Aloisio lives in London, which is 10,000 miles away from Yahoo's Sunnyvale, California headquarters.
Also, D'Aloisio?is 17 years old.
He still has to finish high school.
Last year, gadget blog Gizmodo made him cry when it wouldn't write about Summly.?
He's supposed to lead grown-up engineers?
Finally, according to All Things D, D'Aloisio is only required to work at Yahoo for the next 18 months.
He's already talking about getting into angel investing.
Again ?Yahoo has $4 billion, and maybe throwing $30 million at a 17-year-old in hopes of seeming cool with the kids is a fine use of 0.75 percent of that money, or 0.12 percent of Yahoo's market cap. ?
Maybe it'll help Yahoo get the right kind of press, and show other entrepreneurs like?D'Aloisio that Yahoo is a decent place to land.
Maybe it'll make Yahoo seem cutting edge to consumers.
Certainly it's a cheaper marketing stunt than a horrible ad campaign like "It's Y!ou," which is how ex-Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz tried to accomplish the same goal.
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Kerry warns Iraq on Iran flights to Syria
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Just days after the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confronted Baghdad for continuing to grant Iran access to its airspace and said Iraq's behavior was raising questions about its reliability as a partner.
Speaking to reporters during a previously unannounced trip to Baghdad, Kerry said that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had engaged in "a very spirited discussion" on the Iranian flights, which U.S. officials believe are ferrying weapons and fighters intended for the embattled Syrian government.
Kerry said the plane shipments ? along with material being trucked across Iraqi territory from Iran to Syria ? were helping President Bashar Assad's regime cling to power by increasing their ability to strike at Syrian rebels and opposition figures demanding Assad's ouster.
"I made it very clear that for those of us who are engaged in an effort to see President Assad step down and to see a democratic process take hold ... anything that supports President Assad is problematic," Kerry said at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after meeting separately with Maliki at his office. "And I made it very clear to the Prime Minister that the overflights from Iran are, in fact, helping to sustain President Assad and his regime."
The overflights in Iraq have long been a source of contention between the U.S. and Iraq. Iraq and Iran claim the flights are carrying humanitarian goods, but American officials say they are confident that the planes are being used to arm the support the Assad regime. The administration is warning Iraq that unless action is taken, Iraq will be excluded from the international discussion about Syria's political future.
U.S. officials say that in the absence of a complete ban on flights, Washington would at least like the planes to land and be inspected in Iraq to ensure that they are carrying humanitarian supplies. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton secured a pledge from Iraq to inspect the flights last year, but since then only two aircraft have been checked by Iraqi authorities, according to U.S. officials.
One senior U.S. official traveling with Kerry said the sheer number of overflights, which occur "close to daily," along with shipments trucked to Syria from Iran through Iraq, was inconsistent with claims they are only carrying humanitarian supplies. The official said it was in Iraq's interest to prevent the situation in Syria from deteriorating further, particularly as there are fears that al-Qaida-linked extremists may gain a foothold in the country as the Assad regime falters.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said there are clear links between al-Qaida linked extremists operating in Syria and militants who are also carrying out terrorist attacks in Iraqi territory with increasing regularity.
Kerry's comments in Baghdad come as U.S. lawmakers are calling for President Barack Obama to do more to stop the bloodshed in Syria, including possible airstrikes against Assad's aircraft fleet.
The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, said Sunday the U.S. should create a "safe zone" in northern Syria that would give the U.S. more leverage with opposition forces.
"This doesn't mean the 101st Airborne Division and ships" are deployed, Rogers told CBS' "Face the Nation." ''It means small groups with special capabilities reengaging the opposition so we can vet them, train them, equip them so they can be an effective fighting force."
Last week, Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., asked Obama in a letter to step up U.S. military efforts in the region, including destroying Assad's aircraft using precision airstrikes.
Kerry said Iraq's tacit approval of Iranian overflights left the American people wondering how an ally would undermine U.S. efforts, particularly after the enormous sacrifices made by the United States in liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule.
