Thursday, July 5, 2012

Van Persie turns down new Arsenal deal

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/van-persie-turns-down-arsenal-deal-175811734--sow.html

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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy July 4 From THG: Remember, Safety First!


Happy Birthday America! July 4 is upon us again, and that means you all should take a moment and remember basic fireworks safety precautions ... then go make sure your camera's battery is charged so you can immortalize your friends' idiocy.

In 2010 alone, there were 15,500 reported fires caused by fireworks, 8,600 related emergency room visits, and $36 million in property damage.

Much of which appears in the montage below. U-S-A! U-S-A!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/07/happy-july-4-from-thg-remember-safety-first/

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Former astronaut Poindexter dies in watercraft accident

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Tue Jul 3, 2012 3:35am EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Alan Poindexter, a two-time space shuttle astronaut, has died after a personal watercraft accident in Pensacola, Florida, NASA said on Monday.

Poindexter, 50, was riding WaveRunners with his two sons in Little Sabine Bay at Pensacola Beach on Sunday when the accident occurred, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

Poindexter and his 22-year-old son Samuel were riding on one WaveRunner and his older son, 26-year-old Zachary, was on another, spokesman Stan Kirkland said.

"They stopped and apparently Zachary did not see them stop," Kirkland said. "He struck the right rear or the right stern of their personal watercraft. His watercraft went up and apparently struck Captain Poindexter in the back. Both Captain Poindexter and Samuel were ejected."

The former astronaut was pulled from the water and taken to the beach where friends attempted to revive him. He was flown by helicopter to Baptist Hospital where he died from his injuries, Kirkland said.

Poindexter's sons were not injured. All three men were wearing life jackets as required by law, Kirkland said.

"It's technically still under investigation until our report is completed," he said, but added that investigators were satisfied it was an accident and considered it "a terrible tragedy."

Poindexter is the son of former U.S. National Security Adviser John Poindexter, who served in the Reagan administration.

Poindexter, who went by the nickname "Dex," made two space flights during his career with NASA. In February 2008, he was the pilot aboard the shuttle Atlantis on a mission to deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module to the International Space Station.

Poindexter returned to space in April 2010 as commander of the shuttle Discovery on one of the final cargo runs to the station before the shuttles were retired.

?"The NASA family was sad to learn of the passing of our former friend and colleague Alan Poindexter," NASA wrote in a Facebook post. ?"Our thought and hearts are with his family."

?"He was a talented, courageous Navy veteran with gifts," astronaut Greg Johnson wrote on Twitter. "?Dex was a lovable guy with a strong work ethic."

A captain in the U.S. Navy, Poindexter left NASA in December 2010 to become dean of students at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He earned a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the school in 1995.

Poindexter was born in 1961 in Pasadena, California, but considered Rockville, Maryland, to be his hometown. He earned a bachelor of aerospace engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, then was commissioned in the Navy.

Poindexter flew combat missions in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch, then became a test pilot. He logged more than 4,000 hours flying time in more than 30 types of aircraft.

He was selected to join NASA's astronaut corps in June 1998. His wife Lisa is from Gulf Breeze, Florida, near where the accident occurred.

(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/bXR-2obYPbE/us-usa-astronaut-poindexter-idUSBRE8610W220120703

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What the frack? N.C. lawmaker accidentally votes to legalize fracking

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/fracking-lawmaker-accidentally-votes-legalize-carolina-183007231.html

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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Anderson Cooper: ?The fact is, I?m gay?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/anderson-cooper-gay-comes-154527163--finance.html

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Obama, Romney volunteers hope to make a difference

