Global shares rise on central bank expectations, euro also up

By Richard Hubbard

LONDON (Reuters) - European rose on Monday as investors counted on easy money from central banks in the euro zone and United States to offset the risk of further disappointing global economic data, which still kept commodities under pressure.

The common currency - which fell around 1.3 percent against the dollar last week as some traders priced in a possible interest rate cut - was also higher on expectations that the European Central Bank should not signal more drastic action when it meets this week.

The formation of a new government in Italy at the weekend, ending two months of political stalemate, added to the stronger sentiment with Milan's main stock index, the FTSE MIB <.ftmib>, gaining over 1 percent in early trade.

The broad FTSE Eurofirst <.fteu3> index of top European shares was up 0.4 percent, adding to last week's 3.7 percent gain, while Germany's DAX <.gdaxi> rose 0.6 percent and France's CAC 40 <.fchi> was 1.0 percent Higher.

However, activity across the markets was expected to be light with Japan closed for a holiday, China off until Thursday, and the ECB and U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later in the week.

Speculation is rife that the ECB will cut its main interest rate at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday, given recent weak economic data from across the region.

A Reuters poll of 76 economists showed a narrow majority of 43 expected a rate cut of 25 basis points, taking the ECB's refinancing rate to a record low of 0.50 percent.

"The ECB will probably cut the refi rate 25 basis points, but... this move shouldn't weaken the euro unless the bank drops hints that some more dramatic policy - like a negative deposit rate - is back on the agenda," said Anna Hibinio, a global forex analyst at JPMorgan.

The euro was up 0.35 percent to $1.3080 against a generally weaker dollar, but remained well below a seven-week high of $1.3202 hit on April 16 before traders priced in the rate cut speculation.

The dollar also dropped 0.2 percent to 97.88 yen, below a 4-year high of 99.95 set earlier in April after the Bank of Japan unveiled monetary stimulus plans.

The Fed is widely expected to keep its current pace of bond buying at $85 billion a month when the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee announces its decision at 1815 GMT on Wednesday.

The uncertain outlook for economic growth, especially in the world's two big commodity consumers, the United States and China, kept oil and copper prices under pressure, although gold rose 1 percent as its recovery from recent lows continued.

Brent crude slipped 41 cents to $102.75 a barrel, after making its biggest weekly gain since November last week despite data showing the U.S. economy grew less than expected pace in the first quarter. U.S. oil was down 27 cents at $92.73 a barrel.

Gold futures, which often provide trading cues to cash gold, hit $1,472.20 an ounce before settling at $1,468.90 an ounce, up $15.30. Spot gold rose $6.70 to $1,473 an ounce.

(editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-edge-markets-cautious-ahead-events-packed-010340344.html

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German bank directors not linked to rate rigging - WSJ

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German financial markets watchdog Bafin has not turned up any evidence that German bank directors were involved in manipulating benchmark interest rates, a top Bafin official has told the Wall Street Journal Deutschland.

"We have no indication of any systematic criminality involving management board members up to now," said Raimund Roeseler, head of banking supervision at Bafin, which has been conducting a probe into the affair.

"Our findings so far show it was the actions of individual traders," Roeseler said in an interview made available on the online paper's Internet site.

Bafin and other regulators have been investigating whether banks sought to manipulate the London inter-bank offered rate, or Libor, and its euro zone counterpart, Euribor, which are key measures of how much banks pay to borrow from each other and are used as the basis for setting lending rates on a wide range of financial products, from mortgages to complex derivatives.

Swiss bank UBS and Britain's Barclays have already paid a total of nearly $2 billion (1.2 billion pounds) to settle rate manipulation allegations, while Royal Bank of Scotland has been fined $612 million.

Bafin has been conducting a special probe of Deutsche Bank in the Libor case, which has kept pressure on co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen as they steer Germany's flagship lender through a sea of legal challenges.

Sources familiar with Bafin's investigation told Reuters last month that the watchdog was focusing on "organisational flaws" at Deutsche rather than placing blame on the co-CEOs or their predecessor, Josef Ackermann.

Two sources familiar with the matter said last week that Bafin was stepping up its investigation because it had doubts about Deutsche's own internal probe.

While Bafin cannot itself impose fines, its input is expected to feed into settlement talks between Deutsche Bank and regulators in the United States and Britain.

Deutsche has suspended or dismissed seven employees involved in setting benchmark rates as part of its own investigation.

(Reporting by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-bank-directors-not-linked-rate-rigging-wsj-143830821.html

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Fire kills dozens in Russian psychiatric hospital

By Alexei Anishchuk

RAMENSKY, Russia (Reuters) - Thirty-eight people were killed, most of them in their beds, in a fire that raged through a psychiatric hospital near Moscow on Friday, raising questions about the care of mentally ill patients in Russia.

The fire, which broke out at around 2 a.m. (2200 GMT on Thursday), swept through a single-storey building at the hospital, a collection of wood and brick huts with bars on some windows that was home to people sectioned by Russian courts.

By mid morning, a few blackened walls were left standing. The roof had caved in on top of the twisted metal of what were once beds. Bodies lay on nearby grass, covered with blankets.

Only three people escaped from the fire in the village of Ramensky, 120 km (70 miles) north of Moscow, prompting speculation the patients were heavily sedated or strapped down.

Irina Gumennaya, aide to the head of the chief investigative department of the Moscow region, dismissed suggestions they had been restrained as "rubbish" but promised blood tests to check whether there were high levels of sedatives.

"The wards ... did not have doors, the sick could have escaped from the building by themselves," she said, adding that she believed the most likely cause of the blaze was patients smoking, or perhaps a short circuit.

President Vladimir Putin called for an investigation of the "tragedy", the latest in a long line of disasters at state institutions that are often ill-funded. Russia's safety record is dismal, accounting for a high death toll on roads, railways and in the air as well as at the workplace.

Psychiatrists said the fire was not the first and would not be the last of its kind.

"(This happened) because of dilapidated buildings in psychiatric hospitals - a third of the buildings since 2000 have been declared unfit, according to health standards," Yuri Savenko, president of the independent psychiatric association of Russia, said in a telephone interview.

Furthermore, junior and middle-ranking staff had miserable salaries and "because of that the staff were asleep", he said.

RUSSIA - "THE MADHOUSE"

Putin's critics blamed the state for neglecting its most vulnerable people.

"Terrible news .. Those patients who burned were there because they were forced to have treatment," said Dmitry Olshansky, former editor of "Russian Life", an online journal.

"I read all this and I wonder - what does this remind us of? And then I remember - this is our motherland, the madhouse. Flood, fire, bars on windows ... and we cannot deal with it," he said on his Facebook site.

