Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295672136?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Cliff(y) Goes Dining: SIN: Box n Sticks
Tiramisu with Japanese whisky!
A friend of mine, a small eater, decided to order just a main course. We've heard people saying that the cream pasta with a poached egg, bacon bits and seaweed is good, but I felt that it wasn't truly creamy. I've ?had better elsewhere, for example in The Spaghetti House. Having said that, the egg was poached perfectly.
We often hear that the Japanese are nice people. Well, it seems that the owners of the restaurant strives to be like the Japanese haha... It's written on the window of the restaurant: "We are nice people. No GST. No service charge." Anyway, I went there for the weekday Lunch Promotion (11.30am - 4.00pm). By topping up S$3.80?with any order of a main course, you'll get two side dishes and a drink to complete your meal.
Hiyayakko?(Set Menu)
Taste:?7.5/10
The first side dish that came to the table was the cold, smooth tofu in soy sauce broth, topped with katsuoboshi (Japanese dried bonito flakes) and fried garlic bits. While it was refreshing and definitely a healthier choice, I found that the broth was a tad too salty for my liking.
Chawanmushi?(Set Menu)
In contrast to the cold tofu, the other side dish chosen was the piping hot egg custard with shiitake mushrooms, crab sticks. The egg was smooth and appetising, and the mushrooms were pretty juicy. Too bad there weren't any, say, chicken meat inside that would otherwise make it more savoury.
Curry Katsu Don?S$9.80
Taste:?7/10
For the main course, I chose the pork cutlet with curry and rice. The curry had a bit of carrots and potatoes in it, and I was quite surprised that it was much spicier than most Japanese style curry I've eaten in Singapore. It was a pity that the pork cutlet wasn't that crispy, and they didn't use short-grain rice. Besides that, the miso (Japanese fermented rice, barley and/or soybeans)?soup was so-so.Carbonara?S$10.80
A friend of mine, a small eater, decided to order just a main course. We've heard people saying that the cream pasta with a poached egg, bacon bits and seaweed is good, but I felt that it wasn't truly creamy. I've ?had better elsewhere, for example in The Spaghetti House. Having said that, the egg was poached perfectly.
Koohii Tiramisu?S$5.80
Taste:?8.5/10
A cup of tiramisu wouldn't harm, would it? Homemade with what's claimed to be Japanese whisky as written in the menu, I truly enjoyed the wet, coffee-infused cake with quite a strong alcoholic taste. I'd definitely love to give a higher score for this one if they were to use a much creamier mascarpone cheese.Taste:?7.5/10
Ambience:?7.5/10
Service:?7.5/10
Overall:?7.5/10
Anyway, the drink that I had was cold Japanese green tea which was a bit diluted, but I better not complain since I kept asking for refill haha...?Pika's advice: Just for fun! They have their own way of saying that the consumption of outside food and/or drinks isn't allowed in the restaurant. Do look for the sign when you happen to dine there!
Box n Sticks
14 Aliwal Street
Singapore
(Mon-Thu: 11.30am - 11.00pm; Fri: 11.30am - 12.30am; Sat: 6.00pm - 12.30am)
*Prices quoted are nett prices.
Have a nice meal,
Cliff(y)Source: http://cliffy-goes-dining.blogspot.com/2013/03/sin-box-n-sticks.html
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Bank of Cyprus big savers to lose up to 60 percent
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Big depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 percent, far more than initially estimated under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said Saturday.
Deposits of more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) at the Bank of Cyprus will lose 37.5 percent in money that will be converted into bank shares, according to a central bank statement. In a second raid on these accounts, depositors also could lose up to 22.5 percent more, depending on what experts determine is needed to prop up the bank's reserves. The experts will have 90 days to figure that out.
The remaining 40 percent of big deposits at the Bank of Cyprus will be "temporarily frozen for liquidity reasons," but continue to accrue existing levels of interest plus another 10 percent, the central bank said.
The savings converted to bank shares would theoretically allow depositors to eventually recover their losses. But the shares now hold little value and it's uncertain when ? if ever ? the shares will regain a value equal to the depositors' losses.
Emergency laws passed last week empower Cypriot authorities to take these actions.
Analysts said Saturday that imposing bigger losses on Bank of Cyprus customers could further squeeze already crippled businesses as Cyprus tries to rebuild its banking sector in exchange for the international rescue package.
Sofronis Clerides, an economics professor at the University of Cyprus, said: "Most of the damage will be done to businesses which had their money in the bank" to pay suppliers and employees. "There's quite a difference between a 30 percent loss and a 60 percent loss." With businesses shrinking, Cyprus could be dragged down into an even deeper recession, he said.
Clerides accused some of the 17 European countries that use the euro of wanting to see the end of Cyprus as an international financial services center and to send the message that European taxpayers will no longer shoulder the burden of bailing out problem banks.
But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble challenged that notion, insisting in an interview with the Bild daily published Saturday that "Cyprus is and remains a special, isolated case" and doesn't point the way for future European rescue programs.
Europe has demanded that big depositors in Cyprus' two largest banks ? Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank ? accept across-the-board losses in order to pay for the nation's 16 billion euro ($20.5 billion) bailout. All deposits of up to 100,000 are safe, meaning that a saver with 500,000 euros in the bank will only suffer losses on the remaining 400,000 euros.
Cypriot officials had previously said that large savers at Laiki ? which will be absorbed in to the Bank of Cyprus ? could lose as much as 80 percent. But they had said large accounts at the Bank of Cyprus would lose only 30 to 40 percent.
Asked about Saturday's announcement, University of Cyprus political scientist Antonis Ellinas predicted that unemployment, currently at 15 percent, will "probably go through the roof" over the next few years.
"It means that (people) ... have to accept a major haircut to their way of life and their standard of living. The social impact is yet to be realized, but they will be enormous in terms of social unrest and radical social phenomenon," Ellinas said.
There's also concern that large depositors ? including many wealthy Russians ? will take their money and run once capital restrictions that Cypriot authorities have imposed on bank transactions to prevent such a possibility are lifted in about a month.
Cyprus agreed on Monday to make bank depositors with accounts over 100,000 euros contribute to the financial rescue in order to secure 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in loans from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. Cyprus needed to scrounge up 5.8 billion euros ($7.4 billion) on its own in order to clinch the larger package, and banks had remained shut for nearly two weeks until politicians hammered out a deal, opening again on Thursday.
But fearing that savers would rush to pull their money out in mass once banks reopened, Cypriot authorities imposed a raft of restrictions, including daily withdrawal limits of 300 euros ($384) for individuals and 5,000 euros for businesses ? the first so-called capital controls that any country has applied in the eurozone's 14-year history.
The rush didn't materialize as Cypriots appeared to take the measures in stride, lining up patiently to do their business and defying dire predictions of scenes of pandemonium.
Under the terms of the bailout deal, the country' second largest bank, Laiki ? which sustained the most damaged from bad Greek debt and loans ? is to be split up, with its nonperforming loans and toxic assets going into a "bad bank." The healthy side will be absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus.
