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Windows Phone Getting Backup/Restore Capability Says Job Posting: pocketnow.com/windows-phone/? Il y a environ 3 heures via web Retweeted by 3 people

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Saturday, 31 December 2011, 6:30pm
Source: TV3

A total of 171 New Zealanders have been recognised in the New Year's honours list for their achievements in everything from sport to computer animation.

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Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5683677104&f=378

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that DNA stays too tightly wound in certain brain cells of schizophrenic subjects.

The findings suggest that drugs already in development for other diseases might eventually offer hope as a treatment for schizophrenia and related conditions in the elderly.

The research, now available online in the new Nature journal, Translational Psychiatry, shows the deficit is especially pronounced in younger people, meaning treatment might be most effective early on at minimizing or even reversing symptoms of schizophrenia, a potentially devastating mental disorder associated with hallucinations, delusions, and emotional difficulties, among other problems.

"We're excited by the findings," said Scripps Research Associate Professor Elizabeth Thomas, a neuroscientist who led the study, "and there's a tie to other drug development work, which could mean a faster track to clinical trials to exploit what we've found."

A Promising New Field

Over the past few years, researchers have increasingly recognized that cellular-level changes not tied to genetic defects play important roles in causing disease. There is a range of such so-called epigenetic effects that change the way DNA functions without changing a person's DNA code.

One critical area of epigenetic research is tied to histones. These are the structural proteins that DNA has to wrap around. "There's so much DNA in each cell of your body that it could never fit in your cells unless it was tightly and efficiently packed," said Thomas. Histone "tails" regularly undergo chemical modifications to either relax the DNA or repack it. When histones are acetylated, portions of DNA are exposed so that the genes can be used. The histone-DNA complexes, known as chromatin, are constantly relaxing and condensing to expose different genes, so there is no single right or wrong configuration. But the balance can shift in ways that can cause or exacerbate disease.

DNA is the guide that cellular machinery uses to construct the countless proteins essential to life. If portions of that guide remain closed when they shouldn't because histones are not acetylated properly, then genes can be effectively turned off when they shouldn't be with any number of detrimental effects. Numerous research groups have found that altered acetylation may be a key factor in other conditions, from neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease to drug addiction.

A Good Idea

Thomas had been studying the roles of histone acetylation in Huntington's disease and began to wonder whether similar mechanisms of gene regulation might also be important in schizophrenia. In both diseases, past research in the Thomas lab had shown that certain genes in sufferers were much less active than in healthy people. "It occurred to me that we see the same gene alterations, so I thought, 'Hey, let's just try it,'" she said.

Working with lead author Bin Tang, a postdoctoral fellow in her lab, and Brian Dean, an Australian colleague at the University of Melbourne, Thomas obtained post-mortem brain samples from schizophrenic and healthy brains held at medical "Brain Banks" in the United States and Australia. The brains come from either patients who themselves agreed to donate some or all of their bodies for scientific research after death, or from patients whose families agreed to such donations.

A great deal of epigenetic research has focused on chemical alterations to DNA itself. Histone alterations have been much more difficult to study because such research requires that the histones and DNA remain chemically intact. Many researchers feared that these bonds were disrupted in the brain after death. However, Thomas's group was able to develop a technique for maintaining the histone-DNA interactions. "While many people thought this was lost, we were able to show that indeed these interactions are preserved in post-mortem brain, allowing us to carry out these studies," said Thomas.

Compared to healthy brains, the brain samples from subjects with schizophrenia showed lower levels of acetylation in certain histone portions that would block gene expression. Another critical finding was that in younger subjects with schizophrenia, the problem was much more pronounced.

Need for New Treatment Options

Just what causes the acetylation defects among schizophrenic subjects?what keeps certain pages of the DNA guide closed?isn't clear, but from a medical perspective it doesn't matter. If researchers can reliably show that acetylation is a cause of the problem, they can look for ways to open the closed guide pages and hopefully cure or improve the condition in patients.

Thomas sees great potential. Based on the more pronounced results in younger brains, she believes that treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitors might well prove helpful in reversing or preventing the progression of the condition, especially in younger patients. Current drugs for schizophrenia tend to treat only certain symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and the drugs have major side effects including movement problems, weight gain, and diabetes. If deacetylase inhibitors effectively treat a root cause of the disease and prove sufficiently non-toxic, they might improve additional symptoms and provide a major expansion of treatment options.

