Bomb in Thai south kills eight soldiers

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Suspected Muslim rebels in southern Thailand killed eight soldiers in a roadside bomb attack on Saturday, days after the government rejected demands for a ceasefire over the Islamic holiday of Ramadan starting next month.

Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country and resistance to central government rule in the Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat has existed for decades, resurfacing violently in 2004.

The 60-kg bomb exploded as the soldiers were travelling in a military truck along a village road in Yala, police said. Another two soldiers were wounded and two villagers on a motorcycle behind the truck were also hurt, police said.

The opening of peace talks with rebel groups earlier this year has done nothing to end violence in the south, where more than 5,300 people have died since January 2004.

This week the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, one of the oldest groups operating in the south of the country and a participant in the talks, proposed a ceasefire for Ramadan, which starts around July 10.

In exchange they made demands including the release of all detainees in the south and the acceptance of Malaysia as a mediator, which the government rejected.

The three Muslim-dominated provinces were once part of a Malay Muslim sultanate until annexed by Thailand in 1909.

(Reporting by Surapan Boonthanom; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Alan Raybould and Jeremy Laurence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-thai-south-kills-eight-soldiers-061240100.html

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Edward Snowden part of conversation between Biden, Ecuador's president (cbsnews)

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Illinois Pension Debt Increases at a Slow Pace

CHICAGO (AP) -- Gov. Pat Quinn says Illinois' massive pension shortfall is growing at a slower pace of $5 million a day.

A previous estimate put it at $17 million per day. But Quinn says taxpayers are still paying "a steep price" for the Legislature's failure to pass pension reform.

The Chicago Democrat says lawmakers must work "around the clock" to approve legislation addressing the crisis.

Illinois has the nation's worst state pension problem. But lawmakers have been unable to agree on a solution.

Earlier this month they voted to form a bipartisan committee to tackle the issue. Quinn has given them a deadline of July 9.

Quinn says the daily growth of the state's unfunded liability has decreased partly because the state has made its full pension payment for several years.

Source: http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/Illinois-Pension-Debt-Increases-at-a-Slow-Pace-213710671.html

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Gay marriage: Hodgepodge lies ahead for states

The Supreme Court's landmark rulings on same-sex marriage have energized activists and politicians on both sides of the debate. Efforts to impose bans, and to repeal them, have taken on new intensity, as have lawsuits by gays demanding the right to marry.

The court, in two 5-4 decisions Wednesday, opened the way for California to become the 13th state to legalize gay marriage, and it directed the federal government to recognize legally married same-sex couples. A federal appeals court on Friday lifted its freeze on same-sex marriages in California, saying the state is required to issue licenses to gay couples starting immediately.

But the rulings, while hailed by gay-rights activists, did not declare a nationwide right for gays to marry. Instead, they set the stage for state-by-state battles over one of America's most contentious social issues. Already, some of those battles are heating up.

In Pennsylvania, the only Northeast state that doesn't legally recognize same-sex couples, gay state Rep. Brian Sims, a Philadelphia Democrat, says he will introduce a bill to allow same-sex marriages. The bill may flounder in the GOP-led Legislature, but the issue is likely to be volatile in next year's gubernatorial race, pitting GOP Gov. Tom Corbett, an opponent of gay marriage, against any of three Democrats who favor it.

In Arizona, gay-rights supporters have begun circulating petitions aimed at repealing the state's 2008 ban on same-sex marriage by way of a ballot measure next year. With California's ban quashed, Arizona is now among 29 states with constitutional amendments that limit marriage to one-man, one-woman unions.

Gay-rights activists and Democratic politicians in several other states also hope to repeal the bans in their states ? in Oregon, Ohio and Arkansas with possible ballot measures next year, and in Nevada and Michigan with referendums in 2016.

Ohio activist Ian James of FreedomOhio said his group's resolve to collect signatures "has been doubled" as a result of the Supreme Court decisions. And Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat who favors repealing his state's ban, said the court action "underscores the urgency of extending the freedom to marry to all our citizens."

"Oregon has not yet lived up to the ideal of equal rights for all," Kitzhaber said.

In Indiana and West Virginia, some Republican politicians want to move in the other direction, joining the ranks of states with constitutional bans. Both states have laws that bar gays from marrying, but constitutional amendments are viewed as more durable measures that resist being overturned by litigation.

The leaders of Indiana's Republican-controlled Legislature had deferred action on an amendment during this year's session, opting to wait for the Supreme Court rulings. Now, with the backing of GOP Gov. Mike Pence, they say the Legislature will consider the ban in the session starting in January, possibly putting the question to voters later next year.

Micah Clark, executive director of the conservative American Family Association of Indiana, was pleased by that prospect.

"The future of marriage matters," he said. "And it belongs in the hands of Hoosier voters, not the courts, not Hollywood, and not the activists seeking to change it from what it is and always has been."

West Virginia, like Indiana, has a state law prohibiting gay marriages. Until now, though, it has not joined the parade of states taking a further step with a constitutional amendment. After the Supreme Court rulings, the leader of the large Republican minority in the House of Delegates suggested there is now an urgent need for an amendment,

"We don't know when someone might file a lawsuit or have some other issue come up where a judge can review that," said Tim Armstead. "We need to go to the next step."

Democratic Delegate Stephen Skinner, West Virginia's first openly gay lawmaker, disagreed. "There's really not much reason for a constitutional amendment, except to promote discrimination and promote homophobia," he said.

National gay-rights leaders expect that lawsuits seeking to expand gay marriage rights will eventually bring the issue back to the Supreme Court in a quest for a ruling that would establish a 50-state policy.

Lawsuits already are pending in a number of states. Some of those involved were heartened by the rulings.

"What this does is establish very, very powerful precedents that we will be able to use in our case," said Mark Lawrence of Restore Our Humanity, which is backing a legal challenge by three same-sex couples to a ban approved by Utah voters in 2004.

Michigan's constitutional ban, also approved in 2004, is the target of a pending lawsuit by Detroit-area nurses April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse seeking a right to jointly adopt each other's children. The federal judge hearing the case had been waiting for the Supreme Court before issuing a judgment.

In New Mexico, two gay men from Santa Fe asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to decide whether same-sex marriage is legal. The lawsuit contends that denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples violates the state constitution, including provisions prohibiting gender-based discrimination and guaranteeing equal protection under the law.

New Mexico is one of only five states ? along with West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wyoming and Indiana ? that has neither extended legal recognition to gay couples nor enacted a ban-gay-marriage constitutional amendment. There also is litigation in three states offering civil unions to gay couples, providing the rights and responsibilities of marriage but not extending that title.

