SoftBank CEO: Sprint to save average $2 billion a year after acquisition

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investigators have found what they believe are human remains in a search of the former home of late New York mobster Jimmy Burke, suspected mastermind of the 1978 Lufthansa cargo heist, New York City Medical Examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove told Reuters on Thursday. She said the medical examiner's Office is checking material FBI agents scouring the Queens home found a day earlier, and it appears they are human remains. "I think they are," Borakove said, declining to comment further. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/softbank-ceo-sprint-save-average-2-billion-acquisition-025225250.html

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Birth control shots could alter life in poor areas

This April 25,2013 photo provided by SpayFirst shows wild dogs near Valentine, Neb. Veterinarians are going to inject 300 wild female dogs with a birth control vaccine that has worked on white-tailed deer, feral horses, wallabies and ferrets. The two-year study on the vaccine GonaCon will be conducted on two poor, isolated Indian reservations in the Pacific Northwest. The dogs are community-owned and get scraps from people who don't want to see them die, even though the litters keep coming. (AP Photo/SpayFirst/Ruth Steinberger)

This April 25,2013 photo provided by SpayFirst shows wild dogs near Valentine, Neb. Veterinarians are going to inject 300 wild female dogs with a birth control vaccine that has worked on white-tailed deer, feral horses, wallabies and ferrets. The two-year study on the vaccine GonaCon will be conducted on two poor, isolated Indian reservations in the Pacific Northwest. The dogs are community-owned and get scraps from people who don't want to see them die, even though the litters keep coming. (AP Photo/SpayFirst/Ruth Steinberger)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A decade ago, the Rosebud Sioux Indians in South Dakota were paying people to catch and shoot wild dogs. Dogs that weren't caught were covered in mange and parasites. Some froze. Some starved. In packs, they survived be eating each other. And dog bites were 20 times worse than the national average.

Because animals are such an important part of Indian history and culture, tribal leaders called spay and neuter expert Ruth Steinberger. In the next eight years, they worked together to sterilize 7,000 dogs, moving 1,500 of them to other parts of the country for adoption.

Many U.S. tribes still rely on roundups to manage dog overpopulation, but two tribes in the West are going to take part in an experiment this fall using shots of a different kind.

Veterinarians plan to catch and inject 300 wild female dogs with a birth control vaccine that has worked on white-tailed deer, wild horses, wallabies and ferrets.

The two-year test using the government vaccine GonaCon is scheduled to begin in September on two isolated Indian reservations in the West, said Steinberger, the project manager. Reservation officials asked not to be identified until the study is further along.

The $60,000 contraceptive study will be conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Wildlife Research Center and Spay First, Steinberger's Oklahoma-based organization working to reduce dog overpopulation in chronically poor places around the world.

Right now, the dogs are getting scraps from people who don't want to see them die ? but the litters keep coming.

Steinberger, 56, said she learned a long time ago she could do more to help animals by preventing litters rather than rescuing them. Her work at Rosebud is generally considered a textbook example for ending overpopulation.

"The reservation is a better place. ... This is easier to explain in Lakota than in English, but dogs are a part of our lives. They have been in the past and they will be in the future. To be able to take care of them is so important," explained Belva Black Lance, a Rosebud Sioux community advocate who helps with the dog program.

In the GonaCon test, dogs will be caught, microchipped, tattooed, collared, injected and released, she said.

After a year, researchers will round up as many as they can and do blood tests to measure reaction to the vaccine, Steinberger said.

The hardest part of the study might be that roundup, said Dr. Jeffrey Young, founder of Planned Pethood Plus, another group working globally to end animal overpopulation. He is not involved in the study, but has worked with Steinberger on other projects and is familiar with government-made GonaCon.

"A lot of the animals will die, disappear, get shot, poisoned or hit by a car," he explained.

"Dogs on reservations have a higher death rate than normal dogs in society," he said, noting that wild dogs in poor areas live an average 3.2 years. The average American dog lives 10 to 12 years, varying by breed and size.

Depending on who's counting, there are more than half a billion feral dogs around the world, Steinberger and Young said.

There are an estimated 6 million feral dogs in the United States, Steinberger added.

Tens of thousands of people die of rabies in developing nations each year ? and 95 percent of the cases are caused by dog bites, she said.

Spay and neuter surgeries are out of the question in such regions so researchers have been looking for a fast, effective and humane vaccine. The perfect blend would be a combination of sterilization and rabies vaccines, Young said.

"It would be a major game changer," Young said. Rabies kills up to 40,000 people a year in India alone.

If he had his way, Young would forego the tests. "It's been tested. They need to get it out there. It should be spread around like candy in India and Mexico," he said.

GonaCon has worked as long as six years in some of the wild animals tested. Booster shots were given to others to extend sterilization, Steinberger said.

It was never tested on a large number of dogs because no one stepped up to foot the bill.

Petco Foundation donated about half the money for the study.

"Animals are the reason Petco is in business. We are always looking for ways to make their lives better and help with the tragedy of overpopulation," said foundation executive director Paul Jolly.

Steinberger brought together the tribes, researchers, donors and volunteers.

GonaCon can't be used on domestic pets, Steinberger emphasized. The Food and Drug Administration would require about a decade of testing and that would cost between $16 million and $20 million, Young said.

Young, who operates a low-cost clinic in Denver, has performed over 165,000 (mostly spay and neuter) surgeries, more than anyone else on the planet, he said.

"I would love for something to put me out of that business," he said.

___

Online:

? www.spayfirst.org

? http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/about/about.shtml

? www.plannedpethoodplus.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-20-Pets-Feral%20Birth%20Control/id-e4c5e5cb79be4f3ab3f2f77af1dd9e01

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The place to start With Affiliate Marketing - Just Articles Site Directory

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Source: http://justarticlessite.com/the-place-to-start-with-affiliate-marketing.html

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Sports media notes: TV ratings up for Indians' games

By Bob Finnan
RFinnan@News-Herald.com
@BobCavsinsider

Cleveland Indians' Michael Brantley watches his sacrifice fly off Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Tim Collins to drive in Mike Aviles with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 18, 2013, in Cleveland. The Indians won 4-3. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

The Indians' attendance is still among the worst in Major League Baseball.

