Afghanistan's Karzai denounces Taliban for killing countrymen

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban are killing Afghans and making a mockery of their claim to be fighting foreign invaders, President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday.

A series of attacks in different parts of the country, including areas long considered largely free of militant violence, is raising worry about the ability of Afghan forces to maintain security after most foreign troops leave.

"It's clear that the fight is not against foreigners, it's for foreigners," Karzai told a news conference at the presidential palace in the capital, Kabul.

Karzai did not elaborate on that point though he has long accused neighbouring Pakistan of harbouring Afghan Taliban leaders and backing their insurgency in a bid to promote Pakistan's security interests.

Pakistan rejects the accusations.

Karzai, addressing the Taliban, said they were killing an increasing number of members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), who were now defending the country.

"Why do you martyr a soldier who protects this country? You plant a roadside bomb in his way and blow him up," Karzai said.

"In this defence we sacrifice every day. Twenty people, 30 people, 15 people from the ANSF, and these sacrifices are more than the past two or three year," he said.

Most foreign combat troops will leave by the end of 2014 but Afghanistan and the United States are in talks about a small U.S. force staying on. They have yet to agree on how many will remain and where they will be based.

Karzai appealed for people to be patient, saying there was no need to rush the negotiations.

"We want to guarantee Afghanistan's interests including peace, security, accountability and friendship," he said.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks in recent weeks after a traditional winter lull.

On Wednesday, militants attacked the provincial governor's compound in the Panjshir Valley, one of the country's most peaceful provinces and a bastion of anti-Taliban forces, where Taliban violence is virtually unheard of.

Later in the day, militants assaulted an office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the first such attack on the agency since it came to Afghanistan in 1987. A guard was killed and police rescued seven foreign staff from the compound.

Taliban spokesmen declined to comment on the attack.

Also on Thursday, Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said it had captured five suicide bombers and killed one in a raid with police in Kabul on Monday.

The bombers were connected to the Haqqani network and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, said the Afghan agency's spokesman, Shafiqullah Tahiri.

Pakistan routinely rejects such accusations. The Taliban-allied Haqqani network is known to operate at least partly out of Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region on the border.

(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni, Miriam Arghandiwal, Rafiq Shirzad; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghanistans-karzai-denounces-taliban-killing-countrymen-113507081.html

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Mutant mosquitoes can't sniff out humans

Zach Veilleux (The Rockefeller University)

Genetically engineered mosquitoes can't tell the difference between human and animal scents.

By Tanya Lewis
LiveScience

Campers, take comfort: Scientists have found a way to genetically alter mosquitoes so they lose their preference for the scent of humans.

The pesky insects hunt down their hosts using odor cues, body heat and exhaled carbon dioxide.?The?mosquito species Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti?strongly prefer human odors, and by targeting humans, they spread nasty diseases like malaria and dengue fever.

In the study, researchers created mosquitoes with a mutant olfactory gene that disrupted the insects' sense of smell. The mutant mosquitoes failed to respond to human scent except in the presence of carbon dioxide, and even then, they were no more attracted to humans than to other animals. The modified bloodsuckers also lost their aversion to the smell of the insect repellent DEET, but could still detect the potent chemical on the surface of human skin. [Gallery: Drop-Dodging Mosquitoes]

Knowing the factors that attract mosquitoes to humans opens the door to finding new ways of repelling them. "By disrupting a single gene, we can fundamentally confuse the mosquito from its task of seeking humans," senior study author Leslie Vosshall, a neurogeneticist at The Rockefeller University in New York, said in a statement from Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Vosshall had been studying a gene called "orco" in flies, which played an important role in the flies' ability to detect odors. There were hints that mosquitoes utilized smells in their environment, so Vosshall suspected the orco gene might be important for mosquitoes as well as flies.

Using genetic engineering techniques, Vosshall and her colleagues mutated the orco gene in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The team exposed normal and mutant mosquitoes to nylon sleeves smelling of humans, in the presence or absence of carbon dioxide. The scientists also tested the mosquitoes' ability to distinguish between air that passed over a human arm or a live guinea pig.

The mutant mosquitoes?couldn't detect human scent in the absence of carbon dioxide. Even with carbon dioxide, the mutants showed no preference for human scent, and were equally attracted to the human and guinea pig scents.

In another experiment, Vosshall's team measured how the insect mutants responded to DEET, the active ingredient in many insect repellants. The mosquitoes were offered a choice of a human arm slathered in DEET or a clean arm.

Mosquitoes with the mutant scent gene flew toward both arms indiscriminately. Upon landing, however, the bugs found the DEET arm strongly repulsive. The findings suggest mosquitoes use two distinct mechanisms to detect DEET ? one that acts at a distance and one used in close proximity to the skin.

Further research will explore how the orco gene affects the odor receptors that mosquitoes use to sniff out human flesh. Once scientists understand how current insect repellants work, they can develop better ones, Vosshall said.

The findings were reported online Wednesday?in the journal Nature.

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter?and Google+.?Follow us @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Instagram prankster finds way into celeb pics

Pop culture

Kurt Schlosser TODAY

13 hours ago

If you think celebrities are Photoshopped in many of the images they appear in, you're going to love the work of Instagram user PeejeT.

The 25-year-old, who goes by what he calls his "stage name" on the photo-sharing site and Twitter, is gaining attention and followers for his very fun ability to insert himself into events where only celebs previously existed.