Officials said the blaze consumed the building quickly and firefighters had no chance to save any more people - an account that locals disputed, saying fire engines took more than an hour to reach the scene.

"Don't trust anyone who says they (firemen) arrived quickly ... My wife woke me up, we went out on the street with our daughter. Flames were rising high," said a man, who was drinking an early-morning beer at a friend's garage nearby.

Asked why it caught fire, Alexander Yefimovich, an elderly man said: "Why? It's just the usual nonsense."

More than 12,000 people were killed in fires in 2011 and more than 7,700 in the first nine months of 2012 in Russia, where the per capita death rate from fires is much higher than in Western nations including the United States.

(Additional reporting by Ludmila Danilova, Maria Tsvetkova and Steve Gutterman; writing by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Timothy Heritage and Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thirty-eight-feared-dead-russian-psychiatric-hospital-fire-023237928.html

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Philips sales, earnings fall in Q1

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Royal Philips NV, the maker of lights, home appliances and health-care equipment, has reported lower first quarter earnings due to weak sales and one-time gains in the same period a year ago. The company said its underlying margins have improved due to cutting costs.

Net profit was 162 million euros ($212 million), from 183 million euros in the first quarter of 2012, when the company had 172 million in one-time gains, notably from the sale of its Senseo coffee maker brand. Companywide sales fell by 1 percent to 5.26 billion euros.

"We reiterate our view of a slow first half to 2013, due to adverse market trends, especially in Europe and the U.S.," said chief executive Frans van Houten in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/philips-sales-earnings-fall-q1-063520474--finance.html

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Few small and medium businesses in India are online: Google ...

Singapore: Just half a million of India?s nearly 40 million small and medium business enterprises (SMBs) are leveraging the low-cost online medium to expand their consumer base, a top official from search giant Google said.

?India has about 40 million small and medium businesses (SMBs) of which only around 500,000 are online. This figure needs to rise if these entities want to reach their consumers at lowest cost and raise their profits,? Google Asia Pacific President Karim Temsamani told reporters here.

Today, Internet is one of the most effective and cheapest mediums. It is the most profitable medium for SMBs which involves low advertising costs and covers as many customers as possible in the geographies of their choice, he added.

?In India, Google has helped 200,000 such SMBs realise their potential online through our programme, India Get Your Business Online,? Temsamani said.

Google?s AdWords is an advertising platform which allows enterprises to show advertisements to individuals who type in keywords related to the products or services it offers.

Representational Image. AP

More businesses in Asian economies like India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc are smaller in size compared to the Western economies and they are driving the change faster than the big companies, he said.

Commenting on the growth bottlenecks faced by SMBs in India, Temsamani said lack of infrastructure available for these businesses to have an online presence and use of advertising to enhance awareness of their offerings through the Internet, is a major issue.

?Besides, infrastructure another factor, which can be considered as a major bottleneck is that India being a country of diverse languages and dialects lacks representation of such languages on the Internet and this also restricts the growth of these businesses,? he added.

According to Indian government data, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) accounts for about 45 percent of the manufacturing output of the country and 40 percent of the total exports.

The sector is estimated to employ about 69 million people in over 26 million units across India, which offers more than 6,000 products ranging from traditional to hi-tech items.

Temsamani said low investment on mobile technology or platforms is also limiting the growth of SMBs.

?One needs to understand the fact that more and more consumers are using mobile devices. If you have a small business, then the capability these devices have will provide you with a great business advantage,? he added.

Google is trying to help SMBs strategise in context of what their customers are thinking while looking for services on the Internet and handheld devices that they use, Temsamani said.

Citing examples, he said Google has been seeing more traffic on its mobile maps services than the desktop version globally since 2011 and the mobile traffic on its video sharing site YouTube outgrew desktop access in South Korea in 2011 and in Japan a year later.

On the competition from Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook in providing similar services to SMBs, he said ?I only see this as a benefit as more users will be utilising services to expand their businesses.?

According to a report?Online and upcoming: The Internet and small business in Asia?by McKinsey, SMBs contribute about 25 percent to India?s GDP, while in the case of China it is 60 percent. In the case of exports, SMBs contribute 40 percent in India and 69 percent in China, whereas, in terms of workforce SMBs account for about 60 percent of employees in both the emerging economies, the report added.

However, the report citing 2011 data for India said that Internet adoption has reached only 10 percent of the SMBs.

?Across Asia, SMEs who use the Internet say it has helped them gain revenue and reduce costs. SMEs also reported an average 13 percent improvement in productivity from using web technologies,? the report said.

McKinsey Global Institute Senior Fellow Anu Madgavkar said Indian SMBs can generate more business leveraging the services of web technologies and this phenomenon will increase as more and more people start accessing the Internet.

?Internet users in India are expected to touch 350-450 million by 2015-16 and this will act as a catalyst in the growth of SMBs as they will find more and more of their target users online,? she added.

PTI

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/business/few-small-and-medium-businesses-in-india-are-online-google-719356.html

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4 Tips For Developing Your Personal Brand | Bella Naija

Your personal brand (i.e. what you are?recognized?as being about) is your biggest asset, whether you?re an entrepreneur or a determined woman trying to scale the career ladder. It is not enough for young Nigerian career women to just be good at what they do or to be a great personality, effective reputation management is essential to make it in the big time and avoid any damaging slurs and assumptions about how you got there.

So how do we do this?

Understand & Live the Brand
International makeup megastar Eryca Freemantle stresses the importance of developing your personal brand early and as soon as you can afford to, bringing in professionals to help you develop and project it. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the individual. However, ?Eryca Freemantle is a global brand, makeup artist to celebrities and consultant to major mainstream makeup brands. A teacher and trainer to students from across the world. I had to learn very early on what a personal brand is and what it means. I would say ultimately that at all times you should reflect your brand. Seek 3 to 4 personal brand developers to advice you accordingly. Your reputation follows you. he best will only want the best. Be the champion to your brand and your purpose.?

Be Consistent
Ronke Ige, Founder of Emi & Ben skincare says the best piece of business advice she?s ever received is ?To strive for consistency in everything from your brand?s ?tone of voice? and personality to how your company goes about its daily business.? Consistency reinforces the core values that you stand for and creates an authentic message that reinforces people?s perceptions of your personal and professional integrity.

Turn Beauty into a Business Asset
Nigeria?s leading female entrepreneurs are often glamorous and stylish women as well is being incredibly intelligent, and business savvy; unfortunately there will always be poisonous people who?ll try and use this combination against them to damage their personal brand. The key is to challenge these assumptions and make your femininity an asset, not something to be circumnavigated or hidden.

