Essential or irrelevant? Zimmerman prosecutor fights to reveal previous calls to cops

In opening statements the prosecution began by playing an expletive-laced audio tape of George Zimmerman from a taped call he made to police, while the defense began with a knock-knock joke, then later apologized. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. NBC's Ron Mott reports.

By James Novogrod, Tom Winter and Tracy Connor, NBC News

A Florida judge will decide Tuesday whether calls George Zimmerman made to a police dispatcher in the months before he killed Trayvon Martin can be admitted as evidence.

A jury on Monday afternoon heard one of the calls to a non-emergency police number, in which Zimmerman previously reported a suspicious person in his neighborhood ? before the defense objected and said it was irrelevant.

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Prosecutors said the prior calls would give the jury insight into Zimmerman?s state of mind when he encountered Martin in a gated community of Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26, 2012.

Judge Debra Nelson called a recess in the trial to give both sides to prepare arguments about whether the jury can hear and consider the calls in deciding Zimmerman?s fate.

While the defense contends that the prior calls have nothing to do with the issue at hand, prosecutor Richard Mantei said the calls support a case about Zimmerman's state of mind -- important for proof of second degree murder, which in Florida requires proving a so-called "depraved mind."

Courtesy of Sybrina Fulton

Trayvon Martin on February 18, 2012 in a photo taken at his mother's birthday party. Martin was killed on February 26, 2012.

Zimmerman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin, 17. His trial began in earnest Monday with opening statements and a few witnesses.

Prosecutors say Zimmerman profiled Martin, followed him even after the dispatcher told him not to, and then shot him at such close range that it left burn marks on his sweatshirt.

The defense says Martin was the aggressor in the confrontation, straddled Zimmerman and slammed his head against the pavement ? putting him in fear of his life before he fired his 9mm.

The call that Zimmerman made to a non-emergency dispatcher just after 7 p.m. on the night in question was played repeatedly for jurors, who listened intently and took notes.

On the call, Zimmerman reports that Martin is walking around in the rain and looks like ?he?s up to no good,? then says the teen is staring at him and approaching with his hand in his waistband.

After Zimmerman reports that Martin has started to run away, dispatcher Sean Noffke, hearing the sound of movement and wind, asks if he is following. When Zimmerman says he is, Noffke tells him, ?You don?t need to do that.?

Under questioning Monday, Noffke said he didn?t order Zimmerman to stay put because dispatchers are only supposed to make suggestions for liability reasons.

Under cross-examination, he said that when he asked Zimmerman which way Martin was running, he didn?t expect him to give chase, but allowed that someone could misinterpret his words.

"There was no need for him to follow and no concern for his safety? because Martin had left the immediate area, Noffke said.

In their opening statements, the prosecution and defense gave starkly different accounts of how and why Zimmerman shot Martin during the confrontation.

"George Zimmerman is not guilty of murder. He shot Trayvon Martin after being viciously attacked," said defense attorney Don West.

Joe Burbank / Pool / EPA

George Zimmerman waits for his defense counsel to arrive in court on Monday.

?This is a sad case, of course,? West said. ?A young man lost his life. Another is fighting for his. There are no winners here ... There are no monsters here.?

Prosecutor John Guy said the evidence does not support a self-defense claim.

?George Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin because he had to. He shot him for the worst of all reasons ? because he wanted to,? he said.

Guy said Zimmerman had used ?hate-filled words? during his conversation with Noffke, referring to ?punks.?

?These a------- always get away,? he quoted Zimmerman as saying.

He said another call ?? this one from a neighbor who dialed 911 after hearing a commotion. ? would support the prosecution?s charges.

?In the background, you will hear the gunshot that killed Trayvon Martin and you will hear screaming in the background. Listen carefully, please, to that call and listen carefully when the screaming stops. It?s right when the gunshot goes off. Trayvon Martin was silenced immediately when the bullet the defendant fired was shot through his heart,? Guy said.

West, who played the call for the jury, suggested it was Zimmerman yelling for help as he was attacked and said all the witnesses ?agree those are the screams of someone in a life-threatening situation.?

?If I?ve heard it once, I?ve heard it a thousand times, that Trayvon Martin was unarmed,? West said.

?Trayvon Martin armed himself with a concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman?s head,? he added. ?That is a deadly weapon.?

Editor?s note: George Zimmerman has sued NBC Universal for defamation. The company has strongly denied the allegation.

This story was originally published on Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:22 PM EDT

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House investigators: Disability judges are too lax

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 file photo, the Social Security Administration's main campus is seen in Woodlawn, Md. U.S. House investigators say Social Security is approving state-rejected claims for disability benefits at strikingly high rates for people who might not deserve them. Compounding the problem, the agency often fails to do required follow-up reviews to make sure people still qualify for benefits months or years later. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 file photo, the Social Security Administration's main campus is seen in Woodlawn, Md. U.S. House investigators say Social Security is approving state-rejected claims for disability benefits at strikingly high rates for people who might not deserve them. Compounding the problem, the agency often fails to do required follow-up reviews to make sure people still qualify for benefits months or years later. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Social Security is approving disability benefits at strikingly high rates for people whose claims were rejected by field offices or state agencies, according to House investigators. Compounding the situation, the agency often fails to do required follow-up reviews months or years later to make sure people are still disabled.

Claims for benefits have increased by 25 percent since 2007, pushing the fund that supports the disability program to the brink of insolvency, which could mean reduced benefits. Social Security officials say the primary driver of the increase is demographic, mainly a surge in baby boomers who are more prone to disability as they age but are not quite old enough to qualify for retirement benefits.

The disability program has been swamped by benefit claims since the recession hit a few years ago. Last year, 3.2 million people applied for Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income.

In addition, however, management problems "lead to misspending" and add to the financial ills of the program, investigators from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee say.

"Federal disability claims are often paid to individuals who are not legally entitled to receive them," three senior Republicans on the House committee declared in a March 11 letter to the agency. Among the signers was the committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa of California.

Social Security acknowledges a backlog of 1.3 million overdue follow-up reviews to make sure people still qualify for benefits. But agency officials blame budget cuts for the backlog, saying Congress has denied the funds needed to clear it.

Social Security spokesman Mark Hinkle said the agency follows the strict legal definition of disability when awarding benefits. In order to qualify, a person is supposed to have a disability that prevents him from working and is expected to last at least a year or result in death.

"Even with this very strict standard, there has been growth in the disability program, and the primary reason for this growth is demographics," Hinkle said. He noted that approval rates have declined as applications for benefits have increased.

The most common claimed disability was bone and muscle pain, including lower back pain, followed closely by mental disorders, according to the program's latest annual report.

"Pain cases and mental cases are extremely difficult because ? and even more so with mental cases ? there's no objective medical evidence," said Randall Frye, a Social Security administrative law judge in Charlotte, N.C. "It's all subjective."

Nearly 11 million disabled workers, spouses and children get Social Security disability benefits. That's up from 7.6 million a decade ago. The average monthly benefit for a disabled worker is $1,130.

