iBuyPower Valkyrie CZ-17

The iBuypower Valkyrie CZ-17 ($1,399 list) is a large, purpose-built performance laptop, and there's no doubt that you're carrying a lot of performance hardware with you. It's a true desktop replacement, with upgradable components, space for multiple hard drives, and a huge 1080p screen. If you need a big performance system for not a lot of money, relatively, then consider the Valkyrie a good choice for under $1,500.

Design and Features
The Valkyrie is an unsubtle, unapologetic gaming laptop. As such it is a huge mass of black plastic with lots of lighted accents including the keyboard, lid, speakers, and the system's trackpad. The system measures about 2.5-by-17-by-12 inches (HWD) and tips the scales at 8.56 pounds. This is a beefy system that will strain your back or the airline tray if you deign to travel with the system. This is larger in every dimension compared with the Editors' Choice for entry-level gaming laptops, the MSI GX60 1AC-021US ($1,299 list), but in the grand scheme of things they're both par for the course when it comes to moderately priced enthusiast gaming rigs.

The Valkyrie comes with a full-size backlit keyboard with numeric keypad. Like the MSI GX60, the Valkyrie has a few quirks: The Start button is to the right of the space bar instead of the left, and the placement of the numeric keypad pushes the arrow keys to the left in relation to the return key. Both will make you retrain your muscle memory if you're used to standard desktop keyboards. The Valkyrie has a much shallower trackpad than the MSI GX60, which will make the trackpad easier to use during day-to-day use and with Windows 8 commands. However, the trackpad isn't one of the better ones out there, registering mouse movements while we typed on the keyboard. Most gamers would be more comfortable using a USB 2.0 mouse for gaming sessions and day to day.

The Valkyrie has a decent selection of I/O ports, including two USB 2.0 ports on the right for accessories like mice and three USB 3.0 ports on the left for hard drives. The other ports include a SD card reader, multiple audio jacks, a Kensington lock port, Ethernet (with Killer brand network card), VGA, eSATA, and a HDMI port. It lacks newer ports like Thunderbolt and mini-DisplayPort, but the system has a good collection of current and legacy ports.

One neat feature is that the WASD keys and arrow keys are outlined in red, since these are the most important keys for many FPS, RPG, and MMO games. It would have been nice if iBuypower had incorporated a way to darken the other keys not in use or light the WASD keys in a different color, like on the Samsung Series 7 Gamer ($1,899). In any case, the system is easy to use in a darkened room, especially if you have a flashy mouse. There's a row of soft-touch keys above the keyboard, which let you eject the DVD drive, turn off the display, put the system into airline mode, toggle the keyboard lighting, open the media player, or activate the cooler boost. Cooler boost will help in a hot room, but the switch seemed to simply make the system louder in our air-conditioned lab.

In addition to the Gigabit Ethernet, the Valkyrie comes with 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, but no 5GHz bands. The system comes with a DVD burner, though we wish our review unit had the optional Blu-ray drive for 1080p movies. Movies and games displayed smoothly on the system's 17.3-inch 1,920 by 1,080 display. While they're in the same price range, the Valkyrie CZ-17 and MSI GX60 give you a lot more screen real estate than the ultraportable Editors' Choice Maingear Pulse 11 ($1,349) and it's Clevo-chassis brothers, the AVADirect Clevo W110ER ($1129) and former EC Eurocom Monster 1.0 ($1,605). The trio of systems that are built on the Clevo W110ER chassis are limited to a 1,366-by-768 resolution on their 11-inch screens. The Clevo W110ER siblings and the tablet-based Razer Edge Pro ($1,450) are made more for portability, and the MSI GX60 and this Valkyrie CZ-17 are built around their huge screens. At least all of these choices, including the Valkyrie, come with removable or supplemental batteries, bucking the trend to make everything sealed and non-serviceable.

Speaking of serviceability, the Valkyrie CZ-17 comes with a service manual to guide users through CPU, memory, and hard drive upgrades. The system comes with three free slots for up to 32GB of memory total, and you won't have to remove the included 8GB in our test unit. There's even space for a second internal hard drive, which means you can upgrade to a SSD later. Note that if you do open your Valkyrie CZ-17 for service, you will void the one-year warranty.

Performance
The Valkyrie CZ-17 comes with an Intel Core i7-3630QM processor, 8GB of memory, 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 675MX discrete graphics, and a 7,200rpm 750GB SATA hard drive. All of these components work together to give the system excellent marks on the multimedia tests like Handbrake, CineBench, and Photoshop CS6. In fact, the system runs through the Handbrake and Photoshop tests as fast as many high-end multimedia desktop PCs.

However, the biggest disappointment with the system was its 3D gaming scores. While it's smoothly playable at the medium quality settings at 1,366-by-768 resolution, the games we tested (Aliens vs. Predator and Heaven) were just under the 30fps (frames per second) barrier, denoting that you will occasionally see some stuttered frames as we did during testing. The EC for entry-level gaming laptops, the MSI GX60 1AC-02US was 10 frames per second faster on both tests. Those extra 10 FPS yield smoother gameplay. Unfortunately for the iBuypower, that means that the MSI GX60 is a much better gaming platform, even though the Valkyrie topped the MSI GX60 by a good measure on the multimedia and day-to-day performance tests. The MSI simply has a better AMD Radeon HD 7970M GPU, while the iBuypower has a much faster Intel Core i7 CPU. Those are the tradeoffs you need to consider at this price point.

The Valkyrie system has a turbo function key combination (FN-F1), which ran an on screen animation to tell us that it was active. The manual describes it as Over-Clocking. However, when we tried running Aliens vs. Predator again with both the turbo and cooler boost functions active the score on the high quality test only went up by 0.2 FPS. This is a negligible improvement, and as such we'd describe these settings as all show, no go.

The Valkyrie's quad-core processor, large screen, and other battery-draining features kept the system to a scant 2 hours 19 minutes on our battery rundown test. That's not even enough to finish the first of the Lord of the Rings movie, the Fellowship of the Ring. Basically, this means that you really need to keep close to a power outlet when you use the Valkyrie.

The iBuypower Valkyrie CZ-17 is a great multimedia laptop with some gaming prowess. The big problem is that for $100 less, the EC-winning MSI GX60 has much better gaming performance. And, if I'm not mistaken, that's why you would buy a humungous gaming rig over a thin and light ultrabook with excellent multimedia performance. Thus the GX60 holds on to its Editors' Choice award, but consider the Valkyrie if you're going to spend a lot of time in between gaming sessions editing photos, videos, and the like.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the iBuypower Valkyrie CZ-17 with several other laptops side by side.

