Sunday 30 December 2012

Gang-rape victim dies, India transfixed

The brutal attack on the young woman touched off protests - as well as a national conversation on rape and the safety of women that could intensify with her passing.

By Heather Tan,?Associated Press / December 28, 2012

In this file photo, Indians participate in a candle light vigil to seek a quick recovery of the young victim of the recent brutal gang-rape in a bus in New Delhi, India. A statement by Singapore?s Mount Elizabeth hospital, where the 23-year-old victim was being treated, said she died Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012.

Saurabh Das/AP/File

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A young Indian woman who was gang-raped and severely beaten on a bus in New Delhi died Saturday at a Singapore hospital, after her ordeal galvanized Indians to demand greater protection from sexual violence that impacts thousands of women daily, in homes, streets, and public transport, but which often goes unreported.

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She "passed away peacefully" with her family and officials of the Indian embassy by her side," said Dr. Kevin Loh, the chief executive of Mount Elizabeth hospital where she had been treated since Thursday. "The Mount Elizabeth Hospital team of doctors, nurses and staff join her family in mourning her loss," he said in a statement.

He said the woman had remained in an extremely critical condition since Thursday when she was flown to Singapore from India.

"Despite all efforts by a team of eight specialists in Mount Elizabeth Hospital to keep her stable, her condition continued to deteriorate over these two days. She had suffered from severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain. She was courageous in fighting for her life for so long against the odds but the trauma to her body was too severe for her to overcome."

The woman and a male friend, who have not been identified, were traveling in a public bus after watching a film on the evening of Dec. 16 when they were attacked by six men who took turns to?rape?her. They also beat the couple and inserted an iron rod into her body. Both of them were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police.

Indian police have arrested six people in connection with the attack, which left the victim with severe internal injuries.

Indian High Commissioner, or ambassador, T.C.A. Raghanvan told reporters that the scale of the injuries she suffered was "very grave" and in the end it "proved too much.

He said arrangements are being made to take her body back to India

The crime shocked Indians, who have come out in their thousands for almost daily demonstrations, demanding stronger protection for women and death penalty for?rape, which is now punishable by a maximum life imprisonment.

(Read the Monitor's roundup of how the gang-rape started a national dialogue on women's safety)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/6Q7iDkf_9kI/Gang-rape-victim-dies-India-transfixed

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Shock, heartbreak for U.S. parents adopting Russian kids

(Reuters) - For months, life for Ann and Kurt Suhs has been a whirlwind of assembling documents, getting fingerprinted and scheduling evaluations of their Atlanta-area home in preparation for welcoming a Russian child into their family for a second time.

Now, the couple - who adopted their son Ben, now 7, from Russia at age 13 months - say they were blindsided by news that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Friday banning Americans from adopting Russian children effective next Tuesday.

"It's hard to think that it would all stop, that it would all just come to such a screeching halt," Ann Suhs said. "We haven't talked about a Plan B. We hope and we pray."

She and her husband are among some 1,500 U.S. families who are in the process of adopting a child from Russia, according to an estimate from the Alexandria, Virginia-based National Council For Adoption. Some of those families had just started paperwork, while others had already been matched with a child and, in some cases, had the chance to meet the boy or girl.

The Russian measure was passed in retaliation for a U.S. human rights law - approved this month as part of a trade bill and signed by President Barack Obama - that bars entry to Russians accused of involvement in the death in custody of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other alleged rights abuses.

Putin has defended the Russian law by saying his country should care for its own children. But critics including child rights advocates say it is an unfair move that uses orphans as pawns in an unrelated dispute.

Ann and Kurt Suhs, who were waiting to be matched with a child, had been frantically checking every morning for news about the Russian proposal moving through the legislative process. They had chosen Russia in part because Kurt Suhs' grandmother grew up there.

On a recent day, "I looked at Kurt and said, 'Do we know what we're going to do if this goes through?'" Ann Suhs said. "We can't put our heads around it to say, 'OK, we give up on this dream.'"

A November agreement between Russia and the United States calls for a one-year transition period in the case of either country banning adoptions, said Lauren Koch, a spokeswoman for the National Council For Adoption.

"All we can hope for now is that President Putin will honor the terms of that agreement and at least, at a very minimum, allow those families who have been matched with a child to bring him/her home," Koch said in an email.

But Russia is withdrawing from that agreement under the law Putin signed, and there was no indication any American adoptions now under way would go through other than six that Russian officials said have been approved by Russian courts.

'ONCE YOU'VE MET THAT CHILD'

Americans have adopted more than 45,000 Russian children since 1999, including 962 last year.

More than 650,000 children are considered orphans in Russia - though some were rejected by their parents or taken from dysfunctional homes. Of those, 110,000 lived in state institutions in 2011, according to government figures.

Many American families are now in limbo.

"Once you've met that child, that's your child, and that child is in your mind, he or she is in your heart, there are pictures on your refrigerator," said Frank Garrott, president of Gladney Center for Adoption, a Fort Worth, Texas-based adoption agency working with about 25 families now in the process of adopting a child from Russia.

In Oakland, California, the news from Russia has Lease Wong holding her little girl especially tightly. She and her husband, Marty, arrived home from Russia about a month ago with their newly adopted daughter, Brianna, who is now 23 months old.

"I think she knows she has a family," said Lease Wong, who owns a toy store. "I have to think of all those other children. They're losing their opportunity for a family."

As Wong spoke, the girl chattered away in the background.

Those are sounds that Kim and Robert Summers are desperate to hear. They traveled to Russia in August to meet the boy who they call Preston - he's known as Stanislav in Russia - then returned to Russia earlier this month to continue the adoption process. They had expected to go back to Russia in January to bring the boy home to New Jersey.

At their home in New Jersey, a stroller for the red-headed 21-month-old sits in the dining room and his crib is already partially assembled.

The Summers' two-year adoption journey followed eight years of infertility struggles, three miscarriages and four unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization. After soul-searching and prayers, they turned to international adoption, and the match with the boy was approved at a December court hearing, they said.

Kim Summers, a chef who has no other children, said she quit her job to become a stay-at-home mother to Preston.

When they left Russia in December, they were so sure they would be back the next month that they left their diaper bag with a family there.

On Friday, Kim Summers expressed shock, outrage and a determination to bring her son home in January as planned.