Nike Oshinowo is no stranger to controversial slurs about how her looks may have superseded her talents in achieving her incontrovertible successes as a female entrepreneur. The former beauty queen hit back at her critics with a frank interview in the April issue of TW Magazine and now leads a workshop on ?Challenging perceptions to create profit ? Translating your femininity, beauty and lifestyle into credible business ventures?.

Always Deliver on Your Brand Promise
Super successful business leader Chichi Nwoko, who brought Nigerian Idol to our shores, says ?With regards to personal branding, it is the single most important thing one has to do as an entrepreneur. One should determine the specific thing(s) that one wants to be know for as one?s brand deliverable promise at any time. While there may be circumstances beyond one?s control to deliver promptly on one?s brand promise especially, given the structural hindrances which are often prevalent in such developing countries as Nigeria, it is nevertheless crucial that one should strive not to lower one?s standards and integrity.?

Whatever you decide your personal brand is, it should be easily identifiable with the real you that your friends and family recognise. It?s a lot easier to create a consistent, authentic story when you?re projecting your best side as opposed to trying to be someone totally different.

You can meet Nike Oshinowo, Chichi Nwoko, Eryca Freemantle, Ronke Ige and many more women like them who?ve successfully created powerful personal brands at the Women in West Africa Entrepreneurship conference taking place 20-22nd June, 2013 in the Eko Hotel and Wheatbaker Hotel in Lagos. For more information visit www.wowenigeria.com.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

BellaNaija.com is partners with the Women in West Africa Entrepreneurship Conference

Tags: Chichi Nwoko, Eryca Freemantle, Nike Oshinowo, Ronke Ige, Women in West Africa Entrepreneurship, WOWe

Filed under: News & Features

Source: http://www.bellanaija.com/2013/04/22/4-tips-for-developing-your-personal-brand-all-this-more-at-the-women-in-west-africa-entrepreneurship-conference/

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New private rocket set to launch today after delays

?

NASA / Bill Ingalls

The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it launches from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Sunday.

By Tariq Malik, Space.com

A new commercial U.S. rocket soared into the Virginia sky Sunday on a debut flight that paves the way for eventual cargo flights to the International Space Station for NASA.

The third try was the charm for the?private Antares rocket, which?launched into space from a new pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, its twin engines roaring to life at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) to carry a mock cargo ship out over the Atlantic Ocean and into orbit. The successful liftoff came after two delays caused by a minor mechanical glitch and bad weather.?

Built by the Dulles, Va.- based spaceflight company Orbital Sciences, the Antares rocket is a two-stage booster designed to launch tons of supplies to the International Space Station aboard a new unmanned cargo ship called Cygnus. Orbital has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to provide at least eight resupply flights to the station using Antares and Cygnus. [See photos of Antares rocket's 1st launch]?

"Antares has delivered the A-ONE test mission payload into orbit," an Orbital Sciences commentator said. There were cheers out of Orbital's launch control room at ever successful stage of the launch, with the team breaking out in handshakes and hugs as the rocket reached orbit.?

Orbital had much riding on today's successful liftoff, which marked a critical test flight of a new commercial launch system.

The company has invested about $300 million developing the?Cygnus spacecraft?alone, slightly more in the rocket itself, Orbital executive vice president Frank Culbertson told reporters after the successful launch. The result, he added, was an amazing show with apparently no significant glitches aside from a brush fire ignited near the launch pad.

"This was a majestic liftoff during ascent," said Culbertson, who is a former NASA astronaut and Orbital's general manager for advanced programs. The Antares rocket as a low thrust to weight ratio, which means it has a slow start rising off the launch pad, he added. "It was a beautiful liftoff."

NASA chief Charles Bolden attended the launch and lauded the Orbital launch team on the successful flight.

"This is an incredibly historic day," Bolden told Orbital's team. "You couldn't have gone any farther without today. This was a first, huge step." [Launch Video: Antares Soars Into Orbit on 1st Flight]?

NASA TV

The first private Antares rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corp. launches toward space from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., on April 21, 2013. It marks the first flight test for the rocket.

Virginia's biggest rocket launch?
Antares is the largest rocket ever to launch from?NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. It lifted off from the new Pad 0A, which is at Wallops but managed by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) and overseen by the Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority. Altogether, the Commonwealth of Virginia and MARS officials spent about $140 million to build the new launch pad complex.

Today's launch was expected to be visible from locations all along the East Coast, from Maine to South Carolina, weather permitting. Orbital even released several photos advising what the rocket would look like from famous landmarks around the Capitol.?

Orbital initially tried to launch the Antares rocket on Wednesday but called off the attempt when a vital data cable separated from the rocket earlier than planned, about 12 minutes before liftoff. The company spent Thursday analyzing the glitch and opted not to try for a Friday launch due to foul weather. Strong winds forced a delay on Saturday, but Mother Nature cooperated for Sunday's launch.

In a Twitter post before launch, officials at NASA's Wallops facility reported that the site's visitor center was completely packed for today's launch, despite the delays. MARS officials hope the Orbital launches will help serve as a new source of tourism for the region.

"It's definitely something we're all excited about," Basia Shields, manager of the Lighthouse Inn on nearby Chincoteague Island, told SPACE.com before Sunday's liftoff. "I mean, this is the off season for us and almost every room is booked just for this thing."

Private space cargo ships?
Orbital Sciences?is one of two companies with NASA contracts for commercial cargo deliveries to the space station. The other firm is Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., which has a $1.6 billion deal for 12 space station cargo missions.

With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, the agency is relying on commercial companies like Orbital Sciences and?SpaceX to provide the vital resupply services ? and, eventually, crew launches ? required to keep the space station fully stocked and staffed. Before the commercial program, NASA was dependent on Russian, Japanese and European cargo ships for supplies, and it still temporarily relies on?Russian Soyuz vehicles?for crewed missions.

"This is a new way of doing business, and with any new investment, there is a risk," Alan Lindenmoyer, head of NASA's commercial crew and cargo program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, told reporters after the successful launch. "But it sure is nice to see a return on that investment and things go your way. I think this is a great day for everyone."

NASA picked Orbital Sciences as a commercial cargo partner in 2008, awarding the firm $288 million to begin developing the Cygnus spacecraft under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program.?SpaceX?won its first COTS award in 2006.

"This is the culmination of a plan that we've been on for several years," NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver told reporters before the Wednesday launch try. "I am thrilled to have two competitors."

Garver said that at least two companies providing cargo services for NASA is vital since it assures access to space and does not allow one company to have a monopoly on station cargo deliveries.

Orbital and SpaceX also offer slightly different services. Unlike SpaceX's?Dragon space capsules, which can return cargo to Earth from the station, Orbital's Cygnus vehicles are disposable and are intentionally burned up in the atmosphere at mission's end.?

