Following a Palestinian appeal for UN recognition, US congressional funding for aid projects including a local version of 'Sesame Street' have been frozen.
? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
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Daoud Kuttab usually produces a Palestinian version of ?Sesame Street? that teaches children how to count. But lately he has had to focus on his own bottom line. Three months after an American funding freeze, his show is so behind schedule that the writers? workshop rooms are empty, the editing studios are dark, and the Muppets have left the West Bank for repairs.
Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.
Mr. Kuttab says that in October he was expecting to receive $2.5 million from the US Agency for International Development for the next three years. But Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) of Florida froze $192 million in congressional funding to USAID?s programs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, which the United States opposed.
Each season, Kuttab works with teachers and child psychologists to craft 26 episodes around themes of tolerance, sharing, and friendship. Kuttab said that even if money is restored he will not manage to produce any new episodes in 2012.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 file photo the Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Ground probe blasts off from its launch pad at the Cosmodrome Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin said Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month. (AP Photo/Russian Roscosmos space agency, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 file photo the Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Ground probe blasts off from its launch pad at the Cosmodrome Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin said Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month. (AP Photo/Russian Roscosmos space agency, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2011 file photo distributed by Russian Roscosmos space agency technicians work on the Phobos-Ground probe at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin said Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month. (AP Photo/Russian Roscosmos space agency, File)
MOSCOW (AP) ? The head of Russia's space agency said Tuesday that cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component may have been vulnerable to the radiation.
The unmanned probe was to have gone to the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them back. But it became stuck in Earth orbit soon after its launch on Nov. 9. It fell out of orbit on Jan. 15, reportedly off the coast of Chile, but no fragments have been found.
The failure was a severe embarrassment to Russia, and space agency head Vladimir Popovkin initially suggested it could have been due to foreign sabotage.
But Russian news agencies on Tuesday quoted him as saying an investigation showed the probable cause was "localized influence of heavily radiated space particles."
Popovkin, speaking in the city of Voronezh where the report was presented to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, said two units of the Phobos-Ground probe's onboard computer system went into an energy-saving "restart" mode, apparently due to the radiation, while the craft was in its second orbital circuit.
It was not immediately clear why the units could not be brought out of that mode.
Popovkin was quoted as saying that some microchips used on the craft were imported and possibly of inadequate quality to resist radiation. He did not specify where the chips were manufactured.
Popovkin also said the craft's builder, Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin, should have taken into account the possibility of radiation interfering with the operation and said Lavochkin officials would face punishment for the oversight.
Russia's space program has suffered a series of notable failures in recent months, including the August crash of an unmanned ship that was to send supplies to the International Space Station. That crash forced the postponement of a manned launch to the ISS because the booster rocket that failed in the crash was similar to the ones used in manned missions.
On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported that a manned launch to the ISS that had been scheduled for March 30 will be postponed for about 45 days because tests of the capsule showed flaws in its hermetic seals.
A person familiar with the decision says Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood has accepted an offer to replace Greg Schiano as the team's head coach.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday because the school has yet to make an official announcement.
Rutgers had pursued Florida International football coach Mario Cristobal, but he opted to stay put.
Schiano left Rutgers last week to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' head coach, leaving the school scrambling for a replacement less than a week before national signing day.
Flood was promoted to interim coach last week and interviewed for the job over the weekend. He has been a member of Schiano's staff since 2005, working his way up to assistant head coach in 2008.
To paraphrase Otto von Bismarck, "iPads are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." It's an uglystory. Over a hundred employees "injured by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause nerve damage and paralysis" because its use "meant workers could clean more screens each minute." Other workers killed or injured by explosions. All so that iPads can be built as cheaply as possible, so that Apple can maintain its 44.7% gross margins. Isn't that awful? Yes, of course -- but let's try to maintain a nuanced perspective here. This is hardly a new story, and it's hardly unique to the tech industry. Think of the exploitation of child labor to harvest Egyptian cotton and Cote d'Ivoire cocoa. Plus ?a change; a decade ago it was Indonesian sweatshops and Indian fireworks exciting outrage. Think of the exploitation of Congolese workers to mine coltan, used in electronics everywhere. Show me a country with a large population of desperately poor people, and I'll show you horrific exploitation of impoverished workers. Please note, though, that the latter is an inevitable symptom of the former; and again, let's please try to maintain a sense of perspective. It's awful that a dozen Chinese workers were killed and hundreds injured building iPads--but at the same time, coal mining kills more than two thousand Chinese workers a year (down from almost 7000 ten years ago) and nobody's suddenly outraged about them. We in the West don't really seem to care that Chinese employees work under awful conditions and die in appalling numbers -- unless they make shiny things that we use. We claim we don't want people to suffer, but in fact we just don't want our iProducts tainted by that suffering. Isn't that more than a little hypocritical?
LOS ANGELES ? When your dinner party guests include Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kate Winslet and Glenn Close, and the whole affair is televised live, it can take months to plan the menu. That's why the team behind the Screen Actors Guild Awards began putting together the plate for Sunday's ceremony months ago.
