ZURICH (Reuters) - Three people, including the suspected assailant, have been killed in a shooting at a factory near the Swiss city of Lucerne, police said on Wednesday.
Seven others were injured in the attack which happened just after 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) at a wood processing company in the town of Menznau, west of Lucerne, the police said in a statement.
Emergency services were at the scene and the area had been cordoned off. A news conference is due at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT).
Last month, a gunman killed three women and injured two men in the Swiss village of Daillon, stirring a debate about Switzerland's firearm laws that allow men to keep guns after their mandatory military service.
There is no national gun register but some estimates indicate that at least one in every three of Switzerland's 8 million inhabitants keeps a gun, many stored at home. Citizens outside the military can apply for a permit to purchase up to three weapons from the age of 18 in a country where sharp shooting and hunting are popular sports.
A shooting in the Zug regional parliament in 2001, in which 14 people were killed, prompted calls to tighten laws, but the majority of Swiss citizens rejected a proposal in 2011 for extra measures such as lock-ups for guns outside service periods.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Louise Ireland)
There's a lot of really weird stuff that happens on any given day in New York City. Which is why I like to take the occasional day off during the week just to walk around and take in my surroundings. Take, for example, this random video shoot I came across of some grungy folks equipped with Google Glass in the Lower East Side. More »
Antivirus, firewall, spam filter, ad-blocker, anti-phishing, parental controls, encryption, backup - this security suite does it all
Kaspersky PURE 3.0 Total Security is the latest version of Kaspersky's does-everything suite, a comprehensive toolkit which includes just about every security feature you could ever want.
So a powerful antivirus engine delivers strong real-time protection, for instance, while a smart firewall stops network attacks and prevents spyware from phoning home.
Browsing protection starts with colour-coded tags on all your search results, highlighting possible dangers. Sounds familiar, yes? But PURE doesn't stop there - you can also activate the same technology to check and highlight links on every website you visit.
Phishing protection helps to protect you from online scams, while a password manager enhances your security by generating truly random passwords and entering them automatically, both in websites and applications.
Elsewhere, a backup program makes it quick and easy to keep your most valuable documents and files from disaster; parental controls keep your kids safe online; a spam filter protects your inbox; a vulnerability scanner detects and highlights poorly chosen Windows and IE settings, as well as applications that are missing security updates; there's an encryption tool, an ad-blocker, a data shredder to securely wipe confidential files; and the list goes on.
There are plenty of enhancements in this build, too. So Safe Money detects when you're visiting banks, payment sites and so on, and offers to open those sites in a secure and isolated browser.
The suite can see when you click in the password field at a website, too, and automatically activates "secure keyboard input" to prevent keyloggers from intercepting your credentials.
The Backup module now allows you to save copies of your data online via a Dropbox account.
Password Manager stores its database online, allowing you to access the same credentials across all your Kaspersky PURE 3.0 installations.
And there's easy installation, an improved interface, more accurate phishing detection, smaller application updates, and more.
Unsurprisingly, all this functionality makes for a huge application. This starts with a bulky 180MB download. Then the program immediately wanted to download another 80MB in its first update. And there's a vast array of modules and options to explore. (The Settings dialog alone has 31 categories , each of which then has further options.)
It's important to check the small print, as there are a few important issues. Password Manager doesn't work on 64-bit Windows, for instance, while Safe Money may not always run within IE10.
And the antivirus engine is?fairly strict, going beyond viruses to raise alerts about lots of smaller tools (NirSoft password viewers, for instance). You can add an exclusion which tells the program to ignore these in future, but these have to be done individually, which soon becomes tedious.
Still, if you persevere then most of these problems soon fade away. Virus scans only detect real threats; you'll only need to work within the program's core interface, which is speedy and simple to use; and Kaspersky PURE 3.0 Total Security will handle everything else.
So while you may feel overwhelmed initially, don't be put off. There's a vast amount of functionality here, and the suite provides everything necessary to keep you safe, both on and offline.
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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Beijing's attempts to stop Tibetans setting themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule are counter-productive and are only provoking more self-immolations, the Tibetan prime minister in exile told Reuters on Tuesday.
Lobsang Sangay, who replaced the Dalai Lama as the political leader of exiled Tibetans in 2011, said Beijing first branded self-immolators as thieves and then as homeless. Later they blamed his government in exile.
"Then they started criminalizing it, prosecuting not just the self-immolators (but also) their family members quite strongly in the months of December and January. But now self-immolation has continued," Sangay said.
"So that means that no matter how hardline their policies, no matter how much they crack down on Tibetans, it doesn't seem to work. So in that sense, it's high time they review their policies and acknowledge that it's not working and then address the issue more realistically."
In early February, Chinese state media said the authorities had detained 70 "criminal suspects" in a crackdown on self-immolations.
Sangay, a Harvard-educated lawyer, said 107 Tibetans had set themselves on fire since 2009, including six or seven this year.
"The blame squarely lies with Beijing. Their hard-line policies are making Tibetans self-immolate," he said, speaking in a room in the Canadian Parliament before testifying to a human rights subcommittee of the House of Commons.
"We discourage the actions, but support the aspirations," Sangay said, referring to those who have chosen self-immolation. "How much more forceful can we be? We've said, 'Don't do it. Life is precious.'"
In subsequent remarks to reporters, Sangay challenged the Canadian government to send Ambassador Andrew Bennett of its newly formed Office of Religious Freedom to Tibet to investigate the situation.
