Allure of mystery helps recluse's gold net $3.5M

Appraiser Howard Herz talks about gold coins being auctioned off more in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Sixty-nine-year-old Walter Samaszko, Jr. died in June 2012, leaving thousands of gold coins in his garage. A portion of his collection brought $3.5 million today at the auction. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

Appraiser Howard Herz talks about gold coins being auctioned off more in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Sixty-nine-year-old Walter Samaszko, Jr. died in June 2012, leaving thousands of gold coins in his garage. A portion of his collection brought $3.5 million today at the auction. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

Mexican 50 peso pieces were among the $3.5 million in gold coins auctioned off in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Recluse Walter Samaszko died in June 2012, leaving thousands of coins hidden in his garage. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

This Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 photo shows the Carson City, Nev. home of Walter Samaszko Jr. A crew sent to clean out Samaszko's house found more than $7.4 million worth of gold coins, bars and bullion left behind in the garage after his death in June. About 135 pounds (61 kilograms) of Walter Samaszko Jr.'s gold coins will be auctioned off in 11 lots Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in a courtroom to pay government taxes and fees. Carson City Clerk Recorder Alan Glover says the auction will only include about half of the trove left behind when the reclusive man died in his modest Carson City home last year. An exhaustive search identified California substitute teacher Arlene Magdanz as Samaszko's first cousin and sole heir to the fortune that was decades in the making. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner)

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) ? The tale of a mysterious Nevada recluse's gold has reached a new chapter when a portion of the trove raked in more than $3.5 million at auction.

The allure of mystery pulled some bidders to the courtroom where the auction took place Tuesday. For others, it was the sheer value of a collection unknown to the public before Walter Samaszko Jr. was found dead in his modest ranch-style home last year.

Regardless of motivation, those who converged on the auction could sense the immense value of the treasure upon arriving.

Numerous guards were stationed at the entrance, more in the hallway outside the courtroom, and finally several with bulletproof vests and others with helmets inside the room holding the gold.

Five bidders diligently inspected the 11 lots of gold displayed in plastic sleeves, tubes and felt jewelry display boxes heavily guarded room before the bidding wars began.

By the time all sales were final, however, one bidder had secured nine of the 11 lots for sale.

Carson City's Alan Rowe of Northern Nevada Coin spent $617,000 from his own company, and another $2 million on behalf of the Illinois-based Rare Coin Company of America Inc. It was the uniqueness of the gold that drove his bidding, he said.

"Every one of us has a little hoarder nature in our culture and we all like to have things, but to this degree is quite a story," Rowe told reporters after the auction, adding that the metal value "is not as exciting as the story itself, there's actually value to the story."

He added that some of the coins will be available in the store or online for locals hoping to snag a piece of history. Others, he said, will be marketed nationally and likely on television.

This auction was only for the bullion coins ? items that are not necessarily rare, just expensive because they are made of gold. There will likely be a second auction for the larger portion of the collection which is comprised of the rare coins, said Alan Glover, the public administrator for Samaszko's estate.

"They're buying and bidding on an ounce of gold, pure gold by the weight," Glover said.

In total, about 150 pounds of gold was sold at Tuesday's auction. About $800,000 will pay various fees and estate taxes, and the rest of the profits go to a substitute teacher in San Rafael, Calif., who is the first cousin and sole heir to the trove of Walter Samaszko Jr.

Because of the other coins' rarity, that sale is expected to net higher profits.

James Mitchell of Reno's Silver State Coin and a California-based group named Spectrum Group International Inc. grabbed the two lots not purchased by Rowe or his partners.

Mitchell landed the lot of 4,600 Mexican dos pesos, the largest number of coins in a single lot. He said the story posed no additional value to him.

"It had the most potential for profit," Mitchell said of his purchase. "There was one lot I wanted more, but this one will have to do."

That lot, a collection of 620 Canadian Maple Leafs, was the largest in terms of weight and the coins were the purest gold available. It fetched $1.16 million from Rowe and the Rare Coin Company of America.

No one knows exactly when the collection began, or why Samaszko never sold it. Frankly, no one knew anything about him even though he lived in the same neighborhood for decades. Weeks passed before authorities even discovered he had died in his modest Carson City home. A coroner said he died of heart problems.

When cleanup crews arrived, they made the startling discovery of the 69-year-old man's vast collection of thousands of gold coins worth millions of dollars stashed in old ammunition boxes in his garage.

Officials discovered the trove neatly wrapped and stored mostly in ammunition boxes stacked on top of each other. There were more than 2,900 Austrian coins, many from 1915; more than 5,000 from Mexico; at least 500 from Britain; 300 U.S. gold pieces, some dating to 1880; and more than 100 U.S. gold pieces as old as the 1890s.

Among the coins were meticulous records of the purchases dating back to at least 1964, when gold averaged about $35 per ounce. The precious metal currently sells for more than $1,600 an ounce.

Authorities believe that his mother, who lived with Samaszko until her death in 1992, purchased most of the coins.

Despite the millions of dollars in his garage, Samaszko didn't appear to lead a luxurious life. Records show he only withdrew about $500 a month to pay modest bills. He died with $1,200 in a checking account and just a bit more than $165,000 in a money market and mutual fund account.

Since learning of her inheritance, Magdanz has shunned publicity and not made any comments about the fortune.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-27-Recluse's%20Gold%20Fortune/id-3bd390053e9a4731bc8de3a10ed70a5b

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Cryopreservation: A chance for highly endangered mammals

Feb. 27, 2013 ? Oocytes of lions, tigers and other cat species survive the preservation in liquid nitrogen. Scientists of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin succeeded in carrying out cryopreservation of felid ovary cortex.

"We have successfully frozen and thawed oocytes in the ovary cortex of different cat species at minus 196 degrees Celsius. This freezing process and the storage of living cellular material in liquid nitrogen is called cryopreservation," said Caterina Wiedemann, doctoral candidate at the IZW.

The ovarian cortex is regarded as a reservoir of reproductive cells. It contains thousands of immature oocytes. Successful cryopreservation of ovarian tissue of wild cats is therefore a key element for the establishment of genome resource banks, an important tool for the preservation of genetic diversity. All felid species except for the domestic cats are listed on the Red List for endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Taking a freezing procedure developed in human medicine as their model, scientists at the Department of Reproduction Biology of the IZW developed a method for cryopreserving the ovarian cortex of different cat species. In the original procedure, ovarian tissue of women who suffer from cancer is removed to avoid its damage by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. After successful tumor treatment the tissue is re-transplanted so that the normal female cycle, including fertility, can be restored. In the meantime, the tissue is conserved in liquid nitrogen. The IZW adapted this method to preserve female germ cells from feline species.

