Koozoo Aims To Build A Live Video Network With 24-Hour Footage From Old Phones

Koozoo is launching today in San Francisco and Austin with a new twist on social video. The emphasis here is on utility, rather than performance and entertainment (though it can be entertaining, too). Wouldn't it be useful to know if the weather is nice at a nearby park (though I suppose that example is best-suited for cities with microclimates like San Francisco's). Or whether a nearby store or restaurant is super-crowded? Koozoo founder and CEO Drew Sechrist is trying to build up a network of live video streams that can give you that information.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/GTHNjG8laAA/

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British crash survivor leaped from Egypt balloon

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's lead investigator said Thursday he is seeking to interview the only tourist who survived the crash of a hot air balloon in the southern city of Luxor, a British national who jumped from the balloon after it caught fire and before it plummeted to the ground, killing 19 others, including his wife.

The Briton, Michael Rennie, escaped with only minor injuries and no burns, a neurologist who is treating him at a Cairo hospital, Mahmoud el-Shennawy, told The Associated Press.

The only other survivor ? the balloon's Egyptian pilot, who also jumped out ? suffered heavy burns.

The sightseeing balloon on a sunrise flight Tuesday over the ancient monuments of Luxor was carrying 20 tourists from Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, Belgium, Hungary and France. It was in the process of landing when a fuel line for the burner heating the air in the balloon broke, sparking a fire, according to preliminary indications, investigators have said.

Rennie and the Egyptian pilot, Momin Murad, managed to escape the balloon's gondola when it was still relatively close to the ground. The balloon then rose back up some 300 meters (1,000 feet) into the air. The fire spread to the balloon itself, which burst, sending it plummeting into a sugar cane field.

Witnesses have said some of the tourists still trapped in the burning balloon as it rose jumped to their deaths trying to escape.

Amateur video taken from another balloon flying nearby shows it crashing it back to the earth like a fireball into a sugar cane field.

Rennie told his doctors that "he fell in a muddy area, and this helped him," el-Shennawy said. "There are no fractures. He only has minor bruises ... and scratches." His wife was killed in the crash, the doctor said.

Rennie has also refused to speak to representatives from his own embassy, el-Shennawy said ? apparently overwhelmed with grief over his wife's death. Rennie has declined to speak to reporters, and an Associated Press reporter was not allowed access to his room.

The head of the Civil Aviation Authority's technical investigation into the accident, Walid el-Moqadem, said he has has asked to speak to Rennie, who Egyptian media said did speak with a separate, criminal prosecutor investigating the crash to rule out foul play.

Rennie told criminal investigators that most of those in the balloon squatted when the fire broke out, following the pilot's instructions, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan.

Investigators have not yet spoken to the pilot because of his injuries.

El-Moqadem said countries of some of the crash victims have asked to join the probe.

He said so far Hong Kong, Britain, Japan and Hungary will not be sending investigators, and will be granted an advisory role in the investigation in line with regulations. He said for now countries of the victims will be appraised of progress through emails.

Investigators are still looking into the causes of the crash and refused to give details, el-Moqadem said earlier. Investigators speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe was still ongoing said initial results suggested a landing cable tore the fuel tube and that the pilot should have shut of a valve that would have prevented the fire from spreading.

El-Shennawy said Rennie is expected to be released Friday and will head straight to the airport.

"Some psychiatrists, and myself, talked with him. He seems to be accepting the situation," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-crash-survivor-leaped-egypt-balloon-140419841.html

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Will Oscar host Seth MacFarlane be asked back? Probably not.

Seth MacFarlane's Oscar hosting gig, full of low-brow and sexist jokes, received mixed reviews. The Academy struggles to reach a younger audience and remain a family-friendly show.

By Gloria Goodale,?Staff writer / February 25, 2013

Oscar host Seth MacFarlane speaks on stage at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif, on Sunday. After a performance full of sexist and racist jokes, viewers wonder if he will be asked to host again.

Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

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As Oscar host Seth MacFarlane is surely learning Monday, helming the annual awards ceremony dwarfs all other challenges. Rescue hostages from under the nose of armed revolutionaries? Piece of cake! Free American slaves amidst a young nation?s bloody civil war? In my sleep!

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But host a three-hour industry telecast to the satisfaction of a global audience of a billion and counting? The faint-hearted need not apply.

Mr. MacFarlane, the creator of Fox?s ?Family Guy,? has been criticized for making sexist, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic jokes (does this miss any groups?) as well as general bad taste and lousy clock control (the show ran until midnight EST, a half hour over schedule).

But pop culture audiences seem to be as divided as political ones. According to Fizziology, a social media research firm, 13 percent of Facebook and Twitter users discussing the show ranked MacFarlane as ?the best host ever.? And early Nielsen ratings show the broadcast up nearly 20 percent over the 2012 show with some 37 million US viewers.

But there is one question that all Oscar viewers are asking: Will he be back?

Not if the Academy is a tad more careful next time, suggests Thelma Adams, Yahoo! Movies contributing editor. The ?central conundrum? is having a show that remains true to its film industry audience.

?Watch an episode of ?Family Guy? and you?ll know it?s not a good match for Hollywood honchos sitting in stiff chairs in tuxes and tiaras,? she says. The first thing to acknowledge is that the audience inside the Dolby Theater, where the show is held in Hollywood, ?is a tough and tense crowd.?

There are several groups on whom MacFarlane?s humor was wasted.

Gwendolyn Foster, a film professor at University of Nebraska at Lincoln, says her female students were ?appalled? at what they consider MacFarlane?s outdated and sexist routines.

?Everyone agrees it was like watching an old sexist 'Dating Game' episode,? she says via e-mail. ?Seth McFarlane was as smarmy as the host of the 'Dating Game,' which is perfect because the Dating Game, if memory serves me, was on during the Vietnam War, when many Americans preferred to bury their heads in the sand and pretend the war was not happening, or pretend the war was a good thing.?

