Looking a bit like Amy WInehouse-meets-Ariel-meets S&M club, Lady Gaga opted for a see-through pink bra and high-haired mermaid look for a night out in London on Tuesday. The lady sure loves to show off her boobs!
Did the wild gal hit the biggest clubs with her over-the-top look? Nope! She opted to pop into Seashells Fish n Chips shop in the topsy turvy ensemble. I guess she is sticking with a theme!
Spotted stepping out of her London hotel with a hair full of shells, holding a baby bottle and having the words "Art" and "Pop" written on her hands -- the Grammy winner certainly knows how to make a statement!
Gaga has been sticking to the Little Mermaid thing since the release of the "Applause" video and while we love the water-loving Disney princess, the choice is a bit odd for the avant-garde singer. We can't wait to see what she does next.
Nintendo will released a new version of its popular series of DS mobile gaming consoles, the 2DS, this October, the company announced Wednesday.
Nintendo took gamers by surprise Wednesday when it suddenly announced plans to release a new handheld gaming console on October 12, little more than a month before rival console developers Sony and Microsoft put their next-generation systems on the market.
Nintendo said that the 2DS will be compatible with all 3DS games, but will be different from its current reigning champion in a few key ways. At $129, it's a good $50 cheaper than the 3DS, but as the new system's name suggest, it will not support the same three-dimensional visual effects that the 3DS has. And while the 2DS still have the DS's iconic two-screen display, Nintendo has tweaked the form factor of the 2DS to make it a flat slate-like tablet that can't bend like its predecessors.
Given the fact that the DS family is already a critical and commercial success for Nintendo, making a new handheld struck some gamers as a peculiar choice. The 2DS may take the company's time and resources away from helping its beleaguered home console counterpart, the markedly less successful Wii U. But speaking in an interview with the influential gaming blog Kotaku, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that the point of the 2DS was to make a more family-friendly and cost-sensitive model for children to start out with, calling it "an entry-level handheld gaming system."
Nintendo also announced a $50 price drop for the Wii U, which will bring the console's price down to $299.99 starting Sept. 20.
Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered technology and games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at: Yannick.LeJacq@nbcuni.com.
Awww! Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) are bonding this season.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but in the case of "The Big Bang Theory," it doesn't necessarily mean Penny and Leonard. Try Penny and Sheldon instead!
Say what??
With the experimental physicist (Johnny Galecki) away doing research for Stephen Hawking on the North Sea, it turns out his girlfriend, Penny (Kaley Cuoco), and roommate, Sheldon (Jim Parsons), lean on each other in his absence when the show returns for season seven next month, providing even more fodder for the #Shenny tumblr.
CBS released the story line for the special one-hour premiere on Tuesday, noting that "Sheldon and Penny share intimate secrets" while Leonard's pursuing his amazing career opportunity. (For Sheldon's sake, we hope Penny has more secrets to share than her past ... uhh ... coital adventures.)?
We can't imagine that Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) will be too thrilled with this development, seeing as how she's been trying to get through to her non-emotive man for so long. Plus, she's a little greedy when it comes to sharing her BFF, Penny!
But if it's any consolation to her, it doesn't sound like things will end well for Sheldon, whose "feelings are crushed when Leonard returns." (Wonder if he'll once again lock himself in his room with multiple adopted cats to console himself while singing "Soft Kitty.")
As for Raj (Kunal Nayyar), CBS notes that he'll be consoled about getting dumped by Lucy via text, and Howard's (Simon Helberg) masculinity will be threatened by his relationship with his mother.
"The Big Bang Theory" returns Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. on CBS.
Published: Tuesday, August 27, 2013, 12:36?p.m. Updated 9 hours ago
Sewickley Presbyterian Church held an old-fashioned ice cream social and hymn sing on Sunday as part of the church's 175th anniversary.
Kristina Serafini is a photographer and staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-324-1405 or kserafini@tribweb.com.
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Vice President Joe Biden speaks during The American Legion's annual convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013. Biden says there is no doubt that Syrian President Bashar Assad's government is responsible for the heinous use of chemical weapons. Biden's comments make him the highest-ranking U.S. official to say the Syrian regime is the culprit in a large-scale chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson) MANDATORY CREDIT
Vice President Joe Biden speaks during The American Legion's annual convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013. Biden says there is no doubt that Syrian President Bashar Assad's government is responsible for the heinous use of chemical weapons. Biden's comments make him the highest-ranking U.S. official to say the Syrian regime is the culprit in a large-scale chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson) MANDATORY CREDIT
White House press secretary Jay Carney answers questions about Syria and chemical weapons during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013. The U.S. was expected to make public a more formal determination of chemical weapons use on Tuesday, however Carney stated that the president did not have a decision made about the response to announce at this time. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
FILE - This Aug. 26, 2013 file photo shows Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia. U.S. forces are now ready to act on any order by President Barack Obama to strike Syria, U.S. Hagel said Tuesday.The U.S. Navy has four destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea positioned within range of targets inside Syria, as well as U.S. warplanes in the region, Hagel said in an interview with BBC television during his visit to the southeast Asian nation of Brunei. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration said Wednesday it would take action against the Syrian government even without the backing of allies or the United Nations because diplomatic paralysis must not prevent a response to the alleged chemical weapons attack outside the Syrian capital last week.
