Sony shipping NEX-3N and Alpha A58 to the US in April

Sony may have teased American photographers by launching the NEX-3N and Alpha A58 in Europe, but it's not cruel: both interchangeable lens cameras are coming to the US this April. The NEX-3N will cost a relatively frugal $500 when bundled with the camera's signature motorized, 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. Venturing into DSLR territory with the Alpha A58 will cost an only somewhat dearer $600 when paired with a refreshed 18-55mm, f/3.5-5.6 kit lens that's quieter and less error-prone than its ancestor.

Both A- and E-mount cameras will also be getting a similar raft of accessories for the US unveiling. An RM-VPR1 remote commander comes in April for $65, while a compact HVL-F20M flash is due in May for $150. A-series photographers will have no shortage of lenses to choose from -- they'll get cracks at both a stand-alone version of the 18-55mm lens and a new 50mm f/1.4 prime in May for respective prices of $220 and $1,500, while a 70-400mm f/4-5.6 telephoto zoom is coming in July for an eye-watering $2,200.

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HBT: Strasburg's spring workload is too much

It wasn?t quite so eagerly anticipated as last year, but Stephen Strasburg made his spring debut on Saturday, giving up two runs in two innings against the Mets. Both runs came on a first-inning Ruben Tejada homer that benefited from a nice little breeze to left-center. After throwing 31 pitches in the first, Strasburg was perfect in an 11-pitch second inning.

The outing was Strasburg?s first since he was famously shut down last September 7 after 28 starts and 159 1/3 innings.

This year, Strasburg is working with ?no restrictions,? according to manager Davey Johnson. Nationals VP of player development Bob Boone clarified that with USA TODAY last month:

To say there?s no restrictions really means, ?Hey, we?d like him to pitch 200 innings,? ? Boone said. ?But, you?re not gonna say no restrictions like you might have on Steve Carlton, who would throw 320 innings. You?re not gonna do that. There?s always restrictions, but the meaning is, ?We?re not gonna shut him down after 160 innings.?

Strasburg, for what it?s worth, talked about being ready to ?throw 200-plus innings.? GM Mike Rizzo hasn?t chimed in with any specifics.

Personally, I can?t imagine Strasburg being allowed to throw 200 regular-season innings this year, not with the Nationals hopeful of ?playing deep into October. Because if Strasburg throws 200 regular-season innings, then he could end up approaching or even topping 230 innings should the Nationals reach the World Series.

I think the ideal would be for Strasburg to throw about 180 innings during the regular season this year. That?d be a nice little boost from last year and still not a scary number for him to enter the postseason with.

Still, I don?t know whether that is part of the plan at all. Last year, the Nationals refused any possible alternatives that could have made Strasburg available for the playoffs. And the simple fact that he was on the mound today, on Feb. 23, suggests they?re not very concerned with any sort of innings rationing at the moment.

In 2012, Strasburg made his first spring start on March 4 and was fine to throw seven innings on Opening Day. It would have made sense to have him on a similar schedule this spring. As is, he?s due to make seven spring starts, which is two more than he or anyone else really needs. Perhaps that?s not so important without the innings limit this year, but I?d still rather save any extra bullets for September and October than have him pitch in games in February.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/23/thinking-about-stephen-strasburgs-workload/related/

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Sony NSZ-GS7 update brings Google TV's newer voice search and YouTube perks

Someone must have declared it Google TV Update Week without telling us: just days after a Vizio Co-Star upgrade, Sony's NSZ-GS7 Internet Player is getting its own tune-up. The Sony update parallels its Vizio counterpart in focusing mostly on the features from the fall 2012 Google TV revamp, including PrimeTime and the updated YouTube app. Viewers pining for Amazon VOD access can also grab its app through Google Play. Sony mostly claims an edge over Vizio through its support for the equally new voice search feature: owners just have to chat with Sony's remote to get things done, instead of leaning on phone or tablet control. However GS7 owners plan to steer their TVs, they'll just need to check for a software update in the days ahead to rejuvenate their set-top boxes.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/23/sony-nsz-gs7-update-brings-google-tvs-newer-voice-search/

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Urijah Faber and Court McGee take UFC 157 wins

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Urijah Faber and Court McGee got back on the winning track at UFC 157 on Saturday.

Faber got a first-round submission win over Ivan Menjivar. Faber and Menjivar started the fight with a rolling takedown and Faber ended up on top. He worked the top position until Menjivar got back to his feet. Faber held on, and while attached to Menjivar's back, Faber swung around and sunk in a rear naked choke. Menjivar tapped at 4:34 in the first round. The Anaheim crowd erupted for "The California Kid."

It was an important win for Faber after he lost a title fight to Renan Barao in July. The win puts him at 27-6, with five of his losses coming in title fights.

[Also: Ronda Rousey survives UFC debut, wins via first-round arm bar]

In earlier action, Court McGee punched his way to a decision win over Josh Neer. McGee used an effective strategy early on of working Josh Neer's body. Throughout the first round, Neer was hobbled by McGee's body punches. But in the second, McGee worked more on headshots. Though it wasn't as effective, McGee outstruck Neer. In the final round, McGee worked the ground game and controlled Neer while still leading on strikes. All three judges saw it 30-27 for McGee.

It was McGee's first fight at welterweight.

?I felt great at 170 lbs. This was a great move for me. I felt stronger, faster and had a lot more gas. I was told by FightMetric that I broke the record for most significant strikes ever in a welterweight fight and feel great. I could have stopped it, maybe, early with body shots but I was glad I put on a good performance.?