NASA TV

The Earth drops away from Orbital Sciences first Antares rocket in this amazing view captured by the rocket's ATK-built second stage during a test launch on April 21, 2013.

Antares test flight success?
During the test launch, the Antares rocket launched on a southeast trajectory over the Atlantic and took 10 minutes to reach its target orbit 155 miles (250 kilometers) above Earth. The rocket carried an 8,377-pound (3,800 kilograms) dummy payload to mimic the weight of an actual Cygnus spacecraft. The mockup was packed with 70 sensors to record how the Antares rocket launch would affect a Cygnus vehicle.

"It looks like all the expectations we had for today's flight were beautifully met," Lindenmoyer said.?

The dummy module is expected to spend at least two weeks in orbit before burning up in Earth's atmosphere, Orbital officials said.

Antares also carried three?coffee cup-size Phonesat satellites?? called Alexander, Graham and Bell ? into orbit as part of a space technology experiment for NASA's Ames Research Center in California. The tiny 4-inch-wide satellites use commercial smartphones as their main computers. Another small satellite the size of a bread box, called Dove-1, also rode into orbit as part of a commercial agreement for the California-based company Cosmogia. Dove-1 is reportedly an Earth-observation and remote sensing satellite, according to a NOAA remote sensing license document.

Orbital's Antares rocket is a two-stage booster that stands 131 feet (40 meters) tall and weighs 639,341 pounds (290,000 kilograms) at liftoff.?

The first stage is powered by two Aerojet AJ26 liquid-fueled rocket engines originally developed to launch Russia's giant N-1 moon rocket in the 1960s. Today's launch marked their first flight ever from U.S. soil.? The Antares second stage is a solid-fueled motor built by Allliant Techsystems (ATK), the same company that built the twin solid rocket boosters for NASA's space shuttle launches.

NASA / Bill Ingalls

The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad-0A at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on April 16, 2013 on Wallops Island, Va.

With the test flight now complete, Orbital is now looking forward to up to two more launches this year, both of them headed to theInternational Space Station. That first cargo flight, a demonstration mission, could launch in late June or early July, Orbital officials said.

"This is not a one-shot deal," Lindenmoyer said. "They're going to be here awhile."

Culbertson said that Orbital hopes to launch Antares rockets from Wallops every three to six months for the cargo delivery flights.

Editor's note:?If you snap a great photo of Orbital's Antares rocket launch that?you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at?spacephotos@space.com.

?UPDATE:?This story was updated at 7:52 p.m. EDT to include new comments and details of today's Antares rocket launch.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him?@tariqjmalik?and?Google+.?Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on??SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013?SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

This story was originally published on Sat Apr 20, 2013 5:17 PM EDT

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Blackstone founder creates $300M China scholarship

BEIJING (AP) ? A U.S. private equity tycoon announced Sunday the establishment of a $300 million endowed scholarship program in China for students from around the world, and billed it as a rival to the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Stephen A. Schwarzman, founder of the private equity firm Blackstone, said he would give $100 million as a personal gift and raise another $200 million to endow the Schwarzman Scholars program at Beijing's Tsinghua University. It will be the largest philanthropic gift with foreign money in China's history, according to the tycoon and the university.

The Wall Street mogul said China's rapid economic growth and rising global influence would define the 21st century, as U.S. ties to Europe did to the 20th century ? when the Rhodes Scholarship was created at Oxford University with the goal of producing outstanding leaders.

"China is no longer an elective course, it's core curriculum," he said in Beijing.

By partnering with the prestigious Chinese university, Schwarzman said he hoped the educational program would train future world leaders and play a positive role in relations between China and the United States.

"For future geopolitical stability and global prosperity, we need to build a culture of greater trust and understanding between China, America and the rest of the world," he said.

Tsinghua ? known for its engineering programs but in the midst of transforming itself to be more comprehensive in academic offerings ? also has produced many of China's senior leaders, who have traditionally been technocrats. It is the alma mater for both President Xi Jinping and former President Hu Jintao.

The $300 million endowment will allow 200 students each year to take part in a one-year master's program at Tsinghua in public policy, economics and business, international relations or engineering in 2016. Schwarzman said 45 percent of the students would come from the United States, 20 percent from China and the rest from other parts of the world.

Already, $100 million has been raised in the last six months from private donors, Schwarzman said.

Both President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping sent congratulatory letters, which were read out loud at the announcement ceremony at the Great Hall of People ? China's symbolic heart of political power. "That was pretty remarkable to listen to," Schwarzman said. "That was pretty awesome."

Vice Premier Liu Yandong attended the announcement and gave a speech.

The announcement also was the top news of state-run China Central Television's evening newscast, which is typically reserved for the activities of China's top leaders.

The program's advisory board includes former world leaders such as France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Britain's Tony Blair, Canada's Brian Mulroney and Australia's Kevin Rudd. Former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice are also on the board, as is renowned cellist Yo-yo Ma.

"The board shares my belief that fostering connections between Chinese students, American students and students from around the world is a critical aspect of ensuring geopolitical stability now, and into the future," Schwarzman said.

He said the program would be jointly governed by the Schwarzman Education Foundation and Tsinghua University on matters including curriculum and faculty.

Schwarzman said he believes the program will enjoy academic freedom like any other Western educational institute and that he understands no topic will be off limits in the classrooms at the Schwarzman College, home to the program, to be built on the Tsinghua campus.

Many international corporations already have signed on as donors to the program, including BP, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Boeing, GE, JPMorgan Chase, Bloomberg Philanthropic, Caterpillar, Credit Suisse and Deloitte. International companies often give charitable gifts to cultivate ties with potential future leaders.

Tsinghua traces its roots to 1911, when the United States used the indemnity money paid by the Chinese government after an anti-foreigner rebellion to establish a preparatory school for students later sent to study in America.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackstone-founder-creates-300m-china-scholarship-073646622.html

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Sneakersnstuff x Reebok Insta Pump Fury "Legal Issues" | Hypebeast

As a part of their ongoing relationship with Reebok per the recently launched Reebok Certified Network, Swedish retailer Sneakersnstuff teamed up with the footwear giant to outfit a rendition of the Insta Pump Fury. This particular version, called the ?Legal Issues,? references a certain pop culture phenomenon that carries certain trademark barriers ? hence the name. Regardless, the brand did well to outfit the Pump Fury with plush materials around its upper, bound within a white/black leather foot-cage.?The shoe also features Sneakersnstuff branding around the heel tab.?The ?Legal Issues? Pump Fury by?Sneakersnstuff and Reebok will be released at the brand?s retail location on April 25 and online at 12:00 CET on the same day.

