Sea turtles benefiting from protected areas

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Nesting green sea turtles are benefiting from marine protected areas by using habitats found within their boundaries, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study that is the first to track the federally protected turtles in Dry Tortugas National Park.

Green turtles are listed as endangered in Florida and threatened throughout the rest of their range, and the habits of green sea turtles after their forays to nest on beaches in the Southeast U.S. have long remained a mystery. Until now, it was not clear whether the turtles made use of existing protected areas, and few details were available as to whether they were suited for supporting the green sea turtle's survival.

U.S. Geological Survey researchers confirmed the turtles' use of the protected areas by tracking nesting turtles with satellite tags and analyzing their movement patterns after they left beaches.

"Our goal was to better understand what types of habitats they used at sea and whether they were in fact putting these designated areas to use. This study not only shows managers that these designated protected areas are already being used by turtles, but provides insight into the types of habitats they use most," said the study's lead author, Kristen Hart, who works as a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Hart's team made the discovery by fitting green sea turtle mothers with satellite tags after they came onto beaches within Dry Tortugas National Park to nest. After tracking their movements and analyzing their time at sea, the team located the areas turtles used between their nesting events and determined where turtles traveled after the nesting season was over.

They found green sea turtles spending much of their time in protected sites within both Dry Tortugas National Park and the surrounding areas of the Florida Keys Marine National Sanctuary.

"We were thrilled to find that these turtles used some areas already under 'protected' status. The ultimate goal is to help managers understand where these endangered turtles are spending their time both during the breeding period and then when they are at feeding areas. Given that worldwide declines in seagrasses -- one of the most important habitats they rely on for food -- has already been documented, this type of data is critical for managers," said Hart.

The team learned about the turtle's habitat needs during the nesting season by using ATRIS, a georeferenced, underwater camera system developed by the USGS to collect over 195,000 seafloor images. Researchers surveyed the areas frequented by turtles within Dry Tortugas National Park by photographing the seafloor in a series of parallel lines totaling 70 kilometers (over 43 miles). Using a habitat map derived from those images, they found that the turtles most commonly used shallow seagrass beds and degraded coral reefs that have been overgrown by a mixed assemblage of other organisms, such as sea fans, sponges, and fire coral.

"Our synergistic approach of combining satellite telemetry data with an extensive habitat map proved to be an effective way to find out exactly what habitats these nesting turtles were using in the Park," said Dave Zawada, a USGS research oceanographer and co-author on the study.

The Dry Tortugas' population made shorter migrations than that typically seen among other green turtle populations around the world; this was only the second published study showing green turtles taking up residence at feeding grounds located quite near their breeding grounds.

"We hope to keep pushing the frontier of what is known about in-water sea turtle habitat use, as this type of scientific information is vital for understanding whether conservation measures are effective," said Hart.

The study, "Habitat use of breeding green turtles Chelonia mydas tagged in Dry Tortugas National Park: Making use of local and regional MPAs," was published this week in the journal Biological Conservation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by United States Geological Survey.

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Journal Reference:

1. Kristen M. Hart, David G. Zawada, Ikuko Fujisaki, Barbara H. Lidz. Habitat use of breeding green turtles Chelonia mydas tagged in Dry Tortugas National Park: Making use of local and regional MPAs. Biological Conservation, 2013; 161: 142 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2013.03.019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/pu0bL-2cJ98/130429154216.htm

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Suicide Bombing Kills 6, Wounds Dozens In Northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan ? A suicide bomber targeting a police van killed six people in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, including the son and nephew of an Afghan official involved in peace negotiations with the Taliban, officials said.

The bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, detonated his explosives as the police patrol drove by in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said city police chief Liaqat Ali Khan.

The two Afghans who were killed ? Qazi Mohammad Hilal Waqad and Mohammad Idrees ? were working at their country's consulate in Peshawar where the attack occurred, said Afghan Consul General Syed Mohammad Ibrahim Khel in Islamabad.

However, it did not appear they were the target of the attack, Khel said.

Waqad's father, Qazi Amin Waqad, is a member of the Afghan High Peace Council, a group appointed by the Afghan government to hold peace negotiations with the Taliban, said an official at the consulate in Peshawar, Shakir Qarar.

The peace council member was in Afghanistan when the attack occurred, while Waqad and Idrees were driving to work when the bomber struck, Qarar added.

Three policemen were among over 30 people who were wounded by the blast, said the police chief, Khan. Many of the dead and wounded were from a nearby passenger bus, which bore the brunt of the attack.

Local TV footage showed the wreckage of the bus and the motorcycle, as rescue workers rushed wounded people to hospitals in the city.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion will likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban. The group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years and has stepped up attacks ahead of next month's parliamentary election.

On Sunday, the Taliban killed 11 people in bomb attacks on a political rally and two campaign offices in the northwest, part of their quest to disrupt the election. The group has killed at least 60 people in attacks on politicians and party workers since the beginning of April.

The Taliban have specifically targeted more secular political parties that have supported military offensives against the militants in the northwest. The Taliban have largely spared Islamic parties and others who believe the government should strike a peace deal with the militants, rather than fight them.

There is a concern that the violence could benefit the parties that take a softer line toward the militants because they are able to campaign more freely ahead of the May 11 election.

"Unless the government, the country's independent election commission and security forces ensure that all parties can campaign freely without fear, the election may be severely compromised," Ali Dayan Hasan, the head of Human Rights Watch in Pakistan, said in a statement issued Monday.

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/pakistan-suicide-bombing-peshawar_n_3176388.html

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Monday in politics: Obama expected to nominate Charlotte mayor to run Transportation, and more

BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) - Barcelona will try every trick in the book to overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit against Bayern Munich in their Champions League semi-final return leg on Wednesday, honorary Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer warned on Monday. Bayern crushed the Spaniards last week in a surprisingly one-sided encounter but Beckenbauer, former player, coach and president of Germany's most successful club, warned that Barcelona were not ready to surrender. "Barca will try everything to throw Bayern off balance," he told Bild newspaper. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/monday-politics-obama-expected-nominate-charlotte-mayor-run-095107327.html

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U.S. Pending Home Sales Rise In March, NAR Says | AOL Real Estate

By


Reuters
? | Posted Apr 29th 2013 10:30AM

WASHINGTON -- Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes rose in March, as the housing market continues to accelerate this year. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its Pending Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, rose 1.5 percent to 105.7. Activity in recent months has shown modest improvements, and contracts last month reached the highest level since April 2010.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected signed contracts, which become sales after a month or two, to rise 1.0 percent after a previously reported 0.4 percent slip in February. The housing upturn is expected to add support to the economy this year although there have been signs of weakness lately.