@PeejeT

Instagram user PeejeT gives himself a seat next to Kim Kardashian, right, and shares a laugh with Jay-Z and Beyonce as Kanye West gets pushed back a row.

Many of his 100 or so photos have him sitting next to -- or on the lap of -- some of the leading women and men of hip-hop. And it's not a stretch to say PeejeT has a thing for Beyonce, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian in particular.

"Yeah, I am a fan of hip-hop and all of those ladies," PeejeT said via email on Thursday. "I'm sure they think I'm the weirdest dude ever."

Judging by the comments on Instagram, his 64,000 followers think he's hilarious. There he is sitting next to Kardashian at an awards show, with Kanye sulking in the background. Ever wanted to vacation with Beyonce? PeejeT took the liberty of making that happen for himself, despite the awkward presence of her husband, Jay-Z.

@PeejeT

PeejeT is poolside with Beyonce -- take another lap, Jay-Z.

"I've gotten some replies and re-tweets from the celebs themselves. It's cool when they realize it's all in good fun," PeejeT said. "Some hardcore fans of these people do send me tweets begging me to stop followed by many frowny faces. I'm sure Jay-Z, Kanye, and Chris Brown aren't my biggest fans either ... ha!"

What makes the photos fun is a mix of the moment PeejeT chooses to insert himself into, and the relatively amateur manipulation of the photos with the editing software.

"I don't claim to be some graphic design wizard or anything," PeejeT said. "I'm just a guy that downloaded and taught myself how to use Photoshop a couple years ago thinking it would be funny to put myself in some pictures with celebs. I started doing them for something my friends and I can laugh at."

He told The Daily Dot that he chooses pics by whatever is trending on Twitter.

"For instance, when Miguel leg dropped that fan at the Billboard Music Awards everyone was talking about it so I tried to get as creative and funny with it as I can," PeejeT said. "I just love making people laugh."

And for a guy whose web identity is growing by the moment thanks to this labor of love, PeejeT preferred not to take a phone call on Thursday ... because he was "at work."

@PeejeT

PeejeT deflects Miguel's ill-fated leap at the Billboard Music Awards.

@PeejeT

Halle Berry is creeped out after red carpet security couldn't keep PeejeT away.

@PeejeT

Rihanna's on the arm of PeejeT and Chris Brown looks bummed about it.

@PeejeT

Sorry, Drake, PeejeT's got a secret for Nicki Minaj.

@PeejeT

PeejeT, escorting Beyonce on President Obama's Inauguration Day.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/instagram-prankster-gets-cozy-celebs-thanks-photoshop-6C10130982

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U.S. Expected to Clear China Smithfield Purchase (WSJ)

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Michele Bachmann won?t seek re-election

Michele Bachmann (YouTube)

Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann said early Wednesday that she will not run for re-election in 2014.

The Minnesota conservative made the announcement in a video posted on her website.

"After a great deal of thought and deliberation, I have decided next year I will not seek a fifth congressional term," Bachmann said in the eight-and-a-half-minute video. "After serious consideration, I am confident that this is the right decision."

The 57-year-old said her decision was not influenced by concerns she would lose a re-election bid to Democrat Jim Graves (whom she narrowly defeated in 2012) nor by a recent probe into the ethics of her 2012 presidential campaign.

?My decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected to Congress," Bachmann said. "I have every confidence that if I ran, I would again defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced he is once again running."

?And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff," she continued. "It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign. And I have no reason to believe that that was not the case."

The tea party favorite left the door open for a return to politics: "There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation."

Bachmann also used the platform to take a swipe at her detractors.

?I fully anticipate the mainstream, liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision," she said. "But I take being the focus of their attention of their disparagement as a true compliment of my public-service effectiveness."

"So will Michele Bachmann go to Fox News? Heritage Foundation? Or maybe lobbying?" the Brooklyn Quarterly wondered on Twitter. "After the book tour of course."

"Michele Bachmann's corrosive politics will not be missed," Greg Dworkin tweeted.

Eric Reif? added: "Shame on Michele Bachmann for doing a tremendous disservice to people who like to make jokes about politics."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/michelle-bachmann-won-t-seek-election-084832215.html

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Pelicans Targeting Trey Burke in NBA Draft?

Updated:?May 28, 2013,?9:31 pm?ET

While New Orleans Pelicans General Manager Dell Demps remains reluctant to say if they are targeting a point guard or a front-court player in next month?s NBA draft, an increasing number of mock drafts have the franchise selecting Michigan point guard Trey Burke.

Sports Illustrated, CBSSports.com, Bleacher Report, NBAdraft.net and HoopsHype all have the Pelicans using the sixth overall pick in the first round to select Burke, who played two seasons at Michigan and averaged 18.6 points and 6.7 assists last season as a sophomore. Burke,? 6 feet 1, 190 pounds, led the Wolverines to the NCAA Final Four but they lost to the Louisville Cardinals in the national championship game. Burke is quick off the dribble and could have the potential to give the Pelicans more scoring help on the perimeter.

via John Reid of The Times-Picayune

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therandominmyhead: And with that, the official Space Channel 5 twitter account is now officially...

