Thursday, May 23, 2013

Review ? Hank3 & David Allan Coe ?The Outlaw Ways? ? Saving ...

May
22

the-outlaw-waysThe long-rumored, long-anticipated Hank Williams III and David Allan Coe collaboration was a long time in the making and even longer coming. But it?s here, and though some may have been wishing for a few songs or even an entire album, clocking in at over 7 minutes, ?The Outlaw Ways? will satiate your Hank3/David Allan Coe collaboration jones just fine.

It is easy to get over-hyped about a pairing such as this. History shows that these collaborations don?t always match the sum of their celebrity parts. Sometimes they fall flat, and sometimes they become part of country music lore, like the legendary pairing of Waylon Jennings and Hank Jr. in ?The Conversation.? ?The Outlaw Ways? is loosely based around this same lyrical structure, with the two country music Outlaws trading lines and coming together for the chorus. Both Hank Jr. and Waylon are also mentioned in the song. But instead of conversing about Hank Sr., Hank3 and David Allan Coe converse about each other and their friendship over the years, and about the authentic ?Outlaw? identity that flies in the face of the faux Outlaw movement on Music Row these days.

?The Outlaw Ways? is no world beater, but it is a fun song with some cool moments in the verses that will be a treasure for the artists? respective fans. With the most obvious focus being the pairing of the two men and the words, the music of ?The Outlaw Ways? could have become an afterthought, but instead it is one of the songs strengths, starting off with a country fiddle riff, falling to half time in the ol? Waylon style in the versus, and featuring a tasteful steel guitar solo in the middle.

When David Allan Coe was hospitalized after an accident in Florida, and with the recent passing of George Jones, it makes collaborations like this that much more prized and valuable. We let our country music heroes into our hearts and homes because we can connect with them so closely. It?s even more cool when they connect with each other.

1 1/2 of 2 guns up.

- ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - -

Also available on iTunes and Google Play.

DAC: You know your grandpa was one of my heroes Hank Hank3: David you were always one of mine DAC: You know I loved them old Luke the Drifter songs Hank3: Man, how I loved ?The Ride.? ????????????? That song got me all balled up real deep inside. DAC: That?s the same way that I felt, the day that I heard Waylon died. Hank3: Ol? Jr. once said it best. A country boy can survive. DAC: Yeah I don?t even think you?ve started man. To hit your hellbilly stride. CHORUS Together: It?s The Outlaw Ways, living day by day, ?????????????????? it?s in the songs that we play, it?s in the things that we say. Hank3: Might smoke a little, might drink a lot. DAC: Brothers of the road with broken hearts Hank3: If you think you might understand our crazy ways DAC: You might be living The Outlaw Ways ? Hank3: The ol? Louisiana Hayride always respected Hank ?????????????? It?s a shame the Opry don?t do the same DAC: With all of them wannabe impersonators at the door Hank3: And they still won?t reinstate the King of Country Music?s name ?????????????? I?ve got my kin folks they can?t take that away from me DAC: 3, you?ve been doing your own thing. Hank3: You know that?s how it ought to be DAC: Yeah you know you could?ve took the easy way out ?????????? and just rode on ol? Hank Sr.?s name CHORUS ? DAC: You put the cunt back in country ?????????? and the dick back in Dixie too Hank3: Hell you know I was being a rebel, doing what I had to do. ?????????????? Sometimes you gotta do a little more than just kick down their door DAC: You mean like Johnny Cash and ?A Boy Named Sue? Hank3: Remember back when you told them to kiss your ass. ?????????????? Then you hit them with that ?Longhaired Redneck? too. CHORUS ?

Source: http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/review-hank3-david-allan-coe-the-outlaw-ways

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NASA's Next 3D Printing Frontier Is... Pizza?

Forget guns, here?s a 3D printing development that can?t be overhyped and pretty much anyone with the munchies can get behind. NASA?s sinking a chunk of change into 3D printing food?starting with the humble pizza?in a new project aimed at evolving the future of food for both space and back here on Earth. It?s not quite a replicator, but it?s a start.

The idea is that you wouldn?t cook your food in the normal manner; you?d simply print it out from the basic ingredients such as oils, water and carbohydrate powders. The cartridges would have shelf lives of decades apparently, so it?ll be a bit like a new version of canning, I guess. Sounds delicious.

Why is the project kicking off with pizza? Because of the multi-layered nature of the best fast food ever, which should be easier for the printer to produce as a first stab. Mind you, it should be able to spit out spaghetti pretty easily too, right?

I?m thinking this is likely to taste like stale cardboard, but hell, we?ve all had pizza that basically tasted like recycled paper at some point or other. Anyway, it?s the future of food apparently, until we get full-on replicators and can simply shout ?Tea, Earl Grey, Hot? that is. [Quartz via SlashGear]

Image by Matthew Kenwrick under Creative Commons license


Our newest offspring Gizmodo UK is gobbling up the news in a different timezone, so check them out if you need another Giz fix.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/nasas-next-3d-printing-frontier-is-pizza-509023404

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Love Language: 5 Words That Will Ruin Your Marriage - Psych Central

5 Simple Words that Could Ruin Your RelationshipThis article from YourTango was written by Julie Orlov.

Words are powerful. They can cut you, heal you, inspire you, and stop you from certain actions. Learning the language of?a strong, healthy relationship or marriage?takes time and diligence, but saying some words regularly may cause irreparable damage.

Here are five words that are destined to cause damage to your relationship or marriage.

1.? ?Never.??

?Never? implies a sense of hopelessness and finality. When you use ?never,? you?re telling your spouse that they are no good, will never be any good and that there?s no hope for change. It?s an all-or-nothing phrase that does not lend itself to listening, compromising and creating good will.

2.??Always.??

?Always? implies a sense of rigidity and righteousness. When you use ?always,? you?re telling your spouse that they are wrong, you are right, and that there?s nothing that can be done about it. It?s also an all-or-nothing phrase, and it does not lend itself to understanding, learning, or healing.

3.??But.??

?But? implies a sense of manipulation and a lack of integrity. When you use ?but,? you negate whatever was said before. It invalidates your message and turns a positive statement into a negative one. It?s a conjunction that does not lend itself to building trust, credibility and intimacy. Similar words to avoid include ?however? and ?although.?

4.??*#%&.??