On Saturday, economist Stelios Platis called the rescue plan "completely mistaken" and criticized Cyprus' euro partners for insisting on foisting Laiki's troubles on the Bank of Cyprus.
____
AP business correspondent Geir Moulson in Berlin and APTN reporter Adam Pemble in Nicosia contributed.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-cyprus-big-savers-lose-60-percent-135608668--finance.html
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That Stradivari violin is talking in Italian!
Radiological Society of America
The 1704 "Betts" Stradivari violin was crafted by Antonio Stradivari, an Italian manufacturer of string instruments. Of the estimated 1,000 violins originally crafted by Stradivari, about 650 still exist. New research suggests these instruments mimic the vowel sounds of the female soprano voice.
By Tia Ghose
LiveScience
Virtuosos who describe the singing voice of a violin may be on to something. The great violin makers, such as Stradivari and Guarneri, may have designed violins to mimic the human voice, new research suggests.
The research, described in the current issue of Savart Journal, found the violin produced several vowel sounds, including the Italian "i" and "e" sounds and several vowel sounds from French and English.
Study author Joseph Nagyvary, an emeritus biochemistry professor at Texas A&M University,?previously proved that the violin masters?Stradivari and Guarneri del Ges? had soaked their wood in brine and borax to fight a worm infestation that swept through Italy in the 1700s. Those chemicals treatments led to the unique sounds that violin makers have struggled to reproduce.
But he had also long argued that the great violin masters were making violins with more humanlike voices than any others of the time. [25 Amazing Facts from Science]
"It has been widely held that violins 'sing' with a female soprano voice," Nagyvary said in a statement.
To test that claim, Nagyvary recorded Metropolitan opera singer Emily Pulley singing a series of vowel sounds. He then compared those sounds with a 1987 recording of virtuoso Itzhak Perlman playing a scale on a 1743 Guarneri violin.
"I analyzed her sound samples by computer for harmonic content and then using state-of-the art phonetic analysis to obtain a 2-D map of the female soprano vowels. Each note of a musical scale on the violin underwent the same analysis, and the results were plotted and mapped against the soprano vowels," Nagyvary said in a statement.
The two "voices" could be mapped on the same scale, with the violin creating several English and French vowel sounds, as well as two Italian vowel sounds.
The findings suggest that makers of Guarneri and Stradivarius violins?of the 1700s were striving to imitate the human voice in their instruments. Guarneri violins now routinely sell for between $10 million and $20 million.
The new analysis could also provide a more objective way to rate violin quality.
"For 400 years, violin prices have been based almost exclusively on the reputation of the maker ? the label inside of the violin determined the price tag," Nagyvary said in a statement. "The sound quality rarely entered into price consideration, because it was deemed inaccessible. These findings could change how violins may be valued."
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter @tiaghose.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Lion kills heron: A stork reminder of big cats' wild nature
Lion kills heron: A video of four lions setting upon a blue heron at a Dutch zoo serves as a reminder of the King of the Jungle's wild instincts.
A group of four lions, like the one pictured at left, and a heron, like the one at right, had an encounter at an Amsterdam zoo that did not turn out well for the heron.
Lion: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP/File; Heron: Robert Harbison / The Christian Science Monitor
EnlargeA video of four lions preying upon a heron at a Dutch zoo, shot last year and reposted on YouTube Wednesday, reminds us that you can take the lion out of the wild, but you can't take the wild out of the lion.?
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This Dutch family was visiting the zoo on a quiet Sunday afternoon when things got a bit more exciting than seeing bored animals lying around their enclosures. A lion spots a heron near the water. Following her instincts she sneaks up on it and manages to grab it. The whole family wants in on the prize, but a sneaky cub gets away with it.In the video, a blue heron?at the Artis Royal Zoo wandered into a small pool while a group of four lions were basking in the sun, about 25 yards away. ?
As the the bird came into view of a lioness, instinct kicked in.?The lioness darted toward the bird, which desperately attempted to take flight but was pulled from the air with a leaping snatch.?The rest of her pride joined in to finish off the heron. ?
The footage of the killing has drawn thousands of views, because it's not often to see animals prey on one another at zoos. Experts said that, though the kings of the jungle are kept in captivity, cared and fed by humans, their original wildness remains untamed.?
Earlier this month, an African lion broke out of its pen and killed a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven sanctuary in California who was cleaning the main enclosure. According to CNN, the?5-year-old, 350-pound?killer was one of the victim's favorites.
Captive lions tend to act on their wild instincts whenever potential prey catches their eyes. A pair of videos titled "lion tries to eat baby" have attracted in total more than 7.6 millions views on YouTube since they were uploaded last April. The clips show an Oregon Zoo lioness snarling and baring her fangs in vain at a happily oblivious toddler protected by reinforced glass.
"Most of the time they seem relaxed and cuddly?so it's easy to forget that they react to meat with the reflexive instincts of a shark." Professor Craig Packer, a leading big cat expert at the University of Minnesota, noted in a recent interview with National Geographic News.?"Ten years ago Roy Horne (of Siegfried ?and Roy) was attacked by a tiger that they had handled for years?these attacks happen when people forget about the shark inside."
Early this month, The Monitor's Gloria Goodale interviewed Zara McDonald, executive director of the Bay Area Felidae?Conservation Fund?regarding the death of the Seattle woman.?
?Cats are predators,? said McDonald.?"I don?t care how tame anyone thinks one might be, they are always a wild animal with the ability to hurt humans.?
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Friday, March 29, 2013
US Navy to fund development of vehicle-mounted, drone-shooting lasers
Lasers, particularly those that set boats ablaze and incinerate incoming missiles, have long been on the Navy's mind. Today, the Office of Naval Research revealed its latest energy weapon craving: vehicle-mounted lasers that shoot down drones. Dubbed Ground-Based Air Defense Directed Energy On-The-Move, the project is offering private outfits up to $400,000 each to develop such a system that blasts at full power for 120 seconds and juices back up to 80 percent after a 20 minute charge. The beam is required to pack a punch of at least 25 kilowatts, while the ability to ratchet up to 50 kilowatts is optional. Given that kind of power, Wired points out that making such a solution fit in a Humvee is going to be a feat -- especially when the Navy says it can't weigh more than 2,000 pounds and must fit entirely within a vehicle's cargo area. Have blueprints for a jeep-mountable laser squirreled away in your basement hobby shop? You'll have to send your application in by 2 PM on April 26th to qualify for the federal cash.
[Image credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery, Flickr]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Via: Wired
Source: Federal Business Opportunities
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/us-navy-vehicle-mounted-drone-shooting-laser/
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Exclusive: Cerberus seeks to bankroll investor landlords
By Matthew Goldstein
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management wants to provide financing to small investment firms that are buying foreclosed homes as part of a long-term bullish bet on the housing recovery, according to four sources familiar with the situation.