"The Chinese government does claim that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and that the international community is welcome to visit Tibetan monasteries and nunneries to assess the situation for themselves," he said.
"If that is the case, then a request from the Canadian government (to visit) should be fulfilled."
Sangay told Reuters he has not noticed any change in policy towards Tibet or minorities with the new leadership in China, noting, for instance, that the Politburo and Central Committee have fewer representatives of minorities than before.
However, looking ahead to the annual meeting of parliament next week when Communist Party chief Xi Jinping assumes the reins of state power from President Hu Jintao, he added: "We remain hopeful that they (will) change."
Sangay voiced appreciation for support to the Tibetan cause, including meetings between the Dalai Lama and U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Even so, more needed to be done and fear of losing trade must not stop governments from speaking out more consistently, he said.
"You cannot simply just give your money to China and then at the same time not stand up for morals as well. That's a win-win proposition for China and a lose-lose proposition for Canada," he said.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by David Brunnstrom)
Pain can be a reliefPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Thomas Keilman thke@rcn.no The Research Council of Norway
If you accidently kick your toe against a doorframe you are probably going to find it very painful. As a purely intellectual experiment, imagine purposefully kicking a doorframe hard enough to potentially break your toe. When it turns out your toe has been battered but not broken, the pain may be interpreted more as a relief.
"It is not hard to understand that pain can be interpreted as less severe when an individual is aware that it could have been much more painful. Less expected, however, is the discovery that pain may be experienced as pleasant if something worse has been avoided," explains Siri Leknes, Research Fellow at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo.
The lesser of two evils
When working as a research fellow at Oxford University, Dr Leknes became curious about what can be called the "it could have been worse" phenomenon. How is the experience of pain affected by a feeling of relief from realising that it was not as bad as expected?
Dr Leknes recruited 16 healthy subjects who prepared themselves for a painful experience. They were repeatedly exposed to heat of varying intensity applied to their arm for four seconds.
The experiments were carried out in two different contexts: in the first, the heat was either not painful or only moderately painful about the same as firmly holding a coffee cup that is slightly too hot. In the second, the heat was either moderately or intensely painful. In this context, moderate pain was the lesser of two evils.
The research subjects reported how they interpreted the pain. In addition, while they were exposed to the stimuli their brain activity was measured by MRI.
Comforting pain
"As expected, the intense heat triggered negative feelings among all subjects whereas the non-painful heat produced positive reactions," explains Siri Leknes.
What intrigued the researchers was the subjects' response to moderate pain. In the experiments where moderate pain was the worst alternative, the pain felt was unpleasant. In the instances where it was the best alternative, the subjects experienced the moderate pain as positive even comforting.
"The likely explanation is that the subjects were prepared for the worst and thus felt relieved when they realised the pain was not going to be as bad as they had feared," states Dr Leknes.
"In other words, a sense of relief can be powerful enough to turn such an obviously negative experience as pain into a sensation that is comforting or even enjoyable."
The MRI examinations revealed that the brain changed how it processed moderate pain according to the context and what the alternative was. When the pain was comforting, there was more activity in the areas of the brain associated with pleasure and pain relief and less activity in the areas associated with pain.
A future in treating pain?
Dr Leknes believes that the study illustrates that exposure to one and the same stimulus is interpreted very differently among individuals and that the experience is connected to expectation and context. Some individuals like the burning sensation of eating chili peppers, for example, while others enjoy sadomasochistic sex.
Also, envisioning that an even worse alternative exists than what is actually experienced may even help a person to interpret involuntary pain as something agreeable.
Nevertheless, Dr Leknes points out, pain is generally a highly unpleasant experience and current pain alleviation treatments are inadequate for many people.
"That is why it is so important to find out how and to what degree the brain can control pain on its own. We are currently carrying out basic research, but we hope that this knowledge will one day be applied to develop improved methods for treating pain," she says.
Would it always be advisable then for a doctor to inform a patient that a procedure or treatment is going to be very painful?
"In some situations this may be a good approach, but not always," replies Dr Leknes. "Doctors observe that their patients react very differently to the information they are given; certain patients are likely to experience a genuine sense of relief if they prepare for the worst only to find it not so bad after all, whereas others prefer to avoid worrying beforehand and want to know as little as possible about what they will be undergoing," she explains.
Substance abuse from pleasure to relief
The study has been partially funded under the Programme on Alcohol and Drug Research (RUSMIDDEL) at the Research Council of Norway. "Relief is also likely a vital factor in substance abuse," asserts Dr Leknes.
"Over time, the effect of alcohol and drugs will change from triggering feelings of pleasure to primarily alleviating the discomfort of addiction. The brain's regulatory processes change, causing substance abusers to experience a shift; at some point, they use alcohol and drugs in order to achieve a neutral state and avoid feeling awful," explains Dr Leknes.
"By studying relief in order to understand how this process works, we can come up with new ideas for treating substance dependence more effectively. From our pain research, we know that the relief mechanisms in the brains of patients with chronic pain become disrupted. This may be something shared by patients suffering from pain and alcohol and drug addiction alike," she concludes.
###
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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.
Pain can be a reliefPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Thomas Keilman thke@rcn.no The Research Council of Norway
If you accidently kick your toe against a doorframe you are probably going to find it very painful. As a purely intellectual experiment, imagine purposefully kicking a doorframe hard enough to potentially break your toe. When it turns out your toe has been battered but not broken, the pain may be interpreted more as a relief.