Interestingly, some of the cognitive deficits that plague elderly people look quite similar biologically to schizophrenia, and the two conditions share at least some brain abnormalities. So deacetylase inhibitors might also work as a treatment for age-related problems, and might even prove an effective preventive measure for people at high risk of cognitive decline based on family history or other indicators.

###

This study, "Disease- and age-related changes in histone acetylation at gene promoters in psychiatric disorders," was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Samples were provided by the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, and Australia's Victorian Brain Bank Network. For more information on the research, see http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v1/n12/abs/tp201161a.html

Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116338/Scientists_discover_a_brain_cell_malfunction_in_schizophrenia

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News | Mind & Brain

Overstating the dangers of methamphetamine may impede treatment of drug abusers, asserts a review by Columbia University researchers

By Gary Stix ?| December 27, 2011?|

Crystal methamphetamine Image:

The 1936 film Reefer Madness developed a cult following because of its over-the-top depiction of the evils of marijuana. Getting stoned and going to a midnight showing became a ritual for many college students.

The recognition that pot is not a direct route to an asylum for the criminally insane, as it was for one character in the film, fueled the hilarity for late-night moviegoers. The divergence between perception and reality has become an issue in recent years for other recreational drugs.

Last month four scientists from Columbia University published an analysis of previous studies on methamphetamine use that called into question some of the purported damaging effects of the drug on brain functioning. The review in Neuropsychopharmacology found that short-term effects of the drug actually improve attention, as well as visual and spatial perception, among other things.

Moreover, chronic users?the ones who would be expected to suffer most?remain largely unimpaired. The researchers found that they experience brain and cognitive changes ?on a minority of measures? in brain imaging and psychological tests. ?Cognitive functioning overwhelmingly falls within the normal range,? the report states, while adding that researchers? pre-existing assumptions about meth's detrimental effects "should be reevaluated to document the actual pattern of cognitive effects caused by the drug."

While recognizing the potential for abuse, the researchers emphasize that misinterpretations of the scientific evidence can wrongly stigmatize drug abusers and lead to misguided policymaking. One study, for instance, asserted that meth abusers might be too cognitively damaged to benefit from rehabilitative treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapies. ?Findings from this review argue that such concerns are unwarranted,? the researchers state.

In Thailand, efforts to stem meth use have gone as far as banning all amphetamines, a class of drug that is used medically for treatment of ADHD and other conditions. ?My main goal really was to make sure that we are rigorous in the science before we are political,? says Carl Hart, a substance abuse researcher at Columbia who was the lead author on the Neuropsychopharmacology paper. ?I think, with meth, we have been political.? (Neuropsychopharmacology is part of Nature Publishing Group, which also includes Scientific American.)

The article asserts that some of the misconceptions surrounding meth go beyond findings on mental functioning. Drug education campaigns often publish photographs of ?meth mouth,? severe tooth decay among users because of the lack of saliva. But dry mouth is a condition common to other drugs, such as the prescription antidepressant Cymbalta and the ADHD medication Adderall.

Hart says he was impelled to do the research because of distortions of the evidence for harm from crack cocaine. During the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, pronouncements about lasting prenatal harm to children whose mothers used the drug turned out to be overblown: long-term effects on brain development and behavior were fairly small, and children were sometimes ostracized or received medical diagnoses that were mistakenly attributed to effects from the drug.

The review by Hart and colleagues elicited a firm counterpoint from National Institute on Drug Abuse director Nora Volkow, some of whose research is critiqued in the Neuropsychopharmacology paper. ?Because of the far-reaching public health implications of this issue, it is essential not to forget what we do know about meth-induced neuropathology, which is plenty troubling,? she says. Volkow points out that the vascular effects of meth can lead to strokes and hemorrhages. The drug, she notes, has also been shown to produce inflammation, atrophy and structural changes in brain tissue. ?Similarly worrisome is a recent report of increased incidence of Parkinson?s diseases among individuals with a past history of methamphetamine abuse [compared with] the general population,? she says, adding that meth abuse can be ?neurotoxic to the human brain.?
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=19e63abc5bac4f15b9601f44188a00cf
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(Reuters) ? Retail sales look poised for a solid finish to the holiday season as warm weather and deep discounts encouraged shoppers to hit stores or go online to snap up last-minute gifts, according to data released on Wednesday.