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued its own rebuke of MacFarlane?s bit in the guise of his animated Teddy Bear persona, the main character in his 2012 film, ?Ted.??A computer-animated Ted, presenting with actor Mark Wahlberg, made the joke that Jews controlled Hollywood, and that being Jewish was required to work in the industry. "I was born Theodore Shapiro and I would like to donate to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever," he said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ug_UN9uJq9g/Will-Oscar-host-Seth-MacFarlane-be-asked-back-Probably-not

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Spiral-toothed fossil mystery solved

27 February 2013 Last updated at 03:28 By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

An ancient spiral-toothed fish has been reconstructed from fossil evidence by scientists.

US researchers used CT scans to build a computer model of what Helicoprion looked like and how it ate.

They were also able to resolve a continuing puzzle over whether the unique saw-like spirals were located inside or outside the mouth.

The findings show the animals were more closely related to modern chimaeras, or ratfish, than sharks.

The study is published by researchers from Idaho State University in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

The university's Museum of Natural History has the largest public collection of fossilised Helicoprion in the world.

The fish lived 270 million years ago but because they were largely formed from cartilage, which does not preserve well, their fossil record comprises unusual spiral structures.

Referred to as "whorls", these features have been compared to spiralling saw blades and have puzzled the scientific community for over a century.

Early theories suggested that they were actually used for defence and were located on the fish's upper or lower jaws, or even the dorsal fin.

Dental records

In order to solve the mystery, Dr Leif Tapanila and colleagues investigated the most complete fossil in the collection.

The fossil, discovered in Idaho, has a whorl measuring 23cm with 117 individual teeth. Unlike other specimens, the fossil also includes impressions of the cartilage structures.

The team used a high-powered CT scan, which uses X-rays to create a detailed computer image, in order to fully analyse what was inside the rock.

"When we got the images back, we could easily see that we had the upper and lower jaw of the animals, as well as the spiral of teeth," said Dr Tapanila.

"For the first time we were able to very clearly image how that spiral of teeth relates to the jaw."

The scientists found that the spiral was connected to the fish's lower jaw, in the back of the mouth.

"Imagine that... instead of having a tongue, you have this large spiral of teeth," Dr Tapanila explained.

"Only maybe a dozen teeth are poking up out of your lower jaw so you can bite."

"The rest of those teeth are stored inside and are not being used, those are your baby teeth - the teeth you had when you were younger."

Dr Tapanila said this discovery supports the argument that unlike sharks, which constantly replace their teeth, Helicoprion retained its teeth permanently.

Using the computer images, the team could build a 3D model of the jaw, to reveal how the tooth spiral worked.

"As the mouth closes, the teeth spin backwards... so they slash through the meat that they are biting into," Dr Tapanila told BBC Nature.

"The teeth themselves are very narrow: nice long, pointy, triangular teeth with serrations like a steak knife.

"As the jaw is closing and the teeth are spinning past whatever it's eating, it's making a very nice clean cut."

Of the 100 fossils of Helicoprion that have been discovered, very few show broken or worn teeth.

Ancient diet

Dr Tapanila said that this evidence, combined with the "rolling and slicing" mechanism, provided clues to what the ancient fish ate.

"If this animal were eating other animals that were very hard or [had] hard armour plating or dense shells, you would expect more damage to their teeth.

"This leads us to believe that our animal was probably eating soft, squishy things like calamari. It was probably eating squid or its relatives that were swimming in the ocean at the time."

The study also highlighted the family connections of the ancient fish, categorising it with chimaeras and ratfish rather than sharks.

"One of the main ways that fish are identified is based on how the upper jaw connects to the rest of the skull," said Dr Tapanila.

"Because we have the upper jaw we can look at the bumps and grooves on it and see how it would have connected.

"It was fixed in two positions and was fused essentially to the brain tip... a feature that's distinctive for chimaeras and ratfish."

Following the reconstruction the jaw of the fish, the team is using inferred characteristics to create a scale model of the 4m animal for an exhibition at the Idaho State University Museum of Natural History this summer.

Based on fossil evidence, scientists believe the fish could have measured up to 7.6m long.

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21589719

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Jeopardy! Hosts 'A Binder Full of Women' Category

I'll take "A Binder Full of Women" for $600, Alex.

That was the actual category on the Jeopardy! board on Monday evening as the game show resurrected one of the most memorable meme's of the 2012 election cycle: Republican Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney's comment made during the presidential debate against President Barack Obama at Hofstra University.

Romney's inadvertently funny description came in response to a question from the audience in the townhall style debate at Hofstra about pay equity for women.

The candidate was explaining that as the governor of Massachusetts searching for qualified women to fill cabinet posts, women's groups brought him "binders full of women" who were good candidates.

"And I said, 'Well, gosh, can't we - can't we find some - some women that are also qualified?" Romney said. "I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women."

The Internet went crazy for the term, which took on a life of it's own. Read more about that HERE.

This week Jeopardy displayed a graphic of a binder full of women as a topic choice.

Check Out Some Of The 'Binders Full of Women' Memes Here

Jeopardy's "A Binder Full of Women" category included Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and 1976 Summer Olympics gold medalist, Nadia Comaneci among others.

Other categories on Monday's show included: "Hugo Awards For Science Fiction", "1990's Music", "World Place Names, "A Bunch of Stuff" and fittingly, "Funny Things People Say".

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jeopardy-hosts-binder-full-women-category-220406096--abc-news-politics.html

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Blueprint for an artificial brain: Scientists experiment with memristors that imitate natural nerves

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Scientists have long been dreaming about building a computer that would work like a brain. This is because a brain is far more energy-saving than a computer, it can learn by itself, and it doesn't need any programming. Privatdozent [senior lecturer] Dr. Andy Thomas from Bielefeld University's Faculty of Physics is experimenting with memristors -- electronic microcomponents that imitate natural nerves. Thomas and his colleagues have demonstrated that they could do this a year ago. They constructed a memristor that is capable of learning. Andy Thomas is now using his memristors as key components in a blueprint for an artificial brain.

He will be presenting his results at the beginning of March in the print edition of the Journal of Physics published by the Institute of Physics in London.