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And with that, the official Space Channel 5 twitter account is now officially OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

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Wall Street rally underpins Asian shares

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were steady and the dollar remained firm on Wednesday as U.S. stocks rallied to record highs overnight on signs of resilience in the U.S. economy and expectations of continued monetary policy support.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> hit another record high on Tuesday as data showed U.S. home prices accelerated by the most in nearly seven years in March while consumer confidence picked up in May to its highest in more than five years.

The stock rally lifted benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield to a 13-month peak around 2.17 percent. A strong rebound in Japanese stocks after last week's hammering also fed to speculation about reduced incentives to hold safe-haven U.S. government debt.

"The bullish tone at the start of the week would seem to indicate that investors are not yet convinced that evidence surrounding the economy is firm enough to corner the Fed chairman and force him into leading a retreat from the current pace of bond purchases," Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York, said in a note to clients.

The rally seems to be "little other than a sense that last week's setback for U.S. and then Japanese stocks was justifiable in the big scheme of things. Pullbacks occur," he said, adding that for now, investors seem to still want to test recent highs.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> was steady, staying above Friday's five-week low of 464.99.

Australian shares <.axjo> were up 0.2 percent while South Korean shares <.ks11> opened 0.4 percent higher.

"The main board is likely to start up as overseas markets rallied on the previous day. However, autos could weigh due to the weak yen and cap gains later in the session," said Shawn Oh, an analyst at Daishin Securities, of Seoul shares.

The dollar inched up 0.1 percent against the yen to 102.48, recovering from a two-week low of 100.66 yen hit on Friday. The dollar scaled a 4-1/2 year peak of 103.74 yen on May 22.

The dollar index <.dxy> measured against a basket of six key currencies was up 0.3 percent to hover near its highest since July 2010 of 84.498 reached on May 23.

The Nikkei stock average <.n225> opened up 1.3 percent after closing up 1.2 percent the day before. <.t/>

"The Nikkei is in oversold territory, so buying should emerge," said Hiroichi Nishi, equity general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities. "Exporter shares will be in focus again as the yen resumes weakening, but we have to watch interest-rate related issues."

The Nikkei slumped 7.3 percent on Thursday, its largest single-day loss since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as global financial markets were shaken by weak industrial production in China and concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve could scale back its current aggressive monetary stimulus sooner than previously thought. <.t/>

Speculation about the Fed's policy has weighed on the Australian dollar, which has skidded nearly 8 percent in May, the largest monthly drop since September 2011. The Aussie plumbed its lowest in 19 months on Wednesday after key support around $0.9581 finally gave way.

U.S. crude futures were off 0.3 percent at $94.74 a barrel.

U.S. home prices: http://link.reuters.com/rem34t

U.S. consumer confidence: http://link.reuters.com/pum34t

(Additional reporting by Dominic Lau and Lisa Twaronite in Tokyo and Joyce Lee and Daum Kim in Seoul)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-rally-underpins-asian-shares-001926600.html

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Mataerial 3D printer escapes the tyranny of layers, changes colors on the fly (video)

Anyone who has used conventional 3D printers knows that they work by stacking layer on layer, limiting just what they can create and where. Mataerial's upcoming printer doesn't abide by those petty rules. Its robotic arm draws instantly solid 3D curves rather than 2D slices, shedding the need for direct support or even a horizontal surface. It's also not bound by traditional approaches to color. As Mataerial injects dye at the last moment, it can switch hues mid-stream and introduce subtle gradients. We've reached out for launch and pricing details, but it's reasonable to presume that such advanced control won't come cheap -- we'd look to the 3Doodler for more affordable in-air artistry.

Filed under: Peripherals

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Memorial Day Weekend Shootings: Chicago Violence Leaves 6 Dead, 11 Hurt Since Friday

A memorial for 47-year-old Denise Warfield is attached to a fence next to an abandoned church building on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Warfield was found stabbed to death inside the church on Saturday May 4. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A memorial for 47-year-old Denise Warfield is attached to a fence next to an abandoned church building (R) on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Warfield was found stabbed to death inside the church on Saturday May 4. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Roya Mitchell leaves a message on a memorial for her friend 16-year-old Tywon Jones near the spot where Jones was killed by police in front of the Greater Galilee Missionary Baptist Church on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. According to police Jones was killed May 5 after he fired a pistol at police who were trying to stop him as he rode a bicycle away after shooting at a crowd of people moments earlier. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A Chicago Police investigator tries to see the caliber of a shell casing left in the street at the scene of a shooting in the South Shore neighborhood on May 14, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy stands in front of a small display of guns, including a .22 cal. rifle (front), during a press conference in the Englewood neighborhood on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. McCarthy said Chicago police confiscate an average of more than 130 illegal guns each week. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy leaves a police station in the Englewood neighborhood following a press conference on May 6, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, center, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, left, and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, right, discuss gun violence at a news conference Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, in Chicago. During the news conference McCarthy, Emanuel, and Alvarez said they will push for state legislation that increases the minimum sentences for those who violate the state's gun laws. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

A family member is consoled before six-month old Jonylah Watkins' funeral at New Beginnings Church in Chicago, Tuesday, March, 19, 2013. Jonylah's death was the latest to draw national attention to Chicago's struggle with gang violence and murder. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

This undated Watkins family photo shows Jonathan Watkins, 29, of Chicago, holding his 6-month-old daughter Jonylah Watkins. Funeral services were held Tuesday, March 19, 2013 for Jonylah who died Tuesday, March 12 after being shot the night before while sitting on her father's lap in a minivan when a gunman approached on foot and shot them both in Chicago. The father was seriously injured in the attack. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Watkins family)