"It is not hard to understand that pain can be interpreted as less severe when an individual is aware that it could have been much more painful. Less expected, however, is the discovery that pain may be experienced as pleasant if something worse has been avoided," explains Siri Leknes, Research Fellow at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo.
The lesser of two evils
When working as a research fellow at Oxford University, Dr Leknes became curious about what can be called the "it could have been worse" phenomenon. How is the experience of pain affected by a feeling of relief from realising that it was not as bad as expected?
Dr Leknes recruited 16 healthy subjects who prepared themselves for a painful experience. They were repeatedly exposed to heat of varying intensity applied to their arm for four seconds.
The experiments were carried out in two different contexts: in the first, the heat was either not painful or only moderately painful about the same as firmly holding a coffee cup that is slightly too hot. In the second, the heat was either moderately or intensely painful. In this context, moderate pain was the lesser of two evils.
The research subjects reported how they interpreted the pain. In addition, while they were exposed to the stimuli their brain activity was measured by MRI.
Comforting pain
"As expected, the intense heat triggered negative feelings among all subjects whereas the non-painful heat produced positive reactions," explains Siri Leknes.
What intrigued the researchers was the subjects' response to moderate pain. In the experiments where moderate pain was the worst alternative, the pain felt was unpleasant. In the instances where it was the best alternative, the subjects experienced the moderate pain as positive even comforting.
"The likely explanation is that the subjects were prepared for the worst and thus felt relieved when they realised the pain was not going to be as bad as they had feared," states Dr Leknes.
"In other words, a sense of relief can be powerful enough to turn such an obviously negative experience as pain into a sensation that is comforting or even enjoyable."
The MRI examinations revealed that the brain changed how it processed moderate pain according to the context and what the alternative was. When the pain was comforting, there was more activity in the areas of the brain associated with pleasure and pain relief and less activity in the areas associated with pain.
A future in treating pain?
Dr Leknes believes that the study illustrates that exposure to one and the same stimulus is interpreted very differently among individuals and that the experience is connected to expectation and context. Some individuals like the burning sensation of eating chili peppers, for example, while others enjoy sadomasochistic sex.
Also, envisioning that an even worse alternative exists than what is actually experienced may even help a person to interpret involuntary pain as something agreeable.
Nevertheless, Dr Leknes points out, pain is generally a highly unpleasant experience and current pain alleviation treatments are inadequate for many people.
"That is why it is so important to find out how and to what degree the brain can control pain on its own. We are currently carrying out basic research, but we hope that this knowledge will one day be applied to develop improved methods for treating pain," she says.
Would it always be advisable then for a doctor to inform a patient that a procedure or treatment is going to be very painful?
"In some situations this may be a good approach, but not always," replies Dr Leknes. "Doctors observe that their patients react very differently to the information they are given; certain patients are likely to experience a genuine sense of relief if they prepare for the worst only to find it not so bad after all, whereas others prefer to avoid worrying beforehand and want to know as little as possible about what they will be undergoing," she explains.
Substance abuse from pleasure to relief
The study has been partially funded under the Programme on Alcohol and Drug Research (RUSMIDDEL) at the Research Council of Norway. "Relief is also likely a vital factor in substance abuse," asserts Dr Leknes.
"Over time, the effect of alcohol and drugs will change from triggering feelings of pleasure to primarily alleviating the discomfort of addiction. The brain's regulatory processes change, causing substance abusers to experience a shift; at some point, they use alcohol and drugs in order to achieve a neutral state and avoid feeling awful," explains Dr Leknes.
"By studying relief in order to understand how this process works, we can come up with new ideas for treating substance dependence more effectively. From our pain research, we know that the relief mechanisms in the brains of patients with chronic pain become disrupted. This may be something shared by patients suffering from pain and alcohol and drug addiction alike," she concludes.
###
[ | 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.
Dogs with severe medical issues show need for stronger state laws
The HSUS helped rescue more than 60 dogs from a Sampson County, N.C., breeding facility. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
Local law enforcement became concerned about the facility when puppy purchasers filed complaints regarding conditions there. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
A variety of small-breed dogs suffered from a multitude of untreated medical conditions. The owner agreed to surrender them. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
There are no specific laws in North Carolina to protect dogs sold directly to the public or online by commercial breeding facilities. As a?result, the state?has become a haven for some of the worst puppy mill operators in the country.? Meredith Lee/The HSUS
This is the 13th rescue The HSUS has handled in N.C. since 2010. Help us end the cruelty by signing the pledge to stop puppy mills. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
The Humane Society of the United States, SPCA of Wake County and Guilford County Animal Shelter were called in by Sampson County Sheriff?s Office to assist in the rescue of more than 60 dogs from a Sampson County, N.C., property.
The sheriff?s office served a search warrant on the property and found a variety of small-breed dogs suffering from a multitude of untreated medical conditions. The owner agreed to surrender the dogs.
?This case is a prime example of why North Carolina badly needs to pass legislation requiring mandatory standards of care for large-scale breeders. We need stronger laws on the books to prevent someone from forcing dogs to spend their lives in misery and squalor,? said Kim Alboum, North Carolina state director for The HSUS. ?The Humane Society of the United States is grateful to the Sampson County Sheriff?s Office for taking action to rescue these animals.?
Sign the pledge to stop puppy mills ?
