Saturday, March 30, 2013

Consumer data support sturdy first-quarter growth picture

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending rose in February and sentiment among Americans perked up this month, further signs of an acceleration in economic activity in the first quarter after a near stall in late 2012.

The data on Friday also showed a rebound in income growth, putting the economy in a better shape to deal with tighter fiscal policy, particularly the $85 billion in across-the-board federal government spending cuts, known as the "sequester."

"The economy is in a good place now in terms of momentum and strength and it will need it as the government spending cuts will take something off growth as the year progresses," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.

Consumer spending increased 0.7 percent last month after a 0.4 percent rise in January, the Commerce Department said.

Though part of the increase in spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, was because of higher gasoline prices, Americans also bought long-lasting goods such as automobiles and spent more on services.

After adjusting for inflation, spending was up 0.3 percent after advancing by the same margin in January. That prompted some economists to bump up their first-quarter economic growth estimates.

Barclays raised its gross domestic product estimate by 0.7 percentage point to 3.3 percent. Macroeconomic Advisers lifted their estimate by three-tenths of a point to 3.5 percent.

The economy grew at only a 0.4 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter.

A separate report showed households this month shrugged off the deep government spending cuts, focusing instead on the steady labor market improvement, which is starting to boost wages.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment rose to 78.6 from 77.6 in February.

"Consumers have discounted the administration's warning that economic catastrophe would follow the reductions in federal spending, and consumers have renewed their expectation that gains in employment will accelerate through the rest of 2013," said survey director Richard Curtin.

And they have reason to be optimistic. Income increased a healthy 1.1 percent after tumbling 3.7 percent in January.

Personal income had increased sharply in December as businesses rushed to pay dividends and bonuses before tax hikes took effect this year. That also skewed income data for January.

LITTLE SIGN OF FISCAL DRAG

A 2 percent payroll tax cut expired on January 1 and tax rates for wealthy Americans also went up. The consumer spending and sentiment reports were the latest to show little sign the tighter fiscal policy has been a major drag on the economy.

Employment growth accelerated in February, factory activity touched a 1-1/2 year high and first-time applications for unemployment benefits have only increased moderately in March.

Last month, the income at the disposal of households after inflation and taxes increased 0.7 percent in February after dropping 4.0 percent in January.

With income growth outpacing spending, the saving rate - the percentage of disposable income households are socking away - rose to 2.6 percent from 2.2 percent in January.

The higher gasoline prices pushed up inflation, with a price index for consumer spending rising 0.4 percent after being flat for two straight months. February's increase in the PCE index was the largest since August.

But a core reading that strips out food and energy costs rose only 0.1 percent after increasing 0.2 percent in January, showing no sign of underlying inflation pressures.

Over the past 12 months, inflation has risen 1.3 percent after rising by the same margin in the period through January.

Core prices were up 1.3 percent, well below the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. They also had risen 1.3 percent in the 12 months through January.

The benign inflation picture should give the U.S. central bank room to continue with its monetary stimulus as it seeks to boost job growth.

The Fed said last week it would maintain its monthly $85 billion purchases of mortgage and Treasury bonds until it saw a substantial improvement in the job market.

"This is plenty of ammunition for all those Fed officials, who currently do not want to scale back the degree of monetary accommodation," said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist UniCredit Research in New York.

"For investors this must looks like Goldilocks: Better economic data and ongoing monetary accommodation at the same time."

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, additional reporting by Luciana Lopez in New York; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-consumer-spending-rises-supports-sturdy-growth-picture-123723020--business.html

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Romo gets paid

CampbellGetty Images

When the Browns signed quarterback Jason Campbell, many assumed he?d potentially become the team?s starter in 2013.? And he?ll definitely get a chance to win the job, since he?s the first signal-caller signed by the new regime in Cleveland, after previously starting in Washington and Oakland.

For now, though, he?s getting paid like a backup, and not a lot when compared to other backups.? A source with knowledge of the contract tells PFT that Campbell?s contract pays out $1.5 million in 2013.

Specifically, he gets a base salary of $1.5 million in 2013, $500,000 of which is fully guaranteed.

That said, if Campbell can win the job, he?ll make more money via incentives.? Specifically, he gets $150,000 for 50 percent playing time in 2013, 65 percent results in $350,000, and 80 percent triggers $600,000.

In 2014, Campbell?s base salary is a bit higher, at $2 million.? He also gets roster bonus of $250,000 due the third day of the league year.

But there are escalators for 2014 based on playing time in the coming season.? Campbell?s 2014 base salary will increase by $500,000 based on 30 percent playing time in 2013.? 40 percent playing time in 2013 increases the 2014 salary by another $500,000.? Ten more percent in 2013?? Another $500,000 in 2014.? And if Campbell takes 65 percent or more of the snaps in 2013, his $2 million salary will double.

Still, his backup pay for 2013 is low, and that?s largely because Campbell?s options were limited.? Especially in light of the egg he laid when he had a chance during 2012 to sub for Jay Cutler in Chicago, during that Monday night debacle against the 49ers.

Campbell could have stayed in Chicago and backed up Cutler, or he could have gone to Cleveland with a chance to win the starting job.? If Campbell pulls it off, he?ll be paid more on the back end.

