mylabnotes

400 properties at risk from sea rise

2011-05-31T05:23:00.000-07:00

MORE than 400 commercial properties in Geelong and along the Surf Coast are at risk of sea-level inundation, according to the latest report forecasting the likely impact of climate change.

The Geoscience Australia report, which is due to be released in full later this week, predicts that between 347 and 417 commercial buildings are at risk across the region.

The coastal inundation would be the result of a 1.1m, climate change-induced sea-level rise by 2100 and combined with a major weather event, according to the report which was previewed in the Herald Sun yesterday.

Of the 1000 light industrial buildings statewide that are facing inundation, including warehouses and manufacturing assembly lines, one third of them, or up to 374 buildings, are in the Greater Geelong area.

Hundreds of kilometres of roads are also at risk of coastal flooding under the projected scenario, to be detailed in the full report later this week.

The leaking of the report comes as the Federal Government steps up its push for a carbon tax, which is aimed at forcing big polluting industries, like Geelong's Alcoa aluminium smelter, to pay for the emissions they produce.

Surf Coast Shire councillor Libby Mears, who is also the chair of the Victorian Coastal Council, said the preliminary data reinforced the need for clear information to help local councils plan for sea-level rise.

"We know what the science is and that's great. We know there's areas at risk but what we need to do now is plan for the medium to long term," she said.

The Geelong Manufacturing Council and the Committee for Geelong both declined to comment on the latest report, as they were awaiting details on the Federal Government's proposed carbon tax.

Point Lonsdale resident Peter Russell, whose property is one of more than 600 in the area at risk of inundation, said while they were not commercial properties, many of the vulnerable residential blocks were worth more than half a million dollars each.

The latest report is the fourth to forecast serious inundation across the region.

The Department of Climate Change released maps in December which showed the impact on the Bellarine Peninsula of the same 1.1m 2100 scenario.

That projection showed Point Lonsdale would be cut off by the rising waters and the region between Ocean Grove and Queenscliff would be nearly entirely submerged.

It also showed the eastern edge of Torquay and Breamlea would be hit by rising tides.

UA is Top University Contributing to Global Planetary Exploration Research

2011-05-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

Thomson Reuters Corporation data shows that only NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the world's top players in spacecraft design, construction, launch and science operations are ahead of UA's planetary sciences with regard to impact in the scientific literature.

The University of Arizona is the top ranked research university for planetary exploration with regard to citations in the scientific literature, according to new data.

UA planetary research articles were quoted more than 10,000 times over the last 10 years, according to ScienceWatch.com, a comprehensive, open Web resource for science metrics.

The analysis was conducted using a Thomson Reuters Corporation database, which includes citations from articles produced by researchers in various countries around the world.

During the survey period, which spanned Jan. 1, 2001 to March 18, 2011, the UA had 579 publications in planetary sciences. Only NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, are cited more often than UA in planetary exploration scientific publications.

Placing third behind NASA and JPL means UA closely follows what are the world's largest players in spacecraft design, construction, launch and science operations, according to the Thomson Reuters website.

"The prominence of the UA in the planetary sciences is a tribute to the extraordinary talents of the faculty, support staff and student body in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory," said Michael Drake, head of the UA's department of planetary sciences and director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, or LPL.

"These dry statistics mask an even more fundamental point. Only NASA as a whole, an organization with a budget of about $18 billion, and JPL with a budget of about $1.5 billion, outperform the UA," Drake said.

"When one realizes that the budget of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is only $2.6 million from the state of Arizona, these comparisons become even more stark," Drake added.

Currently, the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is actively involved in five spacecraft missions: Cassini; the Phoenix Mars Lander; the HiRISE camera orbiting Mars; the MESSENGER mission to Mercury and OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. sample return mission to an asteroid, which was just selected by NASA.

Orbiting Saturn since 2004, NASA's Cassini Spacecraft has not only deployed a probe, Huygens, onto the surface of Saturn moon Titan, but also studied the Saturn system in great details, capturing stunning images of the planet, its rings and its moons. Cassini has since detected the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Titan, confirming the presence of liquid on the part of the moon dotted with many large, lake-shaped basins.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will orbit and explore asteroid 1999 RQ36 for more than one year before closing in and collecting a sample of pristine organic material that may have seeded Earth with the building blocks that led to life.

"The UA has been involved in nearly all of the planetary exploration missions over the past 40 years, often including leadership of experiments or entire missions, such as Phoenix and OSIRIS-REx," said Alfred McEwen, professor of planetary geology at LPL and principal investigator of HiRISE.

The UA's leading role in planetary research leads to publications that receive many citations far across the scientific community, including papers from scientists and students who may not themselves be associated with missions.

"A great number of publications that result from our efforts may not even have UA co-authors," McEwen added. "There are many publications based on HiRISE data, all of which is released to anyone who wants to use it."

Other implications of this work are that the UA consistently involves students in planetary science research activities and helps create high paying jobs in Tucson and Arizona, Drake said.

"The citizens of Arizona have much to be proud of for the modest investment of their tax dollars," Drake said, "and we are honored to have the opportunity to be the best we can for Tucson and the state."

NASA to Announce New Planetary Science Mission

2011-05-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

NASA will unveil plans for a new science mission to another world today (May 25).

The announcement will come during a teleconference with reporters at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT). So far, NASA have given few other details, except to say in a statement that the future mission "will usher in a new era in planetary exploration."

It's possible that the agency has selected the next robotic exploration mission for its so-called Discovery Program, which is scheduled to launch around 2016.

Fingerprints of God? CosmicFingerprints.com
The Very Beginning of Time Itself Mysteries of Big Bang & The Cosmos Ads by Google
Discovery missions explore the solar system on the relative cheap; the 2016 mission will have a fixed budget of $425 million, not including the cost of the launch vehicle. Earlier this month, NASA announced that it had whittled the contenders for that mission down to three finalists.

Those three are:

* The Geophysical Monitoring Station (GEMS), which would study the structure and composition of the interior of Mars, potentially improving our understanding of the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets;

* The Titan Mare Explorer (TiME), which would land in and float on a large methane-ethane sea on Saturn's moon Titan, providing the first direct exploration of an ocean beyond Earth; [Video: Targeting Saturn's Moon Titan: Land, Sea and Air]

* Comet Hopper, which would land on a comet multiple times and observe its changes as it interacts with the sun.

The shortlisting of these three came just two months after the release of an in-depth report from the National Research Council about the greatest needs for planetary exploration in the next decade.

The review had good things to say about the Discovery Program and its low-cost, highly focused planetary science. The report recommended maintaining the program's funding, with adjustments for inflation.

Discovery efforts currently operating include NASA's Messenger mission to Mercury and the asteroid-chasing Dawn mission.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.

* Solar System Explained From the Inside Out
* The Rings and Moons of Saturn
* Targeting Saturn's Moon, Titan

Spacewalkers cope with flying hardware during lube job

2011-05-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

A spacewalking astronaut ran into trouble Sunday while trying to lubricate a joint in the life-sustaining solar power system of the International Space Station, losing one bolt and getting a washer stuck in a crevice.

Mike Fincke, one of NASA's most experienced spacemen, had to settle for a partial lube job, after the bolts holding down covers on the massive joint started popping off unexpectedly.

"Bummer," said his spacewalking partner, Andrew Feustel.

The two men went into overtime to do what they could. They managed to lubricate four sections of the joint, two fewer than planned, and reinstall three covers. The fourth cover was brought back inside because of all the loose bolts.

Their spacewalk — the second of four planned for the shuttle Endeavour's final space station visit — went one and a half hours longer than planned. It lasted more than eight hours and went into the books as the sixth longest in history.

"You guys earned your pay for the day," astronaut Gregory Chamitoff radioed from inside.

"Do we get paid?" Feustel replied. "I think our pay was just being out here looking at the Earth spinning by. It's beautiful."

Radiator line topped off:

The spacewalk started out well in the wee hours as Fincke and Feustel quickly topped off a leaky radiator line.

Ammonia is extremely hazardous, and the two did their best to avoid contaminating their spacesuits while replenishing the system with 5 pounds (2.25 kilograms) of the substance. Some frozen ammonia flakes floated toward Feustel as well as a small icy chunk, but he didn't think any of it got him.

Fincke moved on to preventive maintenance on the joint that rotates the solar wings on the left side of the space station. He was removing his first cover when a bolt popped out and got away from him. He caught it with his gloved hand, no easy task for something so small. But another bolt ended up floating away, and a washer got stuck between the cover and an attachment.

Mission Control worried that the washer might get into the gears of the joint. Fincke was advised to use "gentle backhand sweeping motions" to get the washer away from the gears, and the astronaut said he'd try to coax it out with a pin. He provided no further report, but the lead spacewalk officer in Mission Control, Allison Bolinger, later assured reporters that he probably took care of it.
After deliberating, flight controllers instructed Fincke to remove four covers from the joint rather than six, to lubricate the mechanisms inside.

Another bolt popped out and almost got away, but Fincke caught it. "He gets the golden glove award for another catch," Mission Control radioed. In all, Fincke managed to catch three of four loose bolts.

To his relief, the remaining covers came off much more easily.

Fincke and Feustel used grease guns to squirt the dark lubricant onto the gears, then turned to other tasks as the joint was rotated to spread the grease. They returned for more lubricating once the motion stopped, after assuring Mission Control that they had the energy to continue.

Shuttle program's last maintenance jobs
NASA wants to lubricate the joint periodically to keep it functioning properly in the years ahead. An identical joint on the opposite side of the space station had to be fixed a few years back after jamming.

Bolinger said it's uncertain when the latest lube job would be completed, but noted it would not be during Endeavour's mission.

The circular joints — 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter — turn the space station's solar wings toward the sun, like the paddle wheels of a boat. Each set of wings measures 240 feet (73 meters) from tip to tip. The panels collect sunlight and convert it into electrical power that's used to run equipment aboard the outpost, including the life support.

This is the next-to-last shuttle mission, and Endeavour's spacewalks will be the last to involve astronauts from a space shuttle. The 30-year shuttle era will end in July with the flight of Atlantis, which has no spacewalks on its agenda. For the foreseeable future, all the spacewalks to come will be taken on by the space station's residents.

Mutual admiration
Sunday's outing marked Fincke's seventh spacewalk and Feustel's fifth. They praised one another as they headed out the hatch.

"It's an honor to be walking, spacewalking with a Hubble spacewalker," Fincke told Feustel, who was part of the 2009 Hubble repair team.

"It's an honor to be walking with the man with the most time in space," Feustel replied. Fincke will become the most traveled American in space by next weekend, surpassing the current record of 377 days aloft.

On Monday, three of the six space station residents will head home in their Russian Soyuz capsule after a five-month mission. In a unique photo opportunity, the departing crew will photograph Endeavour parked at the space station.

Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story'

2011-05-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.

In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts, Britain's most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the moment when the brain flickers for the final time.

Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21, shares his thoughts on death, human purpose and our chance existence in an exclusive interview with the Guardian today.

The incurable illness was expected to kill Hawking within a few years of its symptoms arising, an outlook that turned the young scientist to Wagner, but ultimately led him to enjoy life more, he has said, despite the cloud hanging over his future.

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he said.

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he added.

Hawking's latest comments go beyond those laid out in his 2010 book, The Grand Design, in which he asserted that there is no need for a creator to explain the existence of the universe. The book provoked a backlash from some religious leaders, including the chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, who accused Hawking of committing an "elementary fallacy" of logic.

The 69-year-old physicist fell seriously ill after a lecture tour in the US in 2009 and was taken to Addenbrookes hospital in an episode that sparked grave concerns for his health. He has since returned to his Cambridge department as director of research.

The physicist's remarks draw a stark line between the use of God as a metaphor and the belief in an omniscient creator whose hands guide the workings of the cosmos.

In his bestselling 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking drew on the device so beloved of Einstein, when he described what it would mean for scientists to develop a "theory of everything" – a set of equations that described every particle and force in the entire universe. "It would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God," he wrote.

The book sold a reported 9 million copies and propelled the physicist to instant stardom. His fame has led to guest roles in The Simpsons, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Red Dwarf. One of his greatest achievements in physics is a theory that describes how black holes emit radiation.

In the interview, Hawking rejected the notion of life beyond death and emphasised the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use of our lives. In answer to a question on how we should live, he said, simply: "We should seek the greatest value of our action."

In answering another, he wrote of the beauty of science, such as the exquisite double helix of DNA in biology, or the fundamental equations of physics.

Hawking responded to questions posed by the Guardian and a reader in advance of a lecture tomorrow at the Google Zeitgeist meeting in London, in which he will address the question: "Why are we here?"

In the talk, he will argue that tiny quantum fluctuations in the very early universe became the seeds from which galaxies, stars, and ultimately human life emerged. "Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in," he said.

Hawking suggests that with modern space-based instruments, such as the European Space Agency's Planck mission, it may be possible to spot ancient fingerprints in the light left over from the earliest moments of the universe and work out how our own place in space came to be.

His talk will focus on M-theory, a broad mathematical framework that encompasses string theory, which is regarded by many physicists as the best hope yet of developing a theory of everything.

M-theory demands a universe with 11 dimensions, including a dimension of time and the three familiar spatial dimensions. The rest are curled up too small for us to see.

Evidence in support of M-theory might also come from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva.

One possibility predicted by M-theory is supersymmetry, an idea that says fundamental particles have heavy – and as yet undiscovered – twins, with curious names such as selectrons and squarks.

Confirmation of supersymmetry would be a shot in the arm for M-theory and help physicists explain how each forces at work in the universe arose from one super-force at the dawn of time.

Another potential discovery at the LHC, that of the elusive Higgs boson, which is thought to give mass to elementary particles, might be less welcome to Hawking, who has a long-standing bet that the long-sought entity will never be found at the laboratory.

Hawking will join other speakers at the London event, including the chancellor, George Osborne, and the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Latest in Fun Science: Oregon Coast from Space, Stellar Mystery, Whales, Odd Formations

2011-05-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Oregon coast never ceases to surprise. This past week we've been able to time travel back millions of years, down to the ocean bottom and then up to space because of the region.

Oregon Coast Beach Connection’s sister site, OregonTravelDaily, had the pleasure of bumping into a tremendous image – that of the mouth of the Columbia River as seen from space. Thanks to the International Space Station and a new imaging systems called HICO – for Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean – we are seeing lots of new ocean and near-shore environments from orbit. But the image of the Columbia River from orbit is seen up top.

There are some seriously confounding rock formations around the Oregon coast, some dazzling shapes that spark the imagination. But it takes a geologist to read them, frankly.

Sometimes, you may have noticed some really mysterious formations that look like steps – or even seats – in those vast, basalt structures that dominate some parts of the coastline. These, it turns out, were a sort of lava flow within a lava flow – in a sense. The story begins millions and millions of years ago. There’s more at Mysterious Rocky Steps Along Oregon Coast Explained by Geology

Killer whales are a rare sight along this stretch of the world’s coastlines. You’ll see way more of them in Washington than here. But they do show up now and again, such as in April and May, as they seek out baby gray whales to feed on as the grays make their way northward. There was a flurry of sightings early in April: More Killer Whales Spotted on Central Oregon Coast.

If you like feeding the seagulls on the beaches, you’re not going to like this story. It turns out it’s a very bad idea to feed them, and yet this is not well known.

For fans of creatures washing up on Oregon shores, this week saw a good dose of that too. A Broadnose Sevengill shark showed up at Gearhart this week, already dead. It’s a rare but fascinating find. And tiny jellyfish called Sea Gooseberry have been seen in great abundance recently. They look like small, gelatinous bubbles lying around the beach. You should be able to see them on most beaches right about now, but this is hard to predict.

Finally, from depths of the ocean to the galaxy and universe in general, there’s a bit of a stellar mystery that came to the attention of Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff recently. Taking night photographs of the coast – especially above Manzanita – is a favorite activity around here. But in doing so, we discovered one particularly bright star that stood out above the rest.

These star trails below show this near the upper right hand corner. We’ve sent out questions to some astronomy experts regarding this, but haven’t heard back. Is it a planet? A star? And if it’s a star, does it stand out this just because of the way certain atmospheric gasses have gathered?

Let the nerdy fun begin. We haven’t heard back yet. When we do, the answer will be posted on our Facebook page first: You may want to “like” it in advance for the answer.

Also of note: while making this three-minute exposure below an enormous shooting star went streaking across the southern sky from east to west. It was bright and magnificent.

This happens a lot from this viewpoint above Manzanita. We strongly recommend you hang out here on a clear night if you want to witness some amazing stellar phenomena.

Richland Co. crime lab finds a world of evidence

2011-05-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

It’s a series of drab rooms jammed with uncommon devices that have become a place unlike any other in South Carolina’s local police circles.

The crime lab at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department solves crimes as often as deputies do. It also bears a seal of approval that rates it even better than the lab at the State Law Enforcement Division, which services nearly all of the rest of the state’s law enforcement and prosecution community.

The 24-person lab with a $1.6 million budget is a key to getting quick and accurate results that deputies and detectives count on, Sheriff Leon Lott said.

“They’re like Santa Claus. They’ve got presents, and you never know what you’re going to get,” Lott said of their findings. “It’s like Christmas around here when they’ve got the results.”

The lab gets offenders, including those who commit property crimes, off the streets faster, Lott said, protecting residents from repeat offenders. SLED’s lab doesn’t deal with the vast volume of property crimes. In that regard, Lott views the forensic unit as a crime stopper.

In June 2009, the lab achieved a rating that meets rigorous international accreditation standards, said Demi Garvin, who started the unit in October 2000 and oversees it.

The unit is accredited in the analysis of crime scenes, drugs, DNA, fingerprints, firearms and evidence from fires and tools used in crimes.

Garvin, who has a doctoral degree in clinical pharmacy, preaches to detectives that forensic analysis can’t solve crimes by itself. But it can fast-forward good police work and can save investigative time by keeping deputies from chasing evidence that goes nowhere.

“We’re the gravy. The satisfaction is being able to so quickly impact an investigation,” she said from the lab, which is at the sheriff’s department headquarters on Two Notch Road.

Even someone who logically might be a critic lauds the lab.

“They have managed to achieve the gold standard,” said Joe McCulloch, a prominent Richland County defense attorney and the state head of the Innocence Project, which ferrets out police misconduct that leads to wrongful convictions.

One local attorney, Jerry Finney, is a critic.

He has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s department and a former member of the lab for falsely accusing a man in the stabbing death of his wife. Lott has publicly apologized to Justin Mallory, and a second man has been charged.

Mallory’s suit largely alleges misconduct by detectives. But it also faults the lab for delays in analyzing the DNA of Joshua Porch, now accused of killing Nekia Mallory on Mother’s Day in 2006, and for mislabeling DNA evidence from her husband. Mallory was never convicted in two trials but spent about 14 months in jail awaiting his court date.

Lott dismisses the contention that the lab did anything wrong. The case turned on other evidence he declined to disclose because Porch’s criminal trial is pending.

A handful of sheriff’s and police departments in the state have in-house capability to conduct more than fingerprint analysis. But none can do as much as Richland County’s, said Jeff Moore, director of the South Carolina Sheriffs’ Association.

“The other labs that are out there do a little bit of this or a little bit of that, but not the full gamut,” Moore said.

CASE STUDY

The lab has been instrumental in solving innumerable crimes, according to Lott, detectives and forensic staffers.

Its staff discovered a serial rapist in 1996, quickly tied a handgun to the February murder of popular Korean-American restaurant owner Steve Kim and located minute DNA from a sock in the 2009 beating death of an elderly minister, Tryon Eichelberger, that led to an arrest in a case that gone cold. The DNA — from a few skin cells — was found inside a sock that a lab analyst deduced was worn on the hand of Eichelberger’s pipe-wielding assailant.

One of its most memorable cases, which also underscores the relationship between the lab and detectives, involved the brutal beating death in January 2009 of Linda Derrick in her Denny Terrace neighborhood home.

An attacker chased Derrick, 63, throughout her house, pummeling her with a weapon that has yet to be found.

