Kentucky coach Calipari pace car drive must wait - NASCAR News | FOX Sports on MSN

Updated?Jun 29, 2013 10:11 PM ET

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SPARTA, Ky. (AP)

Rain kept Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari from driving the (fast) lane before Saturday night's NASCAR race.

Initially slated to ride shotgun as the honorary pace car driver for the 400-mile Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway, Calipari was asked to drive the Ford Fusion leading the 43-car field to the green flag.

Unfortunately for Calipari, showers forced NASCAR to postpone the race just after 9 p.m. and reschedule it for noon Sunday. The coach had expressed confidence that the race would be run, but he now must make another trip here and figure out how to make it up to his wife on their vacation.

''The good Lord knows how mad my wife is right now,'' Calipari said before knowing he might have to take another vacation day.

Facing the music from his spouse could be even scarier than Calipari's pace car tutorial from 2004 champion Kurt Busch.

His crash-course instruction included 90-mph splits in the rain around the 1.5-mile oval by Busch, which had the coach ''white-knuckled'' and holding on tightly on the passenger side as the car came within inches of the outside retaining wall. Fortunately for Calipari, he only has to drive a more comfortable 45 mph ahead of the field.

''When I went 45 (mph), I wasn't nervous,'' Calipari said, ''but when he (Busch) was going 90 and 100 (mph) in that rain, all these grooves are great, I'm thinking, `Oh, my gosh.'

''I had one arm on the mirror grabbing it, and the other hand was on the window. He was flying, for me. These guys are used to it, but it was fast. And it was raining.''

Calipari got one perk, a specially-made racing jacket embroidered with the terms ''eight-time'' - referring to Kentucky's eight national championships - and his trademark ''Refuse to Lose'' slogan. Drivers also signed the jacket, which will be auctioned for charity.

''I did it like a driver would have,'' he said.

Calipari seemed happier at the prospect of being an active participant in NASCAR, a sport Calipari said he has followed since his days at the University of Massachusetts. The process involved going on the thrill ride of his life.

Source: http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/Kentucky-coach-Calipari-to-drive-pace-car-93524342

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Divorce early in childhood affects parental relationships in adulthood

June 29, 2013 ? Divorce has a bigger impact on child-parent relationships if it occurs in the first few years of the child's life, according to new research. Those who experience parental divorce early in their childhood tend to have more insecure relationships with their parents as adults than those who experience divorce later, researchers say.

"By studying variation in parental divorce, we are hoping to learn more about how early experiences predict the quality of people's close relationships later in life," says R. Chris Fraley of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Psychologists are especially interested in childhood experiences, as their impact can extend into adulthood, but studying such early experiences is challenging, as people's memories of particular events vary widely. Parental divorce is a good event to study, he says, as people can accurately report if and when their parents divorced, even if they do not have perfect recollection of the details.

In two studies published today in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Fraley and graduate student Marie Heffernan examined the timing and effects of divorce on both parental and romantic relationships, as well as differences in how divorce affects relationships with mothers versus fathers. In the first study, they analyzed data from 7,735 people who participated in a survey about personality and close relationships through yourpersonality.net. More than one-third of the survey participants' parents divorced and the average age of divorce was about 9 years old.

The researchers found that individuals from divorced families were less likely to view their current relationships with their parents as secure. And people who experienced parental divorce between birth and 3 to 5 years of age were more insecure in their current relationships with their parents compared to those whose parents divorced later in childhood.

"A person who has a secure relationship with a parent is more likely than someone who is insecure to feel that they can trust the parent," Fraley says. "Such a person is more comfortable depending on the parent and is confident that the parent will be psychologically available when needed."

Although there was a tendency for people to experience more anxiety about romantic relationships if they were from divorced families, the link between parental divorce and insecurity in romantic relationships was relatively weak. This finding was important, the researchers say, as it shows that divorce does not have a blanket effect on all close relationships in adulthood but rather is selective -- affecting some relationships more than others. They also found that parental divorce tends to predict greater insecurity in people's relationships with their fathers than with their mothers.

To help explain why divorce influences maternal relationships more than paternal ones, and to replicate the first study's findings, Fraley and Heffernan repeated their analysis with a new set of 7,500 survey participants. Unlike in the first study, however, they asked the participants to indicate which of their parents had been awarded primary custody following their divorce. The researchers speculated that paternal relationships were more insecure following divorce because mothers are more likely than fathers to be awarded custody.

The majority of participants -- 74 percent -- indicated that they had lived with their mothers following divorce or separation, while 11 percent indicated living with their fathers; the remainder lived with grandparents or other caretakers. The researchers found that people were more likely to have an insecure relationship with their father if they lived with their mother and, conversely, were less likely to have an insecure relationship with their father if they lived with him. The results were similar with respect to mothers.

While it is premature to speculate on the implications of this work for decision-making regarding child custody, the work is valuable as it suggests that "something as basic as the amount of time that one spends with a parent or one's living arrangements" can shape the quality of child-parent relationships, write Fraley and Heffernan.

"People's relationships with their parents and romantic partners play important roles in their lives," Fraley says. "This research brings us one step closer to understanding why it is that some people have relatively secure relationships with close others whereas others have more difficulty opening up to and depending on important people in their lives."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/yQxmCO4tAxw/130629164737.htm

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Cancer risks double when two carcinogens present at 'safe' levels, epigenetics study finds

June 28, 2013 ? Science knows that arsenic and estrogen can cause cancer. At certain very low levels, the chemicals offer little to no threats to human health.

However, new research conducted by Texas Tech University scientists has found that low doses of both chemicals together -- even at levels low enough to be considered "safe" for humans if they were on their own -- can cause cancer in prostate cells.

The combination of the two chemicals was almost twice as likely to create cancer in prostate cells, the research found. The study published online in the peer-reviewed journal The Prostate.

Kamaleshwar Singh, an assistant professor at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech said the findings could have an impact on health regulations regarding the "safe" doses of these chemicals and others. Most regulations are set by testing one chemical at a time on cells. Very few if any have looked at multiple chemicals at the same time.

"The majority of cancers are caused by environmental influences," Singh said. "Only about 5 to 10 percent of cancers are due to genetic predisposition. Science has looked at these chemicals, such as arsenic, and tested them in a lab to find the amounts that may cause cancer. But that's just a single chemical in a single test. In the real world, we are getting exposed to many chemicals at once."

Singh said he became interested in studying two chemicals at once after looking at arsenic's carcinogenic properties in a previous paper.

Because cigarette smoke and well water in some areas, including India, Mexico and even Lubbock county, can contain arsenic, Singh and his doctoral student, Justin Treas, wondered how the carcinogenic properties might change when paired with the presence of another carcinogenic chemical.

The two focused on estrogen because of the chemical's abundance. Many plastics, such as food can liners and bisphenol A (BPA), release small amounts of chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body.