After the win, McGee's record is 15-3. Though he won "The Ultimate Fighter," he also lost two fights in 2012.

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Watch: Floyd Mayweather's college football betting secret
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/urijah-faber-court-mcgee-ufc-157-wins-042110004--mma.html

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College Hockey: St. Cloud State at Colorado College

Champs credit reading in road to spelling bee wins

Some attacked every letter with rapid-fire precision and then strode off the stage with a confident air. Others took their time, adjusting the microphone, rocking onto tiptoes or carefully writing the words on small, white pads of paper....

Source: http://www.sctimes.com?altcast_code=068850f1ca

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Obama, GOP see no need to stop the cuts

Washington: Unlike in earlier rounds of budget brinkmanship, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans both seem content to fight out their latest showdown on the current terrain, let across-the-board spending cuts take effect on March 1 and allow them to stay in place for weeks, if not much longer.

This time, there is no market-rattling threat of a government default to force the two sides to compromise, no federal shutdown on the short-term horizon and no year-end deadline for preventing a tax increase for every working American.

The rhetoric is reminiscent, for sure.

?So far at least, the ideas that the Republicans have proposed ask nothing of the wealthiest Americans or the biggest corporations,? Obama said this week as he campaigned to pin the blame for any negative effects on his political opponents. ?So the burden is all on the first responders, or seniors or middle class families,? he said in comments similar in tone to his re-election campaign.

Article continues below

Republicans, standing on political ground of their own choosing, responded sharply to the president?s fresh demand for higher taxes.

?Spending is the problem, spending must be the focus,? said House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, while Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declared, ?There won?t be any easy off-ramps on this one. The days of 11th hour negotiations are over.?

A crisis atmosphere could yet develop this spring, when hundreds of thousands or even millions of threatened government furloughs begin to take effect and the spending cuts begin to bite. Already, Republicans are considering legislation to give the administration greater flexibility in making the cuts, a step that could minimise the impact on the public. It?s a step the White House says it opposes, although the depth of that conviction has yet to be tested.

At heart, the present standoff is yet another indication of the political resistance to a compromise curbing the growth of Medicare, Medicaid and possibly Social Security, a step that both Obama and Republicans say is essential to restoring the nation?s fiscal health. It is the last major remaining challenge in divided government?s struggle, now in its third year, to reduce deficits by $4 trillion (Dh14.69 trillion) or more over a decade.

Counting the across-the-board cuts now beginning to command the nation?s attention ? at a 10-year cost of $1.2 trillion ? the president and Congress have racked up more than $3.6 trillion in savings. Much came from spending, although legislation that Republicans let pass at year?s end raised taxes on the wealthy to generate an estimated $600 billion for the Treasury over a decade.

The so-called sequester now approaching was never supposed to happen. It was designed as an unpalatable fallback, to take effect only in case a congressional super-committee failed to come up with $1 trillion or more in savings from benefit programmes.

Now, more than a year later, Republicans are fond of saying that the idea itself originated at the White House.

That skips lightly over the fact that their own votes helped enact it into law.

Also that they decided a month ago that it marked the moment of most leverage in their struggle to manoeuver Obama and Democrats into curtailing benefit programmes. To accomplish that objective, they have already raised the debt limit without winning any cuts in exchange, a step they once vowed not to take. And within two weeks, they are likely to launch legislation making sure the government operates without interruption when current funding authority runs out for most agencies on March 27.

Republicans aren?t the only ones partial to verbal sleights of hand.

In a letter to lawmakers earlier this month, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sounded a series of alarms. The spending cuts ?could compromise? the health of more than 373,000 mentally ill or emotionally disturbed individuals, ?could slow efforts to improve? health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives, she wrote, and admissions to inpatient addiction facilities ?could be reduced.?

Could or could not. Soon or later. Nothing pinned down.

The administration hopes to win over the public and bring Republican lawmakers to heel, and it dispatched Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to the White House briefing room on Friday.

?Come to the table and start talking? to find a way to avert the cuts, the former GOP lawmaker urged members of his own Republican Party.

Peppered with sceptical questions, LaHood directed reporters to his department?s website, with a listing of more than 300 air traffic facilities where overnight shifts could be eliminated or perhaps closed entirely.

Asked if his office was receiving unhappy calls from the public, he got to the political point.

?My phones will ring from members of Congress [asking] ?why is my control tower being closed??? he said.

Source: http://gulfnews.com/obama-gop-see-no-need-to-stop-the-cuts-1.1149990?localLinksEnabled=false&utm_source=Feeds&utm_medium=RSS&utm_term=Business_RSS_feed&utm_content=1.1149990&utm_campaign=Obama,_GOP_see_no_need_to_stop_the_cuts

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New flu drug stops virus in its tracks

Friday, February 22, 2013

A new class of influenza drug has been shown effective against drug-resistant strains of the flu virus, according to a study led by University of British Columbia researchers.

Published online today in the journal Science Express, the study details the development of a new drug candidate that prevents the flu virus from spreading from one cell to the next. The drug is shown to successfully treat mice with lethal strains of the flu virus.

In order to spread in the body, the flu virus first uses a protein, called hemagglutinin, to bind to the healthy cell's receptors. Once it has inserted its RNA and replicated, the virus uses an enzyme, called neuraminidase, to sever the connection and move on to the next healthy cell.

"Our drug agent uses the same approach as current flu treatments ? by preventing neuraminidase from cutting its ties with the infected cell," says UBC Chemistry Prof. Steve Withers, the study's senior author. "But our agent latches onto this enzyme like a broken key, stuck in a lock, rendering it useless."