And if he plays really well in 2013, the Browns likely will tear up the 2014 deal and sign him to something better.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/29/report-deal-done-romo-gets-more-guaranteed-money-than-flacco/related/

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Special Education Law Blog: BREAKING: New GAO report on Racial ...

In breaking news, the Government Accountability Office has issued a report critical of the definitions states are allowed to use in determining whether racial or ethnic groups are overrepresented in special education. It has long been the contention of certain racial and?ethnic?groups?that their kids are included in special ed in ?disproportionate numbers.

In 2010, states required about 2 percent of all districts to use Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds for early intervening services to address the overrepresentation of racial and ethnic groups in special education. Based on definitions states individually developed to measure this overrepresentation-- referred to in IDEA as significant disproportionality--356 districts were required to provide services. Half of these districts were clustered in five states and 73 were in Louisiana alone. States have used flexibility provided by Education to develop their own definitions of significant disproportionality and GAO's analysis of 16 selected states found wide variation in definitions. Further, GAO found that the way some states defined overrepresentation made it unlikely that any districts would be identified and thus required to provide early intervening services. Nebraska and Louisiana illustrate differing outcomes that can result from different state definitions. In Nebraska, one of 21 states that did not require any districts to provide services in 2010-11, racial and ethnic groups must be identified for special education at a rate three times higher than for other groups for 2 consecutive years. In contrast, racial and ethnic groups in Louisiana districts must be identified for special education at twice the rate of other students in any year. GAO's analysis found if Nebraska had used Louisiana's definition, Nebraska districts may have been required to provide services and, conversely, Louisiana might have identified fewer districts under Nebraska's definition.

Source: http://specialeducationlawblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/breaking-new-gao-report-on-racialethnic.html

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Same-sex marriage is not the last frontier (Powerlineblog)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295303840?client_source=feed&format=rss

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US commandos hand over troubled area to Afghans

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 file photo a member of the Afghan special forces, left, briefs soldiers after a training exercise on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 file photo a member of the Afghan special forces, left, briefs soldiers after a training exercise on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, file photo U.S. Army soldiers from 7th Special Forces Group, based at an Afghan Commando training facility, fire their pistols at a range at their base in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, March 16, 2013 file photo Afghan men chant "U.S. special operations forces out!" as several hundred demonstrators marched to the Afghan parliament building in Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 file photo members of Afghan special forces conduct a training exercise using actors on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? U.S. special operations forces handed over their base in a strategic region of eastern Afghanistan to local Afghan commandos on Saturday, a senior U.S. commander said. The withdrawal from Nirkh district meets a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces leave the area after allegations that the Americans' Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there.

"We're coming out of Nirkh," said Maj. Gen. Tony Thomas, the top U.S. special operations commander in Afghanistan, in an interview with The Associated Press.

Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Wardak province outside Kabul in which Nirkh is located, confirmed that U.S. special operations forces withdrew and were replaced by a joint Afghan security forces team.

The transfer of authority ends a controversial chapter in which Karzai accused U.S. troops and an interpreter working with them of torture, kidnapping and summary execution of militant suspects in Nirkh ? charges U.S. officials including top commander in Afghanistan Gen. Joseph Dunford firmly denied.

The incident shows the larger struggle of Karzai's government to assert its authority over security matters, even as its green security forces try to assume control of much of the country from coalition forces on a rushed timeline, ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most of coalition forces by December 2014.

Karzai had originally demanded the U.S. special operations forces pull out from the entire province, a gateway and staging area for Taliban and other militants for attacks on the capital Kabul. But he scaled down his demands to just the single district after negotiations with Dunford and other U.S. officials.

"President Karzai was specific, it's only for Nirkh, that was a provocative point," Thomas said. "American special operations forces are integral in the defense of Wardak from now until the foreseeable future."

U.S. commandos will also continue to visit the Afghan team in Nirkh.

"We're going to support them from a distance," Thomas said. "The reality is there was such a groundswell of support (from locals) in Wardak after the initial allegations that we're keeping several teams down there to work with the Afghan security forces for the future, with an idea that we'll transition over time."

The Americans are paired with and live alongside locally recruited and trained teams known as Afghan local police. Thomas said most of the local police will be paired with Afghan security forces by the end of the summer, with the Americans making occasional visits as they will do in Nirkh, to assess whether they need logistic or other support.

One Wardak government official expressed relief that the agreement crafted with Karzai did not mean the complete pullout of U.S. forces from the province, saying that local officials were worried their new forces would not yet be able to keep hardcore insurgents out of the area.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because his comments run counter to public statements made by Karzai, that the Afghan security forces are ready for complete independence in Wardak.

___

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

Follow Kimberly Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-30-Afghanistan/id-5c0a6e44044a4d0ead5d03abc74e0f3d

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PST: Ex-French star calls Beckham 'unprofessional'

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Source: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/29/former-french-international-calls-david-beckham-unprofessional/related/

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Obama Calls for Infrastructure Spending ? for the Fifth Time in Five Years

Speaking Friday in Miami, President Obama called for $21 billion in new national infrastructure investment. This is a strong break from past years ? when he called for the creation of an infrastructure bank in the autumn.

