DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? No one hit the Powerball jackpot this weekend, so the money will roll over and create a roughly $400 million prize for Wednesday's drawing.
The midweek jackpot remains below the record $590.5 million jackpot won in May by an 84-year-old Florida woman. But as it stands, it would be the third-largest Powerball jackpot ever and the fourth-largest lottery prize on record.
Saturday's winning numbers were 21, 24, 36, 42 and 45; the Powerball was 15.
The changes Powerball organizers made to the game last year are coming to roost in the billowing jackpots, with Wednesday's pushing into record territory less than three months after Gloria C. Mackenzie of Zephyrhills, Fla., claimed the biggest Powerball prize ever.
Powerball tickets doubled in price to $2 in January 2012 as part of a plan to help jackpots grow bigger, faster. And when the jackpots reach astronomical levels, ticket sales take off, with jackpots following close behind.
If Wednesday's jackpot doesn't top $400 million, a single winner choosing the cash option would collect $230.3 million before taxes.
No matter how many people play the game, the odds of matching all six numbers remains 1 in 175.2 million.
Half of the $2 cost of a Powerball ticket goes toward the prizes, the rest to the state lottery organization.
Powerball is played in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Each state that participates in the game decides how to use the money. Some states earmark the money for a specific purpose, such as education, while others use it in their general funds.
?Apple Inc. can continue selling its iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G in the U.S. after receiving a reprieve from an import ban won by Samsung Electronics Co. in a patent-infringement dispute,? Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg.
?U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman today overturned the ban, imposed by the U.S. International Trade Commission on June 4 after it found that some older models of Apple devices infringed a patent for a way data are transmitted,? Decker reports. ?It was the first time the executive branch has overturned an ITC import ban since 1987, when President Ronald Reagan did so in a case involving Samsung computer-memory chips.?
Decker reports, ??We applaud the administration for standing up for innovation in this landmark case,? Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in an interview. ?Samsung was wrong to abuse the patent system in this way.? ?Four U.S. senators wrote to Froman on July 30, asking him to ?assess the substantial public interest considerations? of using standards patents at the ITC. The senators were Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Barbara Boxer of California, and Republicans Mike Lee of Utah and James Risch of Idaho.?
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bonus.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Related articles: Obama has less than 48 hours to save Apple?s iPhone 4 ? August 1, 2013 Obama administration faces veto decision on ruling in Apple-Samsung fight ? July 29, 2013 Verizon calls on Obama to veto coming iPhone ban by U.S. ITC ? July 25, 2013 Where?s the U.S. DOJ? Samsung takes extortionate position against Apple in new ITC filing ? July 17, 2013 Samsung, EU in talks to settle antitrust case involving FRAND abuse against Apple ? June 25, 2013 Japan finds Samsung guilty of FRAND abuse ? March 5, 2013 FRAND abuse: Samsung could face $15 billion fine for trying to ban Apple iPhone via standard-essential patents ? December 28, 2012 FTC staff said to formally recommend antitrust lawsuit against Google over FRAND abuse ? November 1, 2012 Google U.S. antitrust lawsuit said to be urged by FTC investigators over Internet search, FRAND abuse ? October 15, 2012 U.S. FTC investigating Google, Motorola Mobility over FRAND abuse ? June 30, 2012 EU launches full-blown investigation of Samsung?s suspected abuse of FRAND-pledged patents; Motorola on notice ? January 31, 2012 Apple asked standards body to set rules for essential FRAND patents ? February 8, 2012 Apple?s iterative approach to FRAND abuse is not for the faint of heart, but there?s no better alternative ? February 5, 2012 Motorola Mobility wants 2.25% of Apple?s sales for standards-essential wireless patents license ? February 4, 2012 EU launches full-blown investigation of Samsung?s suspected abuse of FRAND-pledged patents; Motorola on notice ? January 31, 2012 EU opens antitrust investigation into Samsung over patents ? January 31, 2012 European Commission investigates Samsung over possible abuse of FRAND patents against Apple ? November 3, 2011 Why is Samsung attempting to ban Apple?s iPhone 4S over FRAND patents? ? October 5, 2011
[unable to retrieve full-text content]After Turbo and Zambezia, director Raja Gosnell's The Smurfs 2 is another rollicking roller-coaster hybrid-live action-cum-animated film. ... Movie Review: The Smurfs 2 a fantasy film for Smurfphiles. 60 mins ago · #Brendan Gleeson #Hank ...
Mike Schadegg of Wolf Auto, left, stands with Jonny Stahley and Mike Pomeroy in front of the training car he loaned them to train on before the Skills USA contest. (Courtesy photo)
Merino High School students Jonny Stahley and Mike Pomeroy, who were both enrolled in the Secondary Automotive Technology program at Northeastern Junior College this past spring, recently competed in the state-wide Skills USA contest.
Pomeroy placed 17th overall and Stahley placed 19th out of 35 competitors from all areas of Colorado. The two had previously placed at the top of the district contest to earn their way to the larger state competition.
In the state's Ford AAA contest, Stahley and Pomeroy as a team finished second overall in the written portion of the testing, out of 150 students. The duo placed sixth in the hands-on part of the contest. During the hands-on portion, experts deliberately put some "bugs" in the engine or other operating systems and it is up to the students to find out what is wrong with the car, working against time.
To help Stahley and Pomeroy prepare for the competition, Mike Schadegg from Wolf Auto in Sterling temporarily donated a 2013 Ford Focus to the college for the students to train on before they went to compete at the state level in mid-May in Denver. For many years, Wolf Auto and Jim Able from Ford AAA Colorado have supported the automotive programs at Northeastern with the donation of cars, advice, and other resources.
LONDON (AP) ? A British judge has sentenced the mother and stepfather of a 4-year-old boy who was starved and beaten to death to a minimum of 30 years in prison for his murder.
Madgelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek were convicted this week of murdering Daniel Pelka, who was abused and tortured in the months before his death.
The pair blamed each other for Daniel's death in March 2012, after the boy had been beaten and left to die in an unheated cell-like room.
The case has horrified Britain and raised questions of why teachers at Daniel's school in Coventry, central England ? who had seen his bruises and increasingly emaciated frame ? did not intervene.
Judge Laura Cox said Friday that the sentences reflected the couple's "unimaginable acts of cruelty and brutality."
Justin Bieber keeps disrespecting his fans -- and horrifying their mothers.
Bieber's formerly squeaky clean image took another hit on Tuesday when, during a concert in Newark, N.J., he stuck a fan's iPhone, which had been tossed onto the stage, down his pants. Last week, Bieber came under fire for allegedly?spitting off a balcony?in Toronto onto fans below him.?
Bieber, 19, who is currently in the middle of his "Believe" tour, had asked the audience to refrain from throwing items onto the stage while he was performing. No sooner had he finished defining the word "refrain" for vocabulary-challenged fans than someone in the crowd threw a smartphone at the Biebs.?
