Gunman holding firefighters killed; 4 hostages OK

An EMT works in the back of an ambulance as it leaves an Suwanee, Ga., subdivision after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

An EMT works in the back of an ambulance as it leaves an Suwanee, Ga., subdivision after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A police officer runs after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A group of people huddle together after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A police officer clears a path for an ambulance after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A police officer leaves the scene after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostage suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

SUWANEE, Ga. (AP) ? A gunman who was having financial problems held four firefighters for hours in a suburban Atlanta home, demanding his cable and power be turned back on, before being shot dead when SWAT members stormed the house, authorities said Wednesday. The hostages had cuts and bruises from explosions officers set off to distract the gunman before moving in, but they will be fine, a fire official said.

Minutes before the police announcement on the resolution, a huge blast could be heard a quarter-mile away from the home, shuddering through the Suwanee neighborhood, setting off car alarms.

Earlier Wednesday, five firefighters responded to what seemed like a routine medical call and were eventually taken hostage by an unidentified suspect inside the house, police said. The gunman released one of the firefighters to move a fire truck but held the other four.

Dozens of police and rescue vehicles surrounded the home and a negotiator was keeping in touch with the gunman, police said. The situation remained tense until the blast rocked the neighborhood of mostly two-story homes and well-kept lawns. Residents unable to get into their neighborhood because of the police cordon flinched and recoiled as the enormous blast went off.

Soon after the stun blast, officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect and a SWAT member was shot in the hand or arm, but should be fine, said Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter. Ritter would not saw how the gunman was fatally shot, saying it was being investigated.

"The explosion you heard was used to distract the suspect, to get into the house and take care of business," Ritter said in a news conference minutes after the resolution. He said the situation had gotten to the point where authorities believed the lives of the hostages were in "immediate danger."

The gunman, who has not been identified, demanded several utilities be restored, Ritter said. According to public records, the home is in foreclosure and has been bank-owned since mid-November.

"It's an unfortunate circumstance we did not want this to end this way," Ritter said. "But with the decisions this guy was making, this was his demise."

Firefighters were able to use their radios to let the dispatch center know what was going on, said Fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said, and Ritter said officials decided to "get control of the situation" and do it swiftly.

Rutledge said the medical call seemed routine and firefighters did not believe there was any danger. One engine and one ambulance responded. Ritter said authorities didn't yet know if the suspect may have faked a heart attack or some other problem to bring the firefighters to his home.

"Our firefighters responded to a call they respond to hundreds of times, and that's a medical emergency," Rutledge said.

Two ambulances could be seen leaving after the gunfire ended.

Asked what kind of weapon or weapons the suspect had, Ritter said he didn't immediately know. He said investigators were in the house where the suspect's body remained.

---

Lucas reported from Atlanta.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-10-Firefighters%20Hostage-Georgia/id-19c68b836dc14d45a419e4bee3926623

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Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile that could hit deep within India

Pakistan said Wednesday that it had successfully fired a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

By John Newland and Fakhar Rehman, NBC News

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ? Pakistan raised its nuclear ante Wednesday by saying it had conducted a successful test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead almost 600 miles, far enough to strike deep within India, its nuclear-armed neighbor.

The Shaheen-1 missile struck its intended target at sea, according to a statement from the Pakistani military.

The missile incorporates a series of technical improvements and has a longer range than its predecessors, the statement said.

Pakistan has an arsenal of at least 90 nuclear warheads and has been quickly increasing the range of its missiles, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.?

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Pakistan has the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile.

Meanwhile, India has an estimated 100 nuclear weapons, according to the Arms Control Association, and tensions between the next-door neighbors, which have historically been high, have risen lately with a conflict over the disputed Kashmir territory.

In August 2012, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna hinted at Pakistan when he mentioned ?rampant proliferation in our extended neighborhood? during a speech in New Delhi.

Str / AFP - Getty Images

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

?Nuclear weapons today are an integral part of our national security and will remain so,? Krishna said.

Pakistan, whose foreign ministry has said?the country "is mindful of the need to avoid an arms race with India,? said Wednesday that the Shaheen-1 can accurately hit a target up to 560 miles away, compared with 430 miles for the previous version.

Senior military officers, along with scientists and engineers from the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, watched the launch, the government said.

Among those on hand was retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, director general of the country?s Strategic Plans Division, who was quoted by the government as saying the new version of the missile had ?consolidated and strengthened Pakistan?s deterrence abilities manifold.?

Related:

Giving voice to Pakistan's 'voiceless': Housewife becomes first female candidate in tribal region

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teen shot by Taliban, back at school -- in UK

?

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'North Pond Hermit' nabbed by Maine police

ROME, Maine (AP) ? A man who lived like a hermit for decades in a makeshift camp in the woods and may be responsible for more than 1,000 burglaries for food and other staples has been caught in a surveillance trap at a camp he treated as a "Walmart," authorities said Wednesday.

Christopher Knight, 47, was arrested last week when he tripped a surveillance sensor set up by a game warden while stealing food from a camp for people with special needs in Rome, a town of about 1,000 whose population swells with the arrival of summer residents.

Authorities on Tuesday found the campsite where they believed Knight, known as the North Pond Hermit in local lore, has lived for 27 years.

Some residents say they've been aware of the hermit for years, often in connection with break-ins that have occurred. He was so well known to some summer cottage owners that they left food out for him so he wouldn't break in during the colder months, state Trooper Diane Vance said.

But others were hardly aware of the hermit living within their midst without detection since 1986.

"I was born in 1987. He was there before I was," Rome resident Melissa Witham said outside her home.

Paul Anderson, a selectman in the town about 20 miles northwest of Augusta, acknowledged local talk about a man living alone in the woods.

"I've lived in the town for 32 years, and I've never, ever met the guy," Anderson said.

