Sunday, March 31, 2013

Kenya Supreme Court upholds election result

(AP) ? Kenya's Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president, ending an election season that riveted the nation amid fears of a repeat of the 2007-08 postelection violence.

Outside the Supreme Court, police fired tear gas at Odinga supporters, the second time that has happened in this post-election period.

Outbreaks of violence by angry Odinga supporters were reported in some Nairobi slums and truckloads of police were called in to quell the demonstrations, according to reports on a police radio heard by an Associated Press reporter.

But jubilant Kenyatta supporters flooded the streets of downtown Nairobi, honking horns, blowing the noisy plastic horns known as a vuvuzelas and chanting.

Saturday's verdict ? following a drawn-out court case that raised tensions across the nation ? means that Kenyatta will be sworn in as president on April 9. He will become the second sitting president in Africa to face charges at the International Criminal Court. Kenyatta and Deputy President-elect William Ruto both face charges that they helped orchestrate the 2007-08 postelection violence in which more than 1,000 people died. Both deny the charges. Ruto's trial is set to begin in late May; Kenyatta's is to start in July. Kenyatta has promised to report to The Hague.

Lawyers for challenger Raila Odinga, who finished second, had argued before the Supreme Court that the election was marred by irregularities and that Kenyatta did not win enough votes to avoid a runoff election.

According to official results, Kenyatta won 50.07 percent of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff election against Odinga, who said his case before the Supreme Court would put Kenya's democracy on trial.

But the Supreme Court's unanimous verdict, read out by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, said the election was "conducted in compliance with the constitution and the law" and that Kenyatta and Ruto were legally elected.

"It is the decision of the court that (Kenyatta and Ruto) were validly elected," the ruling said. The reasons behind the judges' decision were not given Saturday. The chief justice said a detailed judgment would be delivered within two weeks.

Unlike after the 2007 election, which degenerated into tribe-on-tribe violence that killed more than 1000 people, this time Odinga said he had faith in the judiciary's ability to give him a fair hearing. Odinga, who said he would respect the court's decision whether it favored him or not, was set to address reporters in Nairobi later on Saturday. As Kenyatta's supporters celebrated outside the court premises, police fired tear gas to break up a crowd of Odinga supporters.

The court's ruling ends days of anxiety since March 9, when Kenyatta was declared the winner of the March 4 vote that many described as the most complex in Kenya's history. More than 12 million Kenyans participated in the election. Some observers had expected a low registration of voters because of apathy following the 2007-08 violence, but hyped up campaigns by Kenyatta, Odinga and other presidential candidates led to the highest registration in the country ever. Kenya's electoral commission registered 14.3 million people.

Election day, though, did not go as planned. An electronic voter ID system intended to prevent fraud failed for reasons yet to be explained by the electoral commission. Vote officials instead used manual voter rolls.

After the polls closed, results were to be sent electronically to Nairobi, where officials would quickly tabulate a preliminary vote count in order to maximize transparency after rigging accusations following the 2007 vote. But that system failed, too. Election officials have indicated that computer servers overloaded but have yet to fully explain the problem.

As the early count system was still being used, election results showed more than 330,000 rejected ballots, an unusually high number. But after the count resumed with the arrival in Nairobi of manual tallies, the number of rejected ballots was greatly reduced, and the election commission said the computer was mistakenly multiplying the number of rejected ballots by a factor of eight.

Odinga's lawyers told the Supreme Court this week that the switch from electronic voter identification to manual voter roll was stage managed to allow inflation of Kenyatta's votes to take him past the 50 percent threshold. That accusation was vehemently denied by the electoral commission and Kenyatta's legal team.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-30-Kenya-Election/id-330cb187161f4b54acc3e8be566ec0a6

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Quotes on Phil Ramone from luminaries

In this Oct. 6, 2008 photo, Arts Advocacy Award honoree Phil Ramone attends the 2008 National Arts Awards presented by Americans For The Arts at Cipriani's 42nd St. in New York. Ramone, the Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer whose platinum touch included recordings with Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon, has died. He was 72. His son, Matt Ramone, confirmed the death. Phil Ramone was among the most honored and successful music producers in history, winning 14 Grammys and working with many of the top artists of his era. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

In this Oct. 6, 2008 photo, Arts Advocacy Award honoree Phil Ramone attends the 2008 National Arts Awards presented by Americans For The Arts at Cipriani's 42nd St. in New York. Ramone, the Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer whose platinum touch included recordings with Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon, has died. He was 72. His son, Matt Ramone, confirmed the death. Phil Ramone was among the most honored and successful music producers in history, winning 14 Grammys and working with many of the top artists of his era. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

(AP) ? Reactions to Phil Ramone's death:

___

"A friend, a musical genius and the most lovable person. It was a thrill for me to have worked with Phil, and I have so many wonderful memories." ? Elton John

___

"I'm so saddened to learn of Phil's passing. We first worked together in 1967 when I did a free concert in Central Park. His brilliance at capturing sound was immediately evident. Later we worked together on the film 'A Star Is Born' where Phil was able to record me singing live, including 'Evergreen.' In the next decade we worked on the soundtrack to 'Yentl' and many other recordings. Phil had impeccable musical taste, great ears and the most gentle way of bringing out the best in all the artists he worked with. The monumental recordings he produced will endure for all time." ? Barbra Streisand

___

"There aren't enough words to express how heavy my heart is with the news of the passing of my dear friend and brother Phil Ramone. From Andy Williams and Lesley Gore, to Billy Eckstine, Paul Simon and all of my albums including 'Soul Bossa Nova' and 'Q's Jook Joint,' Phil was a collaborator in the studio and a friend in life for more than 50 years. Whenever I was in the studio recording, if Phil wasn't there by my side it would seem like one ingredient was missing. Today we lost one of the true musicians, innovators and geniuses of the record industry. His immense talents were only surpassed by the gigantic size of his heart, and I will miss him terribly." ? Quincy Jones

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"I always thought of Phil Ramone as the most talented guy in my band. He was the guy that no one ever ever saw onstage. He was with me as long as any of the musicians I ever played with ? longer than most. So much of my music was shaped by him and brought to fruition by him. I have lost a dear friend ? and my greatest mentor. The music world lost a giant today." ? Billy Joel

___

What a heartbreak to all of us who knew him and loved him. What a great man, what a kind spirit, such an incredible producer. The star of stars behind the stars. Phil will be missed always. Truly a tragic loss for us on earth but what a wonderful blessing for heaven. As I've always said, 'Love you Phil, God Bless.'" ? Stevie Wonder

___

"Phil Ramone was a lovely person and a very gifted musician and producer. It was a joy to have him work with me in the recording studio on so many projects as he had a wonderful sense of humor and a deep love of music. Phil had the admiration and respect from everyone in the entertainment industry and his passing is a great loss." ? Tony Bennett

___

"Phil was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. It was an honor to know him. He was an angel and I loved him dearly. This is a profound loss for the music world, for all the lives he touched and of course for his family ... Rest in Peace, Phil ... You will be deeply missed and never forgotten." ? Michael Buble

___

As co-founder of A&R Recordings, he was a pioneer of audio technological developments ? creating new innovations for the compact disc and surround sound technologies. His impressive career spanned all genres in which he collaborated with a diverse group of artists including Tony Bennett, Etta James, Paul McCartney, Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and numerous others ... Our industry has lost an immense talent and a true visionary and genius, and The Academy has lost a very dear and close friend." ? Neil Portnow, President/CEO, The Recording Academy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-30-Phil%20Ramone-Reax/id-2db7771e4cc24bdcb0f70b8ec6133ea6

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John Arthur Nunes: New Beginnings and Second Chances

This post is part of the Global Mom Relay. Every time you share this blog, $5 will go to women and girls around the world. Scroll to the bottom to find out more.

