Lab instruments inside Curiosity eat Mars rock powder

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Two compact laboratories inside NASA's Mars rover Curiosity have ingested portions of the first sample of rock powder ever collected from the interior of a rock on Mars.

Curiosity science team members will use the laboratories to analyze the rock powder in the coming days and weeks.

The rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments received portions of the sample on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 23, respectively, and began inspecting the powder.

"Data from the instruments have confirmed the deliveries," said Curiosity Mission Manager Jennifer Trosper of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The powder comes from Curiosity drilling into rock target "John Klein" on Feb. 8. One or more additional portions from the same initial sample may be delivered to the instruments as analysis proceeds.

During a two-year prime mission, researchers are using Curiosity's 10 science instruments to assess whether the study area in Gale Crater on Mars ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

More information about Curiosity is online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/TFvKVl-JZCI/130225185603.htm

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Future evidence for extraterrestrial life might come from dying stars

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Even dying stars could host planets with life -- and if such life exists, we might be able to detect it within the next decade. This encouraging result comes from a new theoretical study of Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarf stars. Researchers found that we could detect oxygen in the atmosphere of a white dwarf's planet much more easily than for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star.

"In the quest for extraterrestrial biological signatures, the first stars we study should be white dwarfs," said Avi Loeb, theorist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation.

When a star like the Sun dies, it puffs off its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core called a white dwarf. A typical white dwarf is about the size of Earth. It slowly cools and fades over time, but it can retain heat long enough to warm a nearby world for billions of years.

Since a white dwarf is much smaller and fainter than the Sun, a planet would have to be much closer in to be habitable with liquid water on its surface. A habitable planet would circle the white dwarf once every 10 hours at a distance of about a million miles.

Before a star becomes a white dwarf it swells into a red giant, engulfing and destroying any nearby planets. Therefore, a planet would have to arrive in the habitable zone after the star evolved into a white dwarf. A planet could form from leftover dust and gas (making it a second-generation world), or migrate inward from a larger distance.

If planets exist in the habitable zones of white dwarfs, we would need to find them before we could study them. The abundance of heavy elements on the surface of white dwarfs suggests that a significant fraction of them have rocky planets. Loeb and his colleague Dan Maoz (Tel Aviv University) estimate that a survey of the 500 closest white dwarfs could spot one or more habitable Earths.

The best method for finding such planets is a transit search -- looking for a star that dims as an orbiting planet crosses in front of it. Since a white dwarf is about the same size as Earth, an Earth-sized planet would block a large fraction of its light and create an obvious signal.

More importantly, we can only study the atmospheres of transiting planets. When the white dwarf's light shines through the ring of air that surrounds the planet's silhouetted disk, the atmosphere absorbs some starlight. This leaves chemical fingerprints showing whether that air contains water vapor, or even signatures of life, such as oxygen.

Astronomers are particularly interested in finding oxygen because the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is continuously replenished, through photosynthesis, by plant life. Were all life to cease on Earth, our atmosphere would quickly become devoid of oxygen, which would dissolve in the oceans and oxidize the surface. Thus, the presence of large quantities of oxygen in the atmosphere of a distant planet would signal the likely presence of life there.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled for launch by the end of this decade, promises to sniff out the gases of these alien worlds. Loeb and Maoz created a synthetic spectrum, replicating what JWST would see if it examined a habitable planet orbiting a white dwarf. They found that both oxygen and water vapor would be detectable with only a few hours of total observation time.

"JWST offers the best hope of finding an inhabited planet in the near future," said Maoz.

Recent research by CfA astronomers Courtney Dressing and David Charbonneau showed that the closest habitable planet is likely to orbit a red dwarf star (a cool, low-mass star undergoing nuclear fusion). Since a red dwarf, although smaller and fainter than the Sun, is much larger and brighter than a white dwarf, its glare would overwhelm the faint signal from an orbiting planet's atmosphere. JWST would have to observe hundreds of hours of transits to have any hope of analyzing the atmosphere's composition.

"Although the closest habitable planet might orbit a red dwarf star, the closest one we can easily prove to be life-bearing might orbit a white dwarf," said Loeb.

Their paper has been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

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Journal Reference:

1. Abraham Loeb, Dan Maoz. Detecting bio-markers in habitable-zone earths transiting white dwarfs. Arxiv, 2013 [link]

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/N7HMdoJEg3U/130225131618.htm

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Microsoft Diserang Hacker, Persis Seperti Dialami Facebook-Apple

Liputan6.com, Jakarta : Raksasa software Microsoft mengaku telah menjadi korban serangan cyberattack, beberapa jam lalu. Dalam sebuah post di blog keamanannya, Microsoft mengaku menjadi korban peretasan dengan situasi yang sama seperti yang dialami Facebook dan Apple.

"Saat melakukan investigasi, kami menemukan sejumlah kecil komputer, termasuk di unit bisnis kami yang menggunakan Mac, yang terinfeksi dengan malicious software dengan menggunakan teknik sama yang didokumentasi oleh perusahaan lain," tulis Matt Thomlinson, General Manager Trustworthy Computing Security di blog Microsoft, yang Liputan6.com kutip dari Mashable, Sabtu (23/2/2013).

Meski menjadi korban peretasan, Microsoft mengaku tak ada data konsumen yang menjadi korban.

Perusahaan yang didirikan Bill Gates ini mengaku tak kaget dengan adanya serangan hacker ini. Microsoft pun mengaku akan terus melakukan re-evaluasi terhadap sistem keamanan mereka. "Untuk mencegah akses tanpa izin ke jaringan kami," tulis Thomlinson.

Sebelumnya, Apple mengaku sistem mereka telah diinfiltrasi oleh hacker yang sama dengan yang membobol keamanan Facebook. Apple mengaku tak ada data yang dicuri.

Sedangkan Facebook menjadi korban peretasan saat pegawai Facebook mengunjungi suatu situs mobile developer. Serangan ini diakui sangat canggih karena malware langsung terinstal begitu situs dibuka. Tapi tak ada data yang berhasil dicuri. (GAL)

Source: http://tekno.liputan6.com/read/519974/microsoft-diserang-hacker-persis-seperti-dialami-facebook-apple

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Maldives denies deal with ex-president

THE Maldivian government denied any deal to allow ex-president Mohamed Nasheed to end his refuge at the Indian embassy in the capital and resume election campaigning without fear of arrest.

