China boosts security in Xinjiang after bloodshed

BEIJING (AP) ? Chinese paramilitary troops began round-the-clock patrols Sunday in the country's northwestern region of Xinjiang following a series of bloody clashes that have killed at least 56 people over the last several months.

Police also released new details about a clash Wednesday that authorities said left 35 people dead, including 11 attackers, blaming it on a violent gang of Muslim extremists.

The order for the patrols by the People's Armed Police was issued by the ruling Communist Party's top law enforcement official, Meng Jianzhu, at an emergency meeting late Saturday in Xinjiang's regional capital, Urumqi. The action came just days ahead of the July 5 anniversary of a 2009 riot between Xinjiang's native Uighur people and Han Chinese migrants in the city that left nearly 200 people dead.

Troops must patrol in all weather conditions, "raise their visibility, maintain a deterrent threat and strengthen the public's sense of security," Meng said, according to a notice posted to the Public Security Ministry's website.

Bordering Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Xinjiang (shihn-jeeahng) has long been home to a simmering rebellion against Chinese rule among parts of the Uighur (WEE'-gur) population opposed to large-scale Han Chinese migration and angered by strict communist restrictions on Islam and their Turkic language and cultural institutions.

However, recent incidents point to a growing level of violence and the apparently growing influence of radical Islam, in spite of a massive security presence spread across the vast region, which is more than twice the size of Texas.

In Wednesday's incident, assailants attacked police and government offices in the town of Lukqun in the region's usually quiet east in one of the bloodiest incidents since the 2009 Urumqi rampage. Authorities searching for suspects have sealed off the area. Other independent reports put the death toll as high as 46.

According to a police statement posted on the Xinjiang government's official website, the attackers belonged to a 17-member extremist Islamic cell formed in January by a man identified by the Chinese pronunciation of his Uighur name, Aihemaitiniyazi Sidike.

The statement said the cell regularly listened to recordings promoting violence and terrorism and since mid-June had been raising funds, buying knives and gasoline, and casing various sites in preparation for an attack.

On Tuesday, however, authorities captured one of the members, and fearing they would be discovered before they could act, Sidike ordered the gang to assemble before dawn Wednesday and attack, the statement said. It said their 24 victims included 16 Uighurs, eight Han and two women.

Police wounded and captured four gang members and seized the last suspect on Sunday following a search.

Following that incident, more than 100 knife-wielding people mounted motorbikes in an attempt to storm the police station Friday in Karakax county in southern Xinjiang's Hotan region, where the population is overwhelmingly Uighur. Elsewhere the same day, an armed mob staged an attack in the township of Hanairike, according to the Xinjiang regional government's news portal. Few details were given about the incidents and there was no official word on deaths, injuries or arrests.

However, U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia said at least two Uighurs were killed in the Karakax violence, which it said began after Friday prayers at a local mosque that had been raided the week before by police because its resident Imam had defied strict rules on sermon topics. The violence later spread to the city of Hotan, where groups of young men set fires along a major downtown road.

The recent wave of violence began with a deadly clash on April 24 in western Xinjiang that left 21 people dead, including police officers and local government officials. The government said the violence broke out after neighborhood security inspectors uncovered a bomb-making ring that was planning a major attack in the city of Kashgar.

In that and other incidents, the attackers were reportedly inspired by jihadist teachings and literature smuggled into the country or downloaded from the Internet. China has accused Uighur activists based overseas of orchestrating the 2009 violence in Urumqi and plotting other incidents, charges the groups have denied, saying they are merely advocating for Uighur civil and religious rights.

One overseas group, the Washington, D.C.-based Uyghur American Association, which uses a different spelling of Uighur, has called for an independent investigation into Wednesday's incident in Lukqun and questioned the government's claim that it was an act of terrorism.

While the loss of life was "extremely upsetting," China is worsening tensions by ratcheting up security and treating all Uighurs with hostility, the group's president, Alim Seytoff, said in a statement.

State-run newspapers reported Sunday that Xinjiang was calm, and state broadcaster CCTV ran interviews with pro-government Muslim clerics and residents of Urumqi, both Chinese and Uighur, who denounced violence and expressed confidence in the government's ability to maintain security.

China has also sought to enlist other countries in the region in the fight against violence in Xinjiang, and on Saturday the national legislature ratified a pair of agreements on anti-terrorism cooperation and joint drills under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Chinese- and Russian-dominated grouping of Central Asian states.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-boosts-security-xinjiang-bloodshed-103929806.html

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California Marriage Case: It?s Not Over Yet

Hollingsworth v. Perry Plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom)

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry, finding that the official proponents of California?s Proposition 8 (which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman) lacked standing to defend the law in court. Throwing out the federal appellate court?s decision, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the appellate court with instructions to dismiss the case.

So what happens next? The short answer is more litigation.

Here are a few key points about the case:

• California state officials refused to defend the law in court.
• While one federal district court declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional, that ruling may not apply to the entire state of California.
• At a minimum, the original challengers of the law will now be able to marry. Whether this applies to more same-sex couples in California will be determined in the days to come.

In 2009, two same-sex couples who wanted to marry filed suit in federal district court against various California state officials, including the governor, the attorney general, and the Department of Public Health director. These officials refused to defend Proposition 8, so the district court allowed a group of private citizens recognized as the official proponents of Proposition 8 to defend the law. Ultimately, the district court ruled that Proposition 8 violated the federal equal protection and due process clauses and issued an injunction barring the defendants from applying or enforcing Proposition 8.

But the resulting injunction may be void because, as John Yoo commented, ?the government never show[ed] up to defend the statute.? [T]he plaintiffs win, in essence, a default judgment.? If this is correct, then the district court?s order does not apply statewide. Yet immediately following the Supreme Court?s decision in Hollingsworth, California Governor Jerry Brown announced that the state Department of Public Health should order all county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples ?as soon as the Ninth Circuit confirms the stay is lifted.?

This may be premature. As some have noted, the California Constitution may prohibit this action. Article III, Section 3.5 of the California Constitution provides that state agencies may not ?refuse to enforce a statute, on the basis of it being unconstitutional unless an appellate court has made a determination that such statute is unconstitutional.? This would presumably include the Department of Public Health and the county clerks who issue marriage licenses. A state appellate court has not yet ruled that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, so a county clerk could potentially bring an action in state court arguing that issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples violates Article III, Section 3.5.

Such a lawsuit would be similar to Crave v. Napolitano, a pending case brought by nine Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents against ICE Director John Morton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. As Fox News has reported, the ICE agents are challenging a 2012 directive from Napolitano barring them from ?starting deportation proceedings against unlawful immigrants who are not yet 30, were younger than 16 when they entered the country illegally, have lived here for five years, have graduated or are attending high school or have served in the military and have no felony convictions.?

