President Barack Obama will return to campaigning after spending three days managing the federal response to the deadly superstorm. He's launching a frenetic final push with stops in Wisconsin, Colorado and Nevada.
Come Election Day, the Democrat will watch the results come in at what aides are billing with characteristic audacity (bluster?) as a "victory party" in his hometown of Chicago. (Why the show of confidence? It's not easy to get dispirited volunteers to get depressed voters to the polls.)
Obama travels Thursday to Green Bay, Wis., a state his campaign had long thought was in his "win" column. He will also travel to Boulder, Colo., and Las Vegas, Nev., an aide said.
Former President Bill Clinton, who's in Wisconsin and Ohio on Wednesday, campaigns Thursday in Iowa, with stops in Council Bluffs, Mason City and Waterloo. First lady Michelle Obama will be in Florida on Thursday with stops in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach and Miami.
Recent public opinion polls paint the picture of a razor's edge race, with the two candidates running within the margin of error in most battleground states. Both sides are closely watching Ohio, where surveys have consistently shown Obama leading Romney. The former Massachusetts governor would need to win most of the other up-for-grabs states to secure the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.
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While the Obama campaign highlighted his lead in Ohio, Republicans pointed to states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. They suggested that the president and top surrogates were stumping there because of a late Romney surge that put states once thought to be easy wins for Obama in the toss-up column.
The Obama campaign also released a new video starring campaign manager Jim Messina, who sought to project confidence.
"You have put Barack Obama in the dominant position in this race," Messina told the president's supporters. "We are ahead or tied in every single battleground state. The president will win re-election if we do what we need to do."
The entrance to Central Park is blocked off at 59th Street in New York on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. All city parks are closed indefinitely pending damage assessment from superstorm Sandy. The Central Park Conservancy said at least 250 mature trees were felled by the storm, with benches and playgrounds damaged as well. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz)
The entrance to Central Park is blocked off at 59th Street in New York on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. All city parks are closed indefinitely pending damage assessment from superstorm Sandy. The Central Park Conservancy said at least 250 mature trees were felled by the storm, with benches and playgrounds damaged as well. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The New York City Marathon is a go for Sunday, and while logistical questions persist one thing is certain: The 26-mile route will have a disaster for a backdrop.
And a debate.
"I think some people said you shouldn't run the marathon," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news briefing Wednesday. "There's an awful lot of small businesses that depend on these people. We have to have an economy. There's lots of people that have come here. It's a great event for New York, and I think for those who were lost, you've got to believe they would want us to have an economy and have a city go on for those that they left behind."
Race organizers were still trying to assess how widespread damage from Superstorm Sandy might affect plans, including getting runners into the city and transporting them to the start line on Staten Island. Easing their worries a bit was news that 14 of the city's 23 subway lines were expected to be operating by Thursday morning - though none below 34th Street, an area that includes the terminal for the ferries that go to the island.
And there were runners like Josh Maio who felt torn about whether the race should go on.
"It pulls resources and focus away from people in need," said Maio, who dropped out due to an injury but is coaching about 75 runners.
He agrees the race is a boost to local businesses hurt by the storm ? it brings an estimated $340 million to the city. But he is uncomfortable with devoting so much to an "extracurricular" event.
Top American Meb Keflezighi, the 2009 men's champion, regards the marathon as "something positive ... because it will be motivation to say, 'Look what happened, and we'll put on the race, and we'll give them a good show.'"
New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg said organizers planned to use more private contractors than past years to reduce the strain on city services. Many people have offered to work as volunteers and could fill in gaps, and many runners and fans plan to raise money to help victims of the storm.
She compared this year's race to the 2001 marathon, held seven weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as a way to inspire residents and show the world the city's resilience.
Jonathan Cane ran in that race, working for the police department at the time as a fitness instructor, and it was "an amazing experience." But like Maio, he had mixed feelings about holding this year's marathon.
"I think if they do pull it off, the city will get behind it," said Cane, who is coaching more than 200 runners signed up for the race. "It's already a unique event, and this will make it more so."
