Source: www.ibtimes.com --- Sunday, December 30, 2012
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(CNN) ? A sniper who ambushed volunteer firefighters in upstate New York on Monday, killing two and seriously wounding two others, left a note saying he hoped to burn down his neighborhood and kill as many people as possible, police said Tuesday.
A charred body, believed to be his sister?s, was found in the burned house she shared with him Tuesday, police said.
William Spengler, 62, used a Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle, the same kind of weapon used in the assault on Sandy Hook Elementary School, Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said.
?He was equipped to go to war,? Chief Pickering said.
The shooter, who was convicted of killing his grandmother decades ago, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours later.
Pickering, at a news conference Tuesday, read a sentence from the three-page typewritten note that detectives believe Spengler?s left behind: ?I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best ? killing people.?
The note indicated Spengler?s intentions, but not his motive, Pickering said. The rest of the contents will not be made public because it is evidence in a criminal investigation, he said.
There is ?all kinds of speculation? about why Spengler wanted to destroy his neighborhood and kill firefighters and residents, Pickering said.
One theory is that he was upset about a donation his mother, who died in the past year, made to the fire department, he said. Another theory is there could be a connection to his arrest in the killing of his grandmother, he said.
?Motive is always the burning question and I?m not sure we?ll ever really know what was going through his mind,? Pickering said.
Spengler was convicted in 1981 of first-degree manslaughter in the death of his grandmother and had been released on supervised parole, Pickering said.
It will be a challenge for the medical examiner to determine if his siste r? 67-year-old Cheryl Spengler was killed before the fire was set because it was a ?raging inferno,? Pickering said.
Spengler?s former neighbor, Roger Vercruysse, said that Spengler was a nice guy who used to come over to Vercruysse?s sister?s house for holiday parties and would wave to the family from his front porch, where he often sat during the summer.
?He?d come to our house, we used to have picnics,? he said.
Spengler was especially attentive to his mother, who passed away in October, Vercruysse said, visiting her every day in the nursing home where she lived until she died.
?He loved his mama,? Vercruysse said. ?He always talked about his mother.?
Spengler did not share the same closeness with his sister, with whom he shared his home, Vercruysse said.
?He told me he hated his sister and never could tell me why,? he said. ?I?d always wave to the sister, but she was not friendly.?
Firefighters from the Rochester-area town of Webster responded before 6 a.m. Monday to a 911 call, reporting a fire that Spengler is believed to have set, when the gunfire began, Pickering said.
?This was a clear ambush on first responders,? he said. Spengler was firing from ?a natural depression? against a bank and a tree, he said.
An off-duty police officer, who happened on the scene, returned gunfire and sheltered firefighters with his car, Pickering said.
?Had the police officer not been there, more people would have been killed because he immediately engaged the shooter with a rifle,? he said. ?Essentially, it was a combat condition.? Investigators won?t know until after an autopsy if any of his shots hit Spengler, he said.
Officer John Ritter of the Greece, New York, Police Department, suffered minor shrapnel wounds but was released after treatment at a hospital.
The two wounded firefighters were in stable condition after surgery Tuesday, Pickering said Tuesday morning. They were being treated for ?serious injuries? in intensive care at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, he said.
Seven houses were destroyed and several others damaged by the fire, which investigators believe spread from a car parked next to the home where they believe Spengler lived, Pickering said.
Authorities do not know how Spengler obtained the Bushmaster rifle, .38-caliber revolver and 12-gauge shotgun he used, Pickering said. As a convicted felon, Spengler was not allowed to legally possess weapons.
In chilling audio heard over a scanner Monday, a West Webster Fire Department firefighter reported ?multiple firemen shot? ? including himself, with wounds to his lower back and lower leg ? and ?shots still being fired.?
?I?m pretty sure that we have two DOAs? ? the term for dead on arrival ? ?on the street,? the wounded firefighter said. ?? They?re down and not good.?
For several hours after that, the threat of gunfire stopped firefighters from battling the blaze and forced police SWAT teams to evacuate 33 people in the neighborhood of small waterfront homes.
The fire destroyed seven houses. It was under control by 2:30 p.m. ET, but authorities weren?t able to get into any of the homes. Pickering said it?s possible that more victims could be inside.
Lt. Michael Chiapperini, a firefighter who died at the scene, was a veteran of the West Webster Fire Department and a police lieutenant. He?d been named Firefighter of the Year just two weeks ago. And not long before that, he had volunteered to go to Long Island to help those suffering after Superstorm Sandy, New York Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy said.
The other slain firefighter was Tomasz Kaczowka, who was also a 911 dispatcher. He?d been with the West Webster Fire Department for just more than a year, department spokesman Al Sienkiewicz said.
The shooting occurred amid a renewed gun control debate after the December 14 elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 26 people, most of them children. The gunman in that case, Adam Lanza, also killed his mother and himself.
The head of a lobbying group that represents first responders said the Monday shooting was ?senseless and cruel.?