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Two police officers shot as Italian government sworn in

ROME (Reuters) - Two police officers were shot and wounded outside the Italian prime minister's office on Sunday as Enrico Letta's new government was being sworn in around a kilometer (mile) away at the president's palace, police and witnesses said.

One man, described by witnesses as well dressed, was arrested at the scene of the shooting where a crowd was waiting for Letta to arrive but it was initially unclear whether the attack was linked to the launch of the new government.

"We still have to understand who he is. He's been caught," Antonio Catricala, a cabinet undersecretary in the former government told reporters.

A police official told Reuters that the man was from the southern region of Calabria and having fired several shots at the two police on duty outside the prime minister's office, he shouted "shoot me, shoot me" to other police nearby.

Letta and his new cabinet were due to come to the prime minister's office to accept a transfer of power from the outgoing government of Mario Monti at 1 p.m. (7:00 a.m. EDT).

One of the officers was shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, a police official said. Another was hit in the leg and was less seriously hurt. Italian media said a passer-by had also been injured but not seriously.

Five or six shots were fired and police had found five spent shells from a small caliber weapon, another official said.

Letta, 46, the moderate deputy head of the Democratic Party (PD), on Saturday ended two months of political stalemate since February's inconclusive election when he brought together former political rivals in a broad coalition government.

Letta's ministers stepped forward one by one to swear allegiance to the republic before President Giorgio Napolitano, who personally picked Letta as prime minister and had a central role in the choice of his cabinet team.

(Reporting by Gavin Jones, Antonella Cinelli, Roberto Landucci; Editing by James Mackenzie and Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-government-under-enrico-letta-sworn-094720376.html

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Bomb kills 6 at a Pakistani politician's office

PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) ? A police officer says a bomb blast has killed six supporters of a Pakistani Shiite politician at his campaign office in country's northwest.

Mujtaba Hussain says the Sunday attack on the outskirts of Kohat city also wounded around 10 people.

He says the politician, Syed Noor Akbar, is running as an independent candidate for a national assembly seat in general elections to be held on May 11.

No one has claimed responsibility. The politician was not present at the office.

Hussain says Akbar belongs to Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslim sect, adding that this could have been a motive for the attack.

Pakistani Taliban in recent weeks have attacked candidates from secular, left-leaning parties, killing several people over their liberal views and support for army offensives against militants.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-kills-6-pakistani-politicians-office-071358215.html

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Britain's PM says concerned about claims of torture in UAE

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron is concerned about allegations that three Britons charged with drug offences in Dubai have been tortured, his office said on Sunday, two days before the president of the United Arab Emirates visits Britain.

Grant Cameron, Karl Williams and Suneet Jeerh have been held in the UAE since taking a holiday there in July 2012. Police said they had found a form of synthetic cannabis in their hire car. They are due to hear a verdict in their case on Monday.

All three pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of illegal drugs and said police had subjected them to beatings and threatened them with guns, allegations the police deny.

In a letter to Reprieve, a London-based legal charity which campaigns for prisoner rights, Cameron said Britain had repeatedly raised concerns about the torture allegations with the UAE, saying the authorities' failure to organize a full medical examination of the men was worrisome.

"We continue to press for evidence of a full, impartial and independent investigation," Cameron wrote.

Cameron's intervention on the eve of a state visit to Britain by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan was welcomed by Reprieve, which has been supporting the three men, but is likely to irritate the oil-rich Gulf state.

Britain is hoping the visit will boost trade between the two countries, which has in the past focused on defense contracts.

The UAE leader will arrive on Tuesday and be hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, hold a meeting with Cameron, and have tea with the Prince of Wales. He will be accompanied by a high-level government delegation during the two-day visit.

Reprieve said the case raised troubling questions.

"The prime minister's concern is welcome, but it is hard to see how a state visit is appropriate for the president of a country which has tortured our own citizens," Kate Higham, one of its investigators, said in a statement.

"At the very least, the mistreatment of these three men must be a central issue for discussion during the visit."

There is zero tolerance for drug-related offences in the United Arab Emirates, a regional business hub and tourist destination where millions of expatriates live and work. There are severe penalties for drug trafficking and possession.

Last year, a British citizen and a Syrian were sentenced to death by a UAE court after they were convicted of selling drugs to an undercover policeman. The sentences were later commuted to four years in prison.

The mother of one of the men told BBC TV her son's arrest had been a "horror story" and that she hoped the UAE leader would intervene.

"I sincerely hope that he is able to look into the case and show a level of clemency to the boys because, sincerely, that's what needs to happen in this case and hopefully, once he's made aware, he can make that happen," said Tracy Cameron. She said lawyers believed her son was likely to be found guilty of at least one charge and could be jailed for 15 years or longer.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britains-pm-says-concerned-claims-torture-uae-163222711.html

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Iraq pulls licenses of Al-Jazeera, other channels

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi authorities announced Sunday that they had revoked the operating licenses of pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera and nine other satellite TV channels, alleging that they are promoting a sectarian agenda as the country grapples with a wave of violence.

The move, effective immediately, comes as Baghdad tries to quell rising unrest in the country following clashes at a protest camp last week.

More than 180 people have been killed in gunbattles with security forces and other attacks since the unrest began Tuesday. The violence follows more than four months of largely peaceful protests by Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority against the Shiite-dominated government.

Al-Jazeera, based in the small, energy-rich Gulf nation of Qatar, said it was "astonished" by the move.

"We cover all sides of the stories in Iraq, and have done for many years. The fact that so many channels have been hit all at once though suggests this is an indiscriminate decision," it said in an emailed statement.

"We urge the authorities to uphold freedom for the media to report the important stories taking place in Iraq," it added.

The channel has aggressively covered the "Arab Spring" uprisings across the region, and has broadcast extensively on the civil war in neighboring Syria. Qatar itself is a harsh critic of the Syrian regime and a leading backer of the rebels, and is accused by many supporters of Iraq's Shiite-led government of backing protests in Iraq too.

Iraq and other governments across the Middle East have temporarily shut down Al-Jazeera's offices in the past because they were disgruntled by its coverage.

The other nine channels whose licenses were suspended by Iraq's Communications and Media Commission are al-Sharqiya and al-Sharqiya News, which frequently criticize the government, and seven smaller local channels ? Salahuddin, Fallujah, Taghyeer, Baghdad, Babiliya, Anwar 2 and al-Gharbiya.

