10 Things to Know for Wednesday

President Barack Obama waves as he walks away from the podium after a new conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 30, 2013. The president strongly suggested Tuesday he'd consider military action against Syria if it can be confirmed that President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons in the two-year-old civil war. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Barack Obama waves as he walks away from the podium after a new conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 30, 2013. The president strongly suggested Tuesday he'd consider military action against Syria if it can be confirmed that President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons in the two-year-old civil war. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

An Air Force carry team, carries the transfer case containing the remains of Air Force Staff Sgt. Richard A. Dickson of Rancho Cordova, Calif., upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del. on Tuesday, April, 30, 2013. The Department of Defense announced the death of Dickson who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Members of the next mission to the International Space Station, U.S. astronaut Karen Nyberg, left, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, center, and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano pose for the media before their final preflight practical examination in a mock-up of a Soyuz TMA space craft at the Russian Space Training Center in Star City outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 30, 2013. The three are scheduled to blast off to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrom on a Russian made Soyuz TMA-09M space craft on May 29. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:

1. OVER-THE-COUNTER MORNING-AFTER PILL APPROVED ? IF YOU'RE AT LEAST 15

The FDA will require cashiers to check the buyer's age.

2. OBAMA WEIGHS OPTIONS IN SYRIA

He says supplying weapons and ammunition to Syrian rebels is on the table ? but not unilateral action.

3. WHAT THE FEDS FOUND IN SUSPICIOUS LETTERS SUSPECT'S TRASH

An affidavit says authorities found a dust mask and other items that tested positive for ricin.

4. WHO WAS WATCHING THE ELDER BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT

Russia put Tamerlan Tsarnaev under surveillance during his six-month visit to Dagestan.

5. OBAMA PROMISES RENEWED EFFORT TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO

Years after his original campaign promise, Obama's comments follow an extensive hunger strike at the detention facility.

6. ABORTION DOCTOR WAITS TO HEAR HIS FATE

A jury has begun deliberating first-degree murder charges against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who is accused of killing a woman and four viable babies.

7. VICTIMS NAMED IN AFGHANISTAN CRASH

Six men from Michigan and one from Kentucky died when the plane carrying vehicles and other cargo went down shortly after takeoff.

8. 'MADE IN USA' TAG HARD TO FIND ON TODAY'S CLOTHES

The clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed hundreds spotlights the human cost of Westerners' cheap clothing.

9. SECRETS UNFOLD IN KING OF POP'S WRONGFUL DEATH TRIAL

An attorney for concert promoter AEG says Michael Jackson was like many Americans in the 2000s, "spending a lot more than he was making."

10. WHICH NASA COSTS ARE SKYROCKETING

Russia now provides the only way to get to and from the space station, and it charges more with each new contract ?$5 million per seat more this time.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-30-10-Things-to-Know-Wednesday/id-c388d41fdf2d4ee182b7d713855468a2

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Bomb tears through Damascus, killing 14 people

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrians carry a victim from the scene where a powerful explosion occurred in the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday April 30, 2013. A powerful explosion rocked Damascus on Tuesday, causing scores of casualties, a day after the country's prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily protected capital. (AP Photo/SANA)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrians carry a victim from the scene where a powerful explosion occurred in the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday April 30, 2013. A powerful explosion rocked Damascus on Tuesday, causing scores of casualties, a day after the country's prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily protected capital. (AP Photo/SANA)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian doctors treat citizens who were injured in an explosion, in the central district of Marjeh, Damascus, Syria, Tuesday April 30, 2013. A powerful explosion rocked Damascus on Tuesday, causing scores of casualties, a day after the country's prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily protected capital. (AP Photo/SANA)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian man stands at the entrance of a damaged shop at the scene of a powerful explosion which occurred in the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday April 30, 2013. A powerful explosion rocked Damascus on Tuesday, causing scores of casualties, a day after the country's prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily protected capital. (AP Photo/SANA)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian security officers gather in front of a burned car, at the scene where a powerful explosion occurred at the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday April 30, 2013. A powerful explosion rocked Damascus on Tuesday, causing scores of casualties, a day after the country's prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily protected capital. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a damaged commercial building after a powerful explosion occurred in the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday April 30, 2013. A powerful explosion rocked Damascus on Tuesday, causing scores of casualties, a day after the country's prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily protected capital. (AP Photo/SANA)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A powerful bomb ripped through a bustling commercial district of Damascus on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people, shattering store fronts and bringing Syria's civil war to the heart of the capital for the second consecutive day.