No matter who you are or where you're from, at some point in your life someone has given you a second chance. And that second chance created opportunities to learn, grow and live a better life.

In developing communities around the world, women farmers work to feed their families, communities and countries. Yet many don't own the land they farm and don't have access to credit and other essential resources to be successful.

2013-03-30-JohnNunesscreenshot.jpg

When we give them a second chance -- by investing in them with training, credit and other resources -- we make powerful strides to fight both hunger and the poverty that fuels it.

Easter is a day of new starts and new beginnings -- of realizing we are worthy of second chances because God loves us. Let us celebrate second chances by investing in women, who are powerful agents of global change.

I invite you to watch this video as I recount the story of a second chance given to me by two gracious women in my life. Then I invite you to share this video and unlock a donation that supports, empowers and affirms the vital role of women everywhere. Happy Easter!

Each time you share this Global Mom Relay piece on Facebook, Twitter, or Email, or donate $5 or more through clicking on the above graphic, a $5 donation (up to $62,500 per week or $125,000 every two weeks) will be donated by Johnson & Johnson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. Join us by sharing it forward and unlock the potential for women and children around the globe. For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org/globalmomrelay. The United Nations Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, BabyCenter, The Huffington Post, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation created the Global Mom Relay, a first-of-its-kind virtual relay with a goal of improving the lives of women and children around the globe.

?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-arthur-nunes/and-god-made-a-farmer_b_2985935.html

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Look out squirrels: Leopards are new backyard wildlife

Friday, March 29, 2013

A new study led by WCS-India scientist Vidya Athreaya finds that certain landscapes of western India completely devoid of wilderness and with high human populations are crawling with a different kind of backyard wildlife: leopards.

The study found as many as five adult large carnivores, including leopards and striped hyenas, per 100 square kilometers (38 square miles), a density never before reported in a human-dominated landscape.

The study, called "Big Cats in Our Backyards," appeared in the March 6 edition of the journal PLoS One. Authors include: Vidya Athreya and Ullas Karanth of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bangalore; Morten Odden of Hedmark University College; John D. C. Linnell of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research; and Jagdish Krishnaswamy of Asoka Trust for Research of Ecology in the Environment.

Using camera traps, the authors founds that leopards often ranged close to houses at night though remained largely undetected by the public. Despite this close proximity between leopards and people, there are few instances of attacks in this region. The authors also photographed rusty spotted cat, small Indian civet, Indian fox, jungle cat, jackal, mongoose ? and a variety of people from the local communities. The research took place in western Maharashtra, India.

"Human attacks by leopards were rare despite a potentially volatile situation considering that the leopard has been involved in serious conflict, including human deaths in adjoining areas," said big cat expert Ullas Karanth of WCS. "The results of our work push the frontiers of our understanding of the adaptability of both humans and wildlife to each other's presence."

The authors say that the findings show that conservationists must look outside of protected areas for a more holistic approach to safeguarding wildlife in a variety of landscapes.

###

Wildlife Conservation Society: http://www.wcs.org

Thanks to Wildlife Conservation Society for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127521/Look_out_squirrels__Leopards_are_new_backyard_wildlife

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Obama takes jobs pitch to Miami

President Barack Obama will promote a plan to create jobs by attracting private investment in highways and other public works during a visit Friday to a Miami port, the White House said.

The president will flesh out details of his proposals in a speech at the port, which is undergoing $2 billion in upgrades paid for with government and private money. Obama, in the quick trip to South Florida, will try to show that the economy remains his top priority in the midst of high-profile campaigns on immigration reform and gun control.

Among the proposals Obama will call for:

?Higher caps on "private activity bonds" to encourage more private spending on highways and other infrastructure projects. State and local governments use the bonds to attract investment.

?Giving foreign pension funds tax-exempt status when selling U.S. infrastructure, property or real estate assets. U.S. pension funds are generally tax exempt in those circumstances. The administration says some international pension funds cite the tax burden as a reason for not investing in American infrastructure.

?$4 billion in new spending on two infrastructure programs that award loans and grants.

?A renewed call for a $10 billion national "infrastructure bank" ? a proposal from his first term that gained little traction.

The president made private-sector infrastructure investment a key part of the economic agenda he rolled out in his State of the Union address last month. He also called in his address for a "Fix-It-First" program that would spend $40 billion in taxpayer funds on urgent repairs.

Obama's focus on generating more private sector investment underscores the tough road new spending faces on Capitol Hill, where Republican lawmakers often threaten to block additional spending unless it is paid for by tax cuts or other measures.

Any increased spending associated with the proposals Obama was outlining Friday would not add to the deficit, a senior administration official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the plan in advance of Obama's announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official did not detail how the costs would be paid for, saying only that more information would be included in the president's budget.

Obama will release his budget April 10.

???

Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter: http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-pitch-more-jobs-public-142807078.html

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After 55 years, Ohio's Easter Eggshelland comes to an end

By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - After more than 50 years, loyal fans have one last chance to visit the Easter bunny and other Easter-themed mosaics made of thousands of brightly colored eggs on a lawn in an eastern suburb of Cleveland.

The displays have drawn thousands of visitors each year to the sprawling lawn of Betty and Ron Manolio in Lyndhurst, Ohio, but the 55th annual event this year will be the last.

Eggshelland was created by Ron Manolio, 80, who died in August. This final display is dominated by a 16-foot by 15-foot portrait of the man who each year spent months hollowing out and hand-painting anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 eggs. A message below the picture reads "thank you all, and goodbye."

This year, Manolio's children and grandchildren set up the 21,630 eggs in 24 colors in a display entitled "A Labor of Love" in tribute to their grandfather. The egg mosaics depict a 45-foot cross, an Easter bunny and an EGGSHELLAND sign propped up in front of the couple's house.

"Our children did this their entire lives. They thought everyone does this," Betty Manolio told Reuters. But the months it takes to design and two to three weekends for installation are too much for the family to keep up.

Egg mosaics in past years have depicted characters from Sesame Street, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Harry Potter and spring scenes.

Manolio said that because her husband was the creative force behind project, it would be too difficult to continue Eggshelland without him.

"Actually, I was amazed we were doing it for 55 years," she said. "If he (Ron) was still around I think we would do it until we both died. I'm going to miss it next year."

Others will miss Eggshelland too. On a typical day, cars line up on their street and around the corner to catch a glimpse the display that began with a mere 750 eggs saved over the course of a year in 1957. At Eggshelland's peak in the 1970s local police were called to direct traffic.