"I promised this baby I was going to be his mommy," she said. "I'm a mommy on a mission."

(Editing by Paul Thomasch, Will Dunham and Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shock-heartbreak-u-parents-adopting-russian-kids-091850864.html

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Saturday 29 December 2012

After Jackson, EPA faces decisions on U.S. fracking boom

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The past four years of U.S. environmental regulation was marked by a crackdown on emissions that angered coal miners and power companies. Over the next four, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency will have to decide whether to take on an even larger industry: Big Oil.

Following Lisa Jackson's resignation on Wednesday, her successor will inherit the tricky task of regulating a drilling boom that has revolutionized the energy industry but raised fears over the possible contamination of water supplies.

The controversial technique at the center of the boom, hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting millions of gallons of water laced with chemicals deep into shale rocks to extract oil and gas. It has become a flashpoint issue, putting the EPA -- charged with safeguarding the nation's water -- in the middle of a fight between environmentalists and the energy industry.

Both sides now eagerly await a major EPA research project into fracking's effects on water supplies due in 2014, as well as final rules on issues including the disposal of wastewater and the use of 'diesel' chemicals in the process.

It is unclear who will take the role, but the incoming chief may have a "huge impact" on the oil and gas industry, says Robert McNally, a White House energy adviser during the George W. Bush administration who now heads the Rapidan Group, a consulting firm.

On the one hand, energy industry and big manufacturers are warning the EPA not to impede a drilling boom that offers the promise of decades' worth of cheap energy. Meanwhile, environmentalists are pressing President Barack Obama to ensure the drilling bonanza is not endangering water resources.

"This administration clearly needs contributors to economic growth for its economic legacy as much as it needs to add to its environmental legacy," said Bruce Bullock of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"This appointment could be key in seeing which of those two legacies is more important."

There are many contenders for the role, but no clear front-runner as yet. Obama may seek an insider to avoid a difficult confirmation process, with possible candidates including Bob Perciasepe, the EPA deputy administrator and interim chief, and Gina McCarthy, who runs the air quality division.

Obama is unlikely to win Congressional approval for a heavy-handed regulator, and there is no suggestion of a stringent crackdown.

Even Jackson, who suffered withering criticism from big industry and Republicans for her efforts to curb pollution and limit greenhouse gas emissions, has cautiously condoned the practice as safe, while acknowledging the need for greater study and, in some cases, oversight.

"(Fracking technology) is perfectly capable of being clean," Jackson said in February. "It requires smart regulation, smart rules of the road."

Jackson's successor may now be charged with refining those rules, and both energy companies and fracking critics are anxious about the outcome.

Industry body Independent Petroleum Association of America said the EPA has "hindered development" of oil and gas for four years, and looks forward to a new chief who will promote energy drilling "hand in hand" with environmental regulation.

Executive director of the Sierra Club environmental group Michael Brune says the EPA has "unfinished business" in addressing things such as the release of methane emissions during fracking.

APPETITE TO REGULATE

Some analysts say Obama will not risk the economic stimulus of cheaper, domestic energy by pushing for tougher regulations. The oil sector is one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy; natural gas prices are near their lowest in a decade, a boon for manufacturers, and U.S. oil output is the highest in 18 years.

"Even before (Jackson's resignation) there didn't seem to be much of an appetite in the White House to regulate shale drilling on a federal level in the next couple of years," says Nitzan Goldberger, U.S. energy policy analyst with Eurasia Group.

But big drillers such as ExxonMobil and Chesapeake who have plowed billions of dollars into shale fields are watching carefully for any sign of new rules or oversight.

Mark P. Fitzsimmons, a former lawyer in the Department of Justice's environmental division, and now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Wash DC, says there is "a risk of overregulation." Some drilling activity has already slowed sharply this year due to the slump in natural gas prices.

"Regulatory overlays that add to the cost of production will further slow down development" but won't stop it, he said.

While fracking technology has been around for decades, it has only gained widespread use across dozens of states in recent years. The EPA, like many groups, has struggled to keep up with the expansion, according to Government Accountability Office reports released earlier this year.

After years in which states were mostly responsible for regulating onshore drilling, the new EPA administrator will be pressed to take a more central role.

A year ago, in the first U.S. government report of its kind, the EPA drew a potential link between water contamination in rural Pavillion, Wyoming and fracking, based on samples of ground water from the area. That study has been contested, and subsequent research has been inconclusive.

A firmer word on the impact may not emerge until 2014, when the EPA is expected to release the first exhaustive in-depth government study on the long-term effects of fracking on drinking water, commissioned by Congress over two years.

While climate change issues and air pollution may remain larger agency priorities, fracking is moving up the agenda.

"I don't think they would be capable of ignoring something that Matt Damon makes a movie about," said Fitzsimmons.

Damon and John Krasinski star in "Promised Land," a new film that opened on Friday exploring the social impact of fracking. It received mixed reviews from critics, but is being closely watched by an energy industry that fears it could further antagonize public opinion over domestic drilling.

A Gallup poll this year showed drinking water contamination is the leading environmental concern among Americans.

DIESEL, WASTEWATER AND FLARING

The debate rages over a diverse range of issues.

While fracking was exempted from the Federal Clean Water Act in 2005, operations that used diesel fuel, which contains a number of toxic chemical compounds, were not exempted.

However, what exactly constitutes "diesel" has been a bone of contention among oil firms and environmental groups.

"The question is how to define "diesel" - broadly or narrowly," says consultant McNally.

"It's a big issue especially for Bakken producers," he said, referring to the region of North Dakota where crude oil output has more than tripled in two years.

The EPA published a draft definition in May, which met with criticism from the industry and some legislators, but it will fall to the new administrator to set a final definition.

Under Jackson, the EPA also said it would begin to regulate the millions of gallons a day of wastewater that is withdrawn from wells after the fracking process, probably in 2014. This is usually trucked offsite and sometimes re-injected elsewhere, although increasingly it is being reprocessed for further use.

And eventually, the EPA could face pressure to backtrack on previous initiatives. In April, the agency relented to pressure from the industry, giving drillers until January 2015 to end the practice of "flaring" excess natural gas from wells that were not connected to pipelines. It had initially proposed that firms cease almost immediately.

For Jackson's successor, a central question is whether the EPA takes a broader role in the industry, or, as Jackson hinted a year ago, allows state officials to call most the shots when it comes to drilling:

"It's not to say that there isn't a federal role, but you can't start to talk about a federal role without acknowledging the very strong state role."