The particular challenge in the cryopreservation of ovarian cortex tissue comes from the fact that the cells are embedded in a very complex system. Ovarian cortex is composed of immature oocytes surrounded by small somatic cells, different connective tissue and blood vessel cells. In addition, the cellular properties of every species are unique, thus it not possible to develop a common freezing procedure applicable to all species. For the cat cells, the scientists of the IZW worked out a "slow" freezing protocol. The cortex was dissected into evenly chopped pieces, each 2 mm in diameter. The cellular material was frozen at a speed of 0.3 degrees per minute. Ethylene glycol and saccharose were used as cryoprotectant agents. To demonstrate their survival after thawing the ovaries, the cortex was cultured in a medium for up to 14 days before and after the freezing.

The IZW owns the genome resource bank ?Arche," which contains, inter alia, a variety of sperm samples of various wildlife species. The newly developed cryopreservation method will substantially improve the future storage of feline germ cells. ?This is a large step towards preserving biodiversity. In particular to endangered cat species the successful cryopreservation of female and male gametes is a ray of hope," commented the head of the department, Prof Dr Katarina Jewgenow (IZW).

In 2007 the IZW initiated the "Felid Gametes Rescue Project" in order to build up an European network for the extraction and storage of feline gametes, which are made available to breeding programmes of zoos. Within the framework of this project, different European zoos are sending ovaries and testes of big and small cats to the IZW in Berlin for research. The scientists involved are confident that these good results will encourage even more zoos to participate in the network.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB).

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Caterina Wiedemann, Jennifer Zahmel, Katarina Jewgenow. Short-term culture of ovarian cortex pieces to assess the cryopreservation outcome in wild felids for genome conservation. BMC Veterinary Research, 2013; 9 (1): 37 DOI: 10.1186/1746-6148-9-37

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/gD-2iNyP-Jk/130227101951.htm

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Exercises To Help You Retain Your Memory - Memory Training

If there were simple ways to boost your memory, would they be of interest to you? Thankfully, lots of methods of protecting your memory and retaining everything you learn exist. The article below has some powerful suggestions to save your memory.

Don?t overload yourself with too much information at one time. Spend several short study sessions learning the information you must remember. Don?t try and learn all there is to learn in one sitting. It can overwhelm your mind, and you can forget nearly all of it. Study in short sessions, and your brain can remember better.

Include fatty Omega-3 acids into your diet to help boost memory capabilities. These fatty acids are present in your brain and adding supplements or fishes to your diet will help your memory. Eat foods that are high in unsaturated fat, like salmon and other fish.

Exercise will help you maintain your memory. When you exercise, the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain is improved, and this keeps your brain healthy. Keeping your body healthy will keep your brain healthy. Improved brain health will help to improve your memory. Exercise has the added advantage of lowering your risk of diseases, like diabetes, which impair memory as a secondary effect.

A helpful tool for increasing your ability to memorize is to link the bits of information together in your mind with a common trait or factor. Connecting pieces of related or non-related information logically together will facilitate recall. For example, if a student is trying to recall the periodic table symbol for lead, he could memorize ?peanut butter (Pb) equals lead.? This association is so off the wall that it is easy to memorize.

Exercise is as good for your memory as it is for your body. Exercise helps to improve your memory, at the same time that it improves your health. In addition, when you are exercising you will increase oxygen flow to the brain, and reduce your risk of developing a disorder. Exercise also enhances the activation of chemicals that are essential for protecting the cells of the brain.

Listening to classical music can help to improve memory function. Music that is calming eases stress, and allows you to focus more clearly on the matter at hand. Try taking a warm bath and lighting some candles, while listening to classical music.

When mastering new information, connect it with something you already know and can access easily. For instance, your birthplace or your mother?s maiden name. This establishes a tie between something you already know to something that is new, and this increases the likelihood that it will be committed to long-term memory. If you relate information, it will help you remember things in a more timely fashion.

Stress can make you forgetful. When you are trying to learn new information or need to recall where an item is located, try to relax. Don?t focus on your frustration, but calmly think of the thing that you are trying to remember.

It can be extremely agitating to find that you can?t remember something. A tip for aiding your memory is clearing your mind for a minute. If searching for something, take a moment to breathe deeply, remove extraneous thoughts, and then start looking with a fresh perspective.

Adapt your diet to meet the nutritional needs of your brain. Healthy fats are important for brain health. Avoid trans fats, but add things like fresh fish, nuts, and flax seed or olive oil to your diet.

Something as simple as doubting yourself can have a huge negative impact on your ability to remember. Many people are resigned to the fact that old age will bring memory loss. This is often a self-fulfilling prophecy. Expecting memory deterioration could potentially damage your memory. When others start doubting your ability to remember things, you may begin to believe them. When you think positive and think you have a good memory then you can help yourself stay positive and sharp.

Do not cram for when studying. Give yourself plenty of breaks. The study style of cramming makes information recall exceptionally difficult during the test time, since you cut your brain short of badly needed processing time. Don?t overdo the break, though. Make sure that you don?t take so many breaks that you don?t leave yourself time for proper review. It is therefore important that you allow a decent amount of time before a test to study, rather than trying to cram it all in just before.

Improving Memory-saving tips and tactics aren?t overly complicated. Most of what you learned here is all fairly common-sense stuff, dealing with a lot of repetition and other retention practices. However, you cannot take this advice lightly just because it?s simpler than you assumed. Be sure that you?re using the tips here if you want to save your memory.

Source: http://memory.training-hq.com/exercises-to-help-you-retain-your-memory-7/

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Lawyer says Lohan committed to turning life around

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, Lindsay Lohan attends the Mr. Pink Ginseng launch party at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lohan's attorney wrote in a letter filed in court on Feb. 22, 2013, that the actress is willing to record public service announcements and provide inspirational talks at schools and hospitals as a possible way to resolve a case that alleges she lied to police about a car accident. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, Lindsay Lohan attends the Mr. Pink Ginseng launch party at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lohan's attorney wrote in a letter filed in court on Feb. 22, 2013, that the actress is willing to record public service announcements and provide inspirational talks at schools and hospitals as a possible way to resolve a case that alleges she lied to police about a car accident. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, Lindsay Lohan attends the Mr. Pink Ginseng launch party at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lohan's attorney wrote in a letter filed in court on Feb. 22, 2013, that the actress is willing to record public service announcements and provide inspirational talks at schools and hospitals as a possible way to resolve a case that alleges she lied to police about a car accident. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Lindsay Lohan is committed to turning her life around and wants to record public service announcements on the dangers of domestic violence, alcohol abuse and drunken driving, her attorney said Wednesday.

Mark Heller told The Associated Press that the actress' plans are independent of a criminal case that could return her to jail on charges that she lied to police about being a passenger in her car when it slammed into a dump truck in June.