The World Health Organization estimates that influenza affects three to five million people globally each year, causing 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. In some pandemic years, the figure rose to millions.

"One of the major challenges of the current flu treatments is that new strains of the flu virus are becoming resistant, leaving us vulnerable to the next pandemic," says Withers, whose team includes researchers from Canada, the UK, and Australia.

"By taking advantage of the virus's own 'molecular machinery' to attach itself," Withers adds. "The new drug could remain effective longer, since resistant virus strains cannot arise without destroying their own mechanism for infection."

###

University of British Columbia: http://www.ubc.ca

Thanks to University of British Columbia for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126979/New_flu_drug_stops_virus_in_its_tracks

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Alaska lawmaker wants $100 bounty on sea otters

Sea otter bounty: An Alaska state senator says sea otters are a growing threat to shellfish, including crabs. On Wednesday, he introduced legislation that would have the state pay $100 for each sea otter lawfully killed under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

By Becky Bohrer,?Associated Press / February 21, 2013

A sea otter in Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Alaska state senator Bert Stedman, (R) of Sitka, is proposing a $100 bounty on sea otters.

(AP Photo/Laura Rauch, File)

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An Alaska state senator is proposing a bounty on sea otters, the cute little marine mammals often seen by tourists swimming on their backs between cruise ships, sometimes munching on a fresh crab or clams.

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Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, sees the furry-faced critters as a growing threat to shellfish beds, particularly in southeast Alaska, where he is from. On Wednesday, he introduced legislation that would have the state pay $100 for each sea otter lawfully killed under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

"We're not talking eradication. We're talking slowing the population growth," he said. "In my opinion, we're not going to get any help from the federal government."

Even if the bill were to pass, it would be unenforceable under the federal law, said Bruce Woods, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. States cannot enforce laws or regulations related to the taking of any marine mammal under the law unless the Interior secretary transfers conservation and management authority to that state. That hasn't happened.

Stedman said part of what he is trying to do is begin a discussion on the issue and send a message to the feds that something needs to be done. "Clearly, it's a problem," he said, "and it's going to get worse."

There are three sea otter populations in Alaska, in southwest, south-central and southeast Alaska, whose numbers total an estimated 98,000. The number for the southwest population, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, is the largest, at 55,000, but the latest estimate is more than 10 years old and the population is thought to be in decline, Woods said. Population estimates for the other regions are from 2010-2011. Both those populations are growing, he said.

Since their reintroduction to southeast Alaska by the state in the 1960s, after being virtually wiped out during the fur trade era, the number of sea otters in that region has grown to about 25,000, Woods said. The Marine Mammal Protection Act transferred management authority to Fish and Wildlife in 1972.

Under the federal law, only Alaska Natives can hunt sea otters in Alaska; there is no hunting season and no bag limit, but there are prohibitions on wasteful take ? that is, killing sea otters for the sake of killing them, Woods said. At least 840 sea otters were taken for subsistence reasons last year, the highest since 1993, and not surprising given the growing size of the population, wildlife biologist Verena Gill with Fish and Wildlife said.

Fisherman Ladd Norheim of the southeast Alaska community of Petersburg said the sea otters are "decimating" Dungeness crab stocks and would like to see some kind of management. He said half the area he used to fish for Dungeness in southeast Alaska is gone. Three years ago, he said there were 21 Dungeness boats over by Kake. Last year, he said there were two, and one left.

"What strikes me funny: I'm fishing crab right now, and if a crab stock gets low or something or ... any fishery, they shut us off or close us down to protect a crab or a fish. Yet when a sea otter comes in and absolutely decimates an area, they don't do anything about it," he said Thursday. "They just say, 'Oh, they're warm and fuzzy and cute.' Well, I'm pretty warm and fuzzy and cute, too, but I don't totally wipe anything out.

"I mean, crab have rights. Clams have rights. Where do sea otters come out being so holy?" he said.

Woods said he understands the frustrations.

"But our management has to be driven by science," he said. And questions remain about where the population is in terms of its establishment and carrying capacity, and what exact impacts it is having on prey species, like crabs or clams, he said. The agency is working with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to study those issues.

___

Follow Becky Bohrer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/beckybohrerap .

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/2G2Xv0-LA4U/Alaska-lawmaker-wants-100-bounty-on-sea-otters

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Aubrey Plaza Lets Kathy Griffin Pierce Her Ears In Front Of Her Audience On 'Kathy' (VIDEO)

"Parks & Recreation" star Aubrey Plaza revealed on "Kathy" that she'd had a lifelong dream of getting her ears pierced -- in front of a live audience. Sure, she's been on a lot of talk shows, but how many of those hosts would be willing to get in the trenches and actually pierce her ears.

Never mind that Kathy Griffin had no practical experience piercing ears. She was game and Plaza was willing. It was a loud and scream-filled affair, but in the end it was done.

"I?m a monster!" Plaza declared. There was one problem, though. Griffin punched the hole a little high. "You ruined me!" Plaza lamented.

Luckily, Griffin had a professional backstage on-hand to fix it if Plaza wanted. And based on Griffin's Tweet, she did indeed take her up on the professional assistance.

