LogMeIn Ignition (for Android)

LogMeIn Ignition for Android is a remote control app for accessing PCs and Macs from Android devices (support for tablets was recently introduced).? The software works very well?aside from a minor glitch when the app momentarily froze on me?providing not only remote control over machines, but audio streaming, light video streaming and a secured connection, all from your Android handset.

All of that remote goodness will cost you though, big time, at least when it comes to a mobile app?$30. That price might seem like a frivolous waste of money for those who only need to connect to home or the occasional work machine, since there are free and low costs apps available for about a buck, such as Jump Desktop, which can provide basic remote connectivity. However, for those who need reliable remote access, advanced features or may need to administer a server time-to-time from an Android device?it's a worthy investment.

Install
The app is available from LogMeIn's website. You can get it by scanning a QR code on the site or by simply downloading it from the Android Market.

During the install process, the app prompts for several needed permissions to the device such as modifying/deleting the SD card, access to the Internet, viewing the network state and read access to the system log files. The fact the permissions part of the install is automated is a time-saver. I have installed apps on my Android device only to have them not run, displaying a host of error messages, typically because of permissions issues.

Setup
Setting up LogMeIn begins with creating a free account on LogMeIn's website. Next, you have to download and install the LogMeIn client software on any computer you wish to remotely access from an Android device.? The client software to download is LogMeIn Free or Pro. Both are simple point-and-click installations. I easily installed LogMeIn Free on both a Windows 7 laptop and a Windows Server 2008 R2 box.

When you install LogMeIn host software on a PC or Mac you are adding that computer to your LogMeIn account. Entering the same LogMeIn account username and password on both the host machine and the Android device, creates a secure connection between the hosts and the Android device.

Businesses needing to remotely install hosts to a multitude of PC or Mac clients would have to upgrade to LogMeIn Central which supports mass deployment.

Usage
After installing the client on the hosts and logging in with the account information on the host machines and on the app, I fired up LogMeIn on my Droid 2. I immediately saw the computer names of the machines with the host software installed. They were listed under a? pre-configured "Default " group listing.

To remotely connect to a host, users must enter in that machine's login credentials. Thankfully, you can check a box to store those credentials, although that may not be a bright idea for high-security machines.

The polish of LogMeIn Ingnition is apparent when compared to a cheaper remote access app like Jump Desktop. With Jump Desktop, I found the documentation on how to navigate the touch screen when remotely connected to a host did not jibe with how the actual navigation worked with some gestures.

LogMeIn, in contrast, displays several hints just before connecting to a host: "pinch to zoom in and out," "one finger to pan," "double-click and slide to drag," and so on. The instructions were spot on for working within my host connection. Re-sizing screens, zooming, double-clicks and right-clicks all responded well in my remote sessions, although at one point, while connected to my Windows 7 host, the LogMeIn app froze and stopped responding to my touch gestures.

Another great feature of LogMeIn lacking in other remote apps targeted more to consumers is the ability to throw a Ctrl-Alt-Del command to a host. This is really handy, especially when remotely connecting to servers; you may want to switch user accounts without having to reboot the entire server.? You can also perform a remote Alt-Tab for quick switching between apps.

Text copy and paste between host and device is supported, although selecting an area of text to copy in a remote session requires an abnormal level of touch precision and heaps of patience. I find it far easier to use the right-click context menu to perform a "Select All" from the host's app and then paste into my device's app and deleting any unwanted text after pasting.? Copying and pasting images and files between host and device are currently not supported.

LogMeIn Ignition's Audio streaming works very well. I was able to stream music files stored on my laptop to my Droid 2. It's possible to stream video as well, although unless both the device and host are connected to high-speed broadband, probably not worth the effort due to latency issues.

The various settings options such as controlling network speed, screen resolution, sound quality and keyboard locking gives users a way to customize remote sessions according to needs and like. One really important setting is configuring the app to always prompt before exiting a session, saving a user from accidently logging off and having to re-login all over again.

Another LogMeIn Hit
LogMeIn Ignition for Android delivers a secured and robust remote access experience from an Android device. The version for Android still needs to play catch-up with the version for iPad, which supports offline local file access. However, with the wide array of Android devices it's not surprising that such a feature might be easier to develop for a uniform platform like the iPad and might take some time to get to work on all of the Android offerings.

Still, LogMeIn Ignition is one of the best remote access solutions for Android and clearly the choice for professional use. If you only need simple access to home machines, the $30 price may not make it worth a download from Android Market. However, those requiring safe, reliable access from Android devices, in particular, access to business machines, would be well served by this app.

More Android Mobile App Reviews:
??? LogMeIn Ignition (for Android)
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?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/CPYKYYRfbJs/0,2817,2396781,00.asp

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French official: new pact needed for eurozone

PARIS (AP) ? An "overhaul" of European treaties is needed to help restore market confidence in the eurozone's ability to reduce high state debt and deficits, the French budget minister said Sunday.

Valerie Pecresse said a new governance pact among eurozone members could include "real regulators, real sanctions" to help restore confidence in the currency union.

Speaking on Canal Plus TV, she said the eurozone's biggest economies ? France, Germany and Italy ? want to be the "motor" of a more integrated Europe.

"We won't restore confidence unless we show proof ? very quickly ? about the unflailing solidity and solidarity of the eurozone," Pecresse said.

Pecresse said each country must rid itself of the debt and deficit problems that are behind the continent's deepening debt crisis.

German media reported this weekend that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are pushing for swift legal changes that would force eurozone members to comply with strict rules for budget discipline, like tough and easily enforceable sanctions for violators.

Sarkozy and Merkel have argued that the European Union's treaties must be amended to guarantee a strict enforcement of the currency zone's growth and stability pact.

Treaty changes, however, are complicated to engineer and take a lot of time ? probably more than the troubled eurozone currently has with markets doubting the solidity of several member states such as Italy.

One alternative could be a treaty between the governments involved, which would later be merged into EU law ? as has happened before with Europe's Schengen visa-free travel agreement, German newspapers Welt am Sonntag and Bild reported.

The new initiative could be announced as early as this week and concluded early next year, Welt am Sonntag reported.

