Yes Bank eyes acquisitions for business expansion | Firstpost

Davos: Looking to expand its business and grow its financial metrics going forward, new-generation private sector banking major Yes Bank has said it is open to possible acquisitions in banking, broking and asset management businesses, even as its organic growth plans are sufficient to meet its near-term targets.

Yes Bank?s planning continues to be organic in terms of its ?Version 2.0? target, but it is open to possible acquisitions in banking, broking and asset management businesses, its founder and CEO Rana Kapoor told PTI in an interview.

The bank currently has more than 400 branches and well above 650 ATMs. Reuters

Kapoor, who was here to attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, said that Yes Bank has received RBI?s approval to set up a retail broking business.

?We are in the process of establishing the subsidiary and building an organic business, primarily to complement our savings account offering to our retail customers. We will largely depend on the powerful ongoing retail customer acquisition of the Bank to leverage our broking business,? Kapoor said.

?However, we will be open to looking at attractive opportunities in the retail broking space which will cut down the time to market our offerings and will attract high quality management talent,? he added. ?We are also open to acquisition across banking, broking and asset management business. We now have a very strong top and senior management to execute organic and inorganic opportunities,? he said.

Kapoor, however, added that the bank?s planning continues to be organic in terms of execution of Version 2.0 goals of 12,750 employees, 2,000 ATMs, 900 branches, deposit base of Rs 1,25,000 crore, advances of Rs 1,00,000 crore and balance sheet size of Rs 1,50,000 crore.

Yes Bank had first announced its ?Version 2.0? goal in April 2010, wherein it set a target of 2015 to achieve 750 branches, 3,000 ATMs, 12,000 employees, Rs 1,25,000 crore deposit base, Rs 1,00,000 crore of loan book and Rs 1,50,000 crore of balance sheet.

However, it revised the numbers in April 2012 to 900 branches, 2,000 ATMs and 12,750 employees. At the close of last fiscal ended March 31, 2012, the bank had over 5,600 employees, loan book of about Rs 38,000 crore and deposits of close to Rs 49,000 crore.

The bank currently has more than 400 branches and well above 650 ATMs, as per the information available on its website. Asked about the bank?s expansion plans, Kapoor said: ?As our branch network expands, retail lending products are being offered from the branches which include a complete suite of products (auto loans, gold loans, home loans and credit cards).

PTI

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/business/yes-bank-eyes-acquisitions-for-business-expansion-607348.html

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[NY Daily News] - Twitter reaction to A-Rod's link to Miami 'biochemist' Bosch

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Source: http://sportspyder.com/teams/new-york-yankees/articles/8354056

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Epic Citadel now available for Android

Epic Citadel, Epic Games' Infinity Blade-themed tech demo app, is now available for Android. Epic sends word that 'Citadel has launched on Google Play and the Amazon Appstore, where it can be downloaded for free. The app serves as a technology showcase for Epic's Unreal Engine 3 on mobile.

Epic Citadel allows players to explore a medieval-themed village, complete with cobbled streets, rolling terrain and a towering citadel. Players can choose between high performance and high quality modes to attain the best balance between visuals and speed. There's also a resolution scaling option, which may be useful for high-res devices that lack the horsepower to push Epic Citadel at full resolution. Touch controls allow players to navigate around town, but there's also a guided tour mode if you just want to admire the scenery, and a benchmark mode if you want to test your device's mettle.

The title first launched on iOS back in 2010, ahead of the original Infinity Blade's release. And while there's no suggestion of that game coming to Android, it's great to see a big-name developer like Epic getting behind Android in a more official capacity. (Readers with long memories might remember seeing a version of Epic Citadel running on an Optimus 2X almost two years ago.)

Epic Citadel is available from Google Play at the link above, and supports a wide range of Android phones and tablets. We've got more screenshots after the break, along with today's press release.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/cWcvP43JIJA/story01.htm

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GOP lawmakers see automatic cuts as leverage

Click photo to enlarge

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., meets with reporters following a weekly Democratic strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013.

WASHINGTON?There's a growing sense of resignation that the county's political leaders will be unable or unwilling to find a way around looming automatic spending cuts despite fresh signs the trims would threaten the recovering economy.

On one side are conservative Republicans, outnumbered and frustrated, who see the painfully large cuts as leverage in their battle to force Democrats into concessions on the budget. On the other side are President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies, who are pressing to replace some of the cuts with new tax revenues.

The predictable deadlock?and looming cuts of $85 billion this budget year alone?has the potential to slam the economy, produce sweeping furloughs and layoffs at federal agencies and threatens hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs.

The cuts would shrink the Pentagon budget by 7 percent and force most domestic agencies to absorb a 5 percent cut concentrated in the last half of the budget year.

Just last year, GOP leaders were among the loudest voices warning of dire consequences for the military and the economy if more than $100 billion in cuts across the board went into effect. Now, even as defense hawks fume, Republicans see the strategy as their best chance of wringing cuts from costly government benefit programs like Medicare that Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress have been reluctant to touch.

The move is fraught with risk. Some $43 billion would be cut from the Pentagon budget between March and October if battling Democrats and Republicans can't agree on an alternative. Equal cuts would hit domestic programs, although the health care programs that are major drivers of future deficits are largely exempt.

"Talk about letting the sequester kick in, as though that were an acceptable thing, belies where Republicans were on this issue not that long ago," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday. "This is sort of political brinksmanship of the kind that results in one primary victim, and that's American taxpayers?the American middle class."

The automatic cuts, known as a "sequester" in Washington-speak, are the penalty for the failures of the 2011 deficit "supercommittee" and subsequent rounds of budget talks to produce an agreement.

Along with the threatened expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, the spending cuts were a major element of the so-called fiscal cliff crisis that gripped the country at the new year. While most of the tax cuts?except for upper-bracket income?were made permanent, negotiators could only agree on a two-month reprieve to the sequester after finding $24 billion in replacement money that reduced this year's round of cuts from $109 billion to $85 billion. Eight more years of cuts, totaling almost $1 trillion, still remain.

The austerity, economists say, would slow down the economy. Under a formula by the Congressional Budget Office, a $43 billion cut in defense spending could cost 300,000 jobs this year.