Keep your eyes peeled for Aubrey Plaza's pierced ears in upcoming episodes of "Parks & Recreation," Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. EST on NBC. "Kathy" airs every Thursday night at 10 p.m. EST on Bravo.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

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Pistorius granted bail pending murder trial

Photographers take photos of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius as he stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. The fourth and likely final day of Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing opened on Friday, with the magistrate then to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he has to remain in custody over the shooting death of his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Photographers take photos of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius as he stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. The fourth and likely final day of Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing opened on Friday, with the magistrate then to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he has to remain in custody over the shooting death of his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. The fourth and likely final day of Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing opened on Friday, with the magistrate then to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he has to remain in custody over the shooting death of his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius' father Henke Pistorius, right, with his children Carl, center,, and Aimee, left, watch as Oscar Pistorius walks in during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Graphic shows the layout of Oscar Pistorius??? apartment

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. The fourth and likely final day of Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing opened on Friday, with the magistrate then to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he has to remain in custody over the shooting death of his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? A South African magistrate allowed Oscar Pistorius to go free on bail Friday, capping hearings that foreshadow a dramatic trial in the Valentine's Day killing of the star athlete's girlfriend.

Pistorius' family members and supporters shouted "Yes!" when Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair made his decision after a more than 1 hour and 45 minute explanation of his ruling to a packed courtroom.

Radio stations and a TV news network in South Africa broadcast the audio of the decision live, and even international channels like the BBC and CNN went live with it, underscoring the huge global interest in the case.

Nair set the bail at 1 million rand ($113,000), with $11,300 in cash up front and proof that the rest is available. The magistrate said Pistorius must hand over his passports and also turn in any other guns that he owns. Pistorius also cannot leave the district of Pretoria, South Africa's capital, without the permission of his probation officer, Nair said, nor can he take drugs or drink alcohol.

The double-amputee Olympian's next court appearance was set for June 4. He left the courthouse in a silver Land Rover, sitting in the rear, just over an hour after the magistrate imposed the bail conditions. The vehicle, tailed by a motorcycle with a TV cameraman aboard, later pulled into the home of Pistorius' uncle.

The magistrate ruled that Pistorius could not return to his upscale home in a gated community in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria, where the killing of Reeva Steenkamp took place.

Pistorius' uncle, Arnold Pistorius said: "We are relieved at the fact that Oscar got bail today but at the same time we are in mourning for the death of Reeva with her family. As a family, we know Oscar's version of what happened on that tragic night and we know that that is the truth and that will prevail in the coming court case."

Nair made the ruling after four days of arguments from prosecution and defense in Pistorius' bail hearing. During Friday's long session in Pretoria Magistrate's Court, Pistorius alternately wept and appeared solemn and more composed, especially toward the end as Nair criticized police procedures in the case and as a judgment in Pistorius' favor appeared imminent.

Nair had banned cameras from Friday's dramatic bail hearing and complained about cameras constantly "flashing" in Pistorius' face the previous three days of hearings, saying the spectacle made the athlete look like "some kind of species the world has never seen before."

Nair said Pistorius' sworn statement, in which he gave his version of the events of the shooting during the predawn hours of Feb. 14 in a sworn statement, had helped his application for bail.

"I come to the conclusion that the accused has made a case to be released on bail," Nair said.

Pistorius said in the sworn statement that he shot his girlfriend ? a model and budding reality TV contestant ? accidentally, believing she was an intruder in his house.

Prosecutors say he intended to kill Steenkamp and charged him with premeditated murder, saying the shooting followed a loud argument between the two.

Sharon Steenkamp, Reeva's cousin, had said earlier that the family wouldn't be watching the bail decision and hadn't been following the hearing in Pretoria.

"It doesn't make any difference to the fact that we are without Reeva," she told The Associated Press.

Despite the bail decision, prosecution spokesman Medupe Simasiku said: "We're still confident in our case," outside court.

Pistorius faced the sternest bail requirements in South Africa because of the seriousness of the charge, and his defense lawyers had to prove that he would not flee the country, would not interfere with witnesses or the case, and his release would not cause public unrest.

Nair questioned whether Pistorius would be a flight risk and be prepared to go "ducking and diving" around the world when he stood to lose a fortune in cash, cars, property and other assets. Nair also said that while it had been shown that Pistorius had aggressive tendencies, he did not have a prior record of offenses for violent acts.

He criticized Hilton Botha, the previous lead investigator in the case, for not doing more to uncover evidence that the Olympian had violent tendencies.

"There is ample room and ample time to do that by looking at the background of the accused," he said.

But while Nair leveled harsh criticism at former lead investigator Botha for "errors" and "blunders," he said one man does not represent the state's case and that the state could not be expected to put all the pieces of its puzzle together in such a short time.

Anticipating the shape of the state's case at trial, he said he had serious questions about Pistorius' account: Why he didn't try to locate his girlfriend on fearing an intruder was in the house, why he didn't try to determine who was in the toilet and why he would venture into perceived "danger" - the bathroom area - when he could have taken other steps to ensure his safety.

"There are improbabilities which need to be explored," Nair said, adding that Pistorius could clarify these matters by testifying under oath at trial.

___

AP Sports Writer Gerald Imray and AP writer Carley Petesch contributed to this report from Johannesburg.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-22-Pistorius-Shooting/id-5388135900e24791b80154535782eaa4

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'Victory or Death' letter returns to the Alamo

