High-tech cargo airship being built in California

The Aeroscraft airship, a high-tech prototype airship, is seen in a World War II-era hangar in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Work is almost done on a 230-foot rigid airship inside a blimp hangar at a former military base in Orange Co. The huge cargo-carrying airship is has shiny aluminum skin and a rigid, 230-foot aluminum and carbon fiber skeleton. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Aeroscraft airship, a high-tech prototype airship, is seen in a World War II-era hangar in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Work is almost done on a 230-foot rigid airship inside a blimp hangar at a former military base in Orange Co. The huge cargo-carrying airship is has shiny aluminum skin and a rigid, 230-foot aluminum and carbon fiber skeleton. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Leonel Cruz pulls down the flab on the Aeroscraft airship, a high-tech prototype airship, in a World War II-era hangar in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Work is almost done on a 230-foot rigid airship inside a blimp hangar at a former military base in Orange Co. The huge cargo-carrying airship is has shiny aluminum skin and a rigid, 230-foot aluminum and carbon fiber skeleton. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Aeroscraft airship, a high-tech prototype airship, is seen in a World War II-era hangar in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Work is almost done on a 230-foot rigid airship inside a blimp hangar at a former military base in Orange Co. The huge cargo-carrying airship is has shiny aluminum skin and a rigid, 230-foot aluminum and carbon fiber skeleton. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Bradley Hasemeyer, the host of AOL's Trasnlogic show, uses his smartphone to photograph the Aeroscraft airship, a high-tech prototype airship, outside a World War II-era hangar in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Work is almost done on a 230-foot rigid airship inside the blimp hangar at a former military base in Orange Co. The huge cargo-carrying airship is has shiny aluminum skin and a rigid, 230-foot aluminum and carbon fiber skeleton. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Aeroscraft airship, a high-tech prototype airship, is seen in a World War II-era hangar in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Work is almost done on a 230-foot rigid airship inside a blimp hangar at a former military base in Orange Co. The huge cargo-carrying airship is has shiny aluminum skin and a rigid, 230-foot aluminum and carbon fiber skeleton. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) ? The massive blimp-like aircraft flies but just barely, hovering only a dozen feet off a military hangar floor during flight testing south of Los Angeles.

Still, the fact that the hulking 230-foot-long Aeroscraft could fly for just a few minutes represents a step forward in aviation, according to the engineers who developed it. The Department of Defense and NASA have invested $35 million in the prototype because of its potential to one day carry more cargo than any other aircraft to disaster zones and forward military bases.

"I realized that I put a little dot in the line of aviation history. A little dot for something that has never been demonstrated before, now it's feasible," said flight control engineer Munir Jojo-Verge.

The airship is undergoing testing this month at Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin, and must go through several more rounds of flight testing before it could be used in a disaster zone or anywhere else. The first major flight test took place Jan. 3.

The biggest challenge for engineers is making sure the airship will be able to withstand high winds and other extreme weather conditions, Jojo-Verge said.

"Their vulnerability is their large size," said aviation expert and former Navy test pilot Pete Field. "There's a lot of surface area so wind affects it tremendously."

Worldwide Aeros, the company that developed the aircraft, said it also must secure more funding for the next round of flight tests, but is hopeful the Defense Department and others will step in again as investors.

The company says the cargo airship's potential to carry more cargo more efficiently than ever before would provide the U.S. military with an advantage on the battlefield and greater capacity to save more lives during natural disasters.

The lighter-than-air vehicle is not a blimp because it has a rigid structure made out of ultra-light carbon fiber and aluminum underneath its high-tech Mylar skin. Inside, balloons hold the helium that gives the vehicle lift. Unlike hydrogen, the gas used in the Hindenburg airship that crashed in 1937, helium is not flammable.

The airship functions like a submarine, releasing air to rise and taking in air to descend, said Aeros mechanical engineer Tim Kenny. It can take off vertically, like a helicopter, then change its buoyancy to become heavier than air for landing and unloading.

"It allows the vehicle to set down on the ground. And then when we want to become lighter than air, we release that air and then the vehicle floats and we can allow it to take off," Kenny said.