Source: http://hypebeast.com/2013/4/sneakersnstuff-x-reebok-insta-pump-fury-legal-issues

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Its streets deserted, an uneasy Boston perseveres

BOSTON (AP) ? The Red Sox and the Bruins both scrapped their games. The famous Quincy Market at Faneuil Hall was closed, and there were more pigeons than tourists on City Hall Plaza. Even the Starbucks at Government Center was shuttered.

The killing of one suspected Boston Marathon bomber and the manhunt for another brought life in large swaths of the notoriously gridlocked Beantown to a screeching halt for most of the day, leaving residents and tourists alike frustrated and angry.

"It took me an hour and a half to find a coffee this morning," Daniel Miller, a financier from New York, said as he wandered the desolate plaza beside a statue of patriot Samuel Adams. "I was joking with a person that I guess the strategy is we'll make this person not be able to get a coffee in the morning, and maybe they'll give up."

For Steve Parlin, who is staying at a veteran's shelter on Court Street, in the shadow of City Hall, the scene was nothing to joke about.

"Helicopters are flying over," the Gulf War-era Coast Guard veteran said as he strolled across the plaza, a bottle of water in his hand. "Everything's closed. It's creepy. Machine guns. Creepy."

Gov. Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas Menino and Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis ordered all people in the city of Boston to shelter in place. Several area colleges and universities were locked down. Commuter rail, bus and subway service were suspended, and thousands of workers were told to stay home. The restrictions were lifted about an hour before sunset.

The potential impact on businesses and the local economy was not immediately clear. Jon Hurst, President of the Massachusetts Retailers Association, said he had no estimate yet.

"Certainly it is in the tens of millions for retail and restaurants, and in hundreds of millions in lost productivity when adding in offices, etc.," he wrote in an email to the AP.

Filming for director David O. Russell's movie "American Hustle" was halted because of the manhunt and lockdown. The mayhem also interrupted Dallas couple Tom and Vy Nguyen's fifth wedding anniversary trip to the city.

The couple was hoping to visit the Museum of Fine Art, Fenway Park and several other landmarks. Instead, they were having a hard time just finding a restaurant that was open.

"I just want to eat," Tom Nguyen, 32, a health-care company analyst, said as they passed the normally raucous Big Apple Circle big top at Government Center. "I've never seen a city shut down like this for one person. . This is very bizarre for us."

One place that did not shut down was the Union Oyster House, which bills itself as "America's oldest restaurant." But it was definitely easier to find a table than during your typical lunchtime.

Several people hunched over seafood and beers around the semicircular bar, and only a few tables upstairs were occupied. Manager Troy Thissell said that didn't matter.

"The city of Boston said do the best you can do. Our choice. So we chose to open," said Thissell, who was sporting a "Boston Strong" button on his shirt. "We've always in the past. During blizzards and other things, we do open. And we're going to continue to do so.

For people accustomed to the bustle of this "big small town," the quiet was unsettling.

"We just went to get a cup of coffee, and there's no line at Dunkin' Donuts," said electrician Joe Gore, who was sipping his java on a picnic table near Rowes Wharf, where he was helping wire a new Starbucks. "So it's pretty scary quiet."

Many people seemed to understand the drastic measures. But others considered it ridiculous.

Miller recently moved to New York after spending the past five years in Israel. As the 29-year-old in the black yarmulke strolled through the city's Holocaust memorial, he couldn't help feeling that officials here were overreacting.

"You know, when Israel gets one rocket attack, let's say it injures three people," he said. "It's terrible. This event, thank God it only killed three people. And it injured a lot of people. If a rocket attack injures five people, 10 people in Israel and kills one person, we think, 'Oh, thank God it only killed one person. it didn't kill 50 people.'"

Miller understands that this kind of event is still relatively rare in the United States, and unheard of in Boston. But he said this is the kind of mayhem terrorists want, and Boston is giving it to them.

"Hopefully, Americans will realize what Israelis have to go through and have more solidarity for them and understand when they fight back and retaliate," he said. "Because that's exactly what Boston's doing today. They're going and doing everything possible in order to get this one person. The city has come to a halt in order to get this one person."

Scott Lapworth drove in from Thompson, Ct., to do a wallpapering job near the waterfront Friday morning and noticed that the commute was not nearly as hairy as usual.

"I don't think I've ever seen it so deserted down here," he said as he chewed a ham and cheese sandwich on the steps beside Faneuil Hall.

"It's unfortunate that these type of people are around, but it's not going to keep me from coming to work or going to places to eat in public or stuff," he said, munching on chips. "I'm not going to let them change MY lifestyle."

Jesse Bonelli, a video game artist who lives in locked-down Watertown, stayed inside his house and sharpened a machete ? just in case.

"It's something I usually keep hanging on the wall, but it's the only weapon I have," said Bonelli, 23. "I want to be ready in case anyone bursts into the house. After everything that happened this week, I keep wondering what's next."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Follow AP National Writer Allen G. Breed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/allengbreed . Associated Press writers William J. Kole and Carla K. Johnson also contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/streets-deserted-uneasy-boston-perseveres-193020980.html

Jordan Pruitt

Nurse pleads guilty in murder-for-hire case

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) ? A former Cleveland Clinic nurse accused of trying to hire an emergency room patient to kill a woman pleaded guilty Thursday in a murder-for-hire plot.

Andrew Martin, 23, changed his plea in federal court, admitting to a charge of using a phone to further the plot. He had been accused of using a cellphone to discuss the plan.

Authorities say Martin offered $10,000 to an ER patient to kill a woman in a dispute over ownership of her deceased brother's home.

The patient tipped off police that he had been asked by a nurse if he "ever killed anyone," investigators said.

The woman was not harmed and Martin was arrested in November and pleaded not guilty a month later. The Cleveland Clinic said that he was no longer employed there as of late December.

Martin, of Bristolville, about 50 miles east of Cleveland, also admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and trying to obtain private medical records.

He is due to be sentenced July 18 and faces 7 to 9 years in prison.

In court documents filed Thursday, prosecutors said Martin and another man began plotting in October 2011 to take ownership of a home that had belonged to an elderly former patient at the hospital where Martin worked. The patient died in late 2010.

Martin used his position there to access that patient's medical records so the other man could claim to have had a personal relationship with him, prosecutors said.

They created a fake deed and claimed ownership of the home, prosecutors said.

According to a federal affidavit, the home was owned by George Warehime, who died at age 83 after years of decline. The administrator of his estate, Warehime's sister, Joy Comey, put his house up for sale and lined up a buyer.

She visited the home in November 2011 and found Martin and the other man, who wasn't charged in the murder plot. They claimed her brother had deeded the house to them nine months earlier without cost.

Comey said her brother never mentioned giving up his home in Lakewood, minutes from Cleveland.

