Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/X19RRpym96o/
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Apple TV & Cannon PowerShot Giveaway!
Do you want to win an Apple TV or Cannon PowerShot? Right Celebrity is very excited to offer this great prize to our readers! Coca-Cola is celebrating the launch of their new Tumblr community: happiness is… and so to help spread the word, and of course happiness, Coca-Cola is providing a new Canon PowerShot Camera ($300 value) and an Apple TV for our readers! The site is packed with a variety of fun, exclusive, and entertaining content. With the Apple TV you can stream all of your favorite shows and movies! And the digital camera ties nicely into the launch as you can take and post your pics on Tumblr using the latest (and coolest) technology! I have set up some awesome iptions to increase your chances of winning so check it out! See how to enter below. Please read all of the rules carefully! /*{literal} a Rafflecopter giveaway You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Inherited risk factors for childhood leukemia are more common in Hispanic patients, study finds
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2012) ? Hispanic children are more likely than those from other racial and ethnic backgrounds to be diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and are more likely to die of their disease. Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has pinpointed genetic factors behind the grim statistics.
Researchers studying a gene called ARID5B linked eight common variants of the gene to an increased risk of not only developing pediatric ALL but of having the cancer return after treatment. Two more ARID5B variants were tied to higher odds of developing the disease. Investigators found that Hispanic children were up to twice as likely as their white counterparts to inherit a high risk-version of ARID5B.
"For years we have known about ethnic and racial disparities in ALL risk and outcome, but the biology behind it has been elusive. Therefore, it is truly exciting to be able to not only pin down the biological basis but to find that the same gene might be responsible for both differences. Children who inherit high-risk versions of ARID5B are more likely to develop ALL in the first place and then more likely to fail therapy," said Jun Yang, Ph.D., an assistant member of the St. Jude Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the paper's corresponding author.
The work was done in collaboration with the Children's Oncology Group (COG), a U.S. based research cooperative study group focused on childhood cancer research and clinical trials. The study appears in the January 30 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Multiple factors contribute to cancer development, and inheriting a high-risk version of ARID5B is not enough to cause the disease, Yang said. These findings set the stage for exciting research in understanding how genetic, environmental and other factors combine in ALL, especially in the context of racial and ethnic disparity, he said.
"These and other genomic studies suggest we are poised to finally make significant progress in eliminating racial disparities in this catastrophic disease," Yang said. Additional work is needed to translate these findings into new clinical tools, he added.
Each year ALL is found in about 3,000 U.S. children, making it the most common childhood cancer. The incidence varies by self-declared race and ethnicity with rates for Hispanic individuals 50 percent higher than for non-Hispanic white individuals. For this study, researchers used genetic variations rather than individual self-report to define ancestry. White children were defined as having greater than 95 percent European ancestry and Hispanics children as having greater than 10 percent Native American ancestry.
Although the work of St. Jude researchers and others is helping to close the survival gap, Hispanic children are still less likely than children from other racial or ethnic backgrounds to be alive five years after diagnosis.
This study builds on the earlier St. Jude research that linked different versions of the ARID5B gene to ALL risk.
St. Jude and COG investigators partnered to see if variations in the ARID5B gene help to explain differences in either the incidence or the outcome of ALL in white and Hispanic patients. ARID5B belongs to a family of genes called transcription factors. They play a role in the normal development of white blood cells, which are targeted in ALL. Evidence suggests the gene also influences how methotrexate, a key anti-leukemia drug, is metabolized.
To find ARID5B variants related to ALL, the study compared the gene in 330 Hispanic children with ALL and 541 Hispanic individuals without ALL. Researchers also checked ARID5B in 978 white ALL patients and 1,046 white individuals without the cancer.
Although the high-risk versions of ARID5B were found in both white and Hispanic patients, those variants were 1.5 to two times more common in Hispanic children than in white children.
Individuals inherit two copies of every gene, one from each parent. Children with one high-risk version of ARID5B were up to 80 percent more likely to develop ALL than others. Inheriting two copies of a high-risk version of the gene translated into a 3.6-fold increased ALL risk.
Researchers also found evidence linking ARID5B variants to relapse risk in 1,605 pediatric ALL patients enrolled in COG studies. Yang and his colleagues previously linked that level of Native American ancestry to a higher relapse risk in Hispanic ALL patients. Patients in this study who inherited a high-risk version of ARID5B were 50 percent more likely to relapse than other patients. They were also more likely to die of their cancer.
The study's first author is Heng Xu of St. Jude. Other authors are Cheng Cheng, Deqing Pei, Yiping Fan, Wenjian Yang, Geoff Neale, William E. Evans, Ching-Hon Pui, and Mary Relling, all of St. Jude; Meenakshi Devidas, University of Florida, Gainesville; Paul Scheet, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, Dara Torgerson, Celeste Eng and Mignon Loh, all of University of California, San Francisco; Michael Dean, National Cancer Institute; Federico Antillon, Unidad Nacional de Oncologia Pediatrica, Guatemala; Naomi Winick, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Paul Martin, Duke University; Cheryl Willman, University of New Mexico; Bruce Camitta, Medical College of Wisconsin; Gregory Reaman, George Washington University, Children's National Medical Center; William Carroll, New York University; and Stephen Hunger, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado.
Yang was supported by the American Society of Hematology Scholar Award and the Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer Young Investigator Award. The work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, the Jeffrey Pride Foundation, CureSearch and ALSAC.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Heng Xu, Cheng Cheng, Meenakshi Devidas, Deqing Pei, Yiping Fan, Wenjian Yang, Geoff Neale, Paul Scheet, Esteban G. Burchard, Dara G. Torgerson, Celeste Eng, Michael Dean, Frederico Antillon, Naomi J. Winick, Paul L. Martin, Cheryl L. Willman, Bruce M. Camitta, Gregory H. Reaman, William L. Carroll, Mignon Loh, William E. Evans, Ching-Hon Pui, Stephen P. Hunger, Mary V. Relling, and Jun J. Yang. RID5B Genetic Polymorphisms Contribute to Racial Disparities in the Incidence and Treatment Outcome of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2012; DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2011.38.0345
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/DhxuQVzWfV8/120130172619.htm
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Allen West being redistricted out of existence in effort led by Romney ...
The establishment is fighting back, alright.
This has not received a lot of national attention, but the Republican legislature in Florida is about to push through a plan which puts Allen West at serious risk, and the person leading the effort is one of Mitt Romney?s spokemen.? As reported by The Shark Tank:
After last night?s [Jan. 26] Republican Presidential debate, the candidates? respective spinmeisters made their cases to the media as to why their guy won the debate.? One of Governor Mitt Romney?s spokesmen was Florida Representative Will Weatherford, and during the course of his remarks in the ?Spin Room?, he shed a very dim light on the ongoing redistricting process in the Florida Legislature?.