It was still summer when show producer Kathy Connell and executive producer and director Jeff Margolis first sat down with chef Suzanne Goins of Los Angeles eatery Lucques with a tall order: Create a meal that is delicious at room temperature, looks beautiful on TV, is easy to eat and appeals to Hollywood tastes. Oh, and no poppy seeds, soups, spicy dishes, or piles of onions or garlic.
"It can't drip, stick in their teeth or be too heavy," Connell said. "We have to appease all palates."
The chef put together a plate of possibilities: slow-roasted salmon with yellow beets, lamb with couscous and spiced cauliflower and roasted root vegetables with quinoa. There was also a chopped chicken salad and another chicken dish with black beans.
To ensure the dishes are both tasty and TV-ready, Connell and Margolis, along with the SAG Awards Committee and the show's florist and art director, dined together at this summertime lunch on tables set to replicate those that will be in the Shrine Exposition Center during the ceremony. The pewter, crushed-silk tablecloths and white lilies you'll see on TV Sunday were also chosen months ago.
The diners discussed the look of the plate, the size of the portions and the vegetarian possibilities.
"We'd like the portions a little larger," Connell told the chef.
"And a little more sauce on the salmon," Margolis added.
Come Sunday, it's up to Goins to prepare 1,200 of the long-planned meals for the A-list audience.
MItt Romney was ready to answer questions about his wealth and to rebut rival Newt Gingrich during Thursday's Republican debate, the last before the Florida primary on Tuesday.
Episode 19 in the Great Republican Debate-a-thon may be most remembered for its spirited discussion of moon colonies. But it was Mitt Romney?s sharp performance that won the night in the last debate before Florida?s crucial primary next Tuesday.
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Mr. Romney delivered his most confident answer to date on his wealth ? that it is a source of pride, not a reason to apologize. He zinged his top rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich, over an ad on immigration that he called ?repulsive.? And he was ready with a comeback when Mr. Gingrich attacked him for having investments in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Goldman Sachs: Gingrich, he pointed out, has investments in mutual funds that invest in Fannie and Freddie.
Gingrich backed down. The audience, which in previous debates had energized the former House speaker, applauded most for Romney.
The debate in Jacksonville, Fla., capped the week with the highest stakes to date for Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. He lost last Saturday?s primary to Gingrich by 12 percentage points, and needed a strong showing Thursday in a bid to retake momentum. The latest polls of Florida Republicans, taken after South Carolina and before the debate, show Romney may already be on his way: He has reversed his decline and is back on top.
Earlier this week, after facing intense pressure to release his tax returns, Romney finally obliged and put out two years? worth. The confirmation that he had money invested abroad ? including in a Swiss account ? will certainly show up in President Obama?s arsenal against the wealthy former businessman, if Romney is the nominee. But on Thursday, Romney pivoted off Gingrich?s populism and found his voice on a matter that his supporters have been urging him to address in positive terms: his vast wealth.
?I'm proud of being successful; I'm proud of being in the free enterprise system that creates jobs for other people,? Romney said. ?I'm not going to run from that.?
Romney also got an assist from debate moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN. When Gingrich launched into his usual tactic of attacking a question, Mr. Blitzer didn?t back down, as CNN?s John King had a week ago during a debate in South Carolina.
Blitzer asked Gingrich if he was satisfied with Romney?s level of transparency over his tax returns. Gingrich called it ?a nonsense question.?
?But Mr. Speaker, you made an issue of this this week when you said that he lives in a world of Swiss bank and Cayman Island bank accounts,? Blitzer said.
Motorola offered a estimate that lowered expectations for its Q4 2011 earnings earlier this month, and it's now out with the final numbers, reporting net revenues of $3.4 billion and a GAAP net loss of $80 million. That's a swing in the opposite direction from $80 million in net earnings during the same quarter a year ago, although the company did achieve the "modest profitability" it had promised on a non-GAAP basis, reporting earnings of $61 million by that accounting standard. Its earlier estimates of device shipments for the quarter also proved to be on the mark, with the company confirming that it shipped 10.5 million mobile devices in total, 5.3 million of which were smartphones. Mobile device shipments for all of 2011 totaled 42.4 million, with 18.7 million of those being smartphones.
As for the company's efforts to break into the tablet business, it says it "shipped" 200,000 tablets in Q4 and an even one million during the year, although there's no word on actual sale figures to consumers. Motorola's Sanjay Jha also says that the company remains "energized" about the proposed merger with Google, which is still expected to close in early 2012 (it's also, incidentally, precluded an earnings call for today). Those interested can find all of the company's numbers at the source link below.
WELLINGTON (Reuters) ? A New Zealand court granted bail on Thursday to two associates of the founder of online file-sharing website Megaupload, accused of being involved in a scheme that allegedly made more than $175 million from Internet piracy and illegal file sharing.