The ICE agents claim that they are being forced to choose between violating the federal immigration law, which ?requires them to initiate removal proceedings against anyone they detain,? or disobeying orders and thus facing disciplinary action. County clerks in California could soon face a similar choice: violate Proposition 8 or defy Governor Brown. However this pans out, the protracted legal battle over the definition of marriage in California is far from finished.

Source: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/30/california-marriage-case-its-not-over-yet/

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Judge: Maine girl, 11, not competent for trial

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (AP) ? A Maine judge has ruled that an 11-year-old girl charged in the death of an infant remains incompetent to stand trial.

The Fairfield girl's detention and conditions of release are unchanged, pending further discussion of her ability to stand trial, Judge Charles LaVerdiere said Friday.

LaVerdiere said there is a substantial probability the girl will be competent to stand trial in the foreseeable future, the Morning Sentinel reported (http://bit.ly/1155a1d).

She is charged with manslaughter in the July 8 death of 3-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway. The infant was staying overnight at the home of girl's mother, who was babysitting her.

The infant's mother was told the baby died from suffocation and had trace amounts of a medication that the girl had been taking in her system.

The older girl was charged last summer at age 10 with juvenile manslaughter. A judge had ruled in March that she was incompetent to stand trial.

The state forensic examiners will check on her competency again in six months, LaVerdiere said.

The girl's lawyer could not be reached for comment on Saturday. A phone message left at his office was not immediately returned.

___

Information from: Morning Sentinel, http://www.onlinesentinel.com/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-maine-girl-11-not-competent-trial-185610473.html

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US warns on Egypt travel, moves to reduce presence (The Arizona Republic)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315956664?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Facebook to pull ads from pages with sex, violence

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said it will no longer allow ads to appear on pages with sexual or violent content, as the online social network moves to appease marketers being associated with objectionable material.

The moves come a month after several businesses pulled their ads from Facebook amid reports of pages on Facebook that promoted violence against women.

Facebook said at the time that it needed to improve its system for flagging and removing content that violated its community standards, which forbid users from posting content about hate-speech, threats and pornography, among other things.

Ads account for roughly 85 percent of revenue at Facebook, the world's largest social network with 1.1 billion users. Facebook said the changes would not have a meaningful impact on its business.

On Friday, Facebook said it also needed to do more to prevent situations in which ads are displayed alongside material that may not run afoul of its community standards but are deemed controversial nonetheless.

A Facebook page for a business that sells adult products, for example, will no longer feature ads. Previously such a page could feature ads along the right-hand side of the page so long as the page did not violate Facebook's prohibition on depicting nudity.

The move underscores the delicate balance for social media companies, which features a variety of unpredictable and sometimes unsavory content shared by users, but which rely on advertising to underpin their business.

"Our goal is to both preserve the freedoms of sharing on Facebook but also protect people and brands from certain types of content," Facebook said in a post on its website on Friday.

Facebook said on Friday that it would expand the scope of pages and groups on its website that should be ad-restricted and promised to remove ads from the flagged areas of the website by the end of the coming week.

Pages and groups that reference violence will also be off limits to ads, the company said. A Facebook spokeswoman noted that the policy would not apply to the pages of news organizations on Facebook.

Facebook said the process of flagging objectionable pages and removing ads would initially be done manually, but that the company will build an automated system to do the job in the coming weeks.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-pull-ads-pages-sex-violence-192633856.html

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Ft. Eustis to lose 333 positions as Army downsizes

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Fort Eustis says it will lose nearly eight percent of its military workforce as a result of a massive restructuring taking place throughout Army.

The Army post in Newport News will lose 333 positions over the next several years as the 7th Sustainment Brigade transforms into the 7th Transportation Brigade, an expeditionary force. The cuts are part of a longtime plan to reduce the size of the service by 80,000 soldiers, or about 14 percent of the active duty force, by 2017.

The 7th Sustainment's Brigade is sometimes referred to as the "Army's Navy" because it has dozens of ships that supports all branches of the service by moving troops and equipment. Fort Eustis is located on the James River in southeastern Virginia, which also is home to several Navy bases.

The 7th Transportation Brigade will focus on supporting areas without existing infrastructure for shorter periods of time. Other units will provide additional sustainment capabilities, if needed.

"The brigade will morph over time to better meet the future Army need," Lt. Col. Douglas Pietrowski, deputy commanding officer of 7th Sustainment Brigade, said in a statement. "It's about getting the right structure to perform our primary mission."

Army leaders have also said they will slash the number of active duty combat brigades from 45 to 33. Those cuts are occurring at ten other bases and do not affect National Guard or Reserve units. Fort Eustis does not have any combat brigades stationed there.

Under the plan announced Tuesday, the Army will increase the size of its infantry and armor brigades by adding another battalion, which is between 600 and 800 soldiers. Adding the battalion was a recommendation from commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan who said it would beef up the fighting capabilities of the brigades when they go to war.

The overall cut in size has been known for more than a year, and Army leaders have been working on how to manage the reduction, conducting local community meetings across the country and releasing an extensive study on the issue earlier this year.

A community listening session was held April 30 at Fort Eustis to gather comments from political leaders and the public for the Army to consider.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Bradley W. May, senior commander of Army Element Eustis, says the number of job losses at Fort Eustis is about what he expected the base to lose.

__

Brock Vergakis can be reached at www.twitter.com/BrockVergakis

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ft-eustis-lose-333-positions-142509055.html

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Book Review : Billion-Dollar Fish: The Untold Story of Alaska Pollock by Kevin M. Bailey

By Kevin M. Bailey

Review by Erin Wayman

By Kevin M. Bailey

Web edition: June 28, 2013
Print edition: July 13, 2013; Vol.184 #1 (p. 30)

From imitation crab to McDonald?s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, Alaska pollock is ubiquitous. American fishermen haul in more than a billion dollars? worth of the flaky white fish annually. Yet just a century ago, Americans had no interest in pollock. Bailey, a fisheries biologist, documents the fish?s rise in popularity over the last 60 years, interweaving the scientific, political and economic forces that shaped the ?most lucrative marine fish harvest in American waters.?

Japan became the first country to exploit? pollock near Alaska after the fish disappeared from Japanese waters in the early 1950s. Prized for being low in both fat and parasites, pollock is also easy to mince into a paste (or fish sticks). The fish travel in large, dense schools, making them easy to catch in vast quantities. With the advent of cold storage, Japanese fishermen could bring large numbers of well-preserved fish back from the Bering Sea.?

American fishermen caught on to pollock in the 1980s, when the Bering Sea?s crab population plummeted. Foreign nations were squeezed out as Americans made a mad dash to harvest as much ?white gold? as possible, Bailey writes.

With the new Alaskan gold rush came concerns about overfishing. Today, scientists use complicated simulations of population ups and downs to set sustainable catch quotas.