In a statement posted on its website, the commission blamed the banned stations for the escalation of a sectarian backdrop that is fueling the violence that followed the deadly clashes at the Hawija camp on Tuesday.

Iraq's media commission accused the stations of misleading and exaggerated reports, as well as of airing "clear calls for disorder and for launching retaliatory criminal attacks against security forces." It also blamed the stations for promoting "banned terrorist organizations who committed crimes against Iraqi people."

The decree states that if the 10 stations try to work on Iraqi territory, they will face legal action from security forces.

Signals of their broadcasts, however, remained available to Iraqi viewers Sunday.

The decision came as Iraq's embattled Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, made a rare appearance at an official funeral for five soldiers killed by gunmen in Iraq's Sunni-dominated Anbar province Saturday. Local police in the province said the soldiers were killed in a gunbattle after their vehicle was stopped.

The United States Embassy condemned the killing, and described the soldiers as unarmed.

"There is no justification for this crime, and we welcome the calls by local and national leaders in Anbar Province to bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible," it said in a statement Thursday evening.

The Embassy last week raised concerns about the clashes in Hawija, without assigning blame for the incident. In its latest statements, it again called for an urgent and transparent investigation.

Authorities gave protest organizers a 24-deadline to hand over the gunmen behind the killing or face a "firm response." No one has been handed over and the deadline passed.

Wrapped in Iraqi flags, the five caskets were loaded on military trucks next to flower bouquets, as soldiers held pictures of the deceased and grieved families gathered outside the Defense Ministry building in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"We hope that the chieftains of tribes and key figures in Anbar province who carried out an honorable role and condemned the act will exert their utmost efforts to hand over the killers," Ministry spokesman General Mohammed al-Askari said. "Certainly we support the peaceful solutions of wise men," al-Askari added.

___

AP Writer Adam Schreck in Baghdad contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-pulls-licenses-al-jazeera-other-channels-111934533.html

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Residents concerned about health effects of hydrofracking

Apr. 28, 2013 ? s living in areas near natural gas operations, also known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are concerned their illnesses may be a result of nearby drilling operations. Twenty-two percent of the participants in a small pilot study surmise that hydrofracking may be the cause of such health concerns as sinus problems, sleeping difficulties, and gastrointestinal problems.

The findings will be presented at the American Occupational Health Conference on April 28 in Orlando, Florida.

Scientists collected responses from 72 adults visiting a primary care physician's office in the hydrofracking-heavy area of Bradford County, Pa., who volunteered to complete an investigator-faciliated survey.

"Almost a quarter of participants consider natural gas operations to be a contributor to their health issues, indicating that there is clearly a concern among residents that should be addressed," says Poun? Saberi, MD, MPH, the study's principal investigator with the department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She is also an investigator with the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at Penn.

Within these 22 percent of responders, 13 percent viewed drilling to be the cause of their current health complaints and 9 percent were concerned that future health problems can be caused by natural gas operations. The previous health complaints by participants were thought to be anecdotal in nature as they were individual cases reported publicly only by popular media.

"What is significant about this study is that the prevalence of impressions about medical symptoms attributed to natural gas operations had not been previously solicited in Pennsylvania. This survey indicates that there is a larger group of people with health concerns than originally assumed," explains Saberi.

The survey included questions about 29 health symptoms, including those previously anecdotally reported by other residents and workers in other areas where drilling occurs. Some patient medical records were also reviewed to compare reported symptoms with those that had been previously documented. "Sinus problems, sleeping difficulties, and gastrointestinal problems were the most common symptoms reported on the Bradford survey," notes Saberi. "Of the few studied charts, there were no one-to-one correlations between the participants' reported symptoms on the survey and the presenting symptom to the medical provider in the records. This raises the possibility of communication gaps between residents with concerns and the medical community and needs further exploration. An opportunity exists to educate shale region communities and workers to report, as well as health care providers to document, the attributed symptoms as precisely as possible."

The CEET team also mapped the addresses of patients who agreed to provide them in relation to drilling to determine if proximity to drilling operations may relate to health problems.

"We hope this pilot study will guide the development of future epidemiological studies to determine whether health effects in communities in which natural gas operations are occurring is associated with air, water, and food-shed exposures and will provide a basis for health care provider education," says CEET director Trevor Penning, PhD. "The goal of science should be to protect the public and the environment before harm occurs; not simply to treat it after the damage has been done."

The Bradford County health concerns pilot study is one of three hydrofracking studies currently underway at CEET, one of 20 Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers (EHSCC) in the US, funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

CEET is also partnering with Columbia University's EHSCC to measure water quality and billable health outcomes in areas with and without hydrofracking on the Pennsylvania-New York border. Using a new mapping tool developed by Harvard University, CEET and Harvard researchers are creating maps of drilling sites, air quality, water quality, and health effects to locate possible associations. Initial studies will focus on Pennsylvania. Results of both studies are expected in early 2014. These collaborative studies are funded by pilot project funds from the respective EHSCCs, which in turn obtain their financial support from NIEHS.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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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/top_news/~3/IVvBTUbZKJQ/130428230423.htm

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Bangladesh building collapse death toll nears 350

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? Police in Bangladesh took five people into custody in connection with the collapse of a shoddily-constructed building that killed at least 348 people, as rescue workers admitted Saturday that voices of survivors are getting weaker after four days of being pinned under the increasingly unstable rubble.

Still, in a boost for the rescuers, 29 survivors were pulled out Saturday, said army spokesman Shahinul Islam.

Most of the victims were crushed by massive blocks of concrete and mortar falling on them when the 8-story structure came down on Wednesday morning -- a time many of the garment factories in the building were packed with workers. It was the worst tragedy to hit Bangladesh's massive garment industry, and focused attention on the poor working conditions of the employees who toil for $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.

Among those arrested Saturday were two owners of a garment factory, who a Dhaka court ruled can be questioned by police for 12 days without charges being filed. Also detained are two government engineers and the wife of the building owner, who is on the run, in an attempt to force him to surrender. Violent public protests continued sporadically in Dhaka and spread to the southeastern city of Chittagong where several vehicles were set on fire.

Working round-the-clock since Wednesday through heat and a thunderstorm, rescuers on Saturday finally reached the ground floor from the top of the mountainous rubble through 25 narrow holes they have drilled, said Brig. Gen. Ali Ahmed Khan, the head of the fire services.

"We are still getting response from survivors though they are becoming weaker slowly," he said, adding that rescue workers were now able to see cars that were parked at the ground level.

