Microsoft?s next-generation ?Gemini? Office update reportedly slated for fall release

By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-next-generation-gemini-office-reportedly-slated-fall-001327308.html

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HBT: Yankees top Forbes' MLB franchise valuations

This comes out every year: Forbes? team valuations and the breakdown of who?s making money, who?s losing money and all that jazz.

You?ll not be surprised to see that the Yankees are the most valuable, the Rays the least. Still, the Rays? value increased from year-to-year by 40% and they cleared $10 million. ?Owning a baseball team is like printing money, really.

For most teams anyway. Forbes claims that six teams in baseball lost money last year: the Angels, Rangers, Marlins, Blue Jays, Mets and Tigers. Of course all those numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt given what we know about the books of Major League Baseball teams: virtually nothing. And we know that many teams pay their owners various fess and things for amorphous reasons and unknown tasks, all of which negatively impacts the team?s bottom line while clearly not harming the owners a bit. ?Ask Jeff Loria how that works.

It?s a nice snapshot, but not much more. There just isn?t enough data out there for anyone to check these numbers and the only people in a position to correct them ? the owners themselves ? wouldn?t dare reveal what they really make or lose.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/27/forbes-annual-team-valuations-are-out-for-what-theyre-worth/related/

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Iran's support for Syria still appears strong - but is it hedging its bets?

When the Arab League handed Syria?s long-vacant seat to the Syrian opposition on March 26 and endorsed military aid for anti-regime rebels, the first and loudest complaints came from Iran.

Despite a two-year rebellion that has seen 70,000 deaths and 1 million refugees, Iran has not veered from its staunch support for Syria?s embattled President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime it considers a critical piece of its anti-US, anti-Israel "axis of resistance."

The Arab League's decision set a ?dangerous precedent? that would only ?add to the problems,? warned Iran?s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. It would even ?bring an end to the [Arab League?s] role in the region,? asserted his deputy, Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

The Iranian complaints are the diplomatic side of an on-the-battlefield proxy war in Syria, with both sides reportedly receiving a surge of weapons from outside powers in recent months. Iranian military and financial support for Mr. Assad has been stepped up with near-weekly flights (and Russia still continues normal sales to its ally). Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, meanwhile, have ferried fresh weaponry to the rebels, with CIA support.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Iran? Take our quiz to find out.

United Nations envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi says the Syrian conflict is becoming a ?playground for competing regional forces.?

As the mish-mash of rebel forces capture more ground, more regime military bases and hardware, and key civilian targets, few analysts predict that Assad?s regime will survive in its current form, or that Syria?s longstanding ruler will be alive when it is over. Even Iran, despite its unbending public support for Assad, appears to be preparing for a post-Assad world.

"Iran so far was successful; without Iran's money and strategic help, Assad would have fallen much earlier," says Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "But in terms of policy, they have a Plan B?. So even if Assad falls, to some extent Iran would be able to protect its interests."

'PLAN B'

That plan may hinge on a pro-regime militia Iran helped to create called Jaysh al-Shabi. The militia could protect Syria's Alawites ? the Shiite Muslim offshoot to which Assad and much of his regime belong ? if they are relegated to only a portion of the country in northwest Syria, along the coast to the border with Lebanon.

It's possible that no side will gain a decisive advantage and, with all sides backed by powerful international friends, the country will break along sectarian and ethnic fault lines, with Alawite and Kurdish sections, and a larger Sunni portion.

Since its 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has used Syria as a conduit for weapons, cash, and support for the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, and later Hamas and Islamic Jihad, all of which form a frontline against Israel. If Assad falls, Iran could lose that channel.

Iran?s Revolutionary Guard commander has been quoted as saying that the Jaysh al-Shabi, a mix of Shiite and Alawite groups, is modeled after Iran?s ideological Basij militia, a large volunteer force that has been used to quell street unrest. Senior US officials, who added Jaysh al-Shabi to its list of sanctioned groups last December, have described it as ?an Iran-Hezbollah joint venture.?