An additional 8.3 million people get Supplemental Security Income, a separately funded disability program for low-income people.

If Congress doesn't act, the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money in 2016, according to projections by Social Security's trustees. At that point, the system will collect only enough money in payroll taxes to pay 80 percent of benefits, triggering an automatic 20 percent cut in benefits.

Congress could redirect money from Social Security's much bigger retirement program to shore up the disability program, as it did in 1994. But that would worsen the finances of the retirement program, which is facing its own long-term financial problems.

The House oversight subcommittee on entitlements is scheduled to hold the first of several hearings on the disability program Thursday. The hearing will focus on the role of administrative law judges in awarding benefits.

Most Social Security disability claims are initially processed through a network of local Social Security Administration field offices and state agencies, usually Disability Determination Services, and most are rejected. If your claim is rejected, you can ask the field office or state agency to reconsider. If your claim is rejected again, you can appeal to an administrative law judge, who is employed by Social Security.

The hearing process takes an average of a little more than a year, according to Social Security statistics. The agency estimates there are 816,000 hearings pending.

So far this budget year, the vast majority of judges have approved benefits in more than half the cases they've decided, even though they were reviewing applications that had typically been rejected twice by state agencies, according to Social Security data.

Of the 1,560 judges who have decided at least 50 cases since October, 195 judges approved benefits in at least 75 percent of their cases, according to the data, which were analyzed by congressional investigators.

"This is not one or two judges out there just going rogue and saying they are going to approve a lot of cases," said Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., chairman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Energy, Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements. "This is a very, very high rate" of approving claims.

The union representing administrative law judges says judges are required to decide 500 to 700 cases a year in an effort to reduce the hearings backlog. The union says the requirement is an illegal quota that leads judges to sometimes award benefits they might otherwise deny just to keep up with the flow of cases, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the judges' union in April.

"I wouldn't want to suggest publicly that judges are not following the law or the regulations," said Frye, the North Carolina law judge who also is president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges , But, he added, "Would you want your surgeon to be on a quota system, to have to do so many surgeries every morning? Mistakes are going to be made when you force that kind of system on professional folks whose judgment, skill and experience are critical to coming to a good result."

The agency denies there is a case quota for judges, saying the standard is a productivity goal. The agency has declined to comment on the lawsuit. Former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue said he set the goal in 2007 to help reduce the hearings backlog.

Once people get benefits, their cases are supposed to be reviewed periodically to make sure they are still disabled. The reviews are called continuing disability reviews, or CDRs.

For people whose disabilities are expected to improve, CDRs should be done in six to 18 months, according a 2010 report by the agency's inspector general. If improvement is possible ? but not necessarily likely ? reviews should be done every three years. People with disabilities believed to be permanent should get reviews every five to seven years.

At the end of 1996, there was a backlog of 4.3 million overdue reviews. In response, Congress authorized about $4 billion to fund a seven-year effort to wipe it out, and the backlog was erased in 2002.

But after the funding dried up, the number of annual reviews performed by the agency decreased and the backlog grew. Last year, the agency conducted 443,000 continuing reviews.

President Barack Obama's proposed budget for next year includes $1.5 billion to address the backlog, a nearly 50 percent increase over present funding. With the increase, the agency says it would be able to conduct slightly more than 1 million reviews.

"We have completed every CDR funded by Congress, but our administrative budget has been significantly reduced, resulting in three straight years of funding levels nearly a billion dollars below the president's budget requests," Hinkle said. "As a result, we have lost more than 10,000 employees since the beginning of (fiscal year) 2011. We currently have a backlog of 1.3 million CDRs, which we would be able to address with adequate, dedicated program integrity funding from Congress."

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-24-Social%20Security%20Disability/id-90fc4f7dc6304b69834a4c063b765f98

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Easy Outdoor Entertaining Tips with Jack's? Pizza | The Motherload

?

If there is one thing that you know about me, it is that you know how much our family loves to grill and how much we love our pizza. That is why I am excited to share with you that I will be teaming up with Jack?s^? Pizza this summer on the ?JACK?S Summer Grilling? program to share just how easy it is to grill their pizza.? Yes, they?re compensating me for this, but I?m a genuine fan!

As a mom, I am always looking for easy meals to entertain with in the summer months and that is why I am excited to share with you how easy it is to grill and entertain this summer with minimal effort, minimal cost and minimal time. If your family is anything like ours, I know these are three requirements for mealtime and JACK?S has you covered.

With a smaller home, the great outdoors allows us to offer a comfortable place for our guests to spread out and enjoy themselves, while basking in the beauty of the outdoors. ?Backyard barbecues can be made practically effortless with a little bit of planning and preparation. I wanted to showcase some easy ideas for achieving a successful and fun backyard bash that will long be remembered.

Create a Fashionable Spread

Outdoor entertaining can be very fun and chic with a few fun and inexpensive pieces in your arsenal. Use simple, clean and unused terra cotta pots for displaying your pretzels and chips, fill a clean wheelbarrow with ice to display the drinks, use jars for serving old-fashioned lemonade, and fan finger foods out on wooden cutting boards for a fun display. ?I also love to visit the summer display section of a local store for inexpensive and fun outdoor dishes to add a splash of color to your outdoor entertaining.

Offer Ample Seating

If you have a large gathering coming, don?t be afraid to bring your indoor seating outside to add extra chairs to the mix. Create gatherings of seating areas outdoors using your lawn chairs and, if you are short on seats, ask guests to bring their own chairs so everyone is comfortable. Folding tables and chairs can provide additional seating and quilts or blankets can provide fun seating for the younger children.

Bring on the Games

The key to a fun outdoor party are a couple of great outdoor games to keep the guests entertained. Our family loves to play badminton and a few rounds of bean bag toss for a little outdoor fun and to get fun conversations flowing. These are fun investment pieces to make for outdoor entertaining and will provide additional entertainment even in those fall months for tailgating season. Inexpensive sprinkler toys, a sand box, coloring books, crayons, sidewalk chalk and bubbles are fun items to have on hand for the smaller guests at the party.

For a creative idea for keeping the children entertained, create a game of Ring Toss from simple items from your recycle bin.? Fill empty, plastic two-liter soda bottles with colored sand and fasten the tops on tightly. Obtain a package of plastic rings (in the outdoor section of your superstore) for the children to toss on the bottles. Have the kids stand behind a tape line to throw the rings. If they get three rings around the bottle, they win the game.

Take the Night Off

Looking for an easy meal that is perfect for entertaining? Did you know that you can grill a JACK?S Original Pizza??It couldn?t be easier to-prepare a pizza on the gas grill and with some simple additions of a salad and fresh fruit, you have a meal that offers effortless entertaining. My favorite part? The clean-up just couldn?t be easier!