"I said don't throw stuff on stage and this is what they ... they throw a phone on stage. I do need a new iPhone," Bieber says before stuffing the smartphone down his shiny pants. He proceeded to rub the phone around his nether regions before tossing it back into the audience. (We're sure the lucky fan who caught the phone is currently sleeping with it under her pillow.)?
Bieber has a habit of having fun with phones that have been thrown onstage at his concerts. In November, he snapped a few selfies with an iPhone that was chucked at him by a fan.?
"We're not going to just keep throwing cell phones up here and just expecting everyone to just get pictures,"?he told the crowd before kicking all other cell phones off the stage and threatening to break them. "I'll never do that again so don't try it."?
Apparently the phone-tossing fan from Tuesday night didn't get the memo.
Usman Khawaja was adjudged to have edged a delivery by Graeme Swann to wicketkeeper Matt Prior, despite replay technology failing to provide any evidence that he touched the ball with his bat.
Associated Press ?|? Last updated on Thursday, 01 August 2013 18:15 Print font size - + ').appendTo($jq('#gta')); $jq('').appendTo($jq('#gta')); },3000); } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { s += ''; } s += '' } } return; } // --> google_ad_client = "pub-7641565019577886"; /* Sports JS */ google_ad_slot = "8515735957"; google_ad_width = 640; google_ad_height = 70; google_max_num_ads = 1; google_ad_type = 'text'; google_ad_output = 'js'; //-->
Manchester:? Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has taken to Twitter to complain about a controversial decision to give one of his country's batsmen out during the third Ashes test against England on Thursday.
Usman Khawaja was adjudged to have edged a delivery by Graeme Swann to wicketkeeper Matt Prior, despite replay technology failing to provide any evidence that he touched the ball with his bat.
Rudd tweeted "I've just sat down to watch the test. That was one of the worst cricket umpiring decisions I have ever seen."
The call ? upheld after a review ? appeared to be widely condemned, with Australia bowling great Shane Warne calling it a "ridiculous decision."
It left Australia 82-2 in the opening session, with the team needing victory to stay alive in the five-test series.
Story first published on: Thursday, 01 August 2013 18:11
MADRID (AP) ? The driver of the train that derailed in northwestern Spain, killing 79 people, has said he was traveling at twice the speed limit when he approached a treacherous turn.
But, sitting uneasily before a judge, he waved his hands in front of his face and was at a loss to explain why he didn't slow down in a courtroom video released by a Spanish newspaper Thursday.
"I can't explain it," Francisco Jose Garzon Amo said, shifting in his chair and looking around. "I still don't understand how I didn't see ... mentally, or whatever. I just don't know."
The journey was "going fine" until the curve was upon him, he said. When the danger became clear, he thought, "Oh my God, the curve, the curve, the curve. I won't make it."
The edited video of Garzon's appearance at Sunday night's court session in Santiago de Compostela, where the accident occurred last week, was released by Spain's ABC newspaper. Two court officials said the video appeared authentic. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the video has not been officially released.
In it, Garzon, a slightly-built 52-year-old with short-cropped gray hair and glasses, appears shaken and at times hesitant. He sits in a simple chair in front of the judge, with four rows of chairs behind him in the small courtroom.
Garzon is wearing a dark jacket and trousers with an open-necked shirt. Behind him are two men in dark uniforms, and several other unidentified people are in the room. He also answers questions from a prosecutor.
Garzon's testimony added little new to what is already known about the crash on the evening of June 24 as the high-speed train, carrying 218 people in eight carriages, approached the capital of Spain's northwestern Galician region. But the video was the public's first look at the court testimony of the driver who walked away from the accident with a gash in his head.
ABC said its footage showed 18 minutes of excerpts from the full 55-minute session, accompanied by what it said was a transcript of the full session. The paper said it obtained a copy of the video that the court took of the session but has not made public.
The train had been going as fast as 119 mph (192 kph) shortly before the derailment. The driver activated the brakes "seconds before the crash," reducing the speed to 95 mph (153 kph), according to the court's preliminary findings based on black box data recorders. The speed limit on the section of track where the crash happened was 50 mph (80 kph).
In his Sunday night testimony, Garzon said he was going far over the speed limit and ought to have started slowing down several miles (kilometers) before he reached the notorious curve.
Asked whether he ever hit the brakes, Garzon replied, "The electric one, the pneumatic one ... all of them. Listen, when ... but it was already inevitable."
His voice shakes, his sentences break down and he appears close to tears as he replies to a question about what was going through his mind when he went through the last tunnel before the curve.
"If I knew that I wouldn't think it because the burden that I am going to carry for the rest of my life is huge," he said. "And I just don't know. The only thing I know, your honor, sincerely, is that I don't know. I'm not so crazy that I wouldn't put the brakes on."
Garzon said that after the derailment he called central control in Madrid about the accident.
"At the speed I was going and the smashup, though I couldn't see what was behind me. I knew what I was up against and I knew it was inevitable that there was a calamity and so (I called Madrid) to activate the emergency protocol," he testified.
Garzon also explained a photograph on his Facebook page which showed a train speedometer registering 124 mph (200 kph). He said he took the photo "as a laugh or whatever you want to call it" while a colleague was driving a test train on a different track some time ago. His Facebook page was taken down shortly after the crash. It is not known who removed it.
The investigating judge is trying to establish whether human error or a technical failure caused the country's worst rail accident in decades, and Garzon is at the center of the investigation.
The judge provisionally charged Garzon on Sunday with multiple counts of negligent homicide. Garzon was not sent to jail or required to post bail because none of the parties involved felt there was a risk of him fleeing or attempting to destroy evidence, according to a court statement.
National rail company Renfe said Garzon is an employee with 30 years of experience who became an assistant driver in 2000 and a fully qualified driver in 2003.
Garzon went back to court, voluntarily, to offer more testimony on Wednesday.
In that second appearance, he said he was talking by phone to the train's on-board ticket inspector moments before the accident and hung up just before the train left the tracks. But that contradicted what the court said the black boxes showed ? that Garzon was on the phone at the time of the derailment.
The court said the inspector would testify Friday as a witness. It said the judge has ruled that while the phone call was inappropriate it could not be considered a cause of the accident.
Health authorities say 57 people from the crash are still in the hospital, 11 of them in critical condition.
____
Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press writer Jorge Sainz contributed from Madrid.
Hanad Mohamed leaves Old City Hall court after getting bail on Wednesday, July 31, 2013. (MICHAEL PEAKE/Toronto Sun)
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TORONTO?-?
One of the men facing charges in the slaying of Anthony Smith ? a murder that may be linked to a video allegedly showing Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack ? is getting bail.
Hanad Mohamed, the man accused of driving Smith?s killer away from the King St. W. shooting in March, will be released on consent at Old City Hall Wednesday with his father posting $10,000 bail and his uncle $5,000.
Last week the Crown dropped first-degree murder charges against Mohamed, 23. He now faces charges of accessory after the fact to manslaughter, accessory to discharging a firearm and accessory to aggravated assault in connection to the shooting of Muhammad Khattak that night.