?In terms of propaganda, no, I think the Iranians in the near future would not admit this possibility [of Assad falling],? says Mr. Khalaji.

But Iran's Plan B with the pro-regime militia means that even if Assad is removed, as long as an Alawite enclave continues to exist in Syria, Iran may still manage to maintain direct links with militant groups. "By helping them, [Iran would] make sure that some part of Syria can be used as a bridge to reach Lebanon and the Palestinian territories," adds Khalaji."

GULF, WEST COME TOGETHER

At the Arab League meeting in Doha, Qatar, countering any Iranian support for the Assad regime may have been behind the readiness to recognize the anti-government coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

?We demand ? all forms of support from our friends and brothers, including our full right for self-defense,? said Syrian opposition chief Moaz al-Khatib after taking Syria's seat at the Arab League meeting.

That has reportedly been happening already. The airlifting of military aid by Arab governments and Turkey to Syrian rebels with CIA help ?expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year,? The New York Times reported on March 24. According to the Times, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar ? Sunni Muslim nations wary of Iranian influence in the region ? have carried out 160 military-style cargo flights bringing weaponry to Turkey and Jordan, from which the weapons are smuggled into Syria.

?The intensity and frequency of these [weapons] flights are suggestive of a well-planned and coordinated clandestine military logistics operation,? Hugh Griffiths of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute told the Times.

NOT ENOUGH

Likewise, Iran has ?significantly stepped up? military support for Assad, according to a mid-March report by Reuters.

The Iranian effort ?suggests the Syrian war is entering a new phase in which Iran may be trying to end the battlefield stalemate by redoubling its commitment to Assad? and giving the regime a ?crucial lifeline,? Reuters reported, citing Western diplomats and a Western intelligence report from last September.

The intelligence report described shipments, primarily through Iraqi airspace, ranging from communications gear and drone parts to ?advanced strategic weapons? such as shore-to-sea missiles and ballistic missiles.

?None of this will be decisive; Assad will lose,? says Kenneth Katzman, an analyst for the Congressional Research Service in Washington. ?You?re not going to change the outcome unless you are shipping big-ticket items, which I don?t think anybody is.?

Assad?s military stores are slowly being eroded: Helicopters and planes have been shot down, and many tanks have been taken out and some captured by rebels and turned against government forces.

The Iranians "can?t do much more, because to do more would risk getting things captured and exposed," says Mr. Katzman. ?To some extent the [Iranian] mentality is the same as Assad?s mentality: Just be tough, show as much strength as possible, and you?re going to be able to power through it. I think they?ve overestimated their ability to save Assad.?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irans-support-syria-still-appears-strong-hedging-bets-181943891.html

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Mountain pine beetle genome decoded

Mar. 26, 2013 ? The genome of the mountain pine beetle -- the insect that has devastated British Columbia's lodgepole pine forests -- has been decoded by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre.

This is a first for the mountain pine beetle and only the second beetle genome ever sequenced. The first was the red flour beetle, a pest of stored grains. The genome is described in a study published Tuesday in the journal Genome Biology.

"We know a lot about what the beetles do," says Christopher Keeling, a research associate in Prof. Joerg Bohlmann's lab at the Michael Smith Laboratories. "But without the genome, we don't know exactly how they do it."

"Sequencing the mountain pine beetle genome provides new information that can be used to help manage the epidemic in the future."

The genome revealed large variation among individuals of the species -- about four times greater than the variation among humans.

"As the beetles' range expands and as they head into jack pine forests where the defensive compounds may be different, this variation could allow them to be more successful in new environments," says Keeling.

Researchers isolated genes that help detoxify defence compounds found under the bark of the tree -- where the beetles live. They also found genes that degrade plant cell walls, which allow the beetles to get nutrients from the tree.

Keeling, Bohlmann and their colleagues also uncovered a bacterial gene that has jumped into the mountain pine beetle genome. This gene codes for an enzyme that digests sugars.