At times, Bailey slips into similarly complex jargon that may confuse lay readers. Still, Billion-Dollar Fish is an eye-opener for those who have caught themselves pondering the origins of their fried fish sandwiches.

Univ. of Chicago, 2013, 271 p., $25

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351304/title/Book_Review__Billion-Dollar_Fish_The_Untold_Story_of_Alaska_Pollock_by_Kevin_M_Bailey

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Google reveals new London 'groundscraper' HQ

By Tom Bill

LONDON (Reuters) - Google has revealed that its new UK headquarters is a building longer than the Shard skyscraper is tall.

The so-called groundscraper at the King's Cross Central development is the latest overseas property deal by the cash-rich U.S. internet group, which will house all of its London staff under one roof when completed in 2016.

Google revealed designs for the low-rise one million square feet scheme on Friday after announcing its move to King's Cross in January.

At 330 meters long, it exceeds the height of the 310-metre tall Shard, western Europe's tallest skyscraper.

Swiss bank UBS is undertaking a similar large-scale low-rise scheme at the Broadgate complex in London's main financial district.

Google said 35,000 people will work at the site - a large scale operation it would have found difficult to house in space-constrained central London where land is also more expensive.

Google has spent about 650 million pounds to buy and develop the 2.4 acre site and the finished development will be worth up to one billion pounds, sources told Reuters.

Construction will start early next year subject to planning approval and it will be one of the internet giant's largest offices outside its so-called Googleplex corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California.

The internet giant is a prized tenant for landlords and its presence is expected to draw other technology companies to King's Cross - especially small start-ups - and help bump up rents.

The new site is likely to include a 20,000 square feet area for bike parking, about the size of seven tennis courts, and features a climbing wall between floors, a source close to the project told Reuters.

The company's offices are famous for perks like gourmet food, bowling alleys, roof gardens, high-tech gyms and on-site medical staff and massages.

King's Cross Central, which sits on a former fish, coal and grain goods yard to the north of the city, spans 67 acres and will contain homes, offices and shops. It is being built by the King's Cross Central Limited Partnership which includes developer Argent Group.

Google has traditionally leased its overseas offices but in the past two years has purchased premises in Paris, Dublin, and now London, its filings show.

As of December 31, 2011, Google had $44.6 billion of cash, with $21.2 billion of that held offshore, according to its 2011 annual report. If the funds held offshore were repatriated, they would be subject to U.S. taxes, Google said.

Tax campaigner and accountant Richard Murphy told Reuters at the time of the January announcement that the decision to buy rather than rent was likely "tax motivated", driven by the fact the company cannot repatriate the cash to the U.S. without paying a fat tax bill.

Google declined to comment on the tax issue in relation to its new London building but said such a large-scale investment was a boost to the Britain's economy.

Earlier this month British MPs described Google's tax affairs as "contrived" after a Reuters report showed the company employed staff in sales roles in London, even though it had told MPs in November its British staff were not selling to UK clients - an activity that could boost its tax bill substantially.

(Editing by David Cowell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-reveals-london-groundscraper-hq-132510940.html

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Detroit EM to strip council president's pay, title

DETROIT (AP) ? State-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr has ordered his legal staff to prepare an order that will strip the pay and authority from AWOL Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh.

Pugh has been a no-show at recent council meetings and failed to acknowledge by a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline that he would be returning to work, Orr spokesman Bill Nowling said.

Orr will review the completed order and could sign it Thursday, Nowling said.

Orr is operating under Michigan's emergency manager law. He can't fire Detroit elected leaders, but does control their pay and responsibilities. Pugh earns about $76,000 per year.

His request for a three- to four-week medical leave was denied earlier this week by Orr.

The City Council's powers have been reduced since Orr was hired in March to fix a budget deficit barreling toward $380 million and about $17 billion in city debt. He has control over all matters involving money.

The Associated Press left messages Wednesday seeking comment from Pugh, who also is the subject of a complaint the Detroit Public Schools received from the parent of a recent graduate.

The mother, whose name was not released by the district, came forward earlier this month with concerns involving the 41-year-old Pugh and a mentoring program at Douglass Academy for Young Men, according to district spokesman Steve Wasko.

The complaint involved cash and gifts the teenager received while part of the program.

"At the time, the school reached out to the parent who stated that she would prefer to handle the matter personally," Wasko said Wednesday in a statement. "The school has since contacted the parent again in writing seeking to resolve the concerns, and is awaiting a response."

The district will review the leadership mentoring program at Douglass Academy, he added.

Detroit area attorney Ivan Land said he represents the teen's mother and told The Detroit News that the gifts included a $350 cellphone and prom clothing. The teen also received $160 in cash from Pugh, Land said.

Pugh, a former TV anchor, resigned in 2009 from Detroit's Fox Network affiliate and a local radio station to run for council. He became council president after receiving the most votes in that year's general election.

"I have a mandate from the people of Detroit," Pugh said after the election. "The people say they trust me and believe in me, and are looking forward to what new things I bring to the table. We need some new leadership, better collaboration and better cooperation."

Earlier this year, Pugh said he would not seek re-election.

If Pugh steps down, only six council members will remain to conduct city business. Kwame Kenyatta resigned last week and City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown moves July 1 to Orr's staff.

Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey said the council can continue to operate as long as there are enough members to make a quorum, but the loss of members will make it difficult for the smaller council committees to meet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-em-strip-council-presidents-pay-title-230940265.html

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Sweet n Sour: A Common Sugar May Help Pathogens Conquer the Human Gut

Fucose may help Salmonella defeat the gut?s natural microbiota

By Dina Fine Maron

Salmonella Salmonella invades an immune cell Image: NIAID

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When fighting battles in the gut, pathogens that cause food poisoning may have a secret weapon. Natural ubiquitous sugar may help invading bacteria defeat the body?s natural microbiota.

Emerging work looking at the role of one common sugar in the body, fucose (not to be confused with fructose), suggests that it may play an essential handmaiden role for certain harmful bacteria. A new study from the U.S. Department of Energy?s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., for example, finds that during Salmonella infection the pathogen may use fucose to fortify itself and find its way through a host?s body

This study, published in PLoS ONE, is just the latest suggesting that fucose may play a more central role in the delicate dance between invading pathogens and the gut?s commensal (resident) bacteria than previously thought. Earlier animal studies found that fucose can help tip the balance against commensal bacteria when pathogens including Escherichia coli and Campylobacter jejuni start spreading in the gut. Although the fucose findings are still preliminary, unlocking the role of this sugar in competitions between gut microbiota and pathogens could theoretically give rise to new therapies for treating human illness.

Some 100 trillion microorganisms reside in the human gut, where they perform essential tasks for immune defense, metabolism and development. Disruptions in that ecosystem can wreak havoc on health. When a pathogen like Salmonella invades the body, for example, it causes the immune system to react, and the gut becomes inflamed and kills off some of the body?s natural microbiota. In that vacuum Salmonella apparently seizes unused sugar that is normally tapped by the bodily gut bacteria, scavenging the sugar for nutrients and perhaps cues for action as well, according to this new work.