Use your imagination and fill in the blanks and what you?re left with is a vulgar, obscenity-laced attack. Any way you look at it, attacking your spouse by name-calling will cause irreparable damage. Doing this regularly will surely destroy your spouse?s soul and kill the marriage. Outright contempt has no place in a marriage.

5.??Divorce? or ?Breakup.??

Threatening to divorce or break-up, suggesting divorce as an option, or accusing your spouse of destroying the?marriage?will lead to just that. A divorce is a very serious decision, and using it as a weapon or method of control creates anxiety and despair. It?s not conducive for effective communication, conflict resolution, problem solving, or intimacy.

Take the time to think about the impact of your words before you speak to your spouse. Consider what you want to create with the communication. Create a powerful and loving intention rather than one that is meant to hurt, control, scare or push away the person youlove.

Find words that are conducive to creating intimacy. These might include phrases like, ?I notice that when I [blank], you react by [blank].?When you do [blank], I feel [blank].?It would mean a lot to me if you would [blank], because when you do, I feel [blank].? And: ?I want our marriage to feel good to both of us. How can we approach things in a way that makes us both feel heard, appreciated, accepted, and?loved??

Learning new ways of communicating and relating to each other is not easy.?Couples?get trapped into certain ways of relating that have been established early on in the relationship.

Contributed by YourTango.com, an online magazine dedicated to love, life and relationships. From dating to marriage, parenting to empty-nest, relationship challenges to relationship success, YourTango is at the center of the conversations that are closest to our over 7 million readers' hearts. With daily contributions from our Experts, we have a little something for everyone looking to create healthier lives. We're excited to offer our contributions to the PsychCentral community, and invite you to visit us on YourTango.com.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by YourTango Experts (or subscribe to their feed).



????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 May 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Experts, Y. (2013). 5 Simple Words that Could Ruin Your Relationship. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 22, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/21/5-simple-words-that-could-ruin-your-relationship/

?

Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/21/5-simple-words-that-could-ruin-your-relationship/

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Boston cardinal skips event over Irish PM's role

BOSTON (AP) ? Cardinal Sean O'Malley skipped Boston College's commencement Monday to protest its decision to honor Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who backs legislation to permit abortion, and O'Malley's views were echoed outside the ceremony by a few dozen anti-abortion activists.

The protesters gathered at an entrance to the stadium where Kenny gave the keynote address and received an honorary degree, with some holding signs saying it was a scandal that the Catholic school was hosting Kenny.

The bill Kenny supports allows abortion only if a doctor authorizes it to save a woman's life. But opponents say it would lead to widespread abortions because of a provision that permits it if a woman threatens suicide.

Protester C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League called that "the proverbial Mack truck loophole" and said Boston College's decision to honor Kenny undermines the church's anti-abortion teachings.

"What rational person can reasonably be expected to take seriously Catholic opposition to abortion when our own Catholic institutions honor someone who's trying to legalize abortion in his country?" he said.

Kenny didn't mention the controversy during his keynote address.

Afterward, Kenny told reporters the bill does nothing to change an 1861 Irish law that makes abortion a crime punishable by life in prison.

Instead, the bill "is setting out clarity and legal certainty, that is intended to save lives, not to end them," he said.

In 1992, Ireland's Supreme Court ruled abortion should be legal if doctors determine it's needed to save the woman's life. In 1992 and 2002, voters rejected two referendums to allow abortion to stop a physical threat to a woman's life, not including suicide.

The current bill is being debated following last year's death of a woman who was hospitalized at the start of a protracted miscarriage during her 17th week of pregnancy. Doctors refused her request for an abortion and she died of massive organ failure.

The bill permits a single doctor to authorize an abortion if the woman's life is in immediate danger. Two doctors must approve if a pregnancy poses a potentially lethal risk. The approval of three doctors is required if the woman is threatening suicide.

O'Malley announced he'd skip Boston College's graduation earlier this month, saying Irish bishops had concluded the bill "represents a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law," and noting that U.S. bishops have asked Catholic institutions not to honor officials who promote abortion.

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said Monday that Kenny' s invitation was unrelated to the controversial legislation and was offered solely because of historical ties between his country and a school founded by an Irish Jesuit to serve Irish immigrants.

He said the invitation to Kenny in no way erodes the school's anti-abortion stance.

"Boston College as a Catholic institution fully supports the church's commitment to the unborn," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-cardinal-skips-event-over-irish-pms-role-145156916.html

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Afghan students protest women's rights decree

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Hard-line Islamist students protested Wednesday in the Afghan capital demanding the repeal of a presidential decree for women's rights that they say is un-Islamic. It was the latest sign of a backlash against the legal protections passed in the 12 years since the toppling of the Taliban regime known for its harsh treatment of women.

The protest came days after conservative lawmakers' vehement opposition blocked an attempt to cement the decree's provisions in legislation.

Most of international force that ousted the Taliban is now preparing to withdraw by the end of next year, and activists fear an erosion of the women's rights will follow if hard-liners pressure the elected government.

More than 200 male students protested in front of Kabul University on Wednesday against the decree on Elimination of Violence Against Women, which includes a ban on child marriage and forced marriage, makes domestic violence a crime and says rape victims cannot be prosecuted for adultery. It also outlaws "ba'ad," a traditional practice of exchanging women or girls to settle disputes or debts.

Protester Fazel Hadi, 25, said the decree was "imposed by foreigners" and violates Islamic Shariah law.

Mawladad Jalali, the mullah of the university mosque and one of the organizers of the protest, led chants decrying democracy in general and the women's law specifically.

"Our main demand is that this law should be repealed in the parliament," he said before leading a brief march while police who cordoned off the area looked on.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued the decree on women's rights three years ago as part of a raft of commitments to international donors, but lawmaker and activist Fawzia Kofi wanted to pass it in parliament to prevent any future president from reversing it.

The brief parliamentary debate Saturday was ended by the speaker after fierce opposition from conservative lawmakers who said several provisions ? including the ban on child marriage and jail time for domestic abuse ? violated Islamic law. The decree remains in force, but the debate appears to have galvanized opposition to it.

The United Nations' mission in Afghanistan this week urged the government to do more to enforce the women's rights decree, saying it is only sporadically applied when women report abuse.

"It is imperative for the development of Afghanistan that women are able to exercise their rights and be free from violence in their homes and workplaces," UN Special Representative Jan Kubis said in a Monday statement.