Archivist Sarah Norris handles William Barret Travis' famed "Victory of Death" letter at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, in Austin, Texas. For the first time in 177 years, Travis' letter addressed to ?the People of Texas and All Americans in the World? seeking aid to the besieged Texans he commanded at the Alamo will return to the Alamo for display. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Archivist Sarah Norris handles William Barret Travis' famed "Victory of Death" letter at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, in Austin, Texas. For the first time in 177 years, Travis' letter addressed to ?the People of Texas and All Americans in the World? seeking aid to the besieged Texans he commanded at the Alamo will return to the Alamo for display. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Visitor walk past a custom case that will house Texas hero William Barret Travis' famed "Victory of Death" letter at the Alamo, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, in Austin, Texas. For the first time in 177 years, Travis' letter addressed to ?the People of Texas and All Americans in the World? seeking aid to the besieged Texans he commanded at the Alamo will return to the Alamo for display. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Archivist Sarah Norris handles William Barret Travis' famed "Victory of Death" letter at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, in Austin, Texas. For the first time in 177 years, Travis' letter addressed to ?the People of Texas and All Americans in the World? seeking aid to the besieged Texans he commanded at the Alamo will return to the Alamo for display. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas hero William Barret Travis' signature is seen on his famed "Victory of Death" letter , Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, in Austin, Texas. For the first time in 177 years, Travis' letter addressed to ?the People of Texas and All Americans in the World? seeking aid to the besieged Texans he commanded at the Alamo will return to the Alamo for display. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Visitor walk past a custom case that will house Texas hero William Barret Travis' famed "Victory of Death" letter at the Alamo, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, in Austin, Texas. For the first time in 177 years, Travis' letter addressed to ?the People of Texas and All Americans in the World? seeking aid to the besieged Texans he commanded at the Alamo will return to the Alamo for display. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? A written plea for help in which the commander of the besieged rebel Texas forces at the Alamo vowed "Victory or Death" returned to the old Spanish mission for the first time Friday since it was penned in 1836.

William Barret Travis' famous letter to "the People of Texas and All Americans in the World," will get a police escort from the state archive in Austin to the Alamo, which is now in the heart of downtown San Antonio. The weathered, single-page letter will go on display for two weeks, starting this weekend, and will be kept in a special display cabinet and given round-the-clock guards.

The exhibit coincides with the 177th anniversary of the siege, which culminated with the March 6, 1836, fall of the Alamo and the deaths of Travis and the roughly 180 men in his command.

"I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch", Travis wrote in the roughly 200-word letter dated that Feb. 24.

Travis, a 26-year-old South Carolina native and lawyer who left his family in Alabama for Texas, wrote that the forces under Mexico's president, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, were subjecting him and his men to "continual" cannon fire. Knowing the odds were against them, Travis wrote that he responded to a surrender demand with a single cannon shot of his own and the promise that, "I shall never surrender or retreat."

"It's something about martyrs and last stands," Michael Parrish, a Baylor University history professor, said of the letter's allure. "There's just something very, very romantic and epic and heroic and all the grandiose terms you want to apply."

The letter was smuggled out of the Alamo at night by a courier on horseback, but by the time it was published in leaflets and newspapers, Travis and his men were dead. But volunteers crying "Remember the Alamo!" and led by Gen. Sam Houston routed Santa Anna's forces more than a month later outside what's now the city of Houston, securing Texas' independence from Mexico.

Ultimately, Texas was annexed by the United States, contributing to the Mexican War in the late 1840s. An American victory led to the acquisition of much of what is now the southwest U.S., including California.

"The writing of the letter by Travis is a pivotal and very, very dramatic moment in the story of the Alamo with all its famous characters, (David) Crockett, (James) Bowie, Travis and many more who willingly decided to give their lives in a cause they considered bigger than themselves," Parrish said. "In fact, the Alamo is considered one of the great epic stories of American history, and indeed, world history."

Ceremonies to mark the document's return to San Antonio from Austin, where it's kept in the Texas State Library and Archives, were scheduled for later Friday. The public display at the state's most popular tourist spot begins Saturday with the start of what Texas historians call "The High Holy Days."

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, whose office assumed ownership of the Alamo in 2011, last year proposed bringing the letter back to put on display to the public, at least temporarily.

"It's an iconic reminder of our heritage," Patterson said Wednesday. "I think it should come out from the darkened corners and be displayed to the public at certain intervals. ... I think every Texan in their lifetime should have an opportunity to view it in person."

The letter, which was folded to serve as its own envelope, has been displayed previously, including the State Fair in Dallas to mark Texas' 1936 centennial and 1986 sesquicentennial. It also was inside the Texas Capitol for years in the early and mid-20th century under light conditions archivists now know damaged it.

"If you take a look at it, particularly in the ink, there's been a lot of fading," Sarah Norris, a conservator at the state archives, said. "Light damage is cumulative and irreversible. And there are no conservation treatments that can undo it."

At the Alamo, some windows have been covered, lights will be dimmed and the glass and wood air-controlled cabinet holding the letter will be surrounded by drapes. The document itself will stand perpendicular in the trapezoid-shaped bulletproof case inside a glass enclosure and between two panels of plastic glass treated to block ultraviolet light.

Travis penned the letter in a room across the plaza from the mission's main entrance. The spot is now a Ripley's Haunted Adventure, which is part of a block-long strip of tourist-focused businesses.

Capt. Albert Martin of Gonzales, a Rhode Island native, slipped through the Mexican lines outside the Alamo and handed it the following afternoon to Lancelot Smither, a former Alamo defender who had left earlier to spread word that Santa Anna's army had arrived. Smither delivered it to San Felipe, the unofficial capital of revolutionary Texas about 145 miles east of San Antonio.

After the war, in circumstances that are unclear, the letter was returned to Travis' family in Alabama, said John Anderson, a preservation officer at the state archives. Travis' great-great grandson sold it to the state in 1893 for $85, or the equivalent of $2,179 today.

Parrish said the letter's blending of passion for democracy and religious faith ? it closes "The Lord is on our side" ? is "quintessentially American and even more quintessentially Texas."