In this study researchers looked at how Salmonella colonized the bodies of mice that were genetically modified to be uniquely susceptible to the pathogen. (Most mice are not prone to gastrointestinal infection from Salmonella.) The researchers studied the impact of the disease in real time by gathering regular fecal samples from the infected mice and scouring them for clues about the makeup of the gut and the status of the infection. The team also performed autopsies on the infected mice and peered into the guts of deceased mice. For comparison the team also analyzed mice in a control group that were given a placebo instead of Salmonella infection. They studied the chemical fingerprints cellular processes leave behind and other genetic and structural components to get the first complete snapshot of the resident bacteria, proteins and sugar levels during Salmonella infection. Moreover, they were alerted to previously unknown functions of fucose in the course of infection.

The researchers are still trying to understand why they detected higher-than-normal fucose levels in Salmonella-infected mice. They know there were less commensal bacteria to dine on the fucose, but there may have been additional higher levels of fucose because cells damaged in the course of inflammation may release the sugar. Whatever the reason for its abundance, the team says the value of their study is that they were able to trace the real-time impacts of Salmonella infection in the gut. In the complex milieu of the gut it is challenging to pick up Salmonella proteins, so the researchers were skeptical they would even be able to track the infection. ?Not only did we see the Salmonella proteins,? says study author Josh Adkins, a systems biologist at PNNL, ?We saw a lot of them and hints of new biology.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/ScientificAmerican-News/~3/aPzDQr2XMMc/article.cfm

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Rivals Microsoft, Oracle team up on cloud push

cloud

Noel Randewich Reuters

June 24, 2013 at 6:02 PM ET

? Pichi Chuang / Reuters / REUTERS

Microsoft and Oracle each face cloud competition from other companies, including Amazon.

Microsoft said on Monday it would support Oracle software on its cloud-based platforms, a tie-up aimed at improving the rivals' chances against nimbler Web-based computing companies chipping away at their traditional businesses.

The two industry leaders have competed for decades to sell technology to the world's largest companies. But they face growing pressure from new rivals selling often-cheaper services based in remote data centers, and they are rushing to adapt.

The two companies have long collaborated out of the public eye to meet customers' needs, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on a conference call. "In the world of cloud computing, I think behind-the-scenes collaboration is not enough."

The tie-up does not resolve major competitive challenges the two tech pioneers face in the cloud market, but their cooperation was seen as a symbolically important step.

"Is it a game changer today? Not at all. It shows both companies are serious about their cloud endeavors. The fact that historical competitors are now friends speaks to how big the cloud opportunity is. And it opens up potential avenues of growth down the road," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at investment bank FBR.

Under the agreement, customers will be able to run Oracle software on Microsoft's Server Hyper-V and on Windows Azure platforms, the companies said.

Microsoft will offer Oracle's Java, Database and WebLogic Server to Windows Azure customers, while Oracle will also make Linux available to Windows Azure customers, the companies said in a news release.

Ironically, the pact means Microsoft is effectively promoting Linux and Java-based software, longtime rivals to its own Windows platform. But the software maker stands to benefit from getting any customer to pay for its data center services, regardless of the underlying software being used.

No. 3 software maker Oracle last week missed expectations for software sales for the fourth quarter, sending its shares plunging. Investors worried that the company may have trouble competing with software providers like Salesforce.com and Workday, as well as Amazon.com, which has also become a major player in cloud computing infrastructure.

Top software maker Microsoft's large-scale cloud computing initiative, called Azure, has failed to catch up with Amazon's cloud offering, called AWS (Amazon Web Services), which blazed the trail in elastic online computing services in the cloud.

Longtime rivalry
The rivalry between Oracle and Microsoft dates back several decades and has been marked by a personal rivalry between the companies' best-known cofounders: Larry Ellison and Bill Gates.

In 1995, as the Windows franchise was taking off, Ellison began a high-profile but unsuccessful effort to promote a less expensive competitor to the personal computer known as the Network Computer. Gates began aggressively attacking Oracle's core database business in the late 1990s, infuriating Ellison as Microsoft's less-expensive SQL Server gained market share.

In recent years, both have come under attack from a wave of younger companies, like Workday and Salesforce, which charge a single subscription fee for software and support, at far lower margins than for Oracle's traditional products.

Ellison told analysts on last Thursday's quarterly conference call that Oracle had forged alliances with Microsoft and Salesforce.com, which uses Oracle's technology, and said he would announce details this week.

Over the past five years, shares of Amazon.com, which rents remote computing and storage to other companies, have surged 237 percent. Salesforce.com, founded by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, has risen 105 percent.

During the same half decade, Oracle's stock has risen 38 percent and Microsoft's shares are up 21 percent.

Additional reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2dde6c74/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Crivals0Emicrosoft0Eoracle0Eteam0Ecloud0Epush0E6C10A433573/story01.htm

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Reward raised in NJ nanny cam home invasion

MILLBURN, N.J. (AP) ? The reward has been quadrupled for anyone who leads authorities to the suspect in the New Jersey home invasion that left a mother beaten, an attack that was captured by a nanny camera.

Public groups and private individuals are offering $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of the man who was seen punching and kicking the Millburn woman and throwing her down stairs while her 3-year-old daughter cowered on the couch last Friday.

Essex County Sheriff's Department spokesman Kevin Lynch tells The Star-Ledger of Newark the donors were outraged by the attack.

Police say the woman suffered a concussion, bruises, chipped teeth and cuts around her mouth.

Police say the attacker made off with jewelry,

___

Information from: The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, http://www.nj.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reward-raised-nj-nanny-cam-home-invasion-103533553.html

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When you clients visit your awesome professional website (http://websitesseo.org) they will surely be impressed and they will not just order one of your service but bunch of services from you. ?With your new website you'll instantly have amazing website which will make you look expert web developer. ?

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May be you are saying 'hey, I'm not expert, how I can build professional website or do SEO after someone order my service. ?Well everything can be outsourced. Just impress your clients by showing your awesome website, they will order and you will just outsource everything (Elance, oDesk, Freelancer, Fiverr). ?

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Key Feature:

• 6-in-1 Hot Demand Internet Marketing Reseller Business.

??????????? i) Website Design Service

??????????? ii) Mobile Website Design

??????????? iii) SEO Service

??????????? iv) Social Media Management

??????????? v) Video Marketing and

??????????? vi) Ecover Design Service

• Professional, Beautiful Design, Authority Site!
• Keyword rich short Brandable domain.
• Come with my PDF manual and Some Great Bonuses!
• Buy With Confidence!
• No Need To Pay Success Fee, I'll Pay It For You!
• Exclusive Bonus for Bid and Bin Buyer!