For more information about how to enjoy JACK?S Original pizza on the gas grill and for your chance to win great grilling prizes, visit?www.JacksGrilling.com. JACK?S pizza is available nationwide at your local grocery, drug and convenience stores. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.? Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. and D.C., 18 and over. Ends: 7/29/13. Void where prohibited.? Click here for Official Rules. http://bit.ly/114eJMa

?As a spokesperson for the JACK?S Summer Grilling program, I?ve received product samples and compensation for my time and effort in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Source: http://momadvice.com/blog/2013/06/easy-outdoor-entertaining-tips-with-jacks-pizza

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Key vote on immigration set in Senate

FILE - In this April 18, 2013 file photo, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. At the start of a crucial week for far-reaching immigration legislation backed by the White House, the Senate headed Monday for the first test vote on the measure offering the prize of U.S. citizenship to millions and pouring new technology and manpower into the border. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, File)

FILE - In this April 18, 2013 file photo, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. At the start of a crucial week for far-reaching immigration legislation backed by the White House, the Senate headed Monday for the first test vote on the measure offering the prize of U.S. citizenship to millions and pouring new technology and manpower into the border. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, File)

FILE - In this June 21, 2013 file photo, Sen. John Hoeven, N.D., leaves the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington. At the start of a crucial week for far-reaching immigration legislation backed by the White House, the Senate headed Monday for the first test vote on the measure offering the prize of U.S. citizenship to millions and pouring new technology and manpower into the border. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate headed Monday for a crucial test vote on White House-backed immigration legislation offering the prize of U.S. citizenship to millions and pouring new technology and manpower into the border.

Ahead of the vote set for early evening, around a dozen Republican lawmakers had indicated support, setting up a solid bipartisan margin of victory within reach of the 70 votes supporters are hoping for when the bill comes to a final vote at the end of this week. No defections have been suggested so far among the 54 votes controlled by Democrats.

The measure includes changes to the original border security provisions in the bill that would double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol at a cost of around $30 billion and complete 700 miles of fencing. At the same time it sets out a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally, who would be permitted to get permanent resident green cards only once all the border changes had been put in place, about a decade after enactment of the legislation.

"It's my hope that this evening Republicans will join me in putting in place the toughest border security measures we've ever had in this nation," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., an author of the new border security requirements, said Monday as senators debated the measure on the Senate floor in the hours ahead of the vote.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a leading opponent, insisted that the promised border security never would materialize.

"The amnesty occurs first, and just like so often in the past, the promises never occur," Sessions said.

But Corker and other supporters pointed to comments from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican immigration hardliner, who touted the proposed border changes in an interview on Fox News Channel Monday as a "victory for Arizona."

The developments came at the start of a crucial week for the immigration bill, a signature issue for the Obama administration, Capitol Hill Democrats, and even some Republicans.

Monday's vote is the key procedural hurdle that would clear the way for a vote later in the week on revisions to the bill including the border security changes and a range of other new provisions aimed at locking down support from wavering senators. These include limits to what newly legalized immigrants can claim in Social Security benefits, added at the behest of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and provisions designed to aid Alaska seafood processers and attract support from Alaska's two senators.

Final passage of the underlying bill should come by Friday.

At the White House, President Barack Obama was to meet at mid-afternoon Monday with business leaders supporting the legislation. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced it was launching a new seven-figure ad buy Monday in support of the bill.

Victory in the Senate would be no guarantee of success in the Republican-controlled House, where many conservatives oppose citizenship for people in this country illegally. The House Judiciary Committee has been passing narrowly focused, single-issue immigration bills ? in contrast to the Senate's comprehensive approach ? and Speaker House Boehner, R-Ohio, has not indicated how he'll proceed.

Negotiations between the two chambers are not expected until the fall at earliest, and opponents of the legislation are predicting it will be stopped in the House.

"It will pass the Senate, but it's dead on arrival in the House," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on CNN on Sunday. "The House is much closer to me, and I think they think border security has to come first before you get immigration reform."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-24-US-Immigration/id-c50528cb2d934e0fb69e83a5d0a575b5

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Leaked iPhone 5S Prototype Is Pretty Much Everything You'd Expect

It appears that the mystery chip from last week's (purported) iPhone 5S leak is a mystery no more. Thanks to MacRumors' new?and far better?photos of the new iPhone's backend, the chips is now clearly identifiable as a an A7 chip.

The real giveaway that this is not, in fact, just a modified version of the A6 chip that the current iPhone 5 packs is the new model number, APL0698. According to MacRumors:

The original A6 chip carried a model number of APL0598, with the A6X found in the fourth-generation iPad carrying an APL5598 model number, demonstrating how Apple varies the first digit for members of a given A-series family and increments the second digit when transitioning to a new family.

However, the chip's other markings tell us that although this is an upgrade, it's not a total overhaul of the A6?it appear we're still getting the same 1 GB of Elpida DRAM on the A7. Another interesting change comes in the K1A0062 identifier, which is different from the usual starting number of "N" that would signify a Samsung part. There'd been murmurings of a TSMC-made chip, and although we'd recently been led to believe that the switch wouldn't come until the A8, this certainly suggests otherwise.

So while sure, that means Apple really is finally breaking away from any real dependence on Samsung, this also tells us that Apple is moving further towards fully designing its own chip from the ground up?not just customizing someone else's parts to its own needs.

And thankfully, these image do seem to reconfirm that the next gen iPhone battery is at least a little bigger than what we have rapidly dying in our current phones. Plus, we've got an even clearer image of what is undoubtedly the highly coveted dual-LED flash.

Of course and as with any leaked images, there's always the chance that these don't actually belong to the phone we'll be seeing come (probably around) September-ish. [MacRumors]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/leaked-iphone-5s-prototype-is-packing-exactly-what-you-558153314

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Demi Lovato's Father Passes Away

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/demi-lovato-father-passes-away/

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RadioShack bundling $100 Google Play store credit with HTC One purchases

Loyal Engadget readers know that we don't normally trouble ourselves with promotions, but this one is too wild to ignore. Until June 30th, RadioShack is offering the HTC One to AT&T and Sprint customers with an added bonus -- a $100 credit for the Google Play store. Should you elect to sign up with Sprint, you'll basically get away like a bandit since RadioShack has slashed the price of the handset to $79.99 for new activations -- on two-year contracts, of course. After all is said and done, you would basically leave $20 richer than when you started (sort of). So, if you've been lusting after the HTC One but have held off on buying it, the universe might be trying to tell you something.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Sprint, AT&T

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Via: Phone Arena

Source: Radio Shack

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/t1PU03rRnYs/

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Countdown To The Eisners - Best Archival Collection/Project ...

By Cameron Hatheway

When diving through the quarter bins at conventions, you?ll always come across quite a few interesting titles from bygone eras. When you dig a little deeper, you?re digging through the past like a comic book archeologist discovering the ruins of a once mighty comic book industry. Before the dark times; before the Empire Comics Code Authority. Comics were abundant, some series selling hundreds of thousands of issues which quickly spawned copy-cat titles left and right. Not all that many consecutive issues survived, let alone in good condition, so sometimes it takes several years if not decades to restore a run, collect it, and remind the readers of today that back in the day, comics were all about fun and not big events. A simpler time, as it were. Today I?ll be focusing on the Best Archival Collection/Project?Comic Books category. If you need a reminder of what?s been nominated, you can find the entire list right here, and see what I chose last time right here.