Sales in the week ending December 24 soared 14.8 percent from a year ago to about $44 billion, helped by Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday, according to ShopperTrak, which monitors traffic at shopping malls. Good weather also helped as snowstorms had blanketed some areas at the same time last year.

Sales on December 26, a public holiday this year, soared 25.5 percent to $7.1 billion, ShopperTrak said.

Steep discounts were prevalent throughout the season and drove the sales growth, but could crimp retailers' profits.

"The real issue is, what margins were those sales generated at because it was a very heavily promotional season," said Al Ferrara, director of BDO USA's national retail practice. "The retailers, to capture market share, were obviously marking down very heavily."

Amid concerns about profit margins, the latest data had little impact on retail stocks with the S&P Retail index ending down 1.05 percent, only slightly better than the 1.25 percent drop in the broader S&P 500 index.

Sales at stores in the week ending December 24 soared 37.8 percent from sales in the week ending December 17, ShopperTrak said, suggesting procrastinators were drawn in by offers.

"Consumers are willing to get up and go out there if they feel like they're going to get some value for their dollars," ShopperTrak Founder Bill Martin told Reuters.

Besides ShopperTrak, two other sets of data indicated solid sales last week. The ICSC/Goldman Sachs weekly chain store sales index rose 4.5 percent during the week ending December 24, versus a holiday-shortened pre-Christmas Day week in 2010. Redbook Research put the year-over-year gain at 4.3 percent.

Adjusted for the calendar mismatch, the ICSC/Goldman index rose 0.9 percent for the week ending December 24, compared with the prior week.

"The finish is solid and the season itself was good," said ICSC Chief Economist Michael Niemira. "November was on the soft side but December will be better."

December sales so far are up 4.7 percent, while November sales rose 4.1 percent, ShopperTrak's Martin said.

ShopperTrak predicted in mid-December that sales for the two months combined would rise 3.7 percent, while the National Retail Federation expects a rise of 3.8 percent and the International Council of Shopping Centers is looking for a 3.5 percent increase.

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Graphic: U.S. chain store retail sales: http://link.reuters.com/beq75s

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Analysts previously said they expect Macy's and Wal-Mart Stores Inc to be among the big winners this holiday season as they had the right level of promotions for their shoppers, while Gap Inc and Abercrombie & Fitch Co may have missed the mark.

Visits to stores rose 6.5 percent in the week ending December 26, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm. The conversion rate, which measures the proportion of shoppers making a purchase, was 67.9 percent. That was down slightly from the previous week, but ahead of the first part of December, NPD data show.

"Major players, such as Macy's, are fine," Niemira added. "Specialty stores are likely to be more uneven. Specialty apparel seems to have been hit by abnormally warm weather. Sales were on the slow side and there has been more discounting consequently."

The biggest shopping malls and regional malls saw the strongest customer traffic since the first week of 2011. Factory outlets remained busy, but less so than the prior week, he said.

THE RISE OF ECONOMY AND E-COMMERCE

Wednesday's retail data points underscore recent economic data that show the U.S. economy is in recovery mode, albeit slowly. U.S. consumer confidence rose more than expected in December, hitting an eight-month high, as Americans grew more upbeat about the labor market and their financial situation, the Conference Board said on Tuesday.

That followed a report early in December showing U.S. unemployment at the lowest level since March 2009.

However, U.S. house prices are still falling, tempering economic optimism, and some retailers, such as Sears Holdings Corp, are suffering.

Part of the problem for chains such as Sears and the now-shuttered Borders Group may be competition with online retailers, who saw faster sales growth this holiday season, suggesting e-commerce took market share from brick-and-mortar stores.

Online sales, still a small component of overall sales, continued to grow at a faster clip than sales in stores, according to comScore data on Wednesday.

Online spending in the United States reached a record $35.27 billion from November 1 through December 26, up 15 percent versus the corresponding period last year, comScore reported.

For the week ending December 25, consumers spent $2.83 billion online, up 16 percent from the corresponding period in 2010, comScore also said.