“Blood was everywhere,” said Stan Richards, one of six board-certified crime scene experts on the staff. It took the forensic team three days to gather measurements, take more than 1,000 photographs and video, conduct blood-spatter analysis, take fingerprints and begin examining the evidence.

“There was one drop (of blood) on the living room floor that we happened to see by the victim’s purse,” Richards said. “That one drop is the only one that came back to the suspect.”

The team ran the blood DNA through the database at SLED and got a hit on a convicted felon, said Maj. Stan Smith, who is second in command over detectives. The blood also matched samples from two burglaries committed nearby on the same day that Derrick died. The suspect had cut himself during one of the break-ins, which included one in which another woman was beaten, Smith said. Elbert Wallace, 46, has been charged with murder, burglary, armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill.

Deputies already were on Wallace’s trail: They had evidence he had pawned the Sweet Sixteen ring Derrick’s mother had given her — even before anyone had found the body, Smith said.

DISCIPLINE AND TOYS

The lab double-checks its findings before releasing them to deputies or detectives, Garvin said.

“It’s 100 percent peer review,” meaning another lab professional examines evidence looking for anything that conflicts with initial findings.

The lab’s forensic specialists meet face-to-face with detectives and their supervisors within two days of any major crime for an evidence review, said Garvin, who worked in SLED’s lab for 16 years.

Asked whether any of its findings have been overturned in court, Garvin responded, “Zero. None.”

Lott said he fashioned the lab around her and she helped select the rest of the team on the basis of their areas of expertise. “This lab is Demi Garvin,” the sheriff said.

Lott and Garvin share a thirst for pushing deeper into the latest in forensic science.

By this fall, a new $250,000, portable, 3-D laser camera with 360-degree capability will be used at major crime scenes to gather video evidence and take precision measurements. The lab team has spent months training with the camera and testing it, Garvin said.

In addition, DNA specialists have been trying for years to find a way to lift samples from fingerprints taken from thousands of people already arrested by deputies, Lott said.

Another specialty device is a $100,000 combination of two machines that use helium to separate substances such as drugs or fire debris into their components, then bombard them with electron beams to analyze them.

Not all the techniques are whiz-bang. Missy Horne does drug- and fire-debris analyzes. She sniffs with her nose in early tests of evidence brought to her. And she uses paint cans or heat-sealed plastic bags to gather and preserve soil and other burned samples before any accelerant evaporates.

Firearms expert David Collins uses microscopes and an 8-foot-long water tank to examine bullet fragments or firearms. Collins said his work is based in science, but he acknowledged that forensics “always comes down to the fact that it’s opinion evidence.”

Altogether, the lab handled about 6,100 analyzes last year, according to statistics supplied by Garvin. The largest number were from drug cases.

The lab started out 11 years ago doing only fingerprint analysis and grew into what it is today. In the past year, it conducted tests for 12 other law enforcement agencies or defense attorneys, bringing in about $60,000 of income.

FORENSICS UNDER attack

Forensic labs have been under fire, especially since the accrediting agency, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, fell under suspicion in North Carolina, where it is based.

Known commonly as ASCLAD, the organization certified the work of the State Bureau of Investigation lab starting in 1988. An audit last summer by N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper found 229 cases tainted by analysts who omitted the results of tests that favored defendants.

A series of articles in the Raleigh News & Observer exposed widespread troubles inside the SBI, including agents who bullied the vulnerable and analysts who pushed past the bounds of science to deliver results that helped prosecutions.

A National Academy of Sciences report in early 2009 found serious deficiencies in the nation’s forensic science system and the need for a major overhaul.

In January, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a bill that would require that any lab that receives federal money be accredited under standards set by new organizations comprising experts in the field. In addition, it would create an arm of the Justice Department to work with a board that would establish and enforce tougher standards.

All of that does not mean forensics is not a helpful tool in law enforcement, Garvin said. “The support we can give (deputies) will get better and faster.”

To infinity and beyond: New hi-tech £40m space centre will help Britain to conquer the final frontier

2011-05-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

That is why space is part of our growth review launched at the Budget.

ISIC provides excellent facilities for the private sector and academia to work together, encouraging them to develop new space applications and supporting the £10million National Space Technology Programme.’

ISIC’s mission will initially encompass three activities: understanding and countering climate change, security in space and analysing data generated by Earth Observation satellites.

Astronomer Dr Ian Griffin, director of Science Oxford, highlighted the expertise of British space scientists, and added that ISIC will help to keep the nation at the forefront of space exploration.

Amazon Launches Online Media Storage Service

2011-03-30T03:10:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com wants to be more than a destination for shopping online — it also dreams of being a place where you can store your music, photos and videos and access them any time, from any computer.

The online retailer launched two new offerings late Monday: Amazon Cloud Drive and Amazon Cloud Player. The first lets you upload and store files like music, videos and photos on Amazon's servers, which you can get to from a Web browser on a Mac or PC. The second lets you play songs you've uploaded on your computer or on a smartphone that runs Google's Android operating software. The "cloud" in the services' names refers to the practice of storing content online and streaming it to a computer over the Internet.

Amazon's move is beating Google Inc. and Apple Inc., which are believed to be working on similar services that would allow consumers to access their content when away from their home computer.

While Amazon will charge for the Cloud Drive service, it's offering anyone with an Amazon account 5 gigabytes of free storage. That's less space than you'd get on the smallest iPod Touch, but it's a move that's likely to woo plenty of users who might later decide to pay for more storage space.

The Seattle-based company, which already runs an online storage service for companies called Amazon S3, decided to roll out a consumer cloud service to make it easier for customers to access digital content no matter where they are, Amazon music director Craig Pape said.

The offerings could also benefit Amazon's bottom line: The company realized customers were hesitant to purchase MP3s at work because they didn't want them tied to their office computer, Pape said, so Cloud Drive and Cloud Player may drive more impulse music shopping.

"At the end of the day we're trying to delight customers, but we're trying to sell more music, too," he said.

The company also wants to sell cloud storage. If your tunes and videos take up more space than the 5 GB Amazon is giving out, you can pay an annual storage fee to use Cloud Drive: The use of 20 GB of storage, for example, will cost $20 (and this includes the 5 free GB). For an undisclosed period of time, however, Amazon is offering 20 GB of free storage to those who buy a digital album from its Amazon MP3 store.

The player offers simple controls — you can play, pause or skip tracks, or build your own playlists. For users who want to listen while on the go, an updated version of the Amazon MP3 digital music-buying app will include Cloud Player, letting users play music they've stored with Amazon's service on their cell phone as well as tunes that are already on their handsets.

NASA's starship project sets sights on the final frontier

2011-03-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

Shooting for the stars will first require a lot of down-to-Earth elbow grease, as NASA's new 100-Year Starship project illustrates. The effort, to journey between stars in the 2100s, began with a workshop and now is in the study phase.

NASA's Ames Research Center and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are collaborating on the $1 million 100-Year Starship Study, an effort to take the first step in the next era of space exploration.

The study will scrutinize the business model needed to develop and mature technologies needed to enable long-haul human space treks a century from now. Kick-started by a strategic planning workshop in January, the project has brought together more than two dozen farsighted futurists, NASA specialists, science fiction writers, foundation aficionados and educators.

But for the moment, put aside all those Vulcan mind melds and get a grip. Launching a truly interstellar human voyage is a goal that will require sustained investments of intellectual and financial capital from a variety of sources.

"The year-long study aims to develop a construct that will incentivize and facilitate private co-investment to ensure continuity of the lengthy technological time horizon needed," according to DARPA thinkers.

Self-sustaining enterprise

Dave Neyland, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, said that the 100-Year Starship name was chosen because it would require a long-range sustainable effort to get our species to other stars.

The long-haul starship plan

One participant in the workshop was former NASA scientist Marc Millis, a leading authority on breakthrough propulsion physics concepts that might make interstellar hops a doable proposition.

"The meeting and the DARPA funding is about creating an organization that could last for 100-years, rather than about the technological and sociological advancements necessary toeventually create starships," Millis said. "In fact, the funding is not allowed to be spent on any research or educational activities related to interstellar flight, but instead can only be used to define that organization. As much as I really like the name, '100-year starship,' this study should instead be called the '100-year organization study.'"

Millis pointed out that the overall goal of the organization is to sustain research that will lead to the creation of a starship in roughly 100-years, and to inspire students along the way. By asking “why-what-how,” it was hoped to flesh out some substance to define that organization, he said.

An interstellar challenge

"I find this new initiative to be more of a self-serving earmark using good-old-boy networking," Millis told SPACE.com of the study.

He said leaders of the new study need to first consider what other organizations have done in the past and are now accomplishing, such as the Tau Zero Foundation, the British Interplanetary Society and The Planetary Society.

Millis said that, as head of the Tau Zero Foundation, he picked the topic of interstellar flight "to seek game-changing advancements beyond what others even contemplate and to operate beyond the entrapments of all the competition and legacy constraints of nearer-Earth space activities. And now those entrapments are encroaching into the progress being made on interstellar flight."

Facebook for the Road? Call, E-Mail Other Drivers With New Social Network

2011-03-15T05:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to call another driver to complain about cutting you off? Or to tell him that his brake lights aren't working? Or even to ask him out on a date?

Through a new start-up called Bump.com, drivers across the country can use their license plates to connect with each other via e-mails, text and voice messages, and even access discounts to local stores based on the locations where they're driving.

"It's kind of like a Groupon and a Foursquare, meets AAA and LoJack -- all of which you can't turn off," said Mitch Thrower, Bump.com's San Diego, Calif.-based founder and CEO.

The company is powered by a program that scans and automatically recognizes license plate numbers in pictures taken by security cameras on the road. It then matches up those numbers with e-mail accounts, mobile phones and location systems to let people communicate.

Bump Scans Security Camera Images for License Plate Info

For two years, Bump.com has been in "stealth" mode, Thrower said, building up the technology behind the company and assigning e-mail addresses and voicemail boxes to license plates across the country.

At the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin today, the company officially launched, on an open invitation basis.

To join, you can register on the company's website for an invitation to "claim your plate." After receiving the invitation, users can go to Bump.com to verify car ownership and set up a profile.

But even if you don't want to be a part of a social network for the streets, Bump will capture images of your license plate and assign it an identity. Other drivers will be able to send messages to your car, but you only receive those text and voice messages if you sign up for the network and register yourself as the license plate owner.

"Your license plate is basically a public document, a public record, and it ties back to a communication need," Thrower said. "Everyone's thought, at some point, 'Hey, I'd like to talk to this person. I'd like to send this person a message.'"

Uncle Sam Wants YOU to Design a Military Rescue Vehicle

2011-02-24T04:05:00.000-08:00

The army's secretive technology division has been collecting dozens of ideas for the design of its in-the-works rescue vehicle via a social-media contest -- relying solely on the power of the crowd to get the next big thing built.

So perhaps the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will build the Armadillo, a vehicle with an extendable "tail" that creates more room in a back compartment for up to three injured war fighters to rest comfortably until they return to base for medical attention.

It has terrific wide windows for a good look around and a roof that slides open if you need to take a 360-degree survey of the area.

Or maybe the Department of Defense (DoD) instead will produce the Padré, a reconfigurable vehicle that provides maximum comfort to the scout team riding in it. Soldiers can change its modular storage system to hold cargo or to connect sensor units or a weapon.

Or DARPA could choose to cruise in the T34: Soldiers can connect light armor panels to its side when they enter a hot zone to rescue their compatriots -- and ditch the armor to roll really fast. It sports periscope visors along its side to expand the field of vision for the crew, regardless of its armored state.

As intriguing as these vehicles are, what's cooler is the idea behind it: the potential for ordinary people to collaborate on something as important as a new military vehicle.

Anyone at all can submit a design, draw over existing designs or provide in-depth comments for their creators to incorporate. Designs can then be adapted and resubmitted, up until the deadline. Local Motors of Chandler, Ariz., is running the competition, officially known as the Experimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle (XC2V) Design Challenge, through March 10.

It’s not so different than when multiple users edit a page on Wikipedia, Local Motors CEO John Rogers told FoxNews.com.

“Effectively, we want to co-create all aspects of a vehicle,” Rogers explained. “The Wikipedia method of co-creation is really not far off from the way we talk about it. It is the collaboration between a company and a customer or a company and a community of people who are enthusiasts or informants. And we want all of those people to take part in the creation of this vehicle.”

The military will judge the submissions and build a concept model from the winner in June. Such co-creation of vehicles, tapping into the power of the Internet to "crowd source" design, is the specialty of Local Motors, Rogers said.

So perhaps someone has a great ideal for a specific part of a vehicle and how it could operate more efficiently. But someone else has studied the perspective of enemy forces, and better knows how they would react to such a part. Perhaps yet another contributor would have great insight into how to supply those parts.

“All of these people have a stake. They are stakeholders in a vehicle when it is produced. So co-creation is about tying into those groups and getting those people to inform the process,” Rogers declared.

Rogers stressed that the co-creation process does not leave things to chance. Local Motors guides it. Some of the decisions on the XC2V vehicle have been made already, for example, like the basic, downloadable 3-D models that designers build their additions over.

The competition is a co-creation effort, therefore, because participants are working with Local Motors -- not by themselves. “We don’t hold ourselves bound in our vehicle development process to have to ask the crowd for an example and a competition and a discussion on every aspect of the vehicle,” Rogers noted.

The XC2V Design Challenge, which already has dozens of incomplete entries after running for slightly over a week as of press time, will result in the construction of a concept vehicle, said Lt. Col. Nathan Wiedenman, deputy program manager for the DARPA Adaptive Vehicle Make portfolio, which is testing the waters with the XC2V Design Challenge.

In this way, the process for creating the XC2V vehicle itself serves as a proof of concept. If it works, DARPA will refine the process of crowd-sourcing and start a series of prize challenges that will result in a true infantry fighting vehicle.

“Adaptive Vehicle Make is about more than just building an infantry fighting vehicle; it’s about building a new process and a new set of tools to support that process to allow us to design complex, cyber-electro-mechanical military system much faster."

"It takes us 10 or 20 years to develop a complex military system like a jet or a ship or a tank. We want to reduce that by a factor of five to ten,” Wiedenman told FoxNews.com.

Navy Breaks World Record With Futuristic Free-Electron Laser

2011-02-21T03:20:00.000-08:00

The Navy just set a new world record, a test blast from a new type of laser that can shoot cruise missiles from the sky in seconds with a deadly accuracy that simply doesn't exist in the military’s vast arsenal today.

And that new record moved them one step closer to proving the "holy grail" of laser guns is real.

To create incredible power requires incredible energy. After all, the more power one puts into a laser accelerator, the more powerful and precise the light beam that comes out on the other end. During a private tour of the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, VA., on Friday, FoxNews.com saw scientists blast unprecedented levels of power into a prototype accelerator, producing a supercharged electron beam that can burn through 20 feet of steel per second.

Scientists there, in coordination with the Office of Naval Research (ONR), injected a sustained 500 kilovolts (KV) of juice into a prototype accelerator where the existing limit had been 320 kV -- a world’s record, the scientists explained.

“This is brand new -- it has not been done before, in the world,” said Carlos Hernandez-Garcia, director of the injector and electron gun systems for the FEL (Free Electron Laser) program, who added that Friday’s breakthrough was the culmination of six years of development.

But what does this mean to the Navy, and to war fighting in particular? Quentin Salter, program manager for ONR, said the test steps up the transition to newer, more powerful laser technologies.

“It’s huge in regards to upgrading the laser power beam quality,” he said. According to ONR officials, that laser beam will eventually perform at a staggering “megawatt class,” a measure of the laser's strength. Right now, the accelerator at Jefferson Lab is performing at just 14 Kilowatts.

Next up for the tech: additional weaponization. The Navy just awarded Boeing a contract worth up to $163 million to take that technology and package it as a 100 kW weapons system, one that the Navy hopes to use not only to destroy things but for on-ship communications, tracking and detection, too -- using a fraction of the energy such applications use now, plus with more accuracy. Saulter said they hope to meet that goal by 2015.

“We’re fast approaching the limits of our ability to hit maneuvering pieces of metal in the sky with other piece of flying metal,” explained Rear Admiral Nevin P. Carr Jr., Chief of Naval Research, in an interview with FoxNews.com. That’s why he calls free election laser technology or “directed energy” tech “our marquee program.”

While Carr acknowledges that this is not “something that we are going to wave a wand at and it’s going to appear” -- in fact, the Navy doesn't expect to hit the ultimate megawatt goal until the 2020s -- there have been several incremental victories that have pushed this project ahead of schedule that have scientists and program managers excited.

“With every single milestone, [the naysayers] have been proven wrong,” said Dr. George R. Neil, associate director of the FEL program at Jefferson Lab. Neil pointed to a bottle of champagne in the control room -- that one was for when they met the 10 kW threshold four years ago, nearly a decade after the Navy began funding the development of the FEL accelerator at the Newport News facility.

Today, Neil and others have shown that they have the ability to harness super-conducting electron power.

The military already uses lasers across the spectrum. What make this technology different (and its potential so extraordinary) is its power source.

The military now uses solid-state lasers that use crystals and glass, as well as chemical lasers that use often dangerous liquid materials. The FEL is different. It requires only electrons, which can be created from matter inside the injector with energy that is constantly recycled. In other words, it uses less shipboard power than current weapons systems. “It won’t slow down the ship,” Saulter said.

In addition, according to Navy officials, the FEL laser can perform at different wavelengths, meaning it can operate at lower and more powerful levels so that it can be used for different applications, which other laser technology cannot. It is also not vulnerable to atmospheric conditions, as solid-state lasers are, making them wane in power depending on the weather.

“The fact that you can tune the wavelength, that’s what makes it different. You can optimize the beam for the conditions of the day -- that’s really powerful,” said Adm. Carr. “So in a warfighting sense, the FEL’s ability to do that on a ship makes it much more attractive” than other laser technology.

The scope of the project from start to finish is impressively daunting. It's outfitted with enough piping, conductors, cables and other material to fill a small gymnasium, and they do this all at the lab.

The Navy must not only figure out a way to harness the electron beam into a light ray, but to shrink the accelerator down to size so that it would fit neatly on a Navy destroyer.

But for now, researchers take each milestone as proof they are moving in the right direction. The Navy has asked for $60 million for its directed energy budget for 2012. As for Friday’s 500 kV breakthrough, they say it’s a big one.

“This will shorten the timeline for the Navy to get to the Megawatt” league, Saulter said. Clearly, the day's events were a feather in everyone’s cap.

Apple Reports Labor, Safety Problems at Suppliers

2011-02-16T02:06:00.000-08:00

Apple Inc. says its audits found labor, safety and other abuses by its suppliers in 2010, though it praised Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn for saving lives through its handling of a spate of suicides at its factories in China.

The findings, outlined in Apple's annual supplier responsibility report, prompted local reports Wednesday to decry the "high price" paid by Chinese workers who assemble hit gadgets like the iPod and iPad.

"Apple Releases Supplier Report: Chinese Environmental Groups Dissatisfied," said a headline Wednesday in the state-run newspaper 21st Century Business Herald. "China Pays a High Cost for Apple's Success," said the Shanghai Daily.

Apple's report lists steps the company has taken to deal with underaged workers, involuntary or debt-bonded labor and unsafe handling of dangerous chemicals, among other abuses found in audits of 127 production facilities.

Cupertino, California-based Apple has sought to keep secret details of its production in China, where many of its top gadgets are assembled. But a string of suicides at the heavily regimented factories of Taiwan-owned Foxconn Technology Group last year drew unwelcome attention to conditions faced by workers in China who put iPhones and other devices together.

Meanwhile, the company said it was working with Foxconn, a major supplier to many electronics makers, to help prevent further suicides at its factories, which employ more than 920,000 people and are expanding into China's inland areas.

"We were disturbed and deeply saddened to learn that factory workers were taking their own lives," said the report. It praised Foxconn's improved support for its mostly young, migrant work force and said an independent investigation had found Foxconn's handling of the problem "had definitely saved lives."