In another worrisome sign for activists, the international group Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that the number of women and girls jailed for alleged loose morals is the highest since the ouster of the Taliban, even though most of those detained are victims of abuse and have committed no crime under Afghan civil law.

The Taliban imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law during their five-year reign, ordering beatings for women failing to wear the full-body burqa garment in public, closing girls' schools and banning women from leaving their homes without a male relative. They were toppled in a U.S.-led invasion for sheltering the al-Qaida's terrorist leadership and now wage an insurgency.

Human Rights Watch's Afghanistan researcher Heather Barr said that Afghanistan risks losing international aid if it does not meet commitments to uphold women's freedoms.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-students-protest-womens-rights-decree-073905010.html

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Early-life traffic-related air pollution exposure linked to hyperactivity

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Early-life exposure to traffic-related air pollution was significantly associated with higher hyperactivity scores at age 7, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

The research is detailed in a study being published Tuesday, May 21, in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The research was conducted by faculty members from the UC College of Medicine's Department of Environmental Health in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's. Nicholas Newman, DO, director of the Pediatric Environmental Health and Lead Clinic at Cincinnati Children's, was the study's first author.

"There is increasing concern about the potential effects of traffic-related air pollution on the developing brain," Newman says. "This impact is not fully understood due to limited epidemiological studies.

"To our knowledge, this is the largest prospective cohort with the longest follow-up investigating early life exposure to traffic-related air pollution and neurobehavioral outcomes at school age." Scientists believe that early life exposures to a variety of toxic substances are important in the development of problems later in life.

Newman and his colleagues collected data on traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) from the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), a long-term epidemiological study examining the effects of traffic particulates on childhood respiratory health and allergy development. Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, CCAAPS is led by Grace LeMasters, PhD, of the environmental health department. Study participants?newborns in the Cincinnati metropolitan area from 2001 through 2003?were chosen based on family history and their residence being either near or far from a major highway or bus route.

Children were followed from infancy to age 7, when parents completed the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition (BASC-2), assessing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related symptoms including attention problems, aggression, conduct problems and atypical behavior. Of the 762 children initially enrolled in the study, 576 were included in the final analysis at 7 years of age.

Results showed that children who were exposed to the highest third amount of TRAP during the first year of life were more likely to have hyperactivity scores in the "at risk" range when they were 7 years old. The "at risk" range for hyperactivity in children means that they need to be monitored carefully because they are at risk for developing clinically important symptoms.

"Several biological mechanisms could explain the association between hyperactive behaviors and traffic-related air pollution," Newman says, including narrowed blood vessels in the body and toxicity in the brain's frontal cortex.

Newman notes that the higher air pollution exposure was associated with a significant increase in hyperactivity only among those children whose mothers had greater than a high school education. Mothers with higher education may expect higher achievement, he says, affecting the parental report of behavioral concerns.

"The observed association between traffic-related air pollution and hyperactivity may have far-reaching implications for public health," Newman says, noting that studies have shown that approximately 11 percent of the U.S. population lives within 100 meters of a four-lane highway and that 40 percent of children attend school within 400 meters of a major highway.

"Traffic-related air pollution is one of many factors associated with changes in neurodevelopment, but it is one that is potentially preventable."

###

University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center: http://www.healthnews.uc.edu

Thanks to University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center 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.

This press release has been viewed 38 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128333/Early_life_traffic_related_air_pollution_exposure_linked_to_hyperactivity

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Two miniature spider species discovered in Giant Panda Sanctuaries of China

May 22, 2013 ? Two new minute spider species have been discovered from the Sichuan and Chongqing, China. The tiny new spiders are both less than 2 mm in length, with Trogloneta yuensis being as little as 1.01 mm and Mysmena wawuensis measured to be the even tinier 0.75 mm, which classes it among the smallest spiders known. The two species described in the open access journal Zookeys both have a bizarre body shape with disproportionately big spherical posterior body.

The family Mysmenidae to which the new species belong is composed of minute eight-eyed spiders. There are a relatively small number of these spiders recognized worldwide despite scientists expect that many new species are still awaiting discovery. Mysmenidae are one of the least studied groups among orb-weaving spiders which is believed to be due to their small size.

Being extremely minute, up to 2 mm in total and having cryptic lifestyle these creatures become rather hard to find. The spiders live in moist leaf litter, and their obscure places such as moss and even caves and they prefer very humid habitats. Spiders from this family are believed to widely throughout the tropical and subtropical regions.

The two new species found in China are considered endemic to their type localities in the Sichuan and Chongqing. The region of Wawu Mt. National Forest Park, where Mysmena wawuensis was discovered is also remarkable for holding a small population of wild giant panda of about 10 individuals. A recent survey shows that 1206 individuals of giant panda are currently living in Sichuan, which makes the region remarkable with about 76% of the whole wild panda population in China being concentrated there attesting for the great biodiversity of the province.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Yucheng Lin, Shuqiang Li. Two new species of the genera Mysmena and Trogloneta (Mysmenidae, Araneae) from Southwestern China. ZooKeys, 2013; 303: 33 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.303.4808

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/47O0qqYMNWQ/130522095813.htm

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Syria opposition signals tough line on peace talks

BEIRUT (AP) ? Despite recent rebel setbacks in Syria's civil war, the main opposition bloc signaled a tough line Tuesday on attending possible peace talks with President Bashar Assad's regime.

Two senior members of the Syrian National Coalition said the group first wants ironclad guarantees of Assad's departure as part of any transition deal and more weapons for rebel fighters. The group's final position is to be hashed out in a three-day meeting of its General Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey, later this week.

Tuesday's comments highlighted the wide gaps between many in the Syrian opposition and the regime just weeks before the U.S. and Russia hope to bring the sides together at an international conference in Geneva.

Over the weekend, Assad also presented a hard line, challenging the idea of transition talks and saying he won't step down before elections are held. Hours after those comments, his troops launched an offensive against a rebel-held town in western Syria, the latest in a series of military gains by the regime.

"There are many obstacles facing the conference," Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria and lead organizer of the gathering, acknowledged Tuesday, after meeting with the Arab League chief in Cairo.

Much about the conference remains up in the air, including the date, the agenda, timetable and list of participants. Brahimi said the conference, initially envisioned for late May, should be held in June at the latest.

The goal is to launch talks between the regime and the opposition on a transitional government in Syria ? an idea that was first adopted by the international community in Geneva a year ago but never got off the ground.