"Co-exposure was creating a greater impact," Singh said. "That was one of the important findings of our study. The next thing we wanted to know is how these two chemicals are creating a greater effect."

Unlike stronger chemicals that do major damage to the DNA in a cell, such as benzene, arsenic and estrogen aren't major mutagens Singh said. Instead, their presence tends to stop certain genes from expressing. The process is called DNA hypermethylation.

In the experiment, human prostate cells were treated about once a week for six months with arsenic, estrogen and a combination of the two. Many of the tests involved levels of arsenic, estrogen or both at levels considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Treas said the two chemicals stopped the MLH1 gene, which is responsible for sending the signal to start the self-destruct sequence when a cell is damaged. Because the self-destruct couldn't activate, the cells became cancerous after exposure.

"With the lower dose not killing the cell, it's causing damages that go under the cell's radar," Treas said. "We found when you have two compounds together, lower doses could be more serious problem."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/4KxfKkjkKvo/130628130713.htm

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Lightning knocks out Greenwood tornado sirens

Residents in Johnson County may be without severe weather sirens into next week.

The White River Township Fire Department says the alerting sirens were struck by lightning and knocked out of service. The department says the sirens should be repaired by July 4.

Households that are served by the Greenwood Fire Department or the White River Township Fire Department are affected by the outage.

The department urges residents to keep a close eye on television in the event of severe weather.

WTHR.com weather tools

Sign up for Personal Forecast - This allows you to receive text or email alerts whenever there is a watch or warning in the counties you have specified.

Interactive radar ?- Zoom in and get a closer look at the shape and path of the storm.

Live 13 Doppler Radar ?- WTHR's main radar page.

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/52347643/ns/local_news-indianapolis_in/

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Immigration overhaul: Senate passes historic bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? With a solemnity reserved for momentous occasions, the Senate passed historic legislation Thursday offering the priceless hope of citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in America's shadows. The bill also promises a military-style effort to secure the long-porous border with Mexico.

The bipartisan vote was 68-32 on a measure that sits atop President Barack Obama's second-term domestic agenda. Even so, the bill's prospects are highly uncertain in the Republican-controlled House, where conservatives generally oppose citizenship for immigrants living in the country unlawfully.

Spectators in galleries that overlook the Senate floor watched expectantly as senators voted one by one from their desks. Some onlookers erupted in chants of "Yes, we can" after Vice President Joe Biden announced the bill's passage.

After three weeks of debate, there was no doubt about the outcome. Fourteen Republicans joined all 52 Democrats and two independents to support the bill.

In a written statement, Obama coupled praise for the Senate's action with a plea for resolve by supporters as the House works on the issue. "Now is the time when opponents will try their hardest to pull this bipartisan effort apart so they can stop commonsense reform from becoming a reality. We cannot let that happen," said the president, who was traveling in Africa.

After the bill passed, he called Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a leading author of the bill, to offer congratulations.

In the final hours of debate, members of the so-called Gang of 8, the group that drafted the measure, frequently spoke in personal terms while extolling the bill's virtues, rebutting its critics ? and appealing to the House members who turn comes next.

"Do the right thing for America and for your party," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who said his mother emigrated to the United States from Cuba. "Find common ground. Lean away from the extremes. Opt for reason and govern with us."

Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said those seeking legal status after living in the United States illegally must "pass a background check, make good on any tax liability and pay a fee and a fine." There are other requirements before citizenship can be obtained, he noted.

He, too, spoke from personal experience, recalling time he spent as a youth working alongside family members and "undocumented migrant labor, largely from Mexico, who worked harder than we did under conditions much more difficult than we endured."

Since then, he said, "I have harbored a feeling of admiration and respect for those who have come to risk life and limb and sacrifice so much to provide a better life for themselves and their families."

The bill's opponents were unrelenting, if outnumbered.

"We will admit dramatically more people than we ever have in our country's history at a time when unemployment is high and the Congressional Budget Office has told us that average wages will go down for 12 years, that gross national product per capita will decline for 25-plus years, that unemployment will go up," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

"The amnesty will occur, but the enforcement is not going to occur, and the policies for future immigration are not serving the national interest."

In the Senate, at least, the developments marked an end to years of gridlock on immigration. The shift began taking shape quickly after the 2012 presidential election, when numerous Republican leaders concluded the party must show a more welcoming face to Hispanic voters who had given Obama more than 70 percent of their support.

Even so, division among Republicans was evident as potential 2016 presidential contenders split. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was one of the Gang of 8, while Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas were opposed to the bill.

The legislation's chief provisions includes numerous steps to prevent future illegal immigration ? some added in a late compromise that swelled Republican support for the bill ? and to check on the legal status of job applicants already living in the United States. At the same time, it offers a 13-year path to citizenship to as many as 11 million immigrants now living in the country unlawfully.

Under the deal brokered last week by Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee and the Gang of 8, the measure requires 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, the completion of 700 miles of fencing and deployment of an array of high-tech devices along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Those living in the country illegally could gain legal status while the border security plan was being implemented, but would not be granted permanent resident green cards or citizenship.

A plan requiring businesses to check on the legal status of prospective employees would be phased in over four years.

Other provisions would expand the number of visas available for highly skilled workers relied upon by the technology industry. A separate program would be established for lower-skilled workers, and farm workers would be admitted under a temporary program. In addition, the system of legal immigration that has been in effect for decades would be changed, making family ties less of a factor and elevating the importance of education, job skills and relative youth.

With the details of the Senate bill well-known, House Speaker John Boehner said at a news conference the separate legislation the House considers will have majority support among Republicans. He also said he hopes the bill will be bipartisan, and he encouraged a group of four Democrats and three Republicans trying to forge a compromise to continue their efforts.

He offered no details on how a House bill could be both bipartisan and supported by more than half of his own rank and file, given that most of the bills that have moved through the House Judiciary Committee recently did so on party line votes over the protests of Democrats. None envisions legal status for immigrants now in the country illegally.

Boehner declined to say if there were circumstances under which he could support a pathway to citizenship, but he made clear that securing the border was a priority.

"People have to have confidence that the border is secure before anything else is really going to work. Otherwise, we repeat the mistakes of 1986," he said, referring to the last time Congress overhauled the immigration system.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, also said he favors a bipartisan approach. At the same time, she noted that Democratic principles for immigration include "secure our borders, protect our workers, unite families, a path to legalization and now citizenship for those" without legal status.

While the outcome of the Senate vote was not in doubt, supporters scrambled to maximize the vote and fell short of 70, a level they had talked of reaching. Schumer spoke with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday night as he lobbied ? successfully ? for the vote of the state's Republican Sen. Jeff Chiesa, whom the governor appointed to his seat.

___

Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-overhaul-senate-passes-historic-bill-204725955.html

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Engagement Off! Kat Von D Claims DJ Deadmau5 Cheated!