Both Smith and Khattak, allegedly members of the Dixon City Bloods, posed with Mayor Rob Ford in the infamous photo linked to the sale of an alleged crack video.
A third man in the photo, Monir Kasim, also an alleged Dixon City Blood, was freed Tuesday on $3,000 bail.
Under Mohamed?s bail conditions, the former Alberta security guard must live with either his father or uncle, remain at home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and not contact Khattak or Nasir Hashimi, the man convicted in June of shooting Smith. In a surprising plea deal, the Crown dropped his first-degree murder charge and Hashimi pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years for killing Smith, 19, outside the Loki Lounge early on March 28.
Mohamed?s lawyer Fariborz Davoudi said his client is very happy to be released after two months in custody and will defend himself ?vigorously? against Crown allegations that he was Hashimi?s getaway driver.
As to whether the shooting was linked to getting hold of a video that allegedly showed Ford smoking crack, the lawyer laughed. ?Rob Ford?s name hasn?t come up,? he said.
Mohamed?s father insisted his son has never even met Ford. ?Even in his dreams, he?s never seen the mayor. How can someone working in a security office in Alberta?? asked Abdulkadir Mohamed.
Ditsi ? A 2-year-old Torti Point Siamese, her cerebral hyperplasia makes her a little unsteady on her feet, but it doesn?t hinder her playful nature. Ditsi would thrive in a family of older children and adults.
Pets of the Week
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 1 hour ago ? Updated 1 hour ago
Ditsi ? A 2-year-old Torti Point Siamese, her cerebral hyperplasia makes her a little unsteady on her feet, but it doesn?t hinder her playful nature. Ditsi would thrive in a family of older children and adults.
Hero ? As you can see in the photo, Hero has a wide smile that reveals his joyful nature. The 8-year-old Australian Cattle Dog is well-trained and easily motivated by belly rubs or treats.
Visit Salt Lake County Animal Services at 511 W. 3900 South or slcoanimalservices.org.
Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Did you just buy a new iPhone? You did, didn't you? Maybe it was your first iPhone (welcome). Maybe you drunkenly left your old one in a taxi and had to spend a couple hundred replacing it. Maybe you dropped it in the toilet and putting it in a bag of rice didn't work and?guess what?you're a week out of your warranty.?
Enjoy your iPhone 5/4S/4/3 (do they still make 3's?), loser, because the iPhone 5S is coming!
And it's going to have a fingerprint scanner. At least, that's the latest rumor circulating as Apple fans eagerly wait the unveiling of the iPhone 5S in September (Apple hasn't officially announced anything, but that hasn't stop online speculation).
9to5mac.com was the first to supposedly confirm rumors that the next iPhone model will include a fingerprint scanner, after one developer mined the upcoming iOS 7 beta software and found a "BiometricKitUI" folder.
Make sure you download E! Online's fancy app for your iPhone or Android!
The folder mentions "fingerprint status" and a "source familiar with the development" says that the fingerprint scanner will be used to unlock the phone. Developer Hamza Sood explained via Twitter, "iPhone home button to contain fingerprint sensor (found in beta 4)"
Rumors of the fingerprint scanner have surfaced before, but were all but validated when Apple purchased Authentec last year for $356. Authentec is a security company that builds fingerprint scanners and encryption tech.?
In addition to the iPhone 5S, more rumors are swirling that Apple with unveil a cheaper iPhone, the 5C. The C doesn't stand for "Cheaper" but instead "Color," as the plastic case on the phone could come in different shades (and you can apparently already buy cases for the 5C).?
This is great and exciting and all, Apple, but here are a few changes we wish you'd make to the iPhone before you get all fancy with your fingerprinting technology:
NEWS: Please only be use your iPhone to film videos of your pet being adorable
1. Let us delete the stocks app:For the love of all things holy, let us finally delete the stocks app. Please just let us delete it.
2. It would be nice if Siri actually understood?anything.
3. Stop autocorrecting "f--king" to "d--king": Sometimes we want to swear. Also, stop autocorrecting "hell" to "he'll."
4. Make it so that I don't have over 3GB of "Other" on my phone. Seriously, what is in other? And why is it over 3 gigabytes?! And how do I get rid of it?!?
5. Invent anti-falling-into-the-toilet technology. If we're throwing stuff out there, it'd be nice...
Once these are taken care of, then get back to scanning your thumb and whatever. Because right now we're OK typing in a password to unlock our phones. We are not OK always telling people, "Duck you!!!"
PHOTOS: Check out some of our other favorite things in pop culture this week!
Everyone cringes at the thought of tuning the big 4-0. But why does it have to be so scary? With the right amount confidence and exercise, anyone can look ten years younger.
(Reuters) - Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies was selected to launch a trio of Canadian radar satellites aboard a single Falcon 9 rocket, the company announced on Tuesday.
The California-based firm, also known as SpaceX, already is flying NASA cargo to the International Space Station, a permanently staffed research outpost that flies about 250 miles above Earth.
Owned and operated by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, the company is also working on a space taxi to fly astronauts to the orbital outpost.
A relative newcomer to the U.S. launch industry, SpaceX's client roster includes communication satellite operators Iridium, Intelsat SA, Orbcomm, Europe's SES, Hong Kong's Asia Satellite Telecommunications and Israel's Space Communication Ltd.
Also on SpaceX's launch manifest are spacecraft for the U.S. Air Force, NASA's science office and the governments of Thailand, Argentina and Taiwan.
"Our tally is nearly 50 launches," SpaceX spokeswoman Christina Ra wrote in an email to Reuters.
So far, the company has flown its Falcon 9 rocket five times, all from its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch site in Florida. The missions include two test flights and two space station cargo runs for the U.S. space agency, which contributed about $400 million toward the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule development.
SpaceX's 12-flight cargo delivery contract with NASA is worth another $1.6 billion. NASA also has a separate $525 million investment in SpaceX to upgrade its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule to carry people.
SpaceX's next mission, slated for September, will be to launch a Canadian Space Agency solar science satellite called CASSIOPE from a new launch complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Both CASSIOPE and the three-radar satellite now included in SpaceX's manifest are built by Canada's MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd, which selected SpaceX for the launches.
"SpaceX appreciates MDA's confidence in our ability to safely and reliably transport their satellites," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement.
The radar satellite network, which is slated to fly in 2018, is designed for maritime surveillance, disaster management and environmental monitoring.
Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but SpaceX's website lists the cost of a Falcon 9 rocket at $56.5 million.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz in Capre Canaveral, Florida; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)
Google?s original vision of expanding mobile web access through Android is certainly working but it?s about to get even more successful. Why should it have thousands of different Android models from hardware partners when Google owns a handset maker in Motorola? A single model for the masses can boost both Android adoption and usage: The Moto X phone now looks to be that device.
The Moto X handset is expected to arrive?on Thursday, ending what may be the worst kept Motorola secret to date. Amid weeks of leaked information and images, we have a pretty good idea of what the phone will look like. And on paper, it hasn?t sounded too innovative, leading me to think that Google?s strategy for the Moto X isn?t very clear.