Keep in mind I cannot vote for who wins (nor can you, probably), as per the rules. However, that?s not keeping me from being vocal regardless!

Who is not eligible to vote?

• Comics press or reviewers (unless they are nominees)
• Non-creative publisher staff members (PR, marketing, assistants, etc.)
• Fans

Before I get back to burning a stuffed dummy of Dr. Fredric Wertham in effigy so I can be eligible for next year, let the games begin!

Best Archival Collection/Project?Comic Books

Crime Does Not Pay Archives, edited by Philip Simon and Kitchen, Lind & Associates (Dark Horse)

Collecting four issues of the pre-Comics Code Authority Crime Does Not Pay, these archives highlight some of the best in crime comics of the 1940s. A mixture of true tales adapted for comics and mostly original works, the shocking and sometimes brutal stories always ended with the same lesson; crime does not pay!!

David Mazzucchelli?s Daredevil Born Again: Artist?s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)

Review copy unavailable.

Wally Wood?s EC Stories: Artist?s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)

Review copy unavailable.

Walt Disney?s Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man, by Carl Barks, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)

Uncle Scrooge, one of the richest ducks of all time, certainly loves his money. As a matter of fact he will go to great lengths to not only protect it, but spend as little as possible too. With this archival collection we get some of the funniest, cheapest stories of Scrooge all gloriously reprinted and re-mastered from Fantagraphics.

Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby?s Romance Comics, edited by Michel Gagn? (Fantagraphics)

During a time of crime, westerns, and ghouls, one genre that sometimes gets lost in the history are romance comics. Sure enough, two of the biggest names in comics co-created the genre and made it wildly popular throughout all the demographics. It?s fascinating to see the early beginnings of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby?s work, and after the first issue you?ll find yourself falling madly in love with everything about this collection.

Who I think should win:

Walt Disney?s Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man, by Carl Barks, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)

I felt like I was transported back in time when reading this collection. The quality is outstanding, and time as severed both the characters and the jokes rather well. From the main stories to the little one-pagers, I had the biggest smile across my face the entire time. I forgot how much fun comics like Uncle Scrooge were back in the day, for every scheme on how to save money or protect it was damn-good entertainment.

Those pesky Beagle Boys are constantly harassing Scrooge, as well as Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie with their constant thirty cents an hour demands. Can?t old Scrooge catch a break?!

Who I think could win:
Crime Does Not Pay Archives, edited by Philip Simon and Kitchen, Lind & Associates (Dark Horse)

What we have here is a piece of history. This publication was one of the reasons a Comics Code Authority was instated in the first place, as it supposedly corrupted the youth with its gory and violent imagery and the repetitive lesson that ?crime does not pay.? I?m not going to lie, after reading this collection I kind of wanted to go on a rampage throughout town with guns blazing before I finally remembered something;

CRIME DOES NOT PAY!!

Who I think should have been nominated:
Tarzan Archives: The Russ Manning Years Volume 1, edited by Brendan Wright (Dark Horse)

When you?re searching for some classic Tarzan comics, the only name you should be looking for on the cover is ?Russ Manning.?

Who do you think should win / been nominated?

Cameron Hatheway is the host of Cammy?s Comic Corner and Arts & Entertainment Editor of the Sonoma State STAR. You can hire him for thirty cents an hour on Twitter @CamComicCorner.

Source: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/21/countdown-to-the-eisners-best-archival-collectionproject-comic-books/

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FIFA: No plans to cancel Confed Cup amid protests

AAA??Jun. 21, 2013?7:52 AM ET
FIFA: No plans to cancel Confed Cup amid protests
AP

Riot police on horses line up in front of the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. More than half a million Brazilians poured into the streets of at least 80 Brazilian cities Thursday in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes happening in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the seaside city's central area. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Riot police on horses line up in front of the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. More than half a million Brazilians poured into the streets of at least 80 Brazilian cities Thursday in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes happening in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the seaside city's central area. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Military police detain a man during an anti-government protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. More than half a million Brazilians poured into the streets of at least 80 Brazilian cities Thursday in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes happening in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the seaside city's central area. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Riot police advance towards protesters as two men hold a Brazilian flag and chant for no violence during an anti-government demonstration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. More than half a million Brazilians poured into the streets of at least 80 Brazilian cities Thursday in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes happening in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the seaside city's central area. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? FIFA says it is not considering canceling the Confederations Cup soccer tournament in Brazil as violent protests spread across the country.

An estimated 1 million protesters took to the streets in more than 80 cities on Thursday night.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets in Rio de Janeiro, where more than 300,000 people protested in the city hosting key Confederations Cup games.

But world soccer's governing body says in a statement to The Associated Press that neither "FIFA nor the LOC (local organizing committee) have ever discussed any such possibility" of canceling the eight-team tournament.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-21-Confed%20Cup-FIFA/id-847d23a774e74adda6c3be7cb5ae7c3a

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Naked Mole Rats Have Cancer-Proof 'Goo'

Jun 20, 2013 2:55pm

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ?? (Image Credit: Brandon Vick/University of Rochester)

Naked mole rats may be hairless, nearly blind and ? we?re just going to say it ? ugly, but researchers say they have a little extra something in their skin that?s enviable: cancer-proof ?goo.?

The goo could eventually lead to cancer treatment, and its discovery wouldn?t have happened if University of Rochester graduate students in upstate New York hadn?t complained to their professors that the naked mole rat cell cultures were gunking up their equipment.

?It was becoming a nuisance to the students,? University of Rochester biology professor Vera Gorbunova told ABCNews.com.

She co-authored the study in this month?s issue of science journal Nature with her husband, Andrei Seluanov, who has been her research partner for two decades.

Read about how gene therapy could treat cancer.

They had been studying the naked mole rat, which is native to East Africa and has intrigued scientists for years, because it hasn?t been known to get cancer. It also lives 30 years even though a typical of a mouse the same size only lives a maximum of four years.

Gorbunova?s and Seluanov?s students were analyzing mole rat fibroblasts, connective tissue cells that secrete collagen protein, when they discovered that the liquid containing the fibroblasts became uncommonly syrupy after a few days. It was thicker than the same culture from human, guinea pig and mouse fibroblasts.

?We told them we need to find out what this goo is,? Gorbunova said. ?We had absolutely no idea where to begin.?

One student, Chistopher Pine, took it upon himself to solve the puzzle. First, he thought it was a protein, but tests revealed that protein wasn?t right.

Then, Pine tested to see whether it was hyaluronan, a molecule that gives human tissue its flexibility and promotes healing, because it plays a role in telling cells to reproduce. He treated the syrupy culture with an enzyme that would break down hyaluronan if it was there. Sure enough, once treated, the culture was no longer syrupy, proving that the goo was caused by the hyaluronan cells.