Dutchman Bram van der Kolk, 29, and Finn Batato, a 38-year-old German, who were arrested last Friday along with Megaupload's founder, Kim Dotcom, were freed on bail. A decision on another accused, Mathias Ortman, was put off until Friday pending further submissions on his bail application.
"I am satisfied that the risk of flight here is minimal and such risk as remains can be met by the imposition of strict bail conditions including electronic monitoring," Judge David McNaughton said in a written judgment.
A lawyer for the men had argued their role in the company was different from that of Dotcom, and they did not have secret sources of funds or multiple identities.
The United States wants to extradite all four on charges of Internet piracy, copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering.
Dotcom, 38, was refused bail on Wednesday because the judge believed there was a significant risk he could try to flee New Zealand. He will reappear in court on February 22. His lawyer is preparing to appeal that decision, maintaining that Dotcom does not have the means to leave the country.
The defendants have said they are innocent of the piracy and other charges, asserting the company simply offered online storage.
An extradition application must be lodged within 45 days of an arrest, and the U.S. must show the alleged offences would be crimes in New Zealand punishable by at least 12 months in jail.
Legal experts have said the extradition process is likely to be long and complex.
(Reporting by Gyles Beckford; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Skrill's high-energy gig with Diplo was part of six-show EDM series in Los Angeles. By Lara Kathleen Kelley
Skrillex and 12th Planet perform in Los Angeles Photo: Michelle Oglakhchyan
It's officially Skrillex week in Los Angeles, where MTV's EDM Artist of the Year just finished his second gig in a series of six back-to-back shows, each spotlighting diverse talent in the now-reigning dubstep scene. Wednesday night's gig at CYP2, a popular bi-weekly indie dance music event, featured Skrillex performing a back-to-back set with 12th Planet, Diplo and UK producer Caspa for a jam-packed crowd at the Echoplex.
"The show sold out in under 20 minutes," said Danny Johnson, co-producer of CYP2. "Skrillex and 12th Planet are best buds, Caspa is a dubstep don and Diplo has championed these artists from day one, so the lineup made perfect sense and the fans went crazy for it."
As soon as the doors opened, partygoers piled in, energy high and anticipation permeating the air. Music pumped from the speakers by DJ Franki Chan, owner of the IHeartComix label and CYP2 co-producer. Then DJ/producer Diplo lit up the crowd with bass-heavy beats and hard-core hip-hop tracks. But it wasn't until Skrillex took the stage with 12th Planet that the fans went crazy and began screaming, chanting and moshing for the dubstep duo.
Skrillex pumped up the fans and held them at his fingertips with tracks like "Breakin' a Sweat" and "Right on Time." The set included all of their popular singles as well as remixes of Avicii's "Levels," La Roux's "In for the Kill" and Rusko's "Hold On." Their two-and-a-half-hour set kept the crowd on their feet and begging for more bass until the lights came on.
12th Planet, born John Dadzie, had nothing but great things to say about the five-time Grammy-nominated artist formerly known as Sonny Moore.
"Skrillex and I met at Ultra Music Festival a few years ago and have been good friends ever since," he said. "We started doing collaborations together, and he would sing vocals during my sets. Since then, Skrillex has become a beast, and now when I get the opportunity to work with him, I learn as much as I possibly can. 12th Planet, recently deemed "U.S. dubstep godfather" by dance-music magazine Mixmag, spent much of 2011 on tour with Skrillex. "Performing with Skrillex reminds me of how much fun it is to tag-team DJ with one of your good friends. I love the chemistry that comes together when I play with Skrillex ... we can pretty much connect by E.S.P. during our sets."
Just this month, 12th Planet released his five-track free-for-download The End Is Near. It will be complimented by a 28-city North American tour that kicks off on February 2 in Miami, Florida.
The week-long Skrillex takeover continues with a show Thursday (January 26) night at the Exchange in Downtown L.A. followed by massive gigs at the Avalon in Hollywood Friday night, the Palladium on Saturday and L.A. Live on Sunday. Next week heads to New York for a series of dates, kicking off at Webster Hall on Tuesday.
Are you planning on seeing Skrillex live? Let us know in the comments!
LONDON (Reuters) ? Billed as the first major exhibition devoted to the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, "Hajj: journey at the heart of Islam" at the British Museum aims to lift the veil on a ritual that is a mystery to many in the non-Muslim world.
Curators also said they hoped the show, which runs from January 26-April 15 at the London venue, would be visited by Muslims as well as non-Muslims who are not allowed to join the haj.
"People who don't believe in the religion of Islam aren't allowed (on the haj) and therefore know very little, but you'd be surprised how little Muslims know about the history of the haj also," said Qaisra Khan, co-curator of the exhibition.
"For me personally it's been a huge learning curve over the past two years," she told Reuters.
"In terms of the mystery surrounding the haj, I think we try and break the back of that in this exhibition so you learn a lot more about something you can't witness."
Pakistan-born Khan believed that its message of peace was particularly important because the outside world's image of the Middle East had been associated in recent years with violence and upheaval.