Memristors are made of fine nanolayers and can be used to connect electric circuits. For several years now, the memristor has been considered to be the electronic equivalent of the synapse. Synapses are, so to speak, the bridges across which nerve cells (neurons) contact each other. Their connections increase in strength the more often they are used. Usually, one nerve cell is connected to other nerve cells across thousands of synapses.

Like synapses, memristors learn from earlier impulses. In their case, these are electrical impulses that (as yet) do not come from nerve cells but from the electric circuits to which they are connected. The amount of current a memristor allows to pass depends on how strong the current was that flowed through it in the past and how long it was exposed to it.

Andy Thomas explains that because of their similarity to synapses, memristors are particularly suitable for building an artificial brain -- a new generation of computers. 'They allow us to construct extremely energy-efficient and robust processors that are able to learn by themselves.' Based on his own experiments and research findings from biology and physics, his article is the first to summarize which principles taken from nature need to be transferred to technological systems if such a neuromorphic (nerve like) computer is to function. Such principles are that memristors, just like synapses, have to 'note' earlier impulses, and that neurons react to an impulse only when it passes a certain threshold.

Thanks to these properties, synapses can be used to reconstruct the brain process responsible for learning, says Andy Thomas. He takes the classic psychological experiment with Pavlov's dog as an example. The experiment shows how you can link the natural reaction to a stimulus that elicits a reflex response with what is initially a neutral stimulus -- this is how learning takes place. If the dog sees food, it reacts by salivating. If the dog hears a bell ring every time it sees food, this neutral stimulus will become linked to the stimulus eliciting a reflex response. As a result, the dog will also salivate when it hears only the bell ringing and no food is in sight. The reason for this is that the nerve cells in the brain that transport the stimulus eliciting a reflex response have strong synaptic links with the nerve cells that trigger the reaction.

If the neutral bell-ringing stimulus is introduced at the same time as the food stimulus, the dog will learn. The control mechanism in the brain now assumes that the nerve cells transporting the neutral stimulus (bell ringing) are also responsible for the reaction -- the link between the actually 'neutral' nerve cell and the 'salivation' nerve cell also becomes stronger. This link can be trained by repeatedly bringing together the stimulus eliciting a reflex response and the neutral stimulus. 'You can also construct such a circuit with memristors -- this is a first step towards a neuromorphic processor,' says Andy Thomas.

'This is all possible because a memristor can store information more precisely than the bits on which previous computer processors have been based,' says Thomas. Both a memristor and a bit work with electrical impulses. However, a bit does not allow any fine adjustment -- it can only work with 'on' and 'off'. In contrast, a memristor can raise or lower its resistance continuously. 'This is how memristors deliver a basis for the gradual learning and forgetting of an artificial brain,' explains Thomas.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universitaet Bielefeld.

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Journal Reference:

1. Andy Thomas. Memristor-based neural networks. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2013; 46 (9): 093001 DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/46/9/093001

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/eQVwYoYOj_w/130226101400.htm

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Washington braces for whirlwind week

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

?

A vote on President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Defense Department, Supreme Court arguments about the future of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and?the expected onset of automatic spending cuts known as the "sequester" mean the nation's capital is bracing for a politically consequential week ahead.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood discusses how the looming spending cuts will affect air travel and calls on Congress to act.

After a weeklong recess, Congress returns to Washington with a full agenda of business that needs handling. Topping that list is an item which lawmakers are arguably unlikely to resolve over the course of the week: the sequester, about $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to begin taking effect on Friday, the first day of March.

Lawmakers left town before the President's Day holiday no closer to resolving the sequester, the second part of the so-called "fiscal cliff," which was delayed for two months by the New Year's Day deal on taxes.

Last week's recess was more full of posturing and blame-placing by Obama and Republicans in Congress ? who each blame the other for the sequester's creation ??than any substantive progress toward a deal to address the cuts, which both sides agree would be perilous.

"So now Republicans in Congress face a simple choice: Are they willing to compromise to protect vital investments in education and health care and national security and all the jobs that depend on them?" Obama said last Tuesday at the White House. "Or would they rather put hundreds of thousands of jobs and our entire economy at risk just to protect a few special-interest tax loopholes that benefit only the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations? That's the choice."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, responded in the pages of the 'Wall Street Journal': "The president's sequester is the wrong way to reduce the deficit, but it is here to stay until Washington Democrats get serious about cutting spending."?

The administration has been warning of the potential consequences to the spending cuts, including military readiness and even delays and inconveniences in air travel.

Related:?Why Obama has the PR upper hand in sequestration battle

"We're not making this up in order to put pain on the American people," outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We are required to cut a billion dollars and we are going to do that unless Congress gets together and works together and compromises on this."?

Former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr.; Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan; Host of NPR's Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep; CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and Jim Cramer weigh in on how the looming budget cuts could be avoided with better leadership.

With both sides still so far apart, an agreement to delay or soften the blow of the automatic cuts before Friday seems unlikely.

That legislative showdown would normally suffice to consume all the political oxygen in Washington. But this week also features several other major events worth noting.

One such item is another holdover from before recess. The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on final confirmation for former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., to become the next defense secretary. The vote follows tenacious efforts by some Republican senators to block their former colleague from joining the Obama administration.

Senate Democrats had hoped to formally vote to confirm Hagel before last week's recess, but Senate Republicans ??even some GOP senators who said they'll support final confirmation for Hagel ??joined together to sustain a filibuster, and delay the confirmation vote until this week. For their part, Democrats decried the filibuster as unprecedented against a Pentagon chief's nomination.

Former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr.; Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan; Host of NPR's Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep; CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and Jim Cramer discuss what happens if Washington can't agree on an alternative plan.

Still, Hagel appears to be headed toward confirmation. Some of his most vociferous critics?? Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., among them ? said they would support moving toward a final vote on confirmation, which would only require a simple majority of the Senate's support. Even still, several GOP senators have said they intend to support Hagel, which only boosts his prospects for confirmation, barring some sort of development.

Hagel isn't the only member of Obama's prospective national security team left hanging over the recess.

