BEIJING ? China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned a leading Sudanese diplomat to express "deep shock" over the abduction of 29 Chinese workers after an attack in a volatile region of the country.
The summons is a sign of growing Chinese concern over the fate of the workers, three days after they were taken by militants in the South Kordofan region.
Sudanese state media reported Monday that 14 of them had been freed, but the official Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper said all 29 were still being held.
"The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting overseas Chinese nationals. We felt deep shock over this abduction incident and are deeply concerned over the safety of the 29 Chinese," Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
China hopes Sudan will "keep in mind the overall situation of bilateral friendship" and ensure their swift release, Xie told Sudanese Charge d'Affaires Omer Eisa Ahmed, according to the statement.
It quoted Eisa as pledging Sudan's full support.
The summons was a rare public sign of tension in China's close political and economic relations with Sudan, which center on exchanging Chinese infrastructure projects for access to Sudanese oil.
That followed the dispatch earlier Tuesday of a group of Chinese security experts to assist in the rescue work.
A statement from the workers' company, Sinohydro Corp., said that it and the Chinese Embassy would "spare no effort in ensuring the personal safety of those abducted and rescuing them."
Xinhua said 47 Chinese workers were caught in the attack in the South Kordofan region of Sudan. It said 29 were captured and the other 18 fled, and that one of those who fled remains missing.
Sudan's state-run SUNA news agency said the attack took place near Abbasiya town, 390 miles (630 kilometers) south of Khartoum.
Sudanese officials have blamed the attack on the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, a branch of a guerrilla movement that has fought various regimes in Khartoum for decades. Its members hail from a minority ethnic group now in control of much of South Sudan, which became the world's newest country only six months ago in a breakaway from Sudan.
Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in South Kordofan. The government of South Sudan says the accusations are a smoke screen intended to justify a future invasion of the South.
China has sent large numbers of workers to potentially unstable regions such as Sudan. Last year it was forced to send ships and planes to help with the emergency evacuation of 30,000 of its citizens from the fighting in Libya.
China has used its diplomatic clout to defend Sudan and its longtime leader, Omar al-Bashir. Recently, it has also sought to build good relations with leaders from the south.
South Sudan and Sudan are in bitter dispute over oil, which is produced primarily in South Sudan but runs through Sudanese pipelines for export.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) ? China intends to establish Shanghai as the global centre for yuan trading, clearing and pricing over the next three years as part of broader plans to make the commercial hub an international financial centre by 2020.
The plan for Shanghai's financial innovations through 2015, published jointly by the country's economic planning agency and the Shanghai government on Monday, set goals on a wide range of areas aimed at further developing Shanghai, though some analysts said many of them appeared ambitious.
"This anticipated pace of development looks a bit quick to me," said Frances Cheung, a strategist at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong.
China wants to transform Shanghai into an international financial centre on par with the likes of New York and London by 2020. That goal was set in 2009 by the State Council and analysts have taken it as a broad deadline for liberalizing the currency.
The state economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, outlined a series of goals under the 2015 yuan plan.
These included making the daily yuan mid-point published by the central bank in the onshore yuan market serve as the benchmark for both domestic and foreign yuan trading markets.
Currency traders interpreted the statement partly as a message from Beijing that the yuan's movements, which have increasingly been influenced by the offshore market over the past few months, should be decided by the government.
"There have been recent developments that have put Hong Kong's offshore market in the spotlight from time to time, such as its pricing of the yuan quite differently from the onshore market," said a trader at a European bank in Shanghai.
"In this sense, the NDRC statement is published at a sensitive time and means the government once again wants to emphasize that it has the final say in the value of the yuan."
The plan also aims to make the government-backed Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor) the benchmark for yuan credit everywhere and targeting to more than double the annual non-forex financial market trading volume to 1,000 trillion yuan by 2015.
While the plan lacked details on how China would achieve these targets, analysts were skeptical on the feasibility of some of the planks in the platform.
"Shibor is not even a very well established benchmark onshore," Cheung said. Markets currently use the government's seven-day repurchase rate as the lending benchmark.
Analysts said the NDRC's plan gave no fresh insight into how quickly China would liberalize its capital account, a crucial step in Shanghai's attempt to become a global money hub.
China has taken a series of measures over the past two years to invigorate the offshore yuan market in Hong Kong as part of a longer-term plan to promote the use of the yuan overseas and make it a fully-convertible and international reserve currency along with the U.S. dollar.
Earlier this month, Britain said it was teaming up with its former colony to secure London a top spot as an offshore trading centre for the yuan.
The NDRC's plan would not threaten Hong Kong's current position as the main offshore yuan centre, analysts said.
"Promoting Shanghai as an onshore yuan centre complements Hong Kong's growing role as an offshore yuan center, and should help to strengthen the circle of onshore-offshore yuan flows underpinning the yuan trade settlement process," said Donna H J Kwok, economist at HSBC in Hong Kong.