Attempts to reach people who might be Knight's relatives were unsuccessful Wednesday. Officials said they had no information on whether Knight has an attorney. A message could not be left after hours for officials at the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta, where Knight was being held.

Knight's living quarters in the woods included a tent covered by tarps suspended between trees, a bed, propane cooking stoves and a battery-run radio, which he used to keep up with the news and listen to talk radio and a rock station, authorities said.

Since vanishing from his Maine home for no apparent reason and setting up camp when he was about 19, Knight sustained himself on food stolen from dozens of cottages, but his favorite target was the Pine Tree Camp, where game warden Sgt. Terry Hughes, who's been trying to nab Knight for years, set up a surveillance alarm, authorities said.

Knight was caught Tuesday as he left the camp's kitchen freezer with a backpack full of food, they said.

"He used us like his local Walmart," said Harvey Chesley, the camp's facilities manager.

Ron Churchill, owner of Bear Spring Camps in Rome, said employees who maintain his camp's lakeside cabins have seen the man thought to be the hermit in the past. Churchill said his business has lost propane containers to thefts, the latest of which were discovered Wednesday.

"I did an inventory this morning, and we're missing two," Churchill said.

Despite Maine's harsh winters, during which temperatures sometimes struggle to get above 10 degrees for a week at a time, Knight stayed at his encampment and avoided making campfires so he wouldn't be detected, and he used propane only for cooking, Hughes said. To stay warm, he would bundle himself in multiple sleeping bags, authorities said.

When arrested, Knight was clean-shaven and his hair was cut short, in contrast to the iconic hermit with a shaggy beard and long hair. He was still using his aviator-style eyeglasses from the 1980s.

"When we went to the site where he has been living, it only took a few minutes looking around and making observations such as ropes that were imbedded in the trees that had grown around them that he used to hold his tarps up, shoes that were under rocks that had been there for years, there was enough indication to me ... that he had been there for a lot of years," said Hughes.

During questioning after his arrest, Knight said that the last verbal contact he had with another person was during the 1990s, Vance said.

"He passed somebody on a trail and just exchanged a common greeting of hello and that was the only conversation or human contact he's had since he went into the woods in 1986," Vance said.

The trooper said that the case of the North Pond hermit sometimes seemed a "myth" that might go unsolved and bringing it to a conclusion is "amazing."

"I think it's still sinking in," Vance said. "I don't think I will ever be involved in such an incident or case it this magnitude."

Knight had been charged only with the Pine Tree Camp burglary, in which $238 worth of goods were taken, and was being held at the jail on $5,000 bail on burglary and theft charges.

Knight had attended a high school in Fairfield, about 20 miles away.

Why he decided to disappear in the woods remained a question on Wednesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maine-hermit-living-wild-27-years-arrested-163447480.html

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Texas college student wounds 14 in stabbing spree

By Anna Driver and Andrea Lorenz

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A community college student who said he had fantasized since childhood about stabbing people to death went on a slashing spree at his Houston campus on Tuesday, wounding at least 14 people, two of them critically, before bystanders subdued him, police said.

The suspect, identified as Lone Star College student Dylan Quick, 20, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault stemming from the rampage, carried out with a weapon described by the Harris County Sheriff's Department as a "razor-type knife."

Eyewitness accounts cited in local media reports on the attack said the weapon appeared to be a box-cutter or "exacto" knife.

The campus, part of a Houston-area community college network, was placed on a security lockdown and closed for the remainder of the day.

The northwest Houston campus where the attack occurred has about 20,000 students.

According to a sheriff's department statement issued Tuesday night, Quick told investigators who questioned him that he had harbored fantasies of stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school, and that he had planned the attack for some time.

Fragments of the blade used in the assault were found in at least one of the victims, and additional broken blade pieces were recovered from "the area where the cutting occurred," the sheriff's office said. The weapon's handle was found in Quick's backpack when he was taken into custody, the sheriff's office said.

The suspect appeared to have acted alone, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said.

Of the 14 people known to have been injured, two were listed in critical condition, four in fair condition and eight others had minor injuries, Garcia said.

Garcia said that students and faculty in the vicinity quickly responded to subdue the suspect.

Michael Chalfan, a student at the college, said he saw police shooting the suspect with a stun gun. Chalfan said he was in a drama class with Quick about a year ago and described him as an eccentric student who carried a stuffed pet monkey around campus and regularly wore workout gloves.

"He dresses weird," Chalfan told reporters.

Rand Key, chief operating officer of the college system, said the campus would reopen on Wednesday.

In January, at another campus of Lone Star College in the Houston area, three people were shot.

The Lone Star College System has six colleges and several smaller centers in the Houston area, with a total of about 90,000 students.

The Tuesday incident was the latest in a series of attacks at schools across the country during the past year.

The most deadly of those, a shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut, last December, left 26 people dead, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

In Taft, California, in January, a student armed with a shotgun opened fire at a high school, critically wounding a fellow student before two adult staff members talked the boy into giving up his weapon, and he was arrested.

The attacks have prompted calls for tighter security at the nation's schools and a drive for tighter gun control laws.

(Writing by Steve Gorman and Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Andrew Hay, Gunna Dickson, Greg McCune, Bernard Orr and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-college-student-wounds-14-stabbing-spree-040724482.html

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Video: Shedding light on a gene mutation that causes signs of premature aging

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Research from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute sheds new light on a gene called ATRX and its function in the brain and pituitary. Children born with ATRX syndrome have cognitive defects and developmental abnormalities. ATRX mutations have also been linked to brain tumors. Dr. Nathalie B?rub?, PhD, and her colleagues found mice developed without the ATRX gene had problems in in the forebrain, the part of the brain associated with learning and memory, and in the anterior pituitary which has a direct effect on body growth and metabolism. The mice, unexpectedly, also displayed shortened lifespan, cataracts, heart enlargement, reduced bone density, hypoglycemia; in short, many of the symptoms associated with aging. The research is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Ashley Watson, a PhD candidate working in the B?rub? lab and the first author on the paper, discovered the loss of ATRX caused DNA damage especially at the ends of chromosomes which are called telomeres. She investigated further and discovered the damage is due to problems during DNA replication, which is required before the onset of cell division. Basically, the ATRX protein was needed to help replicate the telomere.