Presidential spokesman Abbas Riaz said Nasheed walked out of the embassy on Saturday afternoon of his own will and there was no agreement with an Indian mediator who rushed to the Maldives last week to resolve a tense standoff.

"There is no deal, absolutely no deal with the Indians or anyone else," Riaz said on Sunday, in the government's first reaction to Nasheed leaving the embassy to resume his political work.

Nasheed, 45, sought refuge at the embassy on February 13, straining ties between regional power India and its small neighbour Maldives, after an arrest warrant was issued following his failure to attend court.

He says his trial is a "politically motivated" attempt to disqualify him from an election due on September 7, a charge denied by the government.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said Nasheed was meeting with visiting Western diplomats on Sunday and would start house-to-house campaigning from Monday.

"He is back on the campaign trail," said MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor.

"India arranged a deal to give political space for Nasheed to contest... but still there is a risk (of arrest). We don't trust this rogue regime."

The Maldivian government insists that it will not interfere with a judicial process.

India sent its special envoy, senior diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla, to mediate an end to the crisis after Nasheed took refuge in its high commission to avoid arrest.

Source: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/nasheed-leaves-indian-embassy/story-e6freoo6-1226584306466?from=public_rss

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Taking the gamble out of DNA sequencing: How much can be learned in a large-scale experiment

Feb. 24, 2013 ? Two USC scientists have developed an algorithm that could help make DNA sequencing affordable enough for clinics -- and could be useful to researchers of all stripes.

Andrew Smith, a computational biologist at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, developed the algorithm along with USC graduate student Timothy Daley to help predict the value of sequencing more DNA, to be published in Nature Methods on February 24.

Extracting information from the DNA means deciding how much to sequence: sequencing too little and you may not get the answers you are looking for, but sequence too much and you will waste both time and money. That expensive gamble is a big part of what keeps DNA sequencing out of the hands of clinicians. But not for long, according to Smith.

"It seems likely that some clinical applications of DNA sequencing will become routine in the next five to 10 years," Smith said. "For example, diagnostic sequencing to understand the properties of a tumor will be much more effective if the right mathematical methods are in place."

The beauty of Smith and Daley's algorithm, which predicts the size and composition of an unseen population based on a small sample, lies in its broad applicability.

"This is one of those great instances where a specific challenge in our research led us to uncover a powerful algorithm that has surprisingly broad applications," Smith said.

Think of it: how often do scientists need to predict what they haven't seen based on what they have? Public health officials could use the algorithm to estimate the population of HIV positive individuals; astronomers could use it to determine how many exoplanets exist in our galaxy based on the ones they have already discovered; and biologists could use it to estimate the diversity of antibodies in an individual.

The mathematical underpinnings of the algorithm rely on a model of sampling from ecology known as capture-recapture. In this model, individuals are captured and tagged so that a recapture of the same individual will be known -- and the number of times each individual was captured can be used to make inferences about the population as a whole.

In this way scientists can estimate, for example, the number of gorillas remaining in the wild. In DNA sequencing, the individuals are the various different genomic molecules in a sample. However, the mathematical models used for counting gorillas don't work on the scale of DNA sequencing.

"The basic model has been known for decades, but the way it has been used makes it highly unstable in most applications. We took a different approach that depends on lots of computing power and seems to work best in large-scale applications like modern DNA sequencing," Daley said.

Scientists faced a similar problem in the early days of the human genome sequencing project. A mathematical solution was provided by Michael Waterman of USC, in 1988, which found widespread use. Recent advances in sequencing technology, however, require thinking differently about the mathematical properties of DNA sequencing data.

"Huge data sets required a novel approach. I'm very please it was developed here at USC," said Waterman.

This research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute (R01 HG005238 and P50 HG002790).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Southern California, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Journal Reference:

1. Timothy Daley, Andrew D Smith. Predicting the molecular complexity of sequencing libraries. Nature Methods, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.2375

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/3-uOSnhnewE/130224142825.htm

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Mount Clemens boys basketball coach Jermaine Jackson finds that deeper level of team chemistry spawns success

Jared Purcell | japurcell@mlive.com, February 23, 2013 9 a.m.

Mount Clemens coach Jermaine Jackson's passion for developing youth has made the boys basketball team one of the most successful programs in the area this season. - (Jared Purcell | japurcell@mlive.com)

The Mount Clemens boys basketball team has been used to success on the court in recent seasons. After winning its fourth Macomb Area Conference Gold title in a row on Friday night with a 91-84 victory against Warren Woods Tower, it goes without saying that nothing has changed in Mt. Clemens' winning ways.

Well, almost nothing.

When Jermaine Jackson took over the head coaching position at Mt. Clemens this year, he inherited a team that had plenty of talent and grit to continue the dynasty that the program had been building. Most coaches would have a hard time waiting to get on the court and start creating some chemistry.

But for Jackson, he decided to start building chemistry before practice even started.

?The first two weeks before practice, we didn?t train, we didn?t pick up a basketball, we didn?t do anything,? Jackson said. ?I got to know them. I built a relationship with them. No basketball. No anything. I built a relationship with every kid.?

Jackson was not kidding around either. Making an effort to get to know the parents of each player, the brothers and sister ? even the girlfriends ? Jackson wanted his players to know that he was going to do everything in his power to make his team feel like a family. Heck, he even had dinners with some of the families.

Luckily for Jackson, his efforts proved to be fruitful.

?We?re with each other 24-7,? Mt. Clemens sophomore Josh McFolley said. ?We are basically a family, we are like brothers ? We?ve got to learn everybody.?

The tighter the team got off of the court, the tighter it got in games and in practices. As that happened the win began to snowball and now Mt. Clemens sees itself with a 17-1 record with its only loss coming by three points in double overtime to New Haven.

Not bad for chemistry, right?

Jackson, who has a history of mentoring area youth though his own Jermaine Jackson Community Center in Mt. Clemens, he believes that the best can be drawn out of any player if they are placed in the right type of environment. The best way Jackson knows how to create a nurturing environment is by using his strong faith as a guide.