Earlier this month, the U.S. and Russia decided to give diplomacy another try, even though they have been backing opposite sides in the 26-month-old conflict that has killed an estimated 70,000 people. The joint effort was quickly overshadowed by disagreements, particularly over Russian shipments of advanced missiles to Assad, deemed ill-timed and unhelpful by the U.S.

The latest signals from Assad and his Russian allies have left the Syrian National Coalition skeptical about the international conference, said Louay Safi, a member of the group's decision-making political office.

"We are serious about having negotiations that would lead to a political solution," Safi said. "But if Assad is not serious, we are not going there (to the conference) for a photo op."

One of the main sticking points is Assad's fate. At Russia's insistence, a compromise at last year's Geneva conference left open the door to Assad being part of a transitional government ? a non-starter for the SNC.

"We have been very clear that any transitional period must start with the departure of Assad and the heads of the security services," Khalid Saleh, the spokesman of the SNC, said Tuesday.

He said the Syrian opposition wants guarantees before the start of transition talks that Assad will go. Since the revival of the Geneva plan, the U.S. has remained vague, saying Assad can't be part of a transition, but stopping short of making that a condition for negotiations, as the SNC demands.

Saleh also said the Free Syrian Army, the main Western-backed umbrella group of fighters, must receive "major shipments of weapons" to counter the regime's current military gains. "The FSA must be able to control more areas of Syria before we start thinking about the conference," he said.

The West, particularly the U.S., has been reluctant to arm the rebels, amid concerns such weapons will fall into the hands of Islamic militants with ties to the al-Qaida network.

Britain and France have been breaking out of that consensus in recent weeks, arguing that Assad will only negotiate seriously if the rebels can pressure him militarily.

Arming the rebels should be considered if it becomes clear that Assad is not negotiating in good faith, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday. "We must make it clear that if the regime does not negotiate seriously at the Geneva conference, no option is off the table," he said.

Another sticking point is the list of participants.

The SNC's Safi said the coalition won't attend if many other opposition representatives do as well. The opposition remains fractured among rival groups, though the coalition has been recognized by its Western and Arab sponsors as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Haitham Manna, a leader of one of the rival groups, the National Coordination Body, said the coalition should not attend peace talks alone. Unlike the still largely exile-based SNC, Manna's alliance of 16 groups has roots in Syria and is more open to compromise with members of the regime, though not with Assad.

"The military way is a dead end, there can be no winners," Manna said. "And if there is a winner, he will leave behind enough hatred to turn every loser into a suicide bomber."

A senior U.S. official said Tuesday that no opposition group has definitely decided to take part. He noted that as part of the SNC's meeting in Istanbul this week, the group will also choose a new leader, and that the U.S. hopes to persuade the new leadership to attend the conference.

The U.S. official spoke with reporters traveling with Kerry in Muscat, Oman, He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about Syria diplomacy ahead of Kerry's trip.

The U.S., Russia and several other nations will also participate in the conference, if it takes place. Obama administration officials have refused to rule out the participation of Assad's biggest military backer, Iran.

Kerry, meanwhile, will meet with 10 of America's closest Arab and European allies in Jordan on Wednesday.

One of the aims of the meeting is to find a way to change Assad's calculation, only fortified by his recent military successes, that he can win militarily, the U.S. official said.

He declined to say what the U.S. might include in its next package of nonlethal aid to the Syrian rebels, which still has to be notified to Congress. He also didn't signal any imminent move by the Obama administration to provide lethal support.

In Syria, regime troops were trying for a third day Tuesday to wrest control of the western town of Qusair from the rebels. The town lies along a strategic land corridor linking the capital Damascus with the Mediterranean coast, the heartland of Assad's Alawite sect.

UNICEF said it was "extremely concerned" about the safety of civilians in Qusair. The U.N. child protection agency said up to 20,000 civilians, many of them women and children, could be trapped there by the fighting.

Also Tuesday, Israeli and Syrian troops exchanged fire across their tense cease-fire line in the Golan Heights, prompting an Israeli threat that Syria's leader will "bear the consequences" of further escalation and raising new concerns that the civil war could explode into a region-wide conflict.

The incident marked the first time the Syrian army has acknowledged firing intentionally at Israeli troops since the civil war began. Assad's regime appears to be trying to project toughness in response to recent Israeli airstrikes near Damascus.

In Geneva, U.N. officials said the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan has suddenly fallen from an average of 2,500 a day to fewer than 20.

Millions of people have been displaced in the civil war, and Jordan has taken in hundreds of thousands of them. U.N. officials said they are unsure what has led to the drop in the flow of refugees to Jordan this week. They said they lack staff on the Syrian side of the border and cannot observe the situation there.

___

Klapper reported from Muscat, Oman. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut, Aya Batrawy in Cairo, John Heilprin in Geneva and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed reporting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-opposition-signals-tough-line-peace-talks-182027278.html

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Non-wetting fabric that drains sweat invented

May 20, 2013 ? Waterproof fabrics that whisk away sweat could be the latest application of microfluidic technology developed by bioengineers at the University of California, Davis.

The new fabric works like human skin, forming excess sweat into droplets that drain away by themselves, said inventor Tingrui Pan, professor of biomedical engineering. One area of research in Pan's Micro-Nano Innovations Laboratory at UC Davis is a field known as microfluidics, which focuses on making "lab on a chip" devices that use tiny channels to manipulate fluids. Pan and his colleagues are developing such systems for applications like medical diagnostic tests.

Graduate students Siyuan Xing and Jia Jiang developed a new textile microfluidic platform using hydrophilic (water-attracting) threads stitched into a highly water-repellent fabric. They were able to create patterns of threads that suck droplets of water from one side of the fabric, propel them along the threads and expel them from the other side.

"We intentionally did not use any fancy microfabrication techniques so it is compatible with the textile manufacturing process and very easy to scale up," said Xing, lead graduate student on the project.

It's not just that the threads conduct water through capillary action. The water-repellent properties of the surrounding fabric also help drive water down the channels. Unlike conventional fabrics, the water-pumping effect keeps working even when the water-conducting fibers are completely saturated, because of the sustaining pressure gradient generated by the surface tension of droplets.

The rest of the fabric stays completely dry and breathable. By adjusting the pattern of water-conducting fibers and how they are stitched on each side of the fabric, the researchers can control where sweat is collected and where it drains away on the outside.