(Additional reporting by Selam Gebrekidan and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Joseph Radford and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jackson-epa-faces-big-decisions-u-fracking-boom-050126981--finance.html

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End of the world on 12/21/12? Not just yet, says the Vatican's top astronomer. (+video)

The director of the Vatican Observatory dismissed talk of a Mayan doomsday on Dec. 21, 2012, saying that the end of the Earth, if it happens, is billions of years away.

By Nick Squires,?Correspondent / December 20, 2012

A Mayan dancer performs at the Xcaret Eco Theme Park on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on Wednesday. Although some say the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012, the Vatican's top astronomer is rather dubious.

Israel Leal/AP

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A Mayan prophecy that the world will end this week may have the more credulous stocking up on supplies and fleeing to "sacred" mountains in the hope of miraculous last-minute salvation by aliens.

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'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // --> Why NASA agrees with The Vatican: There is no 12-21-12 Mayan doomsday

But while the idea that Earth could be shattered into a billion pieces by some sort of interplanetary cataclysm has worried millions of people around the world, the Holy See's chief astronomer suggests that life as we know it is unlikely to come to an end quite so soon.

In an editorial in the Vatican's official daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano ? in an issue whose front-page article was entitled??The end is not nigh ? at least for now? ? Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the?director of the Vatican Observatory, criticized "pseudo-prophecies" about the end of the Universe.??

?In the media and on the internet there is a great deal of talk of the end of the world, which the Mayan calendar supposedly?predicted for Dec 21. If you do a search on Google, you get 40 million results on the topic,? wrote Father Funes, a Jesuit priest from Argentina.

A 5,125-year cycle known in the Mayan calendar as the Long Count comes to an end on Friday and has been widely interpreted by cultists, New Age disciples, and believers in the esoteric as heralding the destruction of the planet.

But in a lengthy discourse on astronomy and Christian belief, he said it was ?not even worth discussing the scientific basis of these claims."

He acknowledged that the universe was slowly expanding, but that the destruction of the Earth ? if it ever happens ? will not occur for billions of years.

In any case, he said, Christians subscribe to the ?fundamental conviction that death is not the last word.?

Four hundred years after the Roman Catholic Church put Galileo on trial for heresy based on his belief that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not the other way round, the Vatican is rather more forgiving of the science of astronomy.

Its observatory is at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the pope, which lies in the hills outside Rome. One of the oldest astronomical research institutes in the world, it also has a research facility hosted by the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Funes, who has a master?s degree in astronomy from the National University of Cordoba in Argentina as well as degrees in philosophy and theology, was made director of the observatory in 2006.

He has not been reluctant to take modern science into account when considering religious tenets. In an interview in 2008, he said it was possible that intelligent forms of life could exist on other planets in the solar system.

Aliens would still be God?s creatures, he said, in an article in L?Osservatore Romano headlined?"The extraterrestrial is my brother." The notion did not necessarily contradict the teachings of the Catholic Church, he said, arguing that to dismiss the possibility of alien life would be to underestimate God?s creative powers.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/u6rab7BSeuM/End-of-the-world-on-12-21-12-Not-just-yet-says-the-Vatican-s-top-astronomer.-video

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The Answer is Just a Click Away

How much tech is too much? How many of our gadgets are solving the annoyances of others? Dave Pell realized something gloomy about our fanciest tools: we're happier without a lot of them. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3p5QGOEfFps/the-answer-is-just-a-click-away

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Friday 28 December 2012

Here Are The New Even More Repressive Chinese Internet Laws ...

China has unveiled tighter Internet controls, legalising the deletion of posts or pages which are deemed to contain "illegal" information and requiring service providers to hand over such information to the authorities for punishment.

The rules signal that the new leadership headed by Communist Party chief Xi Jinping will continue muzzling the often scathing, raucous online chatter in a country where the Internet offers a rare opportunity for debate.

The new regulations, announced by the official Xinhua news agency, also require Internet users to register with their real names when signing up with network providers, though, in reality, this already happens.

Chinese authorities and Internet companies such as Sina Corp have long since closely monitored and censored what people say online, but the government has now put measures such as deleting posts into law.

"Service providers are required to instantly stop the transmission of illegal information once it is spotted and take relevant measures, including removing the information and saving records, before reporting to supervisory authorities," the rules state.

The restrictions follow a series of corruption scandals amongst lower-level officials exposed by Internet users, something the government has said it is trying to encourage.

Li Fei, deputy head of parliament's legislative affairs committee, said the new rules did not mean people needed to worry about being unable to report corruption online. But he added a warning too.

"When people exercise their rights, including the right to use the Internet, they must do so in accordance with the law and constitution, and not harm the legal rights of the state, society ... or other citizens," he told a news conference.

Chinese Internet users already cope with extensive censorship measures, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights and elite politics, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked.

Earlier this year, the government began forcing users of Sina's wildly successful Weibo microblogging platform to register their real names.

The new rules were quickly condemned by some Weibo users.

"So now they are getting Weibo to help in keeping records and reporting it to authorities. Is this the freedom of expression we are promised in the constitution?" complained one user.

"We should resolutely oppose such a covert means to interfere with Internet freedom," wrote another.

The government says tighter monitoring of the Internet is needed to prevent people making malicious and anonymous accusations online, disseminating pornography and spreading panic with unfounded rumours, pointing out that many other countries already have such rules.

Despite periodic calls for political reform, the party has shown no sign of loosening its grip on power and brooks no dissent to its authority.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-new-even-more-repressive-chinese-internet-laws-everyone-is-talking-about-2012-12

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Tata Communications ? Broadband Internet ? Online Complaint ...

by pgangwani@gmail.com on 26/12/2012

Hello Sir/Madam,

My Tata Communications Broadband Internet UserId# pgangwani@vsnl.net

I have been wrongly/forcefully charged for the service (Online Backup) which I have never activated nor used at any point of time.
Firstly I am a home user and do not have any business usage of internet. Why would I choose a business service ?

When I called up customer care, I realized that the service was activated from 29/11/2010 and now it is renewed again second time.
This way I have lost Rs. 3000 from my account balance unnecessarily.

Now I am feeling like cheated from a big brand TATA for whom I trusted for more than 5 years now.
I am quite regular in renewing broadband service and did not have much issues so far from last 5 years.