The "Liz & Dick" star has been repeatedly sentenced to jail, rehab, and community service since her first pair of arrests for driving under the influence in 2007. She spent several months in court-ordered psychotherapy until a judge released her from supervised probation in March 2012.

As part of the intense psychotherapy sessions, Lohan is in the beginning stages of trying to become an inspirational speaker to young people, he said.

"I think she suddenly woke up one morning and had an epiphany and she suddenly realized and appreciated the seriousness of the events that led to her being in court," Heller said.

"She's going to try to inspire hope in people," he said. "I think it will be good for her. It certainly won't hurt others."

Heller mentioned Lohan's intent to become an inspirational speaker in a letter to prosecutors and a judge that was obtained Tuesday. He said he will meet with prosecutors on Friday to try to reach a resolution in Lohan's newest case, which includes misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and obstructing officers from performing their duties.

She has pleaded not guilty. Lohan, 26, was on probation at the time of the crash and faces up to 245 days in jail if a judge determines her conduct violated her probation in a 2011 necklace theft case.

Officers suspected alcohol might have been involved in the June accident on Pacific Coast Highway, but the actress passed sobriety tests at a hospital and she was never charged with driving under the influence.

Santa Monica police Sgt. Richard Lewis said officers did not give Lohan a field sobriety test at the accident scene because she and her assistant were injured in the crash and were taken to a nearby hospital. While officers could not rule out that Lohan might have been drinking, he noted that she did not show signs of impairment.

Celebrity web site TMZ, citing anonymous sources, reported Wednesday that a bottle of alcohol was found next to Lohan's sports car after the crash. Lewis said he could not discuss evidence in the case, but noted that the actress was not charged with drunken driving.

Heller wrote in a motion filed last week that officers found a bottle that they initially thought was urine, but might have contained wine. His filing, which seeks a delay or dismissal of charges against the actress, states that "upon information and belief" the bottle's contents were never tested.

Lohan's case returns to court on Friday, although the actress is not required to attend.

Heller is asking a judge to dismiss the case against Lohan because officers ignored the actress' request to talk to her attorney before being interviewed, court records show. He said he is prepared to defend Lohan at trial if necessary, but is hoping a deal can be worked out. He is seeking a delay in the case to have time to prepare and allow Lohan to demonstrate she is improving her life.

Threats from judges and jail sentences that are invariably cut short because of overcrowding haven't helped Lohan, Heller said. "None of it really brought closure to this predicament that led to this most recent event."

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-27-People-Lindsay%20Lohan/id-41af4ce851694217ad87d244b5873d23

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Officials: Iran widens use of clandestine oil tankers

Tim Chong / Reuters file

The Delvar, a Malta-flagged Iranian crude oil supertanker, is seen anchored off Singapore on March 1, 2012.

By Jonathan Saul, Reuters

LONDON - Iran is using old tankers, saved from the scrapyard by foreign middlemen, to ship out oil to China in ways that avoid Western sanctions, say officials involved with sanctions who showed Reuters corroborating documents.

The officials, from states involved in imposing sanctions to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear program, said the tankers - worth little more than scrap value - were a new way for Iran to keep its oil exports flowing by exploiting the legal limitations on Western powers' ability to make sanctions stick worldwide.

Officials showed Reuters shipping documents to support their allegation that eight ships, each of which can carry close to a day's worth of Iran's pre-sanctions exports, have loaded Iranian oil at sea. Publicly available tracking and other data are consistent with those documents and allegations.

"The tankers have been used for Iranian crude," one official said. "They are part of Iran's sanctions-busting strategy."

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Dimitris Cambis, the Greek businessman who last year bought the ships - eight very large crude carriers, or VLCCs - to carry Middle East crude to Asia, flatly denied doing any business with Tehran or running clandestine shipments of its oil to China.

Cambis said he had not been involved in shipping before but had bought the tankers as part of a new venture he runs from the United Arab Emirates. He denied trading with Iran - though he has contacts there from his previous work in the oil industry.

Related story:?Skulduggery at sea: Iran uses tankers off Malaysia to evade oil embargo

He denied his vessels have loaded oil from Iran while at anchor in the Gulf. Known as ship-to-ship transfers, or STS, such movements are hard to track as crews can switch off tracking beacons or not update their recorded positions for periods to conceal that one vessel has come alongside another.

Cambis also explained a stop in Iran by one of his tankers - recorded in publicly available tracking data - as having been only for an emergency repair, not to load an oil cargo.

"There is no Iranian vessel that has done any STS with us," Cambis told Reuters in Athens in response to the officials' allegations of taking oil from Iranian tankers owned by Tehran shipping group NITC. "We have nothing to do with NITC."

The officials involved with sanctions dispute his account and showed documents detailing several ship-to-ship loadings. They said all eight of the tankers were involved in Iran trade.

In one instance in early December, according to the shipping documents shown to Reuters by the officials, an NITC tanker named Marigold loaded Iranian crude onto the Leycothea, one of Cambis's eight ships, while both were at anchor off the UAE emirate of Sharjah. Public tracking showed Cambis's tanker made a call about a month later to Zhanjiang oil terminal in China.

Loading at sea lets vessels pick up a cargo without visiting the country of origin of the crude. Officials allege the tankers are also used as offshore storage for Iranian oil which can then be transferred onward to other ships, concealing its origins.

Officials in Iran, which rejects Western allegations it is seeking nuclear weapons, did not respond to requests for comment.

Muddying waters
Experts on sanctions law said that by operating outside the European Union, ship-owners had no clear obligation to observe rules barring EU companies from buying Iranian oil, though banks and insurers with EU or U.S. business ties are giving a wide berth to firms they suspect of dealing with Iran, given U.S. and EU efforts to penalize such firms within their own jurisdiction.?

"Such ships would be used to delete traces of a trade taking place," a London-based ship broker said.

While Iran has its own substantial tanker fleet, capable of carrying over 72 million barrels, the 2 million barrels that each of the eight tankers can move would be a useful addition to its capacity, analysts said - particularly as their foreign ownership and management could help conceal the Iranian origin of the oil, making it easier to obtain insurance, finance and other ship services that are affected by EU and U.S. sanctions.

Cambis said that between August and November he bought the eight ships: Leycothea, Glaros, Nereyda, Ocean Nymph, Seagull, Zap, Ocean Performer and Ulysses I. The first five are now managed by his firm, Sambouk Shipping, in Sharjah and he is in the process of transferring management of the remaining three.

In other movements indicated by the shipping documents, the Nereyda was also involved in a separate ship-to-ship transfer with NITC's Rainbow in the Gulf in November, while the Glaros took an offshore transfer from the Marigold there in December.