"The letter is just simply wonderful," he said. "For one thing, it is short, it's like the Gettysburg Address. ... It's just powerful.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-21-US-Alamo-Victory-or-Death/id-7dadb5bb6fd44c79ab5b1da5c896f5cd

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Lady Gaga has hip surgery, calls injury "bump in the road"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lady Gaga said she has undergone surgery to repair an injured hip that forced the pop singer last week to cancel the remainder of her concert tour.

The "Born This Way" singer thanked fans in a blog post on her littlemonsters.com fan website on Thursday, saying the setback was "just a bump in the road."

"As they wheeled me into surgery...I thought about all of your pain and perseverance, your unique family situations, school environments, health issues, homelessness, identity struggles," wrote Lady Gaga, who often engages with her fans about their personal problems.

"So I thought to myself, 'I'm alive; I'm living my dream, and this is just a bump in the road,'" she added.

The 26-year-old singer tweeted on Wednesday that she was heading into surgery to treat a labral tear of her right hip.

No timetable has been set for Lady Gaga to return to performing, and her tour operator said last week that she would need "strict downtime."

Lady Gaga has been on the road for two years, performing concerts on six continents.

The injury forced her to cancel some two dozen concerts in the United States as part of her "Born This Way Ball" tour.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lady-gaga-hip-surgery-calls-injury-bump-road-190027815.html

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Migratory behavior of oceanic whitetip sharks revealed

Feb. 20, 2013 ? As the nations of the world prepare to vote on measures to restrict international trade in endangered sharks in early March, a team of researchers has found that one of these species -- the oceanic whitetip shark -- regularly crosses international boundaries. Efforts by individual nations to protect this declining apex predator within their own maritime borders may therefore need to be nested within broader international conservation measures.

The research team, which included researchers from Microwave Telemetry, Inc., the Cape Eleuthera Institute, and the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, attached pop-up satellite archival tags to one male and 10 female mature oceanic whitetip sharks off Cat Island in The Bahamas in May 2011, and monitored the sharks for varying intervals up to 245 days. The tags recorded depth, temperature, and location for pre-programmed periods of time. At the end of the time period, the tags self-detached from the sharks, and reported the data to orbiting satellites.

Their findings, published online February 20 in the journal PLOS ONE, show that some of these sharks roamed nearly 2,000 kilometers from the spot where they were caught, but all individuals returned to The Bahamas within a few months.

"While the oceanic whitetip shark is one of the most severely overexploited shark species, it is also among the least studied because it lives much of its life far from land in the open ocean," said Lucy Howey-Jordan, scientific liaison for Microwave Telemetry, Inc. and lead author. "Before this study and our ongoing research, very few of these sharks had been fitted with satellite tags, and the data we obtained will help establish new conservation measures."

All the tags, except the one attached to the male shark, reported data. Of the eight tagged oceanic whitetip sharks tracked for more than 31 days, three stayed within or very near The Bahamas Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for their entire tracking period. The other five sharks, after an approximate 30-day period of residency within 500 kilometers of the tagging area, made long-distance movements outside of the EEZ, with one traveling as far as Bermuda. The fact that all these tagged mature female sharks returned to The Bahamas provides the first evidence of return-migration in this species. Additional findings that were surprising to the scientists included the sharks spending an average of 68 percent of the monitored time in Bahamian waters, and that these sharks, normally found near the ocean's surface, made dives of approximately 1,000 meters, possibly related to feeding behavior.

"Although these sharks are relatively safe from fishing in Bahamian waters, our study shows their long-range roaming takes them across the boundaries of different countries and into the high seas where they still encounter fishing gear set for other species," said Dr. Demian Chapman, an assistant professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and assistant director of science at the Institute for Ocean Conservation at Stony Brook University. "If we want to continue to see these animals in our oceans, fishing nations will have to work together to protect this species, and monitoring of trade and enforcement measures will need to be coordinated on an international level."

Once considered among the most abundant apex predators on Earth, overfishing has caused huge declines in oceanic whitetip sharks, and the species is listed as "Critically Endangered" in the Northwest Atlantic and Western Central Atlantic, and "Vulnerable" globally by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The fins of these sharks can be sold for $90 per kilogram because of the high demand for their use in shark fin soup, a delicacy in Chinese culture. There is growing international interest in improving the conservation of these sharks, including a proposal to list this species in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which will be considered at its upcoming Conference of Parties meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, March 3-14 of this year.

World renowned for its healthy shark populations and proactive conservation stance, The Bahamas is one of the few places left in the world where this open-ocean species can be found in relatively large numbers. In July 2011, during the timeframe of this study, The Bahamas banned all commercial fishing of sharks throughout the 630,000 square kilometers of surrounding ocean waters. The sharks now benefit from this protection, and the shark diving industry, a major contributor to the Bahamian economy, benefits from their presence in surrounding waters. Additionally, recent studies have shown ecosystem health is dependant, in part, on the presence of apex predators like sharks.

"The Bahamian government had the foresight to protect these and other species of sharks within their waters, starting with the longline fishing ban in early 90s, and culminating with the more recent shark sanctuary initiative," said Edd Brooks, program manager of the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Cape Eleuthera Institute. "This level of protection is vital for the continued existence of these important apex predators, and I hope that the example set by The Bahamas will encourage other nations to follow suit."

This research was funded by Microwave Telemetry, Inc., the Cape Eleuthera Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Roe Foundation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stony Brook University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Lucy A. Howey-Jordan, Edward J. Brooks, Debra L. Abercrombie, Lance K. B. Jordan, Annabelle Brooks, Sean Williams, Emily Gospodarczyk, Demian D. Chapman. Complex Movements, Philopatry and Expanded Depth Range of a Severely Threatened Pelagic Shark, the Oceanic Whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus) in the Western North Atlantic. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (2): e56588 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056588

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/GdLLZy8u3tQ/130220184721.htm

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15 GOP SENATORS URGE OBAMA TO DUMP HAGEL

By TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON ? Fifteen Republican senators, including Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) and Armed Services Ranking Member James Inhoffe (R-OK), sent a letter to the White House Thursday urging President Obama to withdraw his nomination of Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary.