After seeing the latest Moto Droid phones last week, however, I?ve been rethinking my viewpoint: Just as the iPhone appeals to the masses, Moto X will be Google?s Android phone for the average person. If I?m right, Moto X will give Android its own iPhone moment of sorts.
When can you get the phone?
Apple does many things right with its iPhone and not all of them are about the device itself. Aside from great marketing, Apple often launches new iPhone models after it has already ramped up production for them, thanks to its mastery of the supply chain and forward-thinking component deals signed years ago. That means you can often order or even get your hands on the newest device immediately after the handset is introduced. I can?t think of many times in the Android world that?s been the case.
I?m anticipating that Motorola will quickly make the Moto X available to interested buyers; perhaps even this week. Motorola has been touting that the phone is being made in the U.S. ? manufacturing is taking place in an old Nokia factory in Texas ? so it should be able to deliver the product quickly. Even more so if it has already begun producing the device. It?s likely you can customize one with a colored back plate or engraving but that won?t take long if the base handsets are sitting in Texas, ready to ship.
You won?t be limited by your carrier choice
Evidence suggests that like the iPhone, all four of the major U.S. carriers will support the Moto X handset. That also includes U.S. Cellular and Ting, the MVNO that works with Sprint?s network. If the handset is available for the big four, it should also find its way to other MVNOs since they all use networks from the same carrier. In that case, you could always buy the phone and bring it a pre-paid carrier.
If that?s true, the Moto X will have the same widespread availability as Apple?s iPhone. Perhaps even more so as the iPhone isn?t supported on every MVNO network today. This means the terrible situation of wanting a particular phone but having to wait and see when ? or if ? your carrier will offer it won?t apply to the Moto X.
One size fits all when it comes to accessories
A frustrating aspect of Android as a whole is a lack of accessories. Sure, each manufacturer typically offers their own cases, docks and such, but with nearly 12,000 different Android handset models in the wild, universal accessories aren?t possible. With just a few iPhone models using standard connectors in the same place on the hardware, you have a nearly limitless amount of accessory choices.
Moto X could offer the same; something Google hasn?t even been able to do with its Nexus line of phones. With the same model Moto X available on every carrier and then some, a standard line of accessories could be made available. And Motorola has years of experience in that regard: It has offered batteries, headsets, cases, docks and more for its phone lineup. In fact, at last week?s Motorola Droid Ultra event, the company was showing off nearly a half a dozen such accessories, ranging from cases to wireless speakers with NFC pairing capabilities.
Nexus is still around, but Moto X is Google?s bigger play
Originally, the Nexus line of phones was meant to show handset makers how to push the envelope both with hardware and software. But that?s changed now. On its own, Google can?t compete with the high-end flagships designed by Samsung, HTC, LG and others. How can it when those same companies design and build the Nexus devices? That?s where Motorola comes in.
Now that it owns a hardware company, Google can push forward its own vision of an Android handset. And it can do so without competing directly against the flagship phones of its hardware partners. By limiting the Moto X to mid-range components, its more of an indirect competition against the Galaxy S 4 or HTC One.
Mid-range hardware may not mean mid-range performance and features
As much as Apple has pushed its iPhone hardware forward, it hasn?t always been cutting edge. Think back to the original handset with its 2G connection, for example. Or the ?retina display? screen that doesn?t offer full HD video support in its native resolution. Obviously, things like this haven?t hurt iPhone sales: People still want the phone because it can do nearly everything they want or need it to do. Ultimately, smartphones aren?t just about hardware.
That will be evident with the new Moto X assuming the leaked specifications are accurate. Nope, it won?t have a full HD screen; expect a 720p display. It?s not going to use Qualcomm?s fastest smartphone chip like some upcoming devices will; look for a Motorola-optimized product based on last year?s Qualcomm Snapdragon. Here?s the thing: It will likely perform adequately or better for most people.
I?m basing that thought on the little bit of time I spent with the Droid Ultra lineup. These phones too had 720p displays, but you could have fooled me: They looked super crisp to my eyes which thought they were seeing a 1080p screen. Using 2 GB of memory with the Motorola X8 chip ? again: an optimized Snapdragon ? kept the handsets moving along very quickly. And the 10 megapixel camera sensors appeared to provide reasonably good images and video.
Moto X will have the best of Android at a reasonable price
So what if Moto X offers decent performance: Don?t many Android phones do that? Sure they do, but I can think of two initial differences that will broaden interest in the Moto X: Price and features.
Given the expected hardware in the Moto X, this isn?t a phone that?s likely going to retail for $600 or more at full price. Instead, I think we?re looking at $300 or so. That means you?d be able to purchase one without contract for a reasonable cost or you can buy one with a carrier contract for perhaps nothing. Even If the full price is $400, which sounds high to me, a subsidized cost would still be $99 or less. With that kind of pricing you can advertise Moto X as affordable for anyone in the U.S.
But you?re not getting just a cheap Android phone. You?ll get a solid performer with the latest version of Android and then some. I?m talking about how the phone will take better advantage of its sensors so it can take automatic action in certain instances. Think of the light sensor that tells the phone its in your pocket so perhaps the ringer volume is automatically adjusted up. Or the ?always on? microphone and natural language processor that listens for your commands: We saw this in the Droid Ultras and it brings an advanced Google Glass-like interface experience to a mid-range device.
Will Moto X be the Android for everyone?
I can?t yet say how much success the Moto X will see; I?ll have more thoughts on that after I attend the Moto X event. But I can say that the strategy is now much clearer to me than it was last month. When Motorola called the device a ?flagship? phone, I was scratching my head. Nothing about it screamed ?flagship? to me; at least not on paper.
Often, however, a product is better than the sum total of its individual parts. Apple?s iPhone is a perfect example of that. And if the Moto X is what I think it is, it may be a shining second example as the de-facto Android phone that Google wants in every hand. That brings us back to the original intent of Android: A defensive play against the iPhone to reap user information and boost Google revenues though mobile ads.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The joints of children with the most common form of chronic inflammatory arthritis contain immune cells that resemble those of 90-year-olds, according to a new study. The findings suggest that innovative treatment approaches could aim to prevent premature aging of immune cells.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? An estimated 3 million people poured onto Rio's Copacabana beach on Sunday for the final Mass of Pope Francis' historic trip to his home continent, cheering the first Latin American pope in one of the biggest turnouts for a papal Mass in recent history.
Speaking from a white stage and looking out over the enormous crowd, Francis urged young Catholics to go out and spread their faith "to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent."
"The church needs you, your enthusiasm, your creativity and the joy that is so characteristic of you!" he said to applause in his final homily of World Youth Day.
Nearly the entire 4 kilometer (2.5 mile) crescent of Copacabana's broad beach overflowed with flag-waving faithful, some of them taking an early morning dip in the Atlantic and others tossing t-shirts, flags and soccer jerseys into the pontiff's open-sided car as he drove by. Francis worked the crowd, kissing babies, taking a sip of mate tea handed up to him and catching gifts on the fly.