West?s congressional district inexplicably sheds the most out support as compared to all other incumbent Republican and Democrat Congressman. A few weeks back we quoted an unnamed legislator saying that, ?Allen West was screwed?, a statement which was originally made about made five months before the purposed maps were made public, leading insiders to believe that the fix was in against Allen West.? But in light of Weatherford?s comment, it is increasingly clear that this is a fait accompli.
According to Weatherford, those preliminary maps will not change- at the most, any additional changes would be minimal, and those changes would not make any appreciable difference from the preliminary maps.? In addition, Weatherford stated that a deal was struck between him, Senate President Mike Haridopolos, and Senator Don Gaetz to finalize these maps and push them through as soon as possible.
Weatherford tried to hide behind a need to comply with [state and]?federal law, but that?s obviously a dodge since there could have been many ways to comply yet not sacrifice West:
A website, SaveAllenWest, had been set up, but it appears to be too late.
One of the rising stars of the Tea Party is about to be sacrificed by?the Republican establishment in Florida, led by someone spinning for Mitt Romney.
Don?t say you weren?t warned.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Why Every Entrepreneur Should Self-Publish a Book
I've published eight books in the past seven years,?five with traditional publishers (Wiley, Penguin, HarperCollins), one comic book, ?and the last two I've self-published. In this post I give?the specific details of all of my sales numbers and advances?with the traditional publishers. Although the jury is still out on my self-published books,?"How to be the Luckiest Man Alive"?and?"I Was Blind But Now I See"??I can tell you these two have already sold more than my five books with traditional publishers, combined. If you, the entrepreneur, self-publish a book you will stand out, you will make more money, you will kick your competitors right in the XX, and you will look amazingly cool at cocktail parties. I know this because I am seldom cool but at cocktail parties, with my very own comic book, I can basically have sex with anyone in the room. But don't believe me, it costs you nothing and almost no time to try it yourself.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/pM6dscEM_nM/
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Student receives free cocaine with Amazon textbook order
By Rosa Golijan
Fernando Ochoa / KSHB
Any university student who has ever purchased a used textbook knows that there are sometimes strange surprises hiding between those pages. Usually they come in the form of messy scribbles or perhaps even a forgotten piece of gum, but in one student's case the unexpected (and unwanted) gift-with-a-textbook-purchase was a bag of cocaine.
WPTV reports that?Sophia Stockton ??a junior at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas?? recently ordered a textbook?from an independent retailer through the Amazon online storefront. The book was intended for a spring course on terrorism and is called "Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives and Issues."
When Stockton flipped through the textbook, she "discovered a bag of white powder had fallen to the ground."?According to WPTV, Stockton feared that the bag contained anthrax and took it to the local police department the next day:
"I told them white powder was in my terrorism textbook and so I put it on the table and they?re like, 'oh, okay,' And so he went back and tested it,? Stockton recalls. ? He comes back and says, ?you didn?t happen to order some cocaine with your textbook, did you?? And I was like, no!?
Gardner law enforcement officials speculate that there may have been up to $400 worth of cocaine in the bag.?
According to GardnerEdge, a Kansas area news site,?the Gardner Police Department?will destroy the cocaine at a later date, but?the officials have?not reported the incident to Amazon or any other agency.
We reached out to Amazon for more information about how such an incident could have occurred. While Stockton's textbook was purchased through the online retailer, it comes from Warehouse Deals. This Amazon storefront offers "deep discounts on open-box, like-new, refurbished, or used products that are in good condition but do not meet Amazon.com's rigorous standards as 'new.'"?
According to the Warehouse Deals' page?on Amazon, all items are inspected prior to being offered for sale:
Prior to offering an item for sale on Warehouse Deals, we verify its physical and functional condition.
Items purchased through independent sellers on the Amazon website are covered by the company's "A-to-z Guarantee," so Stockton could theoretically file?a claim on the grounds that the item she purchased was "not the item depicted in the seller's description." (We sincerely doubt that cocaine was mentioned in the product description, after all.)
At this time it remains a mystery how $400 worth of cocaine wound up in a used textbook.
But if anyone else finds a bag containing a questionable white powder in a mail-order, I would strongly suggest that he or she should not wait an entire day to alert authorities. After all, if the bag in Stockton's textbook did contain anthrax?? as she initially feared?? immediate and appropriate medical evaluation and treatment would've been essential. (For more information about anthrax, you can?consult the World Health Organization website.)
Related stories:
Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts, or circling her?on?Google+.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Obama's populist pitch unifies House Democrats (AP)
CAMBRIDGE, Md. ? President Barack Obama's populist election-year pitch and middle-class message have unified House Democrats. The bitter divisions among Republican White House hopefuls have helped bring them together, too.
"Long may it last," said Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., on the prospect of a drawn-out, bare-knuckle GOP nomination fight between top candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
House Democrats, who gathered for their annual three-day retreat on Maryland's Eastern Shore, echoed many of the themes from Obama's State of the Union speech on economic fairness, boosting manufacturing and helping middle-class Americans, a reflection of campaign messaging and a recognition that their fate is inextricably linked to the president. They held a series of closed-door sessions on strategy for the coming year and later spoke to reporters.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will address the group on Friday. It's a more upbeat Democratic caucus than the one Obama encountered last year when backbiting and frustration split Democrats after a thrashing in the November 2010 midterm elections.
Being out of power for a year will do that. So will a week in which Democrats saw some positive signs, from Obama's address to polls showing more voters think the country is on the right track, to a daring hostage rescue of an American in Somalia. Signs of an economic rebound are prevalent; Commerce Secretary John Bryson told the Democrats that of the 3 million new jobs, 300,000 were in manufacturing.
As for the Democrats' own finances, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised more than $61 million last year and has $11.6 million cash on hand. It also eliminated a lingering debt.
"It's the first time I've seen Democrats this united," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.
That unity will be tested by months of campaigning and legislative fights as well as clear signals from Obama that he will run against Congress.
While Democrats talked about message, Obama was on a three-day, five-state swing that included a stop in Aurora, Colo., where he told the crowd, "We're not going to wait for Congress," on some issues such as producing clean energy to power 3 million homes. He made similar arguments in his speech.
Democratic leaders said Obama should run against a "do-nothing Congress" to highlight for American voters how Republicans have obstructed his agenda. Yet that kind of campaign strategy could be equally damaging to Democrats, who hold 191 seats in the House and control the Senate by a narrow margin, 51-47, plus two independents who generally vote with them. Public approval ratings for Congress have hit all-time lows, dipping to the teens. Voters easily could send scores of members from both parties packing in November.
Republicans signaled they have a ready response to the White House strategy.
"The president can blame anyone he wants, but it won't change the fact that this year will be a referendum on his economic record," said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
For now, Democrats will press ahead with an agenda and rhetoric that mirrors Obama's.
