Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/330880993?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, September 30, 2013
Competition between Islamist militants may fuel big attacks
By Myra MacDonald
LONDON (Reuters) - The assault on Kenya's Westgate shopping mall has brought into sharp relief a pattern likely to complicate efforts to counter Islamist militants - competition among jihadis can increase the risk of a major attack.
As with the 2008 assault on the Indian city of Mumbai and this year's raid on an Algerian desert gas plant, the attack in Nairobi by Somalia's al Shabaab was preceded by in-fighting or loss of supporters to other militant groups.
This competition can initially make groups seem divided and weak, while actually making them more dangerous if a leader then feels compelled to mount a big attack to burnish his jihadi credentials - thereby bringing in fresh recruits and funding.
Western counter-terrorism officials have long been aware of the risk that intensive security measures adopted at home following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States are driving militants to target Westerners overseas.
But the impact of competition, sometimes caused by government efforts to curb militants, is only just beginning to be understood. It was thrown into sharp relief by the mall attack by al Shabaab, which killed 67 people.
Recognised by al Qaeda as an affiliate in 2012, the group had suffered from internal feuding as African Union forces, including troops from Kenya, drove them out of urban strongholds.
These rifts rose dramatically to the surface when the American-born Omar Hammami tweeted about what he said were attempts on his life by al Shabaab assassins sent by the group's leader. He was reported to have been killed this month in Somalia.
JIHADIST FORCE
While it is too early to assess all the motivations behind the attack on the Westgate mall, the attention it received could help al Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane achieve his ambition of rebranding his group as a significant jihadist force, leading analysts to warn that more attacks could follow.
In the case of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed by the United States and India for the attack on Mumbai, outside pressure may have contributed to the internal dynamic that led it to mount a spectacular operation.
Unlike al Qaeda, its focus is on India and Kashmir. But like al Qaeda it is a Salafist group and shares its aim of a restoration of Muslim rule from Delhi to Spain - making it easier for followers to move between the groups.
Under severe pressure to rein in its activities after one of the men involved in the 2005 London transport bombings was linked to the group, Lashkar-e-Taiba began to lose members to al Qaeda and other groups fighting more actively in Afghanistan.
According to testimony by the Pakistani-American David Headley, who scouted out targets in Mumbai, the huge scale of the attack in India after initial plans for a more limited operation was encouraged by the need to compete.
The assault by 10 gunmen killed 166 people, gripped media attention during a three-day siege and became a template for subsequent "copycat" operations like Westgate.
The January attack at the Algerian gas plant, in which 39 foreign hostages were killed, also followed internal competition, this time more to do with personal rivalries.
"MR MARLBORO"
Its Algerian mastermind, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, had set up his own group, although he retains strained but functioning relations with the Algerian-based leadership of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Once dismissed as "Mr Marlboro" because of his smuggling activities, Belmokhtar staked a claim to be the true representative of al Qaeda in the region with the assault.
The role of competition makes it all the harder for governments to contain militants, whether through force - from drone strikes to ground operations - or by using infiltration and offers of talks to some factions to divide and rule.
In the 1990s, Algeria used infiltration to stir up in-fighting and break an insurgency which erupted after it suppressed elections that Islamists were poised to win. But this also encouraged more brutal attacks on civilians - an estimated 200,000 died in the civil war.
More recently, Pakistani efforts to divide and rule the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) by setting one faction against another may also be fuelling violence.
Little is known for sure about the internal dynamics of the TTP. But the group denied responsibility for a car bomb on Sunday which killed 42 in Peshawar - the third attack on the city in a week - raising the possibility that another faction may have been involved to demonstrate its power.
Meanwhile, for states seeking to combat militants, including al Qaeda, competition offers little comfort for it rarely runs deep enough to splinter and defeat jihadist groups altogether.
If anything, al Qaeda is proving more resilient than ever, despite the vast military force thrown against it since the September 11 attacks.
NETWORK OF ALLIANCES
Often thinking more globally than the governments which seek to counter it, its network of alliances stretching from its base in Pakistan to West Africa has left it well positioned to exploit the instability caused by the 2011 Arab uprisings.
Its leader Ayman al Zawahri appears to have settled into his role after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, continuing to set overall direction for al Qaeda while ceding much operational control to affiliates.
Earlier this year, he intervened to stop in-fighting between two al-Qaeda aligned groups in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - arguably proving more effective in preventing confrontation between allies than Western countries trying to shape the Syrian civil war.
The network is held together by personal and geographical links which ultimately override feuding and rivalries - connections which can often be traced back to Afghanistan and Pakistan and are now being forged anew in Syria.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, for example, has its roots in an organisation created in the mid-1980s to support the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Belmokhtar reached Afghanistan around 1989.
Godane went to Pakistan in the late 1990s on a scholarship, according to Stig Jarle Hansen, the Norwegian author of a book on al Shabaab. He disappeared for a time before returning home in 2001; but two of his peers from the same generation had been in the Khaldane training camp in Afghanistan.
That shared ideology makes it a virtual certainty that Islamist militants will strike again.
Exactly how capable different parts of the network are, and how much national and regional pressures limit their room for manoeuvre, often comes down to guesswork.
Following the raid on the Algerian gas plant, Belmokhtar's group claimed responsibility for attacks in May on a military base and a French-run uranium mine in Niger, West Africa - despite a French-led military operation designed to drive Islamist militants out of neighbouring Mali.
Hansen suggested al Shabaab could attack other countries which, like Kenya, contribute forces to the African Union peace-keeping mission in Somalia. "There is more to come. They have the capacity; I think they will do it again. Ethiopia, Uganda and Burundi should watch their backs very carefully."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/competition-between-islamist-militants-may-fuel-big-attacks-155158016.html
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Chinese Miners Compete for Peru Copper Project
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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303918804579106273770828920.html?mod=rss_about_china
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China says no plan for Japan meet at Asia-Pacific summit amid islands row
BEIJING |
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has no plans to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during an Asia-Pacific summit this week in Indonesia, Beijing said on Monday, as both sides spar over a group of islets near potentially large oil and gas reserves.