Only Miami's 17,337 per game is worse than the Tribe's 17,895.

Even though there might be a lack of bodies in the seats, don't confuse that with lack of interest.

The Indians' average rating so far this season on Fox Sports' SportsTime Ohio is up 34 percent compared to last season's average rating, according to a spokesperson.

Browns' opening

Browns vice president of media relations, Neal Gulkis, has been relieved of his duties. It's been a tumultuous season for the Browns with the ownership change and the Pilot Flying J scandal, and Gulkis was caught in the wringer.

Ravens director of public relations Chad Steele is said to have interviewed for the position.

Browns expand network

Five stations in three Ohio markets will be joining the Browns' radio network. The affiliates are from the Rubber City Radio Group in Akron 1590-AM WAKR and WONE-FM 97.5, the Cumulus Broadcasting Network in Youngstown (WYFM-FM 103) and WBBW-AM 1240, as well as in Canton (WHBC-AM 1480).

"It is important that Browns fans in Akron, Canton and Youngstown are able to follow our team with the extensive programming that we will be offering," Browns president Alec Scheiner said in a prepared statement. "Both the Rubber City Radio Group and the Cumulus Broadcasting Network are the radio leaders in their respective regions. WHBC has a long and dedicated following in Canton and many people in that area have relied on them as their source of news for decades." Continued...

Looking for co-host

WKNR-AM 850 is looking for a co-host with Vic Carucci on "Cleveland Browns Daily." The show will soon be moved to 1 to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Three possibilities to join Carucci are Will Burge, Michael Reghi and Je'Rod Cherry, according to a source.

Jim Rome's show will either go away altogether on WKNR or be shifted to KNR2-AM 1540.

Emmy winners

The Cavaliers won an Emmy at the 44th annual Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recently at Windows on the River.

The Cavs' in-house QTV production team won in the category for Best Promotion of Program Sports for the Cavs 2012-13 in-game video open.

The Cavs in-game video open was produced by QTV in conjunction with local video production company Think Media Studios. The video featured Cavs players in an open gym alongside Cleveland hip-hop and rap artist Machine Gun Kelly performing his single, "Invincible." Game highlights, cheering fans and classic shots of Cleveland spiced up the video. Watch it at: on.nba.com/117c3J3

"If there were no fans, there wouldn't be an arena to even play that intro in, so thank you to the city of Cleveland," Machine Gun Kelly said after hearing the news. "Underdogs win again!"

The Cavs were also nominated for the category of Best Sports Program for "Access Cavaliers," which airs on Fox Sports Ohio. Continued...

In addition to the latest hardware, the Cavs also hold the following Emmys:

2006: Best Sports Program Feature/Segment for the Cavs in-game video open

2010: Best Promotion of Program Sports for Cavs in-game video open

2011: Best Promotion of Program Sports for Cavs in-game video open

Quick shots

-- Fox Sports Ohio media relations director Kate Zelasko has returned from maternity leave. She gave birth to a baby girl ? Meg Elizabeth ? on March 9.

-- NBA Finals Game 6 on WEWS ? the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs to even the series in an overtime thriller ? scored a 14.7 overnight rating, according to Nielsen. It's the second highest-rated NBA Finals Game 6 ever on ABC and the fourth-highest rated game ever on the network.

Browns radio network

City Station

Akron WONE-FM 97.5 Continued...

Akron WAKR-AM 1590

Canton WHBC-AM 1480

Columbus WZOH-FM 95.5

Cleveland WKNR-AM 850 AM*

Cleveland WKRK-FM 92.3 FM*

Cleveland WNCX-FM 98.5 FM*

Toledo WPFX-FM 107.7 FM

Youngstown WYFM-FM 103 FM

Youngstown WBBW-AM 1240 AM

* ? flagship stations

Source: http://news-herald.com/articles/2013/06/20/sports/nh7138555.txt

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Talking with the enemy: Obama, Taliban negotiate Afghanistan's future

The key to ending America?s war in Afghanistan has long been a negotiated deal with the Taliban. Finally, such talks will begin Thursday in Qatar.

If they go well, the talks will serve primarily as a test of how much the Taliban have accepted the new realities of progress in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Much has changed since 2001 when the militant group?s ruthless rule ended with an American-led invasion to oust Al Qaeda.

The talks, however, will also be a test of President Obama?s idea of keeping an ?open door? to negotiating with even the most repressive, violent groups and countries. He laid out this strategy in a 2009 speech, saying jihadist groups like the Taliban should be willing to accept that the purposeful killing of innocents goes against every major religion.

Peace, he said, relies on the golden rule of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. ?Adhering to this law of love has always been the core struggle of human nature,? he said. With the Taliban?s move to open talks, Mr. Obama said this is ?an important first step towards reconciliation? among Afghans.

RELATED: 4 steps to success in Afghanistan

The Taliban has shown a few signs that they may have altered their ways. To meet a US condition for the talks, they committed to a peaceful end to the war. And they agreed that they never want ?to pose harm to other countries from [their] soil,? although that falls short of cutting ties to a much-weakened Al Qaeda. They also dropped their demand that US troops leave Afghanistan before talks start.

In addition, the group?s fighting capability is down from a few years ago, while the capability of Afghan forces has improved. They have lost some support from Pakistan, where civilian rule, democracy, and a desire for economic growth have strengthened, weakening the military?s ability to use the Taliban as a strategic tool against India.

In fact, no major country in the region ? China, Iran, Russia, and India ? wants the Taliban to return to power. The world has grown more weary of jihadism, especially since the killing of Osama bin Laden and the promise of the Arab Spring among Muslim youth.

The Taliban also face a very different Afghanistan. During their rule, few girls were allowed in school; today there are 2.6 million of them in classrooms. Women run businesses and work in government. Most Afghans use cellphones and watch TV. Instead of having 37 miles of paved roads as during Taliban rule, the country has nearly 8,000 miles today. Most of all, such advances have helped to create a stronger Afghan identity and a better understanding of universal values, lessening the tribal and ethnic differences.