Read about how dog tumors can give clues about human breast cancer.

But the naked mole rat?hyaluronan molecules were different than the human hyaluronan molecules because the human cultures didn?t turn to syrup.?Gorbunova said they found that it was because the molecules were six to 10 times longer in naked mole rats than they were in humans.

Once the University of Rochester team figured out what was causing the goo, they observed naked mole rats? cell cultures without the super-long hyaluronan molecules to see what would happen.

The naked mole rats? cells started to grow close together, like cancer tumors. This meant the long hyaluronan molecules told cells when to stop reproducing. In other words, it prevented cancer, which is generally defined as the out-of-control growth of abnormal cells.

Eventually, the cancer-proof molecules could help treat human cancer, either by giving patients an enzyme to make them produce long hyaluronan or by simply injecting it, Gorbunova said. More research is needed.

?We were very lucky in many ways,? she said. ?In my experience, the most important findings are actually when you work with something but things don?t go exactly as planned.

?We realized, wow, this goo is important.?

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/06/20/naked-mole-rats-have-cancer-proof-goo/

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Bulger trial witness recalls brush with death

By Richard Valdmanis

BOSTON (Reuters) - A former professional gambler told jurors on Friday how he survived a gunfire attack that decapitated a passenger in his car, as prosecutors sought to pin the murder of 19 victims on reputed mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.

Bulger, who had been on the run for 16 years, faces a life sentence for the murders in a sensational trial that has riveted Boston and attracted large crowds, including Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall on Friday.

Duvall, who starred in the movie "The Godfather" and is in Boston shooting a film called "The Judge," sat at the back of the courtroom.

"Just thought it was interesting that's all," he said, according to a tweet from Boston Globe reporter Shelley Murphy.

Frank Capizzi, 78, testified he was on his way to see his mother in Boston's North End when a torrent of gunfire struck the car he was in, riddling him with lead and decapitating one of his friends.

"I was hit in the head and could feel warm blood running down my neck," Capizzi said. He reached for a fellow passenger "and my hand went into his neck where his head should have been," he added.

Witnesses, including former Winter Hill Gang member John "The Executioner" Martorano, have sought to link Bulger to the bloody trail of killings that haunted the city for decades and inspired Martin Scorcese's Academy Award-winning 2006 film "The Departed."

Bulger, 83, is charged with killing or ordering the murder of 19 people as head of Boston's Winter Hill crime gang in the 1970s and 1980s. Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison.

The trial has transported jurors back to an era when machine-gun-toting gangsters shot each other in phone booths and buried bodies under bridges in a bloody quest for control of the lucrative criminal underworld of drugs dealers and bookies.

Prosecutors on Friday paraded an arsenal of assault weapons through the courtroom that ballistics experts said were seized from Winter Hill Gang members and their associates - ranging from World War Two-era automatic rifles called ?grease guns' to pocket-size revolvers.

Martorano, who confessed to 20 murders but received a lenient 12-year sentence for testifying against his former partners, said earlier this week he preferred a snub-nosed .38 revolver for late nights at the clubs.

SHOT IN THE BACK

Two family members of alleged victims of the Winter Hill Gang also spoke on Friday, including Joseph Angeli, who said he found out his father was killed on his 14th birthday.

"My mom determined it was too dangerous for us to travel to the funeral," he told the jury, adding his family had suddenly left Boston for California prior to his father's death because "things were dangerous."

Martorano previously testified that he killed Angeli's father, Joseph Notorangeli, in 1974 under orders from Bulger who believed the man had killed a mafia ally.

Testimony from Capizzi, a white-bearded man with dark sunglasses, was some of the most riveting to date in what is expected to be a four-month trial.

Capizzi agreed to testify after he was granted immunity by U.S. District Judge Denise Casper. He has said he suspects the shooters who injured him on March 19, 1973, were from the Winter Hill Gang, though he admitted on Friday under cross examination that there were several other criminal groups operating in Boston's North End at the time.

He said doctors removed 11 bullets from his back during a four-hour operation after the shooting, but left many others in. "I was imbedded," he said.

"I'll be 79 in November, I think," Capizzi said. He noted that he sometimes hears plain English as Sicilian due to a medical condition.

Bulger fled Boston after a 1994 tip from the corrupt FBI agent that arrest was imminent. He evaded arrest for 16 years before law enforcement caught up with him living in hiding in Santa Monica, California on June 22, 2011.

* Editor's note: This report contains material that may upset some readers

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bulger-trial-witness-recalls-brush-death-205613074.html

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Ebola thwarted in mice by drugs for infertility, cancer

Extensive search of existing medicines turns up two that seem to fend off deadly virus

Extensive search of existing medicines turns up two that seem to fend off deadly virus

By Nathan Seppa

Web edition: June 19, 2013

Two drugs already on the market for other purposes can halt Ebola virus in mice. The findings open the way for further testing of the drugs, clomiphene and toremifene, against the deadly virus.

Scientists screened more than 2,000 drugs against Ebola, a process that required the highest level of safety precautions because the virus is so lethal. Several drugs called selective estrogen receptor modulators showed promise, including clomiphene, marketed as Clomid and prescribed to treat infertility, and toremifene, used to treat advanced breast cancer.

In the June 19 Science Translational Medicine, researchers report that each drug prevented Ebola virus from commandeering cells in lab-dish experiments. The researchers also injected mice with one form of the Ebola virus, and nine of 10 mice given clomiphene one hour after exposure survived a month-long observation period. Five of 10 mice getting toremifene died within 10 days, but the other five survived the month. All mice given the virus without the drugs died within a week.

The drugs bottled up Ebola in a cell compartment called an endosome, which the virus uses as a way station when it invades a cell. How the drugs thwart the virus there is unclear, says study coauthor Gene Olinger, a virologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, Md. But the results suggest that the drugs might stop other versions of the Ebola virus and the related Marburg virus, another deadly pathogen. In theory, the drugs would be given to patients and health care workers in an outbreak, he says.

?This is an interesting study, and it?s the way one wants to go with these viruses,? says Stephan Becker, a virologist at Philips University in Marburg, Germany. Ebola burst on the scene in 1976 with deadly outbreaks in Zaire and Sudan. But it has been a sporadic menace, racking up fewer than 2,300 victims worldwide. Despite a stunning mortality rate, Becker says, the small numbers suggest that the best strategy against Ebola is to repurpose drugs already cleared for other uses.

While testing an established drug for a new use is faster than starting from scratch, Olinger says, approval of these drugs for Ebola might still take five to 10 years. There is currently no cure for an Ebola infection.