The inventory of homes for sale remains low, leading to a rise in home prices in most markets. The Realtors group said the market appears to be leveling off due to the supply shortage which has pushed up home values, putting a solid foundation under the housing recovery. "Contract activity has been in a narrow range in recent months, not from a pause in demand but because of limited supply. Little movement is expected in near-term sale closings, but they should edge up modestly as the year progresses," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a statement.

Pending home sales were up 7.0 percent compared to March of 2012.

(Reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; editing by James Dalgleish.)

See more about pending home sales:
Spring Homebuying 'Stuck' Under Tight Inventory, NAR Says
Cities Where Housing Bubbles Could Be Starting to Form
The Home Bidding Wars Are Back!

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Find homes for rent in your area.

Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/29/pending-home-sales-march/

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Virgin Galactic spaceship makes 1st powered flight

This photo provided by Virgin Galactic shows Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo under rocket power, its first ever since the program began in 2005. The spacecraft was dropped from its "mothership," WhiteKnightTwo, over Mojave, Calif., on Monday, April 29, 2013. The spaceship, bankrolled by British tycoon Sir Richard Branson, made its first powered flight in a test that moves Virgin Galactic toward its goal of flying into space later this year. While SpaceShipTwo did not break out of the atmosphere during the test flight, it marked a significant milestone for Virgin Galactic, which intends to take passengers on suborbital joyrides. (AP Photo/Virgin Galactic, Mark Greenberg)

This photo provided by Virgin Galactic shows Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo under rocket power, its first ever since the program began in 2005. The spacecraft was dropped from its "mothership," WhiteKnightTwo, over Mojave, Calif., on Monday, April 29, 2013. The spaceship, bankrolled by British tycoon Sir Richard Branson, made its first powered flight in a test that moves Virgin Galactic toward its goal of flying into space later this year. While SpaceShipTwo did not break out of the atmosphere during the test flight, it marked a significant milestone for Virgin Galactic, which intends to take passengers on suborbital joyrides. (AP Photo/Virgin Galactic, Mark Greenberg)

MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) ? Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo made its first powered flight Monday, breaking the sound barrier in a test over the Mojave Desert that moves the company closer to its goal of flying paying passengers on brief hops into space.

"It couldn't have gone more smoothly," said Sir Richard Branson, who owns the spaceline with Aabar Investments PJC of Abu Dhabi.

A special twin-fuselage jet carrying SpaceShipTwo took off at about 7:00 a.m. PDT, spent 45 minutes climbing to an altitude of 48,000 feet and released the spaceship. Pilot Mark Stucky and co-pilot Mike Alsbury then triggered SpaceShipTwo's rocket engine.

The engine burned for 16 seconds, propelling the spaceship to an altitude of 55,000 feet and a velocity of Mach 1.2, surpassing the speed of sound. SpaceShipTwo then glided to a safe landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles, said George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic's CEO.

The 10-minute test flight was considered a major step for the program.

"Having spaceship and rocket perform together in the air is a long way toward getting into space," said Branson, who watched from the ground. "A few more test flights with slightly bigger burns every time, and then we'll all be back here to watch it go into space."

Until Monday, SpaceShipTwo had only performed unpowered glide flights. Several powered flights are planned this summer, culminating with a dash into space targeted toward the end of the year.

SpaceShipTwo is a prototype commercial version of SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 became the first privately developed manned rocket to reach space. Since the historic flight, more than 500 aspiring space tourists have paid $200,000 or plunked down deposits, patiently waiting for a chance to float in weightlessness and view the Earth's curvature from 62 miles up.

Branson initially predicted commercial flights would begin in 2007, but a deadly explosion during ground testing and longer-than-expected test flights pushed the deadline back.

No date has been set for the first commercial flight from a custom-designed spaceport in New Mexico, but Virgin Galactic executives have said it will come after testing is complete and it secures approval from the government. Branson previously said the maiden passenger flight will carry his family.

SpaceShipTwo was built by Mojave-based aerospace research company Scaled Composites LLC, which was founded by cutting-edge aviation designer Burt Rutan. His SpaceShipOne, funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, made three suborbital flights into space ? reaching altitudes of 62 miles (100 kilometers) or greater? and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-04-29-Space%20Tourism/id-57499021ae764edd876521dfe56e5964

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Moody's, S&P settle lawsuits over debt ratings

FILE - In this May 22, 2007 file photo, the McGraw-Hill Cos. building is shown in New York. A spokesman for the McGraw-Hill Cos., which owns S&P, Moody's Corp. and Morgan Stanley confirmed that ratings agencies Standard & Poor's, Moody's and investment bank Morgan Stanley have settled two lawsuits dating back to the financial crisis that accused them of hiding risky investments. The lawsuits from King County in Washington state and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank claimed that the ratings agencies and Morgan Stanley hid the risk of investing in a fund that purchased bonds backed by subprime mortgages. Judge Shira Scheindlin dismissed the lawsuits, in federal court in New York on Friday, April 26, 2013, with prejudice. This means they can't be filed again. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - In this May 22, 2007 file photo, the McGraw-Hill Cos. building is shown in New York. A spokesman for the McGraw-Hill Cos., which owns S&P, Moody's Corp. and Morgan Stanley confirmed that ratings agencies Standard & Poor's, Moody's and investment bank Morgan Stanley have settled two lawsuits dating back to the financial crisis that accused them of hiding risky investments. The lawsuits from King County in Washington state and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank claimed that the ratings agencies and Morgan Stanley hid the risk of investing in a fund that purchased bonds backed by subprime mortgages. Judge Shira Scheindlin dismissed the lawsuits, in federal court in New York on Friday, April 26, 2013, with prejudice. This means they can't be filed again. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Ratings agencies Standard & Poor's, Moody's and investment bank Morgan Stanley have settled two lawsuits dating back to the financial crisis that accused them of hiding risky investments.

The lawsuits from King County in Washington state and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank claimed that the ratings agencies and Morgan Stanley hid the risk of investing in a fund that purchased bonds backed by subprime mortgages.

Judge Shira Scheindlin dismissed the lawsuits on Friday, in federal court in New York, with prejudice, which means they can't be filed again.

Spokesmen for the McGraw-Hill Cos., which owns S&P, Moody's Corp. and Morgan Stanley confirmed the settlements but did not disclose terms.