Yet despite all this, much doubt remains that the Taliban will give up their arms and operate as a political group under the current Constitution ? especially the part that protects women from discrimination. Without that concession, Obama will find it difficult to withdraw all US military presence after 2014, when he plans to end the American combat role.

RELATED: Pakistan election as a marker of global progress

Another potential stumbling block is the Afghan government. President Hamid Karzai fears his bargaining ability has been undercut by the way the United States started the talks with the Taliban with only the hope of bringing him into negotiations later. The US will need to better deal with his concerns. The newly elected government of Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan also needs to be courted in order to bolster its support of the talks.

Obama warned the talks may be bumpy. Yet even if they fail, they may have the effect of weakening the morale of lower-level Taliban fighters, further splintering the militants. A militant group that is stuck in the past and unaware of what brings peace can?t last for long.

Related stories

Read this story at csmonitor.com

Become a part of the Monitor community

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/talking-enemy-obama-taliban-negotiate-afghanistans-future-213014473.html

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First Fluorescent Protein Identified in a Vertebrate Animal

An eel popular in sushi has muscle fibers that could offer an opportunity for advances in bioimaging

By Monya Baker and Nature magazine

When blue light is shone on it, this eel glows green ? and the molecule that lets it do the trick is unlike any other found in living organisms. Image: AKIKO KUMAGAI & ATSUSHI MIYAWAKI

• 

  How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect?s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they...

  Read More??

The Japanese freshwater eel (Anguilla japonica) has more to offer biologists than a tasty sushi snack. Its muscle fibers produce the first fluorescent protein identified in a vertebrate, researchers report in Cell.

Fluorescent proteins are as standard a tool for cell biologists as wrenches are for mechanics. They do not produce light themselves, but glow when illuminated. The?2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry?was awarded for the discovery and development of such molecules, which are used to tag proteins or to track how genes are expressed. The molecules have been engineered to produce light in a variety of hues and brightnesses, but those discovered until now in nature all came from non-vertebrates, mainly microbes, jellyfish, and corals.

The first clues to the eel protein?s existence came in 2009 when Seiichi Hayashi and Yoshifumi Toda, food chemists studying nutrients in eel at Kagoshima University in Japan, were tracking lipid transport into oily eel tissue and reported that eel muscle fluoresced naturally?glowing green when a blue light is shone on it. They then isolated a few fragments of the protein responsible. This intrigued Atsushi Miyawaki, a molecular biologist at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako, Japan, who has identified and engineered new properties into fluorescent proteins from jellyfish and corals.

In the latest work, he and his colleagues have identified the gene that codes for the molecule, and have named the new protein UnaG, after the Japanese unagi, the Japanese word for freshwater eel that is familiar to sushi lovers worldwide.

?I don't think anyone would have thought that eels would have such a bright fluorescent protein,? says Robert Campbell, a protein engineer at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. And UnaG is in a class of its own, he says. ?It's totally different? from other fluorescent proteins. ?There's not anything you can point to that's the same.?

For example, instead of producing light with a 'chromophore' that is part of the protein sequence, as the classical Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) does, UnaG fluoresces when it binds a naturally occurring small molecule called bilirubin, a breakdown product of hemoglobin used in hospital tests for decades to assess liver function and diagnose diseases such as jaundice.

UnaG is also unusual because, unlike GFP, it fluoresces brightly even when oxygen levels in cells are low. This could be useful for visualizing anaerobic areas inside cancerous tumors, says Campbell.

Aglow under the sea
In 2007, a different group of researchers found a fluorescent protein in the lancelet, a tiny somewhat eel-like marine creature closely related to vertebrates. But that protein is in the same class as those found in corals and jellyfish.

Japanese freshwater eels mature in rivers and travel far out to sea to spawn, and UnaG may help them with long-distance migrations by playing a role in muscle function. European and American freshwater eels (Anguilla anguilla?and?Anguilla rostrata) also migrate long distances, and the Miyawaki and his colleagues found that these eels, too, make UnaG. Young Japanese eels, which migrate from sea to rivers, produce the protein in abundance, so that they glow beautifully when illuminated with a blue light, says Miyawaki.?

The team showed that UnaG could be used to measure bilirubin in human serum and they suggest that this approach could lead to simpler, more sensitive tests requiring smaller blood samples, says Miyawaki.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=first-fluorescent-protein-identified-in-a-vertebrate-animal

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A long day and the lead for Lefty at US Open

Phil Mickelson tips his hat on the 12th green during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Phil Mickelson tips his hat on the 12th green during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tiger Woods walks down the second fairway after hitting out of a bunker during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Phil Mickelson reacts to a missed birdie putt on the 17th hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Tiger Woods reacts after a shot on the second hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Tiger Woods reacts after missing a putt on the eighth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) ? Even for Phil Mickelson, his path to the top of the leaderboard Thursday in the U.S. Open was unconventional.

He traveled about 2,400 miles in the air and 7,000 yards on the ground. He took a short nap on his private jet from San Diego and another one during a rain delay when he found a secluded corner of the library room in the Merion clubhouse. He carried five wedges but no driver.

Some 17 hours later, Mickelson had a 3-under 67 to match his best opening round in the U.S. Open.

Mickelson returned from his daughter's eighth-grade graduation about 3? hours before his tee time. He three-putted his first hole for a bogey and didn't give back a shot the rest of the day at Merion, which proved plenty tough by yielding only one other round under par to the 78 players who completed the first round.

Because of two rain delays, the first round won't be completed until Friday morning. Mickelson won't have to tee it up again for another 24 hours.

Enough time to fly back to San Diego?

"I don't want to push it, no," Mickelson said with a tired smile.

Tiger Woods faced a tougher road. He appeared to hurt his left hand after trying to gouge out of the deep rough on the opening hole. He grimaced and shook his left wrist again after hitting a 5-wood out of the rough on the fifth hole. He already had three bogeys though five holes before starting to make up ground with a 50-foot birdie putt on the par-4 sixth hole.