In New Jersey, one lawsuit contends that civil unions do not fulfill a state Supreme Court mandate from 2006 that gay couples receive equal treatment to married heterosexual couples. The plaintiffs say they will soon file a motion arguing that, in light of the Supreme Court ruling, the only thing that is keeping the couples from equal treatment is the state law.

New Jersey's Democratic-majority Legislature passed a bill last year to legalize gay marriage, but it was vetoed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie. He says the matter should be decided in a referendum.

"There is no longer any excuse to delay," said Troy Stevenson of the gay-rights group Garden State Equality. "It is as immoral as it is impractical to force any New Jersey family to be stripped of critical economic and legal protections every time they cross the Hudson or Delaware Rivers."

Hawaii's civil union law, adopted in 2011, is being challenged in federal court by two women who want to marry rather than enter into a civil union. Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who supports a right to same-sex marriage, says the Supreme Court ruling on federal benefits for same-sex couples bolsters his argument.

Illinois also allowed civil unions in 2011, but efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in the recently ended legislative session fell short. The sponsor of the measure, Democratic Rep. Greg Harris, said the Supreme Court rulings should bolster efforts to revive the bill in the fall session.

Meanwhile, gay-rights lawyers are pressing ahead with a lawsuit on behalf of more than two dozen same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Cook County. The suit also challenges an Illinois law that defines marriage as between a man and woman.

Gay-rights activists in some conservative states say there is no near-term prospect for softening their states' gay-marriage bans, and they're looking toward a more incremental approach.

In states such as Georgia, Idaho and Louisiana, these efforts include lobbying for local and statewide anti-discrimination laws that would extend protections to gays and lesbians.

In Wisconsin, a state that has tilted Democratic in national elections, Republicans now hold power at the Statehouse, and there's little discussion by gay-rights supporters of mounting an effort to repeal the gay-marriage ban approved by voters in 2006.

Instead, gay-rights activists there are trying to defeat a conservative group's lawsuit challenging a 2009 domestic partnership law that ended some legal rights to same-sex couples.

Wyoming has no constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, but proposals to permit civil unions and to ban discrimination against gays died in the latest legislative session.

State Rep. Cathy Connolly, the openly lesbian Democrat who sponsored those bills, says Wyoming's strong libertarian streak might be conducive to a legalization of same-sex marriage at some point in the future.

___

Associated Press writers Cristina Silva in Phoenix, Tom LoBianco in Indianapolis, Nigel Duara in Portland, Ore., Matt Moore in Philadelphia, Larry Messina in Charleston, W.Va., and other AP reporters nationwide contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gay-marriage-states-hodgepodge-lies-ahead-201327666.html

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APNewsBreak: Librarians to help with health law

CHICAGO (AP) ? The nation's librarians will be recruited to help people get signed up for insurance under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Up to 17,000 U.S. libraries will be part of the effort to get information and crucial computer time to the millions of uninsured Americans who need to get coverage under the law.

The undertaking will be announced Sunday in Chicago at the annual conference of the American Library Association, according to federal officials who released the information early to The Associated Press.

The initiative starts Oct. 1, when people without health coverage will start shopping for insurance online on new websites where they can get tax credits to help pay the cost. Low-income people will be enrolled in an expanded version of Medicaid in states that adopt it.

About 7 million people are expected to sign up for coverage in the new marketplaces next year, but the heavy emphasis on the Web-based portals puts anyone without access to a computer at a disadvantage.

Libraries equipped with public computers and Internet access already serve as a bridge across the digital divide, so it made sense to get them involved, said Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"Libraries are a tremendous resource for people in their communities," Bataille said. "They're already a destination many individuals go to when they're seeking out information and understanding on a variety of issues."

Libraries also have public spaces where meetings can be held. And they already provide health information to 28 million people a year via public access computers, according to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal grant-making agency, which will coordinate the new effort with CMS. The two federal agencies also worked together during the rollout of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, experience that should help with this effort, Bataille said.

Libraries will be particularly important in conservative states that are not making much effort to promote the health law's opportunities.

In Texas, the Dallas library system's home page has linked to HealthCare.gov ? the revamped federal website that is the hub for health law information. Embedding the widget on their sites is another way some libraries may choose to get involved, said Susan Hildreth, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Some libraries may decide to set aside some public computers for people seeking health insurance or extend time limits on computers, Hildreth said. Some may work with community health centers on educational events. Those will be local decisions with each library deciding how to participate.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is contracting with the Online Computer Library Center to develop an online toolkit and training webinars for librarians, Hildreth said. Librarians are likely to get questions on the health law from the public.

"Frankly whether we're prepared or not, it's going to happen, so the best way for us to serve the public is to prepare ahead of time," Hildreth said.

Lissa Staley, a librarian in Topeka, Kan., specializes in health information, and already is helping people figure out their insurance options.

"I talked to a woman this morning who said, 'I'm a single mom. I make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and my employer will only let me work part time.' I gave her my card and we're going to sort through some of her options," Staley said.

"It's never just a straightforward question," Staley said. "It's always a life story and we help sort through the pieces of where we can help."

___

Online:

http://www.HealthCare.gov

http://www.CuidadoDeSalud.gov

___

AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/CarlaKJohnson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-librarians-help-health-law-141539920.html

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De Beers CEO seeks slimmer, more flexible company

By Tova Cohen and Ari Rabinovitch

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Diamond producer De Beers plans to cut costs and use machines more in place of labour as it strives to become leaner and more flexible in response to a tougher world economic environment, the company's chief executive said.

De Beers' owner Anglo American has just changed its own management and is in the middle of a three-month review, the outcome of which will likely include steps to improve the performance of the world's biggest diamond producer by value.

Philippe Mellier and another senior executive, Varda Shine, told Reuters that De Beers was working on a wide range of ideas including a new automatic grading machine, which would "get rid of the human element" in grading diamonds.

It also hopes to introduce a screening machine by the end of the year that can detect synthetic stones among small, or melee, diamonds.

"We currently have a big project that is looking at integrating the mining companies processes and systems together with the midstream sorting operations all the way to sales," Shine said in the interview in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

"(We need) to make sure that we are able to become leaner and more flexible because the world is much more volatile today."

Both executives shied away from saying whether that would add up to consolidation of some of the company's businesses or worker layoffs, but they did note that De Beers has four separate units and said the whole process could involve some capital outlays.

Mellier also said he could not comment on the ongoing review by Anglo.