Wittenberg expects the field will be smaller than the 47,500 who ran last year because some entrants can't make it to New York, but said so far organizers had received no more cancellations than normal. New York's three major airports were expected to be open Thursday morning with limited flights, leaving the nearly 30,000 out-of-town runners with hope that they can fly in but no guarantees.
Race organizers were rescheduling the elite runners' flights to get them into New York on schedule, with many rerouted to Boston. Number pickup for entrants is scheduled to open Thursday morning at the Javits Center.
Meanwhile, traffic choked city streets as residents tried to return to work and limited commuter rail service resumed. Utilities say it could be days before power is fully restored in the city and on Long Island.
The course mostly avoids areas hit hardest by flooding. Getting everyone to the start on Staten Island could be the biggest challenge if two usual methods ? the ferry and Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel ? are still closed. Organizers are working on contingency plans.
Runners always had to rise in the wee hours of the morning to make it to the start in time, and now they may need to get going even earlier.
Once under way, runners will cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn. The route then winds through the borough and over the Pulaski Bridge into Queens. The Queensboro Bridge will bring the runners into Manhattan's East Side. After a brief swing through the Bronx, they finish in Central Park, which was closed Wednesday. Some 250 mature trees inside the park were felled by the storm.
The 43rd edition of the marathon is set to include three Olympic medalists and the reigning women's world champion.
Kenya's Wilson Kipsang won bronze in the Olympic men's marathon. His challengers include 2011 Chicago Marathon champ Moses Mosop of Kenya and 2010 New York winner Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia's Tiki Gelana won gold and Russia's Tatyana Arkhipova was third in the women's race in London. Edna Kiplagat of Kenya won a world title a year earlier.
"Already what we're hearing from people is we went through the 9/11 marathon, and there was never a more moving marathon, and what that marathon did was it unified this city and brought people back to the streets for the first time in weeks," Wittenberg said. "What was most striking about that marathon to me was it was not about running and it wasn't about the runners. It was about the city. And on that day, instead of the fans being there for the runners, the runners were there for the city. And this marathon already has that same feeling."
Bugz Family Playpark is one of the most popular family attractions in Cape Town, with the largest playpark in the Western Cape. Bugz provides a large outdoor playground and a delightful indoor play area ideally suited for children from 2 to 10 years old. Rides on pedal cars, rowing boats, swing horses, mini tractors, a choo choo train and much more, are open during weekends, public holidays and school holidays.
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Obsidian Finance Sucks - ObsidianFinanceSuck.com : Summit 1031 Bankruptcy Court Docket as of April 2012. Obsidian Finance Group Still Raking in Billable Hours. Long after Obsidian V. Cox. Obsidian Finance Group also Signed Multi-Million Dollar Contracts over 20 Years of IN MONEY, regarding Wattage Agreements. Obsidian Finance Group did NOT lose Millions over Blogger Crystal Cox EXPOSING them. They LIED. And were simply trying to "Save Face".
Summit 1031 Bankruptcy Court Docket as of April 2012. Obsidian Finance Group Still Raking in Billable Hours. Long after Obsidian V. Cox. Obsidian Finance Group also Signed Multi-Million Dollar Contracts over 20 Years of IN MONEY, regarding Wattage Agreements. Obsidian Finance Group did NOT lose Millions over Blogger Crystal Cox EXPOSING them. They LIED. And were simply trying to "Save Face".
The discovery of a skeleton in a shallow grave has raised new questions about Wales in the age of the Vikings.
The skeleton, found at Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey, has forced experts to revise the theory that five earlier skeletons were the victims of a Viking raid.
Evidence now suggests the men may have spent the first part of their lives in Scandinavia.
Experts say artefacts discovered confirm Llanbedrgoch as a 10th Century manufacture and trade centre.
The site was discovered in 1994, and in the late 1990s, five bodies - two adolescents, two adult males and one woman - were found.
The bodies were thought to be victims of Viking raiding, which occurred throughout the Viking period (850 to 1,000).
However, the new skeleton discovered this summer was buried in a shallow grave, which National Museum Wales archaeologists say was unusual for the period.