In his State of the Union speech, Obama called for requiring millionaires to pay at least 30 percent in taxes, the so-called Buffett rule, named after a recommendation by billionaire financier Warren Buffett, who benefits from a low 15 percent tax rate on investments, that he be required to pay a higher rate than his secretary. The president also pleaded for legislation that rewards companies that create jobs in the United States instead of shipping them overseas.
Senate Democrats said this week they will move ahead this year with legislation.
Obama also said he would sign a bill that would ban lawmakers from buying and selling stock based on insider information. Senate Democrats signaled they would consider a bill next week.
House Republicans, not Democrats, have the final say on what legislation comes to the floor. Still, House Democrats say the messaging is in sync.
"I think that's led to a real spirit of optimism for the election," Andrews said. "A realistic spirit but an optimistic one."
Democrats face a tough challenge in recapturing the House as Republicans have shored up their vulnerable lawmakers through redistricting. The GOP scoffs at the notion that Democrats can win the 25 seats necessary to take control.
Still, in a sign of Democratic boldness, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., sported a button that said "Thanks Obamacare," the derisive shorthand that Republicans use to describe the president's overhaul of the health care system.
Schakowsky said there may come a time when "Obamacare might be up there with Social Security."
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Stressed? Relax in SFO airport's new yoga room
Courtesy of San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport now has a yoga room where frazzled travelers can take a few moments to relax before or after a flight.
By Harriet Baskas, msnbc.com contributor
Stressed-out travelers willing and able to be flexible now have a new way to relax and refresh at San Francisco International Airport.
On Thursday, the airport officially opens what it claims is the world?s first dedicated yoga room at an airport.
??The room gives modern travelers a space that fosters and supports quiet and reflection. Those aren?t emotions that people typically encounter at the airport,??said Melissa Mizell, design director for Gensler, the Terminal 2 architecture firm that also created the yoga room,?in a statement.
Courtesy of San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport now has a yoga room where frazzled travelers can take a few moments to relax.
Located just past the security checkpoint in the recently renovated Terminal 2, the new yoga room is bathed in calming blue light, with a floating wall said to symbolize a buoyant spirit and enlightened mind. Lights in the room are low and warm ? to counteract the bright concourse ??and loaner mats are supplied.
The innovative idea is getting early kudos.
"Relax passengers between flights? Help them find balance in the crazy world of travel? How wonderful!," said nurse consultant Anya Clowers of JetwithComfort.com.
"Airports like SFO get it," said Greg Principato, president of Airports Council International - North America. "They are looking at the big picture and meeting the needs of travelers by offering products and services that contribute to their overall comfort."
In the spring, large, felt-constructed rocks will be added to the room and arranged in a nod to Japanese-style, Zen garden spaces.
SFO spokesperson Charles Schuler said the new yoga room will be open whenever the Terminal 2 security checkpoint is open ??currently 4:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. ??and that a list of yoga room rules will soon be posted. ?To help people find the room, we?ve even created signs that feature a stylized pictogram depicting a person in the lotus position.?
Sound too woo-woo for you?
For travelers seeking an alternate space to gather their thoughts without having to get down on the floor, SFO also offers the Berman reflection room ???a center for quiet reflection and meditation? ??pre-security in the International Terminal.
And for those who?find relaxation amid the bright lights and bustle, there's?no shortage of?bars.
More on TODAY Travel
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Security Council meets on Syria; revolt nears Damascus (Reuters)
HARASTA, Syria (Reuters) ? The U.N. Security Council meets on Friday to discuss the next move on Syria and council envoys said members will be given a new Western-Arab draft resolution, as fighting between troops and rebels edged closer to Syria's capital Damascus.
Morocco was expected to distribute at the meeting the new draft resolution that supports the Arab League's call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer his powers to his deputy to set up a unity government and prepare for elections after a ten-month crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
"The UN Security Council will meet in closed consultations this Friday (at) 3:00 p.m. in New York to discuss steps to take on the situation in Syria," France's U.N. mission said on its Twitter page (@FranceONU).
The Security Council could vote as early as next week on the resolution, which diplomats from Britain and France are crafting in consultation with Qatar, Morocco, the United States, Germany and Portugal, envoys said. It replaces a Russian text that Western diplomats say is too weak.
The Moroccan delegation met on Thursday with Russian and Chinese diplomats to present them with the latest version of the draft, council diplomats told Reuters. It was not immediately clear what their initial response was.
The draft, obtained by Reuters, calls for a "political transition" but not for U.N. sanctions against Damascus, something Moscow has said it would not support.
Russia, together with China, vetoed a European-drafted resolution in October that condemned Syria and threatened it with sanctions. It is unclear whether Russia is ready to wield its veto again to block council action on Syria.
Several Western envoys told Reuters that Russia might find it difficult to veto a resolution that is simply intended to provide support for the Arab League.
FIGHTING NEARS DAMASCUS
Clashes between rebels and security forces in the Damascus suburb of Douma, a hotbed of protests and armed rebellion against Assad, raged throughout the day on Thursday, and gunfire was heard from central Damascus during the night.
Activists said army deployment and clashes in townships around Damascus were a response to insurgents' growing strength.
"The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has almost complete control of some areas of the Damascus countryside and some control in Douma and Harasta," an activist said by telephone from Harasta.
Other activists in Douma, Harasta and Irbin said security forces had gathered in their towns after rebels retreated because they could not fight pitched battles with the army.
Arab League monitors, now without 55 Gulf Arab colleagues withdrawn by their governments this week in protest at continued bloodshed, were resuming work after a one-week gap during which the Arab League prolonged their mission by another month.
A group of Arab observers stopped at an entrance to the Damascus suburb of Irbin, where a dozen soldiers stood guard. Beyond them a crowd of about 100 anti-Assad protesters shouted slogans. The troops showed the monitors the bodies of a soldier and another person they said had been killed in the morning.
The observers drove away without going into the township.
Elsewhere, three people were killed in Homs, a sniper killed a 58-year-old woman in Hama and a 14-year-old boy was killed in the southern city of Deraa, the British-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
State news agency SANA said "terrorists" had assassinated a colonel in Homs and detonated a bomb in Deraa province, killing an army lieutenant as he tried to defuse it.
Also in Homs, militiamen loyal to Assad killed 14 members of a Sunni family on Thursday in one of the grizzliest sectarian attacks of the uprising, activists and residents said.
Eight children, aged eight months to nine years old were among 14 Bahader family members shot or hacked to death in a building in the mixed Karm al-Zeitoun neighborhood, they said.
The militiamen, known as 'shabbiha', entered the district after loyalist forces fired heavy mortar rounds on the area, killing another 16 people, residents and activists in the city told Reuters by phone.
Tit-for-tat sectarian killings began in Homs, 140 km (88 miles north of Damascus, four months ago, following armored military assaults on Sunni areas of the city by forces led by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect.
The killings have raised the prospect of the pro-democracy protest movement against Assad turning into a civil war, as his opponents take up arms and fight back against loyalist forces.