A yearlong ownership fight began in probate court. A judge eventually sided with Comey and voided a backdated deed. Comey argued that the two men took advantage of her brother, who had memory loss and dementia.

Irritated that "this 70-year-old lady ... has been trying to mess up my life," Martin approached an ER patient who "looked like a big guy," according to the federal affidavit.

"Ever hurt anyone?" Martin asked the man, according to authorities.

Martin offered him $10,000 to kill Comey, authorities said. Martin described her and her car and provided her address, prosecutors say.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-nurse-pleads-guilty-murder-hire-case-165001942.html

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Jeter suffers another setback

UPDATE: General manager Brian Cashman announced that a CT scan revealed a ?small crack? near Jeter?s previous injury and the Yankees expect him to miss the entire first half. As of now he won?t need an additional surgery, but according to Cashman there is no timetable for Jeter?s return.

Unless they start shopping for a trade the Yankees will be leaning heavily on Eduardo Nunez.

==========

It sounds like the latest setback for Derek Jeter?s recovery from a broken ankle may be a serious one, as Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports that he ?made an unscheduled trip to Charlotte to see his ankle surgeon.?

No official details yet, but Feinsand speculates that it ?doesn?t sound like good news? and when asked if the visit stemmed from something that happened during Jeter?s workout Wednesday manager Joe Girardi replied: ?Put two and two together.?

Jeter?s return timetable has been pushed back several times and as of yesterday the spin in New York was that he might be working too hard.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/18/derek-jeter-makes-unscheduled-trip-to-see-ankle-surgeon/related/

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Air France and KLM add Scotland flights | Buying Business Travel

Sister airlines Air France and KLM are increasing their flights from Scotland this summer with extra services from Edinburgh and Glasgow.

KLM is adding a sixth daily flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam and also a fifth daily frequency from Glasgow to the Dutch city.

Air France meanwhile is introducing an extra daily flight from Edinburgh to Paris ? taking the total to four per day.

Henri Hourcade, Air France-KLM's UK and Ireland general manager, said: ?These additional frequencies will give travellers even greater flexibility and choice of medium and long-haul destinations, as well as helping to improve the standing of the Scottish regions on the world stage.?

airfrance.co.uk

klm.com

?

Source: http://buyingbusinesstravel.com/news/1720601-air-france-and-klm-add-scotland-flights

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Why woodchucks don't upchuck

Jason Cohn / Reuters file

You've never seen Punxsutawney Phil toss his cookies while predicting how much winter is coming, have you?

By Charles Choi
LiveScience

Rodents don't puke, and now researchers understand why. They apparently lack both the brains and bodies for vomiting. ?

Future research could help lead to better anti-vomiting therapies for patients with cancer and other disorders, scientists added.

Rodents make up about 40 percent of all mammal species. Many rodents are small and have fast rates of growth and reproduction, making them useful in lab experiments, and mice and rats are commonly used by scientists to learn more about human medicine.

Curiously, lab rats and mice appear to have one-way digestive systems: They don't throw up. This can make it difficult to see when they get sick from something they have eaten or medicine they have taken.

"They don't serve as good animal models for studies that we'd want to do to help alleviate nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy for cancer, or after surgical operations," said researcher Charles Horn, a neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. [5 Foul Things That Are Good For You]

No upchucking here
To see if all rodents cannot vomit, Horn and his colleagues analyzed members of all three major groups of rodents ? the mouse-related rodents, such as mice, rats, voles and beavers; the squirrel-related rodents, such as mountain beavers; and the Ctenohystrica, such as guinea pigs and nutria. Chemicals known to cause vomiting failed to produce either retching or vomiting in any of these species.

"Lack of vomiting appears to be a general property among rodents, not something specific to just the rodents we use in laboratory research," Horn told LiveScience.

To see why rodents cannot vomit, Horn and his colleagues analyzed their anatomy. They found rodents had bodily constraints that would limit how much they could vomit even if they could attempt it. This included reduced muscularity of the diaphragm, the thin sheet of muscle underneath the lungs, as well as a stomach that is not structured well for moving contents up the throat.

The researchers also investigated the brainstems of lab mice and rats. When given compounds that normally trigger nausea in other animals, the researchers saw less nerve, mouth, throat and shoulder activity normally linked with vomiting. This suggests they lack the brain circuits for throwing up.

Why not vomit?
Rodents are unusual, as the vomiting reflex is widespread among mammals, seen in cats, dogs and primates. Horn suggests rodents may have lost the capability to vomit because they evolved other defensive strategies to replace it. For instance, rodent responses to taste may make them better at avoiding toxins that can sicken or kill them. Rodents also eat clay when sick, which apparently can latch onto dangerous materials and keep their bodies from absorbing them, he said.

Horn and his colleagues are currently studying vomiting using musk shrews, which are mouse-size insect-eating creatures that are not rodents and can vomit. By comparing rodents with animals that can throw up, scientists might be able to isolate the brain circuits underlying vomiting and nausea.

"This could help lead to breakthroughs to help lessen nausea and vomiting in cancer patients and surgical patients," Horn said.

The scientists detailed their findings online April 10 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2acc515e/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C160C177827630Ewhy0Ewoodchucks0Edont0Eupchuck0Dlite/story01.htm

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New Zealand lawmakers approve gay-marriage bill

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? Hundreds of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated at New Zealand's Parliament Wednesday night as the country become the 13th in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage.

Lawmakers voted 77 to 44 in favor of the gay-marriage bill on its third and final reading.

People watching from the public gallery and some lawmakers immediately broke into song after the result was announced, singing the New Zealand love song "Pokarekare Ana" in the indigenous Maori language.

"For us, we can now feel equal to everyone else," said Tania Penafiel Bermudez, a bank teller who said she already considers herself married to partner Sonja Fry but now can get a certificate to prove it. "This means we can feel safe and fair and right in calling each other wife and wife."

In one of several speeches that ended in a standing ovation, bill sponsor Louisa Wall told lawmakers the change was "our road toward healing."

"In our society, the meaning of marriage is universal ? it's a declaration of love and commitment to a special person," she said. She added that "nothing could make me more proud to be a New Zealander than passing this bill."

Lawmakers from most political parties were encouraged by their leaders to vote as their conscience dictated rather than along party lines. Although Wall is from the opposition Labour Party, the bill also was supported by center-right Prime Minister John Key.

"In my view, marriage is a very personal thing between two individuals," Key said. "And, in the end, this is part of equality in modern-day New Zealand."

Since 2005, New Zealand has allowed civil unions, which confer many legal rights to gay couples. The new law will allow gay couples to jointly adopt children for the first time and will also allow their marriages to be recognized in other countries. The law will take effect in late August.