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy points to a poster showing three offenders that committed murders while on parole for prior gun convictions during a news conference Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, in Chicago. During the news conference McCarthy Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said they'll push for state legislation that increases the minimum sentences for those who violate the state's gun laws. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

This March 11, 2013 photo shows a Chicago police officer looking over a minivan on the city's South Side where 6-month-old Jonylah Watkins was shot while sitting on her father's lap. The child died the following day. Hundreds of Chicago police officers are hitting the streets on overtime every night in dangerous neighborhoods, the latest tactic by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration to reduce killings in a city dogged by its homicide rate and heartbreaking stories about honor students and small children caught in the crossfire. (AP Photo/Devlin Brown)

Danyia Bell, left, 16, and Artureana Terrell, 16, react as they read a program for the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton outside the Greater Harvest Missionary Baptist Church after the service, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, in Chicago. Hundreds of mourners and dignitaries including first lady Michelle Obama packed the funeral service Saturday for a Chicago teen whose killing catapulted her into the nation's debate over gun violence. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, right, offers the city's condolences to the Pendleton family, from left, Nathaniel Jr., Nathaniel Sr., and Cleopatra during a news conference seeking help from the public in solving the murder of Pendleton's daughter Hadiya Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Crime scene tape hangs on a light pole across from Noah Foods December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Nathaniel Jackson, believed to be the 500th murder victim of the year in Chicago, was shot in the head and killed outside the store on December 27. After news organizations began reporting about his murder, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A police vehicle sits outside Noah Foods December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Nathaniel Jackson, believed to be the 500th murder victim of the year in Chicago, was shot in the head and killed outside the store on December 27. After news organizations began reporting about his murder, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Candles burn in the alley near the spot where Federico Martinez was gunned down on December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Martinez was believed to be the 499th murder victim in Chicago when he was killed on Wednesday December 26. After news organizations began reporting about the city's 500th murder victim, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Graffiti is painted on a garage near the spot where Federico Martinez was gunned down two days ago on December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Martinez was believed to be the 499th murder victim of the year in Chicago when he was killed on December 26. After news organizations began reporting about the city's 500th murder victim, the Chicago Police Department's News Affairs Office issued a statement stating Chicago's murder total remains at 499 because classification of one death investigation remains pending. They would not specify which death is pending. The total number of murders in the city has only once exceeded 500 victims since 2004. The murder rate is up about 11 percent from 2011, much of which is attributed to growing gang violence. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 photo, a lone cross stands in a vacant lot on the corner of 79th and Loomis in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Up to 80 percent of Chicago's murders and shootings are gang-related, according to police. By one estimate, the city has almost 70,000 gang members. A police audit last spring identified 59 gangs and 625 factions; most are on the South and West sides. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this March 9, 2011 photo, Pam Bosley stands inside the Chicago's St. Sabina Catholic Church and poses with a photograph of her son, Terrell, who was gunned down in 2006. Bosley now works with kids 14 to 21 at the church, teaching them life and leadership skills and ways to reduce violence. Sometimes, she says, it?s neglectful parents who are the problem; often it?s gangs who just don?t value life. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 photo, a note of condolence is taped to the window of connivence store where in November 2012, a clerk was killed in an apparent robbery on Chicago's South Side. It?s been a turbulent, bloody year in Chicago. A spike in murders and shootings, much of it gang-related, sent shock waves across the nation and spurred new crime-fighting strategies. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 photo, a man waits to cross 79th street as a school bus passes by in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, seen in the reflection of a window. It?s been a turbulent, bloody year in Chicago. A spike in murders and shootings, much of it gang-related, sent shock waves across the nation. Look closer and there are signs of distress and fear. Police cars watching kids board city buses at the end of the school day. Heavy security gates on barber shops and food marts. Thick partitions separating cash registers from customers. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 photo, Bobby McComb sits on the sofa with her 14 year-old daughter, Cerria, at their home in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of Chicago's South Side. In the wrong place at the right time, Cerria and a friend were wounded when gunfire aimed at a reputed gang member struck them, with a bullet exploding in Cerria's right leg. "I'm angry," Mrs. McComb says. "I'm frustrated. I'm tired of them shooting our kids, killing our kids, thinking they can get away with it." (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 photo, Rev. Mike Pfleger of the St. Sabina Catholic Church, speaks with a young man during a weekly basketball tournament at the church gym where rival gangs can play in a 12-week basketball league instead of walking the streets in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of Chicago's South Side. Pfleger says the games help players build relationships, see beyond gang affiliation and stop shooting each other, at least for now. "I have people tell me I'm naive, I'm stupid, I should be ashamed of myself working with these gangs," he says. "I could care less. We've demonized them so much we forget they're human beings." (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 photo, a young man enters a convenience store where earlier in November a clerk was killed in an apparent robbery on Chicago's South Side. Chicago's murder rate is approaching 500, compared with 435 in 2011. More than 2,400 shootings occurred (as of Dec. 21), an 11 percent increase over last year at the same time. Gang-related arrests are about 7,000 higher than in 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A child watches a residents participating in a peace vigil walk past her home in the Washington Park neighborhood on November 30, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. About 75 children, teachers, and parents were joined by area residents and religious leaders as they marched in the streets to draw attention to the violence that plagues their Southside neighborhood. Through the end of October 436 people were murdered in Chicago, surpassing the 435 murders for all of 2011. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Dolores Walker (L) is comforted by her mother Josephine at the funeral service for her son Joseph Briggs at New Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Rahm Emanuel, Garry McCarthy

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy speaks during a news conference where he and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, rear, announced an initiative to prevent gang activity in and around vacant buildings on Monday, July 9, 2012 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)

Rahm Emanuel, Garry McCarthy

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left, listens to Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy during a news conference where they announced an initiative to prevent gang activity in and around vacant buildings on Monday, July 9, 2012 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)

Chicago's Killing Fields

Chicago's murder rate has surged this year, yet no one is talking about it. How do we give a systemic problem a face?

