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Friday, May 24, 2013
Germany's uncomfortable role as Europe's 'economic police'
Since World War II, Germany has preferred to stay out of international leadership roles. But the eurocrisis has put the country at Europe's head ? with all the criticism that entails.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a discussion panel on 'making Europe strong' during the Europe forum conference in Berlin Thursday. Germany has consciously avoided a leadership role in Europe since the end of World War II, but the eurocrisis has put it in the limelight ? with all the criticism that brings.
Gero Breloer/AP
EnlargeAmericans took a leading role in the world in the post-World War II era. And today they are used to being unpopular, yet called upon when needed.
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Sara Miller Llana?moved to Paris in April 2013 to become the Monitor's Europe Bureau?Chief. Previously she was the?paper's?Latin America Bureau Chief, based in Mexico City, from 2006 to 2013.
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Germans in the postwar era, on the other hand, have preferred to blend into the background.
But amid Europe's sovereign debt crisis, as Germany's healthy economy has put it at the head of the 27-member European Union, that's been proving impossible. And now Germans are dealing with the criticism that accompanies being a regional ? if unwilling ? hegemon.
While a recent Pew poll shows Germany to be considered by many countries to be the most trustworthy nation in Europe, it has also accrued new enemies far and wide, with Greeks burning German flags or picketing with signs of German Chancellor Angela Merkel dressed in Nazi uniform. There have even been?claims from France that Germans are out to rule the Continent.
?We have made a lot of commitment to help those people,? says Markus, a musical theater stage producer, in Berlin?s Alexanderplatz, a public square and major transportation hub in Germany?s capital Berlin. ?It?s really unfair.?
It?s also untrue ? at least the part about Germany wanting continental dominion, say German and European observers. Instead, the avoidance of tough positions in foreign policy, so Germany is not led into a moral dilemma, is ingrained in the postwar mentality, they say.
?There is no appetite for domination. Germany has been pushed into this position by default,? says Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe in Brussels for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. ?There is no ambition to shape the continent in the image of Germany.?
?Germans want to be liked by the rest of the world,? says Michael Wohlgemuth, director of Open Europe Berlin. ?Germany feels uneasy in its new powerful role. We don?t want to be leaders of Europe.?
Outside the US embassy in Berlin, Erkan Arikan says that Germany is being unfairly maligned in Europe. But he says he can also laugh it off, as a German of Turkish descent in a multicultural Germany that has nothing to do with the 1930s.
He says that he can see some parallels between the hegemonic positions of Germany and the US today, but there is a limit. ?The US is still the world police for everyone; Germany doesn?t want to be the focus,? he says. ?But maybe it?s becoming the economic police of Europe.?
It?s a role that many Germans might feel uncomfortable playing, especially with the bad will that can breed.
If Americans don?t like the term ?ugly American,? Germans like it even less.
Ulrike Gu?rot of the European Council of Foreign Relations says when she travels around the country and talks to everyday Germans, they are starting to ask, ?Are we responsible for this youth unemployment in Spain? There is an uneasiness they they are just starting to feel,? she says. ?They don?t want to be the ?ugly German.??
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Thursday, May 23, 2013
Study details genes that control whether tumors adapt or die when faced with p53 activating drugs
May 22, 2013 ? When turned on, the gene p53 turns off cancer. However, when existing drugs boost p53, only a few tumors die -- the rest resist the challenge. A study published in the journal Cell Reports shows how: tumors that live even in the face of p53 reactivation create more of the protein p21 than the protein PUMA; tumors that die have more PUMA than p21. And, for the first time, the current study shows a handful of genes that control this ratio.
"The gene p53 is one of the most commonly mutated cancer genes. Tumors turn it off and then they can avoid controls that should kill them. Fine: we have drugs that can reactivate p53. But the bad news is when we go into the clinic with these drugs, only maybe one in ten tumors actually dies. We wanted to know what genes fine-tune this p53 effectiveness," says Joaquin Espinosa, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, associate professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at CU Boulder, and the paper's senior author.
To answer that question, the group including first author Zdenek Andrisyk, PhD, postdoc in the Espinosa Lab, turned off every gene in the human genome in turn and asked if there were genes that, when deactivated, would tip the balance from p21 to PUMA, thus enhancing the likelihood of cell death.
"We found a couple dozen genes involved in this ratio -- genes that with p53 activated, lead to more p21 and better survival or more PUMA and more cell death," Espinosa says.
The hope is that in addition to drugs that reactivate the tumor-suppressor gene p53, patients could be given a second drug targeting genes that control this p21/PUMA ratio, thus making first drug more effective. Likewise, in cases in which toxicity in healthy tissue limits the use of p53 activating drugs, Espinosa's research could lead to new drugs that thumb the scale of the p21/PUMA ratio toward survival in these healthy tissues. Up or down: learning to adjust the ratio has immense promise.
The group's next step is likely repeating the genetic screen with additional tumor and healthy cell lines to discover which of their newly discovered candidate genes are common controllers of the p21/PUMA ratio across cancer types. And, interestingly, the same technique could be used to make many existing drugs more effective.
"With many of these molecularly targeted therapies, you want one effect but then you end up with many other possible effects," Espinosa says. (An example is the recently-reported side effect of low testosterone in male lung cancer patient taking the molecularly targeted drug crizotinib.) The genetic screening technique used in the Espinosa lab could help disentangle effect from side effect -- showing which secondary genes regulate the desired, tumor-killing response and which secondary genes lead to undesirable side-effects.
"Not only could this technique lead to drugs that decrease the side effects of targeted therapies, but if you're not limited by these side effects, you can simply give more drug, perhaps making existing drugs much more powerful," Espinosa says.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/hkkypGK8KgA/130522123210.htm
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Immigration bill heads to full Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A far-reaching bill to remake the nation's immigration system is headed to the full Senate, where tough battles are brewing on gay marriage, border security and other contentious issues, with the outcome impossible to predict.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the measure 13-5 Tuesday night, setting up an epic showdown on the Senate floor after Congress' Memorial Day recess. The legislation is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities ? yet it also gives the Republican Party a chance to recast itself as more appealing to minorities.
Many involved still vividly recall the last time the Senate took up a major immigration bill, in 2007, beginning with high hopes only to see their efforts collapse on the Senate floor amid a public backlash and interest group defections.
Some expressed optimism for a better outcome this time around as the Judiciary Committee gave its bipartisan approval. Three Republicans ? Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona, both authors of the bill, and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah ? joined the 10 committee Democrats in supporting the measure.