"If you look at the last five years, even if not the last 12 months, there is a lot about Islam and the Middle East in the press and it doesn't always get good press as we know.
"I think what the exhibition does is to talk about the one facet of Islam we don't know much about and that it's very much about peace."
The show takes visitors on a journey that starts with how Muslims prepare for the pilgrimage, including settling outstanding debts and asking for the forgiveness of others.
Many pilgrims also make wills before they depart, reflecting the belief that they should be prepared for the possibility they may not return home.
KAABA
The exhibition traces some of the main routes Muslims have followed over the centuries to get to Mecca, including from Kufa, Cairo and Damascus, and seeks to explain some of the rituals associated with the haj.
It features recorded accounts of what the journey meant to Muslims around the world and includes loaned items from Saudi Arabia such as a "sitara" which covers the door of the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building at the centre of the Grand Mosque around which pilgrims must walk.
All Muslims who are physically able are required to perform the haj at least once, as one of the five pillars of Islam.
The British Museum displays the kinds of clothes pilgrims are expected to wear and the souvenirs they bring back.
One section showcases contemporary artists' interpretations of the haj, including Saudi Ahmed Mater's "Magnetism," in which tens of thousands of tiny iron filings form patterns around a central magnet that represents the Kaaba.
Among the individual tales told is that of Evelyn Cobbold, who wrote that she was the first European woman to take part in the haj.
Although never formally converted to Islam, she had long considered herself a Muslim and was granted permission to go on the pilgrimage in 1933.
Another Briton who earned considerable fame for his involvement in the haj was Richard Francis Burton, a 19th century soldier and explorer who disguised himself as an Afghan doctor and Sufi dervish in order to avoid detection.
He joined an Egyptian caravan to Mecca in 1853 and, despite several close scrapes, returned unscathed and wrote an account of his adventures in "A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah."
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
Sure, on YouTube, you've got your IGN and G4 videos that keep you updated with the latest in gaming news and technological eye candy. But what about the deep cuts lurking within the rest of the gaming section? The platform is full of speed runs, time trials, reviews and play-throughs by lifelong gamers who have cult followings. These are the elite of that set. Promoted by some of the best gaming websites, such as ScrewAttack and Machinima, these gamers are known for bringing in-depth knowledge, radical gameplay and a dash of humor for good measure. Some of them are gonzo, some are straight-laced, and still others are so mind-blowingly ridiculous that they can border on NSFW. What you won't see here is the same hot video game everywhere you look: from old-school classics to underground indie games, every platform gets its moment in the spotlight.
[More from Mashable: Jailbreaking Exemption Law Could Expire Soon]
If you're a gamer and you haven't already done so, add these five picks to your channel subscription feed as soon as possible. I promise that you will not be disappointed.
Is there a YouTube gaming star that you love the most? Let us know in the comments.
[More from Mashable: Google Thinks I?m a Middle-Aged Man. What About You?]
1. The Angry Video Game Nerd
CineMassacre founder James Rolfe has been subjecting himself to the horrors of the gaming world for the last eight years, first as the Angry Nintendo Nerd and now as the Angry Video Game Nerd. His series, a partner venture with Screw Attack, tackles some of the worst titles in history (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES) with a wholehearted rage. The AVGN chugs Rolling Rock and swears heavily, making for great laughs and some horrible flashbacks for childhood gamers.
Click here to view this gallery. This story originally published on Mashable here.
Even for the most privacy-conscious individual, contacts are a liability and may give away your location
YOU'VE set your Facebook account to "friends only", your Tweets are protected and you wouldn't dream of setting a virtual foot near location-sharing services like Foursquare - in other words, you can feel pretty safe online, right? Wrong. We all unwittingly leak vital information through friends.
"You can actually infer a lot of things about people, even though they are pretty careful about how they manage their online behaviour," says Adam Sadilek of the University of Rochester in New York. He has developed a system for predicting a Twitter user's location by looking at where their friends are. The tool can correctly place a user within a 100-metre radius with up to 85 per cent accuracy.
Sadilek and colleagues turn their target's social network into a predictive model called a dynamic Bayesian network. At each point in time, the nodes in the target person's network consist of their friends' locations, day of the week and the time, and information from these nodes determines the target's most likely location. Sadilek can also feed in any existing information about the person's whereabouts to help improve the model's accuracy.
The team tested their model on over 4 million tweets from users in Los Angeles and New York City, who had location data enabled. They found a couple of weeks of location data on an individual, combined with location data from their two most sharing friends, is enough to place that person within a 100-metre radius with 77 per cent accuracy. That rises to nearly 85 per cent when you combine information from nine friends. Even someone who has never shared their location can be pinpointed with 47 per cent accuracy from information available from two friends, rising to 57 per cent with nine.
Once the model has a good idea of where some people are, it can use this data to predict who their friends are, and then use that social network to pinpoint the whereabouts of even more people.