In the early 1930s, the Navy operated two airships ? the Macon and the Akron ? as flying aircraft carriers that could launch and retrieve biplanes. Both were lost to thunderstorms.

If the design team can make the Aeroscraft steady and maneuverable, it would be the ultimate logistics and transport vehicle, carrying tanks, equipment and supplies to bases around the world, Field said.

"I don't think there's much doubt about whether it's going to work or not. It's physics," he said. "In the right atmospheric conditions, it would be ideal."

The project has set abuzz the old hangars at the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin. The structures were built to hold blimps during World War II. Now workers zip around in cherry-pickers, and the airship's silvery surface shines against the warm tones of the aging wood of the walls.

"You could take this vehicle and go to destinations that have been destroyed, where there's no ports, no runways, stuff like that. This vehicle could go in there, offload the cargo even if there's no infrastructure, no landing site for it to land on, this vehicle can unload its whole payload," said Kenny.

The prototype isn't intended to carry cargo, though a similar-sized craft could haul about 30 tons. Aeros wants to build a full-size 450-foot-long vehicle that can carry 66 tons of payload.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-30-Military%20Airship/id-b3601c39e97d49c797cc856e76a42ea3

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ANALYSIS: Egypt violence has its roots in the economy

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

Protesters use slingshots to launch stones at police in Cairo, Tuesday.

By Ayman Mohyeldin, Correspondent, NBC News

News analysis

CAIRO -- Egypt?s recent days of violence have focused attention on the country?s political crisis ? but the underlying cause remains an economy on the brink of collapse.

Rising prices of basic goods like bread, sugar and gasoline coupled with high rate of unemployment and a lack of social justice has created a lethal and combustible cocktail.

Poor education, youth disenfranchisement, unemployment and poverty have created a reservoir of resentment between the young men leading the protests and the government.

Add to this mix a stagnant political reform process and the lack of confidence in basic government services, including justice, and you can understand the frustration among many Egyptians.

Every few months there is an explosion of violence. The flames are put out by promises of reform or sometimes sheer exhaustion on the part of the protesters but the spark - deep and serious socio-economic problems - remains and that's why we see a repeat.

A state of emergency is imposed on three cities in Egypt. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

On Wednesday, Egypt?s President Mohammed Morsi was on a day trip to Germany despite the fragile security situation in his country.

Turbulent years
The urgency of his mission - to secure economic assistance and assure the international community that this crisis is resolvable - underlines the deeper problems fueling the country?s cyclical unrest.

The immediate trigger for this week's clashes was a convergence of emotion surrounding the second anniversary of the revolution and anger at the passing of a death sentence on 21 defendants on trial following a soccer stadium riot last year.

With each round of violence, the call for Mohamed Morsi to step down continues. ?But most of the country just wants stability - with or without Morsi. Egypt has undergone two of the most turbulent years in its modern history.

The majority of Egyptians will tell you what they want is to feel physically and financially secure. ?The country is still a few years away from achieving that security.

There is a serious lack of leadership from either the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government or the so-called opposition, whose divisions and failure to connect with the demands of the street is making it increasingly irrelevant. The opposition carries no political clout, even if its grievances are legitimate.

Time and money
Morsi has several options to resolve this crisis. Most are short-term measures that could defuse some of the anger and mistrust that has built up between his regime and the opposition and the protesters.

/

On the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, huge crowds take to the streets in five cities.

Longer-term measures to ease social pressures, particularly among the country?s youth, will take time and money ? including international investment.

Egyptians tried the ballot box, but have not yet seen the change they yearn for.? So they are turning to the street to express their dissatisfaction.

Until the government finds a way to absorb and deal with the root cause of people's issues, unrest will continue putting yet more strain on the fragile economy.

In short, this is a race against time in which Egypt, first under the rule of the military, and now under the Muslim Brotherhood, has already wasted two years.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/30/16773099-egypt-violence-is-rooted-in-the-economy-not-just-politics?lite

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Boston Scientific reports weaker results, sets job cuts

(Reuters) - Boston Scientific Corp reported weaker quarterly earnings on Tuesday as sales slipped and expenses rose, and the medical device maker announced more job cuts.