"E-commerce is going to be awesome this holiday and retail will be mediocre," said Michael Rubin, head of Kynetic, which owns online retail businesses Fanatics, Rue La La and ShopRunner.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr in San Francisco and Jessica Wohl in Chicago, additional reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; editing by Matthew Lewis, Phil Berlowitz)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111228/bs_nm/us_usa_retail_holiday

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December 28, 2011, Colorado Springs, CO ? For over twenty years, Silver Key Senior Services enlisted the help of volunteers to brighten the holidays for seniors in Colorado Springs by providing Thanksgiving meals in November and gifts in December.? This year, Silver Key ushered in a new era in holiday celebrations by hosting an open house for clients and a new tradition has been borne.? Over 500 seniors were treated to food, fun, music and a small gift at the Open House on December 10, which was supported by generous donations from our Giving Tree partners and committed community volunteers.

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Seniors were thrilled to be able to meet employees and volunteers they have only known on the phone, they enjoyed the opportunity to sit and visit with other seniors they might have met on Silver Key buses or on their monthly trips into the agency, and loved spending time with little ?carolers? and students who joined the party for the day.? As one gentleman stated ?this is the only party I will go to this year, I?m so glad you invited me!?? The Silver Key Holiday Project has always been focused on companionship and friendly interaction but this year, it was elevated to a new level.?

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Over the years, many people have made the Silver Key Holiday Project a part of their personal holiday tradition and we are so grateful for their loyalty. While the scope of the project has changed, we will continue to need volunteers in the years ahead and we also have volunteer opportunities throughout the year.? Please contact Lisa Waltman, our Volunteer Coordinator at 719 884-2319 or lwaltman@silverkey.org if you are interested in hearing more about volunteer opportunities.? If you have questions regarding Silver Key Senior Services or the Holiday Open House, please contact Lorri Orwig at 719 884-2313 or email lorwig@silverkey.org.?

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Source: http://www.csfreshink.com/xn/detail/3831802%3ABlogPost%3A173213?xg_source=activity

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There was much to hate about politics this year, especially the amount of hate that seemed to poison it. But if there was an antidote, it came from one of the victims: Gabrielle Giffords, vibrant and valiant member of Congress from Arizona, gunned down when a deranged shooter outside a supermarket put a bullet through her brain. That she survived at all was a miracle; that she recovers ? slowly, stubbornly, each day a search for another word, another milestone ? is a model. "You have to have hope and faith," she says at the end of Gabby, the book she wrote with her husband and fellow warrior against all odds and expectations, astronaut Mark Kelly. "I will get stronger. I will return." She answered our questions by e-mail.

Writing such an honest book is an act of bravery. Was it hard for you to relive the events this year in order to write it?
It was really hard to relive those days. At times it was a bit scary.

What do you remember about the shooting?
I don't remember anything.

Mark waited a while to tell you how many other people were hurt or killed in the shooting. Did you realize that even before you were told?
I had no idea. I didn't even know what happened to me. I didn't know I was shot until I was told.

Do you think what happened to you was partly the result of the bitter divisions in the country or entirely the act of a disturbed individual?
Politics has been very nasty recently, but this was clearly a sick person.

President Obama went to see you several times after the shooting. What did you talk about?
First time he visited, I was in a coma. Other time I saw him, I was in Florida before Mark launched into space. I don't remember what we talked about, but it was probably about my recovery and rehab. He did say he wanted me back in Congress.

You have to decide by May whether you're going to run for Congress again. Have you come to any decision yet? What are the factors likely to affect your decision?
No decision yet. The main factor is whether I feel like I can do the job.

What's an average day like for you these days?
Busy, busy, busy. Stretching at 6:30 a.m. Up at 7 a.m. Breakfast and read the Arizona Daily Star, Arizona Republic and New York Times. Drive to rehab at 8 a.m. Physical, occupational and speech therapy for most of the day. Home, dinner and watch The Daily Show. Then off to bed.

Are you religious? If so, did that help you through this experience?
Yes, I am. Of course it did.

You have two stepdaughters, Claire and Claudia. Your book says your relationship with them has improved this year. Why?
I nearly died. That drew us much closer together.

Outside of your family, who are the people who have inspired you most as you work toward recovery?
Our veterans who fight every day to recover from their injuries. My friends Jimmy Hatch and Brian Kolfage inspire me. They were injured in Afghanistan and Iraq.

What was it like to go back to Washington for the debt-ceiling vote?
Overwhelming, but I enjoyed it. Was nice to see my colleagues and the Vice President.

When you think of your future, what do you imagine for yourself?
I try to take one day at a time. I'm hopeful for the future.