"This is really, really huge," said Jills Angus Burney, a lawyer who drove about 90 minutes to Parliament to watch the vote with her partner, Deborah Hambly, who had flown in from farther afield. "It's really important to me. It's just unbelievable."

Burney, a Presbyterian, said she and Hambly want to celebrate with a big, traditional wedding as soon as possible.

The change in New Zealand could put pressure on some of its neighbors to consider changing their laws. In Australia, there has been little political momentum for a change at a federal level and Prime Minister Julia Gillard has expressed her opposition to same-sex marriage. Some Australian states, however, are considering gay-marriage legislation.

Rodney Croome, the national director for the lobbying group Australian Marriage Equality, said that since Friday, 1,000 people had signed an online survey saying they would travel to New Zealand to wed, though same-sex marriages would not be recognized under current Australian law.

"There's this really big, pent-up demand for this in Australia," Croome said. "New Zealand is just a three-hour plane ride away, and many couples are going to go to New Zealand to marry. They are just so sick and tired of waiting for the government to act. I think it's going to spark this big tourism boom."

Many people in New Zealand remain vehemently opposed to gay marriage. The lobbying group Family First last year presented a petition to Parliament signed by 50,000 people who opposed the bill. Another 25,000 people have since added their signatures to that petition.

"Historically and culturally, marriage is about man and a woman, and it shouldn't be touched," said Family First founder Bob McCoskrie. "It doesn't need to be."

McCoskrie said same-sex marriage should have been put to a public referendum rather than a parliamentary vote. That might not have changed the outcome, however: Surveys indicate that about two-thirds of New Zealanders favor gay marriage.

The change was given impetus last May when U.S. President Barack Obama declared his support for gay marriage. That prompted Prime Minister Key to break his silence on the issue by saying he was "not personally opposed" to the idea. Wall then put forward the bill, which she had previously drafted.

Same-sex marriage is recognized in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina and Denmark. Lawmakers in Uruguay approved a law last week that President Jose Mujica is expected to sign. Nine states in the U.S. also recognize such marriages, but the federal government does not.

In his speech before Wednesday's vote, lawmaker Tau Henare extended a greeting to people of all sexual identities and concluded with a traditional greeting in his indigenous Maori.

"My message to you all is, 'Welcome to the mainstream,'" Henare said. "Do well. Kia Ora."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-17-New%20Zealand-Gay%20Marriage/id-dc65a94659b444c5b325e03e3184ce31

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Karlie Kloss' MTV Movie Awards Red-Carpet Gig, In Her Own Words

'It was fun to interview Snoop — how many people get to do that?' supermodel says of her first time as pre-show correspondent.
By Karlie Kloss

Karlie Kloss at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/ FilmMagic

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705668/karlie-kloss-red-carpet-movie-awards.jhtml

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Ordinary skin cells morphed into functional brain cells

Apr. 14, 2013 ? Researchers at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have discovered a technique that directly converts skin cells to the type of brain cells destroyed in patients with multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and other so-called myelin disorders.

This discovery appears today in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

This breakthrough now enables "on demand" production of myelinating cells, which provide a vital sheath of insulation that protects neurons and enables the delivery of brain impulses to the rest of the body. In patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy (CP), and rare genetic disorders called leukodystrophies, myelinating cells are destroyed and cannot be replaced.

The new technique involves directly converting fibroblasts -- an abundant structural cell present in the skin and most organs -- into oligodendrocytes, the type of cell responsible for myelinating the neurons of the brain.

"Its 'cellular alchemy,'" explained Paul Tesar, PhD, assistant professor of genetics and genome sciences at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and senior author of the study. "We are taking a readily accessible and abundant cell and completely switching its identity to become a highly valuable cell for therapy."

In a process termed "cellular reprogramming," researchers manipulated the levels of three naturally occurring proteins to induce fibroblast cells to become precursors to oligodendrocytes (called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, or OPCs).

Tesar's team, led by Case Western Reserve researchers and co-first authors Fadi Najm and Angela Lager, rapidly generated billions of these induced OPCs (called iOPCs). Even more important, they showed that iOPCs could regenerate new myelin coatings around nerves after being transplanted to mice -- a result that offers hope the technique might be used to treat human myelin disorders.

When oligodendrocytes are damaged or become dysfunctional in myelinating diseases, the insulating myelin coating that normally coats nerves is lost. A cure requires the myelin coating to be regenerated by replacement oligodendrocytes.

Until now, OPCs and oligodendrocytes could only be obtained from fetal tissue or pluripotent stem cells. These techniques have been valuable, but with limitations. "The myelin repair field has been hampered by an inability to rapidly generate safe and effective sources of functional oligodendrocytes," explained co-author and myelin expert Robert Miller, PhD, professor of neurosciences at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and the university's vice president for research. "The new technique may overcome all of these issues by providing a rapid and streamlined way to directly generate functional myelin producing cells."

This initial study used mouse cells. The critical next step is to demonstrate feasibility and safety using human cells in a lab setting. If successful, the technique could have widespread therapeutic application to human myelin disorders. "The progression of stem cell biology is providing opportunities for clinical translation that a decade ago would not have been possible," said Stanton Gerson, MD, professor of Medicine-Hematology/Oncology at the School of Medicine and director of the National Center for Regenerative Medicine and the UH Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center. "It is a real breakthrough."

Additional co-authors of the publication include Case Western Reserve School of Medicine researchers Anita Zaremba, Krysta Wyatt, Andrew Caprariello, Daniel Factor, Robert Karl, and Tadao Maeda.

The research was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Case Western Reserve University, via Newswise.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Fadi J Najm, Angela M Lager, Anita Zaremba, Krysta Wyatt, Andrew V Caprariello, Daniel C Factor, Robert T Karl, Tadao Maeda, Robert H Miller, Paul J Tesar. Transcription factor?mediated reprogramming of fibroblasts to expandable, myelinogenic oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. Nature Biotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2561

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/aD-E-BbZdCA/130414193143.htm

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Off-duty fireman saves man who sawed arms

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Fire Capt. Art Hurtado was making an off-duty visit to a home improvement store when he encountered a horrific sight ? a man had deliberately cut his own arms to the bone with handsaws.

As others screamed, the veteran paramedic used materials from store shelves to stanch the bleeding.

"I kind of MacGyver-ed it," Hurtado said Thursday, referring to the old TV drama about a secret agent who used whatever materials he could find to solve problems.

The incident occurred Wednesday inside a Home Depot store in West Covina, a suburb east of Los Angeles.

The victim of the self-mutilation remained hospitalized in critical condition as investigators tried to determine why he hurt himself.

The man, whose name wasn't released, underwent surgery and was in intensive care, West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez said.