?God got me through,? Jackson said. ?I tell the guys all of the time that it is all God, it?s not us. It?s all God giving us the ability, the strength, the conditioning and the focus and love that we have for each other.?

Maybe Jackson can coin the term ?a team that prays together, wins together.? Plus, it also helps that Jackson knows a thing or two about basketball.

As a former point-guard at University of Detroit Mercy, Jackson also spent some time playing professionally in the NBA and overseas. With his abundant amount of skill and knowledge, combined with his full-throttle attitude, it is no wonder that Mt. Clemens is experiencing one of its greatest seasons ever at this point.

However, Jackson will be the first to remind his players that the season is far from over and that there is plenty of work still to do. For Mt. Clemens, it is all or nothing. That is why the Battling Bathers will celebrate its fourth-straight MAC Gold title by heading back to school and holding a practice right after the game.

?We just won but the guys know that we are going to go back to the school and practice tonight,? Jackson said. ?We?ve got a lot of missed assignments, we weren?t in help-side defense. (Tower) scored 84 points on us. Not to say they can?t score, but we pride ourselves on defense.?

Actually, with the way Jackson has been running the ship so far in his first year, Mt. Clemens can pride itself on everything.

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Source: http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/8175135290321228149/mount-clemens-boys-basketball-coach-jermaine-jackson-finds-that-deeper-level-of-team-chemistry-spawns-success/

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Skullcandy Hesh 2

Skullcandy headphones keep surprising me. The lineup has definitely kept its sporty, skater-esque stylings, but the internals seem to be improving. The recent Skullcandy Navigator?is a solid, bass-friendly budget option, and the Hesh 2, starting at $69.95 (direct) for models with the inline remote, offers a refined sound signature that is crisp and relatively balanced. Plus, the audio is delivered distortion-free, with an emphasis on mid-range and high frequency clarity.

Design
No Skullcandy product would be complete without multiple style options, paint jobs, and price tiers. The Hesh 2, with no mic and black-on-black design, sells for $59.95 (direct). Add in the inline mic and phone controls, and the lowest pricing is $69.95. Then, of course, you can buy a pair that has your favorite team's logo on it, or one that is covered in hemp. Those range from $79.95 and up.

Given all of the above, it's almost pointless to discuss the overall look of the Hesh 2, since it is basically a chameleon that comes in several styles and flavors. The overall shape doesn't really change, however?a simple, padded headband meets circular ear cups that also protrude outward, taking the shape of globes sliced in half.

The circumaural (around the ear) design of the Hesh 2 can feel a little rigid and awkward, as if the ear cups are a bit too small to fit an entire ear inside them. It's not uncomfortable, really, just awkward?the cups would probably be better served if they were either a bit larger, our more appropriately matched to an ear's shape, and not perfect circles. Regardless, the headphones are quite lightweight and don't grow uncomfortable during longer listening sessions.

The Hesh 2, as previously mentioned, is available with or without the inline remote and microphone. Call clarity through the mic is not astounding, but your call partner will understand you and you'll understand them. In other words, you're dealing with typical low-fi cellular fidelity.

One nice perk: the cable is detachable. This adds value to your purchase; replacing a faulty cable is far cheaper than buying an entire new pair of headphones or sending things in for repair, and cables are the most common culprit when headphones malfunction. Finally, a black drawstring bag is included with the Hesh 2.

Performance
The Hesh 2 does not distort on tracks with deep bass, even at high volumes. Its overall response is limited in the sub-bass realm. It does reproduce truly deep frequencies, but not with the same amount of gusto as, say, the Beats by Dr. Dre. The Knife's "Silent Shout," which has tremendous sub-bass content, can be played at maximum (and unsafe) volume without distorting, and you will get a good sense of the intensity of the bass, but this is not a deep bass lovers dream. However, bass fiends on a budget won't feel ripped off. Like some studio monitor-style headphones, the Hesh 2 provides a clear picture without ignoring or overly boosting the lows.

The focus for the Hesh 2 seems to be more on the mids and highs. It's nice to see a manufacturer focus on this realm when it's clear the drivers could have been tweaked to push out gobs of heavy, deep sub-bass. The end result here is the bass is dutifully represented?the new Atoms for Peace record, Amok, doesn't sound brittle in the slightest, and Flea's bass lines and the deep bass synth parts are delivered with richness and clarity. But the real standout feature of the sound signature is the clarity and crispness of the vocals and the attack of the percussion. Things aren't overly bright, but vocals are delivered with a nice edge to them, snare drums have a pleasing snap, and there's no part of the mix you can't hear. As previously stated, the Hesh 2, whether this was intentional or not, reminds me of a studio monitor pair, like the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro.

Bill Callahan's vocals on "Drover" have a nice treble presence that helps his voice stand out in a mix featuring some heavy backing percussion. The drumming itself has a subtle bass presence, rather than an overly-boosted thunderous sound, which can often occur on budget pairs that boost the low frequencies too much. The Hesh 2 also tames the intense sub-bass synth hits on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," while highlighting the hi-mid attack of the kick drum loop and helping the vocals take center stage.

On classical tracks, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances," the Hesh 2 fares less well. Here, it does sound a bit tinny and brittle. The lower register strings are nicely represented, but the higher register instruments seem to have a bit too much edge on them, which more or less cancels out the subtle bass response. It doesn't sound horrible by any stretch of the imagination, especially for this price range, but the Hesh 2 is perhaps better suited for pop, rock, hip hop, and electronic genres, for which it manages to tame the more intense elements of the mix, like throbbing bass, while highlighting aspects that sometimes get lost in busy mixes, like vocal clarity.

The idea of the "bass lover" is a curious thing. I love bass, for instance, when it's accurate, or slightly boosted. I don't want insanely-boosted low frequencies to gobble up the whole mix and vibrate my skull, but I do love when sub-bass frequencies jump out in the mix a bit. The Hesh 2 does a great job of allowing sub-bass elements to exist in a sound signature that is otherwise focused on hi-mids and highs. So, bass fiends may or may not love the Hesh 2, but if your looking for a fairly accurate, affordable headphone pair, especially for modern music mixes, it's a great place to begin your search.