They say the "non-Christian orientation of the body" and its treatment "point to distinctions being made in the burial practices for Christians and other communities during the 10th Century".
Analysis indicates the males were not local to Anglesey, but may have spent their early years - at least up to the age of seven - in north west Scotland or Scandinavia.
Excavations this year also produced 7th Century silver and bronze sword and scabbard fittings.
Archaeologists believe it suggests the presence of a "warrior elite and the recycling of military equipment" during a period of rivalry and campaigning between kingdoms Northumbria and Mercia.
Excavation director, Dr Mark Redknap, said: "Other finds from the excavation, which include semi-worked silver, silver-casting waste and a fragment of an Islamic silver coin - exchanged via trade routes out of central Asia to Scandinavia and beyond - confirm Llanbedrgoch's importance during the 10th Century as a place for the manufacture and trade of commodities."
BEIJING (Reuters) - A lawyer for disgraced former top Chinese politician Bo Xilai, who has been employed by the family to represent him, said on Thursday he was unable to say whether the government would allow him to represent Bo when the case comes to trial.
Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, and his former police chief, Wang Lijun, have both been jailed over a scandal stemming from the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood while Bo was Communist Party chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing.
The government last month accused Bo of corruption and of bending the law to hush up Heywood's murder. Before Bo is formally charged and tried, investigators must complete an inquiry and indict him.
Bo's mother-in-law, Fan Chengxiu, has retained Li Xiaolin, who was also part of Gu's legal team, to represent him.
But Li said he was unsure if the authorities would allow this. During Gu's trial, she had to use government-appointed lawyers.
"I still can't say whether I'll be able to get involved in this case. We will try our hardest to take it," Li told Reuters in a brief telephone interview.
Li said he did not know where Bo was and added that he had not seen him, as he had only just been employed by Fan.
"There are many things that are impossible to know. I know about as much as you do," Li said.
He declined to speculate on when a trial may happen.
"How can I estimate this? It's all guesswork," Li said.
China is expected to expel Bo from parliament on Friday, which would strip him of the immunity from prosecution he had enjoyed as one of its members, paving the way for formal criminal charges to be laid.
As China's prosecutors and courts come under Communist Party control they are most unlikely to challenge the accusations against him.
The Bo scandal has overshadowed preparations for an important party congress that opens November 8 and will unveil the country's new central leadership line-up.
Bo, 63, was widely seen as pursuing a powerful spot in that line-up before his career unraveled after his former police chief fled to a U.S. consulate in February, saying that Bo's wife had poisoned Heywood.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? A Democratic political action committee began running TV ads in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to boost Democratic Sen. Bob Casey's reelection bid against a surprisingly strong challenge from Republican Tom Smith, a tea party favorite who has personally invested more than $16 million into the race.
The Majority PAC ad said Smith's cost-cutting agenda to eliminate the federal Department of Education would mean less money in classrooms, fewer children in Head Start and less aid for college students.
Smith's campaign responded that he would help schools by fighting to reduce the cost of the federal government and unfunded mandates, and that he has not ruled out keeping some Department of Education functions, such as Pell grants.
Casey is endorsed by the state's major newspapers in his quest for a second, six-year term. Smith is a political newcomer who made a fortune in coal mining and is tapping it to outspend Casey. Smith was on course to outspend Casey by two-to-one after July 1.
The race had long been on the backburner for the national parties in the battle for control of the U.S. Senate. Casey is a political scion, a veteran of several statewide races and popular with labor unions in a strong labor state. He had held a huge lead in early polling, but Smith burst from obscurity after blanketing the airwaves with ads.
A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed Casey with 48 percent, versus Smith's 45 percent.
GAZA: Israel killed two Hamas gunmen in a Gaza Strip air strike on Tuesday which the military said targeted a squad preparing to launch rockets into the Jewish state.
The air force operation followed other Palestinian attacks, including a bomb blast that wounded an Israeli army officer patrolling the Gaza border, on a day that saw the isolated, Hamas-governed enclave receive its first foreign head of state, the emir of Qatar.