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Don't Miss Out Our BIN BONUS because we have 7 Exclusive BIN BONUS that will Kickstart Your income, Bring you massive profit online!

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Hungry Buyers - Huge Demand - Huge Profit

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You may already know the high demand of website designer these days, especially with every local business owner and companies and service provider needs a website to go global.

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According to recent survey 94% of people do research online before they buy any products or services online or offline.

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The fact is: there are thousands of local business owners looking for your help and services. They need professional website... they want their website to be mobile optimized, they want to do video marketing, they want to rank their websites on first of Google but they don't know how and that's where you can make money by ?providing all these services under one roof i.e. your website (http://WebSitesSEO.org). ?

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The Business
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Are you tired of learning how to make money online?

Do you want to have your own real business without even doing any dirty work?

Now Is Your Chance!

You want to build solid online business right? there is nothing secret to make money online, the thing you must have is a valuable offer to peoples, the formula is just this one

Valuable Services = PROFIT!

Without website you can't approach local business owners and provide your services. Without professional website, you don't have any profit!

Don't Worry we have the solution for you. Build your own business with minimal effort, and it can be fully outsourced even for newbie!

Introducing WebSitesSEO.org, a unique 6-in-1 Internet Marketing Service Website

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Huge Profit!
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The prices on the website are set to the prices that I would recommend pricing packages at. It's VERY easy to change prices/rates on the website and I would be more than happy to help you do that if you end up winning the auction.

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This website focusing on the High Demand Service needed by every local business owners. ?These are 6 services you can provide to local business owners and make money.

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1. PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE DESIGN SERVICE

WebSitesSEO.org offer wide range of professional website design services to local business owners, no matter what businesses / services you may provide.?We create professional websites for Restaurant, Contractor,?Attorney,?Salon, Landscaper,?Pest Control, Dentist,?Chiropractor, Real Estate?or any other small businesses.

• Website Starter Package: $299

• Website Premium Package: $699

• Website Enterprise Package: $1,599

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2. MOBILE WEBSITE DESIGN SERVICE?

Around?40% + of all mobile searches are for local business and services. ?Mobile web surfers they buy and order local business services. They don?t just search frivolously on mobile devices for nothing. ?

Our primary focus is to build you a powerful mobile ready websites that helps local businesses get more sales and profit. ?

• Mobile Optimized Website Price: $199

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3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) SERVICES

SEO also one of the Biggest market in Internet Marketing. Everyone want their website to rank fast and high in Google. Local business owners don't want to get involved on time consuming task when doing SEO. This is a Gold Opportunity and have been provided the solution on the website with a great packages.

• SEO Service Package Price: $1,199

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4. VIDEO PRODUCTION

Our Web Video Production Team can create powerful videos for your businesses, which is a great technique to attract new clients and get more sales. Videos are one of the most?trusted source of information, which is essential in branding?of your business and building relationship. If you have professional looking videos to promote your company, then it would add?instant credibility to your business.

• Video Production Service Price: $399?

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5. Social Media Management Services?

This website is unique solution For every Internet Marketer which promoting their website or business is the biggest problem and task consuming. Basically they need 3 aspect to be able to success in internet marketing

• Social Media Management Services Price: $649?

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6. eBook Cover Design Service

Visitors mostly buy your products and services purely on the basis of quality of ecovers. Quality ecover designs can boost sales of your services and products by 30, 50 and even some times 90%. Make order for cover design and?we will make sure your?eBook?cover design is nothing short of perfect!

• eBook Cover Design Service Price: $49.99

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All 6 key aspect has been provided exclusively on the website, providing high quality service for your customer and local businesses. In Fact these service are very HIGH DEMAND!

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The website is new and ready for business, to make money for you. Just find clients, outsource your work and make profit. It take only minimal effort on your part. Besides that, my website ?have very beautiful design and look really professional. This is "a Must Have Money Making Website" you absolutely need to generate large piles of cash on the internet

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You See, It really give you a HUGE PROFIT for just one packages SOLD!

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The packages is very attractive, your visitor will love it. You also can change the price as you like if you want to get more profit. But you are free to change the size of the packages as well as the prices. It's your business, so it's your call. I've found that the pricing structure that I've set up works well for both the client and for profit purposes. You'll find that repeat clients will order larger packages because they will know that you are reputable and that your services actually work for them! When this starts to happen, you'll really see the money start rolling in!

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ALL WORK CAN BE FULLY OUTSOURCED , YOU JUST SIT BACK AND DELIVER FINAL WORK TO YOUR CUSTOMER!

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How It Work?
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The site is completely set up and ready to begin taking order for the lucky winner of this auction.

1. People Buy Your Package, payment is immediately send to your PayPal account.

2. You get order information, outsource your work to Elance, oDesk, Freelancer, Fiverr etc

3. Hired freelancer do the work, you just sit back and relax.

4. Work finished, you deliver finished website to your customer.

You See? All work is fully done, you just gather the payment!

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If you can make phone calls, browse and send email to local business owners, reply, and click your mouse, then this is for you.

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The site is hosted on Wordpress platform, so making a changes is just a snap! Remove or add any new services you want.

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Getting client is very easy! Only for our customer, We will provide you with comprehensive manual that proven to get your client, No Other Flippa Seller will offer you this!

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Expenses
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None a side for the hosting costs. I currently hosted on shared server for just $ 5/month. So it really don't cost you too much to run the business.

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Why You Must Have This Website
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There are so many people or local business owners who need this kind of services. The best part is, this buyer is a kind of "Returning Buyer" once they pleased with your service. The need of service like SEO, Video Marketing and Social Media Management will never gone, in fact it will keep rise everyday as most people discovered that when they want build online business they need updated content and constant promotion with SEO.

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If you are good with cold calling, browsing Yellow Pages, Manta, Craigslist, Facebook.. sending emails and comfortable speaking to clients then you can expect to make at least $ 6,000/Month!!!

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The best part is you don't need to do any overwhelming task, if you can some phone calls, browse, click and send some emails to prospects, then this is for you!

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Absolutely this will be your best investment available on Flippa!

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QUICK OVERVIEW ON WHAT YOU WILL GET WITH YOUR INVESTMENT
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WINNING BID PACKAGES

1. Beautiful Designed Website With Elegant Design, Articles, Videos and Keyword Rich Domain Name ( $ 970 Value)
2. Free Domain name for 1 years ( $ 9 Value)
3. Our Exclusive EBooks On To Get Client!
4. Our Exclusive Email Script that you can send to local business owners. (Follow Up On Responses Included)
5. Our Exclusive Phone Script To Close Deal
6. Free Transfer of domain name
7. Complete support via email and messenger

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BUY IT NOW BONUS PACKAGES

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Okay now you see how profitable is this site, moreover we have prepare some KILLER BIN BONUS that will Boost your income and business!