After facing a grilling earlier this month before the Senate Intelligence Committee, John O. Brennan's nomination to become the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency faces an uncertain future. Senators are looking for more information about the Obama administration's secretive drone strikes program ??and Brennan's role in crafting that strategy ??before moving forward with his nomination.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has threatened to filibuster Brennan's nomination before the whole Senate until he's received a satisfactory answer. The concerns about Brennan aren't isolated to Republicans, either; Democrats like Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon have voiced similar misgivings about the secretive use of drone strikes to target suspected terrorists and the process behind them.

Joshua Roberts / Reuters file photo

Capitol Hill in Washington, DC

Also this week, the Supreme Court will hear potentially consequential oral arguments challenging a section of the historic Voting Right Acts. The justices will hear a challenge to a section of the law requiring nine states with a history of racial discrimination to seek Justice Department approval for any change in their voting procedures before those changes can take effect.

Obama, speaking Thursday in a radio interview, sought to calm fears that African American or other minority voters would face greater challenges to voting if the Supreme Court were to strike down that section of the law.

"I know in the past some folks have worried that if the Supreme Court strikes down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, they're going to lose their right to vote. That?s not the case," Obama said on "The Black Eagle" radio show. "People will still have the same rights not to be discriminated against when it comes to voting, you just won't have this mechanism, this tool, that allows you to kind of stay ahead of certain practices."

Source: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/25/17058501-from-sequester-to-hagel-and-voting-rights-washington-braces-for-whirlwind-week?lite

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Pope to be called 'emeritus pope,' will wear white

Workers sets up a stage for the media next to St Peter's Square ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's last public audience Wednesday, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules of the conclave that will elect his successor, allowing cardinals to move up the start date if all of them arrive in Rome before the usual 15-day transition between pontificates. Benedict signed a legal document, issued Monday, with some line-by-line changes to the 1996 Vatican law governing the election of a new pope. It is one of his last acts as pope before resigning Thursday. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Workers sets up a stage for the media next to St Peter's Square ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's last public audience Wednesday, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules of the conclave that will elect his successor, allowing cardinals to move up the start date if all of them arrive in Rome before the usual 15-day transition between pontificates. Benedict signed a legal document, issued Monday, with some line-by-line changes to the 1996 Vatican law governing the election of a new pope. It is one of his last acts as pope before resigning Thursday. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI will be known as "emeritus pope" in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock, the Vatican announced Tuesday, again fueling concerns about potential conflicts arising from having both a reigning and a retired pope.

The pope's title and what he would wear have been a major source of speculation ever since Benedict stunned the world and announced he would resign on Thursday, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Benedict himself had made the decision in consultation with others, settling on "Your Holiness Benedict XVI" and either emeritus pope or emeritus Roman pontiff.

Lombardi said he didn't know why Benedict had decided to drop his other main title: bishop of Rome.

In the two weeks since Benedict's resignation announcement, Vatican officials had suggested that Benedict would likely resume wearing the traditional black garb of a cleric and would use the title "emeritus bishop of Rome" so as to not create confusion with the future pope.

Benedict's decision to call himself emeritus pope and to keep wearing white is sure to fan concern voiced privately by some cardinals about the awkward reality of having two popes, both living within the Vatican walls.

Adding to the concern is that Benedict's trusted secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, will be serving both pontiffs ? living with Benedict at the monastery inside the Vatican and keeping his day job as prefect of the new pope's household.

Asked about the potential conflicts, Lombardi was defensive, saying the decisions had been clearly reasoned and were likely chosen for the sake of simplicity.

"I believe it was well thought out," he said.

Benedict himself has made clear he is retiring to a lifetime of prayer and meditation "hidden from the world." However, he still will be very present in the tiny Vatican city-state, where his new home is right next door to the Vatican Radio and has a lovely view of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.

While he will no longer wear his trademark red shoes, Benedict has taken a liking to a pair of hand-crafted brown loafers made for him by artisans in Leon, Mexico, and given to him during his 2012 visit. He will wear those in retirement, Lombardi said.

Lombardi also elaborated on the College of Cardinals meetings that will take place after the papacy becomes vacant ? crucial gatherings in which cardinals will discuss the problems facing the church and set a date for the start of the conclave to elect Benedict's successor.

The first meeting isn't now expected until Monday, Lombardi said, since the official convocation to cardinals to come to Rome will only go out on Friday ? the first day of what's known as the "sede vacante," or the vacancy between papacies.

In all, 115 cardinals under the age of 80 are expected in Rome for the conclave to vote on who should become the next pope; two other eligible cardinals have already said they are not coming, one from Britain and another from Indonesia. Cardinals who are 80 and older can join the College meetings but won't participate in the conclave or vote.

Benedict on Monday gave the cardinals the go-ahead to move up the start date of the conclave ? tossing out the traditional 15-day waiting period. But the cardinals won't actually set a date for the conclave until they begin meeting officially Monday.

Lombardi also further described Benedict's final 48 hours as pope: On Tuesday, he was packing, arranging for documents to be sent to the various archives at the Vatican and separating out the personal papers he will take with him into retirement.

On Wednesday, Benedict will hold his final public general audience in St. Peter's Square ? an event that has already seen 50,000 ticket requests. He won't greet visiting prelates or VIPs as he normally does at the end but will greet some visiting leaders ? from Slovakia, San Marino, Andorra and his native Bavaria ? privately afterwards.

On Thursday, the pope meets with his cardinals in the morning and then flies by helicopter at 5 p.m. to Castel Gandolfo, the papal residence south of Rome. He will greet parishioners there from the palazzo's loggia (balcony) ? his final public act as pope.

And at 8 p.m., the exact time at which his retirement becomes official, the Swiss Guards standing outside the doors of the palazzo at Castel Gandolfo will go off duty, their service protecting the head of the Catholic Church now finished.

Benedict's personal security will be assured by Vatican police, Lombardi said.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-26-Vatican-Pope/id-1e89f46d393340dcbb5d55d625e374e1

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Ultrasound reveals autism risk at birth, study finds

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Low-birth-weight babies with a particular brain abnormality are at greater risk for autism, according to a new study that could provide doctors a signpost for early detection of the still poorly understood disorder.