Engagement Off! Kat Von D Claims DJ Deadmau5 Cheated!

Here we go again… Tattoo artist Kat Von D had her heart broken by her former fiance, Jesse James, who cheated on her. Now she claims Deadmau5 cheated too! Maybe Kat Von D needs to find herself a “normal” guy or she is just terribly unlucky in love. Kat Von D, whose real name is ...

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/06/engagement-off-kat-von-d-claims-dj-deadmau5-cheated/

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Taking on TREB's take on the Toronto land transfer tax | Metro

After I published a post last week imploring Toronto real estate agents to get over their obsession with the city?s five-year-old land transfer tax, I heard from a bunch of people who agreed. Some of them even work in real estate. They get that cutting $340 million out of the city budget necessarily means negative consequences, whether they come in the form of much higher property taxes over the long-term or service cuts to the kinds of municipal programs that actually help make Toronto a desirable place to buy a home.

But then there was the Toronto Real Estate Board. They didn?t like my arguments so much.

TREB emailed asking for a chance to respond. And I?m happy to give it to them.

Here?s what TREB?s Chief Government and Public Affairs Officer Von Palmer had to say in a letter to?Metro?s?editors:

In his Blog posting of June 18, 2013, Matt Elliott advised REALTORS? to stop?fighting the Toronto Land Transfer Tax. The Toronto Real Estate Board?disagrees that targeting home buyers, with tens of thousands of dollars in?double taxation, is good for our City. ?In fact, it?s hurting our City.

• Toronto is the only place in Ontario where you pay a municipal LTT?on top of the provincial LTT, upfront.
• Studies have found that the Land Transfer Tax is directly?responsible for dampening Toronto home sales by 16% per year.
• This tax unfairly forces only five percent of Torontonians each year?(those purchasing a home), to subsidize the other 95 percent.

We will keep fighting on behalf of home buyers, because that is the right?thing to do.

Palmer?s points are well taken, but I?m still holding to the position that, taken together, they don?t add up to a great argument for why the city should force itself to either find more than $300 million in service cuts or significantly increase the property tax burden on residents.

TREB gets a lot of mileage out of their claim that the land transfer tax is ?double taxation,? which is one of those things that sounds terrible even though it hardly makes a lot of sense. If Toronto levying its own land transfer tax on top of the provincial land transfer tax qualifies as double taxation, then so too should the years-old practice of the provincial government levying its own sales tax atop the federal GST.

And, hey, both the provincial and federal governments tax my income too ? sound the double tax alarm.

As for the idea that ?Toronto is the only place in Ontario where you pay a municipal LTT on top of the provincial LTT, upfront,? I?m not really sure what else there is to add. Does anyone dispute that? Is there a reason that kind of thing is inherently bad?

I think most home buyers understand that their municipal tax burden will vary based on the municipality they choose to buy into. Sure, in Toronto, a $500,000 house will come with an upfront bill for about $5,725 to pay off the municipal land transfer tax. But it?ll only cost me $4,152 in annual property taxes, according to this calculator. ?And yeah, if I buy the same house in Missisauga, I skip the land transfer tax, but my property tax bill comes out about $800 higher each year ? at $4,910. If I live in the Toronto house for about seven years, I actually come out ahead in terms of taxes paid to the municipality ? even with the upfront land transfer tax.

None of this would seem to be about what?s ?the right thing to do.? It?s just different approaches to municipal finance.

But what about the idea that Toronto?s land transfer tax has actually hurt the real estate market? TREB?s statistic that the land transfer tax ?is directly responsible for dampening Toronto home sales by 16% per year? sure sounds bad. But it turns out they get that figure from a C.D. Howe study ? a study with a methodology that raises a lot of questions.

C.D. Howe doesn?t, for example, look at condominium sales in their study. They just decide to put that whole segment off the market off to the side. And condos, you might have heard, kind of make up a giant part of Toronto?s real estate market.

And that 16% figure isn?t just a straight-up decline in the number of home sales after the land transfer tax was implemented. Instead, the Institute glosses over data showing that sales and the average price of real estate actually increased after the implementation of the tax and instead focuses on a narrow comparison of ?forward sortation areas.? By doing so, they limit themselves to comparing sales in border areas, so sales in areas of Etobcioke were compared to sales in areas of Mississauga, for example, while areas of Scarborough saw comparisons to parts of Durham Region.

If that seems like a convoluted way to conduct this kind of analysis, then I?m with you.

Much simpler is this the notion of fairness. ?This tax unfairly forces only five percent of Torontonians each year (those purchasing a home), to subsidize the other 95 percent,? says TREB. But this line of thinking runs dangerously close to an argument against progressive taxation.

Yes, people who are in a position to afford pricy real estate in Toronto are contributing more revenue to fund the services this city needs. On years they buy houses or condos, they?re definitely paying more than your average minimum wage renter or that pair of seniors that have lived in their home for fifty years.?But I don?t necessarily see anything wrong with that.?It might actually be fairer.

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Source: http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/721281/taking-on-trebs-take-on-the-toronto-land-transfer-tax/

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New emir: Qatar will pursue its 'independent behavior'

By Regan Doherty

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar's new emir said on Wednesday the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state would not "take direction" from anyone, in an accession speech suggesting the young leader would pursue the assertive, independent-minded foreign policy pioneered by his father.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's first address as head of state coincided with a cabinet reshuffle that saw Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, a force behind Qatar's support for Arab Spring revolts, replaced as premier and foreign minister.

Sheikh Hamad is expected to retain his powerful post as vice chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority, (QIA), a globally active sovereign wealth fund that is worth between $100 billion and $200 billion.

Sheikh Tamim, 33, handed power by his father on Tuesday in a rare example of an hereditary Arab ruler stepping down, added in his speech that sectarianism threatened to weaken Arab unity at a time when Syria's war has sharply raised communal tensions.

From the same desk where his father announced his abdication after 18 years in power, Sheikh Tamim struck a businesslike tone in a 15-minute speech that was broad in nature and focused on domestic issues. He vowed to follow his father's "path".

"We don't take direction (from anyone) and this independent behavior is one of the established facts," Sheikh Tamim, said in the speech broadcast on Qatari state television.

"As Arabs we reject splitting countries on a sectarian basis ... and because this split allows for foreign powers to interfere in the internal affairs of Arabs and influence them."

The emir added that his country, long seen as an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, should not be identified with any particular political trend and respected all religious sects.

"We are a coherent state, not a political party, and therefore we seek to keep relationships with all governments and states," he said.

"We respect all the influential and active political trends in the region, but we are not affiliated with one trend against the other. We are Muslims and Arabs who respect diversity of sects and respect all religions in our countries and outside of them."

NO BIG CHANGE IN POLICY

Analysts said the speech aimed to show there would be no sudden change in Qatari policy.