"In terms of the political dynamic here, defense spending is only 20 percent of the federal budget, but it's taking 50 percent of the cuts, which means it's going to be hitting the Republicans a lot harder than the Democrats," said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank.

On Wednesday, the government reported that the economy shrank by 0.1 percent in the last quarter of 2012 and said a slowdown in defense spending and uncertainty over the automatic spending cuts could have kicked in at the start of the year.

Last year, Republicans issued dire warnings of the impact the cuts would have. Defense hawks like Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., made campaign tours in political swing states like Virginia and Florida lambasting the cuts, warning that the reductions would hollow out the Pentagon and cost many thousands of jobs. They reminded voters that the sequester was an idea developed by Democrats during 2011 negotiations on increasing the government's borrowing cap.

"The White House is responsible for the 'sequester' that threatens our national security," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in September. "History has taught us we can't continue with policies that jeopardize our defenses or weaken our economy."

This year's GOP move to embrace the sequester was hatched at a recent strategy retreat for House Republicans in Williamsburg, Va. Much of the retreat was devoted to coming up with a way to solve a more urgent issue: finding a way to get the tea party-infused House to again increase the debt limit and prevent an economically devastating, first-ever default on U.S. obligations. The party agreed on a strategy to punt the debt dilemma until May or later and instead use the sequester as leverage in the budget debate.

A senior House GOP aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss party strategy, said some Republicans see the sequester as their best opportunity to achieve spending cuts. That strategy, however, is rife with potential to split open the Republican Party and pits the defense hawks against the tea party.

How people would actually react should the across-the-board cuts hit is anyone's guess. But it's not lost on anyone with institutional history that Republicans got creamed in a similar situation in 1995-96 when they sparked a partial government shutdown under the leadership of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the warring parties should try to figure it all out, but he set up a clash with Republicans over using new taxes to fix the problem.

Reid said the sequester cuts should be replaced "in short increments" with spending cuts and revenues like repealing oil and gas subsidies, which were discussed in earlier negotiations.

"There are many low-hanging pieces of fruit out there that Republicans have said they agreed on previously," Reid said. There's a lot of things we can do out there, and we're going to make an effort to make sure that there is?sequestration is?involves revenue."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dp-politics/~3/6A0CS_ilAhE/gop-lawmakers-see-automatic-cuts-leverage

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Police: Softball coach had sex with teen

A married father of two who coaches girls' softball is accused of having a sexual relationship with his teenage daughter's best friend -- a girl who looked up to her coach as a father-like figure, according to a criminal complaint obtained by NBC10.

Kevin Jones, 34, of Fairless Hills, Pa., northeast of Philadelphia, is accused of having intimate contact with the girl starting when she was 14, according to Falls Township Police.

Police say that Jones would text and Facebook message with the girl, whom he coached on the same softball team, the Levittown Bulldogs, that his daughter played on. The girl and Jones would tell each other that they loved one another and he would refer to her as his "baby doll" and she would call him "daddy," according to a criminal complaint.

Jones allegedly told the girl, whose father left the picture about seven years ago, that she could consider him a father. "I'll be your dad from now on and I'll protect you like I'm your dad," Jones told the girl, according to the affidavit.

According to the criminal complaint, the relationship between the two started in the spring of 2012 with "flirting" as Jones would put his arm around the girl and hold her hand while speaking to her. Over time, the girl told police that their relationship progressed, first to kissing then to sexual activities and eventually to intercourse about two weeks ago.

The affidavit said that Jones' children were in his home during many of the alleged sex acts. The girl, now 15, told police that all the alleged sex was consensual and that no drugs or alcohol were involved.

Jones denies any sexual contact with the alleged victim outside of hugging and kissing that happened only in front of the girl's mother. The criminal complaint states that during questioning Jones told police, "I don't know if she thinks I touched her, we play fight."

More coverage from NBC10

The relationship was uncovered after the teenager confided in her sister about the relationship and the girls' mother in turn reported it to Falls Township Police on Jan. 9. Around that time, the victim allegedly tried to warn Jones that her mother knew of their alleged relationship in a series of texts and Facebook messages that are referenced in the affidavit.

Those Facebook messages date back to June of 2011, when the girl was just 13, and include messages where Jones threatens to kill any boy the girl has interest in, according to the affidavit.

Police planned to serve a search warrant at Jones' home on Jan. 25, but around 2 p.m. the home burned down. Jones and his family escaped the blaze and the cause of the fire remained under investigation.

Jones was arrested Monday and charged with six counts including indecent sexual intercourse with a minor, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors and related offenses. He was arraigned and held on $2 million bail, according to court documents.

By NBC10, Philadelphia

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16749804-police-softball-coach-in-pa-had-sex-with-teen-daughters-best-friend?lite

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Ashton Kutcher Was Hospitalized After Trying Steve Jobs? Fruitarian Diet

Method actors are known to go to extreme lengths to understand the character they're portraying. Natalie Portman dropped a whopping 20 lbs off of her already rockin' body to play a ballerina in Black Swan. Ashton Kutcher's preparation for playing Steve Jobs in the biopic jOBS was so extreme it left him in the hospital. According to USA Today, he spent two days in the hospital after trying to stick to Steve Jobs' frutarian diet, which consists of eating fruits, nuts and seeds.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/WpcuGZLngKo/

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Patients' own skin cells are transformed into heart cells to create 'disease in a dish'

Patients' own skin cells are transformed into heart cells to create 'disease in a dish'

Monday, January 28, 2013

Most patients with an inherited heart condition known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) don't know they have a problem until they're in their early 20s. The lack of symptoms at younger ages makes it very difficult for researchers to study how ARVD/C evolves or to develop treatments. A new stem cell-based technology created by 2012 Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D., helps solve this problem. With this technology, researchers can generate heart muscle cells from a patient's own skin cells. However, these newly made heart cells are mostly immature. That raises questions about whether or not they can be used to mimic a disease that occurs in adulthood. In a paper published January 27 in Nature, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and Johns Hopkins University unveil the first maturation-based "disease in a dish" model for ARVD/C. The model was created using Yamanaka's technology and a new method to mimic maturity by making the cells' metabolism more like that in adult hearts. For that reason, this model is likely more relevant to human ARVD/C than other models and therefore better suited for studying the disease and testing new treatments.