China will also encourage overseas companies to sell yuan-denominated shares in its domestic stock markets, but the plan did not give a detailed timetable.
Authorities have been discussing launching a so-called "international board" on the Shanghai stock exchange for listing foreign companies' shares, seen as a centerpiece for the 2020 goal, but the city's mayor said this month that the time was not currently right for its launch.
Shanghai will explore M&A opportunities involving overseas stock exchanges to increase its global clout, the NDRC's plan said without elaborating.
(Additional reporting by Zhou Xin in Beijing, Saikat Chatterjee in Hong Kong and Lu Jianxin in Shanghai; Editing by Jason Subler)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands ? A Serbian war crimes suspect has demanded euro2 million ($2.6 million) in compensation from a United Nations tribunal, accusing it of repeated breaches of his rights.
Vojislav Seselj, who has been in custody at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia since 2003, said in a written filing released Monday he should be compensated for issues including the tribunal attempting to prevent him representing himself and "deliberate delays" in his case.
Tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic declined comment, saying the issue was before the court's president.
Seselj is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly recruiting Serb paramilitaries and inciting atrocities with hate-laced speeches. He denies the allegations.
His trial began in 2006 and has yet to reach a verdict. Before it got under way, Seselj launched a hunger strike to support his demand to be allowed to defend himself, a request the court eventually granted.
During his time in custody, Seselj also has twice been convicted of contempt of court for publishing the names of witnesses whose identities were shielded by the tribunal.
His filing, the latest in a stream of criticism Seselj has directed at the tribunal since his indictment, comes as the Serb nationalist political party he continues to lead from his Hague jail cell is preparing for elections in Serbia expected this spring.
What remains of his Serb Radical Party portrays Seselj as a martyr to the cause of Serb nationalism and has erected huge billboards carrying his image and the slogan "We want Seselj."
Seselj has been in and out of hospital in recent weeks with heart complaints and was recently fitted with a pacemaker.
ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MMS105 - The bodies of people who were killed in a fire lie on the ground as firefighters try to revive others after removing them from the Christ is Love center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital on Saturday, killing at least 26 people as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside. (AP Photo)
ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MMS105 - The bodies of people who were killed in a fire lie on the ground as firefighters try to revive others after removing them from the Christ is Love center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital on Saturday, killing at least 26 people as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside. (AP Photo)
A police officer stands next to a group of bodies outside the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)
Police officers stand next a group of bodies outside the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)
Relatives of patients of the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts, react in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)
LIMA, Peru (AP) ? A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital Saturday, killing 27 people and critically injuring five as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside.
The "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside "like prisoners," Health Minister Alberto Tejada told The Associated Press.
Authorities said 26 people died at the scene, and prosecutors spokesman Raul Sanchez said Saturday night that one of six men hospitalized in critical condition died later.
Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala, said most of the victims died of asphyxiation. All the victims appeared to be male.
The local police chief, Clever Zegarra, said the cause of the 9 a.m. fire was under investigation.
"There has been talk of the burning of an object, of a mattress, but also of a fight that resulted in a fire. All of this is speculation," he told the AP. "I've been here at the scene from morning to evening but for the moment the exact cause of the fire is not known."
One resident of the center on a narrow dead-end street in Lima's teeming San Juan de Lurigancho district said he was eating breakfast on the second floor of the center when he saw flames coming from the first floor, where the blaze apparently began.
Gianfranco Huerta told local RPP news radio station that he leaped from a window to safety.
"The doors were locked; there was no way to get out," he told the station.
AP journalists at scene said all the windows of the building they were able to see were barred. Journalists were not allowed inside as police cordoned off the block. By early afternoon, all the dead had been removed from the center.
Most of the bodies seen by reporters were shirtless, their faces blackened. Many were also shoeless.
"This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.
Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.
The local police chief, Zegarra, identified the owner as Raul Garcia.
Zoila Chea, an aunt of one victim, said families paid Garcia $37 to treat an addicted relative and $15 a week thereafter.
She said that neighbors had constantly complained about the center and that it had been closed twice by authorities.
Chea, 45, said relatives were prohibited from seeing interned patients during the first three months of treatment, which she added consisted mainly of reading the Bible.
Her nephew, Luis Chea, was at the center for a month, she said.
Zavala, the national fire chief, said the blaze was of "Dantesque proportions." Firefighters had to punch a hole through a wall with an adjoining building to help people trapped inside the rehabilitation center.
"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work," Zavala said.
Relatives of residents of the center gathered near the building weeping and seeking word of their loved ones. As the day wore on, nearby sidewalks filled with relatives mourning and trying to console one another.
One of them was Maria Benitez, aunt of 18-year-old Carlos Benitez, who she said was being treated at the center.
"I want to know if he is OK or not," she told ATV television.
___
Associated Press journalists Mauricio Munoz, Cesar Barreto and Frank Bajak contributed to this report.