"There are members of Congress and people in America who increasingly are watching what Iraq is doing and wondering how it is that a partner in the efforts for democracy and a partner for whom Americans feel they have tried so hard to be helpful, how that country can be, in fact, doing something that makes it more difficult to achieve our common goals, the goal expressed by the prime minister with respect to Syria and President Assad," he said.
In addition to the overflights, Kerry said he had urged Maliki and other Iraqi officials to promote unity amid a spike in sectarian violence and called on them to ensure that upcoming provincial elections are free and fair. Kerry said the postponement of the polls in two provinces ? Anbar and Ninevah ? was unacceptable and should be reversed.
"We strongly urge the prime minister to take this issue to the cabinet and to see if it can be revisited, because we believe very strongly that everybody needs to vote simultaneously," he said.
In addition to his meeting with Maliki, Kerry saw Iraqi parliament speaker parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, whose faction is at odds with Maliki's Shiia. Kerry also spoke by phone with Massoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdish Regional Government based in Irbil to encourage the Kurds not go ahead with unilateral actions ? especially involving oil, like a pipeline deal with Turkey.
Kerry arrived in Baghdad from Amman, where he had been accompanying President Barack Obama on his tour of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. His visit to Iraq is the first by a U.S. secretary of state since Clinton went in April 2009. During Obama's first term, the Iraq portfolio was largely delegated to Vice President Joe Biden as Obama wound down the war.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-warns-iraq-iran-flights-syria-132200384--politics.html
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SEC okays Nasdaq payback plan for Facebook IPO, UBS unhappy
By John McCrank and Jennifer Saba
(Reuters) - Regulators approved Nasdaq OMX Group's $62 million compensation plan for firms that lost money in Facebook Inc's glitch-ridden market debut, a victory for the exchange operator that also set the stage for potential lawsuits from firms seeking more.
The Nasdaq plan will give retail market makers far less than the $500 million in estimated losses from Facebook's initial public offering. Nasdaq said in a note to traders on Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the plan, and that firms had one week to submit requests for compensation.
A systems failure at Nasdaq prevented timely order confirmations for many market participants in the midst of the leading Internet social network's long-awaited initial public offering in May, 2012.
UBS AG has pegged its losses from the social network's IPO at above $350 million. It said it has already filed an arbitration demand against Nasdaq to fully recover losses from the exchange operator's "gross mishandling the IPO."
Other market makers that lost money due to the botched May 18 IPO of Facebook, include units of Citigroup Inc, Knight Capital Group and Citadel LLC.
Citi had opposed Nasdaq's plan. Knight supported the plan but did not want to waive its right to sue for compensation. According to Nasdaq's plan, firms that sign on agree not to take legal actions against Nasdaq over the IPO. Citadel has supported Nasdaq's plan.
It was not immediately clear if any other firms planned to take legal action to try to recover their full losses. Knight, Citi and Citadel declined to comment on Monday.
At stake is the extent to which U.S. stock exchanges, which match hundreds of billions of dollars of transactions daily, can be held liable for technical glitches in an environment dominated by lightning-fast automated trading.
Liabilities at U.S. exchanges, which have some regulatory duties, are capped with the exchanges are performing those duties. Nasdaq's cap for technical glitches in most instances is $3 million a month.
"The SEC passed on making any specific comments about exchange liability," said Rich Repetto, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill.
The SEC is also investigating the botched IPO and Nasdaq's role in it separately. But a source previously said the two sides are in talks to possibly settle the probe.
VOLUNTARY PLAN
Nasdaq has maintained that it is not obligated to compensate firms for losses, and that its plan is voluntary. It has given strict guidance on which types of orders will qualify to be reimbursed.
Nasdaq spokesman Joe Christinat said now that the SEC has approved the plan, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority can promptly begin processing claims for restitution.
UBS called Nasdaq's proposal "inadequate and insufficient," and said in a statement the SEC's approval of the plan does not change its opinion.