Apple said its audits found 91 underaged workers at 10 Chinese factories.

China allows employment only from age 16, although many children leave school before then. In the worst example, Apple said it stopped doing business with a factory that had hired 42 underaged workers supplied by a vocational school that had falsified their documents.

Apart from other labor problems, such as excess working hours, the company said that it required suppliers to reimburse $3.4 million in overcharges by employment agencies that provided contract migrant laborers from various countries in Asia, such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam to factories in Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.

The report acknowledged other troubles, such as inadequate safety provisions at factories, including one case last year in which dozens of workers were poisoned by unsafe handling of the chemical n-hexane at a factory in Suzhou, near Shanghai.

Apple said it required the supplier, Wintek, to stop using the chemical and repair its ventilation system and will audit the factory again this year to ensure it is complying with its standards.

Chinese environmental groups are growing increasingly outspoken on such issues and a report released last month by three dozen groups, "The Other Side of Apple," accused the company of being the least responsive to health and safety concerns among more than two-dozen companies that were surveyed.

While contracts for Apple components are lucrative, the company's rigid quality standards led contractors to do whatever they can to ensure their products pass muster, the 21st Century Business Herald said, citing Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun, whose Beijing-based Institute for Public & Environmental Affairs helped compile the "Other Side" report.

Ma said Wintek had gotten better results using n-hexane, a solvent that can cause nerve damage, rather than alcohol to clean screens and switched to the more toxic chemical without telling Apple.

Overall, Apple said it ordered changes by 80 suppliers that were found to be mishandling or improperly storing hazardous chemicals.

The Institute for Public & Environmental Affairs welcomed what it called Apple's "positive steps" in acknowledging the poisoning at Wintek, but said its claim that all the workers affected had returned to work was "highly conflicting" with what the workers have said.

"Many of them have been categorized as occupationally disabled. Their condition therefore makes it dangerous for them to return to the Apple production line and to be exposed to chemical substances such as acetone," it said in a statement Wednesday.

The NGO also chastised Apple for not providing specific details about other environmental risks, saying it was studying further cases it had found.

NASA Releases First 360-Degree View of Entire Sun

2011-02-07T03:55:00.001-08:00

NASA has released the first 360-degree view of the entire sun today, just in time for Super Bowl Sunday.

The photo comes courtesy of NASA's twin STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) spacecraft, which aligned exactly opposite each other on opposite sides of the sun to capture the image.

The ability to see the whole sun, front to back, will allow scientists to better understand complicated solar weather patterns and plan for future robotic or crewed spacecraft missions throughout the solar system, researchers said.

"The sun is a truly complex object which influences many aspects of our lives," Richard Harrison, principal investigator for the U.K. instruments on STEREO, said in a statement. "In the same way that you would not expect to understand the workings of the brain by studying just a small part of it, a global investigation into the nature of our star as a complete object is essential to understanding how it works."

Harrison is also co-investigator of NASA's SDO mission (Solar Dynamics Observatory), which contributed to the new 360-degree view with high-resolution sun photos taken from orbit.

Scientists particularly want to better predict space weather and the violent eruptions that can spout from the sun's surface. These eruptions can damage satellites, disrupt communications and disable power systems on Earth.

NASA's STEREo spacecraft artist's illustration.

"Solar missions such as STEREO and SDO not only give us more information about star formation and evolution throughout our universe, but are of vital importance in our quest to further understand the sun's processes and the effect they can have on our planet and way of life," said David Parker, director of space science and exploration for the U.K. Space Agency. "This spectacular 360-degree view is another triumph for the STEREO mission, which continues to obtain some of the best images yet of the sun."

The two identical spacecraft of the NASA STEREO mission were launched in October 2006. They are offset from one another, one flying ahead of the Earth and the other behind.

SDO is the first mission in NASA's Living with a Star program and was launched in February 2010. SDO's unique orbit allows high-resolution images of the sun to be recorded every three-quarters of a second.

Search Engine Slap Fight: Microsoft Denies Cheating, Blames Google

2011-02-04T03:58:00.001-08:00

Is Microsoft cheating? Did Google use "click fraud?" And what's Yahoo up to, anyway? Following a months-long sting operation, Google took a swing at Microsoft on Tuesday, claiming the company was copying results from Google for its Bing search engine. The search giant said Microsoft was sucking data from Google's search results and using them to -- put nicely -- inform its own search engine.

Microsoft just slapped back.

In a blog posting titled "Setting the record straight," Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi, senior veep in the Online Services Division, said it was by no means cheating -- and Google was the one playing fast and loose with the rules.

"In simple terms, Google’s 'experiment' was rigged to manipulate Bing search results through a type of attack also known as click fraud. That’s right, the same type of attack employed by spammers on the web to trick consumers and produce bogus search results," he wrote.

Google has been engaging in click fraud? Interesting. But that's not all.

"We have brought a number of things to market that we are very proud of -- our daily home page photos, infinite scroll in image search, great travel and shopping experiences, a new and more useful visual approach to search, and partnerships with key leaders like Facebook and Twitter," Mehdi wrote.

"If you are keeping tabs, you will notice Google has 'copied' a few of these."

Strong words indeed, but an understandable response to Google's Amit Singhal, who oversees the search engine’s ranking algorithm. He made his position crystal clear to FoxNews.com on Tuesday: “Our testing has concluded that Bing is copying Google web search results,” Singhal told FoxNews.com.

Google grew wary of potential copycats in October, 2010, when engineers noticed that bizarre misspellings were returning the same set of results on both Google and Bing searches.

Unsure, but suspicious, Google set up a trap. From December 17 to December 31, engineers inserted a “honeypot” result as the top result for specific search queries -- including, hiybbprqag, mbzrxpgiys, and indoswiftjobinproduction -- and waited to see if the same results would appear on Bing. Lo and behold, the identical results popped up.

"It's cheating to me because we work incredibly hard and have done so for years -- but they just get there based on our hard work,” a frustrated Singhal told Danny Sullivan, editor of the blog Search Engine Land. “I don't know how else to call it but plain and simple cheating. Another analogy is that it's like running a marathon and carrying someone else on your back, who jumps off just before the finish line."

So who can mediate when two of the biggest search engines battle? Thank heavens for Stephen Colbert.

The comedian entered the fray Wednesday night, with a tongue in cheek definition of "hiybbprqag," one of the nonsense words Google used to spring its trap.

Intel Finds Major Flaw in Newest Computer Chips

2011-02-01T03:54:00.000-08:00

Intel has found a defect in one of its chips, hurting its credibility during a major product launch and at a time when demand for microprocessors in PCs is being threatened.

The company said on Monday it stopped shipments of the chip used in personal computers with its most advanced Sandy Bridge line of processors and has already started production of a new version.

For Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, the design flaw is another distraction at a time when it faces sluggish personal computer sales and a major challenge from the exploding popularity of mobile devices, a market dominated by Britain's ARM Holdings.

"Does it change the perception of Intel's quality? Yes, probably. You've got real product out there that's been qualified and tested and green-lighted, and then you come back to say there's a problem and you have to recall," said Wedbush analyst Patrick Wang.

Intel has a good history of semiconductor manufacturing but it was criticized in the 1990s after it corrected but did not disclose a flaw in one of its Pentium processors.

Intel cut its first-quarter revenue forecast by $300 million and expects the total cost to repair and replace the chip to be about $700 million. Full-year revenues are seen unaffected.

The Santa Clara, California, company said the defect was discovered after it shipped more than 100,000 of the chips to computer manufacturers getting ready to sell new PC models with the Sandy Bridge processor, which Intel touts as its biggest-ever leap in processing power.

Had the problem gone undiscovered, about 5 percent of PCs using the new chipsets could have failed over a three-year period, Stephen Smith, vice president and director of PC Client Operations at Intel, said on a conference call.

"It would be a low and continuing failure rate over the life of the systems," he said.

Intel's shares were down 0.6 percent on the Nasdaq shortly before the close.

Advanced Micro Devices' shares jumped 4.4 percent to $7.82 as investors bet Intel's setback would give its smaller rival an edge.

AMD this year is launching its own new lineup of processors, code-named Fusion, which will compete with Intel's Sandy Bridge chips for PC design wins.

PCs using the chips started shipping on January 9, and Intel said a "relatively small" number of them are likely to have been bought so far by consumers. It had sent a bit fewer than 8 million of the faulty chips to manufacturers.

While Intel's processors are the brains in 80 percent of the world's PCs, the company has yet to make its mark in mobile gadgets that are increasingly used to surf the Web, manage email and perform other tasks once exclusively the province of PCs.

Some worries about Intel were eased earlier this month when it reported better-than expected revenue and margins for the fourth quarter and gave a rosy outlook for early 2011.

Despite lukewarm growth in PC sales last year, the Semiconductor Industry Association said on Monday worldwide chip sales for 2010 rose 32 percent to a record $298.3 billion. But it warned that this year it expected only "moderate single-digit growth" for the industry as a whole, as the faltering economy continues to suppress growth in demand.

Intel does not expect the problem with its so-called Cougar Point chipsets, which let the central processor interact with the memory, hard disk drives and other parts of the computer, to hurt its full-year revenue. It will deliver an updated version of the chip in late February.

But since the flaw affected some of the chips shipped in the fourth quarter, Intel plans to take a charge that will reduce gross margin by roughly 4 percentage points for that period.

It will also take a first-quarter charge that will cut gross margin by 2 percentage points.

HIGH VOLTAGE

Intel said its engineers zeroed in on the newest defect last week after manufacturers stress-tested the chips with high voltage and temperatures. The flaw could have stopped computers from being able to communicate with their hard disk drives or DVD drives.

Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest PC maker, and Dell, ranked No. 2, declined to comment.

"It's obviously a negative and a surprise. We think they can recover from this very quickly. This product was just being introduced and there's not many in the field," said Kevin Cassidy, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus.

He said investors should buy shares of Intel if the stock appears under pressure from the Cougar Point problem.

The chip flaw, along with its recently completed acquisition of German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG's wireless unit and the purchase of security software firm McAfee, expected to close in this quarter, prompted Intel to revise its overall outlook.

Helped by the deals, it expects first-quarter revenue of $11.7 billion, give or take $400 million, compared with its previous expectation of $11.5 billion, give or take $400 million.

"As a long-term investor in the stock I won't be changing my perspective on the shares, but in the short term this is a surprise," said Ralph Shive, manager of the $1.7 billion Wasatch-1ST Source Income Equity Fund. The fund owns shares of Intel.

Excessive but Awesome Home Appliances

2011-01-25T03:59:00.000-08:00

Purchasing a new big screen television or stove is a fine way to make your home seem new again without having to tackle a major renovation project. But while these basic purchases add a little extra luster to your home, they aren’t all that out of the ordinary.

More interesting are those gadgets that make you feel like they’ve arrived from some strange future, the ones that make you shake your head and say “Why would anyone need that?” And then, on second thought, you admit to yourself, “I absolutely need that.”

To help you with your next home hardware purchases, we’ve rounded up some of the most over-the-top home gadgets that you don’t really need, but you’re certainly going to want.

Neato XV-11—Your Roomba sucks. And I don’t mean that as some kind of lame pun. But you know what’s even better? A robo-vacuum with lasers! Enter the Neato XV-11 $400), the world’s first laser-guided Roomba-alternative. Why would a vacuum need an onboard laser-guidance system, you ask? While the Roomba whirls around your house like a blind animal, often re-cleaning the same spots over and over again, the Neato scans the room and charts a smarter and quicker path to spotlessness.

Dyson Air Multiplier—For years we’ve suffered through the tyranny of traditional fan designs, with their difficult-to-clean, dust-encrusted blades. But now from Dyson — the maker of those revolutionary vacuums — comes the world’s first bladeless fan. The Dyson Air Multiplier ($300-$450) draws and channels air in a method similar to a jet engine, giving you a more powerful, smoother breeze. Sure it’s a steep price to pay for a fan, but that’s what it takes to leave the propellers behind and enter the jet age.

Conmoto Travelmate Fireplace—For thousands of years man has struggled to master and contain the power of fire. Now we can say that the task has been completed and the ultimate goal reached: A gas fireplace outfitted in a sleek transparent suitcase. The Conmoto Travelmate Portable Fireplace ($3,200) means that you’ll never again be left longing for a warming fire in your cramped studio apartment or while on the road.

HumanTouch HT-9500 Massage Chair—Ask any tech junkie and they’ll tell you, there’s nothing quite as relaxing as curling up in a favorite chair with their beloved touchscreen media device. Well HumanTouch has figured out a way to top the quiet comfort of a day spent cradling a tablet in a comfy chair. The HumanTouch HT-9500 massage chair ($5,200) is an iPad- and iPhone-enabled pleasure vessel. Linking with your device, the chair allows you to program and control a relaxation routine of your own making. You can also download routines designed by athletes and physicians for a post-scrimmage rubdown or one to send yourself into a pre-bedtime trance.

Magimix Vision Toaster—Toast should be one of the easiest things to make, but I’m an impatient person, constantly popping it up to check on its progress. Added to that, I have never found a toaster that reliably browns a slice of bread the same way two days in a row. With the Magimix Vision Toaster ($249), the world’s first see-through toaster, you can monitor your bread’s progress second by second, ensuring your morning is never again ruined by a burnt breakfast.

LG Thinq appliances—We’ve been promised “smart homes” for years, but the technology has long been hobbled by “dumb” appliances. LG hopes to change all that with their Thinq line of appliances. Featuring a built in wi-fi network, a Thinq appliance will let you monitor food expiration dates from your iPhone, or download new energy-saving wash cycles for your washing machine.

Troy-Bilt Pack Horse—Why break your back hauling mulch and rocks the old fashioned way when you can put a gas-powered wheelbarrow behind the job? Capable of moving up to 500 pounds, the Troy-Bilt Pack Horse ($1,300) is like having your own backyard mule, without all those the messy droppings to clean up.

Robomow lawnmowers—The Robomow line of automatic mowers will mow your lawn while you sit on the porch sipping lemonade. Sure you could get a push mower for a tenth of the cost, but can you really put a price on idle summer afternoons? Apparently you can: $1,200-$2,000.

Cost of 1,000 Federal Committees Leaves Taxpayers With Skyrocketing Bill

2011-01-21T04:25:00.000-08:00

For decades, this has been Washington's go-to response for tackling an array of policy challenges big and small, national and local. But that response has added up.

The federal government hosts a network of 1,000 advisory panels that consisted of more than 74,000 members last year, and they are becoming increasingly expensive -- statistics kept by the federal government show the cost of running these committees has nearly doubled over the past decade.

Though the staggering number of committees has remained fairly constant during that time, the bill they rack up every year has grown rapidly, from $215 million in fiscal year 2000 to $386 million last fiscal year. The collective budget is projected to top $400 million for the 2011 budget year.

It's unclear why the price tag is rising so much at a time when inflation is not, though the bulk of the increase can be found in the cost of paying federal staff who work for these committees. That has some government watchdogs and lawmakers paying attention, and questioning whether Washington really needs tens of thousands of committee members advising the public on everything from pesticides to actuarial examinations.

"Some serve a legitimate purpose, but most of them are just bogus ways for some official to appoint who knows who," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told FoxNews.com. "It's a way to punt a tough question."

Plus, he said, "It's very costly."

Chaffetz plans to introduce legislation next month aimed at requiring the executive branch to reduce the number of advisory committees. He said his "gut" instinct is to get rid of them all, but he suggested a review process might have to be implemented.

"I want to make sure we're not getting rid of a committee to oversee nuclear codes," he said.

According to government statistics, there were 74,346 committee members last year, up from about 52,000 a decade ago. Some work on these committees on a volunteer basis; for those who don't, the cost of paying them topped $47 million last year. Separate from that, the largest single cost -- at $180 million, up from $100 million a decade ago -- comes from funding the staff who do the grunt work. Another big factor is travel and related expenses, which amounted to $72 million last year.

As with most expenses outside of Medicare, Social Security and defense spending, these costs are small potatoes when compared with the federal budget shortfall now consistently north of $1 trillion.

But sometimes what they produce is difficult to gauge. A 2010 report showed just 8 percent of committee recommendations had been or will be fully implemented. About a fifth of all committees deal with reviewing grant applications; most committees, though, report "trust in government" as one of their most vital services. Only 35 committees reported tackling any kind of cost-savings for the government.

Best Tech of 2011? 4 Must-Have Gadgets

2011-01-11T03:47:00.000-08:00

There were 2,700 exhibitors, over 20,000 gadgets, spread across nearly 2 million square feet of the Las Vegas Convention Center, all previewing the gadgets to be unveiled over the year to come. I walked the halls looking at all the new tecnology until my feet nearly fell off. Here are the highlights that stuck with me -- things that I'm definitely adding to my shopping list.

Motorola’s Xoom Tablet

It was voted Best of CES and for good reason. The Motorola Xoom is the tablet most likely to give Apple's iPad a run for its money. It won’t hit the market until March, but the Xoom will be the first tablet running Google’s Honeycomb operating system -- the forthcoming version of the Android OS that's made explicitly for tablet-style devices.

Android fans are salivating over the Xoom's specs, too: it runs on Verizon’s lightning-fast 4G LTE network, has 32GB of storage, two cameras, HD video capture, an SD card slot

and a 1GHz processor, plus it’s upgradable from 3G to 4G, meaning you can use it on 3G now and then on 4G when the faster network becomes available in your area.

Samsung 8000 LED TV

It’s hard to get impressed by televisions these days -- until you see Samsung’s 8000 Series LED TV, that is. The screen is stunning, and the bezel around the viewing area has been reduced to almost nothing, just 1.5 inches. It's like smooth, seamless glass.

I’ve always been impressed with Samsung’s picture quality, but this TV takes the cake. Plus it’s packed with clever features that make sense for the living room, including Skype and 3D. The 8000 Series will be available in 46-, 55-, and 65-inch sizes.

Celestron SkyProdigy 130

After just receiving my new Orion telescope for Christmas, I was a little depressed when I laid eyes on this new beauty. The Celestron SkyProdigy 130 takes the guesswork out of stargazing by autocalibrating the view finder.

It uses an onboard camera to detect where the viewer is facing, and it takes just three minutes to find the star or planet you’re looking for. Sure, this technology has been around for eons, but only Donald Trump could afford earlier versions. Not anymore: the Celestron SkyProdigy 130 is just $700.

Technology Facebook Will Disclose Financials or Go Public by April 2012, Report Says

2011-01-07T03:46:00.000-08:00

Facebook will begin disclosing financial information or stage an initial public offering by April 2012, according to a new 100-page private-placement memo now being distributed to potential investors in the company.

The popular social-networking company said in the document that it intends to breach a critical 500-shareholder limit this year. Crossing the limit triggers a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that requires that companies file financial information -- even if their shares don't trade publicly.

Facebook's intentions have been under heavy debate since the company launched a private share offering through Goldman Sachs Group this week. Some investors have wondered whether the arrangement with Goldman was designed to avoid such disclosures. The document makes clear that isn't the case, and that Facebook will likely be a publicly traded company in 2012.

A Facebook spokesman declined to comment. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Companies have 120 days after crossing this year-end 500-shareholder

threshold to register as a reporting company.

TECH SHOW: AMD Launches New Chips In Latest Salvo Vs Intel

2011-01-06T04:06:00.000-08:00

LAS VEGAS -(Dow Jones)- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD: 8.89, 0.00, 0.00%) unveiled on Wednesday new chips that are expected to reduce production cost and boost performance, the latest salvo in its competition with rival Intel Corp. (INTC: 20.93, 0.00, 0.00%).The Sunnyvale, Calif., chip designer's next-generation line of chips, dubbed "Fusion," pairs a traditional computer microprocessor and a graphics processor on the same piece of silicon. The combination is expected to lower production costs, improve performance and lower power consumption compared to the current practice of using two separate chips with specialized tasks.