Relations between the world's second- and third-largest economies, long strained by memories of Japan's wartime aggression, have been troubled for the past year due to the row over the tiny, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
While Xi and Abe shook hands and exchanged words earlier in September on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Russia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said there were no such arrangements at present for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bali.
"During the summit there will be many bilateral meetings, which are in the process of being arranged. As for a meeting between the leaders of China and Japan, at present there is no arrangement for this," he told a daily news briefing.
"China has all along been asking Japan to face up to history and to facts, and have dialogue and negotiations with China over the Diaoyu Islands issue. But Japan has yet to give a response to this," Hong added.
"We call on the Japanese leader to stop with the empty talk, and make real efforts to have talks and consultations with China, to overcome the difficulties in the development of bilateral ties."
Abe said on Friday in New York that Japan would make no concessions on sovereignty over the islets, also near rich fishing grounds, but would not make any moves to escalate the situation.
Japan has yet to formally confirm Abe's attendance at APEC, though he is expected to go.
The Japanese government bought three of the disputed islands from a private Japanese owner in September last year, prompting big protests and boycotts of Japanese goods in China.
Tension remains high surrounding the islands, with aircraft and ships from both countries playing cat-and-mouse games near them for months.
The United States, which has a hefty military presence in Japan, including on the southern island of Okinawa, close to the disputed isles, has expressed worry about the dispute and has been keen to see a diplomatic solution.
U.S. President Barack Obama will also be attending the APEC summit.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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Staples Will Soon Be Selling the iPad and iPod
Hazard beat me to it... but yeah, the Staples near my office has a huge Apple section.
__________________
Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, switch - update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax - rename it,
Touch it, bring it, Pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start - format it.
Technologic.
Source: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1783318&goto=newpost
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First estimate of radiotherapy dose wasted in compensating for between-treatment tumor growth
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Public release date: 30-Sep-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Kay Roche
kay@rochewriting.com
ECCO-the European CanCer Organisation
For the first time, researchers have estimated the daily dose of radiotherapy that could be wasted in compensating for cancer cell growth that occurs overnight and during weekends in patients with early breast cancer.
In research to be presented to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Monday), Professor John Yarnold will say that, until now, there has been contradictory evidence as to whether gaps between radiotherapy treatments, for instance overnight or at weekends, makes any difference to the overall effectiveness of radiotherapy on breast cancer, and, if it does make a difference, why that could be.
"Traditionally, breast cancer has not been regarded as a fast growing cancer, unlike some other cancer types, but our research now suggests that a significant part of the daily radiotherapy curative dose is 'used up' in compensating for tumour growth overnight and over weekends. We have estimated that the amount of radiotherapy dose that is used up in this way corresponds to approximately 0.60 Gray (Gy) [2] per day," says Prof Yarnold, who is Professor of Clinical Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Honorary Consultant at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (London, UK).
"This is the first numerical estimate to suggest that the duration of a course of radiotherapy has an effect on local cancer cure for patients with early breast cancer. The results of our analysis are hypothesis-generating; they offer an explanation as to why prolonged radiotherapy schedules may allow cancer cells to fight back, and suggest that breast cancer cell growth rates after surgery are higher than historically assumed. If confirmed, it means that current trends to deliver shorter radiotherapy schedules are likely to bear fruit in the future. However, I should emphasise that current schedules delivered over five weeks or more remain highly effective, and patients should follow recommendations from their specialists."
Radiotherapy is normally given as a series of treatments over a number of weeks in order to destroy any remaining cancer cells in the breast, chest wall or underarm area after surgery, and to reduce the risk of the cancer recurring in the same breast, while, at the same time, minimising harm to the healthy tissues.
Prof Yarnold and Ms Jo Haviland, a senior statistician at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit (CTSU) based their research on the Standardisation of Breast Radiotherapy (START) trials (START Pilot, START A and START B), which have been evaluating the effects of giving shorter radiotherapy schedules after surgery for early breast cancer patients in the UK since 1986. [3]
The researchers used data from 5,861 UK patients who were enrolled between 1986 and 2002 into the three START randomised clinical trials that compared different schedules for delivering radiotherapy. The START Pilot and START A trials compared the international standard of giving a total of 50 Gy in 25 daily doses of 2.0 Gy over five weeks versus two other schedules of slightly higher daily doses of 3.0?.3 Gy over the same time period. The START B trial compared the international standard (50 Gy in 25 daily doses of 2.0 Gy over five weeks) with a shorter schedule giving a total of 40 Gy in 15 daily doses of 2.67 Gy over three weeks. After a follow-up period of ten years, the three-week schedule was shown to be as good as the five-week schedule at preventing the cancer from recurring in the same breast and has since been adopted as the standard in the UK. In terms of safety, the three-week schedule was gentler on the normal tissues, with fewer late side-effects.
Using the data from these trials, the researchers then estimated the effect of overall radiotherapy treatment time on the risk of the cancer recurring, comparing the three-week schedule with the five-week schedules. They used a statistical model that took into account the total dose, the size of the daily dose, the length of time over which the radiotherapy was given, and factors known to be associated with the risk of the cancer recurring in the same breast. They found that approximately 0.60 Gy of the daily radiotherapy dose was being wasted during the five-week treatment schedules to compensate for cancer cells growing.
"This suggests that a shorter one-week radiotherapy schedule, replacing the five to seven-week schedules that were more usual in the past, may be more effective against breast cancer recurrence and reduce the chances of side-effects on the surrounding normal tissues. In addition, shorter treatment schedules would be more convenient for patients, with benefits including fewer trips to the hospital, and also highly cost-effective for health services," says Prof Yarnold.
Future work will investigate whether reducing the overall treatment time further is as safe and as effective as the current three-week schedule which has been standard practice in the UK since 2009, following publication of the five-year results from the START A and START B trials.
"The UK FAST Forward phase III trial is an example of this research, comparing the current UK standard three-week schedule with two radiotherapy dose levels of a one-week schedule in women with early breast cancer. This trial is well on the way to recruiting 4000 women," he will conclude.
