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Source: http://www.elemnation.com/get-easy-auto-insurance-quotes/

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J.Lo: Marc Anthony will 'always be in my life'

By Randee Dawn

Watch out what you ask Jennifer Lopez in an interview: You might be threatened with violence!

That's what TODAY's Matt Lauer discovered on Monday, when he brought up some quotes from a Vanity Fair article about Lopez's split with husband Marc Anthony.

"Matt, I want to kill you right now!" the "American Idol" judge said, adding that she and Anthony have agreed to not talk about their split publicly beyond that article.?

She also said they've remained in touch because of their children (twins Max and Emme) and a "passion project" in "Q'Viva! The Chosen,"? a reality TV talent show wherein the pair travels around Latin America in search of new acts to bring to the worldwide stage. They simply have to remain civil, she said: "Marc and I were friends before we got married. We were friends for years. And we always loved each other, and we always worked together.... Obviously, we have children together so it's not like he's not going to be in my life, he's always going to be in my life."

That said, Lopez admitted they have difficult moments. "We're human. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you about it. But at the end of the day there is real love there, and there is a family there and that comes first. And at the end of the day we also really love this project. It has its difficult moments once in a while when we're together, just because of the same things as when we were married."

So will she ever marry again? It's too soon to say.

"I don't know," Lopez said. "We'll see.... It's not time to think about that, do you know what I mean? It's still fresh."

Check out the video above for the entire interview, and tune in to Univision Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET to see "Q'Viva! The Chosen."

Are you surprised to learn Lopez and Anthony are still able to work so well together? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10269580-jlo-despite-split-marc-anthony-will-always-be-in-my-life

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Fourth-quarter GDP figures good, not great

The growth rate was 2.8 percent, slightly below expectations but an okay boost nevertheless.

I?ll try to get to some details later, but fourth quarter GDP just came out and the growth rate was 2.8%, slightly below expectations but an OK pop nevertheless.

Skip to next paragraph Jared Bernstein

?

Before joining the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as a senior fellow, Jared was chief economist to Vice President Joseph Biden and executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class. He is a contributor to MSNBC and CNBC and has written numerous books, including 'Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?'

Recent posts

Remember, the rule of thumb here?and while it doesn?t hold quarter-to-quarter, it?s pretty reliable year-to-year?is that for every point real GDP grows about the trend rate of 2.5%, the unemployment rate should come down about a half a percent.? So a sustained growth rate close to 3% should shave one-quarter of a percentage point off of the jobless rate.

The question is sustainability.? Headwinds persist?Europe (and the UK) pose growth and financial contagion risks, oil price spikes, and fading stimulus all come to mind, and the capacity of this Congress to self-inflict economic wounds is also hanging out there (failure to extend the UI and payroll tax cut, e.g., would definitely hurt near-term growth).

One notable data signal from the report is the growth rate of final sales, which excludes inventory buildups or drawdowns, and is thus considered a cleaner measure of actual real-time demand in the economy.? Final sales grew only 0.8% last quarter, meaning inventory buildup was a big part of the topline number and suggesting that the real, underlying growth rate of the ongoing expansion is still too slow.? It?s also worth noting that the economy expanded at a relatively sloggy rate of 1.6% over the year 2011.

So, have we hit escape velocity from the clutches of the Great Recession?? I?d say no, not yet.? We?re headed in the right direction, we?ve got some mo, but growth is too slow and there?s still too much fragility and slack in the system.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on jaredbernsteinblog.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/I8M-XUlsonc/Fourth-quarter-GDP-figures-good-not-great

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Funny How That Works (Theagitator)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192758790?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Sudan says to release ships seized from South Sudan (Reuters)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) ? Sudan said on Saturday it would free tankers carrying cargoes of South Sudanese crude it had seized earlier this month, in a push to defuse a row over transit fees between former civil war foes that both depend on oil for almost all their income.

Landlocked South Sudan, which became independent in July after seceding from Sudan, has to use a northern pipeline and the port of Port Sudan to export its crude, and the two countries are in dispute over the transit fees it should pay.

The row heated up this month when Sudan said it was confiscating some of South Sudan's oil exports to make up for what it called unpaid fees. South Sudan retaliated by saying it would shut down its crude output by Saturday.

Oil is the lifeline of both countries' economies, and the south's secession left Khartoum with output of about 125,000 barrels per day and South Sudan with production that has fallen slightly to 350,000 bpd from 375,000 bpd in June.

Oil revenue is about 98 percent of South Sudan's income, and is vital if the government is to develop a country devastated by years of civil war and one of the world's poorest nations.

China is the biggest buyer of oil from the two countries, taking some 12.99 million barrels last year - five percent of overall 2011 crude imports by China, which is also the biggest investor in South Sudan's oilfields.

"President Bashir is ready to make this gesture. Sudan is going to release the vessels detained in Port Sudan," Sayed El-Khatib, deputy head of Sudan's negotiating team, told a media conference in the Ethiopian capital on Saturday.

"By taking this step, we expect the cover agreement to be signed, the shutdown to be halted, and the terms of the cover agreement to be respected," said El-Khatib. "Before the end of today, we could be able to sign the cover agreement. We, at least, are ready to sign."

A South Sudanese official, asked to comment, told Reuters: "We are studying the claim. We are waiting for confirmation from the shipping companies." He did not want to be named.

LEADERS FOUND NO ANSWER

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia on Friday, but failed to resolve their differences over the oil transit tariff.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a broker between the two sides, met Bashir again on Saturday.

The row with Sudan has angered many in South Sudan, where independence, the result of a referendum following a 2005 peace accord, is often framed as the climax of a long struggle against political and economic marginalization by the north.

South Sudan's Kiir accused Khartoum of "looting" oil worth roughly $815 million and of building a tie-in pipeline to divert 120,000 barrels per day of southern oil flowing through the north.

Industry sources have said Sudan has sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at a discount of millions of dollars to the official price charged by the South, and is offering more.