The Nereyda was later recorded arriving at a terminal in China in December. The Glaros appears to have remained in the Gulf since that December transfer, according to tracking data.

Asked about publicly available ship tracking data showing that the Glaros stopped at Iran's Larak Island oil terminal on October 20 last year, Cambis provided what he said was an affidavit by the ship's master describing an emergency repair carried out by Iranian divers when the tanker was headed to Saudi Arabia.

The master, named as I. Bonoutas, could not be reached for comment. Cambis denied loading any oil in Iran. After its stop at Larak, Glaros's next recorded visits, according to ship tracking data, were at Chinese ports between November 24 to December 1.

The eight tankers, built up to 20 years ago, can carry about 16 million barrels of oil among them, shipping databases show.

Iranian crude exports declined to an average of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2012, down about 1 million bpd from 2011 levels, data from the International Energy Agency showed.

NITC blacklisted
The eight tankers were bought last year for a total of about $204 million, ship trading sources said - reflecting prices only 3-4 percent above their worth as raw metal. The purchases have been the object of considerable discussion among ship brokers - not least because they would more typically have been broken up.

A ship dealer based in London said, however: "They can carry on trading for as long as people are willing to employ them.

"There's really not much that any authorities can do."?

NITC has been blacklisted by the West and the EU has imposed an outright ban on providing ship insurance that would benefit Iran. The exit from Iran of top providers of ship certification, vital for port access, and the removal of Iranian vessels from international registries have added to operational challenges.

While NITC has expanded its fleet in recent months, experts say access to additional foreign tankers would give Tehran more flexibility in maintaining exports.

"The key word for the Iranians is resistance as in the Supreme Leader's declaration of a resistance economy," said Scott Lucas, a specialist on Iran at Birmingham University.

"This is not an economy which is going to produce growth but it is one which is going to try and avoid a domestic collapse."

More related stories

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17105999-iran-widens-use-of-clandestine-tanker-fleet-to-bust-oil-sanctions-international-officials-say?lite

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Teen Mom 2 Recap: Jenelle Evans' Rage Returns; Leah Messer Can't Make Up Her Mind

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/teen-mom-2-recap-jenelle-evans-rage-returns-leah-messer-cant-mak/

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Barbra Streisand Oscars Performance Honors Marvin Hamlisch

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/barbra-streisand-oscars-performance-honors-marvin-hamlisch/

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Can Scientists (and Wasps) Save Orange Juice? [Slide Show and Video]

Image:

For my March feature on a disease that is threatening the U.S. citrus industry (?The End of Orange Juice?), I spent time with researchers and growers who are working to stop this bacterial illness, which leaves fruit green and bitter and kills trees. Known as huanglongbing (HLB)? -- Chinese for yellow dragon disease -- it is caused by bacteria that hide in the salivary glands of invasive insects known as Asian citrus psyllids. The pests arrived in the U.S. in the late 1990s and have spread the disease by injecting germs into plants as they feed on sap from their leaves. There is no cure for the disease.?

Huanglongbing, which is also called citrus greening, was first spotted in Florida?the heart of America?s orange juice industry -- in 2005 and has since spread to Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and southern California. Nearly every commercial grove in Florida has been infected, costing the state billions of dollars and thousands of lost jobs. Late in 2012, the first Asian citrus psyllid was spotted in California?s commercial groves--which grow nearly 80 percent of all the fresh oranges produced in the U.S.--most likely heralding the arrival of the disease.?

? View the Slide Show

Scientists are looking at many different approaches to managing and eradicating the disease. Many say the only long-term solution will be genetic modification, which is still years away. In the meantime, entomologists are using biological control -- the practice of releasing living organisms to prey on pests -- as a means of keeping psyllid populations in check in residential areas where pesticide sprays have failed. (In Los Angeles, for example, psyllids multiplied so quickly on backyard citrus trees that state authorities couldn?t keep pace). Mark and Christina Hoddle, entomologists at the University of California, Riverside, have imported tiny wasps from Pakistan to feast on Asian citrus psyllids and have released them at more than 100 sites in Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange and San Bernardino counties. (The wasps do not sting humans). In this video, Christina releases a vial of wasps--29 females and 15 males--on a curry bush in the parking lot of a Los Angeles hotel. (Curry is a citrus relative). The site may seem random, but in fact the Hoddles used state data to identify this site as being particularly infested with Asian citrus psyllids, which Christina calls ?ACP? for short in this clip. She also talks about having previously scouted the shrub to make sure it has plenty of psyllid nymphs at the 4th and 5th instars, which are the two life stages that the wasps attack.

?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=2e3a5b6b49703b25fdf281d64d160dc9

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Oscars 2013: The Five Moments That Actually Mattered

Here's what everyone should be talking about the day after the awards.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Jennifer Lawrence trips at the Oscars on Sunday
Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702597/oscars-2013-moments.jhtml

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Schmidt OK with Barry,?Roger in Hall

Mike Schmidt says an awful lot I agree with in this interview with Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. ?He doesn?t like it when people are accused of using PEDs without evidence and he hates the guilt-by-association that is so common when the topic comes up. What?s more, he has no problem with Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens being in the Hall of Fame.

Yep, we?re really on the same page here. But I don?t think even I?d go this far:

?I would not have a problem with Bonds or Clemens,? Schmidt said at Phillies camp. ?Here we are convicting them of PED use and we don?t know anything more than we read.?

Schmidt said he?d need to see ?a legitimate failed test? to bar a player from election to the Hall of Fame.

?I don?t think anyone that failed a legitimate test should be in,? Schmidt said. ?But I?d need to see a legitimate test to know if what we?re talking about was actual fact.?

I?ve read Game of Shadows. I think it?s safe to say that Barry Bonds took steroids, and I think we can say so without a test result. ?Clemens may be a bit more dicey, but I don?t think I?d choose to die on Roger Clemens Didn?t Take Steroids Hill in these PED battles we tend to have.

But really, I?d rather err on the side Schmidt is erring on than to fall in with the ?eyeball test? crowd.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/21/mike-schmidt-is-not-yet-convinced-that-barry-bonds-and-roger-clemens-took-steroids/related/

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Microsoft gooses Windows XP's custom support prices as deadline nears

News

February 21, 2013 11:53 AM ET

Computerworld - Microsoft is wielding the big stick of dramatically higher custom support costs as it pushes enterprises to abandon the 11-year-old Windows XP, an analyst said today.

Custom support plans, which Microsoft negotiates on a company-by-company basis, provide critical security updates for an operating system that's officially been declared dead. Windows XP, which still powers about 43% of the world's Windows PCs, is slated for support retirement on April 8, 2014. That leaves 410 days from today for XP users to move on.