?The firefighters who responded today were performing a selfless, meaningful service to their community, unaware that a cold-hearted maniac was planning to ambush them and take their lives,? said Harold Schaitberger, general president of the Washington-based International Association of Fire Fighters. ?Coming on the heels of the horrific tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, and on Christmas Eve, this shooting is even harder to comprehend.?
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the Webster shooting as ?horrific.? And the state?s attorney general called it a ?senseless tragedy?
President Barack Obama has set a January deadline for ?concrete proposals? to deal with gun violence after the Newtown shooting.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, has said she will introduce legislation to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, while National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre has said his group will fight any new gun restrictions, saying most gun laws now on the books are rarely enforced.
Pickering, the Webster police chief, said it was important ? after the shooting in his town and others ? to ?get a handle on gun control.? He also said more needs to be done to make sure that dangerous people aren?t in society, where they can kill.
?For the last 20 years we have been turning people loose and de-institutionalizing people, and I think we?ve swung too far,? he said. ?I think there are still people that need to be in institutions that are a danger to themselves or others. And this is a classic example.?
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TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) ? A 49-year-old California man died Monday after being buried in an avalanche while snowboarding at a Sierra ski resort, one of several avalanche-related emergencies in the Lake Tahoe area after recent storms dumped up to 3 feet of fresh snow.
Donner Ski Ranch, about 90 miles northeast of Sacramento, closed as rescue teams began their search.
The Nevada County Sheriff's Department identified the man as Steven Mark Anderson of Hirschdale, an unincorporated community outside Truckee, after notifying his brother.
The sheriff's department received a call about the missing man at noon Monday, nearly three hours after the avalanche. Deputy David Lade said it took that long for Anderson's friends to determine he was missing. The friends had not been skiing as a group, but rather went their own way in the morning, Lade said.
"They spent a lot of time trying to locate him," he said.
A search dog found the man's body about 1:30 p.m. under 2 to 3 feet of snow at the base of the avalanche. Lade said the wind had blown snow to depths to 7 feet or more where the man was snowboarding, which was inside the ski area's boundaries near the main lodge.
Anderson was believed to be the only person caught in the slide, Lade said.
Tahoe-area ski resorts received at least 3 feet of snow in a wind-whipped series of storms from Friday through Sunday, leading to perilous conditions even within ski area boundaries.
"With the extremely heavy snowfall we've gotten over the last three days and the conditions prior to that, it's prime avalanche conditions," Lade said.
Two neighboring ski resorts, Squaw Valley USA and Alpine Meadows, also reported dangerous avalanches. A veteran ski patroller at Alpine Meadows was taken Monday to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno after being buried in a slide that had been intentionally set with an explosive device.
"The charge triggered the avalanche, which broke much higher and wider on the slope than previously observed in past snow safety missions," the resort said in a statement.
The patroller, who had 28 years of experience at the resort, was uncovered within eight minutes. Resort spokeswoman Amelia Richmond said she could not release his condition, and the hospital did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
The ski patrol team was doing avalanche control in Sherwood Bowl, which is within the boundaries on the back side of resort.
On Sunday, two skiers at Squaw Valley ? a 39-year-old woman and 16-year-old boy ? were treated for non-life threatening injuries after they were swept up in an avalanche, although neither had been buried.
___
Associated Press writers Tom Verdin and Judy Lin in Sacramento, and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowboarder-dies-avalanche-tahoe-area-resort-024225725.html
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LG has just announced that it will be releasing a new line of TV's powered by Google TV 3.0 software in the first half of 2013. The new units, which you can see are quite slim and interestingly designed, will come in several different sizes from 42 to 60 inches. Running Google TV integrated in the panel itself, LG claims it will have voice recognition "beyond simple voice input." With two new features called Quick Guide and Prime Time, the TV's will also let users watch and search for content at the same time.
The new sets will have OnLive cloud gaming built-in, to be used with a controller that connects directly to the set. They will also have a new remote that has a microphone, gesture input controls and a QWERTY keyboard as well. LG is planning to show off the new line starting at CES in 2013, aiming to launch in the U.S. in the first half of the year.
Source: LG Newsroom
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/m80QHwFrJhQ/story01.htm
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Public release date: 24-Dec-2012
Share ] Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office
newsmedia@mssm.edu
212-241-9200
The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Nearly a third of children diagnosed with food allergies who participated in a recent study are bullied, according to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Almost eight percent of children in the U.S. are allergic to foods such as peanuts, tree-nuts, milk, eggs, and shellfish.
Nearly half of parents surveyed (47.9 percent) were not aware of the bullyingalthough both the bullied children and their parents reported experiencing higher stress levels and lower quality of life.
The study, titled, "Child and Parental Reports of Bullying in a Consecutive Sample of Children with Food Allergy," appears in the online issue of Pediatrics on December 24. The study was led by Eyal Shemesh, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Shemesh and his team surveyed 251 pairs of parents and children. The patient and parent pairs were consecutively recruited during allergy clinic visits to independently answer questionnaires. Bullying due to food allergy or for any cause, quality of life, and distress in both the child and parent were evaluated using validated questionnaires.