RELATED: Five Best Wednesday Columns

In 2009, the newly elected president had his only success in getting Congress to approve money for infrastructure. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ??the stimulus bill ??allocated tens of billions to highways, rail, and transit improvements. At the time, The New York Times hailed the deal, but with a caveat.

By one measure, the public- works spending in the stimulus package exceeds the promises President Obama made as a candidate. But by another, it falls short. ?

[I]t does not create the national infrastructure bank he had called for to set national priorities and get big projects done.

That infrastructure bank is the key element of Obama's pitch for public investment. In short, it would create a new government entity to evaluate projects and issue bonds for their construction, leveraging an existing pool of money. But in 2009, Obama couldn't make the sale.

RELATED: We Have a Debt Limit Deal: Now What?

Nor could he in any year since. The infrastructure bank came up in September, 2010, as part of a request for $50 billion. He called for it in September 2011, as part of a Jobs Act proposal that would, again, put $50 billion into infrastructure. He called for it last February, when he revived the idea of the Jobs Act ??and, of course, last fall on the campaign trail.

RELATED: Who's Economy Is It Anyway?

During its election-year review of the president's campaign promises, Politifact labelled the infrastructure bank a "broken promise". Though that's not Obama's fault. It's Congress's fault. Only Congress can approve the creation of such an entity, much less authorize $21 billion in spending. And besides one fit of generosity in 2009, they've been reticent to do so since.

RELATED: Poll: A Slight Majority Still Blames George Bush for Economy

The ostensible reason Obama unveiled his initiative now is that he will unveil his complete budget on April 10, for which today was meant to act as a preview. But there may be another reason ? that he's hoping to capitalize on his reelection and on the surprising disarray and acquiescence that the GOP has shown so far this year on tax cuts and funding for Hurricane Sandy relief. At what CNN called a "campaign-style event", Obama brought pressure on the House Republicans. NBC reports:

On Friday, Obama dinged Republicans for disapproving of blanket ?government spending? but privately lobbying for infrastructure projects that create jobs ? and boost their political popularity ? at home.

?I know that members of Congress are happy to weclome projects like this in their districts,? Obama said. ?I know because I?ve seen them at the ribbon cuttings.?

Obama's used that joke a lot before, too.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-calls-infrastructure-spending-fifth-time-five-years-185725316.html

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The Daily Roundup for 03.29.2013

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/the-daily-roundup-for-03-29-2013/

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Valley Fever Fungal Infection on Rise in Southwest - Health News ...

lungs78 Valley Fever Fungal Infection on Rise in Southwest

THURSDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) ? Cases of a fungal lung infection called Valley Fever increased sharply in several southwestern states since the late 1990s, according to a report released Thursday.

In Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, the number of cases climbed from less than 2,300 in 1998 to more than 22,000 in 2011, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

During that time, Arizona and California had the largest average increases in Valley Fever incidence, at 66 percent and 31 percent per year, respectively.

Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis) is caused by inhaling a fungus called Coccidioides, which lives in the soil in southwestern states. Not everyone who is exposed to the fungus gets sick, but those who do become ill typically have flu-like symptoms that can last for weeks or months.

More than 40 percent of patients who get sick may require hospitalization, with an average cost of nearly $50,000 per visit. And research has shown that 75 percent of those who get sick miss work or school for about two weeks, the CDC said.

Between 1998 and 2011, nearly 112,000 cases of Valley Fever were reported in 28 states and Washington, D.C., but 66 percent of the cases were in Arizona, 31 percent were in California, 1 percent were in Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, and about 1 percent were in all other states combined.

More research is needed to determine what is causing the increase in Valley Fever and how to reduce its effects, the CDC said. Possible reasons could be population growth, weather changes that could affect where the fungus grows and how much of it is circulating, or changes in the way the disease is detected and reported to the CDC.

?Valley Fever is causing real health problems for many people living in the southwestern United States,? Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said in an agency news release. ?Because fungus particles spread through the air, it?s nearly impossible to completely avoid exposure to this fungus in these hardest-hit states. It?s important that people be aware of Valley Fever if they live in or have traveled to the southwest United States.?

Doctors and patients need to be aware that the symptoms of Valley Fever are very similar to flu or pneumonia symptoms, the CDC said. A lab test is the only way to diagnosis Valley Fever.

Not everyone who gets Valley Fever requires treatment, but early diagnosis and treatment are important for those at risk for the more severe forms of the disease. Those at higher risk for severe disease include people of Asian descent (particularly Filipino), blacks, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC website.

More information

The American Lung Association has more about Valley Fever.

HEALTHDAY Web XSmall Valley Fever Fungal Infection on Rise in Southwest

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/03/28/valley-fever-fungal-infection-on-rise-in-southwest/

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Shroud of Turin authenticity up for debate again after new report (+video)

Scientists at the University of Padua in Italy have used infrared light and spectroscopy (the study of a physical object's interaction with electromagnetic radiation) to examine the shroud and found that it's actually much older than a previous study found.

By Marc Lallanilla,?LiveScience Assistant editor / March 29, 2013

Williams Jones, Shenadoah, Pa., shows some of the points of interest in the Shroud of Turin replica on display in front of the altar after the Divine Liturgy during the Shroud of Turin exhibit at St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Shenandoah, Pa., in Feb.