"The importance of graphics has become more and more clear to our customers," AMD Chief Executive Dirk Meyer said at an event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "The near-term performance of Fusion is to bring a better visual experience to notebooks."AMD tipped its hand in a press release Tuesday that said Fusion would be displayed at the trade show.

Fusion is AMD's latest step in its competition with giant Intel, which is expected to release a similar chip later Wednesday at CES. AMD has long lagged Intel in the microprocessor market because its chips have been seen as comparatively weak and inefficient.

AMD said desktop, laptop and netbook computers featuring its new processors are already available and that it expects manufacturers, such as Dell Inc. (DELL: 13.89, 0.00, 0.00%) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ: 44.21, 0.00, 0.00%), to announce plans to sell notebook computers using the technology for between $300 and $500. Tablet computers with the new chips are expected to be available in coming months.

AMD largely missed out on the last hot portable product line--netbook computers--and the company expects its new Fusion chips will help it expand in that market. While AMD has said it isn't targeting the fast-growing tablet-computer market, the company has said some personal-computer makers likely will use its semiconductors for such portable devices.

Already, Acer Inc. (ACEIY) has unveiled plans to use an AMD Fusion chip in a Microsoft Corp. (MSFT: 28.01, 0.00, 0.00%) Windows-based convertible tablet computer expected to hit the market in January.

AMD's Meyer also said he doesn't feel pressure to enter the smartphone market, where he said at least seven chip makers--including Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM: 52.03, 0.00, 0.00%), Broadcomm Corp. (BRCM: 43.84, 0.00, 0.00%) and Intel--are competing fiercely to capture market share. Earlier in the day, Qualcomm said it had agreed to buy Wi-Fi chip maker Atheros Communications Inc. (ATHR: 44.63, 0.00, 0.00%) for $3.1 billion in a bid to grab a larger chunk of the mobile market.

"While there are a lot of units there, the revenue [from smartphones] is smaller," Meyer said.

AMD and other semiconductor makers have been benefiting from a sharp rise in demand following the depths seen in the recession, but many chip makers, including AMD and Intel, have warned of weaker consumer demand for PCs in developed markets. Still, AMD in October posted a 16% rise in third-quarter revenue as the weak consumer demand didn't take as large a toll as feared. The company will reports its fourth-quarter results later this month.

In early afternoon trading Wednesday, AMD shares, down 12% over the past 12 months, were up 1.1% at $8.86.

A R Rahman turns 45

2011-01-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

AR Rahman, who won Oscar awards for his popular compositions in Danny’s Oscar winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ in 2009, has scored for this movie as well.

An excited Rahman tweeted to his fans: “I'm very excited about 127 hours releasing in the UK today and what makes it even more special is that we scored the music here..in London :).”

The success of the movie and the positive reactions from his fans towards his latest compositions will surely be the best gift he can expect on Thursday.

The film ‘127 Hours’ centres on the story of mountain climber Aron Ralston whose right arm remained stuck under a boulder in Utah for more than five days in 2003.

Besides this film, Rahman is also ready with the world premiere of his latest music video as he tweeted to his fans world wide: “Guys, watch out for the world premiere of my new music video...coming soon....”

The talented Indian music composer from South started his fairy tale run in film industry with ‘Roja’ and since then he has produced multiple heart warming numbers till now.

His latest tracks from the movie ‘127 Hours’ has already attracted the attention of the listeners and this is very much evident from the fact that they have already gained nominations in the ‘Best Original Score’ category at the Golden Globe.

Earlier, the ‘Mozart of Madras’ as Rahman is popularly called, had bagged his first Golden Globe award in the same category for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ in 2009.

Mile high stakes in Colorado Senate race

2010-10-18T02:25:00.000-07:00

For decades, Colorado has been a leading indicator of American politics, mirroring the national shifts from right to left, from Republican to Democratic.

It's a state that has elected liberal senators such as Gary Hart and Tim Wirth, only to supplant them with conservatives like Wayne Allard and Hank Brown before Democrats recaptured their seats in recent years.

Bill Clinton carried the state in 1992 (but not 1996). Colorado went for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 then served as the location for Barack Obama’s nominating convention and part of his march to the White House in 2008.

Intense interest

The Buck-Bennet contest is the nation's No. 1 senate race as measured by the outside independent spending it has attracted. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, nearly $6 million has been spent by groups such as American Crossroads to defeat Bennet and $5 million to sink Buck, most of that spent by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Both candidates faced primary challenges. Bennet defeated his primary opponent, Andrew Romanoff, the favorite of some progressives. Buck is the Tea Party- and Dick Cheney-supported candidate who beat establishment hopeful Jane Norton in the primary.

Buck told The Denver Post in July that he’s running "because I'm mad, because I think what's going on in D.C. is wrong. The lurch to the left has taken us down the wrong path." His closing argument in debates goes like this: "We protested when the government ran up trillions of dollars of debt, we sent e-mails when they were about to pass the health care bill … we pleaded with them to please secure our borders so that we would be safe — and you know what: they heard us, but folks, they ignored us. And on Nov. 2, they will ignore us no more.”

Appointed to fill the Senate seat held by Ken Salazar (who was tapped by President Obama as his Interior Secretary), and on the ballot for the first time ever, Bennet has found Colorado's political terra firma shifting once again. He and three of the state's Democratic House members appear to be in some danger of losing.

Coloradoans 'want the same thing'
Bennet voted for the stimulus plan, Obama's health care overhaul, the auto industry bailout, and the "cash for clunkers" program to stimulate car buying. Facing a Republican tide, Bennet has adopted a "can't we all get along" theme. He’s also running as the anti-Washington incumbent.

No stranger to Washington
For a man who is trying to get a six-year term back in Washington, Bennett often sounds as if he hates the place, portraying the capital as a den of misguided ideologues and clueless bureaucrats.

But Washington, D.C., is the place where Bennet grew up, attended prep school (elite St. Alban's), lived when he had a job for two years in the Clinton Justice Department and worked for the past two years as a senator.

People in Washington, D.C., Bennet said in the Grand Junction debate, "don't diagnose the problem and say, 'let's figure out the solution.' They find a solution that some lobbyist brings them … and then say 'here's the solution to a problem that may or may not exist.' No one here that runs a business does it that way. … And my whole career has been outside of politics until I was in this job, and I never approached my work that way."

Despite his disparaging talk about Washington, Bennet is steeped in a family tradition of public service and politics.

He was born in 1964 in New Delhi, where his father served as an aide to the U.S. ambassador. Bennet's father later served as an aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, an assistant to two Democratic senators, staff director for the Senate Budget Committee, a State Department official and president of National Public Radio.

Afghanistan to vote in historic election

2010-09-17T03:59:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan votes in only its second parliamentary election in history on Saturday. With repeated Taliban threats to voters, the entire Afghan security apparatus is on high alert. This is the first election since the presidential poll that witnessed massive fraud in 2009. So, the vote is being seen as a defining moment in whether Afghanistan moves up the ladder of democracy or slides further into a cycle of violence.

The NATO-led international force is now at about President Obama's promised surge of 150,000. ISAF, official sources say will operate as a quick response force when needed.

Kabul is plastered with election posters. Till the last day, ballot boxes and election material were being transported to places outside Kabul.

The Taliban have been quiet in the capital in the last few weeks. But, this has been the bloodiest year since they were defeated in 2001. Civilian and military deaths are at record levels. Officially over 500 foreign troops and over 1500 civilians have been killed.

Michael Jackson's mother sues concert promoter

2010-09-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson's mother sued a concert promoter on Wednesday, alleging the company failed to provide life-saving equipment and oversee a doctor who was hired to look out for the pop star's well-being as he prepared for what were intended to be his comeback concerts.

Katherine Jackson's lawsuit was filed against AEG Live in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

The suit contends AEG and its agents told Michael Jackson the company would provide the equipment and hire Dr. Conrad Murray to care for him so he could perform at the concerts in London.

"AEG's representations to Jackson were false because in reality AEG was merely doing whatever it took to make sure that Michael Jackson could make it to rehearsals and shows and AEG did not provide a doctor who was truly looking out for Jackson's well-being and did not provide equipment," the lawsuit stated.

AEG spokesman Michael Roth said the company has not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.

AEG Live President and CEO Randy Phillips said after Jackson's June 2009 death that Murray was enlisted to act as Jackson's personal physician and was to be paid $150,000 a month by AEG Live as the singer prepared for the concerts.

Jackson, however, died before signing the agreement. As a result, Phillips said it was not binding.

The suit also said AEG Live was responsible for the actions of Murray in the care of Jackson. Murray, however, was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

"At the time of his death, Michael Jackson was under the immediate care of a doctor selected by, hired by, and controlled by AEG; indeed AEG demanded and required that Michael Jackson be treated by this particular doctor to ensure that Michael Jackson would attend all rehearsals and shows on the tour," the complaint stated.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death at age 50.

Police said Murray gave Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.

Katherine Jackson, who is the guardian of the singer's three children, also sued on their behalf. Her lawsuit claimed Jackson's eldest son, Prince, suffered great trauma and severe emotional distress because he witnessed his father's final moments.

The lawsuit alleged that Jackson's agreement with AEG put him under immense pressure to complete the London concerts. The suit claims AEG would have taken over Jackson's share in a lucrative music catalog that includes songs by The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Jackson and the Jackson 5, which was one of the singer's best assets after years of accumulating debt.

The comeback concerts in London sold out in anticipation of Jackson's return as the King of Pop.

Despite years of self-imposed exile, he retained a huge, loyal following of fans overjoyed at the prospect of seeing him reclaim the glory he'd attained with albums like "Thriller" and songs like "Beat It!" and "Billie Jean."

The singer's father, Joe Jackson, has sued Murray for wrongful death in federal court. Murray's attorneys filed a motion on Wednesday seeking a dismissal of that case, which alleges the cardiologist acted negligently and lied to emergency-room physicians trying to resuscitate the singer.

U.S. drone attacks kill 12 in Pakistan

2010-09-14T23:39:00.000-07:00

Twelve militants were killed Wednesday in drone attacks carried out by the United States in northwest Pakistan, a media report said.

The pre-dawn attacks targeted the Haqqani terror network in Dargah Mandi village. The village is located on the outskirts of Miranshah town in the troubled North Waziristan tribal region, Geo TV reported.

“US drones fired seven missiles at two militant compounds early this morning, killing at least twelve militants,” a senior security official said.

Local residents said there was panic in the village after the noise of drones was heard just before dawn.

The terror network is run by Sirajuddin, son of Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, and is linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Japanese PM wins party vote, will stay in power

2010-09-14T00:13:00.000-07:00

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan was re-elected president of the ruling Democratic Party on Tuesday, surviving a stiff challenge from a veteran powerbroker and sparing Japan another change in leadership.

Kan, in office just three months, defeated Ichiro Ozawa by an unexpectedly wide margin, 721-491. Parliamentary party members accounted for two-thirds of the votes, while rank-and-file members around the country made up the remaining third.

A party heavyweight, Ozawa quit as the party's No. 2 in June, amid a political funding scandal.

The leadership tussle has distracted Japan at a time when it desperately needs to confront a host of problems, from a sluggish economy and a surging yen - which Tuesday hit a new 15-year high against the dollar - to an escalating spat withChina over a collision near disputed islands. Had Ozawa won, he would've been Japan's third prime minister in a year.

A fiscal disciplinarian who has urgently called for Japan to create more jobs to revive the economy, Kan is far more popular among the general public than Ozawa, who is widely viewed as a backroom kingmaker with a scandal-tainted image. Ozawa could be indicted as early as next month for allegations of political finance irregularities.

Famous for standing up to Japan's bureaucrats when he exposed a government cover-up of HIV-tainted blood in the mid-1990s, Kan has pledged to make politics more transparent and accountable. Surveys show that voters prefer Kan by a margin of 4-to-1.

Ozawa, a fixture in Japanese politics for 40 years, mounted a strong challenge, tapping into his deep support base within the party. A master strategist, Ozawa is widely credited with engineering the Democrats' landslide victory a year ago, unseating the conservative Liberal Democratic Party that ruled Japan for most of the post-World War II era.

While Ozawa said he would back Kan if he loses, some analysts have speculated that Ozawa may try to break away from the Democrats to form his own party or even join with the LDP.

Sensex crosses 19k after 32 months, Nifty above 5,700

2010-09-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

Mumbai: The BSE benchmark Sensex regained the crucial 19,000-level in early trade on Monday, adding 287 points on fund-based buying driven by a firming global trend.

The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange surged by 287.69 points to 19,087.35 in opening trade. It had risen by 132.95 points in the previous session

The buoyant investor sentiment also propelled the wide- based National Stock Exchange Nifty past the 5,700-mark. The Nifty gained 83.60 points to 5723.65 in early trade today.

Both indices have regained these levels after almost 32 months.

Sushil Kumar wins gold in World Wrestling Championship

2010-09-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: Wrestler Sushil Kumar rewrote the history books once again as he became the first Indian wrestler to win a gold medal in the World Wrestling Championships.

The 27-year old wrestler from Haryana beat Russia's Gogaev Alan in the final to clinch the gold medal.

He had earlier assured atleast a silver medal by defeating Hasanov Jabrayil of Azerbaijan in the semifinal.

Speaking to NDTV, Sushil said, "I am very happy with this win and this is bigger than my win at the Beijing Olympics".

His coach said that Sushil was confident of winning the gold medal even before the final.

The final bout was decided 3-1 in the favor of the Indian wrestler.

He had earlier done the country proud by winning a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and with this win he starts as a favourite at home to clinch a gold in the Commonwealth Games.

Japan's revolving door of prime ministers set to spin again

2010-09-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- The wife of Japan's prime minister is a pragmatist. When her husband, Naoto Kan, became prime minister in June, they moved in only with their summer clothes, she told a Japanese weekly magazine.

Her fashion move may have been a premonition.

Japan's first couple may well not see an autumn in the prime minister's residence, as Japan's leading political party votes for its third party leader this year, on Tuesday. The party leader typically becomes the prime minister, because the Democratic Party of Japan, also known as the DPJ, has the majority in Japan's parliament. If Naoto Kan can't keep his three-month job as the party leader, the country will likely have its third prime minister this year.

Running against Kan is Ichiro Ozawa, a political heavyweight widely known for backroom political deals that won him the nickname the "Shadow Shogun." Ozawa says he is challenging Kan because he thinks the prime minister has been ineffective and lacks determination. Ozawa says Kan has been unable to wrest power from the government's powerful bureaucrats.

The two men worked together to bring the DPJ into power more than a year ago, booting out the Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled Japan continuously for almost 50 years. A political funding scandal forced Ozawa to resign as party leader late last year, and Kan publicly distanced himself from his ally.

The prime minister has, at every recent opportunity, reminded the public of Ozawa's controversial past and repeated that the top job should be one of trust.

"Mr. Ozawa should tell Japan what kind of prime minister he would like to be," Kan said at a recent campaigning event, insinuating that Ozawa is a political wheeler-dealer, not a statesman.

"I have to be myself," Ozawa said in response. "I will implement polices as the prime minister in a sincere manner. We have to put our priorities on improving the lives of the people."

A public investigation into the funding scandal continues against Ozawa, with an indictment still possible. Yet Ozawa, who has been a political operative in Japan for four decades, remains a formidable candidate against Kan.

Within the DPJ, many politicians owe their current jobs to Ozawa's deals. Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister before Kan, said of Ozawa, "I became prime minister, thanks to Mr. Ichiro Ozawa's gracious guidance. I must repay him." It suggests that political payback may reign supreme to the direction of the country.

The political skirmishes have been fodder for the nightly news in Japan, but the revolving door at the top job in Tokyo has meant a lack of policy for the world's third-largest economy, wracked with deflation, a surging currency and an exploding elderly population.

On the economy, Ozawa favors stimulus spending. He unveiled his proposal for a 2-trillion-yen ($24 billion) stimulus plan, more than twice that of Kan's proposal. Ozawa has also suggested the government may have to issue more bonds, even issuing zero-interest national bonds, to boost the economy in the face of deflation.

On the currency, Ozawa has said the Bank of Japan should intervene and curb the yen's advance by selling the yen. The yen is at a 15-year high versus the U.S. dollar, eroding the value of overseas earnings for exporters like Toyota.

The prime minister has also said Japan should yet again revisit the issue of moving U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma off the island of Okinawa. In May, Japan and the U.S. agreed to move the air station within Okinawa, after months of back-and-forth debate that strained relations between the two allies. The issue torpedoed then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's approval ratings and ultimately cost him his job. Yet Ozawa has maintained that the issue merits more negotiations with Washington.

Kan has opposed any further dispute over the base. Kan also favors reining in Japan's debt, the developed world's largest. More stimulus spending will eventually lead to a crisis similar to the one experienced in Greece, he says.

National poll after poll shows Kan is the public's preferred choice as the nation's leader. Opinion polls show voters favor Kan 65 percent to 70 percent, versus Ozawa's support, which lingers in the teens.

But the public doesn't vote in the DPJ party leader election. It's up to the politicians.

India's F1 calendar entry delights Mallya

2010-09-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

India's inclusion in next year's Formula One calendar was on Thursday welcomed by Force India owner Vijay Mallya who described the world motor sports governing body FIA's decision as "a dream come true".

"As team principal of India's very first F1 team - Force India and in my capacity as chairman of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India and a member of the FIA World Motor Sports Council, this is a dream come true," Dr Mallya said in a statement about the development.

"As an Indian, I feel proud and walk tall amongst the world's motor sports community. There are a maximum of 20 F1 Grand Prix races worldwide each year and it is a matter of pride that India is on the list," Dr Mallya pointed out.

FIA, on Wednesday, decided that India will host its first Formula One Grand Prix on October 30, next year in Noida, one of the 20 events in next year's F1 calendar.

The track needs to be completed by July 30 and it will get a go-ahead subject to FIA's homologation.

Dr Mallya was confident that the track would meet the deadline and live up to the necessary specifications.

"I would like to record my appreciation for the bold initiative taken by the Jaypee Group in establishing a greenfield F1 race track at Noida. From the regular reports I have received, construction is in full progress and the track with considerable supporting infrastructure will be ready well in time for the 2011 event," he said.

Mallya also said that the country will become one of the most attractive sporting destinations in the future.

"India's economic growth, young and aspirational demographic and the growing popularity of F1 in the country make it one of the most attractive future destinations for a high technology-driven and fantastically competitive sport like F1 where both man and machine are tested to the absolute limit," he added.

Is the new CVC against 2G scam probe?

2010-09-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

As the government's decision to appoint PJ Thomas as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) sparks off a huge political row, NDTV has accessed a Department of Telecom (DoT) note which puts a question mark on whether the new CVC is in favour of probing the 2G scam.

In the note dated July 10, 2010, the Department of Telecom objects to the Comptroller and Auditor General or CAG's scrutiny of the 2G scam. PJ Thomas was the Telecom Secretary when this note was sent to the Law Ministry, seeking its opinion on the CAG's right to scrutinise the 2G spectrum allocation.

The Law Ministry replied to that note on August 13, 2010 saying the CAG or the CVC have no powers to challenge government policy.

In that note, the Law ministry clearly says the CVC can only probe corruption cases, not government policy.

PJ Thomas took oath as the Central Vigilance Commissioner on Tuesday. But BJP boycotted the ceremony. It alleged that the government wanted to appoint Thomas as the CVC head to "cover-up" the alleged scam in allocation of 2G spectrum in which accusations have been levelled against Telecom Minister A Raja.

The BJP has taken its battle against the new CVC to President Pratibha Patil. Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj met the President on Tuesday evening and explained why BJP boycotted the ceremony, setting the stage for a confrontation with the UPA government.

The party has even written to the Prime Minister against it. Thomas was named in a farm oil duty case in Kerala some years back. Although he was exonerated, the BJP says the CVC should be entirely non-corrupt.

Sushma Swaraj, who was a part of the three-member Committee that selected Thomas for the CVC Chief's post, had registered her dissent over his appointment.

This was ignored by the Committee headed by the Prime Minister and also included the Home Minister.