Prices of diamonds slumped after the 2008 financial crash and have still to fully recover, hurting the margins of De Beers and its main competitor, Russia's Alrosa.

Some players have speculated the market may gain from investors in markets like China using dollar-denominated assets as a safe haven while the Federal Reserve reduces the flood of cheap dollars flowing into the world economy.

A more durable recovery of the U.S. economy may also help the jewelry market, but against that are signs of a slowdown in demand and economic stimulus in China, a key growth market for diamonds in recent years.

Mellier said on balance he believed global demand for diamond jewelry would rise a touch faster this year than last, outpacing supplies of the precious stones and clearing the way for more investment in the company's operations.

Production for De Beers in 2013, however, would stay in line with last year's rate of 27.9 million carats, he said.

"We think that the jewelry diamond market is going to grow a little bit more than last year," Mellier said.

PRICE SLUMP

Consumer demand for diamond jewelry rose 3 percent in 2012 but De Beers' total sales fell 16 percent to $6.1 billion in 2012 while core earnings dropped 39 percent to $1.08 billion. The company has forecast a single-digit increase in rough diamond prices this year, after a 12 percent fall in 2012.

"We actually see the supply-demand picture as being very positive, which is why we are so confident to continue investing," Shine said.

To help out clients known as sightholders, De Beers last year offered purchase deferrals until March 2013, but Mellier said it was a "one-shot" move that would not be extended.

Mellier also said two of its leading mines, Venetia in South Africa and Jwaneng in Botswana, had recovered respectively from a major flood and a slope failure.

"The two biggest events which were impacting production (at the) beginning of this year have now been cleared."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beers-ceo-seeks-slimmer-more-flexible-company-132102252.html

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Senate on verge of historic immigration vote

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate is on the cusp of approving historic immigration legislation offering citizenship to millions in the U.S. illegally and spending billions of dollars to secure the border.

The vote on final passage of the White House-backed bill was expected as early as Thursday, after a series of test votes so far this week demonstrated supporters command a bipartisan majority well over the 60 votes needed to secure passage and send the bill to the House. First must come two more procedural tests set for Thursday.

"We're on the edge of passing one of the most significant pieces of legislation that this body has passed in a very long time," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "The vast majority of members in this body realize that the immigration system is broken and needs fixing."

Supporters posted 67 votes or more on each of three procedural tests Wednesday. More than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats on each, ensuring bipartisan support that the bill's backers hope will change minds in the House.

The outlook there is uncertain. Many in the GOP-controlled House oppose the pathway to citizenship at the center of the Senate bill. And many prefer a piecemeal approach rather than a sweeping bill like the one the Senate is producing.

The House Judiciary Committee is in the midst of a piece-by-piece effort, signing off Wednesday on legislation to establish a system requiring all employers within two years to check their workers' legal status.

The Judiciary Committee was turning its attention Thursday to a bill on high-skilled workers. Last week it approved two more measures, one on agriculture workers and a second to make illegal presence in the country a federal crime, instead of a civil offense as it is now.

At its core, the legislation in the Senate includes numerous steps to prevent future illegal immigration, while at the same time it offers a chance at citizenship to the 11 million immigrants now living in the country unlawfully.

It provides for 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, requires the completion of 700 miles of fencing and requires an array of high-tech devices to be deployed to secure the border with Mexico.

Businesses would be required to check on the legal status of prospective employees. Other provisions would expand the number of visas 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.

The basic legislation was drafted by four Democrats and four Republicans who met privately for months to produce a rare bipartisan compromise in a polarized Senate. They fended off unwanted changes in the Senate Judiciary Committee and then were involved in negotiations with Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee on a package of tougher border security provisions that swelled support among Republicans.

Outnumbered critics insist the bill falls short of the promises made for it.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., called it "the mother of all amnesties."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-verge-historic-immigration-vote-061838460.html

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Texts, video cited in charges against Hernandez

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) ? In the final minutes of his life, Odin Lloyd sent a series of texts to his sister.

"Did you see who I was with?" said the first, at 3:07 a.m. June 17. "Who?" she finally replied.

"NFL," he texted back, then added: "Just so you know."

It was 3:23 a.m. Moments later, Lloyd would be dead in what a prosecutor called an execution-style shooting orchestrated by New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez because his friend talked to the wrong people at a nightclub. Hernandez was charged Wednesday with murder and could face life in prison, if convicted.

Hernandez was cut from the NFL team less than two hours after he was arrested and led from his North Attleborough home in handcuffs, and nine days after Lloyd's body was discovered by a jogger in a remote area of an industrial park not far from Hernandez's home. The 2011 Pro Bowl selection had signed a five-year contract last summer with the Patriots worth $40 million.

His attorney, Michael Fee, called the case circumstantial during a Wednesday court hearing packed with reporters, curiosity seekers and police officers. Fee said there was a "rather hysterical atmosphere" surrounding the case and urged the judge to disregard his client's celebrity status as he asked for Hernandez, 23, to be released on bail.

The judge, though, ordered Hernandez held without bail on the murder charge and five weapons counts.

Another man, Carlos Ortiz, 27, was arrested Wednesday in Hernandez's hometown of Bristol, Conn., as part of the murder investigation, New Britain State's Attorney Brian Preleski said Thursday. Ortiz was charged as a fugitive from justice and waived extradition to Massachusetts. Prison records show he is being held on $1.5 million bail at a Hartford jail.

Ortiz's public defender, Alfonzo Sirica, declined to comment about the case.

Hernandez was scheduled to appear at a bail review hearing Thursday afternoon in Fall River, according to Bernie Sullivan, spokesman for the Bristol County sheriff.

On Wednesday, Hernandez stood impassively with his hands cuffed in front of him as Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Bill McCauley laid out a detailed timeline of the events, cobbled together from sources including witnesses, surveillance video, text messages and data from cellphone towers.

Lloyd, 27, a semi-pro football player with the Boston Bandits, had known Hernandez for about a year and was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, the mother of Hernandez's 8-month-old baby, McCauley said.

On June 14, Lloyd went with Hernandez to the Boston nightclub Rumor. McCauley said Hernandez was upset Lloyd had talked to people there with whom Hernandez had trouble. He did not elaborate.

Two days later, McCauley said, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends and asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut. At 9:05 p.m., a few minutes after the first message to his friends, Hernandez texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, McCauley said.

Later, surveillance footage from Hernandez's home showed his friends arrive and go inside. Hernandez, holding a gun, then told someone in the house he was upset and couldn't trust anyone anymore, the prosecutor said.