Germany's government, in a statement Sunday, did not comment on the question of an intergovernmental treaty but said it's continuing to push for changes to the EU treaty to be discussed at a summit next month in a bid to strengthen the currency union.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-27-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-c170784902874e17b0d58d37d2627d96

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3 American students arrested in Cairo leave Egypt

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 file image from Egyptian state television, three American students are displayed to the camera by Egyptian authorities following their arrest during protests in Cairo, where an Egyptian official said they were throwing firebombs at security forces. A spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo identified the students as Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind.; Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo.; and Gregory Porter, a 19 year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa. An official says an Egyptian court has ordered release of 3 US students arrested during Cairo unrest.(AP Photo/ Egyptian TV, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 file image from Egyptian state television, three American students are displayed to the camera by Egyptian authorities following their arrest during protests in Cairo, where an Egyptian official said they were throwing firebombs at security forces. A spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo identified the students as Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind.; Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo.; and Gregory Porter, a 19 year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa. An official says an Egyptian court has ordered release of 3 US students arrested during Cairo unrest.(AP Photo/ Egyptian TV, File)

CAIRO (AP) ? Three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo caught flights out of Egypt early Saturday, according to an airport official and an attorney for one of the trio.

The three were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square last Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered them released. All three were studying at the American University in Cairo.

Luke Gates, 21, and Derrik Sweeney, 19, left the Egyptian capital Saturday on separate flights to Frankfurt, Germany, an airport official in Cairo said. Gregory Porter, 19, also left the country, his attorney said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

Attorney Theodore Simon, who represents Porter, a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said police escorted the three students to the Cairo airport Friday. Simon later said his client was on a flight.

"I am pleased and thankful to report that Gregory Porter is in the air. He has departed Egyptian airspace and is on his way home," Simon said, though he declined to say when Porter was expected back in the U.S.

Simon said he and Porter's mother both spoke by phone with the student, who is from the Philadelphia suburb of Glenside.

"He clearly conveyed to me ... that he was OK," Simon told The Associated Press.

Gates is a student at Indiana University. It wasn't clear when he was expected back in the U.S.

Joy Sweeney told the AP her son, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo., would fly from Frankfurt to Washington, then on to St. Louis. She said family will meet him when he arrives late Saturday.

"I am ecstatic," Sweeney said Friday. "I can't wait for him to get home tomorrow night. I can't believe he's actually going to get on a plane. It is so wonderful."

Sweeney said she had talked with her son Friday afternoon and "he seemed jubilant."

"He thought he was going to be able to go back to his dorm room and get his stuff," she said. "We said, 'No, no, don't get your stuff, we just want you here.'"

The university will ship his belongings home, she said.

Sweeney had earlier said she did not prepare a Thanksgiving celebration this week because the idea seemed "absolutely irrelevant" while her son still was being held.

"I'm getting ready to head out and buy turkey and stuffing and all the good fixings so that we can make a good Thanksgiving dinner," she said Friday.

___

Associated Press writers Sandy Kozel in Washington; Kathy Matheson and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; and Dana Fields in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-26-Egypt-American%20Students/id-4da612adb9484bd3a256b4274daaeb76

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New state of matter seen on cheap

24 November 2011 Last updated at 19:38 ET By Roland Pease BBC Radio Science Unit

Students and enthusiasts attending a recording for BBC Radio 4 have probably seen a new state of matter only recently discovered, an expert says.

The state of matter is a plasma like those in conventional nuclear fusion tests, but at higher densities.

And far from needing hundred-million-pound apparatus, the conditions can be achieved in a simple glass tube containing a routine liquid.

The professor behind the demonstration says it can be achieved for a mere ?10.

The audience were attending a demonstration lecture by chemist Professor Andrea Sella being recorded at University College London for Spooklights on Radio 4.

During the lecture, Professor Sella demonstrated a phenomenon called sonoluminescence - flashes of light created by collapsing bubbles in a fluid. The flashes are extraordinarily faint, but in the darkened auditorium, those attending could see the evanescent sparks quite clearly.

As the name suggests, sonoluminescence is traditionally created by intense sound waves - rapid pressure oscillations - focused into a liquid. In the low-pressure regions of the sound waves, fluid is ripped apart to create tiny bubbles, the source of the light.

Professor Sella's demonstration is far simpler, involving a simple sealed glass tube part filled with phosphoric acid and traces of the inert gas xenon. Then all that's needed is a gentle shaking of the tube. As the acid hits the tube's bottom, there's a distinct metallic clink, as if a heavy ball bearing is striking the glass wall.

Hotter than the Sun

In fact, it's just a water-hammer effect, an impact that shatters the liquid column, creating a trail of bubbles that are clearly visible in daylight.

With the lights off, what's seen is a trail of blue sparks - the sonoluminescence.

"When the bubbles collapse," Professor Sella explains, "they generate incredibly high temperatures - 10 thousand degrees. That's twice the temperature of the surface of the Sun."

Seeking more information on what goes on inside that bubble, Professor Sella contacted a world authority on the effect, physicist Seth Putterman of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). And he learned far more than he bargained for.

Professor Putterman has also long been trying to understand the precise source of the light. Judging from its intensity and characteristics, the light demands a source containing billions upon billions of free electrons.

But although ten thousand degrees sounds extreme by human experience, it's nowhere near enough to strip the electrons from the molecules and atoms in the sonoluminescence.

Dense plasma

What Professor Putterman realised earlier this year is that under these peculiar circumstances a kind of electrical cascade can take place. If a few electrons escape the embrace of their home atoms, their field makes it easier for further electrons to escape, and so on until the entire bubble interior has become ionised.

"Not only is it creating a plasma," Professor Putterman explains, "we believe it's an new state of matter because it's an extremely dense plasma - the density is hundreds to ten thousand times the density they achieve inside nuclear fusion experiments."

According to Professor Putterman's experiments, the plasma goes through a phase transition - analogous the melting of ice to water. Which is why he feels justified in describing the plasma as an entirely new state.

He also confirmed that the conditions in Andrea Sella's "plink tube" demonstration are precisely those needed to create this new state.

Not that that means nuclear fusion is occurring inside the tubes. Claims of nuclear fusion inside fluid bubbles have been extremely controversial.

Professor Putterman is emphatic: "We have not yet succeeded - no-one has yet succeeded - in generating nuclear fusion inside these bubbles. However, we're looking around for that trick that could boost our parameters by a factor of 10, to get it to the region of fusion."

Professor Sella, meanwhile, is delighted that his simple demonstration should reveal to onlookers a state of matter that has only just been discovered.

"I can't wait to tell my nuclear physicist friends, that for a cost of around ?10, I'm up in the region that they do for the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. It's very exciting."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-15876145

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O Christmas tree, how costly are your branches (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? One Tokyo Christmas tree has a special glow even amid the global economic gloom -- it's made of pure gold, and valued at $2 million.

A jewelry store in Tokyo's posh Ginza district teamed up with flower arrangement artist Shogo Kariyazaki to create the lavish Golden Christmas Tree.

Twelve kg (26 lb) of gold were used to make the 2.4 meter (8 foot) tree, which is adorned with ribbons, hearts and orchids, also made of gold.