Even the normally stern-faced Vatican bodyguards let smiles slip as they jogged alongside Francis' car, caught up in the enthusiasm of the crowd.
The numbers clearly overwhelmed the area's services: The stench of garbage and human waste hung in Rio's humid air, and the beach and adjoining chic Atlantic Avenue looked like an improvised refugee camp plunked down in the middle of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Copacabana's famous mosaic sidewalks were strewn with trampled cardboard, plastic bags, empty water bottles and cookie wrappers as trash collectors in orange uniforms tried to restore order.
Many of the youngsters on hand for the Mass spent the night on the beach, an all-night slumber party to end the Catholic youth fest, with pilgrims wrapped in flags and sleeping bags to ward off the cold. They danced, prayed and sang ? and waited in long lines in front of the armadas of portable bathrooms along the beachfront.
"We were dying of cold but it was worth it," said Lucrecia Grillera, an 18-year-old from Cordoba, Argentina, where Francis lived for a time before becoming pope. "It was a tiring day, but it was a great experience."
By morning, vendors hawking World Youth Day trinkets, T-shirts, hats and flags were doing brisk business as pilgrims snapped up souvenirs before heading home. Jehovah's Witnesses stood by stands stocked with pamphlets offering to explain "What does the Bible really teach" but they had few takers.
The Vatican said more than 3 million people were on hand for the Mass, based on information from World Youth Day organizers and local authorities who estimated two-thirds were from outside Rio. That was far higher than the 1 million at the last World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011 or the 850,000 at Toronto's 2002 concluding Mass.
Only Pope John Paul II's Mass during his 1995 visit to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, topped Rio's numbers, with an estimated 5 million people taking part. Third place among papal Masses now goes to Rome World Youth Day in the 2000 Jubilee year, when 2 million people participated. A similar number attended John Paul's final Mass in Krakow, his Polish hometown, in 1979, during his first visit to his homeland as pope.
As if recalling that historic Mass, Francis announced on Sunday that the next World Youth Day would be held in Krakow in 2016.
Not all of Sunday's attendees were paying attention to the Mass: Kids posed for random photos with people holding flags, snoozed and packed up their makeshift camps. Finding food was a core concern, with long lines of bedraggled pilgrims snaking out of cafes and ice cream vendors being mobbed by youths starved for breakfast.
The presidents of Brazil, Francis' native Argentina, Bolivia and Suriname were on hand for the Mass, as were the vice presidents of Uruguay and Panama. Receiving a special honor was a couple Francis met on Saturday after Mass at Rio's cathedral; they had brought him their anencephalic baby daughter to be blessed. Francis invited them to participate in the offertory procession on Sunday, at which the father wore a T-shirt that read "Stop abortion."
After Sunday's Mass, Francis was meeting with the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as holding a thank-you audience with some of the 60,000 volunteers who organized the youth festival. He was leaving for Rome Sunday night.
"It was such an excellent week, everybody was in such good spirit, you could just feel a sense of peace," said Denise da Silva, a Rio de Janeiro Catholic who was sitting alone on the beach Sunday morning, a Brazilian flag painted on her face. "I have never seen something here in Rio so marvelous as what we have just lived."
Francis has spent the week emphasizing a core message: of the need for Catholics, lay and religious, to shake up the status quo, get out of their stuffy sacristies and reach the faithful on the margins of society or risk losing them to rival churches.
According to census data, the number of Catholics in Brazil dipped from 125 million in 2000 to 123 million in 2010, with the church's share of the total population dropping from 74 percent to 65 percent. During the same time period, the number of evangelical Protestants and Pentecostals jumped from 26 million to 42 million, increasing from 15 percent to 22 percent of the population in 2010.
Francis repeated that stirring message Sunday in his homily, saying he was counting on young Catholics in particular to be "missionary disciples" in spreading the faith.
"Bringing the Gospel is bringing God's power to pluck up and break down evil and violence, to destroy and overthrow the barriers and selfishness, intolerance and hatred, so as to build a new world," he said.
It seemed the message was getting through.
"I used to go to Mass every week but now I go every other week, if that," said Larissa Miranda, a 20-year-old law student from rural Rio de Janeiro state who moved to the city two years ago. "But this event had made me realize that I need to get active again and get back to church every week."
The Rev. Jean-Luc Zadroga, a Benedictine monk who was leading a group of 14 students from a Catholic university in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, said it was clear Francis had connected with the crowd, particularly the locals.
"He's really trying to reach out to Catholics who have fallen away from the church or disappointed with the church and I think it's working," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Marco Sibaja and Bradley Brooks contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A woman was arrested for allegedly dumping green paint on portions of the National Cathedral on Monday, while police continued to investigate similar acts of vandalism at other monuments in Washington, D.C.
The Episcopal Church cathedral was locked down after the paint was found on the entrance and in two chapels. The unidentified woman was arrested after a police sweep of the premises, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department said.
"An adult female has been arrested for defacing property," police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump told Reuters.
Police are investigating whether the woman may have been responsible for defacing the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian Institution in the past week.
A crooked splotch of green paint was discovered on the huge statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday.
On Monday green paint was found splattered on a statue of Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Some of the paint had been scrawled into images that looked like a cross between stick figures and hieroglyphs.
"It's just unfortunate that people could be so disrespectful. It's too bad," said Elisa Rogers, of Ormond Beach, Florida, who was visiting Washington with her family.
(Reporting by Tom Ramstack; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Paul Simao)
This photo posted on the official Facebook page for Egypt's Army spokesman on Monday, July 15, 2013 shows U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, left, meeting with Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, in Cairo. A senior U.S. diplomat has dismissed accusations Washington backs any one side in Egypt, saying the administration supports a balanced and inclusive democratic process. Burns is making the highest level visit to Egypt by an American official since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by the military on July 3 following days of mass protests. (AP Photo/Egypt Army spokesman via Facebook)
This photo posted on the official Facebook page for Egypt's Army spokesman on Monday, July 15, 2013 shows U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, left, meeting with Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, in Cairo. A senior U.S. diplomat has dismissed accusations Washington backs any one side in Egypt, saying the administration supports a balanced and inclusive democratic process. Burns is making the highest level visit to Egypt by an American official since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by the military on July 3 following days of mass protests. (AP Photo/Egypt Army spokesman via Facebook)
FILE - In this Monday, July 1, 2013, file photo, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns speaks during a press conference at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon. The No. 2 diplomat in the State Department, Burns, plans to come to Cairo to meet with interim government officials as well as civil society and business leaders during his two-day visit. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
This image released by the office of the Egyptian Presidency shows U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, center, meeting with Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour, right, as U.S. ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson listens in, second left, at the presidential palace in Cairo, Monday, July 15, 2013. The senior U.S. diplomat held talks Monday with Egypt's interim leaders as well as the head of the military in the highest level visit by an American official since the Egyptian army ousted the country's first democratically elected leader. The two-day visit by Burns to Cairo comes nearly two weeks after Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by the military following days of mass protests. Washington has been sharply criticized by both Morsi's supporters and opponents for what each side perceives as support for their rival's position. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)
An Egyptian cleric and a supporter of ousted Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi hold up a placard against Egyptian Defense Minister General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, as they leave with other clerics following a protest, at al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, July 14, 2013. Egypt's military chief has defended the ouster of the Islamist president, saying he acted upon the will of the people after the "stumbling" of the former government. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A supporter of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, attaches a poster on barbed wire as army soldiers, background, stand guard at a blocked road linked to the Republican Guard building in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 15, 2013. A senior U.S. diplomat has held talks with Egypt's interim president and prime minister-designate in the highest level visit by an American official since the Egyptian military ousted the country's first democratically elected leader. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
CAIRO (AP) ? A senior U.S. diplomat on Monday urged Egypt's military and new interim leadership to ensure an "inclusive" transition to democracy, dismissing accusations that Washington backs any one side in the deeply polarized country.
