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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at protesters occupying a park in central Istanbul, wounding scores including tourists in the harshest crackdown so far on days of anti-government unrest.
The protest at Gezi Park started late on Monday after developers tore up trees but has widened into a broader demonstration against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Friday's violence erupted after a dawn police raid on demonstrators who had camped for days in the park in anger at plans to build a shopping mall. Clouds of tear gas rose around the area in Taksim Square, long a venue for political protest.
WARNING: Graphic content. Verified video shot by G?ven? ?zg?r shows injured protester, and a second clashing with police.
Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street. A group of primary school children ran crying from the tear gas while tourists caught by surprise scurried to get back to luxury hotels lining the square.
"We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan...Even AK Party supporters are saying they have lost their mind, they are not listening to us," said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Bosphorus University who attended the protest. "This is the beginning of a summer of discontent."
Riot police clashed with tens of thousands of May Day protesters in Istanbul weeks ago. There have also been protests against the government's stance on the conflict in neighbouring Syria, a recent tightening of restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection.
"This isn't just about trees anymore, it's about all of the pressure we're under from this government. We're fed up, we don't like the direction the country is headed in," said 18-year-old student Mert Burge, who came to support the protesters after reading on Twitter about the police use of tear gas.
"We will stay here tonight and sleep on the street if we have to," he said.
In this verified video, also shot by G?ven? ?zg?r, police fire tear gas at protesters during a dawn raid.
An Egyptian tourist was in a critical condition after being hit by a police gas canister, Istanbul Medical Chamber board member Huseyin Demirduzen told Reuters. The 34-year-old woman was undergoing an operation after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
A total of 12 people, including a pro-Kurdish MP and a Reuters photographer, suffered trauma injuries and hundreds suffered respiratory problems due to the effects of tear gas during the clashes, Demirduzen said.
Some people were injured when a wall they were climbing collapsed as they tried to flee clouds of tear gas.
This verified video, shot by Efe Baysal, shows police trying to clear the park by firing tear gas. The police activity occurs at about the 1:00 mark.
Amnesty International said it was concerned by what it described as "the use of excessive force" by the police against what had started out as a peaceful protest.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler promised that claims that police had used disproportionate force would be investigated.
Erdogan has overseen a transformation in Turkey during his decade in power, turning its economy from crisis-prone into Europe's fastest-growing. Per capita income has tripled in nominal terms since his party rose to power.
He remains by far Turkey's most popular politician, and is widely viewed as its most powerful leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern secular republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.
The unrest has not matched the mass demonstrations seen in some Arab or European countries in recent years, but it reflects growing opposition concern about Erdogan's authoritarianism.
DEFIANCE
Hundreds of military officers have been jailed for plotting a coup against Erdogan in recent years. Academics, journalists, politicians and others face trial on similar charges.
Erdogan has made no secret of his ambition to run for the presidency in elections next year when his term as prime minister ends, exacerbating opposition dismay.
"These people will not bow down to you" read one banner at the Gezi Park protest, alongside a cartoon of Erdogan wearing an Ottoman emperor's turban.
Postings on social media including Twitter, where "Occupy Gezi" - a reference to protests in New York and London last year - was a top-trending hashtag, and Facebook said similar demonstrations were planned for the next few days in other Turkish cities including Ankara, Izmir, Adana and Bursa.
"Kiss protests", in which demonstrators are urged to lock lips, had already been planned for Istanbul and Ankara this weekend after subway officials were reported to have admonished a couple for kissing in public a week ago.
Erdogan is pushing ahead with a slew of multi-billion dollar projects which he sees as embodying Turkey's emergence as a major power. They include a shipping canal designed to rival Panama or Suez, a giant mosque and a third Istanbul airport billed to be one of the world's biggest.
Speaking just a few miles from Gezi Park at the launch on Wednesday of construction of a third bridge linking Istanbul's European and Asian shores, Erdogan vowed to pursue plans to redevelop Taksim Square.
Architects, leftist political parties, academics, city planners and others have long opposed the plans, saying they lacked consultation with civic groups and would remove one of central Istanbul's few green spaces.
(Additional reporting by Murad Sezer, Osman Orsal and Ece Toksabay; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
MEXICO CITY (AP) ? Eleven young people were brazenly kidnapped in broad daylight from an after-hours bar in Mexico City's Zona Rosa, a normally calm district of offices, restaurants, drinking spots and dance clubs, anguished relatives said Thursday.
The apparent mass abduction purportedly happened sometime between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday morning just off the Paseo de la Reforma, the city's main boulevard, near the Angel of Independence monument and only about 1? blocks from the U.S. Embassy.
The incident was the second recent high-publicity blemish for the city's largely unregulated entertainment scene, coming 20 days after the grandson of American civil rights activist Malcolm X was beaten to death at another tough bar in the downtown area.
Calling for authorities to find their loved ones, family members marched Thursday morning from the Interior Department building to the Zocalo, the city's main square. Later they protested outside the bar, which bears a sign that reads Bicentenario Restaurante-Bar, and demanded to see the bar's surveillance video.
"How could so many people have disappeared, just like that, in broad daylight?" said Josefina Garcia, mother of Said Sanchez Garcia, 19, her only son. "The police say they don't have them, so what, the earth just opened up and swallowed them?"
She said her son wasn't involved in any criminal activity, and worked at a market stall selling beauty products.
City prosecutors said they had received 11 missing-person reports, but Garcia said residents of the tough downtown neighborhood of Tepito where the victims live thought as many as 15 or 16 people could have been abducted.
The known missing include six men, most in their 20s, a 16-year-old boy and four young women.