The value of the gold is about $700,000 but the total value of the tree is much higher because of labor costs, said Naoto Mizuki, marketing general manager at the store.

"Considering the time it took to make, the designer and hard work put into it, we can assume that the cost of this tree would be approximately 150 million yen ($2 million)," he said.

The gleaming display caught the eyes of passersby.

"When you're looking at the tree, it really jumps out at you," said window-shopping housewife Kisoko Sakabe.

The tree is not for sale.

It will be on display at the store through to Christmas Day.

(Reporting by Mariko Lochridge at Reuters TV; Editing by Elaine Lies.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/lf_nm_life/us_japan_tree_gold

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Angelina Jolie: I'm Still a 'Bad Girl' for Brad Pitt

Angelina Jolie wasn't always the philanthropic, world-trotting humanitarian mama she is now.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/angelina-jolie-bad-girl-brad-pitt-60-minutes/1-a-405266?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aangelina-jolie-bad-girl-brad-pitt-60-minutes-405266

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France and Germany to propose changing EU treaties

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures during her speech of the budget debate at the German Federal Parliament, Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Germany's chancellor says Greece can only receive its next batch of bailout loans if all parties supporting the new government in Athens commit in writing to the conditions attached to a separate aid package. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures during her speech of the budget debate at the German Federal Parliament, Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Germany's chancellor says Greece can only receive its next batch of bailout loans if all parties supporting the new government in Athens commit in writing to the conditions attached to a separate aid package. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, addresses the media, at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. New Prime Minister Mario Monti met top European Union officials to discuss Italy's financial difficulties and his proposals to keep one of the EU's founding members from sinking the euro. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

STRASBOURG, France (AP) ? President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to temper his calls for the European Central Bank to play a bigger role in solving Europe's debt crisis as he agreed to a German effort to unite the troubled 17-nation eurozone more closely.

Speaking after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Premier Mario Monti on Thursday, Sarkozy said "propositions for the modification of treaties" would be presented in the coming days.

He wouldn't elaborate on what these changes may be but said they would be ready in time for the next EU leaders summit on December 9. Treaty changes are a notoriously laborious endeavor, requiring the agreement of all 27 EU nations, including non-euro countries such as Britain and Poland.

Merkel said the treaty changes would "make clear that we must take steps toward a fiscal union to express the conviction that we know policies must be more closely coordinated if you have a common, stable currency."

"It is political confidence in Europe that has been lost ? we can only win it back politically," Merkel said.

This was the first meeting of the three leaders since Monti took over last week following mounting market concerns over Italy's huge debt, which stand at euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), or a huge 120 percent of economic output. Europe's current anti-crisis measures are too not big enough to deal with Italy's debt mountain.

Sarkozy said the three leaders had agreed to meet again "very soon" in Rome at Monti's invitation to continue their three-way dialogue.

The meeting in Strasbourg, France comes amid signs that even Germany and France ? the eurozone's two biggest economies ? are not immune from the crisis that's already seen three relatively small countries bailed out.

All three leaders said they would do what it takes to stabilize the situation and save the euro.

"We want the euro, we want a strong, stable euro ... we will do everything to defend it," Merkel said.

France has been reluctant to resort to changes to EU treaties to improve the way the eurozone countries work together and set policies and prevent future crises. Germany had pushed for such changes, saying voluntary pledges by national governments are no longer enough to boost market confidence.

Merkel insisted that the proposed changes would "not deal with the European Central Bank," which she stressed was responsible for monetary, not fiscal, policy. Sarkozy did not push for a greater role at their closing press conference, while Merkel insisted on the bank's independence.

"In the treaty changes, we are dealing with the question of a fiscal union, a deeper political cooperation ... there will be proposals on this, but they have nothing to do with the ECB," Merkel said.

Many think the ECB is the only institution capable of calming frayed market nerves and Merkel's continued dismissal of a greater ECB role knocked market sentiment and stocks all round Europe were trading lower once again.

Potentially, the ECB has unlimited financial firepower through its ability to print money. However, Germany finds the idea of monetizing debts unappealing.

Merkel also maintained her opposition to the European Commission's new drive for eurobonds.

Germany has opposed the use of eurobonds and has long called on fiscally wayward member states to clean up their own houses with as little outside intervention as possible. A big worry for Germany is that its low borrowing costs would get diluted if eurobonds came into issue and it would then be forced to pay higher rates to tap bond markets.

"It would be completely the wrong signal to lose sight entirely now of these differing interest rates, because they are a pointer to where something still needs to be done and where we need to go further," she said.

Monti, meanwhile, reiterated his pledge to balance Italy's budget by 2013 though he sidestepped the question on whether achieving that aim would require more austerity measures, and if so, whether it risked triggering a recession in the eurozone's third largest economy.

___

Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Frances d'Emilio in Rome contributed to this article.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-24-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-b30c08ba8db4460c9ecc5829358592c9

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US, Britain, Canada team up on new Iran sanctions (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Thwarted internationally, the Obama administration cobbled together a new set of best-available sanctions against Iran on Monday that underlined its limited capacity to force Tehran to halt its suspected nuclear weapons program.

The U.S. action was coordinated with Britain and Canada, but not with countries such as Russia and China that have far greater economic investments in the Islamic republic.

The American sanctions target Iran's oil and petrochemicals industry and Iranian companies involved in nuclear procurement or enrichment activity. The U.S. also declared Iran's banking system a center for money laundering ? designed as a stern warning to financial institutions around the world to think twice before doing business with Tehran.

President Barack Obama said Iran had a choice: come clean on its nuclear program and reap the benefits of closer economic cooperation with the world, or face even more pressure.

"Iran has chosen the path of international isolation," Obama said in a statement. "As long as Iran continues down this dangerous path, the United States will continue to find ways, both in concert with our partners and through our own actions to isolate and increase the pressure upon the Iranian regime."

The new restrictions essentially amount to a piecemeal addition to dozens of American measures already in place to isolate Iran's economy, partly reflecting the need for a quick response to a U.N. nuclear agency report suggesting Iranian work toward the development of atomic weapons. Release of the report two weeks ago sparked frenzied international diplomacy over how to halt the Iranian threat, including speculation in the U.S., Europe and Israel on the merits of a military intervention.