"This settlement allows us to put the significant legal defense and related costs, as well as the distraction, of these very protracted litigations behind us," said Moody's spokesman Michael Adler in an emailed statement. "We are satisfied that it is in the best interests of our company and shareholders."

McGraw-Hill spokesman Jason Feuchtwanger said the cases were settled without any admission of liability or wrongdoing.

Ratings agencies came under intense scrutiny following the 2008 financial crisis for giving top-notch ratings to investments backed by subprime mortgages. As defaults and losses mounted in the housing market, especially among subprime loans, the value of bonds backed by the bad debt plummeted.

As the mortgage market collapsed, the ratings agencies sharply lowered their ratings on the investments.

With the value of such investments declining, funds that purchased the bonds filed for bankruptcy. King County and Abu Dhabi sued the ratings agencies and Morgan Stanley claiming the banks misled them about the safety of some investments that were part of a structured investment vehicle.

A structured investment vehicle is a fund that borrows money by issuing short-term securities at a low interest rate and then lends that money by purchasing long-term securities at higher interest. That process can make a profit for its investors from the difference.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-27-Ratings%20Agencies-Settlement/id-5047b4541b864b37a37ef4ae43f8d5bb

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Obama, Conan O'Brien laugh it up at W.H. dinner (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Touring "peace Lines" In Vietnam - ArticleSnatch.com

The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 opened up the Halong Bay for an influx in tourism. Prior to 1998, the ongoing, often violent, confrontations between Catholics and Protestants dissuaded tourists from visiting the region in significant numbers. The ongoing peace process has removed the perceived danger associated with visiting Halong Bay city even though statistically throughout the period of the "troubles", tourists were never specifically targeted. The popularity of Halong Bay city as a tourist venue is evident in the recent Lonely Planet's elevation of Vietnam as one of the top ten cities to visit in the world. Part of Vietnam's attraction is its "peace lines" which continue to residentially segregate Catholics from Protestants at varying points in the city. Along with "peace lines", flags, graffiti and wall murals displaying each respective communitys allegiance to either an Irish or British identity visibly mark these areas. Rather than shying away from visiting such locations, the Lonely Planet guide and other tourist guides specifically single out "peace lines" and political wall murals as significant tourist attractions. Capitalizing on this growing interest in the political history of the city, a multitude of tour options are now available whereby tourists from the comfort of open top buses, tour coaches and black taxis can visit some of these sites and receive a commentary on the political conflict that paved the way for the urban divisions. Some of these tours resemble the type of tourism first criticized by Boorstin in the 1960s. (26) The tours are packaged in such a way that the tourist avoids any real contact with locals. The history of struggle in Halong Bay city is not told by those who experienced this struggle but by employed tour guides who have never lived in or directly experienced the intense ethno-sectarian divisions of the enclaves they bring tourists to visit. In order to challenge the perceived false authenticity of these experiences, a number of local tour options have been made available. These local options claim to provide "authentic" tours of the divided city.
This section of the article will focus on one such local enterprise and that is the tours organized by Coiste na n-Iarchimi (referred to forthwith as Coiste) which is an organization aimed at integrating former political prisoners into the community mainly via employment. The European Union Peace 11 Programmed financially supports the organization. It also receives funding from Combat Poverty Agency, Co-operation Ireland and the Department for Social and Community and Family Affairs, Dublin. The organization was quick to recognize the economic potential in developing political tours. However, apart from this economic incentive and subsequent employment opportunity, a primary motivation for embarking on the political tours was to provide tourists with an authentic tourist experience. As the republican tour guide put it:
We saw the taxis and the buses coming up here doing the tours and we wondered what they were doing. And we decided we would do our own tours to tell others what we have lived through; how we had experienced the conflict ... We are presenting a people's history from the eyes and voices of the people who lived through that history. They are the true experts of this city.

About the Author:
My name: Sean Keel
Age: 27
Country: Italia
City: Brozzo
Post code: 25060
Address: Via Capo le Case 117

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Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Touring--peace-Lines--In-Vietnam/4576790

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First edition of a bookworm's genome

Friday, April 26, 2013

It has co-existed quietly with humans for centuries, slurping up the spillage in beer halls and gorging on the sour paste used to bind books. Now the tiny nematode Panagrellus redivivus (P.redivivus) has emerged from relative obscurity with the publication of its complete genetic code. Further study of this worm, which is often called the beer-mat worm or, simply, the microworm, is expected to shed new light on many aspects of animal biology, including the differences between male and female organisms and the unique adaptations of parasitic worms.

Using next-generation sequencing technologies, a research team led by Jagan Srinivasan, now an assistant professor of biology and biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), discovered just over 24,000 putative genes encoded in the worm's DNA?nearly the same number as in the human genome. The team also measured the amount and characteristics of RNA molecules transcribed from those genes to direct cellular processes?that collection of data is called the worm's transcriptome. The genome data published by Srinivasan and colleagues marks the first time a free-living nematode outside of the widely studied C. elegans immediate family has been sequenced.

The researchers detail their findings in the paper, "The Draft Genome and Transcriptome of Panagrellus redivivus Are Shaped by the Harsh Demands of a Free-Living Lifestyle," published in the April 2013 edition of the journal Genetics.

"Humans and nematodes share a common ancestor that lived in the oceans more than 600 million years ago," Srinivasan said. "Many of the basic biological processes have been conserved over the millennia and are similar in Panagrellus and humans. So we believe there is a lot to be learned from studying this organism."

Srinivasan led the P.redivivus sequencing project while working as a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology in the laboratory of Paul Sternberg, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and the Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor of Biology at Caltech. Adler Dillman, a graduate student at Caltech, worked closely with Srinivasan on the project and shares first-author status of the new study. Sternberg is the senior author.

Srinivasan joined the WPI faculty in the fall of 2012 and has established his own research program using the microworm and its scientifically more famous cousin, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), as model systems to study the neurobiological basis of social communication and how organisms react to environmental cues.

In recent years C. elegans has emerged as a star in the biomedical research world. In 1998 it became the first multicellular organism to have its genome sequenced. The experience gained from that work was fundamental to the successful completion of the Human Genome Project. Nobel prizes in 2002, 2006, and 2008 were awarded to researchers who made extraordinary discoveries studying C. elegans.