While no clear motives had been revealed in the attack, residents of Tepito said there has been a wave of abductions of neighborhood young people in recent months that could be related to organized crime activities. Tepito is the center of black market activities in the city, where guns, drugs, stolen goods and contraband are widely sold.
Mass abductions have been rare in Mexico City, but are common in parts of the country where drug cartels operate and are fighting with rival gangs over territory.
Prosecutors slapped closure stickers on the front doors of the Mexico City bar Thursday, with inscriptions saying the city's anti-kidnapping unit was investigating abductions at the site.
Late Thursday night, dozens of members of a special police intervention unit, many carrying automatic weapons and wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests, blocked off the street in front of the bar and searched inside. Officers would not comment on what they were looking for.
Isabel Fonseca, whose brother is among those missing, said a man who escaped told her that masked men arrived in several white SUVs and took the group away. She said her brother, Eulogio Fonseca, is a street vendor who sells cellphone accessories.
"We want them alive," Fonseca said. "They went out to have fun; they are not criminals."
Mexico City's chief prosecutor, Rodolfo Rios, said investigators had been able to glean very little information on the disappearances.
Relatives believe the youths were at the club, which they said is called "Heaven," around midmorning Sunday, when waiters and bar employees herded them out to the street and armed men bundled them into waiting vehicles and spirited them away.
Rios said police had not located any employees of the bar and no other witnesses had presented themselves.
"We aren't sure what exactly occurred," he said. "No witness has come forward to say anything about any armed gang."
The bar is down a side street from two high-rise office buildings that look out on Reforma and sits across the narrow road from beauty salons and a sushi restaurant.
Guillermo Bustamante, owner of one the beauty parlors, said the street bustles every Saturday morning with people coming and going from the bar.
"Every time we arrived on Saturdays, we would see weird people coming out of that bar," Bustamante said. "There would be many Hummers parked outside and men walking out with a woman on each arm."
Bars of questionable character are often allowed to continue operating, even though drugs may be sold inside and the businesses frequently violate rules governing closing times, parking and serving alcohol to minors.
Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of the late Malcolm X, died May 9 in a fight that erupted after he and a friend were presented with a $1,200 bill at a seedy bar near Plaza Garibaldi, a gathering place for mariachi bands in a rough neighborhood in the downtown area. Two waiters at the bar have been arrested in connection with Shabazz's death.
In June 2008, police raided another Mexico City bar to investigate drug and alcohol sales to minors. A stampede ensued as panicked youths rushed for the exits and police tried to stop them. A dozen young people died in the stampede.
___
Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon contributed to this report.
PARIS (AP) ? In headier times, some of these wines were served at dinner for French presidents and their guests ? kings, queens, other heads of state. In today's times of austerity, the Elysee Palace is selling these vintage bottles.
French President Francois Hollande's palace has decided to dive into its wine cellar and sell some of its treasures, to raise money and replenish its collection with more modest vintages.
About 1,200 bottles ? a tenth of the Elysee's wine collection ? are to be sold at Drouot auction house in Paris on Thursday and Friday. Organizers say that prices may reach up to 2,200-2,500 euros ($2,845-$3,235) for a 1990 Petrus, down to 15 euros ($20) for a more modest wine.
"This is exceptional because this is the first time that the Elysee put its bottles on sale," Ghislaine Kapandji, the auctioneer, told The Associated Press.
A small label mentioning the Elysee Palace and the date of the auction has been affixed on each bottle. "I think that's a bonus for buyers, because that's a way for them to be sure that these bottles have always been stocked in the cellar of the Elysee," which means "good preservation conditions," she said. "For many people, that is also the purchase of a souvenir, of a symbol."
Wine lovers from Europe, the United States, Russia or China have contacted the Drouot auction house ahead of the sale. "Lots of sommeliers of Parisian gourmet restaurants contacted us to get information about the bottles. We've also been in touch with wine brokers working for international buyers," said Ambroise de Montigny, the wine expert for the auction.
Many of the bottles are ready to be drunk immediately. They've been chosen by Virginie Routis, head sommelier at the Elysee, mainly because they were available in too small quantities to be served in the big dinners organized at the Elysee.
The bottles come from vineyards from everywhere in France, mostly from Burgundy and Bordeaux. A few bottles of champagne from Salon are estimated at about 350 euros ($455). The oldest bottle on sale, a Ch?teau Latour from 1936 coming from one of the most famous estates of the Bordeaux region, could be sold over 500 euros ($645). An elegant oval wooden box of five bottles of cognac with the inscription "presidency of the French Republic" should also attract the collectors.
The auction is expected to fetch 250,000 euros ($325,000). The funds will be invested in younger, more modest wines, to ensure the president has enough wine for entertaining without drawing on public resources at a time of cost-cutting to bring down France's deficit, more than 87 billion euros at the end of 2012.
Hollande explained that the goal was to manage the stocks in the cellar. The undertaking fits with Hollande's image as "Mr. Normal," a regular guy with regular tastes, compared to some predecessors like the attention-getting, friend-of-celebrities Nicolas Sarkozy.
The French president's office is not the first to auction wines to raise funds.
In January, the City Hall of Dijon organized an auction of 3,500 bottles of Burgundy from its cellar, raising 150,000 euros to help finance social services. In March, the British government also sold around 50 bottles from its cellar with Christie's, raising around 75,000 pounds.
Three months after a major database hack, Evernote has finally made good on its promise to implement two-factor authentication as an additional precautionary measure. Following the footsteps of othersecurity-consciouscompanies, the technique requires not just your username and password, but also a six-digit code provided either via text message or an app like Google Authenticator. Further, you can print out a list of backup codes in case you don't have your phone handy. Premium and Business users will be the first to get this functionality -- it'll be offered to all users once the system proves to be robust enough.