Cerberus is targeting investment firms that are looking to buy a small number of homes in niche housing markets in the U.S. and rent them out, the sources said. These investors cannot tap the much larger financing deals being put together by banks such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs Group for institutional buyers of foreclosed homes.
Cerberus' financing deals will be small, under $25 million, and many will be for less than $10 million, the sources said, declining to be identified as the new loan product has not been announced. A spokesman for Cerberus declined to comment.
The move by the New York-based firm, with $20 billion under management, comes amid a rush over the past year by investor groups seeking to raise cash to buy up cheap homes.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has held mortgage rates near record lows, helping to fuel the housing market recovery. A drop in the flow of foreclosed homes coming on to the market has also helped to push up home prices, which soared 8.1 percent in January in 20 metropolitan areas tracked by S&P/Case Shiller, the biggest 12-month rise since June 2006.
The National Association of Realtors said in February that roughly 32 percent of all single-family homes were purchased in all-cash transactions. Historically, the realtor group said all-cash deals have represented no more than 20 percent of all transactions.
But many all-cash buyers also are leveraging themselves with cheap loans from banks.
Large institutional investors - led by private equity firm Blackstone Group, upstart firm American Homes 4 Rent and real estate firm Colony Capital - will spend up to $10 billion over the next two years to buy distressed single family homes, housing analysts estimate. That is part of a strategy to first rent out the homes and later sell them at a profit.
So far, Blackstone is the most aggressive national buyer of homes sold at foreclosures auctions or by banks, amassing a portfolio of about 20,000 homes in largely a half-dozen states. The private equity firm has confirmed spending $3.5 billion on its acquisition strategy. Blackstone also recently secured up to $2.1 billion in bank financing led by Deutsche Bank.
Cerberus' target investor operates on a much smaller scale. A website set up by the firm in February for the new lending platform, called First Key Lending, said Cerberus will provide "innovative financing solutions for stabilized portfolios of 1-4 family U.S. residential properties."
Some housing analysts have said that spending by big institutional buyers has driven up prices for single family homes and made it difficult for smaller investor groups to compete at foreclosure auctions and inventory sales by banks.
The people familiar with Cerberus' plan said the firm could look at some point to package the loans into a securitized note that could be sold to investors to reduce risk if housing prices were to suddenly fall and imperil the ability of investors to pay back the loan.
Cerberus, founded in 1992, has specialized over the years in investing in distressed companies and debt. The firm has portfolios that invest in mortgage-backed securities and non-performing residential loans.
The firm has been looking at the market for foreclosed homes for a year. Cerberus began studying the market when rival firms like Blackstone made the plunge into the market for distressed single-family homes last March.
(Reporting By Matthew Goldstein; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Chris Reese)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-cerberus-seeks-bankroll-investor-landlords-160140180--sector.html
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
Papal election stirs Argentina's 'dirty war' past
FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2009 file photo, Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio gives a Mass outside the San Cayetano church where an Argentine flag hangs behind in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Bergoglio was elected pope, the first ever from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He chose the name Pope Francis. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2009 file photo, Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio gives a Mass outside the San Cayetano church where an Argentine flag hangs behind in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Bergoglio was elected pope, the first ever from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He chose the name Pope Francis. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? Pope Francis is rarely talked about without mention of his humility, his reluctance to talk about himself. The self-effacement, admirers say, is why he has hardly ever denied one of the harshest allegations against him: That he was among church leaders who actively supported Argentina's murderous dictatorship.
It's without dispute that Jose Mario Bergoglio, like most other Argentines, failed to openly confront the 1976-1983 military junta while it was kidnapping and killing thousands of people in a "dirty war" to eliminate leftist opponents.
But the new pope's authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin, argues that this was a failure of the Roman Catholic Church in general, and that it's unfair to label Bergoglio with the collective guilt that many Argentines of his generation still deal with.
"In some way many of us Argentines ended up being accomplices," at a time when anyone who spoke out could be targeted, Rubin recalled in an interview with The Associated Press just before the papal conclave.
Some human rights activists accuse Bergoglio, 76, of being more concerned about preserving the church's image than providing evidence for Argentina's many human rights trials.
"There's hypocrisy here when it comes to the church's conduct, and with Bergoglio in particular," said Estela de la Cuadra, whose mother co-founded the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo activist group during the dictatorship to search for missing family members. "There are trials of all kinds now, and Bergoglio systematically refuses to support them."
Bergoglio twice invoked his right under Argentine law to refuse to appear in open court in trials involving torture and murder inside the feared Navy Mechanics School and the theft of babies from detainees. When he eventually did testify in 2010, his answers were evasive, human rights attorney Myriam Bregman told the AP.
Bergoglio's own statements proved church officials knew from early on that the junta was torturing and killing its citizens even as the church publicly endorsed the dictators, she said. "The dictatorship could not have operated this way without this key support," she said.
Rubin, a religious affairs writer for the Argentine newspaper Clarin, said Bergoglio actually took major risks to save so-called "subversives" during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, but never spoke about it publicly before his 2010 biography, "The Jesuit."
In the book, Bergoglio explained that he didn't want to stoop to his critics' level ? and then shared some of his stories. Bergoglio said he once passed his Argentine identity papers to a wanted man with a similar appearance, enabling him to escape over the border to Brazil, and added that many times he sheltered people inside church properties before they were safely delivered into exile.
The most damning accusation against Bergoglio is that as the young leader of Argentina's Jesuit order, he withdrew his support for two slum priests whose activist colleagues in the liberation theology movement were disappearing. The priests were then kidnapped and tortured at the Navy Mechanics School, which the junta used as a clandestine prison.
Bergoglio said he had told the priests ? Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics ? to give up their slum work for their own safety, and they refused. But Yorio later accused Bergoglio of effectively delivering them to the death squads by declining to publicly endorse their work. Yorio is now dead, and Jalics has refused to discuss these events since moving into a German monastery.
Both priests were eventually dropped off blindfolded in a field after a harrowing helicopter ride, two of the few detainees to have survived that prison.
Rubin said Bergoglio only reluctantly told him the rest of the story: that he had gone to extraordinary, behind-the-scenes lengths to save them.
Then in his 30s, the Jesuit leader persuaded the family priest of feared dictator Jorge Videla to call in sick so that he could say Mass instead. Once inside the junta leader's home, Bergoglio privately appealed for mercy, Rubin wrote.
All this was done in secret, at a time when other church leaders were publicly endorsing the junta and calling on Catholics to restore their "love for country" despite the terror in the streets.
"It's a very sensitive subject," Rubin told the AP. "The Argentine church was one of the most conservative in Latin America. It showed a good disposition toward the military authorities, who, to make matters worse, considered themselves Christians and called themselves good Catholics."
Within the church hierarchy at the time, there were about 50 bishops, and most were conservatives. Some were very progressive, and ended up killed. Bergoglio was somewhere in the middle, Rubin suggested.
"There were some who were in it up to their necks," he said, citing Christian Federico von Wernich, who served as a police chaplain then and is now serving a life sentence for torture and kidnapping.