The company said it expected to eliminate 900 to 1,000 jobs worldwide through 2013, bringing the total headcount reduction to 2,100 to 2,400 positions from 2011 to 2013.

Boston Scientific employs 24,000 workers worldwide, according to its website.

Fourth-quarter net earnings fell to $60 million, or 4 cents per share, from $107 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier, the company said.

Excluding special items, earnings were 11 cents per share, matching the average estimate on Wall Street, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue dipped to $1.82 billion from $1.85 billion as sales slipped in the interventional cardiology business, which sells heart stents, and in the cardiac rhythm management business, which sells pacemakers and implantable heart defibrillators. Those two businesses make up more than half of Boston Scientific's total revenue.

Sales rose in the company's other smaller businesses, including urology and women's heath, endoscopy and neuromodulation.

The company forecast first-quarter earnings of 4 cents to 7 per share. It expects adjusted earnings, excluding charges for restructuring, acquisitions and amortization, to be 14 cents to 17 cents per share, with sales of $1.74 billion to $1.82 billion.

For the full year, Boston Scientific estimated earnings at 29 cents to 37 cents per share. It said it expected adjusted earnings of between 64 cents and 70 cents per share on sales of $7.05 billion to $7.35 billion.

(Reporting by Debra Sherman; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-scientific-reports-weaker-results-sets-job-cuts-134814380--finance.html

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Art Comparing Alabama Immigration Law To Nazi Germany Pulled From Museum (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

A professor is taking heat for comparing Alabama's immigration crackdown to Nazi Germany in a series of artistic images including swastikas and depictions of the Virgin Mary.

Edward Noriega, a professor of Art and Design at Troy University in Alabama, had his artwork pulled from an exhibit earlier this month from Talladega's Heritage Hall Museum because the directors objected to the content.

One piece featured stacked Ajax cans relabeled as an "ethnic cleanser" called "Ala, with HB 56," a reference to the immigration crackdown passed by the Alabama legislature in 2011. Another piece shows an image of the Virgin Mary holding a dustpan and a broom in an empty office, over the title "Se?ora de la Limpieza," or "Our Cleaning Lady." An ashtray reads "Feed Me Get Out."

But the kicker appears to have been a red square overlaid with a white swastika and the the abbreviation HB 56. The tips of the swastikas read "Presbyterian indifference, Baptist indifference, Catholic indifference, Methodist indifference."

Heritage Commission President George Hartsfield told local paper The Daily Home that the swastikas were the main cause behind the controversy.

"I'm just not going to display a swastika," Hartsfield said. "That would be like putting up an image of a Klansman, and I'm not going to do it."

But Noriega defended his work explaining it's a criticism against what he says is a hostile environment for Latinos in the southern state.

"I wanted to be able to compare what Alabama is doing with what the Nazis did," Noriega told a CBS News affiliate. "I do believe this law is a form of ethnic cleansing."

It's not clear how many people fled the state after the passing of one of the country's harshest immigration laws, but labor shortages were reported. Some 81 percent of undocumented immigrants are Latin American, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/alabama-immigration-law-nazi-art-edward-noriega_n_2576673.html

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Misconceptions about a popular pet treat

Jan. 28, 2013 ? A popular dog treat could be adding more calories than pet owners realize, and possibly be contaminated by bacteria, according to a study published this month by researchers at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and the University of Guelph.

The treat in question: the "bully" or "pizzle stick." The American and Canadian researchers analyzed the caloric density and bacterial contamination of these popular items, made from the uncooked, dried penis of a bull or steer. They also administered a survey to pet owners to assess their knowledge of these treats.

The study, published in the January 2013 issue of the Canadian Veterinary Journal, examined 26 bully sticks purchased from retailers in the United States and Canada and made by different manufacturers.

A random subset of the 26 bully sticks was tested for caloric content. These bully sticks tested contained between nine to 22 calories per inch, meaning the average six inch stick packed 88 calories--nine percent of the daily calorie requirements for a 50-pound dog, and 30 percent of the daily calorie requirements for a 10-pound dog.