According to Michael Silver and Stephen Kleynhans, a pair of Gartner analysts who published a report on XP custom support last month, some companies won't meet the deadline. "Many will not have Windows XP totally eliminated before support ends," Silver and Kleynhans wrote, echoing earlier estimates by Silver that between 10% and 15% of enterprise PCs will still be running XP when Microsoft pulls the plug.

However, Microsoft offers a failsafe of sorts -- "Custom Support" -- that lets companies pay for security patches beyond the normal support lifespan.

But Silver and Kleynhans said that Microsoft has quoted significantly higher prices for Custom Support than in the past.

For some time, Microsoft capped custom support at $200,000 for the first year, payable quarterly so that if a firm finished its migration in less than a year, it would pay only for support through the end of that quarter. In 2006, Microsoft switched to per-device pricing, with a floor of $200,000 and a ceiling of $500,000. Four years later, in 2010, Microsoft modified pricing yet again by capping it at $200,000 for the first year if the corporation had signed up for Software Assurance, the annuity-like program that guarantees companies access to the newest version of a product.

Those prices got tossed out the window, said Silver in an interview today. Microsoft has returned to a per-device model -- $200 has been typical -- and reinstituted floor and ceiling amounts. But those amounts for the first year are closer to what Microsoft was previously charging for the third year of support.

"It's certainly not pretty," said Silver of the custom support quotes for XP, which have ranged from $600,000 to $5 million for the first year.

The higher prices put to rest speculation by some experts last year that Microsoft, faced with enormous numbers of XP PCs still in use next year, would have no choice but to extend free support.

An IT manager, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, told Computerworld that Microsoft had quoted his company $1 million for the first year of custom support to cover 5,000 Windows XP machines, $2 million for the second year, and $5 million for the third.

Silver pointed out that the $1 million fit with what he'd heard from other organizations of Microsoft charging $200 per PC for the first year of post-retirement support.

"It is hard to fault Microsoft for wanting to end support for its older products and migrate users onto newer versions that provide a better experience, and potentially revenue for Microsoft," said Silver and Kleynhans in their report.

Source: http://rss.computerworld.com/~r/computerworld/s/feed/topic/125/~3/hZLqGdo3MmM/Microsoft_gooses_Windows_XP_s_custom_support_prices_as_deadline_nears

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Rep. Burgess: Citizenship path not easy (CNN)

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Mumford & Sons, Adele among winners at Brit Awards

LONDON (AP) ? British music put on a brash, confident show at the Brit Awards on Wednesday, celebrating a resurgent industry whose bands and artists are topping charts around the globe.

Winners ranged from established acts such as Coldplay and Adele to world-conquering boy band One Direction, who won in the new Global Success category.

One Direction's Louis Tomlinson called the prize "absolutely mind-blowing."

American artists Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey were among the non-British winners at a ceremony that embraced the mainstream while rewarding artists with distinctive personalities.

Surfing English folk singer Ben Howard and chanteuse Emeli Sande each won two awards.

Sande was named best British female artist and won the album of the year prize for her debut "Our Version of Events," which has been in the British charts for more than a year. Scotland-raised Sande got a big boost in 2012 when she performed at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

"This is a dream, really," said Sande, who beat Alt-J, Mumford & Sons, Plan B and Paloma Faith to the album prize.

She thanked everyone "who made me feel like I'm part of something much bigger."

Howard was named British breakthrough act and British male artist of the year.

"I'm not very good at speeches," the 25-year-old singer said, accurately ? though he may have to get good at it if his career continues to take off.

Long derided as dull, the Brits have become a lively celebration of "Cool Britannia" music and style, featuring a dinner for hundreds of artists and industry figures followed by a televised concert and awards show for thousands of paying fans.

Hard rockers Muse opened the show at London's O2 Arena with a typically robust performance of their song "Supremacy"? all thundering music, dazzling light show and 60-piece orchestra. Other performers ranged from tween-pleasing One Direction to American artists Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake.

Timberlake, dapper in a tuxedo as he performed "Mirrors," was described by host James Corden, in a nod to Europe's horse meat scandal, as "95 percent beefcake with just a little touch of horse."

One Direction performed a mashup of post-punk classics "One Way or Another" and "Teenage Kicks," their single for Britain's Comic Relief charity.

Mumford & Sons were named best British group. The banjo-twanging band topped U.K. and U.S. charts with their second album "Babel," which was named album of the year at the Grammys earlier this month.

Soul singer Amy Winehouse ? who died in July 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning ? was among the other nominees for British female artist, eligible thanks to her posthumous "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" album. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, arrived for the awards ceremony at London's O2 Arena wearing a waistcoat emblazoned with a picture of his daughter.

Coldplay was named best British live act, beating nominees including The Rolling Stones, who celebrated their 50th anniversary with a series of sold-out shows last year.

Adele won the best British single prize for her James Bond theme "Skyfall." The soulful singer sent a message from Los Angeles, where she is rehearsing for Sunday's Academy Awards.

There was no repeat of last year, when she was cut-off mid-speech because the show was running late ? an incident Corden referred to in mock-embarrassment several times.

The Black Keys were named best international group, while Del Rey took the trophy for international female solo artist. The U.S. singer, who began as an Internet sensation, won a breakthrough Brit award last year and on Wednesday thanked Britain for supporting her.

The international male trophy went to R&B star Frank Ocean, who said it was "definitely a long way from working fast food in New Orleans" ? and was the only winner to thank artist Damien Hirst for creating the polka-dot Brit Awards statuette.

Style standouts included Swift, who performed "I Knew You Were Trouble" in a hoop-skirted white number ? more wedding cake than wedding dress ? that she shed to reveal black undergarments. Jessie J drew attention in a deeply low-cut black dress.

Most of the awards are chosen by more than 1,000 musicians, critics and record industry figures, with several decided by public vote.

___

Online: www.brits.co.uk

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mumford-sons-adele-among-winners-brit-awards-215829334.html

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Sunrise for iPhone May Be the Last Calendar App You Ever Use

Sunrise for iPhone is more than just a calendar app, it's puts important information about your day front and center, including appointments you have to make, friends' birthdays and events, the day's weather, and more. Best of all, it syncs with Google Calendar so you don't have to start over, and uses Google Maps for directions to events, knows your time zone automatically, and reminds you when an event is about to start.

If Sunrise looks familiar, it's because the app was developed by the same people behind the previously mentioned email digest service by the same name. The iOS app takes things up a bit by giving you an app that syncs in real time with Google Calendar, brings in Facebook events, birthdays, and other notifications (including invitations you get through Facebook), and lets you create new events and invite people right from the app. The app understands timezones and matches your calendar and alerts up to the time where you are, even supports plain language when adding or editing events (so "Lunch tomorrow at 11am" is correctly entered.)