If you have a bit more cash to spend and want to stick with this same overall sound signature, the aforementioned Sennheiser HD 280 Pro is a fantastic option, though it's a bit bulky and intended for studio use. The Logitech UE 4000?also delivers distortion-free performance with sub-bass presence that isn't overly-boosted. It's priced a bit higher, as well, but a worthy step up if you have the budget. If you really do want to hear some seriously boosted bass, of course there are plenty of options, including Skullcandy's own Navigator, which focuses more on the lower frequencies than does the Hesh 2. For the price, however, the Hesh 2 offers a clear, distortion-free experience. It's by no means a masterpiece, but definitely a solid value.

More Headphone Reviews:
??? Polk Audio UltraFocus 6000
??? Skullcandy Hesh 2
??? RHA MA150
??? Audio Technica ATH-ANC9 QuietPoint
??? Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/T8KM4S7yUMk/0,2817,2415715,00.asp

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GOP SENATORS TREADING CAREFULLY WITH TEA PARTY

From AZCENTRAL:

Twice burned, Republicans are treading carefully around tea party groups as they pursue a Senate majority that slipped through their fingers in 2010 and 2012.

?You?d have to be an idiot not to prepare? for primary election challenges from the right, no matter the state, says Rob Jesmer, who was executive director of the GOP Senate campaign committee when flawed, conservative candidates captured primaries, only to lose winnable races in the fall.

While incumbents work to ward off or repel challenges from within their party, a Republican tempest already is flaring in Georgia, where GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss is stepping down. Party officials also look apprehensively toward Iowa, where Sen. Tom Harkin?s decision to retire down opens up a seat long in Democratic hands.

The developments come at a time the Republican Party nationally is involved in a well-chronicled period of introspection after failing to win the White House last fall. President Barack Obama?s support reached 53 percent among women who cast ballots, 60 percent among voters under 30, some 71 percent among Hispanics and 93 percent among blacks. Numerous officials have said the party must find a way to broaden its appeal rather than continue to steer rightward.

Read more HERE

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Source: http://gillreport.com/2013/02/gop-senators-treading-carefully-woth-tea-party/

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PDC Energy Says Site Is Clean, Investigation Continues Into 84,000 Gallon Fracking Spill

Just over a week and a half has passed since an oil well east of Fort Collins spewed 84,000 gallons of spent fracking fluid from a damaged valve.

• KUNC's Nathan Heffel speaks to COGCC spokesman Todd Hartman

The company that owns the well, PDC Energy, says the site is now clean and has released its report of the incident to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

According to PDC Energy documents, the spill began Monday February 11th, ?due to failure of the air supply system on the workover equipment, the travelling block descended and sheared off one of the wellhead?s locking pins, allowing flowback fluid to escape.?? The company says it immediately notified local, county and state officials. Fracking fluid gushed from the broken valve from 9 a.m. Monday until 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Around 2,000 barrels of fracking fluid flooded the site and was contained by an ?earthen berm.'

In an e-mailed statement, PDC Energy says the well was capped ?and earth-moving equipment was used to remove contaminated soil and fluid around the well to a depth of 18 inches which was then transported off-site to an approved hazardous waste landfill.

PDC Energy says after ?extensive soil testing at the site,? the area is now clean.

COGCC representatives were on-site during the event according to Todd Hartman, spokesman for the commission. I spoke to him about the incident and what?s next in the process.

Nathan Heffel: This was a significant spill. While PDC Energy says the site is clean, what does it take for your agency to say the site is actually clean?

Todd Hartman: We have a staff that has been engaged from almost the moment the event occurred. We had staff on-site very quickly afterward. We had additional staff on-site the next day with engineering expertise as well. We have been engaged from the beginning and we will continue to be engaged in making that determination. The operator here has to do a number of things which, so far, they have done in compliance of our rules which is contain material, move it off site,? and then sample groundwater and remaining soil to ensure that when they went to address the polluted area they were successful at doing so. And our staff will be involved in determining and reviewing the reports that are submitted to us that include sampling results from the operator?s efforts.

Heffel: How long will it take for the commission to release its report?

Hartman: I think it might be too soon to tell. The company has submitted a couple things to us, one was a spill report that documents the event itself and provides some information about the extent of the spill, steps that were taken to contain it. And they have also provided to us a remediation report which outlines what steps they?re going to take to address the issues to make sure the site is clean. I think there?s a timeline there of some period in order for us to be comfortable that enough work has been done, enough sampling has done, enough review of the surroundings has been done to know that in fact the situation is safe.?

Heffel: And the commission believes, at least at this time, that this spill was handled adequately and in a way that was consistent with commission guidelines?

Hartman: Our view of it at this stage, and we?re not finished looking at it? of course, an event like this is not a positive. We never want to see these kinds of events occur. We never like to see fluids released onto the ground. But there is an alternative looking at this ?or at least an additional way of looking at this. At this stage, it appears the rules we have in place, the contingencies that the company had in place ?everything worked. And so one way to think about this is: we have 50,000 active wells in the state, it?s a big industry. It?s an industry that?s providing a resource that we all depend on every day. This is the intersection of human beings and technology and industry, and from time to time there are going to be events. So when and if events occur you really hope they?re addressed like this one, at least the way it appears at this point.? ?

Heffel: So it seems, at least from what you?re telling me, the system worked.

Hartman: Yes, we think the process did work. Our investigation is not yet complete and I want to be a little circumspect in the finality of what I?m saying here, but from the indications now that appropriate actions were taken and the issue was quickly and effectively addressed.

Heffel:?The nearest house and water wells to this spill were around 15 hundred feet away and it?s about 15 feet down to the shallowest groundwater. Do the homeowner and well owner have any recourse if they disagree with PDC Energy?s reports or your reports for that matter?

Hartman: It?s my understanding the operator is out getting permission from adjacent land owners to take soil samples. If a neighboring land owner has any concern or actually discovers something that they believe to be an impact from this event we would absolutely want to know about it, we would absolutely investigate it. And we would absolutely hold the operator accountable if it was determined that there was an impact from that.