Now I have checked online after logging in my account. I have noticed that service (OnlineBackup) was started from 29/11/2010.

So after my investigation, when I checked the internet usage log, I could not find any entry of my internet usage on 29/11/2010

So how would I activate this service ? Kindly please look into this.

I think I have lost total Rs. 3000 from my account unnecessarily.

I am hopeful to get my hard earned money back from TATA.

Please do the needful.

Pradeep Gangwani
Email ? pgangwani@gmail.com

Source: http://www.consumercourtforum.in/india/tata-communications-broadband-internet/

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Source: http://ougseg.posterous.com/tata-communications-broadband-internet-online

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Changing History (talking-points-memo)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273425143?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Monday 24 December 2012

PFT: Broncos win 10th-straight ?| ?Bears still alive

Smith hauls in a long catch against Webster during the first half of their NFL football game in Baltimore, MarylandReuters

We know who all six AFC playoff teams are, and we have a pretty good idea of their playoff order. Week 17 isn?t meaningless in the AFC ? home-field advantage is still up for grabs ? but it won?t feature any dramatic changes in the way the AFC playoffs look.

The NFC is another matter. Nine teams remain alive for the six playoff spots, and although the Falcons have already clinched home-field advantage, everything else is jumbled.

Below we provide the state of the playoff race, through Week 16:

AFC

1. Texans (12-3): Houston clinches home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win over the Colts, or if both the Broncos and the Patriots lose.

2. Broncos (12-3): Denver clinches home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win over the Chiefs and a Texans loss to the Colts. The Broncos will be the No. 2 seed and have a first-round playoff bye with if they beat the Chiefs and the Texans beat the Colts.

3. Patriots (11-4): New England clinches home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win over the Dolphins, plus both the Texans and the Broncos losing. New England can also earn the No. 2 seed and a first-round playoff bye with a win over the Dolphins and either the Texans or the Broncos losing.

4. Ravens (10-5): Baltimore has clinched the AFC North and cannot get a first-round playoff bye. The Ravens will be the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoffs unless they beat the Bengals and the Patriots lose to the Dolphins, in which case the Ravens would be the No. 3 and the Patriots would be the No. 4.

5. Colts (10-5): Indianapolis will definitely be the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs regardless of what happens next week. The Colts will most likely play at Baltimore in the wild card round.

6. Bengals (9-6): Cincinnati will definitely be the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoffs regardless of what happens next week. The Bengals will most likely play at New England in the wild card round.

NFC

1. Falcons (13-2): Atlanta has clinched home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

2. 49ers (10-3-1): San Francisco earns the No. 2 seed with two more wins.

3. Packers (11-4): Green Bay earns the No. 2 seed with a win over the Vikings in Week 17 and one San Francisco loss. Otherwise, Green Bay will be the No. 3 seed.

4. Redskins (9-6): The winner of the Week 17 Cowboys-Redskins game wins the NFC East and will be the No. 4 seed. If the Redskins lose to the Cowboys they can still be a wild card team if they end up in a three-way tie at 9-7 with the Seahawks and Vikings, Seahawks and Bears or Vikings and Bears.

5. Seahawks (9-5): Seattle needs one more win to clinch a playoff berth. Seattle would need to win out while San Francisco loses out to win the NFC West.

6. Vikings (9-6): Minnesota clinches a wild card with a Week 17 win over Green Bay. The Vikings also earn a wild card if the Giants, Cowboys and Bears all lose.

In the mix: The 8-7 Cowboys clinch the NFC East if they beat the Redskins in Week 17. The 9-6 Bears clinch a wild card if they beat the Lions and the Packers beat the Vikings in Week 17. The 8-7 Giants get a wild card if they beat the Eagles and the Vikings, Bears and Cowboys all lose.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/23/broncos-roll-to-10th-straight-win-beat-browns/related/

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Egypt's constitution approved in vote, say rival camps

CAIRO (Reuters) - A constitution drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly was approved by a majority of Egyptians in a referendum, rival camps said on Sunday, after a vote the opposition said drove a wedge through the Arab world's most populous nation.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power in a June election, said 64 percent of voters backed the charter after two rounds of voting that ended with a final ballot on Saturday. It cited an unofficial tally.

An opposition official also told Reuters their unofficial count showed the result was a "yes" vote.

The referendum committee may not declare official results for the two rounds until Monday, after hearing appeals. If the outcome is confirmed, a parliamentary election will follow in about two months.

Mursi's Islamist backers say the constitution is vital for the transition to democracy, nearly two years after the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in an uprising. It will provide stability needed to help a fragile economy, they say.

But the opposition accuses Mursi of pushing through a text that favours Islamists and ignores the rights of Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population, as well as women. They say it is a recipe for further unrest.

"According to our calculations, the final result of the second round is 71 percent voting 'yes' and the overall result (of the two rounds) is 63.8 percent," a Brotherhood official, who was in an operations room monitoring the vote, told Reuters.

His figures were confirmed by a statement issued shortly afterwards by the group and broadcast on its television channel.

The Brotherhood and its party, as well as members of the opposition, had representatives monitoring polling stations and the vote count across the country.

The opposition said voting in both rounds was marred by abuses and had called for a re-run after the first stage. However, an official said the overall vote favoured the charter.

"They (Islamists) are ruling the country, running the vote and influencing the people, so what else could we expect," the senior official from the main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, told Reuters.

PROTESTS

The vote was split over two days as many judges had refused to supervise the ballot.

"I'm voting 'no' because Egypt can't be ruled by one faction," said Karim Nahas, 35, a stockbroker, heading to a polling station in Giza, in greater Cairo, in the last round.

At another polling station, some voters said they were more interested in ending Egypt's long period of political instability than in the Islamist aspects of the charter.

"We have to extend our hands to Mursi to help fix the country," said Hisham Kamal, an accountant.

The build-up to the vote witnessed deadly protests, sparked by Mursi's decision to award himself extra powers in a decree on November 22 and then to fast-track the constitution to a vote.

Hours before polls closed, Vice President Mahmoud Mekky announced his resignation. He said he wanted to quit last month but stayed on to help Mursi tackle the crisis that blew up when the Islamist leader assumed wide powers.

Mekky, a prominent judge who said he was uncomfortable in politics, disclosed earlier he had not been informed of Mursi's power grab. The timing of his resignation appeared linked to the lack of a vice-presidential post under the draft constitution.