"It's tough to demonstrate that a disease-in-a-dish model is clinically relevant for an adult-onset disease. But we made a key finding here?we can recapitulate the defects in this disease only when we induce adult-like metabolism. This is an important breakthrough considering that ARVD/C symptoms usually don't arise until young adulthood. Yet the stem cells we're working with are embryonic in nature," said Huei-Sheng Vincent Chen, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor at Sanford-Burnham and senior author of the study.

To establish this model, Chen teamed up with expert ARVD/C cardiologists Daniel Judge, M.D., Joseph Marine, M.D., and Hugh Calkins, M.D., at Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins is home to one of the largest ARVD/C patient registries in the world.

"There is currently no treatment to prevent progression of ARVD/C, a rare disorder that preferentially affects athletes. With this new model, we hope we are now on a path to develop better therapies for this life-threatening disease," said Judge, associate professor and medical director of the Center for Inherited Heart Disease at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Disease in a dish

To recreate a person's own unique ARVD/C in the lab, the team first obtained skin samples from ARVD/C patients with certain mutations believed to be involved in the disease. Next they performed Yamanaka's technique: adding a few molecules that dial back the developmental clock on these adult skin cells, producing embryonic-like induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The researchers then coaxed the iPSCs into producing an unlimited supply of patient-specific heart muscle cells. These heart cells were largely embryonic in nature, but carried along the original patient's genetic mutations.

However, for nearly a year, no matter what they tried, the team couldn't get their ARVD/C heart muscle cells to show any signs of the disease. Without actual signs of adult-onset ARVD/C, these young, patient-specific heart muscle cells were no use for studying the disease or testing new therapeutic drugs.

Speeding up time

Eventually, the team experienced the big "aha!" moment they'd been looking for. They discovered that metabolic maturity is the key to inducing signs of ARVD/C, an adult disease, in their embryonic-like cells. Human fetal heart muscle cells use glucose (sugar) as their primary source of energy. In contrast, adult heart muscle cells prefer using fat for energy production. So Chen's team applied several cocktails to trigger this shift to adult metabolism in their model.

After more trial and error, they discovered that metabolic malfunction is at the core of ARVD/C disease. Moreover, Chen's team tracked down the final piece of puzzle to make patient-specific heart muscle cells behave like sick ARVD/C hearts: the abnormal over-activation of a protein called PPAR?. Scientists previously attributed ARVD/C to a problem in weakened connections between heart muscle cells, which occur only in half of the ARVD/C patients. With the newly established model, they not only replicated this adult-onset disease in a dish, but also presented new potential drug targets for treating ARVD/C.

What's next?

Chen's team was recently awarded a new grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to create additional iPSC-based ARVD/C models. With more ARVD/C models, they will determine whether or not all (or at least most) patients develop the disease via the same metabolic defects discovered in this current study.

Together with the Johns Hopkins team, Chen also hopes to conduct preclinical studies to find a new therapy for this deadly heart condition.

###

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute: http://www.burnham-inst.org

Thanks to Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126483/Patients__own_skin_cells_are_transformed_into_heart_cells__to_create__disease_in_a_dish_

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Feeling flirty? Wait for the sun to shine

Jan. 28, 2013 ? We all know how casual flirtation can lift one's mood, which can be important at this time of year when the winter blues are at their peak. But if you are more serious about your flirting and hope to get that all important phone number, you're better off waiting until it's sunny, according to new French research published in the journal Social Influence.

Nicolas Gu?guen of the University of South Brittany -- who has previously investigated how wearing red lipstick can increase a waitress' tips -- conducted a study in which an 'attractive' 20 year old male approached 18-25 year old women walking alone in the street and asked them for their phone numbers. The women were solicited on both sunny and cloudy (but not rainy) days, when the temperature was about the same.

In the past other environmental factors have been found to make people more likely to flirt or exchange phone numbers -- the presence of pleasant smells, romantic music or certain colours have all been found to have an effect.

Previous research has also shown how the weather can affect certain social behaviours -- sunshine makes people more likely to help strangers or answer a survey, and people tend to leave bigger tips in restaurants on sunny days. But this is the first research to explore how the weather may influence courtship or dating behaviour.

It was found that women were more receptive to being approached and flirted with -- and give out their phone numbers -- on sunny days: over a fifth -- 22.4% -- of women did so when the sun was out, as opposed to 13.9% on the cloudy days.

(The phone numbers were later used to contact the women and tell them the true nature of the study, as per the recommendation of the ethics committee of the lab which reviewed the project!)

The message seems clear: flirting is more likely to have a positive outcome on sunny days. But Professor Gu?guen was careful to include certain caveats regarding the applicability of the research to everyday situations: the sunshine (or other factors) may after all have improved the attractive 20 year old male's flirting skills on those days. Other atmospheric conditions such as windiness or humidity were not accounted for. And, perhaps most crucially, the research was conducted in France, where 'men traditionally approach women in romantic relationships'.

The journal article concludes with suggestions for further study in this area -- for instance, are men themselves more likely to initiate flirting behaviour when the sun is shining? We'll have to wait until the Spring to find out!

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Taylor & Francis, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Nicolas Gu?guen. Weather and courtship behavior: A quasi-experiment with the flirty sunshine. Social Influence, 2013; : 1 DOI: 10.1080/15534510.2012.752401

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/nJgVrRL2lXo/130128081950.htm

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SnapPea Manages Your Android Phone from Your Windows Desktop

Windows: SnapPea is a free utility that lets you manage the apps, music, photos, and SMS messages on your Android phone from your desktop. Think of the app as something of an "iTunes for Android," without the terrible performance.

If you've been looking for an all-in-one utility to manage your Android phone, SnapPea might be worth checking out. That all-in-one experience is clearly SnapPea's biggest draw: It offers one application that lets you manage everything about your phone. Connect your phone to your PC via USB (with USB debugging on?it uses ADB for file transfers and backups) or pair it with the app over Wi-Fi.