The Alawite community, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has dominated politics and the security apparatus in Syria, a mostly Sunni country of 20 million people, for the last five decades.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon in Beirut, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, John Irish in Paris, Tom Perry in Cairo and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Louise Ireland, Mark Heinrich and Sanjeev Miglani)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_syria
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AT&T posts 4Q loss on charges; revenue increases
In this Jan. 23, 2012 photo, the AT&T globe logo hangs on an AT&T Wireless store in Hanover, Mass. AT&T Inc. reported a fourth-quarter loss Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, as results were weighed down by hefty charges. But strong smartphone sales led to the best-ever quarter in activations. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
In this Jan. 23, 2012 photo, the AT&T globe logo hangs on an AT&T Wireless store in Hanover, Mass. AT&T Inc. reported a fourth-quarter loss Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, as results were weighed down by hefty charges. But strong smartphone sales led to the best-ever quarter in activations. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
NEW YORK (AP) ? AT&T Inc. is still the home of the iPhone. It activated 7.6 million of them in the latest quarter, accounting for one out of every five iPhones sold globally.
And AT&T remains heavily dependent on the iPhone to gain and keep customers, despite a vow by CEO Randall Stephenson a year ago to "very aggressively" market competing smartphones in 2011. That vow came in the wake AT&T's loss of an exclusive right to sell the iPhone in the U.S.
The iPhone accounted for about 80 percent of the smartphones AT&T activated in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 70 percent just before Stephenson made his vow.
The figures are somewhat skewed because the fourth quarter of 2011 saw the launch of a new iPhone model, the iPhone 4S, whereas the fourth quarter of 2010 didn't. Looking at annual sales instead, there's a decline in the iPhone's percentage of AT&T smartphones ? to 69 percent last year, from 79 percent in 2010.
The Dallas-based company has also retained its position as the premier U.S. iPhone carrier, beating Verizon Wireless' 4.3 million iPhone activations handily.
AT&T's iPhone dependency comes at a heavy cost. The phone is more expensive than many other smartphones, and AT&T needs to subsidize each iPhone with hundreds of dollars to put it in customers' hands for as little as $1.
That, together with massive charges for adjustments in the value of the company's pension plans, the breakup of a deal to buy T-Mobile USA and a writedown of the value of its phone-directory business, forced AT&T to report a massive loss on Thursday of $6.68 billion, or $1.12 per share, for the fourth quarter.
It was the first quarterly loss for AT&T in three years. An adjustment of pension-plan obligations was also the main culprit behind the previous loss, in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Excluding charges, net income was 42 cents per share in the latest quarter, a penny shy of Wall Street expectations, according to a survey by FactSet.
The loss compares with net income of $1.09 billion, or 18 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue rose 3.6 percent to $32.5 billion, helped by the smartphone sales. Analysts were expecting revenue of $31.99 billion, on average.
AT&T also said it expects earnings per share to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2012, a bit lower than analysts had expected.
In morning trading Thursday, shares of AT&T Inc. fell 63 cents, or 2 percent, to $29.59.
In a welcome move for investors, AT&T is shifting the cash it had hoped to buy T-Mobile with into stock buybacks, saying it will buy back 300 million shares, worth about $9 billion at current prices, into a program that will start immediately.
Most of the iPhone activations were upgrades for people who were already AT&T subscribers. The carrier gained a net 717,000 subscribers on contract plans in the quarter. That was the best result all year, but didn't match Verizon's 1.2 million. AT&T has been lagging Verizon in this important measure for more than a year.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Keith Urban's voice in good shape after surgery (omg!)
NASHVILLE (Reuters) - Country singer Keith Urban says that during the three weeks he was ordered not to speak late last year after vocal surgery, he learned a few valuable lessons about communication including this: sometimes people talk too much.
"I was amazed at how much noise there is on television and in conversations," Urban told Reuters on Wednesday. "It's rubbish. We could strip away so much ... be more succinct ... and still make our point.
"I realized I'm as guilty as anybody. I learned that when you have to write stuff down you get real particular as to how and what you want to say."
The singer underwent surgery in November to remove polyps from a vocal chord, causing his doctor put him on vocal rest for three weeks and bar him from singing until February.
Urban, who has nothched a No. 1 single "Long Hot Summer" with co-writer Richard Marx, said that while he was unable to talk, his other senses improved, especially hearing.
He thought ahead, too, and prepared for how he would communicate with his three-year-old daughter, Sunday Rose. He recorded several of her favorite books onto a tape, and after his surgery, he would take the recorder to her room at night, press play and turn the pages of the book so he could "read."
Sunday Rose would let the tape play for a little while and then she'd hit the stop button. She would look at her dad and say, "I want you to read it," Urban said.
His wife, actress Nicole Kidman, would have to explain to Sunday Rose why daddy couldn't actually read to her.
Urban, whose hits include "You Look Good in My Shirt" "Making Memories of Us" and "Somebody Like You," is fully recovered from his surgery and plans to return to the stage on February 4, when he performs at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He is also planning a huge benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville on April 10.
(Reporting By Vernell Hackett, Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Giffords a reality check in chamber of politics
President Barack Obama embraces retiring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., as members of Congress applaud before his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb)
President Barack Obama embraces retiring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., as members of Congress applaud before his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb)
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., arrives as members of Congress applaud before President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chair between Reps. Jeff Flake and Raul Grijalva stood empty at last year's State of the Union address, reserved for their colleague, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. They could hardly have imagined that just one year later she would actually be able to join them one more time.
The two Arizona lawmakers said it was an emotional ride watching Giffords enter the House for only the second time since she was shot in the head last January and just one day before she tenders her resignation so that she can focus on her recovery.
"There was a bit of sadness, but it was kind of uplifting to see what this young woman has done to get herself where she is now. I have nothing but admiration for what's she's done," said Grijalva, a Democratic lawmaker who represents an adjacent congressional district in Southern Arizona.
Giffords was greeted with cheers of "Gabby, Gabby" from many of her colleagues after entering the House chamber. Flake watched as Supreme Court justices, cabinet members and President Barack Obama greeted her. Obama gave Giffords a long embrace and the two swayed from side to side as they hugged.
"It was just a very special experience to be there," said Flake, a Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate seat that Giffords may have challenged him for had she not been wounded. "Knowing what she has gone through, it's just incredibly special. We all know she has given 100 percent."
Limping a little, Giffords beamed around the chamber and raised her left hand to wave. Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, approached with two bags of chocolate, which Giffords took, grinning.
She looked to the gallery to wave at her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. When First Lady Michelle Obama took her seat next to him, she waved, too.
She has inspired gestures of bipartisanship. Last year, in the tender days after the shooting, members of both parties sat together across the chamber, rather than Democrats to the president's right and Republicans to his left. Many lawmakers did the same this year.
Throughout the speech, Flake, sitting at Giffords' side, repeatedly helped her stand as her fellow Democrats applauded Obama. Grijalva said he sensed that she was getting tired toward the end of the night.