"While calorie information isn't currently required on pet treats or most pet foods, these findings reinforce that veterinarians and pet owners need to be aware of pet treats like these bully sticks as a source of calories in a dog's diet," said Lisa M. Freeman, DVM, PhD, DACVN, professor of nutrition at TCSVM who is board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition.

Freeman was first author on the paper. Co-authors were J. Scott Weese, professor in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Guelph, and Nicol Janecko, a research associate at the Canadian university.

"With obesity in pets on the rise, it is important for pet owners to factor in not only their dog's food, but also treats and table food," Freeman added.

All 26 treats were tested for bacterial contaminants. One (4 percent) of the sticks was contaminated with Clostridium difficile; one (four percent) was contaminated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of staph bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics; and seven (27 percent) were contaminated with Escherichia coli, including one tetracycline-resistant sample.

The number of treats sampled was small and not all of these bacterial strains have been shown to infect humans. However, the researchers advise all pet owners to wash their hands after touching such treats, as they would with any raw meat or raw meat diets. The very young, elderly, pregnant, immunocompromised and other high-risk individuals should avoid all contact with raw animal-product based treats and raw meat diets, note the scientists.

To learn more about veterinarian and pet owner perceptions of dog foods and treats, the research team developed a 20-question Web-based survey. The survey was posted online for public participation for 60 days and all responses were anonymous. It was completed by 852 adults from 44 states and six countries. Most respondents were female dog owners.

"We were surprised at the clear misconceptions pet owners and veterinarians have with pet foods and many of the popular raw animal-product based pet treats currently on the market," said Freeman. "For example, 71 percent of people feeding bully sticks to their pets stated they avoid by-products in pet foods, yet bully sticks are, for all intents and purposes, an animal by-product."

Another surprising finding was the large number of people who did not know what bully sticks actually were. A higher proportion of veterinarians (62 percent) were able to correctly identify the source of bully sticks as bull penis compared to general respondents (44 percent). Twenty-three percent of the respondents fed their dogs bully sticks.

Further research with a larger sample size is needed to determine whether the calorie content and contamination rate found in this study is representative of all bully sticks, or other types of pet treats, according to the authors.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Tufts University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Lisa M. Freeman, Nicol Janecko, J. Scott Weese. Nutritional and microbial analysis of bully sticks and survey of opinions about pet treats. Canadian Veterinary Journal, January 2013

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/most_popular/~3/mAJUX0F5Meo/130128082912.htm

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Chill out ? prostate cancer cells thrive on stress

28 January, 2013

By Staff Writer
NYR Natural News

Natural Health News?? A diagnosis of prostate is a pretty stressful event.

Now a study from researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center indicates that stress is not just an emotional side effect of the diagnosis; it also can reduce the effectiveness of prostate cancer drugs and accelerate the growth of prostate cancer.

The findings are published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The? team tested the effects of behavioural stress in two different mouse models of prostate cancer.

Stress reduces effectiveness of drug therapy

One model used mice that were implanted with human prostate cancer cells and treated with a drug that is currently in clinical trial for prostate cancer treatment. When the mice were kept calm and free of stress, the drug destroyed prostate cancer cells and inhibited tumour growth. However, when the mice were stressed, the cancer cells didn?t die and the drug didn?t work.

In the second model, mice with a genetic predisposition to develop prostate cancer were used. When these mice were repeatedly stressed, the size of prostate tumours increased. When the mice were treated with bicalutamide, a drug currently used to treat prostate cancer, their prostate tumours decreased in size. However, if mice were subjected to repeated stress, the prostate tumours didn?t respond as well to the drug.

According to the researchers epinephrine, a hormone also known as adrenaline, sets off the cellular chain reaction that controls cell death. Considering that prostate cancer diagnosis increases stress and anxiety levels, stress-induced activation of the signalling pathway that turns off the cell death process may lead to a vicious cycle of stress and cancer progression.

Yet in both models in which the mice were given beta-blocker, stress did not promote prostate tumour growth. One of the actions of beta-blockers is to inhibits the activation? epinephrine.

Better ways to destress

Here?s where the researchers thinking goes a bit awry, by suggesting that beta-blockers should be supplied to prostate cancer patients to improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapies. Beta blockers come with a whole host of adverse effects including fatigue, stomach upset, dizziness as well as depression, shortness of breath and loss of sex drive.