The Prime Minister on Monday defended the appointment of Thomas, saying "We have done the right thing. We have chosen the best candidate out of the list of three."

Thomas succeeded Pratyush Sinha, a 1969 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, who demitted office on Monday after a four-year tenure as CVC. (With PTI inputs)

Will Iranian woman be stoned to death after Ramzan?

2010-09-07T00:24:00.000-07:00

The son of an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery said Monday that he fears she will be executed shortly after this week's end to the Muslim holy month of Ramzan.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's 22-year-old son Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani was speaking by telephone to a news conference organised in Paris by the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.

"Ramzan is coming to an end and, according to Islamic law, executions can resume," the young man warned. The Islamic calendar varies a little around the world, but Ramzan is due to come to an end everywhere this week.

However, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Iranian authorities had told Italy's ambassador that "no decision has been taken" over Mohammadi Ashtiani's fate and that he had "invited" his Iranian counterpart to Rome to discuss the case.

"Our ambassador met with Iranian authorities who told us that no decision has been taken yet," Italian news agency ANSA quoted Frattini saying on Italian radio.

Sajjad said he had had no contact with his 43-year-old mother since her August 11 televised "confession", which her lawyers believe was coerced from her by Iranian authorities.

"Weekly visits have been halted. We heard that she had received 99 lashes in prison," the young Iranian said, speaking to Levy and assembled reporters in Persian through a French translator.

Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to death for adultery and has since also received a 10-year jail term for participating in her husband's murder.

Her case has generated a worldwide uproar, with international governments and human rights bodies denouncing stonings as barbaric, and some questioning whether she received a fair trial.

"This woman faces the most barbaric of executions in the coming days," warned Levy, a prominent French intellectual and media star who has gathered a petition of 80,000 names calling for her release.

"We have sworn to remain mobilised for as long as justice has not been done, that's to say for as long as Sakineh has not been pardoned and freed," he added.

In Strasbourg, members of the European Parliament gave their unanimous support to Mohammadi-Ashtiani and EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacien Ciolos decried stoning as an "inhuman practice from another time", speaking on behalf of the European Commission.

Sakineh's son expressed confidence that international pressure would help and called for the support of Turkey and Brazil, who have friendly relations with Iran.

Shahnaz Gholami, a female journalist who in 2008 was held for several months in the same prison as Sakineh in the northern city of Tabriz, said she was with Sakineh at the moment she was sentenced.

"Sakineh speaks a Turkish dialect and did not understand her conviction which was spoken in Persian with the word for stoning in Arabic. She signed her conviction without understanding it," said Gholami at the gathering in Paris.

"The director of the prison explained to her that she had been sentenced to be stoned."

Gholami added,"Sakineh is the symbol of all the women who are tortured and assaulted in prison in Iran. I hope international support, as well as obtaining Sakineh's liberation, will open the way to a change in this situation."

Mina Ahadi, head of an international campaign against stoning, said her organisation listed 150 stonings of people in Iran over 30 years.

"Stoning is a political act to frighten women in Iran," she said.

Bombing at an Iraqi army base in Baghdad kills 12, injures at least 20

2010-09-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

Just five days after the United States declared the end of its combat mission in Iraq, U.S. soldiers opened fire Sunday morning on suicide bombers who snuck into an Iraqi army base in Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said.

The assailants detonated a car bomb outside an army division headquarters housed in the former defense ministry building, killing at least 12 people, most of them Iraqi soldiers, authorities said. The blast wounded at least 20 people at the complex, where a bombing last month targeting recruits killed more than 60 people.

A gun battle raged for more than two hours after the explosion as Iraqi soldiers tried to corral the two bombers who managed to get inside the base, Iraqi officials at the scene said. A small contingent of U.S. soldiers is based at the facility.

The assailants, who wore vests rigged with explosives, threw grenades as Iraqi soldiers shot at them from a distance, fearing that their bullets could detonate the bombs. American soldiers backed them up with "suppressive fire," said Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, the U.S. military spokesman. U.S. helicopters, drones and explosives experts also responded.

During the shooting, the explosives in the vests detonated, killing the suicide bombers. Two other men wearing explosive vests were shot in the head outside the building. Their vests were defused.

The brazen attack is the second targeting the base in less than a month.

The involvement of U.S. soldiers underscored that while they are no longer officially in a combat mission, many among the roughly 50,000 American soldiers still in Iraq remain in harm's way.

Commanders have stressed that U.S. soldiers retain the right to self-defense and will conduct joint operations with Iraqi security forces.

The attack also illustrated how much help Iraq's fledgling security forces need as insurgents continue their almost daily attacks.

Just before the U.S. military officially changed their mission from combat to stability operations last week, the Iraqi government put the nation and security forces on high alert in anticipation of attacks.

Despite the extra checkpoints that have worsened traffic jams throughout Baghdad, the bombers were able to infiltrate a high-profile building and kill a dozen people outside.

Many worry that without an Iraqi government in place nearly six months after Iraq's national election and after a declaration by President Obama that it was time to "turn the page" in Iraq, violence will continue to increase as it did last month.

Nine injured in wildfires in Russia's Volgograd region still in hospital

2010-09-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

A total of nine people injured in wildfires in Russia's Volgograd Region remain hospitalized, with another 19 receiving ambulatory treatment, a local emergency ministry department said in a statement on Saturday.

Wildfires raging in Russia's Volgograd Region killed at least six people, with over 900 evacuated.

Over 500 buildings were destroyed by flames.

"531 buildings have burnt down, including 419 residential houses," the statement said.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin allocated on Friday 1 billion rubles ($33 million) to the wildfire-stricken Volgograd and Saratov regions, a cabinet statement said.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered that measures be stepped up in order to contain the new outbreak of fires, the Kremlin said.

Medvedev also ordered Russian Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin to "organize the speedy rebuilding of houses and the payment of compensation to those affected."

Experts fear that strong winds could cause the new fires to spread to other regions, namely the Astrakhan Region and the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Kalmykia, an emergencies spokesperson said earlier.

The fires that ravaged the European part of Russia in August killed over 50 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

The government's response to the disaster was widely criticized and the damage wreaked by the new blazes, coming just days after Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu declared the fires beaten, could provoke further criticism.

The Russian Investigative Committee said on Friday it sees signs of negligence in the actions of officials in the Volgograd region during efforts to put the fires out.

Iran conducts third round of missile tests

2010-09-03T00:16:00.000-07:00

Iran on Monday test-fired its long-range Shahab-3 missile which it says could hit targets in arch-foe Israel, as the Revolutionary Guards staged missile war games for the second straight day.

The exercise comes at a time of heightened tension with the West after the UN nuclear watchdog revealed on Friday that the Islamic republic was building a second uranium enrichment plant.

The Guards on Sunday launched the missile manoeuvres marking "Sacred Defence" week, which commemorates the start of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Iran's English-language state-owned Press TV channel today broad casted footage of the Shahab-3 being fired in desert terrain.

Iran says the weapon has a range of 1,300-2,000 kilometres, which would put Israel, most Arab states and parts of Europe including much of Turkey within its range.

The Guards yesterday fired several short and medium-range missiles, some with multiple warheads, state media reported.

The medium-range Shahab-1 and Shahab-2, with a range of between 300 kilometres and 700 kilometres, were successfully launched, the Guards' air force commander Hossein Salami said.

Earlier, the Guards test-fired three types of short-range missile - the Tondar-69, Fateh-110 and Zelzal. All three weapons, powered by solid fuel, have a range of between 100 and 400 kilometres.

Gunman holds Discovery staff hostage, shot dead

2010-09-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

Police shot dead a gunman to safely free three persons ending hours of standoff after he had taken them as hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in the suburb of Silver Spring.

The gunman has been identified as James Lee who was against the programmes shown by the channel, police said, adding he had explosive devices in his backpack.

The hostages were rescued unhurt during the standoff.

It all began around 1 pm, when Lee entered the building and appeared to have bomb strapped to his chest, they said.

The gunman took them hostage and asked others not to leave the building.

Police immediately cordoned off the area and evacuated the building. Around 100 children in the daycare centre of the building were safely moved to a nearby location.

Meanwhile, police started negotiations with Lee who demanded that the Discovery Channel "must broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet".

Montgomery County Police chief J Thomas Manger told reporters after the standoff that police officers were able to get into very close position during the negotiations.

Lee was said to have a device on his body and was holding another device, both with blinking lights.

"They were close enough to hear what he was saying and what he was doing on camera. At one point the suspect pulled out a handgun and pointed it at one of the hostages. At that point, our tactical units moved in, they shot the suspect. The suspect is deceased," Manger said.

Indian economy may grow by around 9% in 2010-11: India Inc

2010-08-31T03:12:00.000-07:00

India's economy grew at its fastest clip in nearly three years in the quarter through June on strong manufacturing growth and farm output that may keep the Reserve Bank on its policy tightening path.

The 8.8% expansion compares with a median forecast of an annual rise of 8.7% in a Reuters' poll and an 8.6% expansion in the previous quarter.

While a CNBC-TV18 poll had seen gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 8.9%.

The data underscores continued growth momentum in Asia's third-largest economy amid growing uncertainty over global recovery. The strong growth may allow the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to focus more on containing near double-digit inflation.

The RBI has raised interest rates four times since mid-March to stamp down inflationary pressures and has said it may have to give precedence to containing inflation over other policy objectives.

The RBI is widely expected to raise policy rates by another 50 basis points by end-2010, and some bond dealers expect a 25-basis points hike in key rates as early as in its Sept. 16 policy review.

India's 10 year benchmark bond yield fell 2 basis points to 7.95% after the data. It had closed at 7.99% in the previous session.

Government spending is expected to pick up after the June-September monsoon rains, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

India's domestic-demand driven economy is benefiting from a buoyant consumer demand that is pushing up car sales and making factories produce to their optimum capacity.

Annual car sales in India rose 38% in July.

June quarter manufacturing output jumped 12.4% on year compared with an annual rise of 3.4% in the year ago period.

Its farm sector expanded 2.8% and is expected to see robust growth on good monsoon rains, which is likely to further boost consumer demand by lifting rural income.

The economy is expected to grow 8.5% in the current fiscal year to end-March 2011, after expanding an annual 7.4% in the previous year.

But, a strong economic growth has also raised the spectre of capacity constraints, which analysts hold partly responsible for a persistently high headline inflation, which stood at 9.97% last month.

Although India's wholesale price index in July rose at its slowest pace in six months, underlying price pressures remain.

The ruling Congress party has said that controlling prices must top the government's agenda in the face of popular discontent with price rises affecting hundreds of millions of people who live on under USD 1.25 a day.

RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao last week said inflationary pressures were easing, but analysts say this is unlikely to deter him from raising rates again to slow down headline inflation to 6% by March 2011.

Mumbai: Rs. 25 lakh looted from bank in Borivali

2010-08-30T03:18:00.000-07:00

In a daring daylight robbery, three armed robbers on Monday looted Rs. 25 lakh from a bank in Borivali after threatening employees at knife point.

Three masked robbers armed with choppers and knives entered the HDFC bank in suburban Borivali at 0930 hours and decamped with the cash, police said.

"There was one security guard outside the bank who was given a slip by the robbers. There were very few employees present in the bank at that time. The trio threatened them at knife point and managed to flee away with Rs. 25 lakh," they said.

The police is trying to retrieve the CCTV footage of the bank to gather more information regarding the robbers.

A mother says her 'Shaurya Chakra' son was murdered by Armymen

2010-08-28T02:57:00.000-07:00

Veena Kohli, mother of Shaurya Chakra awardee Captain Sumit Kohli who died under mysterious circumstances in 2006, Saturday met Defence Minister A K Antony and demanded an independent probe into her son's death.

Kohli, who was accompanied by her daughter Namrata and her advocate Major Guneep Chaudhary, appealed to Antony to provide justice to the family as she believes her son was murdered at the Army residential complex in Jammu and Kashmir by his fellow officers.

Accusing the Army of tarnishing her son's image by claiming that he committed suicide due to personal reasons, Kohli demanded that the honour of her son, who was a gallantry medal winner, be restored.

Namrata said Antony had assured the family, which hails from Chandigarh, that they would get the case re-investigated independently and get back to the family there after.

"We met the Defence Minister for about 15-20 minutes and sought an independent inquiry into my brother's death and he has assured us of an independent probe," Namrata said.

Captain Kohli, who was serving with the 18 Rashtriya Rifles, was found dead with gunshot wounds in his room in the military barracks in Lolab on April 30, 2006 just two months after being decorated with Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peace time gallantry medal.

His father, who suffered a stroke after hearing of his son's death, died a day after Captain Kohli's cremation.

Since then Veena Kohli had made several attempts to seek information and documents such as post-mortem report relating to the young captain's death.

Her efforts to get the Army to part with information through the Right to Information Act too failed after the Army headquarters took the plea that the freedom to information law did not apply in Jammu and Kashmir. She then moved the Delhi High Court which ordered the Army to supply related documents.

Her advocate said on perusal of the documents there was suspicion about the circumstances of Captain Kohli's death including contradiction in the autopsy and medical reports.

"We have submitted copy of these documents also to the Defence Minister, who heard us patiently and assured to get re-investigated the death of the young officer," Chaudhary said.

This Chinese musician plays piano with his toes

2010-08-27T03:04:00.000-07:00

Skillful musician Liu Wei has proved a big hit on a leading talent show in China, by playing the piano with his toes.

Liu's arms were amputated from the shoulders at the age 10 after he was electrocuted while playing hide-and-seek with his friends.

"Music has become a habit for me. It is just like breathing air," Liu said during an interview with the Associated Press while he was visiting Shanghai.

Liu, a tall, slender man who peers shyly from behind his dark-rimmed glasses, was thrust into the limelight after performing earlier this month in the show "China's Got Talent".

The program, which has featured acts by disabled modern dancers and break-dancing migrant workers, is drawing attention to the hopes and challenges of ordinary and often disadvantaged Chinese.

Since it began in July, the program has gathered a wide audience, despite scepticism among some viewers over whether all the participants' stories are genuine.

But there was no doubting Liu's ability.

In his first "Got Talent" performance, he smoothly played "Mariage D'amour," by Richard Clayderman.

He won a standing ovation from the audience, many of whom were moved to tears.

Liu only began playing the piano in his late teens, when he decided that instead of attending university he would rather make music.

He uses his feet to navigate online, eat, dress and brush his teeth. However, he laughed when asked about the female fans his newfound fame has won him, saying he was too busy to think about getting a girlfriend.

Prosthetic limbs do not interest Liu, who says he has no need for special support.

However he does admit that he has often faced discrimination in China where disabled people, despite efforts to improve conditions, are all too often forced into begging on the sidewalks.

Liu said his aim was to be recognised for the quality of his music, rather than his unusual style of playing the piano.

"Right now, everyone looks at me and says, 'Oh, Liu Wei has no arms and it's very difficult for him to play the piano.' In the future, I want them to say, 'Oh he's good.' To first notice the work is great, and then say, 'Liu Wei did it.' he said.

Liu will stay in Shanghai to prepare for the next round of "China's Got Talent" show, in about a week's time and hopes to go on to make the final.

Maoist attack police station in Giridih, torch trucks

2010-08-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

Maoists fired indiscriminately at a police station in Giridih, blew up a building and set on fire trucks on the Grand Trunk road in the wee hours on Thursday to protest the arrest of their two associates. A group of armed Maoists attacked the Pirtand Police station around 1 am and started firing at random, Superintendent of Police, A V Homker, said.

The security forces returned the fire, he said, adding there was no casualty. A couple of blasts were also heard nearby as Maoists destroyed a government building near the police station, he said. Later, the ultras torched some trucks on the G T Road on the Dhanbad-Giridih border. Police said the Maoists were protesting the arrests of two of their hardcore associates, Muktar Ansari and Dasrath Manjhi in Giridih yesterday. In stepped up anti-Naxal operations, police have apprehended several Maoists across the state while about ten ultras have surrendered since July.

Rain in Delhi stops traffic all over city

2010-08-25T02:08:00.000-07:00

Rains continued to lash the national capital for the seventh consecutive day, causing widespread waterlogging and serpentine traffic jams in many areas.

The rain gauges measured 9.3 mm of showers for a period of 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Wednesday.

The rains once again brought with it traffic snarls, waterlogging and vehicle breakdowns. Traffic jams were reported from Mathura Road, Ring Road, Munirka, Laxmi Nagar, Ashram, Mehrauli Road.

Traffic was also moving slowly on NH 8 which connects Delhi and Gurgaon and DND flyover which connects the capital with Noida.

Vehicular movement was also slow in areas like ITO, Vikas Marg, Connaught Place and AIIMS, South Extension, Nizamuddin, Laxmi Nagar, Saket, Safdurjung and Kalkaji.

Widespread waterlogging has also affected movement of traffic in several areas. The minimum temperature was recorded at 25.3 degree Celsius.

Meanwhile, water level of Yamuna continued to flow above the danger level. Authorities evacuated more people in low-lying areas in East Delhi today.

The river had crossed the danger level of 204.83 metres on Friday evening following rains and since then it has been flowing above that mark.

The city government has already set up over 160 relief camps to provide shelter to people living on the bank of the river.

Met office said the city will continue to receive rains for the next 24 hours.

Mexican woman crowned Miss Universe

2010-08-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

A 22-year-old Mexican woman won the Miss Universe pageant Monday night after donning a flowing red gown and telling an audience it's important to teach kids family values.

Jimena Navarrete of Guadalajara was first to answer an interview question Monday night and the last of 83 contestants standing in the headline-grabbing pageant on the Las Vegas Strip.

“I want to give my parents a big hug,” she said at a news conference after the pageant. “There was a lot of effort and a lot of sacrifice.”

The train of her single-strap dress floated behind her like a sheet as she walked during the evening gown competition. Before that, she smiled in a violet bikini as she confidently strutted across the stage.

Asked by Olympic gold-medal figure skater Evan Lysacek how she felt about unsupervised Internet use, Ms. Navarrete said the Internet is important but parents need to be careful and watch over their kids.

“I do believe that Internet is an indispensable, necessary tool for the present time,” she said through an interpreter. “We must be sure to teach them the values that we learned as a family.”

First runner-up was Miss Jamaica Yendi Phillipps, while second runner-up was Miss Australia Jesinta Campbell.

Ms. Navarrete said she didn't expect to win.

“I did feel surprised,” she said. “I was like in a state of shock.”

Ms. Navarrete – who's been modeling since she was 15 – is Mexico's second Miss Universe. Lupita Jones of Mexico won the title in 1991. Ms. Navarrete replaces Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela.

Ms. Navarrete's win thwarted Miss Venezuela Marelisa Gibson from giving the South American country a third consecutive victory. Ms. Gibson did not make it into the top 15 finalists.

Ms. Navarrete was immediately congratulated on Twitter by Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala.

“Congratulations to Jimena Navarrete for her deserved victory as Miss Universe,” Mr. Calderon said. “This will serve Mexico, (and) our image as a country.”

Sensex ends flat, consumer durables gain

2010-08-23T04:41:00.000-07:00

A benchmark index for Indian equities ended flat in a day of volatile trading on Monday.

FMCG stocks weighed the markets down, while consumer durables shot up handsomely and PSU scrips made robust gains.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,400.33 points, closed at 18,398.91 points, almost unchanged from its previous close at 18,401.82 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty shut shop 0.19 percent higher at 5,540.9 points.

Broader markets indices, however, performed better, with the BSE midcap index closing 0.75 percent up and the BSE smallcap index ending 0.92 percent higher.

Why aren't people giving to Pakistan?

2010-08-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

The images of flooding coming out of Pakistan are devastating and so are reports that millions of people are homeless and about a fifth of the country is under water. But the United Nations reports that it has only collected half of the $460 million it needs for emergency aid in the area – compare that to the $13 billion raised after the 7.0 magnitude quake hit Haiti.

Aid workers and analysts told CNN there were several possible reasons that donors aren't giving:

1) The relatively low death (about 1,500 people) total hides the severity of the crisis

2) Donor fatigue

3) Concerns that aid won't get to people who need it because of government corruption

4) Fear that their aid money will go to terrorist groups.