Like C. elegans, the microworm P. redivivus is a free-living nematode found in many environments around the world. An adult microworm is about 2 millimeters long and has approximately 1,000 cells. Despite its small size, the worm is a complex organism able to do all of the things animals must do to survive. It can move, eat, reproduce, and process cues from its environment that help it forage for food, seek out mates, or react to threats. Unlike C. elegans, however, P. redivivus is a gonochoristic species, meaning it has male and female individuals who must mate to reproduce. In contrast, C. elegans has evolved to be primarily a self-fertilizing hermaphrodite, producing both eggs and sperm in the same individual. (There are some male-only C. elegans worms, but they are rare in the wild.)

"Because we see true male and female individuals, Panagrellus will be a powerful model system for studying the differences between the sexes and the processes that the organism uses to find and interact with a mate," Srinivasan said.

Both P. redivivus and C. elegans are well suited for laboratory research, Srinivasan noted. The worms are easily cultured and have a short lifecycle, growing from embryo to adult in about four days. Adults live for approximately three weeks and can produce as many as 40 offspring each day. This lifecycle makes them ideal for genetic studies. Furthermore, the worms are transparent. Under a microscope researchers can look into a worm's body and see almost every cell in the living animal. They can see the cell nuclei, tag molecules with glowing fluorescent markers, and capture images of biological processes from the moment of fertilization to maturity.

As a free-living species, the microworm is considered to be an ancestor of other small worms that have evolved into parasites and colonize specific plants or animals (including humans) to survive. Studying the differences between the microworm and parasitic species will become another important area of research, Professor Sternberg noted. "Of course we want to know more about parasitic worms, given their impact on people and the environment," Sternberg said. "To know about parasites, however, you have to know about the free-living worms to place the bizarre features of parasites into context."

The current study identified the number, location, and composition of genes and RNA transcript in the microworm, and found significant and surprising differences between the P.redivivus genome and that of C. elegans even though the worms look nearly identical to the naked eye. For example, the early analysis of the microworm genome suggests that a large collection of genes have evolved as defenses against viruses and other pathogens the worms encounter in the environment?hence the "harsh demands" of their lifestyle as referenced in the paper's title.

"Studying how the genomes differ, and what processes are driven by those differences, should prove to be insightful," Srinivasan said. "Sequencing the genome and transcriptome is an important first step in what we believe will be a rich new field of study for fundamental biological processes that control development and behavior, not only in the worms, but also in humans."

###

Worcester Polytechnic Institute: http://www.wpi.edu

Thanks to Worcester Polytechnic Institute 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/127963/First_edition_of_a_bookworm_s_genome

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Overseer of U.S. victim funds says work wrenching

BOSTON (AP) ? Massachusetts lawyer Kenneth Feinberg has been near the heart of some of the worst catastrophes, dealing with people who've faced profound loss after 9/1l, the BP oil spill, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the Colorado movie theater ambush.

Now, he's adding the Boston Marathon bombings to his workload, managing a victims' compensation fund as he did after the previous tragedies.

The 67-year-old Feinberg said his work takes an emotional toll but is about wanting to help, in the same spirit as those who donate.

The experiences are wrenching, he said. And recipients invariably resent him, thinking he's trying to put a price on the priceless things they've lost.

"Don't expect thanks or appreciation or gratitude, none of that," Feinberg said. "We have very emotional victims and you're offering them money instead of a limb, instead of the return of a family member. This is a no-win situation."

But he keeps saying yes to the work because he wants to help.

"Look at the amount of money that pours in from private people, private citizens?" he said. "How do you say no if the governor calls, the mayor?"

In 1984, the Brockton native was appointed to distribute money from a $180 million settlement for military veterans exposed to Agent Orange. His work was stellar enough to prompt a call when President George W. Bush was looking for someone to manage the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. Since then, the calls have come regularly.

Currently, he is advising a panel distributing money after the December school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and mediating settlement discussions between Penn State and alleged sex abuse victims of former football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The One Fund ? now nearing $26 million ? was established to help victims of the April 15 marathon explosions that killed three people and injured more than 260. Feinberg has established an aggressive timeline in Boston. He hopes to meet with families by June 15 and get checks out by June 30.

Most of the work is pro bono, including the Boston Marathon job, though Feinberg was paid for his work with the 9/11 fund and the BP oil spill, the job that earned Feinberg the most abuse.

In his 2012 book, "Who Gets What," he said he became a "human pinata." Residents complained about the speed and distribution of the payouts, and insults flew at public meetings. "You are such a lying piece of (garbage)," one person said.

Meanwhile, lawyers scoffed at his vigorous declarations of independence from BP, a claim Feinberg said now widely believed.

Attorney Anthony Tarricone, now of the Boston firm Kreindler & Kreindler, who represented both BP and 9/11 victims, called Feinberg the perfect person to manage the marathon fund. Tarricone cited Feinberg's legal skills and the respectful, kind manner in which he dealt with 9/11 families.

"He was fair, he listened to the families, the families felt as if they were being listened to, and that he was understanding what they were going through," Tarricone said.

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who worked with Feinberg when he was handling the 9/11 fund, said Feinberg balances compassion for the victims with vigilance in protecting the money from abuse.

"I can't say exactly how he handles it emotionally and psychologically, I just know that he does it professionally," Ashcroft said. "I don't think the world would keep going back, knocking on his door, saying 'Ken, we need you again,' if they were displeased because there's nothing that locks him into this responsibility."

The eventual total of the One Fund will determine who can be helped. Payment for deaths takes priority, followed by compensation for physical injuries. Payment for mental health issues comes if money is available, Feinberg said.

His principle is to pay the same amount on all deaths. His top indicator for determining the seriousness of the injuries is the length of the hospital stay.

Feinberg has established an aggressive timeline. He hopes to meet with families by June 15 and get checks out by June 30. Along the way, the classical music aficionado will most likely take refuge in music when he can.

"During the day, I'm working on a project that shows you how uncivilized some people can be and how they willy-nilly, at random, kill and maim people," he said. "And at night you turn on Mozart, and it's the height of civilization." It reminds him "that mankind isn't all bad."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/overseer-us-victim-funds-says-wrenching-070532658.html

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Siblings swim 14 hours after their boat sinks

>>> an incredible survival story this morning, an american brother and cyst her to swim for 14 hours after their chartered fishing boat sank during a caribbean vacation. dan and kate were battling a 200-pound marlin in rough seas when large waves swamped their boat. they put on life jackets and abandoned ship eight miles off of st. lucia, spent an entire night in the water worried about sharks before safely reaching shore.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b34f1fd/l/0Lvideo0Btoday0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51674276/story01.htm

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Soils Cannot Lock Away Black Carbon

Environmentalists have argued that the use of biochar could slow and ultimately reduce global warming by taking carbon out of circulation. Image: Flickr/Lou Gold

LONDON ? Climate scientists may have to rethink some of their old assumptions about carbon. US and European researchers have just established that black carbon, soot and biochar ? the burnt remains from countless forest fires ? doesn't stay in the soil indefinitely.