Jacqueline Dormer/The Republican-Herald/AP

Enlarge

The Shroud of Turin, an icon of faith and controversy among Christians, is back in the news.

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'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // --> The Shroud of Turin - the cloth that some have claimed was used to wrap the body of Jesus after his crucifixion - is the subject of a new book that claims it is 2,300 years old. Gayle King reports.

The linen cloth, allegedly the burial shroud of Jesus, was closely examined in 1988 in laboratories in Switzerland, England and the United States using carbon-14 dating techniques, the?Telegraph?reports.

Those examinations of the shroud ? which bears the image of a man's face and torso ? dated the cloth from 1260 to 1390, supporting claims that it's merely an elaborate medieval hoax, as Jesus' life is thought to have come to an end in A.D. 33.

Some believers, however, insisted that the linen fibers used in the 1988 examinations were not from the original shroud, but rather from a portion of the cloth that had been repaired after suffering fire damage in the Middle Ages.

Now, scientists at the University of Padua in Italy have used infrared light and spectroscopy (the study of a physical object's interaction with electromagnetic radiation) to examine the shroud and found that it's actually much older, the Telegraph reports.?

In his recent book, "Il Mistero della Sindone," translated as "The Mystery of the Shroud," (Rizzoli, 2013), Giulio Fanti, a professor of mechanical engineering at Padua University, said his analysis proves the shroud dates from 280 B.C. to A.D. 220 ? meaning it existed during Jesus' lifetime, the?Guardian?reports. [Religious Mysteries: 8 Alleged Relics of Jesus]

The Shroud of Turin is said to be the cloth that covered Jesus' body after the crucifiction. Previous examinations that dated the shroud to the Middle Ages mesh with historical records, which don't start mentioning the cloth until that time. But some researchers believe the shroud is older. Thomas de Wesselow, author of "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection" (Dutton Adult, 2012), argues that medieval artists did not paint in photorealistic style, and that a forged shroud created in the Middle Ages would be an anachronism.?

That doesn't mean the shroud is evidence of a miracle, however, de Wesselow told LiveScience last year. He believes natural chemical reactions caused by a decomposing body and annoiting oils could have created the body imprint on the shroud, which may have then been?used as evidence of Christ's resurrection.?

For the first time in 30 years, the shroud will be shown on television this Saturday (March 30), the Guardian reports. Before leaving the papacy,?Benedict XVI?approved a special broadcast of the shroud to be held at the Turin Cathedral, where the cloth is preserved in a climate-controlled case.

And for those who want an even more intimate examination of the cloth, a new mobile app, Shroud 2.0, was just released on Good Friday (March 29),?Zenit.org?reports.

Designed in collaboration with the Museum of the Holy Shroud and the Archdiocese of Turin, Shroud 2.0 synthesizes 1,649 high-definition photographs into a single 12-billion-pixel image. An Android version is also being developed, Zenit reports.

Follow Marc Lallanilla on?Twitter?and?Google+. Follow us?@livescience,?Facebook?&?Google+. Original article onLiveScience.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/c-5e5aDK4EI/Shroud-of-Turin-authenticity-up-for-debate-again-after-new-report-video

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Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried To Present At Movie Awards

Steve Carell, Chris Pine and Melissa McCarthy will also hand out Golden Popcorns on April 14.
By Amy Wilkinson


Zac Efron and Amanda Seyfried
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704605/mtv-movie-awards-2013-presenters-zac-efron-amanda-seyfried.jhtml

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Gay marriage: Supreme Court critiques DOMA

Same-sex marriages are legal in 9 states and the District of Columbia, but the federal government does not recognize those unions. Based on their statements on Wednesday, it appears the majority of the country's Supreme Court justices are questioning the law which bars such unions from federal recognition.?

By Mark Sherman,?Associated Press / March 27, 2013

Plaintiff Edith Windsor of New York waves to supporters in front of the Supreme Court in Washington Wednesday after the court heard arguments on her Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) case.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Enlarge

Concluding two days of intense debate, the Supreme Court signaled Wednesday it could give a boost to same-sex marriage by striking down the federal law that denies legally married gay spouses a wide range of benefits offered to other couples.

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As the court wrapped up its remarkable arguments over gay marriage in America, a majority of the justices indicated they will invalidate part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act ? if they can get past procedural problems similar to those that appeared to mark Tuesday's case over California's ban on same-sex marriage.

Since the federal law was enacted in 1996, nine states and the District of Columbia have made it legal for gays and lesbians to marry. Same-sex unions also were legal in California for nearly five months in 2008 before the Proposition 8 ban.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the decisive vote in close cases, joined the four more-liberal justices in raising questions Wednesday about a provision that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for purposes of federal law.

It affects more than 1,100 statutes in which marital status is relevant, dealing with tax breaks for married couples, Social Security survivor benefits and, for federal employees, health insurance and leave to care for spouses.

Kennedy said the Defense of Marriage Act appears to intrude on the power of states that have chosen to recognize same-sex marriages. When so many federal statutes are affected, "which in our society means that the federal government is intertwined with the citizens' day-to-day life, you are at real risk of running in conflict with what has always been thought to be the essence of the state police power, which is to regulate marriage, divorce, custody," Kennedy said.