Awad Abdelfatah, undersecretary of Sudan's petroleum ministry, denied South Sudan's accusations of oil "theft."

"Since the 9th of July (South Sudan's independence day), we have opened our export line for them (South Sudan) without any hindrance," Abdelfatah told Reuters.

"We have been sending them invoices since that time and have been patient until the 1st of December. We decided then to take our dues. We didn't take anything more than what our invoice shows," Abdelfatah said.

Sudan's civil war, fought over issues of ethnicity, religion, ideology and oil, ebbed and flowed from 1955 to 2005 and caused the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. Southerners voted overwhelmingly for secession in a referendum in January 2011.

(Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_sudan_oil

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Gov. pitching Conn. to business leaders in Davos (AP)

HARTFORD, Conn. ? Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says he's pitching Connecticut as a good place to do business at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Malloy told reporters during a conference call Thursday that he's spoken with financial services firms, as well as technology, energy and bio-science companies that might be interested in bringing their operations to the state. Malloy said the discussions were mostly exploratory, but he believes it's important to make sure they know more about Connecticut

The Democratic governor was invited to attend the exclusive meeting of government and business leaders and VIPs. It runs through Sunday. He's participating in several panel discussions.

The cost of the trip, estimated at $4,500, is being covered by the University of Connecticut Foundation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_malloy_davos_connecticut

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TiVo Premiere Elite

The TiVo Premiere Elite ($499.99 list) is the souped-up version of the TiVo Premiere DVR ($299.99, 3.5 stars), with a 300-hour HD video capacity and two more TV tuners for the ability to record four simultaneous programs. Like the TiVo Premiere XL, the Premiere Elite is THX certified and comes with an upgraded remote (but not the slide-out QWERTY model). It?s a definite upgrade for current TiVo users, but is it compelling enough to bring more TiVo users into the fold? The outlook isn't so good, compared to DVRs from cable companies, which continue to improve over time.

Design and Features
The TiVo Premiere Elite looks almost identical to the previous TiVo Premiere, built into the same style chassis as the previous model. There are a few differences from the previous version, though. There are four lights, which glow red to show that each of the four tuners are recording a program. You can record up to four programs simultaneously, which are decoded by the mutli-stream CableCARD the TiVo Premiere Elite now requires. Previous models allowed you to record over the air HDTV broadcasts in addition to digital cable, but the Premiere Elite is a strictly digital cable-only model; TiVo has removed the RF tuner and its connector to make room for the added digital tuners. Over-the-air HDTV viewers will want the regular Premiere or Premiere XL.

If you?ve set up a TiVo HD or previous TiVo Premiere before, you know the drill: Call your cable company to get a multi-stream CableCARD, either wait for the tech to show up or install the CableCARD yourself, and hope it pairs up successfully. Once activated in your TiVo Premiere Elite and once the DVR is hooked up to your home Internet connection, the DVR will download the program guide and take you through the rest of the setup. The TiVo Premiere Elite has an Ethernet port, but you?ll need to buy a TiVo WiFi adapter ($60-$90) if you don?t have a wired connection in your TV room. All the same features are here: TiVo Search; links to Netflix, Blockbuster, Hulu Plus, Pandora, You Tube, and Amazon Instant Video; and the trademark beeps and boops from the TiVo interface. Think of the current group of TiVo DVRs as a mash-up of a cable DVR and the sort of streaming media set top box like the Apple TV ?($99, 4 stars) or the Roku LT ($49, 4 stars).

The TiVo Premiere Elite comes with a 2TB hard drive, which is good for up to 300 hours of HD video, which is an increase from 45 hours for the TiVo Premiere, and 150 hours for the TiVo Premiere XL. Like the TiVo Premiere XL, the Premiere Elite comes with the TiVo Glo remote, not the keyboard-equipped TiVo Slide ($60). The TiVo Slide is a better fit for the DVR junkie who needs to search for programming with the on-screen interface. Truly hardcore TiVo users can download the free TiVo app for their handheld device like an iPad, iPhone, or Android phone: The app replicates the search and remote functions on your handheld, including managing the recorded programs list on your TiVo Premiere Elite. The touch-screen keyboard on your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S II will be handier than using the on-screen keyboard and TiVo Glo remote on your HDTV. However, you can?t view live TV or the recordings from your TiVo on your iPad/iPhone/Android device. You?ll still need to use a separate place-shifting device for remote viewing over WiFi or 3G.

Competitors From the Cable Company and Elsewhere
The cable companies have caught up to and some cases surpassed TiVo. TiVo?s interface now mostly takes advantage of the extra real estate and resolution of a HDTV screen, though there are still elements in standard definition. The user interface screens on digital cable DVRs like those from Verizon FIOS are fully HD optimized.

More pressing are features like FIOS? DVR apps and Cablevision/Time Warner?s viewing apps on devices like the iPad and Android smartphones. On the FIOS side, the DVR Manager app gives you listings of what?s scheduled and already recorded on your home DVRs, regardless if you?re home or on a 3G network. Need more room to record the next American Idol on your home DVR, but you?re in Des Moines? No problem with FIOS or the other cable companies, just delete those old episodes of Pan Am. In the TiVo app, you have to be physically in range of your home Wi-Fi network to see the recorded list and manage recordings, which means you can only schedule future recordings remotely, not delete existing programs. On the Time Warner and Cablevision side, things are even better when you consider that the TWC app and Optimum app allow you to view live TV as well as on-demand videos on your iPad on your home network. TiVo users need a place-shifting device like a Slingbox to do the same thing, even in your own home. Multi-room viewing was once unique to TiVo, but Cable DVRs now support multi-room viewing, letting you view programs recorded in the living room while you?re in the bedroom.? And with TiVo, there are issues with multi-room viewing and copy-protected content, which could apply to many of the programs you're recording.