President of ECCO, Professor Cornelis van de Velde, commented: "This is important research that suggests that the overall treatment time with radiotherapy could make a difference to outcomes for women with early breast cancer. If further investigations confirm that a shorter radiotherapy schedule is as effective as the current standard of care, it will be another step towards making treatments easier and more bearable for patients, and possibly cheaper for healthcare services."
###
[1] The 2013 European Cancer Congress is the 17th congress of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), the 38th congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the 32nd congress of European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO).
[2] One Gray is the absorption of one joule of energy, in the form of ionising radiation, per kilogram of matter.
[3] The START trials were co-ordinated by the Cancer-Research UK-funded Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR-CTSU), and represent a long-term partnership between Prof Yarnold as the clinical lead and ICR-CTSU as an NCRN accredited/UKCRC Registered Clinical Trials Unit with a strong interest in radiotherapy trials.
[4] This work was funded by Cancer Research UK, UK Medical Research Council and UK Department of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 30-Sep-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Kay Roche
kay@rochewriting.com
ECCO-the European CanCer Organisation
For the first time, researchers have estimated the daily dose of radiotherapy that could be wasted in compensating for cancer cell growth that occurs overnight and during weekends in patients with early breast cancer.
In research to be presented to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Monday), Professor John Yarnold will say that, until now, there has been contradictory evidence as to whether gaps between radiotherapy treatments, for instance overnight or at weekends, makes any difference to the overall effectiveness of radiotherapy on breast cancer, and, if it does make a difference, why that could be.
"Traditionally, breast cancer has not been regarded as a fast growing cancer, unlike some other cancer types, but our research now suggests that a significant part of the daily radiotherapy curative dose is 'used up' in compensating for tumour growth overnight and over weekends. We have estimated that the amount of radiotherapy dose that is used up in this way corresponds to approximately 0.60 Gray (Gy) [2] per day," says Prof Yarnold, who is Professor of Clinical Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Honorary Consultant at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (London, UK).
"This is the first numerical estimate to suggest that the duration of a course of radiotherapy has an effect on local cancer cure for patients with early breast cancer. The results of our analysis are hypothesis-generating; they offer an explanation as to why prolonged radiotherapy schedules may allow cancer cells to fight back, and suggest that breast cancer cell growth rates after surgery are higher than historically assumed. If confirmed, it means that current trends to deliver shorter radiotherapy schedules are likely to bear fruit in the future. However, I should emphasise that current schedules delivered over five weeks or more remain highly effective, and patients should follow recommendations from their specialists."
Radiotherapy is normally given as a series of treatments over a number of weeks in order to destroy any remaining cancer cells in the breast, chest wall or underarm area after surgery, and to reduce the risk of the cancer recurring in the same breast, while, at the same time, minimising harm to the healthy tissues.
Prof Yarnold and Ms Jo Haviland, a senior statistician at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit (CTSU) based their research on the Standardisation of Breast Radiotherapy (START) trials (START Pilot, START A and START B), which have been evaluating the effects of giving shorter radiotherapy schedules after surgery for early breast cancer patients in the UK since 1986. [3]
The researchers used data from 5,861 UK patients who were enrolled between 1986 and 2002 into the three START randomised clinical trials that compared different schedules for delivering radiotherapy. The START Pilot and START A trials compared the international standard of giving a total of 50 Gy in 25 daily doses of 2.0 Gy over five weeks versus two other schedules of slightly higher daily doses of 3.0?.3 Gy over the same time period. The START B trial compared the international standard (50 Gy in 25 daily doses of 2.0 Gy over five weeks) with a shorter schedule giving a total of 40 Gy in 15 daily doses of 2.67 Gy over three weeks. After a follow-up period of ten years, the three-week schedule was shown to be as good as the five-week schedule at preventing the cancer from recurring in the same breast and has since been adopted as the standard in the UK. In terms of safety, the three-week schedule was gentler on the normal tissues, with fewer late side-effects.
Using the data from these trials, the researchers then estimated the effect of overall radiotherapy treatment time on the risk of the cancer recurring, comparing the three-week schedule with the five-week schedules. They used a statistical model that took into account the total dose, the size of the daily dose, the length of time over which the radiotherapy was given, and factors known to be associated with the risk of the cancer recurring in the same breast. They found that approximately 0.60 Gy of the daily radiotherapy dose was being wasted during the five-week treatment schedules to compensate for cancer cells growing.
"This suggests that a shorter one-week radiotherapy schedule, replacing the five to seven-week schedules that were more usual in the past, may be more effective against breast cancer recurrence and reduce the chances of side-effects on the surrounding normal tissues. In addition, shorter treatment schedules would be more convenient for patients, with benefits including fewer trips to the hospital, and also highly cost-effective for health services," says Prof Yarnold.
Future work will investigate whether reducing the overall treatment time further is as safe and as effective as the current three-week schedule which has been standard practice in the UK since 2009, following publication of the five-year results from the START A and START B trials.
"The UK FAST Forward phase III trial is an example of this research, comparing the current UK standard three-week schedule with two radiotherapy dose levels of a one-week schedule in women with early breast cancer. This trial is well on the way to recruiting 4000 women," he will conclude.
President of ECCO, Professor Cornelis van de Velde, commented: "This is important research that suggests that the overall treatment time with radiotherapy could make a difference to outcomes for women with early breast cancer. If further investigations confirm that a shorter radiotherapy schedule is as effective as the current standard of care, it will be another step towards making treatments easier and more bearable for patients, and possibly cheaper for healthcare services."
###
[1] The 2013 European Cancer Congress is the 17th congress of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), the 38th congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the 32nd congress of European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO).
[2] One Gray is the absorption of one joule of energy, in the form of ionising radiation, per kilogram of matter.
[3] The START trials were co-ordinated by the Cancer-Research UK-funded Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR-CTSU), and represent a long-term partnership between Prof Yarnold as the clinical lead and ICR-CTSU as an NCRN accredited/UKCRC Registered Clinical Trials Unit with a strong interest in radiotherapy trials.