Israeli leaders had vowed retaliation for the morning bombing on Gaza's boundary fence, but Israeli television said military actions were put on hold until Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani had left. The rich Gulf state has had low-level diplomatic ties with Israel and hosts a major U.S. naval base.
Hamas said two of its gunmen were killed and another wounded in the air strike in northern Gaza. It did not comment on Israel's allegation that they had prepared rocket launches. Six other rockets were fired across the border on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, though causing no damage or casualties.
The border bombing was claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of several small militant factions in Gaza that often operate independent of the dominant Hamas.
Israel's policy is to hold Hamas responsible for any attacks from the territory, which the Islamist group has controlled since 2007. Though hostile to Israel, Hamas has mostly sought to avoid direct clashes as it shores up its rule in the face of more radical challengers and reaches out to potential allies abroad.
With new mass spectrometer, researchers can grow knowledge of plants and environmental stressPublic release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ruth Welti welti@k-state.edu 785-532-6241 Kansas State University
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A Kansas State University professor's research analyzing lipids is helping scientists around the world understand plant responses and develop better crops that can withstand environmental stress.
To support her collaborative work, Ruth Welti, university distinguished professor of biology, recently received a grant of more than $440,000 from the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation program. The grant -- with matching funds from the university -- will be used to purchase the most advanced mass spectrometer for the Kansas Lipidomics Research Center, which Welti directs.
The new instrument will help Welti and other researchers study plant responses to heat and cold stress, plant infection by pathogens, and the development of plants and seeds, including seed oil production.
"We are trying to understand the basis for the way plants respond to stresses so the information can be used to improve crop plants," Welti said. "We want to obtain global information on plant responses and see how it relates to plant genotype."
Co-principal investigators on the grant include Kathrin Schrick, assistant professor of biology, and Timothy Durrett, assistant professor of biochemistry. The instrument coordinator will be Mary Roth, analytical laboratory manager for the center.
The new spectrometer will enable the researchers to better identify and quantify lipids, which are nonwater-soluble compounds that are found in all living cells and form cell membranes, store energy and serve as messengers. For one of the spectrometer's major projects, the scientists are studying Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant species that is a good model for a number of crop species, particularly closely related species such as canola.
"The information we gather in Arabidopsis can be translated into crop plants," Welti said. "We want to be able to improve plants so they can withstand environmental stresses better. That way, when we have a summer like this last one with a lot of extra heat, crops will be better able to withstand it."
To understand the genetic basis of plant stress, the researchers are studying a broad range of plant stresses, including heat, cold, freezing, salinity, bacterial pathogen infection and fungal pathogen infection. The scientists are also looking at how plants respond to mechanical wounding, such as insect biting or animal grazing.
"We are looking at how these stresses affect plants' ability to continue growing and living," Welti said. "We are assessing how long they can endure stress and assessing their response to stress in relation to their genetic makeup. Genetic changes can affect lipid composition, and we think the lipid changes are signals within and between plants as they respond to stress."
To assess the changes in lipids, the researchers are measuring lipid compounds. They are also comparing wild-type plants with plants that have altered genes to see how each responds.
"The advantage of doing this in a model plant species is that is it easy to understand genetic changes, which is really important," Welti said.
The collaborative project involves several other researchers, including Jyoti Shah at the University of North Texas; Xuemin Wang at the University of Missouri-St. Louis; and Charmaine Naidoo at Langston University.
The project involves analyzing more than 500 compounds in more than 17,000 plant samples. The new spectrometer will enable the researchers to collect and analyze the data nearly 20 times faster.
"What is taking us 36 months now will take us two months on this new instrument," Welti said.
The new spectrometer can benefit other research organizations with projects aimed at increasing agricultural production and understanding animal and human physiology. Because the center also performs mass spectrometry-based lipid analysis for scientists from all over the world, the spectrometer will also be available to the state, national and international scientific communities for other biochemical research projects.