There are no specific laws in North Carolina to protect dogs sold directly to the public or online by commercial breeding facilities. Law enforcement officers, therefore, are unable to prevent neglect until it reaches crisis proportions. As a result, North Carolina has become a haven for some of the worst puppy mill operators in the country. This is 13th rescue that The HSUS has handled in North Carolina since June 2010.
Local law enforcement became concerned about this facility when puppy purchasers filed complaints regarding conditions at the facility.
?In massive breeding operations, dogs are often subjected to deplorable conditions and lack proper medical care. It is heartbreaking to see these dogs in such poor condition,? said Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton. ?I am grateful to The Humane Society of the United States and the other organizations that stepped forward to assist with the care and temporary housing of these poor animals.?
The HSUS, SPCA of Wake County and Guilford County Animal Shelter have safely transported the dogs to a temporary emergency animal shelter where they will be thoroughly examined by a team of veterinarians and receive any necessary immediate medical treatment. ?PetSmart Charities is providing the necessary food, supplies and enrichment items for the dogs. North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association assisted with recruitment of veterinarians to provide the dogs with much needed medical care.
The HSUS has established a reward program to offer up to $5,000 to anyone who provides any information leading to the arrest and conviction of a puppy mill operator for animal cruelty. Persons wishing to report a valid tip are encouraged to call 1-877-MILL-TIP and will remain anonymous. To help dogs in commercial breeding facilities like this one, sign the pledge to stop puppy mills.
**Photos and b-roll available upon request.
Media Contact: Stephanie Twining, 240-751-3943, stwining@humanesociety.org
PARIS (AP) ? The Obama administration, in coordination with some European allies, is for the first time considering supplying direct assistance to elements of the Free Syrian Army as they seek to ramp up pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and end nearly two years of brutal and increasingly deadly violence.
Officials in the United States and Europe said Tuesday the administration is nearing a decision on whether to provide non-lethal assistance to carefully vetted fighters opposed to the Assad regime in addition to what it is already supplying to the political opposition. A decision is expected by Thursday when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend an international conference on Syria in Rome that leaders of the opposition Syrian National Coalition have been persuaded to attend, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the shift in strategy has not yet been finalized and still needs to be coordinated with European nations, notably Britain. They are eager to vastly increase the size and scope of assistance for Assad's foes.
Kerry, who was a cautious proponent of supplying arms to the rebels while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been consulting with European leaders on how to step up pressure on Assad to leave power. The effort has been as a major focus of his first official trip abroad as America's top diplomat. On the first two stops on his hectic nine-nation tour of Europe and the Middle East, in London and Berlin, he has sought to assure the Syrian opposition that more help is on the way.
In London on Monday, he made a public appeal to opposition coalition leader Mouaz al-Khatib not to boycott the Rome meeting as had been threatened and to attend the conference despite concerns among Assad foes that international community is not doing enough. Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden made private telephone calls to al-Khatib to make the same case.
"We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind, wondering where the support is, if it is coming," Kerry told reporters after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Hague said that the deteriorating conditions in Syria, especially recent scud missile attacks on the city of Aleppo, were unacceptable and that the West's current position could not be sustained while an "appalling injustice" is being done to Syrian citizens.
"In the face of such murder and threat of instability, our policy cannot stay static as the weeks go by," Hague told reporters, standing beside Kerry. "We must significantly increase support for the Syrian opposition. We are preparing to do just that."
The officials in Washington and European capitals said the British are pushing proposals to provide military training, body armor and other technical support to members of the Free Syrian Army who have been determined not to have links to extremists. The officials said, however, that the U.S. was not yet ready to consider such action although Washington would not object if the Europeans moved ahead with the plans.
The Obama administration has been deeply concerned about military equipment falling into the hands of radical Islamists who have become a significant factor in the Syrian conflict and could then use that materiel for terrorist attacks or strikes on Israel.
The Italian government, which is hosting Thursday's conference, said on Monday that the Europeans would use the meeting "to urge the United States' greater flexibility on measures in favor of the opposition to the Assad regime."
"They will be asking, in particular, that 'non-lethal' aid be extended to include technical assistance and training so as to consolidate the coalition's efforts in the light of what emerged at the latest meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council," the foreign ministry said in a statement. In a recent meeting, European Union foreign ministers agreed that support to the rebels needed to be boosted.
Officials in Washington said the United States was leaning toward providing tens of millions of dollars more in non-lethal assistance to the opposition, including vetted members of the Free Syrian Army who had not been receiving direct U.S. assistance. So far, assistance has been limited to funding for communications and other logistical equipment, a formalized liaison office and an invitation to al-Khatib to visit the United States in the coming weeks.
The officials stressed, however, that the administration did not envision American military training for the rebels nor U.S. provision of combat items such as body armor that the British are advocating.
The officials said the U.S. is also looking at stepping up its civilian technical assistance devoted to rule of law, civil society and good governance, in order to prepare an eventual transition government to run the country once Assad leaves.
In Europe, meanwhile, Kerry on Tuesday visited Berlin where he met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, for the first time in his new post, spending more than an hour discussing the Syria conflict. Russia has been a strong supporter of Assad and has, along with China, repeatedly blocked efforts at the United Nations to impose global sanctions against the regime unless it stops the violence that has killed nearly 70,000 people.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the two met for an hour and 45 minutes, spending more than half that time on Syria in what she called a "really serious and hardworking session."