"Parents and pediatricians should routinely ask children with food allergy about bullying," said Dr. Shemesh. "Finding out about the child's experience might allow targeted interventions, and would be expected to reduce additional stress and improve quality of life for these children trying to manage their food allergies." Dr. Shemesh is Director of EMPOWER (Enhancing, Managing, and Promoting Well-being and Resiliency), a program within Mount Sinai's Jaffe Food Allergy Institute. Dr. Shemesh is also Chief of the Division of Behavioral and Developmental Health in the Department of Pediatrics at The Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"When parents are aware of the bullying, the child's quality of life is better," said the senior author, Scott H. Sicherer, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Chief, Division of Pediatric Allergy, Co-Director, EMPOWER program. "Our results should raise awareness for parents, school personnel, and physicians to proactively identify and address bullying in this population."
The work for the study was supported by the EMPOWER program, a program funded by a generous donation from the Jaffe Family Foundation, that is devoted to understanding and enhancing the quality of life of persons with food allergy.
###
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Established in 1968, the Icahn School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States, and is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org.
Find Mount Sinai on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainyc
Twitter @mountsinainyc @multiscalebio
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 24-Dec-2012 Share ] Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office
newsmedia@mssm.edu
212-241-9200
The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Nearly a third of children diagnosed with food allergies who participated in a recent study are bullied, according to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Almost eight percent of children in the U.S. are allergic to foods such as peanuts, tree-nuts, milk, eggs, and shellfish.
Nearly half of parents surveyed (47.9 percent) were not aware of the bullyingalthough both the bullied children and their parents reported experiencing higher stress levels and lower quality of life.
The study, titled, "Child and Parental Reports of Bullying in a Consecutive Sample of Children with Food Allergy," appears in the online issue of Pediatrics on December 24. The study was led by Eyal Shemesh, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Shemesh and his team surveyed 251 pairs of parents and children. The patient and parent pairs were consecutively recruited during allergy clinic visits to independently answer questionnaires. Bullying due to food allergy or for any cause, quality of life, and distress in both the child and parent were evaluated using validated questionnaires.
"Parents and pediatricians should routinely ask children with food allergy about bullying," said Dr. Shemesh. "Finding out about the child's experience might allow targeted interventions, and would be expected to reduce additional stress and improve quality of life for these children trying to manage their food allergies." Dr. Shemesh is Director of EMPOWER (Enhancing, Managing, and Promoting Well-being and Resiliency), a program within Mount Sinai's Jaffe Food Allergy Institute. Dr. Shemesh is also Chief of the Division of Behavioral and Developmental Health in the Department of Pediatrics at The Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"When parents are aware of the bullying, the child's quality of life is better," said the senior author, Scott H. Sicherer, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Chief, Division of Pediatric Allergy, Co-Director, EMPOWER program. "Our results should raise awareness for parents, school personnel, and physicians to proactively identify and address bullying in this population."
The work for the study was supported by the EMPOWER program, a program funded by a generous donation from the Jaffe Family Foundation, that is devoted to understanding and enhancing the quality of life of persons with food allergy.
###
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Established in 1968, the Icahn School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States, and is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org.
Find Mount Sinai on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainyc
Twitter @mountsinainyc @multiscalebio
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/tmsh-mss121912.php
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The Seahawks have won their last two games by scores of 58-0 and 50-17, a total combined margin of victory of 91 points. That doesn?t happen every year. Or even every half-century. In fact, NFL information man Randall Liu confirmed today that it?s been more than 70 years since a team has won back to?
More...
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While an early leak might have hopefully suggested that Nokia was ready to offer an OS refresh to its first-generation Lumia owners, the company has now explained to Tweakers that those early glimpses of Windows Phone 7.8 were for pre-production models and, presumably, all part of the software testing process. We've stopped clicking the update button, (reluctantly) unplugged our Lumia 800 and are waiting on that Q1 refresh. However, if you're willing to tinker with your Windows Phone's inner workings for the taste of a new OS, there are ways.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Nokia
Via: Pocketnow
Source: Tweakers (translated)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/18/nokia-reiterates-windows-phone-7-8-updates-2013/
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The country is still in shock over Friday's massacre in Connecticut and already the debate on gun control has kicked into high gear. But shouldn't we look at the perpetrator and what prompted his actions in the first place? Shouldn't the first debate be about mental health issues and how to address them?
Authorities say Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed his mother that morning and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School to commit the horrific killing spree before killing himself. According to initial reports, Lanza appeared to have had some mental problems prior to the shooting, but it is difficult to say that it would have predicted this.
Authorities also say that the guns Lanza used had been purchased legally, and he was actually stopped from purchasing another rifle by existing gun laws. He appeared to have circumvented school security measures by forcing his way into the building. He appeared intend on doing what he did and gun laws and security measures were unable to stop him.
Gawker.com had a poignant story titled "I am Adam Lanza's Mother." It is authored by someone going by the name of Lisa Long and chronicles her attempts to deal with a child struggling with mental illness. Someone born to her. Someone whom she loves - but is scared of just the same. Her own child - a potential Adam Lanza.