The center, which was founded in 2003, is renovating space for the new spectrometer, which is expected to help with ongoing research from 15 laboratories in eight U.S. states and three countries. The new spectrometer is also expected to advance the training of numerous postdoctoral trainees, graduate students and undergraduates.
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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.
With new mass spectrometer, researchers can grow knowledge of plants and environmental stressPublic release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ruth Welti welti@k-state.edu 785-532-6241 Kansas State University
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A Kansas State University professor's research analyzing lipids is helping scientists around the world understand plant responses and develop better crops that can withstand environmental stress.
To support her collaborative work, Ruth Welti, university distinguished professor of biology, recently received a grant of more than $440,000 from the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation program. The grant -- with matching funds from the university -- will be used to purchase the most advanced mass spectrometer for the Kansas Lipidomics Research Center, which Welti directs.
The new instrument will help Welti and other researchers study plant responses to heat and cold stress, plant infection by pathogens, and the development of plants and seeds, including seed oil production.
"We are trying to understand the basis for the way plants respond to stresses so the information can be used to improve crop plants," Welti said. "We want to obtain global information on plant responses and see how it relates to plant genotype."
Co-principal investigators on the grant include Kathrin Schrick, assistant professor of biology, and Timothy Durrett, assistant professor of biochemistry. The instrument coordinator will be Mary Roth, analytical laboratory manager for the center.
The new spectrometer will enable the researchers to better identify and quantify lipids, which are nonwater-soluble compounds that are found in all living cells and form cell membranes, store energy and serve as messengers. For one of the spectrometer's major projects, the scientists are studying Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant species that is a good model for a number of crop species, particularly closely related species such as canola.
"The information we gather in Arabidopsis can be translated into crop plants," Welti said. "We want to be able to improve plants so they can withstand environmental stresses better. That way, when we have a summer like this last one with a lot of extra heat, crops will be better able to withstand it."
To understand the genetic basis of plant stress, the researchers are studying a broad range of plant stresses, including heat, cold, freezing, salinity, bacterial pathogen infection and fungal pathogen infection. The scientists are also looking at how plants respond to mechanical wounding, such as insect biting or animal grazing.
"We are looking at how these stresses affect plants' ability to continue growing and living," Welti said. "We are assessing how long they can endure stress and assessing their response to stress in relation to their genetic makeup. Genetic changes can affect lipid composition, and we think the lipid changes are signals within and between plants as they respond to stress."
To assess the changes in lipids, the researchers are measuring lipid compounds. They are also comparing wild-type plants with plants that have altered genes to see how each responds.
"The advantage of doing this in a model plant species is that is it easy to understand genetic changes, which is really important," Welti said.
The collaborative project involves several other researchers, including Jyoti Shah at the University of North Texas; Xuemin Wang at the University of Missouri-St. Louis; and Charmaine Naidoo at Langston University.
The project involves analyzing more than 500 compounds in more than 17,000 plant samples. The new spectrometer will enable the researchers to collect and analyze the data nearly 20 times faster.
"What is taking us 36 months now will take us two months on this new instrument," Welti said.
The new spectrometer can benefit other research organizations with projects aimed at increasing agricultural production and understanding animal and human physiology. Because the center also performs mass spectrometry-based lipid analysis for scientists from all over the world, the spectrometer will also be available to the state, national and international scientific communities for other biochemical research projects.
The center, which was founded in 2003, is renovating space for the new spectrometer, which is expected to help with ongoing research from 15 laboratories in eight U.S. states and three countries. The new spectrometer is also expected to advance the training of numerous postdoctoral trainees, graduate students and undergraduates.
###
[ | 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.
As the raves roll in for "Cloud Atlas," the latest effort from the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, it may all seem a bit overwhelming if you haven't seen the multi-storied mash-up of races and genders. It's all a little confusing to the common outsider. What does appeal to everyone, however, is seeing Halle Berry as [...]
The Huffington Post Canada and two of its contributors have won Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA)
NDP MP Charlie Angus took gold for Best Blog in the daily and weekly newspapers, and broadcasters category. Angus' blog, ?What if They Declared and Emergency and No One Came?,? sparked public outcry over the humanitarian crisis in Attawapiskat and exploded on social media with more than 23,000 Facebook shares.