The larger American dilemma is twofold: After three decades of economic estrangement and escalating pressure on Tehran for its dismal human rights record and alleged support for terrorism, the United States has few tools left to coerce or penalize the Iranian regime. And Washington is unlikely to authorize a military strike anytime soon, conscious that an attack may delay but not stop Iran from developing the bomb and fearful of the political fallout at a time when the U.S. is flailing in debt and trying to transition from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the Obama administration, even the sanctions route is constrained. The United Nations has passed four rounds of global sanctions against Iran since 2006, but veto-wielding nations Russia and China stand in the way of any further action. And even unilaterally, American officials have held back from blanketing all of Iran's fuel-related exports and its central bank with sanctions, for fear of spiking world oil prices and hampering the American economic recovery.

A little more than a week ago, President Barack Obama pressed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao to join the U.S. and its partners in taking action ? to no avail.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced the new American sanctions, which tighten restrictions on individuals and companies doing business in the Iranian oil and gas industries, and update an already lengthy list of blacklisted Iranian firms. Geithner stressed the value of the coordinated action by the U.S. and its two close allies, and urged more countries to cut off Iran from their financial sectors.

"If you are a financial institution and you engage in any transaction involving Iran's central bank or any other Iranian bank operating inside or outside Iran, you are at risk of supporting Iran's illicit activities: its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for terrorism and its efforts to deceive responsible financial institutions and evade sanctions," Geithner said.

Britain's new restrictions included an order that its financial institutions cease doing business with all Iranian banks, including the central bank and extending to all branches and subsidiaries. It amounted to what was termed an unprecedented British attempt to cut off an entire country's banking industry off from the U.K. financial sector.

The sanctions are aimed at "preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons," British Treasury chief George Osborne said. Canada took similar actions as the U.S., while France urged fellow European countries and Japan to stop buying Iranian oil and to freeze any assets belonging to Iran's central bank.

Russia, China, India and other nations maintain larger-scale trade with Iran, whose energy exports have helped it shrug off serious harm from the U.N. sanctions and other penalties applied by individual countries or the European Union.

The recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency alleges Iran has been seeking to acquire equipment and weapons design information, testing high explosives and detonators and developing computer models of a warhead's core. It is the strongest evidence yet that the Iranian program ranges far beyond enriching uranium for use in energy and medical research, as Iran's government insists.

The Obama administration has sought to use the evidence as leverage in making its case to other countries that sanctions against Iran should be expanded and tightened. It has argued that further isolating Iran's economy is the best strategy to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, while insisting that the option of using force will not be taken off the table.

The president's strategy is being carried out amid partisan clamor for tougher action against Iran. Leading Republican presidential candidates present themselves as hawkish alternatives to Obama ready to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. They've also tried to strip away Obama's support among Jewish and some evangelical voters by pledging stronger solidarity with Israel, which sees Iran and its nuclear program as a mortal threat.

Mitt Romney spoke openly at the GOP's Nov. 12 foreign policy debate about working with insurgents to try to overthrow Iran's government, while rival Newt Gingrich demanded increased covert action to foil its uranium enrichment activity. The program has been hindered in recent years by the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, a computer virus and other possible interference ? which may or may not have been the result of covert American or Israeli activity.

The new penalties were announced one day ahead of another GOP debate focused on foreign policy.

In Congress, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell proposed an amendment last week to the U.S. defense budget to go after Iran's central bank beyond existing U.S. sanctions. That might be difficult because it would also penalize European, Asian and other companies conducting business with the bank and operating as well in the United States. Some fear the approach could drive up oil prices and cause havoc to world markets.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iran_sanctions

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We Need YOU! For The Paranoia Games!

"You cant win the game if you dont play"

Six kids go into an abandoned house on a cold snow filled night. Only one comes out. Will you be the one?

~*~

"Its a game you see, all you have to do is write your names down on a slip of paper, shuffle them up on the ground, then pick one. Who ever's name you get you have to Kill them. Hypothetically of course, like pretending to stab them, or putting salt in their drinks to simulate poison. Nobody gets to know who has who's name, so you have to be careful of everything. We all start in a different room so that we dont get killed too early on.

Also, the game is called Paranoia.

When Rylie Evans gets the bright idea to play a game that she heard about from her older brother she invites all her friends out to an abandoned house that was once a private mini mansion owned by the former mayor. Only, this game has a twist to it.

The object of the game is to "Kill" the person whose name you pick out of a pile with names put on it, to ensure you dont get your own name its taken out of the pile once its your turn to choose. After wards your name is shuffled back into the pile for someone to pick. Everyone starts in a different room, and will find others to "kill."

When Rylie and her six friends get there things take a turn for the worse, someone really is killing everyone, and nobody knows who it is. All they know is each body has a note placed on it retaining to the game, anybody who stops playing gets killed.

Two Females: roleplay/paranoia-games/#ooc

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/P-zjLLIogQs/viewtopic.php

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Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester: I Want the Blair and Dan Relationship to Play Out (omg!)

While Gossip Girl fans may be torn between who they want Blair to end up with, Leighton Meester is not.

"The one relationship I'd love to play out is Blair and Dan," she told TVGuide.com at the show's 100th episode party Saturday night. Penn Badgley (Dan) said: "I like the Blair [story line] because it's the most exciting for Dan as a person."

See photos from Gossip Girl

Although it was a surprise to see the Queen Bee and Lonely Boy, who often butted heads, start to like each other, executive producer Josh Safran said the pairing has been likely to happen since the beginning.

"I wrote the first scene with them together in Season 1 ... and we knew at that moment there was something there," he said.

Gossip Girl boss Josh Safran: Blair has chosen her guy, L.A. is the perfect place for Serena

But Blair and Dan getting together has a few major hitches, namely Blair's impending wedding to Prince Louis ? and a baby on the way. On Monday's episode (8/7c, CW) Blair continues preparing for the big day with her bridal shower. And producers said a wedding will happen (or at least partly) when the 100th episode airs Jan. 30.

"She does walk down the aisle," said Margaret Colin, who plays Blair's mom. Added Blake Lively: "We shot a big dance sequence." So, while it seems there's a ceremony and a reception, Safran said it could all a dream.

While an enduring story line since the first season has been the Blair-and-Chuck relationship, Meester adds that she's OK with their current status.

"Her and Chuck have had ups and downs and as much as everyone loves them together, I think them having time apart has actually helped them grow," she said.

Watch full episodes of Gossip Girl in our Online Video Guide

But, "Chair" fans, don't be alarmed yet. Executive producer Stephanie Savage told us: "We have some amazing Chuck-and-Blair scenes coming up in the next couple of episodes.. The Chuck-and-Blair relationship is really fun and something that wasn't in the books, but came out of Leighton and Ed [Westwick]'s chemistry."

Whether you want Blair to be with Chuck or Dan (does anyone want her with the Prince?), creator Josh Schwartz has a solution. "There's only one way to satisfy all those people," he said. "Threesome."