---

Suggested Reading

N. Seppa. Ebola Die-Off: Gorilla losses tallied in central Africa. Science News. Volume 170, Dec. 9, 2006, p. 371. [Go to]

N. Seppa. Studies shed light on Ebola?s M.O. Science News. Online August 24, 2011. [Go to]

J. S. Towner et al. Generation of eGFP expressing recombinant Zaire Ebolavirus for analysis of early pathogenesis events and high-throughput antiviral drug screening. Virology. Volume 332, 2005, p. 20. [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351110/title/Ebola_thwarted_in_mice_by_drugs_for_infertility_cancer

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App to protect private data on iOS devices finds almost half of other apps access private data

June 20, 2013 ? Almost half of the mobile apps running on Apple's iOS operating system access the unique identifier of the devices where they're downloaded, computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have found. In addition, more than 13 percent access the devices' location and more than 6 percent the address book. The researchers developed a new app that detects what data the other apps running on an iOS device are trying to access.

The findings are based on a study of 130,000 users of jailbroken iOS devices, where users have purposefully removed restrictions that keep apps from accessing the iPhone's operating system. Most apps in the study were downloaded from Apple's App Store and access the same type of information on unlocked, jailbroken, phones and on locked phones, said Yuvraj Agarwal, a research scientist in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego, who co-authored the study with fellow researcher Malcolm Hall. Agarwal will present the findings at ACM MobiSys, the premier mobile systems conference, which takes place June 25 to 28 in Taipei, Taiwan.

The findings suggest that although Apple's App Store no longer accepts new apps or app updates that access the unique identifier as of March of this year, many apps can still get a hold of that information. The unique identifier allows app vendors and advertisers to track users' behaviors across all the different apps on their devices, including iPhones, iPads and iPods. In addition, some apps can associate the unique identifier with the user's email and other personal information.

The researchers believe that it's the first time anyone has done such an extensive privacy study focused on iOS-based apps across a large user population.

The ProtectMyPrivacy App

To carry out their study, researchers developed an app of their own, called ProtectMyPrivacy, or PMP. It lets users know what personal information the other apps on their devices are trying to access. PMP enables users to selectively allow or deny access to this information on an app-by-app basis, based on whether they feel the apps need the information to function properly -- for example, a map app needs to access the location of a device to provide driving directions. iOS devices currently notify users when apps try to access location, photos and contacts. But they do not notify users when apps access the unique identifier or music library and users can't deny access to those two pieces of information.

Since gathering data for the study, researchers have also added notifications and recommendations for when an app accesses other privacy-sensitive information, such as a devices' front and back camera, microphone and photos.

PMP also makes recommendations about whether to allow the other apps to access user data, based on an extensive crowdsourcing 'recommendation engine' that compiles the privacy decisions made by other users.

"We wanted to empower users to take control of their privacy," said Agarwal, who is also an alumnus of UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering. "The choice should be in users' hands."

For locked devices, researchers are currently providing a web page that tells users which information more than 150 apps for iOS -- some of the most popular -- are trying to access and gives recommendations about whether to allow or deny access. The page can be viewed at http://www.protectmyprivacy.org/liveview/

For example, Facebook, the most popular app, accesses the devices' identifier, location and contacts. PMP's crowdsourcing engine recommends denying access to the identifier and contacts music, but allowing access to location.

Findings by the numbers

ProtectMyPrivacy has already been downloaded from the Cydia store by more than 130,000 users since March 2012. Its users have downloaded and used more than 225,000 unique apps from Apple's App Store. The researchers analyzed the data accessed by those apps and found that 48.1 percent of them accessed the device's unique identifier; 13.2 percent the location information; 6.2 percent the address book; and 1.6 percent the music library.

As of January 2013, Apple reported that it had sold 500 million iOS devices. Estimates of how many are jailbroken vary, but Forbes reported in February 2013 that seven million devices had been jailbroken in just four days after a new jailbreaking tool was released. Cydia, an app store that caters only to jailbroken devices, had 23 million users as of March 2013 -a sizeable portion of Apple's mobile devices.

Recommendations to protect your privacy

Almost all of PMP's users -- 99 percent-- voluntarily shared their privacy decisions, indicating which apps they think should be allowed -- or denied -- access to their privacy-sensitive data. These decisions -- which are contributed anonymously -- are then processed on PMP servers to generate the crowdsourced privacy recommendations shown to users. As a result, PMP is able to make recommendations for 97 percent of the 10,000 most popular iPhone apps. "We have already shown millions of recommendations, and more than two-thirds of all our recommendations are accepted by our users, showing that they really like this unique feature of PMP," said Agarwal. Users chose to deny access to one or more pieces of sensitive data for 48.1 percent of apps.

The version of PMP available in the Cydia store gives users the option to feed fictitious or anonymized information to nosy apps. Examples include an address book filled with made-up entries, a random location that may be in a completely different country, and a randomly generated unique identifier.

The researchers say that they do not recommend jailbreaking your iPhone to install PMP, because doing so could potentially leave a user open to other vulnerabilities. But in order to conduct their research, they needed to be able to intercept information about the privacy-protected data that apps were accessing. This required low-level access to the operating system, which is not technically possible on locked, non-jailbroken, iOS devices.

Sometimes, it is not the apps themselves that access the data, but a third-party library or code contained within the apps. For example, Flixster, a popular app for movie reviews and recommendations, in its 5.2 version, was flagged for accessing some private data. Flixster contacted Agarwal and Hall to say that it does no such thing. The computer scientists did some digging and found that a third-party ad library used by the app was accessing users' address books and sending back information. "We provided feedback to the app's developers in case they are unaware that a third party library may be accessing their users' private data," recalled Hall, a visiting researcher in Agarwal's Synergy Lab at UC San Diego. He also pointed out that "an updated version of Flixster now uses another ad library that does not access this kind of information."

Agarwal and Hall tried submitting to the Apple Store a "lite" version of their app that wouldn't interact with the iOS operating system, but the app was rejected. That version would have given users information about the data specific apps access and recommendations about what to allow and deny. It would not have given users the ability to protect their data by providing fictitious information.

Agarwal will join the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant professor in the fall.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/mlY34Ht1veE/130620101202.htm

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PS3 users report 4.45 update locks up systems, may be tied to large HDDs (updated)

Planned to turn on your PS3 for some The Last of Us action tonight? According to a thread on the PlayStation Support forums, if you're prompted to install the latest firmware update version 4.45 then you may want to hold off for the moment. A number of owners are reporting their systems will no longer fully boot up after the update, although the problem may only affect users with hard drives installed that are 500GBs or larger. According to the changelog, it was supposed to allow users to select whether or not they want an in-game notification when a trophy is earned. If it is tied to user-replaced hard drives, then it wouldn't be the first time -- v3.41 resulted in a few corrupted PlayStation 3 drives a few years ago. Check the thread for more details, if we hear anything from Sony then we'll let you know when it's safe to press OK.

Update: It appears the update has been pulled and users are no longer being prompted to download it, but we still haven't received any official response from Sony on the situation.

