Syrian troops push back in fight on Damascus edges

This image from amateur video made available by the Ugarit News group and shot on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, purports to show a funeral in Damascus, Syria. The Syrian military launched an offensive to regain control of suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus on Sunday, storming neighborhoods and clashing with groups of army defectors in fierce fighting that sent residents fleeing and killed at several people, activists said. (AP Photo/Ugarit News Group via APTN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT

This image from amateur video made available by the Ugarit News group and shot on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, purports to show a funeral in Damascus, Syria. The Syrian military launched an offensive to regain control of suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus on Sunday, storming neighborhoods and clashing with groups of army defectors in fierce fighting that sent residents fleeing and killed at several people, activists said. (AP Photo/Ugarit News Group via APTN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT

Protesters shout slogans as they carry pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Syrian flags during a demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, to express gratitude for the Russian position in support of Syria. Russia has said it will use its Security Council veto to block any resolution threatening Syria with sanctions or lacking a clear ban on any foreign military interference. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian forces heavily shelled the restive city of Homs on Monday and troops pushed back dissident troops from some suburbs on the outskirts of Damascus in an offensive trying to regain control of the capital's eastern doorstep, activists said.

President Bashar Assad's regime is intensifying its assault aimed at crushing army defectors and protesters, even as the West tries to overcome Russian opposition and win a new U.N. resolution demanding a halt to Syria's crackdown on the 10-month-old uprising. Activists reported at least 28 civilians killed on Monday.

With talks on the resolution due to begin Tuesday, a French official said at least 10 members of the Security Council backed the measure, which includes a U.N. demand that Assad carry out an Arab League peace plan. The plan requires Assad to hand his powers over to his vice president and allow the creation of a unity government within two months. Damascus has rejected the proposal.

A text needs support from nine nations on the 15-member U.N. Security Council to go to a vote. The French official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with departmental rules.

The British and French foreign ministers were heading to New York to push for backing of the measure in Tuesday's U.N. talks.

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron's office urged Moscow to reconsider its opposition to the measure.

"Russia can no longer explain blocking the U.N. and providing cover for the regime's brutal repression," a spokeswoman for Cameron said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Russia insists it won't support any resolution it believes could open the door to an eventual foreign military intervention in Syria, the way an Arab-backed U.N. resolution paved the way for NATO airstrikes in Libya. Instead, the Kremlin said Monday it was trying to put together negotiations in Moscow between Damascus and the opposition.

It said Assad's government has agreed to participate. The opposition has in the past rejected any negotiations unless violence stops, and there was no immediate word whether any of the multiple groups that make up the anti-Assad camp would attend.

The United Nations estimated several weeks ago that more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown since the uprising against Assad's rule began in March. The bloodshed has continued since ? with more than 190 killed in the past five days ? and the U.N. says it has been unable to update the figure.

Regime forces on Monday heavily shelled the central city of Homs, which has been one of the cities at the forefront of the uprising, activists said. Heavy machine gun fire hit the city's restive Baba Amr district.

The Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported that 14 were killed in the city on Monday. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, put the number at 15. Both also reported the discovery of a family of six ? a couple and their four children ? who had been killed by gunfire several days earlier in the city's Karm el-Zeitoun district.

The past three days, pro-Assad forces have been fighting to take back a string of suburbs on the eastern approach to Damascus where army defectors who joined the opposition had seized control.

Government troops managed on Sunday evening to take control of two of the districts closest to Damascus, Ein Tarma and Kfar Batna, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based head of the Observatory.

On Monday, the regime forces were trying to take the next suburbs farther out, with heavy fighting in the districts of Saqba and Arbeen, he said.

At least five civilians were killed in the fighting near Damascus, the Observatory and LCC said. The Observatory also reported 10 army defectors and eight regime troops or security forces killed around the country.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities keep tight control on the media and have banned many foreign journalists from entering the country.

The wide-scale offensive near the capital suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, which has remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities have slipped into chaos since the uprising began in March.

The violence has gradually approached the capital. In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.

Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.

State media reported that an "armed terrorist group" blew up a gas pipeline at dawn Monday. The pipeline carries gas from the central province of Homs to an area near the border with Lebanon. SANA news agency reported that the blast happened in Tal Hosh, which is about five miles (eight kilometers) from Talkalakh, along the border with Lebanon.

Further details were not immediately available.

There have been several pipeline attacks since the Syrian uprising began, but it is not clear who is behind them.

Assad's regime has blamed "terrorists" for driving the country's uprising, not protesters seeking democratic change.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-30-ML-Syria/id-c8d504a680db4788837e9c4b8e8b8b7b

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Hire NJ Website Design Experts for Designing Gaming Sites ...

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Redefining Autism: Will New DSM-5 Criteria for ASD Exclude Some People?

News | Mind & Brain

Experts call for small and easy changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the "bible" of psychiatry, so that everyone with autism spectrum disorder qualifies for a diagnosis

By Ferris Jabr ?| January 30, 2012

DIAGNOSING THE DSM: The DSM-5 should sharpen the definition of autism, if the APA makes a few tweaks in time Image: UrsaHoogle, iStockphoto

People have been arguing about autism for a long time?about what causes it, how to treat it and whether it qualifies as a mental disorder. The controversial idea that childhood vaccines trigger autism also persists, despite the fact that study after study has failed to find any evidence of such a link. Now, psychiatrists and members of the autistic community are embroiled in a more legitimate kerfuffle that centers on the definition of autism and how clinicians diagnose the disorder. The debate is not pointless semantics. In many cases, the type and number of symptoms clinicians look for when diagnosing autism determines how easy or difficult it is for autistic people to access medical, social and educational services.