Instead of rushing to address gun laws, shouldn't the mental health system be the first issue that needs to be addressed?
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CHICAGO (AP) ? The most comprehensive study of potential World Trade Center-related cancers raises more questions than it answers and won't end a debate over whether the attacks were really a cause.
The study suggests possible links with prostate, thyroid and a type of blood cancer among rescue and recovery workers exposed to toxic debris from the terrorist attacks. But there were few total cancers and even the study leaders say the results "should be interpreted with caution."
The study involved nearly 56,000 people enrolled in a registry set up to monitor health effects from those exposed to the aftermath of the trade center attacks. Most participants volunteered for enrollment, which could skew the results if people who already had symptoms were more likely to enroll than healthier people.
Cancers diagnosed through 2008 were included in the study, but that's just seven years after the 2001 attacks, and cancer often takes longer to develop. People diagnosed with cancer before the attacks were excluded from the study.
Cancer rates were compared with those in the general New York state population. But the researchers had no data on whether people in the study had risk factors for getting cancer, including a strong family history, or if they had existing cancer that wasn't detected until after the disaster. Participants are being monitored for health issues and may have gotten more cancer screening than other people, which also could skew the results.
The increased risks were seen only in rescue and recovery workers, who likely had more direct, sustained contact with potential cancer-causing substances in the dust, smoke and debris from the attacks. But cancers weren't more common in workers who had the most exposure ? a finding that would seem to contradict the theory that contact was the cause.
The study comes just a few months after the federal government added dozens of types of cancer to a list of illnesses related to the trade center attacks that will be covered by a program to pay for health coverage.
The study results "won't settle the question because it's still too early," said Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City's health commissioner. "People are very, very interested in this topic and we thought it was important to get the data out that we have even though it is early."
Marijo Russell O'Grady, dean of students at Pace University's New York City campus, was at her office near the trade center during the attacks. She also lives nearby, and said she worries about how exposure to choking dust, ash and an "overwhelming burnt plastic smell" might affect her family, including her then 1 1/2 year-old son. They are all enrolled in the health registry.
Cancer is her greatest concern and it's "always present in the back of my mind," she said.
Researchers from the city's health department led the study, which was partly paid for by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH spokesman Fred Blosser said the agency welcomes the results and that longer follow-up is needed to examine risks for cancers with that take a long time to develop.
The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Earlier research from the same registry linked the attacks with respiratory problems including asthma and symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
The new study involved a broader array of people, including firefighters and other emergency workers, along with residents and employees of workplaces near ground zero, Farley said.
In the new study, possible links were mainly seen with cancers diagnosed in 2007 and 2008 in rescue and recovery workers. These included 67 cases of prostate cancer, 13 thyroid cancer cases, and seven cases of multiple myeloma ? all at rates higher than in the New York state population.
Donald Berry, a biostatistics professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said the study has too many limitations to draw any definitive conclusions.
"There's no evidence that 9/11 caused any of these cancers," Berry said.
He pointed out that no increased risks were found for lung cancer ? a cancer that might seem plausible after breathing lots of toxic dust and smoke.
___
Online:
JAMA: http://www.jama.com
World Trade Center health effects: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/wtc/
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com.LindseyTanner
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/9-11-cancer-study-wont-settle-debate-over-221111205.html
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Domino's founder Tom Monaghan sues government, saying contraception is 'gravely immoral.' Domino's founder offers employees health insurance excluding contraception and abortion.?
Victor Gutierrez rushes out of Domino's Pizza in Turlock, Calif., to make a delivery in this February file photo. On Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, Domino's founder sued the federal government for forcing companies to offer health insurance that includes contraception coverage, a procedure he calls immoral.
Bart Ah You/The Modesto Bee/AP/File
EnlargeThe founder of?Domino's?Pizza is suing the federal government over mandatory contraception coverage in the health care law.
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Tom Monaghan, a devout Roman Catholic, says contraception isn't health care but a "gravely immoral" practice.
He filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court. It also lists as a plaintiff?Domino's?Farms, a Michigan office park complex that Monaghan owns.
Monaghan offers health insurance that excludes contraception and abortion for employees. The new federal law requires employers to offer insurance including contraception coverage or risk fines.
Monaghan says the law violates his rights, and is asking a judge to strike down the mandate. There are similar lawsuits pending nationwide.
A message left Saturday for Monaghan's attorney, Richard Thompson, was not immediately returned.
The government says the contraception mandate benefits women.
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LONDON (AP) ? A medical watchdog ruled Sunday that a former British army doctor failed to protect detainees and acted dishonestly following the death of an Iraqi civilian beaten and killed in the custody of U.K. troops in 2003.
Baha Mousa died while in custody at a British base after being detained in a raid in Basra, Iraq, in September 2003. He had sustained 93 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose. Britain's defense authorities later apologized for the mistreatment of Mousa and nine other Iraqis and paid a 3 million pound ($4.9 million) settlement. Six soldiers were cleared of wrongdoing at a court martial, while another pleaded guilty and served a year in jail.