Other apps in the Evernote clan, including Skitch, Penultimate and Evernote Food will need to be updated and certain third-party apps might need to be given their own dedicated passwords as well. Aside from the double-step verification, Evernote has also introduced the ability to view your account's access history and a list of authorized applications; you can revoke any device from your account settings if necessary. All of these added layers of security are totally optional, of course, but you might want to set yourself a reminder to check them out.
May 29, 2013 ? Honey bees don't start out knowing how to find flowers or even how to get around outside the hive. Before they can forage, they must learn how to navigate a changing landscape and orient themselves in relation to the sun.
In a new study, researchers report that a regulatory gene known to be involved in learning and the detection of novelty in vertebrates also kicks into high gear in the brains of honey bees when they are learning how to find food and bring it home.
Activity of this gene, called Egr, quickly increases in a region of the brain known as the mushroom bodies whenever bees try to find their way around an unfamiliar environment, the researchers observed. This gene is the insect equivalent of a transcription factor found in mammals. Transcription factors regulate the activity of other genes.
The researchers found that the increased Egr activity did not occur as a result of exercise, the physical demands of learning to fly or the task of memorizing visual cues; it increased only in response to the bees' exposure to an unfamiliar environment. Even seasoned foragers had an uptick in Egr activity when they had to learn how to navigate in a new environment.
"This discovery gives us an important lead in figuring out how honey bees are able to navigate so well, with such a tiny brain," said Gene Robinson, a professor of entomology and neuroscience and director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois. "And finding that it's Egr, with all that this gene is known to do in vertebrates, provides another demonstration that some of the molecular mechanisms underlying behavioral plasticity are deeply conserved in evolution." Robinson led the study with graduate student Claudia Lutz.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Journal Reference:
C. C. Lutz, G. E. Robinson. Activity-dependent gene expression in honey bee mushroom bodies in response to orientation flight. Journal of Experimental Biology, 2013; 216 (11): 2031 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.084905
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? A plan by Attorney General Eric Holder to hold meetings with news organizations about guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters has run into snags over the terms of discussions.
The Justice Department wants the meetings to be off the record. The Associated Press issued a statement saying it wants any meeting to be on the record, meaning it could be the subject of news stories. And The New York Times said it won't attend because of the department's off-the-record ground rules.
The review of the guidelines called for last week by President Barack Obama come as the Justice Department deals with an outcry over its secret gathering of AP reporters' phone records and the emails of a Fox News journalist.
AP media relations manager Erin Madigan White said that if the session is not on the record, the news cooperative will offer its views in an open letter on how Justice Department regulations should be updated.
If the AP's meeting with the attorney general is on the record, AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll will attend, White said. She said AP expects its attorneys to be included in any planned meetings between the attorney general's office and media lawyers on the legal specifics.
New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson said in a statement: "It isn't appropriate for us to attend an off the record meeting with the attorney general. Our Washington bureau is aggressively covering the department's handling of leak investigations at this time."
The planned meetings are to take place over the coming weeks. The department said Holder plans to engage with news media organizations, including print media, wire services, radio, television, online media and news and trade associations. Discussions are to include news media executives and general counsels as well as government experts in intelligence and investigative agencies.
The initial meetings over the next two days are to be with several Washington bureau chiefs of national news organizations.
Obama has asked Holder to report to him on any recommended policy changes by July 12.
Director Louis Leterrier?is speaking out about his experience working on 2010's reboot of Clash of the Titans for Warner Bros., saying he was "literally thrown under the bus" by the studio and that the 3D conversion was "famously horrible."
Speaking to The Huffington Post in support of his latest movie -- the magician heist film Now You See Me -- Leterrier?held nothing back about the technical failures of the CGI-heavy adventure based on Greek myths.
"It was a very tough experience," Letterier recalls. "I was literally thrown under the bus. ... I still have a good relationship with Warner Bros., but at one point it was like, 'Yeah, Louis chose the 3D.' And I was like, 'No, guys, I didn't choose the 3D. I actually told you it's not working. I couldn't control it. I said 'Don't do it.' "
"It was famously rushed and famously horrible," Leterrier admits. "It was absolutely horrible, the 3D. Nothing was working, it was just a gimmick to steal money from the audience. I'm a good boy and I rolled with the punches and everything, but it's not my movie."
The French filmmaker, who got his start directing 2002's The Transporter, adds that he was "thrown at the wolves" during the making of Clash, and that's why he chose not to return to direct its sequel, 2012's Wrath of the Titans.
HARARE (Reuters) - Uncertainty over the date of elections in Zimbabwe is pushing the fragile economy closer to recession just as it was pulling out of a decade of decline, the finance minister said on Tuesday.
Presidential and parliamentary elections should be held this year but political reforms and problems finding the money to pay for the vote in the impoverished country are holding things up and no date has been set.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the economy could have shrunk by up to 3 percent during the first quarter of this year due to election uncertainty as well as low farm output, declining tax revenues and export earnings.
"The elephant in the living room evidently is the election and the sooner there is clarity on the dates from the politicians the better for the economy," Biti told reporters.
Zimbabwe needs $132 million to fund the election but conditions attached to any foreign financing have divided the already fractious unity government, whose main players - President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC - will be rivals for power in the vote.
Any repeat of violence that accompanied the last vote in 2008 could end Zimbabwe's nascent economic recovery and unleash another refugee crisis similar to the one five years ago when hundreds of thousands fled to neighbouring South Africa.
The state-owned Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying regional leaders would hold a summit to discuss how to fund the election in which the president is seeking to extend his three-decade rule
Officials from the SADC regional bloc of 15 southern African states were not immediately available for comment.