In this photo taken June 28, 2012, President Barack Obama 2012 volunteers have a meeting at campaign headquarters in Richmond, Va. Call them passionate, idealistic, earnest, even a tad naive: The volunteers helping to power the Obama and Romney campaigns are outliers at a time when polls show record low public satisfaction with government and a growing belief that Washington isn?t on their side. While motivated by opposing goals, the Obama and Romney volunteers share at least one key trait: an abiding faith in the political process and a belief that it still matters who occupies the White House. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this photo taken June 28, 2012, President Barack Obama 2012 volunteers have a meeting at campaign headquarters in Richmond, Va. Call them passionate, idealistic, earnest, even a tad naive: The volunteers helping to power the Obama and Romney campaigns are outliers at a time when polls show record low public satisfaction with government and a growing belief that Washington isn?t on their side. While motivated by opposing goals, the Obama and Romney volunteers share at least one key trait: an abiding faith in the political process and a belief that it still matters who occupies the White House. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this photo taken June 28, 2012, a Barack Obama Superman cutout looks over volunteers as the work the phones at a call center for the campaign in Richmond, Va. Call them passionate, idealistic, earnest, even a tad naive: The volunteers helping to power the Obama and Romney campaigns are outliers at a time when polls show record low public satisfaction with government and a growing belief that Washington isn?t on their side. While motivated by opposing goals, the Obama and Romney volunteers share at least one key trait: an abiding faith in the political process and a belief that it still matters who occupies the White House. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this photo taken June 28, 2012, President Barack Obama 2012 volunteers Liesa Collins, left, and Mindy Bertram, enter data as they work at a call center for the campaign in Richmond, Va. Call them passionate, idealistic, earnest, even a tad naive: The volunteers helping to power the Obama and Romney campaigns are outliers at a time when polls show record low public satisfaction with government and a growing belief that Washington isn?t on their side. While motivated by opposing goals, the Obama and Romney volunteers share at least one key trait: an abiding faith in the political process and a belief that it still matters who occupies the White House. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this photo taken June 29, 2012, Geoffrey Tanner, 19, of Herndon, Va., center, and other volunteers make phone calls at the Romney Victory Office in Fairfax, Va. Call them passionate, idealistic, earnest, even a tad naive: The volunteers helping to power the Obama and Romney campaigns are outliers at a time when polls show record low public satisfaction with government and a growing belief that Washington isn?t on their side. While motivated by opposing goals, the Obama and Romney volunteers share at least one key trait: an abiding faith in the political process and a belief that it still matters who occupies the White House. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In this photo taken June 29, 2012, Matthew Gagnon volunteers working on a Facebook page for the Romney Victory Office in Fairfax, Va. Call them passionate, idealistic, earnest, even a tad naive: The volunteers helping to power the Obama and Romney campaigns are outliers at a time when polls show record low public satisfaction with government and a growing belief that Washington isn?t on their side. While motivated by opposing goals, the Obama and Romney volunteers share at least one key trait: an abiding faith in the political process and a belief that it still matters who occupies the White House. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(AP) ? Re-electing President Barack Obama is so important to Guy Hancock that he spends more time as a volunteer data collector at Obama's campaign headquarters here than at his paying job as a college professor.

"He's had a hard time with a lot of things that weren't under his control but I think he's done a great job," said Hancock, 63. "I've never actually volunteered or been part of a campaign before, but I think it's really important this year."

Ousting Obama drives Karen Chew to spend hours in Fairfax County, Virginia, volunteering for Republican Mitt Romney. An Iraq war veteran forced into bankruptcy after losing her job as a paralegal, Chew said a new president is needed to help people like her who are struggling against the weak economy.

"I know every day what people are going through as far as the discouragement from hitting walls upon walls upon walls. I'm living proof of it," said Chew, 42. "If I can do something to push the country forward by helping Mitt Romney out, then I'm going to be here making phone calls."

Call them passionate, idealistic, earnest, even a tad naive: The volunteers helping to power the Obama and Romney campaigns are outliers at a time when polls show record low public satisfaction with government and a growing belief that Washington isn't on their side. While motivated by opposing goals, the volunteers have at least one thing in common: an abiding faith in the political process and a belief that who occupies the White House still matters.

Surveys, however, show that many voters don't share that optimism.

An Associated Press-GfK poll taken in June found less than half of adults say the outcome of the Nov. 6 election will make a great deal or a lot of difference on three key issues: the economy, unemployment and the federal budget deficit.

Yet the volunteers soldier on.

"My best friend's father gave me grief for coming here today," said Liesa Collins, a Virginia Commonwealth University freshman volunteering at Obama campaign headquarters in Richmond, Va. "I grew up in a community that's way more rich people, the Republican side of things. So it's nice to be here at this office and making a difference."

Both sides rely heavily on volunteer labor even as spending on high-priced staples like TV ads, polling and consultants keeps rising. Indeed, many of a campaign's most labor intensive tasks ? from staffing offices and making telephone calls to knocking on doors and registering voters ? are done by volunteers.