A day earlier, the Syrian prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt after a car bomb struck near his convoy, a few kilometers (miles) from Tuesday's blast. The bombings appear to be part of an accelerated campaign by opposition forces to hit President Bashar Assad's regime in the heavily defended capital.

In Washington, President Barack Obama, who has said the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would mark an unacceptable escalation of the country's civil war, said the United States must be more certain of all the facts before he decides on how the country will intervene in the conflict.

The White House said last week intelligence indicates the Syrian military has likely used a deadly nerve agent on at least two occasions in the civil war. Damascus denies the allegations, and says Syrian rebels are trying to frame it.

Tuesday's bombing struck the Marjeh neighborhood, a bustling commercial area near the Old City of Damascus, Syrian TV said. It described the explosion as a "terrorist bombing," using the term Assad's regime uses to refer to opposition fighters.

The state news agency said 14 people were killed and 103 wounded in the attack.

"I heard a very loud bang and then the ceiling collapsed on top of me," said Zaher Nafeq, who owns a mobile phone shop in the Damascus Towers, a 23-floor office building. He was wounded in his hand and his mobile phone shop was badly damaged in the blast.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but car bombs and suicide attacks targeting Damascus and other cities that remain under government control in the third year of the conflict have been claimed in the past by the al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra group ? one of scores of rebel factions fighting to oust Assad.

The target of Tuesday's attack was not immediately clear, although the explosion took place outside the former Interior Ministry building that was also damaged in the blast.

Ambulances rushed to the scene and Syrian state TV aired footage firefighters trying to extinguish a blaze that engulfed several cars and buildings. A man was seen lying on the ground in a pool of blood while another, apparently wounded, was seen being carried by civilians into a bus.

Inspecting the site of the blast, Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, who himself escaped a car bomb that targeted his convoy in December, told reporters the back-to-back attacks in the capital were in response to the "victories and achievements scored by the Syrian Arab Army on the ground against terrorism."

In recent weeks, government troops have overrun two rebel-held Damascus suburbs and a town outside the capital. They also have captured several villages near the border with Lebanon as part of their efforts to secure the strategic corridor running from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast, which is the heartland of the president's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Tuesday's explosion underlined the tenuous security in the Syrian capital, just a day after a remotely detonated roadside bomb struck Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi's convoy. The premier escaped the assassination attempt unharmed, according to state TV.

Also Tuesday, Syrian troops battled opposition fighters near a military helicopter base in the northern province of Aleppo, killing 15 rebels in a single airstrike against their positions, according to Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman.

The rebels tried to storm the Mannagh base late Monday but the regime deployed fighter jets to the area, pounding rebel positions around the base, which is near Syria's border with Turkey, Abdul-Rahman said.

In the northwestern province of Idlib, a government airstrike near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey killed one child and wounded several more people, the Observatory said.

An Associated Press journalist near Reyhanli on the Turkish side of the frontier described a huge plume of black smoke and reported seeing wounded people being rushed by ambulance from the Syrian side to the Turkish control point.

Thousands of Syrian refugees live in a makeshift camp known as the Bab al-Hawa refugee camp near the border with Turkey.

The state news agency said 14 people were killed and 103 wounded in the attack.

Syria's conflict began with largely peaceful anti-government protests in March 2011, but has since morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people, according to the United Nations. Air power has proven to be Assad's greatest advantage in the civil war, and he has exploited it to check rebel advances and prevent the opposition from setting up a rival government in the territory it has seized in the north.

As the regime has pushed back against opposition fighters, it has come under allegations of using chemical weapons on at least two occasions dating back to December.

Obama, who has said that use of chemical weapons or the transfer of those stockpiles to terrorists would cross a "red line" and have "enormous consequences," has sought to temper expectations of quick American action since the White House announced the intelligence assessment last week.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he reiterated that he needed more certainty before acting, but added that if it is determined that the Assad regime used chemical weapons "we would have to rethink the range of options that are available to us."