"We've demonstrated to the United States Senate we can all work together, Republicans and Democrats," said the panel's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "Now let's go out of this room and work together with the other members of the Senate, and with the other body (the House), and more importantly work with all Americans, and all those who wish to be Americans."
In a statement, Obama applauded the committee's action and said the bill was "largely consistent with the principles of common-sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system."
The legislation would create new routes for people to come legally to the U.S. to work at all skill levels, tighten border security and workplace enforcement, and offer a chance at citizenship to the 11 million people here illegally.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he would bring the legislation to the Senate floor early next month for a debate that some aides predicted could consume a month or more. The fate of immigration legislation in the House was even less clear, although it was due to receive a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
It was Leahy's 11th-hour decision to hold back on an amendment to extend immigration rights to same-sex married couples that cleared the way for the bill's approval.
Until Leahy began speaking on the issue to a hushed hearing room Tuesday evening, it wasn't clear how the matter, which had hovered over the three weeks of committee sessions to review the legislation, would play out.
Leahy had been under pressure from gay groups to offer the amendment, which would allow gay married Americans to sponsor their foreign-born spouses for green cards like straight married Americans can. But Republican supporters of the bill warned that including such a measure would cost their support. As the committee neared the end of its work, officials said Leahy had been informed that both the White House and Senate Democrats hoped he would not risk the destruction of months of painstaking work by putting the issue to a vote.
"I don't want to be the senator who asks people to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country," Leahy said, adding that he wanted to hear from others on the committee.
In response, he heard a chorus of pleas from the bill's supporters not to force a vote that they warned would lead to the collapse of Republican support and the bill's demise.
"I don't want to blow this bill apart," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the first to speak up.
"I believe in my heart of hearts that what you're doing is the right and just thing," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "But I believe this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill."
Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Al Franken, D-Minn., added their voices, and Leahy announced that, "with a heavy heart," he would withdraw his amendment.
Gay rights groups voiced outrage, and the issue is certain to re-emerge when the full Senate debates the legislation. But it is doubtful that sponsors can command the 60 votes that will be needed to make it part of the legislation.
In the hours leading to a final vote, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers, a deal that brought Hatch over to the ranks of supporters.
Under the bill, the number of highly skilled workers admitted to the country would increase greatly, but there were also protections aimed at ensuring U.S. workers get the first shot at jobs, and high-tech companies objected to some of those.
Under the deal, companies in which foreign labor accounts for at least 15 percent of the skilled workforce would be subjected to tighter conditions than businesses less dependent on H-1B visa holders, and requirements on recruiting and hiring and firing of U.S. workers would be relaxed.
In defeat, opponents said they, too, wanted to overhaul immigration law, but not the way that drafters of the legislation had done.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recalled that he had voted to give "amnesty" to those in the country illegally in 1986, the last time Congress passed major immigration legislation. He said that bill, like the current one, promised to crack down on illegal immigration, but said it had failed to do so.
"No one disputes that this bill is legalization first, enforcement later. And that's just unacceptable to me and to the American people," he said.
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-bill-heads-full-senate-072306686.html
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
MSI ships AMD Richland A10-based GX70 and GX60 gaming laptops
Just as we knew it would, MSI has formally announced pricing for its newfangled GX70 and GX60 gaming laptops -- the world's first machines to ship with AMD's Richland A10-5750M (2.5GHz - 3.5GHz) within. The 17.3-inch GX70 offers up a 1,920 x 1,080 native display resolution, AMD's Radeon HD 8970M on the graphics front, a 750GB hard drive, 8GB of DDR3 memory, a Blu-ray Disc drive, Bluetooth 4.0 and Killer's E2200 networking technology. You'll also get a SDXC card slot, HDMI 1.4 socket, 720p webcam, a 9-cell battery -- likely good for about 89 seconds of use -- a backlit keyboard and a frame that's 2.17-inches thick and 8.6 pounds. If none of that frightens you, you can plan on parting ways with $1,399.99 to call one your own. The (slightly) more petite GX60 boasts a 15.6-inch panel (still 1080p, though), a 7.7 pound frame and a $1,299.99 price tag. Otherwise, the specifications are essentially identical from its big brother, and both should be shipping any moment now.
Filed under: Laptops
Source: MSI
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/WbXDy8_YYpE/
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Doctors prescribe more analgesics to women than to men just for being female
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 21-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Press Office
info@agenciasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
Regardless of pain, social class or age, a woman is more likely to be prescribed pain-relieving drugs. A study published in Gaceta Sanitaria (Spanish health scientific journal) affirms that this phenomenon is influenced by socioeconomic inequality between genders in the Autonomous Community in which the patient resides.
In 1999, a researcher at the University of Harvard, Ishiro Kawachi, observed that in the states of the USA with a larger proportion of women with a high social class, mortality in both genders was lower.
Inspired by Kawachi's studies, experts at the University of Alicante have identified how social and economic inequalities between men and women known as gender-related development influence the prescription of analgesics by area of residence.
"In Spain, as well as in other countries, women suffer from pain more frequently than men, therefore it is logical that they are prescribed more analgesics," Elisa Chilet Rossell, main author of the study recently published in the Gaceta Sanitaria, explains to SINC.
However, this analysis goes one step further and affirms that, regardless of pain, social class and age, being a woman increases the probability of being prescribed analgesics. "It also depends on whether the patient lives in an Autonomous Community with lower gender development, regardless of whether the patient is male or female," Chilet notes.
For this research, the authors used as their main source of information the 2006 Spanish National Health Survey and the United Nations' Gender-related Development Index (GDI), which distinguishes between the development indices of men and women according to life expectancy at birth, education and income.
With this information, they performed a logistic regression analysis to compare the prescription of analgesics by sex in the areas with higher and lower GDIs than the Spanish national average. The results confirmed a gender gap of 29% in the prescription of these medicines.
"The gender bias found could be a way in which inequalities in treatment with analgesics negatively affects women's health," the researcher highlights. "In this way, women receive treatment for symptomatic pain more frequently than men, treatment which can be unspecific and blind to the causes of the pain."
Women are less often seen by specialists
The authors also found that women who suffer pain and live in a context of lower gender-related development are less likely than men to be seen by specialists and tend to be seen only in primary care.
For these experts, by considering GDI this research contributes a new layer of context to the analysis of inequalities in the prescription of analgesics, and demonstrates that political and economic factors in society influence health problems and their treatment.