The reason is simple, We care for our customer success. We want you to be the one who will succeed online.

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BONUS 1 - Offline Super Cash! ( $ 27 Value)

"The local business owners are always looking for help and most don't know the first thing about internet marketing! Now you can make money helping them ".

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BONUS 2 - Mobile Website Template! ( $ 87 Value)

Beautifully designed Mobile Website Templates.

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BONUS 3 - Redirect Script for Mobile Site ( $ 7 Value)

Detects mobile device and does redirection of mobile users to specified URLs.

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BONUS 4 - Professional Videos ( $ 393 Value)

Powerful marketing Videos on Web Design, Video Marketing, Reputation Management, Mobile Website, SEO, ?Facebook Marketing, (professional US or UK voice) to get attention of your clients and Pre-Sell them your various service.

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BONUS 5 - Email Scripts ( $ 29 Value)

Don't want to do cold calling, then just send ready per-written emails and follow-up. (include Web Design, Mobile Website, Facebook Marketing, Video Production, Reputation Management Services).

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BONUS 6 - Local Marketing Infographics ( $ 27 Value)

Infographics images (include Web Design, Mobile Website, Facebook Marketing, Video Marketing, Reputation Management Services).

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BONUS 7 - One Year Free Membership Access To My Resell Rights & PLR Site ?( $ 239 Value)

There are over 3500 Resell Rights and PLR products inside members area. Every month we add over 90 new products. Plus you will get access to over 200000 PLR Articles.

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Quick Overview : ALL this BIN BONUSES will be your own weapon to promote your business. Web Design, Social Media, Video Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Mobile Website. Bringing this together is very insane because you will have all promoting strategies placed, your chance is limited!

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***Get These Killer Bin Bonuses Before It's Too Late!! ***

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BID & B.I.N WITH CONFIDENCE
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You've got several way to contact me including my email and Skype id. How often do seller give you that much information?

Second, you are doing business with reputable Full Time Internet Marketer. Risk Free and Satisfaction Guaranteed!

Third, I want to help you to succeed!

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Need To Contact Me?
------------------------------------------------------

PM or comment here on Flippa (Usually the easiest and fastest)

Email/Google Talk : websitesseoservice@gmail.com

Skype : websitesseoservice

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I ALWAYS DELIVER VALUE TO MY CUSTOMER, BID or BIN NOW!!

?

Best regards,

John Winson

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P.S. WARNING! This Auction is just for 5 Days, Your only chance to BID or BIN is NOW!

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Additional Traffic and Revenue Details

This site is a brand new site and is fully set up and ready to begin making the winning bidder money. I have already created 2 small websites for Coaching Classes in my local area (annuragtutorials.com & aksharconsultancy.net for $299/-).

Important thing you get out there?and start talking to people in your?local?area or send emails to local businesses?....?A solid website like this with powerful pre-selling contents and videos, with great portfolio should help seal the deal on?new clients.

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Winner will get all the PROMOTION MATERIAL like Videos in HD format, Email Scripts, Info graphics, Mobile Website Templates, Redirect Script for Mobile Site, eBook Manual, 1 Year Access To My Membership Site.

To express your interest to the seller, or post a public comment, you need to log in or sign up.

Source: https://flippa.com/2942754-web-design-services-upto-1599-per-sale-can-be-fully-outsourced-no-exp-req

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Sprint shareholders approve Softbank merger

Sprint and Softbank are officially approved to merge by Sprint shareholders, the companies announced this morning. According to Sprint, approximately 98 percent of shareholders at today's meeting voted to approve the deal, which represents "approximately 80 percent of Sprint's outstanding common stock" as of late April 2013. Of course, the United States Federal Communications Commission still needs to sign off, though the companies are expecting it to go through FCC approval unscathed by some point in July. The US Justice Department already gave the deal its thumbs up.

Shareholders are expected to receive approximately $7.65 per share (or an option to convert their current Sprint stock holdings to "New Sprint common stock"), part of a $16.64 billion pie. Softbank already owns a 70 percent stake in Sprint, which it purchased earlier this year for approximately $20.1 billion. Should this merger go through as it's expected to next month, Softbank and Sprint will become one. It's kind of like Voltron, but with fewer pieces and a lot more money.

Updated: This post originally noted that the merger still required approval by the US Federal Trade Commission, which is incorrect. We've updated the above post to reflect the correct information.

Filed under: Mobile, Sprint

Comments

Source: Sprint

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/9fjEdxpwfho/

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Ouya

By Will Greenwald

The Ouya is a story of an ambitious idea made manifest. After a successful Kickstarter to raise funds, this Android-based game system has finally seen release beyond development and backer-only versions. This little box is just $99.99 (direct) and comes with everything you need to play games on your HDTV. Sadly, it's also presently an ungainly mess of a consumer product that requires more work than it's worth to get the most out of it.

Before I go into the Ouya itself, an important note: Ouya plans regular software updates that could alleviate most complaints about the system. If those updates successfully fix the problems, we will re-evaluate the Ouya to reflect that. This review is based on the Ouya as it was released to the public at launch, with firmware from June 24, 2013.

Design
The Ouya is a tiny, 3-inch cube with corners that round inward near the base. It has grey sides and a black top with a circular power button with a glowing Ouya logo in the middle, which is the only button and indicator light on the device. The back side of the cube holds an HDMI output, micro and standard USB ports, a power port, and an Ethernet port if you don't want to use the built-in Wi-Fi.

The controller looks like a fairly standard gamepad, with two analog sticks, a direction pad, and four face buttons laid out in an Xbox 360 controller figuration, along with four shoulder buttons and a single Ouya button that serves as the menu button. Two AA batteries fit into cavities in the grips, covered by plastic plates that are held in place on the gamepad with magnets. There are no Start or Select/Back buttons, which I missed in certain games. Four lights on the top edge of the gamepad show if the controller is on and connected, and if multiple controllers are connected, which player that controller is. The middle of the gamepad holds a black rectangle that serves as a touchpad for controlling an on-screen cursor.

The controller sounds nice on paper, but it's sadly close to being outright junk. The touchpad is the worst touchpad I've ever used. It's over-sensitive but unresponsive, making the cursor fly around the screen with only little concern for what my finger is doing. It doesn't click, and it takes patience to tap the touchpad just right to make it register as a tap and not a swipe. The face buttons are nice and responsive, but the shoulder buttons and direction pad feel wiggly, and the analog sticks are overly loose and prone to dead zones and snapback. Ouya is planning an update that will allow the analog stick to control the on-screen cursor instead of the touchpad, which could greatly improve Web browsing and other cursor-based software.