DAVOS, Switzerland ? The head of the International Monetary Fund appeared to making headway Saturday in her drive to boost the institution's financial firepower so that it can help Europe prevent its crippling debt crisis from further damaging the global economy.
Christine Lagarde, who replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the fund six months ago, is trying to ramp up the IMF's resources by $500 billion so it can help if more lending is needed in Europe or elsewhere. The IMF is the world's traditional lender-of-last-resort and has been involved in the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Insisting that the IMF is a "safe bet" and that no country had ever lost money by lending to the IMF, Lagarde argued that increasing the size of the IMF's resources would help improve confidence in the global financial system. If enough money is in the fund the markets will be reassured and it won't be used, she said, using arguments similar to those that France has made about increasing Europe's own rescue fund.
"It's for that reason that I am here, with my little bag, to collect a bit of money," she said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps town of Davos.
Her plea appeared to find a measure of support from ministers of Britain and Japan, sizable IMF shareholders that would be expected to contribute to any money-raising exercise.
George Osborne, Britain's finance minister, said there is "a case for increasing IMF resources and ... demonstrating that the world wants to help together to solve the world's problems," provided the 17 countries that use the euro show the "color of their money."
Osborne said he would be willing to argue in Parliament for a new British contribution, though he may encounter opposition from some members from his own Conservative Party.
Japan's economy minister, Motohisa Furukawa, said his country would help the eurozone via the IMF, too, even though Japan's own debt burden is massive. Unlike Europe's debt-ridden economies, Japan doesn't face sky-high borrowing rates, partly because there's a very liquid domestic market that continues to support the country's bonds.
Europe once again dominated discussions on the final full day of the forum in Davos. Despite some optimism about Europe's latest attempts to stem the crisis, fears remain that turmoil could return.
Whether the markets remain stable could rest for now on if Greece, the epicenter of the crisis, manages to conclude crucial debt-reduction discussions with its private creditors. It's also seeking to placate demands from its European partners and the IMF for deeper reforms.
A failure on either front could force the country, which is now in its fifth year of recession, to default on its debt and leave the euro, potentially triggering another wave of mayhem in financial markets that could hit the global economy hard.
"The fact that we're still, at the start of 2012, talking about Greece again is a sign that this problem has not been dealt with," Britain's Osborne said.
For Donald Tsang, the chief executive of Hong Kong, efforts to deal with the 2-year-old debt crisis have fallen short of what is required. The failure to properly deal with the Greek situation quickly has meant the ultimate cost to Europe has been higher, he said.
"I have never been as frightened (about the global economy) than I am now," he said.
Most economic forecasters predict that the global economy will continue to grow this year, but at a fairly slow rate. The IMF recently reduced its forecasts for global growth in 2012 to 3.3 percent, from the 4 percent pace that the IMF projected in September.
Lagarde sought to encourage some countries that use the euro to boost growth to help shore up the ailing eurozone economy, which is widely expected to sink back into recession, adding that it would be counterproductive if all euro countries cut their budgets aggressively at the same time.
"Some countries have to go full-speed ahead to do this fiscal consolidation, but other countries have space and room," Lagarde said.
Though conceding that there aren't many such countries, Lagarde said it is important that those that have the headroom explore how they can boost growth. She carefully avoided naming any countries, but likely had in mind Germany, Europe's largest economy and a major world exporter. She didn't specify how to boost growth or how one eurozone country could help others grow.
Lagarde said members of the eurozone should continue the drive to tie their economies closer together. On Monday, European leaders gather in Brussels in the hopes of agreeing on a treaty that will force member countries to put deficit limits into their national laws.
Britain's Osborne said eurozone leaders should be praised for the "courage" they have shown over the past few months in enacting austerity and setting in place closer fiscal ties, but said more will have to be done if the single currency is to get on a surer footing.
Fiscal transfers from rich economies to poorer ones will become a "permanent feature" of the eurozone, Osborne predicted.
While politicians and business people were discussing the state of the global economy within the confines of the conference center, protesters questioned the purpose of the event as income inequalities grow worldwide.
Protesters from the Occupy movement that started on Wall Street have camped out in igloos at Davos and were demonstrating in front of City Hall to call attention to the needs of the poor and unemployed.
In a separate protest, three Ukrainian women were arrested when they stripped off their tops ? despite temperatures around freezing ? and tried to climb a fence surrounding the invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders.
"Crisis! Made in Davos," read one message painted across a protester's torso.
Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi said the three women were taken to the police station and told they weren't allowed to demonstrate. He said they would be released later in the day.
___
Associated Press writers Frank Jordans and Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.
James Francohit the Glendale, Calif. set of Lovelace on Thursday. The handsome, quirky actor, 33, was utterly transformed to film his cameo as none other than Hugh Hefner -- morphing into a younger version of the Playboy founder, 85.
PHOTOS: Celeb lookalikes
The normally hipster casual actor, artist and student wore Hefner's iconic red moking jacket and white scarf, with his hair in a 60s/70s style pompadour.