Update 2: According to the PlayStation Europe Twitter account, Sony is aware of the problem, and has taken 4.45 offline to investigate the issue.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

Comments

Via: @Wario64 (Twitter)

Source: PlayStation 3 Support Forum, PlayStation Europe (Twitter)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0GvdbDTQjDg/

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Afghan leader balks at Taliban talks

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghanistan's president said Wednesday he will not pursue peace talks with the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations, while also insisting the militant group stop its violent attacks on the ground after it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that killed four Americans.

Hamid Karzai's strong response and the Taliban attack deflated hopes for long-stalled talks aimed at ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan, just a day after the United States and the Taliban said they would begin initial meetings in Qatar.

Karzai had said Tuesday that he would send representatives from his High Peace Council to Qatar for talks but aides said he changed his mind after objecting to the way the announcement was handled, in particular the Taliban's use of its formal name "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in opening an office in Doha.

Shafiullah Nooristani, a member of the High Peace Council, told The Associated Press that the use of the name violated agreements Karzai's government had made with the U.S. and caused diplomatic issues for Afghanistan.

"The agreement was that the office should open only ? and only ? for negotiations, not as a political entity like a parallel institution to the Afghan Embassy which is already there," Nooristan said.

In an attempt at damage control, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said late Wednesday that the Taliban had violated an agreement with them to call the office the "Political Bureau of the Taliban Afghan in Doha." It was not clear from the official Qatar News Agency report, however, if the Taliban would be forced to change the name.

Karzai also suspended talks with on a new U.S.-Afghan security deal that would allow some American troops to remain in the country after the international combat mission ends in 2014 to protest the fact that his government was being left out of the initial process.

The twin statements came despite an olive branch from Barack Obama to Karzai, with the U.S. president telling reporters during a visit to Berlin that "ultimately we're going to need to see Afghans talking to Afghans."

Obama said later the U.S. had anticipated "there were going to be some areas of friction, to put it mildly, in getting this thing off the ground. That's not surprising. They've been fighting there for a long time" and mistrust is rampant. Obama said it was important to pursue a parallel track toward reconciliation even as the fighting continues, and it would up to the Afghan people whether that effort ultimately bears fruit.

Violence also cast a pall over the talks, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for a rocket attack on the Bagram Air Base that killed four American soldiers.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgents fired two rockets into the base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, late Tuesday. American officials confirmed the base had come under attack by indirect fire, a term used for mortar shells or rockets, and that four U.S. troops were killed.

Also Tuesday, five Afghan police officers were killed at a security outpost in Helmand province by five of their comrades, officials said, the latest in a string of so-called "insider attacks" that have shaken the confidence of the nascent Afghan security forces. Local official Mohammad Fahim Mosazai said the five officers had only been on the local force for three months. He blamed the killings on Taliban infiltrators, saying the gunmen escaped with the victims' weapons.

The U.S. and Taliban announced Tuesday they would begin preliminary peace talks in Qatar without the Afghan government. The expectation had been that Karzai's High Peace Council would follow up with its own talks with the Taliban a few days later but that now seems unlikely, at least in the near term.

Nooristan, however, held out hope it would still be possible.

"We are working to solve these contradictions and fix these problems and act based on the agreements we had before so the High Peace Council can go there and start the peace talks," he said.

The Taliban have for years refused to speak to the Afghan government or the Peace Council, set up by Karzai three years ago, because they considered them to be American "puppets." Taliban representatives have instead talked to American and other Western officials in Doha and other places, mostly in Europe.

Obama cautioned that the peace talks with the Taliban would be neither quick nor easy but that their opening a political office in Doha was an "important first step toward reconciliation" between the Islamic militants and the government of Afghanistan.

Following meetings with high-ranking Afghan politicians and Peace Council executive members, however, Karzai's office said they had decided not to participate at all unless their conditions were met.

"Until the peace process is completely Afghan, the High Peace Council will neither attend nor participate in the talks in Qatar," Karzai's office said in a statement.

He also said talks could not begin until the Taliban end violent attacks in Afghanistan.

"The continuation of the Taliban's message of fighting and bloodshed during the opening of this office totally contradicts the pursuit of peace," his office said.

Earlier Wednesday, Karzai said negotiations with the U.S. on what American and coalition security forces will remain in the country after 2014 have been put on hold in the wake of the announcement by the Taliban and the U.S. The deal was expected to define the future of American troops here and pave way for billions in aid to the Afghan economy. It was not immediately clear how long Karzai planned to suspend the negotiations on the agreement.

"In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently underway in Kabul between Afghan and U.S. delegations on the bilateral security agreement," Karzai's statement said.

Karzai's deputy spokesman Fayeq Wahedi told The Associated Press that among other things, the president opposed the Taliban's use of its formal name "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in opening the office ? the name it had used when it ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.

"We had already communicated that to the U.S.," he said.

In setting up the office, the Taliban said they were willing to use all legal means to end what they called the occupation of Afghanistan ? but did not say they would immediately stop fighting. They also did not specifically mention talks with Karzai or his representatives.

The NATO-led force is to be cut in half by the end of the year, and by the end of 2014 all combat troops are to leave and be replaced ? contingent on Afghan governmental approval ? by a smaller force that would be on hand for training and advising.

The U.S. has not yet said how many troops will remain in Afghanistan, but it is thought that it would be a force made up of about 9,000 Americans and 6,000 allies.

Six years ago, Afghan security forces numbered fewer than 40,000, and have grown to about 352,000 today. But questions remain if they are good enough to fight alone.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-leader-backs-away-taliban-talks-133211624.html

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Contribution of particulate matter from air pollution to forest decline

June 19, 2013 ? Air pollution is related to forest decline and also appears to attack the protecting wax on tree leaves and needles. Bonn University scientists have now discovered a responsible mechanism: particulate matter salt compounds that become deliquescent because of humidity and form a wick-like structure that removes water from leaves and promotes dehydration. These results are published in "Environmental Pollution."

Nature conservationists call it "lingering illness," and the latest report on the North-Rhine Westphalian forest conditions confirms ongoing damage. Bonn University scientists have now shown that salt deposits on leaves may decrease the drought tolerance of trees, thereby contributing to forest decline. "Our study reveals that so-called wax degradation on pine needles may develop from deposited particulate matter," says Dr. J?rgen Burkhardt from the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation. Wax helps to protect leaves and needles from water loss.

It has long been known that air pollutants accelerate wax ageing and that "wax degradation" is closely related to forest damage. "Wax degradation was addressed by many studies in the 1980s and 90s, but sound explanations for both the degradation mechanism and the high correlation with forest damage have yet been missing," Dr. Burkhardt reports. Previous approaches assumed chemical reactions for wax degradation, whereas the present study reveals physical reasons. "The deposition of hygroscopic salts is capable of decreasing the drought tolerance of trees," co-author Shyam Pariyar says.