Who do you want Blair to be with?

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

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An Oregon experiment in citizen government

A new law in Oregon that puts a citizen review panel in charge of breaking through political spin. It could be a first step in making better policy decisions.

Daily, it seems, we watch as our democracy slips into an increasingly divisive panic attack.?

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YES! Magazine is a nonprofit, ad-free publication that covers social, political, economic, and environmental problems and the people who seek to solve them.

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Republicans, we?re told, hate Democrats. Democrats, we?re told, hate Republicans. Accountability in?our political system seems as tenuous as the economic recovery: Tea Partier, Wall Street Occupier, or?none of the above, we all know something's amiss.?

Yet as it is, we have a tradition of successful self-governance more than 230 years in the making. Full?of beauty, opportunity, and deep scars, our democracy continues as a grand experiment. Rights have?been expanded, greater access to the disenfranchised has been afforded, and our democratic?institutions endure.?

But we seem to be heading towards a political culture where anything goes ? claims go unchecked,?questions go unasked, and talking points are simply repeated again and again. The choice, however,?between playing political games and governing well is ultimately ours: We are the "self" in "self-?governance."?

The Citizens' Initiative Review puts 24 randomly selected voters into a fair public hearing to listen to?campaigners, learn the issues, and sort out fact from fiction on ballot measures.?

What would it be like to have balanced panels of voters publicly weigh in on the most controversial?problems of our time? What would it look like to have a fair public review of the really tough issues, like health care policy, immigration, and financial regulation? And what if lawmakers were even to?request this kind of input to help in their own decision-making, building greater citizen deliberation?into how we 'do' democracy??

In Oregon, citizens have just taken a major step toward changing the game. In July 2011, Gov. John Kitzhaber signed into law a bill that institutionalizes a new form of citizen deliberation as part of?our election process. The Citizens' Initiative Review (CIR) is an exercise in deliberative democracy. It?puts 24 randomly selected voters into a fair public hearing to listen to campaigners, learn the issues,?and separate fact from fiction on ballot measures.?

The authenticity of this approach comes from the simple fact that these panels of voters have no?vested interest in the outcome of a CIR. Like a jury, the idea is to perform a public service.?

For each measure on the ballot, a different panel of 24 voters sorts through the political spin and then?summarizes its findings for the voting public to use as they choose on election day.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/O4AUtvEOFYk/An-Oregon-experiment-in-citizen-government

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'Killing fields' victims await Khmer Rouge trial

A tourist takes pictures of human skulls of Cambodian Khmer Rouge victims at Choueng Ek stupa, better known "Killing field" on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Some 200 Khmer Rouge victims on Sunday gathered at Choueng Ek for a Buddhist ceremony to dedicate to the souls of the dead before the start of the trial for former Khmer Rouge leaders. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A tourist takes pictures of human skulls of Cambodian Khmer Rouge victims at Choueng Ek stupa, better known "Killing field" on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Some 200 Khmer Rouge victims on Sunday gathered at Choueng Ek for a Buddhist ceremony to dedicate to the souls of the dead before the start of the trial for former Khmer Rouge leaders. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian Khmer Rouge victim, right, prays with incense sticks during a Buddhist ceremony at Choeung Ek stupa, the site of the Khmer Rouge's former "killing fields," on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Some 200 Khmer Rouge victims gathered at Choueng Ek to console the souls of the dead ahead of a second trial where the Khmer Rouge top leaders are expected to appear. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian Khmer Rouge victim, right, weeps during a Buddhist ceremony near Choeung Ek stupa, the site of the Khmer Rouge's former "killing fields," on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Some 200 Khmer Rouge victims gathered at Choueng Ek to console the souls of the dead ahead of a second trial where the Khmer Rouge top leaders are expected to appear. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian Khmer Rouge victim holds flowers during a Buddhist ceremony near Choeung Ek stupa, the site of the Khmer Rouge's former "killing fields," on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Some 200 Khmer Rouge victims gathered at Choueng Ek to console the souls of the dead ahead of a second trial where the Khmer Rouge top leaders are expected to appear. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) ? Survivors of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime held a remembrance ceremony in an infamous "killing field" Sunday, a day before a U.N.-backed tribunal begins a trial for three of the accused architects of some of the 20th century's worst atrocities.

Relatives of the victims wept as they chanted and burned incense near a glass case filled with skulls at the Choeung Ek Genocide Center on Sunday. The memorial stands in a field where the Khmer Rouge executed people during their 1975-79 rule that left nearly 2 million people dead.

The emotional ceremony was held to allow Cambodians an opportunity to share their concerns and remember loved ones ahead of the trials of three of the Khmer Rouge's surviving inner circle ? all now in their 80s ? on charges including crimes against humanity, genocide and torture.

"As the trial starts tomorrow, I want to remind the victims and ask them to push this trial to find justice for those who were killed by the Khmer Rouges regime," said 80-year-old Chum Mey, who is one of the only two survivors from the notorious S-21 prison.

An estimated 1.7 million people died of execution, starvation, exhaustion or lack of medical care as a result of the Khmer Rouge's radical communist policies, which essentially turned all of Cambodia into a forced labor camp.

Tribunal spokesman Huy Vannak called the proceedings beginning Monday "the most important trial in the world" because of the seniority of those involved.

On trial will be the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist, Nuon Chea, 85, former head of state Khieu Samphan, 80, and former foreign minister Ieng Sary, 86.

A fourth defendant, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith, was ruled unfit to stand trial last week because she has Alzheimer's disease. She is Ieng Sary's wife and served as the regime's minister for social affairs.

The Khmer Rouge's supreme leader Pol Pot died in 1998 in a Khmer Rouge jungle camp, where he was held prisoner after his former comrades turned on him. He had led the group from its clandestine revolutionary origins to open resistance after a 1970 coup installed a pro-American government and dragged Cambodia directly into the maelstrom of the Vietnam War.

After a bloody civil war, the Khmer Rouge guerrillas took power in 1975 and all but sealed off the country to the outside world. They immediately emptied the capital Phnom Penh of almost all its inhabitants, sending them to vast rural communes as part of an effort to turn the country into a socialist utopia. With intellectuals and anyone too closely associated with the previous regime executed, an economic and social disaster ensued.

The failures only fed the group's paranoia, and imagined traitors ? said to be working with the U.S., or Vietnam, the country's traditional enemy ? were hunted down, only plunging the country further into chaos. Vietnam, whose border provinces had suffered bloody attacks, sponsored a resistance movement and invaded, ousting the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979 and installing a client government.

More than three decades later, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians still struggle with the trauma inflicted by the regime and the long-delayed hunt for justice.