"Research on the suitability of analgesics and the medicalisation of women should take account of factors within this environment, as it entails a high cost in terms of women's health and increases pharmaceutical costs, an important consideration in the current climate of economic recession," Chilet concludes.
###
Reference:
Elisa Chilet-Rosell, M. Teresa Ruiz-Cantero, Jos Fernndez Sez, Carlos lvarez-Dardet. "Inequality in analgesic prescription in Spain. A gender development issue". Gac Sanit. 2013;27(2):135142
Contact:
Elisa Chilet Rosell
Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud
Universidad de Alicante
Telf: +34 965 90 9806 / 9679
Email: elisa.chilet@ua.es
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 21-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Press Office
info@agenciasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
Regardless of pain, social class or age, a woman is more likely to be prescribed pain-relieving drugs. A study published in Gaceta Sanitaria (Spanish health scientific journal) affirms that this phenomenon is influenced by socioeconomic inequality between genders in the Autonomous Community in which the patient resides.
In 1999, a researcher at the University of Harvard, Ishiro Kawachi, observed that in the states of the USA with a larger proportion of women with a high social class, mortality in both genders was lower.
Inspired by Kawachi's studies, experts at the University of Alicante have identified how social and economic inequalities between men and women known as gender-related development influence the prescription of analgesics by area of residence.
"In Spain, as well as in other countries, women suffer from pain more frequently than men, therefore it is logical that they are prescribed more analgesics," Elisa Chilet Rossell, main author of the study recently published in the Gaceta Sanitaria, explains to SINC.
However, this analysis goes one step further and affirms that, regardless of pain, social class and age, being a woman increases the probability of being prescribed analgesics. "It also depends on whether the patient lives in an Autonomous Community with lower gender development, regardless of whether the patient is male or female," Chilet notes.
For this research, the authors used as their main source of information the 2006 Spanish National Health Survey and the United Nations' Gender-related Development Index (GDI), which distinguishes between the development indices of men and women according to life expectancy at birth, education and income.
With this information, they performed a logistic regression analysis to compare the prescription of analgesics by sex in the areas with higher and lower GDIs than the Spanish national average. The results confirmed a gender gap of 29% in the prescription of these medicines.
"The gender bias found could be a way in which inequalities in treatment with analgesics negatively affects women's health," the researcher highlights. "In this way, women receive treatment for symptomatic pain more frequently than men, treatment which can be unspecific and blind to the causes of the pain."
Women are less often seen by specialists
The authors also found that women who suffer pain and live in a context of lower gender-related development are less likely than men to be seen by specialists and tend to be seen only in primary care.
For these experts, by considering GDI this research contributes a new layer of context to the analysis of inequalities in the prescription of analgesics, and demonstrates that political and economic factors in society influence health problems and their treatment.
"Research on the suitability of analgesics and the medicalisation of women should take account of factors within this environment, as it entails a high cost in terms of women's health and increases pharmaceutical costs, an important consideration in the current climate of economic recession," Chilet concludes.
###
Reference:
Elisa Chilet-Rosell, M. Teresa Ruiz-Cantero, Jos Fernndez Sez, Carlos lvarez-Dardet. "Inequality in analgesic prescription in Spain. A gender development issue". Gac Sanit. 2013;27(2):135142
Contact:
Elisa Chilet Rosell
Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud
Universidad de Alicante
Telf: +34 965 90 9806 / 9679
Email: elisa.chilet@ua.es
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/f-sf-dpm052113.php
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
On Writing Well: Four Suggestions ? Justin Taylor
1. Read Slowly.
Joseph Epstein:
Most people ask three questions of what they read:
(1) What is being said?
(2) Does it interest me?
(3) Is it well constructed?
Writers also ask these questions, but two others along with them:
(4) How did the author achieve the effects he has? And
(5) What can I steal, properly camouflaged of course, from the best of what I am reading for my own writing?
This can slow things down a good bit.
2. Read a Lot.
Stephen King:
If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There?s no way around these two things that I?m aware of, no shortcut. . . .
It?s hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written, but I know it?s true. If I had a nickel for every person who ever told me he/she wanted to become a writer but didn?t have time to read, I could buy myself a pretty good steak dinner. Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don?t have time to read, you don?t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.
3. Write to Think.
Some people won?t write until they first know what they think about a subject. But good writers write in order to find out what they think. Here are a few examples:
Calvin, citing Augustine: ?I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write.?
Ed Welch: ?I find that there are three levels of clarity. When I only think about something, my thoughts are embryonic and muddled. When I speak about it, my thoughts become clearer, though not always. When I write about it, I jump to a new level of clarity.?
John Piper: ?Writing became the lever of my thinking and the outlet of my feelings. If I didn?t pull the lever, the wheel of thinking did not turn. It jerked and squeaked and halted. But once a pen was in hand, or a keyboard, the fog began to clear and the wheel of thought began to spin with clarity and insight.?
Arthur Krystal: ?Like most writers, I seem to be smarter in print than in person. In fact, I am smarter when I?m writing. I don?t claim this merely because there is usually no one around to observe the false starts and groan-inducing sentences that make a mockery of my presumed intelligence, but because when the work is going well, I?m expressing opinions that I?ve never uttered in conversation and that otherwise might never occur to me. Nor am I the first to have this thought, which, naturally, occurred to me while composing. According to Edgar Allan Poe, writing in?Graham?s Magazine, ?Some Frenchman?possibly Montaigne?says: ?People talk about thinking, but for my part I never think except when I sit down to write.? I can?t find these words in my copy of Montaigne, but I agree with the thought, whoever might have formed it. And it?s not because writing helps me to organize my ideas or reveals how I feel about something, but because it actually creates thought or, at least supplies a Petri dish for its genesis.?
4. Write and Rewrite.
?Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.? ? Roald Dahl
?Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.? ? Raymond Chandler
?If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.? ? Elmore Leonard,?Newsweek, 1985
?I have rewritten ? often several times ? every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.? ? Vladimir Nabokov,?Speak, Memory, 1966
?Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn?t work, throw it away. It?s a nice feeling, and you don?t want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.? ? Helen Dunmore
?Don?t look back until you?ve written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in the edit.? ? Will Self
Copyright ? 2013 by the author listed above. Used by permission.
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Microsoft's new Xbox tipped to conquer cloud streaming - TechRadar
Microsoft's next Xbox console is poised to go toe-to-toe with Sony's PlayStation 4, and a new report out over the weekend claimed that cloud streaming will be one of the major battlefields between the two systems.