"You can imagine looping this process over and over," says Sadilek, potentially allowing the model to make predictions about every user on Twitter. Privacy advocates may recoil in horror, but Sadilek claims this knowledge could have benefits. It could help identify people who might spread infectious diseases or contact friends nearby to prevent suicide attempts. He will present the work at the Web Search and Data Mining conference in Seattle next month.
It is not just Twitter contacts who compromise your privacy. Facebook friends who share too much could help someone access your account. Last year Facebook rolled out a new "social authentication" system designed to block suspicious logins, but computer scientist Hyoungshick Kim and colleagues at the University of Cambridge have discovered some flaws.
Suppose you normally access Facebook in London, but one day Facebook sees a login from Australia. You might be on holiday, but it is also possible a hacker has got hold of your password, so Facebook's social authentication system blocks these logins unless you can identify photos of your friends.
It seems secure, but Kim points out it only protects you against strangers - a jealous spouse would easily be able to identify mutual friends, for example. Kim's research shows that using photos from non-overlapping communities could prevent this, but that is no good if your friends share their photos publicly, as many people on Facebook do. A determined person could easily gather such photos to create a database of your friend's faces, then use facial recognition software to identify the social authentication photos.
Kim suggests that indiscrete friends should be removed from the social authentication system, but even that wouldn't help a specific group of social networkers: celebrities, whose friends are likely to be recognisable. Kim will present the work at the Financial Cryptography and Data Security conference on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean next month.
Even with your friends under control, a software bug could still expose your private data - as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself found out recently when a glitch revealed his photos to the world. To solve this, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a new programming language called Jeeves that automatically enforces privacy policies.
Programmers have to explicitly ensure data flowing through their software obeys necessary privacy policies, but it is easy to slip up and let information leak out. Jeeves solves that by substituting the value of variables within the software depending on who the user is. For example, say Alice posts a message but doesn't want anyone but herself to see who wrote it. The programmer can use the variable "author" without worrying what the user sees - when the software runs, Jeeves ensures Alice will see her own name, but everyone else logging in will see "Anonymous".
Jean Yang, who helped develop Jeeves, says the new language lets a programmer delegate privacy responsibilities and concentrate on the actual function of their code, much like a party host might entrust their butler with ensuring the needs of each guest are met so they can spend more time socialising.
Why the weakest links count most
Facebook is more than just an online "echo chamber" in which users just repeat views that match their own, according to a new study from the social network's own data team.
Facebook's Eytan Bakshy divided the friends of 253 million Facebook users into "strong" or "weak" ties. Cumulatively, the researchers found that most of the information shared comes predominately through a user's weak ties, simply because we have many more weak ties than strong ones. That's important, argues Bakshy, because friends with weaker ties are more likely to read and share material that you would not otherwise encounter: "The information they are sharing is more novel."
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Rescue crews continue to search for a 6-year-old Oregon girl that has been missing since Sunday, when she fell into the icy Clackamas River. KGW-TV's Mark Hanrahan reports.
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By msnbc.com staff and news services
ESTACADA, Ore. -- An Oregon man raced along the rain-swollen Clackamas River but couldn't keep up with his 6-year-old daughter who had fallen into the stream and was swept downriver, authorities said.
Rescue workers searched without success Monday for Vinesa Snegur, who fell Sunday into the river,?running fast and cold from a recent winter storm.
The Clackamas County sheriff's office said the search would resume Tuesday.
"It was just a second of inattention," sheriff's Sgt. James Rhodes said of the little girl's fall, explaining that her father turned away, "then splash, and she fell in. He ran and tried to keep up with her, but he was unable to."
Rhodes said the girl and her parents, Igor and Marina Snegur, are from southeast Portland and drove Sunday to play in the snow. They parked near Austin Hot Springs in the Mount Hood National Forest where a road is close to the stream.
The spot is about 60 miles southeast of Portland. There's no cell service, and the family couldn't call for help until they got to a phone at a ranger station an hour later, Rhodes said.
Rick Bowmer / AP
A member of the Multnomah County Sheriff Search and Rescue team searches along the Clackamas River for 6-year-old Vinesa Snegur on Monday.
The water temperature Monday was just above freezing, and the river is carrying a heavy load of trees and roots, imperiling rescue workers, he said.
About 50 ground searchers and divers suspended their search at nightfall Monday. A helicopter with thermal imaging equipment also was used to scan the river.
Purple jacket, pink hat Steve Duin, who joined the search and wrote about it in a column for The Oregonian, said that by noon Monday about 50 people had joined the search, including divers in the water and relatives of the child, who was wearing a purple jacket, pink hat and white pants when she fell.
"Flares have been set out on the road into Austin Hot Springs, the smoke drifting over the divers and the bridge. The black ice is long gone as I slide down the hill, but I slow each time the river comes into view, searching for a blink of purple or pink somewhere," he wrote.
The Oregonian reported that Vinesa's parents were still on the mountain "surrounded by family and trauma specialists" late on Monday.
A series of storms stretching from coast to coast brought snow and ice to the Pacific Northwest, grounded planes in Chicago and 2012's first snow to the Northeast. NBC's Bill Karins and the Weather Channel's Mike Seidel report.