Woods, however, failed to take advantage on the short stretch of holes in the middle of the round, and he was shaking his hand again after shots out of the rough on the 10th and twice on the 11th. He was 2-over for his round and had a 4-foot par putt on the 11th when play was stopped for the day.

"I've got a lot of holes to play tomorrow," Woods said. "And, hopefully, I can play a little better than I did today."

Luke Donald was 4-under through 13 holes, making one last birdie before leaving the course. The first round was to resume at 7:15 a.m. Friday, and the forecast called for drier weather for the rest of the week.

Masters champion Adam Scott, playing with Woods and Rory McIlroy, was 3-under through 11 holes, while defending U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson was 2-under through eight holes. McIlroy was even par.

Lee Westwood got the full Merion experience. He was 3-under when his approach on the 12th hit the wicker basket ? the signature at Merion, replacing traditional flags ? and bounced off the green, leading to a double bogey.

For Mickelson, this could be the start of yet another chance to win the major championship he wants so dearly. Or maybe he's setting himself up for more heartache. He already has been a runner-up a record five times in the U.S. Open.

"If I'm able ? and I believe I will ? if I'm able to ultimately win a U.S. Open, I would say that it's great," Mickelson said. "Because I will have had ... a win and five seconds. But if I never get that win, then it would be a bit heart-breaking."

Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium, the only other player from the morning wave to break par, picked up birdies on the short seventh and eighth holes for a 69.

Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Tim Clark, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Jerry Kelly were the only others who at least matched par at 70. Clark and Kelly were at 2 under deep in their rounds until running into trouble, which isn't hard to do in the U.S. Open, especially at Merion. Clark took a double bogey-bogey stretch in the middle of his back nine. Kelly was one shot behind Mickelson until a double bogey on the 18th hole.

"It's a lot tougher than they say it is," Schwartzel said.

It doesn't take much ? just two holes for Sergio Garcia, who found Merion far more daunting than the few wisecracks from the gallery. Garcia received mostly warm applause, with some barely audible boos from the grandstand when he started his round on No. 11. It was his first time competing in America since his public spat with Woods took a bad turn when he jokingly said he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open and serve fried chicken.

"There were a couple here and there," Garcia said about some jeers. "But I felt the people were very nice for the whole day. I think that almost all of them were behind me and that was nice to see."

They saw him hit his tee shot out of bounds on No. 14 right before the first rain delay, leading to double bogey. Then, he hooked his next shot out of bounds and hit a bunker shot over the green on his way to a quadruple-bogey 8 at No. 15. Despite being 6-over on those two holes, he rallied for a 73.

Mickelson, meanwhile, looked as though he could play this golf course in his sleep. And he nearly did.

With two holes remaining, he hit 5-iron into 30 feet on the 237-yard ninth hole and told caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay that he was starting to hit the ball. Despite the constant smiling, Mickelson is intense inside the ropes, and Mackay told him to stop thinking about his swing, his next shot, the course or anything else related to golf during the walk to the green. Lefty rolled in the right-to-left breaking putt for another birdie.

"Being able to tune in and tune out was kind of nice the last hole or two," Mickelson said. "It's been a long day."

The only other time Mickelson opened with a 67 in the U.S. Open was in 1999 at Pinehurst No. 2, and his oldest daughter was part of that story, too. Mickelson carried a pager with him that week because his wife was due with their first child. He finished one shot behind when the late Payne Stewart holed a 15-foot par putt on the last hole, and Amanda was born the next day.

Mickelson was always going to be home before the U.S. Open because Amanda, who turns 14 next week, was chosen to be a featured speaker at her graduation. He left Merion on Monday, a day earlier than planned, when more heavy rain washed out most of the practice round. Besides, Mickelson felt like he knew the course well enough from his scouting trip last week.

"She told me that it's fine. 'Stay, it's the U.S. Open. I know how much you care about it.' And I told her that I want to be there," Mickelson said. "I don't want to miss her speech. I don't want to miss her graduation. She spent nine years at that school. And she's worked very hard and I'm very proud of her."

The ceremony was at 6 p.m. PDT. Mickelson was on the plane two hours later, landing in Philadelphia about 3:30 a.m. He had a few hours of sleep on the plane, and then played five holes before the rain delay. He found a few cushions for a makeshift bed in the clubhouse library.

Despite his four birdies, including a 25-foot putt that fell on its last turn at No. 1, Mickelson saved his round with some crucial pars.

He missed the par-3 third green to the right, in fluffy grass down the hill, and hit a flop shot that landed on the collar and stopped 5 feet from the cup. He caught a break when his tee shot went into the hazard left of the fifth fairway, about a foot away from dropping into the small stream. He got that out, hit wedge to 8 feet and made a difficult right-to-left putt. And on the next hole, he swung hard to generate height and spin out of the bunker, the only way to get the ball close. He made an 8-footer for par.

Mickelson hit 9-iron to 2 feet on the seventh hole for birdie, and holed that 30-foot putt on the ninth.

And then, it was time to rest.

"He had a crazy 24 hours," said Keegan Bradley, playing alongside Mickelson and Steve Stricker. "Sometimes that helps, not thinking about it."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-13-US%20Open/id-7815fa78334343449e579b71e6ca8f32

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Kuwaiti premier visits Iraq, tightening bonds

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Kuwait's prime minister discussed ties with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad on Wednesday, signaling improving relations between neighbors still working to overcome the more than two-decade legacy of war.

The warming bonds between Shiite-led Iraq and Sunni-ruled Kuwait are noteworthy in a region increasingly plagued by the sectarian divisions running through Syria's civil war and Iraq, which is struggling to contain its worst eruption of violence in years.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki personally greeted Sheik Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah on a red carpet on the airport tarmac before the two men sat down for talks. Officials later signed a series of agreements aimed at improving bilateral ties in the economic, transportation and other sectors.

The leaders hailed the latest set of talks ? one of several high-level meetings between the countries in recent years ? as the start of a new chapter in their relationship.

"We got rid of a heavy burden and turned the page from the past toward broader relations in all fields," Sheik Jaber said in a statement issued by al-Maliki's office.