Citi had also asked the SEC to not approve Nasdaq's plan, arguing in a letter that Nasdaq "was acting exclusively as a for-profit business, and not as a market regulator, when it made the grossly negligent business decisions that caused market participants hundreds of millions of dollars of losses."
Knight, which in August had its own technical glitch that cost it $461 million and nearly bankrupted the company, said in a letter that month to the SEC it supported Nasdaq's efforts but that the condition of having to waive the right to sue would "set a harmful precedent."
Shares of Nasdaq, which has completed 50 IPOs since the Facebook IPO, were down 0.4 percent at $32.22 on Monday afternoon.
(Reporting by John McCrank and Jennifer Saba. Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Lisa Von Ahn and David Gregorio)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/regulators-approve-plan-lost-money-facebook-ipo-123811986--sector.html
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Monday, March 25, 2013
Cost of firing a pregnant worker: $20K - Business Management Daily
What not to say to a pregnant worker: ?The baby is taking a toll on you.? Sur??pris??ingly, that?s exactly what a four-month-pregnant waitress was told when she was cut from the weekly schedule and then fired. The U.S. Equal Employ??ment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a pregnancy discrimination suit on behalf of the woman, who was under no medical or working restrictions when she lost her job at a Jackson, Miss., bar and grill. The employer will now pay $20,000 to settle the suit.
Heed the words of the EEOC: ?Women have the right to work, including during pregnancy.?
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Johnson City church is packed for Palm Sunday
Johnson City, NY (WBNG Binghamton)
Johnson City church is packed for Palm Sunday
March 25, 2013 Updated Mar 25, 2013 at 12:58 AM EDTJohnson City, NY (WBNG Binghamton) Local Catholics kicked off Holy Week Sunday at St. James Church.
More than 600 people attended the Palm Sunday mass that represents the beginning of Holy Week and the last week of Lent.
"It commences Holy Week," Father John Donovan said. "We celebrate not only the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, we also celebrate the Passion of Christ as we read the entire Gospel passage of this sentencing and crucifixion."
This was one of the first masses after the election of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit leader of the Catholic Church. Donovan said these first holidays will set the tone for Francis' papacy.
Holy Week will continue with Holy Thursday, Good Friday and finally Easter Sunday.
Source: http://www.wbng.com/news/local/Palm-Sunday-kicks-off-199781011.html
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Sony Xperia ZL goes on pre-order for US customers, off-contract ...
The Xperia? ZL, the World's Most Compact Smartphone with a 5" Display, Comes to the US
--5" Full HD Reality Display with the highest* phone-to-screen ratio, powered by Mobile BRAVIA? Engine 2
--13MP camera with Exmor RS? for Mobile image sensor for HDR photos and videos
--Easy One-touch connections to wirelessly share music, photos, and videos across other NFC-enabled devices
--Sony's media applications deliver rich user experiences and instant access to entertainment services
ATLANTA, March 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Mobile Communications (USA), Inc. ("Sony Mobile") brings the Xperia? ZL to the US, offering consumers the best of Sony in a premium smartphone. The Xperia ZL is now available online for pre-sale at Sony Store and will soon be available through other select online retailers.
The Xperia ZL has all of the specifications expected from a premium smartphone and offers even more with best of Sony experiences. It combines a razor sharp 5" full HD (1920x1080p) Reality Display with an elegant and compact design. Intelligent camera features make taking high quality images easier than ever, and One-touch connections via NFC (Near field communication) allow the Xperia ZL to communicate with a wide range of NFC-enabled devices with a single tap.
Compact design
With Sony's expertise in design and craftsmanship, the Xperia ZL comes with subtly rounded edges, a curvature that fits naturally into the palm of your hand, and a compact layout that optimizes the iconic phone design.
The power button also has high functionality, as the average user is likely to touch it an estimated 76 times per day, and exemplifies the premium build and craftsmanship that has gone into the Xperia ZL.