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that use of chemical weapons in Syria would also be a "red line" for Iran, but suggested rebel forces should be investigated rather than the Islamic Republic's allies in Damascus.

In the latest alleged attack, activists in the town of Saraqeb in northern Idlib province claimed the government bombed the town late Monday with chemical agents. It said the attack caused respiratory problems and other symptoms among a few residents which they claimed were consistent with a chemical attack.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was unable to confirm the purported use of chemical agents.

The Syrian state news agency offered a different narrative, saying "terrorists" brought bags of an unknown white power to Saraqeb and opened them, causing respiratory problems among those exposed to the powder. It said the terrorists then transported the injured to Turkish hospitals to "accuse the Syrian armed troops of using chemical weapons."

Border authorities in Turkey decontaminated a group of Syrians wounded in the Saraqeb attack as they entered the country and hospital staff treating them wore protective equipment, according to an aide to the governor of Turkey's Hatay province, which borders Syria.

The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists, told AP on Tuesday there was no indication that chemical weapons were used in Saraqeb attack.

___

Associated Press journalists Barbara Surk and Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Derl McCrudden in Reyhanli, Turkey contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-30-Syria/id-73165799a1704f5ebe25f372d6109a79

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Living with Glass, Day Four: Canyon Carving

More Info

• Living with Google Glass, Day One: The Reveal
• Living with Google Glass, Day Two: Around the House
• Living with Google Glass, Day Three: Security Checkpoint

Finally, the flash of newness is wearing off. It's taken a few days, but the initial novelty of Glass, enjoying wearing it simply because I could wear it, is running thin. The haze of new gadget excitement is clearing and we can truly get down to brass tacks -- but that doesn't mean I'm not having fun. In fact I've had the opportunity to take Glass with me to do something very fun indeed: ride a Ducati 848 Streetfighter on some of the most amazing roads in the world.

Even as I did this, a jaunt more focused on gathering some exciting footage than truly evaluating the device, I learned some things -- including the fact that a Google Glass headset doesn't really fit underneath a full-face helmet. Not comfortably, anyway.

Gallery: Google Glass motorcycle ride

Filed under: Wearables

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/pekaJYzkOgY/

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Older is wiser: Study shows software developers' skills improve over time

Apr. 29, 2013 ? There is a perception in some tech circles that older programmers aren't able to keep pace with rapidly changing technology, and that they are discriminated against in the software field. But a new study from North Carolina State University indicates that the knowledge and skills of programmers actually improve over time -- and that older programmers know as much (or more) than their younger peers when it comes to recent software platforms.

"We wanted to explore these perceptions of veteran programmers as being out of step with emerging technologies and see if we could determine whether older programmers are actually keeping up with changes in the field," says Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper on the research. "And we found that, in some cases, veteran programmers even have a slight edge."

The researchers looked at the profiles of more than 80,000 programmers on a site called StackOverflow, which is an online community that allows users to ask and answer programming questions. The site also allows users to rate the usefulness of other users' questions and answers. Users who are rated as asking good questions and providing good answers receive points that are reflected in their "reputation score." The higher an individual's reputation score, the more likely it is that the user has a robust understanding of programming issues.

For the first part of the study, the researchers compared the age of users with their reputation scores. They found that an individual's reputation increases with age, at least into a user's 40s. There wasn't enough data to draw meaningful conclusions for older programmers.

The researchers then looked at the number of different subjects that users asked and answered questions about, which reflects the breadth of their programming interests. The researchers found that there is a sharp decline in the number of subjects users weighed in on between the ages of 15 and 30 -- but that the range of subjects increased steadily through the programmers' 30s and into their early 50s.

Finally, the researchers evaluated the knowledge of older programmers (ages 37 and older) compared to younger programmers (younger than 37) in regard to relatively recent technologies -- meaning technologies that have been around for less than 10 years.

For two smartphone operating systems, iOS and Windows Phone 7, the veteran programmers had a significant edge in knowledge over their younger counterparts. For every other technology, from Django to Silverlight, there was no statistically significant difference between older and younger programmers.