Roosevelt Judkins watches as officials stand outside an abandoned house that they say is a haven for drug dealers and gang members, before it was demolished Thursday, July 12, 2012 in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city's building department will spend $4 million to make it impossible for gang members to use the buildings as a base of operations. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Drug paraphernalia is seen on the floor of an abandoned house that officials say was a haven for drug dealers and gang members, shortly before it was demolished Thursday, July 12, 2012 in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city's building department will spend $4 million to make it impossible for gang members to use the buildings as a base of operations. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Drug paraphernalia is seen on the floor of an abandoned house that officials say was a haven for drug dealers and gang members, shortly before it was demolished Thursday, July 12, 2012 in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city's building department will spend $4 million to make it impossible for gang members to use the buildings as a base of operations. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 20: Family and friends watch as the remains of Joseph Briggs are lowered into a grave at Oak Woods Cemetery on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 20: Family and friends say goodbye to Joseph Briggs during a funeral service at New Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 20: Pallbearers carry the remains of Joseph Briggs from New Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church following a funeral service on June 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who turned 16 in April, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch with his sister on June 9. Briggs was one of nine people killed and 46 wounded by gunfire in Chicago during that June weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 11: Signatures cover a memorial to Joseph Briggs which has been constructed outside his home June 11, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Briggs, who recently turned 16, was shot and killed while sitting on the stoop of his home in Chicago's Marquette Park neighborhood on Saturday. Briggs was one of at least 8 people killed and at least 43 wounded in shootings in Chicago this past weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In a June 9, 2012 photo, the Chicago Police gang enforcement unit stops a car with four suspected gang members and arrests one of them on a warrant. In Chicago, homicides are up over last year. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

In Chicago, homicides are up markedly over last year. In some of the West and South side streets its guns, gangs and drugs. On a Saturday night this summer, residents strolled by as a young man was being arrested. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

In a June 5 2012 photo, police arrest a suspect in Chicago. The CPD narcotics division has been conducting undercover investigations in order to move in on suspected drug dealers in parts of Chicago's South and West sides. In the fight against Chicago's gang and drug problem Chicago Police patrol the streets 24/7. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

In a June 5, 2012 photo, Devon Wright, 23, is arrested and charged with delivery of a controlled substance, in Chicago. The Chicago Police Department is waging a strategic battle against gang members and drug dealers. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/26/memorial-day-weekend-shoo_n_3339910.html

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TrustPort Total Protection 2013

By Neil J. Rubenking

Antivirus protection and a firewall are the core of any security suite, and most suites add a standard set of features including spam filtering and parental control. Encryption and access control can also be useful, especially in a business setting, but these features are less common. TrustPort Total Protection 2013 ($69.95 direct; $89.95 for three licenses) offers the same suite components as TrustPort's basic suite and adds a range of encryption and access control features that will please the tech-savvy user. Yes, you pay more for the mega-suite, but you get your money's worth.

Just looking at this product, you'd be hard pressed to distinguish it from TrustPort Internet Security 2013. The main window is the same, the color scheme is the same. The only visible difference is the product name in the title bar. Under the hood, though, there's a lot more.

TrustPort Total Security 2013 shares quite a lot of features with TrustPort Internet Security 2013 and TrustPort Antivirus 2013. You'll want to read those reviews for full details. I'll summarize here, and then dig into the features specific to the mega-suite.

Shared Antivirus
I had next to no trouble installing TrustPort on my 12 malware-infested test systems. I did need to generate a bootable Windows PE antivirus CD on a clean system to get past problems with two of the 12, but it did the job easily.

TrustPort's low score of 4.7 for malware removal reflects the fact that it didn't effectively clean up the malware samples it found. It left behind quite a few executables, many of them still running. Among products tested with this same set of samples, only G Data TotalSecurity 2014 scored lower, with 4.3 points. At 6.0 points, Kaspersky PURE 3.0 Total Security did the best in this group. For details about how I test malware removal, see How We Test Malware Removal.

TrustPort tied with Ad-Aware Pro Security 10.5 for best detection rate (94 percent) in my malware blocking test, and tied with G Data TotalSecurity 2014 for second-best malware blocking score overall, 9.0 points. Looking at products tested with my previous malware collection, Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete 2013 led the pack with 9.9 points. To learn how I run the malware blocking test, see How We Test Malware Blocking.