At 1:12 a.m. June 17, the three left in Hernandez's rented silver Nissan Altima, McCauley said. Cell towers tracked their movements to a gas station off the highway. There, he said, Hernandez bought blue Bubblicious gum.

At 2:32 a.m., they arrived outside Lloyd's home in Boston and texted him that they were there. McCauley said Lloyd's sister saw him get into Hernandez's car.

From there, surveillance cameras captured images of what the prosecutor said was Hernandez driving the silver Altima through Boston. As they drove back toward North Attleborough, Hernandez told Lloyd he was upset about what happened at the club and didn't trust him, McCauley said. That was when Lloyd began sending texts to his sister.

Surveillance video showed the car entering the industrial park and at 3:23 a.m. driving down a gravel road near where Lloyd's body was found. Four minutes later, McCauley said, the car emerged. During that period, employees working an overnight shift nearby heard several gunshots, McCauley said.

McCauley said Lloyd was shot multiple times, including twice from above as he was lying on the ground. He said five .45-caliber casings were found at the scene.

Authorities did not say who fired the shots or identify the two others with Hernandez.

At 3:29 a.m., surveillance at Hernandez's house showed him arriving, McCauley said.

"The defendant was walking through the house with a gun in his hand. That's captured on video," he said.

His friend is also seen holding a gun, and neither weapon has been found, McCauley said.

Then, the surveillance system stopped recording, and footage was missing from the six to eight hours after the slaying, he said.

The afternoon of June 17, the prosecutor said, Hernandez returned the rental car, offering the attendant a piece of blue Bubblicious gum when he dropped it off. While cleaning the car, the attendant found a piece of blue Bubblicious gum and a shell casing, which he threw away. Police later searched the trash bin and found the gum and the casing. The prosecutor said it was tested and matched the casings found where Lloyd was killed.

As McCauley outlined the killing, Lloyd's family members cried and held each other. Two were so overcome that they had to leave the courtroom.

The Patriots said in a statement after Hernandez's arrest but before the murder charge was announced that cutting Hernandez was "the right thing to do."

"Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation," it said.

Hernandez was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 out of the University of Florida, where he was an All-American.

During the draft, one team said it wouldn't take him under any circumstances, and he was passed over by one club after another before New England picked him in the fourth round. Afterward, Hernandez said he had failed a drug test in college ? reportedly for marijuana ? and was up front with teams about it.

A Florida man filed a lawsuit last week claiming Hernandez shot him in the face after they argued at a strip club in February.

Hernandez became a father on Nov. 6 and said he intended to change his ways: "Now, another one is looking up to me. I can't just be young and reckless Aaron no more. I'm going to try to do the right things."

___

Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy in Boston and Howard Ulman in North Attleborough contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texts-video-cited-charges-against-hernandez-072445310.html

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Turkey seeks to tighten grip on Twitter after protests

Twitter

Ozge Ozbilgin and Jonathon Burch Reuters

6 hours ago

Twitter

ANKARA ? Turkey said on Wednesday it had asked Twitter to set up a representative office inside the country, which could give it a tighter rein over the microblogging site it has accused of helping stir weeks of anti-government protests.

While mainstream Turkish media largely ignored the protests during the early days of the unrest, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook emerged as the main outlets for Turks opposed to the government.

Transport and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters on Wednesday that without a corporate presence in the country, the Turkish government could not quickly reach Twitter officials with orders to take down content or with requests for user data.

"When information is requested, we want to see someone in Turkey who can provide this ... there needs to be an interlocutor we can put our grievance to and who can correct an error if there is one," he said.

"We have told all social media that ... if you operate in Turkey you must comply with Turkish law," Yildirim said.

Twitter declined to respond to the government request on Wednesday, but a person familiar with the company's thinking said it had no current plans to open an office in that country.

Turkey successfully pressured Google into opening an office there last October after blocking YouTube, a Google subsidiary, from Turkish Internet users for two years.

While Ankara had no problems with Facebook, which had been working with Turkish authorities for a while and had representatives inside Turkey, Yildirim said it had not seen a "positive approach" from Twitter after Turkey issued the "necessary warnings" to the site.

"Twitter will probably comply, too. Otherwise this is a situation that cannot be sustained," he said, without elaborating, but he stressed the aim was not to limit social media.

Identification sought
An official at the ministry, who asked not to be named, said the government had asked Twitter to reveal the identities of users who posted messages deemed insulting to the government or prime minister, or that flouted people's personal rights.

It was not immediately clear whether Twitter had responded.

Facebook said in a statement that it had not provided user data to Turkish authorities in response to government requests over the protests and said it was concerned about proposals Internet companies may have to provide data more frequently.

'Provocateurs'
In the midst of some of the country's worst political upheaval in years, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has described sites like Twitter as a "scourge," although senior members of his party are regular users. He has said such websites were used to spread lies about the government with the aim of terrorizing society.

Police detained several dozen people suspected of inciting unrest on social media during the protests, according to local reports.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D. C., Twitter's Chief Executive Dick Costolo said on Wednesday that he had been observing the developments in Turkey, but he emphasized that Twitter had played a hands-off role in the political debate.

"We don't say, 'Well, if you believe this, you can't use our platform for that,'" Costolo said. "You can use our platform to say what you believe, and that's what the people of Turkey ... are using the platform for. The platform itself doesn't have any perspective on these things."

Turkey's interior minister had previously said the government was working on new regulations that would target so-called "provocateurs" on social media but there have been few details on what the laws would entail.

One source with knowledge of the matter said the justice ministry had proposed a regulation whereby any Turk wishing to open a Twitter account would have to enter their national identification number, but this had been rejected by the transport ministry as being technically unfeasible.

'Country Withheld Content'
Last year, Twitter introduced a feature called "Country Withheld Content" that allows it to narrowly censor tweets considered illegal in a specific country, and it caused some concern among users.

Twitter implemented the feature for the first time in October in response to a request by German authorities, blocking messages in Germany by a right-wing group banned by police.

Turkey said last year that it had won a long-running battle to persuade Google-owned YouTube to operate under a Turkish Internet domain, giving Ankara more control over the video-sharing website and requiring the company to pay Turkish taxes. In October, Google opened an office in Istanbul.

Turkey banned the popular website for more than two years in 2008 after users posted videos the government deemed insulting to the republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Rights groups have long pressed Turkey to reform strict Internet laws and analysts have criticized the ease with which citizens and politicians can apply to have a website banned.

Turkey cites offenses including child pornography and insulting Ataturk to justify blocking websites.