"The building is very vulnerable. Any time the floors could collapse. We are performing an impossible task, but we are glad that we are able to rescue so many survivors." He said the operations will continue overnight as chances fade of people surviving for a fifth day with possibly grievous injuries and the heat.

The building site was a hive of frenzied activity all day with soldiers, police and medical workers in lab coats working non-stop. Rescuers passed bottles of water and small cylinders of oxygen up a ladder leaning against the side of the building to be given to possible survivors inside.

They used bare hands and shovels, passing chunks of brick and concrete down a human chain away from the collapsed structure. On the ground, mixed in the debris were several pairs of pink cotton pants, a mud-covered navy blue sock and a pile of green uncut fabric.

Nearby, Abul Basar wept as he awaited news of his wife, who worked in one of the garment factories. "My son says that his mother will come back some day. She must return! " he cried.

Every once in a while a badly decomposed body would be brought out, covered in cloth and plastic, to a spot where ambulances were parked. Workers furiously sprayed air-fresheners on the bodies to cover the stench, leaving the air thick with the smell of death and cheap perfume.

The bodies were kept at a makeshift morgue at the nearby Adharchandra High School before being handed over to families. Many people milled around at the school, waving photos of their missing loved ones.

Junior local government minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak put the death toll at 348. Military spokesman Shahinul Islam said 2,429 survivors were accounted for, including 29 who were pulled out Saturday.

Junior Home Minister Shamsul Haque Tuku said police had arrested Bazlus Samad, managing director of New Wave Apparels Ltd., and Mahmudur Rahman Tapash, the company chairman. He told reporters that police had also detained the wife of Mohammed Sohel Rana, the owner of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, for questioning. The top three floors of the eight-story building were illegally constructed.

Authorities are still searching for Rana, a local politician, who hasn't been seen publicly since the building collapsed. Negligence cases have been filed against him. Police in Bangladesh often detain relatives of missing suspects as a way to pressure them to surrender.

Dhaka police superintendent Habibur Rahman said Rana was a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front. His arrest, and that of the factory owners, was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.

Police said they detained for questioning two engineers working for the Savar municipality, Imtemam Hossain and Alam Ali. They did not say what role they played in approving the design of the building but it was clear that the arrests amounted to a widening crackdown. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside it when it collapsed.

Police say they ordered an evacuation of the building on Tuesday after cracks in Rana Plaza were found, but the factories ignored the order and were operating when it collapsed the next day. Video before the collapse shows cracks in walls, with apparent attempts at repair. It also shows columns missing chunks of concrete and police talking to building operators.

Officials said soon after the collapse that numerous construction regulations had been violated.

The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. Since then, very little has changed in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands.

Bangladesh's garment industry was the third largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is the equivalent of about $38 a month.

Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.

The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.

Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.

Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.

___

AP writers Chris Blake and Gillian Wong in Dhaka, Stephen Wright in Bangkok, Kay Johnson in Mumbai, Matthew Pennington in Washington and AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-building-collapse-death-toll-nears-350-134516592.html

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Iran says it's ready to resume talks with world powers

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran is ready to resume talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program and awaits word from the European Union on timing and details, Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator said on Thursday.

Ali Bagheri, in an interview with Reuters in Geneva, said Iran needed 20 percent-enriched uranium for its Tehran research reactor and four others being built, and was continuing to convert some of its stockpile into reactor fuel.

"We are waiting for Lady Ashton to call Dr. Jalili, and Dr. Jalili is obviously ready to take the call," Bagheri said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton oversees diplomatic contacts with Iran on behalf of the the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany. Saeed Jalili is Iran's chief negotiator.

"We are waiting to see whether Lady Ashton's response is going to cover the time and venue of another round of negotiations, or will she limit her response to just discussing the substantive side of things," Bagheri said.

In Brussels, a spokesman for Ashton said she had consulted with foreign ministers on how to move forward the process. "Arrangements for a phone call with Dr. Jalili have already been made in order to discuss next steps," Michael Mann said.

The six powers and Iran failed in talks in the Kazakh capital Almaty this month to end the deadlock in a decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, prolonging a standoff that could yet spiral into a new Middle East war.

At those talks, the six asked Iran to suspend its most sensitive uranium-enrichment work in return for modest relief from international sanctions, an offer Tehran did not accept.

Iran's presidential election is set for June 14, leading to speculation on whether the next round of talks will take place before the poll. "We are ready to continue with the talks ... We have no limits as far as time is concerned," Bagheri said.

Israel, which has long hinted at possible air strikes to deny its arch-foe any means to make a nuclear bomb, suggested this week it would be patient before taking any military action.

Iran says its nuclear work is entirely peaceful and that it is only refining uranium to power a planned network of nuclear energy plants and for medical purposes. Critics accuse it of covertly seeking the means to produce nuclear weapons.

"NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN"

Bagheri, referring to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said: "I need to point out the Islamic Republic of Iran uranium enrichment activities to the level of 20 percent is under strict agency monitoring. Obviously activities that are being monitored by the agency are no cause for concern."

An IAEA report in February said Iran had in December resumed converting to oxide powder some of the uranium it has enriched to 20 percent fissile concentration, for the production of reactor fuel.

That helped restrain the growth of Iran's higher-grade uranium stockpile, a development that could buy more time for diplomacy.

In a potentially encouraging sign for the powers, Bagheri said on Thursday this conversion was continuing.

"We produce 20 percent uranium to provide fuel for Tehran's research reactor, also four other reactors in four different parts of Iran which are under construction. With this in mind, plans have been drawn up to convert 20 percent uranium to 20 percent oxide," Bagheri said.

"This is very much going according to plan. This activity is ongoing," he added.

The IAEA said on Tuesday it would hold a meeting with Iran on May 15 aimed at enabling its inspectors to resume a stalled investigation into suspected nuclear bomb research, the 10th round of talks since early 2012.

Bagheri said Iran was already cooperating fully with the IAEA but was willing to discuss requests "which go beyond our obligations" under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"We are very much hoping in this round of talks between my country and the agency, we no longer have such meddling and sabotaging of talks," he said.

"Experience tells us that usually certain Western parties, including the U.S., whenever we are close to striking a bargain, reaching an agreement, they interfere."

The IAEA-Iran talks are separate from, but have an important bearing on, the negotiations between Tehran and world powers. Iran's refusal to curb sensitive nuclear activity with both civilian and military applications and its lack of openness with IAEA inspectors have drawn U.N. and Western sanctions.