"The data doesn't support the bias against older programmers -- if anything, just the opposite," Murphy-Hill says.

The paper, "Is Programming Knowledge Related To Age?," will be presented May 18 at the 10th Working Conference on Mining Software Repositories, sponsored by IEEE and ACM in San Francisco, Calif. Lead author of the paper is Patrick Morrison, a Ph.D. student at NC State.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/x83r5bdODrA/130429114826.htm

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Star Trek Into Darkness Clip: Kirk and Harrison

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/star-trek-into-darkness-clip-kirk-and-harrison/

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Malaysia's opposition banks on new economic deal

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ? With less than a week to general elections, Malaysia's opposition alliance is banking on the promise of bold change to end the governing coalition's 56-year rule. It says a new economic playing field will strip away decades of race-based policies that it believes bred corruption and hampered growth

The three-party opposition alliance led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says it cannot be business as usual in Malaysia, where affirmative action policies that favor majority ethnic Malays in business, jobs and education have polarized the country and suppressed its economic competitiveness.

Despite posting robust economic growth in the past decade, the opposition says the cost of living has surged in Southeast Asia's third largest economy, outpacing rise in wages. The country is lagging behind many of its Asian peers such as Taiwan and South Korea, as its race-based policies fueled a brain drain abroad. Corruption is endemic, and the government ran a budget deficit for the last 15 years, swelling the national debt.

Anwar's People's Alliance promises a more competitive merit-based system and a clean break from what it calls a corrupt past if it wins May 5 national polls.

Its election manifesto says it will end monopolies in sectors such as telecommunications, rice and sugar that kept prices high. It will review suspicious government concessions, abolish highway tolls, cut taxes to lower car prices and free up civil liberties.

"This election offers a possibility of a political transition of power. The campaign will come down to who can deliver more genuine and fundamental reforms and who will give them a better deal," said Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at Singapore Management University.

Anwar's alliance surged into political prominence in 2008 elections when it won more than a third of seats in the federal parliament and gained control of several states. It was the biggest blow for Prime Minister Najib Razak's National Front coalition since independence from Britain in 1957 and was spurred by discontent about corruption and racial and religious discrimination.

The keystone of the opposition policies is reform of preferential treatment started in 1971 to lift Malays, who account for 60 percent of Malaysia's 29 million people, from poverty after race riots. The policies are credited with enlarging the Malay middle class and putting 20 percent of corporate wealth in Malay hands, but the opposition says the system has been abused to enrich the well-connected elite and distorted the economy. Many contracts go to businesses with links to the ruling party, which has created a powerful culture of cronyism and a nexus between politics and business.

Najib, 59, who is seeking his first mandate at the polls since becoming prime minister in 2009, has taken on the reform mantle to counter the opposition.

He has embarked on a series of economic and government transformation efforts to revamp his coalition's image, including abolishing security laws widely considered repressive, wooing investment from abroad and bolstering public welfare including cash handouts for civil servants and the poor.

With his battlecry of "1 Malaysia," Najib also trimmed affirmative action policies but is restrained by hardliners in his ruling Malay party. He has pointed to the National Front's stewardship that turned Malaysia from an agricultural backwater into a modern, stable nation.

Malaysia's focus on heavy industries and manufacturing in the 1980s drew multinational corporations to its shores but it has since lost out to neighboring countries as a low-cost manufacturing base. Government spending in the last decade helped bolster growth as foreign investment ebbed.

A 2011 World Bank report said Malaysia's brain drain was intensifying with more than one million of its citizens, mainly ethnic Chinese, living in Singapore and other countries largely due to higher wages, unhappiness over poor governance and lack of meritocracy. It warned the outflow of skilled people could bog down Malaysia's economy.

Najib insists his government is on a reform path, with Malaysia on track to become a developed nation by 2020. He has warned an opposition win would bring economic ruin and political chaos.

"Certain politicians are talking about change but what is it you want to change? Do you want to change from peace and harmony to a country full of conflict and violence? Do you want to change the economic success that we have achieved?" he said at a mammoth political rally last week.

The concern resonates with some voters, who fear differences among the three parties in the opposition alliance may hinder their ability to govern nationally.