The controversy remains front and center because the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has almost finished redefining autism, along with all other mental disorders, in an overhaul of a hefty tome dubbed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)?the essential reference guide that clinicians use when evaluating their patients. The newest edition of the manual, the DSM-5, is slated for publication in May 2013. Psychiatrists and parents have voiced concerns that the new definition of autism in the DSM-5 will exclude many people from both a diagnosis and state services that depend on a diagnosis.

The devilish confusion is in the details. When the APA publishes the DSM-5, people who have already met the criteria for autism in the current DSM-IV will not suddenly lose their current diagnosis as some parents have feared, nor will they lose state services. But several studies recently published in child psychiatry journals suggest that it will be more difficult for new generations of high-functioning autistic people to receive a diagnosis because the DSM-5 criteria are too strict. Together, the studies conclude that the major changes to the definition of autism in the DSM-5 are well grounded in research and that the new criteria are more accurate than the current DSM-IV criteria. But in its efforts to make diagnosis more accurate, the APA may have raised the bar for autism a little too high, neglecting autistic people whose symptoms are not as severe as others. The studies also point out, however, that minor tweaks to the DSM-5 criteria would make a big difference, bringing autistic people with milder symptoms or sets of symptoms that differ from classic autism back into the spectrum

A new chapter

Autism is a disorder in which a child's brain does not develop typically, and neurons form connections in unusual ways. The major features of autism are impaired social interaction and communication - such as delayed language development, avoiding eye-contact and difficulty making friends - as well as restricted and repetitive behavior, such as repeatedly making the same sound or intense fascination with a particular toy.

The DSM-5 subsumes autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)?which are all distinct disorders in DSM-IV?into one category called autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The idea is that these conditions have such similar symptoms that they do not belong in separate categories, but instead fall on the same continuum.

Essentially, to qualify for a diagnosis of autistic disorder in DSM-IV, a patient must show at least six of 12 symptoms, which are divided into three groups: deficits in social interaction; deficits in communication; and repetitive and restricted behaviors and interests. In contrast, the DSM-5 divides seven symptoms of ASD into two main groups: deficits in social communication and social interaction; and restricted, repetitive behaviors and interests. (For a closer look at the changes, read the companion piece: Autism Is Not a Math Problem. You can also compare DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria for autism on the APA's website.)

The APA collapsed the social interaction and communication groups from DSM-IV into one group in the new edition because research in the last decade has shown that the symptoms in these groups almost always appear together. Research and clinical experience has also established that heightened or dulled sensitivity to sensory experiences is a core feature of autism, which is why it appears in DSM-5 but not in the preceding version. The psychiatric community has generally applauded these changes to the criteria for ASD.

What is in question is how many of the DSM-5 criteria a patient must meet to receive a diagnosis?too many and the manual excludes autistic people with fewer or milder symptoms; too few and it assigns autism to people who don't have it. Since the 1980s the prevalence of autism has dramatically increased worldwide, especially in the U.S. where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nine per 1,000 children have been diagnosed with ASD. Many psychiatrists agree that the increase is at least partially explained by loose criteria in DSM-IV.

"If the DSM-IV criteria are taken too literally, anybody in the world could qualify for Asperger's or PDD-NOS," says Catherine Lord, one of the members of the APA's DSM-5 Development Neurodevelopmental Disorders Work Group. "The specificity is terrible. We need to make sure the criteria are not pulling in kids who do not have these disorders."

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Neeson's 'The Grey' tops box office with $20M (AP)

NEW YORK ? Beware the Liam in Winter.

Liam Neeson's "The Grey" topped the weekend box office with $20 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, continuing the actor's success as an action star in the winter months.

The Alaskan survivalist thriller opened above expectations with a performance on par with previous Neeson thrillers "Taken" and "Unknown." Those films, both January-February releases, opened with $24.7 million and $21.9 million, respectively.

But the R-rated "The Grey," which has received good reviews, drove home the strong appeal of Neeson, action star. It's an unlikely turn for the 59-year-old Neeson, previously better known for his dramatic performances, like those in "Schindler's List" and "Kinsey."

"Liam is a true movie star, period," said Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road Films. It's the second release for the newly formed distributor, created by theater chains AMC and Regal.

"My guess is that Liam Neeson in action thrillers would work just about any time of year."

January is often a dumping ground for less-stellar releases, a tradition held up by two badly reviewed new wide releases: "Man on a Ledge," with Sam Worthington, and "One for the Money" with Katherine Heigl.

"One for the Money" fared better, earning $11.8 million, while "Man on a Ledge" opened with $8.3 million.

Those were reasonably solid returns, and, in an unusual twist, were both ultimately for Lions Gate Entertainment. Its film studio, Lionsgate, released the romantic comedy "One for the Money." The action thriller "Man on a Ledge" was released by Summit Entertainment, which Lions Gate bought for $412.5 million earlier this month.

"One for the Money" was helped by a promotion with Groupon, the Internet discount site, with which Lionsgate previously partnered for "The Lincoln Lawyer." David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate, said the large number of older, female subscribers of Groupon matched well with the audience of "One for the Money."

Groupon email blasts, he said, had a significant promotional effect.

Last week's box-office leader, "Underworld: Awakenings," Sony's Screen Gem's latest installment in its vampire series, came in second with $12.5 million, bringing its cumulative total to $45.1 million.

The unexpectedly large haul for "The Grey," strong holdovers (such as the George Lucas-produced World War II action film "Red Tails," which earned $10.4 million in its second week) and the bump for Oscar contending films following Tuesday's nominations added up to a good weekend for Hollywood. The box office was up about 15 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

So far, every weekend this year has been an "up" weekend, after a somewhat dismal fourth quarter in 2011.

"`Mission: Impossible,' I think, really helped reinvigorate the marketplace, and that's carried over into the first part of the year," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "That's good news for Hollywood after the down-trending box office of 2011."

Oscar favorites "The Descendants," "Hugo" and "The Artist" sought to capitalize on their recent Academy Awards nominations. Each expanded to more theaters and saw an uptick in business.

Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants," which is nominated for five Oscars including best picture, added 1,441 screens in its 11th week of release. It added $6.6 million and has now made $58.8 million, making it one of Fox Searchlight's most successful releases.

Sheila DeLoach, senior vice president of distribution for Fox Searchlight, said the film's nominations and its recent Golden Globes wins (for best drama and best actor, George Clooney) "played a big role" in its weekend box office.

Paramount's "Hugo," which led Oscar nominations with 11 including best picture, saw a 143 percent jump in business over its last weekend. In its tenth week of release, it earned $2.3 million, bringing its total to $58.7 million.

The Weinstein Co.'s "The Artist," with 10 Oscar nominations including best picture, expanded a modest 235 screens to bring it to a total of 897 screens in its 10th week of release. It earned $3.3 million, with a total of $16.7 million.

The Weinstein Co. is being careful with the black-and-white, largely silent film. Thus far, it has appealed particularly to older audiences.

"It's not the same type of picture as any other picture in the marketplace," said Erik Loomis, head of distribution for the Weinstein Co. "Now that the nominations are out, we're going to look to capitalize on it as best we can. ... We're being very, very meticulous with it. We're not throwing it out there and grabbing every theater we can. At some point, we'll open the floodgates on the movie, maybe closer to the awards."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Grey," $20 million.

2. "Underworld: Awakening," $12.5 million.

3. "One for the Money," $11.8 million.

4. "Red Tails," $10.4 million.

5. "Man on a Ledge," $8.3 million.

6. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," $7.1 million.

7. "The Descendants," $6.6 million.

8. "Contraband," $6.5 million.

9. "Beauty and the Beast," $5.3 million.

10. "Haywire," $4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_en_ot/us_box_office

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No crowing from Donovan after win against Dempsey

/

updated 9:38 a.m. ET Jan. 28, 2012

LIVERPOOL, England - There was no crowing from Landon Donovan after he led his Everton side to victory over Clint Dempsey's Fulham in England's FA Cup.

After all, the U.S. teammates will be on the same side again soon enough.

Donovan set up both Everton goals in Friday night's 2-1 win but says Dempsey is still the American success story in this season's Premier League.

The former New England Revolution forward has scored 15 goals for Fulham since August and Donovan says "in my opinion, he's been one of the players of the season in the Premier League."

United States international Tim Howard was in goal for Everton and Donovan says the match was "a little bit of an American invasion."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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The U.S. women's soccer team booked their way to London on Friday night with a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46173803/ns/sports-soccer/

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Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan: Pay ???great??? teachers $150k (Daily Caller)

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said on MSNBC?s ?Morning Joe? on Friday morning it?s time to hike teacher salaries, up to $150,000 annually if possible.

One of the hot-button issues in recent years has been government funding for education, how it is dispensed and the teachers? unions role in making those decisions. Duncan says his take on the issue is ?radical.?

?

?Yes, I?ve been very radical on this,? Duncan said. ?I think young teachers ? we should double salaries. A starting teacher should make $60-$65,000 [a year]. A great teacher should be able to make $130, $140-$150,000 [a year]. Pick a number. We have beaten down educators. We have to elevate the profession. We have to strengthen the profession. We have to reward excellence. Great teachers, great principals make a huge difference in our nation?s children. We have to invest in them and yes, need to reward excellence, particularly when great teachers are taking on tough assignments and inner-city schools in rural or remote areas, areas that of critical need like math and science ? we have to get much more creative than we have in the past.?

But, Duncan said, performance incentives shouldn?t be relegated to base pay. There should also be a bonus structure in place.

?No, I think we need to do both,? Duncan said. ?I think we need to raise the base pay. I think great teachers should be able to make a lot more money than they do today based upon the difference they?re making in students? lives, based upon willingness to take on tough assignments in underserved communities.?

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IMF chief presses for more cash to fight crisis

International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde shows her bag as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde shows her bag as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde, right, gestures next t Donald Tsang, left, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region during a plenary session at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde gestures during during a plenary session at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director, Christine Lagarde, attends a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde gestures as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? The head of the International Monetary Fund appeared to be making headway Saturday in her drive to boost the institution's financial firepower so that it can help Europe prevent its crippling debt crisis from further damaging the global economy.

Christine Lagarde, who replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the fund six months ago, is trying to ramp up the IMF's resources by $500 billion so it can help if more lending is needed in Europe or elsewhere. The IMF is the world's traditional lender-of-last-resort and has been involved in the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Insisting that the IMF is a "safe bet" and that no country had ever lost money by lending to the IMF, Lagarde argued that increasing the size of the IMF's resources would help improve confidence in the global financial system. If enough money is in the fund the markets will be reassured and it won't be used, she said, using arguments similar to those that France has made about increasing Europe's own rescue fund.

"It's for that reason that I am here, with my little bag, to actually collect a bit of money," she said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps town of Davos.

Her plea appeared to find a measure of support from ministers of Britain and Japan, sizable IMF shareholders that would be expected to contribute to any money-raising exercise.

George Osborne, Britain's finance minister, said there is "a case for increasing IMF resources and ... demonstrating that the world wants to help together to solve the world's problems," provided the 17 countries that use the euro show the "color of their money."

European countries have said they're prepared to give the IMF $150 billion, meaning that the rest of the world will have to contribute $350 billion. However, many countries, such as Britain and the U.S., want Europe to do more, notably by boosting its own rescue fund.

Osborne said he would be willing to argue in Parliament for a new British contribution, though he may encounter opposition from some members from his own Conservative Party.

Japan's economy minister, Motohisa Furukawa, said his country would help the eurozone via the IMF, too, even though Japan's own debt burden is massive. Unlike Europe's debt-ridden economies, Japan doesn't face sky-high borrowing rates, partly because there's a very liquid domestic market that continues to support the country's bonds.