The new Xbox console will feature significant cloud streaming capabilities, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The console, codenamed "Durango," will be able to stream gameplay from Microsoft data centers and send players' button presses right back, effectively streaming games over the internet, similar to what game streaming services like OnLive and Gaikai (last year purchased by Sony) do.
This functionality could allow the new Xbox to play older Xbox 360 games without having to include extra hardware bells and whistles, providing backward compatibility without extra cost.
One day left
The WSJ described new Xbox prototypes with game streaming capabilities that are in development at Microsoft, according to the always reliable "people familiar with the matter."
Microsoft has reportedly been cautious about jumping head-first into game streaming like Sony has, but the new Xbox console will indeed boast it as a feature, those sources said.
The ability to play older Xbox games on the next Xbox will surely be a boon for fans of Microsoft's game consoles, though it remains to be seen exactly how or if such a feature could be implemented.
Of course, we'll know for sure tomorrow when the new Xbox is revealed.
Looking backward
Sony's PS4 will use Gaikai's technology in a variety of ways, and the company hinted when it announced the new console in February that it will eventually be able to play older games via streaming.
Recent consoles, including certain hardware versions of Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3, have featured spotty backward compatibility or lacked it entirely, which has rankled some fans.
But these consoles have proved that a lack of backward compatibility is by no means a hindrance to success in the console hardware market.
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Telefonica, Vodafone hit by defections in tight Spanish market
MADRID (Reuters) - More than half a million Spaniards switched mobile phone operator in March to take advantage of the cheap deals on offer from competitors, with the market's main players Telefonica and Vodafone the biggest losers.
In the first three months of the year more than 1.8 million consumers moved to another mobile company, data from telecoms regulator CMT showed on Tuesday.
Orange, Yoigo and virtual networks, which rent capacity from established players, have stolen a march on the market leaders by appealing to consumers in search of savings as recession in Spain drags on and unemployment reaches 27 percent. The data showed 581,860 customers switched provider in March, the second-highest number of record.
Incumbent Telefonica's market share fell to 35.6 percent in March from 38.6 percent a year before, while Vodafone's shrank to 25.7 percent from 28.6 percent. Virtual operators now account for over 10 percent of the market, compared to 7 percent a year ago.
Vodafone, the world's second biggest operator, has taken total writedowns for Spain and Italy of 7.7 billion pounds ($11.7 billion) this year owing to tough conditions in the recession-hit markets.
Fixed line specialists like Jazztel have also won market share with conversion offers that include virtual mobile services.
CMT said the total net number of mobile lines in the country fell by 312,674 in March, with Vodafone shedding 297,870 connections and Telefonica dropping 247,570 connections.
There was better news for Telefonica in broadband, where it attracted 11,490 new clients. Cable operators lost just over 2,000 customers and other providers gained 33,890 new clients.
(Reporting by Clare Kane; editing by Patrick Graham)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/telefonica-vodafone-hit-defections-tight-spanish-market-094805051.html
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WordPress founder claims 72,000 posts defected from Tumblr after Yahoo acquisition news
WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg has spoken out in an attempt to capitalize on Yahoo's rumored $1.1 billion acquisition of rival blogging service Tumblr. He claims that once the news broke on Sunday, blog post transfers from Tumblr to his own site rose from 400 to 600 per hour to over 72,000 -- which presumably included users put off by Yahoo's track record of shutting down its acquisitions (like Del.icio.us, Geocities and Broadcast.com). If that figure is true, then Marissa Mayer's probably going to have to answer some rather awkward questions in a few hours.
Filed under: Internet
Via: AllThingsD
Source: Matt Mullenweg
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/yQqwNN6rZRE/
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Monday, May 20, 2013
Google Believes Web Components Are The Future Of Web Development
While it was missing the skydiving antics of last year’s event, Google’s I/O keynote last week wasn’t short on product launches. In between the splashy updates to Google Maps, Search, Android and everything else Google announced, the company also briefly talked about Web Components for a few minutes. While Google’s Sundar Pichai noted that it’s still early days for this technology, he also said he believes that “the vision for it is clear” and that it will allow developers to build “elegant user interfaces that work across all form factors.” Web Components are clearly a topic that’s close to the heart of a number of Chrome developers. Many of them, for example, cited it as one of the Chrome features they are most excited about at a fireside chat later in the week. A number of Google engineers are also working on Project Polymer, which aims to write a web application framework that’s built upon the idea of Web Components and will allow developers to use the ideas behind Web Components on browsers that don’t even feature all of the necessary technologies yet. The fact that it made an appearance during the keynote, right next to WebGL and other more established web development techniques, makes it pretty obvious that this is a technology that Google believes has the potential to change how developers write web apps going forward. So what is this all about? Essentially, Web Components give developers an easier way to create web sites and recyclable widgets on these sites with the help of the HTML, CSS and JavaScript they already know. The ideas behind Web Components have been around for a while (and a few years back, Microsoft backed a similar initiative that never got any traction), but even today, this is still a topic that’s pretty foreign to most. Building large, single-page web apps with a smart component models isn’t easy today. Web Components help developer encapsulate they HTML, CSS and JavaScript so it doesn’t interfere with the rest of the page and the page doesn’t interfere with it. It’s worth noting that, for the time being, developers can’t rely on this to work in all browsers. Chrome Canary includes support for Web Components, but it’s hidden behind a number of flags. Mozilla will likely start adding support for it in Firefox soon, too. Most importantly, though, the Polymer project aims to bring the concept toSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/eRTaIsIzw7M/
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Official: 2nd person killed by Oklahoma tornado
The battle between BlackBerry and Microsoft for the No.3 spot in the smartphone platform war is showing no signs of slowing, but a new contender will soon come to market to challenge these struggling giants. Jolla, whose CEO spoke with us nearly a year ago about the company?s efforts, has unveiled its first smartphone. Named simply ?Jolla,? the handset will feature a 4.5-inch HD display, a dual-core processor, 4G LTE, 16GB of internal storage, microSD support, an 8-megapixel camera, Android app support and the Sailfish mobile operating system. Most impressively of all, perhaps, is the price tag: just??399 before taxes and subsidies. Jolla says it hopes to begin shipping the phone by the end of 2013, and a video of
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/official-2nd-person-killed-oklahoma-tornado-151457087.html
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Someone Animated Patton Oswalt's Epic Star Wars/Avengers Mashup Rant
Not too long ago, Patton Oswalt riffed on his idea for a great plot for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII film on Parks and Recreation. Now, it's got a whole bunch of..."digital effects" that turn it into the film we all deserve. It's alright JJ, we've got this one on lock. But thanks for throwing your hat in the ring! [iZacLess via Patton Oswalt]
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Streetlight Manifesto: Ungrateful
Streetlight Manifesto's new record, The Hands That Thieve, is an instant classic in the ever-shrinking world of really stellar ska music simply by virtue of being a Streetlight Manifesto album. But what "Ungrateful" brings to the table is something a little subtler; it's a great Catch 22 song.