Local and national media have described Eggshelland as a childhood fantasy land but in truth the phenomena has quite an adult following including a website dedicated to its 55-year history and its creators (http://eggshellandeaster.tripod.com), and a 2004 award-winning documentary on their efforts.

Eggshelland will be up until April 5th. After that, Manolio hasn't yet decided what will happen to the eggs. Previously, they stored the eggs for the year and replaced those that had broken.

"We haven't decided what to do with them. We've gotten some calls," Manolio said. "My grandchildren, of course, told me to put them on eBay."

(Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/55-years-ohios-easter-eggshelland-comes-end-154749492.html

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Today in History

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/today-history-050206767.html

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Friday, March 29, 2013

South Sudan military says 163 killed in clashes

(AP) ? A battle between South Sudan soldiers and rebels allegedly backed by neighboring Sudan killed 163 people, most of them rebels, government officials said Thursday.

South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said government forces also captured an airstrip in the town of Okello, which he claimed the rebels have been using to import most of their military supplies. Okello is in South Sudan's southeast Pibor County, where rebel leader David Yau Yau hails from.

"This airstrip has been used by Khartoum (Sudan) intelligence to transport and supply arms and ammunition to David Yau Yau. Some of the arms that were being dropped by Antanovs were captured, AK-47s. Some are broken, some are in good condition," Aguer said.

He said 143 rebels led by Yau Yau died in the battle Tuesday, and that 20 soldiers were killed and 70 wounded.

South Sudan peacefully broke away from Sudan in 2011 but is still dealing with violence inside its own borders. Military battles and fights between tribes kill dozens of people with alarming frequency. After decades of war with Sudan, the country is flooded with assault rifles.

Death tolls are almost impossible to verify without months of investigations, given how remote the country is and the complete lack of infrastructure. In late December 2011 and early January 2012, cattle raid attacks between tribes killed at least 600 people in Jonglei. A government disarmament campaign afterward collected more than 10,000 weapons.

Aguer said South Sudan's military will continue to "deal with the militia group" and that it would be a matter of time before Yau Yau's rebels are cleared from Pibor County.

South Sudan accuses Sudan of arming the rebellion to block South Sudan's plans to build an oil pipeline eastward through Ethiopia to a port in Djibouti.

A dispute with Sudan over oil transit fees led South Sudan to shut down its oil industry last year and look for alternative ways to transport its crude. The two governments recently reached an agreement that is supposed to restart South Sudanese exports through Sudan's oil pipelines.

Sudan has repeatedly denied having any ties to the rebels. It accuses South Sudan, in turn, of supporting rebels in Sudan's South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Yau Yau first rebelled against South Sudan after he failed to win a parliamentary seat in the 2010 general elections. He accused the ruling party of rigging the vote. In 2011 he accepted an amnesty offer and was promoted to a general. But last year he fled to Sudan and started a rebellion in Pibor against South Sudan's government.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-28-South%20Sudan-Violence/id-4aba64516d54490e91e5d48517b18bd6

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Slovenia will not be the next Cyprus: finance minister

By Marja Novak and Zoran Radosavljevic

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia will not be the next euro member to need a financial rescue as it can afford to wait for lower borrowing costs before issuing new debt, its top economic official said on Friday.

The new center-left government was widely expected to raise money on financial markets shortly after taking office on March 20 but has not done so because Slovenia's borrowing costs have soared due to the turmoil in Cyprus.

Investors are betting that Slovenia, another tiny member of Europe's currency zone with a population of just 2 million, will also need a rescue to keep its banks and economy afloat.

Last week, Cyprus became the fifth euro member to receive financial help from Brussels to survive a regional debt crisis.

While Slovenia's banks are also in trouble the sector is smaller than in Cyprus and it does not share the exposure to toxic Greek debt and Finance Minister Uros Cufer said his country did not need help.

"We will need no bailout this year," he said. "I am calm."

Like many other euro zone members, Slovenia is in recession, with slowing exports to its neighbors and high unemployment.

It last issued a bond in October last year before the conservative government collapsed over a corruption scandal in January and was this month replaced by the new center-left cabinet of Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek.

Analysts were expecting a swift debt issue from the government but yields have jumped. The 2021 bond yield rose to 6.06 percent on Friday, from 5.45 a week ago.

The International Monetary Fund says Slovenia will need to raise at least 3 billion euros this year for the budget, debt repayment and the bank overhaul, and former Prime Minister Janez Jansa has said Slovenia must issue debt by June.

But Cufer said Slovenia, a mountainous country on the Adriatic neighbored by Austria, Italy, Croatia and Hungary, was not in a hurry.

"We do not have to go to the markets in these overheated times due to Cyprus," he said. "We can wait for the markets to calm down, for the investors to feel comfortable about our action and then we will tap the market."

BAD BANK

He said the government would launch a "bad bank" by September that would take over a part of 7 billion euros in bad loans from the three main banks, all of which are in majority or large state ownership.

The banks would then require up to 1 billion euro ($1.28 billion) in a capital injection, which Cufer said Slovenia could raise later this year via a bond, part of the total 3 billion in planned debt issuance for this year.

With successive governments citing national interests, Slovenia was the only ex-communist state that refused to sell its largest lenders ahead of EU entry last decade, creating a toxic combination of political control and poor management in banks that backfired when the economy went downhill in 2009.

The global financial crisis ended years of fast growth and indiscriminate lending that included loans worth a reported 187 million euros from one bank to the largest builder, SCT, which went bankrupt after a collapse in real estate and construction.

Many other highly leveraged local companies went bust, sticking banks with more bad loans that combined amount to about a fifth of the economy.

Cufer, 42, took part in shaping the bad bank under a plan launched by the previous conservative government on the side of the biggest lender, Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), where he worked as head of financial management.

He said the bad bank had already been established and would be fully operational "surely in a few months, definitely by the start of September".

Along with the 1 billion euros to shore up their balance sheets this year, the lenders will swap bad loans in exchange for state-guaranteed bonds issued by the bad bank, he said.

NO BANK SALES SOON

Cufer said the banks were now worth 10-20 percent of their book value, which would be 25 to 50 million euros, and the government would wait until they were recapitalized and markets stabilized before sells them into private hands.

"Now is not the appropriate time to sell. Selling at these prices makes no sense... Even next year is very optimistic," he said.

Cufer tried to stress that unlike Cyprus - where banking assets were seven times larger than the economy, as opposed to about 1.3 times for Slovenia - Ljubjana could handle its problems on its own.

"Slovenia cannot be compared to Cyprus, it is certainly not a tax haven... the basic problem of the banks in Slovenia is too much debt in companies and a lack of capital," he said.

To offset the costs of bank cleanup, the government will step up the sale of state companies rather than pursue the type of austerity measures that have deepened economic downturns in Greece, Portugal and other struggling states.

He declined to name what companies could be privatized but said they would continue with the program of the previous government. He added there would be at least "one major privatization" by the end of the year.