"Once we reach an agreement with the agency, we also expect the (six powers), because of such cooperation with the agency which goes well beyond our obligations, to lift a number of sanctions. Unilateral sanctions which are illegal," Bagheri said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna and Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-ready-resume-talks-world-powers-awaits-call-144538391.html

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Mom of 4 kids killed in SC fire faces more charges

Hope Hawkins is seen in a Thursday, April 25, 2013 photo provided by the Darlington County, S.C. Jail. Hawkins, the mother of four children killed in an accidental mobile home fire,was charged Friday, April 26, 2013 in their deaths, authorities said.Hawkins, 21, faces four counts each of homicide by child abuse and unlawful conduct toward a child, for leaving her children home alone when an accidental fire started in the kitchen on Wednesday, April 24. (AP Photo/Darlington County (SC) Jail)

Hope Hawkins is seen in a Thursday, April 25, 2013 photo provided by the Darlington County, S.C. Jail. Hawkins, the mother of four children killed in an accidental mobile home fire,was charged Friday, April 26, 2013 in their deaths, authorities said.Hawkins, 21, faces four counts each of homicide by child abuse and unlawful conduct toward a child, for leaving her children home alone when an accidental fire started in the kitchen on Wednesday, April 24. (AP Photo/Darlington County (SC) Jail)

Jessica Long brings balloons to leave in front of a mobile home where four children were killed in a fire the day before in Hartsville, S.C., Thursday, April 25, 2013. Authorities say smoke inhalation killed 10-month-old twin sisters Myasia and Kynasia Hawkins and their brothers, 2-year-old Camaron Mason and 4-year-old Delonta Dixon. Hawkins daughter is the children's mother. (AP Photo/The Morning News, Gavin Jackson) LOCAL TV OUT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ? The mother of four South Carolina children killed in an accidental mobile home fire was charged Friday in their deaths, authorities said.

Hope Hawkins, 21, faces four counts each of homicide by child abuse and unlawful conduct toward a child, Darlington County Sheriff's Capt. Andy Locklair said. State and local authorities found no signs of arson and think the fire started Wednesday by accident in the kitchen, though exactly what sparked the blaze had not been determined.

Hawkins was not home when firefighters arrived, and showed up moments later, Locklair said. The woman has given conflicting stories about where she was. No one else was in the home at the time.

"It's almost like she may have arrived at the same time as the fire apparatus," Locklair said.

Locklair didn't know if Hawkins had an attorney. She is scheduled to have a bond hearing later Friday.

It took firefighters less than 10 minutes to put out the fire in Hartsville, a city of some 8,000 people that's about 60 miles east of the state capital of Columbia.

Authorities said 10-month-old sisters Myasia and Kynasia Hawkins and their brothers, 2-year-old Camaron Mason and 4-year-old Delonta Dixon, died of smoke inhalation. All four children were found in a bedroom next to the kitchen, Locklair said.

Hawkins could face life in prison if she's convicted of homicide by child abuse, a charge that stems from leaving the children at home alone. The unlawful conduct toward a child charges carry possible sentences of up to 10 years each.

Authorities were still going through records to determine if either law enforcement or social services officials had been called to the home before, Locklair said.

___

Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-26-Fatal%20Mobile%20Home%20Fire/id-1314f0e1d42f4952aacde15ee5dbb34f

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New guidelines did not change mammography rates

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The proportion of women undergoing screening for breast cancer every year did not change after a government-backed panel said women in their 40s shouldn't have routine mammograms, according to a new study.

In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that women aged 50 to 74 have a mammogram every other year and said for younger women, screening should be an individual decision by each woman with her doctor.

That's because the benefits of screening only slightly outweigh harms from overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment and any potential benefits are smaller in younger women, according to Dr. Michael LeFevre, co-vice chair of the Task Force.

LeFevre, who is also a family medicine doctor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, said he didn't find the new results all that surprising.

"It would be optimistic to think the lack of change reflects the decision by many women in their 40s to go ahead and proceed with mammography with a clear understanding of the benefits as well as the risks," he told Reuters Health.

"I think it is a bit more likely that physicians continue to recommend mammography without necessarily discussing the specifics of what the science tells us," said LeFevre, who wasn't involved in the new study. "It's always easier to do than to discuss."

Dr. Lydia Pace from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and her colleagues analyzed nationally-representative surveys of close to 28,000 women, age 40 and older, from 2005, 2008 and 2011. Among other things, women were asked if they'd had a mammogram in the past year.

Overall, there was no clear change in screening rates after the USPSTF's recommendation: 53.6 percent of all women said they'd recently had a mammogram in 2011, compared to 51.9 percent in 2008.

Mammography rates did not change in any age group. Among women in their 40s, 47.5 percent had been recently screened as of 2011, compared to 46.1 percent in 2008.

Some professional organizations, such as The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, still recommend regular screening for women as young as 40 - and surveys suggest many doctors favor that approach.

"When there are conflicting versions of guidelines, providers may err on the side of screening," said David Howard, a health policy researcher from Emory University in Atlanta who has studied mammography.

One of the issues is that both individual women and guideline-making groups may weigh the benefits and harms of mammography differently, researchers said.

Some may accept any risk for a small chance of catching breast cancer early, whereas others will weigh the harms of infection and bleeding from biopsies, for example, more heavily.

Howard said that over time, there may be a shift toward fewer women in their 40s having mammograms.

Because the guidelines are relatively recent, "A lot of women in that age group turned 40 with the expectation that they would get a mammogram every year or every other year," Howard, who also wasn't part of the new research team, told Reuters Health.

"I think it's a harder thing to stop screening if you've already started," Pace agreed. "That could account for some of the lack of decline."

However, she told Reuters Health, "Given how widespread the publicity was about these recommendations, I think most providers were certainly aware of them, and we would have expected to see some changes we didn't see."

Researchers said women in their 40s should be fully informed about the benefits and risks of screening before deciding to have a mammogram.

"For younger women," Pace said, "the decision to undertake mammography screening is one that is not necessarily taken lightly."

"Be aware that there is some benefit - the benefit is quite small, there are some risks and that a personal decision is absolutely to be honored," LeFevre said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/ZJe4hP Cancer, online April 19, 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guidelines-did-not-change-mammography-rates-155355369.html

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Japan regulator probes U.S. asset manager over missing funds - source

By Noriyuki Hirata

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's securities watchdog is investigating a U.S.-based investment company on suspicion that it falsified performance reports and could not account for the bulk of its $1.4 billion in disclosed funds, a source with knowledge of the probe said.

The Securities Exchange and Surveillance Commission (SESC) will recommend penalties against Las Vegas-based MRI International Inc as early as Friday, the source said. That would be followed by an order form its parent agency, the Financial Services Agency, to freeze the asset manager's assets, the source said.