The new basic law sets a limit of two four-year presidential terms. It says the principles of Islamist sharia law remain the main source of legislation but adds an article to explain this. It also says Islamic authorities will be consulted on sharia - a source of concern to Christians and others.

TURNOUT

Rights groups reported what they said were illegalities in voting procedures. They said some polling stations opened late, that Islamists illegally campaigned at some polling places and complained of irregularities in voter registration.

But the committee overseeing the two-stage vote said its investigations showed no major irregularities in voting on December 15, which covered about half of Egypt's 51 million voters. About 25 million were eligible to vote in the second round.

The Brotherhood said turnout was about a third of voters.

The opposition says the constitution will stir up more trouble on the streets since it has not received sufficiently broad backing for a document that should be agreed by consensus, and raised questions about the fairness of the vote.

In the first round, the district covering most of Cairo voted "no," which opponents said showed the depth of division.

"I see more unrest," said Ahmed Said, head of the liberal Free Egyptians Party and a member of the National Salvation Front, an opposition coalition formed after Mursi expanded his powers on November 22 and then pushed the constitution to a vote.

He cited "serious violations" on the first day of voting, and said anger against Mursi was growing. "People are not going to accept the way they are dealing with the situation."

At least eight people were killed in protests outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month. Islamists and rivals clashed in Alexandria, the second-biggest city, on the eves of both voting days.

Late on Saturday, Mursi announced the names of 90 new members he had appointed to the upper house of parliament, state media reported, and a presidential official said the list was mainly liberals and other non-Islamists.

A spokesman for the National Salvation Front, which groups opponents who include liberals, socialists and other parties and politicians, said the Front's members had refused to take part.

Legislative powers, now held by Mursi because the lower house of parliament was dissolved earlier this year, will pass to the upper house under the new constitution.

Two-thirds of the 270-member upper house was elected in a vote this year, with one third appointed by the president. Mursi, elected in June, had not named them until now. Mursi's Islamist party and its allies dominate the assembly.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-constitution-approved-vote-rival-camps-080358125.html

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What wealthy Chinese want for Christmas: a bike

11 hrs.

HONG KONG - Rich Chinese are buying bicycles that cost more than the average citizen makes in three years, motivated by nostalgia for the days when two wheels were the primary means of transport.?

China is now the world's biggest auto market, but high-end bike sales are expected to grow by 10 percent a year as they become a status symbol for wealthy executives.?

Yu Yiqun, the creative director at an advertising company in the Chinese capital, cycles to work on his favorite bike - a 100,000 yuan ($16,000) hand-made Alex Moulton.?

"It might be the only one in Beijing. It's like the Rolls-Royce of bicycles. Very classical, purely hand-made," said the 40-year-old Yu, who has about 35 high-end bikes.?

"I remember my father used to ride me to the city in the winter - about 40 km and minus 30 degrees centigrade. Back then, it was a means of transport that fulfilled your dream of travelling afar, which was relatively cheap but required brawn."?

Yu symbolizes a new bike culture in China, where wealthy, health-conscious executives are upgrading their lifestyle, in some cases abandoning flashy cars and taking to the road on high-end bicycles that can cost more than a car.?

"Demand for mainstream luxury items such as premium cars, watches has come to a point of saturation. High-income groups now turn to high-end bikes to show off the uniqueness in taste and healthy lifestyle," said Zhou Jiannong, general manager of Rbike Networks Ltd in China.?

Analysts estimate about 10 percent annual growth in the Chinese bicycle market over the next few years, with the high-end segment forecast to grow by as much as 15 percent a year.?

Companies are also getting in on the act, with a Hong Kong-based supplier taking an order for 1,000 pricey bikes from a Chinese financial firm as a year-end bonus for employees.?

"People are sick of conventional gifts such as wines and tobacco. For mainlanders, a bike is a great gift that shows your unique lifestyle," said Adam Wong, managing director at Hong Kong's Komda Bicycles.?

Wong declined to name the bank that had ordered the bikes, but he said they had an average price tag of 3,000 yuan ($480).?

Fashion statement
Fashion label Shanghai Tang, eager for a slice of this growing pie, teamed up with Dutch bike maker Colossi Cycling to make bicycles aimed specifically at China, where bike demand is estimated at about 28 million units a year?

"The high-end sector is going to be the major source of growth in the Chinese market. In China, bikes are more than just a means of transportation. It has become a fashion," said Terry Liu, an analyst at Fubon Research in Taiwan.?

It can cost up to HK$300,000 ($38,700) for an imported limited edition of expensive brands such as Italy's Colnago or France's Look, nearly 100 times the price of a Flying Pigeon, China's official bike since it was born in 1950.?

But the cost as no object for many high-income Chinese looking for the best two-wheeled vehicle.?

"For businessmen, they are not looking at the price. They are looking at the quality. They assemble their bike with import components in accordance to their taste and needs," said Zhang Lei, a director of a Zhuhai paper products supplier, who plans to spend 10,000 yuan to upgrade his current bike.?

Yu, the advertising executive in Beijing, has orders in for four more hand-made bikes, expanding his vast collection which includes brands such as Trek, Bianchi and Colnago.?

He and his wife have two cars but he says he doesn't drive.?

"I always bring my bike when I go on a business trip," Yu said. "When I go to Harbin, I bring a small, folding bicycle since it's easier for me to get around the city. When I go to Dalian, I bring a bigger bike since it's a mountainous city."?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/what-wealthy-chinese-want-christmas-bike-1C7660218

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U.S. Navy SEAL commander dies in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commander of an elite U.S. Navy SEAL unit has died in Afghanistan, the Defence Department said on Sunday, and a U.S. military official said his death was being investigated as a suspected suicide.

Commander Job Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, died on Saturday of a non-combat related injury in central Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province, the Pentagon said in a statement.

"This incident is currently under investigation," it said.

Price, was assigned to a Naval Special Warfare unit in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and was the commanding officer of SEAL Team Four. He failed to show up for an event on Saturday and colleagues found him dead in his quarters, the U.S. military official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

NBC News and CNN also quoted unnamed military officials as saying that the death was being looked at as a possible suicide.

Lieutenant David Lloyd, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group Two, which comprises the four SEAL teams on the U.S. East Coast, declined to comment on the cause of death, saying it was under investigation.