KUNC reached out to PDC Energy representatives on numerous occasions for comment on the incident, however they declined to comment on-tape and referred us to e-mails and reports they released to the COGCC.

[Ed. Note: A previous version of this story said "earth-moving equipment was used to remove contaminated soil and fluid around the well to a depth of 18 feet which was then transported off-site to an approved hazardous waste landfill." The correct measurement?was 18 inches. The story has been corrected.]

Source: http://kunc.org/post/pdc-energy-says-site-clean-investigation-continues-84000-gallon-fracking-spill

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Imperial Oil names Exxon veteran Kruger as CEO

(Reuters) - Imperial Oil Ltd , majority owned by Exxon Mobil Corp , named Exxon veteran Richard Kruger as chief executive, replacing Bruce March who is moving to ExxonMobil Chemical Co.

Kruger, currently president of ExxonMobil Production Co, will take over at Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company on March 1.

Kruger, currently president of ExxonMobil Production Co, started his career with Exxon in 1981.

March has been appointed senior vice-president of global operations for ExxonMobil Chemical.

Imperial Oil, in which Exxon holds 69.60 percent, is best known for its dominant position in the Alberta oil sands.

The company reported a higher fourth-quarter profit earlier this month but said costs of its recently completed Kearl oil sands project in northern Alberta have risen by C$2 billion to C$12.9 billion ($12.7 billion).

Shares of the company, which has a market value of C$36.29 billion, closed at C$42.82 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

($1 = 1.0148 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imperial-oil-names-exxon-veteran-kruger-ceo-170208460--finance.html

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Ubuntu on Phones preview now available

IOS and Android finally have some real competition! Ubuntu has announced that the Touch Developer Preview will be available at the Mobile World Congress. The first phone to be supported with Debian Linux derivative operating system will be the Nexus 4. Other phones will, including existing models, will be support later in 2013. Detailed information [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/02/22/ubuntu-on-phones-preview-on-the-21st-of-february/

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U.S. seeks to tackle trade secret theft by China, others

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Faced with what experts say is growing theft of U.S. trade secrets by China and other nations, the White House on Wednesday vowed to protect American businesses and economic security more aggressively and consider tougher laws at home.

The White House did not directly cite China, which many see as the main threat and did not propose new penalties on perpetrators. A study released this week by a private security firm accused the Chinese military of orchestrating numerous cyber attacks against U.S. businesses, a charge Beijing has denied.

The Obama administration said its strategy aims to counter what U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called "a significant and steadily increasing threat to America's economy and national security interests."

"As new technology has torn down traditional barriers to international business and global commerce, they also make it easier for criminals to steal secrets and to do so from anywhere, anywhere in the world," Holder said at a White House event to unveil the strategy.

He said the perpetrators include "individuals, companies and even countries that are eager to tilt the playing field to their advantage."

The plan includes working with like-minded governments to put pressure on bad actors, using trade policy tools where possible, increasing criminal prosecutions and launching a 120-day review to see whether new legislation is needed.

While the report did not specifically name any country as the main culprit, it listed 17 cases of trade secret theft by Chinese companies or individuals since 2010, far more than any other country mentioned in the report.

"We have repeatedly raised our concerns about trade secret theft by any means at the highest levels with senior Chinese officials and we will continue to do so," Deputy Secretary of State Robert Hormats said.

Those cases cited mostly involved employees stealing trade secrets on the job rather than cyber attacks. U.S. corporate victims of the theft included General Motors, Ford, DuPont, Dow Chemical, Motorola, Boeing and Cargill.

Last week, Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said U.S. companies suffered estimated losses in 2012 of more than $300 billion due to trade secret theft, a large share due to Chinese cyber espionage.

Cybersecurity and intelligence experts welcomed the White House plan as a first step, but some said much more needed to be done.

"You've got a nation state taking on private corporations," said former CIA director Michael Hayden. "That's kind of unprecedented ... We have not approached resolution with this at all," he said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business lobby, offered a lukewarm statement of support, while other industry groups expressed more enthusiasm for the effort.

"We strongly endorse and applaud the administration's focus on curbing theft of trade secrets, which poses a serious and growing threat to the software industry around the world," said Business Software Alliance President and CEO Robert Holleyman.

BUILDING ON EXISTING EFFORTS

Victoria Espinel, the White House intellectual property rights enforcement coordinator, said the new strategy improves existing government efforts to protect the innovation that drives the U.S. economy and job creation.

The report that laid out the strategy repeated a 2011 White House recommendation that the maximum sentence for economic espionage be increased to at least 20 years, from 15 currently.

Another part of the solution is promoting a set of "best practices" that companies can use to protect themselves against cyber attacks and other espionage, Espinel said.

The report also said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was "expanding its efforts to fight computer intrusions that involve the theft of trade secrets by individual, corporate and nation-state cyber hackers."

In an interview, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the problem of trade secret theft in China was a factor in the decisions of some U.S. companies to move operations back to the United States.

The companies have "had very frank conversations with the Chinese, (saying) 'You know it's one thing to accept a certain level of copyright knock-offs, but if you're going to take our core technology, then we're better off being in our home country,'" Kirk told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Deborah Charles; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Bill Trott, Todd Eastham, Tim Ahmann and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-seeks-tackle-trade-secret-theft-china-others-004633520.html

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Medicaid expansion pressure is having an effect (Offthekuff)

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Russian meteorite images caught on dashboard cameras

MOSCOW (Reuters) - It is no coincidence the first videos that captured the images of a meteorite breaking apart over central Russia on Friday were shot from drivers' dashboard cameras.

The small video cameras, fixed to the dashboard or rear view mirror of a car to film oncoming traffic and the road ahead, are immensely popular in Russia because of motorists' fears about the corruption, violence and insurance fraud schemes that can make driving in the country a nightmare.

"It's the little thing that can prove the truth," said Dmitry Isaev, 35, a Moscow motorist with a dashboard camera in his car. "There are so many conflicts on the road, and it's often the one thing that can prove your point to the police."

Dashboard camera footage appeared remarkably quickly on the Internet and television on Friday showing the meteorite hurtling through the sky and exploding over central Russia.