New requests for the United Nations to authorize military action in Syria may have complicated the Obama administration's plan to take retaliatory action on the purported poison gas attack east of Damascus that U.S. officials claim was carried out by President Bashar Assad's forces.
But a State Department spokeswoman said possible U.N. rejection of the U.S. plan ? most likely led by Russia ? won't slow the administration.
"We cannot be held up in responding by Russia's intransigence ? continued intransigence ? at the United Nations," Marie Harf said. "The situation is so serious that it demands a response."
The U.S. has not publicly presented proof that Assad's government used deadly chemical weapons near Damascus last week. Even so, U.S. officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, have pointed a finger squarely at Assad. The administration was planning a teleconference briefing Thursday on Syria for leaders of the House and Senate and national security committees in both parties, U.S. officials and congressional aides said.
U.S. intelligence intercepted lower-level Syrian military commanders' communications discussing the chemical attack, but the communications don't specifically link the attack to an official senior enough to tie the killings to Assad himself, according to three U.S. intelligence officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the intelligence publicly.
The White House ideally wants intelligence that links the attack directly to Assad or someone in his inner circle, to rule out the possibility that a rogue element of the military decided to use chemical weapons without Assad's authorization.
That quest for added intelligence to bolster the White House's case for a strike against Assad's military infrastructure has delayed the release of the report by the Office of the Director for National Intelligence laying out evidence against Assad. The report was promised earlier this week by administration officials.
The CIA and the Pentagon have been working to gather more human intelligence tying Assad to the attack, relying on the intelligence services of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel, the officials said.
Both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency have their own human sources ? the rebel commanders and others who cross the border to brief CIA and defense intelligence officers at training camps in Jordan and Turkey. But their operation is much smaller than some of the other intelligence services, and it takes longer for their contacts to make their way overland.
Britain added a hurdle to deliberations about a military strike on Wednesday when it went to the U.N. Security Council with a draft resolution that would authorize the use of military force against Syria. This, as momentum seemed to be building among Western allies for a strike against Syria.
The British draft resolution would authorize "all necessary measures under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter to protect civilians from chemical weapons." Chapter 7 allows the use of international armed force to back up U.N. decisions.
The draft seemed doomed before it was proposed. As expected, the five permanent members of the security council failed to reach an agreement as Russia reiterated its objections to international intervention in the Syrian crisis. Russia, along with China, has blocked past attempts to sanction the Assad government.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the use of force without a sanction of the U.N. Security Council would be a "crude violation" of international law and "lead to the long-term destabilization of the situation in the country and the region."
Syria, which sits on one of the world's largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, has denied the charges. Moreover, Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, is demanding that United Nations experts investigate three alleged chemical weapons attacks against Syrian soldiers. He said the attacks occurred on Aug. 22, 24 and 25 in three suburbs of the Syrian capital and dozens of soldiers are being treated for inhaling nerve gas.
The draft U.N. resolution was an effort to bolster British Prime Minister David Cameron's case that a military action is needed. Cameron has called an emergency meeting of the British Parliament on Thursday to vote on whether to endorse international action against Syria.
He's promised British lawmakers he would not go to war until chemical weapons inspectors had a chance to report back to the world body about their findings. That means British involvement in any potential strike wouldn't occur until next week at the earliest.
Certain members of Congress are expected to get a classified U.S. intelligence report laying out the case against Assad. An unclassified version is to be made public. Officials say it won't have any detail that would jeopardize sources and methods.
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Associated Press Reporters Raphael Satter and Greg Katz in London contributed to this report.
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Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jpaceDC
QALANDIA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) ? Palestinian negotiators called off a planned round of peace talks Monday after Israeli soldiers killed three protesters during clashes following an arrest raid in the West Bank, officials said.
The violence, the deadliest incident in the area in years, dealt a new blow to U.S.-led peace efforts, which resumed late last month after a nearly five-year break. Palestinian officials have accused the Israelis of stonewalling and using the process as a cover to build new Jewish settlements.
It was not known when talks will resume, but Palestinian officials said that they could begin again as early as Tuesday. They spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to talk to media.
Monday's clashes broke out when Israeli forces entered the Qalandia refugee camp, just outside of Jerusalem, on an overnight arrest raid.