"It might be used to digest woody tissue and/or the microorganisms that grow in the beetle's tunnels underneath the bark of the tree," said Keeling. "Gene transfers sometimes make organisms more successful in their environments."

This study involved researchers from the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Alberta.

Characteristics of the mountain pine beetle genome

• 12 pairs of chromosomes
• Approximately 13,000 genes
• The mountain pine beetle separated from the red flour beetle -- the only other beetle genome sequenced to date -- about 230 million years ago. According to Keeling, "the two insects have about the same relatedness as a pine tree and a head of lettuce."
• The mountain pine beetle is closely related to other significant pests in North American forests such as the southern pine beetle, Douglas-fir beetle, eastern larch beetle, and spruce beetle. Insights gained from sequencing the mountain pine beetle genome can be transferred to these beetles, and other forest insect pests around the world.

Mountain pine beetle epidemic

The mountain pine beetle has infested over 18 million hectares of lodgepole pine in British Columbia -- an area more than five times larger than Vancouver Island -- causing enormous damage to the environment and forest industry. In recent years, the insect has moved further north and east, over the Canadian Rockies, and is now approaching the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. It is also beginning to infest other pine trees -- jack pine, a jack-lodgepole hybrid, limber pine, and the endangered whitebark pine. Jack pine boreal forests extend from Alberta to the Atlantic provinces. The mountain pine beetle also lives in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and South Dakota.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of British Columbia.

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. Christopher I Keeling, Macaire MS Yuen, Nancy Y Liao, T Roderick Docking, Simon K Chan, Greg A Taylor, Diana L Palmquist, Shaun D Jackman, Anh Nguyen, Maria Li, Hannah Henderson, Jasmine K Janes, Yongjun Zhao, Pawan Pandoh, Richard Moore, Felix AH Sperling, Dezene PW Huber, Inanc Birol, Stephen JM Jones, Joerg Bohlmann. Draft genome of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, a major forest pest. Genome Biology, 2013; 14 (3): R27 DOI: 10.1186/gb-2013-14-3-r27

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/6phY8FTccr8/130327093612.htm

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Internet slowed by cyber attack on spam blocker

LONDON (Reuters) - One of the largest ever cyber attacks is slowing global internet services and the disruption could get worse, experts said on Wednesday, after an organization blocking "spam" content became a target.

Spamhaus, a London and Geneva-based non-profit group which helps weed out unsolicited "spam" messages for email providers, said it had been subjected to "distributed denial of service" (DDoS) attacks on an unprecedented scale for more than a week.

"Based on the reported scale of the attack, which was evaluated at 300 Gigabits per second, we can confirm that this is one of the largest DDoS operations to date," online security firm Kaspersky Lab said in a statement.

"There may be further disruptions on a larger scale as the attack escalates."

Spamhaus publishes blacklists used by internet service providers (ISPs) to weed out spam in email traffic.

The group is directly or indirectly responsible for filtering as much as 80 percent of daily spam messages, according to Cloudflare, a company that said it was helping Spamhaus mitigate the attack.

"We've been under this cyber-attack for well over a week," Steve Linford, chief executive of Spamhaus, told the BBC. "They are targeting every part of the internet infrastructure that they feel can be brought down."

Perpetrators of DDoS attacks typically target websites by flooding servers with messages from multiple systems so they cannot identify and respond to legitimate traffic.

Paul Vlissidis, group technical director at internet security firm NCC, said the volumes of traffic involved in the attack were having a knock-on effect on the rest of the internet.

Because many computers were involved in the attack, it was difficult to defend against.

"If you have a few computers sending large amounts of traffic you can filter them out easily. When literally thousands and thousands are involved it makes it much, much harder," he told Reuters.

However, according to thinkbroadband, an independent British information website which allows users to test their broadband speed, there appeared to be little evidence of a slowdown.