Here at CNN, we’ve been following this angle with great interest, particularly since many of the reasons above reflect the sentiments of many of the thousands of user comments we’ve received. Here's a sampling of what people had to say. (Some of the responses have been edited for length and clarity.)

bkallday

I agree half the aid we give them will be mismanaged and most of it will end up somewhere is the Pakistani military, I say NO aid to Pakistan until they finally choose a side: aid the U.S. or help the insurgents who one day plan to overthrow your country.

robertopp200

The only positive to have emerged from WikiLeaks is that it made people realize the treacherous nature of the two-headed snake that is Pakistan. Right now, the snake is injured. The international community is foolish enough to tend to it. When the snake heals, it will bite America, India and Europe again. Leave the snake alone!

Noble9

Most of the people in Pakistan are friendly and generous. This is the time to extend a helping hand...you never know, you might make a new friend.

WhittyG

I feel bad for the Pakistani citizens suffering. It's so unfortunate that their leaders are corrupt -- they need help, but I understand the hesitation of just handing over money.

PurePhoenix1

Even though the world wants to help, it's the corrupt politicians and the military that has the last say. Aid may get there, but might be reserved for military leaders, politicians, and terrorists. Someone should just take over that country and make things right for innocent people. But hey, this world has enough war and death for that. I just pray and hope something is done to help those people in need.

JoeISP

You don't have to be close to the situation to know that Pakistan hates America and shelters Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Nine years ago I was in lower Manhattan so I was pretty close to THAT situation, and I have no desire to send a nickel of help to the people who protect the animals that murdered 3000 of my countrymen. So take off, eh.

venurao

Don't send cash. Send food, clothing, medicine etc. My sympathies are with common people. Politicians, ISI, military, domestic and international terrorist groups have absolutely nothing to do with flood and common people. One can't change old dog's habit. Just don't get deceived again by their tricks.

We’d like to hear from you. Why do you think donors aren't giving as much money to Pakistan? Share your thoughts in the comments below. And to find out ways to help, visit CNN's Impact Your World.

Psychic croc Dirty Harry picks Gillard for poll win

2010-08-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

A saltwater crocodile called Dirty Harry has used his supposed psychic powers to predict that Julia Gillard will win Saturday's tight general election in Australia. The reportedly clairvoyant reptile made his decision in his pen in Darwin.Spurning the raw chicken dangling below a picture of opposition leader Tony Abbott, Harry went for the snack under PM Julia Gillard's image.

The huge reptile has a good track record, his keepers say. The 5m (16ft) crocodile took several minutes to make up his mind, before lunging out of the water at his target. "Harry's come over to the area, he's lifted his head in the air and he's just nailed Gillard as clean as you want," crocodile handler Nigel Palmer told AFP news agency. Harry reportedly predicted that Spain would win the World Cup - as did the now world-famous and allegedly psychic octopus, Paul, in Germany. Another crocodile at the wildlife park in Darwin called Bert also has a similar talent, keepers say.

He correctly chose the recent winner of the city's biggest horse race a few weeks ago. Australians should know by tomorrow whether Harry is right. Polls close at 1800 (0800GMT) and the result should be known later that night.

We will be present in full strength for India, say tennis stars

2010-08-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

After reports of top Indian tennis players keeping away from CWG made headlines on Friday, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman have jointly issued a press statement clearing the air. The trio said that they will play in full strength for India in the upcoming Games.

They also added that they want to end all speculations and hence decided to come up with this statement. "It is true that we wrote a letter to the AITA to voice some concerns we had about expenses that we were promised over the last year and a half, We have all submitted bills to various people at the AITA over this period, and now that the AITA has nominated us to represent India we requested them to make sure that the promises made are kept, we would like to put all speculation to rest and confirm we will be present in full strength to represent India against Brazil in Chennai in September, As for the CWG..."

On the payments retrieval issue, the players said that the CWG has promised to make payments on time. The news of players boycotting the Games came on Friday, after top male tennis players of the country said that their payments were due since long. Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna had threatened to pull out unless the Sports Ministry clears their dues of a total of about 2 crore that have been pending for the past two years. The players had written to the All India Tennis Association saying they don't have the time to run around and are therefore authorising the AITA to deal on their behalf.

The letter said, "we unfortunately have no time to run around and speak to authorities & are therefore reaching out to you. We give you full authority to mention at your meetings that unless there is some traction to what has been promised to us within the next month, none of us will be available to play in Delhi in the CWG in October".

U.S. on Target to Remove Combat Troops From Iraq by Month's End

2010-08-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

U.S. military officials are hustling to reduce the number of troops in Iraq to 50,000 to meet President Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for an end to U.S. combat operations, but as troops leave, the administration reportedly is planning to double the number of private security guards in the country. A senior military official in Iraq said the Defense Department will meet the deadline for exiting combat troops. "We are sitting around 55k and will be down to 50k by 1 September," the official wrote in an e-mail to Fox News.

The bulk of the 4th Stryker Brigade from the 2nd Infantry Division left the country on Thursday. Approximately 100 members of the brigade remain in Iraq to handle various administrative and supply issues. They will be out of the country within days.After Aug. 31, the mission in Iraq will no longer be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom and will instead be known as Operation New Dawn.

Obama, who had imposed an end-of-the-month deadline for the pullout in February 2009, called it a milestone in the war though the remaining 50,000 support troops will stay in Iraq until the end of next year to train Iraqi forces. The U.S. still has "a significant amount of influence" in Iraq, and the mission will be to provide support and help the country grow and "give economic development" assistance, said Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza, a spokesman for Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

When the last of the military troops leave at the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning to more than double the number of private security guards it has in Iraq -- up to 7,000 -- The New York Times reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed administration officials.The U.S. State Department move is aimed at protecting civilians still exposed to Al Qaeda-linked insurgents and Iranian-backed militias. At the same time, Afghanistan is asking the United States to remove a bulk of its 45,000 private contractors from the country.

Contractors employed by the State Department will train the Iraqi police and U.S. diplomats in two new $100 million outposts will be left to defuse sectarian tensions in northern Iraq.The security contractors, defending five fortified compounds around the country, will operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and staff quick reaction forces to help civilians in distress, the officials told the Times.As the exit of the troops was shown live on TV in the U.S. Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley described the end of combat operations as a "historic moment," but vowed that America's long-term commitment was unwavering.

"The last thing that we want to see is an occasion where we have to send troops back into Iraq yet again so we are ending the combat phase of our involvement in Iraq for a second time," he said."We're not ending our involvement in Iraq. We will have important work to do. This is a transition. This is not the end of something. It's a transition to something different. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq."Crowley said that after spending $1 trillion in Iraq and with 4,400 lives lost, the conflict had come "at high expense."

"We've invested heavily in Iraq and have to do everything we can to preserve that investment to integrate Iraq, along with the neighborhood, into a much more peaceful situation that serves their interests as well as ours. But this is a historic moment."Obama said the events were the beginning of the pullout he promised when he became president."As we mark this milestone in the Iraq war and our troops continue to move out of Iraq, I hope you'll join me in thanking them, and all of our troops and military families, for their service," Obama said.

"My administration will continue to do our part to support the brave men and women in uniform that have sacrificed so much. But supporting our troops and their families is not just the job of the federal government; it's the responsibility of all Americans."Shortly after taking office, I put forward a plan to end the war in Iraq responsibly. Today, I'm pleased to report that -- thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians in Iraq -- our combat mission will end this month, and we will complete a substantial drawdown of our troops."Consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of next year. Meanwhile, we will continue to build a strong partnership with the Iraqi people with an increased civilian commitment and diplomatic effort."

Accept Indian aid, no role for politics in disaster: US to Pak

2010-08-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

Asserting that there is no role for politics in disaster response, the Obama Administration has said it expects Pakistan to accept the USD 5 million aid offer from India for its flood relief work. "In terms of responding to a disaster, politics should play no role. You have a country (India) that's willing to help (Pakistan), and... we expect that Pakistan will accept," State Department spokesman P J Crowley said.

Last week, Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna had called on his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi and offered USD 5 million in aid for flood relief work. Pakistan, so far, had not accepted the offer while at the same time its leaders have been sending SOS to the international community for more and more aid so as to meet the immediate needs of its millions of flood-affected people. Nearly one-fifth of Pakistan is now reported to be badly hit by the devastating flood; the worst for the country in 80 years.

Crowley, given the changed circumstance, said the US has began to think about what it would do with that long-term security assistance provided under Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill and that could require the US shifting it from what it thought was a priority three weeks ago to what is a priority today. "I think what we'll have to wait and see is what are the mid- to long-term economic needs of Pakistan that we could use that funding to address. I guess we would also consider more immediate needs as they arise," he said.

Frank Ruggiero, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan also asked Pakistan to accept India's aid. "I think the priority is to use offers of assistance to help the Pakistani people, so we would encourage Government of Pakistan to accept that (Indian) offer," he said. Ruggiero said that the US would continue to call on the international community to provide the people of Pakistan with the support it needs at this dire time, as the scale of this flood was so dramatic.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Minister has arrived in New York to attend the special meeting of UN General Assembly on the flood relief work, where he is expected to ask the member states to help Pakistan with more international aid. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would also address the UNGA's special session on Pakistan.She is expected to announce more US aid for Pakistan. The US so far has provided USD 90 million worth of aid.

Mark Ward, Acting Director for USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance said Pakistan floods was one of the greatest challenges as 17 million Pakistani people were affected; six million of those needing urgent attention. Acknowledging that donor fatigue was an issue and has reflected in the international response to the disaster assistance for the flood relief work, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz said "but I think it's not an issue for the US.I think other governments around the world continue to make relief response a very high priority."

"The international community will need to provide even more additional assistance, that the need is extreme at this point, and that the international community and the United States will have to provide support to the Pakistani Government to deal with it," said Ruggiero.

Mandela charity trustee resigns over Campbell diamonds

2010-08-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

The former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, Jeremy Ractliffe, has resigned from the charity's board after admitting he secretly kept diamonds received from the model Naomi Campbell. Mr Ractliffe admitted he had the gems only when Ms Campbell mentioned him at the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor two weeks ago. Prosecutors say she received the diamonds from Mr Taylor in 1997. Mr Ractliffe had apologised for his secrecy, the charity's board said.

The former chief executive handed the diamonds over to South African police after Campbell testified that she had given three stones to Ractliffe because she wanted them to go to charity. Mr Ractliffe said he had kept the stones, which could link him to illegal "blood diamonds", because he wanted to protect the reputation of Mr Mandela and his charity. Stepping down from his role as trustee, Mr Ractliffe apologised for causing "possible reputational risk" to the charity by not informing his colleagues of his receipt of the diamonds, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund said in a statement.

At the trial, Ms Campbell said she was given some "dirty-looking stones" after a 1997 charity dinner hosted by South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela where Mr Taylor was also a guest. She said two unidentified men appeared at her room and gave her the stones. She told the court she did not have proof they came from Mr Taylor and had given them to Mr Ractliffe because she wanted the stones to go to charity. "Naomi suggested they could be of some benefit to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund - but I told her I would not involve the NMCF in anything that could possibly be illegal," Mr Ractliffe said in a statement two weeks ago.

He said he took the diamonds as he thought it might be illegal for her to take them out of the country. "In the end I decided I should just keep them," he added. Mr Taylor is accused of using illegally mined diamonds to secure weapons for Sierra Leone's RUF rebels during the 1991-2001 civil war - a charge he denies. Prosecutors say that from his seat of power in Liberia, Mr Taylor also trained and commanded the rebels. The rebels were notoriously brutal, frequently hacking off the hands and legs of civilians.

Bus plunges into 100-foot ravine, killing 40

2010-08-18T04:07:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines — A packed passenger bus negotiating a downhill curve plunged off a Philippine mountain highway into a 100-foot ravine Wednesday, killing 40 people in one of the country's worst recent accidents, police said.

Ten people, including a 10-year-old boy, survived and nine were taken to hospitals, said police chief Wilben Mayor of Benguet province north of Manila.

Mayor said most of the victims were pinned to death while others were thrown out as the bus tumbled down.

He said 39 bodies were recovered from the twisted wreckage. Emergency workers were trying to extricate another body that remained pinned near the bus engine more than six hours later, he said.

The victims' remains, including a toddler's, were put in body bags on the highway.

The bus zoomed between a tree and a house and plunged into the ravine, Mayor said. The driver, who survived with a broken leg, would be investigated, he said.

Conductor John Patrick Flores told The Associated Press by telephone that the brakes on the bus failed as the driver was negotiating a downhill curve.

He said the driver was aiming to hit a lamppost to stop the bus from falling but missed and it jumped over a foot-high road barrier.

Survivor 'jumped off the bus' in narrow escape

"I jumped off the bus to the side of the road before the bus plunged into the ravine," Flores said. He suffered only minor bruises.

He said he was the first person to reach the bus and carried the 10-year-old boy with a broken leg up the ravine. Local residents helped rescue other passengers, six of whom were brought to hospital in Baguio.

The bus was carrying about 50 people from the northern mountain city of Baguio when it crashed in Sablan township, about eight miles away.

Flores said the bus was not speeding as it had just dropped off a passenger and picked up another a short distance away from where the vehicle plunged.

Accidents in the area are common because of poorly maintained vehicles. The weather was fine and the highway is in good condition.

Last month, 15 people died when their bus slammed into a concrete barrier in the central Philippines. A month earlier, a bus rented by Iranian medical students fell into a ravine near central Cebu city, killing 21 people.

Suicide attack kills Iraqi army recruits in Baghdad

2010-08-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

At least 51 people have been killed in a suicide attack on an army recruitment centre in Baghdad, officials say. More than 100 were reported to have been injured in the bombing, in the centre of the Iraqi capital.The attack comes as the US prepares to end combat operations in Iraq by the end of this month.

It also comes a day after one of the two main contenders in Iraq's March election suspended talks on forming a coalition. Violence in Iraq is down from its peak in 2006-2007, though the number of civilian deaths rose sharply in July. Almost daily attacks on Iraqi forces and traffic police in Baghdad and Anbar province, west of the capital, killed some 30 people in the first two weeks of August.

Ex-defence ministry

The BBC's Hugh Sykes reports from Baghdad that a suicide bomber walked up to the army recruitment centre where hundreds of people had been queuing for hours - some since Monday evening. Unemployment in Iraq stands at about 60% and people are desperate for jobs. The attack happened in a busy area close to one of the city's main bus stations, our correspondent says, adding that the streets are full of people early in the morning, making it easy for a suicide bomber to pass unnoticed.

Severed limbs could be seen in the street, which troops cordoned off as Iraqis turned up to look for relatives. The site of the attack used to be the defence ministry under former leader Saddam Hussein. It was converted into an army base and recruitment centre following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some soldiers were reported to be among the victims of Tuesday's attack. Three men were injured when two small bombs exploded last week at the same site.The recruitment centre takes in about 250 recruits every week as the Iraqi authorities try to boost their armed forces.

The US is to reduce its forces in Iraq to 50,000 at the end of this month, and plans to withdraw all troops from the country by the end of 2011. Iraq's top army officer recently questioned the timing of the pull-out, saying the Iraqi military might not be ready to take control for another decade.

Obama to sign bill approving $600 million for border security

2010-08-13T02:12:00.000-07:00

President Obama will sign a bill Friday that provides $600 million in emergency funding to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border.

A day earlier, two senators -- Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Ben Cardin of Maryland -- returned from their August recess to give the chamber's approval for the bill.

The House of Representatives had already approved the measure.

In the Senate, the bill passed by unanimous consent -- a parliamentary term for a voice vote that doesn't require the return of the entire Senate chamber. GOP leaders had agreed to the maneuver.

Among other things, the bill provides for roughly 1,500 new law enforcement agents, new unmanned aerial vehicles, new forwarding operating bases and $14 million in new communications equipment.

The measure has attracted strong Democratic and Republican support.

Obama praised the plan after the Senate passed it, saying that congressional passage "answers my call to bolster the essential work of federal law enforcement officials and improve their ability to partner with state, local and tribal law enforcement."

Obama argued that the new law would facilitate cooperation along the border between the U.S. and Mexican governments, and asserted that it would make "an important difference" in the push for comprehensive immigration reform.

The bill is funded in part by imposing higher fees on personnel companies that bring foreign workers into the United States.

National disease centre to meet today on superbug alert

2010-08-12T01:51:00.000-07:00

Government on Thursday expressed surprise at scientists in the United Kingdom linking a new superbug resistant to antibiotics to India and said that it was drafting a reply to an alert issued by Britain in this regard.

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), a nodal agency under the Health Ministry, is meeting on Thursday and “we would soon draft a reply to this,” Secretary, Health Research, V.M. Katoch told PTI.

He said the Ministry will examine the issue in detail but it was “unfortunate that this new bug, which is an environmental thing, has been attached to a particular country which is India in this case.”

“I am surprised,” he said, adding that, “this (the bug) is present in nature. It is a random event and cannot be transmitted.”

Mr. Katoch said that he was surprised that a research paper linked it with India as they should know it was a biological phenomenon.

According to a paper published in scientific journal Lancet, the new superbug, which is said to be resistant even to most powerful antibiotics, has entered U.K. hospitals and is travelling with patients who had gone to countries like India and Pakistan for surgical treatments.

Bacteria that make an enzyme called NDM-1 or New Delhi-Metallo-1, have travelled back with NHS patients who went abroad to countries like India and Pakistan for treatments such as cosmetic surgery, it said.

Although there have only been about 50 cases identified in the U.K. so far, scientists fear it will go global.

NDM-1 can exist inside different bacteria, like Ecoli, and it makes them resistant to one of the most powerful groups of antibiotics — carbapenems.

These are generally reserved for use in emergencies and to combat hard-to-treat infections caused by other multi-resistant bacteria.

At least one of the NDM-1 infections the researchers analysed was resistant to all known antibiotics.

Similar infections have been seen in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the Netherlands and international researchers say that NDM-1 could become a major global health problem.

Infections have already been passed from patient to patient in U.K. hospitals.

Dr David Livermore, one of the researchers and who works for the UK’s Health Protection Agency (HPA), said, “There have been a number of small clusters within the UK, but far and away the greater number of cases appear to be associated with travel and hospital treatment in the Indian subcontinent.”

The Department of Health has already put out an alert on the issue, he said.

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2010-08-11T02:55:00.000-07:00

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US jobs will not go to India: Obama

2010-08-11T02:36:00.000-07:00

US President Barack Obama has said that America had returned to robust competitiveness and the danger of jobs and industries fleeing to countries like China, India or Germany was over.

"When I took office, we put in place a new economic plan that rewards hard work instead of greed; a plan that rewards responsibility instead of reckless; a plan that focused on our middle class, (and) making them more secure," Obama said at a Democratic Fund Raiser in Austin, Texas.

The US President said that the US "was competitive over the long run so the jobs and industries of the future weren't going to China or India or Germany, but were going to the United States of America, right here."

Gradually entering into an election mode with the mid-term elections less than three months ago, the US President has been frequently in his public speeches claiming how his policies are aimed towards stopping outsourcing of jobs and manufacturing.

Instead of spending money on special interest tax loopholes that don't create American jobs, we said we're going to make smart investments in education and innovation and clean energy that will benefit all people and our entire economy, he said.

"Instead of giving special interests free rein to write their own regulations, we demanded new accountability from Washington to Wall Street so that big corporations had to play by the same rules as small companies and by individuals.

That's only fair," Obama said.

Observing that it took nearly a decade to enter the current phase of the economic mess he inherited, Obama said it's going to take some more time to "dig our way out" of that hole.

"The devastation that has touched so many of our families, so many of our communities, that is going to take some time to heal. And I hear those stories firsthand wherever I travel.

I hear about them in the letters that I receive every night that I read from people who are doing their best to keep on striving towards that American Dream, but keep on hitting a bunch of road blocks and are looking for help.