Turkish users have increasingly turned to encryption software to thwart any ramp up in censorship of the Internet.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2dd79a1e/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cturkey0Eseeks0Etighten0Egrip0Etwitter0Eafter0Eprotests0E6C10A463395/story01.htm

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Pope names commission of inquiry into Vatican bank

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis' new commission of inquiry into the troubled Vatican bank has a brand new money-laundering case to look into: How a Holy See monsignor withdrew more than a half-million euros in charitable donations from the bank without any flags being raised, walked out of Vatican City with the cash, and then used the money to pay off his personal mortgage.

The case of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is just one example of how lax norms and incompetence, if not more serious shortcomings at the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, have sullied the Vatican's reputation in international financial circles and made it a target for Francis' clean-up and reform campaign.

Francis on Wednesday announced the creation of a commission of inquiry to look into the IOR's activities and legal status "to allow for a better harmonization with the universal mission of the Apostolic See," according to the legal document he signed creating it.

It was the second time in as many weeks that Francis has intervened to get information out of the IOR, a secretive institution best known for the scandals it has caused the Vatican. On June 15, he filled a key vacancy in the bank's governing structure, tapping a trusted prelate to be his eyes inside the bank.

Francis named five people to the commission, including two Americans: Monsignor Peter Wells, a top official in the Vatican secretariat of state, and Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and current president of a pontifical academy.

American cardinals were among the most vocal in demanding a wholesale reform of the Vatican bureaucracy ? and the Vatican bank ? in the meetings outlining the priorities for the new pope in the run-up to the March conclave that elected Francis. The demands were raised following revelations in leaked documents last year that told of dysfunction, petty turf wars and allegations of corruption in the Holy See's governance.

Francis, who has made clear he has no patience for corruption and wants a "poor" church, has already named a separate commission of cardinals to advise him on the broader question of reforming the Vatican bureaucracy as a whole.

The Vatican bank was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage assets destined for religious or charitable works. Located in a tower just inside the gates of Vatican City, it also manages the pension system for the Vatican's thousands of employees.

The bank commission's members have authority to gather documents, data and information about the bank's legal status and activities, even overriding normal secrecy rules to do so. Members can receive information from anyone in the Vatican bureaucracy as well as people who spontaneously volunteer information, and the commission can refer to outside advisers if necessary, according to the terms.

The commission will report back to Francis ? presumably with both information and recommendations ? and then will be dissolved, the document states. No timeframe was given but the commission is to start working soon.

The bank's daily management and activities continues unchanged.

The announcement came as the Vatican faces a new embarrassment involving the bank: Prosecutors in the southern city of Salerno have placed Scarano, an accountant in one of the Vatican's key finance offices, the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, under investigation for alleged money-laundering stemming from his IOR account.

Scarano's attorney, Silverio Sica, told The Associated Press that the investigation concerns transactions Scarano made in 2009 in which he took 560,000 euros ($729,000) in cash out of his personal IOR bank account and carried it out of the Vatican and into Italy to help pay off a mortgage on his Salerno home.

To deposit the money into an Italian bank account ? and to prevent family members from finding out he had such a large chunk of cash ? he asked 56 close friends to accept 10,000 euros apiece in cash in exchange for a check or money transfer in the same amount, Sica said in a telephone interview. Scarano was then able to deposit the amounts in his Italian account.

"The money came from the Vatican. He wanted to bring it into Italy. He was advised to do it in this way," Sica said.

The original money came into Scarano's IOR account from donors who gave it to the prelate thinking they were funding a home for the terminally ill in Salerno, Sica said. He said the donors had "enormous" wealth and could offer such donations for his charitable efforts.

He said Scarano had given the names of the donors to prosecutors and insisted the origin of the money was clean, that the transactions didn't constitute money-laundering, and that he only took the money "temporarily" for his personal use.

The home for terminally ill hasn't been built, though the property has been identified, Sica said.

"He declares himself absolutely innocent," Sica said.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed Wednesday that Scarano had been suspended temporarily from his job and that the Vatican's financial watchdog agency, known by its acronym AIF, was "aware of the case and is taking ? if and where appropriate ? the necessary measures."

Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported over the weekend that the Bank of Italy had flagged the case to the AIF, seeking information about Scarano's IOR account as part of the Salerno probe. Lombardi didn't respond when asked why the IOR itself didn't flag such unusually large cash withdrawals back in 2009.

There have long been questions about just what the IOR actually is and does ? questions which the commission presumably will try to iron out for Francis. Vatican officials have long insisted it's not even a bank, since it doesn't perform key banking activities like making loans.

It does however take deposits, transfer money and invest for its clients, who include Vatican officials, members of religious orders and diplomats accredited to the Holy See. The bank performs asset management services that in 2012 helped earn it 86.6 million euros in profit on 7.1 billion euros in total assets under management.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-names-commission-inquiry-vatican-110533778.html

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Qwiki for iPhone review: Turn your iPhone photos into stunning, shareable slideshows in seconds

Qwiki for iPhone's whole purpose is to allow you to turn all your already existing photos into beautiful slideshows in just a matter of seconds. Your slideshows, complete with transitions and music from your own library, can then be shared via your social networks and on Qwiki with a simple tap. If you're looking for an easy way to share memories without any heavy lifting involved, Qwiki is great for traveling, moments with your kids, and anything else you'd want to compile into a single file to share.

Qwiki allows you to create slideshows of your photos in two different ways, auto and manual. The automatic method is where you can allow Qwiki to compile photos on your behalf without you having to choose them manually. It seems as though it will attempt to choose groupings based on date and location. For the most part, it's pretty accurate.

If you'd like to choose your own photos, you are of course allowed to do so. Each slideshow can have a total of 25 photos maximum within them. Once you've chosen your photos you can add captions to them as well as change the transitions you'd like to use.

Probably the coolest part of Qwiki is that it can link in with your music library and let you select your own music instead of using the boring typical music options you find for many slideshow apps. Just tap on the music section and you can scroll through your own library and choose a song. Your friends will then see the title of the track underneath your slideshow and be able to hop right over to iTunes to purchase it if they choose.

When it comes to sharing, Qwiki natively allows you to export to Twitter, Facebook, email, SMS, or make it private for sharing later (or not at all). Qwiki has a rather large network which means you may already find some of your friends using it already. Even if they aren't, they can still view the link you send them without having the app themselves and view the slideshows you create.