The last government was mulling selling stakes in telecoms operator Telekom Slovenia, insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav and fuel retailer Petrol. ($1 = 0.7788 euros)

(Writing by Zoran Radosavljevic; editing by Michael Winfrey and Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/slovenia-not-next-cyprus-finance-minister-153324055.html

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Twitter's Ad Revenue Is Getting Close To The ... - Business Insider

Twitter moneyGood morning, AdLand. Here's what you need to know today:

According to projections by eMarketer, Twitter's global ad revenue is going to hit $950 million by 2014. It's currently at $582.8 million, so that's quite the leap. Twitter's mobile presence is increasing by the minute, and that will help up ad revenue.

According to?GroupM, online ad spending will hit $113.5 billion worldwide this year. That's 14.6 percent more than last year and accounts for more than 21 percent of advertising budgets.

There's now a Doritos Taco Bell tortilla chip. This branding marriage keeps on getting more and more intense.

New York Magazine?has a new iPad app by The Wonderfactory that uses the platform Mag+.

OK Go?joined up with Saatchi & Saatchi to create a contest that will allow young filmmakers to make the band's next music video for the new track "I'm Not Through."

Kao USA, which makes Jergens and John Frieda products, picked Publicis' Spark and DIgitas to oversee its digital-creative and media accounts.

CP+B?promoted Ryan Nikolaidis to the Associate Director of Physical Computing. He was one of the guys behind the JELL-O Jiggle-It app.

Previously on Business Insider Advertising:

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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/twitters-ad-revenue-is-getting-close-to-the-billion-dollar-mark-the-brief-2013-3

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Cyprus capital controls could be lifted in a month

People wait outside a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

People wait outside a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

People wait outside a Coop bank branch in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Bank branches across the country were being replenished with cash, and are scheduled to open for six hours at noon (10:00 GMT). Systems were frozen pending the official noon opening. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

People wait outside a Coop Bank branch in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

A woman sweeps the ground while people wait outside a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

People are served in a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Banks in Cyprus reopened to customers for the first time in nearly two weeks Thursday, albeit with strict restrictions on transactions, after being closed to prevent people withdrawing all their savings during the country?s acute financial crisis. Large lines had formed outside the banks ahead of the opening of banks for six hours from noon. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

(AP) ? There were long lines of anxious people but no sign of trouble as banks in Cyprus opened Thursday for the first time in nearly two weeks, following an international bailout that sought to prevent the country from financial ruin.

The government has imposed a daily limit on how much people can withdraw to stop a run on its banks ? the first such action in the 14-year history of the euro currency. Cypriots took the measure in their stride, aware that with their economy teetering on the edge of collapse, any undue panic would make the situation worse.

"Everything has been paralyzed. Besides my business being already low, now no one thinks of buying flowers," said flower shop owner Christos Papamichael who was among about 30 people waiting patiently for bank doors to open.

"People think of anything (else) besides flowers, they've got other priorities. But now there's a half an hour delay and we're just waiting here."

The limits on transactions, have been imposed initially for seven days and are being reviewed daily. According to Central Bank assessments, the restrictions are to be fully lifted in a month, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said.

"Gradually, probably in a period of a month, or something according again to the estimates of the Central Bank and according to the developments, the restrictions will be fully lifted," he said.

"If there (are) withdrawals from the banks, they may happen, but let me tell you once again there will be no bank run."

Guards from private security firms reinforced police outside some ATMs and banks in the capital, Nicosia, but no problems controlling crowds was reported.

President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his "warm gratitude and deep appreciation towards the Cypriot people for the maturity and spirit of responsibility they have shown at a critical time for the stability of the Cypriot economy," a statement from his office said.

However, many Cypriots were left frustrated and confused by the closures and controls and concerned about the effect on their businesses and livelihoods.

"No matter how much information there was, things were changing all the time," said Costas Kyprianides, a grocery supplier in Nicosia.

Banks have been shut in Cyprus since March 16 to prevent people from draining their accounts as politicians scrambled to come up with a plan to allow the country to qualify for 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in international bailout loans for its stricken financial sector.

A deal was finally reached in Brussels with other euro countries and the International Monetary Fund early Monday. The country's second-largest bank, Laiki, is to be split up, with its healthy assets being absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus. Savers with more 100,000 euros ($129,000) in either Bank of Cyprus and Laiki will face big losses. At Laiki, those could reach as much as 80 percent of amounts above the 100,000 insured limit; those at Bank of Cyprus are expected to be much lower.

The capital controls include limiting daily cash withdrawals to 300 euros ($383) per person and limiting payments abroad to 5,000 euros ($6,400). No checks can be cashed, although they can be deposited.

Anyone leaving the country, whether Cypriot or a visitor, can only take up to 1,000 euros ($1,290) with them in cash.

The country's general accounting office said pensions and other social security payments, together with salaries for government employees, will be in bank accounts next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Many Cypriots were working out exactly what they could and couldn't do. Television talk shows hosted dial-ins with experts, with viewers' queries ranging from which bank they would repay loans to if their lender was being wound down, how they could pay tuition fees for children studying abroad and handle check payments. People wondered whether they would be able to access their salaries, many of which were due this week.

Some analysts are concerned that, if kept in place long, Cyprus's measures will go against the fundamental principle of the single currency: Free and easy movement of money around the euro's 17 members.

In a statement Thursday, The European Commission said EU member states could restrict financial transactions "in certain circumstances and under strict conditions on grounds of public policy or public security" but added that "the free movement of capital should be reinstated as soon as possible".

Not every account in Laiki and Bank of Cyprus will be hit with big losses. Deposits held by the central government, local authorities such as municipalities, universities and development projects being co-funded by the European Union will not face a so-called haircut. Constantinos Petrides, undersecretary to the president, said the measure was agreed between the Cypriot government and a delegation from the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission.

Government welfare and pension fund accounts in Laiki will be treated in the same way as those in the Bank of Cyprus, "thereby ensuring most of the deposits," Petrides added.

Some individuals and businesses, spotting that Cyprus's economy was in trouble and that a tax on deposits was being discussed, had moved their money out of Cyprus well before the banks closed their doors last week.

According to ECB figures, deposits in Cyprus' banks slipped 2.2 percent last month, to 46.36 billion euros ($59.36 billion), the lowest figure since May 2010 and down from a peak of 50.5 billion euros ($64.67 billion) in May 2012. The figure excludes deposits from other banks and the central government.

"I anticipated, not this to happen, but I anticipated issues last year, when Greece had a question of whether it will remain in euro and the consequences of that," said Athos Angelides, who runs a business importing and distributing hair salon products. "So luckily we transferred money in the middle of last year over to the UK."

The stock market, which has been closed since March 15, stayed shut. It will remain closed on Friday and Monday, when most of Europe is closed for the Easter celebrations. Cyprus follows the Orthodox calendar and does not celebrate Easter until May this year.

____

Elena Becatoros in Nicosia and David McHugh in Frankfurt contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-28-Cyprus-Financial%20Crisis/id-b230a4e210df433f98adbe7f77f9bbbc

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What's your 'get off my lawn' moment?