You can connect other Bluetooth controllers to the Ouya, but the support and compatibility for them is inconsistent. I could pair the Moga Pro to the Ouya as an HID device, but that disables the right analog stick and makes the left analog stick act like a digital direction pad. I couldn't connect it in its full, non-HID mode.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/8vkBqL_qpkc/0,2817,2420825,00.asp

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Charter schools offer scant edge over neighborhood schools: study

By Stephanie Simon

(Reuters) - Charter schools across the United States have improved in recent years, but on average, they still offer little advantage over traditional public education, according to a new study released on Tuesday.

Analyzing millions of test scores from 26 states, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that students at charters learned about as much math in a year as they would have at their local public school.

The study also found charters gave students a minimal boost on their reading scores, the equivalent of perhaps an extra eight days in the classroom.

Those results are a marked improvement over the charter sector's performance in the last big CREDO study, from 2009. That report found that charter students in 16 states lost a bit of ground in both reading and math against their peers in neighborhood schools.

CREDO director Margaret Raymond credited the gains in part to states' shutting down the worst charter schools. In addition, the performance of traditional public schools has slipped, making charters look better in comparison, she said.

CREDO's analysis, whose methodology has come under fire from charter fans and foes alike, found that 25 percent of charters outperformed nearby schools at teaching reading, while 19 percent did worse, and 56 percent were about the same. In math, 29 percent of charters did better, 31 percent did worse, and 40 percent were on par.

"I'm not giving up yet on the idea that charters will outperform district schools in the long run," said education analyst Michael Petrilli of the conservative think tank Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

"It's a mixed bag" for now, though, he added.

The nation's roughly 6,000 charter schools are funded with tax dollars but privately run by community groups, nonprofit organizations or for-profit companies. They are free and open to everyone, but they can cap enrollment and limit class sizes, unlike most neighborhood schools.

Charters often squeeze more instructional time into the year through longer days, mandatory weekend and summer sessions, or fewer electives such as music and art.

Charters enroll more than 2.3 million children, or about 4 percent of the nation's public school students.

VARIATIONS IN QUALITY

The CREDO study found vast differences in quality. Charter students in the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Louisiana posted strong gains in reading and math, far outpacing peers in local schools. But charter students in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas and Arizona lost significant ground.

Critics, including unionized teachers, often complain that charters skim the most motivated and disciplined students, leaving traditional public schools with those who are the toughest to reach.

The CREDO analysis found charters in the 26 states studied enrolled significantly fewer special-needs students and children not fluent in English than neighborhood schools around them, but about the same number of students in poverty.

The study found that poor black and Hispanic students gained the most from enrolling in charters.

The study attempted to match each charter student with a "virtual twin," a composite of up to seven children in nearby public schools who shared similar demographic traits and initial test scores. The researchers then tracked the charter students and their twins for several years to see who did better, and by how much, on subsequent tests.

That methodology has come under sharp criticism.

Skeptics of charter schools say the twin-matching is imprecise. For instance, a homeless child could be matched with student from a stable four-person household with annual income of $43,000, since both qualify for subsidized lunches and thus are deemed low-income.

The Center for Education Reform, a pro-charter group, also takes issue with the study. President Jeanne Allen said it was impossible to compare results across state lines.

CREDO is "improvising at best," she said, and probably "jumping to erroneous conclusions."

(Reporting by Stephanie Simon; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/charter-schools-offer-scant-edge-over-neighborhood-schools-040545847.html

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Targeted viral therapy destroys breast cancer stem cells in preclinical experiments

June 24, 2013 ? A promising new treatment for breast cancer being developed at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) has been shown in cell culture and in animal models to selectively kill cancer stem cells at the original tumor site and in distant metastases with no toxic effects on healthy cells, including normal stem cells. Cancer stem cells are critical to a cancer's ability to recur following conventional chemotherapies and radiation therapy because they can quickly multiply and establish new tumors that are often therapy resistant.

The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, focuses on a gene originally cloned in the laboratory of primary investigator Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D. The gene, melanoma differentiation associated gene-7 (mda-7), also known as interleukin (IL)-24, has been shown to directly impact two forms of cell suicide known as apoptosis and toxic autophagy, regulate the development of new blood vessels and also play a role in promoting cancer cell destruction by the immune system. In the present study, the researchers used a recombinant adenovirus vector, an engineered virus with modified genetic material, known as Ad.mda-7 to deliver the mda-7/IL-24 gene with its encoded protein directly to the tumor.

"Therapy with the mda-7/IL-24 gene has been shown to be safe in a phase I clinical trial involving patients with advanced cancers, and prior studies in my laboratory and with collaborators have shown that the gene could also be effective against breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, ovarian, pancreatic and brain cancers," says Fisher, Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and co-leader of the Cancer Molecular Genetics program at VCU Massey, chairman of VCU School of Medicine's Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and director of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine. "Our study demonstrates that this therapy may someday be an effective way to eradicate both early and advanced stage breast cancer, and could even be used to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence."

The researchers found that infection of human breast cancer cells with the adenovirus decreased the proliferation of breast cancer stem cells without affecting normal breast stem cells. It was also shown to induce a stress response in the cells that led to apoptosis by disrupting Wnt/B-catenin signaling, a process cells rely upon to transmit signals that initiate biological functions critical to survival. In mouse models, the therapy profoundly inhibited the growth of tumors generated from breast cancer stem cells and also killed cancer cells in distant, uninjected tumors.

Since discovering the mda-7/IL-24 gene, Fisher and his team have worked to develop better ways to deliver it to cancer cells, including two cancer "terminator" viruses known as Ad.5-CTV and Ad.5/3-CTV. Cancer terminator viruses are unique because they are designed to replicate only within cancer cells while delivering immune-modulating and toxic genes such as MDA-7/IL-24. Coupled with a novel stealth delivery technique known as ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD), researchers can now systemically deliver viruses and therapeutic genes and proteins directly to tumors and their surrounding tissue (microenvironment) at both primary and metastatic tumor sites. UTMD uses microscopic, gas-filled bubbles that can be paired with viral therapies, therapeutic genes and proteins, and imaging agents and can then be released in a site and target-specific manner via ultrasound. Fisher and his colleagues are pioneering this approach and have already reported success in experiments utilizing UTMD technology and mda-7/IL-24 gene therapy in prostate and colorectal cancer models.

"We are hopeful that this targeted gene therapy could be safely combined with conventional chemotherapies to significantly improve outcomes for patients with breast cancer and potentially a variety of other cancers," says Fisher. "When paired with promising new delivery techniques such as UTMD, physicians may one day be able to better target site-specific cancers and also monitor the effectiveness of these types of therapies in real time."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/OUtmjiftctE/130624111008.htm

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Kelly Rutherford is broke after custody battle

Celebs

Maria Elena Fernandez TODAY

16 hours ago

Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images file

Actress Kelly Rutherford celebrates Michael Kalish's Belle Epoque Sculpture in New York City in 2012.