ZANU-PF is pushing for funding with as few strings as possible. It withdrew a United Nations request to fund the poll accusing the U.N. of trying to interfere in domestic issues.
The MDC is keen to attach the money to the deployment of election observers. It fears ZANU-PF, whose members are under Western sanctions for suspected rigging of previous votes, will use the security forces to intimidate voters.
But SADC observers could be a compromise amenable to Mugabe, who regularly rails against the West for imposing sanctions he blames for ruining an economy that critics say was wrecked by his own policies.
ZANU-PF wants elections by June 29, when parliament will be dissolved, but the MDC says they should be delayed to allow for the opening of broadcast media - currently a state monopoly - to private players, registration of new voters and reform of the military to keep it out of politics.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai displayed rare unity this year in pushing through a new constitution at a referendum, a critical step for the election but which depleted state coffers for the next vote.
The new constitution clips the powers of the president and imposes a two-term limit. It does not apply retroactively so the 89-year-old Mugabe could, in theory, rule until he is 99.
TORONTO (Reuters) - Bank of Nova Scotia said on Tuesday that quarterly profit rose 9.6 percent due largely to an acquisition, but missed estimates due to weaker commodities-related revenue and higher loan-loss provisions.
At mid-morning, the bank's shares were down 0.8 percent at C$59.11 in Toronto, making it the weakest performer among Canada's six biggest lenders, which were otherwise higher.
The result, the third earnings report from a Canadian bank this quarter, was padded by last year's C$3.1 billion ($2.98 billion) acquisition of the Canadian online lender ING Direct.
That deal contributed to a 19 percent jump in profit at Scotiabank's Canadian banking unit, which earned C$547 million.
But gains were more muted in the bank's other businesses, particularly global banking and markets, which saw income slide 6.7 percent to C$361 million due to declines in the bank's commodities and precious metals business.
Provisions for bad loans also weighed on the overall result, rising 30 percent to C$343 million, with most of the gains coming from the bank's international banking division.
"That goes to their exposure geographically. It's hard to get a handle on credit exposure there. It's just higher risk," said Tom Lewandowski, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
Toronto-based Scotiabank operates in more than 50 countries, with the heaviest weighting in Latin America and a growing presence in Asia.
The bank, Canada's third-largest lender, earned C$1.60 billion ($1.55 billion), or C$1.23 a share, in the second quarter. That was up from a year-before profit of C$1.46 billion, or C$1.15 a share.
Excluding an amortization charge, the bank earned C$1.24 a share, falling just short of analysts' expectations of C$1.26 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"Overall, it is a miss and so we expect some weakness relative to peers today," CIBC World Markets analyst Robert Sedran said in a note.
International lending profit climbed 5.1 percent to C$471 million, while wealth management income gained 12.4 percent to C$335 million.
The Canadian banking was strong even excluding the impact of the ING Direct acquisition, boasting residential mortgage growth of 7 percent despite signs that Canada's housing market is beginning to cool.
Weak mortgage growth led to disappointing second-quarter results at rival Toronto-Dominion Bank
last Thursday. Smaller National Bank of Canada reported a stronger-than-expected profit on Friday due to robust trading results.
Bank of Montreal will report on Wednesday, while Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce are expected to release results on Thursday.
(Reuters) - Nike Inc is dropping its partnership with Livestrong Foundation, the cancer charity founded by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, the latest repercussion from the doping scandal that last year stripped him of his titles.
Nike said on Tuesday it would end production of its Livestrong gear and apparel after the holiday 2013 line, concluding a long-standing licensing agreement for footwear and apparel between the two that helped Livestrong raise a total of $100 million over the course of the partnership.
"We expected changes like this," Katherine McLane, a Livestrong spokeswoman, said in a conference call with reporters. "Could there be fallout? Of course," she said. "We remain enormously confident. ... We are in strong fiscal shape."
Nike also distributed Livestrong's ubiquitous yellow wrist-bands, of which 87 million were sold.
Armstrong founded Livestrong in 1997 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. The group flourished during his cycling career, in which he won the Tour de France seven times.
The cyclist, who stepped down from Livestrong's board last October, admitted in January to systematic use of banned, performance-enhancing drugs after years of denials.
"This does show there are pros and cons of (a philanthropic foundation) being so closely associated with one person," said Patrick Rooney, associate dean of academic affairs and research at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Still, Rooney predicted a large enough number of people would be able to separate Armstrong's misdeeds and the foundation's good works that it could survive.
Livestrong said its 2013 budget is $38.4 million, a 10.9 percent reduction from 2012, but that revenue projections were ahead by 2.5 percent.
Livestrong has similar licensing deals with sports eye wear maker Oakley, owned by Italy's Luxottica and others.
When Armstrong left Livestrong's board, Nike said it would still back the charity but no longer sponsor the man behind it. Nike did not explain why it changed its position.
The sports gear maker will benefit from distancing itself from the charity and from the scandal-tainted athlete, said Robert Boland, a professor of sport management at New York University's Tisch Center.
"Their relationship with Livestrong was so based on Lance Armstrong and his story that it's almost impossible to separate them from a branding standpoint," Boland said.
"The chief thing that is motivating Nike is they're looking to move on and put their years with Lance Armstrong behind them."
(Reporting by Phil Wahba, Ellen Wulfhorst and Scott Malone; Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Leslie Adler, Marguerita Choy and Dan Grebler)
A Polish man who received a life-saving face transplant just three weeks after a work accident is already making sounds and practicing swallowing, his doctors said.
The 33-year-old man, identified only as Grzegorz, underwent a 27-hour operation May 15 to reconstruct his jaw, nose, cheeks and eye sockets, which were then swathed with skin from a deceased donor -- a procedure previously reserved for patients who are years out from their disfiguring injuries.