Kerry and Lavrov discussed how they could implement the so-called Geneva Agreement, which is designed to get the Syrian government and rebels to plan a transitional government for the time after Assad leaves office, Nuland said.
Lavrov told Russian news agencies that his talks with Kerry were "quite constructive." On Syria, he said the two reaffirmed their "intention to do all Russia and the U.S. can do. It's not that everything depends on us, but we shall do all we can to create conditions for the soonest start of a dialogue between the government and the opposition."
Syria's foreign minister was in Moscow on Monday and while there expressed a willingness to meet with opposition leaders.
The Syrian National Coalition is skeptical about outside help from the West and threatened to boycott the Rome meeting until a series of phone calls and meetings between Kerry and his ambassadors and Syrian opposition leaders repaired the schism. The council now says it will attend the meeting, but is hoping for more concrete offers of help, including military assistance.
___
Klapper contributed to this report from Washington.
"Ready 4 the show," an invitation sent to members of the press teases, blatantly hinting that we'll be seeing the Galaxy S 4 ? the highly anticipated follow-up to the Galaxy S III smartphone ? at the event being held by Samsung on March 14.
The event will take place in New York City at 7 p.m. ET. (We'll be there to cover it live, of course.)
The Galaxy S 4 ? we're assuming by the big "4" that the only change to Samsung's incredibly consistent naming approach will be to drop the Roman numerals ? will be the company's newest flagship device.
A poster spotted by AnandTech's Brian Klug during a visit to Samsung's demo room at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January suggests that the Galaxy S 4 could be rocking a 4.99-inch 1080p screen with a whopping 440 pixels per inch. While the iPhone 5 offers the significantly less dense 326 ppi, it's worth noting that it's practically impossible for human eyes to tell the difference. After a certain point, the individual pixels simply become indistinguishable.
That's about all we know (or think we know) about the Galaxy S 4 for now, so Samsung could have plenty of surprises waiting up its sleeves come March 14.
Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
Extreme weather events have been on the rise in the last few decades, and man-made climate change may be causing them by interfering with global air-flow patterns, according to new research.
The Northern Hemisphere has taken a beating from extreme weather in recent years ? the 2003 European heat wave, the 2010 Pakistan flood and the 2011 heat wave in the United States, for example. These events, in a general sense, are the result of the global movement of air.
Giant waves of air in the atmosphere normally even out the climate, by bringing warm air north from the tropics and cold air south from the Arctic. But a new study suggests these colossal waves have gotten stuck in place during extreme weather events.
"What we found is that during several recent extreme weather events these planetary waves almost freeze in their tracks for weeks,"?lead author Vladimir Petoukhov, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, said in a statement. "So instead of bringing in cool air after having brought warm air in before, the heat just stays."
How long these weather extremes last is critical, the researchers say. While two or three days of 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) pose little threat, 20 days or more can lead to extreme heat stress, which can trigger deaths, forest fires and lost harvests. [The World's 10 Weirdest Weather Events]
Monster Waves
The researchers created equations to model the motion of the massive air waves, determining what it takes to make the waves plough to a stop and build up. The team then used these models to crunch daily weather data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction.
During extreme weather events, the waves were indeed trapped and amplified, the scientists found. They also saw a significant increase in the occurrence of these trapped waves.
Here's how the waves may be getting trapped: The burning of fossil fuels causes more warming in the Arctic?than in other latitudes, because the loss of snow and ice means heat gets absorbed by the darker ground, not reflected (as it would by the white snow). This warming lessens the temperature difference between the Arctic and northern latitudes like Europe. Since these differences drive air flow, a smaller difference means less air movement. Also, land areas warm and cool more easily than oceans. The result is an unnatural pattern of air flow that prevents the air waves from circulating over land.
The study's results help explain the spike in summer weather extremes. Previous research had shown a link between climate change and extreme weather, but did not identify the mechanism.
"This is quite a breakthrough, even though things are not at all simple ? the suggested physical process increases the probability of weather extremes, but additional factors certainly play a role as well, including natural variability," study co-author Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, also of PIK, said in a statement.
The 32-year period studied provides a good explanation of past extreme weather events, the researchers say, but is too short to make predictions about how often such events may occur in the future.
The findings were reported online today (Feb. 25) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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The ladies who lived at Wrest Park were prolific readers, as can be seen by the open bookcases lining the walls of the two exquisitely decorated libraries. Throughout March, English Heritage will be honouring this tradition with a series of lectures given by some of Britain?s top female history writers.
The original mediaeval Wrest Park mansion is long gone, torn down by Thomas de Grey in the 1830s and replaced by the opulent Chateau-style dwelling which now stands. The last surviving member of the de Grey family died in 1923, following which the house and gardens fell into neglect until being rescued by English Heritage which ? in a joint project with the Wolfson Foundation ? has restored the mansion and its 18th century gardens to their former glory.
Today, it is possible for visitors from Lancashire to see the open bookcases that would have been used by Lady Henrietta and her daughters, and view Victorian dining chairs and antique desks comparable with the ones that were here when the opulent Louis XV-style rooms were first decorated. Those wanting to learn more about the lives of the de Grey family can do so with a new interactive display. Better still, they can attend Sara Sheridan?s lecture ?How To Be A Lady?, one of several literary events in March, in which top-selling historical novelists share their research and knowledge to bring the stately home and its owners back to life.
People in the Ribble Valley can find Victorian balloon backed dining chairs and antique desks, like those used by Lady Henrietta and her descendants, by visiting their local antiques dealer.