"For decades the federal government has allowed horrific conditions like Attawapiskat to fester because they always made the political calculation that such stories would be ignored as just another case 'out of sight-out of mind' for the Canadian people," Angus said. "Well welcome Media 2.0. Thank to online news and a little flip camera, the government, the nation and the world came face to face with the urgent need to reform our relations with Canada's First Peoples."
Blogger JJ. McCullough also won silver in the Best Blog category for his regular series, Media Bites.
"I'm so proud of our bloggers. Charlie showed the incredible social good that can be achieved through social media. And J.J. is a talented, smart and take-no-prisoners media columnist that has put the Canadian media on notice," said Danielle Crittenden, former Managing Editor of Blogs for HuffPost Canada. Crittenden is now International Blogs Editor for Huffington Post.
Winners were announced Monday night in Toronto.
Other winners in the green division included the National Post for best overall companion website, the Toronto Standard for best website design and CBC News for best online-only news publication.
Huffington Post Canada and AOL Canada were up for eight awards in total Monday night, including best news coverage for politics, the NDP leadership convention, our Mind The Gap series, and a blog by Douglas Anthony Cooper. Spinner Canada received its second consecutive COPA nomination, with a nod for Best Blog in the consumer, custom, religious, public association division.
Blog editors Angelina Chapin and Devon Murphy with one of two COPA awards The Huffington Post Canada won Monday night.
? A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
An Arab League official says hopes for a cease-fire in Syria over the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha are "weak," as President Bashar al-Assad shows little indication of support for the concept, despite his words in favor of a ceasefire.
Ahmed Ben Helli, deputy secretary general of the Arab League, told Reuters that "The indications that are now apparent and the government's reaction ... do not show any signs of a real desire to implement this cease-fire." The proposal, brought to Mr. Assad and the rebels over the weekend by United Nations special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, would entail an end to fighting beginning Oct. 26 and and lasting through the weekend, during the holiday of Eid al-Adha.
"We are days away from Eid," Mr. Ben Helli said. "We hope the situation changes and the government and opposition respond even a little bit to this door for negotiations."
Mr. Brahimi met separately with Syrian rebel leaders and Assad over the weekend, reports Deutsche Welle. Although the opposition is said to be in favor of a ceasefire, DW writes that Assad was less receptive to the idea and conditioned his regime's acquiescence to a political solution to the conflict on an end to foreign powers' arming of the rebels.
Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.
Assad called for a "halt to terrorism" as well as "a commitment on the part of certain implicated countries to stop harboring, supporting and arming terrorists" in Syria, state-run television reported.
Violence continued unabated in Damascus and Aleppo over the weekend as Brahimi pushed for a peaceful resolution, reports Al Arabiya. The rebel-controlled town of Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus, was the scene of ongoing clashes as regime troops attacked the city, killing "scores" of rebels and civilians. And fighting continued across Aleppo, where rebels and regime troops have been clashing for three months. The London-based opposition group the Syrian Observation for Human Rights says that 173 people, including 65 civilians, were killed nationwide yesterday.
The weekend also showed signs that the conflict in Syria is spilling across its borders into neighboring Lebanon and Jordan.
The New York Times reports that protests broke out in Lebanon yesterday, with isolated clashes with security continuing early this morning, after the funeral of Lebanese security chief and anti-Syrian politician Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, who was killed in a car bombing on Oct. 19. The Times writes that the protests "exposed the undercurrent of tension buzzing through Lebanon for much of the 19 months since the uprising began against Mr. Assad?s government. The eruption on Sunday reflected a simmering anger over the killing of Sunni civilians in Syria by allies of Mr. Assad?s Alawite sect."
And early today, a Jordanian soldier was killed when a group of armed militants attempted to cross the Jordanian border into Syria, reports Agence France-Presse. Several of the gunmen were captured, Information and Culture Minister Samih Maaytah told AFP, but not before they killed the corporal.