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Syrian supporters of President Bashar Assad wave by national flag over a fountain during a rally in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters after Friday prayers at several locations around the country, while the army sent reinforcements into a southern area where military defectors recently launched deadly attacks on regime troops. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Syrian demonstrators raise posters showing Syria's President Bashar Assad as they perform an oath to defend their country at Sabe Bahrat square in downtown Damascus, Syria, on Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, during a rally to support President Bashar Assad. Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters after Friday prayers at several locations around the country, while the army sent reinforcements into a southern area where military defectors recently launched deadly attacks on regime troops. ( AP Photo/ Bassem Tellawi)

Shadows of Syrians are reflected on a giant poster showing President Bashar Assad, during a supporting rally in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters after Friday prayers at several locations around the country, while the army sent reinforcements into a southern area where military defectors recently launched deadly attacks on regime troops. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Syrians surround a large poster showing Syria's President Bashar Assad, during a rally in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters after Friday prayers at several locations around the country, while the army sent reinforcements into a southern area where military defectors recently launched deadly attacks on regime troops. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

In this image from TV released by a group calling itself Ugarit News, made available Thursday Dec. 15, 2011, showing tanks moving along a road in Al-Maliha al-Sharqiya, Daraa Province, Syria, Wednesday Dec. 14, 2011. Amateur video emerged on Thursday from Syria, which purports to show ongoing violence in the restive country. (AP Photo) TV OUT - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS VIDEO IMAGE.

BEIRUT (AP) ? The Arab League has given Syria until Wednesday to allow observers into the country or else it will likely turn to the U.N. Security Council for action to try to end the deadly violence against regime opponents, Qatar's prime minister said Saturday.

Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani said in Qatar that Arab foreign ministers will hold a "decisive and important" meeting in Cairo on Wednesday to decide on next steps.

He said there is near unanimity among Arab states on taking the issue to the U.N. after Syria demanded changes to the Arab League's proposal for ending the violence.

The Arab plan called for Syria to halt its crackdown and to allow in Arab observers to ensure compliance with the deal. Syria had asked for some amendments regarding the work of the observers.

The 22-member League has also suspended Syria's membership and imposed sanctions, but it has been divided over whether to seek the help of the wider international community beyond the Arab world.

Hamad's remarks after an Arab ministerial committee meeting in Qatar on Saturday indicated that the camp objecting to outside intervention may be getting smaller.

Syria has seen a sharp escalation in armed clashes recently, raising concerns the country of 22 million is headed toward civil war. The U.N. raised its death toll for the Syrian uprising substantially this week, saying more 5,000 people have been killed since the revolt began nine months ago.

Russia began circulating a draft U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday that it said was designed to resolve the conflict in Syria. The draft calls for an end to all violence but does not contain sanctions.

That prompted the Arab League to consider putting forward an initiative of its own for the Security Council to consider, Hamad said at a news conference. He did not provide details.

Hamad said the Arab League wanted to see "that Arab resolutions are adopted rather than those of other nations."

The announcement in Qatar came as an Iraqi delegation arrived in Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad to discuss ways of ending the crisis.

Ali al-Moussawi, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said the delegation is seeking to find a peaceful solution "that preserves Syria's unity."

Many Iraqis fear that if civil war breaks out in Syria it could spread to Iraq, its eastern neighbor. Iraqi officials have not given details on the initiative they will discuss with Assad and other officials.

Iraq was one of few countries that abstained from voting in favor of Arab sanctions against Syria.

___

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report from Baghdad.

___

Bassem Mroue can be reached on http://twitter.com/bmroue

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-17-ML-Syria/id-768f1119c47c4fdf8ff86e3289e7571d

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Police approach a distraught resident following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river.. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

Residents are rescued by volunteers following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Erwin Mascarinas)

A resident rummages through debris following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

Police rescue trapped residents following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

Police carry the body of a victim by a flash flood that hit Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) ? Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crushing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said Saturday.

Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang told The Associated Press that the latest toll was based on a body count in funeral parlors. She said that 215 died in Cagayan de Oro and 144 in nearby Iligan, and the rest in several other southern and central provinces.

Most of the dead were asleep Friday night when raging floodwaters tore through their homes from swollen rivers and cascaded from mountain slopes following 12 hours of pounding rain in the southern Mindanao region. The region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common elsewhere in the archipelago nation.

Many of the bodies in parlors were unclaimed, indicating that entire families had perished, Pang said.