Working with Frank Beier of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, the researchers made another discovery. "Mice that developed without ATRX were small at birth and failed to thrive, and when we looked at the skeleton of these mice, we found very low bone mineralization. This is another feature found in mouse models of premature aging," says B?rub?, an associate professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Paediatrics at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, and a scientist in the Molecular Genetics Program at the Children's Health Research Institute within Lawson. "We found the loss of ATRX increases DNA damage locally in the forebrain and anterior pituitary, resulting in systemic defects similar to those seen in aging."

The researchers say the lack of ATRX in the anterior pituitary caused problems with the thyroid, resulting in low levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-one (IGF-1) in the blood. There are theories that low IGF-1 can deplete stores of stem cells in the body, and B?rub? says that's one of the explanations for the premature aging. This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

###

University of Western Ontario: http://www.uwo.ca

Thanks to University of Western Ontario 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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Student debt is housing's $1 trillion challenge

Diana Olick , CNBC.com ? ? ? 54 min.

Isaac and Stephanie Adams live in Richmond, Va., and are expecting a baby in June. Last year they decided to buy a house. With home prices and mortgage rates both at historic lows, it seemed the perfect time. Unfortunately, student loans stood in their way.

"We were looking at the market going, 'Oh my gosh, the market is awesome right now. We can get some great house that our payments will be, our loan will be great to set us up financially well for our growing family, and we just weren't able to do it, take advantage of that,'" Stephanie said.

Between the two of them, the Adams' student loan debt tops $100,000. They pay $1,100 a month for the loans, and that, coupled with the fact that Isaac was working a contract job, was enough to disqualify them from getting a mortgage.

Read More: How the Student Loan Crisis Drags Down Home Prices

Their story is getting ever more common. Total student loan balances nearly tripled between 2004 and 2012, according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Now $1 trillion in collective student loan debt is directly affecting the housing recovery.

"Short term, you see a decrease in the number of first-time home buyers," said Brian Coester of Coester Valuation Management. "You're going to see somebody who would have been able to afford a more expensive house maybe go for the lower version or the downgraded version."

First-time home buyers usually make up over 40 percent of the home buying population, but their share has hovered at or below 30 percent during this recovery, according to the National Association of Realtors. The student debt burden has forced many potential buyers to rent or to move back in with their parents.

"Without the student loan debt, a year and a half, two years earlier would have been the time I could have afforded to buy a house, and probably something a little bit bigger," Sophia Chaale said.

Chaale is facing $60,000 in student loans from graduate and undergraduate schools. She is paying $320 a month on a 30-year loan. Only after living at home for two years was she able to apply for a mortgage and put a down payment on a home. She is scheduled to close at the end of April.

"I consider myself lucky that I had a place where I could save, but what about other people who aren't originally from this area, who have to pay an extra $1500 a month in rent, and that rent money is not going to savings. How are they going to be able to save up or even to make that transition from renting to owning, in addition to all the student loan debt?" Chaale wondered.

The answer is that many won't. Adding to the burden is the fact that one-third of student loan borrowers are delinquent on their debts, according to the Federal Reserve report. That directly affects their credit rating and, in today's strict credit environment, will keep them out of the mortgage market for years to come.

"Long term it's going to really affect especially the upper end, because people aren't going to have the excess income to buy the jumbo property or buy that high end property," said Coester. "It' s going to affect home prices as a negative, as more of a cap, because it's really debt that they are servicing."

TheAdams had to delay their home purchase for a year, while they reorganized their student loan debt and while Isaac found permanent employment. They now have a contract on a house, but they feel like they got in just under the wire, as home prices are suddenly moving up rapidly.

"As long as this house closes, I don't think we missed out," said Isaac. "Rates are still fairly low, but I do believe as this year progresses, things will change."

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Walt Disney Co. says actress Annette Funicello has died at age 70

Nobody loves posing for ridiculous photos more than Russia's president, but it's this completely spontaneous image that is sure to be keeper in his iconic collection.?Vladimir?Putin is in Germany today, where he was greeted by the usual gang of topless protesters?that seem to be following him around lately. One in particular, got pretty close to Putin and his host, German Chancellor Angel Merkel, but the man was unfazed. As usual.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/walt-disney-co-says-actress-annette-funicello-died-172005837.html

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Afghan government says airstrike kills 11 children

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? A fierce battle between U.S.-backed Afghan forces and Taliban militants in a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan left nearly 20 people dead, including 11 Afghan children killed in an airstrike and an American civilian adviser, officials said Sunday.

The fighting along a main infiltration route from Pakistan on Saturday was indicative of a surge in hostilities as Afghanistan's spring fighting season gets underway. This year's will be closely watched because Afghan forces are having to contend with less support from the international military coalition, making it a test case of their ability to take on the country's resilient insurgency.

The U.S.-led coalition confirmed that it launched airstrikes in Kunar province where the deaths occurred, stressing that they were requested by international forces. The coalition said it was assessing the incident, but could not confirm that civilians were killed.

The battle unfolded on Saturday, the same day that a total of six Americans, including three U.S. soldiers, died in violent attacks. In addition to the U.S. adviser killed during the operation in the east, two others ? a female foreign service officer with the U.S. State Department and an employee with the U.S. Defense Department ? died in a suicide bombing in southern Zabul province during a trip to donate books to Afghan students.

The deaths capped one of the bloodiest weeks of the nearly 12-year-old war. On Wednesday, insurgents ambushed a courthouse in the relatively safe west, killing more than 46 people.