The border shooting comes on the heels of yesterday's announcement that Jordan had arrested 11 "Al Qaeda" suspects who had planned to launch a coordinated attack on civilian and foreign diplomatic targets in the Jordanian capital of Amman, reports The Daily Telegraph. Using arms smuggled into Jordan from Syria, the militants planned to launch suicide bombings against a pair of shopping malls in Amman. After security forces responded to the attacks, the militants would than assault their primary target, the city's affluent Abdoun district, where many Western diplomats are based.
The 11 suspects are all believed to be Jordanian nationals, and are said to have been instructed by Al Qaeda explosive experts in Iraq. The Telegraph notes that the late Abu Musab al Zarqawi, former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was Jordanian.
IN PICTURES: Reaching a critical juncture in Syria
NBA2K13 may be the best sports game in the U.S., but?EA Canada?s?Fifa 13 is the most popular sports video game in the world.
It has the record-breaking?sales numbers to prove it and after playing it, I understand why.
Presentation / Graphics
Like previous installments of the famous soccer franchise, Fifa13?s presentation wants to give gamers the definitive soccer experience.? It may be overwhelming at first, but Fifa 13 has crammed this version with 30 of the world?s best leagues, so finding your favorite team won?t be a problem. Soccer fans can jump right in and create their dream matches right out of the gate. You can choose from a country?s national club like Spain or the minor teams that reside there as well. Once you drop your team into the pitch, be sure to take in the visual scenery because each stadium (there?s 69 total) ?is unique. The passion that separates soccer fans from other sports fanatics are reflected digitally as well. Hometown cheers (and jeers) can be heard and seen during each break in the action, giving gamers the perspective of what a footballer feels like on the field.
Gameplay
The control functionality for any sports title is the most important component for constructing a sold gaming experience. EA kept the control scheme relatively untouched from previous installments, and this is a good thing. The ?inclusion of ?first touch? controls, however, may take beginners longer to get the hang of them. ?First touch? controls emphasize the interactions between the ball and ball carrier like never before as the art of passing is critical to your success. Even more so than scoring, because the momentum behind each pass reduces the risk of a wild kick to the goal.? Your right stick is used to juke as you shake off your defenders that must be accordingly depending on who you control. A shifty striker like Cristian Ronaldo will have a more expanded foot-skill as he moves the ball up field, while scorers like Wayne Rooney have a variety of trick shots unique to him. Every team and every player is distinctive.
Verdict
The problem with most annual titles is finding balance between building on the success of past versions while making enough improvements to stand out. Fifa 13 walks this tightrope well. For both the avid and casual soccer fan, Fifa 13 is a great vessel for the world?s game. Aside from the ?first touch? control scheme, this is the definitive soccer experience of 2012.
You can check out Kyle?s musical coverage on?theGrio music page, and follow Kyle on Twitter at?@HarveyWins.
PayPal Here, despite all its focus on in-store transactions, hasn't really been available to buy in a US store -- that's been the domain of the seeminglyubiquitous Square reader. eBay's payment wing has at last established that retail beachhead through a deal with AT&T. About 1,800 of the carrier's stores are now carrying PayPal Here readers, and they'll keep the service's big rival from hogging the spotlight at a time when most aren't even aware that there's any competition. If you're still cynical, you can look at the AT&T move as a matter of convenience: at least this way, all your account headaches will come from one place.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Lance Armstrong greeted about 4,300 cyclists at his Livestrong charity's fund raising bike ride, then retreated into privacy as cycling officials get set to announce if they will appeal his lifetime ban and loss of seven Tour de France titles ordered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
Armstrong spoke briefly at the sunrise start of Sunday's ride in Austin.
Armstrong said he's faced a "difficult" few weeks, but did not otherwise mention USADA's recent report showing evidence of performance-enhancing drug use by Armstrong and his teams.
The International Cycling Union has said it will announce Monday whether it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Armstrong denies doping. He stepped down as chairman of Livestrong on Wednesday, and many of his personal sponsors dropped their contracts with him.