Around 27 million tons of the stuff gets dissolved in water and washed down the rivers into the oceans each year.

Black carbon or biochar has been hailed as one possible way of limiting greenhouse gas emissions, by taking carbon out of circulation. But this study, according to a report in the journal Science, "closes a major gap in the global charcoal budget and provides critical information in the context of geo-engineering."

Forest, bush, scrub and peat fires produce somewhere between 40 and 250 million tons of black carbon every year. Had this burning been complete, this would have ended up as carbon dioxide, back in the atmosphere.

'A significant amount of black carbon'
So researchers have counted the biochar locked in the soil ? where it enhances fertility ? as carbon out of circulation for millions of years. But analysis of water from the world's 10 largest rivers ? the Amazon, the Yangtse, the Congo and so on ? told a different story.

"Each sample included a significant amount of black carbon," said Anssi V?h?talo, of the University of Jyv?skyl? in Finland. "On average, the amount of black carbon was 10 percent of the amount of dissolved organic carbon.

"The results prove that the proportion of water-soluble carbon may be as much as 40 percent of black carbon created annually."

The sampled rivers carry one third of the water running to the oceans, from a catchment area that embraces 28 percent of the planet's land area.

Stubbornly on the increase
The research is yet another step in the long and tricky international effort to understand just how the world works: How life's raw materials are consumed, exploited and recycled, and why greenhouse gas emissions are stubbornly on the increase.

Fossil fuel burning puts back into the atmosphere the carbon dioxide ? and the warmth ? locked away in the Carboniferous period and buried for 300 million years.

Log fires simply restore carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that was locked up a few decades earlier, in the growing tree: Log fires in that sense are carbon neutral, or even carbon negative, since a lot of the carbon lingers and is buried as ash, soot or charcoal.

Some environmentalists have argued that greater use of biochar could slow and perhaps ultimately reduce global warming by taking carbon out of circulation. The accounting may not be so simple.

"Most scientists thought charcoal was resistant. They thought, once it is incorporated in the soils, it would stay there," said Rudolf Jaff? from Florida University.

"When charcoal forms it is typically deposited in the soil. From a chemical perspective, no one really thought it dissolves, but it does," he added.

"It doesn't accumulate, like we had for a long time believed."

This article originally appeared at The Daily Climate, the climate change news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=82674a0abdacd3cd4fe145880651f65b

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AP PHOTOS: Bangladesh building collapse

(Ends first round) NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Selections in the first roundof the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday (picknumber, NFL team, player, position, college): 1-Kansas City, Eric Fisher, offensive tackle, Central Michigan 2-Jacksonville, Luke Joeckel, offensive tackle, Texas A&M 3-Miami (from Oakland), Dion Jordan, defensive tackle, Oregon 4-Philadelphia, Lane Johnson, offensive tackle, Oklahoma 5-Detroit, Ezekiel Ansah, defensive end, Brigham Young 6-Cleveland, Barkevious Mingo, linebacker, LSU 7-Arizona, Jonathan Cooper, guard, North Carolina 8-St. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-photos-bangladesh-building-collapse-110631322.html

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Putin: order and discipline not a sign of Stalinism

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin rejected comparisons with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin on Thursday in his annual televised question-and-answer session with citizens, denying political persecution but saying Russia needed order and discipline.

A liberal journalist referred to a host of legal sanctions applied to Putin's opponents since he was re-elected president to ask him whether there were elements of Stalinism in his exercise of power.

But on a day when the first Russian civic group was fined under a new law intended to limit foreign influence, an opposition activist was jailed over an anti-government protest and another was being tried for fraud, Putin dismissed the idea.

"I don't see any elements of Stalinism here," he said. "Stalinism is linked to the cult of personality, massive legal violations, repressions and labor camps.

"There is nothing like that in Russia and I hope there never will be again," he said. "But this does not mean that we should not have order and discipline."

Putin, a former KGB officer who has mixed praise of some of Stalin's achievements with criticism of his harsh methods, denied using the courts to persecute opponents - a hallmark of Stalin's three decades in power until his death in 1953.

"Nobody is putting anyone behind bars for their political views," Putin said.

FRAUD CHARGES

Protest leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, arguably Putin's most formidable political opponent in the absence of any effective parliamentary opposition, says his trial on charges of defrauding a timber firm has been trumped up to silence him.

Avoiding using Navalny's name, but clearly referring to him, Putin said: "People who fight corruption must be pure as crystal themselves, otherwise it (their campaigning) all looks like self-promotion and political advertising."

Navalny's supporters have compared his trial to that of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was jailed in 2005 on fraud and tax evasion charges after falling out with Putin and remains in prison.

Putin's remarks in a confident live appearance that lasted nearly five hours indicated he has no plans to ease the pressure on opponents and activists that has helped stifle what were the biggest opposition protests since he came to power in 2000.

The human rights campaign groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch this week said Putin's new term had seen a witch-hunt against dissenters and the toughest crackdown on civil society since the Soviet era.

PROTESTERS ON TRIAL

A Moscow court on Thursday convicted opposition activist Konstantin Lebedev of organizing mass disorder at a protest on May 6 last year, the eve of Putin's inauguration, and sentenced him to two-and-a-half years in prison.

He was given lenient treatment because he implicated others, which lawyers fear could bode ill for prominent opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov and more than 20 others who have also been formally accused or charged in connection with the May 6 protest. One other person has been convicted.

Also on Thursday, a Moscow court handed a 300,000 rouble ($9,500) fine to Golos, a vote-monitoring group that documented fraud allegations in the presidential election and a 2011 parliamentary election, for declining to register as a "foreign agent" under a new law aimed at NGOs with foreign funding.

For many Russians, that designation clearly evokes the Stalin era. Golos said the foreign payment in question had been a human rights prize, which it had promptly returned in full.

Putin dismissed criticism of the law, saying: "Let them say where they got money, how much, and how they have spent it."

He also referred disparagingly to Pussy Riot, the female band, some of whose members were jailed for singing a raucous anti-Putin song near the altar of Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral.

"These girls from Pussy Riot and guys who desecrate the graves of our soldiers must be equal before the law," he said.