Led by Michigan State University, the study found that low-birth-weight newborns were seven times more likely to be diagnosed with autism later in life if an ultrasound taken just after birth showed they had enlarged ventricles, cavities in the brain that store spinal fluid. The results appear in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"For many years there's been a lot of controversy about whether vaccinations or environmental factors influence the development of autism, and there's always the question of at what age a child begins to develop the disorder," said lead author Tammy Movsas, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at MSU and medical director of the Midland County Department of Public Health.

"What this study shows us is that an ultrasound scan within the first few days of life may already be able to detect brain abnormalities that indicate a higher risk of developing autism."

Movsas and colleagues reached that conclusion by analyzing data from a cohort of 1,105 low-birth-weight infants born in the mid-1980s. The babies had cranial ultrasounds just after birth so the researchers could look for relationships between brain abnormalities in infancy and health disorders that showed up later. Participants also were screened for autism when they were 16 years old, and a subset of them had a more rigorous test at 21, which turned up 14 positive diagnoses.

Ventricular enlargement is found more often in premature babies and may indicate loss of a type of brain tissue called white matter.

"This study suggests further research is needed to better understand what it is about loss of white matter that interferes with the neurological processes that determine autism," said co-author Nigel Paneth, an MSU epidemiologist who helped organize the cohort. "This is an important clue to the underlying brain issues in autism."

Prior studies have shown an increased rate of autism in low-birth-weight and premature babies, and earlier research by Movsas and Paneth found a modest increase in symptoms among autistic children born early or late.

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Michigan State University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Tammy Z. Movsas, Jennifer A. Pinto-Martin, Agnes H. Whitaker, Judith F. Feldman, John M. Lorenz, Steven J. Korzeniewski, Susan E. Levy, Nigel Paneth. Autism Spectrum Disorder Is Associated with Ventricular Enlargement in a Low Birth Weight Population. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.12.084

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/CRxm3nh61Tc/130225112510.htm

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New device better traps viruses, airborne pathogens

Monday, February 25, 2013

Washington University engineering researchers have created a new type of air-cleaning technology that could better protect human lungs from allergens, airborne viruses and ultrafine particles in the air.

The device, known as the SXC ESP, was created by a team led by Pratim Biswas, PhD, the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science.

A recent study of the device, published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, found that it could help to prevent respiratory and viral infections and inhalation-induced allergic reactions more efficiently than existing filter-based systems.

Asthma, a chronic respiratory disease that can be triggered by inhaling allergens, pollen, pet dander and other particles, is one of the most costly health-care expenses in the United States at more than $50 billion.

"Because many people in developed countries spend the majority of time indoors, properly maintaining indoor air quality is an absolute necessity to protect public health," Biswas says.

The new device incorporates soft X-ray irradiation as a component of the electrostatic precipitation process currently used to remove large particles from airflows. By incorporating the soft X-ray enhanced electrostatic precipitation technology, the researchers were able to ensure very efficient charging of the particles over a broad range of sizes and their capture in the SXC ESP.

They exposed mice with compromised immune systems to the downstream air stream passing through the unit that contacted infectious viruses, allergens, anthrax, smallpox and other particles in the air. The sensitive mice survived, indicating that the SXC ESP was very effective in removing these biological agents from the air.

"Traditional air cleaners can trap viruses or other toxic particles in the filter, where they linger and grow," Biswas says. "This device finds the virus or toxic particle or bioterror agent and inactivates it in one application."

Ultimately, this technology could be incorporated into stand-alone air cleaners or scaled for use in aircraft cabins, offices and residential HVAC systems. It also could be used to clean up a diesel engine or power plant exhaust.

Michael Gidding, who is expected to graduate in 2013 with an MBA, a bachelor's in chemical engineering and a master's in energy, environmental and chemical engineering, and Daniel Garcia, a May 2012 chemical engineering graduate, have teamed up to scale up this technology for commercial use. Their startup, Aerosol Control Technologies (ACT), is based on the patented process Biswas developed.

There are many applications for the technology in the coal industry, Gidding says, from dust control and safety at the mine to flue-gas treatment at the power plant.

Gidding and Garcia are working on a prototype to be tested as a diesel particulate filter substitute.

###

Washington University in St. Louis: http://www.wustl.edu

Thanks to Washington University in St. Louis for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126992/New_device_better_traps_viruses__airborne_pathogens

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Bulgarian protests for cheaper energy intensify

By Tsvetelia Tsolova

SOFIA | Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:49am EST

SOFIA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people marched in cities across Bulgaria on Sunday, demanding an end to high utility bills and new voting rules after the government was toppled last week.

Public anger with power monopolies in the European Union's poorest member forced right-of-center Prime Minister Boiko Borisov's cabinet to resign and has put the country on track for an early election by May.

Although Borisov's government managed to maintain fiscal stability since taking power in 2009, belt-tightening has held back growth and driven up unemployment.

His departure has failed to calm voters fed up with low living standards and rampant graft, and his GERB party is now running neck-and-neck with the opposition Socialists ahead of the new election.

The last straw for many was a jump in winter electricity bills that at times exceeded incomes in a country where average salaries are just 400 euros ($530) a month and pensions are less than half that amount.

Much of the anger has been directed at power companies including Czech CEZ and Energo-Pro and Austria's EVN, which bought exclusive rights to distribute energy in specific regions from Bulgaria in 2004.

Waving Bulgarian flags and slogans reading "Fighting for decent life" and "Down with monopolies" over 10,000 Bulgarians marched through downtown Sofia.

"For years and years the politicians failed to impose strict controls over monopolies. This should stop," said 54-year-old Irena Mitova, a shop owner in Sofia.

POWER BILLS

Demonstrations also took place in around 40 other cities, with some 15,000 people marching in Bulgaria's second and third largest cities Plovdiv and Varna.

Separate, smaller protests were held against an inefficient education system that critics say does not prepare students for the labor market and against high interest charges from retail banks criticized for hurting small businesses.

President Rosen Plevneliev, who will probably appoint a caretaker government and dissolve parliament next week to pave the way for the early election, met protesters and ensured them their voices would be heard.