Other justices said the law creates what Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called two classes of marriage, full and "skim-milk marriage."

If the court does strike down part of?DOMA, it would represent a victory for gay rights advocates. But it would be something short of the endorsement of gay marriage nationwide that some envisioned when the justices agreed in December to hear the federal case and the challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage.

Still, the tenor of the arguments over two days reflected how quickly attitudes have changed since large majorities in Congress passed the federal?DOMA?in 1996 and President Bill Clinton signed it into law. In 2011, President Barack Obama abandoned the legal defense of the law in the face of several lawsuits, and last year Obama endorsed gay marriage. Clinton, too, has voiced regret for signing the law and now supports allowing gays and lesbians to marry.

In 1996, the House of Representatives' report on the legislation explained that one of its purposes was "to express moral disapproval of homosexuality." Justice Elena Kagan read those words in the courtroom Wednesday, evoking a reaction from the audience that sounded like a cross between a gasp and nervous laughter.

Kagan's quotation gave lawyer Paul Clement, representing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives that has taken up defense of the law in place of the administration, some uncomfortable moments at the lectern.

"Does the House report say that? Of course, the House report says that. And if that's enough to invalidate the statute, then you should invalidate the statute," Clement said. But he said the more relevant question is whether Congress had "any rational basis for the statute." He supplied one: the federal government's interest in treating same-sex couples the same no matter where they live.

Clement said the government does not want military families "to resist transfer from West Point to Fort Sill because they're going to lose their benefits." The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is in New York, where same-sex marriage is legal, and Fort Sill is in Oklahoma, where gay marriages are not legal.

Opposing Clement was the Obama administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Donald Verrilli, who said the provision of?DOMA?at issue, Section 3, impermissibly discriminates against gay people.

"I think it's time for the court to recognize that this discrimination, excluding lawfully married gay and lesbian couples from federal benefits, cannot be reconciled with our fundamental commitment to equal treatment under law," Verrilli said.

Both Verrilli and Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer for Edith Windsor, the 83-year-old New York woman who sued over?DOMA, told the court that views about gay people and marriage have shifted dramatically since 1996 when the law was approved.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/FyuO48ux08k/Gay-marriage-Supreme-Court-critiques-DOMA

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Liz Neumark: East-Over Up North

The celebration of Easter and Passover this week is an opportunity for a cultural mash-up quite aside from the religious connections between the two important holidays. And though spirituality and religious traditions are most meaningful to the observant, it is around the table that many of us discover community, share in social lessons and feed our passions, all puns intended.

I headed to Lewiston, Maine to spend the Passover Seder with my eldest daughter, Nell, a senior at Bates College. And as much as I deeply treasure a visit with my daughter, a visit to Portland is a fabulous secondary benefit.

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My rule of thumb in Portland is "Eat every 2 hours." (The other rule is book a massage with the finest professional on the East Coast, Ramon at the Portland Regency Hotel Spa. This serves to undo all the New York City stress I carry with me, which in turn enhances my Portland state of mind).

Easter is the dominant American holiday, and I had limited expectations of finding traditional Passover food, especially in Portland. When I visited Aurora Provisions (a first), I was quite surprised to discover a mouthwatering Passover menu posted on the front door. Inside, an impressive range of Kosher for Passover wines, along with tempting homemade Gefilte Fish and Matzo Balls in Soup were featured. There was Haroset -- the traditional Seder food symbolizing the mortar the enslaved Jews in Egypt used in building the pyramids. And while this Haroset was more chunk than mortar, it contained all the essential ingredients, same as I have hand-chopped and chopped until smooth in my wooden bowl at home.

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Faye, the delightful young woman at the counter, invited me to an annual gathering held on Easter Sunday at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, ME, where close to 100 people gather for East-Over -- a potluck combination of foodies of both faiths. The day is non-stop eating, with "tons of dogs and babies." Faye's dad, Glen, is the only one under 60. Add this to the 2014 calendar.

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A nod to the holiday was also on the menu at the Standard Baking Co.: almond macaroons and a beautiful flourless chocolate cake. And they were delicious. No handmade matzo on the menu, though I can only imagine how fabulous that would have been. Down the street I met Perry, the local hot dog man of 19 years, who was preparing to close up early so he could attend Seder "at the Shulman's" he told me. I declined his offer of a hot dog and he insisted on preparing a grilled veggie sandwich for my last pre-Passover bread meal, complete with an authentic NYC Gus' half sour pickle. Perry stated that 10 percent of Portland was Jewish, so perhaps not a matzo-less city after all.

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Next stop, Lewiston for Seder at Bates College Hillel. Every seat was taken as over 100 students gathered for an abbreviated service with an extensive buffet -- wise proportions! I was introduced to something new: 30minuteseder.com. (I bet our forefathers would have appreciated a 30minutewandering-in-the-desert.com.) It was a joyful event as the students willing observed the mandate to drink four glasses of wine while reading from a rather abridged Haggadah. Rabbi Yael Rooks-Rapport led the service, and infused contemporary concepts that resonated for the students. After reading the traditional 10 plagues, she talked about 10 Modern ones -- Hunger, Despotism, Lack of Clean Water, Bullying, Racism, Sexism, Intolerance, Greed, Death from curable disease -- each student adding their own for #10. (Gun violence?)