Europe once again dominated discussions on the final full day of the forum in Davos. Despite some optimism about Europe's latest attempts to stem the crisis, fears remain that turmoil could return.

Whether the markets remain stable could rest for now on if Greece, the epicenter of the crisis, manages to conclude crucial debt-reduction discussions with its private creditors. It's also seeking to placate demands from its European partners and the IMF for deeper reforms.

A failure on either front could force the country, which is now in its fifth year of recession, to default on its debt and leave the euro, potentially triggering another wave of mayhem in financial markets that could hit the global economy hard.

One German official even said Saturday that Greece should temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner to secure further bailouts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because talks on the idea are confidential.

"The fact that we're still, at the start of 2012, talking about Greece again is a sign that this problem has not been dealt with," Britain's Osborne said.

For Donald Tsang, the chief executive of Hong Kong, efforts to deal with the 2-year-old debt crisis have fallen short of what is required. The failure to properly deal with the Greek situation quickly has meant the ultimate cost to Europe has been higher, he said.

"I have never been as scared as now about the world," he said.

Most economic forecasters predict that the global economy will continue to grow this year, but at a fairly slow rate. The IMF recently reduced its forecasts for global growth in 2012 to 3.3 percent, from the 4 percent pace that the IMF projected in September.

Lagarde sought to encourage some countries that use the euro to boost growth to help shore up the ailing eurozone economy, which is widely expected to sink back into recession, adding that it would be counterproductive if all euro countries cut their budgets aggressively at the same time.

"Some countries have to go full-speed ahead to do this fiscal consolidation ... but other countries have space and room," Lagarde said.

Though conceding that there aren't many such countries, Lagarde said it is important that those that have the headroom explore how they can boost growth. She carefully avoided naming any countries, but likely had in mind Germany, Europe's largest economy and a major world exporter. She didn't specify how to boost growth or how one eurozone country could help others grow.

Lagarde said members of the eurozone should continue the drive to tie their economies closer together. On Monday, European leaders gather in Brussels in the hopes of agreeing on a treaty that will force member countries to put deficit limits into their national laws.

Britain's Osborne said eurozone leaders should be praised for the "courage" they have shown over the past few months in enacting austerity and setting in place closer fiscal ties, but said more will have to be done if the single currency is to get on a surer footing.

Fiscal transfers from rich economies to poorer ones will become a "permanent feature" of the eurozone, Osborne predicted.

While politicians and business people were discussing the state of the global economy within the confines of the conference center, protesters questioned the purpose of the event as income inequalities grow worldwide.

Protesters from the Occupy movement that started on Wall Street have camped out in igloos at Davos and were demonstrating in front of City Hall to call attention to the needs of the poor and unemployed.

In a separate protest, three Ukrainian women were arrested when they stripped off their tops ? despite temperatures around freezing ? and tried to climb a fence surrounding the invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders.

"Crisis! Made in Davos," read one message painted across a protester's torso.

Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi said the three women were taken to the police station and told they weren't allowed to demonstrate. He said they would be released later in the day.

___

Frank Jordans and Edith M. Lederer in Davos, and Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Vanessa Hudgens, Shailene Woodley, More Reveal Red Carpet Don'ts

'Absolutely do not be drunk or high on anything,' Dame Helen Mirren advises MTV News in latest edition of Don't Do That.
By Christina Garibaldi

Vanessa Hudgens
Photo: MTV News

With awards season is in full swing — Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild Awards are set for Sunday — the stars have been stepping up their fashion game in hopes of taking home one of the most important honors: Best Dressed.

But a lot of work goes into making that coveted list. MTV News asked some of the biggest actresses in the business for advice on what not to do on a red carpet.

"Don't wear something that's uncomfortable," said "Descendents" star Shailene Woodley when asked about how to leave a lasting impression. "Wear something that's super comfortable."

Hudgens had some unusual advice for what not to do on the red carpet. "A cartwheel ... in a dress," she said.

Comfort may not have been at the top of the list for Reese Witherspoon and Charlize Theron, who wowed at the 2012 Golden Globes, but they were certainly dazzling. Similarly, young starlets like Demi Lovato and Vanessa Hudgens made daring fashion choices at the People's Choice Awards and came out winners.

"The Help" star Jessica Chastain — who just got her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress — seemed to agree with Woodley.

"You should never wear something that makes you uncomfortable because then you look uncomfortable," Chastain said. "We've all done that, right? We've all been talked into something we didn't love, by our grandmothers, our aunts, my great aunt."

Chastain's fellow Oscar nominee and "Help" co-star, Viola Davis, has a busy red-carpet season ahead of her, but don't expect her to strike a pose. "My big thing, I never do over-the-shoulder shots," Davis told us. "I just don't. I think they're cheesy.

"I think absolutely you should be who you are, it has a huge calming effect as opposed to adding anxiety to yourself and trying to channel another persona; it really doesn't work," the Best Actress nominee continued. "Can you imagine the over-the-shoulder, hair-flip kinda pose for myself?"

Of course, it's not just about the dress or the most flattering pose — viewers keep an eye on carpet etiquette, too. According to Dame Helen Mirren, a star should always be on their best behavior.

"Don't be drunk, absolutely do not be drunk or high on anything," Mirren said. "Don't be nervous and do enjoy it. Think [to yourself], 'This is crazy, this is ridiculous, it's absurd, it has absolutely no place in the modern world. I'm just gonna love it.' "

Share your favorite red-carpet looks of the season so far in the comments!

Stay with MTV Style during awards-show season, and every day!

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• Don't Do That!