"There were those who risked it all to openly challenge the junta, and some of those ended up dead," Rubin added, among them Bishop Enrique Angelelli who was killed in a suspicious traffic accident in 1976 while carrying evidence about two murdered priests.
Rubin says activists closely allied with the government of President Cristina Fernandez have "have tried to insert Bergoglio into some human rights trials, even when he truly shouldn't be."
On the other hand, activists say the Argentine church waited far too long to apologize for its human rights failures, and has yet to identify those responsible for many human rights violations that the church was aware of at the time.
Bergoglio was named Buenos Aires cardinal in 2001. But it wasn't until 2006, after then-President Nestor Kirchner declared an official day of mourning for Angelelli on the 30th anniversary of his death, that Bergoglio called him a "martyr" in the church's first official recognition that the bishop was murdered.
Under Bergoglio's leadership, Argentina's bishops also issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church's failures to protect its flock during the dictatorship, but the statement blamed the era's violence in roughly equal measure on both the junta and its enemies.
"Bergoglio has been very critical of human rights violations during the dictatorship, but he has always also criticized the leftist guerrillas; he doesn't forget that side," Rubin said.
Bergoglio also was accused of turning his back on the De la Cuadra family, which lost five relatives to state terror, including Estela's sister Elena, who was five months' pregnant before she was kidnapped and killed in 1977.
The family appealed to the leader of the Jesuits in Rome, who urged Bergoglio to help them. Bergoglio then assigned a monsignor to talk with police, who gave them a heartbreaking statement: The woman was a communist, and therefore doomed, but she had given birth in captivity to a girl. That baby, in turn, was given to a family "too important" for the adoption to be reversed.
Despite this evidence in a case he was personally involved with, Bergoglio testified in 2010 that he didn't know about any stolen babies until well after the dictatorship was over.
"Bergoglio has a very cowardly attitude when it comes to something so terrible as the theft of babies," Estela de la Cuadra told the AP. "The question is how to save his name, save himself. But he can't keep these allegations from reaching the public. The people know how he is."
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Preventing HIV infection with anti-HIV drugs in people at risk is cost-effective
Mar. 12, 2013 ? An HIV prevention strategy in which people at risk of becoming exposed to HIV take antiretroviral drugs to reduce their chance of becoming infected (often referred to as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP), may be a cost-effective method of preventing HIV in some settings, according to a study by international researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine.
In an analysis of 13 modelling studies led by Gabriela Gomez from the Department of Global Health, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam/AIGHD in The Netherlands, the authors evaluated the impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis in different populations (heterosexual couples, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs) in different regions and countries, such as southern Africa, Ukraine, the US, and Peru.
They found that in every setting, the cost of antiretroviral drugs was an important factor influencing the affordability of effective prevention programmes but delivery of pre-exposure prophylaxis to populations at higher risk of HIV exposure appeared to be the most cost-effective strategy. The authors also found that both behavioural changes and adherence to the pre-exposure prophylaxis drug regimens affected programme effectiveness.
The authors say: "Our findings show that pre-exposure prophylaxis has the potential to be a cost-effective addition to HIV prevention programmes in some settings."
They continue: "However, the cost-effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis is likely to depend on considerations such as cost, the epidemic context, pre-exposure prophylaxis programme coverage and prioritisation strategies, as well as individual adherence levels and pre-exposure prophylaxis efficacy estimates."
The authors add: "Given that our review shows that both the setting and which population is prioritised for pre-exposure prophylaxis are critical drivers of cost-effectiveness, the next step is to conduct context-specific demonstration studies, including comprehensive cost analyses, of different prioritisation and adherence promotion strategies to ensure that the maximum benefit from the introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis is realised within combination HIV prevention programmes."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.
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Journal Reference:
- Gabriela B. Gomez, Annick Borquez, Kelsey K. Case, Ana Wheelock, Anna Vassall, Catherine Hankins. The Cost and Impact of Scaling Up Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention: A Systematic Review of Cost-Effectiveness Modelling Studies. PLoS Medicine, 2013; 10 (3): e1001401 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001401
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/top_news/top_health/~3/HJOuLBHLP70/130312171612.htm
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Bing Desktop now integrates better with Facebook, adds more customization options
It's been awhile since Microsoft made the Bing Desktop application compatible with more versions of Windows, but today the company's giving current (and potential) users more reasons to enjoy it. Most notably, Bing now lets social folks peek Facebook's News Feed and friends' photos from within the application, leaving out the need to launch a browser in a separate window. Furthermore, Microsoft also added the ability to search via the Windows Taskbar and some handy customization features, such as keyboard shortcuts and more wallpaper options with the help of Bing's renowned homepage images. Those in the US, UK, Australia, China, Canada, France, Germany, India and Japan can check out the revamped Bing Desktop now, though it's worth mentioning that the presence of a few of the new tidbits will vary depending on the country you're in and the Windows version you're running. Either way, you'll find the download at the source link below.
Filed under: Desktops, Internet, Microsoft
Source: Bing
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/11/bing-desktop-facebook-integration-update/
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Monday, March 11, 2013
Dick Cheney unconcerned with critics in new documentary
The former vice president got straight to the point in R.J. Cutler's latest documentary "The World According to Dick Cheney," telling the filmmaker he doesn't care what his critics think.
"I don't lay awake at night thinking 'gee, what are they going to say about me now?'" Cheney remarks in the upcoming film.
In an interview forABC's "This Week," Cutler responded "He does say a lot that he's not interested in what people think about him, but it's hard to imagine that he's not invested in what his legacy is. He is a significant figure of American history."
The documentary, which premieres March 15 on Showtime, features an extensive interview with the retired politician and offers a rare glimpse into Cheney's life since leaving Washington.
Cutler said he was strategic in approaching Cheney about appearing on the big screen.
"I was advised early on that the best path to getting him to participate would be patience," Cutler said. "And indeed it took seven months between the time that I first reached out to him and the time that he invited me to have lunch with him to discuss what my plans were for the film."
The director, whose previous documentaries include "The War Room" and "A Perfect Candidate," said he was driven by a desire to find out more about the polarizing political figure.
"Making a film like 'The World According to Dick Cheney,' you need to enter most of all with curiosity," Cutler said. "Not with expectations, not with preconceived notions, but with questions."
After many lengthy interviews with Cheney, and even accompanying him on a fishing excursion, Cutler gained unique insight into the former vice president's political strategy.
"He does not feel there is room for compromise," Cutler said. "I think it raises the question, when total conviction serves a democracy and when it can be problematic for democracy. And that's a question that, to me, is worth considering not only in the specific analysis of the George W. Bush presidency and his relationship with Vice President Cheney and Vice President Cheney's career, but in thinking about democracy from a larger view. And so, this was a major reason why we wanted to make this film and something that I was really excited about exploring.."