StarringAmanda Seyfriedas porn star Linda Lovelace, the film made a last-minute casting switch this week: Mary-Louise Parker is replacing the ailing Demi Moore in the role of Gloria Steinem, a source confirmed to Us Weekly exclusively.
PHOTOS: Hugh's brutal breakup
Tell Us: How does Franco look as Hefner?
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BAGHDAD ? Insurgents bombed a house belonging to two policemen and their families in central Iraq early on Thursday, killing 10 people inside in the latest brazen attack since the U.S. troop withdrawal, officials said.
The house where the two policemen brothers lived was located in the Hamia area, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) south of Baghdad, a police officer said. It was leveled when insurgents detonated bombs they had planted around it at 1:00 a.m.
Both policemen, two children under one years of age and four women were among the dead, he added. A doctor at a nearby hospital confirmed the causality figure. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.
Also Thursday, a motorcycle bomb missed a passing police patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk, but killed two civilians and wounded five others, the city's police commander Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir said.
Many Iraqis fear Iraqi security forces will not be able to protect the country on their own after the American pullout, and that it risks descending into chaos resembling the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Since the U.S. completed its pullout last month, militant groups ? mainly al-Qaida in Iraq ? have stepped up attacks on the country's majority Shiites and American-backed government institutions. More than 170 people have been killed in violence since the beginning of the year.
In an audio message aired on Wednesday, a spokesman for al-Qaida's Islamic State of Iraq who identified himself as Abu Mohammed al-Adnani said that even as the U.S. troops left Iraq, "our army still exists and is increasing day after the other."
Al-Qaida was one of the main U.S. enemies in Iraq. It was behind some of the deadliest attacks on U.S. soldiers, Iraqi security forces and American-backed government institutions.
Al-Adnani claimed the U.S. pulled its troops out of Iraq because its economy is collapsing and it needed to save money. Meanwhile, he said his holy warriors, or the "mujahedeen have the lead " and can "attack and appear whenever we want to."
___
Associated Press writer Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah contributed to this report.
Venture capital firm Battery Ventures this morning announced that it has made an investment in Continuuity, a stealth 'big data' startup founded by Battery entrepreneur-in-residence Todd Papaioannou (formerly VP and Chief Cloud Architect for Yahoo).
ZURICH (Reuters) ? Patients with advanced colorectal cancer who received Roche's Avastin live longer when they also receive the drug as part of their second round of treatment, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday, citing a late-stage study.
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer first treated with Avastin and standard chemotherapy before being given Avastin with a different chemotherapy after their disease had progressed lived significantly longer than those given only chemotherapy in the second-line setting, Roche said.
The news is likely to boost sentiment around the drug, which recently suffered a major setback when U.S. authorities decided to revoke their backing of its use in breast cancer.
Roche will submit the results of the ML 18147 study at an upcoming medical meeting.
In Europe, Avastin is currently approved in colorectal, lung, renal, breast cancer and it has just won approval in ovarian cancer.
(Reporting by Katie Reid; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)
Research in Motion, regardless of how you may view its recent history or its long-term future, still has a stronghold on the corporate world. Its lineup of BlackBerry smartphones are known for great battery life, comfortable keyboards with intuitive shortcuts, top-notch native email and Enterprise clients and -- most important to businesses -- unrivaled security features. Sure, its influence is waning as competitors have caught up in some areas (and surpassed it in others), but there are plenty of companies that have clung to their CrackBerries and held on tight.
RIM's been hard at work trying to regain lost momentum by introducing a series of new devices featuring its latest OS, BlackBerry 7, and the BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930 series has been the star of the show so far. The problem is, it's not flashy enough. How is a C-level exec supposed to walk proudly on the golf course with a $300 (subsidized) phone? Talk about embarrassing. Have no fear, poor corporate top dog, luxury brand Porsche Design has come up with a solution: the $2,300 BlackBerry P'9981, a Vertu-ized version of that lesser handset you wouldn't be caught dead using.
The P'9981 is available only in the UK and the Middle East for now, so until the device arrives in the US this Spring, anyone who lives stateside will have to rely on retailers to import some in. Fortunately we got the hookup by our friends at Negri Electronics, who happily lent us one of the few handsets they have in stock. As a result, we're now able to discuss the real questions circling around such a Richie Rich smartphone: what in the blue blazes makes this so expensive? Is it even worth it? How different is it from a standard BlackBerry Bold 9900? You'll find these answers and plenty of mysteries unravelled after the break.
As SOPA's aftershocks continue to ripple across the US, a slightly different brand of techno-political drama is unfolding over in Europe, where the European Commission today announced a new set of online privacy regulations. The new legislation, unveiled this morning, was crafted with the intent of giving consumers more control over their online data, and places more pressure upon private companies to protect user information. According to Reuters, offending firms could be fined at rates of up to two percent of their yearly turnover. The laws, designed to overhaul the 1995 Data Protection Directive, will also make it easier for users to access their data, giving them the power to demand that their personal information be deleted, as long as there are no "legitimate reasons" for a company to store it. Companies, meanwhile, will be required to inform authorities of a data breach as soon as possible, "if feasible, within 24 hours."