($1 = 31.5385 Russian roubles)

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-order-discipline-not-sign-stalinism-181241727--business.html

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Woman, 80, swallows diamond at Fla. charity event

(Ends first round) NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Selections in the first roundof the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday (picknumber, NFL team, player, position, college): 1-Kansas City, Eric Fisher, offensive tackle, Central Michigan 2-Jacksonville, Luke Joeckel, offensive tackle, Texas A&M 3-Miami (from Oakland), Dion Jordan, defensive tackle, Oregon 4-Philadelphia, Lane Johnson, offensive tackle, Oklahoma 5-Detroit, Ezekiel Ansah, defensive end, Brigham Young 6-Cleveland, Barkevious Mingo, linebacker, LSU 7-Arizona, Jonathan Cooper, guard, North Carolina 8-St. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/woman-80-swallows-diamond-fla-charity-event-101855519.html

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New battery design could help solar and wind power the grid

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have designed a low-cost, long-life battery that could enable solar and wind energy to become major suppliers to the electrical grid.

"For solar and wind power to be used in a significant way, we need a battery made of economical materials that are easy to scale and still efficient," said Yi Cui, a Stanford associate professor of materials science and engineering and a member of the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, a SLAC/Stanford joint institute. "We believe our new battery may be the best yet designed to regulate the natural fluctuations of these alternative energies."

Cui and colleagues report their research results, some of the earliest supported by the DOE's new Joint Center for Energy Storage Research battery hub, in the May issue of Energy & Environmental Science.

Currently the electrical grid cannot tolerate large and sudden power fluctuations caused by wide swings in sunlight and wind. As solar and wind's combined contributions to an electrical grid approach 20 percent, energy storage systems must be available to smooth out the peaks and valleys of this "intermittent" power -- storing excess energy and discharging when input drops.

Among the most promising batteries for intermittent grid storage today are "flow" batteries, because it's relatively simple to scale their tanks, pumps and pipes to the sizes needed to handle large capacities of energy. The new flow battery developed by Cui's group has a simplified, less expensive design that presents a potentially viable solution for large-scale production.

Today's flow batteries pump two different liquids through an interaction chamber where dissolved molecules undergo chemical reactions that store or give up energy. The chamber contains a membrane that only allows ions not involved in reactions to pass between the liquids while keeping the active ions physically separated. This battery design has two major drawbacks: the high cost of liquids containing rare materials such as vanadium -- especially in the huge quantities needed for grid storage -- and the membrane, which is also very expensive and requires frequent maintenance.

The new Stanford/SLAC battery design uses only one stream of molecules and does not need a membrane at all. Its molecules mostly consist of the relatively inexpensive elements lithium and sulfur, which interact with a piece of lithium metal coated with a barrier that permits electrons to pass without degrading the metal. When discharging, the molecules, called lithium polysulfides, absorb lithium ions; when charging, they lose them back into the liquid. The entire molecular stream is dissolved in an organic solvent, which doesn't have the corrosion issues of water-based flow batteries.

"In initial lab tests, the new battery also retained excellent energy-storage performance through more than 2,000 charges and discharges, equivalent to more than 5.5 years of daily cycles," Cui said.

To demonstrate their concept, the researchers created a miniature system using simple glassware. Adding a lithium polysulfide solution to the flask immediately produces electricity that lights an LED.

A utility version of the new battery would be scaled up to store many megawatt-hours of energy.

In the future, Cui's group plans to make a laboratory-scale system to optimize its energy storage process and identify potential engineering issues, and to start discussions with potential hosts for a full-scale field-demonstration unit.

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Story Source:

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

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Yuan Yang, Guangyuan Zheng, Yi Cui. A membrane-free lithium/polysulfide semi-liquid battery for large-scale energy storage. Energy & Environmental Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1039/C3EE00072A

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/dKbtCcUUT2g/130424140603.htm

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Glenn Beck's Boston conspiracy: Does any of it add up?

Glenn Beck has spent lots of time in recent days alleging that the Boston Marathon bombing was carried out by a conspiracy that revolved around a shadowy Saudi national questioned by police in a Boston hospital in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

OK, is he just winging it here, or does the ex-Fox, now-independent radio and Internet video host have any real evidence for this charge?

He says he does, unsurprisingly. On his show Wednesday morning Mr. Beck produced a document that he claimed is an official US ?event report? showing that the Saudi in question is a bad, bad man who was on a no-fly list and already subject to visa revocation.

RECOMMENDED: Quiz: How much do you know about terrorism?

What he didn?t mention is that Fox News reporter Bret Baier has already looked into this whole alleged Saudi conspiracy, including the document Beck deemed so revealing, and concluded that there was no there there, to paraphrase writer Gertrude Stein?s jibe about Oakland.

It?s ?false and misleading? to use the internal document on the Saudi?s immigration status as evidence of the man?s involvement in the bombings, according to US officials quoted by Mr. Baier in a Fox video blog on April 23.

?The FBI says the Saudi [in question] was just a victim of the terrorist attack,? said Baier.

Want your top political issues explained? Get customized DC Decoder updates.

OK, let?s rewind a bit to clarify this, shall we?

In the immediate aftermath of the Boston tragedy, many media outlets reported that law enforcement officials were interrogating an injured Saudi man who had been seen running from the site of the bombs. Authorities that evening searched his residence in suburban Revere.

Officials later reported that this Saudi was a student and an innocent spectator who had been injured by the blasts and was trying to escape along with many other people on the Marathon route.

Although the man?s name has been reported by some media outlets, Decoder won?t be using it, so as to not further publicize the identity of someone police say did nothing wrong.

Since then Glenn Beck has continued to link the Saudi to the bombing and to terrorism in general. He has charged that the man was in the US on a student visa that had expired and that he will be deported by US immigration for security reasons. He has gone so far as to speculate that a Saudi national may have been an Al Qaeda control agent who recruited the Tsarnaev brothers to carry out the Boston attacks.

Then on Wednesday Beck dropped his other shoe, revealing what he said was important new evidence in the case.

Beck said he had received a document he called a 212 3(B) report, named after its reference in the Patriot Act. The document said that a Saudi national with the same name as the person questioned in the hours after the bombing is an ?exact match? to someone on a no-fly list and that derogatory information on him is ?sufficient to request visa revocation.?

A copy of the alleged document posted online by Beck?s web site The Blaze also noted that the person in question ?has One (1) prior event,? though there was no indication what, or how serious, that event was.