Intelligent Sony Technology
Xperia ZL's Reality Display, powered by Mobile BRAVIA? Engine 2, brings Sony's long-standing TV expertise to the smartphone and delivers an immersive viewing experience with optimized colors, contrast, and clarity. Most smartphones available today have screen ratios of between 60 and 68 percent. Xperia ZL has been precision engineered for an exceptional viewing experience while maintaining a compact design, allowing the brilliant display-representing 75 percent of the overall footprint*-to take the spotlight.
Xperia ZL also shares capabilities with Sony digital cameras and features Exmor RS for mobile, the world's first image sensor with HDR** (High Dynamic Range) video for smartphones. HDR technology enhances clear images against strong backlight, enabling users to capture razor sharp pictures and videos, no matter the conditions.
Sony's One-touch functions enable consumers to easily share music, photos, and videos from their smartphone to an array of NFC-enabled Sony devices including speakers, headphones, and TVs. With the latest NFC-capable BRAVIA TV, simply touch the Xperia ZL to the TV remote control to instantly enjoy your photos or view the content of your phone's screen on a large TV screen. With an NFC-enabled headset or speaker, listen to the songs on your Xperia ZL with just a tap.
Xperia ZL also includes Battery STAMINA Mode that significantly improves the battery standby time by automatically shutting down battery-draining apps whenever the screen is off and starting them up again when the screen is back on.
Discover, enjoy and share entertainment with Sony's media applications
Sony media applications offer a consistent entertainment experience across a range of Sony devices. The "WALKMAN", Album, and Movies apps enable discovery of online and offline content through a single access point. Each application provides new ways to enjoy and share that content. The "WALKMAN" application provides access to all of your downloaded music, a library of 18 million songs to explore from Music Unlimited***, and Facebook social integration. The Movies application gives consumers access to over 100,000 movies and TV series from Video Unlimited***, while the Album application enables easy access to Facebook friends' photos-you can even browse photos by location.
Key features for Xperia ZL
5" 1080 x 1920p full HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA? Engine 2
13MP Fast Capture camera with Exmor RS for mobile, HDR video (1080p), Superior Auto and Noise Reduction to effortlessly capture razor sharp pictures and videos in any conditions
Battery STAMINA for improved standby time
NFC-enabled and Infra-red capable
1.5 GHz asynchronous quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2GB RAM
MSRP $759.99 (unlocked, Model C6506) and $719.99 (unlocked, Model C6502)
Available colors: Black, White, Red
Compatible network bands:
Model C6502 HSPA+: 1,2,4,5,8 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
Model C6506 LTE: 2,4,5,17 & HSPA+: 1,2,4,5,8 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
Xperia ZL will launch on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/sony-xperia-zl-goes-on-pre-order-for-us-customers-off-contract/
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Volleyball-sized fireball streaks across East Coast sky (+video)
NASA confirms that a fireball, as bright as a full moon, was seen from Florida to New England. The Friday night meteor was probably a small "boulder" that entered the Earth's atmosphere.
Reports of a flash of light that streaked across the sky over the U.S. East Coast appeared to be a "single meteor event," the U.S. space agency said. Residents from New York City to Washington and beyond lit up social media with surprise.
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"Judging from the brightness, we're dealing with something as bright as the full moon," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environmental Office said Friday. "We basically have (had) a boulder enter the atmosphere over the northeast."
Cooke said the meteor was widely seen, with more than 350 reports on the website of the American Meteor Society alone.
Robert Lunsford of the society told USA Today "it basically looked like a super bright shooting star."
The sky flash was spotted as far south as Florida and as far north as New England, the newspaper reported.
Matt Moore, a news editor with The Associated Press, said he was standing in line for a concert in Philadelphia around dusk when he saw "a brilliant flash moving across the sky at a very brisk pace... and utterly silent."
"It was clearly high up in the atmosphere," he said. "But from the way it appeared, it looked like a plane preparing to land at the airport."
Moore said the flash was visible to him for about two to three seconds, and then it was gone. He described it as having a "spherical shape and yellowish and you could tell it was burning, with the trail that it left behind."
Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, agreed that the sightings had all the hallmarks of a "fireball."
Pitts said this one got more attention because it happened on a Friday evening ? and because Twitter has provided a way for people to share information on sightings.
He said what people likely saw was one meteor ? or "space rock" ? that may have been the size of a volleyball and fell fairly far down into the Earth's atmosphere. He likened it to a stone skipping across the water ? getting "a nice long burn out of it."
Pitts said experts "can't be 100 percent certain of what it was, unless it actually fell to the ground and we could actually track the trajectory."
But he said the descriptions by so many people are "absolutely consistent" with those of a meteor.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
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Sunday, March 24, 2013
Cyprus weighs big bank levy; bailout goes down to wire
By Michele Kambas and Costas Pitas
NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus said on Saturday it was looking at seizing a quarter of the value of big deposits at its largest bank as it races to raise the funds for a bailout from the European Union and avert financial collapse.
Finance Minister Michael Sarris said "significant progress" had been made in talks in Nicosia with officials from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
He confirmed discussions were centered on a possible levy of around 25 percent on holdings of over 100,000 euros at Bank of Cyprus, and expressed hope that a package could be ready by the end of the day for approval by parliament.
Cyprus faces a Monday deadline to clinch a bailout deal with the EU or the European Central Bank says it will cut off emergency cash to the island's over-sized and stricken banks, spelling certain collapse and a potential exit from Europe's single currency.
Amid signs of momentum, Cypriot and EU officials said Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades was expected in Brussels on Sunday to meet EU leaders including Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Commission President Jose-Manuel Barroso, as well as IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and the head of the ECB, Mario Draghi.
Van Rompuy and Barroso canceled a planned EU-Japan summit in Tokyo to tend to the Cyprus saga and euro zone officials told Reuters that the bloc's 17 finance ministers would meet on Sunday afternoon.
"Significant progress has been made in the direction of getting a deal, at least at the troika level," Sarris told reporters.
He said a number of issues were still outstanding, but that a package could be ready "late this afternoon or early evening" for approval by parliament.
Arriving at the troika talks, Andreas Artemi, chairman of Bank of Cyprus, was asked if a 25 percent haircut was being considered on uninsured deposits. He replied: "I don't know that yet."
A senior lawmaker told Reuters earlier on Saturday that parliament was not expected to convene until after the meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Sunday afternoon, taking the crisis right down to the wire.
The same legislature on Tuesday angrily threw out a proposed levy on bank deposits, designed to raise the 5.8 billion euros the EU wants in return for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout.
The tax is unprecedented in Europe's handling of a debt crisis that has spread from Greece, to Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. It is by no means certain the tiny legislature will accept the measure this time around.
RUSSIAN REBUFF
The turnaround came after Russia rebuffed Cypriot entreaties to help its banks, where Russian citizens and other foreigners have billions of euros at stake.
Significantly, the latest proposal would spare small depositors, who were outraged by the original plan to hit small holdings as well as large accounts, many of them held by rich foreigners including Russians.
Cypriot leaders fear the damage the levy would do to the country's offshore banking industry. The tottering banks hold 68 billion euros in deposits, including 38 billion in accounts of more than 100,000 euros - enormous sums for an island of 1.1 million people which could never sustain such a big financial system on its own.
But much of the banks' capital was wiped out by investments in Greece, the epicenter of the euro zone debt crisis.
Racing to placate its European partners, Cypriot lawmakers voted in late-night session on Friday to nationalize state pensions and split failing lenders into good and bad banks.
They also gave the government powers to impose capital controls on banks, anticipating a flood of money from the island when banks are due to reopen on Tuesday after more than a week of lockdown.
The plan to nationalize semi-state pension funds has, however, met with resistance, particularly from Germany which made clear that tapping pensions could be even more painful for ordinary Cypriots than a deposit levy.
"EDGE OF AN ABYSS"
Taking a first step toward financial consolidation, Cyprus arranged on Friday for the takeover of big Greek units of its two biggest banks by a Greek competitor.