Though the rules have raised some concerns among web companies, EC privacy commissioner Viviane Reding wasted no time in heralding them as the foundation of a safer and more prosperous digital environment. "The protection of personal data is a fundamental right for all Europeans, but citizens do not always feel in full control of their personal data," Reding explained. "A strong, clear and uniform legal framework at EU level will help to unleash the potential of the digital single market and foster economic growth, innovation and job creation." If approved by the European Parliament and all EU member states, the laws would probably go into effect toward the end of 2013.
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M'ange
Member for 0 years
I wouldn't mind playing one of the lost children. ^^ Do you want anime or real pictures?
MirrorMirror1498
Member for 1 years
Okay, she's up! Tell me if I need to change anything! ^^
MirrorMirror1498
Member for 1 years
May I reserve Tinkerbell? Pretty please with sprinkles on top. :)
Walking-travesty
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I'm making a set of twins, would you rather make two different character sheet or put them both on one.
snipergirl24
Member for 1 years
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It'll probably take the rest of winter for Niners and Ravens fans to get over what happened yesterday that knocked their respective teams out of Super Bowl XLVI (that would be 46 for all of you who don't read Roman numerals). But for Patriots and Giants fans, the fun is just beginning. Through a newly installed social media command center, visitors to the big game in Indianapolis will be able to ask questions and receive answers leading up to the Feb. 5 showdown.
For the next two weeks until?the NFL's most important game, an Indianapolis-based?team (no, not the Colts) is operating out of a 2,800-square-foot space to read and respond to fans who are one of 100,000 to 150,000 lucky souls who will be in Indianapolis for the game, posting about the Super Bowl and their beloved teams. (This includes those who are traveling to the city for pre/during/post-game festivities, or watching from places other than the about 70,000-capacity stadium, but still in and around the city.)
This social media super team will provide directions, to-do around town suggestions and other important information (such as what to do in case of an emergency at the stadium).
Indianapolis digital marketing firm Raidious is in charge of the operation, with CEO Taulbee Jackson at the helm. Jackson sits on the Super Bowl host committee and was asked to help with social media strategy. I reached to Jackson by phone this morning and he shared more details on this Superbowl first.
"It's the first time any facility like this has been built to manage social media for such a large event," Jackson said. "We were outgrowing our second office in 18 months at the same time the Host Committee asked for our help, so we designed and built the space with the express intention of using it as the Super Bowl Social Media Command Center, then taking over the space afterwards."?
The team ??which includes about 50 people, led by?Raidious' staff of 16 and students and journalism/telecommunications students from Ball State University, Butler University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis?? will work in the command center 15 hours a day. (Not all at once!)
One team will focus on social media management and moderation, while the other (most likely the students) will work?on content development for posts on all the events and activities that surround the game, as well as things to do in Indianapolis since a big part of the team's mandate will be promoting the city to newcomers. "It's?Hoosier hopsitality for the 21st century," Jackson said.
Given that the two league championship teams are from New York and New England, it's a good bet there will be first-timers in the zone. While most visitors are expected to arrive in the city next Wednesday or Thursday (Feb. 1 and Feb. 2), the social media command center will swing into high gear starting this week.
As we've already seen, sports fans are some of the most rabid in social media posts, with record-setting tweets about Tim Tebow?(9,420 tweets per second), as well as the 7,196 tweets per second during the Women's World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan last summer. And have you ever looked at your Facebook on football Sundays, much less the playoffs? It's one sure way to see who's a fan, and how intense they are about it. (On my Facebook, the Bears, Ravens, Raiders and Niners fans are definitely the most vocal.)
In fact, every time the Super Bowl comes around, it's a proven magnet for the millions who are active on Facebook, Twitter and now, Google+. In 2011, the only Facebook status update topic in the world, amongst 800 million users?that bested the Packers winning Super Bowl 45 was the death of Osama bin Laden.?
For those who will be in Indy, there will be plenty to write home about, but they'll also be in company with the millions glued to their sets that Sunday watching with them. ?
The Super Bowl social media command center will concentrate on key word-based monitoring, but because they're geo-targeting the Indianapolis/Indiana area and those coming to town for the game, they won't be as overwhelmed as they would be if they tried to deal with all the online traffic the event generates.
"One of the reasons we've staffed it the way we have, and put in all this technology, is to deal with the high levels of volume, even limiting that to the Indianapolis, Indiana area," Jackson said.
Safety is another priority, using Twitter to get any emergency instructions and information out quickly if necessary.?
From the main Super Bowl XLVI site, fans can access the social media command center's activity through its management of the Super Bowl Facebook page, Flickr and Twitter accounts and the site's blog.
More stories:
Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
Christine Lagarde, managing director at the IMF, says economic growth is slowing in all markets, with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. "No country is immune," she adds.