From there you can manage, organize, and transfer files to or from your Android device all from inside the application's interface. You can install apps directly, bypassing Google Play if you choose, organize and update your phone's contacts, back up your phone, organize or move photos, music, and video, or import iTunes playlists and copy your music over. Perhaps most notably, SnapPea allows you to send and receive SMS messages on your desktop, through your Android phone.

SnapPea's clear competitor here is previously mentioned AirDroid, and there are pros and cons for each. AirDroid works using a web browser, meaning it's more cross-platform than SnapPea, but SnapPea lets you manage a few things that AirDroid doesn't. Still, which one works best for your needs is up to you.

SnapPea is free for Windows systems, and you can grab the installer below. There's no OS X or Linux version, but Mac users can download SnapPea's APK installer if you need help sideloading apps to your Android phone.

SnapPea

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ZOddKdlZ3aM/snappea-manages-your-android-phone-from-your-windows-desktop

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Hackers Take Over US Gov't Website Following Activist's Suicide (Voice Of America)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279717373?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Barge with 80,000 gallons oil hits bridge, leaks

A barge carrying 80,000 gallons of oil hit a railroad bridge in Vicksburg, Miss., on Sunday, spilling light crude into the Mississippi River and closing the waterway for eight miles in each direction, the Coast Guard said. A second barge was damaged.

Investigators did not know how much had spilled, but an oily sheen was reported as far as three miles downriver of Vicksburg after the 1:12 a.m. accident, said Lt. Ryan Gomez of the Coast Guard's office in Memphis, Tenn.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the second barge also hit the bridge or if it ran into the first barge, he said. The first barge was still leaking Sunday evening, and emergency workers set out booms to absorb and contain the oil, Gomez said. The river's closure halted at least five northbound and two southbound vessels, he said.

The bridge was found safe for trains, said Petty Officer Carlos Vega.

Both barges were being pushed by the tugboat Nature's Way Endeavor. The website for Nature's Way Marine LLC of Theodore, Ala., identifies the vessel as a 3,000-horsepower, 90-foot-long boat, making it the largest and highest-powered of the company's five tugs. It was built in 1974 and underwent a complete rebuild in 2011, according to the company.

A company manager referred calls to the Coast Guard command center at Vicksburg.

The Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Vicksburg sent a team to assess the spill and oversee the cleanup, a Coast Guard news release said. The agency said a command center at Vicksburg included representatives from the Coast Guard and Nature's Way, as well as local officials and law enforcement.

The lower Mississippi River last closed because of an oil spill for less than a day last February, after an oil barge and a construction barge collided, spilling less than 10,000 gallons of oil. The oil barge was hit above the water line. In 2008, a fuel barge collided with a tanker and broke in half, dumping 283,000 gallons of heavy crude into the waterway, and closing the river for six days.

The oil sheen from Sunday's incident was unlikely to pose a threat to the Gulf of Mexico, located 344 river miles south of Vicksburg.

Residents and businesses in Gulf Coast states are still recovering from the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf.

___

Online:

http://www.natureswaymarine.com/default.asp

Information about Endeavor: http://bit.ly/VefsWz

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/barge-80-000-gallons-oil-hits-bridge-leaks-214747183.html

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Iowa Democrat Harkin won't seek sixth Senate term

CUMMING, Iowa (AP) ? U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin said Saturday he will not seek a sixth term in 2014, a decision that frees a new generation of Iowa Democrats to seek higher office and eases some of the burden Republicans face in retaking the Senate.

Harkin, chairman of an influential Senate committee, announced his decision during an interview with The Associated Press, and said the move could surprise some.

But the 73-year-old cited his age ? he would be 81 at the end of a sixth term ? as a factor in the decision, saying it was time to pass the torch he has held for nearly 30 years.

"I just think it's time for me to step aside," Harkin told the AP.

Harkin, first elected in 1984, ranks 7th in seniority, and 4th among majority Democrats. He is chairman of the health, education, labor and pensions committee, and chairman of the largest appropriations subcommittee.

Harkin has long aligned with the Senate's more liberal members, and his signature legislative accomplishment is the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. He also served as a key salesman of President Barack Obama's 2010 health care bill to the wary left.

"I'm not saying that giving this up and walking away is easy. It's very tough," Harkin said at his rural Iowa home south of Des Moines. "But I'm not quitting today. I'm not passing the torch sitting down."

Harkin's news defied outward signals. Besides being beloved in his party, Harkin has $2.7 million in his campaign war chest, second most among members nearing the end of their terms, and was planning a gala fundraiser in Washington, D.C., next month featuring pop star Lady Gaga.

Although members of his family have been diagnosed with cancer, Harkin said his health is good ? and reported a recent positive colonoscopy. But he said "you never know," and that he wanted to travel and spend his retirement with his wife Ruth "before it's too late."

He also nodded to his political longevity: "The effect of that cascades down and it opens a lot of doors of opportunity" for future candidates, he said.

Indeed, the news creates a rare open Senate seat Iowa. Harkin, Iowa's junior senator, is outranked by Sen. Charles Grassley, who has held the state's other seat since 1980.

Attention will turn immediately to U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a fourth-term Democrat from Waterloo, long mentioned as a possible Harkin successor. Braley, who was traveling in Iowa on Saturday, did not immediately return requests by the AP for comments beyond an emailed news statement calling Harkin a "mentor" and "progressive force" who leaves "a legacy few will ever match."

Harkin held open the possibility of endorsing a Democrat before the party's primary if the candidate fit the profile of "someone who is progressive, who is a pragmatic progressive."

Although no Republicans have stepped forward, Harkin's news gives the GOP's private huddles new life.

"There are lots of conversations, but it's very early still," said Nick Ryan, an Iowa Republican campaign fundraiser.

U.S. Rep. Tom Latham of Clive is a seasoned Republican congressman, a veteran appropriations committee member and a robust fundraiser who has survived challenges to win 10 consecutive terms. Aides to Latham declined to comment beyond issuing a statement saying the congressman "respects Sen. Harkin's decision (and) looks forward to continuing to work with him."

But with opening a door in Iowa, Harkin has created a potential headache for his party nationally.