At Vinesa's Mill Park Elementary School, about 140 students visited a special 21-person crisis counseling team Monday, The Oregonian reported. Barbara Kienle, students services director, said half a dozen employees, including some of Vinesa's teachers, also talked to counselors.
"She has many friends," Principal Rolando Florez told the newspaper. "There were lots of sad kids in her class today."
Like many streams in western Oregon, the Clackamas River is swollen by heavy rain that fell late last week as a winter storm moved into the region. The storm caused flooding in many communities in the Willamette Valley.
A mother and her 1-year-old son died after a creek swept away their car from an Albany, Ore., parking lot. A father and his son were able to escape.
Most streams have receded, but more rain is been forecast this week in western Oregon, raising the possibility of more floods.
BEIJING ? Millions of ethnic Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese across Asia are ringing in the new Year of the Dragon with fireworks, feasting and family reunions.
From Beijing to Bangkok and Seoul to Singapore, people hoping for good luck in the new year that began Monday are visiting temples and lighting incense, setting off firecrackers and watching street performances of lion and dragon dances.
For many, the Lunar New Year is the biggest family reunion of the year for which people endured hours of cramped travel on trains and buses to get home.
In ancient times the dragon was a symbol reserved for the Chinese emperor, and it is considered to be an extremely auspicious sign.
BOSTON ? Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and his chief Democratic rival, Elizabeth Warren, have signed a pledge to curb political attack ads by outside groups in their Massachusetts Senate race.
Under the terms of the deal, each campaign would agree to donate half the cost of any third-party ad to charity if that ad either supports their candidacy or attacks their opponent by name.
At least one outside group that has targeted Warren immediately raised objections to the deal.
Brown first laid out the basic terms of the deal last week, but top-level staffers for both candidates were unable to reach a final deal on Friday.
Then early Monday morning, Warren responded, saying she was ready to sign off on the deal as long as it included a few final changes, such as adding Internet advertising to the deal and closing any other loopholes that could permit third parties to help one campaign or the other by running ads.
"With an agreement to try to stop third party advertising, we can set an historic example in Massachusetts and give the people we want to represent an opportunity to make a choice free from the kind of out-of-control, outsider advertising that has plagued so many recent elections," Warren wrote.
Brown quickly agreed, and signed what he described as the "People's Pledge."
"This is a great victory for the people of Massachusetts, and a bold statement that puts Super PACs and other third parties on notice that their interference in this race will not be tolerated," Brown said in a statement.
Both campaigns then quickly pointed out that each has already been the target of outside advertising.
Referring to Warren's background as a Harvard professor, Brown said "the extreme liberal groups who planned to pollute the airwaves with their false and misleading ads in support of Professor Warren can now pack their bags and find someplace else to do their dirty work."
Brown has come under fire from the League of Conservation Voters and the League of Women Voters, which have spent a total of about $3 million on separate ad campaigns criticizing him.
The League of Women Voters' ad rapped Brown for voting with other Senate Republicans to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from controlling gases blamed for global warming. They urged Brown to "protect the people and not the polluters." Another spot by the League of Conservation Voters slammed Brown for siding with "big oil."
Neither ad mentioned Warren, who pointed to outside ads that have targeted her campaign. Crossroads GPS, an affiliate of American Crossroads, a group with ties to GOP political operative Karl Rove, has already sponsored two ads.
"Karl Rove and his Crossroads GPS have pledged to spend millions of dollars in this campaign, and he has a long history of using every trick in the book. So I sign this agreement with both hope and vigilance, and I assume you do the same," Warren wrote.
One Crossroads ad used spliced images of Warren with rowdy Occupy Wall Street protesters to claim that she "sides with extreme left" protesters who "attack police, do drugs and trash public parks." A second ad by the group then painted Warren as being too cozy with Wall Street.
The president of American Crossroads, Steven Law, quickly criticized the deal saying it fails to cover union phone banks, direct mail, and get-out-the-vote drives, "all union core specialties."
The Crossroads GPS ads and the ads from the League of Women Voters and the League of Conservation Voters would all appear to come under the terms of the agreement.
Brown's campaign has also pointed to online ads from Rethink Brown ? a political action committee formed last year. Its mission, according to its website, is "to encourage Massachusetts voters to make up their own minds about U.S. Senator Scott Brown's actual record and potentially `rethink' their initial opinions about him."
A spokesman for Warren's campaign said joint letters signed by Warren and Brown will be going out to third-party groups ? including Rethink Brown and American Crossroads ? asking them to pull their ads.
The U.S. Supreme Court has paved the way for millions of dollars in spending by super PACs following a trio of decisions capped by the landmark Citizens United case in 2010, which eased restrictions on the use of corporate money in political campaigns.
The Senate campaign is expected to be one of the costliest in state history.
Warren has reported raising $5.7 million during the final three months of 2011, eclipsing Brown's $3.2 million for the same period. Brown still enjoys an overall money advantage with $12.8 million in cash on hand, compared to the more than $6 million Warren has in her account.