The alliance comprises Anwar's multi-racial People's Justice Party, the Democratic Action Party dominated by ethnic Chinese and the conservative Islamic Party. The three parties first worked together in 2008 by agreeing not to contest the same seats. They have deepened their alliance since then, unveiling a common election manifesto for the first time and setting aside differences over the Islamic Party's ambition to set up an Islamic state.

Unlike the 13-party National Front dominated by Najib's ruling Malay party, the three opposition parties are equals in the alliance.

Anwar, a former deputy premier and finance minister who was sacked in 1998 and subsequently jailed for sodomy and corruption, was credited for bringing the parties together after his release from jail in 2004. Anwar, who says the charges were politically motivated, made a political comeback in a by-election after 2008 polls.

Anwar, 65, says weeding out corruption, fixing economic distortions due to race-based policies and better economic management can save the country billions of dollars a year. His alliance is hoping the momentum in 2008 polls will catapult them into federal power, eyeing support from about a third of new voters among 13.3 million people eligible to vote on Sunday.

The political threat has caused anxiety in Najib's camp, which has embarked on an extensive publicity blitz. Welsh estimated the coalition spent 100 million ringgit ($33 million) on advertisements on websites such as Yahoo, mass media, billboards and sending millions of text messages to voters' mobile phones.

Banners of Najib and his achievements flutter along streets in Malaysia's cities and rural villages. "Who says change is good for you?" declares one of dozens of full-page advertisements in mainstream newspapers, citing turmoil after revolts in Middle East nations.

Most analysts, however, believe Najib's coalition has the upper hand due to deep pockets and support in predominantly rural constituencies that are the key to a large number of Parliament's seats.

Anwar has pointed to his alliance's track record in the last five years in Penang and Selangor, two of the country's most industrialized states. Government contracts have been awarded through open tenders rather than behind closed doors, and state officials have to declare their assets. Fiscal prudence has also reversed state budget deficits while the poor in Penang have received cash handouts and water is subsidized in Selangor.

In northern Penang state, an industrial hub also famed for its beaches and cultural heritage, the opposition has embarked on an ambitious 6.3 billion ringgit ($2.1 billion) project to build Southeast Asia's first seabed tunnel linking Penang island to the mainland part of the state and three highways to alleviate daily traffic snarls.

The record is more mixed in two poorer northern Malay-majority states that are reliant on federal funds, but opposition officials said corruption is minimal in the state government administration. The four opposition states jointly contribute about 36 percent to gross domestic product.

"The last five years, if anything, is an indication of our ability to govern and to do well without corruption, that things will not crumble," said opposition strategist Rafizi Ramli, who helped draw up the election manifesto and is also a candidate.

"Our biggest achievement is to give hope to the people that there can be a credible alternative to the National Front, that there can be a better Malaysia," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/malaysias-opposition-banks-economic-deal-065126402.html

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Fire breaks out in Bangladesh building where 377 die

By Ruma Paul and Serajul Quadir

DHAKA (Reuters) - Fire broke out on Sunday in a garment factory that collapsed in the Bangladeshi capital, complicating attempts to find any survivors of a disaster that has killed 377 people.

Fire service officials said the blaze had been started by sparks from cutting equipment used by rescuers.

Police said the owner of the factory, Mohammed Sohel Rana,

was arrested on Sunday trying to flee to India, as hopes of finding more survivors from the country's worst industrial accident began to fade.

Rana was arrested by the elite Rapid Action Battalion in the border town of Benapole, Dhaka District Police Chief Habibur Rahman told Reuters, ending a four-day manhunt that began after Rana Plaza, which housed factories making low-cost garments for Western retailers, caved in on Wednesday.

Bangladesh television showed Rana, a local leader of the ruling Awami League's youth front, being flown by helicopter to the capital Dhaka, where he will face charges of faulty construction and causing unlawful death.

Authorities put the latest death toll at 377 and expect it to climb higher with hundreds more still unaccounted for.

Four people were pulled out alive on Sunday after almost 100 hours beneath the mound of broken concrete and metal, and rescuers were working frantically to try to save several others still trapped, fire services deputy director Mizanur Rahman said. One woman was pulled out of debris by rescuers but died, fire service officials said.