Derek Keilloh, the senior medic on duty who treated Mousa, had denied knowledge of Mousa's injuries, claiming that he had only spotted dried blood around Mousa's nose after he was arrested and beaten.
But Britain's Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ruled Sunday that Keilloh knew of the injuries and failed to adequately examine Mousa's body. It said he then failed to assess other detainees or protect them from further mistreatment and inform senior officers of what was going on. The tribunal will now decide if Keilloh's behavior amounts to misconduct and if so, what penalty he will face. The watchdog has the power to suspend or strip doctors of their medical licenses.
The tribunal also ruled that Keilloh engaged in "misleading and dishonest conduct" by maintaining under oath that he had seen no injuries to Mousa's body.
While the injuries to Mousa and others were the responsibility of British soldiers, there were "clearly failings by others with responsibility toward the detainees to have safeguarded their welfare," it said.
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KABUL (AP) ? President Hamid Karzai said Thursday he will meet President Barack Obama in Washington next month to discuss a postwar U.S. role in his country, whose fragile security was highlighted hours earlier by a suicide bombing that killed one U.S. troop and two Afghan civilians.
At a news conference with visiting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Karzai said he and Obama will discuss how many U.S. troops will remain after the Western combat mission ends in December 2014. He said he understands that immunity from Afghan laws for those remaining Americans is of "immense importance" to Washington, but he added that he has his own priorities in negotiating a postwar U.S. role.
"Give us a good army, a good air force and a capability to project Afghan interests in the region," Karzai said, and he would be ready to argue "with ease and with reason" that his country should grant immunity to U.S. troops.
Obama has said the U.S. will not abandon Afghanistan and risk that it might revert to the al-Qaida haven it became in the 1990s after the Taliban came to power. Nor has he indicated what size and scope of post-2104 military mission he thinks is necessary and affordable.
The Taliban are a small but resilient force, even after 11 years of fighting a vastly larger U.S.-led international force. They managed to send a dramatic reminder Thursday, claiming credit for the suicide bombing that killed three and wounded 17 near an entrance to Kandahar Air Field, the largest Western base in southern Afghanistan. Panetta and his traveling party had left the air field about two hours before the attack.
The U.S. military did not identify the American who was killed. It said an investigation was under way.
Panetta was at the air field for about three hours, receiving a briefing from U.S. commanders. Panetta also spoke to about 350 U.S. troops and took questions from them before flying back to Kabul, where he met with Karzai at the presidential palace.
Panetta described the Kandahar attack as further evidence of insurgent brutality.
"This is what they resort to in order to try to continue to stimulate chaos in this country," he said. "They will not be successful."
The Karzai-Obama meeting, which Panetta said would occur during the week of Jan. 7, with no specific date set, also is intended to discuss prospects for establishing a process for pursuing peace with the Taliban.
The main message of Panetta's two-day visit to Afghanistan was one of reassurance to Afghans that they will not be abandoned after 2014. And he made a pitch for patience among Americans tired of war.
"For the first time since 9/11 we have a chance to achieve the mission that we are embarked upon," Panetta said. "To achieve that mission will require a continued commitment, continued perseverance, continued partnership and continued sacrifice on the part of our nations."
He told Karzai that his country should not doubt U.S. resolve to prevent the Taliban from regaining power and potentially facilitating al-Qaida's return.
"America will not turn away from Afghanistan," he said.
The Pentagon chief, who is expected to step down early in 2013 and return to private life, also made a plea for Pakistan to do more to clear al-Qaida, the Taliban and other extremist groups from havens on its side of the border with Afghanistan.
He said Pakistani leaders have often promised to take action, "but have not followed through." Without such action, peace and security in Afghanistan will remain elusive, Panetta said.
Another major issue facing Panetta in the closing weeks of his tenure is how many U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014. There currently are 66,000 in the country, down from a peak of about 100,000 in 2011.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of international forces in four southern provinces, including the key province of Kandahar, told reporters Thursday that he foresees further troop cuts in coming months, but he did not specify whether he was talking only about U.S. troops.
"I fully expect by next summer we will have less ISAF forces here because we'll need less ISAF forces," Abrams said, using the acronym for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force. He said believes fewer will be needed because Afghan forces will be more capable by then.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/karzai-says-hell-meet-obama-washington-190735849--politics.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wall Street critic and Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren will join the Senate Banking Committee next year where she is likely to be a loud voice in favor of tight financial regulation.
The Democratic Steering Committee on Wednesday approved committee assignments for Warren and other Senate Democrats, installing Senator Patty Murray of Washington state as chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Warren, a Harvard Law School professor who won a hard-fought election in Massachusetts, will now have a powerful platform from which to oversee banking regulation.
The pick is a controversial one for the financial services sector, where many bankers have criticized her as an overzealous regulator bent on punishing Wall Street and who does not fully understand the financial system.
She has called for the breakup of largest banks and is expected to fight fiercely against Republican efforts to dilute reforms contained in the post-financial crisis Dodd-Frank Wall Street law.
Warren would also be able to forcefully push for financial regulators to use all the powers available to them to write strict interpretations of rules.