"The new Emir needed to strike a balance between his domestic audience and the strong regional and international interest in his accession," said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

"He didn't give too much away but generally sought to reassure people that while there may be a change in leadership style there will be continuity in the underlying substance of Qatari policy-making," he said.

The new emir steered clear of any mention of Syria, a conflict in which Qatar has taken the lead in arming Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, to the consternation of some allies who fear weapons may be falling into the hands of more extremist Islamist fighters.

He instead focused on the safer topic of the Palestinian issue, saying Qatar was committed to their struggle with Israel.

David Roberts, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute based in Doha, said the speech had a "down to business tone, indicating that the country has work to and he is eager to get on with it".

"It strongly suggested that Qatar will continue on its path with regard to foreign policy; there was no attempt to backtrack or rein that in. There was certainly no equivocation," he said.

"HBJ" OUT

Qatar has been ruled by the al-Thani family for more than 130 years, but the handing over of power to Sheikh Tamim, marked a rare move in a region where monarchs usually rule for life.

A cabinet list released on the state news agency confirmed the new prime minister as Abdullah bin Naser al-Thani and the new foreign minister Khalid al-Atiyah, posts previously occupied by veteran politician Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim.

The reshuffle included Ali Sherif al-Emadi as finance minister, who held the post of group chief executive officer of Qatar National Bank.

The energy minister of the OPEC state and world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, remained unchanged.

The replacement of Hamad bin Jassim, or HBJ as he is known, marked the end of a two-decade tenure in government in which he drove the Gulf country's rise to global prominence.

In his time as foreign minister, Qatar began hosting the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East but also cozied up to America's foes Iran, Syria and Hamas in pursuit of leverage. The Afghan Taliban opened an office in Doha last week.

Named prime minister in 2007, Sheikh Hamad played a personal role in facilitating Qatar's numerous efforts to resolve violent tensions, brokering talks in conflicts ranging from Lebanon to Yemen and from Darfur to the Palestinian territories.

(This story is refiled to fix typo in paragraph four)

(Additional reporting by Sami Aboudi, Amena Bakr and Mahmoud Habboush; Writing by Yara Bayoumy, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-change-premier-foreign-minister-under-emir-125607917.html

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Kerry: Urgent progress is needed on Mideast peace

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry is beginning a new round of Middle East peace diplomacy, arriving Wednesday in Jordan, his base for talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kerry is to travel from Amman to Jerusalem on Thursday for dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has a lunch scheduled on Friday in Amman with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

At a news conference earlier in the day in Kuwait, Kerry expressed hope that two sides could make progress but denied press reports that any three-way meetings with both Netanyahu and Abbas were expected.

Kerry said he's set no specific deadline for making concrete progress in talks between Israel and the Palestinians that he's continuing this week, but that long before September there needs to be some kind of progress shown.

U.N. General Assembly, which reconvenes in September, voted overwhelmingly in November to upgrade the Palestinians from U.N. observer to non-voting member state. The Palestinians have said that if attempts at reaching an accord between the two sides fail, that they'd pursue a strategy of international recognition on their own, which would make finding peace in the decades-long conflict more elusive.

Kerry spoke during a news conference with Kuwait's emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah. It is Kerry's fifth visit to the region since becoming secretary of state earlier this year.

"The time is getting near where we need to make some judgments. Last time, I was here, I said it's time for leaders to make some hard decisions," Kerry said. "That stands. It is time. Why is it urgent? It's urgent because time is the enemy of a peace process."

"I don't want to trap myself or any of the principals in this with arbitrary ? or somewhat ad hoc time limits," Kerry said.

But he added: "Long before September we need to be showing some kind of progress in some way. ...That's why I'm here for this visit and I hope it can be productive."

Kerry has been shuttling between the Israelis and the Palestinians in search of a formula to restart talks. So far, there have been no signs of a breakthrough.

Abbas is being propelled toward a stark choice that could come as soon as next week, define his legacy and set the course for his people in their conflict with Israel. Abbas' aides fear he's being pushed by the U.S. into dropping his conditions for negotiating with Netanyahu

Israeli settlements lies at the heart of the heart of the nearly five-year impasse in Mideast peace efforts. The Palestinians say they will not negotiate while Israel continues to construct settlements in territory they seek for a future state. Netanyahu says the fate of the settlements should be resolved in negotiations, and talks should resume immediately without any preconditions. The Palestinians claim the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as parts of a future state.

"We come at this carefully. We have been working towards, hopefully an understanding that allows everybody to move forward, notwithstanding the difficulties that people face in the politics of their own countries," he said. "Why am I confident that something can be down? Because I believe peace is understood by them ? both of them ? to be urgent."

On Syria, Kerry acknowledged that getting a transitional government set up in Syria would be a "hard lift."

But he painted a dire picture of the alternative to convening an international conference to reach a political resolution to the two-year civil war.

"The people of Syria are suffering ... the prospect a long, continued war, which is very possible, means not only will many, many people die, many more homes will be destroyed, cities be destroyed. Not only will you have more atrocities, more violations of human rights, even some small evidence here and there of some ethnic cleansing.

"Not only will you have all that, but you may ultimately have complete destruction of the state of Syria so that the army and the institutions will fall apart and you will have a complete sectarian breakdown and that becomes far more dangerous for all of the region because it will empower extremists as well as create ongoing sectarian strife" in the region.

He reiterated his called for Iran and the Hezbollah fighters, which are bolstering Assad's forces, to leave Syria ? a move he said would make it easier for a political resolution to be reached.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-urgent-progress-needed-mideast-peace-130625075.html

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Devo drummer Alan Myers dies of brain cancer

In this 1978 photo taken by Janet Macoska and released by Devo, Inc., the band Devo, from left, Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Mothersbaugh, kneeling, Jerry Casale, Bob Casale and Alan Myers pose for a photo. Devo spokesman Michael Pilmer confirmed Wednesday, June 26, 2013, that drummer Alan Myers died Monday, June 24, after a battle with brain cancer in Los Angeles. He was 58. (AP Photo/Devo Inc., Janet Macoska) MANDATORY CREDIT

Alan Myers, the former longtime drummer for the band Devo, best known for "Whip It," has died after a battle with brain cancer. He was 58.

Myers died Monday in Los Angeles, where he lived, Devo spokesman Michael Pilmer said Wednesday.

Myers was the band's drummer from 1976 to 1985 during Devo's heyday. The group was formed in Akron, Ohio, in the early 1970s by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, and introduced themselves to the world in 1977 by making a frenetic version of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction."

Casale told The Associated Press on Wednesday that without Myers, Devo never would have reached the heights it did, calling him the best drummer he has ever played with.

"We were mostly in basements and garages writing songs. It was Alan that brought everything to life," Casale said. "That was the catalyst where everything clicked."

He called Myers "the human metronome."

"People watching him thought we were using a drum machine," Casale said. "Nobody had ever drummed like that."