Workout enthusiasts, athletes and clothing manufacturers are all interested in fabrics that remove sweat and let the skin breathe. Cotton fibers, for example, wick away sweat ? but during heavy exercise, cotton can get soaked, making it clingy and uncomfortable.

A paper describing the research was published recently in the journal Lab on a Chip. The work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/LvpngpmhNME/130520163634.htm

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CA-NEWS Summary

PM says growing expenses scandal a distraction

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday dismissed a mushrooming expenses scandal as a distraction, but also said he was "very upset" that members of his Conservative Party had apparently tapped the public purse for personal gain. Harper, facing the biggest crisis since he won power in early 2006 with promises to clean up government, urged legislators to focus on the economy, which the Conservatives see as their strongest suit.

Survivors pulled from Oklahoma tornado debris as toll falls

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado, and officials lowered the death toll from the storm to 24, including nine children. The 2-mile (3-km) wide tornado tore through Moore outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble, wiping out entire neighborhoods and tossing vehicles about as if they were toys.

Syrian foes move towards talks but fighting rages

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad seem to be preparing to take part in an international peace conference against a background of some of the worst fighting this year. On Tuesday, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers, backed by air strikes and artillery, renewed an offensive aimed at driving Syrian rebels from the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, opposition activists said.

Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad ally barred from Iran election

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities on Tuesday barred former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a relative moderate, from running in the June 14 election, along with a prot?g? of the current president, leaving mainly hardliners left to contest the vote. Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close aide to current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, failed to make it onto a list of candidates approved by the Guardian Council, state news agencies and television reported.

World Bank boosts funds for Syria refugees, Africa

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Bank plans substantial new funds to help Jordan cope with the influx of refugees from the civil war in Syria, and hopes new funds for central Africa will cement a peace deal there, the bank's President Jim Yong Kim said on Tuesday. "There will be significant amounts of new funding going to Jordan in the very near future to deal with this crisis," he said in an interview, after a speech at the U.N. World Health Assembly in Geneva.

Car bomb near Sunni mosque in west of Baghdad kills 11: police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded near a Sunni mosque in the west of Baghdad killing 11 people on Tuesday, police and medics said. The blast, which took place in Abu Ghraib, also wounded 21 people. Earlier on Tuesday, several bomb blasts killed at least 12 people in Iraq, where Sunni-Shi'ite tensions are running high.

Algeria's Bouteflika convalescing in France

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's prime minister, reacting to reports that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is seriously ill, said the 76-year-old was recovering in France but had been ordered by his doctors to rest. Since he was rushed to hospital in Paris on April 27 with what was officially described as a minor stroke, Bouteflika has been neither heard nor seen in public, raising widespread speculation about his state of health.

Gay marriage opponent kills himself in Paris' Notre Dame

PARIS (Reuters) - An 78-year-old French far-right activist committed suicide at the altar of the Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday by shooting himself in the mouth, three days after a law legalizing same-sex marriage came into effect. Police evacuated the cathedral, one of Paris' biggest tourist draws, after Dominique Venner - a historian known for his hard-right political essays and a fierce opponent of gay marriage - shot himself, sending tourists fleeing in panic.

Britain asks EU to put Hezbollah armed wing on terror list

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain said on Tuesday it had asked the European Union to put Hezbollah's military arm on its list of terrorist organizations, urging Europe to respond robustly to evidence of the Islamist group's involvement in an attack that killed five Israelis. Britain's request came after Bulgaria accused the Lebanese militant movement in February of carrying out a bomb attack on a bus in the Black Sea city of Burgas that killed the Israelis and their Bulgarian driver in July last year.

Pope criticizes 'savage capitalism' on visit to food kitchen

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis criticized what he called "savage capitalism" on a visit to a food kitchen on Tuesday, in an address in which he called for the values of generosity and charity to be revived. "A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, of giving in order to get, of exploitation without thinking of people... and we see the results in the crisis we are experiencing," the pope said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-162224859.html

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Maine House Approves Bill to Pay Hospital Debt

Augusta - The Maine House has approved a bill that would pay off Maine's $484 million debt to the state's hospitals, agreeing to go along with a Democrat-backed amendment calling for the state to accept federal money to expand Medicaid to roughly 70,000 people.

After a debate that went on for about four hours, the bill won approval by an 87-57 vote Tuesday night. The vote followed Senate approval earlier in the day of the bill, which faces final votes in both chambers.

The measure would pay the state's $186 million share of the hospital debt for past Medicaid services with money from future state liquor sales.

It would also authorize expansion of Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Health Care Act. Majority Democrats say the time is right to do that.

Republicans say there's no guarantee federal funding will continue over the long term and the bill could cost the state more money.

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Scherzer retires 22 straight, Tigers top Indians

By TOM WITHERS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:26 p.m. ET May 21, 2013

CLEVELAND (AP) - Other than the first inning, Max Scherzer was flawless.

At the perfect time for the Tigers.

Scherzer retired 22 straight after giving up two hits and a run in the first and Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer, leading Detroit to a 5-1 win over Cleveland on Tuesday night to stop the Indians' winning streak at five and trim their lead in the AL Central.

Scherzer (6-0) gave up two singles - one a broken-bat bloop - in the first before shutting down baseball's hottest team for eight innings. The right-hander walked just one and struck out seven, including the final four he faced.

Scherzer's 118th and last pitch was his fastest - a 98 mph heater to fan Drew Stubbs.

"He knew that was going to be it for him," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He really cranked it up. That was pretty impressive. He did a terrific job."

Cabrera's laser shot in the sixth inning, his 12th homer and fourth in two games, off Corey Kluber (3-3) helped the Tigers win for just the second time in six games. The defending AL champions also moved within 1 1-2 games of the first-place Indians, who have won 18 of 23 since April 28.

"That was a dominant performance," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "His last pitch was 98, and when you're up around 115 or 120 pitches and you have that left in the tank, that's saying a lot."

Scherzer gave the Tigers a much-needed outing and set the stage for Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, who will pitch Tuesday night.

Andy Dirks hit a solo homer in the sixth and had two RBIs as Detroit won the first game of the short, showdown series.

In the first, Scherzer was touched for a leadoff single by Michael Bourn, a one-out base hit by Asdrubal Cabrera and a hard-hit sacrifice fly by Michael Brantley before he made the Indians look silly. He mixed his pitches, had Cleveland's hitters off-balance and grew stronger as the game went on.