The independent testing labs mostly ignore TrustPort, unfortunately. West Cost Labs does certify TrustPort's technology for virus detection and removal, and TrustPort got VB100 certification in eight of the last ten tests by Virus Bulletin. The chart below summarizes recent lab results; for more about these tests, see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/3iwVbeG7wtc/0,2817,2419449,00.asp

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Breaking: Company Study Shows That Company Is Totally In the Right Business

I have some really big news, you guys! It turns out that if you ask people whether they want to leave their wallets at home, 83 percent of them will say yes! And sometimes, people won't have cash with them, so they can't make a purchase ? in fact, that's what happened to a whopping 75 percent of Canadians! What a crazy, backwards world we live in! Even more astounding: If you buy a meal for a friend, it's possible that they won't pay you back! Shockingly, 54 percent of Americans say that they've been "stiffed" at some point in their lives!

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

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Mexican Cave Art Offers Peek into Pre-Spanish Past

In the mountains of northeastern Mexico, archaeologists have unearthed thousands of ancient paintings on the walls of caves and ravines from a time before Spanish rule.

The rock art offers rare evidence from native cultures living in the area around the Sierra de San Carlos, a mountain range in Mexico's state of Tamaulipas, researchers say.

Almost 5,000 of these paintings were found across 11 different sites in the region, the researchers said. Created with red, yellow, black and white pigments, the images show animals from deer to lizards to centipedes, as well as people. Depictions of tents, hunting, fishing and possibly astronomical charts also offer a glimpse into the life of this mysterious culture.

The findings document the presence of pre-Hispanic groups, "where before it was said that there was nothing, when in fact it was inhabited by one or more cultures," archaeologist Gustavo Ramirez, of the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History, said in a statement.

The ancient people who once inhabited the mountains of Tamaulipas left very little behind for modern archaeologists to pore over. There is little known of their languages, rituals and customs, besides references to them by conquistadors and friars who colonized and Christianized the region.

Another archaeologist, Martha Garcia Sanchez, said these people were able to resist Spanish rule by living in the mountains, "where they had water, plants and animals to feed themselves."

The rock art was rediscovered in 2006, and archaeologists first started studying the site two years ago. Researchers have not yet been able to precisely date the paintings but further testing on samples of the pigments could reveal the age of the rock art.

"We have not found any ancient objects linked to the context, and because the paintings are on ravine walls and in the rainy season the sediments are washed away, all we have is gravel," said Ramirez.

The findings were presented during the Second Conference of Archaeological History in Mexico City.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mexican-cave-art-offers-peek-pre-spanish-past-131121717.html

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Sexual assault is a 'scourge' on U.S. military, Hagel says

(Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called sexual assault a "scourge" on Saturday as he addressed graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where a sergeant stands accused of videotaping female cadets in the showers.

"Sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military are a profound betrayal - a profound betrayal - of sacred oaths and sacred trusts," Hagel said. "This scourge must be stamped out."

His comments came a day after President Barack Obama delivered a similar message to graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy, saying sexual assault threatened to erode trust and discipline in America's armed forces.

The Pentagon is reeling from a series of sex-related scandals in recent weeks, including cases in which military advocates for victims of sexual assault were themselves accused of sex crimes.

A study released by the Defense Department two weeks ago estimated that reports of unwanted sexual contact in the military, from groping to rape, rose 37 percent in 2012, to about 26,000 cases from 19,000 the previous year.

At West Point in New York state, Sergeant First Class Michael McClendon was charged last week with four counts, including indecent acts, dereliction of duty and cruelty, the Army said.

McClendon had served as a tactical non-commissioned officer at the academy since 2009, a job that put him in charge of mentoring and training a company of about 121 cadets.

The incidents have embarrassed the U.S. military and prompted members of Congress to introduce legislation designed to toughen up the Pentagon's handling of sex crimes.

Hagel, in his address, noted that budget cuts were impacting military readiness and morale. But he cited sexual assault and sexual harassment among other, growing threats to America's all-volunteer force.

"You will need to not just deal with these debilitating, insidious and destructive forces but rather you must be the generation of leaders that stop it," he said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sexual-assault-scourge-u-military-hagel-says-143233662.html

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Surprising No One, Twitter Is An Arrested Development Explosion

The Netflix-only fourth season of Arrested Development went live at 3 a.m. EST this morning, and if you didn't see the Twitter deluge coming, well, you're one of these people:

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0oVJGexu4Cc/surprising-no-one-twitter-is-an-arrested-development-e-509945258

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Google Play no longer able pay Argentine Android devs

Google to stop accepting payments for Argentine developers from June 27, apps to be pulled from July 27.

Android developers based in Argentine have received notice from Google that it'll no longer be able to accept payments for them from June 27. A letter from Google to devs, obtained by South American phone site Celularis, indicates that the changes apply to both paid apps and in-app purchases. The Verge points out that the change is likely due to tough new restrictions on currency exchanges recently imposed by the Argentine government. But Celularis notes that despite the changes to Google Play, Google AdSense for mobile continues to operate in the country.

The letter from Google states that it'll stop accepting payments on behalf of Argentine developers from June 27. Paid apps and in-app items from these devs will be pulled a month later, starting July 27, following final payments on July 22. One solution for Argentina-based app developers is to move their account to another country where they're able to legally do business, an option Google itself suggests in its email to developers.

Google states that it hopes to restore payouts to developers based in Argentina in the future, but that "no specific plans are in place at the moment."