Last I checked, most cable companies even let you exchange a broken DVR for free even if the DVR itself is 5 years old. Unfortunately, the TiVo DVR warranty only lasts one year for parts, 90 days for labor, with an option for 2-years parts/labor for $30 and 3 years for $40.? Last, but not least, you?ll still need to subscribe to TiVo, which added to the monthly rental for the CableCARD, equals or surpasses the monthly rental fee for a cable company DVR. TiVo curently charges $19.95 a month, so if you add the $2-5 monthly rate for the CabelCARD, you may pay less in fees on a cable company DVR. Sure, you can purchase a lifetime subscription for $499.99, but that's per TiVo DVR, and is subject to the continued good health of TiVo Inc. If you want Netflix or You Tube on your HDTV as well and your HDTV doesn't already support it, check if there?s a free HDMI port on your TV, then get an Apple TV or Roku; it?s less than $100, and you won?t need to pay a monthly fee to Apple.

The TiVo Premiere Elite is an improved device for an ultimately shrinking market: the hardcore TiVo user. It will give the TiVo fan a lot to crow about while recording 300 hours of HD on four channels simultaneously, but the DVR is unlikely to add brand new customers to the TiVo fold. It's so tied to digital cable that it is unlikely to sway the non-TiVo user from renting a much more convenient and similar HD DVR for much less money. Why buy a TiVo DVR when the cable company DVR is the same amount of money or less, and lets you better manage it with your smartphone or tablet? Five years ago, TiVo had a perceptibly insurmountable lead on the competition. Now that gap is bridgeable by a toddler in brand new shoes.

More Digital Video Recorder reviews:
??? TiVo Premiere Elite
??? TiVo (for iPad)
??? Monsoon Multimedia Vulkano
??? Dish Network ViP922 SlingLoaded DVR
??? TiVo Premiere
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/C0m2U1ISCgE/0,2817,2399349,00.asp

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Gay actors still worry that coming out will hurt careers (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 26 (TheWrap.com) ? There's still a celluloid closet in Hollywood.

Gay actors are far more open about their sexuality with friends and co-workers, than their agents, according to a new survey by the British trade union Equity.

Only 57 percent say that they are openly gay with their agents. Despite the success of gay and lesbian actors like Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Lynch and Ian McKellen, the indication seems to be that actors and actresses fear that their choice of roles will be affected if they come out of the closet publicly.

Rupert Everett, once eager to become the next James Bond, has for years spoken frankly the price he's paid for being openly gay, lambasting Hollywood as "very, very conservative" in a late 2010 interview.

He said that he didn't blame those who chose to remain in the closet, calling it "very sensible."

McKellen, Lynch, Harris and others have made great strides for the gay community and frequently play straight people on television and in movies, but there are no A-list film stars who are openly gay. Rumors have swirled for years about the sexuality of major stars such as Jodie Foster, but so far the actress has avoided any explicit public declarations.

At this year's Golden Globe awards, host Ricky Gervais riffed on the those rumors, and the title of Foster's recent film, "The Beaver."

"I haven't seen it myself," Gervais said. 'I've spoken to a lot of guys -- they haven't seen it either, but that doesn't mean it's not good."

Beyond a reticence to broadcast their sexuality, 35 percent the actors surveyed said they have experienced homophobia in their professional lives.

"I have never felt that being gay has worked against me but the finding in Equity's own survey that just under half of all gay performers are not out to their agent in the U.K. is worrying," Malcolm Sinclair, actor and president of Equity, said in a statement. "But then work is scarce and, whether sexuality is a barrier or not, people may just err on the side of caution. They don't want to test the water to see if it's all right."

The same anxiety does not appear to exist among co-workers. Ninety four percent of those polled said they are honest about their sexuality with their fellow performers and 81 percent were out in their professional lives.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/people_nm/us_gayactors

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LA BioMed's Dr. John Torday examines evolution from a cellular perspective

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Diana Soltesz
diana@dsmmedia.com
818-592-6747
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed)

Dr. Torday co-authors 'Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease'

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 25, 2012) The evolutionary processes of unicellular and multicellular organisms are continually under debate. John Torday, Ph.D., a lead investigator at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed), has recently co-authored a book entitled Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease, which incorporates cell biology into evolutionary biology. Rather than focusing on multicellular organisms, the book concentrates on the cell as the smallest unit of biologic structure and function. This is the first time that evolution has been looked at from the cellular mechanistic perspective, making evolution more accessible and relevant to all of biology and medicine.

According to Dr. Torday, "Understanding evolutionary biology is key to integrating biology. To accomplish this, we need a mechanism for the process of Natural Selection that explains how novelty in vertebrate evolution is generated, how selection pressure has made wings from limbs, lungs from swim bladders, and integrated physiologic regulatory mechanisms like lipid metabolism and respiration, photoreception and circadian rhythms, water balance and erythropoiesis," said Dr. Torday. "Evolutionary-developmental biology provides an opportunity to exploit contemporary cell-molecular developmental biology, yet it has not been used effectively because we don't have an algorithm to convert genes into phenotypes. That leaves a huge gap in evolutionary biology that must be filled to provide plausible answers for how evolution has generated physiologic phenotypes. Since cells generate phenotypes from genes, this is a logical way to understanding evolution that's been 'trumped' by our zeal to reduce everything in biology to genes. Evolution, like cell biology, is a process, not a thing."

Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease is focused on the scientific evidence that unicellular organisms are the origins of metazoans, and that metabolic cellular cooperativity is the central evolutionary mechanism being selected for. By examining the Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) that mediate these processes, the mechanisms underlying the evolution of a particular group of organisms (phylogeny) using the developmental history of an individual organism (ontogeny) can be leveraged, and visa versa, filling in the missing links using a mathematical algorithm like the Periodic Table.

The power of this novel approach is exemplified by focusing on GRNs that mediate cell-cell communication common to both ontogeny and phylogeny (independent of time), merging them into one common data set to determine the ultimate physiologic principles. The concept of cell-cell communication spans all of biology, from its initial conditions to preventive medicine. Evolutionary Biology will clarify this perspective, providing insights to experimental evolution.