Giffords' presence may be the only element about the event above politics.
Obama used the highest-profile pulpit in the land to reclaim the spotlight from Republicans battling for the right to face him in the general election. He was speaking to a Congress cranky after a year of the bitterest partisan fighting in recent memory.
But the political subtext seems trivial compared with the wrenching journey Giffords has traveled from the shooting a year ago in Tucson to the House chamber Tuesday night. The shootings left six dead, Giffords recovering from a bullet wound to the head and 12 others injured.
She has since regained a halting ability to speak and walk on her own. She was so disgusted about the way Congress was handling the debate over whether to raise the nation's debt ceiling in August that she made a surprise appearance in the House chamber to cast her vote.
Giffords earned a reputation as someone who tried to reach common ground with her opponents. Grijalva said that even she would have struggled over the past year.
"One of her wonderful legacies is she tried to build consensus. With the emergence of the tea party in the House, she herself would have found it difficult to gain consensus," Grijalva said.
Still, Flake said he believes her example had helped lawmakers to strive to work together more, at least within the Arizona delegation.
Giffords will vote on one last bill, a measure she co-authored to impose tougher penalties on smugglers who use small, low-flying aircraft to avoid radar detection and bring drugs across the Mexican border.
Her office said in a press release that she will then submit her resignation letter.
Giffords' ends her resignation letter with the words: "Every day I am working hard. I will recover and will return and we will work together again for Arizona and for all Americans."
___
Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Jane Carrey: Jim Carrey's Daughter On 'American Idol' Audition (VIDEO)
Will there be another major celebrity to come out of the Carrey clan?
Jane Carrey, daughter of star funnyman Jim Carrey, auditioned for the judges of "American Idol" in the episode aired on Sunday night. Before her vocal effort was shown, the 24-year-old participated in one of the show's trademark pre-recorded packages that highlighted her relationship with her famous father.
"It was definitely fun growing up with him as a father, he's not the most extravagant celebrity so it's been fairly normal -- fairly. Everyone growing up has their issue with identity and trying to find themselves," she said. "It is difficult kind of growing up in the shadow of something and trying to find your place in the world under the huge shadow. The last name definitely helps and hurts, I feel like there's kind of this pressure to maybe be better, because if I make it somewhere, I run the risk of people saying 'Oh you only got there because of this.'"
Judge Jennifer Lopez remembered Jane from her time working with Jim on "In Living Color," which caused a bit of a crisis over all the years that have passed since the show aired. That didn't prejudice Lopez from letting her pass, though; Jane's rendition of Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About" got the trio of judges saying yes.
WATCH:
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
Monday, January 23, 2012
A healthy genome is characterized by 23 pairs of chromosomes, and even a small change in this structure ? such as an extra copy of a single chromosome ? can lead to severe physical impairment. So it's no surprise that when it comes to cancer, chromosomal structure is frequently a contributing factor, says Prof. Ron Shamir of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University.
Now Prof. Shamir and his former doctoral students Michal Ozery-Flato and Chaim Linhart, along with fellow researchers Prof. Shai Izraeli and Dr. Luba Trakhtenbrot from the Sheba Medical Center, have combined techniques from computer science and statistics to discover that many chromosomal pairs are lost or gained together across various cancer types. Moreover, the researchers discovered a new commonality of chromosomal aberrations among embryonic cancer types, such as kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers.
These findings, recently published in Genome Biology, could reveal more about the nature of cancer. As cancer develops, the genome becomes increasingly mutated ? and identifying the pattern of mutation can help us to understand the nature and the progression of many different kinds of cancer, says Prof. Shamir.
Looking at the big picture
As cancer progresses, the structure of chromosomes is rearranged, individual chromosomes are duplicated or lost, and the genome becomes abnormal. Some forms of cancer can even be diagnosed by identifying individual chromosomal aberrations, notes Prof. Shamir, pointing to the example of a specific type of leukemia that is caused by small piece of chromosome 9 being moved to chromosome 22.
When analyzing many different kinds of cancer, however, the researchers discovered that chromosomal aberrations among different cancers happen together in a noticeable and significant way. The researchers studied a collection of more than fifty thousand cancer karyotypes ? representations of chromosomal layouts in a single cell ? and charted them according to commonalities. The researchers were not only able to confirm different chromosomal aberrations that appeared in specific cancer types, but also for the first time identified a broader effect of pairs of chromosomes being lost or gained together across different cancer types.
It was also the first time that researchers saw a connection among solid kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers. While it was known that these cancers all develop in the embryo, they were previously analyzed independently. The TAU researchers have now confirmed that they share chromosomal characteristics and aberrations, much like various forms of leukemia or lymphomas.
Aberrations a driving force for cancer
Under normal circumstances, even a small change to a person's chromosomal structure can be devastating. For example, Down's syndrome is caused by a single extra copy of Chromosome 21. "But in cancer, there are many cases of extra or missing chromosomes. Yet cancer cells thrive more effectively than other cells," Prof. Shamir says.
Prof. Shamir hopes that future investigation into these chromosomal aberrations will give researchers more clues into why something that is so detrimental to our healthy development is so beneficial to this disease. Cancer is the result of sequences of events, he says, each causing the genome to become more mutated, mixed, and duplicated. Tracking these changes could aid our understanding of the driving forces of cancer's progress.
###
American Friends of Tel Aviv University: http://www.aftau.org
Thanks to American Friends of Tel Aviv University for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116946/Patterns_of_chromosome_abnormality__The_key_to_cancer_
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npc sharing
The GM has the ability to set any rules for his/her game that she/she desires. If the GM wishes to retain exclusive control of NPCs for the sake of controlling the story, that is entirely at their discretion. As long as the GM doesn't have a problem with it, players can also create NPCs and then control them exclusively or share them as they see if. It's about all about what the particular RP wants and the best way to accomplish goals.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/dfqBuq9NT5Y/viewtopic.php
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? A healthy genome is characterized by 23 pairs of chromosomes, and even a small change in this structure -- such as an extra copy of a single chromosome -- can lead to severe physical impairment. So it's no surprise that when it comes to cancer, chromosomal structure is frequently a contributing factor, says Prof. Ron Shamir of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University.
Now Prof. Shamir and his former doctoral students Michal Ozery-Flato and Chaim Linhart, along with fellow researchers Prof. Shai Izraeli and Dr. Luba Trakhtenbrot from the Sheba Medical Center, have combined techniques from computer science and statistics to discover that many chromosomal pairs are lost or gained together across various cancer types. Moreover, the researchers discovered a new commonality of chromosomal aberrations among embryonic cancer types, such as kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers.
These findings, recently published in Genome Biology, could reveal more about the nature of cancer. As cancer develops, the genome becomes increasingly mutated -- and identifying the pattern of mutation can help us to understand the nature and the progression of many different kinds of cancer, says Prof. Shamir.