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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com
New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Cell & Bioscience is the first to show that left-handed Z-DNA, normally only found at sites where DNA is being copied, can also form on nucleosomes.
The structure of DNA which provides the blueprint for life has famously been described as a double helix. To save space inside the nucleus, DNA is tightly wound around proteins to form nucleosomes which are then further wound and compacted into chromatin, which is further compacted into chromosomes.
But this familiar image of a right handed coil (also called B-DNA) is not the only form of DNA. At sites where DNA is being copied into RNA (the messenger which is used as the instruction to make proteins) the DNA needs to unwind, and, in a process of negative supercoiling, can form a left-handed variety of the DNA double helix (Z-DNA).
It was originally thought that Z-DNA could only be formed in the presence of active RNA polymerase (the enzyme which assembles RNA). However more recently it has been discovered that SWI/SNF, a protein involved in remodeling nucleosomes and allowing RNA polymerase access to DNA, can convert certain sequences of B to Z-DNA.
The team of researchers led by Dr Keji Zhao discovered that they could convert B-DNA to Z-DNA on nucleosomes by the addition of SWI/SNF and ATP (the cell's energy source) and that the Z-nucleosome formed was a novel structure.
Dr Zhao, from the NIH, explained, "The fact that we have found Z-DNA on nucleosomes is a new step in understanding the roles of chromosome remodeling and Z-DNA in regulating gene expression. While the Z-nucleosome is likely to be a transient structure it nevertheless provides a window of opportunity for the placement of DNA binding proteins which may recruit, regulate, or block the transcription machinery and hence protein expression."
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BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com
Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.
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When you're trekking through the great outdoors in the middle of the night, you need your hands free for reading maps, clearing obstacles, and fighting off bears. So Petzl's new Nao headlamp makes all the brightness and focus adjustments for you. More »
BEIJING ? A hugely popular Chinese Lunar New Year variety show has a special guest star playing the ukulele: American billionaire Warren Buffett.
Buffett is shown wearing a dark sweat shirt and singing the folk song "I've Been Working On The Railroad" in the video posted on state broadcaster CCTV's "Spring Festival Gala" website Sunday.
There are no details on the website about where the 45-second clip was shot, but Buffett appears to be sitting in a small room with an elaborate model railroad set up in the background.
The video's simplicity contrasts with other performances posted on the website of the gala, which is usually a flashy extravaganza that draws 800 million viewers.
COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich collided Saturday in the South Carolina primary, the first Southern testing ground in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and historically a harbinger of the final outcome.
Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul rounded out the field in a campaign defined by its unpredictability.
There were 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake, but political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama still in its early stages.
In all, more than $12 million was spent on television ads by the candidates and their allies in South Carolina, much of it on attacks designed to degrade the support of rivals.
Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in next-up Florida with a significant ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date. The state's primary is Jan. 31.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.
But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph ? Santorum holds the lead if not the win ? while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Rep. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.
Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.
By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.
One piece of primary day theater failed to materialize when the two men avoided crossing paths at Tommy's Ham House in Greenville, packed with partisans holding signs that read either "Romney" or "Newt 2012."
Romney rolled in earlier than expected, and had left by the time Gingrich arrived.
Santorum got a lift hours before the polls closed when the Iowa Republican Party declared him the winner of the caucuses on Jan. 3. Romney was pronounced the victor by eight votes initially, but on Thursday, party officials said a recount showed Santorum ahead by 34. Even so, they declared the outcome a tie.
Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, pinned his South Carolina hopes on a heavy turnout in parts of the state with large concentrations of social conservatives, the voters who carried him to his surprisingly strong showing in Iowa.
Paul had a modest campaign presence here after finishing third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire. His call to withdraw U.S. troops from around the world was a tough sell in a state dotted with military installations and home to many veterans.
As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years.
Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.
Romney's stumbles began even before his New Hampshire primary victory, when he told one audience that he had worried earlier in his career about the possibility of being laid off.
He gave a somewhat rambling, noncommittal response in a debate in Myrtle Beach last Monday when asked if he would release his tax returns before the primary. The following day, he told reporters that because most of his earnings come from investments, he paid about 15 percent of his income in taxes, roughly half the rate paid by millions of middle-class wage-earners. A day later, aides confirmed that some of his millions are invested in the Cayman Islands, although they said he did not use the offshore accounts as a tax haven.
Asked again at a debate in North Charleston on Thursday about releasing his taxes, his answer was anything but succinct and the audience appeared to boo.
Gingrich benefited from a shift in strategy that recalled his approach when he briefly soared to the top of the polls in Iowa. At mid-week he began airing a television commercial that dropped all references to Romney and his other rivals, and contended that he was the only Republican who could defeat Obama.
It featured several seconds from the first debate in which the audience cheered as he accused Obama of having put more Americans on food stamps than any other president.
Nor did Gingrich flinch when ex-wife Marianne said in an interview on ABC that he had been unfaithful for years before their divorce in 1999, and asked him for an open marriage.