The death of Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire has been a major point of contention between international forces and the Afghan government. Earlier this year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai banned his troops from requesting coalition airstrikes.

In the latest incident, Associated Press photos showed villagers gathered for the funerals of the children whose bodies were swaddled in blankets. A garland of flowers adorned the head of a dead baby.

Afghan officials said the airstrike occurred after a joint U.S.-Afghan force faced hours of heavy gunfire from militants. The joint force was conducting an operation targeting a senior Taliban leader that began around midnight Friday in the Shultan area of Kunar's Shigal district, according to tribal elder Gul Pasha, who also is the chief of the local council.

The remote area is one of the main points of entry for Taliban and other insurgents trying to move across the mountainous border from neighboring Pakistan, where they enjoy refuge in the lawless northwestern area.

"In the morning after sunrise, planes appeared in the sky and airstrikes started," Pasha said in a telephone interview, adding that the fighting didn't end until the evening.

"I don't think that they knew that all these children and women were in the house because they were under attack from the house and they were shooting at the house," he said.

There were slightly differing accounts of the death toll.

Pasha said the main Taliban suspect was in the house that was hit and was killed along with a woman and the children, ages 1 to 12, who were members of the suspect's family.

Provincial government spokesman Wasifullah Wasify said 10 children and one woman were killed and five women, who also were in the house, were wounded.

Karzai's office later said 11 people were killed ? all of them children ? and six women were wounded.

"While the president strongly condemns the Taliban act of using people and their houses as shields, he also strongly condemns any operation on populated areas that results in civilian casualties," his office said in a statement.

An airstrike in the same district in Kunar that killed 10 civilians in mid-February prompted Karzai to ban his forces from requesting airstrikes.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said six Taliban militants were killed in the operation in Sano Dara Sheltan village, including two senior commanders identified as Ali Khan and Gul Raof, the main planner and organizer of attacks in the area.

The U.S.-led coalition said it provided fire support from the air, killing several insurgents.

"The air support was called in by coalition forces, not Afghan security forces, and was used to engage insurgent forces in areas away from structures, according to our reporting," coalition spokesman Maj. Adam Wojack said in a statement.

He said the coalition takes all reports of civilian casualties seriously, and was currently assessing the incident.

Afghan forces have been increasingly taking the lead in combat operations as international forces move to complete their withdrawal by the end of 2014. But U.S. and other foreign troops still face dangers as they try to clear areas of insurgents and prepare the Afghans to take control.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, told the AP in an interview on Sunday in Afghanistan that he was cautiously optimistic about the final stage of handing off security responsibility to Afghan forces.

Asked if he thought that some parts of Afghanistan will be contested by the Taliban in 2015, Dempsey replied, "Yes, of course there will be. And if we were having this conversation 10 years from now, I suspect there would (still) be contested areas because the history of Afghanistan suggests that there will always be contested areas."

There are about 100,000 international troops currently in Afghanistan, including 66,000 from the United States. The U.S. troop total is scheduled to drop to about 32,000 by early next year. The bulk of the decline is to occur after fighting winds down this winter.

___

AP writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Rahmat Gul in Jalalabad and Robert Burns at Bagram Air Field contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-government-says-airstrike-kills-11-children-183715145.html

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Ericsson says to buy Microsoft IPTV business

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Telecom equipment maker Ericsson said on Monday it had struck a deal to buy Microsoft Corp's Mediaroom IPTV business, which makes software used by phone companies to deliver television over the Internet.

Ericsson said in a statement the deal would make the company, the world's biggest mobile networks maker, the leading provider of IPTV.

The company, which did not disclose the purchase price, said it expected to close the deal during the second half of 2013. Mediaroom is situated in Mountain View, California and employs more than 400 people worldwide, it added.

Internet protocol television (IPTV) uses the same technology that powers the Internet to transmit multimedia content over telecom and cable networks. Ericsson wants to cater to phone companies that are competing with cable, satellite and web-based media providers.

"This acquisition contributes to a leading position for Ericsson with more than 40 customers, serving over 11 million subscriber households," said Per Borgklint, Ericsson Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Support Solutions.

Ericsson said the global IPTV market was estimated to reach 76 million subscribers in 2013 with revenues of $32 billion, growing to 105 million subscribers and $45 billion in 2015.

The deal was subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, it added.

(Reporting by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ericsson-says-buy-microsoft-mediaroom-business-131808034--finance.html

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With threat of filibuster, does tougher gun control have a future?

Most Americans favor background checks for all gun sales, which would close a major loophole in current law. But 13 Republican senators say they'll filibuster any additional gun restrictions.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / April 7, 2013

Clark Aposhian, president of Utah Shooting Sport Council, holds a pistol during concealed weapons training for 200 Utah teachers, in West Valley City, Utah, in December 2012.

Rick Bowmer/AP

Enlarge

In principle, at least, most Americans want tougher gun control laws. But as the recent episodes of gun violence recede in time if not memory, the likelihood of that happening seems to be fading as well.

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When gun control comes up in the US Senate this week or next, 13 Republican senators promise to filibuster any strengthening of gun safety laws.

?We will oppose the motion to proceed on any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions,? they wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Leading the filibuster effort is Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. He has been joined by Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Marco Rubio of Florida, Jim Moran and Pat Roberts of Kansas, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho, and Dan Coats of Indiana.

Meanwhile, a top White House aide acknowledges that some of what President Obama had pushed for in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school massacre ? a ban on military-style assault rifles and high-capacity gun magazine ? is unlikely to make it into any legislation at the federal level.

Speaking on ABC?s ?This Week? Sunday, Dan Pfeiffer?said the focus now is on ?a strong, bipartisan bill that has enforceable background checks.? But he also recognizes the difficulty here because of the threatened Republican filibuster in the Senate.