Stress reduction is an important part of any kind of cancer regime?? and is really best incorporated in our lifestyle before we get sick.

A study in 2006 have shown for instance that a regime of non-pharmacological stress reduction ? including?meditation, yoga and Tai Chi exercises?? and a plant-based diet were effective in significantly reducing the PSA rate, indicating a reduction in the rate of progression of the prostate cancer.

Similar results were found in a 2011 when diet, physical activity, and stress reduction (in this case meditation) slowed prostate tumour promotion and disease progression.

Lowering levels of other stress hormones

Reducing levels of other stress hormones can be beneficial too. In one 2004 study researchers investigated the relationships between a mindfulness-based stress reduction meditation program for early stage breast and prostate cancer patients and quality of life, mood states, stress symptoms, and levels of cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS) and melatonin.

The participants were enrolled in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program that incorporated relaxation, meditation, gentle yoga, and daily home practice. After 8 weeks the participants experienced enhanced quality of life and decreased stress symptoms.

Source: http://www.nyrnaturalnews.com/mind-body/2013/01/chill-out-prostate-cancer-cells-thrive-on-stress/

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Make Your Smartphone Turn Off Your Music When You Fall Asleep

Android/iOS: If you like to listen to music as you fall asleep, these apps for iOS and Android will monitor your slumber and stop the music once you've fallen into a deep sleep.

The two apps?free Music Off for Android (pictured above) and $2.99 Autosleep Music Timer for iOS?monitor your body movement using your phone's accelerometer to judge when you've fallen asleep (not unlike similar alarm clock apps). Once you do, it'll slowly turn down the volume over a few minutes and stop playing. Of course, you could always just set a timer, too.

Music Off (Free) | Google Play Store via WonderHowTo

Autosleep Music Timer ($2.99) | iTunes App Store via WonderHowTo

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/dN6-3ZeCtHQ/make-your-smartphone-turn-off-your-music-when-you-fall-asleep

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NYC DOE' Common Core Idiocy Hurts Kindergartener's Education

No more paints, no more songs. It's kindergarten time in the New York City Department of Education. Kiddies, you're all cogs in the accountability machine. You must think career at age five. Too bad you are not in a Montessori, Friends or Fieldston school (Links are to admission pages). Oh, I forgot, your parents are not hedge fund managers.

The DOE experts students to unpack verbal statement constructs or theorize about math. Every child is a Noam Chomsky or Ahmes. The teacher is just holding you back from this unless she or he cooperates with the DOE program.

This in, from Susan Edelman at the New York Post, "Playtime?s over, kindergartners Standards stressing kids out":

Kindergarten has come a long way, baby ? too far, some say.

Way beyond the ABCs, crayons and building blocks, the city Department of Education now wants 4- and 5-year-olds to write ?informative/explanatory reports? and demonstrate ?algebraic thinking.?

Children who barely know how to write the alphabet or add 2 and 2 are expected to write topic sentences and use diagrams to illustrate math equations.

?For the most part, it?s way over their heads,? a Brooklyn teacher said. ?It?s too much for them. They?re babies!?

In a kindergarten class in Red Hook, Brooklyn, three children broke down and sobbed on separate days last week, another teacher told The Post.

When one girl cried, ?I can?t do it,? classmates rubbed her back, telling her, ?That?s OK.?

?This is causing a lot of anxiety,? the teacher said. ?Kindergarten should be happy and playful. It should be art and dancing and singing and learning how to take turns. Instead, it?s frustrating and disheartening.?

The city has adopted national standards called the Common Core, which dramatically raise the bar on what kids in grades K through 12 should know.

The jargon is new, too. Teachers rate each student?s performance as ?novice,? ?apprentice,? ?practitioner? or ?expert.?

Kindergartners are introduced to ?informational texts? read aloud, such as ?Garden Helpers,? a National Geographic tale about useful pests.

After three weeks, kids have to ?write a book about what they?ve learned,? with a drawing and sentences explaining the topic.