The U.N.-backed tribunal of Cambodian and international judges, which was established in 2006, has so far tried just one case, convicting Kaing Guek Eav, the former head of the regime's notorious S-21 prison, last July and sentencing him to 35 years in prison for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other offenses.

That case was seen as much simpler than the current case, which covers a much broader range of activities and because Kaing Guek Eav confessed to his crimes. Those going on trial Monday have steadfastly maintained their innocence. The prison chief was also far lower in the regime's leadership ranks than the current defendants.

There has been concern that the top Khmer Rouge leaders, all aging and in poor health, could die before a verdict is delivered.

The first part of the trial will consider charges involving the forced movement of people and crimes against humanity, while later proceedings will focus on other charges including genocide.

"I'm so happy and I could not sleep last night when I heard these leaders were to appears before the tribunal," said 80-year-old Chum Mey, one of only two survivors from the S-21 prison. "We have been waiting for more than 30 years to hear these leaders' voice saying the true story of their reign that brought death to over a million people."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-20-AS-Cambodia-Khmer-Rouge/id-efd8c44bd70c42009ee078036d88db89

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Police burn protest tents to clear Cairo's Tahrir

A protester throws a gas canister towards Egyptian riot police, not seen, near the interior ministry during clashes in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Firing tear gas and rubber bullets, Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed for a second day with thousands of rock-throwing protesters demanding that the ruling military quickly announce a date to hand over power to an elected government. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

A protester throws a gas canister towards Egyptian riot police, not seen, near the interior ministry during clashes in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Firing tear gas and rubber bullets, Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed for a second day with thousands of rock-throwing protesters demanding that the ruling military quickly announce a date to hand over power to an elected government. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Protesters run from tear gas during clashes with Egyptian riot police in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Firing tear gas and rubber bullets, Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed for a second day with thousands of rock-throwing protesters demanding that the ruling military quickly announce a date to hand over power to an elected government. (AP Photo)

A protester overcome with tear gas inhalation sits on the curb during clashes with the Egyptian riot police near the interior ministry in downtown Cairo, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Firing tear gas and rubber bullets, Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed for a second day with thousands of rock-throwing protesters demanding that the ruling military quickly announce a date to hand over power to an elected government. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Protesters take a cover during clashes with Egyptian riot police near the interior ministry in downtown cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Firing tear gas and rubber bullets, Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed for a second day with thousands of rock-throwing protesters demanding that the ruling military quickly announce a date to hand over power to an elected government. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Egyptian riot police throw stones during clashes with protesters near the interior ministry in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. Firing tear gas and rubber bullets, Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed for a second day with thousands of rock-throwing protesters demanding that the ruling military quickly announce a date to hand over power to an elected government. The police battled an estimated 5,000 protesters in and around central Cairo's Tahrir Square, birthplace of the 18-day uprising that toppled authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

CAIRO (AP) ? Egyptian soldiers and police set fire to protest tents in Cairo's Tahrir Square and fired tear gas and rubber bullets in a major assault Sunday to drive out thousands demanding that the military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government. At least seven protesters were killed and hundreds were injured.

It was the second day of clashes marking a sharp escalation of tensions on Egypt's streets a week before the first elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February. The military took over the country, promising a swift transition to civilian rule. But the pro-democracy protesters who led the uprising have grown increasingly angry with the ruling generals, and suspect they are trying to cling to power even after an elected parliament is seated and a new president is voted in.

The military-backed Cabinet said in a statement that elections set to begin on Nov. 28 would take place on time and thanked the police for their "restraint," language that is likely to enrage the protesters even more.

"We're not going anywhere," protester Mohammed Radwan said after security forces tried unsuccessfully to push the crowds out of Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising. "The mood is good now and people are chanting again," he added after many of the demonstrators returned.

Two protesters were killed on Saturday, putting the toll for two days of violence to nine. The clashes were some of the worst since the uprising ended on Feb. 11.

They were also one of only a few violent confrontations to involve the police since the uprising. The black-clad police were a hated symbol of Mubarak's regime and after the uprising, they have largely stayed in the background while the military took charge of security.

The military, which took over from Mubarak, has repeatedly pledged to hand power to an elected civilian government, but has yet to set a specific date. The protests over the past two days have demanded a specific date be set.

According to one timetable floated by the army, the handover will happen after presidential elections late next year or early in 2013. The protesters say this is too long and accuse the military of dragging its feet. They want a handover immediately after the end of the staggered parliamentary elections, which begin on Nov. 28 and end in March.

The protesters' suspicions about the military were fed by a proposal issued by the military-appointed Cabinet last week. It would shield the armed forces from any civilian oversight and give the generals veto power over legislation dealing with military affairs.

But other concerns are also feeding the tensions on the street. Many Egyptians are anxious about what the impending elections will bring. Specifically they worry that stalwarts of Mubarak's ruling party could win a significant number of seats in the next parliament because the military did not ban them from running for public office as requested by activists.

The military's failure to issue such a ban has fed widely held suspicion that the generals are reluctant to dismantle the old regime, partly out of loyalty to Mubarak, their longtime mentor.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a statement expressing "regret for the events."

The council doesn't intend "to extend the transitional period and will not permit by any means hindering the process of democratic transition," it said a statement read out on state TV.

The violence began Saturday when security forces stormed a sit-in at Tahrir Square staged by protesters wounded in clashes during the 18-day uprising in January and February and frustrated by the slow pace of bringing those responsible to justice.

The wounded, some on crutches, ran away when police attacked, but some fell down and were beaten by police.

One of those injured on Saturday was dentist Ahmed Hararah, who lost the sight in his right eye on Jan. 28 and now thinks he lost the sight in his left eye despite treatment at an eye hospital in Cairo.

The violence resumed Sunday, when police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to try to clear about 5,000 protesters still in Tahrir. Many chanted "freedom, freedom" as they pelted police with rocks and a white cloud of tear gas hung in the air.

"We have a single demand: The marshal must step down and be replaced by a civilian council," said protester Ahmed Hani, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council and Mubarak's longtime defense minister. "The violence yesterday showed us that Mubarak is still in power," said Hani, who was wounded in the forehead by a rubber bullet.

Many of the protesters had red eyes and coughed incessantly. Some wore surgical masks to ward off the tear gas. A few fainted, overwhelmed by the gas.

Around sundown, an Associated Press reporter in Tahrir said police and troops briefly chased the protesters out of most of the square. They set at least a dozen of the protesters' tents, along with blankets and banners, ablaze after nightfall and a pall of black smoke rose over the square as the sound of gunshots rang out.

"This is what they (the military) will do if they rule the country," one protester screamed while running away from the approaching security forces.