?If you remember, during the State of the Union, with the families of Newtown in the audience, every member of Congress stood up and applauded when the president called for an up-or-down vote on these measures,? Mr. Pfeiffer said. ?Now that the cameras are off and they are not forced to look the Newtown families in the face, now they want to make it harder?. If we have a simple up-or-down vote, we can get this done.?

Were such a measure put to an up-or-down vote among the American public, it likely would pass, according to a new Marist poll out last week.

Sixty percent of those surveyed agreed that laws covering the sale of firearms should be more strict; 59 percent favor a ban on the sale of assault rifles; 87 percent support legislation that would require background checks for private gun sales and sales at gun shows.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/aFbuPUXkwIY/With-threat-of-filibuster-does-tougher-gun-control-have-a-future

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Kerry to press Turkey on Israel ties, Syrian border, Iraq

By Arshad Mohammed

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will press Turkey on Sunday to quickly normalize relations with Israel, keep its border with Syria open to refugees and improve ties with Iraq, a senior U.S. official said.

Kerry arrived in Istanbul some two weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama brokered a rapprochement between Turkey and Israel, whose relations were shattered by the killing of nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

The rapprochement could help regional coordination to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel's diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces challenges posed by Iran's nuclear program.

Despite Obama's having pulled off a diplomatic coup on March 22 - a three-way telephone call with the Israeli and Turkish prime ministers, who had not spoken since 2011 - Washington has some concerns that Turkey might be backtracking on the deal.

Israel bowed to a long-standing demand by Ankara, once its close strategic partner, to apologize formally for the deaths aboard the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara. It was boarded by Israeli marines who had intercepted a flotilla challenging Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had agreed to conclude an agreement on compensation and that he and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan agreed to normalize ties, including returning their ambassadors to their posts.

A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling with Kerry that he "will encourage Turkey to expeditiously implement its agreement with Israel and fully normalize their relationship to allow for deeper cooperation between the two countries."

While the official denied the United States was worried the Turkish government might be backing away from the deal, another U.S. official earlier this week said Washington was concerned.

REFUGEE CHALLENGE

Kerry will also raise Syria and Iraq during his talks on Sunday with Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, his first stop on a 10-day trip to the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

One of the underlying motivations for the Israeli-Turkish rapprochement, at least on the Israeli side, has been a desire to secure allies in the region as the Syrian civil war churns into its third year.

Kerry's message in Istanbul will include "reiterating the importance of keeping the borders open to Syrians fleeing from violence," the senior U.S. official told reporters with Kerry.

The official said this was a reference to reports, which Turkey denied on March 28, that it had rounded up and deported hundreds of Syrian refugees following unrest at a border camp.

Witnesses said hundreds of Syrians were bussed to the border after clashes in which refugees in the Suleymansah camp, near the Turkish town of Akcakale, threw rocks at military police, who fired teargas and water cannon.

Turkey's foreign ministry said 130 people, identified as being "involved in the provocations," crossed back into Syria voluntarily, either because they did not want to face judicial proceedings or because of repercussions from other refugees.

The incident highlighted the strain that the exodus from Syria's civil war is placing on neighboring states.

Since the revolt in Syria began two years ago, more than 1.2 million Syrians fleeing violence and persecution have registered as refugees or await processing in neighboring countries and North Africa, according to U.N. figures.

They include 261,635 in Turkey, mostly staying in 17 camps, many of them teeming.

Kerry also plans to nudge Turkey to improve ties with Iraq, which is troubled by efforts by its autonomous Kurdistan region, where ethnic Kurds have administered their affairs since 1991, to sell energy to Turkey.

The Iraqi central government argues that this would deprive it of oil revenues that belong to Iraq as a whole.

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-press-turkey-israel-ties-syrian-border-iraq-020727636.html

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PFT: Raiders have $45 million in dead money

Getty Images

There?s a common belief that the pending concussion litigation against the NFL ultimately will result only in the lawyers making money.

The so-called expert witnesses likely will, too.

Often overlooked in complex litigation involving esoteric medical knowledge and jargon is the fact that the men and women who have the education and experience to share that knowledge and jargon with a judge and a jury get paid a lot of money.

That reality routinely results in a blurring of ethical lines.? According to Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada of ESPN.com, Dr. Robert Cantu previously served as a senior adviser to the NFL?s Head, Neck and Spine committee ? but he also has consulted with the lawyers who are suing the NFL on behalf of thousands of former players.

?It was an informational session, just like I get paid to give a talk someplace else,? Cantu said of a February 2012 presentation to the lawyers representing the players.? He also justified working for the players suing the league by explaining that the NFL could hire him to serve as an expert witness, which would block from him talking to those suing the league.

?If [the NFL] wanted to put me on their payroll, to defend their case, then I?m not gonna say boo about those issues [to the plaintiffs],? said Cantu, who gets $800 per hour for legal services, $5,000 for depositions, and $8,000 per day for trial testimony.

Cantu?s attitude underscores one of the biggest problems with the litigation industry.? Many experts aren?t necessarily motivated by the pursuit of justice but by the supplementation of their total income with the exorbitant fees they charge.? And since there?s plenty of discretion to be exercised when telling the truth, their testimony often can be molded to help whichever side of a case hires them first.

Here?s a concrete example, for those of you who are still awake.

Eleven years ago, I represented a former employee of a major U.S. low-cost big-box retailer who had been forced to take an alcohol test under circumstances that, as the jury concluded, didn?t justify an invasion of the employee?s privacy rights via the drawing of a blood sample.? The case included testimony from an expert witness who had been hired by the employer to justify the conclusion, based on the blood-alcohol concentration measured by the test, that the employee had indeed been intoxicated at work.

On cross-examination, I confronted the expert witness with a passage from a written report on the issue of blood-alcohol testing.? In the report, the author expressed concern about the reliability of efforts to use blood-alcohol measurements to determine a person?s BAC at an earlier point in time.

I read the sentence to the expert witness, and I asked the expert witness if he agreed with the statement.

He said, ?No.?