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Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/dick-cheney-unconcerned-critics-documentary-135005813.html
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Hostage killings a new, dangerous turn for Nigeria
A man reads a local newspapers with the headline 'We've killed 7 foreign hostages' on a street in Kano, Nigeria, Sunday, March. 10, 2013. The United Kingdom's military says its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria's capital city were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali, not to rescue kidnapped foreign hostages. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that the planes had ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. An Islamic extremist group in Nigeria called Ansaru partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for claiming Saturday that it killed seven foreign hostages it had taken. ( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
A man reads a local newspapers with the headline 'We've killed 7 foreign hostages' on a street in Kano, Nigeria, Sunday, March. 10, 2013. The United Kingdom's military says its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria's capital city were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali, not to rescue kidnapped foreign hostages. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that the planes had ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. An Islamic extremist group in Nigeria called Ansaru partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for claiming Saturday that it killed seven foreign hostages it had taken. ( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Muslim men ride on bicycles on a street in Kano, Nigeria, Sunday, March. 10, 2013. The United Kingdom's military says its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria's capital city were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali, not to rescue kidnapped foreign hostages. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that the planes had ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. An Islamic extremist group in Nigeria called Ansaru partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for claiming Saturday that it killed seven foreign hostages it had taken. ( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
A boy pushes a cart with garbage past Muslim women on a street in Kano, Nigeria, Sunday, March. 10, 2013. The United Kingdom's military says its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria's capital city were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali, not to rescue kidnapped foreign hostages. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that the planes had ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. An Islamic extremist group in Nigeria called Ansaru partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for claiming Saturday that it killed seven foreign hostages it had taken. ( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
People read local newspapers with headlines like ' We've killed 7 foreign hostages' on a street in Kano, Nigeria, Sunday, March. 10, 2013. The United Kingdom's military says its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria's capital city were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali,not to rescue kidnapped foreign hostages. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that the planes had ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. An Islamic extremist group in Nigeria called Ansaru partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for claiming Saturday that it killed seven foreign hostages it had taken. ( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
People read local newspapers with the headline 'We've killed 7 foreign hostages' on a street in Kano, Nigeria, Sunday, March. 10, 2013. The United Kingdom's military says its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria's capital city were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali, not to rescue kidnapped foreign hostages. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that the planes had ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. An Islamic extremist group in Nigeria called Ansaru partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for claiming Saturday that it killed seven foreign hostages it had taken. ( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
KANO, Nigeria (AP) ? Radical Islamic fighters killed seven foreign hostages in Nigeria, European diplomats said Sunday, making it the worst such kidnapping violence in decades for a country beset by extremist guerrilla attacks.
Nigeria's police, military, domestic spy service and presidency remained silent over the killings of the construction company workers, kidnapped Feb. 16 from northern Bauchi state. The government's silence only led to more questions about the nation's continued inability to halt attacks that have seen hundreds killed in shootings, church bombings and an attack on the United Nations.
The latest victims were four Lebanese and one citizen apiece from Britain, Greece and Italy.
Britain and Italy said all seven of those taken from the Setraco construction company compound had died at the hands of Ansaru, a previously little-known splinter group of the Islamic sect Boko Haram. Greece also confirmed one of its citizens was killed, while Lebanese authorities didn't immediately comment.
"It's an atrocious act of terrorism, against which the Italian government expresses its firmest condemnation, and which has no explanation," a statement from Italy's foreign ministry read. Italy also denied a claim by Ansaru that the hostages were killed before or during a military operation by Nigerian and British forces, saying there was "no military intervention aimed at freeing the hostages."
Italian Premier Mario Monti identified the slain Italian hostage as Silvano Trevisan and promised Rome would use "every effort" to stop the killers. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the killings "an act of cold-blooded murder" and identified the U.K. victim as Brendan Vaughan.
A statement from Greece's foreign ministry said authorities had already informed the hostage's family. "We note that the terrorists never communicated or formulated demands to release the hostages," the statement read, which also denied any military raid took place.
Ansaru issued a short statement Saturday saying its fighters kidnapped the foreigners from the construction company's camp at Jama'are, a town 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi state. In the attack, gunmen first assaulted a local prison and burned police trucks, authorities said. Then the attackers blew up a back fence at the construction company's compound and took over, killing a guard in the process, witnesses and police said.
Local officials in Nigeria initially identified one of the hostages as a Filipino, something the Philippines government later denied.
The gunmen appeared to be organized and knew who they wanted to target, leaving the Nigerian household staff at the residence unharmed, while quickly abducting the foreigners, a witness said.
In an online statement Saturday claiming the killings, Ansaru said it killed the hostages in part because of local Nigerian journalists reporting on the arrival of British military aircraft to Bauchi. However, Ansaru's statement cited local news articles that instead said the airplanes were spotted at the international airport in Abuja, the nation's central capital 180 miles (290 kilometers) southwest.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said Sunday the planes it flew to Abuja ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. Nigerian soldiers have been sent to Mali to help French forces and Malian troops battle Islamic extremists there. The British military said it also transported Ghanaian soldiers to Mali the same way.
The ministry declined to comment further. Ansaru had said it believed the planes were part of a Nigerian and British rescue mission for the abducted hostages.
The U.K. has offered military support in the past in Nigeria to free hostages. In March 2012, its special forces backed a failed Nigerian military raid to free Christopher McManus, who had been abducted months earlier with Italian Franco Lamolinara from a home in Kebbi state. Both hostages were killed in that rescue attempt.
"I am grateful to the Nigerian government for their unstinting help and cooperation," Hague said in a statement, without addressing the claim that the U.K. had launched a rescue effort.
In its statement Saturday, Ansaru also blamed the killings on a pledge by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to do "everything possible" to free the hostages. Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati didn't respond to requests for comment Sunday.
While Nigerian authorities have yet to comment publicly about Ansaru's claim, it comes as the nation's security forces remain unable to stop the guerrilla campaign of bombings, shootings and kidnappings across the country's north. The majority of those attacks have been blamed on Boko Haram, an amorphous group that grew out of the remains of a sect that sparked a riot and a security crackdown in Nigeria in 2009 in which about 700 people were killed.
Boko Haram has hit international targets before, including an August 2011 car bombing of the U.N. office in Abuja that killed 25 people and wounded more than 100. An online video also purportedly claims that Boko Haram is currently holding hostage a family of seven French tourists who were abducted from neighboring Cameroon in late February. The group is blamed for killing at least 792 people last year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
Ansaru, which analysts believe split from Boko Haram in January 2012, seems to be focusing much more on Western targets. Analysts say it has closer links to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and cares more about international issues, as opposed to Boko Haram's largely local grievances. But much remains unknown about Ansaru, which has communicated through short, sometimes muddled online statements.
The hostage killings appear to be the worst in decades targeting foreigners working in Nigeria, an oil-rich nation that's a major crude supplier to the U.S. Most kidnappings in the country's southern oil delta see foreigners released after companies pay ransoms. The latest kidnappings in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north, however, have seen the hostages killed either by their captors or in military raids to free them, suggesting a new level of danger for expatriate workers there.