Microsoft's Surface for Windows RT appears to be flying off the virtual shelves, however it seems some of the customers who've pre-ordered will be waiting about a week longer than they thought. We've received several tips from readers in Canada and the UK indicating they've received emails (as seen above, check after the break for similar reports from Twitter) explaining that their tablets will be shipping on November 2nd, instead of October 26th as originally scheduled when they put their requests in days ago. There's no reason currently listed for the delay, however we have contacted Microsoft for further comment on the situation. Currently the Surface is listed as completely sold out on the UK and Canada Microsoft Store sites, and in the US all three variants are no longer promised for delivery on release date. It's been reported that Microsoft is building up to five million of the devices for launch this fall, hopefully they can all find their way to good homes sooner rather than later.
Update: A Microsoft spokesperson has responded, informing us that the emails sent out were incorrect, so "all customers should expect their customers by the original date given." It will be following up with customers to let them know their shipping date has not changed, and you can read the full statement for yourself after the break.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The popular supplement saw palmetto may be safe for men with urinary symptoms, a new study finds - but whether it actually works is a whole other matter.
Saw palmetto is a fruit extract that some men take for the symptoms of an enlarged prostate - like difficulty urinating, urine leakage or having to get up repeatedly at night for a trip to the bathroom.
The supplement is popular, despite a lack of evidence that it works. Two recent clinical trials found that saw palmetto was no more effective than sugar pills for men with an enlarged prostate, also known as benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH).
Still, with the supplement readily available over the counter, many men are likely to keep using it, according to Dr. Andrew L. Avins, a research scientist at Northern California Kaiser Permanente in Oakland.
"Since it's a dietary supplement, it can still be sold without evidence of efficacy," Avins noted in an interview. "And from past studies, we know that even without evidence, many people continue to take supplements based on what they believe."
So it's important to see whether there's a risk of any serious side effects, Avins said.
For their study, he and his colleagues looked at data from one of the clinical trials that tested saw palmetto for BPH.
The original study was a U.S. government-sponsored trial where 369 men with BPH were randomly assigned to take saw palmetto capsules or a placebo for 18 months.
Researchers found that urinary symptoms tended to improve, on average - but the benefit was no greater with saw palmetto than with the placebo.
On the positive side, Avins's team found that the risk of side effects seemed no bigger with the supplement either.
The most common complaints included upset stomach, muscle soreness and respiratory infections, and men in the supplement and placebo groups had the same number of complaints -- about three, on average.
And in the end, only a handful of those symptoms were considered to be related to the study itself, Avins's team reports in the Journal of Urology.
Still, that doesn't necessarily mean the supplement is risk-free, Avins cautioned.
"We can only talk about the use of saw palmetto at these doses, over 18 months," he said. (Men in the trial took anywhere from 320 to 960 milligrams of saw palmetto per day.)
"We can't address what happens when men take it for years," Avins said.
There's also little known about whether saw palmetto might interact with any medications a man might be taking.
Then, of course, there's the other question of whether there's any benefit to gain from using saw palmetto.
"On average," Avins said, "it doesn't appear any better than a placebo."
But, he added, if a man actually feels better from using saw palmetto - even via the "placebo effect" - he might think it's a worthwhile investment (at around $11 for 90 320-mg pills).
Avins stressed, however, that men should talk to their doctors about using any supplements. One reason is to help avoid any potential interactions with the prescription drugs they may be taking.
But another reason is to make sure you know about all the options for treating symptoms of an enlarged prostate.
"This is a condition where good conventional options do exist," Avins said.
Prescription medications include so-called Alpha-1 blockers such as doxazosin (Cardura) and prazosin (Minipress), tamsulosin (Flomax) and terazosin (Hytrin). Hormonal treatments include finasteride (Propecia, Proscar) and dutasteride (Avodart).
For some men, surgery may be recommended.
There are also some simple, no-cost steps men can take. Limiting fluids before bed, and cutting out caffeine and alcohol, can be helpful.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Vk83Ir Journal of Urology, online October 10, 2012.
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Public release date: 23-Oct-2012
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