So I read it to him again, slowly.? I asked him if he agreed with that statement.

Again, he said, ?No.?

So I handed him the report, showed him the first page of it, and asked him to tell the judge and the jury who had written the report.

The expert witness, after taking a gulp, said his own name.

And that?s pretty much all I ever needed to know about the world of expert witnesses.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/06/mckenzies-still-a-year-away-from-rebuilding-raiders/related/

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Bad weather hits British wheat crops

6 April 2013 Last updated at 12:17 ET

Britain will become a net importer of wheat for the first time in a decade this year because of bad weather, the National Farmers' Union has said.

NFU president Peter Kendall said more than two million tonnes of wheat had been lost because of last year's poor summer.

The prolonged cold weather would also hit this autumn's harvest, he said.

But he said the shortage was unlikely to affect the price of bread because of the global nature of the market.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Kendall said the average yield fell from 7.8 tonnes a hectare to 6.7 tonnes last summer.

Looking ahead to the 2013 harvest, he said farmers had only managed to get three quarters of the planned wheat planted this year, so the UK was already 25% down on potential production.

"I've been walking crops yesterday on the farm in Bedfordshire and they look pretty thin. We would normally say you should hide a hare in a crop of wheat in March. You'd struggle to cover a mouse in some of mine.

"If we got three quarters of the area planted, and the same yield as last year, we could be looking at a crop of only 11m tonnes of wheat when we actually need 14.5m tonnes of wheat for our own domestic use here in the UK," he said.

'Written off 2013'

Andrew Watts, a wheat farmer and the NFU combinable crops board chairman, said farmers had been hoping for a kind autumn after a poor harvest in 2012, but this had not happened.

"It seems many farmers have written 2013 off and are trying to do what they can with the crops in the ground. Everyone is focussing on 2014 and making sure the land is in a good condition to get good crops then.

"This is what producing food is all about - the weather."

He added: "We have got to put it in context, this is only the first time since the late 1970s that we have been net importers, Over the past five or six years we have been in surplus."

The crop damage is dealing a further blow to Britain's farming industry, which is already reeling from a spate of recent livestock deaths due to the cold weather.

But Mr Kendall said only about 10% of the cost of a loaf of was attributable to wheat. The rest was due to processing, transport, and packaging, he said.

"We could see wheat double and the impact on a loaf of bread would not be enormous.

"But we need to make sure, in the UK, we are producing raw materials for what has been - despite the weather - a fantastically successful sector," he said.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22050874#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Minnesota Energy Tip: Saving Money

Written by the Minnesota Department of Commerce

April is Financial Literacy Month, a campaign to help focus on our finances and develop healthy financial habits. One of the best ways to save money?month after month?is to conserve energy.

Whether it?s the middle of the hot summer or the dead of winter, there are several basic no- or low-cost measures you can take to conserve energy and decrease your utility bills:

• Use a programmable thermostat to reduce your heating and cooling costs.
• Turn off computers and monitors when not in use.
• Plug home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips and turn the strips off when equipment is not in use.
• Turn off lights when not in use.
• Close your fireplace damper when not in use.
• Take short showers; turn your hot water heater down to 120 degrees.
• Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes; air dry when possible.
• Replace inefficient incandescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR? rated compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) or light emitting diodes (LEDs).
• Look for the ENERGY STAR? label when purchasing new appliances, lighting, and electronics.
• Have a home energy assessment to identify ways to make your home more energy efficient (weather-strip doors and windows, seal air leaks, add insulation, and more).
• Go to work via carpool or vanpool, or use public transportation.

For more energy-saving tips, check out the U.S. Department of Energy?s Energy Savers website. Also, the Division of Energy Resources offers an energy guide called ?Appliances, Lighting & Electronics? and a fact sheet called ?Ten Ways to Save Energy? that address ways to save energy.

Source: http://twinports.wdio.com/news/home-garden/56592-minnesota-energy-tip-saving-money

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Russia: NKorea suggests evacuating diplomats

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's foreign minister says Moscow doesn't understand why North Korea has suggested that Moscow and other countries close their embassies in Pyongyang, and he says he's concerned about the high tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted Friday during a visit to Uzbekistan as saying that Russia is in touch with China, the United States, Japan and South Korea ? all members of a dormant talks process with North Korea ? to try to figure out the motivation.

"We are very perturbed about the supercharged tensions, which for now are verbal. We want to understand the causes of this proposal," Lavrov said, according to the Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti.

About two dozen countries have embassies in North Korea. A spokesman for the Russian embassy there, Denis Samsonov, told Russian media that the embassy was working normally.

Russia has appeared increasingly angry with North Korea as tensions roiled following a North Korean nuclear test and the country's subsequent warnings to South Korea and the United States that it would be prepared to attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on Thursday strongly criticized North Korea for its "defiant neglect" of U.N. Security Council resolutions. A ministry statement Friday after the embassy evacuations proposal said "We are counting on maximum restraint and composure from all sides."

A spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said his government was considering its next move in North Korea but that it regarded the North Korean suggestion to embassies as an effort to portray the United States as a threat.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-nkorea-suggests-evacuating-diplomats-131611920.html

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PFT source: Romo will make $26 million in 2013

Getty Images

It took a little while, but the complete and official numbers are in on the contract signed by Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

Per a source with knowledge of the deal, Romo received a $25 million signing bonus.? But that payment includes $10 million of the $11.5 million he already was due to earn in 2013, which pushes his base salary down to $1.5 million.

In addition to the total cash payment of $26.5 million in 2013, Romo will receive $13.5 million in fully guaranteed money in 2014.? That?s a two-year haul of $40 million.

His 2015 salary of $17 million has $15 million guaranteed for injury now; half of that becomes fully guaranteed in 2014, and the other half becomes fully guaranteed in 2015.? That results in a total guarantee of $55 million, with $40 million fully guaranteed, for now.