In Ohio, the Romney campaign plans a "Buckeye Blitz" on Saturday aimed at getting volunteers to knock on 30,000 doors in a single day. Two high-profile Romney supporters, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, recently gave a pep talk to grass-roots leaders in the state stressing the importance of volunteer efforts.

"We're a little bit behind the Obama people" in terms of on-the-ground organizing, Portman said. "But we're catching up fast," he assured the volunteers. "We have a lot of momentum on our side."

Both campaigns said they didn't know how many volunteers work for them. But each side often tries to discredit the other's volunteer programs, particularly in battleground states like Florida and Virginia that are likely to help decide the election.

The rival camps also bicker over who has the most intense volunteer corps.

"Volunteers are coming out of the woodwork," said Rich Beeson, Romney's political director. "It's not just your normal Republican base volunteers. It's a lot of new people who haven't been involved in politics before. We'll take anyone who wants to replace this president."

Obama's 2008 campaign set an unprecedented standard for grass-roots involvement, creating MyBarackObama.com ? an online platform to harness volunteer energy ? and attracting an army of volunteers by casting his candidacy as a cause. "This election is not about me, it's about you," Obama told audiences then, often to thunderous applause.

After he was elected, supporters tried to channel that volunteer energy into Organizing for America, a grass-roots effort run by the Democratic National Committee to mobilize support for Obama's policies. But the group never quite made good on its promise to develop a ground-level strategy for pushing his priorities as president.

Today, even the most ardent Obama backers acknowledge that incumbency and a limping economy have caused excitement about his re-election effort to ebb. Obama has acknowledged it himself, saying the campaign this year isn't as "sexy" as it was four years ago.

First lady Michelle Obama tried to rekindle a sense of mission on a recent visit to Dale City, Va., where she implored volunteers to give it their all.

"Making all those phone calls, registering voters, giving people the information they need on issues they care about ? that work is at the core of everything we do," she said. "It's not just that we support one extraordinary man ... we are doing it because of the values and the vision for the country we all share."

The sense of shared values brought Costa Rica native Gina Bonewit into the Obama campaign office in St. Petersburg, where she said she now spends 15 hours a week making phone calls.

"The president has done a good job trying to rebuild. That's what guides me here," said Bonewit, 37, pointing to Obama's health care law and support for equal pay for women as reasons she continues to volunteer.

Obama's recently announced support for gay marriage helped motivate Mindy Bertram to get involved. The 19-year old Virginia Wesleyan College sophomore said she expected young people to back the president as forcefully as they did in 2008, when Obama won two-thirds of voters under age 30.

"I feel strongly about this campaign, especially as a young voter," Bertram said. "I believe Barack Obama is fighting for middle-class families and for everyone to have opportunities."

Not surprisingly, Romney's supporters express far different views of the president when describing their decisions to volunteer.

Matt Gagnon, who said he spends 20 hours a week doing digital work for the Virginia Republican Victory Fund, said concern about the economy and his 5-year old son's future led him to volunteer.

"I don't believe the president has any capability of managing the economy in any way, shape or form," said Gagnon, 31. "Gov. Romney has a good handle on it. The contrast is pretty strong."

In St. Petersburg, Fla., retired web designer Dorine McKinnon said she spends two days a week volunteering for Romney because she is frightened by Obama and Democratic leaders. She believes they are hostile to business.

"They don't seem to understand that when businesses make money, the employees of that business make money," said McKinnon, 59. She said: "Obama says things are getting better. But that's not what I'm seeing."

___

AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington and Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in St. Paul, Minn., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-03-Presidential%20Campaign-Volunteers/id-abf0f616512f4b27b4abc0a285cde32c

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Quantum computing, no cooling required: Room-temperature quantum bits store data for nearly two seconds

ScienceDaily (July 3, 2012) ? It's a challenge that's long been one of the holy grails of quantum computing: how to create the key building blocks known as quantum bits, or qubits, that exist in a solid-state system at room temperature.

Most current systems, by comparison, rely on complex and expensive equipment designed to trap a single atom or electron in a vacuum and then cool the entire system to close to absolute zero.

A group of Harvard scientists, led by Professor of Physics Mikhail Lukin and including graduate students Georg Kucsko and Peter Maurer and postdoctoral researcher Christian Latta, say they've cracked the problem, and they did it by turning to one of the purest materials on Earth: diamonds.