[4] This work was funded by Cancer Research UK, UK Medical Research Council and UK Department of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-09/eeco-feo093013.php
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Pancreatic cancer survivor faces headwind, but keeps going
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Source: jacksonville.com --- Sunday, September 29, 2013
JACKSONVILLE BEACH | During a five-year struggle against pancreatic Cancer, Alicia Bertine never had the strength to walk in a charity race to fight the disease. Until Saturday morning. In high spirits, wearing purple lipstick and a purple T-shirt, she reached the midpoint of her mile trek and turned to go back to the SeaWalk Pavilion. Bam ? right into the teeth of fall?s first nor?easter. No matter. She kept on. Even jogged a bit to catch up with friends, old friends who joined her in the Purple Stride walk/run event to combat pancreatic Cancer. read more ...
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Arizona Cardinals Vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: TV Channel, Where To Watch Live Online, Prediction, Betting Odds, Team News And Preview For Sunday's NFL Matchup
The Buccaneers have started 0-3, and earlier this week head coach Greg Schiano chose the rookie ahead of Freeman, whose completed 45.7 percent of his passes to start the season.
Freeman has since requested a trade, and will reportedly be the third inactive quarterback on the Buccaneers bench on Sunday.
Glennon totaled 62 passing touchdowns in his final two years at N.C. State, and was a third round draft choice for Tampa Bay back in April. He?ll have consistent weapons against Arizona in Vincent Jackson and Mike Wallace, but it?s difficult to gauge how Glennon will respond in his first start. Running back Doug Martin is second in the NFL with 297 rushing yards, and should get plenty of touches ahead of the rookie passer.
Glennon will face a 1-2 Cardinals squad that?s currently ranked 26th against the pass, and allowed seven passing touchdowns in three games despite a solid young core of Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu in the secondary.
Last week the New Orleans Saints torched Arizona for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the air for a 31-7 loss. It wasn?t due to a lack of effort or dedication that Arizona lost, with safety Rashad Johnson severing the tip of his left middle finger on a punt return and continuing to play. He?s questionable for Sunday?s matchup against the Bucs.
Quarterback Carson Palmer largely failed to connect with his receivers, going 18-for-35 for 187 yards, and receiver Larry Fitzgerald had five catches for 64 yards.?After three games in Arizona, Palmer is fourth in the NFL with four picks, and has been sacked nine times.
However Fitzgerald has played hurt with a depleted running back corps thats gaining just 86.3 yards per game, 23rd in the league.?The veteran wide out fully participated in his practice earlier this week for first time in weeks, a strong sign that 1-2 Arizona could start to turn things around.
The game starts at 1 p.m. ET and will be broadcast by FOX, or watch a live online stream by purchasing NFL Game Access here.
Betting Odds: Tampa Bay is favored by 2.5 points.
Over/Under: 40.5 points
Prediction: Arizona 24, Tampa Bay 10
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Sunday, September 29, 2013
China seals border with Pak ahead of national day celebrations
BEIJING: China has sealed its border with Pakistan near Khunjrab for 10 days beginning Saturday. This is part of stringent security operations ahead of the Chinese 'golden holidays' which are celebrated around the country's national day on October 1.
The decision reflects Beijing's fears about the movement of arms and terrorists connected to the Taliban, which is believed to have influenced violence in China's border region of Xinjiang. The move will affect cross-border trade because the Khunjrab section of Pakistan is an important entry point for vehicles moving from China.
The Pakistani media quoted Hunza Nagar police in Khunjrab saying that it has received a notice from Chinese authorities that the border will be closed from September 28 to October 7.
The move comes at a time when Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif is pushing China to build a Pak-China Trade Corridor from Kashgar in China to Khunjrab.
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Sony Xperia Z Ultra review: perfect, but not practical
Smartphones have been getting bigger in the past couple years. The flagship products from HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony all have 5-inch screens or larger. Then you have the 5.5-inch LG Optimus G Pro and the Galaxy Note II from Samsung, and the recently-announced Galaxy Note 3 is even 5.7 inches. The Huawei Ascend Mate has a diagonal of 6.1 inches and the Samsung Galaxy Mega even 6.3 inches. Not to be outdone, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra we're looking at today kicks it up a notch to 6.4 inches.
That doesn't make the Xperia Z Ultra the largest device you can hold against your ear. The ASUS Fonepad and the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab can also be used that way. The older Galaxy Tab 7.7 was also capable of making calls. These 7-inch devices don't have the 16:9 aspect ratio of smartphones, but one that's more common for tablets, such as 1280x800 or 1024x600. When you look at it that way, you could call the Xperia Z Ultra the largest phone from one of the big brands.
Due to the relatively wide bezels above and below the screen, the Z Ultra is almost 18 centimeters long. It feels like you're putting a very large chocolate bar in your pocket. This is not a phone you forget you're carrying around. ?
It's too large to be practical, but at least it looks good. It carries a hefty pricetag too, costing around ?660.
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College Football Week 5 Open Thread: Wisconsin-Ohio State, LSU-Georgia, and More
On Wisconsin.
With all the good college football games going on this weekend, maybe this isn't a bad week for the Packers to have a bye. There are three games pitting ranked teams against one another - two in the SEC, one non-conference game, and one contest that could easily determine the winner of the Big Ten Leaders Division in just the second week of the B1G conference schedule.
Here are the premier games on your television this Saturday. Enjoy them from the comfort of your couch, your bar, or wherever you are, and discuss the day's action. Meanwhile, I'll be the lone spot of Cardinal red and white in a sea of scarlet and gray tonight.