In addition to being a lead investigator at LA BioMed, Dr. Torday is a Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is a pioneer in the field of developmental lung biology, with current research interests in the developmental/phylogenetic origins of lung cell phenotypic heterogeneity and the gene regulatory network determinants of lung evolution. He is particularly interested in using evolutionary biology of the lung as an approach to clinical diagnosis and treatment of chronic lung disease, and as a prototype for predictive and preventive medicine.

###

About LA BioMed

Founded in 1952, LA BioMed is one of the country's leading nonprofit independent biomedical research institutes. It has approximately 100 principal researchers conducting studies into improved treatments and cures for cancer, inherited diseases, infectious diseases, illnesses caused by environmental factors and more. It also educates young scientists and provides community services, including prenatal counseling and childhood nutrition programs. LA BioMed is academically affiliated with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and located on the campus of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.LABioMed.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Diana Soltesz
diana@dsmmedia.com
818-592-6747
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed)

Dr. Torday co-authors 'Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease'

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 25, 2012) The evolutionary processes of unicellular and multicellular organisms are continually under debate. John Torday, Ph.D., a lead investigator at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed), has recently co-authored a book entitled Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease, which incorporates cell biology into evolutionary biology. Rather than focusing on multicellular organisms, the book concentrates on the cell as the smallest unit of biologic structure and function. This is the first time that evolution has been looked at from the cellular mechanistic perspective, making evolution more accessible and relevant to all of biology and medicine.

According to Dr. Torday, "Understanding evolutionary biology is key to integrating biology. To accomplish this, we need a mechanism for the process of Natural Selection that explains how novelty in vertebrate evolution is generated, how selection pressure has made wings from limbs, lungs from swim bladders, and integrated physiologic regulatory mechanisms like lipid metabolism and respiration, photoreception and circadian rhythms, water balance and erythropoiesis," said Dr. Torday. "Evolutionary-developmental biology provides an opportunity to exploit contemporary cell-molecular developmental biology, yet it has not been used effectively because we don't have an algorithm to convert genes into phenotypes. That leaves a huge gap in evolutionary biology that must be filled to provide plausible answers for how evolution has generated physiologic phenotypes. Since cells generate phenotypes from genes, this is a logical way to understanding evolution that's been 'trumped' by our zeal to reduce everything in biology to genes. Evolution, like cell biology, is a process, not a thing."

Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease is focused on the scientific evidence that unicellular organisms are the origins of metazoans, and that metabolic cellular cooperativity is the central evolutionary mechanism being selected for. By examining the Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) that mediate these processes, the mechanisms underlying the evolution of a particular group of organisms (phylogeny) using the developmental history of an individual organism (ontogeny) can be leveraged, and visa versa, filling in the missing links using a mathematical algorithm like the Periodic Table.

The power of this novel approach is exemplified by focusing on GRNs that mediate cell-cell communication common to both ontogeny and phylogeny (independent of time), merging them into one common data set to determine the ultimate physiologic principles. The concept of cell-cell communication spans all of biology, from its initial conditions to preventive medicine. Evolutionary Biology will clarify this perspective, providing insights to experimental evolution.

In addition to being a lead investigator at LA BioMed, Dr. Torday is a Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is a pioneer in the field of developmental lung biology, with current research interests in the developmental/phylogenetic origins of lung cell phenotypic heterogeneity and the gene regulatory network determinants of lung evolution. He is particularly interested in using evolutionary biology of the lung as an approach to clinical diagnosis and treatment of chronic lung disease, and as a prototype for predictive and preventive medicine.

###

About LA BioMed

Founded in 1952, LA BioMed is one of the country's leading nonprofit independent biomedical research institutes. It has approximately 100 principal researchers conducting studies into improved treatments and cures for cancer, inherited diseases, infectious diseases, illnesses caused by environmental factors and more. It also educates young scientists and provides community services, including prenatal counseling and childhood nutrition programs. LA BioMed is academically affiliated with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and located on the campus of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.LABioMed.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/labr-lbd012412.php

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Skrillex, 12th Planet Play To Sold-Out L.A. Crowd

Skrill's high-energy gig with Diplo was part of six-show EDM series in Los Angeles.
By Lara Kathleen Kelley

Skrillex and 12th Planet perform in Los Angeles
Photo: Michelle Oglakhchyan

It's officially Skrillex week in Los Angeles, where MTV's EDM Artist of the Year just finished his second gig in a series of six back-to-back shows, each spotlighting diverse talent in the now-reigning dubstep scene. Wednesday night's gig at CYP2, a popular bi-weekly indie dance music event, featured Skrillex performing a back-to-back set with 12th Planet, Diplo and U.K. producer Caspa for a jam-packed crowd at the Echoplex.

"The show sold out in under 20 minutes," said Danny Johnson, co-producer of CYP2. "Skrillex and 12th Planet are best buds, Caspa is a dubstep don and Diplo has championed these artists from day one, so the lineup made perfect sense and the fans went crazy for it."

As soon as the doors opened, partygoers piled in, energy high and anticipation permeating the air. Music pumped from the speakers by DJ Franki Chan, owner of the IHeartComix label and CYP2 co-producer. Then DJ/producer Diplo lit up the crowd with bass-heavy beats and hard-core hip-hop tracks. But it wasn't until Skrillex took the stage with 12th Planet that the fans went crazy and began screaming, chanting and moshing for the dubstep duo.

Skrillex pumped up the fans and held them at his fingertips with tracks like "Breakin' a Sweat" and "Right on Time." The set included all of their popular singles as well as remixes of Avicii's "Levels," La Roux's "In for the Kill" and Rusko's "Hold On." Their two-and-a-half-hour set kept the crowd on their feet and begging for more bass until the lights came on.

12th Planet, born John Dadzie, had nothing but great things to say about the five-time Grammy-nominated artist formerly known as Sonny Moore.