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns was making highest level visit to Egypt by an American official since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by the military on July 3 following days of mass protests.
Morsi's opponents have long accused the United States of backing the Islamist president during his year in office. Tamarod, the main activist group that organized the protests against Morsi, said it refused an invitation to meet with Burns because of the perceived U.S. stance.
On the other side, Morsi's backers including the Muslim Brotherhood now accuse Washington of backing the coup against Egypt's first freely elected president.
Burns held talks Monday with Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour, Prime Minister-designate Hazem el-Beblawi and the head of the military, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi concerning the transition plan put forward by the new leadership. The road map calls for the amending of the Islamist-drafted constitution passed under Morsi and then parliamentary and presidential elections early next year.
In a further signal Washington is moving on from Morsi, Burns said that the U.S. is "firmly committed to helping Egypt succeed in this second chance" to realize the promises of creating a democratic state.
"We hope it will be a chance to learn some of the lessons and correct some of the mistakes of the last two years," he said.
Burns told reporters afterward that the process, particularly the constitutional changes, should be "transparent and inclusive" and that no party should be excluded ? a clear call for the Brotherhood to be involved.
"If representatives of some of the largest parties in Egypt are detained or excluded, how are dialogue and participation possible?" Burns said, referring to the Brotherhood.
So far, the Brotherhood has staunchly rejected participating in the new political process, saying it will not validate what it calls the illegal ouster of Morsi. At the same time, authorities have launched a crackdown on its top leadership, putting Morsi and five others in detention and issuing arrest warrants against others.
The interim leadership has said it wants to offer the Brotherhood's political party posts in the Cabinet it is putting together, but the group has refused.
Burns said he had called on the military to "avoid any politically-motivated arrests."
The military did not comment on the talks beyond saying in a statement that Burns and el-Sissi discussed "the recent political developments in Egypt ... and ways to reinforce cooperation."
Burns dismissed accusation that the U.S. has taken sides in Egypt, saying it is not Washington's policy, "as outsiders, to support particular political personalities and particular parties. ... What we're going to continue to try to do is to support an open inclusive, tolerant democratic process."
"I am not na?ve. I know that many Egyptians have doubts about the United States, and I know there will be nothing neat or easy about the road ahead," he said.
During anti-Morsi rallies, protesters denounced Washington, depicting it as the main backer of his rule and the political rise of the Brotherhood. Posters at rallies showed President Barack Obama with a beard like those of Islamist politicians.
Burns, the No. 2 American diplomat, is also expected to meet with civil society groups and business leaders during his trip.
Tamarod said on its Facebook page that it turned down an invitation to meet Burns.
"What is your business with Egypt? Stick with the Brotherhood and show me what good they are (to you)," one of Tamarod's founders, Mahmoud Badr, said sarcastically in a posting.
From the other side, an official with the Muslim Brotherhood said he was not aware of any invitation for the group to meet with Burns. But the official, Saad Emara, said any talks would have to recognize the Brotherhood's demand for Morsi's reinstatement ? not about a post-Morsi political process.
"Our bottom line is the constitution legitimacy," he told The Associated Press. "We won't talk about post-coup details. "
Morsi's backers accuse the United States, at the least, of acceding to the military's coup.
At a rally of supporters in Cairo, the deputy leader of the Brotherhood's political party, Essam el-Erian told the crowd that Obama pressured Morsi to offer concessions to the protesters or a military coup will be inevitable. In their rally, the protesters accused el-Sissi of being a U.S. agent implementing its agenda in Egypt.
Morsi's supporters have been holding a sit-in outside an east Cairo mosque since his ouster, demanding that he be reinstated. They are planning on Monday large street protests, dubbed "the Monday of steadfastness."
June 11, 2013 ? Population viability analysis (PVA) is a method used by conservation scientists for a range of purposes -- including advancing conservation theory, planning, policy and management. PVAs are particularly important for assessing the risks of population extinction and for comparing alternative management options to protect species. The fact that so many PVAs are already available, for hundreds of species, offers an exciting opportunity for learning and especially for moving from single-species experience to multi-species knowledge. But this opportunity is often lost in translation: PVAs are usually complex, and many people find them hard to design, apply and communicate. Many PVA descriptions also lack sufficient structure, and are difficult to understand, assess, or even repeat.
In a review now published in the journal Conservation Biology, an international team of 11 researchers have shown that these drawbacks form a true barrier for the use of PVAs as a means of collective learning. As part of the EU project SCALES (http://www.scales-project.net/), Guy Pe'er and colleagues suggest that there is a remedy to this problem: our capacity to learn from PVAs may be greatly improved by applying a common standard for Design, Application and Communication of PVAs -- or, what they called the "DAC-PVA" protocol.
The aim of the DAC-PVA protocol is to enhance communication and repeatability of PVAs, strengthen their credibility and relevance for policy and management. It should further improve the capacity to generalize from PVA findings across studies. The protocol is further accompanied by an interactive website (http://scales.ckff.si/scaletool/dac-pva.php), in order to enhance its usefulness.
Guy Pe'er: "There are many existing guidelines on how to design and implement reliable PVAs. There are also existing communication standards for documenting and communicating ecological models. But somehow, it seems that these two simply didn't manage to meet so far. This is sad because it means that many hundreds of existing PVAs, and many more that are likely to be developed and applied in the future, still do not effectively contribute to collective learning efforts or attempts to move from single-species results to supporting the conservation of biodiversity in its broader sense."
Klaus Henle: "PVAs are used very commonly nowadays. The IUCN suggests PVAs to be conducted for every species where enough data are available, and even offers guidelines on how to apply PVAs. Their use is particularly widespread for birds. We should strive to reach a point where, based on PVA knowledge, we could guess the conservation needs of species also without a PVA, for instance based on traits and ecological requirements. But in the absence of standardized reporting, and a collective effort to learn when such guesses are likely to work or fail, we may never reach this goal."
The idea of the protocol and the website is therefore to create a common template, used by PVA developers, users and readers, that would enhance communication between all of them. Thereby, the authors hope to make PVAs more policy-relevant, and policy-makers more aware of the broad range of potential uses of PVAs for nature conservation.