I?m not going to lie ? parenting is exhausting?especially if you?re starting to get a cold (two weeks of wiping aside snot and I?m finally starting to succumb). So hosting a party of 15 boys (under the age of 9) and 2 girls was definitely tiring ? and yet so much fun. Yesterday we had a party to celebrate Noah?s 4th birthday and Seth?s adoption. This brought together the 17 kids for the birthday and about an equal number of adults for the adoption. Today I reflect on how wonderful it is to be surrounded by so many people who care about my boys and our family.
For many people, families and friends celebrate the birth of a child. Friends gather around the new baby and the beaming parents, visitors come and go (and people make you food!), and gifts pour in. Mothers stay home from work for some time (and it would be nice if we let fathers do so too)? cooing over how gorgeous the baby is, who he or she looks like, and ?napping when the baby naps? (or at least that?s what people say they do!). It is very different when you adopt a child through the foster care system.
This week I have looked down at Seth every night as I plant a kiss on his forehead and say ?goodnight, my son.? It is the first time that I?ve been able to call him my ?son.? And it is the first time that I realize I can bond with him as my son. It is a very strange thing. As a foster parent, you are asked to ?love the children as if they are your own? and yet to ?keep your distance? as your job really is to hand them back to the biological parent (when at all possible).
So there?s this closeness of rocking them to sleep every night, and this guarding of your heart in preparation of possibly losing them. You pick them up when they fall and kiss the ?boo-boo,? and wonder how long they will still be in your house. You bounce them and tickle them. You praise their every milestone as they grow. You hold their hand and protect them. You take them to day care and pick them up. You take them to doctor appointments, you sit and pray over them as they recover from surgery, you worry about every cold or fever or wheeze. You ache, you agonize, you cry, you comfort?.you love. You know the baby needs a ?mother? and you play the role of the ?mother,? but you never know if you are the one who will be the forever mother. Until that very moment, years later, when a complete stranger in a black robe declares you to be the mother.
Then you sigh. Then you cry. Then you gather your friends and family around you and say ?Celebrate with me. Sing with me. Dance with me?.on the ?birth? of my son.?
Micah ? I met you May 22, 2006, and became your forever Mommy on February 26, 2008.
Noah ? I met you Feb 27, 2009, and became your forever Mommy on February 23, 2010.
Seth ? I met you on June 2, 2011, and became your forever Mommy on February 12, 2013.
Tonight I lay on Micah?s bed beside him as he snored and looked around the room at my sleeping family. My sons. Beautiful each one.
George Osborne today refused to admit having failed in his commitment to protect Britain?s AAA credit rating after it was cut last night for the first time in the country?s history.
The Chancellor insisted that Britain?s credibility remained intact despite the agency Moody?s having cut the credit rating by one notch to AA1 because of ?subdued? growth prospects and a ?high and rising debt burden?.
He today reaffirmed his intention to stick with his plan for economic recovery, although the downgrade deals him a major blow. Maintaining the top credit rating for Government bonds has been a keystone in the
Cider is the apple of the alcoholic drink sector's eye, but can move beyond its core market, reports Mintel
Region: UK
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb 2013
Cider is the apple of the alcoholic drink sector's eye, but can move beyond its core market, reports Mintel
With lager companies now also looking to capitalise on the growth in the UK cider market, it seems that the nation?s desire for this fruity drink shows no signs of losing fizz just yet. Indeed, according to new research from Mintel, three in five adults (60%) now drink cider, significantly up from the previous year?s total of 47%. This progress means that in 2012, a greater share of adults drank cider than spirits (57%).
Indeed, cider is even closing in on beer in terms of usage, a market which has struggled to retain its base of drinkers in recent years, standing at 70% in 2012. While its recent successes have helped a number of cider producers to grow rapidly, Mintel research shows that the market?s future prospects could be equally positive as, even among cider drinkers, 23% state that it does not always occur to them to drink it. Further boosting the visibility of the drink in the on- and off-trade could therefore reap spectacular rewards for operators.
Chris Wisson, Senior Drinks Analyst at Mintel said:
?Cider continues to stand out as one of the star performers among alcoholic drinks markets. Usage has flourished in recent years as the market has improved its image, with strong growth at the premium tier. The market has also performed well on the back of its accessibility, with its accessible flavour profiles helping to attract new users such as women and 18-34 year-olds. While many drinks markets are struggling to grow in real terms and are also hampered by the government?s tax escalator, cider is one of the anomalous success stories which is also showing underlying volume growth.?
Cider is in fact one of the few success stories in the alcoholic drinks landscape, achieving steady growth despite the economic downturn. Over the last five years sales of cider have increased by 32% to reach ?2.7 billion in 2012, up from ?1.8 billion in 2007 and with sales increasing 5% in the last year alone. Meanwhile volume sales have posted slower growth, although the market still managed overall growth of 18% between 2007 and 2012.
The success of cider looks set to continue in the coming years, with new producers continuing to build momentum and with strong consumer demand leading to a better range of ciders in both the on- and off-trade sales channels. Over the next five years, Mintel forecasts that the market will reach sales of ?3.7 billion, driven partly by duty increases but also growing user numbers.