Casale described meeting and playing with Myers for the first time in 1976. After their first session ended, Casale ? who had been facing away from Myers ? turned around to see the drummer standing on one leg with his eyes closed, practicing the meditative Chinese martial art of Tai Chi.

"I thought, 'Man, this guy really is Devo. He fits right in,'" Casale said, adding that Tai Chi was one of the drummer's greatest passions. "Some bands would be doing drugs and drinking. Alan would find quiet places backstage and do a full session of Tai Chi."

Devo is short for devolution, the idea that man was devolving into its monkey state.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/devo-drummer-alan-myers-dies-brain-cancer-181800119.html

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Was first curveball thrown 2 million years ago?

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? It's a big year for throwing. The greatest closer in baseball history, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, is retiring. Aroldis Chapman, the overpowering Cincinnati Reds reliever, continues to fire fastballs beyond 100 mph.

And now some scientists say they've figured out when our human ancestors first started throwing with accuracy and fire power, as only people can: Nearly 2 million years ago.

That's what researchers conclude in a study released Wednesday by the journal Nature. There's plenty of skepticism about their conclusion. But the new paper contends that this throwing ability probably helped our ancient ancestor Homo erectus hunt, allowing him to toss weapons ? probably rocks and sharpened wooden spears.

The human throwing ability is unique. Not even a chimp, our closest living relative and a creature noted for strength, can throw nearly as fast as a 12-year-old Little Leaguer, says lead study author Neil Roach of George Washington University.

To find out how humans developed this ability, Roach and co-authors analyzed the throwing motions of 20 collegiate baseball players. Sometimes the players wore braces to mimic the anatomy of human ancestors, to see how anatomical changes affected throwing ability.

The human secret to throwing, the researchers propose, is that when the arm is cocked, it stores energy by stretching tendons, ligaments and muscles crossing the shoulder. It's like pulling back on a slingshot. Releasing that "elastic energy" makes the arm whip forward to make the throw.

That trick, in turn, was made possible by three anatomical changes in human evolution that affected the waist, shoulders and arms, the researchers concluded. And Homo erectus, which appeared about 2 million years ago, is the first ancient relative to combine those three changes, they said.

But others think the throwing ability must have appeared sometime later in human evolution.

Susan Larson, an anatomist at Stony Brook University in New York who didn't participate in the study, said the paper is the first to claim that elastic energy storage occurs in arms, rather than just in legs. The bouncing gait of a kangaroo is due to that phenomenon, she said, and the human Achilles tendon stores energy to help people walk.

The new analysis offers good evidence that the shoulder is storing elastic energy, even though the shoulder doesn't have the long tendons that do that job in legs, she said. So maybe other tissues can do it too, she said.

But Larson, an expert on evolution of the human shoulder, said she does not think Homo erectus could throw like a modern human. She said she believes its shoulders were too narrow and that the orientation of the shoulder joint on the body would make overhand throwing "more or less impossible."

Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution, said he is "not at all convinced" by the paper's argument about when and why throwing appeared.

The authors did not present any data to counter Larson's published work that indicates the erectus shoulder was ill-suited for throwing, he said.

And it is "a stretch" to say that throwing would give erectus an advantage in hunting, Potts said. Large animals have to be pierced in specific spots for a kill, which would seem to require more accuracy than one could expect erectus to achieve from a distance, he said.

Potts noted that the earliest known spears, which date from about 400,000 years ago, were used for thrusting rather than throwing.

___ Online:

Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature

___

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-26-AP-US-SCI-Throwing-Arm/id-62771ba8933b45fe929f716701625103

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SK Telecom launches the world's first LTE-Advanced network, and the Galaxy S4 LTE-A

Just days after an LTE-Advanced variant of Samsung's Galaxy S 4 leaked, Korean carrier SK Telecom has officially announced it's launching the world's first publicly available LTE-Advanced wireless network. The Galaxy S4 LTE-A is also official (in red or blue) as the first device able to take advantage of the new technology for even faster data transmission speeds. According to the press release, SK Telecom plans to have as many as seven LTE-A devices available by the end of the year, all capable of up to 150Mbps. While SK Telecom is using Carrier Aggregation and Coordinated Multi Point technology to improve speeds right now, it will add Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination in 2014 to go even faster. After that, it suggest carrier aggregation will improve to support higher speeds and faster uploads in subsequent years.

To take advantage of the higher speeds, SK Telecom's Btv IPTV service will begin offering 1080p video streaming in early July. That will be accompanied by enhanced multiview baseball broadcasts, more free videos, an HD video shopping service with six channels on one screen in August and the addition of FLAC audio files via its music package. Right now, the company has Seoul covered in LTE-A, and plans to eventually offer it in 84 cities, all at the same price as existing LTE service. Check after the break for the press release with all the details, plus video of a speed test.

Update: We've just come across another juicy tidbit that makes the Galaxy S4 LTE-A all the more worthwhile -- it'll ship with a Snapdragon 800 SoC that contains a 2.3GHz quad-core CPU, plus 32GB of built-in storage and a 2,600mAh battery. It goes without saying that this phone will be speedy on all angles.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow (1), (2)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/25/sk-telecom-lte-advanced-galaxy-s-4/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Filibuster broken, but Texas abortion law fails to pass

Filibuster fails: Wendy Davis spoke for 11 hours in a filibuster but was stopped before the midnight deadline. Still, the Texas abortion law failed to pass when protestors managed to stall a vote.

By Chris Thomlinson and Jim Vertuno,?Associated Press / June 26, 2013

Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) of Fort Worth, waits for a ruling on a rules violation during her filibusters of an abortion bill, Tuesday, June 25, in Austin, Texas. Senator Davis was given a second warning for breaking filibuster rules by receiving help with a back brace from Sen. Rodney Ellis (D) of Houston.

Eric Gay/AP

Enlarge

Despite barely beating a midnight deadline, hundreds of jeering protesters helped stop Texas lawmakers from passing one of the toughest abortion measures in the country.

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As the protesters raised the noise to deafening levels in the Texas Senate chamber late Tuesday, Republicans scrambled to gather their colleagues at the podium for a stroke-of-midnight vote.

"Get them out!" Sen. Donna Campbell shouted to a security guard, pointing to the thundering crowd in the gallery overhead that had already been screaming for more than 10 minutes.

"Time is running out," Campbell pleaded. "I want them out of here!"

It didn't work. The noise never stopped and despite barely beating the midnight end-of-session deadline with a vote to pass the bill, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the chaos in the chamber prevented him from formally signing it before the deadline passed, effectively killing it.

Dewhurst denounced the protesters as an "unruly mob." Democrats who urged them on called the outburst democracy in action.

In either point of view, a raucous crowd of chanting, singing, shouting demonstrators effectively took over the Texas Capitol and blocked a bill that abortion rights groups warned would close most abortion clinics in the state.