You can fire up the Sunrise app to see your daily list of events and appointments, the same way the email service does, but the app gives you control over the individual appointments and lets you reschedule them, contact the organizer, even get directions via Google Maps to the event or appointment location. You can see the weather conditions forecast for the event time right next to it in your daily view, and use swipe gestures to move from the daily view to weekly or monthly. Sunrise is completely free and available now in the iTunes App Store.

Sunrise Calendar (Free) | iTunes App Store via Sunrise

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/N9xB-L12BXQ/sunrise-for-iphone-may-be-the-last-calendar-app-you-ever-use

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Two RA Writers Bid Farewell to the Man They Call J. Bay - Rising ...

Both myself and Rich Sparago had some last thoughts on Jason Bay. We decided to combine our efforts to express ourselves regarding the most tragic free agent signing in the History of the New York Mets.

First up, Rich Sparago:

Jason Bay signed a 4-year contract with the Mets after the 2009 season. In his last year with the Boston Red Sox, Bay hit .267 with 36 HRs and 119 RBI. The Mets had every reason to believe that they were getting a hard-hitting left fielder, who was going to be 32 years old in the 2010 season. We all know that things did not work out well for Bay in his 3 years in Queens. Bay?s tenure with the Mets was marked by frustration, failure, and injuries.

Bay?s batting averages in his 3 years with the Mets were .259, .246, and .165. He hit a total of 26 HRs, and drove in a total 124 runs. Bay suffered serious concussions in the 2010 and 2012 seasons, and had both campaigns cut short significantly. Despite his struggles, Bay always hustled and played excellent defense. Many fans did not acknowledge Bay?s professional effort, as Jason was often booed by the Flushing Faithful.

Bay isn?t the only Met acquisition to struggle upon arrival in Queens. Two other players who experienced similar situations were Mo Vaughn and Roberto Alomar. In 2000 with the Angels, Vaughn hit .272, with 36 HRs and 117 RBI. After missing the entire 2001 season with injuries, Vaughn hit .259 with 26 HRs and 72 RBI for New York in 2002.? Vaughn played in only 27 games for the Mets in 2003, before seeing his career end due to injuries. Alomar?s case is even more intriguing. In 2001 with Cleveland, Alomar hit .336 with 20 HRs and 100 RBI. In 2002 with the Mets, Alomar hit .266 with 11 HRs and 53 RBI.? Alomar was traded during the 2003 season. Bay?s plight in New York was not unprecedented.

Many people view Bay?s departure as addition by subtraction. Bay?s Fan Graphs projection for 2013 is .249, 10 HR, 44 RBI. His primary replacement in left field will be Lucas Duda, who projects to .268, 18 HR, 69 RBI. While Duda is certainly expected to be more productive than Bay offensively, Duda?s defense is at best sub-par, while Bay?s is above average. So the overall run differential between the two players may not be very significant. Yes, Bay is gone. My prediction for 2013 is that at times, especially when the Mets are on defense, Met fans may actually miss Jason Bay.

I wish Bay well in Seattle. He?ll be playing close to his home in western Canada, with a team that?s clearly on an upward trajectory. His professionalism, hustle, and defense will be missed.

Maybe I should clarify.

His professionalism, hustle, and defense will be missed by fans who see his time in New York as I do.

Next Up, Sam Maxwell:

Jason Bay: A Legendary Met

Wait?What?

This phrase might catch most Met fans off-guard, but as we settle into our first Spring Training in 4 years without his Bayness, the New Mariner has come to mind from time to time. It unfortunately did not work out for any of us, but I still hold Jason Bay in as highest a regard as any Met who has come before him or will come hereafter.

Much in the same way we rooted for the ?62 squad, Jason Bay falls into the legend of all those who just didn?t quite make it in that classic Mets uniform. It looks as good on him as it has on anybody else, but success could unfortunately not be found.

Yeah, J. Bay did not come through all that often.

But what about those fleeting moment where you thought, ?He might just turn this around??

When, aided by Ramiro Pena at shortstop for the Yankees, he did this?

Or on August 6, 2011, when I was in the left field level stands and the Mets were already down 5-2 against the Braves in the 3rd inning. With Angel Pagan on 2nd from a walk and a steal, Jason Bay had 1 strike on him against Tommy Hanson. I said out loud, ?I have an idea. How ?bout just once you do what we paid you to do. JUST once. That?s not a bad idea.? And on cue?

The Mets won the game 11-7.

Or that time he hit the first Mets Grand Slam since August 1, 2009?

And then, of course, there is this:

Jason Bay stayed in the game and put it away in the 8th with a bases-clearing double. The Mets won 6-1.

He went 2-5 the next day, then he didn?t play for the rest of the year.

In a way, Jason Bay is the Mets free agent version of Pete Reiser. And while Pistol Pete was probably a better player at his best than Bay, both never stopped giving it their all in each?s respective NY uniforms. Unfortunately, everything was against them and ?their all? led to their demise (and unfortunately for Reiser, there was nothing between him and the cement he collided with.)

I never saw Jason Bay dog it. Not once, and I watch or follow every Mets game. He gave everything he had on every play.

There have been many great men to wear the Orange and Blue.

You would be hard-pressed to find a better man than the man they call J. Bay.

?

We here at Rising Apple wish Jason Bay nothing but the best in this next chapter of his life.

Here?s to you, #44.

?

Thanks for reading! You can visit Sam Maxwell?s personal Mets Blog?here.?And?be sure to Like?Rising Apple?s Facebook page?and follow?@RisingAppleBlog?on Twitter to keep up with the latest news, rumors, and opinion.

?

Topics: Jason Bay, Mets, New York Mets, Pete Reiser, Rich Sparago, Seattle Mariners

Source: http://risingapple.com/2013/02/17/two-ra-writers-bid-farewell-to-the-man-they-call-j-bay/

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All set for a grand Chinese New Year bash

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SEC sues over Heinz option trading before buyout

(Reuters) - Securities regulators filed suit on Friday against unknown traders in the options of ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co, alleging they traded on inside information before the company announced a deal to be acquired for $23 billion by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Brazil's 3G Capital.

The suit marks the second time in six months that the SEC has taken legal action for alleged insider trading on a 3G deal.

The suit, in federal court in Manhattan, cites "highly suspicious trading" in Heinz call options just prior to the February 14 announcement of the deal. The regulator has frequently in past filed suit against unnamed individuals where it has evidence of wrongdoing, but is still trying to uncover the identities of those involved.

That trading, the suit said, caused the price of the particular call option they bought to soar 1,700 percent and generated unrealized profits of more than $1.7 million.

The regulator claims the traders are either in, or trading through accounts in, Zurich, Switzerland. The account had no history of trading in Heinz over the last six or so months.