That could mean stronger curbs on Wall Street trading, higher capital buffers and rules that would compel mega-banks to shrink.
Warren is the architect of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency created by Dodd-Frank in 2010. Although she helped set up the new government watchdog, President Barack Obama refrained from nominating her as its first director, because of fierce opposition in the Senate.
"These committee assignments will allow all members of our caucus to bring their unique talents and expertise to bear as we work together to advance the interests of the middle class," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement.
Warren was a leading speaker at the Democratic National Convention in September and gave a rousing speech attacking Republican Mitt Romney as an out of touch elitist
She also won a seat on Wednesday on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.
Two other newly elected Democratic senators, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, will join the Senate Agriculture Committee. Heitkamp also was assigned to the Banking Committee, while Donnelly also will join the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Murray replaces the retiring Kent Conrad as head of the Budget Committee, while Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon will become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, replacing the retiring Jeff Bingaman.
The assignments are still subject to approval by the Democratic caucus and the Democratic-majority full Senate, but these approvals are viewed as largely pro forma following the steering committee vote.
(Editing by Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/warren-assigned-u-senate-banking-committee-211022525--business.html
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Dramas, comedies and documentaries with a budget of more than a million pounds an hour will be eligible to receive UK tax breaks under new laws laid out by the government.
The Treasury unveiled draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2013, explaining the kind of productions that will be eligible for tax relief and how the relief will work.
It believes that 50 independent production companies and up to 100 animation producers will benefit from the scheme, which will be modelled on the successful film tax relief scheme, and be applicable from April 2013 to shows produced in the UK.
The tax relief will be worth up to 25% of a budget.
The high-end television tax relief will be targeted at drama, comedy and documentaries with a budget of ?1m or more per hour. It will exclude specific genres, including discussion shows, news or current affairs, quiz and panel shows.
It will be applicable to shows with a slot time ? instead of a running time ? of one hour, excluding shows with a running time below 30 minutes.
The government said that it had included high-end documentaries in the list of genres ?on the basis of views and evidence received.? However, it?s unlikely that many documentary makers will take advantage of the relief as very few ?1m TV docs are produced in the UK.
The ?1m threshold will be limited to costs incurred directly on production. The Government will, however, consider how to legislate to allow a production fee of no more than 10 per cent of the pre-production budget to count towards the threshold. It will also allow ?early stage costs? that are integral to the production process to be eligible for relief.
Additionally, all co-productions made under an internationally agreed co-production treaty will be eligible for relief.
The Treasury estimates that the cost to the Exchequer of the high-end television tax relief will be ?5m in 2013/14, rising to ?70m by 2017/18.
The draft legislation has been welcomed by the industry, with Pact?s Chief Executive John McVay, saying: ?This is fantastic news for independent TV producers in the UK.? It?s very encouraging that government has recognised the contribution that this creative sector brings to the UK economy.
?Productions will be persuaded back to the UK and they may be retained here ? it?s good for growth, jobs and the exchequer.
?This legislation covers mixed content productions within the scope of the animation tax relief ? it means well known programmes such as Waybuloo, where acting and animation are combined, would benefit.
?The White Paper explicitly includes the internet within the definition of made-for-television.? This could also be a major boost for business from the growing number web-based commissioners.?
Consultation on draft legislation for Finance Bill 2013: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/finance_bill_2013_consultation.htm
Source: http://www.lizardfish.co.uk/government-outlines-tv-tax-relief/
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Sprint is said to be in talks to gobble up the remaining 49 percent of Clearwire it doesn't already own, according to new reports from CNBC and the Wall Street Journal. The deal is meant to sort out issues that Sprint has had in steering the decision-making process of Clearwire's business, sources told the WSJ, and it would help Sprint acquire the spectrum rights currently owned by Clearwire. Sprint is currently a wholesale customer of Clearwire's network.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/N4RarOHiW4U/
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While it's nothing more than a placebo, believe it or not, some people actually argue over which color M&Ms taste better. If the latter speaks to your spirit and you're tired of manually filtering unwanted sweets from your holiday spread, then you might be in luck. A crafty tinkerer who goes by the YouTube handle "Nxt1engineer" has shared a clever contraption that sorts M&Ms by shade. Using tone-detecting sensors, this Lego-powered machine separates and dispenses the popular candy-coated snack, ensuring that everyone receives their favorite hue without any fuss. It's not entirely clear how you might be able to bring this awesome apparatus home, but you can at least see it in action -- check it out in the video after the break.
Continue reading Lego-powered M&M sorter pleases your palate's imagination (video)
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Nxe1engineer (YouTube)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/10/lego-powered-mm-sorter-video/
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiations between the White House and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on averting the December 31 "fiscal cliff" are continuing but Republicans are awaiting a counter-offer from President Barack Obama, an aide to Boehner said on Monday.
"The Republican offer made last week remains the Republican offer," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.
He said Boehner continues to "wait for the president to identify the spending cuts he's willing to make" in deficit-reduction negotiations.