Price was married and had a daughter. He had been a naval officer since May 1993, Lloyd said.

Captain Robert Smith, the Group Two commander, said in a statement: "The Naval Special Warfare family is deeply saddened by the loss of our teammate. We extend our condolences, thoughts and prayers to the family, friends, and NSW community during this time of grieving.

"As we mourn the loss and honour the memory of our fallen teammate, those he served with will continue to carry out the mission."

SEAL is an acronym for sea, air, land.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson and Phil Stewart; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-navy-seal-dead-afghanistan-reported-suicide-011143310.html

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The Gift of Wellness: Enter to Win a Spot in Christy Morgan's ...

by Gena on December 22, 2012

DSC_0881 (2)

Hey all! Happy Saturday. I?m here today with an exciting giveaway?my last of 2012. Christy Morgan, known to many of you as The Blissful Chef, has created a new online wellness program?available globally?that is crafted to help people who are interested in plant based diet to reach health and fitness goals. I?ve been a longtime fan of Christy?s whomesome, vegan recipes (you can read my review of her terrific cookbook here), and her hands on, accessible cooking demos and videos. Christy has been working in the community for a long time, and she has vast culinary expertise to share.

Christy?s Wellness Reboot program reflects all of the great things Christy has learned in the culinary arts, and it is also a reflection over ten years of work in the health and wellness field. The program includes over 12 videos on cooking techniques, a 28-day meal plan of delicious whole food plant-based recipes, a ?Getting Started Guide? that explains everything one would need to know about eating healthy and living a plant-based lifestyle, continual support from Christy and her partner, Chad, through a private Facebook group, and bi-weekly conference calls. Christy has partnered with Chad Byers of Beyond Fit, a vegan personal trainer, to include a fitness element in the program. A weekly workout is included in the wellness initiative, along with videos. A great resource for the many vegans or vegan-curious folks who wants to incorporate fitness habits that are specifically designed to fit a plant-based lifestyle.

DSC_0493 (2)

One lucky winner of today?s giveaway will get to participate in the Wellness Reboot, which starts January 6th. It?s a $350 value, and includes incredible support and guidance from Christy and Chad. If you?re hoping to address common health or dietary pitfalls, feel enhanced well being through whole food choices, or learn more about the vegan lifestyle, this is a great opportunity. To enter, you can complete any one or all of the following actions. Please leave a separate comment for each action, in order for your multiple entries to count. I?ll be announcing the winner (I swear) on January 1.

1. Leave a comment, telling me why you want to win this giveaway
2. Like Wellness Reboot on Facebook
3. Tweet about the giveaway, with a link to this post
4. Follow @TheBlissfulChef on Twitter
5. Sign up for Christy?s newsletter (on her homepage)

Good luck, readers! I?ll see you tomorrow with a new recipe (at last).

xo

Source: http://www.choosingraw.com/the-gift-of-wellness-enter-to-win-a-spot-in-christy-morgans-wellness-reboot-program/

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Sunday 23 December 2012

Mental health resources in Orange County | palafox, son, county ...

When Mary Palafox attempted to drive her delusional son to the hospital, he would jump out of her car, even on the freeway.

After he dropped out of college, he looked homeless, despite living in her house in unincorporated North Tustin. She would beg him to bathe.

Mary Palafox holds bags of anti-psychotic drugs that were unsuccessfully prescribed for her schizophrenic son before eventually finding the right ones to treat his condition. Palafox, of unincorporated north Tustin, struggled to get involuntary treatment for her son before his 2009 arrest for brandishing a gun at police officers.

EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ADVERTISEMENT

Mental health resources in Orange County

Adult Mental Health Services: Go to ochealthinfo.com/amhs or call 714-480-6767; for Evaluation & Treatment Services call 714-834-6900.

Orange County Crisis Prevention Hotline: 877-727-4747

Mental Health Services Act: Services and resources provided under Prop. 63 passed in 2004. Go to ochealthinfo.com/mhsa or call 714-667-5620.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Orange County: Nonprofit group offers education, support and advocacy. Go to namioc.org or call 714-544-8488. Warm line operates 9 a.m.-11 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. weekends at 714-991-6412 or toll free 877-910-9276.

Palafox, 58, felt powerless as she watched her son disintegrate into the distorted reality of schizophrenia. When he became completely incapacitated, she called 911.

Under state law, he could only be held in a psychiatric ward against his will for 72 hours and then he would come home again.

"They don't have institutions anymore, so we're the institution," Palafox said. "The family's home has become the institution. If it's not there, it's usually the jail."

Palafox gained legal authority to force him into treatment only after he was arrested during a suicide attempt in 2009 for allegedly brandishing a gun at an officer.

"If my son had autism I could advocate for him and get services," said Palafox, a nurse. "If my mother had Alzheimer's I could advocate and get services for her. I had to wait for him to deteriorate to the point that I could legally take his rights away in conservatorship and that occurred only after the charges."

Palafox's son, 28, declined to be interviewed. He is stable and takes medication daily. The Register is not identifying him to protect his privacy and because his criminal case is still pending.

As the nation mourns the school massacre in Connecticut that killed 20 children, some parents and psychiatrists say treatment should be mandatory for severely mentally ill patients.

It's unknown if shooter Adam Lanza suffered from a psychiatric disorder, but other young killers have, including James Holmes, who killed 12 at the Batman movie opening in Colorado in July, and Jared Loughner, who killed six in Arizona and wounded a congresswoman in January of 2011.

Lanza was 20, a peak age for the onset of schizophrenia, said Dr. Gerald Maguire, a UC Irvine psychiatrist.

"People can talk about gun control, and I think that's an important issue as well. But with many of these mass shootings, what they have in common is a psychotic young man who was not in treatment and needed better help," Maguire said. "At some point, when does the right of society take over the right of that individual who may have impaired judgment?"

Palafox has pushed unsuccessfully for Orange County to adopt Laura's Law, a state statute that allows counties to require outpatient treatment for those with serious mental illness. So far, only one Northern California county has done so, and a pilot program is under way in Los Angeles.

"There's a lot of 'Adams' sitting at home playing violent video games," Palafox said. "There's a lot of people becoming Jokers."

Orange County spends about $300 million a year for behavioral health, which is mostly mental health services, but includes substance abuse programs. In the last fiscal year, the county received about $95 million in Mental Health Services Act funds, a voter approved tax on millionaires.