Source: Celularis; via: The Verge

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/zGyGe2ElDAg/story01.htm

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'Friend' of suspect in UK slaying arrested

LONDON (AP) ? Counterterrorism police on Saturday were questioning a friend of Michael Adebolajo, one of two suspects in the savage killing of a British soldier. The friend, Abu Nusaybah, was arrested immediately after he gave a television interview telling his story about how Adebolajo came to be radicalized.

In his interview, Nusaybah said Adebolajo became withdrawn after returning from a visit to study in Kenya, where he claimed he had been physically and sexually abused in detention. Nusaybah also alleged that the U.K.'s security services tried to recruit Adebolajo after he returned to Britain.

Adebolajo and another man are suspected of killing 25-year-old soldier Lee Rigby, hacking at his body with knives and a meat cleaver, on a London street in front of dozens of passersby on Wednesday afternoon. Both suspects were shot by police at the scene and are hospitalized under guard in stable condition.

The BBC said Nusaybah was arrested by police outside its studios Friday night immediately after recording the interview.

"This interviewee had important background information that sheds light on this horrific event," the broadcaster said in a statement. "And when we asked him to appear and interviewed him, we were not aware he was wanted for questioning by the police."

Metropolitan Police confirmed that a 31-year-old man was arrested Friday night in London on suspicion of "the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism." He is in custody at a London police station, police said, adding that the arrest was not directly related to the killing of Rigby.

Nusaybah told the BBC that he believed Adebolajo changed after he was allegedly detained and abused by security forces in a Kenyan prison cell last year. After that, Adebolajo became "less talkative ... he wasn't his bubbly self," Nusaybah said.

He also said that Adebolajo told him that Britain's security service, the MI5, followed him upon his return to the U.K. to find out if he knew certain individuals and then to ask if he would work for the security service.

"He was explicit in that he refused to work for them," Nusaybah told the BBC. It was not immediately possible to verify the claims by Nusaybah.

Two Muslim hard-liners described Adebolajo as a recent convert to Islam.

Anjem Choudary, the former head of the radical group al-Muhajiroun, told The Associated Press that Adebolajo was a Christian who converted to Islam around 2003. He took part in several demonstrations by the group in London, Choudary said.

Omar Bakri Muhammad, who now lives in Lebanon but had been a radical Muslim preacher in London, said Adebolajo attended his London lectures in the early 2000s.

Police have not officially named the two suspects. British media has named the second suspect as Michael Adebowale; that was confirmed Saturday by a British government official who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak about the investigation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-25-EU-Britain-Attack/id-348fd7e701054c3d9c10f125e3cceda1

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'Colored' comment: Golf CEO compounds insults to Tiger Woods

'Colored' comment: European Tour CEO?George?O'Grady?has apologized for saying, 'Most of Sergio's friends are colored,' after golfer Sergio Garcia was criticized for making a racist joke about Tiger Woods.

By Associated Press / May 23, 2013

Sergio Garcia (l.) and Tiger Woods (r.) talk at the 2002 U.S. Open. On May 21, 2013, Garcia joked that he would have Woods over for dinner: "We will serve fried chicken." Euro Tour CEO George O'Grady tried to play down the comment, saying, 'Most of Sergio's friends are colored atheletes...' Both Garcia and O'Grady have issued apologies.

Dave Martin / AP / File

Enlarge

The head of the European golf tour apologized for using the term "colored" during a live television interview Thursday in which he was reacting to the conflict between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.

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European Tour CEO?George?O'Grady?commented that "most of Sergio's friends are colored athletes in the United States."

The word "colored" was once widely used in the United States to refer to African-Americans but it is now considered antiquated and offensive. In some African countries, it is used to denote individuals of mixed racial ancestry.

"I deeply regret using an inappropriate word in a live interview for Sky Sports for which I unreservedly apologize,"?O'Grady, who is British, said in a statement released later Thursday.

Woods and Garcia have exchanged barbs over the past two weeks, dating to the third round of The Players Championship when Garcia implied that Woods purposely stirred up the gallery as the Spaniard was playing a shot.

But the situation got uglier Tuesday when Garcia and his Ryder Cup teammates were at a dinner. The emcee, Golf Channel's Steve Sands, jokingly asked Garcia if he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open.

"We'll have him round every night," Garcia replied. "We will serve fried chicken."

The remark was reminiscent of Fuzzy Zoeller's similar comment about Woods during his record-setting victory in the 1997 Masters, when Woods became the first player of black heritage to win a major.

Certain foods, fried chicken and watermelon in particular, have been used in dehumanizing caricatures of blacks as far back as the beginning America's segregation era in the 19th century. The imagery has become less common in the decades since integration, though Woods ? the only player of African-American heritage on the PGA Tour and the top player in the world ? has occasionally endured racially tinged insults.

Garcia initially released an apologetic statement and followed it up Wednesday at a news conference from the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, site of the European Tour's flagship event.

"I feel sick about it and I feel truly, truly sorry," he said.

Garcia said he meant to give a funny answer to a playful question, and it turned out to be "totally stupid and out of place."

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Woods said: "The comment that was made wasn't silly. It was wrong, hurtful, and clearly inappropriate. I'm confident that there is real regret the remark was made. The Players ended nearly two weeks ago, and it's long past time to move on and talk about golf."

After Garcia shot even par on Thursday, he told reporters he didn't hear about?O'Grady's?comments as he was playing, but he was told about it afterward and, "I think it unfortunate."