Protesters initially ran away in panic while being chased by army soldiers and police hitting them with clubs. But they later regrouped at the southern entrance of the square next to the famed Egyptian museum and began to walk back to the square. Hundreds made their way back, waving the red, white and black Egyptian flags and chanting "Allahu akbar," or God is great.

Both sides then began pelting each other with rocks.

Security forces pulled back to the outskirts of the square, where clashes continued into the night.

A medical official at Cairo's main morgue said at least seven protesters were killed on Sunday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Doctors at two field hospitals in the square said that among the dead was one man killed by a blow to his head and another by gunshots.

Rocks, shattered glass and trash covered Tahrir Square and the side streets around it. The windows of the main campus of the American University in Cairo, which overlooks the square, were shattered and stores were shuttered.

"The marshal is Mubarak's dog," read freshly scrawled graffiti in the square.

An Interior Ministry statement said 55 protesters have been arrested since the violence began on Saturday and a total of 85 policemen were hurt in clashes. It said some of the protesters were using firearms, firebombs and knifes to attack security forces.

Doctors staffing two field hospitals in the square said they have treated around 700 protesters on Sunday. Alaa Mohammed, a doctor, said most of those treated suffered breathing problems or wounds caused by rubber bullets.

"The police are targeting the head, not the legs as they normally do," said Mohammed.

Clashes also took place in the city of Suez east of Cairo, the coastal city of el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, the city of Alexandria and Assiut in southern Egypt.

___

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy contributed to this report from Cairo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-20-ML-Egypt/id-1e71adf42cf14deea00568e3a9a5a2cb

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Energy Secretary Chu takes responsibility for loan to failed solar panel maker Solyndra (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Galaxy Nexus available in the UK Thursday from Phones4u!

 

Well, well, it looks like our friends in the UK will be able to purchase a Galaxy Nexus starting Thursday. Phones4u announced today on Google+ that the retailer will have the flagship phone exclusively at their store in Oxford Circus (which is one of the busiest). 

In addition to that awesome bit of news, the first 100 purchasers will get a £250 voucher for media content for the Nexus. 

They have also stated that ice cream sandwiches will also be served, which is worth the trip in itself. 

So there you have it. One store tomorrow from one retailer will have the Galaxy Nexus available for you lucky UK residents. Doors open at 8am, so be sure to get there early. 

Source: Google+

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/qnmojru4cjU/story01.htm

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Tyler Perry explains Kim Kardashian "Counselor" casting (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Tyler Perry has caught no small amount of flak for casting reality TV star Kim Kardashian in his upcoming movie "The Marriage Counselor."

And now the writer/producer/media magnate has spoken out in defense of using the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star, whose resume is a little thin when it comes to officially scripted fare. Perry has posted a lengthy missive on his blog, detailing his reasons for casting Kardashian.

The takeaway from Perry's pro-Kardashian manifesto? He's doing it for the kids -- specifically, to get them into the theaters to see his movie and absorb its message.

The "Madea" auteur begins his justification with a little ice-breaker, acknowledging the flood of angry emails he's received over the casting decision with a joke.

"Y'all gave me a new movie title, Tyler Perry's 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman Cause You Hired Kim Kardashian, Don't Make Me Take Off My Earrings and Boycott Yo A**,'" Perry quips. "Some of my ladies are upset. OK, all jokes aside, can I have my say? Will you at least here me out?"

According to Perry, he cast Kardashian, 31, in the film because of the sway she has over the youth audience. Perry noted in his post that, after writing the script, he read through it and realized the importance of exposing a younger audience to the message of the film.

"YOUNG FOLKS NEED TO SEE THIS!!!" Perry said of "The Marriage Counselor, which trails an aspiring relationship expert whose own union becomes imperiled by outside influences.

Perry added that, as he was casting the film a couple of months ago -- "long before I even heard about Kim's marriage or divorce" -- he asked a producer which performers are admired by the nation's youth. After being shown a photo of a young crowd piling up outside of one of the Kardashians' Dash boutiques, Perry had his answer.

"I thought, 'What better person?'" Tyler recalled. "She literally has millions of young people following her. I thought and still do think, that it would be very responsible of her to be a part of this film."

Adds Perry, "If one of those young people see this film and find the strength to live a better life and not go through what these characters went through in this movie, then we have all done what I feel I'm being led to do here. I hope you understand. I really do!"

In the film, Kardashian plays Ava, a co-worker of the film's female lead character, Judith (portrayed by Jurnee Smolett), who's "constantly trying to influence Judith on everything from her shoes to her hair."

Since word of Kardashian's casting broke, a multi-front campaign on internet outrage has sprung up. Threatening to boycott the film if Kardashian wasn't axed from the production, many complained of Kardashian's supposed lack of moral fiber, in light of her 72-day marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries.

Former "The Talk" co-host Holly Robinson Peete, meanwhile, joked that the worldwide community of "blacktresses" were upset because Perry had eliminated a potential job for them by casting Kardashian.

Perry addresses the moral issue at the end of his post, asking, "And lastly, because I believe that my films speak from the inside out, why wouldn't Kim Kardashian be invited into a film about Faith, Forgiveness and the healing power of God? What is wrong with that??"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111117/film_nm/us_tylerperry

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On Jupiter's Moon Europa: Oceans, Lakes -- and Even Life? (Time.com)

For a scientific paper, the study just published online by Nature starts out more like a bit of poetry ? or maybe it's more like a romance novel. "Europa," it begins, "the innermost icy satellite of Jupiter, has a tortured, young surface." That just about sums it up, though. Europa was discovered by Galileo almost exactly 400 years, ago, when he first pointed his primitive telescope at the night sky. But it wasn't until the Galileo space probe arrived in the 1990's for close-up surveillance that astronomers began to understand its true nature ? a rocky core surrounded by a world-spanning ocean scores of miles deep, and topped with a thick coating of cracked, gnarled ice.

That being the case, and liquid water being considered an essential element for life, scientists quickly realized that Europa could harbor its own, home-grown biology ? in principle, anyway. And that triggered an intense focus on understanding details of exactly how Europa is put together. The new paper is the latest leap forward: according to lead author Britney Schmidt, of the University of Texas at Austin, there's evidence for a giant lake encased within Europa's shell of ice, above the ocean that lies deeper. And that might raise the odds of European life at least a little bit.(See NASA's 3-D photos of the Sun.)