Last week, Boehner and his House leadership team sent Obama a proposal they said would produce $2.2 trillion in new savings over 10 years. It included $800 billion in new revenues that would be achieved through comprehensive tax reform.
None of those new revenues would come from raising income tax rates on the 2 percent of families with the highest net incomes - a central Obama demand.
Democrats have rejected Boehner's proposal, insisting that tax rates on the rich must be nailed down before negotiating further on how to proceed with tax reform efforts next year, along with new spending cuts for "entitlement" programs, such as the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly.
The White House has proposed its own set of spending cuts that Republicans have rejected, arguing that they do not effectively deal with long-term rising costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs.
On Sunday, Boehner met with Obama at the White House. Steel, on Monday, said "discussions with the White House are taking place." He did not say whether more face-to-face meetings are scheduled between the two key principles in the conflict.
A Democratic aide, who asked not to be identified, said there was no indication that Sunday's talks between Obama and Boehner advanced efforts to avoid $600 billion in across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that are due to begin in January if Congress and the White House cannot find a more suitable replacement.
(Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by Bill Trott)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fiscal-cliff-negotiations-ongoing-boehner-aide-171042524--business.html
At Inhabitat, we've always got an ear to the ground listening for the latest innovations in the world of green technology, but the world's best designs are often found in Mother Nature. From bullet trains to Velcro, this week we looked at the various ways designers have found design inspiration in nature to solve human problems. We also looked at some of the ways scientists and entrepreneurs are finding new ways to harness the power of nature. One such example is the Sunportal, a new technology that uses pipes to deliver daylight anywhere in a building. German entrepreneur Gregor Schapers set up a solar oven system in El Sauz, Mexico that is being used to produce tortillas. And after a year sailing the seas, a wave-powered robot completed its journey across the Pacific Ocean this week, setting a new world record in the process.
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/GwSrJIlc7V8/
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Published on Thursday, December 06, 2012
Last updated on 12:59PM, Thursday, December 6, 2012
By Juan Martinez
During the holiday season, recreation centers and after-school programs to some people provide essential and fundamental opportunities for students of all ages.
As everyone transitions to and prepares for Christmas break, the problem for many parents and children is finding affordable and fun city-wide sports programs to participate in.
If you currently find yourself in this particular predicament, here are some upcoming sports camps, clinics and activities in Oakland that might interest you.
35th Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament
The city of Oakland office of Parks and Recreation will hold its 35th Annual Holiday Middle School and Club Teams Basketball Tournament on Dec. 15-16. The tournament consists of a boys' and girls' division. The boys' division games will take place at Skyline High School - located at 12250 Skyline Blvd. in Oakland. The location of the girls' division games has yet to be determined.
"It is a middle school tournament," Armond Gray, the youth sports coordinator and director for the San Antonio Sports Complex in Oakland, said. "Rosters are due next week. Depending on how many sixth, seventh and eighth grade teams we have, we might need to combine some to complete the tournament."
In order to play in this basketball tournament, an entry fee of $200 and a roster form must be submitted by Dec. 6. The price of admission for those 19 and over is $5, $2 for those between the ages of 6 and 18, and children five years and under are free.
"Kids from all over the Bay Area will have the opportunity to compete against one another," Gray said. "Normally, we get teams from Hayward, San Francisco, San Leandro and Oakland."
Individual awards will be given to every player on the championship and runner-up teams (on their roster) from every division. Each team will also have team trophies for the championship and runner-up teams.
"First and second placed teams get trophies," Gray said. "This tournament gives kids a different perspective of how the game of basketball is played. It is different every year and we've had different champions as far as teams every year."
Gray also said that even though this is his third year being a part of the basketball tournament, he looks forward to it every year because of all of the support from participants, parents, staff and associates in making this tournament possible and a great success.
"You have at Skyline High School, a gym full of parents, families cheering on the kids. It is always a packed house; with hundreds of people."
For more information on the 35th Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament, contact Gray at (510) 238-6279.
City-wide Girls' Sports Programs
Post Me Up Clinic - $30
Tassafaronga Recreation Center
975-85th Ave. in Oakland
From 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12
Max enrollment: 50
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Forward Clinic - $30
Tassafaronga Recreation Center
975-85th Ave. in Oakland
From 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12
Max enrollment: 50
Guard Clinic - $30
Willie Keyes Rec Center
3131 Union St. in Oakland
From 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12
Max enrollment: 50
Susan Mernit is the co-founder of Oakland Local. She is also a circuit rider for The Community Information Challenge, a program of The John S and James L Knight Foundation, a popular speaker and facilitator, and a consultant to media, non-profit and community organizations. Susan lives in North Oakland with a rescue dog named Cazzie, a fat grey cat named Gracie, a very cool housemate, and a yard in serious need of soil remediation. She is an aspiring gardener, a long-time blogger & entrepreneur, and a recovering journalist who's found home in Oakland.
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Trace amounts of mercury dumped in the Pacific possibly during gold rush days are being carried back on land in fog from the ocean. Christopher Intagliata reports.