Garcia said he had not spoken to Woods but had talked to his agent, Mark Steinberg. "He said they are moving forward," Garcia said.

If not before, Garcia said he would speak with Wood at the U.S. Open in June.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/HRcbUsQvAsc/Colored-comment-Golf-CEO-compounds-insults-to-Tiger-Woods

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Vaccine blackjack: IL-21 critical to fight against viral infections

Friday, May 24, 2013

Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center have shown that an immune regulatory molecule called IL-21 is needed for long-lasting antibody responses in mice against viral infections.

The results are published in the Journal of Virology.

"Our findings highlight how IL-21 could be important in the development of antiviral vaccines," says research associate Ata Ur Rasheed Mohammed, PhD, the first author of the paper. The senior author is Rafi Ahmed, PhD, director of the Emory Vaccine Center and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

The findings could lead scientists designing future vaccines to incorporate IL-21 directly or to use the ability to stimulate IL-21 as a gauge of vaccine activity. IL-21 was discovered in 2000. Its effects have also been studied in the area of immune responses against HIV, and it has been in clinical trials for skin cancer and kidney cancer and auto-immune disorders.

A main objective of vaccination is to make the recipient's immune system develop antibodies that can neutralize infecting viruses. Signals from IL-21 appear to be necessary for generating long-lived plasma cells, which reside in the bone marrow and secrete antibodies.

Rasheed and his colleagues probed mice that were unable to respond to IL-21, because the mice were engineered to lack the gene for the IL-21 receptor. They examined the altered mice in the context of three different types of viral infections: LCMV (lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus), VSV (vesicular stomatitis virus), and influenza.

When infected with each of the three viruses separately, the altered mice did start to produce antibodies, but antibody levels faded out over the course of around two months. The mice "exhibited a profound defect in generating long-lived plasma cells and in sustaining antibody levels over time," the authors write.

Rasheed's team demonstrated that IL-21 is playing a role in germinal centers, structures in the lymph nodes and spleen where cells that produce high-affinity antibodies are selected. In the IL-21 receptor deficient mice, germinal centers form but are not sustained. IL-21 signals are important both for the antibody-producing cells and for T helper cells that support them, the researchers showed.

###

Emory Health Sciences: http://whsc.emory.edu/home/news/index.html

Thanks to Emory Health Sciences 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/128392/Vaccine_blackjack__IL____critical_to_fight_against_viral_infections

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Get ready for an ?extremely active? hurricane season

A house leveled during superstorm Sandy in Fairfield, Conn. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)

A year after superstorm Sandy, residents along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts should prepare for "an extremely active" 2013 hurricane season, U.S. forecasters say.

There will be between three and six major hurricanes this year with winds above 111 mph, according to the 2013 hurricane outlook unveiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center on Thursday.

During the six-month hurricane season, which begins June 1, forecasters anticipate between 13 and 20 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, between seven and 11 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher).

Those ranges are above normal. According to the National Hurricane Center, the seasonal average is 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

The dire forecast comes as many shoreline residents?particularly in New York and New Jersey?are still recovering from Sandy, which killed 147 people and caused more than $75 billion in damage?the second costliest hurricane U.S. history?in October 2012.

The 2012 hurricane season produced 19 named storms, including 10 hurricanes and two major hurricanes?Sandy and Michael, a Category 3 storm that stayed over the open Atlantic. The number of named storms and hurricanes were above average, but the two major hurricanes was below the average of three.

Climate factors?including warmer-than-average water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean?contributed to 2013's active forecast, the NOAA said.

And homeowners should begin their storm preparations now.

"Take time to refresh your hurricane preparedness plan," Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA acting administrator, said during a news conference in College Park, Md., on Thursday. "Bottom line is become weather-ready now?that means starting today."

NOAA also unveiled plans for a new "super computer" that will run an "upgraded Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) models." That, combined with new Doppler technology from NOAA's "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft, is expected to improve forecast accuracy "by 10 to 15 percent," the NOAA said.

The seasonal hurricane outlook does not predict how many storms will hit land or where a storm will strike. For people living on the shorelines, Sullivan said, "this is your warning."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/hurricane-season-2013-forecast-175638720.html

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Federal Government Looking for Business Consultants To Help ...

The federal government is looking to reward a nonprofit or company that would advise businesses owned by American Indians, and Bridgeport is one of the locations where the future center could operate.

The agency could also choose Buffalo, N.Y., Green Bay or Milwaukee in Wisconsin, Portland, Ore., or Jackson, Miss. All of these cities, according to the Minority Business Development Agency, are locations with a significant American Indian population.

Once open, the business center would not just serve businesses owned by American Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts, but also could help those owned by blacks, Puerto Ricans, other Hispanics, Hasidic Jews, and Asian Americans.

The nonprofit would be given $255,000 each year for four years to run the center. There are no centers in Connecticut currently.

The government said that in fiscal year 2012, the MBDA helped create and retain over 16,000 jobs, ?and helped its clients obtain over $3.6 billion in contracts and capital awards.

Applications must be submitted electronically and time-stamped at www.Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. on June 22, 2013.?

For more information, visit?www.mbda.gov

?

Source: http://courantblogs.com/ct-jobs/federal-government-looking-for-business-consultants-to-help-minority-businesses/

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Wisconsin bluff towns trying to ban frac-sand mining along Lake Pepin (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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