"They were asking for their voices to be heard," said Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who spent nearly 11 hours trying to filibuster the bill before the outburst. "The results speak for themselves."

The final outcome took several hours to sort out.

Initially, Republicans insisted the vote started before the midnight deadline and passed the bill that Democrats spent the day trying to kill. But after official computer records and printouts of the voting record showed the vote took place Wednesday, and then were changed to read Tuesday, senators retreated into a private meeting to reach a conclusion.

At 3 a.m., Dewhurst emerged from the meeting still insisting the 19-10 vote was in time, but said, "with all the ruckus and noise going on, I couldn't sign the bill" and declared it dead.

He denounced the more than 400 protesters who staged what they called "a people's filibuster" from 11:45 p.m. to well past midnight. He denied mishandling the debate.

"I didn't lose control (of the chamber). We had an unruly mob," Dewhurst said. He even hinted that Gov. Rick Perry may immediately call another 30-day special session, adding: "It's over. It's been fun. But see you soon."

Many of the protesters had flocked to the normally quiet Capitol to support Davis, who gained national attention and a mention from President Barack Obama's campaign Twitter account. Her Twitter following went from 1,200 in the morning to more than 20,000 by Tuesday night.

"My back hurts. I don't have a lot of words left," Davis said when it was over and she was showered with cheers by activists who stayed at the Capitol to see her. "It shows the determination and spirit of Texas women."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/evm4XPr2xMU/Filibuster-broken-but-Texas-abortion-law-fails-to-pass

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Lotus and Daniel Simon start Motorcycles division - Car Body Design

Lotus Motorcycles is a joint project of Kodewa, renowned concept designer Daniel Simon and the Holzer Group.

The bike will be named Lotus C-01 and ?will reflect a combination of lifestyle, design and high end technology.?

The Lotus C-01 will be a hyper bike with integrated racing technology, will be powered by a 200 hp engine and will make use of advanced materials like carbon, titanium and aerospace quality steel.

Daniel Simon, former designer for Bugatti, is responsible for many iconic concept vehicles in Hollywood film industry ? among these is the ?Lightcycle? in ?Tron: Legacy? and the ?Bubbleship? used by Tom Cruise in the recent ?Oblivion?.

The collaboration between Lotus and the German designer began in 2012, when he created the black and gold livery of the Lotus LMP2 sports cars.

The designer commented: ?With the Lotus C-01, we have only one ambition: to create a unique state-of-the-art machine that carries its brutal forces with elegance and style, a high-tech monster in a tailored suit. The C-01, with all its top notch components and materials, is first and foremost emotional, heartbreaking, at times playfully retro, and always clearly a Lotus. Lotus is a glamorous name with a rich history, and the C-01 celebrates it proudly: the shapes of the marvelous Lotus 49 were a main inspiration, and all color schemes pay homage to iconic Lotus racing liveries, such as the dashing black and gold. The intersection of past and future never fails to fascinate, and so does the unique idea of the C-01.?

The first images of the Lotus C-01 Motorcycle are expected to be revealed in the next few weeks.

Technical Partners

Kodewa has recently built the new sports car Lotus T128 LMP (Le Mans Prototype) and is running the Lotus LMP2 program in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The team of Kodewa comprises of experts with a lot of knowledge and experience not only in endurance racing but also Formula 1, DTM and lower formulas.

Within the Holzer Group, the Performance GmbH is involved in the development process. The components made of titanium, carbon fibre and aerospace steel will be produced by RPC GmbH, which is also part of Holzer Group and Kodewa. Latest CNC machines linked with CAM workstations ensure highest precision and optimal workflow of the complex procedures. Because of quality inspections before, during and after the production process, a safety-related and faultless production is ensured.

(Source: Lotus)

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Source: http://www.carbodydesign.com/2013/06/lotus-and-daniel-simon-start-motorcycles-division/

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Gigabit Internet coming to Seattle for $80 per month

No Google Fiber? No problem. Residents in select neighborhoods in Seattle will have access to gigabit Internet speeds?beginning in 2014. Gigabit Squared on Monday announced pricing plans for its upcoming fiber network in Seattle. The company will offer a basic plan with download speeds of 5Mbps and upload speeds of 1Mbps for free for 60 months, after which time customers can convert to 10Mbps?service for just $10 per month. Other plans include download and upload speeds of 100Mbps for $45 per month, or speeds of 1Gbps for $80 per month. Customers will also be required to pay a $350 installation fee for 100Mbps plans or higher unless they sign a one-year contract. Gigabit Squared is the latest company to offer gigabit Internet speeds, following the successful launch of Google Fiber in Kansas City last year. Gigabit Squared will begin taking sign-ups sometime next month. The company?s press release follows below.

Gigabit Squared Unveils Residential Pricing for Local Ultra-High-Speed Fiber Network Service in Seattle

[More from BGR: Leaked photo shows iPhone 5S display on the assembly line]

Early neighborhoods announced: University West Campus District, First Hill, Capitol Hill and Central Area

SEATTLE, June 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ ? Gigabit Squared today unveiled residential pricing for the ultra-high-speed fiber-to-the-home broadband network it plans to launch locally in 2014. The Gigabit Squared fiber network will initially be made available to neighborhoods located within the West Campus District, First Hill, Capitol Hill and Central Area of Seattle as part of a program called Gigabit Seattle.

?We are excited about the limitless possibilities our network can bring to the residents located in these areas and are confident that the affordability and high speed performance of our fiber network will be well received,? said Mark Ansboury, president of Gigabit Squared. He added, ?We will be providing our customers with significantly greater speed and accessibility than what?s out there today for about the same price?a true value. This will be backed by a level of customer service that will surpass anything anyone has ever experienced before.?

Gigabit Squared?s fiber broadband services will be 50 to 1,000 times faster than typical cable modem or DSL Internet access services. Unlike most Internet access services, Gigabit Squared?s offerings will be symmetrical (equal upstream and downstream data rates) to enable interactive services that require two-way sharing of video, audio, images, and other large files in real time.

?We?re one step closer to bringing gigabit speed broadband to Seattle,? said Mayor Mike McGinn. ?We are leveraging our new public-private partnership with the University of Washington and Gigabit Squared to help Seattle compete in the global economy. I?m excited to see how our residents and businesses can innovate with this new infrastructure.?

Gigabit Squared?s simplified fiber network pricing plans for Seattle will be structured as follows:

1) Installation Charge: Installation charges will be waived for customers signing a one-year contract for 100 Mbps service or greater. Otherwise, a $350 installation fee is required.