"Skrillex and I met at Ultra Music Festival a few years ago and have been good friends ever since," he said. "We started doing collaborations together, and he would sing vocals during my sets. Since then, Skrillex has become a beast, and now when I get the opportunity to work with him, I learn as much as I possibly can."

12th Planet, recently deemed "U.S. dubstep godfather" by dance-music magazine Mixmag, spent much of 2011 on tour with Skrillex. "Performing with Skrillex reminds me of how much fun it is to tag-team DJ with one of your good friends. I love the chemistry that comes together when I play with Skrillex ... we can pretty much connect by E.S.P. during our sets."

Just this month, 12th Planet released his five-track free-for-download The End Is Near. It will be complemented by a 28-city North American tour that kicks off on February 2 in Miami, Florida.

The weeklong Skrillex takeover continues with a show Thursday (January 26) night at the Exchange in Downtown L.A. followed by massive gigs at the Avalon in Hollywood Friday night, the Palladium on Saturday and L.A. Live on Sunday. Next week he heads to New York for a series of dates, kicking off at Webster Hall on Tuesday.

Are you planning on seeing Skrillex live? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677941/skrillex-12th-planet-cyp2-los-angeles.jhtml

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Forums: Random app appearances, Contacts in the cloud

Mid-week and the Apple news is rolling as we head in into Mac World. We'll be there bringing you the best Mac World has to offer, so make sure you follow along with us both here on the blogs and in the iMore Forums.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/JyWjBc7Fkzw/story01.htm

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Wanted: Automotive Partner for Small Car Development; Contact ...

Going it alone on new model development is a costly endeavor even for large automotive groups ? and practically out of the question for smaller manufacturers.

Volvo until now has built all of its models around the platforms and powertrains from its former owner Ford. Now it is seeking a new partner to jointly develop its next generation of compact models.

Currently owned by Chinese carmaker Geely, Volvo recorded an impressive 20 percent increase in sales last year. Still, with some 450,000 units, it remains a small player in the global automotive industry, thus the need for cost sharing on new model development.

?We are open for partners?, Volvo?s CEO Stefan Jacoby told the Financial Times. ?We are open for collaboration in a win-win situation for sharing platforms, for sharing engines, and for a general higher scale of economics.?

Under the 2010 deal between Ford and Geely, the former would continue to provide platforms and components to Volvo for an (undisclosed) time after the sale. Its current compact car is the Focus-based three-door C30, which will be joined by the new V40 five-door compact hatch that's scheduled to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Jacoby said that even though ?no decisions have been made yet?, he did have some potential partners in mind. Volvo?s CEO wants to double Volvo?s annual production to 800,000 units by 2020. To achieve this goal, the company is currently building two new plants in China.

To cut down costs the Swedish carmaker is slashing its engine line-up from 10 units down to just two turbocharged four-cylinders, one gasoline and one diesel, reducing unique engine parts by an impressive 60 percent.

It will also build its all its bigger models on the new Scalable Platform Architecture, a modular structure that will allow for significant savings on development, tooling and assembly costs.

PHOTO GALLERY

Source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/01/wanted-automotive-partner-for-small-car.html

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Study Fails to Confirm Existence of Arsenic-Based Life

News | More Science

A new analysis by open-science advocates present a 'clear refutation' of a controversial finding that appears to undermine assumptions about how essential phosphorus is for life

By Erika Check Hayden and Nature magazine ?| January 23, 2012

A scanning electron micrograph of GFAJ-1, the bacterium at the centre of the controversy. Image: Science/AAAS

A strange bacterium found in California?s Mono Lake cannot replace the phosphorus in its DNA with arsenic, according to researchers who have been trying to reproduce the results of a controversial report published in Science in 2010.

A group of scientists, led by microbiologist Rosie Redfield at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, have posted data on Redfield's blog that, she says, present a ?clear refutation? of key findings from the paper.

?Their most striking claim was that arsenic had been incorporated into the backbone of DNA, and what we can say is that there is no arsenic in the DNA at all,? says Redfield.

But the authors of the Science paper are not retreating from their conclusions. ?We are thrilled that our results are stimulating more experiments from the community as well as ourselves,? first author Felisa Wolfe-Simon, now at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, wrote in an e-mail to Nature. ?We do not fully understand the key details of the website experiments and conditions. So we hope to see this work published in a peer-reviewed journal, as this is how science best proceeds.?

Open criticism
In the Science paper, Wolfe-Simon and her co-workers reported that they had found a bacterium called GFAJ-1 that can use the element arsenic in place of phosphorus in molecules essential to life (see Arsenic-eating microbe may redefine chemistry of life). This was surprising because phosphorus is thought to be essential for life, whereas arsenic is usually toxic.

But after Redfield and others raised numerous concerns (see Microbe gets toxic response), many of which were published as technical comments in Science, Redfield put the results to the test, documenting her progress on her blog to advance the cause of open science.

Redfield grew GFAJ-1 bacteria in arsenic and a very small amount of phosphorus, as had Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues. She then purified the DNA from the cells and sent it to Marshall Louis Reaves, a graduate student at Princeton University in New Jersey. Reaves used a caesium chloride gradient to separate the cells' DNA into fractions of varying densities, then used a mass spectrometer to identify the elements present in each fraction of DNA. He found no arsenic in any of the DNA.

But Redfield?s methods might leave defenders of the arsenic life hypothesis some wiggle room. For instance, Redfield was unable to grow any cells without adding a small amount of phosphorus. Because it is not clear how much phosphorus was used to grow the bacteria in the original paper, its authors could argue that Redfield's cells were not sufficiently phosphorus-starved to be forced to use arsenic in its place.

Wolfe-Simon also says she would not expect to find arsenic in DNA analysed on a caesium chloride gradient, because the arsenic-containing DNA might be so fragile that it would break apart and appear only in very faint bands separate from the bulk of the cell's DNA.