The worst violence targeting foreign workers previously in the country's history came during its 1960s civil war. In May 1969, forces with the breakaway Republic of Biafra raided a Nigerian oil field, killing 10 Italian oil workers and a Jordanian. Eighteen other foreign workers taken by Biafran soldiers faced the death penalty, but later were pardoned and released.
___
Associated Press writers Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Demetris Nellas in Athens, Greece, Sylvia Hui in London and Shehu Saulawa in Bauchi, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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EU bans cosmetics with animal-tested ingredients
BRUSSELS (AP) ? The European Union is banning the sale of new cosmetic products containing ingredients tested on animals.
The 27-country bloc's executive arm, the European Commission, said Monday the ban will take effect immediately.
Animal rights groups cheered the news, but industry trade body Cosmetics Europe said the ban comes too early and "acts as a brake on innovation."
The EU has banned animal testing of finished cosmetic products since 2004. The ban on cosmetics containing animal-tested ingredients was first decided four years ago but initially left loopholes for certain tests following resistance from cosmetics companies.
While the industry's rabbits and guinea pigs will now be spared, consumers are unlikely to notice immediate changes because products containing ingredients that were tested on animals before the ban can remain on the shelves.
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Preservation of Venezuelan leader's body not easy
No one lives forever ? nor do they last forever. At least not without a lot of tuneups.
As much as it may seem like the bodies of famous world leaders such as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Mao Zedong have been preserved for all eternity, their enduring physical presence is simply an illusion aided by science.
Only the Venezuelan officials who have promised to preserve Hugo Chavez and display his body "for eternity" inside a glass tomb know exactly how they're going to do it.
But if they were to follow procedures that are used in the United States, the technique might be rather simple: repeat embalming.
"The first thing to remember about embalming as we do it in the U.S. is that it is designed to delay the natural deterioration of the body; it's not forever," said Vernie Fountain, a licensed embalmer and owner and founder of the Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills in Springfield, Missouri.
So what does that mean exactly? You might want to put down your sandwich before you read on.
In the U.S., most embalmers use a machine that injects fluid laced with chemicals, principally formaldehyde, into an artery of the body, while the majority of the blood is emptied from a vein. Often a chemical known as a humectant is added, which "helps to fill out the body, some of the hollow spaces, and adds a degree of moisture," Fountain said.
While he stressed that he has no personal knowledge about the condition of Chavez's body at the time of his death or when it was or will be embalmed, Fountain said one possible method of preserving his corpse is to follow the embalming process with a periodic injection of humectant or something similar to keep moisture in the tissues. Makeup also helps to cover areas that have gone brown with dehydration.
Just to be safe, Venezuelan officials could take an extra precautionary step and make a face mask, using Chavez's real face to form a mold that could be placed over the flesh in the future "and keep it looking more like he did when he died," Fountain said.
The process of embalming a body for a few days or many years is essentially the same, note Fountain and Camilo Jaramillo, a Colombian embalmer and alumnus of the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service.
"The difference when one wants to preserve a body for a long time is that the doctors apply more-concentrated amounts of the chemicals," Jaramillo said. "It is a much slower process and must be done very carefully. ... Indefinite preservation really doesn't exist. ... It requires periodic maintenance. ... But no embalming stops decomposition; it only slows it," he said.
The time it takes a body to deteriorate varies on the health and weight of the deceased and other environmental factors, including whether the body was refrigerated immediately after death. Regardless, the key is to embalm as soon as possible after death.
Ideally, a body would be embalmed "the very day or next morning, rather than three or five or six days down the road," Fountain said. "But it's not impossible. I have embalmed bodies that have been refrigerated for six months."
Confronted with such a never-ending and unsavory task, why do countries such as Russia, China, Vietnam, and now Venezuela, go to such lengths to preserve their leaders' remains?
"The decision to embalm Chavez is an attempt to include him in a pantheon of communist deities," said Nina Tumarkin, a professor of history at Wellesley College and the author of "Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia."
"It's a throwback to Soviet, communist times, and it might seem obsolete, but it might be the only pantheon where he belongs. Better to belong to the wrong club than none at all."
Other socialist or communist leaders embalmed after dying include Russian dictator Josef Stalin, though his body was later removed, and North Korea's father-and-son leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. But it was the famous display of Soviet founder Lenin in Moscow's Red Square in 1924 that inspired the custom among left-leaning leaders.
And then there was Evita, the actress who married then-President Juan Domingo Peron and went on to claim a following of millions for her role in securing labor benefits for the working class, founding hospitals and helping women get the vote.
When she died young from uterine cancer in 1952, the military leaders who overthrew her husband in 1955 were so worried about a death cult that they took desperate measures to hide the body.
For two decades, the corpse was secretly moved around Argentina and then buried in an unmarked grave in Italy. Meanwhile several wax and fiberglass decoy corpses were sent out around the world. The real corpse remained in Rome until it was delivered to Peron's home in 1971 while he was in exile in Spain.
Now it rests in her family's crypt in the opulent Recoleta cemetery, a major tourist spot.
Lenin's embalming process, still seen to this day as one of the finest examples of its kind, was presented to the world as a feat for Soviet science in its quest to preserve a body in such perfection.
But the idea was probably forced upon government officials, who may have feared another bloody revolution after they saw the huge crowds that showed up to say goodbye to Lenin.
Well over 500,000 people braved the biting winter cold just to catch a glimpse of the body.
Permanently staving off decomposition is no easy job.
When Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong died in 1976, the Chinese medical specialists tasked with preserving his corpse for permanent display were at a loss. In the middle of a rift with the Soviet Union, they couldn't ask the Russians for the formula used on Lenin, according to a memoir by Mao's doctor. Vietnam, which had embalmed Ho Chi Minh, rebuffed them, too, the doctor wrote.
In the end, the Chinese doctors used a formula found in a Western journal in a medical library in Beijing. They added extra doses of formaldehyde to boost the preservative effect.
"The results were shocking. Mao's face was round as a ball, and his neck was now the width of his head," Li Zhisui wrote in "The Private Life of Chairman Mao," published outside China 18 years after Mao's death.
The team managed to restore Mao to a more normal appearance with hours of careful massage and makeup, he said, but, just in case, a wax copy of the body was readied as a stand-in.
___
Luis Andres Henao reported this story from Santiago, Chile, and Lisa J. Adams reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writer Charles Hutzler in Beijing contributed to this report.
___
Luis Andres Henao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/preservation-venezuelan-leaders-body-not-easy-182652093.html
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Report: Blast injures several people in south Iran
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? An Iranian semi-official news agency is reporting that an explosion has injured several people in a port in the south of the country.
The late Saturday report by ILNA did not specify the cause of the blast. It says it also damaged several cars and shattered windows of nearby buildings including a hotel in Imam Khomeini port, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southwest of Tehran.
The port, one of Iran's major import and export terminals, is located in oil-rich Khuzestan province, the scene of occasional protests in recent years by members of Iran's Arabic-speaking minority seeking more rights.