"Of course it is possible that people may be finding some services or sites they access over the Internet are performing slower than usual ... but there appears to be no evidence to say that UK broadband users have been slowed down across the board," it said on its blog.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Kate Holton and Michael Holden; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/internet-slowed-cyber-attack-spam-blocker-185437944.html

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Deaths from attack on Pakistani soldiers up to 17

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? Officials say the number of soldiers killed from a car bomb attack on an army check post in Pakistan's northwest tribal region has risen to 17.

Intelligence officials say the vehicle exploded next to two tankers that were supplying fuel to troops in the North Waziristan tribal area. The blast set the tankers on fire and destroyed two residential army barracks.

The army said Sunday that 17 soldiers died. It initially said five were killed in the Saturday night bombing.

The intelligence officials said 34 soldiers and three civilians were wounded. Most of the soldiers who were killed were building roads in North Waziristan, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan.

The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deaths-attack-pakistani-soldiers-17-060202779.html

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President Obama Criticized for Designating New National Monuments

President Obama today unilaterally designated five new national monuments, sparking criticism from at least one Republican who is questioning the timing and cost of the decision.

Obama used his executive authority under the Antiquities Act to create Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico; First State National Monument in Delaware; Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland; Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio; and San Juan Islands National Monument in Washington state.

"These sites honor the pioneering heroes, spectacular landscapes and rich history that have shaped our extraordinary country," Obama said in a written statement. "By designating these national monuments today, we will ensure they will continue to inspire and be enjoyed by generations of Americans to come."

In a statement released Friday, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., criticized Obama for "unilaterally ordering the National Park Service to spend scarce dollars" while the nation faces harsh budget cuts as a result of the sequester.

"The Obama administration not only sees the sequester as an opportunity to make automatic spending reductions as painful as possible on the American people, it's also a good time for the president to dictate under a century-old law that the government spend money it doesn't have on property it doesn't even own," he said in the statement, which was recirculated today by House Speaker John Boehner's office.

"Over one hundred years ago the Antiquities Act was passed to allow a president to act when there was an emergency need to prevent destruction of a precious place - yet President Obama is acting on simple whim as no imminent threat of destruction or harm is posed at any of these five locations," Hastings added.

In response, the White House said the designations will have a positive, stimulative impact on the local economies and are an important way to commemorate the country's history.

"It's my understanding ? that a lot of the land for these new national monuments was either land that was already owned by the federal government or it was donated," Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. "And in terms of the immediate costs, in terms of the management of the land, I think they're pretty minimal in the early stages."

According to a 2006 National Parks and Conservation Association study circulated by the White House, each federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars of economic value to the public.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/president-obama-criticized-designating-national-monuments-200021993--abc-news-politics.html

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IRS under fire over 'Star Trek' video spoof

The IRS is under fire for two videos, costing about $60,000, featuring an elaborate "Star Trek" parody for employee training. A congressional committee has declared the videos have very little training value at all. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.

By Allison Linn, TODAY

The Internal Revenue Service is taking a ribbing for going where many companies have gone before: Into the world of bad video parodies.

The IRS conceded that it erred when it spent thousands of dollars in taxpayer money making a video riffing off the TV show ?Star Trek? for a 2010 employee conference.

?The space parody video from 2010 is not reflective of overall IRS video efforts, which provide critical information to taxpayers and cost-effective employee training critical to running the nation?s tax system,? the IRS said in a statement released to TODAY.

But the IRS defended a separate video parody of ?Gilligan?s Island,? which it said provided valuable training at a fraction of the cost of training people in person.

The two videos cost taxpayers about $60,000. The videos came to light after Congressman Charles Boustany, chairman of the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, demanded that the IRS provide more information about its video budget and productions.

?There is nothing more infuriating to a taxpayer than to find out the government is using their hard-earned dollars in a way that is frivolous,? Boustany said in a statement released to TODAY by the House Ways and Means Committee.

The IRS noted that it has made dozens of more straightforward videos offerings taxpayer tips about topics such as preventing identity theft or understanding the earned income tax credit. IRS YouTube videos have been viewed more than 5 million times.