Democrats likely would have had the edge in 2014 with the seat, considering Harkin's fundraising prowess and healthy approval. A poll by the Des Moines Register taken last fall showed a majority of Iowans approved of his job performance.

Democrats hold a 55-45 advantage in the Senate, requiring Republicans to gain six seats to win back the chamber. But Democrats have more seats to defend in 2014_20 compared to only 13 for Republicans.

And the president's party historically loses seats in the midterm elections after his re-election.

Seats in other states will be tough for Democrats to hold onto. In GOP-leaning West Virginia, five-term Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller recently announced he would not seek re-election.

Democratic incumbents also face tough re-election races in Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina and Alaska ? all states carried by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in November's presidential election.

Since then, Harkin has stepped up his role as one of the Senate's leading liberal populists.

He was a vocal opponent late last year of President Barack Obama's concession to lift the income threshold for higher taxes to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. Harkin instead supported raising taxes on all earners making more than $250,000 a year.

He also endorsed Obama's call for banning assault rifles and larger ammunition magazines in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting last month

Despite Harkin's strong political position, he has faced questions about his and his wife Ruth's role in developing a namesake policy institute at Iowa State University, Harkin's alma mater. The Harkins and their supporters have been pushing for the institute to house papers highlighting his signature achievements, including the ADA and shaping farm policy as the former chairman of the agriculture committee.

Harkin has avoided questions about fundraising for the institute after disclosure reports showed some of its largest donors are firms that have benefited from his policies.

Harkin dismissed that those questions had any bearing on his decision.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-newsbreak-harkin-wont-seek-6th-senate-term-151326874--politics.html

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Las Vegas Is One Bright Hole Straight to Hell

Paris may be the City of Light, but the City of Sin is looking to give it a run for its money. This pair of shots was tumblr'd (tumbled?) and tweeted by Colonel Chris Hadfield, who's currently up on the ISS. At night, the city looks like some pool of molten metal, scalding the desert's surface, burning a hole straight to hell. And maybe that's not too far from the truth. [Col. Chris Hadfeild] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Ys5Q_YGTI2k/las-vegas-is-one-bright-hole-straight-to-hell

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White House, senators launching immigration push

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama will launch a campaign next week aimed at overhauling the nation's flawed immigration system and creating legal status for millions, as a bipartisan Senate group nears agreement on achieving the same goals.

The proposals from Obama and lawmakers will mark the start of what is expected to be a contentious and emotional process with deep political implications. Latino voters overwhelmingly backed Obama in the 2012 election, leaving Republicans grappling for a way to regain their standing with an increasingly powerful pool of voters.

The president will press his case for immigration changes during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday. The Senate working group is also aiming to outline its proposals next week, according to a Senate aide.

Administration officials say Obama's second-term immigration push will be a continuation of the principles he outlined during his first four years in office but failed to act on. He is expected to revive his little-noticed 2011 immigration "blueprint," which calls for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that includes paying fines and back taxes; increased border security; mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants; and improvements to the legal immigration system, including giving green cards to high-skilled workers and lifting caps on legal immigration for the immediate family members of U.S. citizens.

"What has been absent in the time since he put those principles forward has been a willingness by Republicans, generally speaking, to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. "What he hopes is that that dynamic has changed."

The political dynamic does appear to have shifted following the November election. Despite making little progress on immigration in his first term, Obama won more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, in part because of the conservative positions on immigration that Republican nominee Mitt Romney staked out during the GOP primary. Latino voters accounted for 10 percent of the electorate in November.

The president met privately Friday morning with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to discuss his next steps on immigration. Among those in the meeting was Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., who said Obama told lawmakers "immigration reform is his number one legislative priority."

That could bump back the president's efforts to seek legislation enacting stricter gun laws, another issue he has vowed to make a top second term priority.

The Senate immigration group is also pressing for quick action, aiming to draft a bill by March and pass legislation in their chamber by August, said the aide, who requested anonymity in order to discuss private deliberations. The Republican-controlled House would also need to pass the legislation before it went to the White House for the president's signature.

Senate lawmakers working on the immigration effort include Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey; and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, according to Senate aides.

Democrat Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona and Mike Lee of Utah have also been involved. It's not clear whether all those involved will sign on to the principles the group hopes to roll out next week.

Those principles are expected to include a process toward legalizing the status of unauthorized immigrants already in the country; border security; verification measures for employers hiring workers and ways for more temporary workers to be admitted into the country.

It's unclear whether the group will back the pathway to full citizenship that the president is seeking. Schumer and Graham have previously supported requiring illegal immigrants to admit they broke the law, perform community service, pay fines and back taxes, pass background checks and learn English before going to the back of the line of immigrants already in the system in order to legalize their immigration status.

Several of the senators negotiating the immigration principles are veterans of the failed comprehensive immigration reform effort under then-President George W. Bush. That process collapsed in 2007 when it came up well-short of the needed votes in the Senate, a bitter outcome for Bush and the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democrats' leader on the legislation.

Some Republicans still lament that result as a missed opportunity for the party that could have set the GOP on a different path to reach more Latino voters.

Rubio is a relative newcomer to Senate negotiations on the issue, but he's seen as a rising star in his party and a potential 2016 presidential candidate. As a charismatic young Hispanic leader his proposals on immigration have attracted wide notice in recent weeks. And as a conservative favorite, unlike McCain or Graham, his stamp of approval could be critical to drawing in other conservative lawmakers.

A Republican aide said that Rubio has made clear in his interactions with the Senate group that he couldn't sign on to proposals that deviated from the principles he himself has been laying out in recent media interviews, including border security first, a guest-worker program, more visas for high-tech workers and enforcement in the workplace.

As for the illegal immigrants already in the country, Rubio would have them pay a fine and back taxes, show they have not committed crimes, prove they've been in the country for some time and speak some English and apply for permanent residency. Ultimately citizenship too could be in reach but only after a process that doesn't nudge aside immigrants already in line, and Rubio hasn't provided details on how long it all might take.

___

Associated Press writer Luis Alonso Lugo contributed to this report.

Source: http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2013/01/26/white-house-senators-launching-immigration-push-n1498368

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The Hispanic Business Network Presents: New HBN Toastmasters ...