"Usually, the recipients have to wait between one and seven years," said Dr. Adam Maciejewski, who headed the team of surgeons at the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, explaining that Grzegorz's injury was particularly extreme. "For obvious reasons, we had to act much faster, as we were saving this man's life."
Grzegorz is making "very good progress" and even got out of bed over the weekend, Maciejewski told The Associated Press. Although he's able to make some sounds, he communicates through writing because the tracheotomy tube that helps him breathe does not allow him to speak.
Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology/AP Photo
SLIDESHOW: Face Transplants, Then and Now
Earlier this month, Carmen Blandin Tarleton spoke publicly for the first time since her February face transplant. The operation came six years after her estranged husband attacked her with lye, blinding her and leaving her disfigured.
Below is a picture of Grzegorz after surgery. Viewer discretion is advised.
Charla Nash, a Connecticut woman who was mauled by a Chimpanzee in 2009, got her face transplant surgery in 2011.
Maciejewski said Grzegorz's surgery was the first transplant undertaken to save a patient's life. He is still at risk for infection but is expected to recover and live a normal life, doctors said.
Although post-operation photographs show stitches from above his right eye, under his left eye and around his face to his neck, Grzegorz was able to give photographers a thumbs up six days after surgery.
A 33-year-old Polish man whose face was torn off by stone-cutting machinery is shown after undergoing a total face transplant.
It might look like the bidding for Hulu is "heating up," just based on the number of possible acquirers. At the same time, it seems unlikely that whomever Hulu's parents sell to will do better than the $2 billion it was offered two years ago. With ever more uncertainty around Hulu's personnel and content, any buyer will face a number of challenges in making that money back.
STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Swedish police say they are looking for perpetrators involved in the weeklong riots in Stockholm suburbs that have resulted in some 220 reported crimes.
Summing up a week of violence and destruction, police spokesman Kjell Lindgren says around 60 people have been detained, suspected of various crimes, although most of them have been released awaiting charges.
He says the police investigation shows both organized rioters, seasoned criminals and young teenagers have been involved in burning cars, smashing windows and throwing rocks at police in the low-income, predominantly immigrant areas of the Swedish capital.
The unrest in the Stockholm suburbs, which has now largely subsided, was sparked by perceived police brutality after officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man who had locked himself in his apartment.
A 17-year-old student in Albany, Ore., built several bombs and had a detailed plan ? including checklists and diagrams ? as part of a Columbine-style plot to attack West Albany High School, a local prosecutor says.
No motive has yet been made public, but Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said authorities on Friday found six kinds of explosives ? including napalm bombs, pipe bombs, drain-cleaner bombs, and Molotov cocktails ? in "a secret compartment that had been created in the floorboards" of the teen's bedroom. The teen, Grant Acord, sought to make his attack bigger than Columbine, Mr. Haroldson said.
The alleged plot is just the latest example of how the Columbine massacre continues shape school safety 14 years later.
RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the Second Amendment? A quiz.
Not only does the plot suggest that would-be attackers continue to draw inspiration from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., before committing suicide on April 23, 1999. But it also points to how such plots have been repeatedly foiled.
Authorities say they received a tip. Albany police became suspicious after they "received information that associated ... Acord with manufacturing a destructive device with the intent of detonating it at a school," Haroldson said, according to a CNN report.
With students more alert for signs of potential attacks post-Columbine, tips have been crucial to preventing more Columbines.
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In 2001, A suspicious note passed along by a friend led police in Elmira, N.Y., to find a high-school senior in the cafeteria with a pistol, 18 bombs, and a sawed-off shotgun, according to media reports.
Three years later, a tip about an Internet chat in which a student said he was planning to attack his school led to a stash of found stolen weapons, an AK-47, and Nazi literature in the student's house in Clinton Township, Mich., reports say.
Tips also led to the discovery of Columbine-style plots in Tampa, Fla., in 2011, and in Utah last year.
In the Utah case, the suspect actually went so far as to visit Columbine High School and interview the principal.
?To go as far as to interview the principal and physically go there ? sends a message that they were extremely committed to doing something,? Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland told the Monitor at the time.
In Oregon, Grant will be charged as an adult with aggravated murder, Haroldson said. He will also face charges related to bombmaking.
?This was a very methodical process,? said Haroldson, according to a report in The Oregonian. ?He took time to even get to this point.?
The evidence gathered by police, which includes "diagrams, checklists, a plan to use explosive devices, and firearms to carry out a plan specifically modeled after the Columbine shootings" shows "intent and plans to carry out a deadly assault on a target-rich environment," he said.
Haroldson did not say when Grant planned to carry out the attack, according to ABC, but added: "I can't say enough about how lucky we are that there was an intervention. When I look at the evidence in the case, I shudder to think of what could have happened here."
Grant was arrested at his home Thursday.
Police say they have searched the school and found no devices, though a Reuters report said they are following up the initial search more thoroughly to make sure students can return to school after the Memorial Day vacation.
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Every year Finance Minister of India presents a new budget for the country which is implemented for one complete accounting year starting 1st April and ending on 31st March. Like every year, Budget 2013-14 has been presented as well as implemented in the country. P. Chidambaram, the Finance Minister of India has presented the most suitable budget to the country according to him. As usual, tax is the most important component of Budget this time and only a few changes have been brought to taxation as Chidambaram has preferred keeping it simple yet tricky. By keeping the slabs almost same as of last year?s tax slab, he has brought some changes which may prove to be a relief for one part of the society but a matter of worry for the other part.