The government agency also defended its efforts to save money, noting that it had saved nearly $1 billion between fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2013.

?The IRS recognizes and takes seriously our obligation to be good stewards of government resources,? the statement said.

The IRS had a budget of about $11.8 billion in fiscal year 2012, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent agency charged with assisting taxpayers. The advocate has argued that the IRS is ?significantly and chronically underfunded? to serve the needs of taxpayers.

It?s not the first time a government agency has invoked ?Star Trek? to get its message across. Actress Patty Duke and ?Star Trek? alum George Takei recorded a series of public service announcements for the Social Security Administration.

??

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Bus overturns in Pakistan, killing 32

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) ? A police official says a bus has overturned on a highway in eastern Pakistan after hitting a roadside electricity pole, killing at least 32 passengers.

Senior police official Zulifiqar Cheema says 35 passengers were injured in the accident near the city of Sheikhura early Saturday. He says the apparent cause was driver negligence, as the bus was speeding.

Cheema says the bus was traveling from Lahore to Faisalabad, an industrial city which lies in the eastern Punjab province.

Road accidents are common in Pakistan because of poor infrastructure and routine disregard of traffic laws.

On March 16, a bus carrying Pakistani soldiers fell into a ravine in the northwest, killing 24.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bus-overturns-pakistan-killing-32-055118827.html

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The search for ET is a detective story without a body

Nigel Henbest, contributor

(Image: Plainpicture)

Paul Murdin investigates the possibilities of nearby alien life in Are We Being Watched?, but neglects to cover more thrilling aspects of the quest

OVER lunch at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1950, a group of leading physicists turned their minds to flying saucers, and the possibility of interstellar travel. "Where is everybody?" Enrico Fermi exclaimed. As his colleagues laughed, Fermi performed a legendary back-of-an-envelope calculation showing that aliens - if they exist - should have visited Earth many times over.

If they've been here, then perhaps they are watching us - hence the provocative title of Paul Murdin's new book. As one of the team that discovered the first black hole in our galaxy, Murdin is an astrophysicist of impeccable credentials. But in weighing up the evidence for alien life, Murdin has to confront one insuperable obstacle: there is no evidence for even microbial life beyond Earth. So the Herculean task of writing a book on alien life is the ultimate detective story without a body.

Murdin seems to draw his inspiration from the poet Alexander Pope's famous quote that the "proper study of mankind is man". His discussions centre mainly on Earth's indigenous life, with the premise that alien life follows much the same pattern: evolution and survival of disasters to culminate - after much the same lapse of time - in intelligent creatures pretty similar to us.

He also investigates the possibility of microbial life on our neighbouring worlds, including the frozen deserts of Mars and the icy depths of Saturn's moon Enceladus, along with its peer Titan, which is coated with a sorbet of chemicals with the potential for creating life. There is even a chance that alien fish swim in the deep oceans of Europa, the icy moon circling Jupiter.

If that is what you are looking for, then Murdin is an excellent and thoughtful guide. But when it comes to a deeper discussion of the search for life beyond our solar system - and especially intelligent aliens - we are frustratingly short-changed. There is only a cursory discussion of the fascinating zoo of planets now being discovered around other stars. Many of these new worlds are so hot or cold, water-covered or parched, that our best clues to life there come from Earth's most hardy life forms. Yet these amazing extremophiles are dismissed in a single page.

Alien life is a subject that sparks off-the-wall ideas and excitement that are largely lacking here. Take the physical appearance of aliens. Admittedly, this is a pretty nebulous subject, but some evolutionary biologists such as Jack Cohen have taken a hard look at what might be possible. And communications researchers like Laurance Doyle have derived algorithms that can tease out meaning from apparently random patterns of sound, providing hints about how aliens might communicate.