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• MTV Style | 2012 Golden Globes Red Carpet Photos

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677915/red-carpet-fashion-dos-donts.jhtml

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Demi Moore Lucks Out On 911 Tape

Demi Moore could get seriously lucky just before the release of the 911 call that was made before she was taken to the hospital earlier this week. First of all, I want to clear that I am not making light of her ended up in the hospital. I am also not making fun of her if she has a real substance abuse problem. With that said, what the heck is going on? Usually the dirty and even disturbing details are aired out when celebrities find themselves in these kind of situations. Instead, word has it that the tape of the 911 call will be edited so that it doesn?t include specific references to the drugs that were allegedly involved or even the friends that were involved. So what exactly will be on the tape now anyway? I think it might go something like this ?okay, so we have a woman here who has collapsed. Help, please.? How silly is that? In case you didn?t know, sources have claimed that she was doing nitrous oxide right before she had a near seizure. That is just plain embarrassing. Those aren?t even really illegal anyway, but there is some kind of loophole that [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/e5x4kcetlJ8/

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Nokia plans board of directors refresh, chairman to step down

Following on from today's mixed bag of Nokia financials, the Espoo-based company will see some changes on its directorial board, after its Annual General Meeting in a few months. As forecast last year, non-executive chairman Jorma Ollila joined Nokia in 1985 and has been on the board through Nokia's explosive growth into the world's biggest handset manufacturer -- and its more recent troubles. He will leave the board alongside more recent members Bengt Holmström and Per Karlsson, while existing board memeber Risto Siilasmaa is currently pegged to take the helm once the new board of directors is formed. New candidates earmarked for the board include Bruce Brown, of Procter and Gamble, Mårten Mickos, CEO of Eucalyptus Systems and independent corporate advisor Elizabeth Nelson. The whole Nokia nitty-gritty awaits at the source below.

Continue reading Nokia plans board of directors refresh, chairman to step down

Nokia plans board of directors refresh, chairman to step down originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony, Paramount and Weinstein Co. get Oscar boost (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Sony Pictures received 21 Oscar nominations on Tuesday, making it the most-nominated studio for 2012's Oscars, but the key winner may be Harvey Weinstein's company as it rolls out new movies to capitalize on Academy Award media hype.

Oscar nominations typically help boost the box office of movies still playing in theaters because awards publicity heightens awareness by moviegoers.

The studios supplement their marketing by leveraging the prestige that comes with a nod for the world's top film honors, and ultimately Oscars can help boost sales of DVDs and licensing fees for future television airings.

The privately-held Weinstein Co., run by Harvey and his brother Bob who once led Miramax Films with best picture winners like "The English Patient," had 16 nominations including 10 for "The Artist" -- the second most-nominated movie next to Paramount Pictures' "Hugo," which garnered 11 Oscar nods.

With roughly five weeks until the Academy Awards on February 26, Weinstein Co. will be promoting the nods for "The Artist" and its other movies including "The Iron Lady," which earned Meryl Streep a nomination for best actress playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The strategy of releasing movies to capitalize on Oscar nomination media coverage is nothing new, of course. Other companies such as Fox Searchlight with its award hopeful "The Descendants" follow the same marketing path.

Paramount with "Hugo" and Sony Pictures with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and a re-release of "Moneyball" similarly hope to lure audiences into theaters to see their films.

But Weinstein Co. is particularly good at the strategy. Last year, it received 12 nominations for "The King's Speech" and timed the release to nominations. The movie went on to win best picture and grossed $138 million at domestic box offices.

Similarly, "The Artist" and "The Iron Lady" screened in New York and Los Angeles late last year to qualify for Oscars before their wider release from January through March when Weinstein Co. hopes to ring up the box office register.

SONY WINS WITH NUMBERS

Sony Pictures Entertainment, a unit of Sony Corp and parent for Sony Pictures Classics, Sony Pictures Releasing and Columbia Pictures, picked up six nods for numbers-crunching baseball drama "Moneyball" and five for thriller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" among its 21 nominations.

"Dragon Tattoo" remains in theaters since its December launch and "Moneyball," which has grossed $75 million at domestic box offices since its initial released in September 2011, already has been re-issued and will look to boost sales of DVDs and hope to have a long life on TV.

"What was wonderful about this year is that we got to make a bunch of movies that are not usually the kind of movies that are a studios' bread and butter, and all of them paid off this year and that's really gratifying," said Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

While Sony Pictures led studios, Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc., scored the most nods of any single film with 11 for Scorsese's "Hugo."

The movie, which had a reported production budget estimated at $150 million, has amassed only $55 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices since its release in November 2011, and $27.3 million in overseas ticket sales.

But producer Graham King noted "Hugo" is still in theaters, has not played in many international markets, and the acclaim from Oscar nods should lead to its long life in libraries.

"The 11 nominations will help the international (box office). I'm hoping the nominations help people discover the film, and I hope it will have a long shelf life, and in 15 or 20 years people will still be talking about it," King told Reuters.

Paramount also said it will re-release this week "Rango," which earned a nomination for best animated film on Tuesday.

Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group received 13 nominations, led by Steven Spielberg's epic World War I tale, "War Horse" with six nods, while News Corp's Fox film divisions received 10 nominations, led by Fox Searchlight's family drama "The Descendants" with five nods. Both "War Horse" and "Descendants" are still playing in theaters.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/film_nm/us_oscars_studios

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Brain scans spot early signs of dyslexia (Reuters)

CHICAGO (Reuters) ? Instead of waiting for a child to experience reading delays, scientists now say they can identify the reading problem even before children start school, long before they become labeled as poor students and begin to lose confidence in themselves.

Although typically diagnosed during the second or third grade of school - around age 7 or 8 - a team from Children's Hospital Boston said they could see signs of the disease on brain scans in children as early as 4 and 5, a time when studies show children are best able to respond to interventions.

"We call it the dyslexia paradox," said Nadine Gaab of the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Children's, whose study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gaab said most children are not diagnosed until third grade, but interventions work best in younger children, hopefully before they begin to learn to read.