"Ungrateful" harkens back to the spring of 1998 with a sort of alarming intensity. Its earnestly self-defeated lyrics contrasted against an utterly triumphant melody?mandatory shout-chorus included?check off all the most important of boxes on the ska-checklist. It's a delightfully pared-down ditty on an album otherwise filled with more characteristically (and characteristically awesome) Streetlight songs.
But basically what I am trying to say here is that this is a good song; listen to it. And if you're a fan, the rest of the album is fantastically catchy too. Check it out and you'll be glad you did. [Spotify, Amazon, iTunes]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/streetlight-manifesto-ungrateful-508392749
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Sunday, May 19, 2013
Pacers not saying whether Hill to play vs. Knicks
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Point guard George Hill will be a game-time decision as the Pacers try to close out the Knicks.
After Indiana's shootaround Saturday morning, coach Frank Vogel did not say whether Hill had passed his concussion tests. Hill must do so before returning to action. Vogel says he is preparing to be without Hill for Game 6 on Saturday night.
Hill missed Game 5 after complaining of headaches. Trainers later diagnosed him with a concussion, holding him out of a game the Pacers lost 85-75. They still lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals 3-2 and play at home Saturday. The Pacers are 5-0 in home playoff games this season, winning each by at least 11 points.
The Pacers started D.J. Augustin in Hill's spot Thursday night.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pacers-not-saying-whether-hill-play-vs-knicks-163237324.html
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Orb favored to take Preakness, set up Triple try
Exercise rider Jennifer Patterson gallops Preakness Stakes favorite and Kentucky Derby winner Orb at Pimlico Race Course Friday, May 17, 2013 in Baltimore. The Preakness Stakes horse race is scheduled for Saturday. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
Exercise rider Jennifer Patterson gallops Preakness Stakes favorite and Kentucky Derby winner Orb at Pimlico Race Course Friday, May 17, 2013 in Baltimore. The Preakness Stakes horse race is scheduled for Saturday. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
Oxbow, with an exercise rider aboard, gallops at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Friday, May 17, 2013. The Preakness Stakes horse race is scheduled to take place May 18. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Kentucky Derby winner Orb, right, with exercise rider Jennifer Patterson aboard, is escorted onto the track by Anna Martinovsky at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Friday, May 17, 2013. The Preakness Stakes horse race is scheduled to take place May 18. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A groom washes Kentucky Derby winner Orb after a workout at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Friday, May 17, 2013. The Preakness Stakes horse race is scheduled to take place May 18. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Hall of Fame trainer BobBaffert looks for his Preakness Stakes entrant Governor Charlie during a morning workout at Pimlico Race Course Friday, May 17, 2013 in Baltimore. The Preakness Stakes horse race is scheduled for Saturday. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
BALTIMORE (AP) ? Everything's a go for Orb.
The Kentucky Derby winner was in a playful mood the day before the Preakness, making faces for photographers between nibbles of grass outside his stall at Pimlico Race Course.
"He's really settled in well. He seems to be energetic about what he's doing so I couldn't be more pleased," trainer Shug McGaughey said on a warm and sunny Friday morning. "We're excited about giving him a whirl to see if we can get it done and go on to the next step."
Getting it done would mean defeating eight rivals in the 1 3-16-mile Preakness to set up a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes three weeks from Saturday. Orb is the even-money favorite, and there's a growing feeling that this 3-year-old bay colt may be special enough to give thoroughbred racing its first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed in 1978.
"We'd sure love to have that opportunity," said McGaughey, seeming relaxed and confident. "Probably the racing world would love to see it, too. It brings a lot more attention to what we're doing from all standpoints."
Orb extended his winning streak to five with a thrilling victory in the Derby two weeks ago, when jockey Joel Rosario patiently guided the colt from 17th to first in the final half mile over a sloppy track.
In the Preakness, Orb will break from the No. 1 post, a spot that has seen only one winner ? Tabasco Cat in 1994 ? since 1961.
"Who knows how this race is going to go, but I don't think it will be a problem," Rosario said of the inside post. "He's a horse that comes from behind, so I really don't think it will affect him. I'm just excited to go into this with a horse who has a chance to win."
A chance?
While rival trainers aren't conceding the race, most agree Orb is the best of the bunch.
"Orb, he's a freak. Right now, everybody should be rooting for Orb, except for the connections of the other horses in the race," trainer Bob Baffert said ? and he's got a horse in the race, 12-1 choice Govenor Charlie. "Anybody who's not rooting for Orb, there's something mentally wrong with them."
Baffert has been there before. Three of his five Preakness winners had also won the Derby, but were unable to complete the Triple Crown with a win in the Belmont. He says the Preakness is the least stressful of the three races.
"There is absolutely no pressure, believe it or not because you've just won the Derby," he said. "You're flying high and everybody's excited. You don't think about it. The next one (the Belmont) is the pressure."
Getting to the next one may sound easy. It isn't. Six of the past eight Derby winners did not win the Preakness, and McGaughey is well aware of the pitfalls.
"There are a lot of ways you can lose. Freaky things can happen," he said. "You hope he doesn't get in any trouble, you hope he handles the track, you hope he handles the kickback of the dirt, you hope he handles the day. If he does all that, I would have to think it will take a pretty darn good horse to beat him."
Maybe it's Goldencents, who did not take to the slop at Churchill Downs and finished 17th after winning the Santa Anita Derby in April.
"Orb's not like a one-race hit. All year long he's been super impressive," said Goldencents trainer Doug O'Neill, who won the Derby and Preakness last year with I'll Have Another, only to scratch the colt the day before the Belmont because of a tendon injury. "But we've seen Goldencents do some brilliant things in the afternoon. If he does, I think he can beat him."
Maybe it's Itsmyluckyday, another top 3-year-old who did not handle the sloppy track and finished 15th in the Derby.
"He's given me every sign that he's ready for the war; he's ready for the race; he's ready for the battle," trainer Eddie Plesa Jr., said. "Let's just get it on."