The remaining base salaries are $8.5 million in 2016, $14 million in 2017, $19.5 million in 2018, and $20.5 million in 2019.

The cap numbers are $11.8 million in 2013, $21.7 million in 2014, $25.2 million in 2015, $15.135 million in 2016, $19 million in 2017, $19.5 million in 2018, and $20.5 million in 2019.

The final two years appear to be the ?fluff? years that Romo may or may not ever realize, and that help drive up the total average by paying out $20 million per season.? As a practical matter, it?ll likely be a four-year, $65.5 million deal or at most a five-year, $79.5 million contract.

A restructuring seems possible if not likely in 2015, when Romo?s cap number shoots to $25.2 million.? It?s also possible that owner Jerry Jones believes the new TV deals will cause the salary cap to spike that year, even though the league and NFLPA have been bracing for an ongoing ?smoothing? of the spending limit.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/05/the-full-details-on-the-romo-deal/related/

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The Engadget Podcast is live at 3:30PM ET!

Brian's out of town on yet another top secret Engadget Show mission, but Tim and Peter are holding things down in New York, joined by knower of things video game, Ben Gilbert. Join them and chat along after the break.

April 4, 2013 3:30 PM EDT

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/04/engadget-podcast/

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Carrie Trailer: You Will Know Her Name

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/carrie-trailer-you-will-know-her-name/

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Venezuela opposition: Military can't take sides

Venezuela's interim President Nicolas Maduro smiles as he's surrounded by supporters during a campaign rally in Sabaneta, Barinas state, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Late President Hugo Chavez's chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro is competing against opposition leader Henrique Capriles in the April 14 presidential election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuela's interim President Nicolas Maduro smiles as he's surrounded by supporters during a campaign rally in Sabaneta, Barinas state, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Late President Hugo Chavez's chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro is competing against opposition leader Henrique Capriles in the April 14 presidential election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, riding on the back of the motorcycle, greets supporters after a meeting with former supporters of late President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Venezuela will hold a presidential election to replace late President Hugo Chavez on April 14. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Venezuela's interim President Nicolas Maduro clenches his fist while greeting supporters from his campaign bus in Barinas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Late President Hugo Chavez's chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro is competing against opposition leader Henrique Capriles in the April 14 presidential election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles looks on during a meeting with former supporters of late President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Behind the wall shows an image referring to independence hero Simon Bolivar and reads in Spanish "Vote April 14." Other parts of the sign, partially covered, read "Bolivarians and revolutionaries for the homeland with Capriles." Venezuela will hold a presidential election to replace late President Hugo Chavez on April 14. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Supporters of Venezuela's interim President Nicolas Maduro greet him upon his arrival to a campaign rally in Barinas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Late President Hugo Chavez's chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro is competing against opposition leader Henrique Capriles in the April 14 presidential election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuela's presidential campaign on Wednesday veered between warnings of military meddling in the April 14 vote and opposition mirth at the acting president's suggestion that the spirit of Hugo Chavez visited him as "a little bird" while he prayed.

Opposition lawmaker Alfonso Marquina presented a complaint to Venezuela's elections council, demanding it sanction officers who have publicly backed Nicolas Maduro, who has been acting president since President Hugo Chavez's death on March 5.

Marquina has alleged that Defense Minister Diego Molero and National Guard Gen. Antonio Benavides plan to use military resources to intimidate voters, especially those dependent on government services, to cast ballots for Maduro.

Maduro's campaign denies the allegations and there was no immediate comment from the council.

But the controversy was almost overshadowed in the press and chatter in the street by Maduro's latest move to draw an almost religious connection to Chavez, whom he served as foreign minister and vice president.

Maduro declared on Tuesday that a "little bird" appeared as he was praying alone in a little wooden chapel shortly after Chavez's death.

"It sang, and I responded with a song and the bird took flight, circled around once and then flew away, and I felt the spirit and blessings of Commander Hugo Chavez for this battle," said Maduro, who interspersed his remarks with sounds to simulate the flapping of the bird's wings and its whistle.

The message, delivered as he visited Chavez's hometown of Sabaneta in southern Venezuela, was intended for a national audience of Chavistas that reveres the late leader. It also fell in line with an electoral strategy in which Maduro repeatedly emphasizes his close ties to Chavez, who tapped him as his chosen successor.

But it prompted ridicule among many of his opponents.

Many newspapers led their campaign stories Wednesday with Maduro's bird remarks. The satirical website "El Chiguire Bipolar" said the statement was so strange that its own jokes could not compete: "If you laugh, it's not because of us."

Images of birds with Chavez's head circulated among government critics on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, prompting Maduro to defend himself.

"Now the bourgeoisie and the right are talking about Maduro's little bird. What do they think? That we're ridiculous? Show some respect, gentlemen," he said at a Tuesday rally in the western state of Zulia.

Maduro also defended what he called revolutionary unity with the armed forces at a rally Wednesday in the western state of Tachira, even as the opposition was filing its complaint.

"Civic-military unity is one of the greatest works that our supreme commander, Hugo Chavez, built," Maduro said, according to the government news agency.

Venezuela's Constitution bans military officers from publicly promoting politicians or political parties. But in his 14 years in power, Chavez co-opted the armed forces' leadership to ensure loyalty to his socialist government, especially after he was briefly ousted in a coup in 2002.

Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles and his supporters have lambasted top-ranking military officers, including Molero and Benavides, for publicly backing Maduro in the April 14 election.

But just one day after Chavez died, Molero said the military would follow instructions left by Chavez. He did not elaborate.

"The national armed forces will not fail Chavez," Molero said, according to state television. "Once elections are organized, we will honor his wishes and we will give the fascists a tough blow."

On March 21, the defense minister tweeted: "From this day on, we join the battle of ideas the Supreme Commander of the Revolution pushed forward."

On Tuesday, Maduro accused the opposition of attempting to create splits within the military. He did not provide details.