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On the Seder plate, orange wedges were included along with the parsley, horseradish, Haroset, egg and salt water. Why an orange? From the Jewish Women's Archive, an explanation which in its telling suggests how traditions evolve.

Rebecca Alpert tells of a 1979 session on women and the Jewish Law presented to the Jewish Women's Group at University of California at Berkeley by the rebbetzin of the campus Chabad House. One student asked her opinion about the place of lesbians in Judaism. The rebbetzin suggested that it was a small transgression, like eating bread during Passover. Something one shouldn't do, but for which there were few consequences. Some time later, when the Berkeley students were planning their Seder, they chose to place a crust of bread on their Seder plate in solidarity with lesbians who were trying to find a place in Jewish life.

Others picked up this story, but struggled with the transgressive symbolism of bread on a Seder plate. Professor Susannah Heschel was responsible for substituting a tangerine as a symbol for gay and lesbian solidarity. She then went on to share the story, and as it spread, it changed. The symbol became an orange, and the focus shifted to the place of women leaders and rabbis in Judaism. Today, the orange is a symbol of inclusivity to all genders and sexualities.
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That is just part of the beauty of Passover. It is rooted in communities and families coming together to celebrate ancient traditions and timeless memories, and creating new ones. And there is so much happens around the table -- as life happens around food. The memories enchant us and enhance our experience as days are spent shopping and preparing meals. At Bates, students from dozens of cities lined up at the sumptuous buffet, which probably mirrored tables across the country.

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In a few days, the Easter feast will be presented in a similar fashion. The egg is prominently featured at Passover and is equally legendary for Easter. For these springtime holidays it symbolizes life and rebirth. Whatever your tradition, even if it is a Spring dance with the pussy willow or budding crocus, I hope we share a season of peace.

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Follow Liz Neumark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GPfood

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-neumark/eastover-up-north_b_2958668.html

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NOvA neutrino detector records first 3-D particle tracks

NOvA neutrino detector records first 3-D particle tracks [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Andre Salles
media@fnal.gov
630-840-6733
DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

What will soon be the most powerful neutrino detector in the United States has recorded its first three-dimensional images of particles.

Using the first completed section of the NOvA neutrino detector, scientists have begun collecting data from cosmic raysparticles produced by a constant rain of atomic nuclei falling on the Earth's atmosphere from space.

"It's taken years of hard work and close collaboration among universities, national laboratories and private companies to get to this point," said Pier Oddone, director of the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Fermilab manages the project to construct the detector.

The active section of the detector, under construction in Ash River, Minn., is about 12 feet long, 15 feet wide and 20 feet tall. The full detector will measure more than 200 feet long, 50 feet wide and 50 feet tall.

Scientists' goal for the completed detector is to use it to discover properties of mysterious fundamental particles called neutrinos. Neutrinos are as abundant as cosmic rays in the atmosphere, but they have barely any mass and interact much more rarely with other matter. Many of the neutrinos around today are thought to have originated in the big bang.

"The more we know about neutrinos, the more we know about the early universe and about how our world works at its most basic level," said NOvA co-spokesperson Gary Feldman of Harvard University.

Later this year, Fermilab, outside of Chicago, will start sending a beam of neutrinos 500 miles through the earth to the NOvA detector near the Canadian border. When a neutrino interacts in the NOvA detector, the particles it produces leave trails of light in their wake. The detector records these streams of light, enabling physicists to identify the original neutrino and measure the amount of energy it had.

When cosmic rays pass through the NOvA detector, they leave straight tracks and deposit well-known amounts of energy. They are great for calibration, said Mat Muether, a Fermilab post-doctoral researcher who has been working on the detector.

"Everybody loves cosmic rays for this reason," Muether said. "They are simple and abundant and a perfect tool for tuning up a new detector."

The detector at its current size catches more than 1,000 cosmic rays per second. Naturally occurring neutrinos from cosmic rays, supernovae and the sun stream through the detector at the same time. But the flood of more visible cosmic-ray data makes it difficult to pick them out.

Once the upgraded Fermilab neutrino beam starts, the NOvA detector will take data every 1.3 seconds to synchronize with the Fermilab accelerator. Inside this short time window, the burst of neutrinos from Fermilab will be much easier to spot.

The NOvA detector will be operated by the University of Minnesota under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

The NOvA experiment is a collaboration of 180 scientists, technicians and students from 20 universities and laboratories in the U.S and another 14 institutions around the world. The scientists are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and funding agencies in the Czech Republic, Greece, India, Russia and the United Kingdom.

###

Fermilab is America's premier national laboratory for particle physics research. A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC. Visit Fermilab's website at http://www.fnal.gov and follow us on Twitter at @FermilabToday.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


NOvA neutrino detector records first 3-D particle tracks [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Andre Salles
media@fnal.gov
630-840-6733
DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

What will soon be the most powerful neutrino detector in the United States has recorded its first three-dimensional images of particles.