LSU Tigers (#6) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (#10)
2:30 PM Central Time
Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia
CBS
LSU pro prospects: DT Anthony Johnson, QB Zach Mettenberger, WR Odell Beckham
Georgia pro prospects: RB Todd Gurley, QB Aaron Murray, CB Damian Swann
Oklahoma Sooners (#12) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (#22)
2:30 PM Central Time
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
NBC
Oklahoma pro prospects: CB Aaron Colvin, WR Jalen Saunders, RB Damien Williams
Notre Dame pro prospects: DT Louis Nix, DE Stephon Tuitt, WR T.J. Jones
Mississippi Rebels (#21) vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (#1)
5:30 PM Central Time
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
ESPN
Ole Miss pro prospects: WR Donte Moncrief
Alabama pro prospects: T Cyrus Kouandjio, ILB C.J. Mosley, OLB Adrian Hubbard, S Haha Clinton-Dix, QB A.J. McCarron
Wisconsin Badgers (#24) vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (#3)
7:00 PM Central Time
Ohio Stadium, Columbus Ohio
ABC
Wisconsin pro prospects: ILB Chris Borland, HBs James White and?Melvin Gordon, WR Jared Abbrederis, TE Jacob Pedersen
Ohio State pro prospects: HB Carlos Hyde, QB Braxton Miller, CB Bradley Roby, LB Ryan Shazier
Head over to?Bucky's 5th Quarter for full coverage of this game from a Badger perspective.
Not a member? Join Acme Packing Company and start commenting | Follow @AcmePackingCo on Twitter 
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Exclusive: Log of Android KLP / Kitkat running on Nexus 5 with Babel
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Source: www.myce.com --- Saturday, September 28, 2013
Source: http://www.myce.com/news/exclusive-log-of-android-klp-kitkat-running-on-nexus-5-with-babel-68922/
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Bankrupt Stockton, California says has deals with key creditors
By Jim Christie
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Stockton, California said on Friday it had struck tentative deals opening the door to settlements with two major creditors, and putting the city at the "beginning of the end" of its bankruptcy case.
The deals also could avert a major court fight promised by the creditors, bond insurers that led opposition to Stockton's bankruptcy and who had threatened to drag the state pension fund Calpers into their fight with the city.
In a draft of its plan for exiting bankruptcy, Stockton said it had the "outlines of a negotiated settlement" with bond insurer Assured Guaranty over $124.3 million in outstanding pension obligation bonds the city had targeted for losses.
The draft plan also disclosed a preliminary deal with bond insurer National Public Finance Guarantee over $45.1 million in outstanding lease revenue bonds for the city's arena that had been in dispute.
The draft plan provided no details on the potential settlement with Assured and a spokesman for the bond insurer declined to comment. The draft said Assured executive management had not yet reviewed the deal.
"As this document was being finalized, the City was in negotiations with this creditor and had developed the outlines of a negotiated settlement," the draft said.
It also said a preliminary term sheet agreement had been reached with National, along with agreements on other bonds insured by it relating to parking garages and a city building.
National spokesman Kevin Brown confirmed the deal to Reuters: "We're pleased to have reached a settlement agreement with the City of Stockton that should expedite its exit from bankruptcy."
The draft said Stockton is near the "final chapter" of bankruptcy, noting that "while we expect further intense negotiations and court hearings, with perhaps a set back here and there before this is over, this at least is the beginning of the end."
National and Assured led efforts by Stockton's so-called capital markets creditors to block the city's bankruptcy case from moving forward, and they had insisted city pensions managed by Calpers be treated like other debt the city wanted to impair.
The U.S. municipal bond market has been watching Stockton's bankruptcy case closely for more than a year as the city in California's Central Valley had been aiming to force bondholders to swallow losses while leaving pensions untouched.
Alabama's Jefferson County in its bankruptcy restructuring plan in June proposed losses for bondholders, becoming the first local government to do so since the 1930s.
Pension costs are a growing concern for the $3.7 trillion municipal debt market and National and Assured contested Stockton's maintaining payments to Calpers, the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein in April found Stockton eligible for bankruptcy protection and said the showdown the insurers sought over payments to Calpers would have to wait until the city filed its plan for adjusting its debt to exit from bankruptcy.
Calpers, had been sidelined in Stockton's bankruptcy proceedings but was ready to help defend its pension payments.
A spokeswoman for the $269 billion pension fund released a statement hinting at a truce with Stockton's capital market creditors. "We are hopeful this proposed plan of adjustment will allow Stockton to regain its footing and continue to provide the essential services to its citizens," the statement said.
Stockton's draft plan said the city would keep paying into Calpers, noting it would "reform and reduce the costs of its pension program along with other post-employment benefits, but retain the basic Calpers pension which is crucial to the City's ability to recruit and retain a quality workforce."
Dale Ginter, a lawyer for Vallejo, California's, retired employees in that city's bankruptcy, said he sensed exhaustion on the part of Stockton's bond insurers: "People are probably tired. They've spent a lot of money on attorneys fees".
Ginter also believes the bond insurers saw they may be better off cutting deals than continuing to contest pension payments in court when city employees and retirees had given up so much in concessions to help the city fix its finances.
"The employees and the retirees are taking a very big reduction in benefits," said Ginter after reading through Stockton's draft plan.
It projected Stockton's general fund through fiscal 2049-2050 would save $659 million from pension reforms while ending medical benefits for retirees would save $812 million over the same period.
The timing for a clash with Stockton over its plan for adjusting its debt to exit bankruptcy also would have been problematic for the bond insurers.
Stockton's city council recently put a measure to increase the city's sales tax on the November ballot to in part help the city exit bankruptcy following its austerity measures.
With revenue tumbling as its housing market crashed, Stockton cut $90 million in spending from 2008 through last year to balance its budgets and slashed its work force. But early last year Stockton's city council rejected deeper cuts due to concerns about public safety amid a spike in violent crime and it approved declaring bankruptcy.
Stockton's city council will take up the draft on October 3 and the city could file a final plan with Klein early next month. With about 300,000 residents, Stockton was the most populous U.S. city to file for bankruptcy until Detroit filed in July.
(Reporting by Jim Christie; additional reporting by Peter Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Xavier Briand and Ken Wills)
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Arizonans without insurance can sign up Tuesday
PHOENIX (AP) -- A key portion of the Affordable Care Act rolls out Tuesday, allowing Arizonans without employer-provided health insurance to sign up for policies on a government-run exchange and check to see if some of the costs will be offset by tax credits.