The number of missing was unclear Saturday night. Before the latest Red Cross figures, military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said about 250 people were still unaccounted for in Iligan.

Thousands of soldiers backed up by hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts and to clean up after the massive deluge that left the two coastal cities strewn with debris, trash, overturned vehicles and toppled trees.

Many roads were cut off and there was no electricity, hampering relief efforts.

Some of the dead were swept out to sea from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, which are intersected by rivers and flanked by mountains.

Chief of the government's Civil Defense Office Benito Ramos attributed the high casualties in Mindanao "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.

Ayi Hernandez, a former congressman, said he and his family were resting in their home late Friday when they heard a loud "swooshing sound" and water quickly rose ankle deep inside his home. He decided to evacuate to a neighbor's two-story house.

"It was a good thing because in less than an hour the water rose to about 11 feet (3.3 meters)," the height of the ceiling of his house, he said.

A man in Cagayan de Oro said he heard a cry for help around 10 p.m. while the floodwaters were still low.

"Suddenly, there was a very strong rush of water," the man, who was not identified, told a local TV station.

The floodwaters were waist-high in some neighborhoods that do not usually experience flooding. Scores of residents escaped the floods by climbing onto the roofs of their homes, Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz said.

Those missing included prominent radio broadcaster Enie Alsonado, who was swept away while trying to save his neighbors, Cruz said.

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro said that about 20,000 residents of the city had been affected and that evacuees were packed in temporary shelters.

Television footage showed muddy water rushing in the streets, sweeping away all sorts of debris. Thick layers of mud coated streets where the waters had subsided. One car was shown to have been carried over a concrete fence.

Authorities recovered bodies from the mud after the water subsided. Parts of concrete walls and roofs, toppled vehicles and other debris littered the streets.

Rescuers in boats rushed offshore to save people swept out to sea. In Misamis Oriental province, 60 people were plucked from the ocean off El Salvador city, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Cagayan de Oro, said disaster official Teddy Sabuga-a.

About 120 more were rescued off Opol township, closer to the city, he added.

Cruz said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off Iligan for survivors or bodies that may have been swept away.

Tropical Storm Washi dumped on Mindanao more than a month of average rains in just 12 hours.

It quickly cut across the region overnight and headed for Palawan province southwest of Manila on Saturday night.

Forecaster Leny Ruiz said that the records show that storms that follow Washi's track come only once in about 12 years.

Lucilo Bayron, vice mayor of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, said he already mobilized emergency crews but local officials have not ordered an evacuation yet because the weather was still fine.

___

Associated Press writer Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-17-AS-Philippines-Storm/id-ed63d015b282424f85194d728ddbb731

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TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Libya's leaders on Saturday they faced a long, hard road in moving on from 42 years of one-man rule and uniting rival militias that still hold the streets in the oil-producing North African state.

Panetta, the first U.S. defence chief ever to visit Libya, said Washington stood ready to help but offered no specific aid to a leadership struggling to stamp its authority two months after the capture and killing of Muammar Gaddafi.

He warned of tough challenges ahead in uniting the armed groups that emerged from the war, in securing arms caches and building an army, police and democratic institutions.

"This will be a long and difficult transition, but I am confident that you will succeed," the defence secretary said at a news conference after meeting interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib and Defence Minister Osama Al-Juwali.

The authority of Libya's interim government is being challenged by militias who took Tripoli in August, six months after the start of a rebellion against Gaddafi that drew NATO into an air war.

Some withdrew after Gaddafi was killed in October, but others remain, heavily armed and holding out for a share of the power they say they are owed.

"I'm confident they (the interim leaders) are taking the right steps to reach out to all of these groups and bring them together so they will be part of one Libya and one defence system," Panetta said.

Clashes between militias and rival tribes since Gaddafi's over thrown are threatening to spiral out of control in the absence of a fully-functioning government or national security force to unite the thinly populated desert country.

Late on Friday, senior military leader Khalifa Haftar said two of his sons had been wounded in separate gunfights with militias from the western town of Zintan which control Tripoli's airport and other locations in the capital.

A week earlier, a convoy carrying Haftar, the commander of ground forces in the Libyan national army, clashed with militiamen at a checkpoint near the airport.

Prime Minister Keib promised job programs and other "opportunities" to help coax the militias off the streets.