"He had his good stuff all the way around from his fastball, a good slider and a good changeup," Bourn said. "He came out and dominated."

Scherzer, who won five straight starts before getting a no-decision in his last outing against Houston, didn't get much support but was so good he didn't need it.

He struck out seven of the last 12 batters, and felt better on his last pitch than the previous 117.

"I definitely had the adrenaline going in that situation," he said. "You know that's your last inning and you throw the ball as hard as you can."

Before the game, Francona said there's a danger in trying to pitch around Cabrera because Detroit has plenty of other dangerous hitters in its lineup.

"I guarantee you if you pitch around him all day, they're going to score," he said.

Kluber went right at Mr. Triple Crown his first two times up, and retired Cabrera on a grounder to third in the first and routine fly to center in the fourth.

But in the sixth, Cabrera, who homered three times in a loss at Texas on Sunday, did what he does best.

Dirks opened the inning with his fifth homer, a drive into the right-field seats to tie it 1-all. Torii Hunter followed with a double that one-hopped the wall in right, bringing up Cabrera with first base open.

Francona elected to have Kluber to pitch to Cabrera, who rocketed an 0-1 fastball over the center-field fence to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.

Francona said he didn't walk Cabrera because Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta could have made things worse.

"Nobody out, you're asking for trouble," Francona said. "If you walk him and you have first and second with nobody out, you're putting your pitcher in a tough spot."

Leyland marveled at Cabrera's ability to hit Kluber's pitch.

"The pitch was down and away and he got extended on it," Leyland said. "There aren't many guys who can do that. That's why he is who he is."

Detroit added two runs in the ninth on RBI singles by Dirks and Fielder.

The Indians were missing first baseman Nick Swisher, who was placed on the paternity list before the game after his wife, JoAnna, gave birth to the couple's first child.

With Swisher out, Brantley batted cleanup for the first time this season and his sacrifice fly in the first gave the Indians a 1-0 lead.

Bourn led off with a grounder through the box off Scherzer and raced to third on Asdrubal Cabrera's broken-bat single with one out. Brantley followed with a liner to right-center that was run down by Hunter but was deep enough to score the speedy Bourn easily.

That was it for the Indians, though, as Scherzer shut them down.

NOTES: Cabrera's 195th homer with the Tigers moved him into a tie with Kirk Gibson for 10th place on the franchise list. ... Indians closer Chris Perez has deactivated his Twitter account following two bad outings and harsh comments from some followers. ... A moment of silence was observed before the game for victims of the Oklahoma tornado. ... Leyland said OF Austin Jackson (pulled left hamstring) will likely go on a minor league rehab assignment before he comes off the disabled list. Jackson has been on the DL since May 12. ... RHP Octavio Dotel (sore elbow) is playing catch in Florida. He's been on the DL since April 20. ... The crowd cheered when it was announced the Cavaliers had won the NBA draft lottery for the second time in three years.

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


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Manager swapping in Los Angeles?

??Mike Scioscia has earned plenty of respect for his performance over the years, but if the Angels cut ties with him, don't expect the Dodgers to be the only suitor.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51959740/ns/sports-baseball/

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Moon explosion as humongous rock strikes lunar surface

Moon explosion: An explosion on the moon could be seen on Earth in March as a boulder-sized object smashed into the lunar surface at 56,000 miles per hour.?

By Clara Moskowitz,?SPACE.com / May 20, 2013

This artist's illustration shows a meteor crashing into the surface of the moon. Scientists say hundreds of space rocks impact the lunar surface every year.

NASA

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The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.

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The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph (90,000 kph) and creating a new crater 65 feet wide (20 meters). The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at?the moon?at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.

"On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before." [The Greatest Lunar Crashes Ever]

NASA astronomers have been monitoring the moon for lunar meteor impacts for the past eight years, and haven't seen anything this powerful before.

Scientists didn't see the impact occur in real time. It was only when Ron Suggs, an analyst at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., reviewed a?video of the bright moon crash?recorded by one of the moon monitoring program's 14-inch telescopes that the event was discovered.

"It jumped right out at me, it was so bright," Suggs?said.

Scientists deduced the rock had been roughly 1-foot-wide (between 0.3 to 0.4 meters) and weighted about 88 lbs (40 kg).The explosion it created was as powerful as 5 tons of TNT, NASA scientists said.

When researchers looked back at their records from March, they found that the moon meteor might not have been an isolated event.

"On the night of March 17, NASA and University of Western Ontario all-sky cameras picked up an unusual number of deep-penetrating meteors right here on Earth," Cooke said. "These fireballs were traveling along nearly identical orbits between Earth and the asteroid belt."

Though Earth's atmosphere protected our planet's surface from being hit by these meteors,?the moon?has no such luck. Its lack of an atmosphere exposes it to all incoming space rocks, and the NASA monitoring program has spotted more than 300 meteor strikes that reached its surface since 2005.

Part of the motivation for the program is NASA's eventual intent to send astronauts back to the moon. When they arrive, they'll need to know how often meteors impact the surface, and whether certain parts of the year, coinciding with the moon's passage through crowded bits of the solar system, pose special dangers.

"We'll be keeping an eye out for signs of a repeat performance next year when the Earth-Moon system passes through the same region of space," Cooke said. "Meanwhile, our analysis of the March 17th?event continues."

The scientists also hope to use NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to photograph the impact site to learn more about how the crash occurred.?

Follow Clara Moskowitz on?Twitter?and?Google+. Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013?SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/6APM3g8zVpU/Moon-explosion-as-humongous-rock-strikes-lunar-surface

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More tornadoes from global warming? Nobody knows

An American flag blows in the wind at sunrise atop the rubble of a destroyed home a day after a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The monstrous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

An American flag blows in the wind at sunrise atop the rubble of a destroyed home a day after a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The monstrous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

A member of a security team helps guard an area of rubble from a destroyed residential neighborhood, one day after a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against the winds. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

A deadly tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday. A quick look at some basic facts:

Q. Is global warming to blame?

A. You can't blame a single weather event on global warming. In any case, scientists just don't know whether there will be more or fewer twisters as global warming increases. Tornadoes arise from very local conditions, and so they're not as influenced by climate change as much as larger weather systems like hurricanes and nor'easters. They're not easy to incorporate in the large computer simulations scientists use to gauge the impact of global warming.

And when scientists ponder the key weather ingredients that lead to twisters, there's still no clear answer about whether to expect more or fewer twisters. Some scientists theorize that the jet stream is changing because sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking. And the jet stream pattern drives weather in the Northern Hemisphere.