Using the first completed section of the NOvA neutrino detector, scientists have begun collecting data from cosmic raysparticles produced by a constant rain of atomic nuclei falling on the Earth's atmosphere from space.

"It's taken years of hard work and close collaboration among universities, national laboratories and private companies to get to this point," said Pier Oddone, director of the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Fermilab manages the project to construct the detector.

The active section of the detector, under construction in Ash River, Minn., is about 12 feet long, 15 feet wide and 20 feet tall. The full detector will measure more than 200 feet long, 50 feet wide and 50 feet tall.

Scientists' goal for the completed detector is to use it to discover properties of mysterious fundamental particles called neutrinos. Neutrinos are as abundant as cosmic rays in the atmosphere, but they have barely any mass and interact much more rarely with other matter. Many of the neutrinos around today are thought to have originated in the big bang.

"The more we know about neutrinos, the more we know about the early universe and about how our world works at its most basic level," said NOvA co-spokesperson Gary Feldman of Harvard University.

Later this year, Fermilab, outside of Chicago, will start sending a beam of neutrinos 500 miles through the earth to the NOvA detector near the Canadian border. When a neutrino interacts in the NOvA detector, the particles it produces leave trails of light in their wake. The detector records these streams of light, enabling physicists to identify the original neutrino and measure the amount of energy it had.

When cosmic rays pass through the NOvA detector, they leave straight tracks and deposit well-known amounts of energy. They are great for calibration, said Mat Muether, a Fermilab post-doctoral researcher who has been working on the detector.

"Everybody loves cosmic rays for this reason," Muether said. "They are simple and abundant and a perfect tool for tuning up a new detector."

The detector at its current size catches more than 1,000 cosmic rays per second. Naturally occurring neutrinos from cosmic rays, supernovae and the sun stream through the detector at the same time. But the flood of more visible cosmic-ray data makes it difficult to pick them out.

Once the upgraded Fermilab neutrino beam starts, the NOvA detector will take data every 1.3 seconds to synchronize with the Fermilab accelerator. Inside this short time window, the burst of neutrinos from Fermilab will be much easier to spot.

The NOvA detector will be operated by the University of Minnesota under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

The NOvA experiment is a collaboration of 180 scientists, technicians and students from 20 universities and laboratories in the U.S and another 14 institutions around the world. The scientists are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and funding agencies in the Czech Republic, Greece, India, Russia and the United Kingdom.

###

Fermilab is America's premier national laboratory for particle physics research. A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC. Visit Fermilab's website at http://www.fnal.gov and follow us on Twitter at @FermilabToday.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/dnal-nnd032813.php

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Cyprus banks reopen; limits on transactions

People wait outside a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

People wait outside a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

People wait outside a Coop bank branch in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Bank branches across the country were being replenished with cash, and are scheduled to open for six hours at noon (10:00 GMT). Systems were frozen pending the official noon opening. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

People wait outside a Coop Bank branch in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

A woman sweeps the ground while people wait outside a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Cypriots get their first chance to access their savings in almost two weeks when the country?s banks reopen Thursday - albeit with strict restrictions on transactions - after being closed due to the country?s acute financial crisis. Lines were starting to form outside banks Thursday morning ahead of the official opening for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

People are served in a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Banks in Cyprus reopened to customers for the first time in nearly two weeks Thursday, albeit with strict restrictions on transactions, after being closed to prevent people withdrawing all their savings during the country?s acute financial crisis. Large lines had formed outside the banks ahead of the opening of banks for six hours from noon. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

(AP) ? Banks in Cyprus reopened for the first time in nearly two weeks Thursday, with strict controls to stop people from taking out all their savings and plunging the country's financial system into chaos.

The limits on transactions, which include caps on withdrawals and money leaving the country, are a first in the 14-year history of the euro.

Across Cyprus, large but orderly lines formed ahead of the opening of banks for six hours from noon, and guards from private security firms reinforced police outside some ATMs and banks in the capital, Nicosia. No particular crowd issues were reported.

President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his "warm gratitude and deep appreciation towards the Cypriot people for the maturity and spirit of responsibility they have shown at a critical time for the stability of the Cypriot economy," a statement from his office said.

Banks have been shut in Cyprus since March 16 to prevent people draining their accounts as politicians scrambled to come up with a plan to allow the country to qualify for 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in international bailout loans for its stricken financial sector.

A deal was finally reached in Brussels with other euro countries and the International Monetary Fund early Monday. The country's second-largest bank, Laiki, is to be split up, with its healthy assets being absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus. Savers with more 100,000 euros ($129,000) in both Bank of Cyprus and Laiki will face big losses. At Laiki, those could reach as much as 80 percent of amounts above the 100,000 insured limit; those at Bank of Cyprus are expected to be much lower.

The Finance Ministry announced capital controls ? to be reviewed daily and initially applying for seven days ? to prevent a rush of euros out of the country's banks when they reopened.

They include limiting daily cash withdrawals to 300 euros ($383) per person and limiting payments abroad to 5,000 euros ($6,400). No checks can be cashed, although they can be paid in. Anyone leaving the country, whether Cypriot or a visitor, can only take up to 1,000 euros ($1,290) with them in cash.