Shai Hakimi, a spokesman for the paramilitary border police, said hundreds of Palestinians poured into the streets and hurled firebombs, concrete blocks and rocks at officers.
The Israeli military said soldiers rushed to the scene to provide backup and opened fire after they felt their lives were in "imminent danger."
An official at a Ramallah hospital confirmed three deaths and more than a dozen wounded. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Hatim Khatib, whose brother Youssef was arrested in the raid, told The Associated Press that undercover troops dressed in civilian clothes arrived at their home at 4:30 a.m. looking for the brother.
"After half an hour we started hearing shooting from the soldiers inside our house, and then people started throwing stones at them," he said.
Youssef was arrested after he returned from morning prayers at 7:00 a.m., he said.
He said he didn't know why his brother was the only one arrested but said Youssef had spent time in Israeli jail for throwing rocks and was released three years ago. The Israeli military would not say why he was wanted.
The violence drew fierce Palestinian condemnations. "Such a crime proves the need for an urgent and effective international protection for our people," Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said in a statement.
Shortly afterward, Palestinian officials said that a planned round of peace talks had been called off. They said the Palestinians were protesting the day's violence, and were also upset by an Israeli announcement Sunday that it was pushing forward with new settlement construction in east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians object to construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the lands they claim along with the Gaza Strip for their future state. Israel captured all three territories in 1967. It was not immediately known when talks would resume.
A Palestinian official said the talks have gotten off to a rocky start, with the sides still arguing over the agenda.
The Palestinians want discussions to focus on security issues and the border between Israel and a future state of Palestine. The official said the Israelis have insisted on limiting talks only to security matters. He spoke on condition of anonymity because both sides have promised U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to keep the details of the negotiations secret. Israeli officials declined comment.
Kerry is expected to meet Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Rome on Sept. 8 to help push negotiations forward, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.
By David Ferguson Friday, August 23, 2013 10:18 EDT
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A woman?s life was saved when doctors performed Ireland?s first legal abortion earlier this summer. The Irish Times reported Friday that the first termination of a pregnancy under the country?s historic new abortion law was performed at National Maternity Hospital in Dublin.
Ireland passed its new law allowing abortions in cases where the life of a pregnant woman is at risk in July after the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar caught the attention of the world. Halappanavar died of sepsis at University Hospital of Galway in October of 2012 after being denied an abortion. The 31-year-old dentist checked into the hospital with a miscarriage on October 21, but was denied an abortion because Catholic hospital officials refused to allow it.
Irish President Michael Higgins signed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act in July and the patient at National Maternity was granted the pregnancy termination under Section 7 of the act. In accordance with Section 7, a woman?s doctor must demonstrate that carrying the pregnancy to term poses a substantial risk to her life.
Neither the patient nor her doctor have been named.
The Times reported that a council made of Master of National Maternity Hospital Dr. Rhona Mahony, former master Dr. Peter Boylan and other physicians were involved in the decision-making process.
A hospital spokesperson told the Times, however, that even if the law had not been passed, they would have terminated a pregnancy of this kind, saying, ?Even before the passage of the legislation, Holles Street would have carried out terminations in cases like this, where the prognosis for the pregnancy was very poor. What?s changed is that we can do our work in the best interests of patients without fear of a possible Medical Council case.?
The patient who received the abortion was an 18-weeks-pregnant woman whose placental membranes ruptured, placing her at acute risk of sepsis. The chances of carrying her twin fetuses to term were very slim, so after consultations with hospital staff, the woman and her partner chose to abort.
The patient is reportedly doing well after the procedure and treatment with antibiotics.
[hat-tip to Think Progress]
[image of woman health worker talking to patient in bed via Shutterstock.com]
Almost every man alive can trace his origins to one man who lived about 135,000 years ago, new research suggests. And that ancient man likely shared the planet with the mother of all women.
The findings, detailed today (Aug. 1) in the journal Science, come from the most complete analysis of the male sex chromosome, or the Y chromosome, to date. The results overturn earlier research, which suggested that men's most recent common ancestor lived just 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.
Despite their overlap in time, ancient "Adam" and ancient "Eve" probably didn't even live near each other, let alone mate. [The 10 Biggest Mysteries of the First Humans]
"Those two people didn't know each other," said Melissa Wilson Sayres, a geneticist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study.
Tracing history
Researchers believe that modern humans left Africa between 60,000 and 200,000 years ago, and that the mother of all women likely emerged from East Africa. But beyond that, the details get fuzzy.
The Y chromosome is passed down identically from father to son, so mutations, or point changes, in the male sex chromosome can trace the male line back to the father of all humans. By contrast, DNA from the mitochondria, the energy powerhouse of the cell, is carried inside the egg, so only women pass it on to their children. The DNA hidden inside mitochondria, therefore, can reveal the maternal lineage to an ancient Eve.