?Gossip Girl? star Kelly Rutherford, who earned $468,000 a month while working on the CW show, has filed for bankruptcy after spending $1.66 million on her custody battle with her ex-husband, according to documents obtained Monday by NBC News.

The 44-year-old year actress and mother of two filed Chapter 7 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in California on May 20 declaring to be over $2 million debt -- and with a current monthly income of $1,279.33.

Rutherford divorced Daniel Giersch in 2010. In August, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Rutherford?s daughter and son must live with their father in France after his visa was revoked. Rutherford and Giersch are supposed to split their time with the children equally, even though they live in different countries. They are 6 and 4 years old now.

"I do think the kids are at risk because I was the primary, and now I'm the visitor," Rutherford said in an emotional interview on TODAY last year. "What I was in court trying to get to the bottom of is that he could disappear tomorrow and I don't know where to look."

Rutherford has been traveling to France regularly to see her children and Skypes with them daily.

According to the bankruptcy petition, Rutherford has $23,937 in assets -- $11,487 in her checking account, $5,000 in furniture, $5,000 in clothes, and $1,500 in jewelry. The documents also show Rutherford owes over $350,000 in last year?s federal and New York state income taxes and over $300,000 to friends and family for personal loans.

She also owes American Express $25,000 and Citibank nearly $36,000.

?Gossip Girl? wrapped last year. Rutherford also starred on ?Melrose Place? in the ?90s.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/custody-battle-leaves-gossip-girl-star-kelly-rutherford-broke-6C10433506

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At least 13 dead in bus crash in Montenegro

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) ? At least 13 people were killed and 32 were injured when a bus carrying Romanian tourists swayed off a bridge and plunged into a deep ravine in central Montenegro on Sunday, police said.

Montenegro Interior Minister Rasko Konjevic said the bus with 46 people on board crashed some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the capital, Podgorica. He said the bus was traveling from Romania to Montenegro's Adriatic coast.

Police said the bus plunged from a bridge over the Moraca river during a rain storm and crashed some 40 meters (130 feet) into the ravine. A helicopter was used in the rescue operation mounted by Montenegro police.

Konjevic said "sadly, this death toll could climb further" because seven of the passengers were seriously injured.

The winding road that leads from Serbia in the north through the Moraca canyon and then to the seacoast is notorious for traffic accidents because it is narrow and slippery in wet weather conditions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/least-13-dead-bus-crash-montenegro-185624354.html

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Source: http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/38244200/device/rss/rss.xml

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Hostess: Twinkies to return to shelves July 15

This undated image provided by Hostess Brands LLC shows a box of Twinkies. Twinkies will be back on shelves by July 15, 2013, after its predecessor company went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with unions last year. The brands have since been purchased y Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management. (AP Photo/Hostess Brands)

This undated image provided by Hostess Brands LLC shows a box of Twinkies. Twinkies will be back on shelves by July 15, 2013, after its predecessor company went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with unions last year. The brands have since been purchased y Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management. (AP Photo/Hostess Brands)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Hostess is betting on a sweet comeback for Twinkies when they return to shelves next month.

The company that went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with its unionized workers last year is back up and running under new owners and a leaner structure. It says it plans to have Twinkies and other snack cakes back on shelves starting July 15.

Based on the outpouring of nostalgia sparked by its demise, Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return next month for Twinkies and other sugary treats, such as CupCakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bear the tag line "The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever."

"A lot of impostor products have come to the market while Hostess has been off the shelves," says Daren Metropoulos, a principal of the investment firm Metropoulos & Co., which teamed up with Apollo Global Management to buy a variety of Hostess snacks.

Hostess Brands Inc. was struggling for years before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in early 2012. Workers blamed the troubles on years of mismanagement, as well as a failure of executives to invest in brands to keep up with changing tastes. The company said it was weighed down by higher pension and medical costs than its competitors, whose employees weren't unionized.

To steer it through its bankruptcy reorganization, Hostess hired restructuring expert Greg Rayburn as its CEO. But Rayburn ultimately failed to reach a contract agreement with its second largest union. In November, he blamed striking workers for crippling the company's ability to maintain normal production and announced that Hostess would liquidate.

The shuttering triggered a rush on Hostess snack cakes, with stores selling out of the most popular brands within hours.

About 15,000 unionized workers lost their jobs in the aftermath.

In unwinding its business, Hostess sold off its brands in chunks to different buyers. Its major bread brands including Wonder were sold to Flowers Foods, which makes Tastykakes. McKee Foods, which makes Little Debbie snack cakes, snapped up Drake's Cake, which includes Devil Dogs and Yodels.

Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Twinkies and other Hostess cakes for $410 million.

Apollo Global Management, founded by Leon Black, is known for buying troubled brands then selling them for a profit; its investments include fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. Metropoulos & Co., which has revamped then sold off brands including Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee, also owns Pabst Brewing Co.

That could mean some cross-promotional marketing is in store.

"There is certainly a natural association with the two," Metropoulos said. "There could be some opportunities for them to seen together."

The trimmed-down Hostess Brands LLC has a far less costly operating structure than the predecessor company. Some of the previous workers were hired back, but they're no longer unionized.

Hostess will also now deliver to warehouses that supply retailers, rather than delivering directly to stores, said Rich Seban, the president of Hostess who previously served as chief operating officer. That will greatly expand its reach, letting it deliver to dollar stores and nearly all convenience stores in the U.S.

Previously, he said Hostess was only able to reach about a third of the country's 150,000 convenience stores.

Production was also consolidated, from 11 bakery plants to four ? one each in Georgia, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana. The headquarters were moved from Texas to Kansas City, Mo., where Hostess was previously based and still had some accounting offices.

In the months since they vanished from shelves, the cakes have been getting a few touchups as well. For the CupCakes, the company is now using dark cocoa instead of milk chocolate to give them a richer, darker appearance.

Seban stressed that the changes were to improve the cakes, not to cut costs. Prices for the cakes will remain the same; a box of 10 Twinkies will cost $3.99.

Looking ahead, Seban sees Hostess expanding its product lineup. He noted that Hostess cakes are known for three basic textures: the spongy cake, the creamy filling and the thicker icing. But he said different textures ? such as crunchy ? could be introduced, as well as different flavors.

"We can have some fun with that mixture," he said.

He also said there are many trendy health attributes the company could tap into, such as gluten-free, added fiber, low sugar and low sodium.

During bankruptcy proceedings, Hostess had said that its overall sales had been declining, although the company didn't give a breakout on the performance of individual brands. But Seban is confident Twinkies will have staying power beyond its re-launch.

As for the literal shelf-life, Seban is quick to refute the snack cake's fabled indestructibility.

"Forty-five days ? that's it," he said. "They don't last forever."

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Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicehoi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-23-Twinkies-Comeback/id-8e99762a81644e2eb970cdce6ecaedd9

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