Apple pips pear to the post
While apple remains the nation?s favourite flavour of cider, drunk by 47% of adults, there are striking signs of growth coming from the pear and flavoured segments. Pear has grown to be a firm favourite amongst cider drinkers, and is drunk by almost four in ten (37%) adults, buoyed by the entry of brands such as Strongbow and Stella Cidre into the segment. Meanwhile, almost a quarter (24%) of Brits have drunk any other type of fruit-flavoured cider, with flavours in this adventurous segment ranging from cloudberry to toffee apple.
?Pear cider is now a highly profitable segment of the market and one which producers should almost be prioritising on a par with apple cider. While apple continues to drive most of the sales, pear can also be an effective gateway into the market, with a particular appeal to female drinkers. However, pear is still underperforming in terms of appealing to older drinkers and operators may be well served in highlighting features such as a British heritage and ingredient quality to appeal to these more traditional cider drinkers.? Chris continues.
While the cider market continues to make great strides, there are still a number of challenges for producers to overcome. Many of these relate to its image as amongst lager, wine and RTD drinkers, just 8% think that cider is sophisticated while 14% think that it is worth paying more for, both of which are significantly behind associations with wine.
?While cider enjoys a range of positive associations among drinkers, such as being refreshing, natural and suitable for men and women, sophistication is an area where there is significant room for improvement. The cider market has improved its image greatly over the past decade and should continue working to evolve away from unfavourable historical associations such as those with underage and binge drinking, and towards being a sophisticated drink to be seen with.? Chris concludes.
For more information, please contact Sian Brenchley, Monica Trombini or Amanda Lintott Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7600 5703 Email: press@mintel.com
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Robert J. ?John? Newton of Berlin, formerly of Marlboro, a veteran and Massachusetts Laborers? Union employee, died Thursday at MetroWest Medical Center/Framingham Union Hospital. He was 74.
Mr. Newton served in the Army during the Vietnam War.
Mr. Newton was born and raised in Marlboro. He later moved to Berlin, where he lived for the past 39 years.
Mr. Newton was employed by the Massachusetts Laborers? Union. He enjoyed spending time with his family and friends, hunting and fishing.
Mr. Newton is survived by his wife, Judith (Allsobrooks); two daughters, Dana J. Carpenter of Wake Forest, N.C., Denise L. Parker of Boylston; two stepsons, Robert S. Slattery of Sweden, Maine, and Johnson City, Tenn., and Timothy W. Slattery of Westford; a stepdaughter, Tracey L. Holden of Conway, N.H.; a sister, Phyllis Dinges of Corpus Christi, Texas.; two brothers, Edward J. of Yuma, Ariz., and William of Ossipee, N.H.; seven grandchildren; many nieces and nephews.
A funeral service will be held at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Tighe Hamilton Funeral Home in Hudson.
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#CNN - When #Pope Benedict XVI leaves office on Feb. 28, his Twitter presence as @Pontifex will also come to an end, per Vatican Radio.
? Kelly Smoot (@kelly_smootCNN) February 22, 2013
When Pope Benedict XVI leaves office next week, he will also resign from Twitter. The pope sent his first @Pontifex tweet in December and the account has gained more than 1.5 million followers. Hundreds of thousands of people follow his non-English accounts.
Will the next pope embrace Twitter?
CNN: Pope Benedict XVI will leave Twitter after resignation, but new pope may continue as @Pontifex? Michael van Poppel (@mpoppel) February 22, 2013
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Britain suffered its first ever sovereign ratings downgrade from a major agency on Friday when Moody's stripped the country of its coveted top-notch triple-A rating, dealing a major blow to finance minister George Osborne.
Moody's said weak prospects for British economic growth, which have thrown the government's deficit reduction strategy off course, lay behind its decision to cut the rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa.
Austerity has been the watchword for Osborne's fiscal policy since his Conservative-led coalition came to power in 2010 after an election in which he vowed to defend Britain's triple-A rating, which can help keep down borrowing costs.
But a very slow recovery from the financial crisis has pushed back by at least two years the government's goal of largely eliminating the budget deficit by 2015's election.
The opposition Labour Party blames the deficit on too much austerity.
Nonetheless, Osborne insisted now was not the time to change course. His annual budget due on March 20 is expected to show a further deterioration in the country's fiscal outlook.
"Tonight we have a stark reminder of the debt problems facing our country and the clearest possible warning to anyone who thinks we can run away from dealing with those problems," he said in a statement. "Far from weakening our resolve to deliver our economic recovery plan, this decision redoubles it."
However, the downgrade may fuel unease amongst members of his own party and his Liberal Democrat coalition partners that Osborne's gamble that he could slash the deficit and ensure a return to growth by the May 2015 election is failing to pay off.
Sterling fell by almost a cent to around $1.5160 after the downgrade, just off Thursday's fresh 2-1/2-year low, and analysts expected it to weaken further on Monday, even if many had seen a downgrade coming sooner or later.
"It's a pretty big deal," said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York. "We didn't see a huge reaction in the pound because it's late in the New York session. But you'll see some more aggressive selling when the markets open (in Asia) on Sunday."
Moody's said the outlook on its rating on Britain was now stable, meaning any further change is unlikely for the next year or so.
Britain joins the United States and France in having lost its triple-A rating from at least one major agency, after holding a top-notch rating from Moody's and Standard & Poor's since 1978, and from Fitch Ratings since 1994.
SLUGGISH GROWTH
Moody's said that despite considerable economic strengths, Britain's growth was likely to be sluggish due to a mix of weaker global economic activity - especially in the euro zone - and a drag "from the ongoing domestic public and private-sector de-leveraging process."