The global Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project (SETI) is the key to finding intelligent life out there. Murdin gives a full account of SETI up to 1977, but squeezes its subsequent history into a page. There is nothing on the searches that have targeted individual stars, including those with newly discovered planets, nor on the world's most sensitive eavesdropping radio ear on the cosmos, the Allen Telescope Array. Murdin is silent on recent searches for laser signals from alien intelligence, and on attempts to track down tell-tale infrared emissions from advanced civilisations. And we also learn nothing of efforts to detect alien artefacts in the solar system. That's not as daft as it may sound: if Fermi was right, and aliens have visited, then where's the rubbish they left behind?

For the science of the solidly known - with references and footnotes - Murdin has written a thorough survey. But he stops short of providing the thrill that would come from answering the provocative question in the title.

Book information
Are We Being Watched? The search for life in the cosmos by Paul Murdin
Thames & Hudson
?16.95

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Falklands votes in sovereignty referendum rejected by Argentina

STANLEY, Falkland Islands (Reuters) - Residents of the Falkland Islands started voting on Sunday in a sovereignty referendum that seeks to counter Argentina's increasingly assertive claim over the British-ruled territory.

Diplomatic tension between Britain and Argentina has flared up after more than three decades since they went to war over the South Atlantic archipelago, and that has unsettled some of the roughly 2,500 islanders.

With patriotic feelings running high, Falklands-born and long-term residents will cast ballots in the two-day referendum in which they will be asked whether they want to stay a British Overseas Territory.

Officials are expected to announce the result at about 8 p.m. after polls close on Monday.

An overwhelming "yes" vote is likely, prompting Argentina to dismiss the referendum as a meaningless publicity stunt. A high turnout is expected, however, as islanders embrace it as a chance to make their voices heard.

"We hope the undecideds, or the uninformeds, or those countries that might otherwise be prepared to give the nod to Argentina's sovereignty claim might have pause for thought after the referendum," said John Fowler, deputy editor of the islands' weekly newspaper, the Penguin News.

"This is an attempt to say 'hang on a minute, there's another side to the story'."

People queued to vote at the town hall in the quiet island capital of Stanley, where referendum posters bearing the slogan "Our Islands, Our Choice" adorned front windows. The post office produced a line of official stamps to mark the occasion.

In distant islands and far-flung sheep farms, ballot papers were being flown and driven in by mobile polling stations.

"For me, this referendum is extremely important because I have no wish to be part of Argentina," said Rob McGill, 67, who runs a guesthouse in isolated Carcass Island and voted by post.

"I consider myself a Falkland Islander, but my ancestors came from Britain," he said.

FIERY REMARKS

Some islanders are the descendants of British settlers who arrived eight or nine generations ago and the Falklands retain an unmistakably British character despite a sizeable community of immigrants from Chile and Saint Helena.

Residents say fiery remarks by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and her foreign minister, Hector Timerman, have galvanized patriotic sentiment on the islands, which lie nearly 8,000 miles from London and just a 75-minute flight away from southern Argentina.

Tensions have risen with the discovery of commercially viable oil resources in the Falklands basin and by Fernandez's persistent demands for Britain to hold sovereignty talks over the Malvinas, as the islands are called in Spanish.

London says it will only agree to negotiations if the islanders want them, which they show no sign of doing.

Timerman said last month the referendum had the "spirit of a public-relations campaign" and the foreign ministry accused Britain of pursuing "irresponsible initiatives in bad faith."

"This new British attempt to manipulate the Malvinas issue through a vote by the population that it implanted is forcefully rejected by Argentina," a ministry statement said, citing broad Latin American support for Argentina's position.

Argentina says the sovereignty dispute can only be decided between London and Buenos Aires.

MOMENTS OF DETENTE

Argentina has claimed the islands since 1833, saying it inherited them from the Spanish on independence and that Britain expelled an Argentine population.

The sovereignty claim is a constant in Argentine foreign policy, but there have been moments of detente since former dictator Leopoldo Galtieri sent troops to land in the Falklands in April 1982, drawing a swift response from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

A 10-week war, which killed about 650 Argentines and 255 Britons and ended when Argentina surrendered, is widely remembered in Argentina as a humiliating mistake by the brutal and discredited dictatorship ruling at the time.