Iraq and Kuwait, a close U.S. ally in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, have been making progress in mending ties frayed by then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of his southern neighbor, setting off the first Gulf War.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed "the growing momentum for the full normalization of bilateral relations between Iraq and Kuwait," U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said in New York.

Ban spoke to the Emir of Kuwait and al-Maliki before a meeting with ambassadors of the two countries Wednesday, del Buey said.

Officials on both sides expressed concern about the civil war ravaging Syria, where largely Sunni rebels are battling forces loyal to the Iran-backed regime of President Bashar Assad. The fight is drawing in foreign militants from Iraq and other countries on both sides of the conflict.

In response to questions about the civil war in Syria, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari repeated Baghdad's stance that it does not condone the movement of any militants to Syria. He sought to make clear that Iraq ? officially neutral in the conflict ? was not choosing sides.

"We have contacts with both the regime and the opposition," he said. "The fighters' travels are happening without the knowledge of the government."

There are signs that the aftereffects of Iraq's 1990 invasion are receding.

Relations took a step forward last year when Kuwait's ruling emir traveled to Baghdad to attend an Arab League summit. He was the only leader from the Sunni-dominated Arab Gulf states ? wary of Shiite powerhouse Iran ? to attend the meeting.

Kuwait and Iraq last year reached a deal to settle a Saddam-era legal dispute that had long dogged Iraq's national airline and was a major sticking point between the countries. Kuwait's parliament earlier this year approved the accord, under which Baghdad will pay $500 million in compensation to Kuwait's national carrier for damages caused during the Iraqi occupation.

The disagreement centered on Kuwait's accusations that Saddam's regime stole 10 airplanes and millions of dollars' worth of equipment and spare parts during the invasion. Kuwait earlier demanded $1.2 billion in reparations, but Iraq's postwar leaders resisted.

In February, an Iraqi Airways flight landed in Kuwait for the first time since Saddam's invasion. Officials hope the ceremonial flight will lead to closer commercial ties.

Iraq continues to pay off billions of dollars of war reparations to Kuwait. It expects to complete those payments by 2015, according to Zebari.

Elsewhere in Iraq on Wednesday, gunmen killed provincial election candidate Luay Abdul-Wahid in a drive-by shooting in the restive northern city of Mosul, according to police and hospital officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to journalists.

Iraq held elections for provincial council candidates in much of the country in April, but authorities delayed voting in two Sunni dominated provinces, Anbar and Ninevah, citing security concerns. Mosul is the capital of Ninevah province. After Baghdad, it has been one of the hardest hit areas in terms of violence in recent months.

Iraq is weathering its worst wave of bloodshed in half a decade, with nearly 2,000 people killed since the beginning of April. The upsurge is reviving fears of a return to widespread sectarian fighting.

___

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sameer N. Yacoub contributed.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kuwaiti-premier-visits-iraq-tightening-bonds-151957890.html

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Bo Dallas: Bred for success

?Big E is too dominant.? ?There?s no way Bo is winning that match.? ?He?s good, but not that good.?

Heading into his NXT Championship Match against Big E Langston, Bo Dallas had heard it all. It seems few expected the young athlete to pull off an upset victory over NXT?s Immovable Force. Yet Bo did, in fact, achieve his goal of becoming NXT Champion while simultaneously silencing the doubters. One might think the win came as a surprise to the new champion, but a deeper look into the genetic makeup of the Brooksville, Fla., native tells another story.

Photos of Bo Dallas on NXT | Bo Dallas' Superstar profile

Dallas? first mainstream exposure in front of the WWE Universe was during a life-changing opportunity last January. After winning an NXT Tournament during Royal Rumble Axxess, Dallas earned himself a coveted spot in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match. Though many debuting Superstars might have buckled under the pressure, Dallas managed to last an impressive 21 minutes. Furthermore, he secured an upset elimination of Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett. His ensuing rivalry with Barrett nearly captured the Intercontinental Championship from the bare-knuckle fighter, and though Dallas came up short, he didn?t let frustration become his proverbial Achilles heel. Instead, he used the experience as motivation to work harder and surpass expectations. It?s a lesson he has learned at a very young age.

Watch Bo Dallas vs. Wade Barrett on Raw.

There are very few who can lay claim to as strong a family lineage of wrestling greats as Dallas. He is the grandson of WWE Hall of Famer Blackjack Mulligan, the nephew of?WWE Hall of Famer Barry Windham and brother, Kendall, as well as the son of former WWE Superstar Mike Rotunda (IRS). Dallas was taught by the best that nothing is given ? only earned ? through hard work and determination.

View Comments

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/2013-06-12/bo-dallas-nxt-champion

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'Fast track' approach to giant cell arteritis significantly reduces risk of blindness

Public release date: 12-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: EULAR Press Office
eularpressoffice@cohnwolfe.com
44-020-733-15364
European League Against Rheumatism

Rapid diagnosis followed by immediate treatment is key to preventing

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: A new study presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that rapid evaluation for Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) by Color Doppler Ultrasound (CDUS) followed by immediate initiation of treatment (if required) significantly reduces permanent vision loss.

Of the patients evaluated by the ''fast track'' principle from March 2010 to December 2012, 11.1% had transient visual manifestations, and none went on to suffer from permanent visual loss.

GCA is a condition in which medium and large-size arteries, usually in the head and neck, become inflamed (sometimes referred to as temporal arteritis). Symptoms of GCA, which include aching and soreness in and around the temples, jaw pain while eating, and loss of vision, often develop suddenly. Permanent visual loss is one of the most serious complications of GCA; in one study, visual manifestations were reported in 26% of patients, and permanent visual loss in up to 15%.2

Speaking on behalf of the SONOVAS study group, Dr. Andreas P. Diamantopoulos from the Department of Rheumatology, Hospital of Southern Norway Trust, Kristiansand, Norway said: "Giant cell arteritis should be regarded as a medical emergency because without prompt treatment it can lead to permanent blindness. Our data suggests that a fast-track approach significantly reduces this risk, encouraging findings that will now need to be confirmed in larger groups of patients."