Although income tax slabs has been left unchanged, there are many individuals and firms who are confused when asked about the slabs that have been implemented for the financial year 2013-14. Hence, before proceeding further, it is worth discussable the slabs as income tax is an important constituent of every taxable income earner as well as government. Starting with tax slabs for women and general tax payers, people earning less than 2 lakhs rupees per year do not need to pay income tax. Those, whose income is more than Rs 2 lakhs but less than Rs 5 lakhs are charged to pay 10% tax. Taxable income earners of more than 5 lakhs rupees but less than Rs 10 lakhs will be charged 20% tax and 30% tax has been imposed on individuals earning more than Rs 10 lakhs per annum. Same tax slabs is applicable for senior citizen, i.e. individuals of more than 60 years of age but less than 80 years. For individuals aged more than 80 i.e. very senior citizen, no tax is imposed on the ones who earn less than Rs 5 lakhs but those earning more than Rs 5 lakhs but less than Rs 10 lakhs and more than 10 lakhs rupees need to pay 20% and 30% tax respectively. However, it should be noted that people having taxable income less than enjoy rebate of Rs 2000 whereas rich individuals i.e. who earn more than Rs 1 crore per annum need to pay 10% surcharge.
Apart from income tax slabs, here are some highlights of taxes in this year?s budget. 100% tax relief has been provided to the amount that will be donated to national children fund. Power plants will enjoy tax holiday till March 2014. Dividend from overseas arms will be charged 15% tax i.e. the same tax rate as that of last year.? DTC Bill is scheduled to be introduced before this Budgeting year finishes. Standard rate of excise duty and service tax has been retained and also no amendment has been made on non-agri goods? custom duty rate. Service tax will be charged on all AC-restaurants but no service tax has been imposed on films running in theatres.? No export duty is to be paid on oil cakes and rice bran oil. Excise duty will not be charged on cotton, fibre, handmade jute and coir carpets. Thus, government has offered relief to multiple groups of individuals but rich individuals have been targeted to pay more tax in this financial year.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, Israeli President Shimon Peres, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas all shake hands during the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa at the King Hussein Convention Centre at the Dead Sea in Jordan Sunday May 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Pool, Jim Young)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, Israeli President Shimon Peres, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas all shake hands during the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa at the King Hussein Convention Centre at the Dead Sea in Jordan Sunday May 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Pool, Jim Young)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli President Shimon Peres, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, participate in the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa at the King Hussein Convention Center at the Dead Sea in Jordan Sunday May 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Pool, Jim Young)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, Israeli President Shimon Peres, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas share words the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa at the King Hussein Convention Centre at the Dead Sea in Jordan Sunday May 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Pool, Jim Young)
SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday he believes a plan potentially worth $4 billion is emerging that could expand the Palestinian economy by up to 50 percent in the next three years.
It could also cut unemployment by almost two-thirds and average wages could jump 40 percent, he said. But Kerry said it all depends on parallel progress on peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Kerry has been working with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and global business leaders to devise economic plans to revitalize the Palestinian economy. There were few specific details offered.
Kerry spoke at a business conference in Jordan alongside Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Kerry called the plan "transformative" and "different than anything we've done before."
He was to meet later Sunday in Amman with Blair, American hedge fund investor Tim Collins and the foreign ministers of Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
The plan is expected to address tourism, construction, light manufacturing, agriculture and communications opportunities.
Kerry said Palestinian agriculture production could double or triple. Tourism could triple, and 100,000 new homes, many of them energy efficient, could be built in the next three years.
Kerry acknowledged the plan offers a very optimistic vision for a region that has suffered through decades of conflict, and where peace prospects remain dim.
But he insisted: "We know it can be done."
He said Netanyahu and Abbas support the plan. He said economic plans won't take hold unless Israel and the Palestinians make headway on restarting peace talks, however.
Kerry has been trying over the last two months to rejuvenate the peace process. He hasn't made any tangible success so far, but insists he is engaged in productive talks with both sides.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? A look at legislation passed in Turkey's parliament early Friday that would ban all alcohol advertising and tighten restrictions on the sale of such beverages, and how such a law could affect tourists and liquor companies in the mainly Muslim but secular country.
Q: What happened?
A: Tempers flared and scuffles broke out during an all-night legislative session that passed a bill proposed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party to ban all forms of advertising of alcohol ? including the promotion of brands and logos ? and the sale of alcoholic drinks in shops between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The legislation would prohibit alcohol sales within 100 meters (yards) of mosques and schools. Booze ads already are banned on television in Turkey, but the new law would force TV stations to blur the images of drinks shown anywhere on the screen, even during movies and soap operas. All liquor bottles would display warning signs about the harms of alcohol, and there would be stricter penalties on drunken driving.
The government says the measure would shield Turkey's youth from the harms of booze, but secular opponents charge it's another example of the governing party's encroachment on personal freedoms. The party has a majority in Parliament, and a walkout by the opposition allowed the bill to pass 193 to 4. President Abdullah Gul generally acts in accordance with the government, and he is expected to sign the bill into law.
Q: How would this affect tourists?
Probably not very much. Tourism is an important source of revenue for Turkey's booming economy, with more than 30 million foreigners visiting the country last year. In a bow to the industry, the bill makes clear that the ban on the sale of alcohol near schools and mosques wouldn't apply to establishments with tourist certificates. Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said that while shops couldn't sell alcohol between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the ban wouldn't affect bars and restaurants, including the many located in hotels that tourists use. Open air bars and restaurants would continue to serve alcohol. As in many Muslim countries, nobody would walk down a street, or sit on a park bench, drinking booze in public and expect to get away with it. But drinking in the privacy of one's home or hotel room is common.
Q: Will the companies selling alcohol be affected?