Or maybe it's Departing, one of the three horses in the race who did not run in the Derby. Orb knows Departing well ? the two were pals growing up at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., and ran around together in the same field. The gelding has won four of five starts, and comes into the Preakness off a win in the Illinois Derby.
And, of course, there's D. Wayne Lukas, who has three of the nine entries in Oxbow, Will Take Charge and Titletown Five, a colt owned by Green Bay Packer greats Paul Hornung and Willie Davis. Lukas, like Baffert, has five Preakness wins, and his next victory in a Triple Crown race would give him a record 14 ? one more than "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons.
Oxbow was sixth and Will Take Charge eighth in the Derby, while Titletown Five is a maiden winner who ran fourth in the Derby Trial.
"You have to be careful about that much emphasis on one race," Lukas said of Orb's Derby win. "You change the surface, you shorten the race, you put him in the one hole. These are things he'll have to overcome. He's the best horse. It's his race to lose. But it only takes one horse to spoil your day."
Weather could be a factor, too. The latest forecast for Saturday is calling for a 50 percent chance of rain with temperatures reaching the low 70s. Post time for the race on NBC is 6:20 p.m.
While Orb will take his shot at becoming the 34th horse with a chance at the Triple Crown ? 11 have done it, 19 failed and three others did not run in the Belmont ? several other historic milestones are in play. Rosie Napravnik will be aboard 5-1 second choice Mylute in an attempt to become the first female to the win the Preakness and Kevin Krigger, who rides Goldencents, looks to become the first black jockey to win since Willie Simms with Sly Fox in 1898.
Orb's rapid rise began with his win in the Fountain of Youth, followed by a solid victory in the Florida Derby before he ran off with the Kentucky Derby. The colt is co-owned by racing royalty ? Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps and his first cousin, Marylander Stuart Janney III. They run their racing operation the traditional way ? breeding and racing their own horses rather than attending sales and trying to buy champions.
McGaughey has been the Phipps' trainer for 28 years, and has campaigned such champions as Easy Goer, Inside Information and the undefeated Personal Ensign.
"This has kind of shown that with Stuart Janney's relationship with breeding that it can be done in a different way," McGaughey said. "There's a long line of pedigree that's been in their family for years and years and years and there's a lot of thought process in breeding horses to mares ? whether right or wrong. And we might have gotten a little lucky this time."
___
Follow Richard Rosenblatt on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/rosenblattap
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Saturday, May 18, 2013
Google's wearable Glass gadget: cool or creepy?
By Alexei Oreskovic
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google staged four discussions expounding on the finer points of its "Glass" wearable computer during this week's developer conference. Missing from the agenda, however, was a session on etiquette when using the recording-capable gadget, which some attendees faithfully wore everywhere - including to the crowded bathrooms.
Google Glass, a cross between a mobile computer and eyeglasses that can both record video and surf the Internet, is now available to a select few but is already among the year's most buzz-worthy new gadgets. The device has geeks all aflutter but is unnerving everyone from lawmakers to casino operators worried about the potential for hitherto unimagined privacy and policy violations.
"I had a friend and we're sitting at dinner and about 30 minutes into it she said, 'You know those things freak me out,'" said Allen Firstenberg, a technology consultant at the Google developers conference. He has been wearing Glass for about a week but offered to take them off for the comfort of his dinner companion.
On another occasion, Firstenberg admitted to walking into a bathroom wearing his Glass without realizing it.
"Most of the day I totally forget it's there," he said.
Many believe wearable computers represent the next big shift in technology, just as smartphones evolved from personal computers. Apple and Samsung are said to be working on other forms of wearable technology.
The test version of Glass looks like a clear pair of eyeglasses with a hefty slab along the right side. Since it began shipping to a couple thousand carefully selected early adopters who paid about $1,500 for the device, it has inspired a bit of ridicule - from a parody on "Saturday Night Live" to a popular blog poking fun at its users.
Other industry experts take a more serious tack, pointing out the potential for misuse because Glass can record video far less conspicuously than a handheld device.
Glass also has won many fans. Google and some early users maintain that privacy fears are overblown. As with traditional video cameras, a tiny light blinks on to let people know when it is recording.
Several Glass wearers at the developers conference said they whip the device off in inappropriate situations, such as in gym locker rooms or work meetings. Michael Evans, a Web developer from Washington, D.C., attending the Google conference, said he removed his Glass when he went to the movies, even though the device would be ill-suited for recording a feature-length film.
"I just figured I don't want to be the first guy kicked out of the movies," he said.
NO GLASS ALLOWED
A stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on the left side of a pair of eyeglass frames, Glass can record video, access email, provide turn-by-turn driving directions and retrieve info from the Web by connecting wirelessly to a user's cell phone.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt dismissed concerns about the brave new world of wearable computers during a talk at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in April.
"Criticisms are inevitably from people who are afraid of change or who have not figured out that there will be an adaptation of society to it," he said.
Schmidt acknowledged that there are certain places where Glass will not be appropriate but that he believed new rules of social etiquette will coalesce over time. Firstenberg said it will take time for all sides to get comfortable with the new technology.
"I don't think we should go into the conversation assuming that Glass is bad," he said.
Indeed, previous technology innovations such as mobile phones and wireless headsets that initially raised concerns are now subject to tacit rules of etiquette, such as not talking loudly on the bus and turning a ringer off in a meeting.
Still, some have decided to leave nothing to chance.
Casino operator Caesar's Entertainment recently announced that Glass is not permitted while gambling or when in showrooms, though guests can wear it in other areas. In March, Seattle's Five Point Cafe made headlines for becoming the first bar to ban Glass. "Respect our customers privacy as we'd expect them to respect yours," says a statement on the caf?'s website.
The California Highway Patrol says there is no law that explicitly forbids a driver from wearing Glass while driving in the state. But according to Officer Elon Steers, if a driver appears to be distracted as a result of the device, an officer can take enforcement action.
PRIVACY TRACK RECORD
Lawmakers are beginning to consider Glass.
On Thursday, eight members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to Google Chief Executive Larry Page, asking for details about how Glass handles various privacy issues, including whether it is capable of facial recognition.
According to Google, there are no facial recognition technologies built into the device and it has no plans to do so "unless we have strong privacy protections in place."
During one of this week's conference sessions - an open discussion about Glass - members of the Glass team answered a question about privacy by noting that social implications and etiquette have been a big area of focus during the development of the product, which is still a test version.
Some of the Glass-phobia may stem from Google's own track record on privacy. In 2010, Google revealed that its fleet of Street View cars, which criss-cross the globe taking panoramic photos for the Google Maps product, also had captured personal information such as emails and web pages that were transmitted over unencrypted home wireless networks.