"This period of sluggish growth poses challenges to the government's fiscal consolidation program, which we now assume will extend well into the next parliament," Moody's analyst Sarah Carlson said in a telephone interview with Reuters.
But Ed Balls, the Labour Party's main spokesman on finance issues, said the Moody's decision should be a wake-up call for Osborne ahead of his annual budget statement as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
"This credit rating downgrade is a humiliating blow to a Prime Minister and Chancellor who said keeping our AAA rating was the test of their economic and political credibility."
"The issue is no longer whether this Chancellor can admit his mistakes but whether the Prime Minister can now see that, with UK economic policy so badly downgraded in every sense, things have got to change."
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said a new approach from Osborne was improbable.
"The strong likelihood is though that it will not materially lead to a change in his plans."
Changes are more likely from the Bank of England, which surprised markets earlier this week after it revealed that Governor Mervyn King and two other policymakers favored restarting bond purchases to boost the economy.
They remained in the minority among their fellow policymakers but economists increasingly expect more stimulus eventually by the central bank.
This - and the central bank's tolerance of above-target inflation - have combined to put pressure on sterling while leaving British government debt relatively shielded.
Charles Diebel, a fixed income strategist at British bank Lloyds, was sanguine about the impact of the downgrade on gilts, as U.S. and French debt was not badly affected when these countries lost their triple-A ratings.
"This has been speculated as inevitable and is most likely largely in the market. I would expect only very limited damage to the gilt curve and to sterling. Historically, losing your AAA is actually a bond bullish event," he said.
(Additional reporting by Steven C. Johnson in New York and Michael Holden in London; Editing by James Dalgleish, Jon Hemming and Eric Walsh)
While the Chromebook Pixel has that pretty display for looking at pictures and browsing the web, many users would probably still want to use the laptop for, like, actual work. Thankfully the Chrome team has thought of that and have developed an integrated version of Quickoffice so that you can finally open and edit office documents natively within the Chrome browser. The final app will take two to three months to ship, but that office functionality will be built-in with the Pixel (update: we've clarified this statement below). Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, said at the Chromebook Pixel event in San Francisco that this "completes the story for a lot of users" who want something a little more beyond just Google Docs. We've also learned that while the Quickoffice integration will be available initially for the Pixel, it'll eventually roll out to other Chromebooks as well via a software update.
Update: To clarify, we've learned that all Pixels will ship with Quickoffice already installed. You'll be able to open and view documents on it as soon as you get it. However, the ability to actually edit those docs won't be available until two to three months down the line as they're still working on perfecting the app (the demo they had at the event failed a couple of times).
By vibrating tanks of silicon oil, scientists created?strange gravity waves in the shape of a star.
By Charles Choi,?LiveScience / February 22, 2013
Researchers have discovered a new type of gravity wave, one that is shaped like a star. Such bizarre waves result from a property called nonlinearity, in which a small or simple change results in a disproportionately large or complex effect.
Jean Rajchenbach, Alphonse Leroux, and Didier Clamond (CNRS and Universit? de Nice, France)
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Star-shaped waves?can form in vibrating tanks of liquid oil, researchers say.
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Learning more about such bizarre waves could shed light on counterparts that may exist elsewhere in nature, researchers added.
Waves of all kinds often behave in an intuitively linear manner. For instance, a weight on a spring will bob up and down in a manner directly proportional to the force that the weight exerts on the spring.
However, a number of strange waves can also form. They come from what is called nonlinearity, in which a small or simple change results in a disproportionately large or complex effect. For instance, aspects of weather behave chaotically, in a nonlinear manner.
The waves seen on the surface of water also behave in a nonlinear manner, and bizarre phenomena can result, such as?X- and Y-shaped ocean waves?or monstrously large?freak waves?that seem to come out of nowhere. Scientists have spotted similar nonlinear effects elsewhere in nature, such as with super-cooled atoms or light traveling in fiber optics.
To uncover new, remarkable nonlinear waves, scientists experimented with circular and rectangular tanks containing about two-fifths of an inch (1 centimeter) of silicon oil. Researchers placed the tanks on shakers to vibrate the fluid. Scientists then observed that the liquid contained gravity waves ? oscillations due to gravity pulling downward and vibrations pushing upward.
A new type of gravity wave eventually resulted, which alternated in shape between stars and polygons ? for instance, between a five-pointed star and a five-sided pentagon. The researchers could change the shapes of these stars and polygons by altering the strength and frequency of the vibrations. [See?Video?and?Images of the Odd-Shaped Gravity Waves]
The gravity waves in the liquid interact in a nonlinear manner, resonating and building in complexity, somewhat like how a playground swing will climb higher from repeated pushes. This is the first time such nonlinear, resonant interactions have been seen with?gravity waves.
Intriguingly, the shapes of these waves did not depend on the form of the containers housing the fluid.
"It is generally accepted that the shape of the waves depends on the container shape," said researcher Jean Rajchenbach, a physicist at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France. "The fact that the pattern shape is here recovered independently of the container shape is surprising, mysterious and stimulating. We have no clear explanation.
"This finding just emphasizes that the domain of highly nonlinear waves is still 'terra incognita,' or unknown territory," Rajchenbach told LiveScience.
Rajchenbach and his colleagues Didier Clamond and Alphonse Leroux detailed their findings in a paper accepted by the journal Physical Review Letters on Feb. 1.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter?@livescience. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.
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Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
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