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY

Everyone has a different get-off-my-lawn moment, a fact that makes them suddenly feel their age. And the entertainment world, with all its unnaturally young-looking senior citizens and overly made-up kids, supplies more than its share of such realizations.

moviescreenshots.blogspot.com

Ralph Macchio is 51, the same age Pat Morita was back when the two filmed 1984's original "Karate Kid" movie. How in the name of Cobra Kai did this happen?

Maybe it's the fact that Ralph Macchio, who played Daniel-san in the original "Karate Kid," is now the same age as Pat Morita was when he played Mr. Miyagi. (Thanks,?Yahoo?and?Roadside Attractions?for that little day-brightener.)?How in the name of Cobra Kai did this happen? Weren't they just waxing on and waxing off yesterday??

Or the fact that if Andie and Blane (or, as we prefer, Andie and Duckie) had stayed together after the 1986 film "Pretty in Pink," they could have adult kids or even grandkids by now.

Here are some more blasts from the "do-you-feel-old-yet?" department.

He's really 'Big'
Josh, the 12-year-old kid who turned into a 30-year-old in 1988's "Big," would be 37 by now.

Tom Hanks played a 13-year-old turned 30 in "Big." That kid would be 37 today.

Magical aging
He'll forever be a school-age wizard in our minds, but according to some geek math, Harry Potter would be either 33 or 34 today.

Save Ferris!
Ferris Bueller would be celebrating either his 26th or 27th high-school reunion. He's now older than Ben Stein was when Stein played the droning economics teacher who famously called "Bueller ... Bueller." (Still a righteous dude.) Want to feel even older? Alan Ruck, who was 29 when he played 18-year-old Cameron, is now 56.

Paramount Pictures

Let my Cameron go ... to AARP? Alan Ruck, who played Cameron in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off, is now 56. Matthew Broderick (Ferris) is 50 and Mia Sara (Sloane) is 45.

D'oh!
Assuming Maggie, Bart and Lisa were 1, 10 and 8 when "The Simpsons" began, they'd now be 24, ?34, and 32.

Oh, baby
The twins born to Chandler and Monica's surrogate mother on the "Friends" finale would be 9. Ross' son with Carol, Ben, would be 19, and his daughter Emma, with Rachel, would be 11.?

'Fast Times' indeed
Sean Penn, who played high-school senior Jeff Spicoli in 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," is now 52.

School days
John Travolta, who played Sweathog Vinny Barbarino on "Welcome Back, Kotter," is 59 -- almost twice as old as Gabe Kaplan was when he played Barbarino's teacher, Gabe Kotter, and three years older than John Sylvester White was when he played crotchety assisstant principal Mr. Woodman.

ABC Television / Getty Images

John Travolta is almost twice as old as Gabe Kaplan was when he played Travolta's teacher on "Welcome Back, Kotter."

Smells like twentysomething spirit
The baby on the Nirvana "Nevermind" album cover, Spencer Elden, is now 21.?

One doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet
The baby born to Juno in the 2007 movie "Juno" would be preparing for kindergarten.?

What pop-culture realization makes you feel old? Tell us on Facebook.

Randee Dawn contributed to this story.

More from entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/03/12/17288702-whats-your-get-off-my-lawn-entertainment-moment?lite

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Cypriot banks reopen their doors to an angry, but orderly, clientele

Fears of bank runs proved unfounded Thursday, as Cyprus's banks ended their nearly two-week closure amid bailout negotiations with Europe. But Cypriots remain worried.

By Nick Squires,?Correspondent / March 28, 2013

Two security guards look on as a woman leaves a branch of Laiki Bank in Nicosia, Cyprus, today. Cypriots queued at banks as they reopened on Thursday under tight controls imposed on transactions, but there was no sign of a run on deposits that had been feared after the government was forced to accept a stringent EU rescue package.

Yorgos Karahalis/Reuters

Enlarge

Cypriots expressed fury and frustration ? but confounded predictions of chaos and even violence ? as they formed orderly queues on Thursday to enter the country?s banks, which reopened after being closed for nearly two weeks by a financial crisis that has shaken the foundations of the European Union and its common currency.

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There had been fears that branches would be besieged by angry customers in the wake of a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout deal agreed to with Brussels in which one Cypriot bank will fold, another will be restructured, and depositors will be hit with heavy losses.

The banks reopened only?after the Cypriot government rushed through draconian capital control measures on Wednesday night, limiting cash withdrawals to just 300 euros ($384) per person per day and imposing harsh restrictions on credit payments and the transfer of money abroad.

Overseas credit payments are limited to 5,000 ($6,400) euros, no checks can be cashed, and Cypriots traveling abroad can take only 1,000 euros ($1,300) with them.

The introduction of the restrictions was unprecedented in the 14-year history of the euro, with analysts saying that it was the sort of thing that usually happened in Africa or Latin America, rather than Europe.

Police were put on standby and 180 private security guards were assigned to bank branches around the country.

In the end, however, there was no unrest, with small queues of customers gathering outside banks and seeking shade from the intense spring sunshine in the shade of awnings and trees.

Anger at Europe

In a statement, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades thanked people for their forbearance, expressing his ?warm gratitude and deep appreciation towards the Cypriot people for the maturity and spirit of responsibility they have shown at a critical time for the stability of the Cypriot economy.?

But while Cypriots appeared outwardly restrained, deep down they were seething about the failure of the banks, the loss of hard-earned savings, and the grim future facing the Mediterranean country of 850,000 people.

Many people were furious with the harsh terms of the bailout laid out in Brussels earlier this week and felt that it had been driven by Germany?s determination to impose its own brand of fiscal austerity on the economically weaker nations of southern Europe.

Particular resentment was directed towards Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

?Merkel says every single Cypriot is guilty of dirty banking. That is shameful,? says Cleri Machlouzarides, a chartered architect, angrily gesticulating outside a bank in a small square in Nicosia, the capital of the divided island.

?We are small in size, it?s true, but Germany should go and find someone their own size to pick on instead of trying to strangle us. Europeans should know it?s not going to stop here," she says. ?Everyone is vulnerable in this banking crisis.?

The capital control measures were drawn up in order to prevent a run on the banks, after a tumultuous two weeks in which Cypriots learned they would lose billions of euros from their accounts in the accord drawn up in Brussels with European policy chiefs.

The two worst-hit lenders are Laiki Bank, which is to be dissolved, and Bank of Cyprus, which will have to absorb Laiki?s assets. Laiki depositors face losses of up to 80 percent on accounts above 100,000 euros, while Bank of Cyprus savers have been warned they may lose 40 percent of their savings above the 100,000 euro mark.

Hampered businesses

The closure of the banks for 10 days has caused huge problems for Cypriot businesses, which have been unable to pay their staff and creditors.

?I have so many customers overseas waiting for payment,? says Miltos, a businessman who runs a telecom company and asked that his full name not be used.??It?s a really big problem. They see the news from Cyprus and they think they might not get their money. My fear is that they will drop me and take on a different company. I built the business up over six or seven years but it now it could be destroyed and I would have to start again from scratch.?

The banks were closed on March 16 as the government tried to stitch together a plan to raise 5.8 billion euros from a ?haircut? of depositors? accounts, in order to qualify for the 10 billion euro bailout.