The health insurance "marketplace" for Arizona will be run by the federal government because Arizona is one of roughly three dozen states that rejected the chance to run their own plans. A variety of plan levels will be available that cover basic health care needs and pay for 60 to 90 percent of the costs of doctor visits, hospitalizations and other medical services.
And people with pre-existing conditions can't be locked out of the market and won't be charged more than others their age.
Insurance premiums came in cheaper across the nation than expected, good news for the federal officials who have been touting the benefits of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in the face of continuous Republican opposition.
"There's so much concern out there" that the government isn't up to the task, said David Sayen, the regional administrator for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is running the insurance marketplaces. "For some reason people don't think we're capable of doing something like running big health care programs that we've been doing for 35 years."
The agency, part of the Health and Human Services administration, already provides health insurance to about 100 million people though Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
About 20 percent of Arizonans don't have insurance, but at least 300,000 are expected to get Medicaid coverage for the poor starting Jan. 1. That leaves about 700,000 people without insurance, many of them eligible to buy it through the exchanges.
Premiums released last week came in lower than expected, with Arizona's average rates two lowest-cost "silver" plans that pay for 70 percent of medical costs costing cost $248 and $252 per month. That's before tax credits that will cut the price for lower-income residents and is substantially less than the national average of $310 or $328 for those plans.
But glitches are already evident.
Late last week, the Health and Human Services Department said a Spanish language version of the https://www.healthcare.gov website where people will be able to compare plans, providers, rates and sign up for insurance, will not work for weeks. They also said small businesses that will be using a similar site won't be able to sign up for insurance until November, although they can compare plans and rates.
That is to be expected, according to Dan Derksen, a University of Arizona public health policy and management professor who helped set up New Mexico's marketplace.
"It won't go entirely smoothly, however, I think that CMS is very prepared to use feedback and information to quickly improve the system," Derksen said Friday. "This is a major undertaking and it will test the new federal data services system."
One outspoken critic of the Affordable Care Act said the rollout of the health insurance marketplaces will bring a raft of problems.
"There's so many aspects of the system that aren't functioning," said state Rep. Carl Seel, R-Phoenix. "Small businesses, they're going to be required to go into this complicated system with no benefit."
Seel said allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, limits on malpractice lawsuits and reducing fraud, waste and abuse would bring better access to medical care without the burdens.
"The alternative is this novel concept called the free market," he said. "You do those three things ... and you'll go a long way toward making health care accessible and affordable."
People can expect a media blitz in the coming week, with advertising across multiple media formats and outreach ramping up in the weeks ahead to make people aware of the insurance exchange, Sayen said.
"Our product is going to be available in a week, and that's when we're going to start marketing and yelling from the rooftops and all that," he said.
The insurers available in Arizona for each of the plans won't be revealed until Tuesday, when millions of Americans who don't get health insurance at their jobs and make too much to qualify for Medicaid will be able to use the insurance exchanges to shop between four tiers of plans, plus available catastrophic coverage plans. They can sign up as early as Oct. 1 for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arizonans-without-insurance-sign-tuesday-171204798.html
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Radio problems cited in deaths of 19 firefighters
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) ? A three-month investigation into the June deaths of 19 firefighters killed while battling an Arizona blaze cites poor communication between the men and support staff, and reveals that an airtanker carrying flame retardant was hovering overhead as the firefighters died.
The 120-page report released Saturday found that proper procedure was followed and assigned little of blame for the worst firefighting tragedy since Sept. 11, 2001.
All but one member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew died June 30 while protecting the small former gold rush town of Yarnell, about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix, from an erratic, lightning-sparked wildfire.
While maintaining a neutral tone, the investigation found badly programmed radios, vague updates, and a 33-minute communication blackout just before the flames engulfed the men. Investigators did not consider whether better communication might have saved the men.
The report provides the first minute-to-minute account of the fatal afternoon. The day went according to routine in the boulder-strewn mountains until the wind shifted around 4 p.m., pushing a wall of fire that had been receding from the hotshots all day back toward them.
After that, the command center lost track of the 19 men. The firefighters either ignored or did not receive weather warnings. They left the safety of a burned ridge and dropped into a densely vegetated valley surrounded by mountains, heading toward a ranch. The report states that they failed to perceive the "excessive risk" of repositioning to continue fighting the fire.
The command center believed the hotshots had decided to wait out the weather change in the safety zone. They did not find out the men were surrounded by flames and fighting for their lives until five minutes before they deployed their emergency shelters, which was more than a half hour after the weather warning was issued.
Without the guidance of the command center, the men bushwhacked into a location that soon turned into a bowl of fire. The topography fostered long flames that bent parallel and licked the ground, producing 2,000 degree heat. Fire shelters, always a dreaded last resort, begin to melt at 1,200 degrees.
As the flames whipped over the men, a large air tanker was hovering above. But perhaps because of an early miscommunication about where the hotshots were headed, the command center did not know where to drop the flame retardant, the report said.
"Nobody will ever know how the crew actually saw their situation, the options they considered or what motivated their actions," investigators wrote.
Though the report points to multiple failures, investigators approached the incident "from the perspective that risk is inherent in firefighting." They recommend that Arizona official review their communications procedures and look into new technologies, including GPS, that might help track firefighters during chaotic situations.
The Arizona State Forestry Division presented the roughly 120-page report to the men's families ahead of a news conference Saturday morning in Prescott.
When it began June 28, the fire caused little immediate concern because of its remote location and small size. But the blaze quickly grew into an inferno, burning swiftly across pine, juniper and scrub oak and through an area that hadn't experienced a significant wildfire in nearly 50 years.
The fire ended up destroying more than 100 homes and burned 13 square miles before it was fully contained on July 10.
No other wildfire had claimed the lives of more firefighters in 80 years, and it was the deadliest single day for fire crews since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Granite Mountain team was unique among the nation's roughly 110 Hotshot crews as the first and only such unit attached to a municipal fire department.