No one in Argentina advocates another attempt to take the islands by force, but some analysts say the current tough strategy may prove counterproductive by antagonizing islanders.

"Until Argentina is able to persuade the Falkland Islanders to accept some form of Argentine sovereignty over the islands, Argentina's efforts to reclaim them will be an exercise in futility," said Mark Jones, chair of political science at Houston-based Rice University.

In the islands, where plans for oil production to start in 2017 could further boost the flourishing local economy, most residents are determined to maintain the status quo.

"Our best-case scenario is for them to drop their claim and realize that we are a people, we are a country and we do exist," said Gavin Short, one of the Falklands assembly's eight elected members.

Asked if he thought that might happen, he said: "Not in my lifetime."

(Additional reporting by Magali Cervantes in Stanley; and Helen Popper in Buenos Aires.; Writing by Helen Popper; editing by Christopher Wilsn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/falklands-votes-sovereignty-referendum-rejected-argentina-173425869.html

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Queen Elizabeth to Sign Commonwealth Charter Promoting Gay ...

Monday, on live television, Queen Elizabeth will sign a new Commonwealth Charter ?designed to stamp out discrimination against homosexual people and promote the ?empowerment? of women ? a key part of a new drive to boost human rights and living standards across the Commonwealth,? the Daily Mail reports.

Insiders say her decision to highlight the event is a ?watershed? moment ? the first time she has clearly signalled her support for gay rights in her 61-year reign.

The charter, dubbed a ?21st Century Commonwealth Magna Carta? declares: ?We are implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds.?

The ?other grounds? is intended to refer to sexuality ? but specific reference to ?gays and lesbians? was omitted in deference to Commonwealth countries with draconian anti-gay laws.

The potential reach of the Charter is vast. The Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the British Commonwealth, consists of 54 independent sovereign states (see map, right).? Daily Mail:

Homosexual acts are still illegal in 41 of the Commonwealth?s 54 nations. Penalties include the death sentence in parts of Nigeria and Pakistan; 25 years jail in Trinidad and Tobago; 20 years plus flogging in Malaysia; and life imprisonment in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh and Guyana.

Same-sex relationships are recognised in only five Commonwealth countries: UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

?

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay and lesbian rights group Stonewall, said the Queen ? who he called ?a feminist icon? ? had taken ?an historic step forward? on gay rights. He said: ?This is the first time that the Queen has publicly acknowledged the importance of the six per cent of her subjects who are gay. Some of the worst persecution of gay people in the world takes place in Commonwealth countries as a result of the British Empire.?

On Feb. 5 the House of Commons overwhelmingly approved the equal marriage bill by a vote of 400 to 175.? Expectations are that the bill will receive its final vote of approval from the Commons as early as this week, after which it will be sent to the House of Lords.

Update: Read The Commonwealth?s press release here.? The Charter of the Commonwealth, which Queen Elizabeth will be signing, can be read here.

Source: http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2013/03/09/queen-elizabeth-to-sign-commonwealth-charter-promoting-gay-rights-and-gender-equality/

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Multimorphic shows off its modular, open-source P3 Pinball machine at SXSW

When we spoke to Gary Stern way back in January at CES, the pinball exec let it be known that his was the only company currently producing pinball machines -- and while that may be accurate so far as actual shipping systems go, there are a handful of startups looking to get into the game. One of the more compelling examples we've seen is the offering from Multimorphic, a local company showcasing a prototype at SXSW Interactive's Game Expo.

The P3 is interesting for a number of reasons. First, and arguably most importantly, is the modular nature of the machine. If you take a look at the (still unfinished) sides of the cabinet, you can see a big slit down the center, where the top can be lifted off and replaced -- since the machine is targeted toward home users, there's no concern about vandalism there. The idea is to essentially offer a platform to both developers and at-home hackers to create their own games atop what is essentially a clean slate.