?It would be unprecedented for a secretary of defense to take office without the broad base of bipartisan support and confidence needed to serve effectively in this critical position,? the letter states. ?Senator Hagel?s performance at his confirmation hearing was deeply concerning, leading to serious doubts about his basic competence to meet the substantial demands of the office.?

The letter goes on to accuse Hagel of holding an ?erratic record? and making ?disconcerting? remarks on Israel.

Senate Democrats attempted to move Hagel?s confirmation to an up or down vote last week but failed to garner the 60 votes needed to proceed. A second vote will occur next week and Hagel will likely find support from several Republicans, including Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) who announced Thursday that he would back the former Nebraska senator.

Short URL: http://reportergary.com/?p=31204

Source: http://reportergary.com/2013/02/15-gop-senators-urge-obama-to-dump-hagel/

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AllThingsD: No native BlackBerry 10 Instagram app in sight

The mobile OS that needs more big name apps to tether their wagons to insure a boost in user adoption is less one key photography app. According to AllThingsD, there is no native Instagram app in development for BB10 handsets -- at least for the foreseeable future. Quoting sources close to the popular social / photo filtering app, the report goes on to say that future development is also uncertain. Of course, the outfit is working on an Android port that will be usable on BlackBerry's latest, but with significant compromises to user experience to come as the cost of admission. The new operating system did secure native support from Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn and Twitter at launch.

Filed under: Software, Mobile

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Source: AllThingsD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/21/no-native-blackberry-10-instagram/

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Source: http://www.hellofour.com/blog/36280/an-overview-of-expedient-ways-to-health-supplements/

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AdRoll Warns Against Betting Too Heavily On Facebook?s Ad Exchange

Retargeting company AdRoll has released some data today intended to suggest that advertisers shouldn't rush too quickly to embrace Facebook Exchange (the ad retargeting service that the social network launched last year) ? at least not at the expense of other forms of retargeting. That's probably what you'd expect to hear from a company with a profitable business in web retargeting (where ads are targeted based on your previous online behavior). However, AdRoll was also an early Facebook Exchange partner, and it says that it has run Exchange campaigns for more than 700 advertisers. (Facebook said last month that there are more than 1,300 total advertisers on Exchange.) So the data it's releasing today is based on 468 campaigns from the past six months that ran simultaneously on Facebook and the web.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Lz8auvpMdSQ/

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Using 3-D printing and injectable molds, bioengineered ears look and act like the real thing

Feb. 20, 2013 ? Cornell bioengineers and physicians have created an artificial ear -- using 3-D printing and injectable molds -- that looks and acts like a natural ear, giving new hope to thousands of children born with a congenital deformity called microtia.

In a study published online Feb. 20 in PLOS One, Cornell biomedical engineers and Weill Cornell Medical College physicians described how 3-D printing and injectable gels made of living cells can fashion ears that are practically identical to a human ear. Over a three-month period, these flexible ears grew cartilage to replace the collagen that was used to mold them.

"This is such a win-win for both medicine and basic science, demonstrating what we can achieve when we work together," said co-lead author Lawrence Bonassar, associate professor of biomedical engineering.

The novel ear may be the solution reconstructive surgeons have long wished for to help children born with ear deformity, said co-lead author Dr. Jason Spector, director of the Laboratory for Bioregenerative Medicine and Surgery and associate professor of plastic surgery at Weill Cornell in New York City.

"A bioengineered ear replacement like this would also help individuals who have lost part or all of their external ear in an accident or from cancer," Spector said. Replacement ears are usually constructed with materials that have a Styrofoam-like consistency, or sometimes, surgeons build ears from a patient's harvested rib. This option is challenging and painful for children, and the ears rarely look completely natural or perform well, Spector said.

To make the ears, Bonassar and colleagues started with a digitized 3-D image of a human subject's ear, and converted the image into a digitized "solid" ear using a 3-D printer to assemble a mold.

This Cornell-developed, high-density gel is similar to the consistency of Jell-o when the mold is removed. The collagen served as a scaffold upon which cartilage could grow.

The process is also fast, Bonassar added: "It takes half a day to design the mold, a day or so to print it, 30 minutes to inject the gel, and we can remove the ear 15 minutes later. We trim the ear and then let it culture for several days in nourishing cell culture media before it is implanted."

The incidence of microtia, which is when the external ear is not fully developed, varies from almost 1 to more than 4 per 10,000 births each year. Many children born with microtia have an intact inner ear, but experience hearing loss due to the missing external structure.

Spector and Bonassar have been collaborating on bioengineered human replacement parts since 2007. The researchers specifically work on replacement human structures that are primarily made of cartilage -- joints, trachea, spine, nose -- because cartilage does not need to be vascularized with a blood supply in order to survive.

"Using human cells, specifically those from the same patient, would reduce any possibility of rejection," Spector said.

He added that the best time to implant a bioengineered ear on a child would be when they are about 5 or six 6 old. At that age, ears are 80 percent of their adult size. If all future safety and efficacy tests work out, it might be possible to try the first human implant of a Cornell bioengineered ear in as little as three years, Spector said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cornell University.