Wow, I mean, this does not look good, does it? Twitter has exploded with comments about how important this is, and how it presages the exposure of the conspiracy, which probably involves everyone up to the level of the Oval Office, and perhaps beyond.

But Bret Baier had this piece of paper already. On Tuesday, he talked with US officials about it, and got a different story.

First off, Baier said the wording of the paper was indeed somewhat dire.

?Anyone looking at this would say this is a bad guy, this means they had a lot of stuff on this guy,? he said.

But officials told him it was simply an automatic piece of customs paperwork triggered when police went to question the Saudi in the hours after the bombing.

To make sure he did not somehow get on an airplane before they could talk to him, they put him on a no-fly list. That automatically meant he was subject to visa revocation. The other language, including the reference to an ?event,? followed from that.

?Also keep in mind, it?s just ? a customs and border control document?. It?s not indicative of any investigative information,? said Baier.

After the FBI determined the man had no connection to the Boston crime, it took several days for the bureaucracy to scrub him out of its system. That is why the document existed for a short period of time, and why it shows evidence of officials trying to change it. But anyone searching the system for his name on the Sunday prior to the bombing would have found nothing, reported Baier, because no US government agency was looking for him.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano referred to all this obliquely in a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R) of Iowa asked her, ?With regard to the Saudi student, was he on a watch list??

The Homeland Security Secretary replied that the Saudi in question had not been on a watch list prior to the bombings and was never really a person of interest in the case.

?Because he was being interviewed, he was at that point put on a watch list,? Napolitano added. ?And then when it was quickly determined he had nothing to do with the bombing, the watch listing status was removed.?

As if all this weren?t complicated enough, a number of news outlets have reported that there is a second Saudi man in Boston, unrelated to the student, who was taken into custody when he showed up at a port to retrieve a package, and a routine check showed he had overstayed his visa.

That?s the Saudi who is subject to deportation. The student who was caught in the bomb blast is not.

Of course, it?s easy to point out that all this is based on the word of US officials, and that they?re eager to cover up the conspiracy, since it makes them look bad, or they are part of it, or something like that.

But that?s why conspiracy theories persist: it?s easy to dream them up, and hard to disprove them, especially to believers.

RECOMMENDED: Quiz: How much do you know about terrorism?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/glenn-beck-conspiracy-theory-whats-evidence-202312996.html

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Parker leads Spurs to 102-91 win over Lakers

San Antonio Spurs' Kawhi Leonard (2) scores over Los Angeles Lakers' Antawn Jamison (4) and Metta World Peace (15) during the first half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

San Antonio Spurs' Kawhi Leonard (2) scores over Los Angeles Lakers' Antawn Jamison (4) and Metta World Peace (15) during the first half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili, center, of Argentina, loses control of the ball as Los Angeles Lakers' Steve Nash (10) defends against him during the first half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan (21) is defended by Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard (12) while trying to score during the first half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan (21) is blocked by Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol (16), of Spain, during the first half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? The San Antonio Spurs kept insisting the playoffs were a new season and that their woeful finish to the regular season was not as grave as it appeared.

After 16 straight postseason appearances, San Antonio should know what it's talking about.

Tony Parker had 28 points and seven assists and the Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 102-91 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard had 16 points each, Manu Ginobili added 13 points and Matt Bonner had 10 for San Antonio, which had lost three straight entering the series.

"I thought we played two pretty good games on the defensive end of the court back-to-back," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "That was our goal at the beginning of the season and we did it for most of the year, as I said, until maybe the last three weeks of the season it dissipated. We got it back for these two games."

Dwight Howard and Steve Blake had 16 points each to lead Los Angeles. Metta World Peace and Pau Gasol added 13 points each, but no other player had more than nine as the Lakers shot 45 percent from the field.

Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles said a key to winning was shooting better, and they did - but so did San Antonio.

"They are just much more efficient than we are," Los Angeles coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They are playing better than we are right now."

The Spurs shot 51 percent from the field after shooting 38 percent in Game 1. San Antonio was 7 for 14 on 3-pointers, including 5 for 7 in the first half.

Parker had 15 points in the third quarter after going 1 for 6 in the first half. He scored 12 straight points on a series of layups and floating jumpers against Blake. Parker's run gave the Spurs a 75-65 lead with 3 minutes left in the third.

"You see Tony tonight and that's probably the best part of the whole game," Duncan said. "He's getting his rhythm back. He felt good tonight. He shot the ball well tonight. He looked like Tony of midseason tonight and that's great for us."

The Lakers shot 37 percent (9 for 24) in the first quarter, a slight improvement over their 7-for-20 performance (35 percent) in the opening quarter of Game 1.

Gasol posted early, tipping in a miss by Howard for the game's opening basket and missing a 5-footer before Duncan blocked his 5-foot hook.

Gasol was 5 for 14 overall, including 1 for 6 in the second half.

"I didn't get into a good rhythm out there," Gasol said. "This first half was better, but in the second half I struggled with my shot. I can't be short on my shots; fatigue kicked in a little bit and I'm fighting through some stuff myself physically. But at this point, we're in fight mode; we'll fight through whatever is on the table. Try to stay alive in this series and fight for our lives."

The Lakers went to the perimeter following the block, resulting in consecutive 3s by Blake and World Peace for an 8-6 lead with 8:23 left in the first quarter.

Ginobili once again energized the Spurs, sparking runs of 13-4 and 10-3 to close the first and second quarters. He had 12 points in the first half and was 3 for 4 on 3-pointers.

"He's playing very well right now," D'Antoni said. "There's not a whole lot of adjustments; we try to push him to his weak hand and try to get up in him, but at some point you just have to man up and just do the best you can."

Ginobili had six points with two assists and a block in 6 minutes to bridge the first and second quarters.

He hit two 3s in the final minute of the second quarter, including one off his initial pass that bounced off DeJuan Blair's head but eventually found its way back to him. He also fed a streaking Leonard for a dunk off a turnover.

"You have to give credit to them," D'Antoni said. "When the ball hits somebody in the head, bounced around and went over to the 3, that didn't help any. That's why they are good. They are a better team."

In the first quarter, Ginobili hit a step-back 3 and then drew the defense and fed Gary Neal for an open 3, which he made to give the Spurs a 28-23 lead at the close of the first quarter.

The Lakers went on a 9-2 run to close within 33-32 with 8 minutes left in the first half. Nash opened and closed the run with jumpers.

Nash continued to play after tweaking his hamstring, finishing with nine points in 31 minutes.