Gallery: Multimorphic P3 Pinball machine hands-on

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Source: Multimorphic

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Integrate Inbound Marketing with Direct Mail - Mailing Lists Direct Blog

It is not so difficult to see how direct mail marketing and its related online marketing tools are severely disintegrated in most businesses today. People simply ignore the importance of a targeted and integrated marketing strategy ? one that grabs the attention of its readers and converts readers to buyers. Getting the attention of your audience is the first key to being successful in your direct mail marketing campaign. Otherwise it?s the same old story: heaps of direct mail newsletters keep piling up in the garbage bin and nobody cares to take a second glance at them. The power of direct mail marketing is undeniable. If you know your business and target audience well enough, you have sufficient information to start off your campaign.

You can make a business postcard for your direct mail, which would mean that you bear the entire cost of production and posting. A shared direct mail means that a number of businesses share a common piece of direct mail, and they share the expenses as well.

Following are a few tips to help you create a winning direct mail marketing strategy:

• Planning should be done in a reverse manner. Think of how a customer would benefit from it and then how it will benefit you.
• Integrate direct mail with the relevant landing page of your business.
• Give your direct mail campaign and the landing page the same creative catch.
• Incorporate technology where needed.
• Use social media for help in promotion.

Source: http://www.mailing-lists-direct-blog.com/971/integrate-inbound-marketing-with-direct-mail/

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106-year-old Mass. man gets high school diploma

BEVERLY, Mass. (AP) ? Fred Butler was married for 65 years, raised five children, served in the Army during World War II and worked for years for the local water department, but the fact he never earned a high school diploma always bothered him.

Not anymore.

The 106-year-old was awarded his honorary diploma Monday during an emotional ceremony attended by school officials, state lawmakers and Beverly Mayor Bill Scanlon.

"I thank everybody who is responsible for this," he said, wearing a mortar board hat and tassel and holding the prized document in his hands. "I certainly appreciate it."

Butler dropped out of school before the ninth-grade to accept a full-time job at a print shop to support his mother and five younger siblings.

Daughter-in-law Cathy Butler says he regretted dropping out and always emphasized the importance of education to his children and grandchildren.

A grandson, Mike Calabro, said Butler gave him $5 for every A on his report card.

Cathy Butler launched the effort to get her father-in-law his diploma as a way to raise his spirits following the death of his wife, Ruth, last year.

Fred Butler's only concern was that he hadn't earned it.

Scanlon put that concern to rest. "It's a long time to wait for your diploma," Scanlon said, "but you've obviously earned it very well."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-03-05-US-ODD-106-Year-Old-Graduate/id-6deb9a038bec432cb31b76af62c414d6

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Time management tips and secrets Werner | Self Improvement ...

Government (Carl Sandburg)

THE Government--I heard about the Government and
I went out to find it. I said I would look closely at
it when I saw it.
Then I saw a policeman dragging a drunken man to
the callaboose. It was the Government in action.
I saw a ward alderman slip into an office one morning
and talk with a judge. Later in the day the judge
dismissed a case against a pickpocket who was a
live ward worker for the alderman. Again I saw
this was the Government, doing things.
I saw militiamen level their rifles at a crowd of work-
ingmen who were trying to get other workingmen
to stay away from a shop where there was a strike
on. Government in action.
Everywhere I saw that Government is a thing made of
men, that Government has blood and bones, it is
many mouths whispering into many ears, sending
telegrams, aiming rifles, writing orders, saying
"yes" and "no."
Government dies as the men who form it die and are laid
away in their graves and the new Government that
comes after is human, made of heartbeats of blood,
ambitions, lusts, and money running through it all,
money paid and money taken, and money covered
up and spoken of with hushed voices.
A Government is just as secret and mysterious and sensi-
tive as any human sinner carrying a load of germs,
traditions and corpuscles handed down from
fathers and mothers away back.

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Source: http://self-improvement.roxy-publishing.com/blog/time-management/time-management-tips-and-secrets-werner

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