However, Redfield says that Reaves analysed all of the DNA purified on the gradient, so he would have detected any arsenic. Redfield also analysed the size of DNA from cells that had been stored for two months in her lab refrigerator. The DNA fragments from cells that had been grown with and without arsenic were similar sizes, indicating that DNA from arsenic-grown cells is not unstable.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=b22e908d1de3f73a622079be9c067a60

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Madonna Has 'Fingers Crossed' For A 'W.E.' Oscar Nod

'I would be really grateful if it did [get nominated], but if it doesn't, I got the Super Bowl,' she tells MTV News at 'W.E.' NYC premiere.
By Jocelyn Vena

Madonna
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — With Madonna's "W.E." taking home a Golden Globe just over a week ago (her "Masterpiece" won Best Original Song), much of the buzz at the film's NYC premiere Monday night (January 23) was about the upcoming Oscar nominations.

"Well, the Oscars, the nominations are coming out tomorrow, and fingers crossed, I hope my movie gets nominated for something," Madonna told MTV News on the red carpet. "I would be really grateful if it did, but if it doesn't, I got the Super Bowl — keep on going," she added, looking forward to her halftime performance at the February 5 game.

"Masterpiece" is on the short list for the Oscars, along with Elton John and Lady Gaga's "Gnomeo & Juliet" soundtrack tune "Hello Hello" and songs from will.i.am, Mary J. Blige and Zooey Deschanel.

When "Masterpiece" won the Globe, Madge thanked a number of her cohorts, including manager Guy Oseary, who was at the "W.E." premiere Monday; the song's producer, William Orbit; and the producer of "W.E.," Harvey Weinstein. "This is a surprise," she told the room, clutching her prize. "Thank you so much to the Hollywood Foreign Press for this acknowledgement. I need to thank my co-writers, Jimmy Harry and Julie Frost, my co-producer William Orbit, who's not here, whom I adore."

When Madonna takes the Super Bowl stage next month, her performance will reportedly be "imagined" by Cirque du Soleil and Madonna's longtime choreographer/ creative director Jamie King. The event may also feature appearances from her "Gimme All Your Luvin" collaborators, including Nicki Minaj. According to reports, the set list for the Super Bowl show will include "Luvin" as well as Madonna classics like "Ray of Light," Vogue" and "Music."

Madonna drops her album M.D.N.A. later this year.

Do you think Madonna will get an Oscar nod? Let us know in the comments!

Related Artists

• Madonna

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677775/madonna-we-oscar-nomination.jhtml

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Jay-Z Still Calling Women Bitches: Right or Wrong?

Last week, a report surfaced that in light of the birth of his daughter Blue Ivy Carter, Jay-Z would no longer be referring to women as bitches in his lyrics.

The story was met with universal praise. Too bad it was false.

Jay-Z personally told the New York Daily News that the story was fake. While he did not formally announce that he will continue to call women bitches, by denying the contrary, implicitly, the message is that he may continue to do so at will.

The words attributed to Jay-Z may have been fake, but the response of countless fans to what they thought was his change of direction was still very real.

Is it wrong for the new father to continue to use the word "bitch" (among other more choice words)? When Blue's mom is such a champion of strong girls?

Jay is far from the only rapper to face such criticism, of course.

Eminem, a father of multiple daughters, has defiantly said that music is art and his lyrics are not a reflection of him as a person or the way he treats women.

Still, for a lyrical maestro like Jay, would anyone object if he omitted a few degrading terms? Should he be expected to, considering what his craft is?

You tell us: Is it okay for Jay-Z to call women bitches?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/jay-z-still-calling-women-bitches-right-or-wrong/

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Chris Ladd: Evaluating the Merits of Private Equity

Mitt Romney's career as a private equity manager has suddenly become a hot issue in a party that normally avoids any criticism of the business community. We've heard Rick Perry describe private equity as "vulture capital." Newt Gingrich has painted Romney's former firm as a business equivalent of the Grim Reaper while subtly connecting it to the '08 bailouts.

A wild and weird Republican primary season just keeps getting wilder and weirder.

Sean Hazlett who writes at Reflections of a Rational Republican is an investment banker and analyst. He's put together a fantastic explanation of what private equity is and why it's an issue.

Why private equity is seldom an option for middle income investors:

Anyone can gain access to the public equity markets, but only those with a high net worth or annual income can invest in private equity transactions. The American people can thank the United States government for these restrictions, which set criteria for "accredited investors". In other words, the government has erected barriers to entry for people to invest in this asset class based entirely on net worth and/or income. However, that is a topic for another day.

The objectives of private equity firms:

Both venture capital and buyout firms have an exit orientation. In other words, they can only truly make money for their investors by selling the companies they help fund or turnaround. They can either sell these companies to other private equity firms or public companies or to public market investors by floating shares in an IPO. If the company turns out to be a dud, they can liquidate that company's assets, often for pennies on the dollar.

Hazlett goes on to explain how different types of private equity players might approach a particular business and why some may be more resented than others. On the merits of private equity he reaches the conclusion:

In most cases, buyouts still likely save more jobs than they destroy for the simple reason that many mismanaged companies would have gone out of business in the absence of a buyout firm's rescue. Of course, there will always be exceptions, but in the end, the buyout side of private equity can be either a force for good or evil, depending on how one uses its tools.

The GOP candidates who criticize Romney over his involvement with Bain are largely missing the point. The interesting question isn't whether Bain created or destroyed jobs. It did both at different times and under varying circumstances. The greater concern is that we may have built perverse incentives into our business law and the tax code that reward liquidation over business development.

The fact that Republicans are debating (or almost sort-of debating) the merits of certain business practices is a ground-breaking development all by itself. Hopefully it will build into some wider soul searching about economic assumptions that have gone unquestioned for too long.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-ladd/romney-private-equity_b_1211720.html

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Daniel Radcliffe Is 'Phenomenal,' Elizabeth Olsen Raves

'Martha Marcy May Marlene' actress is getting ready to star opposite Radcliffe in the thriller 'Kill Your Darlings.'
By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Cillian Murphy and Elizabeth Olsen
Photo: MTV News

PARK CITY, Utah — Daniel Radcliffe is no longer just the Boy Who Lived — at this stage, he's the Man Who Flourished.