Accelerated dehydration of needles treated with salt solutions

The scientists sprayed salt solutions on Scots pine needles and recorded their weight loss after abscission. The needles treated with salt solutions dried out significantly faster than the untreated control needles. Using an electron microscope, the scientists observed the salts becoming deliquescent and moving into the stomata of the needles. Stomata are tiny pores used by plants to take up carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and release water vapor and oxygen. The deliquescent salts form very thin liquid connections between the surface and interior of the needle, and water is removed from the needles by these wick-like structures. Because the plants are unable to counteract this removal of water, the plants dehydrate more rapidly. Therefore, polluted air containing large amounts of particulate matter may directly reduce the drought tolerance of trees. Simultaneously, the deliquescent salts make wax appear "degraded." "This newly described mechanism was not considered in earlier explanations of Central European forest decline," states Dr. Burkhardt.

Conceivable aggravation of forest decline by climate change

A new type of electron microscope enabled the observation of particle deliquescence and dynamics under changing air humidity. In addition, a long-lasting scientific paradigm had excluded any aqueous movement into the stomata, and only recently had Bonn University scientists confirmed its existence.

Recently, regional forest damage has been reported in the western USA and other parts of the world. A relationship with increasing climate change-type drought has been proposed, but the newly discovered mechanism involving particulate matter might contribute to the regional forest damage. "Particularly because air concentrations of hygroscopic particles have largely increased within the last decades," says Dr. Burkhardt.

The study was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the European Union (project ?CLAIRE).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/EtnZ-S9ROrs/130619101438.htm

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Seismic gap outside of Istanbul

Public release date: 18-Jun-2013
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Contact: F. Ossing
ossing@gfz-potsdam.de
49-331-288-1040
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Is this where the expected Marmara earthquake will originate from?

Earthquake researchers have now identified a 30 kilometers long and ten kilometers deep area along the North Anatolian fault zone just south of Istanbul that could be the starting point for a strong earthquake. The group of seismologists including Professor Marco Bohnhoff of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences reported in the current online issue of the scientific journal Nature (Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2999) that this potential earthquake source is only 15 to 20 kilometers from the historic city center of Istanbul.

The Istanbul-Marmara region of northwestern Turkey with a population of more than 15 million faces a high probability of being exposed to an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. To better understand the processes taking place before a strong earthquake at a critically pressurized fault zone, a seismic monitoring network was built on the Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara off Istanbul under the auspices of the Potsdam Helmholtz Centre GFZ together with the Kandilli Earthquake Observatory in Istanbul. The Princes Islands offer the only opportunity to monitor the seismic zone running below the seafloor from a distance of few kilometers.

The now available data allow the scientists around GFZ researcher Marco Bohnhoff to come to the conclusion that the area is locked in depth in front of the historic city of Istanbul: "The block we identified reaches ten kilometers deep along the fault zone and has displayed no seismic activity since measurements began over four years ago. This could be an indication that the expected Marmara earthquake could originate there", says Bohnhoff.

This is also supported by the fact that the fracture zone of the last strong earthquake in the region, in 1999, ended precisely in this area - probably at the same structure, which has been impeding the progressive shift of the Anatolian plate in the south against the Eurasian plate in the north since 1766 and building up pressure. The results are also being compared with findings from other fault zones, such as the San Andreas Fault in California, to better understand the physical processes before an earthquake.

Currently, the GFZ is intensifying its activity to monitor the earthquake zone in front of Istanbul. Together with the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey AFAD, several 300 meter deep holes are currently being drilled around the eastern Marmara Sea, into which highly sensitive borehole seismometers will be placed. With this Geophysical borehole Observatory at the North Anatolian Fault GONAF, measurement accuracy and detection threshold for microearthquakes are improved many times over. In addition, the new data also provide insights on the expected ground motion in the event of an earthquake in the region. Bohnhoff: "Earthquake prediction is scientifically impossible. But studies such as this provide a way to better characterize earthquakes in advance in terms of location, magnitude and rupture progression, and therefore allow a better assessment of damage risk."

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Marco Bohnhoff, Fatih Bulut, Georg Dresen, Peter E. Malin, Tuna Eken, Mustafa Aktar: "An earthquake gap south of Istanbul", Nature, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2999, 18.06.2013)

Images in printable resolution: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/portal/gfz/Public+Relations/M40-Bildarchiv/Bildergalerie+Erdbebengefahr+Tuerkei

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Public release date: 18-Jun-2013
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Contact: F. Ossing
ossing@gfz-potsdam.de
49-331-288-1040
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Is this where the expected Marmara earthquake will originate from?

Earthquake researchers have now identified a 30 kilometers long and ten kilometers deep area along the North Anatolian fault zone just south of Istanbul that could be the starting point for a strong earthquake. The group of seismologists including Professor Marco Bohnhoff of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences reported in the current online issue of the scientific journal Nature (Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2999) that this potential earthquake source is only 15 to 20 kilometers from the historic city center of Istanbul.

The Istanbul-Marmara region of northwestern Turkey with a population of more than 15 million faces a high probability of being exposed to an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. To better understand the processes taking place before a strong earthquake at a critically pressurized fault zone, a seismic monitoring network was built on the Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara off Istanbul under the auspices of the Potsdam Helmholtz Centre GFZ together with the Kandilli Earthquake Observatory in Istanbul. The Princes Islands offer the only opportunity to monitor the seismic zone running below the seafloor from a distance of few kilometers.

The now available data allow the scientists around GFZ researcher Marco Bohnhoff to come to the conclusion that the area is locked in depth in front of the historic city of Istanbul: "The block we identified reaches ten kilometers deep along the fault zone and has displayed no seismic activity since measurements began over four years ago. This could be an indication that the expected Marmara earthquake could originate there", says Bohnhoff.

This is also supported by the fact that the fracture zone of the last strong earthquake in the region, in 1999, ended precisely in this area - probably at the same structure, which has been impeding the progressive shift of the Anatolian plate in the south against the Eurasian plate in the north since 1766 and building up pressure. The results are also being compared with findings from other fault zones, such as the San Andreas Fault in California, to better understand the physical processes before an earthquake.

Currently, the GFZ is intensifying its activity to monitor the earthquake zone in front of Istanbul. Together with the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey AFAD, several 300 meter deep holes are currently being drilled around the eastern Marmara Sea, into which highly sensitive borehole seismometers will be placed. With this Geophysical borehole Observatory at the North Anatolian Fault GONAF, measurement accuracy and detection threshold for microearthquakes are improved many times over. In addition, the new data also provide insights on the expected ground motion in the event of an earthquake in the region. Bohnhoff: "Earthquake prediction is scientifically impossible. But studies such as this provide a way to better characterize earthquakes in advance in terms of location, magnitude and rupture progression, and therefore allow a better assessment of damage risk."

###

Marco Bohnhoff, Fatih Bulut, Georg Dresen, Peter E. Malin, Tuna Eken, Mustafa Aktar: "An earthquake gap south of Istanbul", Nature, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2999, 18.06.2013)

Images in printable resolution: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/portal/gfz/Public+Relations/M40-Bildarchiv/Bildergalerie+Erdbebengefahr+Tuerkei

---

[ | 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/2013-06/haog-sgo061813.php

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