U.N. LIFTS BANK SANCTIONS

"We know how serious this issue is, we know it's not just a matter of saying 'Okay, just put down your arms and go back to work,'" he told reporters, speaking in English.

"We have solid programs that are designed to attract all these young men and women."

Keib's government won a welcome boost on Friday when the U.N. Security Council lifted sanctions on Libya's central bank and a subsidiary, clearing the way for the release of tens of billions of dollars held overseas to ease an acute cash crisis.

The United States said it had unblocked more than $30 billion in Libyan government assets.

The Libyan leadership sorely needs the funds -- estimated to total around $150 billion -- to pay public sector workers, start the long process of rebuilding and to bolster its authority over the militias.

Panetta arrived from Turkey, having also visited Afghanistan and presided over the formal end to almost nine years of war in Iraq on Thursday.

The Tripoli leg lasted only hours, ending with Panetta paying respects at a Protestant cemetery overlooking Tripoli's harbor and believed to hold the remains of 13 U.S. soldiers killed in an ill-fated naval mission to combat piracy in 1804.

The graves bore small American flags and a floral wreath.

The United States took part in the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, but handed the initial lead role to alliance allies including France and Britain.

Panetta said the new leadership would need to secure the weaponry proliferating in the country and build professional security forces.

He said Washington was ready to help however it could, but said there had been no discussion of supplying arms or military equipment.

(Additional reporting by Taha Zargoun; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/wl_nm/us_libya_usa

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BERLIN ? A 90-year-old man convicted last year of killing three Dutch civilians while he was part of a Nazi SS hit squad during World War II has been taken to prison to start serving his life sentence.

Robert Deller, a spokesman for prosecutors in Aachen, said Heinrich Boere was taken by ambulance Wednesday from the old-age home where he lived to a detention facility. He declined to specify the prison's location.

Deller said Thursday a court-appointed expert's report had determined that the wheelchair-bound Boere was fit to serve his sentence and officials found a "suitable" facility.

An Aachen court in March 2010 sentenced Boere to life in prison for the 1944 killings of a bicycle-shop owner, a pharmacist and another civilian in the Netherlands. A federal court rejected his appeal.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_nazi_hit_man

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Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116036/Water_on_Mercury__NASA_Probe_Close_to_Proof__Teams_Say

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Getty Images

Blaine Gabbert is playing so badly right now that the Jaguars may consider something practically unheard of in the NFL: Taking Top 10 quarterbacks in back-to-back drafts.

Gabbert?s horrible game in Thursday night?s loss to the Falcons has continued a horrible rookie season for the quarterback the Jaguars chose with the 10th overall pick in this year?s NFL draft. Gabbert is last in the league with a passer rating of 65.6, and he looks lost out there. It?s tough to see why the Jaguars? next coach, whoever he is, would want Gabbert as his starting quarterback.

So would the Jaguars, who will likely draft somewhere between the fourth and 10th overall picks, take a quarterback? It?s impossible to say right now, as we have no idea who the new coach will be or what kind of offense he?ll run. We also don?t know where new owner Shahid Khan stands on the matter, and whether he?ll take a hands-on or hands-off approach to the draft. But if Baylor?s Robert Griffin III or USC?s Matt Barkley is available to the Jaguars, they?d have to think long and hard about drafting one of them in the Top 10.

That almost never happens. The Cowboys used their first-round picks in 1989 and 1990 on quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Steve Walsh, but the 1990 pick was used in the supplemental draft. (The Cowboys traded Walsh to the Saints in 1990.) The last time a team used consecutive first-round picks in the regular draft on quarterbacks was in 1982-83, when the Baltimore Colts drafted Art Schlichter and John Elway. But that was a highly unusual circumstance in which neither one of those quarterbacks played for the team in 1983: Schlichter was suspended for the entire 1983 season, and the Colts traded Elway to the Broncos before he ever played a down for Baltimore.

Before the Colts, you have to go all the way back to the early 1960s Los Angeles Rams to find a team that used first-round draft picks on quarterbacks in back-to-back years. The Rams actually drafted quarterbacks in the first round three years in a row: Roman Gabriel in 1962, Terry Baker in 1963 and Bill Munson in 1964. But Baker was a college quarterback who played halfback in the NFL, so that?s not quite the same thing, either. Prior to those Rams, the last team to draft quarterbacks in back-to-back first rounds was the 49ers, who took Earl Morrall in 1956 and John Brodie in 1957. The 49ers traded Morrall to the Steelers before the 1957 season.