The good

• No need for friends to have the app to view your links
• Using your own music is a great option over stock boring music
• Nice transitions to choose from
• Auto-creation works surprisingly well

The bad

• No way to scrub though Qwiki videos

The bottom line

Qwiki is probably one of the best slideshow creation apps I've used and considering your friends don't have to download the app in order to view them, this makes it an even better overall option. Creation is easy, fun, and quick which means you will probably be more inclined to actually use it to share photos.

If you're looking for something that removes the complicated parts of sharing groups of photos, Qwiki is it.

• Free - Download Now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/hUwEDLh99wo/story01.htm

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Prosecutors want to admit calls in Zimmerman trial

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? Prosecutors in the George Zimmerman trial want to introduce recordings of non-emergency calls he made to law enforcement to prove the former neighborhood watch leader is guilty of second-degree murder in shooting Trayvon Martin last year.

Prosecutors planned to try to convince Judge Debra Nelson on Tuesday that a series of calls Zimmerman made to authorities about suspicious people in his central Florida neighborhood in the weeks and months before the fatal shooting are indicative of the state of mind he had that night.

State attorney John Guy said in his opening statement Monday that Zimmerman thought Martin was one of the "F------ punks" who "always get away" whom he'd observed previously in his neighborhood and called police about.

But late Monday, defense attorneys objected to the introduction of the previous calls during the questioning of a witness, saying they were being used to show prior bad acts by Zimmerman. The defense maintains this should not be admissible under the rules of evidence.

The judge said she would address the matter Tuesday and sent the jurors to the hotel where they are being sequestered for the duration of the trial, which could last several weeks.

The prosecution began opening statements in the long-awaited murder trial with shocking language, repeating obscenities Zimmerman uttered while talking to a police dispatcher moments before the deadly confrontation.

The defense opened with a knock-knock joke about the difficulty of picking a jury for a case that stirred nationwide debate over racial profiling, vigilantism and Florida's expansive laws on the use of deadly force.

"Knock. Knock," said defense attorney Don West.

"Who is there?"

"George Zimmerman."

"George Zimmerman who?"

"All right, good. You're on the jury."

Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for gunning down Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, as the unarmed black teenager, wearing a hoodie on a dark, rainy night, walked from a convenience store through the gated townhouse community where he was staying.

When Zimmerman initially wasn't charged in the fatal shooting, Martin's family claimed Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin and police were dragging their feet in bringing charges. Zimmerman, whose mother is Hispanic and whose father is white, has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race.

Randy McClean, a criminal defense attorney in Florida with no connection to the case, called the prosecution's opening statement "brilliant" in that it described Zimmerman's state of mind. But he described the knock-knock joke as less than stellar.

"If you're defending your client for second-degree murder, you probably shouldn't start your opening with a joke," McClean said.

Guy's first words to the jury recounted the profane words Zimmerman told a dispatcher in a call shortly after spotting Martin: "F------ punks. These a-------. They always get away."

Zimmerman was profiling Martin as he followed him, Guy said. He said Zimmerman viewed the teen "as someone about to a commit a crime in his neighborhood."

"And he acted on it. That's why we're here," the prosecutor said.

Zimmerman didn't have to shoot Martin, Guy said. "He shot him for the worst of all reasons: because he wanted to," he said.

The prosecutor portrayed the then-neighborhood watch captain as a vigilante, saying, "Zimmerman thought it was his right to rid his neighborhood of anyone who did not belong."

West told jurors a different story: Martin sucker-punched Zimmerman and then pounded his head against the concrete sidewalk, and that's when Zimmerman opened fire.

Showing the jury photos of a bloodied and bruised Zimmerman, the defense attorney said, "He had just taken tremendous blows to his face, tremendous blows to his head."

West said the idea that Martin was unarmed is untrue: "Trayvon Martin armed himself with a concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman's head."

The prosecutor, however, disputed elements of Zimmerman's story, including his claim that Martin put his hands over Zimmerman's mouth and reached for the man's gun. Guy said none of Zimmerman's DNA was found on Martin's body, and none of the teenager's DNA was on the weapon or the holster.

But West said that doesn't prove anything, arguing that crime-scene technicians didn't properly protect Martin's hands from contamination.

Two police dispatch phone calls that could prove to be important evidence for both sides were played for the jury by the defense. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, left the courtroom before the second recording, which has the sound of the gunshot that killed Martin.

The first was a call Zimmerman made to a nonemergency police dispatcher, who told him he didn't need to be following Martin.

The second 911 call, from a witness, captures screams in the distant background from the struggle between Zimmerman and Martin. Martin's parents said the screams are from their son, while Zimmerman's father contends they are his son's.

Nelson ruled last weekend that audio experts for the prosecution won't be able to testify that the screams belong to Martin, saying the methods used were unreliable.

Other witnesses who testified Monday included a convenience store clerk and the 911 dispatcher who took Zimmerman's call when he was following Martin, who had gone to the convenience store to buy Skittles and a can of iced tea.

The 911 dispatcher, Sean Noffke, testified that he had advised Zimmerman not to follow Martin.

___

Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prosecutors-want-admit-calls-zimmerman-trial-083739961.html

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Video: All America Survey: A Profound Shift

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52315825/

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Fairy Circle Mystery Solved By Computational Modelling

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128791/Fairy_Circle_Mystery_Solved_By_Computational_Modelling_

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Tick-caused bobcat fever can be deadly to domestic cats

June 24, 2013 ? Kansas State University veterinarians are warning pet owners to watch out for ticks carrying a disease that could kill cats.

Cytauxzoon felis, also known as bobcat fever, is a blood parasite that infects domestic cats and has a very high death rate. Susan Nelson, a veterinarian and clinical associate professor at Kansas State University's Veterinary Health Center, says this disease was thought to be carried only by the American dog tick, but now may be carried by the lone star tick, which is quite prevalent in northeast Kansas.

"Most people have probably seen a lone star tick even if they're not familiar with them by name," Nelson said. "They're the ones that have a bright white spot on their back."

Bobcat fever does not affect humans or dogs. It is called bobcat fever because bobcats are considered the main reservoir for the disease, as it is typically not fatal for them.

Most cases of bobcat fever occur from March through September, which coincides with the times cats are most likely to encounter ticks. Late spring and early summer are the peak times for ticks in Kansas.

Nelson says cats that live outside the city boundaries are at a higher risk of getting bobcat fever because they are more likely to encounter ticks in a rural environment; however, that doesn't necessarily mean that your city-living kitty can't get the disease. If your cat has contracted the disease, it can be anywhere from five to 20 days before symptoms appear.