Indeed, Radcliffe has kept his post-"Potter" career very interesting, what with a turn as a horror lead in next month's "Woman in Black," a lengthy run on Broadway in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and even a hosting stint on "Saturday Night Live" earlier this year.

He's set to keep his fans guessing even further with his next confirmed movie, "Kill Your Darlings," which tells the tale of how Beat Generation icons Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Lucien Carr first met — and how that meeting eventually led to murder.

Radcliffe plays Ginsberg in the film, and starring opposite him is up-and-coming actress Elizabeth Olsen. The brilliant young star of "Martha Marcy May Marlene" spoke with MTV News about joining the cast of "Kill Your Darlings," making her admiration for the "Harry Potter" star very well-known.

"He is so phenomenal," Olsen said at the Sundance Film Festival, where she's repping the paranormal thriller "Red Lights." "He's an incredible person. He's so funny and smart and fun. He's such a good guy."

Olsen is just one small cog in the greater machine of "Kill Your Darlings," according to the actress. She said she only appears in "three scenes of that movie" as Edie Parker, girlfriend of Jack Kerouac.

"Edie Parker is the one who introduced Ginsberg to Lucien Carr and Jack Kerouac," she explained of her role. "She's kind of the glue between them. I'm just there for a few scenes to explain that part of the story. But her personal life is really, really incredible."

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival is officially under way, and the MTV Movies team is on the ground reporting on the hottest stars and the movies everyone will be talking about in the year to come. Keep it locked with MTV Movies for everything there is to know about Sundance.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677686/daniel-radcliffe-elizabeth-olsen.jhtml

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UCI legal? That depends?

• By Aaron Hersh and Nick Legan
• Published Jan. 18, 2012
• Updated 60 mins ago

Table of Contents

Page 1 of 7:

The Cervelo P5 with the triathlon fork. Photo: Aaron Hersh

Anytime a big player in the aero bicycle market launches a new bike, it?s a big deal. In the case of Cerv?lo?s P5, it was a slightly bigger deal than any other launch in recent history. Why? Well, not only was the cycling press waiting to see the latest wind-cheating design from the Canadian manufacturer, but there were rumors of hydraulic brakes, something not entirely new, but certainly interesting.

It turns out that Cerv?lo appears to have delivered once again on a bike that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also functionally compelling. Cerv?lo partnered with both Magura and 3T for the P5. And the result is a fine example of the increasingly popular trend of frame and component design integration.

Playing with the rules, and winning

The frame is UCI legal and one iteration of the new fork is as well. Cerv?lo also offers a triathlon-specific fork that is not. The frame conforms to the regulations stating that tubes must be no more than three times deeper than their width, but Cerv?lo used a loophole to stretch the seat tube beyond the typical interpretation of the rule.

Cerv?lo senior advanced R & D engineer Damon Rinard says the UCI allows ?gussets? that support and connect the frame tubes as long as they are no deeper than the original tube dimension. The P5?s seat tube is 27mm wide, which means it must be 81mm or shorter in the longest direction, and the seat tube is almost exactly that length. The gusset connecting the seat tube and the top tube, however, is another 81mm.

These connected elements create a surface that is 162mm at its longest point. A second gusset is used to connect the seat stays to the seat tube that extends the segment of the tube deeper than the UCI?s 3:1 ratio lower on the seat tube. At its widest point, the P5 actually has a 6:1 ratio, yet it still abides by the UCI?s 3:1 rule. Go figure.

Next ?

FILED UNDER: Bikes and Tech TAGS: Cervelo / hydraulic

Source: http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/01/bikes-and-tech/uci-legal-that-depends%E2%80%A6_203811

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GOP leaders slow to embrace Romney _ or his rivals

Republican presidential candidates, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, participate in the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidates, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, participate in the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Mitt Romney may be the front-runner for the GOP nomination for president, but he has yet to win over most of the national party leaders whose help he will need to defeat President Barack Obama in November.

The upside for Romney: They aren't supporting anyone else either.

The Associated Press has polled 87 members of the Republican National Committee who are to attend the party's national convention this summer as free agent delegates, able to support any candidate for president they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries.

The results: Romney got support from 14, far more than anyone else but hardly a stampede of endorsements. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry got two each, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum each got one. The poll was completed before Perry dropped out of the race Thursday.

Sixty-seven of the RNC members contacted by the AP said they were undecided or simply waiting to see how the race plays out before making a public endorsement.

"If I thought there was someone who stood head and shoulders above everyone else, I would have endorsed," said Jeff Johnson, an RNC member and county commissioner from Minnesota. "I see pluses in all of them, but I decided not to come out in favor of anybody."

Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Robert Gleason said he saw no reason to endorse anyone because a competitive primary is good for the party and the eventual nominee by vetting the candidate while generating publicity and excitement about the race.

"It's working out great for us, and one of these people that is competing with (Romney) could end up being vice president," Gleason said. "I'm pleased with the way things are developing. We're getting all the publicity. It's been pretty favorable for us."

Romney appeared to finish slightly ahead of Santorum in the hours after the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3. However, the Iowa GOP certified vote totals Thursday showing Santorum ahead of Romney. The party decided not to declare a winner because of problems with a few precinct reports.

Romney won handily in New Hampshire last week, and he leads his Republican rivals in the polls nationally and in South Carolina, which votes Saturday. Still, the former Massachusetts governor has been unable to solidify support from many Republicans, some of whom question his conservative credentials.

Stephen Scheffler, an RNC member from Iowa, said he would support Romney if he were the nominee, but he's not excited about the prospect, despite Romney's finish in Iowa.