Protesters' demands ranged from imposing a moratorium on paying electricity bills for December and January until audits are carried out to sweeping changes in the constitution to allow the direct vote for deputies, rather than using party lists.

Some of the protesters demanded parliament continue with its work to adopt laws to ensure strict controls over the energy monopolies. Many want them to be renationalized and say politicians sold firms since the fall of communism in 1989 in a way that hurt public interest and kept living standards low.

Borisov had promised an 8 percent cut in electricity bills as of March - reversing much of a 13 percent rise his government approved last year - and has said the energy regulator would begin the process to revoke CEZ's license.

The regulator said a possible price decrease could be introduced as of April at the earliest and suggested there was room for compromise with CEZ.

(Editing by Michael Winfrey and Alison Williams)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/24/us-bulgaria-government-protests-idUSBRE91N06D20130224?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

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Severe budget cuts to hit economy at delicate time (cbsnews)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/286985321?client_source=feed&format=rss

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House GOP?s VAWA proposal nixes LGBT, American Indian protections

Supporters of the Violence Against Women Act rally in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

After effectively stonewalling the once bipartisan Violence Against Women Act in the last Congress, House Republicans are at it again.

On Friday, the GOP countered a Senate version of VAWA that passed through the upper chamber with bipartisan support last week with their own far less inclusive bill that continues to block protections for LGBT domestic violence victims, American Indians, and undocumented immigrants.

Coverage for gay and lesbian domestic violence victims is never mentioned in the bill. The House version essentially makes it harder for illegal immigrants who were abused to reach legal status, and makes it easier for non-American Indians who are charged with abusing American Indian women on tribal land to get their cases excused from tribal courts. It says it will expand assistance to ?adult and youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.?

The House bill was written to ?protect all women from acts of violence and help law enforcement prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law,? Eric Cantor spokeswoman Megan Whittemore, who helped craft the bill, told TPM.

The Senate bill passed last week with bipartisan support in a vote of 78-22. Every Republican and Democratic woman in the Senate voted in favor of its passage.

VAWA was first passed in 1994 but expired at the beginning of this year. Vice President Joe Biden, then the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, helped author the legislation. The bill provides funding to aid and counsel victims of domestic violence while implementing stronger penalties for their abusers. Some of its components included maintaining that a woman?s past sexual history cannot be used against her in a trial of her abuser and that women?shouldn?t?be forced to pay for their own protection or rape exam.

One of the authors of the Senate bill, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy,?issued a strong statement condemning the House version, saying, ?This is simply unacceptable and it further demonstrates that Republicans in the House have not heard the message sent by the American people and reflected in the Senate?s overwhelming vote earlier this month to pass the bipartisan Leahy-Crapo bill.?

Other prominent senators were also quick to blast the bill. ?It?s not a compromise, it?s an unfortunate effort to exclude specific groups of women from receiving basic protections under the law. And we cannot allow that to happen,? said VAWA advocate Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a statement. ?House Republican leadership just doesn?t get it.?

President Obama recently pleaded with Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Act in his State of the Union address, saying, ?We know our economy is stronger when our wives, mothers, and daughters can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace, and free from the fear of domestic violence. Today, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act that Joe Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. I urge the House to do the same.?

Seventeen Republican representatives recently signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, expressing support for a bipartisan solution to the legislation.

The Senate version includes $659 million in assistance over five years, a number actually down 17% from the last time the bill was reauthorized in 2005.

In her ?Open Letter? Saturday, MSNBC?s Melissa Harris-Perry addressed Republican Rep. John Duncan of Tennessee, who was recently quoted as saying, ?Like most men, I?m more opposed to violence against women than even violence against men because most men can handle it a little better than a lot of women can.?

Harris-Perry responded:

?Is it that lesbians and gay men can just a take punch better than straight women? Or maybe you?ve decided that Native American women are particularly good at handling intimate violence because you and the other House Republicans still refuse to support a bill that gives tribal authorities the ability to prosecute those who commit acts of violence on tribal lands. Maybe your refusal to reauthorize VAWA is actually based on a belief that when some people are abused it?s just not a big deal because they can handle it.?

The House version of the bill is scheduled to come up for a committee vote as soon as this week.

Source: http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/23/house-gops-vawa-proposal-nixes-lgbt-native-american-protections/

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With $2M From Zynga Co-founder & More, Sokikom Wants To Use Social, MMO Gaming To Help Kids Learn Math

Sokikom, a new startup that wants to help K-12 teachers motivate students to learn using games, is announcing today that it has raised $2 million in seed funding, half of which comes in the form of a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (a research branch within the U.S. Department of Education) and the other half comes in the form of angel funding from former Intel Chairman and CEO Dr. Craig Barrett and Zynga co-founder Steve Schoettler, among others.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nd5gp_o3DUQ/

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Google confirms Glass will work with iPhone

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Excerpt from: Google confirms Glass will work with iPhone

Google held an event this week to show off its upcoming "Google Glass" interactive headset/system, and from that meeting came one important note for us iOS fans. Google confirmed that the system will definitely work with Apple's iPhone. The exact details of the relationship aren't clear, but th...

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Published By: The Unofficial Apple Weblog - Today

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Source: http://news.iphoneworld.ca/inews/Google+confirms+Glass+will+work+with+iPhone

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Health Savings Account Deal of the Day: CoastHills Credit Union at 1.00% APY

There are a number of ways to save for life?s various events. At?CoastHills Credit Union, they are making the challenge of paying for medical expenses a little easier by offering a?health?savings account?(HSA)?with an interest rate of 1.00% APY. Health savings accounts are a great way to cover your medical expenses by utilizing tax-deferred dollars. Numerous people have used these types of accounts to pay for many of their medical related costs.

Health Savings Account: Terms and Conditions

CoastHills Credit Union offers health saving accounts at 1.00% APY. No minimum deposit is required. In order to be eligible for this account, depositors must be covered by a high deductible health plan, have no other health coverage (with a few exceptions) and not be enrolled in Medicare, and not be claimed as a dependent on someone else?s tax return. Contributions to HSA?s made by April 15 may have tax advantages for the prior year. Penalty applies for early withdrawal.