It has also obtained an emergency order to freeze assets in the Swiss account linked to the trading. In the suit, the SEC refers to the account as the "GS Account" and in a statement Goldman Sachs Group Inc said it was cooperating with the regulator's investigation.

"Irregular and highly suspicious options trading immediately in front of a merger or acquisition announcement is a serious red flag that traders may be improperly acting on confidential nonpublic information," Daniel Hawke, chief of the SEC's Division of Enforcement's Market Abuse Unit said in a statement.

Representatives of Heinz and Berkshire Hathaway were unavailable for immediate comment. A 3G representative declined to comment. The founder of 3G, Jorge Paulo Lemann, is from Brazil, but has made a home in Switzerland since the 1990s. He has not been implicated in any wrongdoing related to the deal.

After the deal was revealed on Thursday, options market experts called Wednesday's trading "suspicious and incredibly well-timed."

The suit marks the second time in less than six months that the SEC has taken action over a 3G acquisition. In September 2012, the regulator got a court order to freeze the assets of a Wells Fargo & Co stockbroker who allegedly traded on inside information about 3G's 2010 acquisition of Burger King.

In that case, the SEC said the Brazilian stockbroker got the information from a client who had invested at least $50 million in one of 3G's funds.

The suit also marks the second time in two years that controversy has erupted over a Berkshire acquisition target.

In March 2011, Berkshire struck a deal to buy chemical company Lubrizol for $9 billion. Less than three weeks later, Berkshire said Buffett lieutenant David Sokol was resigning and disclosed he had been buying Lubrizol shares while pushing Buffett to acquire the company. The SEC dropped a probe into Sokol's trading earlier this year.

The suit is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Certain Unknown Traders in the Securities of H.J. Heinz Co, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-1080.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Bernard Vaughan.; Writing by Ben Berkowitz.; Editing by Andre Grenon, Mary Milliken, Gary Hill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sec-sues-over-heinz-option-trading-buyout-015207342--sector.html

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GOP Frosh Bill Would Fund Cops in Schools

A freshman House Republican is introducing a bill that could bring the National Rifle Association's proposal for more armed police officers guarding schools to fruition.

The Protect America's Schools Act would require the government to spend an additional $30 million on Community Oriented Policing Services, specifically the Cops in Schools program, which has not been funded since FY 2005. That program's increase would be offset by rescinding $30 million in unspent funds from the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA].

"The [Cops in Schools] program is specifically designed to give local law enforcement agencies additional resources to hire new police officers tasked with policing our schools and providing safety education," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., writes in an undated letter seeking cosponsors. "Congress cannot allow tragedies like Newtown to take place without taking action."

The Cops in Schools program was first created by President Bill Clinton in 1998 with a $60 million grant for the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Before the program was cut in 2005, the government spent over $750 million to place more than 6,500 police officers in schools.

Meadows, R-N.C., is expected to introduce the legislation by Friday afternoon, according to his communications director Lisa Boothe.

Shortly after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre argued that the answer to gun violence in schools is an armed security force made up of trained volunteers to protect students every school across the country.

"It's not just our duty to protect [our children], it's our right to protect them," LaPierre said Dec. 21. "The NRA knows there are millions of qualified active and reserved police, active and reserve military, security professionals, rescue personnel, an extraordinary corps of qualified trained citizens to join with local school officials and police in devising a protection plan for every single school."

Later that day, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi conceded that gun violence is a "complicated" issue, but she said the NRA's proposal "is not a positive force" in the renewed debate over the nation's gun laws.

"For the NRA and others to sort of shield themselves by saying it's the mentally ill or something, and therefore we have to have more armed cops in the schools or more guns in the school - what are they - are they going to have [a gun] on the teacher's desk?" Pelosi, D-Calif., exclaimed Dec. 21. "Wait a minute, man with a gun; I have it locked up someplace. Wait until I go get it. I mean, this - this just doesn't make sense. We've got to reduce violence."

House Democrats unveiled its task force's plan to crack down on gun violence last week, calling on Congress to enact an assault weapons ban, outlaw high-capacity assault magazines, and put in place universal background checks for every firearm purchase. The task force recommended 15 steps to curb gun violence, but more armed police officers in schools was not among its proposals.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-frosh-bill-fund-cops-schools-172223387--abc-news-politics.html

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GOP, Armed With Filibuster, Prepares For War Over Defense Nominee Hagel

The battle over Defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel reached a boiling point Thursday, as senior Hill sources said Republicans have told Democrats they intend to block his confirmation until more information is provided about the Benghazi terror attack.?

A day earlier, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid set the stage for a full Senate vote Friday. In a first for a Defense secretary nominee, Hagel is expected to have to clear a 60-vote threshold in order to be confirmed -- due to objections by Republican lawmakers.?

Republicans already are almost uniformly opposed to Hagel. But with this leverage, they are also demanding the White House provide more information about what President Obama was doing on the night of the Benghazi terror attack.?

Democrats hold a 55-45 edge in the Senate and have the numbers to confirm Hagel on a majority vote. But one source told Fox News that Democrats do not have the 60 votes to cut off the filibuster on Friday.?

Separately, Republican lawmakers predicted to Fox News that Hagel would ultimately get confirmed -- but it won't happen Friday.?

They note that lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are demanding information on Benghazi as well as the text of additional Hagel speeches. They feel like they've been stonewalled on these items, and so Republicans will not help Democrats get to the 60 votes they need to proceed this week.?

The standoff is exceedingly rare. The Senate has never successfully filibustered a Cabinet secretary. Only two previous Cabinet officials required 60 votes before confirmation.?

Reid blasted Republicans for the standoff.?

"Chuck Hagel had nothing to do with the attack on Bengahzi," he said Thursday on the floor. "There are serious consequences to this delay."?

Graham, a Republican, has said he'll vote against ending debate on Hagel's nomination, and Sen. John McCain, another Republican who most sharply questioned Hagel during his Senate hearing, may join him.?

They want to know whether Obama spoke to any Libyan government official during the assault and requested assistance for the American personnel at the mission. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died in the raid at the compound in Benghazi.?

"There seems to not be much interest to hold this president accountable for a national security breakdown that led to the first ambassador being killed in the line of duty in over 30 years," Graham said. "No, the debate on Chuck Hagel is not over. It has not been serious. We don't have the information we need."?

McCain declined to say Wednesday whether he would try to delay Hagel's confirmation if Obama did not provide an answer. "My position right now is I want an answer to the question," he said.?

The nomination of John Brennan as CIA director is also being delayed; the Senate Intelligence Committee is pushing off a vote amid demands that the White House turn over more details about drone strikes against terror suspects and about the Benghazi attacks. Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, said a vote likely will be postponed till late February.?