At one point, officials asked for half of the available western U.S. heavy air tanker fleet ? six planes ? to try to control the blaze. Five weren't deployed because of the limited number in the nation's aerial firefighting fleet and the dangerous weather conditions at the time. One plane was heading to Arizona from California but engine problems forced it to turn back.
Some family members hope the investigation will bring closure. Others say it will do nothing to ease their pain.
"No matter what the report says, it won't bring him back," Colleen Turbyfill said of her son, Travis. "I miss him, and it's unbearable pain. It doesn't go away. Sometimes I can't breathe, but this report isn't going to help that one way or another."
____
Mike Blood in Los Angeles and Michelle Price in Salt Lake City contributed to this report
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/radio-problems-cited-deaths-19-firefighters-170704851.html
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Tinder's Sean Rad To Speak At Disrupt Europe About Expanding Overseas
Sean Rad's Tinder is growing rapidly and looking to Europe for new opportunities. With that we're excited to have him speak on expanding to international markets in a few weeks at Disrupt Europe. In 2009, Sean Rad co-founded Adly, a marketing platform that connects brands with celebrities and influencers to help them increase their footprint and reach their customers on social media. The company has since gone on to raise $7.3 million and work with some of the biggest brands in the world. Tired of the rejection and creepiness of most dating sites, Rad decided to start his own.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/hLntDM_sy20/
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Deal of the Day: Lexington Federal Credit Union Certificate of Deposit Rates at 0.50% APY
There?s nothing more fulfilling than making a financial goal a reality. Whether a saver wants to pay for college tuition or set money aside for emergency expenses, it?s great to be able to breathe that sigh of relief after realizing an important goal has been met.
Lexington Federal Credit Union takes pride in helping its members achieve their goals by offering money-boosting products, such as its certificate of deposit account. Members who open a 24-month account today can enjoy Lexington Federal Credit Union certificate of deposit rates as competitive as 0.50% APY.
Lexington Federal Credit Union Certificate of Deposit Rates: Terms and Conditions
Members can grow their savings through Lexington Federal Credit Union certificate of deposit rates by opening an account with a minimum $500 deposit. Those who want to boost their savings even higher can enjoy a 0.05% rate hike by depositing $50,000, or a 0.15% increase for deposits of $100,000 or more.A penalty could be imposed on accounts if depositors withdraw funds prior to maturity.
About Lexington Federal Credit Union
Lexington Federal Credit Union is a not-for-profit cooperative financial institution that was founded by employees of Rochester Products in 1959. The establishment has since opened membership to individuals who live, work, worship or attend school in Rochester, N.Y.
Lexington Federal Credit Union believes in protecting its depositors? funds with federal insurance of up to $250,000 from the NCUA. The credit union has two locations in Rochester, N.Y.
Click here to explore competitive certificate of deposit rates today.
Other Terms and Conditions may apply. Additionally, interest rates are based on the institution?s online published rates and may have changed since this offer was posted. Please contact the financial institution for the most recent rate updates and to review the terms of the offer.
Source: http://www.gobankingrates.com/cd-rates/lexington-federal-credit-union-050-apy/
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France Moves to Impose Sanctions Against Google Over Privacy Policy
French officials today moved to impose sanctions against Google for failing to alter its privacy policy.
France's CNIL (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libert?s) said it will initiate "a formal procedure for imposing sanctions, according to the provisions laid down in the French data protection law."
The CNIL had given Google three months to make changes to its privacy policy. On the final day before the deadline, Google contested the request, "notably the applicability of the French data protection law to the services used by residents in France," CNIL said. As a result, the changes were not made, and CNIL made good on its sanction threat.
At issue is an update to Google's privacy policy that went into effect on March 1, 2012. The revamp consolidated 70 or so privacy policies across Google's products down to one. But with this change, Google also switched to one profile for users across all services rather than separate logins for offerings like YouTube, Search, and Blogger.
It's that account consolidation bit that had privacy advocates up in arms. In early Feb. 2012, the EU's Article 29 Working Party asked Google to "pause" its privacy policy update, but Google declined. By October, CNIL issued several recommendations that covered how Google might improve its privacy policies, but Google did not make any changes.
In Feb. 2013, CNIL criticized Google for not responding to its privacy-related inquiries in a timely fashion. In April, it announced plans to crack down on Google, and by June, it threatened sanctions and imposed the three-month deadline.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but has consistently argued that it does not believe its revamped privacy policy runs afoul of any privacy rules.
The CNIL said its request wanted Google to:
- Define specified and explicit purposes
- Inform users with regard to the purposes of the processing implemented
- Define retention periods for the personal data processed
- Not proceed, without legal basis, with the potentially unlimited combination of users' data
- Fairly collect and process passive users' data
- Inform users and then obtain their consent in particular before storing cookies in their terminal.
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2424952,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05079TX1K0000992
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Lunatik TAKTIK cases for iPhone 5s
Lunatik has recently updated their ultra-protective enclosures for the iPhone 5s. Here we have the TAKTIK Strike in what I'd like to call "Stormtrooper White" which I think really gives the phone a snazzy two-tone science-fictiony look, particularly when combined with the black machine screws and silcone rubber. The TAKTIK Strike is $60 in either white or the classic black color.
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/lunatik-taktik-cases-for-iphone-5s-7000021285/
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Saturday, September 28, 2013
Most Beautiful Items: September 21 - 27, 2013
Source: http://gizmodo.com/most-beautiful-items-september-21-27-2013-1413245227
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Humans found guilty in climate change
International panel's confidence increases that society is responsible for global warming
International panel's confidence increases that society is responsible for global warming
By Beth Mole
Web edition: September 27, 2013
Enlarge HOT AIR
In most regions of the world, surface temperatures rose (warm colors) from 1901 to 2012. Humans are responsible for this global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes.
Credit: IPCC
Scientists are now 95 to 100 percent certain that humans are cranking up the global thermostat.