2) Service Plan Options:

Plan A:
5 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload: No charge for 60 months
5/1 Mbps services are transferrable to new renters or owners
After 60 months renters or owners can convert to a 10 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload service plan for only $10 per month

Plan B:
100 Mbps download/100 Mbps upload for $45 per month
No installation charge with one- year contract

Plan C:
1000 download/1000 upload Mbps for $80 per month
No installation charge with one-year contract

Since the launch of the Gigabit Seattle website in December, thousands of Seattle residents have already expressed an interest in the service. Ansboury commented, ?We will be announcing a simple sign-up process next month that will make it easy for people to sign up for the service that best meets their individual needs. This will help us prioritize the neighborhood rollout schedule. We can?t wait to make this available to as many residents as possible and look forward to our initial program?s success so we can quickly expand into other areas of Seattle.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gigabit-internet-coming-seattle-80-per-month-205526646.html

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Wimbledon spat: Williams, Sharapova trade volleys

In this photo taken on Sunday, June 23, 2013 and made available by The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Wimbledon, defending women's champion Serena Williams of the United States speaks to the media during a press conference at Wimbledon. The Championships start Monday, with Serena Williams attempting to win the title for the sixth time. (AP Photo/Jon Buckle/AELTC)

In this photo taken on Sunday, June 23, 2013 and made available by The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Wimbledon, defending women's champion Serena Williams of the United States speaks to the media during a press conference at Wimbledon. The Championships start Monday, with Serena Williams attempting to win the title for the sixth time. (AP Photo/Jon Buckle/AELTC)

Maria Sharapova of Russia is watched by a coach during a training session at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Sunday, June 23, 2013. The Championships start Monday, with Serena Williams attempting to win the title for the sixth time. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, JUNE 22-23 - FILE - In this July 7, 2012 file photo, Serena Williams celebrates with the trophy after defeating Agnieszka Radwansk to win the women's final match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England. When Wimbledon starts Monday, June 24, 2013, she will be on a 31-match winning streak and an overwhelming favorite to win her second consecutive title. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

In this photo taken on Sunday, June 23, 2013 and made available by The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Wimbledon, defending women's champion Serena Williams of the United States speaks to the media during a press conference at Wimbledon. The Championships start Monday, with Serena Williams attempting to win the title for the sixth time. (AP Photo/Jon Buckle/AELTC)

In this photo taken on Sunday, June 23, 2013 and made available by The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Wimbledon, defending men's champion Roger Federer of Switzerland, gestures during a press conference at Wimbledon. The Championships start Monday, with defending men's champion Roger Federer of Switzerland attempting to win the title for the eighth time. (AP Photo/Jon Buckle/AELTC)

LONDON (AP) ? As her agent nodded along approvingly from a front-row seat, Serena Williams sounded contrite and composed. Well-rehearsed, too.

Williams even managed to crack herself up with a couple of jokes during her news conference at Wimbledon as the defending champion, where the primary topic was hardly her 31-match winning streak or her bid for a sixth title at the All England Club or her injured sister Venus' absence from the field.

Instead, more than half the questions at Sunday's session revolved around themes generating the most buzz on the eve of tennis' oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam tournament: what Williams was quoted as saying in a recent magazine article ? and Maria Sharapova's surprisingly forceful verbal swipe in reaction to that story.

"It definitely hasn't been easy," the No. 1-ranked Williams said about the stir created by a Rolling Stone profile posted online Tuesday. "And I feel like I really wanted to say: I apologize for everything that was said in that article."

Williams already had issued a statement expressing regret for remarks about the 16-year-old victim in the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case.

On Sunday, Williams said she approached the No. 3-ranked Sharapova to try to smooth things over by extending an apology at a pre-tournament players' party Thursday. The back-and-forth between two of the sport's most popular and successful women can be traced to a passage where the story's author surmised that something critical Williams said during a telephone conversation with her sister referred to Sharapova.

But Thursday's interaction didn't end the matter because Sharapova delivered this broadside at her news conference Saturday: "If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids."

Given a chance to react directly to that swipe 24 hours later, Williams declined, saying: "I definitely was told of (Sharapova's) comments. I definitely like to keep my personal life personal. I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it."

All in all, nothing tennis related has drawn nearly as much attention in the run-up to Wimbledon. That might change Monday, when play begins and four-time major champion Sharapova is among those scheduled to be on court, facing 37th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic of France. Also on the schedule: two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, 2011 Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, and a matchup between up-and-coming Americans Sloane Stephens and Jamie Hampton.

The honor of the year's first match on Centre Court goes to the defending men's champion, Roger Federer.

"You feel very unique, clearly, because you are the one opening the court," said Federer, who will be bidding for a record eighth Wimbledon championship. "I think it's a big deal for, also, the players I've played, who got the 'unluck' or luck of the draw to play me in that first round."

This time, the recipient of that "unluck" was Victor Hanescu of Romania, who's never made it past the third round in seven previous Wimbledon appearances.

Others playing Monday include No. 2 Andy Murray, the runner-up a year ago; and No. 5 Rafael Nadal, whose 12 Grand Slam titles include two at Wimbledon. Federer could face Nadal in the quarterfinals, with the winner possibly meeting Murray in the semifinals.

"I'd rather Rafa and Roger were on the other side of the draw," said Murray, aiming to give Britain its first male champion at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, "but they're not."

No. 1 Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, is expected to have an easier path through other half of the field and won't get started until Tuesday. That's also when Williams is scheduled to play.

By the sound of things Sunday, she might be pleased to be able to focus on tennis rather than talking.

"There's one thing I'm really good at," said the 31-year-old Williams, the oldest woman to top the WTA rankings, "and that's hitting the ball over a net, in a box. I'm excellent."

Certainly true. She won her 16th Grand Slam title by beating Sharapova two weeks ago at the French Open, and declared Sunday, "It's great for women's tennis when we play each other." (That might be because Williams has won their past 13 matches.)

Williams is 74-3 overall and has collected three of the past four major titles since the start of Wimbledon in 2012. That, perhaps not coincidentally, is when she began working with French tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou, to whom Williams has been linked romantically.

Neither has confirmed publicly whether they're a couple, but Sharapova's shot on Saturday was taken as a reference to Williams and Mouratoglou. Sharapova was responding to a question about the portion of the Rolling Stone story in which Williams spoke to her sister about what the reporter described as "a top-five player who is now in love."

Williams lamented Sunday that "a private conversation" was reported about, but she also broke into peals of laughter when saying: "I've been in the business for a little over 200 years, so I should definitely, definitely know better. I should know better to always have my guard up."

She is quoted in the article as saying: "She begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' ? it's so boring. She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."

That is followed by these words in parentheses from the writer: "An educated guess is she's talking about Sharapova, who is now dating Grigor Dimitrov, one of Serena's rumored exes."

On Sunday, Williams said: "I made it a point to reach out to Maria. ... I said, 'Look, I want to personally apologize to you if you are offended by being brought into my situation. I want to take this moment to ... be open, say I'm very sorry.'"

Williams repeatedly used some version of the phrase "inadvertently brought into a situation" to describe the way Sharapova got involved.