"Often, by the time they get a diagnosis, they usually have experienced three years of peers telling them they are stupid, parents telling them they are lazy. We know they have reduced self esteem. They are really struggling," Gaab said in a telephone interview.

Her study builds on an emerging understanding of dyslexia as a problem with recognizing and manipulating the individual sounds that form language, which is known as phonological processing.

In order to read, children must map the sounds of spoken language onto specific letters that make up words. Children with dyslexia struggle with this mapping process.

"The beauty is spoken language can present before written language so people can look for symptoms," said Dr. Sally Shaywitz, a director of the Center for Dyslexia and Creativity at Yale University.

Signs of early dyslexia might include difficulty with rhyming, mispronouncing words or confusing similar-sounding words.

"Those are all very early symptoms," Shaywitz said.

Dyslexia affects roughly 5 percent to 17 percent of all children and up to 1 in 2 children with a family history of the disorder will struggle with reading, have poor spelling and experience difficulty decoding words.

In her study, Gaab and colleagues scanned the brains of 36 preschool children while they did a number of tasks, such as trying to decide if two words start with the same sound.

They found that during these tasks, children who had a family history of dyslexia had less brain activity in certain regions of the brain than did children of similar ages, intelligence and socioeconomic status.

Older children and adults with dyslexia have dysfunction in these same areas of the brain, which include the junctions between the occipital and temporal lobes and the temporal and parietal lobes in the back of the brain.

Gaab said the study shows that when children predisposed to dyslexia did these tasks, their brains did not use the area typically used for processing this information. This problem occurred even before the children started learning to read.

"The important point of this paper is it shows the need to look for signs of dyslexia earlier," said April Benasich, director of the Carter Center for Neurocognitive Research at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, who was not part of the study.

Benasich studies language processing in even younger children - babies who have a family history of learning disorders.

"There is evidence to suggest that what is thought to be reading failure is there before the kids fail," she said.

Gaab said her study is too small to form the basis of any test for dyslexia but her team has just won a grant from the National Institutes of Health to do a larger study.

Ultimately, she hopes parents will be able to go to their pediatrician and ask for their child to be assessed.

"Families often know that their child has dyslexia as early as kindergarten, but they can't get interventions at their schools," she said in a statement.

"If we can show that we can identify these kids early, schools may be encouraged to develop programs," she said.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/hl_nm/us_usa_dyslexia

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Chinese New Year fireworks spark deadly Thai blaze (AP)

BANGKOK ? Fireworks set off during an official Chinese New Year celebration have sparked a blaze that burned homes, killed three people and injured others in central Thailand.

Suphanburi Governor Somsak Phureesrisak told TPBS TV by telephone the three were killed as at least 20 houses burned down late Tuesday.

Somjate Promsuntorn, head of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, said at least 20 people were injured. A local hospital, however, told Springnews.tv that it had treated 57 people.

The fireworks were part of an elaborate celebration led by former Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa. His political machine dominates prosperous rice-growing Suphanburi province.

He told TV Channel 9 the celebration would continue but without any more fireworks.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_chinese_new_year

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Giffords' decision to resign sets up Ariz. race

Laura Segall / Reuters

Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who suffered a head wound in the Tuscon shooting, smiles after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a memorial service marking the anniversary of the shooting, at the University of Arizona campus January 8, 2012.

By The Associated Press

Updated at 10:05a.m. ET:?

The race to replace Rep. Gabrielle Giffords begins in earnest Monday as the Arizona congresswoman's planned resignation sets up a free-for-all in a competitive district.

The three-term Democrat announced Sunday that she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from a gunshot wound to the head just over a year ago in an assassination attempt that shook the country.

Giffords could have stayed in office for another year even without seeking re-election, but her decision to resign scrambles the political landscape. Arizona must hold a special primary and general election to find someone to finish out her term, as well as hold the regular primary and general election later this year.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, gravely wounded in a shooting a year ago, will resign from Congress. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.

Giffords would have been heavily favored to win re-election, since she gained immense public support as she recovered from the shooting. She was elected to her third term just two months before she was shot, winning by only about 1 percent over a tea party Republican.

Several Republicans and Democrats have been mentioned as possible candidates for her seat, with some in the GOP already forming official exploratory committees. Republicans who have expressed interest include state Sen. Frank Antenori and sports broadcaster Dave Sitton, among others.

Democratic state lawmakers have been mentioned as possible candidates, as has the name of Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, although he has publically quashed such speculation.

"That's the great 'mentioner' out there, and there are going to be a lot of people mentioned," said Arizona Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny. "I think the best rule in situations like this is, 'The folks who are talking don't know, and the folks who know aren't talking.'"

Giffords' office said she will complete the meet-and-greet political event in Tucson on Monday that erupted in the shooting last year. Among those attending the private event will be some of the wounded, those who helped them and those who subdued the gunman. She will also visit a food bank set up after she was shot, and event billed as her final act as a congresswoman in her district.

"I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," she said on a video announcing her decision.

Interspersed with photos, the video showed a close-up of Giffords gazing directly at the camera and speaking in a voice that is both firm and halting.

"I have more work to do on my recovery," the congresswoman said at the end of the two-minute-long "A Message from Gabby," appearing to strain with all of her will to communicate. "So to do what's best for Arizona, I will step down this week."

Giffords was shot in the head in January 2011 as she was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. Six people died and Giffords and 12 others were injured. Her progress had seemed remarkable, to the point that she was able to walk into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.

Gov. Jan Brewer will call the special primary election for the 8th Congressional District likely in April, followed by a general election in June. Before the cycle begins for the regular election, the district will be remapped and renumbered as the 2nd Congressional District.

The regular primary for the new district, which will cover most of the current district's territory, was scheduled for August.

The Republican governor acknowledged that the twin election cycles were going to create a mess, especially for potential candidates.