Footage shot on the cameras is already an Internet staple although usually showing feats such as motorists driving half-wrecked cars, running other automobiles off the road or, in one case, threatening other drivers with an axe.

One video that spread across the Internet last year was a five-minute montage that showed bypassers throwing themselves against cars on purpose in what it said were attempts to collect money through insurance. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c12_1349902324

"Policemen tell people that if they want their case to stand up, it's best to get a dashboard camera," said Isaev.

Dashboard cameras have also produced the first images of other dramatic incidents, including a Russian airliner sliding off the runway in late December and smashing onto a highway near Moscow, killing five people.

Russian roads have a bad reputation. According to Trafficsafe, a British-based road safety organization, 28,000 people were killed in traffic accidents in Russia in 2012.

It said 13,000 accidents were caused by drink driving.

The popularity of dashboard cameras may also be connected with popular tales of corruption among Russian traffic police, regularly cited by independent pollster Levada as one of the least trusted institutions in the country.

Most Russian motorists can say how big a bribe they would expect to pay to escape punishment for traffic violations - from not wearing a seat belt, to running a red light.

Russia was ranked 133rd place in the world for corruption in 2012 by Transparency International, on a par with Honduras and Guyana.

(Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-meteorite-images-caught-dashboard-cameras-201430485.html

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American, US Airways announce $11 billion merger

A U.S. Airways jet passes an American Airlines jet, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. The merger of the two airlines has given birth to a mega airline with more passengers than any other in the world. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A U.S. Airways jet passes an American Airlines jet, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. The merger of the two airlines has given birth to a mega airline with more passengers than any other in the world. (AP Photo/Matt York)

FILE - In this June 23, 2008 file photo, a US Airways jet takes off as an American Airlines jet is prepped for takeoff at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. The merger of US Airways and American Airlines has given birth to a mega airline with more passengers than any other in the world. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

A U.S. Airways jet passes an American Airlines jet, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. The merger of the two airlines has given birth to a mega airline with more passengers than any other in the world. (AP Photo/Matt York)

American Airlines and US Airways jets prepare for flight at gate at the Philadelphia International Airport, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Philadelphia. The merger of US Airways and American Airlines has given birth to a mega airline with more passengers than any other in the world. ( (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

An American Airlines jet taxis near a US Airways jet at the Philadelphia International Airport, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Philadelphia. The merger of US Airways and American Airlines has given birth to a mega airline with more passengers than any other in the world. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

DALLAS (AP) ? American Airlines and US Airways agreed Thursday to merge in an $11 billion deal that would create the world's biggest airline.

The combined carrier will be called American Airlines and be based in Fort Worth. It expects to have $40 billion in annual revenue and offer more than 6,700 daily flights to 336 destinations in 56 countries.

Travelers on American and US Airways won't notice immediate changes. It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are combined and years before the two airlines are fully integrated.

The deal is a coup for smaller US Airways Group Inc., and was driven by the persistence of its CEO, Doug Parker, who will run the combined airline. Parker sought a merger almost as soon as American parent AMR Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011.

As Parker pushed ahead, creditors forced AMR's management to consider the value of a merger compared with a plan for an independent American. Eventually they concluded that the best return for stakeholders, and the best chance to compete with bigger rivals United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, came from a merger.

The deal also caps turbulent decade of bankruptcies and consolidation for the U.S. airline industry.

Since 2008, Delta gobbled up Northwest, United absorbed Continental and Southwest bought AirTran Airways. If this latest merger goes through, American, United, Delta and Southwest will control about three-quarters of U.S. airline traffic.

The rapid consolidation has allowed the surviving airlines to offer bigger route networks that appeal to high-paying business travelers. And it has allowed them to limit the supply of seats, which helps prop up fares and airline profits.

That concerns some consumer advocates, but Parker sought to assure travelers that the merger helps them too ? by creating a bigger rival to United and Delta.

"There are two very large airlines right now and this creates a third," Parker said in an interview. "It provides good competition to those two."

Most airline mergers have resulted in a reduction of flights and shrinkage at some hubs, but Parker said this deal will be different because US Airways and American overlap on just 12 routes.

He said the new airline will keep all of American's hubs ? Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami, New York and Los Angeles ? and those of US Airways, in Phoenix, Charlotte and Philadelphia. Many airline mergers have resulted in some hubs being downgraded, as happened to Cincinnati after Delta bought Northwest.

"Hopefully the service will be better with two airlines united to do what one hasn't successfully done so far," said Mary Gorman, 63, who was at Miami International Airport on Thursday for a flight home to Virginia Beach after a cruise with her husband. "If the service is better, I don't mind paying more for a ticket."

While Parker becomes CEO of the combined company, AMR CEO Tom Horton will serve as chairman until its first shareholder meeting, likely in mid-2014. Parker becomes chairman after Horton leaves.

The boards of both companies approved the deal Wednesday. Executives said they were confident that antitrust regulators would approve the merger. It also needs approval by AMR's bankruptcy judge. The deal is expected to close in this year's third quarter as part of American's emergence from Chapter 11 protection.

Shares of US Airways fell 73 cents, or 5 percent, to $13.93 in morning trading.

AMR creditors will own 72 percent of the new company, with the remaining 28 percent will going to US Airways shareholders. The creditors' portion includes a 23.6 percent share for American employees and unions, plus a small stake for existing shareholders of American's parent AMR Corp.

The airlines said they expect $1.05 billion in combined benefits from the merger. They expect the bigger airline to lure corporate travelers away from competitors, contributing to $900 million in additional revenue. They also anticipate cost savings of roughly $150 million.

The savings would have been higher, but the company expects to pay out $400 million per year in raises for workers. Unionized workers at both airlines have seen their pay languish, with some US Airways pilots still flying under a contract signed when that carrier was in bankruptcy protection in 2005.

The combined airline also expects to spend $1.2 billion on one-time transition costs over the next three years.

It will stay in the "oneworld" airline alliance, where it is partners with British Airways and other overseas airlines. Those alliances make it easier for international travelers to plan trips that include multiple airlines.

The companies had negotiated since August, when creditors pushed AMR to conduct merger talks so they could decide which earned them a better return: a merger or an independent American.