The closure paralyzed business activity and brought the country?s system of credit to a crashing halt.

Queuing outside the Bank of Cyprus, Petros Stylianides, an insurance broker with a small company employing three people, says: ?I have to make a deposit so that I can make payments to my creditors. I hope the bank will be safe. But then we thought everything was safe. It never crossed our minds that something like this would happen."

?People are cutting salaries, they are laying off a third of their staff. We are going to get into a downward spiral,? he says, adding that he is now thinking of taking his daughter out of private education and putting her in the state education system to save money.

A misleading calm?

Cypriots face great uncertainty. The government has said the credit controls will only remain in place for a week, but many people suspect they could last for months, even years.

While it appears there will be significant job losses at Laiki Bank, it is not clear what the impact will be on Bank of Cyprus.

?I have three or four friends working for the Bank of Cyprus and even they don?t know what will happen. They don?t know if they will lose their jobs,? says Koola Sophocleous, who runs a corner shop selling candy, soda, and newspapers.

Open Europe, a think tank based in London and Brussels, said the level of calm could be misleading. Cypriots did not besiege the banks to try to withdraw their life savings, it notes, because they knew that the capital controls prevented it.

?There are limits on what people can withdraw and/or transfer electronically. People may not be too bothered about waiting at banks if they are subject to strict limits,? the think tank said in an online analysis. ?In this day and age, much banking is done electronically so the number of people at the actual bank branches may not reveal the true level of transactions taking place behind the scenes.?

It could be a very different story once the capital controls are lifted, with the prospect of tens of thousands of Cypriots racing to get their money into safer banks abroad.

As Cypriots tried to come to terms with a deeply uncertain future, their leaders came up with a show of solidarity.

President Anastasiades announced that he had cut his salary by a quarter, while his cabinet ministers reduced their stipends by 20 percent.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/KhavSVo3kkM/Cypriot-banks-reopen-their-doors-to-an-angry-but-orderly-clientele

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GOP moves to catch up with Democrats on technology

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, Taylor Pineiro, of New York, a deputy field organizer for the Obama campaign, works the phone at a field office in Scranton, Pa., on Election Day. Republicans are moving aggressively to repair their technological shortcomings from the 2012 election, opening a new tech race to counter a glaring weakness against President Barack Obama last year. (AP Photo/Scranton Times & Tribune, Butch Comegys, File) WILKES BARRE TIMES-LEADER OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, Taylor Pineiro, of New York, a deputy field organizer for the Obama campaign, works the phone at a field office in Scranton, Pa., on Election Day. Republicans are moving aggressively to repair their technological shortcomings from the 2012 election, opening a new tech race to counter a glaring weakness against President Barack Obama last year. (AP Photo/Scranton Times & Tribune, Butch Comegys, File) WILKES BARRE TIMES-LEADER OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2012 file photo, Matt Sagorski, a volunteer for the campaign of President Barack Obama, walks in a neighborhood with voter registration forms, in Miami. Republicans are moving aggressively to repair their technological shortcomings from the 2012 election, opening a new tech race to counter a glaring weakness against President Barack Obama last year. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

(AP) ? Republicans are moving aggressively to repair their technological shortcomings from the 2012 election, opening a new tech race to counter a glaring weakness against President Barack Obama.

With the blessing of party leaders, a new crop of Republican-backed outside groups is developing tools to improve communication with voters, predict their behavior and track Democratic opponents. After watching Obama win re-election with the aid of an unprecedented technological machine, GOP officials concede an urgent need for major changes in the way they reach voters. They are turning to a younger generation of tech experts expected to play a bigger role in the 2014 midterm elections and beyond.

"I think everybody realized that the party is really far behind at the moment and they're doing everything within their realistic sphere of influence to catch up," said Bret Jacobson, a partner with Red Edge, a Virginia-based digital advocacy firm that represents the Republican Governors Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation.

Alex Skatell, former digital director for the GOP's gubernatorial and Senate campaign operations, leads a new group that has been quietly testing a system that would allow Republicans to share details about millions of voters ? their personal interests, group affiliations and even where they went to school. Democrats began using related technology years ago, giving Obama a significant advantage last fall in personalizing communication with prospective supporters.

With no primary opponent last year, Obama's re-election team used the extra time to build a large campaign operation melding a grass-roots army of 2.2 million volunteers with groundbreaking technology to target voters. They tapped about 17 million email subscribers to raise nearly $700 million online.

Data-driven analytics enabled the campaign to run daily simulations to handicap battleground states, analyze demographic trends and test alternatives for reaching voters online.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, in contrast, had only a few months after a lengthy primary fight to try to match Obama's tech advantage. He couldn't make up the difference. Romney's technology operation was overwhelmed by the intense flow of data and temporarily crashed on Election Day.

A 100-page report on how to rebound from the 2012 election, released last week by Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, includes several technology recommendations.

"The president's campaign significantly changed the makeup of the national electorate and identified, persuaded and turned out low-propensity voters by unleashing a barrage of human and technological resources previously unseen in a presidential contest," the report said. "Marrying grass-roots politics with technology and analytics, they successfully contacted, persuaded and turned out their margin of victory. There are many lessons to be learned from their efforts, particularly with respect to voter contact."

Skatell, 26, is leading one new effort by Republican allies to fill the void. His team of designers, software developers and veteran Republican strategists is now testing what he calls an "almost an eHarmony for matching volunteers with persuadable voters" that would let campaigns across the country share details in real time on voter preferences, harnessing social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Other groups are working to improve the GOP's data and digital performance.

The major Republican ally, American Crossroads, which spent a combined $175 million on the last election with its sister organization, hosted private meetings last month focused on data and technology. Drawing from technology experts in Silicon Valley, the organization helped craft a series of recommendations expected to be rolled out later this year.

"A good action plan that fixes our deficiencies and identifies new opportunities can help us regain our advantage within a cycle or two," said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio.

A prominent group of Republican aides has also formed America Rising, a company that will have a companion "super" political action committee that can raise unlimited contributions without having to disclose its donors. Its purpose is to counter Democratic opposition research groups, which generated negative coverage of Romney and GOP candidates last year.

America Rising will provide video tracking, opposition research and rapid response for campaign committees, super PACs and individual candidates' campaigns but does not plan to get involved in GOP primaries. It will be led by Matt Rhoades, who served as Romney's campaign manager, and Joe Pounder, the research director for the Republican National Committee. Running its super PAC will be Tim Miller, a former RNC aide and spokesman for former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.

Romney and several Republican candidates were monitored closely by camera-toting Democratic aides during the campaign, a gap that Miller said American Rising hopes to fill on behalf of Republicans.

Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said his party has "a several years' lead on data and analytics infrastructure and we're not standing still."

Of the GOP effort, Woodhouse said, "We don't see them closing the gap anytime soon."

___

Peoples reported from Boston.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-28-Republicans-Tech%20Race/id-609fa0dedaf04d1aba5e637706e503ca

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UF professor's book charts U.S. science education's benefits, history ...

In 1957, when the former Soviet Union launched its Sputnik satellite, citizens immediately became concerned about what its launch meant for the United States.