"I think that it's putting a lot of pressure on a lot of people awfully quick, given the fact that they're going to be filling that continuing seat that expires this year, and then we have elections coming (along) new congressional lines," Brewer said. "So there's going to be a lot of confusion in that congressional district."

Those who decide to throw their hat into the ring will face yet another quirk in the race: the deadline to turn in nominating signatures for the general election comes before the special general election.

"I'm sure both parties and candidates of all stripes will in the days to come be thinking wide and hard about this district, and I'm sure there's going to be a very vigorous contest," Arizona Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny said Sunday. "But today's about thinking about a member of Congress who's going to be irreplaceable no matter who wins that seat."

Giffords planned to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. And her political career may not be over, said a state Democratic party official who was among a group that met with her Sunday.

Jim Woodbrey, a senior vice chairman of the state party, said at the meeting, Giffords strongly implied she would run again for office someday. He said the decision to resign came after much thought.

"It was Gabby's individual decision, and she was not in any condition to make that decision five months ago," he said. "So I think waiting so that she could make an informed decision on her own was the right thing to do."?
?

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10215648-giffords-decision-to-resign-sets-up-ariz-race

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On the Set Farewell to Chuck, Part 1: Jet Planes and a Jeffster! Swan Song (omg!)

Chuck's two-hour series finale wraps up the fan-favorite spy show with plenty of action, snazzy outfits, heartwarming moments and a song.

"The finale is very much haunted by seasons past. This is an episode that's not only a finale for Season 5, but also five seasons of television," series co-creator Chris Fedak told reporters on the final set visit in December. "So we're going to be bringing back a lot of things that it wouldn't be an episode unless we saw Yvonne [Strahovski] in the cat suit, also wearing an evening gown dancing the tango."

From Chuck to Nikita: TV's sexiest crime fighters

Fedak promised the finale (Friday, 8/7c, NBC) will be "epic" and feel and look like a movie. "We're a little over budget," he confessed. "It's a long episode, it's a big episode and we go to a lot of different places. We blew up most of the Universal backlot a few days ago with helicopters and stuff like that.

"The opening scene of the finale we have one of the deepest into the matrix callbacks of the show," Fedak added. "Mark Pellegrino [is] in the opening scene, reprising very quickly a bad guy role from one of our previous seasons. In consideration that he's a Fulcrum agent, we touch upon 'What's going on with Fulcrum and The Ring these days?' So the episode begins on a private jet, and ... we actually did a special skydiving unit based on what happens on board the jet."

December's set visit took place at an auditorium on a Southern California university campus, which doubles as a concert hall. In another nod to cinema, part of the episode will take place at a pivotal concert ? a Jeffster! concert. "This is our Act 4 set piece," said Fedak. "This is very much an ode to The Man Who Knew Too Much, which is a sequence that takes place in the Albert Hall and when someone's going to be killed when the cymbals crash. This is the Chuck version of that."

Director Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film also features another musical moment when star Doris Day loudly sings the Oscar-winning song "Que Sera Sera." Although that song won't be featured on Chuck, Fedak said, "There's a different ear-splitting experience that's going to happen here."

Chuck creators share some of their favorite episodes

Jeffster! band members Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay ) will instead tackle a familiar 1980s pop song that reporters were cautioned not to reveal. "I never know what they're going to come up with, but then it always seems to make sense," Krinsky commented. "I think they always sort of have a way of finding some great, iconic pop song. I think this one works."

As the band's frontman responsible for the vocals, Sahay had a more passionate response to the challenging song choice. "I really feel like the criteria must be 'What's the most difficult song for Vik to sing? That's how we'll choose our music!'" he said. "I mean, it's an insane song. It's so difficult! But I think it's kind of a beautiful, bizarre, apt choice, and in all honesty, I've gotten to a place where I relish the challenge. I'm like, 'Okay, bring me the mountains; let me try to climb these things.' The scariest part was when I'd go to work on it. The musicians are like, 'Oh God,' like they are terrified of the song, so that's not fun. But it worked out OK."

Since last week's episode, Jeff and Lester have finally been let in on Chuck's double life as a spy and were even enlisted to help save Alex (Mekenna Melvin). It's possible that they're helping out once again through their concert, but where's the rest of the real spy team when all of this is going down? And how is Sarah (Strahovski) going to overcome her memory loss and new order to kill her husband?

Check out Part 2 of our farewell to Chuck on Tuesday to see what's in store for Sarah and Chuck (Zachary Levi).

Chuck's two-hour finale airs Friday at 8/7c on NBC.

?

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Hat trick

/

updated 2:17 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2012

LONDON - Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.

Dempsey put Fulham ahead 2-1 in the 59th minute with his 50th goal for the Cottagers, bundling in from 3 yards after Bobby Zamora's shot rebounded off goalkeeper Tim Krul.

He got his second in the 65th, slotting in a right-footed from 10 yards from Zamora's pass on a counterattack. Dempsey completed the scoring from Zamora's looping through pass in the 89th, splitting two defenders, heading the ball down to himself and taking two touches before a right-footed shot from 12 yards.

"We never found our rhythm in the first half but we began to get into their penalty area in the second half," Dempsey said. "Luckily the ball kept going in. We never took our foot off the gas and we took our chances."

Dempsey, a 28-year-old from Nacogdoches, Texas, has a career-best 15 goals this season, including nine in the Premier League. He had scored his first hat trick in England on Jan. 7 against Charlton in the third round of the FA Cup.

Fulham acquired him from Major League Soccer's New England Revolution in January 2007. On Friday, he was voted the U.S. Soccer Federation's male athlete for 2011, the second time he won the honor.

"Clint Dempsey is our top scorer," Fulham manager Martin Jol said. "He is doing what he does best. Clint scores goals."