No one at MRI could be reached for comment. At a press conference earlier on Friday, Finance Minister Taro Aso said he was aware of media reports about the MRI investigation but could not comment further.

Japan has tightened regulatory checks of asset managers after a scandal over a cover-up of losses by Tokyo-based money manager AIJ Investment Advisors last year that involved $1.3 billion of pension fund money.

According to its website, MRI International had collected 136.5 billion yen ($1.4 billion) from about 8,700 Japanese clients.

MRI advertised annual returns of 6 to 8.5 percent by investing in products collecting on medical claims in the United States.

(Reporting by Noriyuki Hirata; Writing by Nathan Layne; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-regulator-probes-u-asset-manager-over-missing-021115964--sector.html

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Italy president names centre-left's Letta as new premier

By Barry Moody and Paolo Biondi

ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday asked center-left politician Enrico Letta to form a new government, signaling the end of a damaging two-month stalemate since elections in the euro zone's third largest economy in February.

Letta, from the Democratic Party (PD), said he would start talks to form a broad-based coalition on Thursday. It is likely to go to parliament for a vote of confidence by early next week.

The prime minister designate is expected to select a group of ministers, likely to be a mixture of politicians and technocrats, under the guidance of Napolitano, whose own unprecedented re-election last weekend opened the way for an end to the crisis.

The new government will be backed primarily by Letta's center-left and the center-right People of Freedom party (PDL) led by Silvio Berlusconi, which had previously failed to reach a deal following inconclusive elections two months ago.

Rivalries between the parties as well as rifts within the PD, which fell short of a viable parliamentary majority in February's vote, could still block an accord. But formation of a government after such a long impasse would signal that Italy is finally ready to make a start on much-needed reforms.

Accepting his mandate, Letta said he would not form a government "at all costs", warning that the warring parties must make compromises or he would withdraw.

He said Italy faced an untenable situation and the government must provide answers on jobs, poverty and the crisis facing small businesses in a recession that now matches the longest since World War II.

European Union economic policies had been too focused on austerity instead of growth, he said, and Italy's parliamentary system must be reformed together with the widely criticized electoral law that has virtually guaranteed stalemate.

The bespectacled and balding Letta is an urbane moderate who speaks fluent English and at 46 would be one of Italy's youngest prime ministers, representing a generational change from the era of Berlusconi and outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti.

A staunch pro-European and a member of the now-defunct Christian Democrat party in his youth, he is likely to be welcomed by foreign governments and markets and can also work with the center-right.

He is the nephew of Berlusconi's longtime chief of staff, Gianni Letta, and has numerous political friends on all sides of parliament, which could help ease the fractious climate since the election.

MARKET RELIEF

As Letta met close aides, the names being circulated as likely future ministers suggested a government broadly in line with Monti's outgoing technocrat administration but including senior politicians such as PDL party secretary Angelino Alfano.

Bank of Italy director general Fabrizio Saccomanni was seen as a possible economy minister and Enrico Giovannini, head of statistics agency ISTAT, may take over the industry ministry. Monti himself could return as foreign minister, helping to maintain the international contacts he cultivated as premier.

Investors had already reacted with relief to the prospect of an end to the intractable crisis, with Italy's two-year borrowing costs on Wednesday tumbling to their lowest level since the start of European monetary union in 1999.

However, the country's problems are not over, with significant differences remaining between left and right over economic policy and the center-left in disarray after letting slip an election it had once seemed sure to win.

These difficulties were put into sharp focus even before Letta was chosen, when Renato Brunetta, a senior member of Berlusconi's PDL party, said they would only support a government committed to repealing, and refunding, a housing tax introduced by Monti.

The center-left agrees only to a partial reduction of the tax and many economists say cuts in the levy would leave a gaping hole in Italy's public accounts.

Letta will also have to make sure he has his own party behind him. Factional infighting forced Pier Luigi Bersani to resign as party leader last week and there is significant internal opposition to any accord with Berlusconi.

Matteo Renzi, the ambitious young mayor of Florence seen as a potential leader of the center-left, could also prove a difficult partner to integrate.

Berlusconi gave a firm promise to Napolitano that he would support a coalition government in which his party shared power with the PD but favorable opinion polls may tempt him at some point to seek new elections.

Napolitano, who reluctantly agreed to serve another term as president, has made clear, however, that he will not accept endless squabbling between the parties and has threatened to resign if they do not unite behind economic and constitutional reforms.

(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie and Steve Scherer; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-president-set-announce-choice-prime-minister-054722232.html

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Whether human or hyena, there's safety in numbers

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Humans, when alone, see threats as closer than they actually are. But mix in people from a close group, and that misperception disappears.

In other words, there's safety in numbers, according to a new study by two Michigan State University scholars. Their research provides the first evidence that people's visual biases change when surrounded by members of their own group.

"Having one's group or posse around actually changes the perceived seriousness of the threat," said Joseph Cesario, lead author on the study and assistant professor of psychology. "In that situation, they don't see the threat quite so closely because they have their people around to support them in responding to the threat.'"

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study appears online in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

The study was inspired by MSU zoologist Kay Holekamp's research with wild hyenas in Kenya. Holekamp and her team played recordings of hyenas from other parts of Africa and found the hyenas listening to the voices were more likely to approach the source of the sound when they were in groups and more likely to flee when they were alone.

The research by Cesario and Carlos Navarrete, associate professor of psychology, was similar, only it dealt with humans and perceived distance of potential threats. In two separate studies of more than 300 participants, the researchers showed that people who are alone judge threats as much closer than when they are in a group.

Like most social species, hyenas and humans have developed adaptations over time to better deal with predatory threats.

"This is about evolutionarily significant threats, such as members of a different group coming to steal resources or attack you," Cesario said. "The cost of not responding soon enough to a threat like that could be death or serious injury. So seeing that threat as closer allows you to respond with enough time to spare. What our work shows is that having your group or coalition around you makes that kind of early responding less necessary."

The study dealt with racial bias and group threats. The participants, who were white, were assessed on how negative they were toward blacks and then asked to judge the distance to a black community, both when the participants were alone and as part of a group.

Cesario said the perceived threat can take many forms ? be it from other races, communities or even students from another university, as one nonrelated study showed.

"So this line of research has little to do with the makeup of the group ? whether it's members of another race or students from another college ? but more to do with the question of, 'Are you with me or not?'"

###

Michigan State University: http://www.newsroom.msu.edu

Thanks to Michigan State University 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.