"They want to divide the armed forces," he told supporters. "Everyone, be alert."

During an interview with the Caracas-based television network Telesur on Wednesday, Molero expressed confidence in the military's unity, saying "it's more solid than ever."

"They will never be able to divide this unity," he added.

Capriles, 40, is the governor of Miranda state. After losing a hard-fought October election to Chavez in October, he agreed to lead the opposition again in this month's election. His campaign has focused on separating Maduro from the enigmatic Chavez. Maduro has sought to ride Chavez's coattails into office.

___

Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-03-Venezuela-Election/id-57176a8ec2c9483ca8d1c844b03da9bf

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NYC 'zombie' finds Long Island cat in Times Square

In this undated photo provided by BluePearl Veterinary Partners, Jeremy Zelkowitz, who dresses in character as a zombie for a year-round haunted house in Times Square, holds a cat named Disaster which he found crossing 42nd Street in Manhattan on March 30, 2013. (AP Photo/BluePearl Veterinary Partners)

In this undated photo provided by BluePearl Veterinary Partners, Jeremy Zelkowitz, who dresses in character as a zombie for a year-round haunted house in Times Square, holds a cat named Disaster which he found crossing 42nd Street in Manhattan on March 30, 2013. (AP Photo/BluePearl Veterinary Partners)

NEW YORK (AP) ? It took a zombie to find Disaster at the Crossroads of the World.

Two years after he disappeared from his Long Island home, Disaster the cat was found this week in the heart of Manhattan ? by a Times Square haunted house promoter dressed up as a zombie.

Jeremy Zelkowitz, who sells tickets for the Times Scare haunted house, spotted Disaster early Saturday morning crossing 42nd Street. He snatched up Disaster, a black and white cat who appeared to be well-kept and neat, and brought him to a nearby animal hospital.

"I'm a big animal lover but I have a dog so I couldn't take him," Zelkowitz, 22, said Thursday. "The whole situation is very, very bizarre."

Staff at the BluePearl Veterinary Partners animal hospital scanned Disaster who had been implanted with a microchip, revealing his last known owner: New York City police Officer Jimmy Helliesen.

Helliesen, 51, received a call Saturday morning from the hospital, informing him that his long-lost feline friend had been found.

"I was shocked," said Helliesen. "How did he get to Manhattan? That's quite an adventure."

For years Helliesen has adopted stray cats he finds hanging around his Brooklyn precinct. Two years ago he adopted Disaster after he strayed from the precinct and ended up getting captured by local Animal Care and Control. That's when Helliesen got him fixed and implanted with the chip.

But six months after living in his Long Island home, Disaster escaped one day through an open window and never returned.

Helliesen never thought he'd get the cat back ? and has since taken in eight more cats he's found around the precinct who need homes.

"Disaster makes it nine," he said. "My wife has been very understanding."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-04-04-Zombie%20Finds%20Cat/id-5600693a1c77477daa876cb416ad2664

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Nigeria's Zenith Bank full-year pre-tax profit up 51 pct

By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A transgender man who made worldwide headlines after he married and gave birth to three children will appeal an Arizona judge's ruling denying him a divorce from his wife of 10 years, his attorneys said on Tuesday. Thomas Beatie, 39, was born a woman but began living as a man in his 20s, initiating hormone treatments, undergoing breast-removal surgery and legally changing his name, though he kept his female reproductive organs. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nigerias-zenith-bank-full-pre-tax-profit-51-060952628--finance.html

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Ready for a one-way trip to Mars?

A Dutch company wants to send four people, selected via reality-show-style elimination, on a permanent trip to the Red Planet in 2022.

By David Mielach,?Business News Daily / April 1, 2013

A scientist participates in a month-long Mars field simulation in the northern Sahara near Erfoud in Morocco, February 2013. Directed by a Mission Support Center in Austria, the small field crew conducted experiments to prepare for future human Mars missions.

Katja Zanella-Kux/OeWF/Reuters

Enlarge

Humans may not have landed on Mars just yet, but that isn?t stopping a Dutch company from devising a plan to send four people to the Red Planet within the next 10 years. The initiative, dubbed Mars One, aims to send a small group of people to Mars in 2022 and eventually establish a permanent colony on the planet.

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"Everything we need to go to Mars exists,? said Mars One?co-founder Bas Lansdorp. ?We have the rockets to send people to Mars, the equipment to land on Mars, the robotics to prepare the settlement for humans ? so, for a one-way mission, all the technology exists.?

But that?s the caveat: The four astronauts chosen for the trip will be stuck on Mars?? forever.? And despite Mars One?s thorough planning, there are a number of challenges that may prevent the mission from ever taking place. The biggest road block could be the mission?s $6 billion price tag. However, Lansdorp is confident that Mars One will be able to fund the project by selling the broadcast rights for the mission and subsequent experiences living on the planet.

Those broadcast rights will also play a part in helping to select the people who will be sent to Mars. Lansdorp said the company will hold a national selection process akin to a reality show. Lansdorp is expecting at least 1 million applications from people around the world, ABC News reports.?

In addition to the cost, several other potential problems could inhibit the mission to Mars. ? ?

"To send people there with life support, with food, with air, with all the other things that they'll need ? books, entertainment, means of communication and means of providing for their own resources for a long stay on Mars ? that's even more challenging,? said Adam Baker, senior lecturer in space engineering at Kingston University in London. ?The sheer size of the rockets you'd need to do this would be absolutely colossal.?

However, Mars One is up to the challenge. The company hopes to launch a rocket in 2022 and land on Mars in 2023. ABC News reports that the initial group would work on constructing a colony on Mars, while additional team members?would continue to land on the planet every two years.?

Email?David Mielach?or follow him @D_M89. Follow us?@bndarticles,?Facebook?or?Google+.

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

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/6xNC7MlnA18/Ready-for-a-one-way-trip-to-Mars

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