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Journal Reference:
Guy Pe'er, Yiannis G. Matsinos, Karin Johst, Kamila W. Franz, Camille Turlure, Viktoriia Radchuk, Agnieszka H. Malinowska, Janelle M.r. Curtis, Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis, Brendan A. Wintle, Klaus Henle. A Protocol for Better Design, Application, and Communication of Population Viability Analyses. Conservation Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12076
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
SAO PAULO (AP) ? After a decade of spiking fatalities from passenger car wrecks, the Brazilian government said Monday it plans to build its first auto crash test facility in an effort to improve the poor safety record of vehicles built and sold in the world's fourth-largest automobile market.
The decision comes a month after The Associated Press published an investigation that showed many cars built by the world's biggest automakers and sold in Brazil had significantly fewer safeguards than the same or similar models sold in the U.S. and Europe.
The AP found that Brazilians die at four times the rate as Americans in passenger car wrecks and that fatalities rose more than 70 percent in Brazil in the past decade while falling 40 percent in the U.S. Independent tests have been conducted in Germany on Brazil's most popular car models, and the results are bleak. Four of Brazil's five top selling cars failed their crash tests ? the fifth has yet to be tested.
Dr. Dirceu Alves at Abramet, a Brazilian association of doctors who specialize in treating traffic accident victims, said he thinks a crash-test center will improve safety.
"There is no doubt about the importance of this lab. We cannot believe in the quality controls of the automakers alone," he said. "We believe it will be one of the factors in reducing the number of traffic fatalities."
The Brazilian government has recently begun to implement tougher safety standards for its auto industry. But critics have pointed out that without its own crash test center, the government has no means of verifying automaker claims on impact safety.
"Until now, when it came to the auto industry there was nothing the government was testing," said a Brazilian government official, who agreed to discuss the situation only if not quoted by name because he wasn't authorized to talk about the crash-test center plans.
The official said the government hopes to have the $50 million crash test center operating by 2017. He noted it was a "politically sensitive" topic in a nation where the auto industry plays a big role in the economy. Brazil's government has repeatedly slashed consumer taxes on cars in recent years in an effort to bolster the nation's economic outlook.
A second official, from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, which will oversee the building and operation of the crash-test center, also confirmed plans for its construction.
A ministry document indicating plans for the center indicates that it will be built on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and that automakers could provide part of the funding for its operation and even use the center, which led experts to raise concerns about whether the lab can truly be independent. Further details about the center were not given.
ANFAVEA, Brazil's national association of automakers, said it had no comment about plans for the center. In talking to the AP previously about Brazil's poor safety record, automakers said their cars meet the country's safety laws.
As one example, only next year will Brazil begin requiring frontal air bags and antilock braking systems on all cars ? safety features that have been standard in industrial countries for years.
Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, will also have new impact regulations, on paper at least. But without a crash-test center, regulators cannot verify automakers' claims about vehicle performance. There are no independent labs in the nation, as there are in Europe, U.S. and other areas.
Auto engineers, some working for big automakers, have said the dangers of Brazilian cars come down to basics: the lack of body reinforcements, lower-quality steel in car bodies, weaker or fewer weld spots to hold the vehicles together and car platforms designed decades before modern safety advances.
Consumer advocates in Brazil have complained about what they say is a double standard in the treatment of carmakers. Manufacturers earn a 10 percent profit on Brazilian-made cars, compared with 3 percent in the U.S. and a global average of 5 percent, according to IHS Automotive, an industry consulting firm.
Despite those profits, cars like the Nissan March compact sold in Brazil received a two-star rating from the Latin New Car Assessment Program, which has carried out crash tests on cars made in Brazil. The version sold for about the same price in Europe, the Micra, scored four stars. Safety experts say that's the difference between dying in or surviving frontal-collision wrecks.
There is cautious hope the planned government crash-test center will begin improving autos, but some experts warned that it isn't a complete solution.
"It's a good thing that there will be an independent crash laboratory, but that doesn't mean that cars will be better or safer," said Alejandro Furas, technical director for the Global NCAP. "A crash laboratory is an incredible tool, but there have to be regulations ? regulations in Brazil are behind."
Most notably, Brazil's auto safety regulation lacks a "conformity of production" clause that requires automobile safety performance be spot checked for the entire time the model is produced. Without that rule, car models in Brazil only have to meet impact regulations once.
Further, Furas said that if automakers helped fund the Brazilian government's facility, then it won't be "really independent at all."
About 40 million Brazilians moved into the middle class during the past decade with more income than ever to buy their first car. But as auto sales boom in Brazil, so have the number of accidents and deaths.
An analysis of Health Ministry data shows that 9,059 car occupants died in vehicle crashes in Brazil in 2010. That same year, 12,435 people in the U.S. were killed in car crashes, although the U.S. passenger car fleet is five times larger than Brazil's. The result: Brazilian automobile crash victims died at four times the rate as those in the U.S.
___
Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja in Brasilia and Jill Langlois in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
Volcom Fiji Pro, the fourth of ten stops on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, has been called off for today, i.e. Monday, June 10, due to unsatisfactory conditions at the main event venue of Cloudbreak in Tavarua,
Fiji.
The event organisers were expecting the swell to have filled in by today, but they were not satisfied with the results of their assessment of the surfing conditions on hand.
As a result, they deemed it fit to call the competition off for the day and wait for the conditions to improve before getting the show back on.
?Unfortunately, conditions didn?t manifest for us today as we would have liked and we?ve called competition off for the afternoon,? Rich Porta, ASP International Head Judge said. ?The swell is meant to fill in overnight and we?ll reconvene tomorrow morning
at 6:30am.?
The world?s top surfing talent is currently gathered in Fiji to continue their campaign for the most coveted honours in the sport, the ASP World Title.
So far, the Volcom Fiji Pro has gone through the first-two rounds, as well as the first-three heats of Round 3.
There have already been some pretty huge upsets in the competition so far, with the elimination of Brazil?s Adriano de Souza at the hands of Australia?s Yadin Nicol in Round 2 surely topping the list of upsets.
Young American sensation Kolohe Andino earned himself some massive respect by getting the better of Brazil?s Gabriel Medina in their Round 2 encounter, thus removing the latter from the contention for the event latter.
?11-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater from America and reigning ASP World Champion Joel Parkinson from Australia had skipped their Round 1 heats, but appeared for their respective Round 2 heats, which they comfortably won to make their way through into
the third round.
South Africa?s Jordy Smith also gave his fans a bit of a scare after a dismal Round 1 performance, but bounced back strongly in Round 2 to successfully extend his life in the competition.
Hawaii?s John John Florence, however, has been the main highlight of the event so far. Known for his barrel-prowess, the young talent has treated the spectators to a performance that will surely be staying in their memory for a long time. He is one of the
three surfers who have already confirmed their place in Round 4, with Smith and Australia?s Taj Burrow being the other two surfers.
When competition resumes, France?s Jeremy Flores will lock horns with Brazil?s Miguel Pupo in the fourth heat of Round 3.