Mary Hale, director of behavioral health services for the county, said money from Prop. 63 has helped pay for additional programs in the midst of the state's fiscal crisis.

The extra dollars allowed the county to expand its mobile psychiatric assessment teams to operate around the clock in every part of the county. It has funded prevention and early intervention programs and a "first onset" program for young people ages 14-25 for when they have their first symptoms of psychosis.

"With prevention programs, you have to wait for the return on investment," Hale said. "I do have hope. I do believe these programs will make a difference."

Hale said the need for mental health services in the county exceeds available funding. Money has been an issue in implementing Laura's Law, which would apply to an estimated 120 people each year locally.

Under current law, an adult can't be hospitalized unless the person is a danger to himself, a danger to others or gravely disabled, meaning unable to care for himself. Hale said the overwhelming majority of mentally ill people are not violent.

"There will be people on both sides," Hale said. "From a civil liberties side, to take someone in involuntarily, it shouldn't be easy."

Maguire, the UC Irvine psychiatrist, said laws protecting the mentally ill from forced treatment grew out of the widespread institutionalization that began in the 1950s. He said even when a person is forcibly hospitalized, the patient can't be medicated without a court order.

"I think we've gone a little too far the other way in my book," Maguire said. "We need some sort of middle ground."

Palafox said her son was extroverted, warm and musically gifted when suddenly he began to change during college. He became withdrawn, paranoid and stopped showing up for his musical performances. Palafox had him tested for drugs, but he came up clean.

After a number of visits to the emergency room, he was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia, a brain disorder affecting roughly 1 percent of the population.

"It traumatized him to hear the diagnosis," Palafox recalled. "He didn't believe it. He was also too ill to understand it."

Palafox said her son never had delusions of hurting others, but he would feel so tormented she feared for his safety. He would smash mirrors and punch holes in the wall. When she called the police or social workers, she was told she could have him arrested but not hospitalized because he would not give consent.

"If a person believes they're Jesus, it's well documented that you cannot change that delusional thought pattern that they're Jesus until medication is initiated," she said. "They would look at him with his liberties, his patient freedom. I believe community safety outweighs a person's freedom."

After he was arrested, Palafox's son spent four months in a psychiatric hospital. Palafox obtained a conservatorship, and she said her son willingly takes his medication.

But she's shocked that it took felony charges before he could receive the medical help he needed.

"What happened to my son was predictable and preventable," she said. "I've always said a mother's love is going to change this. I have prayed all the time that goodness would come out of my son's story."

Contact the writer: To sign an online petition in support of Laura's Law in Orange County, visit lauraslawoc.org/

Contact the writer: cperkes@ocregister.com 714-796-3686


Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/palafox-381501-son-county.html

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Tuesday 18 December 2012

Watch Carthage get torn apart with the latest developer diary for Rome II Total...

Watch Carthage get torn apart with the latest developer diary for Rome II Total War

www.thatvideogameblog.com

The Creative Assembly have released a new video for their?upcoming?strategy title Rome II Total War. [youtube -m4IJ0wEtt4] The developers showcase some stunning pre-alpha footage of the game. and talk about some of the technical challenges they...

Source: http://www.facebook.com/ThatVideoGameBlog/posts/496358173720158

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jamey shrillness: Recreation And Sports Activities: Boxing Report ...

According to some 2007 article within the Telegraph out of the United Kingdom, this extreme sport has decided to become a popular daredevil sport the same as bungee jumping and skydiving. The Shimano Di2 is built to last in fact it is also the bike that will withstand any weather condition. Road con ?

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Enthusiast: I've cracked unbreakable WWII pigeon code

Courtesy Bletchley Park Trust

This coded message from World War II was found in November enclosed in a canister attached to the leg bone of a dead carrier pigeon.

By Rachel Elbaum, NBC News

LONDON ? A note written in code that was found on the skeleton of a carrier pigeon dating from World War II has been cracked, according to a Canadian history enthusiast.

Originally discovered in November, the message was enclosed in a red canister attached to the leg bone of the carrier pigeon. David Martin found the pigeon in the chimney of his home in Surrey, England.


The U.K. Government Communications Headquarters (GHCQ), one of Britain?s three national intelligence agencies, said at the time that the handwritten message ?cannot be decoded without access to the original cryptographic material.?

A World War II code delivered by carrier pigeon is stumping today's cypher specialists. Can you break it? NBC's Brian Williams reports.

But Gordon Young, from Peterborough, Ontario, set his mind to deciphering the message using his great-uncle?s World War I code book.

"It follows same sort of code they used in the first war," Young told NBC News. "I?m not saying my note is perfect, but I am saying the code is crackable and this one is pretty close."

Experts: Unbreakable code message found on WWII carrier pigeon

It took Young, the editor of a local volunteer history group, 17 minutes to understand the message, which consists of 25 five-letter code groups.

He believes that the message was sent one afternoon in 1944, not long after the Allied landing at Normandy. It was written by an officer who was dropped behind enemy lines, confirming an earlier lunch-time note he sent giving the map coordinates of the Germans? guns and tanks. It also confirmed that several units of American and British troops had finally met up.

In addition to using his uncle?s code book, Young double checked with infantry maps online to confirm his hypotheses.

Retirement home bands together to bring WWII stories to life

"To really understand the exact circumstances of the note, we would need access to British and American war diaries from the time," he said.

'Impossible to verify'
Despite Young?s translation, the GCHQ still maintains that without the original codebooks the note is indecipherable.

?We stand by our press notice of 22 November 2012 in that without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, the message will remain impossible to decrypt,? a spokesman for the GCHQ told NBC News in an emailed statement. ?Similarly it is also impossible to verify any proposed solutions, but those put forward without reference to the original cryptographic material are unlikely to be correct.?

Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

The pigeon is thought to have been part of a flock of 250,000 that were used to carry messages between the European front and Britain during World War II.

"I am hoping that this will stir up some interest in the bravery of the men who were dropped on the battlefield," said Young.