Looking at the big picture
As cancer progresses, the structure of chromosomes is rearranged, individual chromosomes are duplicated or lost, and the genome becomes abnormal. Some forms of cancer can even be diagnosed by identifying individual chromosomal aberrations, notes Prof. Shamir, pointing to the example of a specific type of leukemia that is caused by small piece of chromosome 9 being moved to chromosome 22.
When analyzing many different kinds of cancer, however, the researchers discovered that chromosomal aberrations among different cancers happen together in a noticeable and significant way. The researchers studied a collection of more than fifty thousand cancer karyotypes -- representations of chromosomal layouts in a single cell -- and charted them according to commonalities. The researchers were not only able to confirm different chromosomal aberrations that appeared in specific cancer types, but also for the first time identified a broader effect of pairs of chromosomes being lost or gained together across different cancer types.
It was also the first time that researchers saw a connection among solid kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers. While it was known that these cancers all develop in the embryo, they were previously analyzed independently. The TAU researchers have now confirmed that they share chromosomal characteristics and aberrations, much like various forms of leukemia or lymphomas.
Aberrations a driving force for cancer
Under normal circumstances, even a small change to a person's chromosomal structure can be devastating. For example, Down's syndrome is caused by a single extra copy of Chromosome 21. "But in cancer, there are many cases of extra or missing chromosomes. Yet cancer cells thrive more effectively than other cells," Prof. Shamir says.
Prof. Shamir hopes that future investigation into these chromosomal aberrations will give researchers more clues into why something that is so detrimental to our healthy development is so beneficial to this disease. Cancer is the result of sequences of events, he says, each causing the genome to become more mutated, mixed, and duplicated. Tracking these changes could aid our understanding of the driving forces of cancer's progress.
Prof. Shamir heads the Edmond J. Safra Program for Bioinformatics and holds the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair in Bioinformatics.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Friends of Tel Aviv University.
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Journal Reference:
- Michal Ozery-Flato, Chaim Linhart, Luba Trakhtenbrot, Shai Izraeli, Ron Shamir. Large-scale analysis of chromosomal aberrations in cancer karyotypes reveals two distinct paths to aneuploidy. Genome Biology, 2011; 12 (6): R61 DOI: 10.1186/gb-2011-12-6-r61
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123115527.htm
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Isner is out at Australian Open, as are all US men (AP)
MELBOURNE, Australia ? For the first time in four decades, there will be no American man in the fourth round of the Australian Open. John McEnroe thinks he knows why.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion, who is working as a TV analyst at Melbourne Park, suspects a lack of passion.
"You could certainly wonder whether our guys are as hungry as some of the others," McEnroe said on Fox after John Isner lost to 18th-seeded Feliciano Lopez in the third round Friday. "It really comes down to the individual. If people have heart or desire, that to me is more important than any shot."
This is the first time no U.S. player reached the men's fourth round at the Australian Open since 1973 ? when no Americans traveled to the tournament.
Isner, the last American man left in the singles draw, lost to Lopez 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-7 (0), 6-1. It was the 6-foot-9 Isner's second straight five-set match after he knocked out David Nalbandian in a 4-hour, 41-minute thriller.
"It's very ugly, to be honest, to have no one in the round of 16," Isner said. "We've got to try to rectify that next time the big tournaments roll around.
"It's very disappointing. That's not a good effort from the Americans in this tournament. I knew going in today I was the last one left and I wanted to keep on going, but just didn't happen."
Instead, Lopez earned a fourth-round match against Rafael Nadal, who won the 2009 Australian Open and has 10 major titles to his credit.
The last American man to win the Australian Open was Andre Agassi in 2003. No. U.S. man has won a major since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.
"We've been spoiled with the success we've had in the past," McEnroe said.
At least the Americans still have Serena Williams, the 13-time Grand Slam champion who is on a 16-match winning streak at Melbourne Park. She won titles in 2009 and 2010 but missed last year because of injury. On Saturday night, the five-time champion will play Greta Arn of Hungary in the third round.
Before that, defending champion Novak Djokovic will take on Nicolas Mahut of France at Rod Laver Arena.
When four American men reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open in September ? only two majors after no Americans reached the round of 16 at the French Open ? Roddick talked about a "healthy jealousy" contributing to the improvement. There hadn't been four American men into the fourth round at the U.S. Open since 1995.
It didn't last long in Melbourne. Among the best contenders, No. 8 Mardy Fish lost to Alejandro Falla of Colombia in the second round before Roddick hurt his right hamstring had to retire from his second-round match with former No. 1 Lleyon Hewitt.
Ryan Harrison took No. 4 Andy Murray to four sets before losing; Ryan Sweeting lost to No. 5 David Ferrer; and Donald Young lost to qualifier Lukas Lacko.
"People expect us to contend for Grand Slams," McEnroe said. "I think there's a lot of tennis fans, but to have an American contending and winning majors, that would make a big difference."
The pressure of being last man standing got to Isner on Friday when he lapsed in the last set after dominating the fourth-set tiebreaker.
"It just got away from me. I just wasn't as sharp as I needed to be," he said. "It just kind of spiraled out of control there, and it just ... I couldn't climb out of the hole I dug."
"I honestly felt like it was more mental than anything," he added. "Just like the whole match I wasn't really that sharp."
Now he has to consider a Davis Cup series next month against a Swiss team that could feature Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.
"That's not an ideal draw for a first round. But, yeah, it's going to be tough," Isner said. "It's away, and, you know, more than likely I think if Roger plays we're probably the underdogs."
Djokovic started 2011 on a 41-match winning streak and finished it with the No. 1 ranking and three of the four major titles. His two main rivals are already through to the third round on the other side of the draw.
Nadal had a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over Lacko, the last qualifier in the draw. Apart from having his right knee heavily taped, he showed no sign of pain from the bizarre injury ? he hurt his knee while sitting in a chair at his hotel ? that made him think he might miss this tournament.
"The knee is fine ... being in the fourth round without losing a set, it's fantastic news," he said.
Federer followed with an almost flawless performance in a 7-6 (6), 7-5, 6-3 win over 6-foot-10 Croatian Ivo Karlovic. Federer will play Australian teenager Bernard Tomic on Sunday in the fourth round. Tomic, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year, had a tough 4-6, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 win over 13th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.
An early rematch of last year's women's final is already in place, with defending champion Kim Clijsters and Li Na both winning Friday night to set up a meeting in the fourth round.
Clijsters advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Daniela Hantuchova. Li didn't even finish four games before Anabel Medina Garrigues quit with a badly sprained right ankle.
Medina Garrigues twisted her right ankle in the second game and needed treatment on the court. Li won the first three games and had taken the first two points in the fourth game on Medina Garrigues' serve when the Spaniard hit the ball into the air with her racket. She then went ? in tears ? to the net to retire.
"It was really tough, because she tried to continue to play, so I don't know (if) it's like real or fake ... some players they do that," Li said. Then, "I saw she couldn't run and she started to cry. I have to say I am so sorry for her."