"First, you're probably going to notice they're going to be really lethargic and tired," Nelson said. "Their appetite is going to decrease. They may feel very hot to you as they will tend to run a high fever early in the course of the disease. As the disease progresses, you might see breathing problems, dehydration and the whites of their eyes or the inside of their ears might start looking yellow as they start getting jaundiced. Their body temperature will start to drop as they near the end stages of the disease."

A cat may be infected even if you don't see a tick on the animal, because the tick may have already fed and dropped off the cat before the animal starts showing symptoms of the disease.

No vaccine is available for this disease. Treatment can be expensive and often unsuccessful, so it is important to take precautionary steps to keep your cat from being bitten. Nelson says the best thing to do is to keep your cat indoors. If you can't do that, then keep your yard well maintained -- it's a myth that ticks from fall from trees.

"If your cat likes to stay in the yard, try to keep your grass mowed down so it's not tall," she said. "The ticks tend to like the taller grasses. Keep the shrubbery trimmed short and remove debris around your house. Do daily tick checks on the cats and remember to look between their toes. If your cat lives with a dog, make sure you are using some type of tick control on the dog as it can bring ticks into your house, which can then feed on your cat."

Nelson also suggests talking to your veterinarian about types of tick control medications to determine which is best for your pet.

Tick expert Michael Dryden, university distinguished professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at Kansas State University, tracks the lone star tick and says they are mainly found in eastern Kansas and in the Southeastern states. So far, he has not found any lone star ticks west of Clay Center, Kan., but he expects its territory will expand.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/AqB-HnyRfKc/130624103807.htm

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New research finds flu shot effective regardless of circulating flu strain

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kate Taylor
TaylorKa@smh.ca
647-393-7527
St. Michael's Hospital

New research out of St. Michael's Hospital has found that despite popular belief, the flu shot is effective in preventing the flu, even if the virus going around does not match the vaccine.

"It's quite common for people to say they are not going to get the flu shot this year because they've heard it does not match the strain of flu going around," said Dr. Andrea Tricco, the lead author of the paper and a scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital. "However, we've found that individuals will be protected regardless of whether the flu strain is a match or not."

The review of the literature analyzed more than 40 years of data, from 1971 to 2011, and included 47 influenza seasons and almost 95,000 healthy people.

Dr. Tricco and colleagues were particularly interested in flu seasons when the flu vaccines were not matched well to circulating strains. They wanted to understand whether the flu vaccines would still be effective when the strains were not a match.

Vaccines work by giving the body an inactive, or non-infective, form of the flu virus so that the body can produce antibodies. When an individual comes into contact with the virus in the future, the body can use the natural antibodies it has created to fight it off.

The study looked at the two most popular vaccine formulations in Canada Trivalent inactive vaccine for adults and live-attenuated influenza vaccine for children. They found that both vaccines provided significant protection against matched (ranging from 65 per cent to 83 per cent effectiveness) and mismatched (ranging from 52 per cent to 54 per cent effectiveness) flu strains.

"Looking at matches and mismatches can be a difficult process because it's not a yes or no variable," Dr. Tricco said. "Often we're looking at the degree of match between a flu strain and what's included in a vaccine because strains drift from year to year."

Dr. Tricco said that the study's results are mainly applicable to the seasonal flu in otherwise healthy children and adults.

###

The study was funded by GlaxoSmithKline.

About St. Michael's Hospital

St. Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in more than 23 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, and care of the homeless are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

For more information, or to speak to Dr. Tricco please contact:

Kate Taylor
Communications Adviser
St. Michael's Hospital
Phone: 416-864-6060 x. 6537
TaylorKa@smh.ca
Inspired Care. Inspiring Science
http://www.stmichaelshospital.com

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kate Taylor
TaylorKa@smh.ca
647-393-7527
St. Michael's Hospital

New research out of St. Michael's Hospital has found that despite popular belief, the flu shot is effective in preventing the flu, even if the virus going around does not match the vaccine.

"It's quite common for people to say they are not going to get the flu shot this year because they've heard it does not match the strain of flu going around," said Dr. Andrea Tricco, the lead author of the paper and a scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital. "However, we've found that individuals will be protected regardless of whether the flu strain is a match or not."

The review of the literature analyzed more than 40 years of data, from 1971 to 2011, and included 47 influenza seasons and almost 95,000 healthy people.

Dr. Tricco and colleagues were particularly interested in flu seasons when the flu vaccines were not matched well to circulating strains. They wanted to understand whether the flu vaccines would still be effective when the strains were not a match.

Vaccines work by giving the body an inactive, or non-infective, form of the flu virus so that the body can produce antibodies. When an individual comes into contact with the virus in the future, the body can use the natural antibodies it has created to fight it off.

The study looked at the two most popular vaccine formulations in Canada Trivalent inactive vaccine for adults and live-attenuated influenza vaccine for children. They found that both vaccines provided significant protection against matched (ranging from 65 per cent to 83 per cent effectiveness) and mismatched (ranging from 52 per cent to 54 per cent effectiveness) flu strains.

"Looking at matches and mismatches can be a difficult process because it's not a yes or no variable," Dr. Tricco said. "Often we're looking at the degree of match between a flu strain and what's included in a vaccine because strains drift from year to year."

Dr. Tricco said that the study's results are mainly applicable to the seasonal flu in otherwise healthy children and adults.

###

The study was funded by GlaxoSmithKline.

About St. Michael's Hospital

St. Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in more than 23 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, and care of the homeless are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

For more information, or to speak to Dr. Tricco please contact:

Kate Taylor
Communications Adviser
St. Michael's Hospital
Phone: 416-864-6060 x. 6537
TaylorKa@smh.ca
Inspired Care. Inspiring Science
http://www.stmichaelshospital.com

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/smh-nrf062513.php

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Five years of stereo imaging for NASA's TWINS

June 24, 2013 ? Surrounding Earth is a dynamic region called the magnetosphere. The region is governed by magnetic and electric forces, incoming energy and material from the sun, and a vast zoo of waves and processes unlike what is normally experienced in Earth-bound physics. Nestled inside this constantly changing magnetic bubble lies a donut of charged particles generally aligned with Earth's equator. Known as the ring current, its waxing and waning is a crucial part of the space weather surrounding our planet, able to induce magnetic fluctuations on the ground as well as to transmit disruptive surface charges onto spacecraft.

On June 15, 2008, a new set of instruments began stereoscopic imaging of this mysterious region. Called Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers or TWINS, these satellites orbit in widely separated planes to provide the first and only stereo view of the ring current. TWINS maps the energetic neutral atoms that shoot away from the ring current when created by ion collisions.