This was in marked contrast to the results seen in the 28 patients who were traditionally evaluated between March 2010 and February 2012. In this group, visual disturbances were observed in seven patients, of whom six (21.5%) suffered from permanent vision loss in one or both eyes. The difference between the two groups with regard to permanent visual loss was statistically significant (p=0.035).

Patients suspected to have GCA were consecutively evaluated between March 2010 and December 2012 using colour Doppler ultrasound (CDUS). The ''fast- track'' principle (quick evaluation by CDUS within 24 hours, and immediate initiation of treatment if appropriate) was implemented in the outpatient clinic from March 2012.

During the evaluation period, a total of 46 patients were diagnosed with GCA. All of these patients fulfilled the ACR Classification Criteria for GCA* and produced a positive CDUS result of the temporal artery.

###

* American College of Rheumatology Classification Criteria for GCA: at least two of the following five criteria (i) age more than 50 years (ii) new headache (iii) superficial temporal artery (STA) tenderness or decreased pulsation (iv) elevated ESR more than 50 mm in the first hour, and (v) abnormal findings on temporal artery biopsy.

1.Diamantopoulos AP et al., The "fast track" giant cell arteritis outpatient clinic: a useful tool to reduce the morbidity of disease? [abstract]. EULAR Annual European Congress of Rheumatology; 12-15 June 2013; Madrid, Spain. Abstract nr. OP0207

2.Gonzalez-Gay MA, Garcia-Porrua C, Llorca J, et al. Visual manifestations of giant cell arteritis. Trends and clinical spectrum in 161 patients. Medicine. 2000; 79 (5):283-92

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For further information on this study, or to request an interview with the study lead, please do not hesitate to contact the EULAR congress Press Office in room A10:14 of the Congress Centre during EULAR 2013 or on:

Email: eularpressoffice@cohnwolfe.com

EULAR Press Office

Onsite tel: +44 (0) 20 7331 5364 / 5380 / 5318 / 2305

About EULAR

• The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) is an umbrella organisation which represents scientific societies, health professional associations and organisations of people with rheumatic diseases throughout Europe
• In line with the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), EULAR defines rheumatology as including rheumatic diseases of the connective tissue, locomotor and musculoskeletal systems.
• EULAR aims to promote, stimulate and support the research, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of rheumatic diseases
• With 45 scientific member societies, 36 People with Arthritis and Rheumatism in Europe (PARE) organisations and 11 health professionals associations, EULAR underscores the importance of combating rheumatic diseases not only through medical means, but also through patient care
• EULAR 2013 is set to be the biggest rheumatology event in Europe with over 14,000 scientists, physicians, allied health professionals and related audiences in attendance from more than 110 countries. Over the course of the congress there will be more than 320 oral and 1,800 poster abstract presentations, and 750 lectures with 330 invited speakers
• To find out more about the activities of EULAR, visit: http://www.eular.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Public release date: 12-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: EULAR Press Office
eularpressoffice@cohnwolfe.com
44-020-733-15364
European League Against Rheumatism

Rapid diagnosis followed by immediate treatment is key to preventing

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: A new study presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that rapid evaluation for Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) by Color Doppler Ultrasound (CDUS) followed by immediate initiation of treatment (if required) significantly reduces permanent vision loss.

Of the patients evaluated by the ''fast track'' principle from March 2010 to December 2012, 11.1% had transient visual manifestations, and none went on to suffer from permanent visual loss.

GCA is a condition in which medium and large-size arteries, usually in the head and neck, become inflamed (sometimes referred to as temporal arteritis). Symptoms of GCA, which include aching and soreness in and around the temples, jaw pain while eating, and loss of vision, often develop suddenly. Permanent visual loss is one of the most serious complications of GCA; in one study, visual manifestations were reported in 26% of patients, and permanent visual loss in up to 15%.2

Speaking on behalf of the SONOVAS study group, Dr. Andreas P. Diamantopoulos from the Department of Rheumatology, Hospital of Southern Norway Trust, Kristiansand, Norway said: "Giant cell arteritis should be regarded as a medical emergency because without prompt treatment it can lead to permanent blindness. Our data suggests that a fast-track approach significantly reduces this risk, encouraging findings that will now need to be confirmed in larger groups of patients."

This was in marked contrast to the results seen in the 28 patients who were traditionally evaluated between March 2010 and February 2012. In this group, visual disturbances were observed in seven patients, of whom six (21.5%) suffered from permanent vision loss in one or both eyes. The difference between the two groups with regard to permanent visual loss was statistically significant (p=0.035).

Patients suspected to have GCA were consecutively evaluated between March 2010 and December 2012 using colour Doppler ultrasound (CDUS). The ''fast- track'' principle (quick evaluation by CDUS within 24 hours, and immediate initiation of treatment if appropriate) was implemented in the outpatient clinic from March 2012.

During the evaluation period, a total of 46 patients were diagnosed with GCA. All of these patients fulfilled the ACR Classification Criteria for GCA* and produced a positive CDUS result of the temporal artery.

###

* American College of Rheumatology Classification Criteria for GCA: at least two of the following five criteria (i) age more than 50 years (ii) new headache (iii) superficial temporal artery (STA) tenderness or decreased pulsation (iv) elevated ESR more than 50 mm in the first hour, and (v) abnormal findings on temporal artery biopsy.