The new American would have more than 900 planes and about 95,000 employees, not counting regional affiliates. It will be slightly bigger than United Airlines by passenger traffic, not counting regional affiliate airlines.

Delta and United's size have allowed them to get more than their share of business travelers, US Airways President Scott Kirby said on a conference call.

For instance, Delta's shuttle service up and down the East Coast competes against a similar offering by US Airways. But Delta passengers can connect to more overseas cities than US Airways passengers can, and American doesn't have a shuttle at all. But with the US Airways shuttle feeding passengers into American's overseas flights, the merged airline would get more business travelers, US Airways argued in its presentation to creditors in January, which was filed publicly on Thursday.

The combination will also boost American's service to Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. But some analysts noted that the new American will still be weak on routes to Asia.

"Without a major Pacific presence (just a mere five destinations and eight routes), American doesn't come close to either Delta or United's presence in the market," Helane Becker, airlines analyst for Dahlman Rose & Co., wrote Thursday in a note to clients.

The new board of directors will have 12 members: Three from American, including Horton; four from US Airways, including Parker; and five appointed by American's creditors.

AMR shareholders are poised to get a 3.5 percent stake in the new airline. That's unusual because stockholders typically get wiped out in a Chapter 11 proceeding.

Horton said AMR's bankruptcy creditors might be repaid in full. He said his company cut costs, reduced debt and moved ahead with orders for new planes during the bankruptcy process, increasing AMR's value to US Airways.

That, he said, "allowed us to make a deal with US Air that was on the right terms for American and our people."

---

Freed reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press Writer Suzette Laboy in Miami contributed to this report.

---

Follow David Koenig at http://www.twitter.com/airlinewriter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-14-American-US%20Airways-Merger/id-899c992216b246efbc1a48c0d78f003c

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India puts $750M Italian helicopter deal on hold

NEW DELHI -- India's Defense Ministry said Friday that it has put a $750 million contract to purchase helicopters from Italian company Finmeccanica on hold amid allegations that bribes were paid to obtain it.

The ministry said a formal notice has been sent to Finmeccanica's AgustaWestland helicopter division seeking cancellation of the contract. The company has a week to respond to the notice.

"With today's show cause notice, the operation of the contract has been put on hold. The company has been asked to reply to the notice in seven days," the ministry said in a statement.

India signed the contract with AgustaWestland for the purchase of 12 helicopters in February 2010. Three of the helicopters were delivered in December.

India has launched its own investigation into the 560 million euro ($750 million) deal after the Italian defense and aerospace giant's chief executive was arrested in Milan on Tuesday on charges he paid bribes to obtain the contract.

Giuseppe Orsi, CEO of Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, chief of AgustaWestland, are being investigated on charges they paid bribes in India.

Indian Defense Ministry officials have said the contract includes an integrity clause against bribery or the use of undue influence. Under the terms of the clause, if any person or the company is found to have bribed officials or made any kind of payoff, the agreement can be scrapped and the firm blacklisted.

The Defense Ministry had already put on hold the delivery of the remaining nine helicopters.

India is expected to spend $80 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade its antiquated military.

The country has become the world's top arms and defense equipment buyer in recent years as it tries to keep up with China's growing power in the region and with longtime rival and neighbor Pakistan.

India accounted for 9 percent of all international arms imports from 2006 to 2010, and is expected to keep the top spot for the foreseeable future as it upgrades its air force, army and navy.

This is not the first time that a defense deal in India has been mired in allegations that a company paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Indian officials.

In the 1980s, then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government collapsed over charges that the Swedish gun manufacturer Bofors AB paid bribes to supply Howitzer field guns to the Indian army.

Following the Bofors scandal, India banned middlemen in all defense deals.

From 2007 to 2011, Finmeccanica won an average of 250 million euros ($334 million) per year in orders from the Indian government, and aimed to double that by 2015. Analysts say that ambition could be jeopardized if the current allegations prove to be true.

The Finmeccancia board this week named its chief operating and financial officer, Alessandro Pansa, as interim CEO until a board meeting can be held in April. It also named a new vice chairman.

Orsi on Friday formally submitted his resignation as CEO, a post he took over in May 2011 from Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, who in December of that year also ceded the chairmanship to Orsi under government pressure due to allegations of a slush fund. That investgation has since been closed without charges.

In his letter, Orsi denied wrongdoing, saying he always worked ''for the exclusive interest of Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries."

Orsi, who was jailed on Tuesday, was being questioned by prosecutors north of Milan. The CEO of AgustaWestland is under house arrest.

Associated Press business writer Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy, contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/15/3236108/india-puts-750m-italian-helicopter.html

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UN inspectors see new centrifuges at Iran nuclear site: diplomat

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear inspectors have seen a small number of advanced centrifuges at an uranium enrichment plant where Iran has said it will install and operate them, a diplomatic source said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Iran's atomic energy chief said it had started installing a new generation of machines for refining uranium at the Natanz plant, an announcement likely to annoy the West and complicate efforts to resolve a dispute over its nuclear work.

The diplomatic source, who declined to be identified, suggested the centrifuges were positioned for installation at the Natanz facility. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regularly visits Iranian nuclear sites, including Natanz.

Iran had already told the IAEA that it planned to introduce new, so-called IR2-m centrifuges to its main enrichment plant near the central town of Natanz - a step that could significantly speed up its accumulation of material that the West fears could be used to develop a nuclear weapon.

Enriched uranium can fuel nuclear power plants, Iran's stated aim, or, if refined to a high degree, provide material for bombs, which the West suspects is Tehran's real purpose - something Iran strenuously denies.

If deployed successfully, new-generation centrifuges could refine uranium several times faster than the model Iran now has.

It was not clear how many of the new centrifuges Iran aimed to install at Natanz, which is designed for tens of thousands; an IAEA note to member states on January 31 implied that it could be up to 3,000 or so.

Iran's atomic energy chief, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, said on Wednesday the new machines were specifically geared for lower-grade enrichment of uranium to below 5 percent purity.

Iran has been refining some uranium up to a concentration of 20 percent fissile material, only a short technical step from weapons grade of 90 percent.