A: Diageo, the London-based spirits company, acquired Turkey's drinks company, Mey Icki, in 2011, and it already has voiced concerns. In a statement released Thursday, Diageo said it is seeking talks with government officials for "fair, balanced and responsible" regulation, and that it bought the Turkish company believing it was investing in a country that encouraged foreign investments.
Q: What's the government's rationale?
A: Erdogan is a devout Muslim whose governing party is rooted in Turkey's Islamic movement. He insists he has no intention of banning alcohol, just to curtail its consumption, especially by youths. He insists he is committed to Turkey's secular policies and its goal of joining the European Union. He frequently quotes the Constitution as saying the nation is responsible for safeguarding young people from alcohol, drugs and gambling. "We don't want a generation walking around drunk night and day. We want a youth that is sharp and shrewd and full of knowledge," Erdogan said Friday in defense of the legislation.
Q: Why did secular parties oppose the legislation?
A: Secularists accuse the government of increasingly meddling in their lifestyles and imposing its conservative values on society. Some believe that Erdogan is trying to gradually impose an Islamic agenda. They claim that Turkey does not have an alcoholism problem and that only 1? bottles of spirits are consumed per person, per year in Turkey on average, compared to 15 bottles in the West. They say that youths should instead be educated about the harms that alcohol can cause.
Q: What other legal changes have alarmed secularists?
Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan's party has imposed high taxes on alcoholic beverages, banned all alcohol ads on TV, and barred alcohol consumption in parks and university campuses. Turkish Airlines, the national carrier, recently stopped serving alcoholic drinks on some of its flights.
The government also has repealed strict bans on the wearing of Islamic headscarves, lifted restrictions on religious schools and Quran courses, and said it aims to build "a generation" of devout Muslims. Last month, secularists criticized a court for punishing a pianist and composer for re-tweeting comments deemed to be insulting to religion by giving him a suspended prison sentence. An Armenian-Turkish journalist faces possible imprisonment for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammad.
Q: How do the restrictions compare to those in other Muslim nations?
A: Policies about alcohol vary widely from a complete ban in Saudi Arabia to relatively liberal rules in other countries.
In the United Arab Emirates, many resorts and hotels serve alcohol, and it is widely promoted in airport duty free shops and at public events. Non-Muslim residents of the UAE can buy liquor at special shops with a government-issued identity card.
The sale and consumption of alcohol in Egypt is legal but is allowed only to licensed dealers and tourist areas such as hotels, restaurants and bars. Egyptians are prohibited from buying alcoholic drinks anywhere during the holy month of Ramadan. The government of Mohammed Morsi, the country's first Islamist president, is considering a ban on the sale of alcohol in places such as airport duty-free stores.
In Libya, the sale and consumption of alcohol is banned, but Libyans turn to black market dealers.
Alcohol is also strictly banned in Afghanistan but smuggling is rife.
In Yemen, it is forbidden to sell or consume alcohol except for some places in the south that were former communist areas such as the port city of Aden.
___
AP correspondents Brian Murphy in Dubai, Maggie Michael in Cairo, and Kay Johnson in Kabul contributed to this report.
With $671,400, you could buy roughly 2,040.7 base-model iPad minis before taxes. One unnamed buyer, however, just laid that amount out for a single Apple 1 from 1976. Auctioned through a Germany-based Sotheby's, The New York Times Bits blog notes the price beats out the firm's $640K record from another unit last November. Interestingly, this current seller refurbished this latest Apple 1 to working condition, after paying only $40,000 for it privately. We'd be remiss not to mention that the seller also had Steve Wozniak grace it with a signature. You'll find more info at the source, while we wrap our heads around how this makes last summer's auction price of $374.5K look like a relative steal.
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Accurate distance measurement resolves major astronomical mysteryPublic release date: 23-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dave Finley dfinley@nrao.edu 575-835-7302 National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Radio telescopes bring famous stellar system into line with theory
Sometimes astronomy is like real estate -- what's important is location, location, and location. Astronomers have resolved a major problem in their understanding of a class of stars that undergo regular outbursts by accurately measuring the distance to a famous example of the type.
The researchers used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the European VLBI Network (EVN) to precisely locate one of the most-observed variable-star systems in the sky -- a double-star system called SS Cygni -- at 370 light-years from Earth. This new distance measurement meant that an explanation for the system's regular outbursts that applies to similar pairs also applies to SS Cygni.
"This is one of the best-studied systems of its type, but according to our understanding of how these things work, it should not have been having outbursts. The new distance measurement brings it into line with the standard explanation," said James Miller-Jones, of the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Perth, Australia.
SS Cygni, in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, is a dense white dwarf star in a close orbit with a less-massive red dwarf. The strong gravity of the white dwarf pulls material from its companion into a swirling disk surrounding the white dwarf. The two stars orbit each other in only about 6.6 hours. On an average of once every 49 days, a powerful outburst greatly brightens the system.
This type of system is called a dwarf nova, and, based on other examples, scientists proposed that the outbursts result from changes in the rate at which matter moves through the disk onto the white dwarf. At high rates of mass transfer from the red dwarf, the rotating disk remains stable, but when the rate is lower, the disk can become unstable and undergo an outburst.
This mechanism seemed to work for all known dwarf novae except for SS Cygni, based on previous distance estimates. Hubble Space Telescope measurements in 1999 and 2004 put SS Cygni at a distance of about 520 light-years.
"That was a problem. At that distance, SS Cygni would have been the brightest dwarf nova in the sky, and should have had enough mass moving through its disk to remain stable without any outbursts," Miller-Jones said.
The closer distance measured with the radio telescopes means that the system is intrinsically less bright, and now fits the characteristics outlined in the standard explanation for dwarf-nova outbursts, the scientists said.