That year, the Florida State Legislature launched the Florida Foundation for Future Scientists, which sought to ?discover scientific and technical talent in the schools of Florida and to encourage the pursuit of careers in science and engineering.?

The race for space was underway.

Sevan Terzian, author and University of Florida associate professor of education, says his new book,?Science Education and Citizenship: Fairs, Clubs and Talent Searches for American Youth, 1918-1958, delves into science education in early 20th century America. His research shows that the?U.S. had national science education goals long before Sputnik was launched into orbit, he said.

Terzian said?there was focus on science education as early as the end of World War I, but the mobilization for World War II was the turning point in the United States.

Previously, the education goals were to train youth for jobs and encourage rational thinking so they would be better equipped to solve problems in the real world, but WWII shifted the focus to national security Terzian said.

He said while it would have been better for the schools to be as inclusive as possible, there were a ?host of inequalities in secondary education? that kept different groups from participating.

Terzian said these inequalities may have indirectly created ?an image of who looks like a scientist or who can become a scientist, which may have discouraged people from participating in similar programs.?

He said women, people of color and rural youth were often left out of such educational programs.

?If a large segment of your population doesn?t understand how science works, they are going to be somewhat alienated from a lot public discourse and decision making that impacts millions of lives,? Terzian said.

Terzian?s book is available now in hardcover for $85 or on the Amazon Kindle for $65. He hopes that it will be available in paperback within the year.

Casey Christ wrote this story online.

Source: http://www.wuft.org/news/2013/03/26/uf-professors-book-charts-u-s-science-educations-benefits-history/

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Functional ovarian tissue engineered in lab

Mar. 26, 2013 ? A proof-of-concept study suggests the possibility of engineering artificial ovaries in the lab to provide a more natural option for hormone replacement therapy for women. In Biomaterials, a team from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine report that in the laboratory setting, engineered ovaries showed sustained release of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Although there are medications that can compensate for the loss of female sex hormone production, the drugs are often not recommended for long-term use due to the increased risk of heart disease and breast cancer.

"Our goal is to develop a tissue- or cell-based hormone therapy -- essentially an artificial ovary- to deliver sex hormones in a more natural manner than drugs," said Emmanuel C. Opara, Ph.D., professor of regenerative medicine and senior author. "A bioartificial ovary has the potential to secrete hormones in a natural way based on the body's needs, rather than the patient taking a specific dose of drugs each day."

Ovaries are the female reproductive organs that produce eggs that are fertilized for pregnancy as well as secrete hormones important to bone and cardiovascular health. The loss of ovarian function can be due to surgical removal, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for certain types of cancer, and menopause. The effects of hormone loss can range from hot flashes and vaginal dryness to infertility and increased risk of osteoporosis and heart disease.

"This research project is interesting because it offers hope to replace natural ovarian hormones in women with premature ovarian failure or in women going through menopause," Tamer Yalcinkaya, M.D., associate professor and section head of reproductive medicine at Wake Forest Baptist. "The graft format would bring certain advantages: it would eliminate pharmacokinetic variations of hormones when administered as drugs and would also allow body's feedback mechanisms to control the release of ovarian hormones."

The project to engineer a bioartificial ovary involves encapsulating ovarian cells inside a thin membrane that allows oxygen and nutrients to enter the capsule, but would prevent the patient from rejecting the cells. With this scenario, functional ovarian tissue from donors could be used to engineer bioartificial ovaries for women with non-functioning ovaries.

The Wake Forest Baptist team isolated the two types of endocrine cells found in ovaries (theca and granulosa) from 21-day-old rats. The cells were encapsulated inside materials that are compatible with the body. The scientists evaluated three different ways of arranging the cells inside the capsules.

The function of the capsules was then evaluated in the lab by exposing them to follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone, two hormones that stimulate ovaries to produce sex hormones. The arrangement of cells that most closely mimicked the natural ovary (layers of cells in a 3-D shape) secreted levels of estrogen that were 10 times higher than other cell arrangements.

The capsules also secreted progesterone as well as inhibin and activin, two hormones that interact with the pituitary and hypothalamus and are important to the body's natural system to regulate the production of female sex hormones.

"Cells in the multilayer capsules were observed to function in similar fashion to the native ovaries," said Opara. "The secretion of inhibin and activin secretion suggests that these structures could potentially function as an artificial ovary by synchronizing with the body's innate control system."

Opara said the next step in the research, already underway, is to evaluate the function of the ovarian structures in animals.

Opara's co-researchers were Sivanandane Sittadjody, Ph.D, Sunyoung Joo, M.D., Ph.D., James J. Yoo, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony Atala, M.D., all from Wake Forest Baptist, and Justin M. Saul, Ph.D., a former Wake Forest Baptist researcher now at Miami University.

The study was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health (award #R01DK080897).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Sivanandane Sittadjody, Justin M. Saul, Sunyoung Joo, James J. Yoo, Anthony Atala, Emmanuel C. Opara. Engineered multilayer ovarian tissue that secretes sex steroids and peptide hormones in response to gonadotropins. Biomaterials, 2013; 34 (10): 2412 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.11.059

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/z6ZUn40lAPE/130326151131.htm

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Justin Timberlake to Host the Oscars?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/justin-timberlake-to-host-the-oscars/

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Developing our sense of smell

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

When our noses pick up a scent, whether the aroma of a sweet rose or the sweat of a stranger at the gym, two types of sensory neurons are at work in sensing that odor or pheromone. These sensory neurons are particularly interesting because they are the only neurons in our bodies that regenerate throughout adult life?as some of our olfactory neurons die, they are soon replaced by newborns. Just where those neurons come from in the first place has long perplexed developmental biologists.

Previous hypotheses about the origin of these olfactory nerve cells have given credit to embryonic cells that develop into skin or the central nervous system, where ear and eye sensory neurons, respectively, are thought to originate. But biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have now found that neural-crest stem cells?multipotent, migratory cells unique to vertebrates that give rise to many structures in the body such as facial bones and smooth muscle?also play a key role in building olfactory sensory neurons in the nose.

"Olfactory neurons have long been thought to be solely derived from a thickened portion of the ectoderm; our results directly refute that concept," says Marianne Bronner, the Albert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology at Caltech and corresponding author of a paper published in the journal eLIFE on March 19 that outlines the findings.

The two main types of sensory neurons in the olfactory system are ciliated neurons, which detect volatile scents, and microvillous neurons, which usually sense pheromones. Both of these types are found in the tissue lining the inside of the nasal cavity and transmit sensory information to the central nervous system for processing.

In the new study, the researchers showed that during embryonic development, neural-crest stem cells differentiate into the microvillous neurons, which had long been assumed to arise from the same source as the odor-sensing ciliated neurons. Moreover, they demonstrated that different factors are necessary for the development of these two types of neurons. By eliminating a gene called Sox10, they were able to show that formation of microvillous neurons is blocked whereas ciliated neurons are unaffected.