Asked about the accusation in the opening moments of the second debate of the week, he unleashed an attack on ABC and debate host CNN and accused the "liberal news media" of trying to help Obama by attacking Republicans. His ex-wife's account, he said, was untrue.
___
Associated Press writers Shannon McCaffrey, Kasie Hunt and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.
Rick Perry is going to withdraw from the GOP race today, which signals another blow to Mitt Romney and a boost for Newt Gingrich, reports CNBC's John Harwood.
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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com
We've been seeing a lot of apps get updated for Ice Cream Sandwich and now we can add Amazon Mobile to that list. v1.4 is available in the Android Market for all you Amazon shoppers and you'll find not only fixes for Ice Cream Sandwich but also the Galaxy Nexus in general:
Now compatible with Android 4.0
We hate bugs as much as you do, so we fixed a few (including "New & Used crash issue on the Galaxy Nexus)
Bug fixes are nice and OS compatibility is great. Now you can shop Amazon on the go with less crashiness hopefully. Android Market link is past the break for you all.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Actress Lindsay Lohan, who is on probation after being convicted for drunk driving and theft, has made good on completing her court-ordered community service and therapy on time, pleasing a judge at a progress hearing on Tuesday.
"Just keep doing what you're doing, and you appear to be doing it well," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner told Lohan at the hearing.
The "Mean Girls" actress, 25, was dressed conservatively in a pale blue cardigan and dark trousers during her the progress report of her second month of a five-month community service sentence at the Los Angeles County morgue, along with taking therapy sessions.
Lohan's next hearing is scheduled for February 22, before which she is required to complete 15 days of community service and five therapy sessions.
If she stays on track, the actress is likely to complete her DUI-related probation by March, and her theft violation will be downgraded to summary, non-supervised probation.
Lohan rose to fame as a likable child star of Disney movies such as "The Parent Trap," but since 2007, she has spent time in rehab and jail after being convicted on drunk driving and drug possession charges.
The actress pleaded no contest, which is the equivalent of guilty, to stealing a gold necklace from a jewelry story in 2011, and was sentenced to 480 hours community service at a L.A. women's detention center and the county morgue.
Lohan's failure to adequately perform that sentence led Sautner to angrily revoke her probation in October and send her to jail. The actress served just over four hours behind bars in November due to overcrowding and was assigned to community service at the county morgue and psychological counseling for the rest of her sentence.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Extremely rare turtle released into the wild Public release date: 18-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Sautner ssautner@wcs.org 718-220-3682 Wildlife Conservation Society
NEW YORK (January 18, 2012) The Wildlife Conservation Society, in conjunction with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and Wildlife Reserves Singapore, announced today the successful release of a Southern River terrapin (Batagur affinis) one of the most endangered turtles on earth into the Sre Ambel River in Cambodia.
The turtle was released on Monday, January 16th at a ceremony attended by officials, conservationists, and local people.
The female turtle, which weighs approximately 75 pounds (34 kilograms), is fixed with a satellite transmitter that will allow conservationists to track its whereabouts the first-ever satellite monitoring study for this species.
Captured in the Sre Ambel River by local fishermen in April, 2011, the turtle is one of an estimated 200 adults remaining in the wilds of Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It was voluntarily turned it over to the WCS Cambodia turtle team instead of being sold into the black market trade where it would have been sent to food markets in China.
The population in the Sre Ambel River is estimated at less than ten nesting females. Thus, this individual is extremely important for maintaining genetic diversity of this species that has already suffered drastic population declines.
WCS believes the population has an excellent chance of recovery as the coastal mangrove forests of Southeastern Cambodia are some of the largest and most pristine in Southeast Asia, spanning some 175 square miles (more than 45,000 hectares). These habitats are crucial to numerous aquatic and terrestrial animals and are vital nursery areas for marine fisheries.
Conservationists will monitor the turtle's movements to see how it utilizes this region. Of particular interest is how the turtle navigates through commercial fishing grounds, as well as areas where it could be threatened by other factors such as habitat destruction by sand mining or conversion of mangrove forests into shrimp farming facilities.
WCS notes that numerous studies on similar long-lived species have shown that as little as a five percent increase in annual adult mortality can cause populations to go extinct.
"By reducing the adult mortality of the Southern River terrapin, even by fractions as little as ten animals a year per population in this circumstance we can have immediate and long-term positive impacts on the remaining wild populations of this critically endangered species" said Brian D. Horne of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Heng Sovannara, Deputy Director of Cambodia's Fisheries Administration's Conservation Department, is extremely hopeful that the release will enhance efforts to conserve the species. "By identifying areas that are most utilized by the turtles, we can pinpoint our efforts to reduce the turtles being caught as fishery by-catch as well as targeted hunting," he said.
Dr. Sonja Luz, Deputy Director of Conservation & Research for Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said: "This project will contribute greatly to a much brighter future for this critically endangered terrapin. Hopefully, more public awareness and education opportunities will arise from this and allow us to create better protection tools and a safer environment for these amazing reptiles."