But over time, the male chromosome gets bloated with duplicated, jumbled-up stretches of DNA, said study co-author Carlos Bustamante, a geneticist at Stanford University in California. As a result, piecing together fragments of DNA from gene sequencing was like trying to assemble a puzzle without the image on the box top, making thorough analysis difficult.
Y chromosome
Bustamante and his colleagues assembled a much bigger piece of the puzzle by sequencing the entire genome of the Y chromosome for 69 men from seven global populations, from African San Bushmen to the Yakut of Siberia.
By assuming a mutation rate anchored to archaeological events (such as the migration of people across the Bering Strait), the team concluded that all males in their global sample shared a single male ancestor in Africa roughly 125,000 to 156,000 years ago.
In addition, mitochondrial DNA from the men, as well as similar samples from 24 women, revealed that all women on the planet trace back to a mitochondrial Eve, who lived in Africa between 99,000 and 148,000 years ago ? almost the same time period during which the Y-chromosome Adam lived.
More ancient Adam
But the results, though fascinating, are just part of the story, said Michael Hammer, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Arizona who was not involved in the study.
A separate study in the same issue of the journal Science found that men shared a common ancestor between 180,000 and 200,000 years ago.
And in a study detailed in March in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Hammer's group showed that several men in Africa have unique, divergent Y chromosomes that trace back to an even more ancient man who lived between 237,000 and 581,000 years ago. [Unraveling the Human Genome: 6 Molecular Milestones]
"It doesn't even fit on the family tree that the Bustamante lab has constructed ? It's older," Hammer told LiveScience.
Gene studies always rely on a sample of DNA and, therefore, provide an incomplete picture of human history. For instance, Hammer's group sampled a different group of men than Bustamante's lab did, leading to different estimates of how old common ancestors really are.
Adam and Eve?
These primeval people aren't parallel to the biblical Adam and Eve. They weren't the first modern humans on the planet, but instead just the two out of thousands of people alive at the time with unbroken male or female lineages that continue on today.
The rest of the human genome contains tiny snippets of DNA from many other ancestors ? they just don't show up in mitochondrial or Y-chromosome DNA, Hammer said. (For instance, if an ancient woman had only sons, then her mitochondrial DNA would disappear, even though the son would pass on a quarter of her DNA via the rest of his genome.)
As a follow-up, Bustamante's lab is sequencing Y chromosomes from nearly 2,000 other men. Those data could help pinpoint precisely where in Africa these ancient humans lived.
"It's very exciting," Wilson Sayres told LiveScience. "As we get more populations across the world, we can start to understand exactly where we came from physically."
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @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.
Thought good old Commander Hadfield already taught you everything there is to know about space livin'? Shame on you?there's always more to learn. Like about how your skin molts and floats off your body in giant flakes and calluses, for instance.
Comic book fans tend to dislike it when an actor is hired to play multiple superheroes in big screen adaptations, be it Ryan Reynolds playing both Deadpool and Green Lantern or Chris Evans playing both Johnny Storm and Captain America, but it seems Dave Bautista - who is playing the green warrior Drax the Destroyer in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy - is now jockeying to also play the underwater superhero Namor the Sub-Mariner for Marvel Studios.
That was the joke that that the wrestler-turned-actor posted along with the image above, which apparently comes directly from the set of the upcoming Marvel Studios film. Wrote Bautista on Twitter, "@JamesGunn :No U cant B Namor & Drax Me:But! JG:Out of the tank Dave Me:But! JG:Out of the tank ya big goof!"
Outside of the fact that it seems Drax will be appearing underwater at some point in Guardians of the Galaxy, it's hard to glean much information from this set photo. It doesn't even appear that Bautista is in costume in this scene, as one can assume that Drax probably won't be wearing athletic shorts at any point in the film (not to mention the fact that he isn't in full makeup - those markings on his skin are just the actor's tattoos). Perhaps Bautista is just getting a diving lesson. If you want a preview of what the character will actually look like in the movie, check him out on the far left side of this concept art:
Every time I've thought about Guardians of the Galaxy in the last two weeks my mind has raced back to the footage that was screened during the Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con and I find myself getting more excited for the film. Not only does the movie have one of the most awesome casts that the studio has put together - featuring Bautista as Drax, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Michael Rooker as Yondu, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Djimon Hounsou as Korath, Benicio del Toro as The Collector, John C. Reilly as Rhomann Dey, and Glenn Close as Nova Prime - the scenes that they showed at the convention earlier this month were both hilarious and filled with awesome sci-fi action. The film may be considered a gamble by Marvel because it's based on a property very few are aware of, but it's easily one of my most anticipated titles of 2014.