"The fact that it's Google offering the service, as opposed to say Brookstone, raises privacy issues," said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a non-profit privacy advocacy group, citing Google's history and its scale in Internet advertising.
Rotenberg says his main concern centers on the stream of data collected by the devices - everything from audio and video to a user's location data - going to Google's data centers.
Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who specializes in privacy and technology, said Glass is not very different from other technologies available today, whether it is a smartphone or "spy" pens that secretly record audio. But Glass is on people's faces, so it feels different.
"The face is a really intimate place and to have a piece of technology on it is unsettling," Calo said. "Much as a drone is unsettling because we have some ideas of war."
For all the hand-wringing, some early adopters are sold.
Ryan Warner, who recently graduated from college and who has developed a recipe app for Glass with Evans, said he was surprised by the reaction he got when he went to a bar.
"I was like, ?I don't know if I should have it on or not.' I was kind of in that phase," he said, "and the bouncer was like, ?Oh, my god, is that Google Glass?' He was excited."
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic, with additional reporting by Susan Zeidler in Los Angeles and Aaron Pressman in Boston; Editing by Bill Trott)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/googles-wearable-glass-gadget-cool-creepy-140848988.html
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College student, masked gunman die in New York break-in
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) ? A Hofstra University junior sharing an off-campus house with her twin sister and several other college students was shot and killed during an early morning break-in Friday that also left the armed intruder dead, police said.
The shooting at a private house only steps from the Long Island campus cast a pall over the university community gearing up for commencement ceremonies this weekend. Hofstra's president said in a statement that the ceremonies would go on as scheduled.
It wasn't clear who fired the fatal shots or how many rounds were fired, but authorities said police were involved in the shooting, which happened about 2:30 a.m. A weapon was found inside the house, police said.
Nassau County police and Hofstra University identified the slain student as Andrea Rebello, 21, of Tarrytown, N.Y. Her sister, Jessica, was also in the house at the time of the break-in but was not injured, police said. The gunman was not immediately identified.
"Today is the last day of finals and this should be a happy day on campus; but it's not," said Hofstra freshman Scott Aharoni of Great Neck, as he passed through the area rife with yellow crime-scene tape early Friday morning. "It's really sad."
The two sisters, another woman and another man were inside the two-story rental house when the gunman, wearing a ski mask, forced his way in, according to Nassau County Inspector Kenneth Lack. The intruder allowed the third unidentified woman to leave, and she called 911. Police provided no other details on the man who was in the house at the time of the break-in, except to say he was not injured.
A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that the woman called 911 from near an ATM. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Victoria Dehel, who lives four houses away, said she heard what sounded like fighting. At first she ignored it, figuring it was from rowdy students coming home from a bar.
Suddenly, "This girl was shrieking," followed by loud bangs just seconds later.
"It didn't sound good at all," Dehel said. "I turned to my boyfriend and I said, 'I think someone just got murdered.' It was awful."
The university sent a text alert to notify students and staff.
"While our hearts are laden with grief, this weekend's commencement ceremonies will go on as scheduled," Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz said in a statement. "The accomplishments of our graduates must be recognized, and together our community will heal and find the strength to move forward."
Andrea Rebello and her sister were 2010 graduates of Sleepy Hollow High School, according to principal Carol Conklin-Spillane. Andrea was a public relations major at Hofstra.
"They were smart happy beautiful young women," Conklin-Spillane said. "I speak about them together because they were very much a matched pair. They were best friends by choice."
Andrea Rebello quoted Benjamin Franklin and Bob Marley in a yearbook photo from the school.
"Believe some of what you hear and only half of what you see" was attributed to the founding father and "Love the life you live, live the life you love" was the citation for the reggae legend.
No one came to the door when a news reporter went to the Rebello home in Tarrytown, a well-kept ranch home where a police car was parked out front.
Neighbor Jane Phelan said the twins' mother recently told her the sisters had moved out of a dormitory and into an off-campus house.
"It must be very hard on the parents and particularly on the surviving twin," her husband, Jack Phelan said.
___
Associated Press Writer Jim Fitzgerald in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/college-student-intruder-killed-ny-break-190709800.html
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Pelosi: GOP using IRS, Benghazi and DOJ issues as ?evasion? tactic
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of using the alleged scandals involving the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice and the State Department as an "evasion" from passing bills she said would increase job growth.
Over the past few weeks, the IRS admitted to targeting conservative groups applying for nonprofit status and the Department of Justice seized AP journalists' phone records. Earlier this week, the White House provided more details about the Obama administration's initial response to last year's attack on an American compound in Benghazi, Libya.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pelosi called the IRS and DOJ issues "legitimate"?she condemned the IRS' practices outright?but suggested that Republicans were trying to exploit them for political gain.
"Any issue that comes up, they will try to exploit," Pelosi said. "And some of them are legitimate issues, but they should not dominate everything. And so, what I think is that they have used talking points on Benghazi, they will use the IRS, they will use the AP, they will use these as subterfuges, evasions, of what the American people want us to do here. They want us to create jobs.
"Now, if you're a party in Congress and you have no intention of creating jobs, you want to change the subject," she continued. "So I think this is as much about forcing their anti-government ideology of not a public role in the creation of jobs as well as undermine the president of the United States."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/pelosi-gop-using-irs-benghazi-doj-issues-evasion-173845377.html
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Soccer-Oceania club final showcases future of broadcasting
By Greg Stutchbury
WELLINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - The possible future of sports broadcasting will be further highlighted on Sunday when New Zealand's Auckland City and Waitakere United play the Oceania Champions League final, with the winner qualifying for the lucrative FIFA Club World Cup.
The match in Auckland, reduced to a winner-takes-all final after the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) streamlined the competition this year, will be broadcast not only on television but also live over the Internet on the OFC's YouTube channel.
"The coverage will be screened live in New Zealand ...while those living in other parts of the world will be able to watch live streaming of the match free of charge on the OFC Live YouTube channel," the OFC said in a statement on Friday.
Pacific Islands broadcasters would also carry the OFC feed on television, though New Zealand-based fans would be unable to access the YouTube feed.
Struggling to gain a foothold in the television market in rugby-mad New Zealand, OFC TV, a FIFA-backed project, came to public prominence about a year ago when the OFC were unable to reach agreement with a New Zealand-based broadcaster to cover the Oceania Nations Cup in the Solomon Islands.