1.Diamantopoulos AP et al., The "fast track" giant cell arteritis outpatient clinic: a useful tool to reduce the morbidity of disease? [abstract]. EULAR Annual European Congress of Rheumatology; 12-15 June 2013; Madrid, Spain. Abstract nr. OP0207

2.Gonzalez-Gay MA, Garcia-Porrua C, Llorca J, et al. Visual manifestations of giant cell arteritis. Trends and clinical spectrum in 161 patients. Medicine. 2000; 79 (5):283-92

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For further information on this study, or to request an interview with the study lead, please do not hesitate to contact the EULAR congress Press Office in room A10:14 of the Congress Centre during EULAR 2013 or on:

Email: eularpressoffice@cohnwolfe.com

EULAR Press Office

Onsite tel: +44 (0) 20 7331 5364 / 5380 / 5318 / 2305

About EULAR

• The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) is an umbrella organisation which represents scientific societies, health professional associations and organisations of people with rheumatic diseases throughout Europe
• In line with the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), EULAR defines rheumatology as including rheumatic diseases of the connective tissue, locomotor and musculoskeletal systems.
• EULAR aims to promote, stimulate and support the research, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of rheumatic diseases
• With 45 scientific member societies, 36 People with Arthritis and Rheumatism in Europe (PARE) organisations and 11 health professionals associations, EULAR underscores the importance of combating rheumatic diseases not only through medical means, but also through patient care
• EULAR 2013 is set to be the biggest rheumatology event in Europe with over 14,000 scientists, physicians, allied health professionals and related audiences in attendance from more than 110 countries. Over the course of the congress there will be more than 320 oral and 1,800 poster abstract presentations, and 750 lectures with 330 invited speakers
• To find out more about the activities of EULAR, visit: http://www.eular.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/elar-ta061013.php

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Dispatch audio reveals details of Paris Jackson suicide attempt

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of late pop star Michael Jackson, swallowed 20 pain pills and cut her arm last week in an apparent suicide attempt, according to emergency dispatch audio released on Tuesday.

The audio released by the Los Angeles County Fire Department casts new light on the June 5 incident at the Jackson's family residence in Calabasas, California, which prompted a judge who oversees her guardianship case to order an investigation into her "health, education and welfare."

The call between emergency dispatchers indicated that Paris took 20 Motrin tablets, an over-the-counter pain medication, and cut her arm with a kitchen knife.

The minute-long audio clip also described the teenager as awake and breathing before being rushed to a local hospital.

Paris and her two brothers Prince Michael and Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket, live under the court-ordered custody of their 83-year-old grandmother, Katherine Jackson, and cousin, T.J. Jackson, the son of Jackson's older brother Tito.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 at age 50 from a lethal dose of the surgical anesthetic propofol.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff ordered an investigator to "address the status of the minor child, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, and recent media reports concerning her welfare," according to court documents filed after the she entered a hospital last week.

Katherine Jackson's attorney, Perry Sanders, said last week that Paris was "physically fine."

Sanders' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jackson has recently rekindled her relationship with her biological mother, Debbie Rowe, who was married to Michael Jackson from 1996 to 1999 and turned over custody of her two children with him as part of their divorce.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; editing by Patricia Reaney and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dispatch-audio-reveals-details-paris-jackson-suicide-attempt-101917118.html

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Mali manual suggests al-Qaida has feared weapon

TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) ? The photocopies of the manual lay in heaps on the floor, in stacks that scaled one wall, like Xeroxed, stapled handouts for a class.

Except that the students in this case were al-Qaida fighters in Mali. And the manual was a detailed guide, with diagrams and photographs, on how to use a weapon that particularly concerns the United States: A surface-to-air missile capable of taking down a commercial airplane.

The 26-page document in Arabic, recovered by The Associated Press in a building that had been occupied by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu, strongly suggests the group now possesses the SA-7 surface-to-air missile, known to the Pentagon as the Grail, according to terrorism specialists. And it confirms that the al-Qaida cell is actively training its fighters to use these weapons, also called man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS, which likely came from the arms depots of ex-Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

_________________

EDITOR'S NOTE ? This is the fourth story in an occasional series based on thousands of pages of internal al-Qaida documents recovered by The Associated Press earlier this year in Timbuktu, Mali.

_________________

"The existence of what apparently constitutes a 'Dummies Guide to MANPADS' is strong circumstantial evidence of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb having the missiles," said Atlantic Council analyst Peter Pham, a former adviser to the United States' military command in Africa and an instructor to U.S. Special Forces. "Why else bother to write the guide if you don't have the weapons? ... If AQIM not only has the MANPADS, but also fighters who know how to use them effectively," he added, "then the impact is significant, not only on the current conflict, but on security throughout North and West Africa, and possibly beyond."

The United States was so worried about this particular weapon ending up in the hands of terrorists that the State Department set up a task force to track and destroy it as far back as 2006. In the spring of 2011, before the fighting in Tripoli had even stopped, a U.S. team flew to Libya to secure Gadhafi's stockpile of thousands of heat-seeking, shoulder-fired missiles.

By the time they got there, many had already been looted.

"The MANPADS were specifically being sought out," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, who catalogued missing weapons at dozens of munitions depots and often found nothing in the boxes labelled with the code for surface-to-air missiles.

The manual is believed to be an excerpt from a terrorist encyclopedia edited by Osama bin Laden. It adds to evidence for the weapon found by French forces during their land assault in Mali earlier this year, including the discovery of the SA-7's battery pack and launch tube, according to military statements and an aviation official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to comment.

The knowledge that the terrorists have the weapon has already changed the way the French are carrying out their five-month-old offensive in Mali. They are using more fighter jets rather than helicopters to fly above its range of 1.4 miles (2.3 kilometers) from the ground, even though that makes it harder to attack the jihadists. They are also making cargo planes land and take off more steeply to limit how long they are exposed, in line with similar practices in Iraq after an SA-14 hit the wing of a DHL cargo plane in 2003.

And they have added their own surveillance at Mali's international airport in Bamako, according to two French aviation officials and an officer in the Operation Serval force. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.

"There are patrols every day," said the French officer. "It's one of the things we have not entrusted to the Malians, because the stakes are too high."

First introduced in the 1960s in the Soviet Union, the SA-7 was designed to be portable. Not much larger than a poster tube, it can be packed into a duffel bag and easily carried. It's also affordable, with some SA-7s selling for as little as $5,000.

Since 1975, at least 40 civilian aircraft have been hit by different types of MANPADS, causing about 28 crashes and more than 800 deaths around the world, according to the U.S. Department of State.

The SA-7 is an old generation model, which means most military planes now come equipped with a built-in protection mechanism against it. But that's not the case for commercial planes, and the threat is greatest to civilian aviation.