So the road to recovery is long and it's filled with challenges. And I'm under no illusion that we've gotten there yet. We've got a lot more work to do," he said.

Continuing with his critic of the Republican policies, Obama said: "We've got a choice between a forward-looking agenda that is rebuilding the structure of this economy so it's working for all Americans, or just going back to the same stuff that got us into this mess."

Mamata bashing unites BJP, Left in Lok Sabha

2010-08-10T01:52:00.000-07:00

At a massive rally in Lalgarh on Monday, Union minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee had questioned the manner in which Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar or Azad was killed in Adilabad, Andhra Pradesh on July 2. She had said: "I believe Azad had been murdered. It was unjust. But peace talks should be started... I pay my respect and tribute to Azad.”

She had also issued a “peace” message to the Maoists and combined it with her pressing need to make inroads in the Naxal heartland, a CPM bastion where her Trinamool Congress has had little electoral success so far.

She urged the Maoists: “Tell me what you demand. Give a time. Tell me the place and I am ready to initiate the peace process.”

She asked Maoists and tribals in Lalgarh to spell out clearly what they wanted. If they wanted schools, colleges, hospitals, roads, she said, that would be ensured. “Just wait for a few more months and the Marxists will be out of power. I promise to bring development here. If you want jobs, I can set up a railway factory in Lalgarh to provide jobs to the unemployed.”

Pakistan floods threaten key barrage in southern Sindh

2010-08-09T02:20:00.000-07:00

Waters have exceeded the danger level at a key flood barrier in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh.

The Sukkur Barrage overflow means Sindh faces as much devastation as that seen further north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, say experts.

Enraged survivors have been physically attacking government officials in flood-hit areas, amid widespread anger at the pace of the relief effort.

At least 1,600 people have died in the region's worst deluge in 80 years. With more than 14 million people already affected, the monsoon rains show little sign of abating.

Flood waters have roared down from the north to the agricultural heartland of Punjab and on to southern Sindh along a trail more than 1,000km (600 miles) long. In the early hours of Monday morning, the water flow coming down Sindh's Sukkur Barrage was recorded at up to 1.4m cusecs (cubic feet per second). It can only withstand 900,000 cusecs.

Upper Sindh is already under water, and rescuers are continuing to evacuate thousands of families from the province, where the banks of the swollen Indus river are at risk of bursting.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday the country had gone back years as he visited Sindh, where hundreds of thousands of people have already been displaced.

With roads, bridges and railway tracks washed away, and deadly landslides increasing the isolation of many of the worst-hit areas, aid workers are having to use donkeys to deliver relief.

The entire Swat valley was cut off at the weekend, with even helicopters unable to reach it because of the poor weather.

"It's hard to get supplies there. I would like to emphasise we are moving by foot or donkey. We are unable to get in to most places of Swat Valley," Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told news agency Reuters.

In the far north of the country, dozens of people were killed when two villages were buried in mud and rocks. Nearly 30 bodies were recovered from rubble after Saturday's landslides in Gilgit-Baltistan province.

The UN has said that Pakistan will need billions of dollars in aid to recover.

More rain lashes Pakistan, deepening flood crisis

2010-08-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

More rain soaked flood-ravaged Pakistan on Saturday and even heavier downpours were forecast for coming days, deepening a crisis in which hard-line Islamists have rushed to fill gaps in the government's patchy response.

Pakistani officials estimate as many as 13 million people throughout the South Asian nation have been affected by the rising waters. About 1,500 people have died, most of them in the northwest, the hardest-hit region. Mass evacuations are under way in the southern province of Sindh after the Indus River rose there.

The intense flooding that began about two weeks ago has washed away roads, bridges and many communications lines, hampering rescue efforts. Incessant monsoon rains have grounded many helicopters trying to rescue people and ferry aid, including six choppers manned by U.S. troops on loan from Afghanistan.

The national government's response has appeared chaotic at times, and confidence in its ability to cope has been shaken by the decision of President Asif Ali Zardari to visit France and England amid the crisis.

Floodwaters receded somewhat Friday in the northwest, but downpours in the evening and early Saturday again swelled rivers and streams. Pakistani meteorologist Farooq Dar said heavy rains in Afghanistan were expected to make things even worse over the next 36 hours as the bloated Kabul River surged into Pakistan's northwest.

That will likely mean more woes for Punjab and Sindh provinces as well, as new river torrents flow east and south.

Authorities have given varying tolls for the number of people among Pakistan's 175 million impacted by the floods.

The United Nations said 4 million people had been affected, including 1.5 million severely, meaning their homes had been damaged or destroyed. But Pakistani officials have put the figure much higher.

In the northwest and Punjab, floods have displaced 12 million people, said Amal Masud, an official with the National Disaster Management Authority. In Sindh province, about 1 million people have been evacuated or are currently being helped out of their homes, said Jam Saifullah, the provincial irrigation minister.

An Associated Press reporter saw many people walking on foot and using trucks to migrate to safer places in Sindh. Some, however, refused to leave their lands, crops and homes.

"Let the flood come. We will live and die here," said Dur Mohammed, 75, who lives in a mud brick home in Dadli village.

Mohammed was one of 250 people in Dadli resisting evacuation, even though floodwaters have already began touching the embankments of the Indus River less than one mile (two kilometers) away. Many feared that if they left and the floods never came, their household items would be stolen.

The United Nations said the disaster was "on a par" with the 2005 Kashmir earthquake — which killed about 73,000 people — in terms of the numbers of people needing assistance and damage to infrastructure.

Some 30,000 Pakistani soldiers are rebuilding bridges, delivering food and setting up relief camps in the northwest, which is the main battleground in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban. Foreign countries and the United Nations have donated millions of dollars.

The U.S. has tapped soldiers from its war effort in Afghanistan to operate four Chinook and two Black Hawk helicopters to evacuate people from the northwest's Swat Valley and carry aid there. Around 85 U.S. soldiers are involved, though the rain has limited their flights.

Also helping in the relief effort are Islamist charities, including the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, which Western officials believe is linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba. Lashkar is the militant group blamed for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, Pakistan's regional archrival.

The Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation says it is running 12 medical facilities, providing cooked food for 100,000 people every day, and plans to open shelters soon.

"The magnitude of this tragedy is so severe, and the area affected is so vast, that the government alone cannot meet the needs of such a large number of affectees," said Atique Chauhan, a spokesman for the foundation. "The U.S. efforts for rescue and relief are good, and we will appreciate help from all of humanity, whether it is the U.S. or even India."

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed for national unity during the crisis.

"I request that all the political parties be united and work together to help the flood victims," he told reporters on Saturday, adding that the government is doing everything it can to move people to safer ground.

"The next two days are very critical in this regard," Gilani said. "Our top priority is to rescue people, to save their lives. But we will also provide them all facilities, and we will work for their rehabilitation."

Wyclef Jean says he is running for president of Haiti

2010-08-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

Hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean told CNN's "Larry King Live" on Thursday he is running for president of Haiti.

Jean was one of the first, and most visible, celebrities to offer aid after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti in January. He has also been an outspoken proponent of the nation through his Yele Haiti Foundation, which has come under some scrutiny for how it spends its money.

"Yes, it's my first time announcing it live -- that today I went in, and I signed, and I am running to be the president of Haiti," said Jean, in his first television interview about his decision to run.

Whoever is elected in November, the new president will face the monumental task of rebuilding the country that was ravaged by a January 12 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people, destroyed 60 percent of government infrastructure and left more than 180,000 homes uninhabitable.

Whoever steps in will also oversee the billions of dollars in international aid that has been promised to the country since the quake.

"Now that our country has toppled, it's a chance to rebuild from the bottom on up," said Jean, adding he will be the voice of Haiti's youth.

Jean shot to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the Fugees, a U.S.-based hip-hop and reggae group. He performs now as a solo artist.

Jean was born in Haiti, and moved to the United States as a young boy. He recently resigned as chairman of the Yele Haiti Foundation.

Jean, dressed in a gray suit and a red-, black- and white-striped tie, stressed the need for Haiti to improve education, as well as its agriculture, security, and health care. He also said job creation would be a central part of his campaign going forward.

Jean was in Haiti to submit the paperwork necessary for his run.

While little is known about his political agenda, lyrics from his song "President" may provide a sneak peek. In the song, Jean fantasized about what it would be like to lead a country.

"Instead of spending billions on the war. I can use that money, to feed the poor," he sung.

Logitech introduces its latest speaker system with better sound quality-the Z313 just for as Rs. 2,195

2010-08-05T03:39:00.001-07:00

FOND OF LOUD MUSIC ????? Logitech has brought a latest speaker system for you that claim to offer thrilling music experience. The system called Z313 is not just classy but also quiet affordable with the price of Rs. 2,195.

The 2.1 system has 25 watts of power along with superb subwoofers as well. You can privately listen music via control pad enabling to turn on the speakers and adjust the volume after plugging in headsets.

Talking about the system at the launch, Subrotah Biswas, Country Manager- India & South West Asia, Logitech said, “In today’s digitally connected world, the LogitechR Speaker System Z313 not only offers the users a powerful, rich audio experience, but also convenient access to all their music on the iPod and computer.”

The Z313 speaker system is compatible with computers with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X 10.3.9, or later operating systems.

Chidambaram appeals for peace in Kashmir, deploys additional forces

2010-08-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

Home Minister P Chidambaram has made a statement in Parliament on the Kashmir situation.

He appealed for peace, saying that he deeply regrets the civilian deaths in the valley. There have been 39 deaths in protests in Kashmir since June 11. Chidambaram also appealed to all Kashmiris to ensure that children do not join then protests.

The Home minister says armed militants mingled with the protesters, and appealed to all Kashmiris to end this "cycle of violence".

The Home Minister said the government has always favoured a dialogue - and told protesters that damaging public property would not get them anywhere.

He added that over 1200 security personnel have been injured in protests in the past 2 months.

The government has sent a delegation of ministers to the affected areas of the valley.

21 more CRPF companies have been deployed in the valley, and the Home Minister today assured Parliament that Kashmir has adequate forces to deal with any situation.

Millitary Supports Federal oil Spill Response!

2010-05-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

Pictures And News About the Rescue Opereation:

Dark clouds of smoke and fire emerge as oil burns during a controlled fire in the Gulf of Mexico, May 6, 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard, working with BP, local residents and other federal agencies, conducted the burn to help prevent the spread of oil following the explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling unit. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Stumberg

The Louisiana National Guard’s 2225th Multi-Role Bridge Company, out of Marrero, La., constructs a 300-foot improved ribbon bridge at the Frank Campo Marina in Shell Beach, La., May 6, 2010, to serve as a temporary wharf for oil spill boom distribution in St. Bernard Parish. U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Michael L. Owens, Louisiana National Guard

Louisiana National Guardsmen conduct an aerial view reconnaissance of emplaced booms near the coastline off St. Bernard Parish, La., May 6, 2010. The booms are helping to contain an oil spill from Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling unit in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jessica Lopez

Navy cuts Somali pirate attacks!

2010-04-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

London - Pirate attacks around the world fell by over a third in the first quarter versus the same period last year although Somali gangs who accounted for over half the incidents were striking deeper offshore, a watchdog said.

Somali pirates have already increased their attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers, in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

The London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said Somali pirates accounted for 35 out of a total of 67 global incidents in the first quarter.

That compared with 102 incidents in the same period last year, 61 of which were by Somali gangs.

"This marked reduction can be attributed to the continued presence and success of the navies in the Gulf of Aden along with the robust anti-piracy measures adopted by the merchant navy fleet," the IMB said in a report published on Wednesday.

Foreign navies have boosted activities off the Gulf of Aden since 2009 and have operated convoys, as well as setting up a transit corridor across dangerous waters.

But their forces have been stretched over the vast area, leaving ships vulnerable.

IMB director Pottengal Mukundan said there had been a number of examples where navies in the Indian Ocean had destroyed pirate boats and confiscated equipment.

Mother ships

"Such positive and robust action by the navies against mother ships, pirate skiffs and pirate action groups has been vital to keeping the attacks under control and must be sustained," he said.

The use of mother ships has enabled Somali pirates to strike as far as the Mozambique Channel and off India's coast in recent months launching smaller boats known as skiffs against ships.

"Most of the attacks involve the use of weapons, which is a cause of great concern to the merchant navy fleet as it poses a serious threat not only to the injury and death of seafarers but also to the ship, cargo and environment," the IMB said.

The IMB added that better weather had made conditions over the next two to three months "more conducive for pirate, small boat activities".

"Attacks have been reported during the hours of darkness, particularly on nights with a full moon," it said.

Turning to Nigeria, the IMB said two pirate incidents were reported in the first quarter versus seven in the same period last year.

"Violence towards crews still remains high in these waters. In one of the incidents, two crew members had to be taken ashore for medical treatment after a pirate attack," it said.

How is this new coming Animals

2009-04-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

History Of TajMahal

2009-04-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

The construction of this marble masterpiece is credited to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who erected this mausoleum in memory of his beloved wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in A.H. 1040 (A.D. 1630). Her last wish to her husband was "to build a tomb in her memory such as the world had never seen before". Thus emperor Shah Jahan set about building this fairytale like marvel. The construction of Taj Mahal was started in A.D. 1632 and completed at the end of 1648 A.D. For seventeen years, twenty thousand workmen are said to be employed on it daily, for their accommodation a small town, named after the deceased empress-'Mumtazabad, now known as Taj Ganj, was built adjacent to it.

Amanat Khan Shirazi was the calligrapher of Taj Mahal, his name occurs at the end of an inscription on one of the gates of the Taj. Poet Ghyasuddin had designed the verses on the tombstone, while Ismail Khan Afridi of Turkey was the dome maker. Muhammad Hanif was the superintendent of Masons. The designer of Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The material was brought in from all over India and central Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport it to the site. The central dome is 187 feet high at the centre. Red sandstone was brought from Fatehpur Sikri, Jasper from Punjab, Jade and Crystal from China, Turquoise from Tibet, Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire from Sri Lanka, Coal and Cornelian from Arabia and diamonds from Panna. In all 28 kind of rare, semi precious and precious stones were used for inlay work in the Taj Mahal. The chief building material, the white marble was brought from the quarries of Makrana, in district Nagaur, Rajasthan.

Space shuttle Discovery flies around the orbiting orbiting International

2009-03-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Rest breaks - a break during your working day

2009-03-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

If you are an adult worker (that is, over 18), you will normally have the right to a 20 minute rest break if you are expected to work for more than six hours at a stretch.
A lunch or coffee break can count as your rest break. Additional breaks might be given by your contract of employment. There is no statutory right to 'smoking breaks'.
The requirements are:
• the break must be in one block
• it cannot be taken off one end of the working day - it must be somewhere in the middle
• you are allowed to spend it away from the place on your employer's premises where you work
• your employer can say when the break must be taken, as long as it meets these conditions
Daily rest - a break between working days
If you are an adult worker you have the right to a break of at least 11 hours between working days. This means as an adult worker, if you finish work at 8.00 pm on Monday you should not start work until 7.00 am on Tuesday.
Weekly rest - the 'weekend'
If you are an adult worker you have the right to an uninterrupted 24 hours clear of work each week or an uninterrupted 48 hours clear each fortnight.

Nuclear Weapon is the destructive force

2009-03-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

A nuclear weapon is a volatile tool that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a mixture of fission and fusion. Both reactions discharge vast amounts of energy from moderately small amounts of matter; a modern thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than a thousand kilograms can manufacture an explosion similar to the explosion of more than a billion kilograms of conservative high explosive. Even small nuclear devices can destroy a city. Nuclear weapons are measured weapons of mass destruction, and their use and control has been a major aspect of worldwide policy since their debut.
Since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, nuclear weapons have been exploded on over two thousand occasions for testing purposes and revelation purposes. The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons – and that acknowledge possessing such weapons – are (chronologically) the United States, the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel is also widely supposed to possess nuclear weapons, though it does not acknowledge having them. For more information on these states' nuclear programs, as well as other states that formerly possessed nuclear weapons or are suspected of seeking nuclear weapons, see List of states with nuclear weapons.

Truthfulness

2008-04-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sincerity is the individual’s eminence of conversing and performing straightforwardly connected to genuineness as significance. This contains snooping, and any exploit in the human gamut - as well as talking. Ostensibly, sincerity means purely stating realities and observations as most excellent one truthfully considers them to be. It comprises both truthfulness to others, and to oneself and regarding one's personal intentions and interior realism. Truthfulness, at sometimes, has the capability to root calamity to the individual who exhibits it.

“Actual sincerity is being sincere about what your prospects are, what your impending are. That's where accurate frankness lies. It extends us. It’s not merely acknowledging wherever we are - that’s a starting step, it’s not the last part. So be sincere about where you are but also be truthful regarding what your potential are. That remains the dispute of the lane forever ahead of us.”

How to Be joyful?

2008-04-04T01:14:00.000-07:00

Keep your thinking and imagination positive. If you grab yourself thinking that crazes aren't going to work out, then consider again. keep in mind that most things toil out better than you fear - so envisage that your fears are ungrounded and that achievement is real.

confer a petite. It is probable giving time and possessions to others who require them will contribute more to your pleasure and inspired outlook on life than most anything else. The key to winning kin relationships is sacrificing time for others.

Don't lie to yourself- see the whole thing for precisely what it is. You have companions and relatives that love you. Learn How to be grateful. Think of all the things you have to be glad about.

Be yourself. You can't satisfy everybody. Much condemnation is people dissatisfied with themselves, not you. Comparing yourself to others is not often perfect in your individual life.

Get a job you love. Some stats say 80% of populace dislikes their occupation. If you have a job you hatred or dislike, gravely consider shifting your job, or even altering careers.

Nuclear Plant In Wisconsin

2008-03-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

The point shore nuclear plant in Wisconsin is undergone some extraordinary examination by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as the effect of an electrical transformer breakdown last week, the NRC said on Tuesday.

The transformer was unsuccessful on Jan. 15, which causes the 514-megawatt Unit 1 to drop power from exterior to the plant, which is situated near Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and owned by FPL power. The FPL Group Inc contributory last October bought the two-unit plant for $924 million from Wisconsin power Corporation.

Power supply networks are the time support of new industry, except their quality and consistency are not often questioned. Manufacturers are essentially involved only in whether current is flowing or not. The greater part of company never inquiry how good or bad the value of the power source they are using basically is.

Health

2008-03-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

Health is the intensity of functional and metabolic effectiveness of an organism at both the cellular and macro social level. In the medical field, health is generally defined as an organism's aptitude to efficiently respond to challenges and effectively restore and maintain a "state of balance," known as homeostasis.

A rising measure of the health of populations is height, which is powerfully regulated by nutrition and health care, among other set of living and quality of life matters. The lessons of human growth, its regulators and its implications are known as auxology.

Wellness is a word sometimes used to describe the psychological position of being healthy, but is most frequently used in the field of alternative medicine to describe one's state of being.

2008-02-21T04:49:00.001-08:00

Geography is the study of the earth and its features and of the circulation of life on the Earth. A literal transformation would be "to describe the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes (275-195 B.C.). Four historical civilization in geographical research are the spatial analysis of natural and human phenomena, area studies, study of man-land relationship, and investigate in earth sciences. Nonetheless, modern geography is an all-inclusive discipline that foremost seeks to understand the world and all of its human and natural complexities-- not merely where things are, but how they have changed and come to be. It is said to be the "mother of all math" and "the synthesizer of information." Geography is mainly divided into two main branches - human geography and physical geography.

conventionally, geography as well as geographers has been viewed as the same as cartography and people who study place names. Although many geographers are capable in toponymy and cartography, this is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the spatial and temporal allotment of phenomena, processes and feature as well as the interaction of humans and their environment. As space and place persuade a variety of topics such as economics, health, climate, plants and animals, geography is highly interdisciplinary.