A president's pick for a Cabinet post usually requires only a majority vote, leading Reid to accuse Senate Republicans of orchestrating a filibuster against a nominee for defense secretary for the first time in the country's history.?

Sen. Carl Levin, the Democrat and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he's confident that the White House will supply the information Graham and McCain want and that Hagel will be confirmed.?

A bitterly divided Armed Services Committee on Tuesday voted to approve Hagel by a 14-11 vote, with all the panel's Democrats backing him.?

The committee's Republicans were unified in opposition to their onetime colleague, who will succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta if he's confirmed.?

Hagel has faced intense opposition from Republicans, who have challenged his past statements and votes on Israel, Iran, Iraq and nuclear weapons.?

Fox News' Chad Pergram and Mike Emanuel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/14/republicans-filibuster-hagel-confirmation-as-benghazi-battle-intensifies/

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Jobless claims hint at firming job market conditions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, offering hope that the sluggish labor market recovery may have picked up a step.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 341,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's claims figure was revised to show 2,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected claims to fall to 360,000.

"This is consistent with the good news coming out of the employment market, signs that things are getting better," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

The dollar rose against the yen, while prices for U.S. Treasury debt fell after the data.

A Labor Department analyst said claims for Illinois and snowstorm-hit Connecticut had been estimated. Nevertheless, because most claims are filed online, the blizzard that slammed the East Coast appeared to have little effect on the broader claims data, he said.

While companies are no longer aggressively laying off workers, they still appear to be in no hurry to step-up hiring against the backdrop of still lackluster demand.

The economy has struggled to grow much more than 2 percent since the 2007-09 recession ended.

Job gains averaged 181,000 per month in 2012, far less than the at least 250,000 that economists say is needed to significantly reduce the ranks of unemployed.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, rose 1,500 to 352,500. The average hit a near five-year low in the prior week, but economists said a drop in first-time claims early this year likely was exaggerated by difficulties smoothing out the data for seasonal fluctuations.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid dropped 130,000 to 3.11 million in the week ended February 2.

That was the lowest level since July 2008 and could reflect people exhausting their benefits.

So-called continuing claims had hovered around 3.2 million since late November and economists had viewed that as an indication of little change in the unemployment rate.

The jobless rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 7.9 percent in January.

(Additional reporting by Angela Moon in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jobless-claims-drop-exceeds-expectations-133437172--business.html

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Kidney cancer surgery may be worse option for elderly

In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away.

Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients' risk of developing heart problems or dying of other causes, doctors found.

After five years, 24 percent of those who had surgery had died, compared to only 13 percent of those who chose monitoring. Just 3 percent of people in each group died of kidney cancer.

The study only involved people 66 and older, but half of all kidney cancers occur in this age group. Younger people with longer life expectancies should still be offered surgery, doctors stressed.

The study also was observational - not an experiment where some people were given surgery and others were monitored, so it cannot prove which approach is best. Yet it offers a real-world look at how more than 7,000 Medicare patients with kidney tumors fared. Surgery is the standard treatment now.

"I think it should change care" and that older patients should be told "that they don't necessarily need to have the kidney tumor removed," said Dr. William Huang of New York University Langone Medical Center. "If the treatment doesn't improve cancer outcomes, then we should consider leaving them alone."

He led the study and will give results at a medical meeting in Orlando, Fla., later this week. The research was discussed Tuesday in a telephone news conference sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and two other cancer groups.

In the United States, about 65,000 new cases of kidney cancer and 13,700 deaths from the disease are expected this year. Two-thirds of cases are diagnosed at the local stage, when five-year survival is more than 90 percent.

However, most kidney tumors these days are found not because they cause symptoms, but are spotted by accident when people are having an X-ray or other imaging test for something else, like back trouble or chest pain.

Cancer experts increasingly question the need to treat certain slow-growing cancers that are not causing symptoms - prostate cancer in particular. Researchers wanted to know how life-threatening small kidney tumors were, especially in older people most likely to suffer complications from surgery.

They used federal cancer registries and Medicare records from 2000 to 2007 to find 8,317 people 66 and older with kidney tumors less than 1.5 inches wide.

Cancer was confirmed in 7,148 of them. About three-quarters of them had surgery and the rest chose to be monitored with periodic imaging tests.

After five years, 1,536 had died, including 191 of kidney cancer. For every 100 patients who chose monitoring, 11 more were alive at the five-year mark compared to the surgery group. Only 6 percent of those who chose monitoring eventually had surgery.

Furthermore, 27 percent of the surgery group but only 13 percent of the monitoring group developed a cardiovascular problem such as a heart attack, heart disease or stroke. These problems were more likely if doctors removed the entire kidney instead of just a part of it.

The results may help doctors persuade more patients to give monitoring a chance, said a cancer specialist with no role in the research, Dr. Bruce Roth of Washington University in St. Louis.

Some patients with any abnormality "can't sleep at night until something's done about it," he said. Doctors need to say, "We're not sticking our head in the sand, we're going to follow this" and can operate if it gets worse.

One of Huang's patients - 81-year-old Rhona Landorf, who lives in New York City - needed little persuasion.

"I was very happy not to have to be operated on," she said. "He said it's very slow growing and that having an operation would be worse for me than the cancer."

Landorf said her father had been a doctor, and she trusts her doctors' advice. Does she think about her tumor? "Not at all," she said.

Source: http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/health/Kidney-cancer-surgery-may-be-worse-option-for-elderly-191037721.html

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Kentucky's Blueprint to Make NCAA Tournament After Nerlens Noel's Injury

There is no Nerlens Noel clone walking around Lexington, but freshman seven-footer Willie Cauley-Stein represents coach John Calipari's best chance to replace Noel's production and reconstitute his role in the defense without undertaking a midseason strategy shift.

Like Noel, Cauley-Stein is an athletic big with tremendous shot-blocking talent and a developing offensive game. On that last count he might be a bit further along than Noel, although his ceiling is lower and his defensive presence considerably less menacing.

Because of Noel's stellar play and his own lingering knee troubles, Cauley-Stein has logged 30 minutes in a game only one time this season (January 10 at Vanderbilt).

For Kentucky to survive without Noel, that needs to change. Kentucky's perimeter defense has been suspect all year, and Calipari leans on his back line for cover. Cauley-Stein won't cover as much ground as Noel or impact as many shots, but he can deter opponents from attacking Kentucky off the dribble. Cauley-Stein's 8.0 percent block percentage ranks 72nd nationally (per KenPom.com), proof that he can protect the rim better than most.

After Cauley-Stein, there isn't another pure post defender on Kentucky's roster.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1527258-kentuckys-blueprint-to-make-ncaa-tournament-after-nerlens-noels-injury

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