We cordially invite you to our Next Business Mixer,

Location: San Fernando Valley
MEND 10641 N. San Fernando Road, Pacoima, CA 91331
Date: Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013 at 8:00 a.m.

We will talk about TOASTMASTERS:

• ?What is Toastmasters and How it works?
• ?Why is Toastmasters so recognized?
• ?How could Toastmasters help your business?
• How doesToastmasters change People?s life?

Don?t miss out; we look forward to seeing you.

RSVP: Ph. 818.785.0126 ? hbn@hispanicgroup.com

Posted by WM on Friday, January 25th, 2013 @ 12:10AM
Categories: Upcoming Partner Events

Source: http://www.latinobusinesschamber.org/2013/01/25/the-hispanic-business-network-presents-new-hbn-toastmasters-group-in-spanish-the-city-club-dec-17/

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?1.4tn of personal debt in the UK | Chiltern Debt Management

Figures revealed that personal debt towards the end of last year stood at ?1.42 trillion. Credit Action revealed the alarming statistic in their report released on January the 11^th which reveals the current condition of consumer finances. The average UK household debt ,which includes mortgages, stood at ?53,867. During the month, ?165 million was sent on meeting personal debt repayments.

Gocompare.com business development director, John Miles, said: ?Without doubt, 2013 will be a tough year for many people as austerity measures continue to bite. Providers constantly review their pricing, so even if you think you?re getting a good deal on your financial products at the moment, it is worth shopping around on a regular basis.?

Source: http://www.chilterndebtmanagement.co.uk/chiltern-press/1-4tn-personal-debt-uk/

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Do Not Go Hiking Or Camping Without This One Thing!

There are new hiking and camping gadgets brought out all of the time with eager sales people trying to convince you that each one is a must have product. There is one item, however, that is rapidly becoming a very useful thing to carry. In fact, it has so many uses and is so small and light it could almost be called the technological Swiss army knife.

So, what is this important, must have thing?
So, what could be so important? I refer, of course, to smartphones. Regardless of whether they are Apple or Android, these devices are revolutionizing hiking and camping trips. Sure a smartphone wont replace your camping gear, like a camping tent...yet, but they are incredibly useful. The key to getting the most use from a smartphone is in the apps you install. Lets take a look at some of the things that the average smartphone will do and how it helps the hiker and the camper save weight and space in their packs.

Reason #1: GPS
The first and most obvious benefit is that most smartphones are also fairly sophisticated GPS devices. Coupled with the amazing Google satellite maps, these can take the place of a map, compass and GPS unit. You can pin point your position within a yard and also use an app to plot your route.

Reason #2: Weather
The weather is an important factor when hiking too and there are many apps that deliver up-to-the-minute weather bulletins direct to your phone. In winter, this could literally be a life-saving app if bad weather is suddenly closing in.

Reason #3: Guidebooks
Many guide books and field guides are now being published in digital format. You could carry a whole virtual library of informative information on your smartphone. For this feature, you would not even need a reliable signal connection as they would be stored on the phones internal memory. Leading on from field guides, there is even an app that will identify bird calls. This means you can be aware of the birdlife around you without actually spotting the bird in order to identify it.

Reason #4...and 5 and 6 and 7 and...
For campers, one thing you often need is a reliable torch or camp lantern. The flashlight app is a great back up should your normal one fail. Then, if you want to know if a snake you found in your tent is poisonous, which berries you can safely eat or how to proceed if you lose all of your food & water, the US Army Survival app is a reassuring addition to your smartphone.

Then, when the fire has died down on a clear night and you are lying down looking up at the stars, you can impress your fellow campers by pointing your smartphone to the sky and an app will map out all of the visible constellations, stars and planets. Oh, and while you do this, you dont need to worry about mosquitoes either. There is an app that produces a sonic repellent ensuring you remain bite-free.

There are dozens of reasons a smartphone has become the must have for hiking and camping today and those reasons are growing as new apps come out with even more interesting features.

About the Author:
Barry Rodgers is an outdoors enthusiast. He has a love of the outdoors lifestyle and has hiked in the USA and many European countries. Currently living in Greece, he is often found hiking and camping in the mountains and on the beaches of southern Crete with his camping gear, a camp lantern, a tent and good friends.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Do-Not-Go-Hiking-Or-Camping-Without-This-One-Thing-/4399235

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Egypt's top cleric cancels Saudi trip over slight

CAIRO (AP) ? Cairo airport officials say Egypt's top Muslim cleric cancelled a visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of its monarch when he discovered that senior delegates traveling with him were assigned economy class seats by their Saudi hosts.

The officials said Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar ? Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning ? angrily disembarked from a Saudi-bound airliner shortly before takeoff on Wednesday and instructed his delegation to follow suit.

Al-Tayeb was assigned a first class seat.

The Egyptians were due to perform the minor pilgrimage to Mecca, or umrah, before flying to the Saudi capital Riyadh to attend Monday's award ceremony for the King Faisal International Prize for scientific and religious achievement.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-top-cleric-cancels-saudi-trip-over-slight-134849457.html

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Congress charts new collision course over deficit

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's sharp disagreements over taxes and spending are on a re-routed collision course, as Senate Democrats launch a plan that includes new taxes and House Republicans vow to speed up their plan to balance the federal budget with spending cuts alone.

The Republicans' new approach would require even deeper cuts in social programs than they pushed last year. Liberals denounced those earlier plans as severe and unfair, and they say the new version would be worse.

The new commitments by House and Senate members stem from the ongoing dispute over raising the federal debt ceiling. The House voted Wednesday to postpone any showdown over the borrowing limit for three months. The Democratic-led Senate plans to endorse the idea, which the White House also supports.

That means the next big budget clash will occur in March. That's when major, across-the-board spending cuts ? both parties dislike them ? are scheduled to begin unless they are replaced by a different deficit-cutting technique.

It's possible that both parties will continue to find ways to postpone and minimize tough decisions on taming the deficit. But the new House and Senate endeavors could make such dodges more difficult. Voters, meanwhile, may get a clearer picture of the unpleasant choices they face.

"The American people will have a chance to compare the two approaches," said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who wants deep spending cuts and no new taxes. The only way to shrink the government, he said, "is to choke the monster."