They made this discovery by studying the development of the olfactory system in zebrafish?a useful model organism for developmental biology studies due to the optical clarity of the free-swimming embryo. Understanding the origins of olfactory neurons and the process of neuron formation is important for developing therapeutic applications for conditions like anosmia, or the inability to smell, says Bronner.

"A key question in developmental biology?the extent of neural-crest stem cell contribution to the olfactory system?has been addressed in our paper by multiple lines of experimentation," says Ankur Saxena, a postdoctoral scholar in Bronner's laboratory and lead author of the study. "Olfactory neurons are unique in their renewal capacity across species, so by learning how they form, we may gain insights into how neurons in general can be induced to differentiate or regenerate. That knowledge, in turn, may provide new avenues for pursuing treatment of neurological disorders or injury in humans."

Next, the researchers will examine what other genes, in addition to Sox10, play a role in the process by which neural-crest stem cells differentiate into microvillous neurons. They also plan to look at whether or not neural-crest cells give rise to new microvillous neurons during olfactory regeneration that happens after the embryonic stage of development.

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California Institute of Technology: http://www.caltech.edu

Thanks to California Institute of Technology for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127460/Developing_our_sense_of_smell

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Cyprus businesses hurt as banks stay shut

Cypriot students shout slogans near the presidential palace in capital Nicosia, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Banks across Cyprus remain firmly padlocked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country?s bank closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts. The shut-down is hammering businesses, which have been without access to their funds for more than a week.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Cypriot students shout slogans near the presidential palace in capital Nicosia, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Banks across Cyprus remain firmly padlocked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country?s bank closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts. The shut-down is hammering businesses, which have been without access to their funds for more than a week.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Cypriot students shout slogans as they stand at the entrance of the presidential palace in capital Nicosia, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. The banner on the left reads in Greek ''people united never divided''. Banks across Cyprus remain firmly padlocked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country?s bank closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts. The shut-down is hammering businesses, which have been without access to their funds for more than a week.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Cypriot students protest against the bailout package outside the Presidential Palace, in capital Nicosia, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Banks across Cyprus remain firmly padlocked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country?s bank closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts. The shut-down is hammering businesses, which have been without access to their funds for more than a week.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Cypriot students shout slogans near the presidential palace in capital Nicosia, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Banks across Cyprus remain firmly padlocked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country?s bank closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts. The shut-down is hammering businesses, which have been without access to their funds for more than a week.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

(AP) ? Cypriot businesses were under increasing strain to keep running on Tuesday after financial authorities stretched the country's bank closure into a second week in a harried attempt to stop depositors from rushing to drain their accounts.

Cyprus's Central Bank governor, Panicos Demetriades, said "superhuman efforts are being made" to open banks on Thursday.

"Temporary" restrictions will be imposed on financial transactions once the banks do open, he said, but he would not specify what they would be or how long they would be in place.

"We have to restore the public's trust in banks," he said.

Finance Minister Michalis Sarris told The Associated Press the restrictions would help stem any mass deposit withdrawal that is "bound to happen" and that they would be removed in a "relatively short period of time."

"I think every day (banks) are not open creates more uncertainty and more difficulties for people, so we would like to do our utmost to make sure that this new goal that we have set will work," he said.

All but two of the country's largest lenders had been due to reopen Tuesday, after being shut since March 16 to stop savers from withdrawing all their money while politicians figured out how to raise the funds necessary for Cyprus to qualify for an international bailout.

However, late Monday, authorities announced that the bank closures would be extended until Thursday, giving officials more time to initiate a major overhaul of the banking sector and devise capital controls to limit the amount of money that can be taken out of accounts.

"We have to all understand that we live in very critical times. Officials of the government and the Central Bank are working day and night," Demetriades said.

Under the deal for a 10 billion euro ($12.9 billion) rescue clinched in Brussels early Monday, Cyprus agreed to slash its oversized banking sector and inflict hefty losses on large depositors in troubled banks. Sarris said authorities hope to limit job losses to a "small number."

"We are looking to a much smaller banking system over time and more concentrated on its core business, which is Cyprus and the international business units in Cyprus," he said.

Cyprus needed to raise 5.8 billion euros before international lenders were willing to give it the 10 billion euros. Much of the 5.8 billion euros will be raised by forcing losses on accounts of more than 100,000 euros ($129,000), in the country's second-largest lender, Laiki, with the remainder coming from tax increases and privatizations.

The bank will be broken up immediately into a so-called bad bank containing its uninsured deposits and toxic assets. The "good" assets will be transferred to the nation's biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus.

Deposits at Bank of Cyprus above 100,000 euros will be frozen until it becomes clear to what extent they will also be forced to take losses. Those funds will eventually be converted into bank shares.

Cyprus' government spokesman Christos Stylianides told Greek state Net TV that losses on Bank of Cyprus deposits above 100,000 euros will hover at around 30 percent.

"It is a painful development, no doubt about that...it doesn't matter how rich you are, how many millions you have, you don't like your deposits, which you assume were safe, to be converted into shares," said Sarris, adding that authorities are confident that those shares will eventually gain in value.

Sarris said Cyprus' economy will shift from one centered on financial services.

"Cypriots have a robust entrepreneurial spirit, they will look for other markets ... We're building on our relationship with China, a stronger relationship with the Middle East, our shipping sector is doing well, our tourism sector is doing well, I think we will find opportunities to compensate for this serious setback," he said.

Nonetheless, businesses have already been feeling the brunt of the cash crunch, unable to pay salaries and suppliers. Cypriots have slashed spending during the uncertainty.

The banks' closure has been felt in the country's important shipping industry, which contributes about 5 percent or 800 million euros ($1 billion) to the economy. Cyprus ranks 10th in the world in terms of the number of ocean-going vessels flying its flag, and it is in the top five countries with the largest number of ship management companies.

"This is destructive for us," said an official with Cyprus-based shipping company EDT Offshore, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his company did not authorize him to speak to the media.

"We have to pay our crews' salaries and that's $500,000, while we have to pay as much for our office staff by March 28 and we don't have access to our bank accounts," he said. "These are people who need to pay their bills, have obligations to meet."

Authorities in the Greek port of Piraeus have prevented one of three EDT ships from leaving until the company pays it port dues. That means the ship can't fulfill its contract with clients, meaning possible losses for the company, which has a fleet of 18 vessels.

Fitch credit rating agency warned Tuesday that it may downgrade Cyprus further into "junk" status amid concerns that the shock from the banking sector's "systemic failure" heightens the risk to public finances.

Also Tuesday, the chairman of the board of Bank of Cyprus, Andreas Artemis, and four other board members tendered their resignations, a statement from the bank said. The board did not accept the resignations, which will become valid only if not withdrawn in a week's time.

Meanwhile, Britain flew in some 13 million euros over the weekend to pay about 3,000 British civilian and military personnel serving at the two military bases that it retained after its former colony Cyprus gained independence.

The Ministry of Defense last week flew in 1 million euros in cash in case automatic teller machines on Cyprus shut down.

____

Elena Becatoros in Nicosia and Juergen Baetz in Brussels contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-26-Cyprus-Financial%20Crisis/id-004e0caa7ff9417789755f22ef8c8b76

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