Q. How does this tornado season stack up against previous ones?

A. The season got off to a quiet start this year. Typically, there are more during spring, and the numbers dwindle in the worst heat of the summer. An unusually cool spring kept the funnel clouds at bay until mid-May this year. The last two seasons illustrate the extremes in tornado activity. In 2011, the United States saw its second-deadliest tornado season. Last year, it was busy in April but there were few twisters after that.

Q. What happened in Oklahoma?

A. The tornado destroyed two elementary schools and flattened neighborhoods with winds estimated between 200 and 210 mph. The National Weather Service on Tuesday gave the twister a top-of-the-scale ranking of EF5. The tornado at some points was 1.3 miles wide, and its path went on for 17 miles and 40 minutes.

Q. How did it form?

A. Like the most destructive and deadly tornadoes, this one came from a rotating thunderstorm. The thunderstorm developed in an area where warm moist air rose into cooler air. Winds in the area caused the storm to rotate, and that rotation promoted the development of a tornado.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-05-21-US-Oklahoma-Tornado-QandA/id-5678a93e3d5e47c6ab19da2b042013ad

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Will Derek Hough be back on 'Dancing'?

TV

6 hours ago

Image: Derek Hough

Getty Images

Derek Hough may be back for yet another season of "DWTS."

"Dancing With the Stars" pro Derek Hough seems poised to win his fourth mirror ball trophy Tuesday night with partner Kellie Pickler. But will he return when the show comes back in September for another season?

?I don?t know yet,? he told reporters on the post-show red carpet Monday. ?Next year (2014) is going to be a little different. That?s when these projects I?m working on will come to life. Right now, they?re in the preparation stages. (So) it might be a good idea to do next season.?

As fans of Hough know, the three-time winner almost didn?t partake in this season.

?I was literally within an hour of not doing it,? he shared. ?I called the producers and said I have this weird feeling that I need to do this season. ... They said, ?Well, we need to know within the next hour.? Then, I was like, ?OK, Let?s do it.? Now, I know why.?

That reason? His amazing run with current partner, "American Idol" alum Pickler.

Judge Carrie Ann Inaba criticized the pair earlier in the season for not having enough of an emotional connection in their dances.

?That actually stuck with me,? Hough said. ?I wanted (our freestyle) to be an emotional routine. I wanted it to connect with people and connect with us. Afterwards, I looked over and saw Carrie Ann crying. That was the moment to top off the season for us.?

Hough knows he could have gone all out and added more production values to the freestyle routine, but he opted to keep it simple.

?I?m all for big productions,? he told TODAY.com. ?I love putting on shows. I wondered if it was it right to downsize the routine physically and supersize it emotionally? I wanted to make it about Kellie and not wow the audience with a spectacle, but to wow them with heart. I think it paid off, but there was definitely a ping pong match going on in my mind.?

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/will-derek-hough-be-back-dancing-stars-6C10017093

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Austria says peackeepers may quit Golan if EU arms rebels

By Michael Shields

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria may pull its peacekeeping troops from the Golan Heights, evacuating the U.N. buffer zone, its defence minister warned on Tuesday, as Syria and Israel exchanged fire across a long dormant frontline now inflamed by civil war.

Vienna's warning was aimed at Britain and other allies which want to help Syrian rebels by lifting an EU arms embargo - doing so, minister Gerald Klug told Reuters, would rob Austrian troops of their neutrality in a Syrian conflict that has already seen foreign peacekeepers come under fire and some even held hostage.

He stopped short of saying an end to the EU arms ban would automatically prompt the departure of the 380 Austrian soldiers. But their withdrawal after four decades keeping the peace since the 1973 Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur war would leave a huge hole in the already troubled, 1,000-strong U.N. force separating two of the world's biggest armies, which are technically still at war.

"My view is that if the arms embargo were not extended, then the impartiality of the peace mission could no longer be maintained," Klug said in an interview a day before EU leaders in Brussels will discuss an arms embargo that expires on June 1.

"Our mission would be additionally fraught and it would no doubt come to a new assessment of the situation.

"I cannot of course prejudge the discussions," he said of the negotiations within the European Union. "But without doubt there are several options in the political discussion, and withdrawal is one of these options."

Klug's comments underscore Vienna's resistance to British-led efforts to end or dilute the arms ban in order to help the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Austria has argued that providing more weapons would only fan the fighting and may snuff out chances for peace talks.

The blue-helmeted ranks of UNDOF, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, have already seen Japanese and Croatian troops depart since the Syrian conflict began in 2011 and the Philippines, the other main contributor of combat troops along with Austria, has said it may also withdraw after several incidents in which Syrian rebels have held its men prisoner.

Diplomats have said that Fijian soldiers are likely to fill some of the existing gaps. But the disappearance of the critical Austrian contingent would cause the U.N. major difficulties.

Klug said it would be up to the United Nations to decide if UNDOF could live without them but added: "Given the quantitative importance that Austrian soldiers have on the Golan I would have serious doubts that the mission could be maintained."

DESPITE RISKS, WILLING TO STAY

Austrian troops have beefed up their armour and, reflecting international concern over the fate of Assad's stockpiles of unconventional weaponry, have, Klug said, been issued with new protection against nuclear, biological and chemical attack. But they were ready to continue their 39-year mission in the zone.

UNDOF, essentially with Austrians in the north and Filipinos in the south, polices a 75-km (47-mile) ribbon of demilitarised zone running from the mountainous Lebanese border in the north to Jordan in the south, separating Syria from the Israeli-held Golan Heights, a plateau first seized from Syria in 1967.

Forty-four of its members have died since it was set up in 1974, some in accidents, but the ceasefire had until the past two years proved one of the most stable in the Middle East, with neither Syria nor Israel willing to challenge the status quo.

As the neighboring U.N. force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, has shown in 35 years of watching Israelis and Lebanese wage wars, the peacekeepers have limited military means to prevent conflict but do represent the will of the U.N. Security Council.

UNDOF's restricted scope for action has been seen as Syria's civil strife has intruded; rival Syrian groups fight nearby and Israel is concerned about the appearance of anti-Assad forces, notably Islamist militants, willing to attack the Jewish state.