CoastHills Credit Union?is based in the Vandenberg Air Force Base, and?currently serves over 65,000 members throughout the San Luis Obispo, CA area with 11 branches and assets equal to more than $630,000,000. As a not-for-profit financial cooperative, it is owned by the people who save and borrow there. Its goal is to serve its entire members well, including those of modest means.

CoastHills offers a wide range of financial services including checking accounts, savings accounts, youth accounts, account access, convenience services, auto loans, real estate loans, consumer loans, VISA? Cards and member rewards program. Members? savings are insured by NCUA by up to $250,000.

Other Terms and Conditions may apply. Additionally, interest rates are based on the institution?s online published rates and may have changed since this offer was posted. Please contact the financial institution for the most recent rate updates and to review the terms of the offer.

Source: http://www.gobankingrates.com/savings-account/coasthills-credit-union-1-00-apy/

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Leaking at Hanford nuclear site worse than thought

Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images file

The Hanford site in eastern Washington is considered one of the most contaminated locations on Earth.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

The leaking of radioactive liquids at the Hanford, Wash., Nuclear Reservation is more extensive than previously reported, with six storage tanks affected, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday.

In a conference call with reporters Friday after a meeting with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Inslee disclosed that six of the 177 tanks were leaking at the nuclear facility in Richland, in eastern Washington about 50 miles southeast of Yakima.?

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Inslee said Chu told him that evaluation system of the tank levels wasn't used correctly, raising the prospect that there may be even more leaks. But he said he was told?that there was no immediate threat, a point the Energy Department reiterated in a statement Friday evening.

Hanford ? which houses millions of gallons of radioactive waste left over from plutonium production for nuclear weapons ? is already considered one of the most contaminated sites on Earth, the U.S. government says.

Last week, the U.S. Energy Department said that only one tank was leaking at Hanford.

"We need to get to the bottom of this," Inslee said. He called the disclosure "very disturbing news" and contended that the Energy Department needed a new plan to remove liquid from tanks that can't be repaired.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and an outspoken critic of containment efforts at Hanford, toured the site this week ? before Friday's announcement ? and judged conditions there "an unacceptable threat to the Pacific Northwest for everybody," NBC station KING of Seattle reported.

An estimated 1 million gallons of waste has seeped out of the underground tanks and reached groundwater that will eventually reach the Columbia River, scientists say. The U.S. plans to build a plant to turn the waste into low-level radioactive glass for safe storage, but that facility is years behind schedule for its projected opening in 2019.

In a statement Friday evening, Inslee warned that the federal budget impasse ? which could lead to a "sequestration," or cuts, of?$1.2 trillion in federal spending over 10 years ? made the Hanford predicament even more alarming.

"Frankly, the state Department of Ecology is not convinced that current storage is adequate to meet legal and regulatory requirements," Inslee said.

"With potential sequestration and federal budget cuts looming, we need to be sure the federal government maintains its commitment and legal obligation to the cleanup of Hanford," he said. "To see Hanford workers furloughed at the exact moment we have additional leakers out there is completely unacceptable."

Graham Robertson of NBC News contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17060321-six-tanks-now-said-to-be-leaking-at-contaminated-hanford-nuclear-site?lite

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Spanish monarchy's popularity hits new low

FILE - In this March 23, 2010 file photo, Inaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of Spain's King Juan Carlos, delivers a speech at the CTIA wireless show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Urdangarin, married to the king's second daughter, Princess Cristina, is accused of having used his position to embezzle several million dollars in public contracts assigned to a nonprofit foundation he set up. The corruption scandal is contributing to the public's diminishing respect for the monarchy. With the 75-year-old king's reputation in decline and several health scares recently, Juan Carlos and the Spanish monarchy are facing one of their biggest crises ever. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File)

FILE - In this March 23, 2010 file photo, Inaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of Spain's King Juan Carlos, delivers a speech at the CTIA wireless show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Urdangarin, married to the king's second daughter, Princess Cristina, is accused of having used his position to embezzle several million dollars in public contracts assigned to a nonprofit foundation he set up. The corruption scandal is contributing to the public's diminishing respect for the monarchy. With the 75-year-old king's reputation in decline and several health scares recently, Juan Carlos and the Spanish monarchy are facing one of their biggest crises ever. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File)

MADRID (AP) ? When King Juan Carlos appeared at a basketball game in front of thousands of subjects, he was greeted by persistent heckling and whistling. It was an unprecedented spectacle in a nearly four-decade reign over which the monarch has basked in the nation's love and respect.

What happened? The immediate cause is a corruption scandal engulfing Juan Carlos' son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, which has angered Spaniards in a time of crushing austerity. But the aging Juan Carlos himself has seemed increasingly out of touch with his people as they try to keep afloat in Europe's economic storm.

Urdangarin, married to the 75-year-old king's second daughter, Princess Cristina, is accused of using his position to embezzle several million dollars in public contracts assigned to a nonprofit foundation he set up. The businessman, who denies any wrongdoing, faces questioning along with his wife's personal secretary. He gives closed-door testimony on Saturday before an investigating magistrate.

Juan Carlos, whose health has been declining along with his reputation, and the Spanish monarchy are facing one of their biggest crises ever.

"There is no deep-seated admiration for the monarchy as an institution as you'll find in the U.K. or in Holland," said Tom Burns Maranon, who has written several books about Juan Carlos. "The whole thing is almost a personal loyalty to the king. If the king's standing and reputation comes shooting down, then you're in a very sticky position."

The charismatic Juan Carlos, who took the throne in 1975 two days after the death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, is widely credited with helping the country usher in democracy ? and with saving it by staring down a military coup in 1981.

Yet the stories of greed emerging from the Urdangarin case have deepened the sense that the royals are living large at the expense of a suffering nation. Juan Carlos was vilified last year after going on a luxurious African safari to hunt elephants while his subjects were being battered by economic woes and sky-high unemployment.

There is no major movement in Spain to eliminate the monarchy and restore a republican form of government. So far, only the leader of the regional Catalan Socialist Party has called openly for Juan Carlos to abdicate and allow his son, Crown Prince Felipe, to take the throne and bring the monarchy more in line with the 21st century.