Iran in the past has blamed explosions in the province on saboteurs tied to Arab and Western intelligence agencies.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-blast-injures-several-people-south-iran-115630530.html
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Senator Moran On Filibustering Drone Policy And How To Influence Congressmen
Senator Jerry Moran (CrunchGov Grade: A) left his tie back in Washington, D.C., and sat down with me for an informal, yet candid discussion at the SXSW Interactive conference. The folksy Kansas representative has been one of the Senate’s few tech wonks, spearheading a bill to create a new visa for immigrant entrepreneurs, the Startup Visa Act 3.0. We’ve included highlights below. From filibustering drone policy to how to influence his fellow congressmen, we’ve included the highlights below. Drones “If the federal government can kill a U.S. citizen without due process of law in the United States, what can’t the federal government do?” said Moran, who helped Rand Paul on his epic 12-hour filibuster this week to protest the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director. Paul had invoked the U.S. Senate’s fire-alarm procedure, the filibuster, which permits any representative to hold up all political activity so long as he or she continuously talks (no bathroom breaks). Moran joined his Republican colleague on the Senate floor to bring attention to Obama’s ambiguous stance on being able to kill U.S. citizens on U.S. soil with a drone. The filibuster was front-page news most of the day and was a big hit on Twitter (Paul’s own following swelled roughly 3,500 followers each hour he talked). Thanks the national attention the filibuster received, the Obama Administration has agreed to clarify its position and admitted it does not have the authority to kill non-combatant citizens on U.S. soil. “Most importantly, it educated the American people who are too often tuned out and tuned off of what’s going on in Washington, D.C., about an issue that I think is of fundamental importance.” How To Influence A Congressman While Moran admitted that lobbyist money does influence politicians, he argued that it was quid pro quo. Rather, Senators are most influenced by personal conversations, which money often buys through fancy dinners. “I think this is true of almost all humans: we kind of crave the connection with people. And if you get to know somebody, you can influence the way they think based upon that connection,” he said. To equal the playing field between average citizens, Moran advises activists to use social media to get on policymakers’ or their staffs’ radar, which then peaks enough interest to begin personal conversations with the small guy. “The best way to connect with people still today, despite the value ofSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zhnqGcTE3fg/
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Attention Bikers! Chaotic Moon Has Built A Video-Powered Black Box For Your Dome
Chaotic Moon is probably best known for dev work that it?s done for clients like Rupert Murdoch?s The Daily, or the Marvel Unlimited app that just hit the Apple App Store. But when one of their coworkers was hurt in a brutal hit-and-run bike accident, they spent some time on a side project designed to help cyclists who find themselves in a similar situation.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nJvjdESogI0/
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Sunday, March 10, 2013
my craft room takes shape ? part 2
Nothing says dream weekend more than a trip to Ikea on a Saturday morning with half of Sydney. It?s just not that fun. So retro daddy decided he?d get the rest of my birthday present (a 2nd expedit unit) on Friday night and put it up on Saturday morning. It was all going to plan until he opened the last box of the unit on Saturday morning to discover 2 broken shelves. Broken almost right through to the other side. Sooooo annoying.
So back to Ikea he went, waited for them to find another box, did a few things and came home 3 hours later with one new box of expedit shelves to finish the unit (it comes as 4 boxes). I then got stuck into it finding homes for my wool and knitting and craft books.
I got a few baskets to pop into the cubes and hide things in and they don?t come cheap at $25 each so retro daddy (always the accountant) started me off with 5 and I can pick some up later. They are great actually and I?ll get some more for other supplies.
The wool won?t be too safe displayed like this although it looks AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! But I?ll have to protect it in some tubs and plastic but will get onto that. Until then I can just admire it all.
And it?s nice to have all of my craft books in the one room as I?ve never been able to fit them all in one place. These are my baby and kids knitting books and I?m creating seperate shelves for sewing, quilting, japanese craft books, other knitting books, crochet and a general craft shelf. It?s like a library and craft room all rolled into one. But it is so nice to have a room all to myself
And the way I see it is I don?t drink (a couple of champagnes a year), I don?t smoke, I?m not a shoe, gadget?or handbag person?..I?m a craft person and I use everything. So if I?m happy and retro daddy is happy then everyone is happy!
And before you tell me that it?s so neat and tidy and you can?t even get into your craft room or find anything?.here is the keepin? it real photo! There is still stash in the garage and upstairs kitchen that has to be sorted and a home found for it all. But we?re getting there
and yes??retro daddy is adding the wall brackets today so cheeky monkeys can?t climb up on these units. Elodie already worked out she can climb into one of the lower units and these are super heavy. So don?t worry,we?re onto it!
Source: http://retromummy.com/2013/03/10/my-craft-room-takes-shape-part-2/
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Analysis: Egypt soccer sentence riots show a country out of control
Str / EPA
Egyptian security forces keep watch as protesters burn tires in Port Said, east of Cairo, Egypt, March 9, 2013.
By Charlene Gubash, Producer, NBC News
News analysis
CAIRO -- If there is any doubt that security in Egypt is on the skids, witness Saturday?s events that lay bare a nation where? police are now unable or unwilling to maintain law and order and citizens no longer fear authority. The country held its breath Saturday morning after a judge declared verdicts against suspects accused of involvement in the killing of 72 soccer fans after a match in the city of Port Said last January. The initial verdict of 21 death sentences sparked weeks of riots in Suez Canal cities.
The judge upheld 21 sentences of death by hanging, sentenced two senior police officers to 15-year terms, 22 civilians to terms ranging from life to one year, and acquitted 28 other individuals. The Ultras, rabid supporters of the Ahly soccer team whose fans were targeted in last year?s attack, went on a rampage because seven policemen had been among those acquitted.
They torched and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of Egypt?s Football Association and set fire to the nearby Police Club. After the blaze was brought under control, workers emerged from the still smoldering building with arms full of trophies they had salvaged. The Ministry of Health says five men were injured in the blazes. Two helicopters carrying suspended baskets of water flew overhead.? Protests continued on the main street bordering the Nile, where the head of Emergency Services says one demonstrator has succumbed to tear gas inhalation.
Attacks appeared to be continuing into the evening. Protesters began to set fire to shops affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in downtown Cairo later on Saturday. Ultras posted this warning on their Facebook page today: ?What happened today in Cairo is only the beginning of our rage. Even more of it will surface if all officials involved in the massacre are not put on trial. We will not be placated by the sentencing of just two police ?dogs?.?
In Port Said, citizens enraged that the judge confirmed the death sentence of 21 fellow residents took to the streets. Some unsuccessfully tried to impede ferry traffic across the Suez Canal and set speedboats adrift. Egypt?s naval presence along the Suez Canal was reinforced to prevent any further attempts by protesters to disrupt shipping. On Friday, police forces pulled out of the Suez Canal leaving the military in charge after failing to quell weeks of rioting.