Watch the video below to see not only Sean and I geek out over and recap the Guardians of the Galaxy footage, but also talk about what we got to see from Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose aspirations for higher office are no secret, has been going around claiming that if Detroit or Chicago were in Wisconsin, they wouldn?t be in so much financial trouble. The limits he placed on the collective bargaining rights of public unions have allowed Wisconsin to turn a $3 billion deficit into a $75 million surplus. Wisconsin, he declares, is a model for states and cities across the country.
Is Walker right or blowing hot air?
Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia debated Judd Legum, Editor-in-Chief of Think Progress, on Wisconsin Public Radio?s The Joy Cardin Show.
A survivor of last week's deadly train derailment in Spain illustrates how disaster can alter your mind
By Lucas Laursen
Image: Flickr/elentir (Contando Estrelas)
My cousin Guillermo Cassinello Toscano was on the train that derailed in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, last week when it went around a bend at twice the speed limit. Cassinello heard a loud vibration and then a powerful bump and then found himself surrounded by bloody bodies in wagon number nine. Shaking, he escaped the wreckage through either a door or a hole in the train?he cannot recall?then sat amid the smoke and debris next to the track and began to cry. Seventy-nine passengers died.
Cassinello doesn?t remember everything that happened to him. The same mechanisms that kept his brain sharp enough to escape immediate danger may also make it harder for him both to recall the accident, and to put the trauma behind him. "The normal thing is that the person doesn't remember the moment of the accident or right after," says clinical psychologist Javier Rodriguez Escobar of trauma therapy team Grupo Isis in Seville, who helped treat and study victims of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. That's because the mind and the body enter a more alert but also more stressed state, with trade-offs that can save your life, but harm your mind?s memory-making abilities.
As the train fell over, several changes would have swept through Cassinello?s body. His adrenal glands, near his kidneys, would have released adrenaline (also known as epinephrine) into his bloodstream. The adrenaline would have directed blood to the powerful muscles of his arms and legs, where it would help him escape the wreckage faster. The hormone would have raised his heart and breathing rates. It also would have stimulated his vagus nerve, which runs from his spine to his brain. Although adrenaline cannot cross the blood?brain barrier, the vagus can promote noradrenaline production in the brain. That hormone activates the amygdala, which helps form memories.
Just the right amount of noradrenaline, researchers have found, can boost memory storage; too much can destroy it. Figuring out the balance could allow researchers to harness the hormone. Neuroscientist Christa McIntyre at the University of Texas at Dallas and colleagues have been studying how the chemical shapes memory-making in rats (her team is planning a human trial). When the team stimulated rats? vagus nerves the animals? memories improved. McIntyre has to keep the dose low, however, because other experiments have shown that too much noradrenaline appears to impede memory-making. Researchers are still trying to determine whether the excess noradrenaline directly causes the memory lapses or if the hormone is associated with high stress levels that cause some other chemical system to interfere. "That's the part we don't really understand: if there's too much [noradrenaline] or if there's another system that kicks in and puts a brake on it," McIntyre says.
Cassinello's memory lapses may be due to a noradrenaline overflow. But there may be other explanations for the gaps in his memory. His brain may have narrowed his attention at the time of the crash to only those things that matter for survival, such as escaping the train, leading him to ignore things that do not, such as whether the path out of the train passed through a door or a hole. Researchers have shown that humans report selective hearing during stressful events and that stressed people pay attention to different things than do unstressed people (pdf).
Source: www.loopinsight.com --- Tuesday, July 30, 2013 Using BCN?s bogus research, Google claimed the Nexus 7 took a higher percentage of the Japanese market than the IPad. Except BCN forgot to count one important source?it?s too good for me to ruin the surprise. ? Read this on The Loop ...
SAN DIEGO -- Just when Mayor Bob Filner may need his own money to pay for legal bills, he has decided to personally pay $9,399 for his airfare, lodging and meals on a recent trip to Paris.
Filner had initially asserted that his expenses were paid by a nonprofit group, as permitted by law. But reporters found that the group, the Organization of Iranian-American Communities, does not have nonprofit status with the IRS.
On Wednesday, amid his other problems, Filner released a statement saying that he would reimburse the organization, all except for $440, the limit allowed by state law for gifts.
The 70-year-old Democrat was invited to speak at the annual rally in late June of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which supports greater democracy for that country. While a member of Congress, Filner attended the annual rally on several occasions.
Filner's promise to reimburse the organization did not stop the controversy about the trip and the fact that the city paid for two police officers to accompany him as a security detail.
"I've been looking into Mayor Filner's Paris junket because the story doesn't add up," said Councilman Kevin Faulconer. "As audit committee chair, I plan to keep asking questions."