"Imagine a guy dropping down behind enemy lines with crates of pigeons and a couple of bags of feed. How they didn?t get caught is amazing. It?wasn't?like today where there are unmanned drones. These guys were risking their lives," he added.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/17/15970511-unbreakable-wwii-carrier-pigeon-code-cracked-says-canadian-enthusiast?lite

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Monday 17 December 2012

US Leads World in Patent Quality Race

Love them or hate them, patents go hand-in-hand with measuring how U.S. innovation stacks up against the rest of the world. A new report shows U.S. companies, universities and government agencies holding most of the top patent rankings, with familiar names such as Google, Microsoft, the U.S. Navy and Harvard University earning top spots.

Patents represent the main way for lone inventors and huge companies alike to obtain exclusive, legal rights for their ideas. The patent system also provides an imperfect, but useful way of gauging the innovation that could produce new technologies and consumer products. The "Patent Power" list for 2012 published by IEEE Spectrum looks at the top innovators, ranking patent portfolios based on both quality and quantity.

That means that a company with relatively few patents, such as Apple, can still rank number three in the electronics category, alongside companies with far more patents. Apple topped the same category last year, but fell slightly in the rankings this time, behind Canon (Japan) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (Taiwan's Foxconn) this year.

How the U.S. stacked up

Despite China leading the world in number of patent filings, U.S. companies did very well compared to foreign competitors in many of the "Patent Power" categories. Microsoft led the pack of U.S. companies that thoroughly dominated the computer software category's top 10, and Google topped the communication/internet services category.

Other U.S. corporations on top of their categories include DuPont (chemicals), General Electric (conglomerates), Qualcomm (communication/internet equipment), Boeing (aerospace and defense), IBM (computer systems) and Abbott Laboratories (biotech and pharmaceuticals).

However, in other patent categories, the U.S. faced stiffer competition from leading foreign companies such as Japan's Toyota (automotive and parts) and South Korea's Samsung (semiconductor manufacturing). In the electronics category, Apple and Xerox represented the only two U.S. companies among the top 10.

The U.S. did well outside the corporate world, with U.S. universities seizing 19 of the 20 top patent rankings for the universities/education/training category. The lone foreign exception was China's Tsinghua University, at the 15th spot.

Even U.S. government agencies fared well compared to their foreign counterparts. The U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and NASA claimed the top three patent rankings for the government agencies category. [5 NASA Inventions That Changed Our Lives]

Measuring innovation

Comparing the patent rankings among organizations from different countries can prove tricky. Not all patents are created equal since some countries issue more patents than others, with less stringent requirements. For instance, Japan issues a large number of patents for what the U.S. system would consider relatively trivial inventions.

1790 Analytics, the research firm behind the IEEE Spectrum "Patent Power" rankings, looked at four factors when weighing the patent portfolios. Such factors included how quickly an organization obtained more patents, as well as how frequently other patents cited the organization's patents.

A third factor looked at whether or not an organization's patents became the foundation for a wide variety of technologies. Lastly, the fourth factor emphasized originality. The rankings defined original inventions as those that built upon a variety of technologies, in contrast to patents that mainly cited patents of similar technologies and provided only slight improvements.

Such patent rankings provide a useful glimpse of possible innovation activity among different organizations and countries. Yet even the best patent-ranking system can't tell the full story of innovation or how well an organization (or country) is doing. For instance, Blackberry maker RIM still ranks third in the communication/internet services category despite losing huge amounts of market share for its mobile devices.

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveSciene. You can follow TechNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @jeremyhsu. Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily, or on Facebook.

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-leads-world-patent-quality-race-215747458.html

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Syria "genuinely worried" extremists could get chemical weapons

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria is "genuinely worried" that some countries might equip extremist groups with chemical weapons and then claim they were used by the Syrian government, the country's U.N. envoy said in a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari also accused the U.S. government of supporting "terrorists" in Syria and waging a campaign that claims Syria could use chemical weapons in the 20-month-old civil war that has killed at least 40,000 people.

The United States says it is sending only humanitarian aid and non-lethal assistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's opponents, but acknowledges some allies are arming the rebels.

Assad's government accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United States and other Western governments of supporting and arming the rebels, an allegation the governments deny.

"We have repeatedly stated publicly and through diplomatic channels that Syria will not under any circumstances use any chemical weapons that it may have, because it is defending its people from terrorists backed by well-known states, at the forefront of which is the United States of America," Ja'afari said.

"We are genuinely worried that certain states that support terrorism and terrorists could provide the armed terrorist groups with chemical weapons, and then claim they had been used by the Syrian Government," he wrote in the letter which was dated December 8 but made public on Monday.

Damascus has accused Western powers of backing what it says is a Sunni Islamist "terrorist" campaign to topple Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect affiliated with Shi'ite Islam.

It has said that U.S. and European concerns about Assad's forces possibly resorting to chemical weapons could serve as a pretext for preparing military intervention. Western military experts say Syria has four suspected chemical weapons sites, and it can produce chemical weapons agents, including mustard gas and sarin, and possibly also VX nerve agent.

'SHELLING ALL DAY'

"States such as the United States of America that have used chemical and similar weapons are in no position to launch such a campaign, particularly because, in 2003, they used the pretext of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction in order to justify their invasion and occupation," Ja'afari wrote.

"Since the issue was raised, Syria has stated countless times that it will not under any circumstances use any chemical weapons that it may have against its own people," he said. "The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic warns that the terrorist groups could use those weapons against the Syrian people."

Ban expressed alarm on Sunday at the worsening violence in Syria, including the reported mass killing of Alawites and alleged firing of long-range missiles on Syrian territory, Ban's spokesman said.

Ban spoke to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Monday to voice his particular concern over reports of Syrian fighter jets bombing the Palestinian Yarmouk camp in Damascus on Sunday, killing at least 25 people.

The foreign minister told Ban that Palestinians should not offer "shelter or assistance to terrorist groups" in the Yarmouk refugee camp, state television said on Monday.

The 15-member U.N. Security Council has been incapable of taking any meaningful action in the conflict. Veto powers Russia and China refuse to condemn Assad or support sanctions.

U.N. humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos briefed the council on Monday after visiting Damascus on Saturday. She told reporters that she had asked the Syrian government to urgently allow fuel to be imported for aid operations and requested that an additional 10 aid groups be allowed access to Syria.

"I heard shelling all day long when I was in Damascus on Saturday, so it's clear that the security situation remains volatile," said Amos, adding that the number of Syrian refugees had hit 500,000.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham, Eric Walsh and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-genuinely-worried-extremists-could-chemical-weapons-182618492.html

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