The country's general accounting office said pensions and other social security payments, together with salaries for government employees, will be in bank accounts next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Many Cypriots were working out exactly what they could and couldn't do. Television talk shows hosted dial-ins with experts, with viewers' queries ranging from where they would repay loans to how they could pay tuition fees for children studying abroad and handle check payments. Across the country, people wondered whether they would be able to access their salaries, many of which were due this week.

"I believe this will be a very difficult day for both people and bank employees because no matter how much information there was, things were changing all the time," said Costas Kyprianides, a grocery supplier in Nicosia. "Even us traders, like myself, have so many checks which I need to deposit so I can make ends meet."

Some analysts are concerned that, if kept in place long, Cyprus's measures will go against the fundamental principle of the single currency: Free and easy movement of money around the euro's 17 members.

The European Commission said EU member states could restrict financial transactions "in certain circumstances and under strict conditions on grounds of public policy or public security" but added that "the free movement of capital should be reinstated as soon as possible".

Not every account in Laiki and Bank of Cyprus will be hit with big losses. Deposits held by the central government, local authorities such as municipalities, universities and development projects being co-funded by the European Union will not face a so-called haircut. Constantinos Petrides, undersecretary to the president, said the measure was agreed between the Cypriot government and a delegation from the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission.

Government welfare and pension fund accounts in Laiki will be treated in the same way as those in the Bank of Cyprus, "thereby ensuring most of the deposits," Petrides added.

Some individuals and businesses, spotting that Cyprus's economy was in trouble and that a tax on deposits was being discussed, had moved their money out of Cyprus well before the banks closed their doors last week.

According to ECB figures, deposits in Cyprus' banks slipped 2.2 percent last month, to 46.36 billion euros ($59.36 billion), the lowest figure since May 2010 and down from a peak of 50.5 billion euros ($64.67 billion) in May 2012. The figure excludes deposits from other banks and the central government.

"I anticipated, not this to happen, but I anticipated issues last year, when Greece had a question of whether it will remain in euro and the consequences of that," said Athos Angelides, who runs a business importing and distributing hair salon products. "So luckily we transferred money in the middle of last year over to the UK."

The stock market, which has been closed since March 15, stayed shut. It said it would remain closed also on Friday and Monday, which is Easter in most of Europe. Cyprus follows the Orthodox calendar and does not celebrate Easter until May this year.

____

Elena Becatoros in Nicosia and David McHugh in Frankfurt contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-28-Cyprus-Financial%20Crisis/id-7ef54386040742aea982a37c43be10a4

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Guess The Celebrity Abs! (Photos)

Guess The Celebrity Abs! (Photos)

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/03/guess-the-celebrity-abs-photos/

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After Raising $2.1M, TiKL Opens Their Mobile Chat/Voice Calling API To Developers

Tikl logoFor a team that has somehow stayed mostly off the tech press' radar, TiKL has had a pretty friggin' good year. With $0 spent on marketing, their two apps, TiKL and Talkray, have nabbed a total of 28M downloads. After taking part in YC's Winter 2012 class, they raised $2.1M from some of the Valley's biggest names. Today TiKL is unveiling the other half of their business strategy: the Talkray API.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/W2aFHQhXntA/

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South Africa's Mandela "responding positively" to treatment

By Ed Stoddard

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela is "responding positively" to treatment for a recurring lung infection after being admitted to hospital overnight, the government said on Thursday.

"He remains under treatment and observation in hospital," it added in a statement, without giving further details about the health of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.

Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994, has been mostly absent from the political scene for the past decade, but remains an enduring and beloved symbol of the struggle against racism.

He is renowned at home and abroad for spending 27 years in prison fighting the last bastion of white rule in Africa and then promoting the cause of racial reconciliation.

"Black Americans look up to him because he fought oppression and his bravery is something that doesn't happen often," said Yau Williams, an American tourist, as he walked through Johannesburg's financial district of Sandton.

Mandela has been frail and in poor health for several years.

"He will come out fine, let's just have faith in God," said Samson Ndlovu, speaking in Zulu as he walked out of a Johannesburg taxi rank.

Mandela was in hospital briefly earlier this month for a check-up, and spent nearly three weeks in hospital in December with a lung infection and after surgery to remove gallstones.

That was his longest stay in hospital since his release from prison in 1990 after serving almost three decades for conspiring to overthrow the white-minority apartheid government.

Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner.

As he has receded from public life, critics say his ruling African National Congress (ANC) has lost the moral compass he bequeathed it when he stepped down as president in 1999.

Under such leaders as Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, the ANC gained wide international respect as it battled white rule. Once the yoke of apartheid was thrown off, it began ruling South Africa in a blaze of goodwill from world leaders who viewed it as a beacon for a troubled continent and world.

Almost two decades later, this image has dimmed as ANC leaders have been accused of indulging in the spoils of office, squandering mineral resources and engaging in power struggles.

Mandela spent much of last year in Qunu, his ancestral village in the poor Eastern Cape province. But since his release from hospital in December he has been at his home in an affluent Johannesburg suburb, closer to sophisticated medical facilities.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley, Zandi Shabalala and Benon Oluka; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africas-mandela-back-hospital-070717156.html

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