In Kenya in 2002, suspected Islamic extremists fired two SA-7s at a Boeing 757 carrying 271 vacationers back to Israel, but missed. Insurgents in Iraq used the weapons, and YouTube videos abound purporting to show Syrian rebels using the SA-7 to shoot down regime planes.

An SA-7 tracks a plane by directing itself toward the source of the heat, the engine. It takes time and practice, however, to fire it within range. The failure of the jihadists in Mali so far to hit a plane could mean that they cannot position themselves near airports with commercial flights, or that they are not yet fully trained to use the missile.

"This is not a 'Fire and forget' weapon," said Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. "There's a paradox here. One the one hand it's not easy to use, but against any commercial aircraft there would be no defenses against them. It's impossible to protect against it. ... If terrorists start training and learn how to use them, we'll be in a lot of trouble."

In Timbuktu, SA-7 training was likely part of the curriculum at the 'Jihad Academy' housed in a former police station, said Jean-Paul Rouiller, director of the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, one of three experts who reviewed the manual for AP. It's located less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the Ministry of Finance's Budget Division building where the manual was found.

Neighbors say they saw foreign fighters running laps each day, carrying out target practice and inhaling and holding their breath with a pipe-like object on their shoulder. The drill is standard practice for shoulder-held missiles, including the SA-7.

As the jihadists fled ahead of the arrival of French troops who liberated Timbuktu on Jan. 28, they left the manual behind, along with other instructional material, including a spiral-bound pamphlet showing how to use the KPV-14.5 anti-aircraft machine gun and another on how to make a bomb out of ammonium nitrate, among other documents retrieved by the AP. Residents said the jihadists grabbed reams of paper from inside the building, doused them in fuel and set them alight. The black, feathery ash lay on top of the sand in a ditch just outside the building's gate.

However, numerous buildings were still full of scattered papers.

"They just couldn't destroy everything," said neighbor Mohamed Alassane. "They appeared to be in a panic when the French came. They left in a state of disorder."

The manual is illustrated with grainy images of Soviet-looking soldiers firing the weapon. Point-by-point instructions explain how to insert the battery, focus on the target and fire.

The manual also explains that the missile will malfunction above 45 degrees Celsius, the temperature in the deserts north of Timbuktu. And it advises the shooter to change immediately into a second set of clothes after firing to avoid detection.

Its pages are numbered 313 through 338, suggesting they came from elsewhere. Mathieu Guidere, an expert on Islamic extremists at the University of Toulouse, believes the excerpts are lifted from the Encyclopedia of Jihad, an 11-volume survey on the craft of war first compiled by the Taliban in the 1980s and later codified by Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, who led a contingent of Arab fighters in Afghanistan at the time, paid to have the encyclopedia translated into Arabic, according to Guidere, author of a book on al-Qaida's North African branch.

However, the cover page of the manual boasts the name of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

"It's a way to make it their own," said Guidere. "It's like putting a logo on something. ... It shows the historic as well as the present link between al-Qaida core and AQIM."

Bin Laden later assembled a team of editors to update the manual, put it on CD-ROMs and eventually place it on the Internet, in a move that lay the groundwork for the globalization of jihad, according to terrorism expert Jarret Brachman, who was the director of research at the Combating Terrorism Center when the al-Qaida encyclopaedia was first found.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an arms expert in Australia, confirmed that the information in the manual in Timbuktu on the missile's engagement range, altitude and weight appeared largely correct. He cautions though that the history of the SA-7 is one of near-misses, specifically because it takes training to use.

"Even if you get your hands on an SA-7, it's no guarantee of success," he said. "However, if someone manages to take down a civilian aircraft, it's hundreds of dead instantly. It's a high impact, low-frequency event, and it sows a lot of fear."

___

Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant contributed to this report from Paris, and AP journalist Amir Bibawy translated the document. Callimachi reported this article in Timbuktu, Mali and in Dakar, Senegal.

___

The document from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Arabic and English can be seen at http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/_pdfs/al-qaida-papers-dangerous-weapon.pdf

Rukmini Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mali-manual-suggests-al-qaida-feared-weapon-145958976.html

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Android gaming console M.O.J.O promises ?supercharged? performance

Yes, it's only Tuesday. So what! It's never too early in the week for a hilarious viral video, especially one that we are not sure why has gone so viral, so quickly. Kyle Vigneau taped his Labrador, named Koda, doing something a little silly. In the video, "My Dog Isn't the Smartest," it appears as [...]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/android-gaming-console-m-o-j-o-promises-043058035.html

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Netherlands UFO: Spotted Over Medieval Castle?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/ufo-spotted-over-netherlands-castle/

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5 things to note about NSA surveillance programs (The Arizona Republic)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/311612829?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Google Art Project Gets A Redesign With Improved Navigation And Search Tools

The Google Art Project got a major redesign today that includes a much improved and faster navigation and new search features. The improved search tools now makes it significantly easier to filter any list of artworks by artist, place, data and related events.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/-9fhV03VpDg/

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"WWDC explained in one photo"

The standard stereotype usually sees the women's restroom with the longest lineup, but not at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference. As CNet's Dan Ackerman points out in this photo he tweeted, this time it's the men who have to wait.

WWDC explained in one photo. twitter.com/danackerman/st?

? Dan Ackerman (@danackerman) June 10, 2013

Either the male-to-female ratio is impossibly high at WWDC, or the women in attendance were smart enough to go before they got to the conference center. [Dan Ackerman]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/wwdc-explained-in-one-photo-512360837

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Death toll from Libya clashes rises to 27

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? A health official says the death toll from clashes between protesters and former rebels aligned with the military in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi has risen to 27.

The violence broke out Saturday after protesters stormed a base belonging to Libya Shield, a grouping of pro-government militias tasked with maintaining security. The protesters were demanding that militias leave their camp and submit to the full authority of Libya's security forces. Officials originally reported seven dead.

Mohamed Belied, who is director at the city's al-Jala hospital, said early Sunday that the deaths were caused by gunshots and explosive fragments. He said dozens were wounded, without saying how many casualties were protesters and how many militiamen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-libya-clashes-rises-27-084311654.html

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