Nearly 20 percent of suicidal youths have guns in their homePublic release date: 6-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Stevens Martin ssmartin@aap.org 847-434-7131 American Academy of Pediatrics
Researchers say emergency department doctors should screen all pediatric patients for suicide risk
WASHINGTON, DC Nearly one in five children and teens found to be at risk for suicide report that there are guns in their homes, and 15 percent of those at risk for suicide with guns in the home know how to access both the guns and the bullets, according to a study to be presented Monday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24 years in the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Nearly half of youths who die by suicide use a firearm.
Researchers conducted a study to create a suicide risk screening tool that health care professionals in emergency departments (EDs) could use to figure out which youths need further mental health evaluation to keep them from harming themselves. As part of that study, researchers asked youths about access to guns in or around their home and about gun/bullet storage.
"For more than 1.5 million adolescents, the ED is their primary point of contact with the health care system, which makes the ED an important place for identifying youth at risk for suicide," said Stephen J. Teach, MD, MPH, FAAP, associate chief in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and co-author who will be presenting the study at the PAS meeting.
Many clinicians and parents do not know how to ask youth about suicide, so they require screening tools to assist in detection, added study senior author Lisa M. Horowitz, PhD, MPH, staff scientist/pediatric psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. "According to our data, when asked their opinion, nearly all of the kids in our study were in favor of suicide screening in the ED. Our study shows that if you ask kids directly about suicide, they will tell you what they are thinking."
Study participants included 524 patients ages 10 to 21 who were seen for medical/surgical or psychiatric complaints at one of three pediatric EDs. They were asked to fill out a 17-item questionnaire that the researchers used to develop the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ), a four-question screening tool that can be used for all pediatric patients visiting the ED. The ASQ has been validated against a longer more in-depth suicide assessment tool.
"While many youths who kill themselves have mental health disorders, up to 40 percent of youths who kill themselves have no known mental illness," said co-author and youth suicide expert Jeffrey A. Bridge, PhD, principal investigator at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University. "Therefore, it is important to screen all children and adolescents for suicide, regardless of the reason they are visiting the ED."
Of the patients who completed the screening tools, 151 (29 percent) were found to be at risk for suicide, and 17 percent of them reported guns in or around the home. Of those at risk for suicide and reporting guns in the home, 31 percent knew how to access the guns, 31 percent knew how to access the bullets, and 15 percent knew how to access both the guns and the bullets.
"This study highlights the importance of parents understanding the risks of having guns in their homes," said Dr. Bridge. "Being at risk for suicide and having access to firearms is a volatile mix. These conversations need to take place in the ED with families of children at risk for suicide."
###
To view the abstract, "Access to Firearms among Patients Screening Positive for Suicide Risk in Pediatric Emergency Departments," go to http://www.pas-meeting.org/2013DC/Abstracts/LB%20Pub%20All%202013.pdf
The research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health (Drs. Horowitz & Pao); institutional research funds from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and grant K01 MH-69948 from the National Institute of Mental Health (Dr. Bridge); institutional research funds from the Program for Patient Safety and Quality at Boston Children's Hospital Boston (Dr. Wharff).
The Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) are four individual pediatric organizations that co-sponsor the PAS Annual Meeting the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Academic Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Members of these organizations are pediatricians and other health care providers who are practicing in the research, academic and clinical arenas. The four sponsoring organizations are leaders in the advancement of pediatric research and child advocacy within pediatrics, and all share a common mission of fostering the health and well-being of children worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.pas-meeting.org. Follow news of the PAS meeting on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PedAcadSoc.
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Nearly 20 percent of suicidal youths have guns in their homePublic release date: 6-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Stevens Martin ssmartin@aap.org 847-434-7131 American Academy of Pediatrics
Researchers say emergency department doctors should screen all pediatric patients for suicide risk
WASHINGTON, DC Nearly one in five children and teens found to be at risk for suicide report that there are guns in their homes, and 15 percent of those at risk for suicide with guns in the home know how to access both the guns and the bullets, according to a study to be presented Monday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24 years in the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Nearly half of youths who die by suicide use a firearm.
Researchers conducted a study to create a suicide risk screening tool that health care professionals in emergency departments (EDs) could use to figure out which youths need further mental health evaluation to keep them from harming themselves. As part of that study, researchers asked youths about access to guns in or around their home and about gun/bullet storage.
"For more than 1.5 million adolescents, the ED is their primary point of contact with the health care system, which makes the ED an important place for identifying youth at risk for suicide," said Stephen J. Teach, MD, MPH, FAAP, associate chief in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and co-author who will be presenting the study at the PAS meeting.
Many clinicians and parents do not know how to ask youth about suicide, so they require screening tools to assist in detection, added study senior author Lisa M. Horowitz, PhD, MPH, staff scientist/pediatric psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. "According to our data, when asked their opinion, nearly all of the kids in our study were in favor of suicide screening in the ED. Our study shows that if you ask kids directly about suicide, they will tell you what they are thinking."
Study participants included 524 patients ages 10 to 21 who were seen for medical/surgical or psychiatric complaints at one of three pediatric EDs. They were asked to fill out a 17-item questionnaire that the researchers used to develop the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ), a four-question screening tool that can be used for all pediatric patients visiting the ED. The ASQ has been validated against a longer more in-depth suicide assessment tool.
"While many youths who kill themselves have mental health disorders, up to 40 percent of youths who kill themselves have no known mental illness," said co-author and youth suicide expert Jeffrey A. Bridge, PhD, principal investigator at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University. "Therefore, it is important to screen all children and adolescents for suicide, regardless of the reason they are visiting the ED."
Of the patients who completed the screening tools, 151 (29 percent) were found to be at risk for suicide, and 17 percent of them reported guns in or around the home. Of those at risk for suicide and reporting guns in the home, 31 percent knew how to access the guns, 31 percent knew how to access the bullets, and 15 percent knew how to access both the guns and the bullets.
"This study highlights the importance of parents understanding the risks of having guns in their homes," said Dr. Bridge. "Being at risk for suicide and having access to firearms is a volatile mix. These conversations need to take place in the ED with families of children at risk for suicide."
###
To view the abstract, "Access to Firearms among Patients Screening Positive for Suicide Risk in Pediatric Emergency Departments," go to http://www.pas-meeting.org/2013DC/Abstracts/LB%20Pub%20All%202013.pdf
The research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health (Drs. Horowitz & Pao); institutional research funds from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and grant K01 MH-69948 from the National Institute of Mental Health (Dr. Bridge); institutional research funds from the Program for Patient Safety and Quality at Boston Children's Hospital Boston (Dr. Wharff).
The Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) are four individual pediatric organizations that co-sponsor the PAS Annual Meeting the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Academic Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Members of these organizations are pediatricians and other health care providers who are practicing in the research, academic and clinical arenas. The four sponsoring organizations are leaders in the advancement of pediatric research and child advocacy within pediatrics, and all share a common mission of fostering the health and well-being of children worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.pas-meeting.org. Follow news of the PAS meeting on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PedAcadSoc.
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Public release date: 6-May-2013
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