"The chances of finding people alive are dimming, so we have to step up our rescue operation to save any valuable life we can," said Major General Chowdhury Hassan Sohrawardi, coordinator of the operation at the site.

About 2,500 people have been rescued from the wrecked building in the commercial suburb of Savar, about 30 km (20 miles) from the capital, Dhaka.

Officials said the eight-storey complex had been built on spongy ground without the correct permits, and more than 3,000 workers - mainly young women - entered the building on Wednesday morning despite warnings that it was structurally unsafe.

A bank and shops in the same building closed after a jolt was felt and cracks were noticed on some pillars on Tuesday.

Police said one factory owner gave himself up on Sunday following the detention of two plant bosses and two engineers the day before.

Anger over the disaster has sparked days of protests and clashes, with police using tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to quell demonstrators who set cars ablaze.

Garment workers blockaded a highway in a nearby industrial zone of Gazipur on Sunday demanding capital punishment for the owners.

The main opposition, joining forces with an alliance of leftist parties which is part of the ruling coalition, called for a national strike on May 2 in protest over the incident.

BUILT ON A FILLED-IN POND

Wednesday's collapse was the third major industrial incident in five months in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of garments in the world behind China. In November, a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory in a suburb of Dhaka killed 112 people.

Such incidents have raised serious questions about worker safety and low wages, and could taint the reputation of the poor South Asian country, which relies on garments for 80 percent of its exports. The industry employs about 3.6 million people, most of them women, some of whom earn as little as $38 a month.

Emdadul Islam, chief engineer of the state-run Capital Development Authority (CDA), said on Friday that the owner of the building had not received the proper construction consent, obtaining a permit for a five-storey building from the local municipality, which did not have the authority to grant it.

Furthermore, three other storeys had been added illegally, he said. "Savar is not an industrial zone, and for that reason no factory can be housed in Rana Plaza," Islam told Reuters.

Islam said the building had been erected on the site of a pond filled in with sand and earth, weakening the foundations.

North American and European chains, including British retailer Primark and Canada's Loblaw, a unit of George Weston Ltd, said they were supplied by factories in the Rana Plaza building.

Since the disaster, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has asked factory owners to produce building designs by July in a bid to improve safety. (Writing by John Chalmers and Alex Richardson; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Stephen Powell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hope-survivors-fades-bangladesh-building-toll-reaches-363-082504472.html

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Obama jokes about aging during 2nd term

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama joked Saturday that the years are catching up to him and he's not "the strapping young Muslim socialist" he used to be.

Obama poked fun at himself as well as some of his political adversaries during the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner attended by politicians, members of the media and Hollywood celebrities.

Entering to the rap track "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, Obama joked about how re-election would allow him to unleash a radical agenda. But then he showed a picture of himself golfing on a mock magazine cover of "Senior Leisure."

"I'm not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be," the president remarked, and then recounted his recent 2-for-22 basketball shooting performance at the White House Easter Egg hunt.

But Obama's most dramatic shift for the next four years appeared to be aesthetic. He presented a montage of shots featuring him with bangs similar to those sometimes sported by his wife.

"So we borrowed one of Michelle's tricks," Obama said. "I thought this looked pretty good, but no bounce."

Obama closed by noting the nation's recent tragedies in Massachusetts and Texas, praising Americans of all stripes from first responders to local journalists for serving the public good.

Saturday night's banquet not far from the White House attracted the usual assortment of stars from Hollywood and beyond. Actors Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Claire Danes, who play government characters on series, were among the attendees, as was Korean entertainer Psy. Several Cabinet members, governors and members of Congress were present.

And despite coming at a somber time, nearly two weeks after the deadly Boston Marathon bombing and 10 days after a devastating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, the president and political allies and rivals alike took the opportunity to enjoy some humor. Late-night talk-show host Conan O'Brien headlined the event.

Some of Obama's jokes came at his Republican rivals' expense. He asked that the GOP's minority outreach begin with him as a "trial run" and said he'd take his recent charm offensive with Republicans on the road, including events with conservatives such as Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Michele Bachmann.