House Republicans now vow to balance the budget in 10 years without tax hikes. They say the methods might include reducing future benefits for Medicare, and possibly Social Security, for people now in their late 50s, rather than those 55 and younger.

The search for savings must "move over into entitlement spending" more so than before, said Rep. John Fleming, R-La.

Balancing the budget in 10 years without tax increases would require deep spending cuts, causing many analysts to view them as politically near-impossible. Such an effort would require cuts "that are a complete nonstarter for anybody ? probably even including House Republicans themselves," said Michael Ettlinger, an economist at the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress.

But House conservatives say aiming for that goal is important. They demanded this week that GOP leaders agree to balance the budget in 10 years as the conservatives' price for supporting the three-month extension of federal borrowing powers.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called the new Republican goal "Ryan on steroids." She was referring to earlier Republican budgets drafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the party's 2012 vice presidential nominee.

Ryan's earlier plans would have changed Medicare into a voucher-like program with limited government contributions to health care for seniors. His plans, endorsed by most House Republicans, also would have given states full responsibility for running Medicaid ? the health care program for the poor ? with a reduced federal contribution.

Even with those changes, Ryan's 2011 and 2012 plans would not have balanced the federal budget for decades.

As part of the deal putting off the debt limit showdown, the Democratic-run Senate made concessions of its own: It agreed to debate and pass a budget for the first time in three years. That exercise will force senators to commit themselves to politically distasteful spending cuts and tax increases that they previously had avoided.

Democrats, including President Barack Obama, say new tax revenues must be part of any eventual bipartisan budget accord.

"As we go forward to reduce the deficit, we need growth and job creation, we need spending cuts, we need revenue," Pelosi said during Wednesday's House debate.

Democrats say new limits on tax breaks that mostly go to high-income households could generate billions of dollars in revenue.

But Republican leaders, noting that Democrats achieved a 10-year, $600 billion revenue hike as part of the "fiscal cliff" compromise earlier this month, say further tax hikes are off the table.

The Republicans' "no new taxes" mantra has clashed many times with Democrats' vows to protect government programs. The result, for years, has been deficit spending.

The latest House and Senate decisions will merely heighten that debate.

Democratic senators, no longer able to sidestep budget details, are certain to renew their push for tax increases to accompany further spending cuts. And House Republicans have made their deficit-reduction goals harder to achieve by promising to balance the budget in 10 years instead of, say, 30.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congress-charts-collision-course-over-080304233.html

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Fed Beige Book: Real Estate, Broader Economy Growing ? Eye on ...

Real estate activity continues to grow, with all Fed districts except one reporting that residential construction expanding according to the Federal Reserve?s most recent Beige Book. The exception ? the Kansas City District -noted that ?increased lumber and drywall costs limited construction?. The Fed?s positive take on construction activity is consistent with December?s growth in housing starts.

The Beige Book also confirmed that existing home sales have expanded or held steady in 11 Districts. The Boston District ?attributed strong sales growth to low interest rates, affordable prices, and rising rents.?

Lending activity continues to improve, albeit at a moderate pace. The Beige Book indicated that frictions in mortgage lending may be showing signs of recovering in certain regions of the country. Overall, loan demand was higher or held steady in nine of the ten districts. Credit standards remained ?largely unchanged,? though two Districts, Atlanta and Chicago, reported that standards may have ?loosened some?. In the Atlanta District, aggressive competition for highly qualified borrowers was leading a growing willingness on the part of banks to increase their risk tolerance and loosen credit standards.

For the economy as a whole, in its previous release, the Beige Book cited broad growth, but acknowledged that Hurricane Sandy disrupted activity in some parts of the economy. The picture is now more positive, with the Fed noting that ?economic activity has expanded with all twelve districts characterizing the pace of growth as either modest or moderate.? In particular, ?activity in the New York and Philadelphia districts has rebounded from the immediate impacts of Hurricane Sandy.?

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Source: http://eyeonhousing.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/fed-beige-book-real-estate-broader-economy-growing/

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Jordanians go to polls to elect new parliament

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Jordanians have started voting in parliamentary elections touted as the start of a democratization process that will see the king hand over considerable powers to the newly chosen legislature.

Abdul-Illah Khatib, who is head of the Independent Electoral Commission, says polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (4 a.m. GMT) Wednesday, but voting began later because of technical computer problems.

He says at least 125,000 Jordanians, or 5 percent of the 2.3 million who registered to vote, cast ballots in the first two hours of voting.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan's largest opposition group, is boycotting the polls in protest against an electoral law it says favors pro-king loyalists. Four other smaller leftist parties are also staying away.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jordanians-polls-elect-parliament-080915522.html

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New 2-D material for next generation high-speed electronics

Jan. 21, 2013 ? Scientists at CSIRO and RMIT University have produced a new two-dimensional material that could revolutionise the electronics market, making "nano" more than just a marketing term.

The material -- made up of layers of crystal known as molybdenum oxides -- has unique properties that encourage the free flow of electrons at ultra-high speeds.

In a paper published in the January issue of materials science journal Advanced Materials, the researchers explain how they adapted a revolutionary material known as graphene to create a new conductive nano-material.

Graphene was created in 2004 by scientists in the UK and won its inventors a Nobel Prize in 2010. While graphene supports high speed electrons, its physical properties prevent it from being used for high-speed electronics.

The CSIRO's Dr Serge Zhuiykov said the new nano-material was made up of layered sheets -- similar to graphite layers that make up a pencil's core.

"Within these layers, electrons are able to zip through at high speeds with minimal scattering," Dr Zhuiykov said.

"The importance of our breakthrough is how quickly and fluently electrons -- which conduct electricity -- are able to flow through the new material."

RMIT's Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh said the researchers were able to remove "road blocks" that could obstruct the electrons, an essential step for the development of high-speed electronics.

"Instead of scattering when they hit road blocks, as they would in conventional materials, they can simply pass through this new material and get through the structure faster," Professor Kalantar-zadeh said.

"Quite simply, if electrons can pass through a structure quicker, we can build devices that are smaller and transfer data at much higher speeds.