"He's still not speaking," Lopez said. "We don't know anything about his history, motive, concerns at this point."

Police said the man had grabbed several small saws, including one meant to cut drywall.

Hurtado, 51, who works for the Pasadena Fire Department, had stopped by the store with his wife to pick up material to replace the trim on his daughter's house.

He noticed police cars as he arrived. When officers pulled on medical gloves, Hurtado followed them into the store.

"It's just mayhem in there," he recalled. 'Somebody's screaming in there as they're approaching the door that there's blood everywhere."

Hurtado saw blood in several aisles and people running around hysterically.

He walked down an aisle and saw police officers next to a man lying face down in a pool of blood.

"It looks like a crime scene to me, a dead body," he said. "There's splatter everywhere, I'd say another 50, 75 feet of blood."

Hurtado told the store manager that he was a paramedic, and he was allowed to move in. He and the officers flipped the man over. He was barely breathing and had no neck pulse.

Hurtado knew he had to do something.

"I'm not on duty, I don't have all the equipment that I normally have," he said.

The 21-year veteran called for quarter-inch rope and said he would have used his shoelaces if none was available. Somebody grabbed a package of rope from a store shelf. Hurtado had a police officer cut 24-inch sections and he used it and shop towels to make a tourniquet for one arm.

The man started to come around, moaning, and arriving West Covina paramedics took over.

Hurtado, who was working without protective gloves, cleaned up with hand sanitizer.

He said the man had cut through nerves, tendons and arteries to the bone above both elbows. Without fast medical help, he could have died, Hurtado said.

"It's just things you do instinctively. I'm here to serve," he said. "Any one of my brothers and sisters in the department would have done the same thing."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/off-duty-paramedic-rescues-man-sawed-arms-215329180.html

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Posthumous Medal of Honor awarded to Korean War POW (cbsnews)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/298424655?client_source=feed&format=rss

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3 Calif. teens arrested for assault after girl's suicide

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? Eight days after allegedly being sexually battered while passed out at a party, and then humiliated by online photos of the assault, 15-year-old Audrie Pott posted on Facebook that her life was ruined, "worst day ever," and hanged herself.

For the next eight months, her family struggled to figure out what happened to their soccer loving, artistic, horse crazy daughter, whose gentle smile, long dark hair and shining eyes did not bely a struggling soul.

And then on Thursday, seven months after the tragedy, a Northern California sheriff's office arrested three 16-year-old boys on charges of sexual battery.

"The family has been trying to understand why their loving daughter would have taken her life at such a young age and to make sure that those responsible would be held accountable," said family attorney Robert Allard.

"After an extensive investigation that we have conducted on behalf of the family, there is no doubt in our minds that the victim, then only 15 years old, was savagely assaulted by her fellow high school students while she lay on a bed completely unconscious."

Allard said students used cell phones to share photos of the attack, and that the images went viral.

Santa Clara County Sheriff's Lt. Jose Cardoza said it arrested two of the teens at Saratoga High School and the third, a former Saratoga High student, at Christopher High School in Gilroy on Thursday. The names of the suspects were not released because they are minors.

Cardoza said the suspects were booked into juvenile hall and face two felonies and one misdemeanor each, all related to sexual battery that allegedly occurred at a Saratoga house party.

The lieutenant said the arrests were the result of information gathered by his agency's Saratoga High School resource officers. He said the investigation is ongoing, and Los Gatos police also continue looking into the girl's September suicide.

The Associated Press does not, as a rule, identify victims of sexual assault. But in this case, Pott's family wanted her name and case known, Allard said. The family also provided a photo to the AP.

The girl's family members did not comment and have requested privacy until a planned news conference Tuesday. Her father and step-mother Lawrence and Lisa Pott, along with her mother Sheila Pott, have started the Audrie Pott Foundation (audriepottfoundation.com) to provide music and art scholarships and offer youth counseling and support.

The foundation website alludes to the teen's struggles, but until now neither law enforcement, school officials nor family have discussed the sexual battery.

"She was compassionate about life, her friends, her family, and would never do anything to harm anyone," the site says. "She was in the process of developing the ability to cope with the cruelty of this world but had not quite figured it all out.

"Ultimately, she had not yet acquired the antibiotics to deal with the challenges present for teens in today's society."

On the day Pott died, Saratoga High School principal Paul Robinson announced her death, stunning classmates. Two days later other students and staff wore her favorite color, teal, in her honor.

Robinson wasn't immediately available for comment Thursday.

The Pott family is not alone.

In Canada on Thursday, authorities said they are looking further into the case of a teenage girl who hanged herself Sunday after an alleged rape and months of bullying. A photo said to be of the 2011 assault on 17-year-old Rehtaeh Parsons was shared online.

No charges initially were filed against four teenage boys being investigated. But after an outcry, Nova Scotia's justice minister appointed four government departments to look into Parsons' case.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/3-teens-arrested-assault-girls-suicide-024221519.html

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Unprofitable families to be privatised

Families will get the option of disappearing into the wilderness

Following government concerns that poorly-run family units are a burden on the taxpayer, underperforming households are to be managed by private firms.

Iain Duncan-Smith said: ?The problem with most families is that they?ve only ever run one household, whereas companies like ?Excelsior Families? or ?Northern Family Units? are experts in the field.

A spokesman for Northern Family Units said: ?Even the most feckless family has a number of possible revenue streams. For example, we charge relatives for visiting rights.

?You set up a little box office in the kitchen and? sell the grandparents ?15 ?visiting wristbands? with the option of buying overpriced grab bags of Starburst for the little ones.

?When the grandparents sadly die, you pack the family off into a van and tour them as an itinerant circus act, or quasi-Victorian chimney sweeps.

?There are plenty of chimneys out there with no children to fill them.?

Labour?s Harriet Harman said: ?We would follow the same policy, but rather than grinning like sadistic ghouls we would do it with sad faces.?

Source: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/unprofitable-families-to-be-privatised-2013040865005

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O2, Three UK to offer Sony Xperia SP

Latest Sony mid-ranger "coming soon" to Three, O2 launch expected this month

Data-friendly mobile operators O2 and Three have announced that they'll range the Sony Xperia SP. Though there's no release date on Three just yet, O2 says it expects to launch the SP sometime this month.

The Xperia SP follows Sony's high-end Xperia Z onto the market, but also borrows design elements from some of Sony's 2012 handsets, including the illuminable "transparent element" below the screen. Notable specs include a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, a 720p "HD Reality" display and an 8-megapixel Exmor RS rear shooter.

There's no on-contract pricing available yet, but with SIM-free prices emerging at around £300, we imagine both networks will have plans which offer a free Xperia SP on contract.

Source: O2, Three

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/6QZoQRAH7dQ/story01.htm

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