To understand why, you first need to understand how liquid water can possibly exist on a world nearly a half-billion miles from the warmth of the Sun (Earth, by contrast, is only a fifth as distant). The answer is that Europa's rocky core is constantly flexing under the tidal force of Jupiter's gravity and the gravitational plucking of the other large moons as they pass by. The friction generates heat, just as a rubber ball heats up with you squeeze it rapidly in your hand. All that heat keeps the overlying water from freezing, until you get relatively close to the surface.

Put solid ice on top of a sloshing ocean and you get cracks, which are clearly evident in the images from the Galileo probe. But a closer look at those images reveals dark, patches of especially rough surface that planetary scientists have come to call "chaos terrain," appropriately enough. "We've always thought it represented some sort of interaction between ice and water," said Schmidt at a NASA press conference. "But how it works wasn't clear." One big source of confusion: while chaos terrain typically has huge icebergs embedded in a brownish material known as "matrix," some patches are sunken below the surface by many hundreds of feet, while others bulge outward. "Why," asked Schimdt rhetorically, "are they so different?" (Watch TIME's video "Galileo and the Year of Astronomy.")

By looking at vaguely comparable situations on Earth where warmer water lies underneath ice ? ice shelves in Greenland and Antarctica floating on warmer water, land-based glaciers overlying active volcanoes that melt the ice from below ? Schmidt and her co-authors came up with a theory that seems to fit. "Imagine," she said, "the surface of Europa, made of thick, fractured ice." Water, warmed by hot spots at the bottom of the sea, rises up through the cracks, forming a temporary lake, just a mile or so below the surface. The water weakens the overlying ice, causing it to slump; huge icebergs on the surface sink into the matrix, a quicksand-like pool of crushed ice, rolling and tumbling as they go. Then the lake gradually freezes, expands, and pushes the jumbled bergs outward again. (See iconic images of Earth from outer space.)

All of this bulging and collapsing constantly rebuilds Europa's surface, which is what the scientists mean when they call it young. But it also adds up to a sort of grand unified theory of that surface. It explains the depressions, like a feature called Thera Macula, where a lake presumably sits; and it explains bulges like Conamara Chaos, where a lake has refrozen. "It's very exciting," said planetary Louise Prockter, of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins, who appeared at the press conference as an independent expert. "It ties together a lot of loose ends."

Most of them have to do with the dynamics of ice and water, but another mystery has long troubled Europa watchers. You do need water for life, but you also need organic chemicals, and while the oceans are presumably rich in salts and other minerals, that's not enough. The life-building chemicals could easily have been delivered by the hydrocarbon-rich comets that occasionally pummel planets and moons alike ? but they would somehow have to make their way down into the oceans. The existence of near-surface lakes implies a network of cracks that could provide such a route. (See pictures of the universe, put to scale.)

Put it all together and you're still a long way from proving there's even primitive life in Europa's ocean. But the prospect is tantalizing enough that a Europa lander that would drill down to put a probe into the subsurface ocean got a high priority in a recent advisory report to NASA. Within a couple of decades ? assuming NASA's budget survives the next few years without harsh cuts ? the mystery of what lies beneath Europa's young and tortured surface could finally be solved.

See pictures of deep space from the Hubble telescope.

Read about finding an ocean of fire on Jupiter's Moon Io.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/time_rss/rss_time_us/httpwwwtimecomtimehealtharticle08599209964300htmlxidrssnationyahoo/43631911/SIG=12ld6g2tp/*http%3A//www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2099643,00.html?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

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Unemployment aid applications drop to 7-month low

In this Oct. 18, 2011 photo, job seekers line up to speak to recruiters during a career expo in Las Colinas, Texas. Fewer people sought unemployment benefits last week, the fourth drop in the past five weeks. The decline indicates the economy?s modest growth is reducing layoffs and may lift hiring. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

In this Oct. 18, 2011 photo, job seekers line up to speak to recruiters during a career expo in Las Colinas, Texas. Fewer people sought unemployment benefits last week, the fourth drop in the past five weeks. The decline indicates the economy?s modest growth is reducing layoffs and may lift hiring. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

In this Nov. 14, 2011 photo, job seekers line up to speak to recruiters during a career expo in Las Colinas, Texas. Fewer people sought unemployment benefits last week, the fourth drop in the past five weeks. The decline indicates the economy?s modest growth is reducing layoffs and may lift hiring. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

In this Nov. 14, 2011 photo, job seekers line up to speak to recruiters during a career expo in Las Colinas, Texas. Fewer people sought unemployment benefits last week, the fourth drop in the past five weeks. The decline indicates the economy?s modest growth is reducing layoffs and may lift hiring. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign that layoffs are easing and hiring may pick up.

Weekly applications dropped by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the fourth decline in five weeks.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 396,750. That's the first time the average been below 400,000 in seven months.

Applications need to consistently drop below 375,000 to signal sustained job gains. They haven't been that low since February.

The job market "is still weak but there are hopeful signs of some modest improvement," Steven Wood, an economist at Insight Economics, in a note to clients.

The number of people receiving benefits also fell to the lowest level since Sept. 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the financial crisis intensified.

Some people may no longer be getting benefits because they've found jobs. But a larger number have likely used up all their benefits, Wood said.

The benefit rolls fell 57,000 to 3.6 million in the week ended Nov. 5. That's one week behind the applications data. The figure is the lowest since Sept. 20, 2008.

That doesn't include about 3 million additional people receiving extended benefits from emergency programs put in place during the recession. All told, 6.8 million people received benefits during the week ended Oct. 29, the latest data available.

The pace of hiring over the past few months has been mixed. The economy added only 80,000 jobs in October, the fewest in four months. But the government also said this month that employers added more jobs in August and September than it had initially reported. The unemployment rate dipped to 9 percent.

The economy is growing but not quickly enough to generate many jobs. A series of reports this week shows manufacturers are producing more goods and consumers are spending more in retail stores.

Inflation may be peaking, too, largely because gas prices have fallen. That could help boost consumer spending, which fuels 70 percent of economic activity.

Stronger consumer spending this summer was a key reason the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September quarter. Many economists forecast similar or slightly better growth for the October-December quarter.

The economy needs to grow at nearly double that rate ? consistently ? to make a significant dent in the unemployment rate, which has been near 9 percent for more than two years.

Economists worry that consumers can't sustain their spending growth from this summer without more jobs and higher pay. Consumers spent more in the third quarter while earning less. Many dipped into their savings to make up the difference.

A rebound in manufacturing could lead to more hiring. Factory output grew in October for the fourth straight month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. Production of trucks, electronics and business equipment all rose.

One concern is that Europe's debt crisis could worsen and trigger a recession. That could slow demand for U.S. exports and stunt job growth.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-17-Unemployment%20Benefits/id-86ac6d333c1a4b378b65d9982b4e8d9f

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