"In fact, I'm taking my charm offensive on the road -- a Texas barbeque with Ted Cruz, a Kentucky bluegrass concert with Rand Paul, and a book-burning with Michele Bachmann," Obama joked.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson would have had better success getting Obama out of office if he simply offered the president $100 million to drop out of last year's race, Obama quipped.

And on the 2016 election, the president noted in self-referential irony that potential Republican candidate Sen. Marco Rubio wasn't qualified because he hasn't even served a full term in the Senate. Obama served less than four years of his six-year Senate term before he was elected president in 2008.

"I mean, the guy has not even finished a single term in the Senate and he thinks he's ready to be President," Obama joked.

The gala also was an opportunity for six journalists, including Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace, to be honored for their coverage of the presidency and national issues.

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza won the Aldo Beckman Award, which recognizes excellence in the coverage of the presidency.

Pace won the Merriman Smith Award for a print journalist for coverage on deadline.

ABC's Terry Moran was the winner of the broadcast Merriman Smith Award for deadline reporting.

Reporters Jim Morris, Chris Hamby and Ronnie Greene of the Center for Public Integrity won the Edgar A. Poe Award for coverage of issues of national significance.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-jokes-aging-during-2nd-term-072516199.html

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Rats Are Growing in Popularity as Pets - PawNation

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Source: http://www.pawnation.com/2013/04/26/rats-are-growing-in-popularity-as-pets/

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Scientists create novel approach to find RNAs involved in long-term memory storage

Scientists create novel approach to find RNAs involved in long-term memory storage

Friday, April 26, 2013

Despite decades of research, relatively little is known about the identity of RNA molecules that are transported as part of the molecular process underpinning learning and memory.

Now, working together, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Columbia University and the University of Florida, Gainesville, have developed a novel strategy for isolating and characterizing a substantial number of RNAs transported from the cell-body of neuron (nerve cell) to the synapse, the small gap separating neurons that enables cell to cell communication.

Using this new method, the scientists were able to identify nearly 6,000 transcripts (RNA sequences) from the genome of Aplysia, a sea slug widely used in scientific investigation.

The scientists' target is known as the synaptic transcriptome?roughly the complete set of RNA molecules transported from the neuronal cell body to the synapse.

In the study, published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists focused on the RNA transport complexes that interact with the molecular motor kinesin; kinesin proteins move along filaments known as microtubules in the cell and carry various gene products during the early stage of memory storage.

While neurons use active transport mechanisms such as kinesin to deliver RNA cargos to synapses, once they arrive at their synaptic destination that service stops and is taken over by other, more localized mechanisms?in much the same way that a traveler's bags gets handed off to the hotel doorman once the taxi has dropped them at the entrance.

The scientists identified thousands of these unique sequences of both coding and noncoding RNAs. As it turned out, several of these RNAs play key roles in the maintenance of synaptic function and growth.

The scientists also uncovered several antisense RNAs (paired duplicates that can inhibit gene expression), although what their function at the synapse might be remains unknown.

"Our analyses suggest that the transported RNAs are surprisingly diverse," said Sathya Puthanveettil, a TSRI assistant professor who designed the study. "It also brings up an important question of why so many different RNAs are transported to synapses. One reason may be that they are stored there to be used later to help maintain long-term memories."

The team's new approach offers the advantage of avoiding the dissection of neuronal processes to identify synaptically localized RNAs by focusing on transport complexes instead, Puthanveettil said. This new approach should help in better understanding changes in localized RNAs and their role in local translation as molecular substrates, not only in memory storage, but also in a variety of other physiological conditions, including development.

"New protein synthesis is a prerequisite for maintaining long term memory," he said, "but you don't need this kind of transport forever, so it raises many questions that we want to answer. What molecules need to be synthesized to maintain memory? How long is this collection of RNAs stored? What localized mechanisms come into play for memory maintenance?"