Felipe Monroig, president of the San Diego County Taxpayers Assn., said "It's clear the mayor's trip was little more than a vacation." He called on Filner to reimburse the city for the airfare, lodging and meals of the police officers: $21,244.
Filner's statement about the Paris trip came just a day after the City Council voted 9 to 0 not to pay his legal bills for his defense against a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by his former director of communications, Irene McCormack Jackson. The council also voted to sue Filner to force him to pay the cost of any damages assessed against the city because of the lawsuit.
Seven of nine members of the City Council have asked Filner to resign. Along with the lawsuit, seven women, in interviews, have also accused Filner of sexual misconduct.
Filner insisted that the trip, along with allowing him to express his views about Iran, also could help bring jobs to San Diego. He went to the city of Lille in the Nord Pas-de-Calais to tour facilities involved with energy and sustainability programs, he said.
Filner's then-fiancee traveled with him, paying her own expenses, Filner has said. The couple has since broken up.
According to an Iranian website, Filner introduced his fiancee as the "first lady of San Diego" and said that, in America and Iran, "it's the women who are going to set us free."
LUSAKA, Zambia ? In early 2011 Google team members visited the University of Zambia to encourage students to participate in the Africa Android Competition. When one student asked the Google presenters what Android was ? and only three people in the room knew the answer ? a light bulb went off in Simunza Muyangana's head.
"I remember leaving there thinking, 'Wow, how do we correct this?'" he told Mashable two years later.
Together with Lukonga Lindunda and Silumesii Maboshe, Muyangaga began organizing technology skills workshops, such as a weekend Ruby on Rails crash course, a session on how to set up a server and a two-week workshop on developing for Android led by an out-of-town instructor.
As these meetups gained popularity, the trio decided to formally name the group BongoHive (meaning "collective of brains," derived from the local Bemba word "bongo" for brain or head).
After receiving one year of funding from the Indigo Trust and Google for Entrepreneurs, BongoHive opened its first physical home in November 2012, nestled in a house on a quiet, tree-lined street, just blocks behind one of Lusaka's busiest shopping malls. The residential home-turned-innovation-hub is hardly distinguishable from the other single-family units it's surrounded by ? save the boldly painted logo on its entryway.
BongoHive, Muyangaga explains, is both the name of the community and the physical location where the community meets. The co-working space offers entrepreneurs free Internet and serves as a pre-incubator for fledging companies looking to learn the basics of accounting, market research and running a business. The founders plan to launch a paid consulting service in the coming months, which will advise companies navigating the digital world.
The community now numbers around 800 people, counting those who "like" BongoHive on Facebook, receive its newsletter and attend its different groups and classes. While the vibrant tech community in Zambia may seem isolated, it's part of a network called AfriLabs, which consists of similar institutions in countries like Kenya, Cameroon and Uganda.
"Since we're the first ones to start these hubs in our own countries, it's where we can exchange notes, help define some things and learn what to avoid from other people's mistakes," Muyangaga says.
Next month BongoHive plans to launch an entrepreneur mentorship program that will match its community with online mentors, who can offer advice via email from outside the Lusaka community.
"We are more likely to learn from Kenya than we are from South Africa, because South Africa has a much larger middle class," Muyangaga says. "When South Africa says, 'We've got this great app that's a copy of one from Silicon Valley,' we say, 'That's great, but it won't fly in Zambia because it's a totally different market and it's not likely to work here.'"
Muyangaga said one of his mantras came out of a widely circulated discussion of dead aid following TED Africa in 2007, in which Jennifer Brea wrote, "Many of Africa's best and brightest become bureaucrats or NGO workers when they should be scientists or entrepreneurs."
Given the economic history of a country like Zambia, which has spent much of its recent history in severe debt, Muyangaga says he understands why many of his countrymen seek security in their careers. However, he believes entrepreneurship will be the fix.
"Zambia has a large unemployment base, poor college and high school graduation rates, and an increasing youth population that cannot find jobs. I don't think the government will sort that out soon," Muyangaga says. "I lean towards the idea that encouraging people to start small businesses is going to sort out this problem quicker than if large corporations come in. If you've got a certain amount of passion for technology and look at problems in a way you that you weren't taught in school, you should venture into your own enterprise, and the worst that you can say is you tried."
Zoe Fox traveled to Zambia on a fellowship from the International Reporting Project
'Exploring the Latest Evidence of Dairy's Contribution to Nutrition at IUNS Satellite Symposium'Public release date: 31-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jerreau Beaudoin info@globaldairyplatform.com 847-627-3387 Global Dairy Platform
The International Union of Nutritional Science (IUNS) 20th Congress of Nutrition, taking place in Granada, Spain from 15-20 September 2013, will gather nutrition experts from around the world to discuss the latest nutrition research developments. In conjunction with the Congress on 19 September, a Symposium on "Maintaining health with nutrient rich diets: The role of dairy in prevention of metabolic syndrome, CVD, obesity and sarcopenia" will present updates on the most recent studies demonstrating these four different yet major health benefits of dairy products.