"It's important what I've learned this week ? mostly that it's so important to know all the facts before you make a comment or before you make an assumption," Williams said. "That's something I'm still learning."

There were other subjects discussed Sunday, if only briefly.

Those included Williams' first-round opponent (92nd-ranked Mandy Minella of Luxembourg).

And how Williams feels when she's not the favorite to win a title ("Not so often," she noted).

And what it's like to be at Wimbledon without the 33-year-old Venus, who also is a five-time champion but is sidelined by a lower back injury and will sit out the tournament for the first time since 1996.

"I feel so lonely. I feel like something is missing. So I talk to her all the time ? more than usual," the younger Williams said.

"Before I left, she said, 'Snap out of it. It's time for you to pass me.' So that was really encouraging," Williams continued. "Hopefully I'll be able to do it."

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-23-Wimbledon/id-d0ad9cd66bbc42649edbf82b97f80b0c

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Edward Snowden stops off in Moscow with US extradition request snapping at his heels

Even if he anticipated the risks involved in turning whisteblower, Edward Snowden can't have imagined the rushed, convoluted journey he'd have to take to avoid the full wrath of the US government. First to Hong Kong; most recently to Moscow, and perhaps soon to Ecuador (via Cuba and Venezuela) where he has apparently made a request for asylum. Strongly worded demands for his capture have followed every step of the way, with the White House National Security Council expressing "disappointment" that Hong Kong allowed Snowden to flee and now urging Russia (which has no formal extradition treaty with America) to "expel Mr. Snowden back to the US to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged." In an effort to help the fugitive navigate the maze of diplomatic fault lines, WikiLeaks has stepped up to say that its own legal advisors are "escorting" Snowden towards his final destination, likely making use of the knowledge they gained while protecting Julian Assange, and that it sees US efforts to arrest him as an "assault against the people."

Filed under: Internet

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Source: WikiLeaks, CBS News, @RicardoPatinoEC (Twitter)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/edward-snowden-stops-off-in-moscow/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Brazil leader breaks silence about protests

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) ? Demonstrators once again took to the streets in Brazil on Saturday, continuing a wave of protests that have shaken the nation and pushed the government to promise a crackdown on corruption and greater spending on social services.

Thousands gathered in the central square of Belo Horizonte and hundreds rallied in several other cities, largely to protest legislation that would limit the power of prosecutors to investigate crimes in a country where many are fed up with the high rate of robberies and killings.

President Dilma Rousseff broke days of silence on Friday with a broadcast address in which she vowed to battle corruption while improving government services, acknowledging the anger that has led to more than a week of vast, sometimes violent protests across Latin America's largest country.

She said she planned to soon meet with leaders of the protest movement, governors and the mayors of major cities. But it remained unclear who could represent the massive and decentralized groups of demonstrators taking to the streets with a range of grievances, including woeful public services despite a high tax burden.

Rousseff said that her government would create a national plan for public transportation in cities. Officials in many cities have already backed down from the hike in bus and subway fares that set off the protests. She also reiterated her backing for a plan before congress to invest all oil revenue royalties in education and a promise she made earlier to bring in foreign doctors to areas that lack physicians.

"I want institutions that are more transparent, more resistant to wrongdoing," Rousseff said in reference to complaints of deep corruption in Brazilian politics, which is emerging as a focal point of the protests. "It's citizenship and not economic power that must be heard first."

The leader is a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime and was imprisoned for three years and tortured by the junta, and she pointedly referred to earlier sacrifices made to free the nation from dictatorship.

"My generation fought a lot so that the voice of the streets could be heard," Rousseff said. "Many were persecuted, tortured and many died for this. The voice of the street must be heard and respected and it can't be confused with the noise and truculence of some troublemakers."

Edvaldo Chaves, a 61-year-old doorman in Rio's upscale Flamengo neighborhood, said he found the speech convincing.

"I thought she seemed calm and cool. Plus, because she was a guerrilla and was in exile, she talks about the issue of protests convincingly," Chaves said. "I think things are going to calm down. We'll probably keep seeing people in the streets but probably small numbers now."

But Bruna Romao, an 18-year-old store clerk in Sao Paulo, said Rousseff's words probably wouldn't have an impact.

"Brazilians are passionate," she said. "We boil over quickly but also cool down fast. But this time it's different, people are in full revolt. I don't see things calming down anytime soon."

Some 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets nationwide Thursday night to denounce everything from poor public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for next year's World poor public services

The protests continued Friday, as about 1,000 people marched in western Rio de Janeiro city, with some looting stores and invading a $250 million arts center that remains empty after several years of construction. Police tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas as they were pelted with rocks. Police said some in the crowd were armed and firing at officers.

Other protests broke out in in the country's biggest city, Sao Paulo, where traffic was paralyzed but no violence was reported, and in Fortaleza in the country's northeast. Demonstrators were calling for more mobilizations in 10 cities on Saturday.

With Pope Francis scheduled to visit Brazil next month, the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops issued a statement expressing "solidarity and support for the demonstrations, as long as they remain peaceful."

"This is a phenomenon involving the Brazilian people and the awakening of a new consciousness," the Catholic leaders said in the statement. "The protests show all of us that we cannot live in a country with so much inequality."

Rousseff had never held elected office before she became president in 2011 and remains clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight. A career technocrat and economist, she was helped into the presidency by her mentor, the tremendously popular former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Marlise Matos, a political science professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, said before Rousseff spoke that officials need to take stronger action.

"The government has to respond, even if the agenda seems unclear and wide open," she said. "It should be the president herself who should come out and provide a response. But I think the government is still making strategic calculations to decide how to respond. What I'd like to see as a response is a call for a referendum on political reform. Let the people decide what kind of political and electoral system we have."

Social media and mass emails were buzzing with calls for a general strike next week. However, Brazil's two largest nationwide unions, the Central Workers Union and the Union Force, said they knew nothing about such an action, though they do support the protests.

A Thursday night march in Sao Paulo was the first with a strong union presence, as a drum corps led members wearing matching shirts down the city's main avenue. Many protesters have called for a movement with no ties to political parties or unions, which are widely considered corrupt here.

The unrest is hitting the nation as it hosts the Confederations Cup soccer tournament, with tens of thousands of foreign visitors in attendance.

Carlos Cardozo, a 62-year-old financial consultant who joined Friday's protest in Rio, said he thought the unrest could cost Rousseff next year's elections. Even as recently as last week, Rousseff had enjoyed a 74 percent approval rating in a poll by the business group the National Transport Confederation.

"Her paying lip service by saying she's in favor of the protests is not helping her cause," Cardozo said. "People want to see real action, real decisions, and it's not this government that's capable of delivering."

___

Barchfield reported from Rio de Janeiro and Brooks from Sao Paulo. Associated Press writers Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Jack Chang in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-leader-breaks-silence-protests-001503729.html

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