This press release has been viewed 44 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127888/Whether_human_or_hyena__there_s_safety_in_numbers

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Is Facebook Targeting Links From TheBlaze as Spam? | TheBlaze ...

It has come to the attention of TheBlaze that some readers or sharers of our stories on Facebook have been experiencing problems.

In several cases, trying to access the link to TheBlaze?s story about Michelle Obama allegedly visiting the Saudi National in the hospital after the Boston bombings gave Facebook users warnings that the site could be spam.

In other cases, posting links ? any links ? from TheBlaze on Facebook resulted in a pop-up requiring a CAPTCHA code be filled out.

After filling out the code, the link would post just fine. Links from other media outlets though did not require a CAPTCHA code though.

Searching public posts on Facebook about TheBlaze revealed many were talking about potential problems and even calling it censorship:

TheBlaze contacted Facebook for comment on what might be causing this issue and learned from a Facebook Policy Communications?spokesperson that posts from TheBlaze ?were triggering a false positive on our spam systems,? which were recently re-calibrated.

The spokesperson said links from TheBlaze on Facebook should be working fine now.

Were Facebook users being unfair for jumping to censorship conclusions? TheBlaze has reported cases in the past where conservative bloggers have claimed Facebook unfairly shut down their accounts or penalized them for posts. Several pages for gun stores were recently shut down for violating Facebook?s policies as well. Conservatives have even launched their own social network as an alternative to Facebook.

But according to Facebook, in the case of TheBlaze?s links they have an explanation.

?

Related:

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/25/is-facebook-targeting-links-from-theblaze-as-spam/

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Food Writer Mark Bittman to Speak at Brooklyn Benefit - Brownstoner

Mark Bittman will speak on ?The Future of Food? in Downtown Brooklyn Tuesday.?The $20 admission will benefit the Brooklyn Food Coalition, which describes itself as a ?grassroots organization dedicated to the vision of a just and sustainable food system in Brooklyn.??The event is co-sponsored by Long Island University?s Public Health Program. Bittman is a New York Times cooking and food policy columnist. His latest book is ?VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6 PM To Lose Weight and Restore Your Health?For Good.? The event takes place at 6 pm?April 30 at?Long Island University at the Schwartz Athletic Center at 1 University Plaza.?For more details or to buy tickets, go here.

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Source: http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2013/04/food-writer-mark-bittman-to-speak-at-brooklyn-benefit/

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Take a Toxic Tour of Baltimore's Scariest Environmental Problems

Lead in the soil, brownfields, illegal dumping sites, rat infestations ? these aren?t the sorts of thing you?d see on your average city tour, but they?re the highlights of ?urban environmentalist? Glenn Ross?s Toxic Tour of Baltimore. And he makes sure the windows are open. ?I put it right up in their face ? they?ve got to smell it, taste it, the whole nine yards,? he told Andrea Appleton, writing for Grist. ?And at the end of the tour, they get it.?

Believe it or not, we have rats to thank for Ross?s current environmental justice activism:?? ?I started organizing around the rat problem in the area,? he told an interviewer in 2006. ?I joined the neighborhood association, got very active, joined a number of different boards, and I realized that there was a lot going on in this area that residents weren?t aware of. As a new homeowner and a single parent for twenty-six years, I?m the type of guy who needs to know what?s going on in my community. And this is what really started me and got me involved in becoming a community advocate. So when people ask me how I got started I can honestly tell them a rat.?

After taking one of Ross?s bus rides through Baltimore?s urban public health disasters, it?s impossible not to realize that they are concentrated in poor, primarily black neighborhoods ? what amounts to environmental racism, according to Ross. Living in toxic environments often leads to health issues, and the neighborhoods his tour travels through have higher rates of asthma, cancer, and lead poisoning.

Ross?s tours are primarily conducted for local college students, school groups, and churces, with the intent of showing them how environmental destruction wreaks havoc on a very local, very personal level. See that stormwater runoff gushing off roofs and feeding into the Harbor? See that pile of toxic construction scraps? How about that black sludge dripping down storm drains? All these things help contribute to the fact that Baltimoreans in some neighborhood have life expectancies that are up to twenty years longer than their neighbors, Appleton points out.

You can get a sense of Ross?s tours in the YouTube clip below ? toxic smells not included:

Source: http://www.baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/take-a-toxic-tour-of-baltimores-scariest-environmental-problems/

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Psychology of War Helps to Explain Atrocities (preview)

See Inside

The peculiar psychology of war likely holds answers for avoiding future atrocities

By Roland Weierstall , Maggie Schauer and Thomas Elbert

Image: BRIAN STAUFFER

In Brief

For the Love of Battle

• Appetitive aggression, in which violent excesses are experienced as sensually pleasurable, may occur in war.
• Humans may have evolved an instinct to hunt that arises in combat situations, leading to this apparently pathological behavior.
• The traumas of war change the psyche of soldiers. A deeper understanding of the psychology of violence can help civilians and fighters process such challenging experiences together.

?I really tortured others. At night we went out and raided villages. We killed whomever we saw. If we happened to see a woman, we raped her.... Fighting is all there is in the life of a man. Whenever I hear guns go off, I want nothing more than to fight. This thirst lies deep within me.?

The young man who is describing these unbelievable horrors has a gaunt but friendly face. We are in Goma, a bleak city at the eastern edge of the civil war taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our team of German researchers from the University of Konstanz and an aid organization, called vivo international, sits shivering in our encampment.

This article was originally published with the title An Appetite for Aggression.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c008e25a5f58927f8b8c5a8068930964

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ECB poised to cut rates to help recession-hit euro zone

By Paul Carrel and Andreas Framke

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is closer to lowering interest rates than at any time since it last cut them in July 2012 and is likely to shave a quarter-point off at its policy meeting next week.

Senior sources involved in the deliberations say momentum is building for action to help a euro zone economy which has slipped back into recession, a move that some policymakers wanted to take earlier this year.

Inflation sliding well below target gives the bank scope to act and a senior ECB official said even Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, the most hawkish member of the 23-man Governing Council, had an open mind.

After the bank's last monetary policy meeting on April 4, ECB President Mario Draghi signaled that a cut could come soon when he said that the bank stood "ready to act" to boost the recession-hit euro zone economy.

"Now we are free," one senior ECB official said. "For the next meeting in Bratislava, I would look at rates, certainly."

The ECB's Governing Council meets in Bratislava next Thursday - one of two annual policy meetings outside Frankfurt. The 23-man body rarely moves rates when it meets off-base, but the bleak economic picture strengthens the case for action.