Danny Murphy and Zamora converted penalty kicks for Fulham. Danny Guthrie put Newcastle ahead in the first half, and Hatem Ben Arfa cut the deficit to 4-2 in the 85th.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Man City, Man United win

??Manchester City scored a dramatic 3-2 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, leaving Manchester United its only likely rival for the Premier League title.

Mike Hewitt / Getty Images

Hat trick

Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46083051/ns/sports-soccer/

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Evolution of play: unsupervised bat and ball to today's screens

Kids used to use the bat and ball unsupervised and free; today play is all about screens or organized sport, hovered over by parents.

1950s:

Skip to next paragraph

? Outdoor play without adult supervision was common in both urban and rural US settings.

? Different ages played together.

? Bicycles and balls were the main outdoor toys, and board games were the most common inside.

? Much of play revolved around traditional games such as baseball, modified to fit space and materials.

1980s:

? Use of toys increased, and many were 'branded' ? connected to TV characters ? Barbies, Power Rangers, My Little Ponies, etc.

? Outdoor play was likely to be adult-supervised or part of an 'organized activity.'

? TV viewing was increasingly a part of free time.

? Athletics become more formal and age-based ? such as soccer camp for 7-year-olds rather than neighborhood pickup soccer in a vacant lot.

2010s:

? Toys are the center of play; most are connected to media characters and are somehow electronic.

? Most free time is screen time spent in front of the TV, computer, etc.

? Unsupervised outdoor time is almost nonexistent. Physical activity of any kind has decreased.

? Multi-age, cross-gender play is disappearing, even among siblings.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/RhTTDRIZbrw/Evolution-of-play-unsupervised-bat-and-ball-to-today-s-screens

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The Engadget Show is live tonight with Red Cameras, MakerBot and the coolest gadgets of CES!

Are you ready for this? We sure are. We're back from CES, just slightly worse for wear, and we've got a lot to discuss. We're going to kick off the first Engadget Show of 2012 with a parade of some of last week's hottest gadgets. We'll also be taking a look at Apple's new education initiative, giving you a behind the scenes tour of Engadget's CES trailer and taking you straight to the show floor. MakerBot's Bre Pettis will be popping in to discuss the company's new Replicator 3D printer and we'll be getting some serious hands-on time with the latest camera from Red. Also, musical guest, Brooklyn's Ducky and surprises galore! Keep your browser locked here and we'll see you at 6PM ET sharp.


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The Engadget Show is live tonight with Red Cameras, MakerBot and the coolest gadgets of CES! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Myanmar stops snake smuggling attempt

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? Forestry officials in central Myanmar have seized nearly 10,000 snakes in 400 crates that were to be smuggled to China.

The weekly journal Modern reported Friday that 50 cobras were among the 9,176 snakes seized in Pyin Oo Lwin district near Mandalay on Jan. 12.

Wildlife smuggling is endemic in Asia, where exotic species are used for food and traditional medicine.

The report did not say how many people were arrested but said those involved would be charged under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas law, which carries a five-year prison sentence.

It said the 7,000 non-poisonous snakes were released into a wildlife reserve, while the vipers and cobras were sent to the state pharmaceutical company for their venom.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2012-01-20-AS-Myanmar-Snake-Smuggling/id-9a797b833522431c85eb76434e84ea89

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Video: Passerby catches amazing dog trick

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Blowing bubbles to make ships more fuel-efficient

YouTune / Damen Shipyard Group

This is a screen shot from an video on how Dutch company Damen Shipyards Group has incorporated the concept of air lubrication to its ships.

By John Roach

Blowing a lot of bubbles under cargo ships turns out to be a good way to cut down on fuel costs, according to ongoing research on so-called air lubrication technology.

"The basic idea is that if you could somehow have air close to the hull, it would help the hull slip through the water better by reducing the skin friction," Steven Ceccio, a professor of naval architecture and mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, explained to me Wednesday.

That works, he added, because air is about 1,000 times less dense than water, which has a corresponding reduction in friction around the hull.

"So the potential is really good," he said.

The caveat is that the air has to be pumped beneath the hull and kept there. The pumping takes energy and keeping it beneath the hull is a combination of physics and architecture.

In research over the past decade largely funded by the U.S. Navy, Ceccio has found if just a little air is pumped down, the bubbles just flow away and do little good.

"But if you get to a critical amount, if you put enough in, the bubbles coalesce together and they form a film and then it works really well," he said.

"It was one of those circumstances where half measures would not do the trick. You have to persevere, put a bunch of air in, and then things get better."

At least, things get better if the ship has a flat-bottomed hull, like most cargo ships. On V-shaped hulls, like those found on most Navy destroyers, "the bubbles may not form these layers and therefore your ability to lubricate with air is reduced," Ceccio noted.

Most recently, he applied air lubrication modeling to the typical type of flat-bottomed cargo ships that ply the Great Lakes region and found the technology could increase fuel efficiency by 5 to 20 percent.

Since fuel costs are often more than half of a cargo ship's total operating expenses, these types of savings could be huge, notes an Economist story on the technology.?

What Ceccio's study for the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute?failed to consider is what it costs to install a bubble maker on existing ships and payback time.

"Of course," he noted, "that's what business people care about."

Businesses, especially in Europe and Asia, are making a go at the technology.

Dutch firm Damen Shipyards Group, for example, has patented an air lubrication ship design that results in about 15 percent fuel savings on an annual basis. (See this video to learn more.)?

In general, more savings are found with slower-moving ships, the company notes.

As for Ceccio, he and his colleagues have yet to be approached by any shipping companies, though he hopes "we could find some folks in the U.S. who might say that's something we would like to do."

More on shipping technology:

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John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Next-gen nuclear plants could provide carbon-free energy, but the painfully slow process of approving better, safer reactors ? not to mention real anxiety over meltdowns and waste ? threaten to derail projects before they can be built.

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Source: http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/18/10185000-blowing-bubbles-to-make-ships-more-fuel-efficient

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