In 2000, a small population of Southern River Terrapins, Batagur affinis, was found in the Sre Ambel after many years of being considered locally extinct.
The turtle was once considered solely the property of the King of Cambodia, but has been decimated by overhunting over the past two decades.
Following the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot regime, the Cambodian people were left in severe poverty, and with the growing international demand for turtles in China for human consumption, literally thousands of turtles were captured and sent to China for much needed income by the country's impoverished people.
###
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the Flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes toward nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit: http://www.wcs.org
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) is the parent company of award-winning attractions Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, Singapore Zoo and the upcoming River Safari. WRS parks strive to be world-class leisure attractions, providing excellent exhibits of animals presented in their natural environment for the purpose of conservation, education and recreation. In the areas of conservation and research, WRS parks have undertaken multiple projects through collaborations with various organisations and institutions on the oriental pied hornbill, pangolin and orang utan. Highly popular with tourists and locals, Jurong Bird Park welcomed 900,000 visitors, the Night Safari, more than 1.1 million, and Singapore Zoo over 1.6 million visitors in 2010. More information can be found at http://www.wrs.com.sg
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Extremely rare turtle released into the wild Public release date: 18-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Sautner ssautner@wcs.org 718-220-3682 Wildlife Conservation Society
NEW YORK (January 18, 2012) The Wildlife Conservation Society, in conjunction with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and Wildlife Reserves Singapore, announced today the successful release of a Southern River terrapin (Batagur affinis) one of the most endangered turtles on earth into the Sre Ambel River in Cambodia.
The turtle was released on Monday, January 16th at a ceremony attended by officials, conservationists, and local people.
The female turtle, which weighs approximately 75 pounds (34 kilograms), is fixed with a satellite transmitter that will allow conservationists to track its whereabouts the first-ever satellite monitoring study for this species.
Captured in the Sre Ambel River by local fishermen in April, 2011, the turtle is one of an estimated 200 adults remaining in the wilds of Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It was voluntarily turned it over to the WCS Cambodia turtle team instead of being sold into the black market trade where it would have been sent to food markets in China.
The population in the Sre Ambel River is estimated at less than ten nesting females. Thus, this individual is extremely important for maintaining genetic diversity of this species that has already suffered drastic population declines.
WCS believes the population has an excellent chance of recovery as the coastal mangrove forests of Southeastern Cambodia are some of the largest and most pristine in Southeast Asia, spanning some 175 square miles (more than 45,000 hectares). These habitats are crucial to numerous aquatic and terrestrial animals and are vital nursery areas for marine fisheries.
Conservationists will monitor the turtle's movements to see how it utilizes this region. Of particular interest is how the turtle navigates through commercial fishing grounds, as well as areas where it could be threatened by other factors such as habitat destruction by sand mining or conversion of mangrove forests into shrimp farming facilities.
WCS notes that numerous studies on similar long-lived species have shown that as little as a five percent increase in annual adult mortality can cause populations to go extinct.
"By reducing the adult mortality of the Southern River terrapin, even by fractions as little as ten animals a year per population in this circumstance we can have immediate and long-term positive impacts on the remaining wild populations of this critically endangered species" said Brian D. Horne of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Heng Sovannara, Deputy Director of Cambodia's Fisheries Administration's Conservation Department, is extremely hopeful that the release will enhance efforts to conserve the species. "By identifying areas that are most utilized by the turtles, we can pinpoint our efforts to reduce the turtles being caught as fishery by-catch as well as targeted hunting," he said.
Dr. Sonja Luz, Deputy Director of Conservation & Research for Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said: "This project will contribute greatly to a much brighter future for this critically endangered terrapin. Hopefully, more public awareness and education opportunities will arise from this and allow us to create better protection tools and a safer environment for these amazing reptiles."
In 2000, a small population of Southern River Terrapins, Batagur affinis, was found in the Sre Ambel after many years of being considered locally extinct.
The turtle was once considered solely the property of the King of Cambodia, but has been decimated by overhunting over the past two decades.
Following the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot regime, the Cambodian people were left in severe poverty, and with the growing international demand for turtles in China for human consumption, literally thousands of turtles were captured and sent to China for much needed income by the country's impoverished people.
###
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the Flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes toward nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit: http://www.wcs.org
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) is the parent company of award-winning attractions Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, Singapore Zoo and the upcoming River Safari. WRS parks strive to be world-class leisure attractions, providing excellent exhibits of animals presented in their natural environment for the purpose of conservation, education and recreation. In the areas of conservation and research, WRS parks have undertaken multiple projects through collaborations with various organisations and institutions on the oriental pied hornbill, pangolin and orang utan. Highly popular with tourists and locals, Jurong Bird Park welcomed 900,000 visitors, the Night Safari, more than 1.1 million, and Singapore Zoo over 1.6 million visitors in 2010. More information can be found at http://www.wrs.com.sg
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
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