Bonner's 3 on an open look with 7 minutes left in the first half drew a cry of frustration from Gasol, who shouted at the bench and pointed at Bonner over an apparent missed assignment.

"(Bonner) was a key player for us today," Ginobili said. "He was very active defensively. Of course he's giving Dwight a big advantage in size, strength and quickness, and I could keep going. But he did a great job getting around him, fronting him from behind."

Howard had heated battles with Bonner and Duncan in the first half. After getting tied up midway through the second quarter, Duncan and Howard walked down the court glaring at each other with Howard jawing at Duncan.

"It is frustrating," Howard said of the defensive pressure. "I just have to trust my teammates to make shots. On whatever they do defensively, I have to be aware of my arms and try not to get tangled up."

Howard was later grabbed from behind by Bonner and his arm was pulled by Ginobili, but the Lakers All-Star still managed to bank in a layup, flexing his muscles after the shot. Howard even made the ensuing free throw, giving the Lakers a 44-43 lead with 3 minutes left in the first half.

Howard was 2 for 4 on free throws.

Bonner followed with a 3, however, to put the Spurs back on top at 46-44.

NOTES: The Spurs have the second-most playoff wins since selecting Duncan with the top overall pick in 1997. San Antonio is 119-77 since 1998, trailing only the Lakers' 133-81. ... Duncan has 139 double-doubles in the playoffs, fourth all-time behind Magic Johnson (157), Wilt Chamberlin (143) and Shaquille O'Neal (142). ... Lakers C Jordan Hill played for the first time since undergoing left hip surgery Jan. 23. He was listed as "out" for Game 2, but came off the bench with 3 minutes left in the game. . The Lakers had six players listed as probable, but all played. Gasol (foot), Howard (shoulder), Jamison (wrist), Jamal Meeks (ankle), Nash (hamstring) and World Peace (knee) all played at least 20 minutes. ... Ginobili and Duncan had their customary snack of red Lifesavers before the game, sending a trainer over to collect a handful from an official scorer before pre-game introductions.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-25-BKN-Lakers-Spurs/id-8849e20d850c46c29ce8c76ec67af85a

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Bill would force super PACs to reveal their donors

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two senators hope to require political groups to name the donors who spend millions of dollars to influence federal campaigns.

Legislation sponsored by Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska would require so-called super PACs to reveal their sources of money, just as federal candidates must do.

Outside groups spent $1 billion in efforts to help or attack various candidates in the 2012 elections. Some individuals gave $1 million or more.

These independent groups generally do not have to identify their donors. Critics say major influences on elections should be more transparent.

"Where there's significant campaign spending, everyone has to play by the same rules," Wyden said in a statement. Voters "deserve to know where the money is coming from and where it's going," he said.

Murkowski said many Republicans, Democrats and independents "were concerned over the role of big money and secret donors in the last election."

Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited funds to help candidates, but cannot coordinate expenditures or strategy with a campaign.

The emergence of super PACs and other outside groups, emboldened partly by the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in 2010, has done more than anything else to reshape the contours of campaign fundraising.

A few federal court cases have broadly eased campaign finance rules, allowing donors to give unlimited sums. That kind of money largely has gone to super PACs.

Many super PACs have affiliated nonprofit "social welfare" organizations that spent hundreds of millions last year on issue ads. Those groups don't have to disclose their donors because they're governed by tax law.

Open-government groups have pushed Congress, to no avail, for a law that would require politically active groups to disclose their finances.

___

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Boston contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bill-force-super-pacs-reveal-133055565.html

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Infants' sweat response predicts aggressive behavior as toddlers

Apr. 23, 2013 ? Infants who sweat less in response to scary situations at age 1 show more physical and verbal aggression at age 3, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Lower levels of sweat, as measured by skin conductance activity (SCA), have been linked with conduct disorder and aggressive behavior in children and adolescents. Researchers hypothesize that aggressive children may not experience as strong of an emotional response to fearful situations as their less aggressive peers do; because they have a weaker fear response, they are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior.

Psychological scientist Stephanie van Goozen of Cardiff University and colleagues wanted to know whether the link between low SCA and aggressive behaviors could be observed even as early as infancy.

To investigate this, the researchers attached recording electrodes to infants' feet at age 1 and measured their skin conductance at rest, in response to loud noises, and after encountering a scary remote-controlled robot. They also collected data on their aggressive behaviors at age 3, as rated by the infants' mothers.

The results revealed that 1 year-old infants with lower SCA at rest and during the robot encounter were more physically and verbally aggressive at age 3.

Interestingly, SCA was the only factor in the study that predicted later aggression. The other measures taken at infancy -- mothers' reports of their infants' temperament, for instance -- did not predict aggression two years later.

These findings suggest that while a physiological measure (SCA) taken in infancy predicts aggression, mothers' observations do not.

"This runs counter to what many developmental psychologists would expect, namely that a mother is the best source of information about her child," van Goozen notes.

At the same time, this research has important implications for intervention strategies:

"These findings show that it is possible to identify at-risk children long before problematic behavior is readily observable," van Goozen concludes. "Identifying precursors of disorder in the context of typical development can inform the implementation of effective prevention programs and ultimately reduce the psychological and economic costs of antisocial behavior to society."

Co-authors on this research include Erika Baker, Katherine Shelton, Eugenia Baibazarova, and Dale Hay of Cardiff University.

This research was supported by studentships from the School of Psychology, Cardiff University, and by a grant from the Medical Research Council.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.

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. E. Baker, K. H. Shelton, E. Baibazarova, D. F. Hay, S. H. M. van Goozen. Low Skin Conductance Activity in Infancy Predicts Aggression in Toddlers 2 Years Later. Psychological Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/0956797612465198

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/RDqcrJSHhhk/130423135714.htm

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App Store hits 45 billion total downloads, iCloud notches 300 million users

After cluing us in on the state of its ever-stuffed coffers, Apple's given us a quick progress report on its App Store, noting that it's reached a total of 45 billion downloads -- a 5 billion jump since the end of its last quarter. Cook's crew also divulged that they've doled out $9 billion to developers who've sold their wares on the digital storefront, and they're paying out $1 billion every quarter. Cupertino gave a quick nod to iCloud too, revealing that the service now has 300 million users under its belt, 50 million more than it claimed at the end of the firm's last quarter. By the sounds of it, Apple's data centers are being put to good use.

Filed under: Apple

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/23/app-store-hits-45-billion-downloads-icloud-has-300-million-users/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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