In math, kids tackle concepts like ?tally chart,? ?combination,? and ?commutative property,? DOE records show.

The big test: ?Miguel has two shelves. Miguel has six books . . . How many different ways can Miguel put books on the two shelves? Show and tell how you know.?

An ?expert? would draw a diagram with a key, show all five combinations, write number sentences for each equation, and explain his or her conclusions using math terms, the DOE says.

?A child who?s an ?expert? is more like a second-grader,? said Cathleen Vecchione, a kindergarten teacher at PS 257 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

?At this point, we?re not ready for it,? she said, noting delays caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The ?super challenging? demands leave less time for puzzles, coloring and games, she said.

DOE spokeswoman Erin Hughes said, ?These are the types of activities and exercises that students need to work on to acquire the skills they need to be ready for middle school, high school, college and careers.?

But kindergarten, she added, should include a ?wide range of activities, including free play.?

susan.edelman@nypost.com

Source: http://nycityeye.blogspot.com/2013/01/nyc-doe-common-core-idiocy-hurts.html

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Video: Dutch Queen to resign throne for son

>>> queen bee acontribution of the netherlands announced today she plans to step aside after 33 years as queen, abdicating the throne so her son, the crown prince, can become that nation's first king in over a century. in a related story, prince charles has been second in line to the british throne for 61 years. fresh off her diamond jubilee , of course, his mother, queen elizabeth , is showing no signs of slowing down.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50621157/

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Chinese Government Considering Lifting Decade-Plus Games ...

China is considering lifting a 12-year-plus long ban on games consoles, according to a report in the China Daily newspaper (via Reuters). The speculation sent shares of Nintendo and?PlayStation-maker Sony surging, with?Nintendo gaining more than 3.5 per cent on the?Nikkei?index and?Sony shares trading 8 per cent higher, according to Reuters.

The China Daily quoted an unnamed source from?the Ministry of Culture saying the console ban was under review. ?We are reviewing the policy and have conducted some surveys and held discussions with other ministries on the possibility of opening up the game console market.?However, since the ban was issued by seven ministries more than a decade ago, we will need approval from all parties to lift it,? the unnamed source is quoted as saying.

But when contacted by Reuters a ministry official denied the report, saying:??The ministry is not considering lifting the ban.?

The Chinese government imposed the games console ban in 2000 ? saying it wanted to safeguard children?s mental and physical well being. Despite the ban on dedicated games consoles, mobile and online games are very popular in China but games makers have to ensure games comply with stringent government requirements or risk their game being banned. Games are typically required to include anti-addiction features which monitor how long a gamer has been playing and warns them to take breaks for health reasons. Gamers are also required to verify their identity and age by using their real name and an ID number that is checked against a government database.

Reuters notes that in November, Sony?s PlayStation 3 received a quality certification from a Chinese safety standards body ? which prompted speculation that the government was planning to lift the ban. Another sign of a possible policy shift:?Chinese electronics maker Lenovo was able to launch a motion-sensing device similar in concept to Microsoft?s Kinect Xbox gaming peripheral last year. The Eedoo CT510 was?marketed as an ?exercise and entertainment machine?.

In February 2011, a Chinese man was reported to have died after spending three days playing an online game at an Internet cafe in Beijing.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/28/chinese-government-considering-lifting-decade-games-console-ban-says-report/

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ABC News story on gun theft nominated for ?Excellence in Axiomatic Journalism? award (Michellemalkin)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279902236?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Casey Anthony files for bankruptcy in Florida

Casey Anthony filed for bankruptcy in Florida on Friday, claiming about $1,100 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities.

Court records show that Anthony, who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2011, sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Tampa.

Her listed debts include $500,000 for attorney fees and costs for her criminal defense lawyer during the trial, Jose Baez; $145,660 for the Orange County Sheriff's office for a judgment covering investigative fees and costs related to the case; $68,540 for the Internal Revenue Service for taxes, interest and penalties; and $61,505 for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for court costs.

The filling also states that she is a defendant in several civil suits, including one brought by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez for defamation in Orange County Circuit Court.