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Mercury tends to show up in strange places, like swordfish and sharks. Now researchers have detected small amounts of mercury in the fog that bathes the California redwoods, near Santa Cruz.
The mercury levels they've measured are in parts per trillion, orders of magnitude less than the more worrisome parts per million levels tracked by the EPA and FDA. So the fog is not dangerous. But it does contain four times as much mercury as local rainwater does.
And when the fog rolls in, it collects on redwood leaves, and drips to the ground, where it enters the food chain. Preliminary data suggest that during the foggy season, wolf spiders in the area see their mercury levels multiply by five. The findings were presented [by Peter Weiss-Penzias] at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Researchers say the mercury in coastal fog probably comes from deep ocean waters, which well to the surface every summer. But its original source may be coal-burning power plants, or pollution from mercury mines dating back to the gold rush. Either way, it's a reminder that whatever we dump into the environment will probably pay us a return visit.
?Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c76b19fbad258a1af07cb21334dfb2c8
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Nigerian hitmakers, P-Square performing at the Malta Guinness ?Top Of The World Celebration' Concert in Accra last Saturday
How does Nigerian music become very popular in Ghana while Ghanaian music remains contraband commodity in the former?s country? This is a big question that requires serious necropsy by entertainment pundits.
Give or show a Nigerian movie to the average Ghanaian in the 90?s and he or she will spurn it. At that time, Ghanaians loved Ghanaian movies than Nigerian movies.
Starting the new millennium, Ghana was deluged with an influx of Nigerian movies. The table then turned; Ghanaians developed a strong predilection for Nigerian movies and ever since, have not looked back.
In the 90?s, rarely would one hear a Nigerian song being played on radio. By the year 2004, Nigerian songs or music started gaining foot in Ghana and ever since, Nigerian songs have steadily become popular in Ghana and Nigerian artistes for.that matter, have also become popular as well.
A colleague art writer went to Nigerian recently to cover an entertainment event and after his return, narrated his observations on the Nigerian music industry. He said barely would one hear a Ghanaian song being played on radio.
The only Ghanaian songs he heard being played was songs produced by VIP and.R2Bs. Kesse, the male vocalist of this year?s Vodafone Ghana music awards after participating in the ?project fame? music reality show in Nigeria, returned to also say he never heard any Ghanaian song played on any medium for the period he spent there.
Currently, Nigerian songs or music have become very popular and so are their artistes in Ghana. Nigerian songs have become so popular that some Ghanaian musicians even copy their lyrics, accent, composition, songs or style of song engineering. Ghana and Nigerian are not enemies ; neither is this feature attempting to brew an unhealthy competition or antagonism between them.
It wouldn?t have become an issue of discussion or to worry about if Nigerian music are popular in Ghana and Ghanaian music are also popular or doing creditably well in the latter?s country.
The facts on the grounds are that Nigerian songs are far popular in Ghana than Ghanaian music is in Nigeria. This is a big challenge to our music industry because Nigeria has a bigger market Ghana can tap
into. It?s obvious the media in Ghana is the main tool that has made Nigerian songs popular in Ghana but the questions that require answers are; how do the Nigerians influence our media for their songs to become popular in Ghana?
Is it that they pay ?fat payola? to the Ghanaian media than the Ghanaian musicians?
Do they have special agents here who do promotions for them?
And why are Ghanaian songs not that popular in Nigeria?
Could they (Nigerians) be sabotaging our music on their soil?
Or is Nigerian music better than Ghanaian music?
MUSIGA must come in on this issue on a way to make Ghanaian music popular in Nigeria. MUSIGA can propose a treaty with the Nigerian music union to promote Ghanaian music there. The Nigerian population is big and that gives them a bigger market than Ghana.
However, I certainly don?t think any measure such as banning Nigerian songs in Ghana is or will be a panacea. We must be tactful.
FlexGhana
Related posts:
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Source: http://ghanareporters.com/2012/12/04/how-does-nigerian-music-become-very-popular-in-ghana/
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
December 3, 2012
From December 3-14, as part of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's ongoing efforts to strengthen civil society worldwide, the State Department is welcoming civil society leaders from 25 countries to the United States to participate in an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) exchange. The IVLP initiative, ?Civil Society: A Cornerstone of Democracy,? aims to extend U.S. engagement beyond government-to-government relations, and is the latest component of the Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society, launched by the Secretary of State in February 2011.
The program is a collaboration between the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Office of the Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies. It will provide the Strategic Dialogue representatives with an opportunity to exchange innovative ideas and practices in order to build and sustain vibrant civil societies in their home communities and regions.
Participants will represent 25 new working groups in: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Laos, Latvia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, The People's Republic of China, Peru, Russia, Samoa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They will visit Silicon Valley, CA; Charlottesville, VA; Washington, DC; and divide into smaller sub-groups to visit Kansas City, MO; Salt Lake City, UT; Austin, TX; Tampa, FL; and Raleigh, NC.
Participants were nominated by U.S. Embassy staff overseas to participate in the U.S. visit and serve, upon return home, as representatives of new civil society working groups for the Secretary's Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society.
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