Meanwhile, thousands of police throughout Egypt have gone on strike because they believe interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim is too close to the Muslim Brotherhood and has politicized the ministry, pitting police against the people and putting civilians in danger. Sixty police stations have closed down in protest. Police complain they are often put in positions during demonstrations where they are obliged to either attack civilians and face possible charges of police brutality or risk their own lives, and they have demanded Ibrahim?s resignation. In response, the Minister has sacked the head of the Central Security Forces.
Al Gamaa Al-Islamiya, a former militant Islamic Group turned peaceful, announced in a statement they would form security militias to fill the security void in the southern city of Assiut, where police are striking.
To further add to the chaos, Egypt?s interior ministry raised the level of emergency in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday after receiving information that jihadist groups intend to attack police installations in the Sinai.?
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Catholics create 'virtual conclave' for new pope
A view of the Sistine Chapel, at the Vatican, Saturday, March 9, 2013. Firefighters have installed the top of the Sistine Chapel chimney that will signal to the world that a new pope has been elected, while construction workers were preparing the chapel interior for the start of the papal conclave Tuesday. For such an important decision, the chimney is an awfully simple affair: a century-old cast iron stove where ballot papers are burned, with a copper pipe out the top that snakes up the Sistine's frescoed walls, out the window and onto the chapel roof. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A view of the Sistine Chapel, at the Vatican, Saturday, March 9, 2013. Firefighters have installed the top of the Sistine Chapel chimney that will signal to the world that a new pope has been elected, while construction workers were preparing the chapel interior for the start of the papal conclave Tuesday. For such an important decision, the chimney is an awfully simple affair: a century-old cast iron stove where ballot papers are burned, with a copper pipe out the top that snakes up the Sistine's frescoed walls, out the window and onto the chapel roof. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
VATICAN CITY (AP) ? A pastor in Ontario wondered about behind-the-scenes politicking ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope. He could have read news reports or listened to briefings by the Vatican spokesman. Instead, he asked a cardinal. Less than an hour later, the response arrived.
"What I see is a real desire to know, and so evaluate, the papabili against criteria of qualities demanded by situations," wrote Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, using the term "papabili" for cardinals seen as papal contenders.
The exchange occurred on Twitter, one of many online interactions that have made this papal succession unlike any other for Roman Catholics and observers of the church. While the election starting Tuesday will remain strictly secret, social media is providing a direct link to the events surrounding the succession, creating a virtual conclave that involves lay people in everything from voting to prayer.
"I think it's fabulous for the church," said Brother Martin Browne, a Benedictine monk in County Limerick, Ireland, who is following Vatican analysts and reporters on Twitter instead of watching general news coverage. "I think more people understand what's going on now because there's greater access to good information."
No one will be posting updates from inside the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican will activate electronic jamming devices so no one can listen in or report out. "You obviously can't have cardinals inside the conclave tweeting 'Uh-oh, trending right now: new young cardinal from wherever,'" said Greg Burke, a Vatican communications adviser.
But in the run-up to the ceremony, several cardinals have been interacting with the faithful on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere ? in some cases even during the interview ban the College of Cardinals imposed last week to prevent leaks about their daily meetings.
Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, tweeted that although God would ultimately choose the next pontiff, he wanted to know what his followers hoped for in a new pope.
"I would very much like your feedback," he wrote in Spanish. On zulumissions.org, a site for the Archdiocese of Durban, church officials have been providing updates for parishioners leaving messages and prayers for Napier. Along with daily meetings and informal dinners, several of the 115 cardinal-electors, some of whom had never met, say they're using Google to research each others' writings and church works.
Yet, the numbers of cardinals who directly participate online is relatively small. About two dozen had Twitter accounts when Benedict XVI stepped down. Many church leaders have accounts in their name, or on behalf of their dioceses, but leave it to their communications staff to actually write Facebook posts and send tweets. Benedict used the Twitter handle (at)pontifex, but he, too, let advisers write the messages. The account has been taken down and the papal tweets saved.
The more intensive activity is springing up among parishioners and the generally curious.
Spotify has a conclave-themed music list. (The hymn "Ubi caritas et amor," or "Wherever charity and love are," is included.) A fan of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, posted a YouTube video of a song about why Tagle should be the next pope. (About 8,600 hits by the weekend.) Several sites saying they're trying to crowd-source the conclave by setting up their own election sites. A Twitter account recently opened with the handle (at)papalsmokestack. It has a photo of the Vatican chimney that will carry the white smoke signal alerting the world when a new pope has been elected.
On"Adopt-a-Cardinal," people register an email address and in return receive the name of a cardinal to "adopt" in prayer through the conclave. The site was the work of some members of Youth 2000, a church-recognized group in Germany. Someone saw a newspaper feature with photos of all the cardinals and remarked: "Those cardinals need to be prayed for," said Ulli Heckl, who works with the organization.
Volunteers created the website in German and English and drew so many responses the server briefly crashed. Others who ran across the site offered to translate it into additional languages. Soon, versions went live in Spanish, Italian and French, as well. Nearly 400,000 people had signed up days before the conclave.
Heckl said she has heard from entire families who are together praying for one cardinal. Another family put a photo of the cardinal at each of their bedsides so they would remember to pray every night. Some school classrooms have also joined and are using the project to learn more about the nation the cardinal serves. People from Nicaragua, Brazil, Philippines, Ukraine and most European countries are among the participants.
"We heard from so many people who said, 'It's not THE cardinals anymore, it's MY cardinal," Heckl said in a phone interview from Germany.
Another group is using the rare occasion of a papal succession to educate people about different approaches to elections. A team from Making Electoral Democracy Work, a research organization based in Canada, created the site http://en.voteforpope.net to offer visitors a chance to fill the papacy through electoral systems used in France and Ireland, as well as the balloting system used in the conclave. (According to church rules, a two-thirds majority is needed to be elected.)
Each week since Benedict stepped down, the team has posted winners according to the different approaches. Although all 115 cardinal-electors are eligible to become pope, the organization had to limit the number on the ballot for their experiment to just six well-known cardinals. All visitors to the site can vote. So far, the winners, depending on the electoral approach, have been either former Quebec archbishop Cardinal Marc Ouellet or Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson.
"I thought this is an election that will get attention around the world. This is one of the very, very few international elections, so this would be a great opportunity," Andre Blais, a specialist in electoral studies at the University of Montreal, said in a phone interview.
Mary Sullivan, a 29-year-old mother of two from Burtonsville, Md., said she saw a link to "Adopt-a-Cardinal" on a friend's Facebook page and decided to join. By chance, her cardinal is considered to be one of those favored to become pontiff: Cardinal Odilo Scherer of Sao Paolo, Brazil.
She hadn't heard of him before.
Nonetheless, Sullivan said she and her husband have added Scherer to their daily rosary prayer. She also sent the link to the mother's group at her local parish and shared it on her Facebook page.
"The cardinals have a huge task ahead of them, I know they're getting pressure from all sides, and hearing noise from all corners of the globe," Sullivan said. "We pray for them so they can listen to the most important voice, and that is the Holy Spirit."
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Follow Rachel Zoll at https://twitter.com/rzollAP
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