We've become pretty accustomed to shelling out a dollar or two for the best iPhone apps, but many of the best apps are free.
Here are our favorite iPhone apps that won't cost you a penny, and don't include any ads!
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The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was introduced on January 9, 2007. An iPhone functions as a camera phone, including text messaging and... More ?
SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.
All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.
Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.
"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.
However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.
Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.
"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.
The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.
To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.
The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.
The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.
Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.
One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.
One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.
Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.
"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."
Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.
More information
For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.
In solar cells, tweaking the tiniest of parts yields big jump in efficiencyPublic release date: 20-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Charlotte Hsu chsu22@buffalo.edu 716-645-4655 University at Buffalo
Company led by university researchers employs charged quantum dots to increase the efficiency of solar cell technology
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- By tweaking the smallest of parts, a trio of University at Buffalo engineers is hoping to dramatically increase the amount of sunlight that solar cells convert into electricity.
With military colleagues, the UB researchers have shown that embedding charged quantum dots into photovoltaic cells can improve electrical output by enabling the cells to harvest infrared light, and by increasing the lifetime of photoelectrons.
The research appeared online last May in the journal Nano Letters. The research team included Vladimir Mitin, Andrei Sergeev and Nizami Vagidov, faculty members in UB's electrical engineering department; Kitt Reinhardt of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research; and John Little and advanced nanofabrication expert Kimberly Sablon of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
Mitin, Sergeev and Vagidov have founded a company, OPtoElectronic Nanodevices LLC. (OPEN LLC.), to bring the innovation to the market.
The idea of embedding quantum dots into solar panels is not new: According to Mitin, scientists had proposed about a decade ago that this technique could improve efficiency by allowing panels to harvest invisible, infrared light in addition to visible light. However, intensive efforts in this direction have previously met with limited success.
The UB researchers and their colleagues have not only successfully used embedded quantum dots to harvest infrared light; they have taken the technology a step further, employing selective doping so that quantum dots within the solar cell have a significant built-in charge.
This built-in charge is beneficial because it repels electrons, forcing them to travel around the quantum dots. Otherwise, the quantum dots create a channel of recombination for electrons, in essence "capturing" moving electrons and preventing them from contributing to electric current.
The technology has the potential to increase the efficiency of solar cells up to 45 percent, said Mitin, a SUNY Distinguished Professor. Through UB's Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR), he and his colleagues have filed provisional patent applications to protect their technology.
"Clean technology will really benefit the region, the state, the country," Mitin said. "With high-efficiency solar cells, consumers can save money and providers can have a smaller solar field that produces more energy."
Mitin and his colleagues have already invested significant amounts of time in developing the quantum dots with a built-in-charge, dubbed "Q-BICs." To further enhance the technology and bring it to the market, OPEN LLC is now seeking funding from private investors and federal programs.
###
The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.
Related Stories:
Vladimir Mitin Among Three UB Faculty Members Named SUNY Distinguished Professors: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9243
A photo of Mitin is available here: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/13138
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In solar cells, tweaking the tiniest of parts yields big jump in efficiencyPublic release date: 20-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Charlotte Hsu chsu22@buffalo.edu 716-645-4655 University at Buffalo
Company led by university researchers employs charged quantum dots to increase the efficiency of solar cell technology
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- By tweaking the smallest of parts, a trio of University at Buffalo engineers is hoping to dramatically increase the amount of sunlight that solar cells convert into electricity.
With military colleagues, the UB researchers have shown that embedding charged quantum dots into photovoltaic cells can improve electrical output by enabling the cells to harvest infrared light, and by increasing the lifetime of photoelectrons.
The research appeared online last May in the journal Nano Letters. The research team included Vladimir Mitin, Andrei Sergeev and Nizami Vagidov, faculty members in UB's electrical engineering department; Kitt Reinhardt of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research; and John Little and advanced nanofabrication expert Kimberly Sablon of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
Mitin, Sergeev and Vagidov have founded a company, OPtoElectronic Nanodevices LLC. (OPEN LLC.), to bring the innovation to the market.
The idea of embedding quantum dots into solar panels is not new: According to Mitin, scientists had proposed about a decade ago that this technique could improve efficiency by allowing panels to harvest invisible, infrared light in addition to visible light. However, intensive efforts in this direction have previously met with limited success.
The UB researchers and their colleagues have not only successfully used embedded quantum dots to harvest infrared light; they have taken the technology a step further, employing selective doping so that quantum dots within the solar cell have a significant built-in charge.
This built-in charge is beneficial because it repels electrons, forcing them to travel around the quantum dots. Otherwise, the quantum dots create a channel of recombination for electrons, in essence "capturing" moving electrons and preventing them from contributing to electric current.
The technology has the potential to increase the efficiency of solar cells up to 45 percent, said Mitin, a SUNY Distinguished Professor. Through UB's Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR), he and his colleagues have filed provisional patent applications to protect their technology.