Pacific Island broadcasters did show the tournament, while New Zealand fans were offered the opportunity to watch pay-per-view games on the OFC website.
The OFC broadcast two of this year's Champions League semi-finals over the Internet as they tested their technology and quality of feed.
OFC TV head Olivier Huc was unavailable for comment on Friday, though he told the New Zealand Herald newspaper earlier this month that the Champions League coverage was a precursor to the full launch of the OFC YouTube channel in July.
Despite the novel way of broadcasting the match, both teams have focussed on clinching the title which carries a lucrative $500,000 payday and qualification for the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco in December.
It is the first time that teams from the same country have contested the final.
Ramon Tribulietx's Auckland City will be seeking an Oceania record third successive trip to the FIFA tournament, which involves club champions from all six confederations.
The amateur side shocked world soccer when they made the quarter-finals of the tournament in 2009 and were competitive in their only match last year in Japan.
"Records and milestones are not really part of any talks we have within the squad - our focus is firmly on what we have to do as a team to get the right result," Tribulietx told the OFC website (www.oceaniafootball.com).
"We are convinced that we can win and will prepare to do the things we consider to be important in this game." (Editing by Patrick Johnston)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soccer-oceania-club-final-showcases-future-broadcasting-062953156.html
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Friday, May 17, 2013
As Europe struggles, the Franco-German alliance turns testy
The relationship between France and Germany undergirds postwar Europe ? and some worry the countries' increased sniping over economic woes is threatening the EU's foundation.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel chats with France's President Francois Hollande (r.) at the European Union leaders' March summit in Brussels. The Franco-German alliance, a cornerstone of the EU, has been under increasing strain as the two nations struggle to deal with Europe's debt crisis.
Laurent Dubrule/Reuters/File
EnlargePhotoshopped images of German Chancellor Angela Merkel dressed in Nazi uniform have become a common sight at angry protests across Europe, especially in southern countries that disagree with her budget-cutting prescription to lead the Continent out of its debt crisis.
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But it is a far less provocative message of European discontent, coming from the ruling party of France, that has some more worried.
In a recent draft document, French Socialist politicians blamed Ms. Merkel?s ?selfish intransigence,? and dubbed her the ?chancellor of austerity,? with some even publicly picking a fight with the German leader. In doing so, they are putting to the test one of the cornerstones of the European Union: the Franco-German alliance.
The relationship between the two powers has always been fraught due to their profoundly different political systems and cultures. And today the cohesion of the 27-member EU is founded on much more than just the relationship between the two biggest economies of the eurozone.
But at a time of deep crisis, when the EU is faced with widespread distrust and European nations are considering whether they would be better off without it, the deteriorating tone between France and Germany lends to the sense of precariousness across the Continent.
?The issue of solidarity at the European level? has been an increasing worry as ?little by little, divisions have appeared between member states,? says Elvire Fabry, a senior research fellow at Notre Europe ? Jacques Delors Institute in Paris. The growing perception that some European politics should be renationalized is troubling, she says.
?There is the feeling that all that has been built is more fragile, especially when the essential axis between France and Germany, which is considered sacred, can be eroded so easily.?
'A coach and horses'
The origins of the EU lie in the French and German relationship, after the two countries agreed to pool coal and steel production and invited other countries to join along. The European Coal and Steel Community was not just economic but political: by pooling the most important raw materials of both countries, the prospect of war sharply diminished.
It was considered such a key moment that the day the proposal was made, on May 9, 1950, is celebrated today as Europe Day.
Relations deepened after the Elysee Treaty of 1963 was signed by then-German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Gen. Charles de Gaulle, who famously said Europe was "a coach and horses, with Germany the horse and France the coachman.?
That solidarity, which is celebrated this year at the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Elysee treaty, has always been tested. France is statist, Germany is federalist. The so-called ?French way of life? ? such as the 35-hour work week ? irks Germans, who are more prone to save. France wants a much greater role for itself on the world stage. Even at the most basic level, French President Fran?ois Hollande and Merkel have vastly different political sensibilities.
A testier relationship
But deeper fissures have appeared over this year, as France has lost its competitiveness and Germany has powered forward, giving Germany a leading voice in EU affairs ? and leaving a smaller voice for France.
A decade ago, Germany overhauled its labor and welfare systems, and today its export-driven economy is the most powerful in Europe, while France?s economy has stagnated and entered a recession ? its second in four years ? in early 2013. Germany?s unemployment rate stands at more than 6 percent, compared with over 10 percent in France.
"France has been pushed into second rank. That is difficult for France, but it is also difficult for Germany,? says Guntram Wolff, a German economist and the acting director of the Brussels think tank Bruegel. ?Germany needs to work closely with France or the whole project cannot work. Germany wants a strong France.?
He says relations are not necessarily at a crisis point, but there has been a definite ?deterioration in tone.?
In France, Germany is painted as power-hungry, wanting to dominate over European affairs. The speaker of the French parliament, Claude Bartolone, asked for a ?confrontation? with Germany. Arnaud Montebourg, the industry minister, said France should ?start a fight? with the EU.
Germans have increasingly chastised France for not doing enough to reform its labor market and boost productivity, warning it could join the list of failed economies of the south.
Germany?s frigid relations with Hollande stand in sharp contrast to those of his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was so aligned with Merkel that the two earned the moniker ?Merkozy.? That might have put the two biggest eurozone economies on the same page at the beginning of the crisis, but they were also accused of shutting out the rest of Europe.
High stakes
In some ways, the current skirmish is a positive sign, says Ulrike Gu?rot of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. ?That France and Germany are in dispute is more comforting,? says Ms. Gu?rot, as it follows a long tradition of providing ?compromise for Europe by dispute.?
But on the other hand, she says, other tense historical moments, such as the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in the early 1990s, for example, which led to the creation of the euro, have not been as troubling as now ? simply because the stakes are higher.
?Citizens are getting confused and frustrated, wondering if this will ever end,? says Gu?rot. If relations deteriorate, it will be harder to find the political will to reach solutions needed to solve the crisis. That has repercussions for all of Europe.
?[Brussels] is not a power center. The power centers are in Berlin and Paris. If they don?t agree, Brussels gets paralyzed,? Wolff says.
It?s also symbolically disconcerting for the identity of Europe. Hugo Brady, senior research fellow and Brussels representative for the Center for European Reform, says that the breakdown is one of the biggest challenges the union faces today.
"If there isn't a France-German alliance, it?s the end of the Europe we?ve known for 50 years.?
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