It has made clear it will act inside Syria if it sees its interests threatened; Israeli warplanes have bombed targets near Damascus, just 50 km (30 miles) from the Golan buffer zone, three times this year, targeting suspected arms shipments from Assad's ally Iran to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.

Just on Tuesday, Syria said its troops destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed into its territory, while Israel said the incident took place on its side of the line and the vehicle was only damaged. Both sides said Israel fired back.

Filipino peacekeepers have on two occasions been held for days by the Syrian rebel Yarmouk Martyrs' Brigade. In November, two Austrian peacekeepers were hurt when their convoy came under fire near the airport in Damascus.

Klug called the Golan situation "tense but manageable" and declined to go into detail on what elements of EU policy changes might prompt an exit: "There is a Plan B for every foreign mission, not just for the Golan," he said. "It makes little sense to discuss red lines in public, but they are there."

Klug, a center-left Social Democrat in the right-left grand coalition in Vienna, took charge of the ministry in March and visited the Austrian troops on the Golan this month.

They had, he said, curtailed patrol areas and taken extra equipment including body armour, armoured vehicles and equipment for handling nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC) warfare - though Klug played down any risk of chemical weapons attacks.

"To me the safety of Austrian troops is the most important thing in this context," he said. "But I also say that Austria has clearly shown in years past that it is a reliable provider of troops and Austria wants to remain a reliable provider of troops."

Northern areas patrolled by the Austrians were generally less tense than the south of the zone, closer to the city of Deraa where the revolt began. But Klug said his troops, with their backs to Israeli positions on the heights, still saw a mix of both Syrian government forces and rebels on the Syrian side.

It was hard to determine who was who, he said, adding: "You can see them with binoculars. They get pretty close."

(Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/austria-says-peackeepers-may-quit-golan-eu-arms-173932262.html

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Breakaway Scotland to face high saver protection costs - UK study

By William James

LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of protecting Scottish savers would prove difficult to bear if the country broke away from the rest of the UK, a study by the Treasury said on Monday.

The findings come in the latest paper from the British government on how independence would impact the country. On Sunday the Treasury said an independent Scotland would have a huge financial sector relative to its economy, leaving it vulnerable to a Cyprus-style banking crisis.

Existing schemes to provide a deposit guarantee to British savers and protect pension payouts would not cover Scotland if its voters decide to break away from the UK in a referendum due to be held next September, the Treasury said on Monday.

"Arrangements that protect UK savers from financial shocks could be difficult and expensive to maintain in an independent Scotland," the report said.

The UK currently guarantees bank deposits up to 85,000 pounds ($129,100), paid for by a levy on its financial sector. However the likely structure of the Scottish banking industry would prove less suited to such a system.

"The retail deposit market in a separate Scotland would be dominated by only two large banks and, if one of these were to fail, the costs for compensating the depositors would fall almost entirely on the one remaining bank," a Treasury statement accompanying the report said.

The Scottish National Party which controls Scotland's devolved government and is behind the independence campaign has dismissed the Treasury report and is due to issue its own study on Tuesday, highlighting the benefits of a split from Britain. ($1 = 0.6582 British pounds)

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/breakaway-scotland-face-high-saver-protection-costs-uk-000605832.html

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Yahoo NYC press event liveblog

Yahoo NYC press event liveblog

News of Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr is already official, so today's NYC event will likely shed some light on that $1.1 billion deal. CEO Marissa Mayer will be on hand to address the crowd -- and we'll be there to give you the play-by-play. Will we hear exactly what Yahoo means when it says won't "screw it up?" Will Tumblr CEO be there to contribute his take on the merger? Park your browsers here to find out; the liveblog goes down at 5PM EST.

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Connecticut rail delays continue, seen repaired by Wednesday

By Richard Weizel

WESTPORT, Connecticut (Reuters) - Connecticut rail commuters endured crowded and rerouted rides in to work on Monday, as Metro-North worked to repair the busiest U.S. rail line after a two-train collision and derailment injured more than 70 people late last week.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said commuters should expect "serious disruptions," and encouraged riders to stay home if possible as repair crews worked to fix or replace more than 2,000 feet of track as well as overhead wires and other equipment.

But by late afternoon, the railroad said that repair work was being completed well ahead of schedule and that regular train service will resume in time for the Wednesday morning commute.

"We are confident that the reconstruction work, inspection and testing will be completed in time for a normal rush hour on Wednesday," said Metro-North President Howard Permut.

On Friday evening, a Metro-North passenger train derailed between Fairfield and Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was struck by another commuter train, halting full service. The site of the crash is about 55 miles northeast of New York City.

Many morning commuters stayed home on Monday, drove to trains further up the line which had not been disrupted or took shuttle buses.

Service between New York and Boston along the busy Northeast Corridor by Amtrak, the U.S. passenger rail network, was also suspended indefinitely due to the accident.

At the train station in Westport, Connecticut, travelers stood in long lines returning from New York as they waited for shuttle buses.

"I won't be doing this again, no way," said financial consultant Joseph Calabrese, who resides in a suburb of New Haven. "I can get more done at home without all this hassle."

Lindsey Shaughnessy, 26, of New Haven, said she had returned from a safari in Kenya on Monday to learn she could not catch a train to New Haven from Grand Central Terminal in New York.

"I've been in transit now for 40 hours and I just want to get home," said Shaughnessy, dragging her luggage as she prepared to board a shuttle bus. "You expect something like this in Africa, but it's kind of a shock to come back to the States and have to go through these kinds of delays."

The New York-New Haven line is the busiest rail line in the country, serving 125,000 commuters a day, said Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Kate Miller, a daily commuter from Bridgeport, said she got a ride into New York on Sunday night to avoid delays and took the train back early Monday afternoon to catch a shuttle bus in Westport.

"I haven't slept in more than 24 hours. I'm exhausted and will take the governor's advice the rest of the week and work from home," Miller said. "It just isn't worth it spending all these hours commuting."

(Additional reporting by Edith Honan; editing by Daniel Trotta, Dan Whitcomb, G Crosse)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/connecticut-governor-tells-commuters-home-week-while-crash-164252237.html

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Bloom.fm Is A Mobile-First Music Streaming Service That's Playing To A Different Tune

mzl.ycaxqman.320x480-75It's nice to see a startup trying something different and garnering some promising traction along the way. The UK's Bloom.fm is a mobile-first music streaming service -- it currently exists as an iOS app only -- that launched four months ago out of the ashes of the deadpooled music social network mflow.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rV9njprA0Ls/

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