Fernandez-Gonzalez claims she was damaged by Anthony telling detectives that a baby sitter by the same name kidnapped Caylee. The detectives were investigating the 2008 disappearance of the girl, who later was found dead. Anthony's attorney said details offered by Anthony did not match Fernandez-Gonzalez and clearly showed Anthony wasn't talking about her.

AP

FILE - In this July 7, 2011 file photo, Casey Anthony smiles before the start of her sentencing hearing in Orlando, Fla. Casey Anthony has filed for bankruptcy in Florida, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, claiming about $1,100 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities. (AP Photo/Joe Burbank, File) Close

Court papers list Anthony as unemployed, with no recent income.

An attorney for Anthony, David Schrader, did not immediately respond to messages from the Associated Press.

Anthony lists about 80 creditors in the 60-page court filing. The claims largely cover fees for legal, medical, psychiatric and forensics consulting or services. But one claim covers a debt for scuba diving services.

According to the courts, the aim of seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection is to be discharged of existing debts ? essentially to get a fresh financial start. A trustee may have the right to take possession of and sell non-exempt property and use the sale proceeds to pay creditors, but Anthony lists little in the way of assets. A debtor may still be held responsible for some obligations, such as taxes and student loans. Persons found to have committed "certain kinds of improper conduct" can also be denied bankruptcy protection.

The filing came on the same day that a Florida appellate court set aside two of the four convictions she faced for lying to detectives during the investigation into her missing daughter.

Though Anthony was acquitted of killing Caylee, jurors convicted her of four counts of lying to detectives, and her attorneys appealed those convictions. Anthony was sentenced to time served for the misdemeanors.

She was sentenced to a year of probation after her release from jail for an unrelated case. For her protection, her whereabouts have been kept secret since she was released from state supervision last year.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/casey-anthony-files-bankruptcy-fla-18326070

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Over 232 People Die In Horrific Brazilian Club Fire (VIDEOS)

Over 232 People Die In Horrific Brazilian Club Fire (VIDEOS)

A fire broke out in a nightclub called The Kiss Club Brazil in the wee hours of the morning, with over 232 people confirmed dead. Sources claim security guards tried to keep people from leaving the club before realizing what was happening as the blaze quickly spread in the building. Club goers were said to ...

Over 232 People Die In Horrific Brazilian Club Fire (VIDEOS) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/01/over-232-people-die-in-horrific-brazilian-club-fire/

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Animation shows Arctic chill crawling across the U.S.

If you live anywhere within the northern two-thirds of the United States, you've probably noticed that it's pretty chilly outside. The plunge in temperatures over the past few days comes courtesy of an invasion of Arctic air that has been captured in a mesmerizing new animation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The animation, made with weather data from the NOAA/NCEP Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis, begins on Saturday (Jan. 19) with very cold air seen only over the Rockies, Montana, North Dakota, the northern half of Minnesota and the northern portions of New England. Much of the eastern and central parts of the country saw weekend weather that was balmier than usual for mid-January.

Thanks to a kink in the jet stream that brought it dipping down, the cold air begins plunging southward on Sunday, mostly in the northern plains states and the Midwest. On Monday it begins to surge even farther to the south, covering the Plains, the Midwest, the Northeast and even extending into some of the southern states.

The cold surge retreats a bit later in the day, then makes another push on Tuesday, fully extending into the northern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The pattern repeats on Wednesday, with the cold receding much farther north later in the day, before making another southward push on Thursday.

All the back-and-forth is caused by diurnal cycle of heating and cooling, a NOAA statement explains, but "the pattern is clear: much of the U.S. is pretty cold," it notes.

The cold air is expected to retreat from the Midwest this weekend, letting warmer air force its way in, according to Accuweather.com. The collision of these air masses will bring an ice storm to the region, the site's meteorologists predict.

Snow and icy weather could hit the eastern United States starting tomorrow (Jan. 25), with temperatures finally rising above freezing over the weekend or early next week, depending on the location.

Reach Andrea Thompson at athompson@techmedianetwork.com and follow her on twitter @AndreaTOAP. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter?@OAPlanet. We're also on?Facebook?and Google+.

Copyright 2013 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chilling-arctic-air-invasion-captured-animation-225601925.html

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