The boosted confidence in humans? role in climate change comes from a distillation of thousands of scientific studies, by the United Nations? Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which released a summary of its findings September 27.?
The IPCC, which produces such a report about every six years, had previously estimated only a 90 percent confidence level that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, are contributing to the world?s rising temperatures. A warmer climate threatens to raise sea level ? drowning islands and coastlines ? and dramatically alter agriculture and ecosystems around the world.
Global warming and its effects are unequivocal, the panel reports. ?Since the 1950s, the ?atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased,? the panelists wrote.?
?And now more than ever, the scientists say it is ?extremely likely? that humans are to blame.
By burning fossil fuels, people release heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The panel reports that since the beginning of the industrial era, the atmosphere?s CO2 levels have increased by 40 percent.
At the report?s release in Stockholm, Thomas Stocker, the cochair of the IPCC report, urged action.? ?In order to limit climate change,? said Stocker of the University of Bern in Switzerland, ?it will require substantial and sustained reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.?
In the report, Stocker and the other authors presented four scenarios describing how current warming trends could play out in the next century, given varying efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change. The panel predicted that by 2100, global average surface temperatures might rise by as little as 0.3 degree Celsius or as much at 4.8 degrees compared with the recent average.
For global average sea level, the panel made a bleaker prediction than previous reports. In the new scenarios, sea level could rise as little as 26 centimeters or as much as 82 centimeters by the end of the century compared with the recent global average. In the IPPC?s last report released in 2007, the range was just 18 to 59 centimeters.
?The data is more certain,? says atmospheric scientist and report coauthor Matilde Rusticucci of the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. ?So we hope the politicians take the message.?
The report also knocks a common argument of those who deny human-caused climate change: that a plateau in the rise of global temperatures over the last 15 years refutes global warming (SN: 10/5/13, p.14). The authors say that climate over such short periods is not indicative of long-term trends, and that extreme weather ? like heat waves ? at the beginning or end of such time frames may skew data.
Skeptics tend to pick out weather variations over time periods that fit their arguments against global warming trends, says Paul Wapner, an expert in environmental politics at American University in Washington, D.C., who was not part of the panel. ?The report makes clear that these trends cannot be questioned.?
Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/353565/title/Humans_found_guilty_in_climate_change
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US, India seek closer ties amid South Asia tension
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh renewed their mutual pledge Friday to deepen the relationship between the U.S. and India, declaring a shared interest in reducing tensions in South Asia as the U.S. lightens its footprint in war-torn Afghanistan.
Calling each other indispensable partners, Obama and Singh said great strides had been made on economic cooperation and a civilian nuclear agreement. Left unsaid were prevalent concerns in both nations that progress on those areas has come too slowly as the U.S.-India relationship has stagnated in recent years.
"There is a natural convergence between the United States and India," Obama said.
But while the two nations both say they have much to gain from closer economic ties, security challenges in South Asia have created a sense of unease in the region that has overshadowed peaceful pursuits.
New Delhi is concerned the Taliban may fill the power vacuum left behind as the U.S. withdraws most of its combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Chief among India's concerns is the role that its neighboring rival, Pakistan, will play in influencing Afghanistan's future.
"We both have a shared interest in making sure that Afghanistan continues on its path to a peaceful democratic country," Obama said.
Singh said he told the president of the difficulties he faces, given that the "epicenter of terrors still remains focused in Pakistan." Obama praised his Indian counterpart for his "consistent interest in improving cooperation" between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed nations and bitter foes.
Singh and the Pakistan prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, have planned a highly anticipated sit-down while both are in the U.S., and Obama plans to meet with Sharif next month. Singh said he was looking forward to his meeting with Sharif, but added a note of caution.
"The expectations have to be toned down given the terror arm which is still active in our subcontinent," Singh said.
On the economic front, Obama and Singh held up clean energy, military trade and common efforts to reduce endemic poverty in India as continued opportunities for the world's two largest democracies to work in tandem.
"In all these areas, India needs the United States to be standing by our side," Singh said.
But a landmark agreement on civil nuclear technology forged between Singh and former President George W. Bush has failed to yield the immediate economic benefits some had hoped. There's been disappointment that military trade and economic reforms haven't progressed quickly enough either.
Casting a positive light on possibilities for the future, Obama said that in the last few days, the first commercial agreement has been reached between a U.S. company and India on civilian nuclear power. His comments appeared to allude to a pact with Westinghouse Electric Co. that could lead to the development of a nuclear power plant using the American company's technology.
Outside the White House, a group of Sikhs protested Singh's visit, insisting the Indian prime minister must be brought to justice for failing to protect Sikhs and to prosecute those responsible for killing them.
A frequent exchange of official visits has characterized the close relationship between the two countries. Singh visited Washington in 2009, and Obama traveled to India a year later. Vice President Joe Biden, who was to join the meeting later Friday, recently spent four days in India.
And at the White House Friday, first lady Michele Obama hosted the prime minister's wife, Gursharan Kaur, for tea.
"There's a bipartisan sense in Washington that India, being a large, growing Asian democracy, occupies potentially a very important role ? not least because it stands next to China," said Daniel Markey, a former State Department official and South Asia expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It could be an Asia giant to counter some of China's influence in the world."
___
Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-india-seek-closer-ties-amid-south-asia-193317944--politics.html
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NCAA turns down USC request for relief
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The NCAA has turned down Southern California's request for possible relief from the sanctions that have been imposed on the football program since 2010.
Athletic director Pat Hayden had said USC felt compelled to discuss the sanctions after the NCAA's recent decision to lessen the scholarship reductions that Penn State was hit with after the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
But NCAA spokeswoman Meghan Durham released a statement Friday saying there is no comparison between the USC and Penn State cases.
She said USC's case was heard before the Committee on Infractions and appealed, and there would be no further appeals.
The NCAA sanctioned USC after it was found former star Reggie Bush received improper benefits. The program's scholarship limit was reduced from 85 to 75. Next season is the last that USC will have to play with the 75-scholarship limit.
?2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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