Lawmakers then gave the government the power to potentially split the good and bad assets of Bank of Cyprus and No. 2 lender Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki, and to protect deposits that enjoy a state guarantee of up to 100,000 euros.
"With the process of consolidation, the depositors over 100,000 euros will wait for several years to see how much of their deposits they will collect," said Averof Neophytou, deputy leader of the ruling Democratic Rally party.
"At the same time, this political decision to support this harsh law safeguards 100 percent of the deposits of 361,000 depositors in Laiki Bank," he added, referring to depositors with up to 100,000 euros.
The pace of the unfolding drama has stunned Cypriots, who have besieged bank cash machines since the levy was first mooted a week ago.
"Our so-called friends and partners sold us out," said Marios Panayides, 65, a protester at the parliament. "They have completely abandoned us on the edge of an abyss."
Retailers, facing cash-on-delivery demands from suppliers, warned stocks were running low.
"At the moment, supplies will last another two or three days," said Adamos Hadijadamou, head of Cyprus's Association of Supermarkets. "We'll have a problem if this is not resolved by next week."
($1 = 0.7694 euros)
(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Luke Baker in Brussels, Costas Pitas in Nicosia,; Writing by Matt Robinson, editing by Mike Peacock)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyprus-closes-eu-bailout-u-turn-levy-011411731--business.html
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Search Marketing | Four Proven Offline Marketing Tactics that Work
On this site we preach Search Marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online marketing in general. And online marketing has certainly become an increasingly important marketing segment that all businesses are paying attention to. But we also want to remind you not to forget about traditional offline marketing. They still work with great ROI. With all the attention that?s placed on online marketing, many businesses are forgetting the fact that they must continue to market offline if they want to continue to grow their business and gain new clients.
When it comes to marketing offline, there are tactics that have worked for many decades which shouldn?t be ignored. Some of these tactics work better than others, but it?s no secret that these tactics do work. If you?re looking for some ways to up your offline marketing efforts, check out these proven tactics to make sure everything goes great.
Direct Mail?
One of the best old-fashioned methods that still works to generate leads and grow business is a direct mail campaign. Direct mail marketing almost always generates a substantial return on investment, as long as the mail piece is well-written, researched, and all around good.
Direct mail can help generate new leads and reinvigorate old leads, as long as the direct mail campaign is sent to the right people. If you?re able to precisely target your campaign based on market research, you?ll no doubt see a fantastic return on investment.
Promotional Materials
Another traditional marketing method that still works in today?s digital age is distributing promotional materials is more effective vs. advertising. Whether you offer some sort of reward to someone who comes in to your business, or you?re just passing things out at a fair or festival, promotional materials remain one of the most effective online marketing tactics.
Return on investment with promotional materials tends to be pretty significant, mainly because ordering your promotional materials in bulk from places like Minespress.com tends to be pretty cheap. It?s best to purchase a wide variety of promotional materials for events, ranging from things like sunglasses and Frisbees to mugs and notepads. The more diversity you have in your promotional materials the better, so make sure you?ve got heavily branded things to pass out to gain some more business.
Referrals
Referrals remain one of the best types of marketing tactics, as word of mouth is the best way to advertise. Increase the number of referrals that you get by offering rewards to customers that bring you referrals. Setting up some sort of referral reward program is a great way to gain business and see a large return on investment, especially because you?ll only have to offer rewards if you get a referral.
This would be a great opportunity to offer some of the previously mentioned promotional materials as a reward to a customer who gives you referrals.
Hold Classes
Holding free classes or workshops is a great way to get traffic coming through your doors which will lead to more sales. Whatever your business is, hold free classes or workshops to help people become better at whatever it is that you do.
For example, if you run a home improvement store, offer classes on how to shingle roofs or put up drywall. You?ll get people into your store and build customer loyalty because you?re offering a great resource for free.
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Source: http://searchmarketingpost.com/four-proven-offline-marketing-tactics-that-work/
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