In five years of operation, the TWINS maps have provided three-dimensional images and global characterization of this region. The observatories track how the magnetosphere responds to space weather storms, characterize global information such as temperature and shape of various structures within the magnetosphere, and improve models of the magnetosphere that can be used to simulate a vast array of events.

"With two satellites, with two sets of simultaneous images we can see things that are entirely new," said Mei-Ching Fok, the project scientist for TWINS at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This is the first ever stereoscopic energetic neutral atom mission, and it's changed the way we understand the ring current."

Each spacecraft is in a highly elliptical orbit called a Molniya orbit, during which the spacecraft spend most of their time around 20,000 miles above Earth, where they get a great view of the magnetosphere. Initially launched for a two-year mission, TWINS was formally extended in 2010 for three more years, with another multi-year extension pending. Over that time, TWINS has worked hand in hand with other NASA missions that provide information about Earth's magnetosphere.

"We've done some fantastic new research in the last five years," said David McComas, the principal investigator for TWINS at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. "As a mission of opportunity, it is a very inexpensive mission and it continues to return incredible science."

TWINS science is based on two instruments that can track neutral atoms. The first is a neutral atom imager that records the atoms that naturally stream away when a neutral atom collides with an ion. This allows the instrument to map the original ions from far away -- as if it could see atoms the way we see light -- instead of only collecting data from the areas of space it passes through.

"Over the course of the last 20 years a completely new technique evolved so we can observe charged particles, such as those in the ring current, remotely," said McComas. "The charged particles sometimes collide with a slow-moving neutral particle, in this case from a population of neutrals from Earth's highly extended atmosphere, the geocorona."

When this happens, an electron hops from the slow neutral atom to the fast ion, so now the former becomes charged, and the latter neutral. That new neutral speeds off in a straight direction, unfazed by the magnetic field lines around Earth that guide and control the motion of charged particles. TWINS collects such fast neutral particles and from that data scientists can work backward to map out the location and movement of the original ions.

The other instrument on TWINS is a Lyman alpha detector, which can measure the density of hydrogen from afar, and in this case observes the hydrogen cloud around Earth, the geocorona.

Most importantly, these instruments exist on both of the TWINS spacecraft. Much of the successful research in the last five years relies on the ability to watch these neutrals from two viewpoints, allowing scientists to analyze not only speed and number of particles, but also to determine the angles at which the particles left their original collisions. The stereo vision contributed to the detailed perspectives on how the magnetosphere reacts to space weather storms: both those due to the impact of a coronal mass ejection that traveled from the sun toward Earth and due to an incoming twist in the solar wind known as a co-rotating interaction region. TWINS has also revealed that the pitch angle at which the ions travel around Earth is different on each side of the planet. Such information helps scientists determine whether the ions are more likely to escape from the ring current out into space or to ultimately funnel down toward Earth.

"TWINS is a stereo mission, providing the first observations of the neutral atoms from two vantage points, but two spacecraft give us another advantage," said Natalia Buzulukova, a magnetospheric scientist at Goddard who works with TWINS data. "Two spacecraft provide continuous coverage of the ring current, as one set of instruments always has a view."

Because the spacecraft orbits are not in sync they provide stereoscopic imaging for a few hours each day, but there is always at least one spacecraft keeping tabs on how events are unfolding. Prior to TWINS, a spacecraft might see a tantalizing process taking place in the ring current for only a short while before its orbit took it out of view. The event might well have finished before the spacecraft came back around for its second look.

Such continuity has proved useful to determine what governs whether particles in the ring current will precipitate downward toward Earth as well as to provide a global temperature map of the magnetic tail trailing behind Earth, the magnetotail. Such a map had only ever previously been inferred from models and statistical analysis, never from a comprehensive data set of what was actually observed.

The Lyman-alpha instrument has been used in two ways. For one thing, it quantifies the geocorona in order to better understand how it affects the collisions in the ring current. It also has taught us more about the geocorona itself. Previously, researchers believed it to be a fairly simple sphere around Earth. The two TWINS instruments have shown how asymmetric it is, changing with the solar cycle, seasons, and even the hours of the day.

A final important feature of this fire hose of TWINS data is how much it helps improve computer simulations of the ring current and the rest of the magnetosphere. With accurate computer models, scientists can better predict how the magnetosphere will react to any given space weather event.

"We get two really unique things with two spacecraft: stereo imaging and continuous coverage. Together the observations we get are fantastic," said McComas. "It's an incredibly powerful combination of tools."

TWINS is an Explorer Mission of Opportunity. Southwest Research Institute leads TWINS with teams of national and international partners. Goddard manages the Explorers Program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.

For more information about TWINS science and mission, visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/twins/

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Xky6buFd45M/130624141606.htm

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A New Echolocation Algorithm Can Map Spaces Based on Sound Alone

There?s plenty of precedent for echolocation in the natural world: bats can navigate based on the echo of their chirrups; and blind humans, at least anecdotally, sometimes develop remarkable sound-based spatial skills. But using sound to accurately map a space in three dimensions? That?s new.

This week, scientists at the ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale, in Lausanne, in Switzerland, published a study showing how a newly-developed algorithm uses sound to measure the dimensions of a space. Their system only requires four standard microphones?placed anywhere in any space?and a sound as small as a finger snap to generate a model. It?s a bit like the spatial triangulation used by 3D scanners?except this system uses sound, rather than light. A PhD student at EPFL named Ivan Dokmani? explains:

?Each microphone picks up the direct sound from the source, as well as the echoes arriving from various walls. The algorithm then compares the signal from each microphone. The infinitesimal lags that appear in the signals are used to calculate not only the distance between the microphones, but also the distance from each microphone to the walls and the sound source.?

The group began by testing the system in a six-sided room, but went on to accurately map part of the ornate Lausanne Cathedral, the 900-year-old church in the heart of city. The study?which appeared in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences?only presents the team?s initial research, which they plan to continue with over the next few years.

But that hasn?t stopped the team from speculating about how the technology could be applied. According to Dokmani?, architects could eventually use the algorithm to get accurate measurements of a particular building or site. Likewise, acoustical engineers could use it to create amphitheaters whose shapes are based on an ideal sound. There are also plenty of more world-changing uses: 911 operators could determine what type of room a caller is in. At the same time, as with all powerful technology, it's possible to imagine this kind of system being used for more sinister purposes. Either way, it?s a fascinating piece of research?check out the report here. [GizMag]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/a-new-echolocation-algorithm-can-map-spaces-based-on-so-561634511

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