In the first of four presentations, Prof Connie M. Weaver, Distinguished Professor, Purdue University, USA, will outline the high-quality protein and micronutrients contained in milk. "Milk provides a rich nutrient package such as calcium, potassium, B vitamins, proteins, and many more. These nutrients have been linked to beneficial health effects on bone health, blood pressure, heart health, gut integrity," says Dr Connie Weaver. She will also demonstrate how "Milk intake is a marker of a healthy diet."
Health benefits
Observational studies provide a real life picture of the effects of dietary factors on health. Prof Vanina Bongard, Associate Professor, Toulouse University Hospital, France, will update participants on the results of a French epidemiological study (the MONICA project) conducted over a period of nearly 14 years. This study reveals that "dairy consumption as part of a diverse, healthy diet was associated with the lowest mortality rate mostly due to reduced cardiovascular deaths. A cross sectional analysis among the same study participants found that dairy and calcium consumption associated with lower blood pressure and diets that included dairy, fish and cereals had a lower risk of metabolic syndrome."
Following up on the benefits of dairy products, Prof Mario Kratz, Assistant member, Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, USA, will debate the relationship between high-fat dairy and obesity, cardiovascular, and metabolic studies. "More research is needed to understand the benefits of full fat dairy products," says Prof Kratz of the unexpected results from observational studies, which demonstrated that consumption of high-fat dairy products does not contribute to cardiometabolic risk and is associated with a lower risk of obesity in most studies. "These data suggest that high-fat dairy may have benefits, potentially related to some less studied fatty acids in the milk fat. An important area for future research may be to study how bovine feeding practices affect the contents of these potentially bioactive fatty acids in dairy, and whether potential differences translate into differential health effects."
Prof Luc van Loon, Professor of Exercise Physiology and Nutrition, Maastricht University, The Netherlands will explore with participants the prevention of sarcopenia. "A blunted muscle protein synthetic response following dietary protein ingestion could be a key factor in age-related muscle loss," explains Prof van Loon. "The combination of well timed milk protein intake with physical activity and/or resistance type exercise training represents an effective therapeutic strategy to increase muscle mass and functional performance in the elderly".
International collaboration
The eight organizations responsible for organizing this symposium, namely Dairy Australia, Dairy Council (UK), Dairy Research Institute (DRI), Dutch Dairy Association (NZO), European Milk Forum (EMF), French Dairy Inter-branch Organization (CNIEL), Global Dairy Platform (GDP) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF), recognize the importance of international collaboration and knowledge transfer for advancement in nutrition science. Through initiatives such as this satellite symposium, they are working together to disseminate tangible nutritional benefits of dairy benefits.
The session will be chaired by Prof. Connie Weaver, Dept. Nutrition Science, Purdue University, USA, and co-chaired by Dr Stefanie Oude Elferink, Chair of the IDF Standing Committee on Nutrition and Health.
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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.
'Exploring the Latest Evidence of Dairy's Contribution to Nutrition at IUNS Satellite Symposium'Public release date: 31-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jerreau Beaudoin info@globaldairyplatform.com 847-627-3387 Global Dairy Platform
The International Union of Nutritional Science (IUNS) 20th Congress of Nutrition, taking place in Granada, Spain from 15-20 September 2013, will gather nutrition experts from around the world to discuss the latest nutrition research developments. In conjunction with the Congress on 19 September, a Symposium on "Maintaining health with nutrient rich diets: The role of dairy in prevention of metabolic syndrome, CVD, obesity and sarcopenia" will present updates on the most recent studies demonstrating these four different yet major health benefits of dairy products.
In the first of four presentations, Prof Connie M. Weaver, Distinguished Professor, Purdue University, USA, will outline the high-quality protein and micronutrients contained in milk. "Milk provides a rich nutrient package such as calcium, potassium, B vitamins, proteins, and many more. These nutrients have been linked to beneficial health effects on bone health, blood pressure, heart health, gut integrity," says Dr Connie Weaver. She will also demonstrate how "Milk intake is a marker of a healthy diet."
Health benefits
Observational studies provide a real life picture of the effects of dietary factors on health. Prof Vanina Bongard, Associate Professor, Toulouse University Hospital, France, will update participants on the results of a French epidemiological study (the MONICA project) conducted over a period of nearly 14 years. This study reveals that "dairy consumption as part of a diverse, healthy diet was associated with the lowest mortality rate mostly due to reduced cardiovascular deaths. A cross sectional analysis among the same study participants found that dairy and calcium consumption associated with lower blood pressure and diets that included dairy, fish and cereals had a lower risk of metabolic syndrome."