"Clean technology will really benefit the region, the state, the country," Mitin said. "With high-efficiency solar cells, consumers can save money and providers can have a smaller solar field that produces more energy."
Mitin and his colleagues have already invested significant amounts of time in developing the quantum dots with a built-in-charge, dubbed "Q-BICs." To further enhance the technology and bring it to the market, OPEN LLC is now seeking funding from private investors and federal programs.
###
The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.
Related Stories:
Vladimir Mitin Among Three UB Faculty Members Named SUNY Distinguished Professors: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9243
A photo of Mitin is available here: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/13138
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
LOS ANGELES ? A man accused of scaling the fence of Halle Berry's house will remain in jail after pleading no contest to stalking the Oscar-winning actress.
Deputy District Attorney Wendy Segall says Richard A. Franco was sentenced to serve 386 days in county jail Thursday, but he has already served half the term.
The 28-year-old was also placed on five years' probation, a year of psychological counseling and ordered to stay away from the actress for the next decade.
Franco was arrested outside Berry's home in July after repeatedly coming onto her property. In one instance, the actress stated in a sworn declaration that Franco attempted to enter her kitchen, but she was able to lock the door before he got inside.
A burglary charge filed against Franco was dropped.
>>>back in this country the
winter storm
that hit
seattle
was not the apocalyptic disaster some were predicting and fearing but for that part of the country five inches of snow in one shot is a lot. our report from nbc's miguel almaguer.
>>oh, yeah!
>> reporter: across
washington state
a good day to stay home. streets became neighborhood playgrounds.
>>look at all of this stuff and it's still snowing right now.
>> reporter: in olympia, the
state capital
some found new ways to get to work.
downtown seattle
where nearly a year's worth of snow fell in a single day, most streets were deserted.
>>i came from chicago and we experience heavier snow than here, but everyone is having problems driving.
>> reporter: five inches paralyzing a community used to rain. sights like these are rare. snowmobiles in the streets, smartcars wearing chains. the winter blast left many hillside roads closed, schools shut down and airlines canceled flights.
>>we're ready to go home. i'm crossing my fingers and ohoping for the best.
>> reporter: his bernard panda.
>>if i get stuck i hook him up and let him pull me out.
>> reporter: passes were shut down because of avalanche danger, a storm on the move.
>>it's going to shift to the south and give
northern california
, utah and colorado some much needed snowfall. they haven't had a good storm like this since november.
>> reporter: already in oregon, rain turned to slush and hammered portland while along the coast, hurricane-force wind gusts knocked out power to 30,000. brian the good news, snow in
seattle
is expected to turn to rain. they're used to that in these parts. the bad news it's headed in your direction, first chicago then the northeast.
>>first you get inside miguel. thanks for that. a wad nigbad night in
seattle
.
A UK woman with two vaginas has captured the attention of the news world. Hazel Jones insists she has no interest in cashing in on this irregularity, however.
Jones revealed she was diagnosed with uterus didelphys, an uncommon condition which means she has two wombs and two cervixes, earlier this week.
The 27-year-old has since been approached by - who else - Vivid Entertainment about starring in an adult film for $1 million. NO chance, she says.
According to the Daily Mail (UK), she said: "I would never even consider such an offer, let alone actually do it in million years ... I just want to be left alone."
Vivid Founder/CEO Steven Hirsch, who's made similar pitches to everyone from Octomom (often) to Casey Anthony (later withdrawn), wrote Jones:
"You are obviously an extraordinary woman and I would like to make you an offer to star in an upcoming Vivid production. We would pay you up to $1 million."
"We would fly you out to L.A. as soon as you are available and provide you with first class accommodations in addition to the payment for your services."
He did not release any plot details for this potential erotic masterpiece.
Vivid has become the leader in "legit" celebrity sex tapes, with raw footage of Pamela Anderson, Kim Kardashian and others netting the company millions.
Don't look for Hazel Jones to join their illustrious client list now or down the road, though. Likely for the best. Watch an interview with her after the jump.
LOS ANGELES - Former England captain David Beckham will be returning to the LA Galaxy on a fresh contract to be formally announced on Thursday, the Los Angeles Times has reported.
However, there was no immediate confirmation by the Galaxy on Wednesday.
Beckham's five-year deal with the Galaxy concluded on December 31. and there had been widespread speculation the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder was considering offers from Paris St. Germain and a number of English clubs.
Earlier this month, Paris St Germain said Beckham would not be joining the big-spending Ligue 1 soccer club due to family reasons.
Galaxy's owners have continually indicated a new deal is on offer to the 36-year-old Beckham, who has kept his intentions very close to his chest and refused to discuss his future after the end of the 2011 Major League Soccer season.
On its website, the LA Times said on Wednesday Beckham had reached agreement with the Galaxy on a new contract for the 2012 season, which begins in March.
"Details of the contract were not immediately available but it is expected to call for a summer sabbatical from MLS play, allowing Beckham to play for the English (British) team in the London Olympics," the Times reported.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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