###

In addition to Puthanveettil, who was the first author of the study, authors of "A Strategy to Capture and Characterize the Synaptic Transcriptome," include Igor Antonov, Sergey Kalchikov, Priyamvada Rajasethupathy, Yun-Beom Choi, Maxime Kinet, Irina Morozova, James J. Russo, and Jingyue Ju of Columbia University; Kevin A. Karl of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Eric R. Kandel of Columbia University, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Kavli Institute for Brain Science; and Andrea B. Kohn, Mathew Citarella, Fahong Yu and Leonid L. Moroz of the University of Florida, Gainesville. For more information, see http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/04/10/1304422110.long

Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127967/Scientists_create_novel_approach_to_find_RNAs_involved_in_long_term_memory_storage

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Katt Williams Avoids Jail, Gets Community Service For Low-Speed Chase

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Canada train plot suspect had recently traveled to Iran

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investigators believe one of two suspects charged in Canada with plotting to blow up a railroad track carrying passenger trains traveled to Iran within the past two years, U.S. law enforcement and national security officials said on Thursday.

Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born doctoral student, traveled to Iran on a trip that was directly relevant to the investigation of the alleged plot, the officials said.

They declined to say precisely when Esseghaier, who appeared in court on Wednesday in Toronto, had traveled to Iran, whether he had gone there more than once, or whom he was in contact with while there.

When they announced the arrest of Esseghaier and his alleged co-conspirator, Raed Jaser, this week, Canadian police said the two men had received "direction and guidance" in the plot from "al Qaeda elements in Iran."

U.S. national security sources close to the investigation said that was a reference to a network of low- to middle-level al Qaeda fixers and "facilitators" based in the town of Zahedan, close to Iran's borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, that moves money and fighters through Iran to support its activities in South Asia.

Canadian police say there is no sign of Iranian government involvement with the suspects.

Neither Canadian nor U.S. officials have said precisely what interactions they believe Esseghaier or his co-defendant engaged in with the alleged al Qaeda network in Iran. Canadian officials have disclosed only minimal details of the alleged Iran connection in public statements.

Esseghaier and Jaser were arrested on Monday after a joint Canada-U.S. investigation that started last year, based on a tip from a member of the Muslim community.

The pair are charged with plotting to derail a passenger train. U.S. officials said the suspects discussed blowing up a trestle on the railway line carrying daily Amtrak trains between Toronto and New York City shortly before the train was scheduled to pass over the track, thus derailing it.

Esseghaier, 30, has been a doctoral student since 2010 at the INRS institute near Montreal where he is researching the use of nanotechnology to detect cancer and other diseases. In his court appearance, he disputed the authority of Canadian law to judge him, saying the criminal code was not a holy book.

The lawyer for Jaser, 35, said he denied the charges against him and would fight them vigorously.

U.S. law enforcement and national security officials said U.S. and Canadian agencies were investigating whether the suspects had accomplices in the United States or Canada.

One official said there was "another shoe to drop" in the case. Canada's National Post newspaper reported on Thursday that the FBI was holding a third man in New York.

A spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said his service was not granting interviews about the case. The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-train-plot-suspect-traveled-iran-u-officials-211533676.html

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Debris could be part of 9/11 jetliner

NYPD

Pieces of landing gear believed to be from one of the commercial airliners destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, was discovered wedged between two buildings in lower Manhattan.

By Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com

A 5-foot-long piece of debris found near the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan is being examined as a possible fragment of a plane that hit one of the towers more than 11 years ago, NBC 4 New York has learned.

Two law enforcement sources told NBC 4 New York on Friday that the part was found wedged between two buildings in a very narrow alley between the back of 51 Park Place and the back of 50 Murray St. near Ground Zero. It bears a "Boeing" stamp, followed by a series of numbers.

NYPD

The narrow alley in lower Manhattan where debris that might be pieces of landing gear from one of the commercial airliners destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001 was found.

Police officials say the discovery was made two days ago by a company doing soil survey. Officials say it may be difficult to remove the debris and require demolition work. Officials are expected to be back at the building on Monday to see if there?s any way they can remove it.

NYPD said it has secured the location "as it would a crime scene," and investigators are photographing the scene and restricting access until the medical examiner completes a health and safety evaluation.

Officials said the soil below could also be searched for remains.

The rubble from the 9/11 attack was cleared from the 16-acre site by the spring of 2002. Other debris, including human remains, has been found scattered outside the site, including on a rooftop and in a manhole, in years since.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b38ff9c/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C260C179334320Edebris0Ecould0Ebe0Epart0Eof0E9110Ejetliner0Dlite/story01.htm

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