"While more work needs to be done before we can develop actual gadgets using this new 2D nano-material, this breakthrough lays the foundation for a new electronics revolution and we look forward to exploring its potential."

In the paper titled 'Enhanced Charge Carrier Mobility in Two-Dimensional High Dielectric Molybdenum Oxide,' the researchers describe how they used a process known as "exfoliation" to create layers of the material ~11 nm thick.

The material was manipulated to convert it into a semiconductor and nanoscale transistors were then created using molybdenum oxide.

The result was electron mobility values of >1,100 cm2/Vs -- exceeding the current industry standard for low dimensional silicon.

The work, with RMIT doctoral researcher Sivacarendran Balendhran as the lead author, was supported by the CSIRO Sensors and Sensor Networks Transformational Capability Platform and the CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering Division.

It was also a result of collaboration between researchers from Monash University, University of California -- Los Angeles (UCLA), CSIRO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and RMIT.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by CSIRO Australia.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Sivacarendran Balendhran, Junkai Deng, Jian Zhen Ou, Sumeet Walia, James Scott, Jianshi Tang, Kang L. Wang, Matthew R. Field, Salvy Russo, Serge Zhuiykov, Michael S. Strano, Nikhil Medhekar, Sharath Sriram, Madhu Bhaskaran, Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh. Enhanced Charge Carrier Mobility in Two-Dimensional High Dielectric Molybdenum Oxide. Advanced Materials, 2013; 25 (1): 109 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201203346

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/iVeA9nSoozs/130122122442.htm

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Report: Next PlayStation features AMD GPU, x64 CPU architecture, touch controller

Chalk up another potential win for AMD. The latest report on the next PlayStation console (courtesy of Kotaku), allegedly codenamed "Orbis," puts AMD at the heart of both CPU and GPU: an eight core AMD64 CPU and an AMD R10XX GPU are said to drive the system. That's at least the dev kit that the site's tipster has as of right now, but those specs -- yes, even biggies like these -- could change completely by retail availability. Should AMD remain the CPU/GPU manufacturer, both Nintendo's Wii U and the next PlayStation will be powered by AMD chips; not too shabby for a company that's been bleeding talent. The rumors we've seen of the next Xbox also point to x64 architecture, but it's unclear whether that'll be supplied by AMD or another manufacturer. If those rumors pan out however, it would mean that a single unified architecture would power two of the major gaming consoles as well your laptop and desktop -- something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. (And would open up a world of possibilities.)

We're inclined to trust the current specs of the dev kit, as they're said to be sourced from "official Orbis documentation ... a hive of more than 90 PDFs about the forthcoming console." One slide culled from that official documentation also outlines Sony's vision of user accounts, allowing multiple Sony Entertainment Network accounts to be signed in simultaneously (thus allowing for individual Trophies, and potentially cloud saves, among other uses). The piece also details a new controller -- though it is noted that the current dev kit supports both DualShock 3 and Sixaxis controllers (and the image above shows a Move, so probably that too) -- which is supposedly known as "the Orbis Development Tool." It's said to resemble the DualShock, albeit with the addition of a capacitive touchpad -- a rumor also posited by some UK outlets earlier this week.

Whether any of this is actually true is another question altogether, and we can't be sure until Sony gives official word. It sounds like some form of information isn't too far off -- E3 perhaps? Regardless, head over to Kotaku for the alleged full (current) list of specs on the dev kit and even more speculation.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony, AMD

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Source: Kotaku

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/LMMp6OnMTdg/

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High school graduation rate tops 78 percent ? highest since 1976

Public high school students are graduating at the highest rate since 1976, motivated in part by grim economic conditions and the need to be competitive in a crowded job market.

More than 3.1 million high school students received their diplomas in spring 2010, with 78.2 percent finishing in four years, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported Tuesday. The rate is a 2.7-percentage-point increase over the previous year, and those two rates are the highest since the 75 percent rate in 1975 and 1976.

The report does not analyze for causes, but education officials say the increasing rate can certainly be linked to the struggling economy.

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"If you drop out of high school, how many good jobs are there out there for you? None," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan in an Associated Press interview published Tuesday.

This was not the case 10 or 15 years ago, he said.

"When I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, it wasn't great, but I had lots of friends who dropped out, and they could go work in the stockyards or steel mills, and they could buy a home, support a family, do OK," Secretary Duncan said.

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With an average annual salary of $20,241, high school dropouts earn $10,386 less than high school graduates, who earn $30,627, according to Census Bureau data.

The need for young people to be competitive in the job market is increasingly important, especially as part-time jobs and internships available to students are decreasing, says Donna Harris-Aikens, director of education policy and practices at the National Education Association.

?Part of the impact of the economy on students is that internship slots are being taken by adults who need to switch gears or gain experience in different fields, so they can get back into the mainstream of employment,? Ms. Harris-Aikens says.

It is important for students to see how their education is relevant to their employment experience and how earning a diploma will benefit them in both the short and long term, she says.

The increasing graduation rate is ?extremely promising,? Harris-Aikens says, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. ?We want to be at 100 percent.?

The achievement gaps along racial lines are a noticeable area for improvement, she says.

Asian/Pacific Islander students graduate at the highest rate (93.5 percent), followed by white students (83 percent), Hispanic students (71.4 percent), American Indian/Alaska Native students (69.1 percent), and black students (66.1 percent), according to the NCES report.

?If we can work to close those gaps, the graduation rate overall will see dramatic increases,? Harris-Aikens says.

The graduation rate also varies widely across states: Lowest-ranked Nevada reported 57.8 percent graduation rate, and top-ranked Vermont reported 91.4 percent.

One next step is to do a more in-depth analysis to see which strategies are working and which strategies need to be readjusted.

The most important strategy, Harris-Aikens says, is ?paying attention to details and talking to kids, helping them figure out what they need.?

NCES bases the graduation rate on the averaged freshman graduation rate (AFGR), an estimate of public high school students who graduate within four years of starting ninth grade. The US Department of Education continues to refine the way it reports graduation rates, including establishing a national formula for state reports, but the AFGR is currently the best measure, the NCES report says.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-school-graduation-rate-tops-78-percent-highest-203149135.html

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