Sports

2008-02-14T23:39:00.000-08:00

Sport is an activity to facilitate is governed by a set of rules or customs and frequently engaged in competitively. Used by itself, sports generally refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the participant are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome, but the term is also used to comprise activities such as mind sports and motor sports where psychological acuity or equipment quality are major factors. Sports are used as hobby for the player and the viewer. It has also proved by experiments that daily exercise would boost mental strength and power to study.

Sports have been ever more organized and keeping pace from the time of the Ancient Olympics up to the present century. Industrialization has brought improved leisure time to the citizens of developed and developing countries, leading to more time for people to be present at and follow spectator sports, greater contribution in athletic activities, and increased accessibility. These trends continued with the beginning of mass media and global statement.

Currency

2008-02-10T23:56:00.000-08:00

A currency is a component of exchange, facilitating the transfer of supplies and services. It is a form of money, where money is an capable medium of exchange, and it is also considered by a number of people as a store of value, created through a claim to its central bank assets. A currency zone is a country in which a specific currency is the main medium of exchange. To facilitate trade between currency zones, there are exchange price at which currencies can be exchanged beside each other. Currencies can be classified as also floating currencies or fixed currencies based on their exchange rate regime.

In general usage, currency at times refers to only paper money, as in "coins and currency", but this is confusing. Coins and paper money are both forms of currency.

In most cases, each country has control over the supply and manufacture of its own currency.

Computer Networking

2008-02-05T04:45:00.001-08:00

Computer networking is the engineering discipline anxious with communication between computer systems. Such communicate systems comprise a computer network and these networks generally involve at least two devices able of being networked with at least one usually being a computer. The devices can be separated by a small number of meters or nearly unlimited distances. Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of telecommunications, and sometimes of computer science, information technology and computer engineering. Computer networks rely a lot upon the abstract and practical application of these scientific and engineering disciplines.

A computer network is any set of computers connected to each other. Examples of networks are the Internet, a wide area network that is the largest to always exist, or a little home local area network (LAN) with two computers connected with standard networking cables connecting to a network interface card in each computer.
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Internet Marketing

2008-01-29T04:33:00.001-08:00

Internet marketing is the use of the Internet to advertise and vend goods and services. Internet Marketing includes pay per click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, associate marketing, interactive advertising, search engine marketing (including search engine optimization), blog marketing, article marketing, and blogging.

Internet marketing is a factor of electronic commerce. Internet marketing can sometimes comprise information management, public relations, customer service, and sales. Electronic commerce and Internet marketing have become popular as Internet access is becoming more extensively existing and used. Well over one third of consumers who have Internet access in their homes report using the Internet to create purchases.Internet marketing first began in the early 1990s as simple, text-based websites that offered product information. Over time Internet marketing evolved into more than just selling information products, there are people now selling advertising space, software programs, business models, and many other products and services

White Throated Kingfisher

2008-01-20T22:26:00.000-08:00

The White-throated Kingfisher, White-breasted Kingfisher or Smyrna Kingfisher, Halcyon smyrnensis, is a tree kingfisher which is generally spread in south Asia from Turkey east to the Philippines. This kingfisher is fundamentally occupant over much of its range, not together from seasonal movements.

The first of the alternative English names is to be favorite because the geographical name is too preventive for this widespread bird, and the easternmost race lacks a white breast.

This is a large kingfisher, 28 cm in length. The mature has a bright blue back, wings and tail. Its head, shoulders, flanks and lower belly are chestnut, and the throat and breast are white.

There are four races opposed mostly in plumage shades, but H. s. glairs of the Philippines have only the neck and throat white. The flight of the White-throated Kingfisher is quick and straight, the short rounded wings whirring. The large bill and legs are intense red.

In flight, large white patches are visible on the blue and black wings. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are a duller adaptation of the adult. The call of this noisy kingfisher is a chuckling chake.

White-throated Kingfisher is a common class of a variety of habitats with some trees, and its range is expanding. It perches noticeably on wires or other exposed perches within its territory, and is a frequent sight in south Asia. This species mostly hunts large insects, rodents, snakes, fish and frogs. It is alleged to eat tired migratory passerine birds like Chiffchaffs where the opportunity arises.

Yoga

2008-01-13T22:12:00.001-08:00

Yoga is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, focusing on meditation as a trail to self-knowledge and freedom. Yoga is seen as a means to mutually physiological and spiritual mastery. Outside India, Yoga has become mainly related with the practice of asanas of Hatha Yoga, although it has influenced the whole dharmic religions family and other spiritual practices throughout the world

5,000 year old carvings from the Indus Valley Civilization represent a figure that archaeologists think represents a yogi sitting in meditation posture. The sitting in a conventional cross-legged yoga pose with its hands resting on its knees. The explorer of the seal, archaeologist Sir John Marshall, named the figure Shiva Pashupati.

A seal from the Indus Valley Civilization, The first known written reference to yoga is in the Rig Veda, likely by the western scholars to be at least 3,500 years old. The Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali also converse the concepts and teachings of yoga.

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

2008-01-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher, also known as the Common Paradise Flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It was in the past classified with the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, but the paradise flycatchers, monarch flycatchers and Australasian fantails are now usually grouped with the drongos in the family Dicruridae, which has the majority of its members in Australasia and tropical southern Asia.

The Asian glory Flycatcher breeds from Turkestan to Manchuria. It is wandering, wintering in tropical Asia. There are resident populations further south, for example in southern India and Sri Lanka, so both visiting migrants and the in the vicinity reproduction subspecies take place in these areas in winter.

This species is typically originated in thick forests and other well-wooded habitats. Three or four eggs are laid in a cup shell in a tree.

The adult male Asian Paradise Flycatcher is about 20 cm long, but the long tail streamers double this. It has a black crested head, stale joke upperparts and pale grey underparts.

By their second year, the males of the wandering Indian race T. p. paradisi begin to obtain white feathers. By the third year, the male plumage is totally white, other than the black head. Males of the sedentary Sri Lankan race T. p. ceylonensis are forever stale joke.

The female of all races resembles the stale joke male, but has a grey throat, minor peak and lacks the tail streamers.

A Rose for Emily

2008-01-03T01:10:00.000-08:00

The Factors that Form the Character Emily Grierson the characters in a work of writing are not only created by their characteristics, but also by the story. There are lots of factors in a story which form the characters. It includes the background, mood, and theme. In William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, the conflict between past and present, sequential order and generations, her physical appearance and the fantastic mood affect the way the reader view Emily Grierson. In the little town of Jefferson, everywhere in the south, lived a woman named Miss Emily.

After her father died, the Colonel pardons her levy. This caused difference as she got older since there was no printed record of this information. During the two years after her father’s death the only person that left the house was a Negro man that went to get her provisions and tended to the house. As time passed, Miss Emily’s neighbors began to notice a stinking smell coming from her house. The judge refused to do anything about it, so men of the town would put down lime around her house late at night. The smell gone after a few weeks.

Cooking Apple

2007-12-25T22:38:00.001-08:00

A cooking apple is an apple that is used mainly for cooking rather than eating fresh. Cooking apples are larger, and can be not as much of sweet and more sour than eating varieties. Some varieties have a solid flesh that doesn't smash down too much when cooked. Only the British grow a large range of apples particularly for cooking. Some apples are double purpose, often becoming sweeter and softer under storage.

Cultivars can be separated into apples which are cooked whole in the oven and become soft and fluffy and those which keep hold of their shape. These apples are often sweet-smelling. A baked apple is one that has been parched in an oven until it has become soft. The core is generally removed and often stuffed with fruits, brown sugar, raisins, or cinnamon.

Dieting

2007-12-14T02:02:00.001-08:00

Dieting is the practice of ingesting food in a synchronized fashion to get a particular objective. In several cases the aim is weight loss, but some athletes hope to gain weight and diets can also be used to keep a stable body weight.

There are numerous kinds of diets:

Weight-loss diets control the intake of particular foods, or food in general, to reduce body weight. What works to decrease body weight for one person will not essentially work for another, due to metabolic differences and lifestyle factors. Also, for a variety of reasons, most people discover it very difficult to maintain major weight loss over time. There is some notion that losing weight promptly may actually make it more difficult to maintain the loss over time.

Formal Wear

2007-12-05T05:37:00.001-08:00

Formal wear or formal dress is a common fashion term used to explain clothing suitable for formal procedures, with weddings, debutante cotillions, etc. Western formal dress has had a invasive influence on styles in various countries. It is almost forever the standard used in countries where there is no formal edition of the national costume. Foreign dignitaries and honored visitors in Western countries often take on Western evening dress on formal and state occasions, although it is not unusual for distinguished persons to wear the formal versions of their general dress if such exists; the sari and the dashiki are easily-recognizable examples.

Unlike for the most part of the fashion world, the styles of formal dress take their names from men's wear rather than female dress. Traditional 'rules' oversee men's formal dress; these are firmly observed at socially traditional events such as royal weddings, and provide as starting points for the creative formal wear seen at high school proms, formal dances and leisure industry awards shows.

Cooking

2007-11-26T01:17:00.001-08:00

Cooking is the act of preparing food for eating. The term cooking encompasses all methods of food preparation with non-heated methods. It encompasses a huge range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to change the taste or digestibility of food. It is the method of select, measuring and combining of ingredients in an planned procedure in an try to get the desired result. Factors affecting the finishing outcome include the inconsistency of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the person doing the actual cooking.

The variety of cooking universal is a reflection of the many nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural, cultural and religious considerations that crash upon it.

Cooking frequently requires applying heat to a food, which regularly, though not always, chemically transforms it, thus varying its flavor, texture, appearance, and nutritional properties. There is archaeological proof of roasted foodstuffs, both animal and vegetable, in human campsites dating from the initial known use of fire, some 800,000 years ago

A Burning Desire for Hockey

2007-11-21T03:03:00.000-08:00

Many people are tried to have many special hobbies. Ice Hockey immediately happened to be mine. It is been almost twenty years since my mother and father takes me Ice Skating. When i was three years old. Before I move any further I would like to tell you that I come from a family that has an extended record of hockey players. My grandfather on both my mothers and fathers part played hockey. I still had a grandma on my mother’s side that play field hockey in Duluth, MN. My biggest pressure in the game of hockey was from my father, he and his brother played hockey for the college of Illinois.

As a childhood I wore my dad’s old hockey jersey throughout my few years of hockey. To say the least, I dreamed of being a qualified hockey player. It was not until I was playing at the high school level that I learn hockey is other than a game.

It was always expressed that hockey was a very physical and dangerous sport and it really did not sink in until I started playing confirm to hockey. A hockey player generally enters this physical state of the game around the age of twelve to fourteen. As I grew older the speed of the game got closer, thus made the complexity of the game do a180.

Business

2007-11-17T01:28:00.001-08:00

In economic business is the social science of managing people to systematize and maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular imaginative and productive goals, usually to make profit.The etymology of "business" refers to the state of being busy, in the circumstance of the individual as well as the community or society. In other words, to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work.

The term "business" has at least three usages, depending on the scope — the general usage (above), the particular usage to refer to a particular company or corporation, and the comprehensive usage to refer to a particular market sector, such as "the record business," "the computer business," or "the business community" -- the community of suppliers of goods and services.

The singular "business" can be a legally-recognized entity within an economically free society, wherein individuals systematize based on expertise and skill bring about social and technological expansion.

However, the exact definition of business is disputable as is business philosophy; for example, most Marxist use "means of production" as a rough synonym for "business." Socialist advocate either government, public, or worker ownership of most sizable businesses.

Fire Extinguisher

2007-11-13T23:07:00.001-08:00

A fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a handheld cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire.

The modern fire extinguisher was invented by British Captain George William Manby in 1818; it consisted of a copper vessel of 3 gallons of pearl ash solution contained within compressed air.

The soda-acid extinguisher was invented in the 19th century, which contained a cylinder of 1 or 2 gallons of water with sodium bicarbonate mixed into it. A vial was suspended in the cylinder containing concentrated sulphuric acid. Depending on the type of extinguisher, the vial of acid could be broken in one of two ways. One used a plunger to break the acid vial, while the second released a lead bung that held the vial closed. Once the acid was mixed with the bicarbonate solution, carbon dioxide gas was expelled and thereby pressurize the water. The pressurized water was forced from the canister through a nozzle or short length of hose.

Amusement park

2007-11-09T01:27:00.000-08:00

Amusement park is the general word for a collection of rides and other leisure attractions assembled for the purpose of enjoyable a reasonably large group of people. An amusement park is more involved than a simple city park or playground, as an amusement park is intended to cater to adults, teenagers, and small children.

An amusement park may be stable or temporary, generally periodic, such as a few days or weeks per year. The short-term amusement park with mobile rides etc. is called a funfair or carnival.

Theme parks form a more closely defined type of an amusement park. They are permanent conveniences that use architecture, signage, landscaping to help express the feeling that people are in a different place or time. Often a theme park will have a variety of 'lands' of the park committed to telling a particular story. Otherwise, an amusement park often has rides with tiny in terms of theming design elements. The main difference among a theme park and an amusement park is to in a theme park all the rides go all with the theme of the park, for example Disney World.

A Day in Malaysia

2007-11-04T23:24:00.001-08:00

A Malaysian Day is not to be conceived as a day famous by Malaysians to symbolize any particular event. In reality it should denote a usual day of any Malaysian, a microcosm of what is in the daily life a Malaysian amidst the rapid developments in the urban areas and the well-conserved rural environment. My story is spin from my knowledge during a five-day holiday in Malaysia. You are going back to Malaysia, my parents announced suddenly, handing me air tickets, thus ending weeks of uncertainty as to where I was to spend my month-long winter holiday. I was to spend four days in Malaysia, my birth place, a place I had not seen in 16 years, since we motivated to Birmingham. Day 1 All doubts seemed to lighten however, as I step on board Malaysia Airlines aircraft.

I was lovingly by the smiling kebaya-clad air stewardesses of the airline. Hours seemed to fly as the flight progress, leaving London in the evening and arriving at dawn in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. I gaze out of the window, impressed by the rolling acres of palm trees which sprawled over the humongous oil palm estates.

Selecting a "beauty queen

2007-10-31T22:14:00.001-07:00

Beauty pageants are usually multi-tiered, through local competitions feeding into the bigger competitions. The worldwide pageants, thus, need hundreds, sometimes thousands, of local competitions. In the United States, there is currently a commercial beauty pageant industry that organizes thousands of local events for all ages for profit supported by magazines like The Crown Magazine and Pride of Pageantry, the online epiczine.com, the Pageant News Bureau (pageant.com), and The Crown Magazine, and a crowd of retailers of all from tiaras to cosmetic surgery.

Beauty Queens are selected on many criteria. Every individual pageant will provide to future delegates its exacting methods of competition and scoring. For example, The universal Pageant http://www.worldwidepageant.net has a sole scoring method wherein delegates have the possible of earning a score of 110%. The breakdown is 25% evening wear (may be pants or gown), 25% physical wear, 50% personal interview, and an optional 10% for a getting portfolio. Diamond Dolls is a pictorial only competition which provides 100% of the score based leading submission of required photos.

There are other pageants who take a completely different approach on the whole. Mostly in reference to on-line photogenic pageants, there are competitions in which a winner is selected on a monthly or even weekly basis. There are persons who will take each of these as a "preliminary winner" with the aim upon a "final" competition at some later date. Others delight each of these as a "final" winner and give a title.

In spite of the method of competition, break down of scores or frequency of selection; all are defined as "activity in the form of a beauty pageant." It is up to the person to determine which is best suitable for competition or of particular entertainment interest.

Print spooler

2007-10-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

In computer science, spooling is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on-line. It refers to putting jobs in a buffer, a special area in memory, or on a disk where a device can Spooling is useful because campaign access data at different rates. The buffer provides a waiting station where data can reside while the slower device catches up. Objects is only added and deleted at the ends of the area; there is no random access or editing. This also allows the CPU to work on other tasks while waiting for the slower device to do its task.

It can also refer to a storage device that incorporates a physical pin, such as a tape drive.

The most common spooling application is print spooling. In print spooling, documents are loaded into a buffer, and then the printer pulls them off the buffer at its own rate. Because the documents are in a buffer where they can be accessed by the printer, the user is free to perform other operations on the computer while the printing takes place in the surroundings. Spooling also lets users place a number of print jobs on a queue instead of waiting for each one to finish before specifying the next one.

Yoga

2007-10-19T05:22:00.000-07:00

Yoga is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, focusing on meditation as a trail to self-knowledge and freedom. Yoga is seen as a means to mutually physiological and spiritual mastery. Outside India, Yoga has become mainly related with the practice of asanas of Hatha Yoga, although it has influenced the whole dharmic religions family and other spiritual practices throughout the world.

5,000 year old carvings from the Indus Valley Civilization represent a figure that archaeologists think represents a yogi sitting in meditation posture. The sitting in a conventional cross-legged yoga pose with its hands resting on its knees. The explorer of the seal, archaeologist Sir John Marshall, named the figure Shiva Pashupati.

A seal from the Indus Valley Civilization, The first known written reference to yoga is in the Rig Veda, likely by the western scholars to be at least 3,500 years old. The Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali also converse the concepts and teachings of yoga.

VAT

2007-10-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

Value added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST), is tax on exchanges. It is levied on the added value that results from each exchange. It differs from a sales tax because a sales tax is levied on the total value of the exchange. For this reason, a VAT is neutral with respect to the number of passages that there are between the producer and the final consumer. A VAT is an indirect tax, in that the tax is collected from someone other than the person who actually bears the cost of the tax (namely the seller rather than the consumer). To avoid double taxation on final consumption, exports (which by definition, are consumed abroad) are usually not subject to VAT and VAT charged under such circumstances is usually refundable.

The VAT was invented by a French economist in 1954. Maurice Lauré, joint director of the French tax authority, the Direction générale des impôts, as taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA in French) was first to introduce VAT with effect from 10 April 1954 for large businesses, and extended over time to all business sectors. In France, it is the most important source of state finance, accounting for approximately 45% of state revenues

2007-10-02T21:44:00.001-07:00

America

Before the turn of the nineteenth century baseball was always the most famous and well-liked sport in America. It was the sport of choice for lots of young boys located around the nation and they could be found convert every lush lot within ten miles into playing fields, Children idolize the famous players from different teams, while imitating them with every hang of the bat and throw of the ball. Though, times have changed as the early days of baseball. Baseball franchises are measured to be big business, and it seems as if the pleasure has been left behind. Player hit, as well as the creation of players union, makes the sport explain as if it is being played by a great number of stained millionaires. Player attachment has been entirely crushed by the prologue of free agency to Major League Baseball twenty-two years ago. Baseball, once a form of real fun, has now taken a deep change.

Major League Baseball was once measured by most to be America’s pastime; however with current situation, it no longer truly deserves that impressive title.

2007-09-13T00:56:00.000-07:00

Music

Music is an art form that involves organized sounds and quiet. It is articulated in terms of pitch (which includes melody and harmony), rhythm (which includes tempo and meter), and the quality of sound (which includes timbre, articulation, dynamics, and texture).
Music may also absorb generative forms in time through the construction of patterns and combinations of natural stimuli, principally sound. Music may be used for artistic or aesthetic, communicative, entertainment, traditional or religious purposes. The definition of what constitutes music varies according to culture and social context, with assorted interpretations of the term being established under sub-genres of the art. Within "the arts", music can be classified as a performing art, a fine art, or an auditory art form

The history of music predates the written word and is tied to the enlargement of each unique human culture. The development of music among humans occurred against the backdrop of natural sounds such as birdsong and the sounds other animals use to communicate. primeval music, once more commonly called primitive music, is the name given to all music created in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history.

2007-08-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Games

A game is a prepared or semi-structured activity, generally undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes also used as an learning tool. (The term "game" is also used to explain recreation of different activities e.g., for the purposes of training, study or prediction, etc,) Games are generally different from work, which is usually accepted out for payment, and from art, which is more concerned with the term of ideas. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and a lot of games may also be considered work and/or art. Key components of games are goals, policy, challenge, and interactivity. Games generally involve mental or objective stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop useful skills, serve as a form of exercise, or else perform an educational, simulation or emotional role.