But the sense of the king's popularity propping up the monarchy ? a phenomenon known as "juancarlismo" ? appears to be fading. A January poll showed about half of Spaniards approved of the king, an impressive rating ? but sharply down from the three-quarters support he enjoyed a year before.

The king's health, meanwhile, has been a subject for concern over the past two years. He has had operations on both hips, a knee and for a benign lung tumor. On March 3, he will undergo back surgery, the royal palace said Thursday.

When Dutch Queen Beatrix, also 75, announced in January that she would abdicate and pass the crown to her eldest son, some wanted the same thing to happen in Spain.

But experts say the monarchies in the two countries are completely different. The Netherlands has a history of abdications for reasons of age, while in Spain it has been extremely rare.

Urdangarin is a former professional and Olympic handball medalist and the deals he landed were for things such as organizing seminars on using sports as a lure for tourism. Once presented to his countrymen as the perfect husband, Urdangarin has now become one of Spain's most detested figures.

A year after he first gave testimony, Urdangarin, 45, will return to a tribunal in Palma de Mallorca to answer more questions from investigating magistrate Jose Castro. Urdangarin hasn't been formally charged, but all indications point to a long and drawn-out trial that will keep suspicions of royal extravagance swirling.

The royal family has responded by barring him from official functions and pulling his profile from the monarchy's website. When both Urdangarin and his brother-in-law Prince Felipe attended the final of the world handball championship, which Spain hosted and won, they didn't even look at each other.

"He's been ostracized and separated from the royal family," said Burns Maranon. He said it will be a blow for the royal family if he's jailed but "even worse if he got off scot-free."

Meanwhile, the case is getting closer and closer to Princess Cristina, with her personal secretary, Carlos Garcia Revenga, set to make statements before the magistrate on Saturday.

Garcia Revenga hasn't been formally accused. The royal family has used this as an argument to keep him in his post as it waits for justice to take its course. But the question that arises is whether or not Princess Cristina knew about her husband's alleged activities.

"I don't see why Princess Cristina would be accused of anything," said Urdangarin's lawyer, Pascual Vives. "Her situation is radically different from those facing accusations."

Ironically, Urdangarin and his wife have the title of the Duke and Duchess of Palma, the same city investigating the case. Responding to popular revulsion, city hall said it removed the street name "Duques de Palma" ? one of the municipality's most central thoroughfares ? because of the "less-than-exemplary behavior toward the title."

It's only a symbol, but it reflects the loss of reputation the monarchy is suffering at an especially difficult time for Spaniards.

___

Associated Press writer Harold Heckle contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-22-Spain-King's%20Woes/id-d5938194608343baa0dfe7c4e9d9b7bb

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GOP senators urge Obama to pull Hagel nomination

Republican Chuck Hagel testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 31, 2103. (J. Scott Applew??The White House on Thursday afternoon flatly rejected a request made earlier in the day by 15 Republican senators to withdraw Chuck Hagel's nomination as defense secretary.

"This waste of time is not just meaningless political posturing?because we firmly believe that Sen. Hagel will be confirmed?but the waste of time is of consequence," White House press secretary Jay Carney said during Thursday's briefing. His comments came in response to a question about the Republicans' letter.

Carney added that Hagel, a Republican former Nebraska senator and two-time Purple Heart recipient, also received a huge boost on Thursday when Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama announced his support for Hagel's nomination.

"He's probably as good as we're going to get," Shelby told the Decatur Daily of Hagel, who now appears to have the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster?barring some last-minute surprise.

Carney also said at Thursday's briefing that several Republican senators over the weekend had voiced support during TV interviews for an up-or-down vote on Hagel, and that Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah had come out against a Republican filibuster.

"A clear majority in the U.S. Senate supports Sen. Hagel's confirmation, so today's actions ... run against both the majority will of the Senate and against our national interest," Carney said.

Carney stressed the pressing need for a new defense secretary, noting the 66,000 American troops currently in Afghanistan and this week's meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

The White House last week denounced Senate Republicans? unprecedented filibuster of the Hagel nomination (no Cabinet-level post dealing with national security had ever before faced a successful one). In the Republicans' letter on Thursday, the lawmakers argued in effect that this was Hagel's own fault.

?It would be unprecedented for a Secretary of Defense to take office without a broad base of bipartisan support and confidence needed to serve effectively in this critical position,? the senators, led by John Cornyn of Texas, said in the message to Obama. "While we respect Senator Hagel?s honorable military service, in the interest of national security, we respectfully request that you withdraw his nomination."

In addition to Rubio and Cornyn, Republican Sens. James Inhofe, Lindsey Graham, Roger Wicker, David Vitter, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey, Dan Coats, Ron Johnson, James Risch, John Barrasso, Tom Coburn and Tim Scott signed the letter. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it has flatly dismissed similar calls in the past, noting that Hagel has more than the 51 votes needed for confirmation.

In the letter the senators also denounced Hagel?s ?erratic record and myriad conversions on key national security issues? and openly doubted ?his basic competence to meet the substantial demand of the office.?

They charged that he ?proclaimed the legitimacy of the current regime in Tehran.? During his wobbly confirmation hearing performance, Hagel had said America?s allies consider that regime ?an elected, legitimate government, whether we agree or not.?

They also accused Hagel of showing ?a seeming ambivalence about whether containment or prevention is the best approach, which gives us great concern.?

In the hearing, Hagel mistakenly broke with Obama?s policy of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons and suggested he favored ?containment? instead. He tried to correct himself after being handed a note by an aide, but it was ultimately Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who fixed the gaffe. Hagel also struggled to explain his past opposition to imposing unilateral economic sanctions on Iran.

?If Senator Hagel becomes Secretary of Defense, the military option will have near zero credibility,? the senators said in the letter. ?This sends a dangerous message to the regime in Tehran, as it seeks to obtain the means necessary to harm both the United States and Israel.? (There?s another possibility: Maybe Hagel means war with Iran is actually more likely.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/15-republican-senators-obama-withdraw-hagel-162909926--politics.html

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