Any decision on whether to act in May will depend on the economic data. Benoit Coeure, a dovish member of the ECB's core group of policymakers, said on Monday the bank had not seen data pick up since its last rate decision.

The ECB expects a gradual recovery in the euro zone in the second half of this year, "subject to downside risks".

Figures indicating the economy's performance will be weaker than that scenario would strengthen the case for a rate cut.

"If they confirm (the scenario), does that mean we don't cut the rate? Not necessarily," the senior official said.

Policymakers believe a rate cut would have limited impact on the economy but would at least show they are supporting it. A decision to cut could well not be unanimously supported.

The case for easier policy was boosted by Tuesday's purchasing managers' indexes, which the ECB watches closely, which showed a sharp drop in German business activity in April.

That marked the fourth time the German Composite PMI has fallen below 50, into contractionary territory, since September 2008. On the previous three occasions, an ECB rate cut has followed immediately after publication of the final data, or the month after.

Germany's closely-watched Ifo business climate index tallied with the PMI on Wednesday, falling more than expected in April. An ECB survey also showed demand for corporate and household loans in the euro zone plummeted in the first three months of the year.

Any interest rate move is likely to focus on the ECB's main refinancing rate, with a cut in the deposit rate the ECB pays banks for holding their cash overnight far less likely.

The main refinancing rate already stands at a record low of 0.75 percent, though this is higher than the policy rates of the other major global central banks.

"The German slowdown, the very low inflation rates we have in Germany, the latest decline in the oil price - all these factors are weighing on inflation and should make even the Bundesbank a little less opposed to a rate cut," said Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz, though he expected the ECB to hold off for now.

LIQUIDITY GUIDANCE

Cutting the refinancing rate would help banks in the euro zone periphery that borrow sizeable amounts from the ECB, though the impact this would have on their lending activity is unclear.

"It's not clear whether banks would use the full 25 basis points to lower their lending rates, or take it as profit and use that to build up their capital," said one expert familiar with the ECB's operations. "I think either would be positive."

Draghi said after the ECB's April 4 meeting it was essential that the "resilience of banks (be) strengthened where needed".

While a rate cut would show the ECB is ready to support the economy, the bank believes it would have only limited impact because its ultra-low interest rates are not reaching all euro zone economies evenly, with lenders in crisis-hit countries passing on higher funding costs to their customers.

Related to this, ECB policymakers are looking at their liquidity provision to banks. The ECB flooded banks with more than 1 trillion euros in two long-term refinancing operations (LTROs) in late 2011 and early 2012 to avert a credit crunch.

Banks have already repaid early more than a quarter of the funds - a development the ECB sees as positive as it shows they are ready to stand on their own feet.

Repayment of these LTROs has driven down excess liquidity in the euro zone - the level of cash beyond what banks need to cover their day-to-day operations - to some 330 billion euros from above 600 billion at the start of this year.

But in the event of another shock to the financial system it is unclear exactly what the ECB would do.

Draghi said on April 4 "our monetary policy stance will remain accommodative for as long as needed" and that banks would be provided with unlimited liquidity "for as long as necessary".

Though the ECB is unlikely to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve's example and give guidance on rates -- the Fed expects to keep them near zero until unemployment drops to 6.5 percent or so -- it could flesh out its commitment on providing liquidity to try to boost banks' confidence.

"Maybe we could be a little more specific on 'as long as needed'," the senior ECB official said.

(Additional reporting by John O'Donnell, editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-ecb-poised-cut-rates-help-recession-hit-083130459--business.html

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RI gas prices down another 9 cents

SYDNEY, April 24 (Reuters) - Australia named the following squad for the Ashes test series against England in July and August. Squad: Michael Clarke (captain), Brad Haddin (vice captain), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, Chris Rogers, Matthew Wade, Nathan Lyon, James Faulkner, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Jackson Bird (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ri-gas-prices-down-another-165941375.html

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Artist ?Nanofactures? Paintings Using a 3D Printer and Molecular Modelling Software

What does art look like in the age of "hacked matter," when anyone can print anything on-demand? That's the question Shane Hope, a New York-based visual artist, is trying to answer. In "Nano-Nonobjective-Oriented Ontographs and Qubit-Built Quilts," his new show at Chelsea's Winkleman Gallery, Hope is showing a collection of amazingly intricate paintings, each containing thousands of individual 3D-printed models. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/46jLV8qoIIw/artist-nanofactures-paintings-using-a-3d-printer-and-molecular-modelling-software

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Reddit publicly apologizes 'for the pain' caused to family of falsely accused student

Rosa Golijan , NBC News ? ? ? 15 hrs.

The family of Sunil Tripathi endured much emotional pain as speculation swirled that the still-missing Brown University student was a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. Users of the Reddit social news site fanned the flames ? and now they, along with the site's leadership, are apologizing to Tripathi's family.

"We have apologized privately to the family of missing college student Sunil Tripathi, as have various users and moderators," Erik Martin, Reddit's general manager, wrote in a blog post on Monday. He continued:

We want to take this opportunity to apologize publicly for the pain they have had to endure. We hope that this painful event will be channeled into something positive and the increased awareness will lead to Sunil's quick and safe return home. We encourage everyone to join and show your support to the Tripathi family and their search.

Martin noted that while "some of the activity on Reddit fueled online witch hunts and dangerous speculation which spiraled into very negative consequences for innocent parties," the crowd-sleuthing began "with noble intentions."

He also pointed out that the importance of Reddit's long-standing policy "to not allow personal information on [the] site" was emphasized in this situation. "We hoped that the crowdsourced search for new information would not spark exactly this type of witch hunt," Martin writes. "We were wrong. The search for the bombers bore less resemblance to the types of vindictive Internet witch hunts our no-personal-information rule was originally written for, but the outcome was no different."

Reddit users weren't alone in spreading false accusations about Tripathi. On Twitter, various high-followeraccountstweeted that police scanners identified Tripathi as a suspect. Around the same time, Facebook users posted accusations on a page set up to help locate the missing student.

Shortly after 2 a.m. ET on Friday, NBC News, via correspondent Pete Williams, reported on Twitter that "speculation that one of the bombing suspects is a missing student is not correct," citing law enforcement sources. By Friday afternoon, Martin quietly sent an initial apology to the Tripathi family via email. The family shared this email with NBC News at the time.

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2b0940dc/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Ctechnolog0Creddit0Epublicly0Eapologizes0Epain0Ecaused0Efamily0Efalsely0Eaccused0Estudent0E6C9553154/story01.htm

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