"He doesn't want to talk to certain segments of the Republican Party," Scheffler said of Romney. "If he's the nominee and they open all these victory offices across Iowa, it's going to be pretty challenging to find volunteers."

Each state plus the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories gets three members on the Republican National Committee. All of them are automatically invited to attend the party's national convention in Tampa, Fla., in August, with a few exceptions. The RNC members from New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan and Arizona have been excluded ? for now ? as part of the penalties they received for holding primaries earlier than party rules allowed.

In many states, RNC members must support the winner of primaries or caucuses in their states. The AP identified 37 states and territories in which the RNC members will be free to support any candidate they choose.

AP reporters started contacting the 111 RNC delegates from these states after Romney won the New Hampshire primary. They were able to reach nearly 80 percent of them.

The RNC delegates make up less than 5 percent of the 2,286 delegates slated to attend the GOP convention, giving them little power to determine the nominee. But these party leaders will be expected to provide manpower, money, local connections and expertise this fall, when the GOP nominee will rely on the party faithful to help defeat Obama.

It will take 1,144 delegates to win the GOP nomination. Romney now has 33 delegates, including those won in primaries and caucuses as well as endorsements from RNC members. Santorum is next with 13.

Joseph Trillo, a state lawmaker and RNC member from Rhode Island, said his support for Romney comes down to political pragmatism.

"He's the only one who I know can beat Obama," Trillo said.

Herbert Schoenbohm, the GOP chairman in the Virgin Islands, said that beating Obama is important, but his support for Romney goes much deeper.

"I'm for (Romney) because he has the best leadership skills," Schoenbohm said in a phone interview. "He made it work in Massachusetts, and that was hard to do in a Democratic state."

Lawrence Kadish, an RNC member from Long Island, N.Y., challenged that assessment, saying Gingrich "towers head and shoulders over those other candidates. I don't view Mr. Romney as having a deep rudder, but he's OK."

___

Lauren Johnert, Associated Press deputy manager for election research and quality control, contributed to this report, along with AP writers Pat Condon in St. Paul, Minn., Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, David Klepper in Providence, R.I., and George M. Walsh in Albany, N.Y.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-20-GOP%20Superdelegates/id-b69188d4adc942e59805572219faa158

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Haiti to scold 'Baby Doc' for defying house arrest (AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ? The former Haitian dictator known as "Baby Doc" has been summoned to court Friday to be scolded for violating the terms of his house arrest by venturing outside the capital.

"Jean-Claude Duvalier needs to be in my office by 11:05 a.m.," Judge Carves Jean told the Associated Press at his courthouse office in downtown Port-au-Prince on Thursday. "If he's not, he'll be arrested by 11:10 a.m."

Duvalier's attorney argued that his client wasn't violating the law, because no such law exists. He also said he may file a complaint against the judge.

The law "is fantasy," lawyer Reynold Georges said by telephone. The judge "can do whatever he wants but he also has to pay the consequences. I'm a snake. I don't play."

Duvalier faces criminal charges that include embezzlement, torture and murder.

After making an unexpected return to his homeland last year, Duvalier was placed under house arrest, meaning he wasn't authorized to travel outside the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area without legal consent.

The former dictator, always dressed in a navy blue suit, has been seen traveling the country, often at the wheel of a SUV. He delivered a commencement speech to law school graduates at a university in the countryside last month and has been spotted lounging on the beach.

Duvalier attended a memorial service last week that marked the two-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake. The event was hosted by President Michel Martelly and guests included former Haitian President Prosper Avril and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the United Nations' special envoy to Haiti.

The prosecution of Duvalier has made little headway since it began last year and rights groups fear he will go unpunished.

Georges and the rest of the defense team argue there are no grounds to prosecute the former president because the statute of limitations on his alleged offenses has expired.

Advocacy groups such as Human Rights Watch contend the statute of limitations doesn't apply to cases involving crimes against humanity and missing persons.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_duvalier

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Cruise ships shouldn't capsize so fast, says union

The design of cruise ships carrying many thousands of passengers needs urgent re-examination after the rapid and fatal capsizing of the liner Costa Concordia on 13 January. So says Nautilus International, a maritime trade union which was already campaigning for such outsize leisure vessels to be made safer.

The Costa Concordia ? carrying 4200 passengers and crew ? was holed by a rock outcrop just off the island of Giglio, Italy, at 9.42 pm local time. Just 45 minutes later it was listing at an angle too steep for lifeboats to be lowered from its port side. At least 11 people have died and others are still missing.

It shouldn't have happened how it did, says Nautilus International spokesman Tony Minns. The design of watertight compartments should be such that such vessels remain stable for much longer, perhaps by having more hull beneath the water or by installing systems that pump water to help rebalance a listing ship.

"The regulators need to look at the construction of these vast cruise ships so they are better designed for survivability ? so there's a reasonable chance of getting all the passengers and crew off of the ship safely," says Minns.

Shallow draught

Commercial concerns are likely to oppose significant changes, he concedes. To access picturesque quaysides without having to load passengers into boats, cruise ships have a very shallow draught. The 13-storey Costa Concordia had only 8 metres of its hull underwater.

"That draught currently limits options for providing compartments that can provide reserve stability," says Minns. "The reason for the shallow draught and high superstructure is commercial. The cruise market is such that passengers prefer to go ashore on a quayside rather than be anchored off the shore and be ferried ashore.

The height of cruise ships is a problem, too, says Minns. "It is known in sea trials that these vessels are what we call 'tender' in stability terms ? they are very stable but have a quick rate of roll when the rudder is moved a few degrees." In other words, they are quite sensitive to being upset.

"So the regulators need to look very, very carefully at balancing commercial needs with the needs in the event of damage to the watertight integrity ? as we had on Friday."

Mark Staunton-Lambert, technical director of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in London, agrees that the rapid capsizing of Costa Concordia needs explaining. "A modern design should not heel over as far as it did until quite a long time later," he says.

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