The winner of the Clijsters-Li match will likely face a quarterfinal against top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who has not dropped a set in advancing to the fourth round as she continues her quest for a first Grand Slam title. She beat Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-2, 6-2, while third-seeded Victoria Azarenka defeated Mona Barthel 6-2, 6-4.
Wozniacki will next play former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, who beat Christina McHale of the U.S. 6-2, 6-0.
That left just Williams and Vania King as the only Americans in singles at the Australian Open. King plays former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic on Saturday.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Today on New Scientist: 20 January 2012
Speed limit for birds could mean better UAVs
A mathematical model suggests that birds or unmanned aerial vehicles will always crash when flying at certain speeds in a built-up environment
Making the mirror for the world's biggest telescope
A huge honeycomb mirror destined for the Giant Magellan Telescope is pictured inside its enormous spinning furnace
Airport laser interrogator gives you back your bottle
For some, the bottle ban on planes is seen as a victory for terrorism. It looks like it is on the way out - thanks to a novel laser scanning technology
Grouse have signature drumming styles
Male ruffed grouse are the first animals known to make unique non-vocal sounds
Friday Illusion: Stop a spinning object with your mind
See how a swaying background can affect your perception of a rotating object
Writer, M.D. looks inside medics' minds
Does doctors' famously dark humour betray a troubling truth about the emotional demands of medical practice? A collection of short stories enlightens us
First subliming planet foreshadows Mercury's fate
A rocky planet the size of Mercury seems to be turning to gas, demonstrating just how wacky alien planets can be
Take tips from the arts to make robots come alive
Actors, animators and dancers are helping to help create expressive automatons
From tinkering on the fringes to Nobel glory
Andre Geim, who won the physics Nobel for graphene, talks about levitating frogs and why he prefers British humour
Megaupload site takedown sparks Anonymous action
Just a day after SOPA protests, a major file-sharing site has been taken offline - and hacktivists reacted almost immediately
'Human beings are learning machines,' says philosopher
Prevailing wisdom holds that we are born with an innate understanding of the world. No, argues Jesse Prinz: we learn a lot of it for ourselves
Reliving Scott's quest for the South Pole
A hundred years after Captain Scott's fateful mission, a Natural History Museum exhibit includes an abstract, life-size version of his hut
Neural network gets an idea of number without counting
An artificial brain has taught itself to estimate the number of objects in an image without actually counting them, much as humans can
Feedback: Exhibiting quantum behaviour
More quantum parking, how soccer causes global warming, wet clergy on riot duty, and more
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Terrorist killed UK soldiers as they collected pizza
An Irish Republican Army dissident was convicted Friday for the 2009 murders of two unarmed British soldiers ? the first such killings in Northern Ireland for more than a decade ? but a second suspect was acquitted.
The judge sentenced Brian Shivers, 46, to life in prison after concluding he was one of two masked gunmen who riddled off-duty soldiers with more than 60 bullets as they collected pizzas outside an army base. Two soldiers died while four other men, including two delivery men, were wounded.
But Justice Anthony Hart said DNA evidence linking Colin Duffy, 44, to the attackers' getaway car was inadequate to prove he was the other gunman or involved in planning the attack.
Duffy, a reputed senior IRA dissident who has been at the focus of several previous failed police investigations, was expected to walk free from Antrim Crown Court west of Belfast.
The two soldiers slain, 21-year-old Patrick Azimkar and 23-year-old Mark Quinsey, were shot repeatedly at close range as they lay wounded on the ground outside the Massereene army barracks near Antrim. They and friends had gone to the gate to collect pizzas just hours before their scheduled deployment to Afghanistan.
Detectives appeared to catch a critical break when the attackers' escape vehicle was recovered intact. Throughout their decades of violence aimed at forcing Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom, members of the IRA and its dissident offshoots almost always burn their vehicles and clothes after shootings to destroy forensic evidence ? but this time, the fire set in the car had quickly petered out.
During the six-week trial, forensics specialists testified they found DNA traces of both Duffy and Shivers in the car.
Duffy's DNA was detected on a buckle of a seat belt and on a rubber globe ? equipment useful for the gunmen to protect their hands from absorbing traces of gun powder, or to leave fingerprints on the car.
Shivers' DNA was found on a book of matches in the car used in the failed bid to torch it.
The judge said other evidence against Shivers, including his contradictory explanations for where he was on the night of the attack, helped to convict him.
But the judge said the DNA evidence linked Duffy only to the car, not to the attack, and witnesses offered alibis for his location on the night.
"I consider that there is insufficient evidence to satisfy me beyond reasonable doubt that whatever Duffy may have done when he wore the latex glove, or touched the seat belt buckle, meant that he was preparing the car in some way for this murderous attack. And I therefore find him not guilty," Hart said during a judgment that took nearly three hours to read.
Azimkar and Quinsey were the first soldiers to be killed in Northern Ireland since February 1997, when an IRA sniper fatally shot Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick through the neck as he chatted to a motorist at a road checkpoint.
The BBC reported that the sister of Sapper Quinsey, Jaime Quinsey, said her family was "a little bit closer to justice" as a result of the court verdicts.
However, she told a press conference in Antrim on Friday that they were still not able to get closure and that the killings had been a "vicious and cowardly act".
The IRA called a cease-fire later that year and, in 2005, renounced violence and disarmed in support of Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace accord of 1998.
Several splinter groups continue to mount sporadic gun attacks and bombings, most recently Thursday night in Northern Ireland's second-largest city of Londonderry, when two bombs detonated near tourist and welfare offices.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46072821/ns/world_news-europe/
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
ASUS Transformer Prime OTA rolling out, brings new GPS software version
The ASUS Transformer Prime is getting another OTA this evening, and reports say that the GPS is working much better. If you recall, there has been issues surrounding the aluminum casing and GPS signal with the Prime, and ASUS was said to be investigating. We've confirmed that there's a new build version number (IML74K.US_epad-9.4.2.11-20120117) as well as an update to the GPS software bringing it to version 6.9.13, but there's no official changelog just yet. If you're rocking a Prime and haven't rooted it, now would be a good time to check for an update from the About Tablet screen.
Thanks, MexDroid!
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/1lbVrM1an-g/story01.htm
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UniCredit set to succeed with share sale (Reuters)
MILAN (Reuters) ? The 7.5 billion euro ($9.7 billion) rights issue by UniCredit SpA (CRDI.MI) looks set to be almost entirely taken up, allowing it to meet tougher capital requirements being imposed on the euro zone's beleaguered banks.
"Take-up could be around 97 to 98 percent," a source close to the banking consortium handling the issue told Reuters. Subscriptions are expected to be at least 95 percent, another consortium source said.
Friday is the last day of trading in rights to the heavily discounted new shares.
Some 31 European banks must tell their national regulators by Friday how they plan to fill the 115 billion euro collective hole in their balance sheets as part of moves to tackle the continent's sovereign debt crisis.