Following up on the benefits of dairy products, Prof Mario Kratz, Assistant member, Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, USA, will debate the relationship between high-fat dairy and obesity, cardiovascular, and metabolic studies. "More research is needed to understand the benefits of full fat dairy products," says Prof Kratz of the unexpected results from observational studies, which demonstrated that consumption of high-fat dairy products does not contribute to cardiometabolic risk and is associated with a lower risk of obesity in most studies. "These data suggest that high-fat dairy may have benefits, potentially related to some less studied fatty acids in the milk fat. An important area for future research may be to study how bovine feeding practices affect the contents of these potentially bioactive fatty acids in dairy, and whether potential differences translate into differential health effects."
Prof Luc van Loon, Professor of Exercise Physiology and Nutrition, Maastricht University, The Netherlands will explore with participants the prevention of sarcopenia. "A blunted muscle protein synthetic response following dietary protein ingestion could be a key factor in age-related muscle loss," explains Prof van Loon. "The combination of well timed milk protein intake with physical activity and/or resistance type exercise training represents an effective therapeutic strategy to increase muscle mass and functional performance in the elderly".
International collaboration
The eight organizations responsible for organizing this symposium, namely Dairy Australia, Dairy Council (UK), Dairy Research Institute (DRI), Dutch Dairy Association (NZO), European Milk Forum (EMF), French Dairy Inter-branch Organization (CNIEL), Global Dairy Platform (GDP) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF), recognize the importance of international collaboration and knowledge transfer for advancement in nutrition science. Through initiatives such as this satellite symposium, they are working together to disseminate tangible nutritional benefits of dairy benefits.
The session will be chaired by Prof. Connie Weaver, Dept. Nutrition Science, Purdue University, USA, and co-chaired by Dr Stefanie Oude Elferink, Chair of the IDF Standing Committee on Nutrition and Health.
###
[ | 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.
Fasthosts Internet Updates Cloud Backup to Include Unlimited Automatic Backups
Justin Lee on June 3, 2013
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Fasthosts Internet has launched its improved cloud backup solution for Windows users
Related Topics: backup and disaster recovery, cloud computing, fasthosts, fasthosts internet, uk
UK web hosting provider Fasthosts Internet announced on Monday it has launched its improved cloud backup solution for Windows users, enabling business owners to benefit from multiple use and ease of data access.
The move comes a few months after Fasthosts Internet?s launched?two new?dedicated servers?which feature the latest SSD technology and quadruple the SSD space on the flagship DS1210.
Starting at $ 15.35 per month with a free 30 day trial,?Fasthosts Internet?s online backup solution is compatible with a range of?Windows operating systems, SQL and Exchange back-ups.
The service allows customers to save large encryptions of data but virtually through a flexible cloud infrastructure model, saving businesses time, money and resources.
The new improvements include the ability to save an unlimited number automatic backups, for an unlimited number of Windows devices. In addition, creme de la mer saved data files can now be downloaded to any Windows device at any time.
Fasthosts is designed to provide protection for sensitive business data, enabling users to automatically back-up up to a massive 1Terabyte of data, transferring it via SSL and storing it, encrypted, within Fasthosts? ?UK data center.
The user is not limited to specific hardware for using the service and can up or downscale at any time and therefore only pays for their required usage. Users can now also take advantage of pay monthly schemes, assessing their storage requirements on a daily basis.
Fasthosts? online backup uses software to analyze files marked for back-up so only incremental changes are uploaded, which significantly reduces the amount of data transfer to ensure lower bandwidth usage costs and time.
The service?s unlimited, scheduled automatic back-ups will upload changes and new file versions on a regular basis, allowing for continuous protection.
Fasthosts? service offers full disk imaging options and the ability to restore from any Internet-connected computer enables the user to quickly recover their data.
?The upgrade of Creme de la mer http://shop.essenza-nobile.de/kosmetik-online-shop/La-Mer/la-mer-creme.html our Online Backup solution means just this for our customers, and more specifically our Windows customers,? said Claire Lewis, marketing director at Fasthosts Internet. ?Our online backup service can protect any business and user; from the significant disruption and financial loss that can occur should the worse happen to their on-premise hardware. Faster transfer and automatic scheduling for back-ups now makes data protection effortless. The ability to restore to any windows device gives our customers more flexibility to manage their own data. Businesses of all sizes are now able to see that cloud-based services can lead them to become more dynamic and resilient.?
In July 2012, Fasthosts Internet?launched a new range of business hosting packages designed to meet the needs of a wide range of businesses, including e-commerce and multiple websites.
Are you currently offering your customers a cloud storage solution? Do you think these new changes will help generate new business for Fasthosts Internet?
Black Sheep Syndication
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Public release date: 31-Jul-2013
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