The astronomers made the new distance measurement using the VLBA and EVN, both of which use widely-separated radio telescopes that work together as a single, extremely precise, telescope. These systems are capable of the most accurate measurements of positions in the sky available in astronomy.
By observing SS Cygni when Earth is on opposite sides of its orbit around the Sun, astronomers can measure the subtle shift in the object's apparent position in the sky, compared to the background of more-distant objects. This effect, called parallax, allows scientists to directly measure an object's distance by applying simple, high-school trigonometry.
The astronomers knew that SS Cygni emits radio waves during its outbursts, so they made their radio-telescope observations after receiving reports from amateur astronomers that an outburst was underway. They observed the object during outbursts from 2010 to 2012.
The difference in the distance measurements between the Hubble visible-light and the radio observations may have several causes, the scientists said. The radio observations were made against a background of objects far beyond our own Milky Way Galaxy, while the Hubble observations used stars within our Galaxy as reference points. The more-distant objects provide a better, more stable, reference, the astronomers pointed out. The radio observations, they added, are immune to other possible sources of error as well.
Discovered in 1896, SS Cygni is a popular object for amateur astronomers. According to the American Association of Variable Star Observers, not a single outburst of SS Cygni has been missed since its discovery. It has been observed nearly half a million times, and its brightness variations carefully tracked, making it one of the most intensely studied astronomical objects of the past century.
###
Miller Jones worked with Gregory Sivakoff of the University of Alberta and the University of Virginia, Christian Knigge of the University of Southhampton in the UK, Elmar Kording or Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and Matthew Templeton and Elizabeth Waagen of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. The researchers published their findings in the journal Science.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
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Accurate distance measurement resolves major astronomical mysteryPublic release date: 23-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dave Finley dfinley@nrao.edu 575-835-7302 National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Radio telescopes bring famous stellar system into line with theory
Sometimes astronomy is like real estate -- what's important is location, location, and location. Astronomers have resolved a major problem in their understanding of a class of stars that undergo regular outbursts by accurately measuring the distance to a famous example of the type.
The researchers used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the European VLBI Network (EVN) to precisely locate one of the most-observed variable-star systems in the sky -- a double-star system called SS Cygni -- at 370 light-years from Earth. This new distance measurement meant that an explanation for the system's regular outbursts that applies to similar pairs also applies to SS Cygni.
"This is one of the best-studied systems of its type, but according to our understanding of how these things work, it should not have been having outbursts. The new distance measurement brings it into line with the standard explanation," said James Miller-Jones, of the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Perth, Australia.
SS Cygni, in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, is a dense white dwarf star in a close orbit with a less-massive red dwarf. The strong gravity of the white dwarf pulls material from its companion into a swirling disk surrounding the white dwarf. The two stars orbit each other in only about 6.6 hours. On an average of once every 49 days, a powerful outburst greatly brightens the system.
This type of system is called a dwarf nova, and, based on other examples, scientists proposed that the outbursts result from changes in the rate at which matter moves through the disk onto the white dwarf. At high rates of mass transfer from the red dwarf, the rotating disk remains stable, but when the rate is lower, the disk can become unstable and undergo an outburst.
This mechanism seemed to work for all known dwarf novae except for SS Cygni, based on previous distance estimates. Hubble Space Telescope measurements in 1999 and 2004 put SS Cygni at a distance of about 520 light-years.
"That was a problem. At that distance, SS Cygni would have been the brightest dwarf nova in the sky, and should have had enough mass moving through its disk to remain stable without any outbursts," Miller-Jones said.
The closer distance measured with the radio telescopes means that the system is intrinsically less bright, and now fits the characteristics outlined in the standard explanation for dwarf-nova outbursts, the scientists said.
The astronomers made the new distance measurement using the VLBA and EVN, both of which use widely-separated radio telescopes that work together as a single, extremely precise, telescope. These systems are capable of the most accurate measurements of positions in the sky available in astronomy.
By observing SS Cygni when Earth is on opposite sides of its orbit around the Sun, astronomers can measure the subtle shift in the object's apparent position in the sky, compared to the background of more-distant objects. This effect, called parallax, allows scientists to directly measure an object's distance by applying simple, high-school trigonometry.
The astronomers knew that SS Cygni emits radio waves during its outbursts, so they made their radio-telescope observations after receiving reports from amateur astronomers that an outburst was underway. They observed the object during outbursts from 2010 to 2012.
The difference in the distance measurements between the Hubble visible-light and the radio observations may have several causes, the scientists said. The radio observations were made against a background of objects far beyond our own Milky Way Galaxy, while the Hubble observations used stars within our Galaxy as reference points. The more-distant objects provide a better, more stable, reference, the astronomers pointed out. The radio observations, they added, are immune to other possible sources of error as well.
Discovered in 1896, SS Cygni is a popular object for amateur astronomers. According to the American Association of Variable Star Observers, not a single outburst of SS Cygni has been missed since its discovery. It has been observed nearly half a million times, and its brightness variations carefully tracked, making it one of the most intensely studied astronomical objects of the past century.
###
Miller Jones worked with Gregory Sivakoff of the University of Alberta and the University of Virginia, Christian Knigge of the University of Southhampton in the UK, Elmar Kording or Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and Matthew Templeton and Elizabeth Waagen of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. The researchers published their findings in the journal Science.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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It might look like the bidding for Hulu is "heating up," just based on the number of possible acquirers. At the same time, it seems unlikely that whomever Hulu's parents sell to will do better than the $2 billion it was offered two years ago. With ever more uncertainty around Hulu's personnel and content, any buyer will face a number of challenges in making that money back.
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Public release date: 23-May-2013
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