UniCredit's cash call will allow the Italian lender's core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio to rise above the target of 9 percent of risk-adjusted assets required by the European Banking Authority and almost entirely plug the second biggest capital shortfall in the region after Spain's Santander (SAN.MC).
The two-for-one share offer ends on January 27 and will dilute 2012 earnings per share by around 65 percent, according to analysts' estimates.
The bank's chief executive Federico Ghizzoni said on Wednesday he was confident the sale would be successful, although the company's share price has fallen by around 70 percent in the past year.
The existing shares were trading ex-rights down over 2 percent at 3.29 euros by 1140 GMT, with the right to buy two of the new shares at 1.943 euros trading down 5 percent at 2.59 euros (CRDI_r.MI).
"They seem to have pulled it off, but for the historic shareholders it's a killer," said Alessandro Capeccia, who manages 500 million euros at fund Azimut sgr and said he preferred UniCredit's high-yielding bonds to its shares.
According to other sources close to the underwriting consortium, the rights issue has drawn interest from U.S. institutional investors and from Nordic countries.
Some core shareholders have indicated they will not take up their rights including the Libyan central bank and the Libyan Investment Authority.
DEBT JITTERS
Looking ahead, Italy's largest bank by assets remains vulnerable to the country's sovereign debt woes, analysts say, with already low profitability further dented by the dilutive cash call and question marks hanging over its strategy.
Despite having the biggest international reach among Italian lenders, with operations in 22 countries and 950 billion euros in assets, UniCredit makes 42 percent of its revenues in its home market, compared with 25 percent in Germany, its second biggest cash earner.
It also has 40 billion euros of Italian government bonds on its books, accounting for 43 percent of its total exposure to sovereign debt.
"This is an international lender whose core market happens to be Italy and whose exposure to Italian government debt is considerable," said Nicholas Spiro, managing director of consultant Spiro Sovereign Strategy.
"Italy remains a proxy for euro zone risk and is likely to experience a severe recession this year; this has implications for the bank's plan to improve its profitability," he said.
UniCredit's shares have also borne the brunt of a market sell-off in Italian assets, with its theoretical ex-rights market capitalization now below 20 billion euros, a far cry from the 75 billion euros former chief executive Alessandro Profumo could boast of just four years ago after a buying spree in central and eastern Europe.
That acquisition drive turned UniCredit into the biggest lender in Austria and in several central and eastern European countries, and gave it the third spot in Germany. But at a price.
As Italy and its banks got sucked ever deeper into the debt crisis Ghizzoni revealed a 10.6 billion euro third-quarter loss in November due to big writedowns on the book value of those deals.
Ghizzoni has come under heavy criticism for waiting too long to launch the rights issue on January 9, and the initial market reaction to the steep discount offered was a disaster -- the stock plunged 45 percent in the space of four days.
But the shares then partially recovered. Analysts have said a 90-95 percent take-up by shareholders would be a good result, given current market conditions.
Analysts at DZ Bank, which has a "sell" recommendation on the stock, estimated UniCredit's return on equity after tax in 2012 would be 2.6 percent, compared with a median of 7.4 percent for its European peers.
And with Italy's economy likely to slide into a recession several analysts say the 3.8 billion-euro profit target for 2013 is too ambitious.
($1 = 0.7757 euros)
(Writing by Lisa Jucca and Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Will Waterman)
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Christie to Romney: Release tax return immediately (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Gov. Chris Christie is urging political ally Mitt Romney to immediately release his tax returns rather than waiting until April.
The New Jersey governor tells NBC's "Today" that Romney should "put them out sooner than later because it's always better to have full disclosure."
Romney's taxes have emerged as an issue days before the South Carolina primary. He agreed in Monday night's debate to consider making his returns public, and then on Tuesday committed to releasing them in April. But the multimillionaire candidate now is on the defensive after acknowledging that his effective tax rate is 15 percent. He says most of his income came from investments and speeches rather than earned income. Christie says he wants to remain as governor, but he wouldn't rule out joining a Romney ticket.
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Check Point's Q4 profit tops estimates (Reuters)
TEL AVIV (Reuters) ? Internet and network security provider Check Point Software Technologies beat forecasts with a jump in fourth-quarter profit and forecast growth in 2012 in line with analysts' estimates.
Its shares were up 6.1 percent at $54.00 on Nasdaq on Tuesday.
Chairman and Chief Executive Gil Shwed said there were many reasons to believe that awareness among enterprises of the need for network security would continue to grow.
"But we can't forget there are unfavourable economic factors," Shwed told a news conference. "We expect to see similar growth rates to what we forecast last year."
Israel-based Check Point said it continues to take market share from competitors such as Cisco Systems and is expanding its addressable market.
The company's software blades architecture -- independent, modular software building blocks that prevent network intrusion and are bought on an annual subscription basis -- is selling strongly and boosting deferred revenue growth, he said.
Check Point also launched new appliances, which combine hardware and software, that have been well received in the market, he added.
"As cyber-attacks and security risks reach new levels of sophistication, customer expectations for their security infrastructure also increase," Shwed said.
Check Point has high hopes for its anti-bot software blade, which it plans to launch in early 2012. Bots are hard-to-detect pieces of software that invade networks.
CYBER WARFARE
Shwed said most of the cyber attacks experienced in Israel in recent days have been from bots. Check Point's new technology will help prevent such attacks.
Hackers disrupted online access to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, El Al Airlines and three banks on Monday, just days after an unidentified hacker proclaiming Palestinian sympathies posted the details of thousands of Israeli credit card holders on the Internet. [ID:nL6E8CG26X]
"What happened yesterday was an attack by thousands of computers around the world, some even in Israel," Shwed said, explaining that hackers from abroad manipulated computers in Israel without their users' knowledge by using bots.
Armed with nearly $2.9 billion in cash, Check Point is continuing to buy back shares and look for acquisitions.
"The Check Point story remains on very solid ground, and we believe its high-end appliances could become a growth driver in 2012 and beyond," Oppenheimer analyst Shaul Eyal said.
The company posted fourth-quarter earnings per diluted share of 84 cents, up from 73 cents a year earlier. Buoyed by gains across all key business activities, revenue rose 12 percent to a record $356.8 million.
Check Point had been forecast to earn 82 cents a share on revenue of $355.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"Significant strength in deferred revenue should more than quell any concern investors have over only $1 million in upside to street consensus," Citi analyst Walter Pritchard said in a note to clients.
For the first quarter Shwed forecast revenue of $305-$315 million and earnings per share before one-off items of 69-73 cents. The company is forecast by analysts to earn 72 cents on revenue of $313.6 million.
For all of 2012 he sees revenue of $1.345-$1.395 billion and EPS ex-items of $3.10-$3.20. It is forecast to post revenue of $1.381 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.16.
(Additional reporting by Steven Scheer)
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