It is this stockpile that has prompted Israel and the United States to warn that they will do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran being able to build a nuclear warhead.

(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-inspectors-see-centrifuges-iran-nuclear-diplomat-140343356.html

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Christopher Dorner and the California Death Penalty

At this moment, it looks like Christopher Dorner, the ex-L.A.P.D. officer who?s been terrorizing Southern California for the past week, died on Tuesday in a confrontation with his pursuers. A San Bernardino deputy sheriff was also killed; Dorner has already been charged with the murder of another officer, and is alleged to have killed two other people. In a lengthy post on Facebook last week, Dorner said that the motive for his rampage was an unjust dismissal from the L.A.P.D. several years ago.

If Dorner didn?t die (and is later caught), we can be sure that one or more district attorneys will seek to have him executed. And thus the nation would be forced to confront one of the biggest fiascoes in the American legal system?the death penalty in California.

It?s possible for reasonable people to hold differing opinions on the death penalty. (Over the years, I?ve had several different ones myself.) But what?s going on in California represents the worst of all worlds?a massively expensive Potemkin operation in which hundreds of people are sentenced to death and no one is ever executed.

Here are the facts, most of them courtesy of the Death Penalty Information Center, which is an invaluable clearinghouse of accurate information and thoughtful analysis. There are seven hundred and twenty-four people on death row in California, far more than in any other state. (Texas only has three hundred and four.) But since the Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty in 1976, there have only been thirteen executions in California, and none since 2006. (There have been seven hundred and fifty-five in Texas.) So it?s entirely likely that a jury would send Dorner to death row in San Quentin, along with other killers like Scott Peterson. But there is basically no chance that Dorner would ever be put to death.

There are several reasons that the system in California has ground to a halt. The 1978 voter initiative that restored the death penalty sent all appeals directly to the California Supreme Court, bypassing the intermediate appeals courts. This has created a huge backlog at the state?s highest court. Moreover, challenges to the method of execution have led to a de facto moratorium on executions since 2006. That impasse continues.

The root of the problem, in California and elsewhere, is that, as the Supreme Court has often said, death is different. The finality of capital punishment requires special safeguards against errors in the judicial process. But if a state takes those safeguards seriously, as California does, the process can become never-ending. Death-row exonerations, through DNA evidence and other means, have provoked even greater scrutiny of the cases of those who remain. And the state?s oxymoronical quest to kill people in a humane fashion turns out to be difficult indeed. All of this leads to delay.

And to enormous expense: many studies have shown that the death penalty is far more costly to taxpayers than a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Research summarized by the Death Penalty Information Center suggests that California has spent more than four billion dollars on the death penalty since 1978. Florida pays about $24 million per execution. Maryland spent $186 million for five executions.

These cost issues led last year to a voter initiative to abolish the death penalty in California. Proposition 34 lost, but the anti-execution position received forty-seven per cent of the vote. By comparison, the 1978 initiative to restore the death penalty passed with seventy per cent of the vote, so there?s clearly been a major change in public sentiment. The national trends are all heading in the same direction: popular support, death sentences, executions all heading down.

The death penalty is not the only issue raised by the Dorner case. There is also the tangled story of race and the Los Angeles Police Department, which he reprised in his manifesto; the role of guns; and the way that coverage of the manhunt practically upstaged the State of the Union address. There is also the mystery of his crimes themselves and Droner?s decline into criminal madness. If Dorner is dead, few will mourn him. But anyone who has thought that his murderous spree?or the next spectacular California crime?would lead to a restoration of executions is very much mistaken. The death penalty is already over in California in fact; it may take a little while longer to be gone in law, too.

Photograph by Rex Features/AP.

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/02/dorner-and-the-california-death-penalty.html

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Obama calls NKorea nuke test 'highly provocative'

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Tuesday called North Korea's latest nuclear test a "highly provocative act" that threatens U.S. security and international peace.

"The danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community," Obama said in a statement issued early Tuesday. "The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies."

In a statement, the director of U.S. National Intelligence estimated the explosive yield at "approximately several kilotons" and said the government was analyzing further details. The statement said the explosion occurred in the vicinity of P'unggye, which is a mountainous region that has been the site of previous nuclear tests.

North Korea said it successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday. South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies said they detected an earthquake in North Korea with a magnitude between 4.9 and 5.2.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the test was conducted safely but with "great explosive power." It said the test is aimed at coping with "ferocious" U.S. hostility that undermines the North's peaceful, sovereign right to launch satellites. Last month, North Korea's National Defense Commission said the United States was its prime target for a nuclear test and long-range rocket launches.

"These provocations do not make North Korea more secure," Obama said. "Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a strong and prosperous nation, North Korea has instead increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery."

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, California Republican Ed Royce, released a statement Tuesday calling on the Obama administration to "replace its failed North Korea policy" and issue "stringent sanctions" against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime. "Otherwise, the grave North Korean threat to the region and the United States will only grow," Royce said.

The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday morning on North Korea's nuclear test. South Korea's U.N. Mission informed reporters early Tuesday that the closed-door meeting will begin at 9 a.m. EST.

The White House said that Obama, who is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, had already intended to mention North Korea in the speech, describing the North's action as part of a pattern of provocative behavior that has undercut its government's legitimacy.

"The president will say that the only way North Korea will rejoin the world community is if they stop these threats and live up to their international obligations," said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said she expects the international community "will have a very firm response."

She said in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show that North Korea's move presents a threat to the region and to the United States. "It actually is not in the best interests of North Korea," she said.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed North Korea's "continued provocative rhetoric" in a phone call with China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. That followed earlier conversations with Kerry's counterparts from Japan and South Korea, key U.S. allies in the region.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the three conversations "were remarkably similar" on the importance of implementing the commitments of a January U.N. resolution that toughened sanctions against Pyongyang and warned of "significant action" if it conducted a nuclear test. That resolution was supported by China, North Korea's only major ally.

On Tuesday, China expressed firm opposition to the test but called for a calm response by all sides.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-calls-nkorea-nuke-test-highly-provocative-070547954--politics.html

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The details on Obama's State of the Union address (Washington Bureau)

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