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Journal Reference:

1. Alyssa J. Reiffel, Concepcion Kafka, Karina A. Hernandez, Samantha Popa, Justin L. Perez, Sherry Zhou, Satadru Pramanik, Bryan N. Brown, Won Seuk Ryu, Lawrence J. Bonassar, Jason A. Spector. High-Fidelity Tissue Engineering of Patient-Specific Auricles for Reconstruction of Pediatric Microtia and Other Auricular Deformities. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (2): e56506 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056506

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/pWCRxEvgaCw/130220184728.htm

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Internet titans award science prizes

20 February 2013 Last updated at 17:11 ET

Some of the world's richest internet entrepreneurs, including Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, have awarded 11 disease researchers $3m (?1.9m) each.

Nine of the recipients of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences are based at US institutions. The other two are from the Netherlands and Japan.

Many of the winners work on cell genetics and how it relates to disease.

One of the sponsors, genetics company founder 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki, said the winners should be household names.

In addition to Mr Zuckerberg, his wife Priscilla Chan and Ms Wojcicki, the prize is sponsored Ms Wojcicki's husband Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, and Yuri Milner, a Russian entrepreneur.

Mr Milner, along with the new foundation's chair, Arthur Levinson, a former chief executive at a biotech company and current chairman of Apple, chose the prize winners.

Cornelia Bargmann, a winner from Rockefeller University, told the website Fast Company that she initially thought it was a practical joke or an internet scam.

"The scale of this is so outsized I think it will have a huge impact on the life sciences," Ms Bargmann said.

From 2014 on, the foundation will award $3m to five scientists each year. There is no age restriction on the prize and past winners can win again.

The 2013 winners are:

• Cornelia Bargmann of Rockefeller University, for the genetics of neural circuits and behaviour
• David Botstein of Princeton University, for the mapping of inherited disease in humans
• Lewis Cantley of Weill Cornell Medical College, for the discovery of an enzyme and its role in cancer metabolism
• Hans Clevers of the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands, for describing how problems in signalling molecules can cause cancer
• Napoleone Ferrara of the University of California, San Diego, for discoveries on tumour growth that have led to therapies for some kinds of cancer and eye disease
• Titia de Lange of Rockefeller University, for research on telomeres, the protective tips on the ends of chromosomes, and how they relate to cancer
• Eric Lander of the Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for the discovery of ways to identify human disease genes
• Charles Sawyers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for targeted therapy for cancer genes
• Bert Vogelstein of Johns Hopkins University, for research on genes that suppress tumours
• Robert Weinberg of MIT, who discovered the first human gene that when mutated causes cancer
• Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University and the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, for work on developing artificially derived stem cells

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21525391#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Jim Rogers is investing in farmland | Peace . Gold . Liberty

and pitching China as the place to be. Now, if I had Jim's money I am sure I would love China too. For him to try to convince average Americans to move there reeks of his desire to have white servants to me.
I think Rogers does what is in Rogers' best interest. He tells enough truth to keep himself looking like a good guy, but he was one of the first rich guys to move to China and whine about the US. If he thinks this country needs fixed, come back and run for office, he's got the money. At least drop some serious dime behind the efforts of people like Ron Paul.
I once trusted him, but over the years have lost all respect. He is a great spokesman for China, while I am trying to keep the Chinese from controlling Idaho.

Source: http://www.dailypaul.com/275287/jim-rogers-is-investing-in-farmland

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HTC One early hands-on!

The HTC One launch event has just begun, but we've already got our first hands-on! Not a lot of details at this point, as the phone is still being announced on-stage, but a kindly gentlemen sitting in the audience who had a handset let us try his out for a few moments. Early impressions are that the phone feels great in the hand, very thin and very well made. The UI customizations, meanwhile, are another story entirely. Very Windows Phone-like, we're not sure traditional Android fans are going to love it. Enjoy the pics for now, we'll be back with more details soon!

Gallery: HTC One early hands-on

Update: Here's our full, formal hands-on!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/19/htc-one-early-hands-on/

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Multi-million diamond heist at Brussels airport

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Police on Tuersday were looking for eight men who made a hole in a security fence of Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and robbed tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane.

Brussels prosecutor's spokeswoman Anja Bijnens said Tuesday the armed and masked men used two vehicles in their daring Monday raid and within minutes made their way to the plane, took the cache of stones and drove off into the darkness.

Police found a burnt-out vehicle close to the airport later Monday night but said it was still looking for clues.

The heist was estimated at some 50 million dollars in diamonds, said Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World diamond Centre.

"What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum," De Wolf told VRT network.

An airport spokesman says the robbers made a hole in the perimeter fence, and drove right up to the Swiss passenger plane that was ready to leave. The robbers got out of the car, flashed their arms and took the loot from the hold, airport spokesman Jan Van Der Crujsse said. Without firing a shot they drove off through the same hole in the fence, completing the spectacular theft within minutes, he said.

Van Der Crujsse could not explain how the area could be so vulnerable to theft. "We abide by the most stringent rules," he said.

The Swiss flight, operated by Helvetic Airways, was canceled after the robbery. Swiss, an affiliate of Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG, declined to comment on the heist, citing the ongoing judicial investigation.

The insurance for air transport ? handled sometimes by airlines themselves or external insurance companies ? is usually relatively cheap because it's considered to be the safest way of transporting small high value items, logistics experts say.

Unlike a car or a truck, an airplane cannot be attacked by robbers once it's one its way, and it is considered to be very safe before the departure and after the plane's arrival because the aircraft is always within the confines of an airport ? which are normally highly secured.

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Juergen Baetz contributed to this report from Brussels.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/multi-million-diamond-heist-brussels-airport-094143931.html

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