What does this history lesson tell us? NFL teams only take quarterbacks in back-to-back first rounds under the most extraordinary of circumstances. If Jaguars G.M. Gene Smith takes a quarterback in the first round a year after he took Gabbert 10th overall, he?ll be doing something NFL general managers just don?t do. But Gabbert might be bad enough to make the Jaguars do it.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/15/wade-phillips-undergoes-surgery-on-his-kidney-gallbladder/related/

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Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers smiles after a play during the third quarter of an NFL football game against the New York Giants on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) ? Aaron Rodgers engineered a last minute drive to set up a 30-yard field goal by Mason Crosby on the final play of regulation and the Green Bay Packers remained undefeated and clinched a playoff berth with a 38-35 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.

Rodgers hit three passes of more than 18 yards on the drive in the final 58 seconds as the Super Bowl champion Packers (12-0) won their 18th straight game and handed the Giants (6-6) their fourth straight loss.

New York, which was blown out by New Orleans Monday night, tied the game on a 2-yard Eli Manning touchdown pass and a 2-point conversion run by D.J. Ware with just under a minute to play.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-04-FBN-Packers-Giants/id-309d766771fc4f9bbceedcde31089e29

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We had a word with a top Silicon Valley talent recruiter the other day.

We asked her: Which startup is getting all the best people these days?

We expected her to say Facebook, Twitter, or Zynga.

But her answer was Square, the startup that lets small merchants accept credit cards using a dongle attached to an iPhone or an iPad.

This recruiter ? who does not work for Square and has not been hiring people for it ? says that Square keeps hiring people she's been targeting.

She supposes this is for 3 reasons?

Square has a very professional recruiting team of its own.
The company has a great brand among engineers, personified by founder Jack Dorsey: "styling and modern: evocative of Steve Jobs."
The company makes something tangible ? the dongle ? and this thrills software engineers.

Our recruiter does not give Square perfect grades for its recruiting, however. She insists the company is making a big mistake hiring so many Ruby on Rails developers, who tend to be "hipsters with neckbeards."

We asked a source close to Square for his reaction to this concern, and he said, "LOL."

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/guess-which-silicon-valley-startup-is-hiring-all-the-best-talent-right-now-2011-12

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Same-sex relationships are coming to the "Star Wars" universe, courtesy of video game developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts' new massively multiplayer online role- playing game (or "MMORPGs" or "MMOs" for short), "Star Wars: The Old Republic," and the decision is getting people talking.

MMOs are games that create immersive virtual environments in which millions of players can interact with computer-generated characters as well as characters created by fellow gamers. While this is BioWare's first MMO, the developer is known among fans for the emphasis they place on romantic relationships between characters in their single-player role-playing games. In the past, BioWare games have featured same-sex relationships between men and women, and in the case of the immensely popular sci-fi game "Mass Effect," relationships between men and women with an asexual alien.

BioWare originally announced that players and their companions in "Star Wars: The Old Republic" would only be able to experience mixed-gender romantic relationships. After many inquiries from fans asking the developer to explain the decision, earlier this week a new forum post by Stephen Reid, the senior online community manager for the game, showed up on the company's official website announcing that those fans had been heard and same-sex romance will be added to the game.

BioWare's statement explained that while the game will still launch with only male/female relationships, they will be adding same gender romance options in future updates.

"Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in 'Star Wars: The Old Republic' will be a post-launch feature. Because 'The Old Republic' is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options."

"Companion characters" are computer-controlled characters that follow player-created characters around the virtual world, aiding them as gamers maneuver through the story.

The response to BioWare's announcement has been massive. There are 326 pages of comments as of Friday afternoon on the official "Star Wars: The Old Republic" forum alone. They range from "thank you for listening to our requests" to "how dare you expose my children to this."

The game has no firm release date, only a release window of "holiday 2011." It has also already received an ESRB rating of "T for Teen," meaning the game is recommended for players 13 and older. Neither facts have stopped detractors from crying foul, such as John Nolte on the blog "Big Hollywood," who starts his post on the subject with "Say goodbye to your child's innocence," and ends with the inaccurate proclamation, "Announcing the gay relationships AFTER the game has been sold is pure bait and switch."

The game already has reportedly broken preorder records for publisher Electronic Arts.

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