Using a pair of impurities in ultra-pure, laboratory-grown diamonds, the researchers were able to create quantum bits and store information in them for nearly two seconds, an increase of nearly six orders of magnitude over the life span of earlier systems. The work, described in the June 8 issue of Science, is a critical first step in the eventual construction of a functional quantum computer, and has a host of other potential applications.

"What we've been able to achieve in terms of control is quite unprecedented," Lukin said. "We have a qubit, at room temperature, that we can measure with very high efficiency and fidelity. We can encode data in it, and we can store it for a relatively long time. We believe this work is limited only by technical issues, so it looks feasible to increase the life span into the range of hours. At that point, a host of real-world applications become possible."

In addition to a practical quantum computer, Lukin envisions the system being used in applications that include "quantum cash" (a payment system for bank transactions and credit cards that relies on the coding of quantum bits to thwart counterfeiters) and quantum networks (a highly secure communications method that uses quantum bits to transmit data).

"This research is an important step forward in research toward one day building a practical quantum computer," said Kucsko, who works in Lukin's lab and is one of two first authors of the paper. "For the first time, we have a system that has a reasonable timescale for memory and simplicity, so this is now something we can pursue."

The groundwork for Lukin's breakthrough was laid several years ago, when researchers discovered that nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, atomic-scale impurities in lab-grown diamonds, behave in the same way as single atoms. Like individual atoms, each center possesses a spin, which can be polarized, similar to on a bar magnet. Using lasers, researchers are able not only to control the spin, but to detect its orientation as it changes over time.

But the idea of using the NV centers to form the backbone of a quantum computer simply wasn't practical, largely because they can only hold data for about one-millionth of a second before their quantum properties -- and any data they may have held -- are lost.

The culprit, Lukin said, was another impurity in the diamond crystal.

In initial experiments, the team used diamonds that contained 99 percent carbon-12 atoms, which have no spin. The remainder, however, was made up of carbon-13 atoms, a tricky isotope that contains a spin in the atom's nucleus. Though weak, the interaction with those spins was causing the NV centers' short life spans.

With this latest research, however, Lukin and his team turned what was once a challenge -- the interaction between the NV center and carbon-13 atoms? -- to their advantage.

"The nuclear spin of the carbon-13 makes an ideal quantum bit, because they are very isolated," Lukin said. "Because they interact with so few outside forces, they have relatively long coherence times. Of course, the same properties that make them ideal qubits also make them difficult to measure and manipulate."

The solution Lukin and his team came up with was surprisingly elegant. Rather than trying to find a way to measure the spin of the carbon atoms, they used the NV center to do it for them.

Working with researchers at Element Six, a British-based company that specializes in manufacturing artificial diamonds, they developed a new technique to create crystals that were even more pure: 99.99 percent carbon-12. Researchers then bombard the crystal with nitrogen to create the NV center, which interacts with a nearby carbon-13 atom.

The result of that interaction is that the NV center mirrors the state of the carbon atom, meaning researchers can encode a bit of information into the spin of the atom, then "read" that data by monitoring the NV center.

"The system we've developed uses this very local probe, the NV center, to allow us to monitor that spin," Lukin said. "As a result, for the first time, we can encode a bit of information into that spin, and use this system to read it out."

However, encoding information into the spin of the carbon-13 atom and reading it out using the NV center is only a step on the road to a quantum computer. To truly be useful, researchers had to determine how to take advantage of the atom's quantum properties -- that is, its ability to occupy two states simultaneously.

That ability to be in two states at the same time is a key principle of quantum computers. As opposed to traditional computers, which encode bits of information as either zero or one, quantum computers rely on atomic-scale quantum mechanics to give quantum bits both values at once. That property, in theory, allows quantum computers to perform multiple computations in parallel, making them vastly more powerful than traditional computers, which perform operations in sequence.

The solution, Lukin explained, was a two-step process.

The first step is to cut the connection between the NV center and the carbon atom. Using massive amounts of laser light, researcher are able to effectively keep the NV center occupied and prevent it from interacting with the carbon atom. In step two, the diamond crystal is bombarded with a specific set of radio frequency pulses, suppressing the interaction between the carbon-13 atom and any nearby atoms.

"By limiting interactions with the carbon-13 atom, we can extend the life of the qubit and hold the data for longer," Lukin said. "The end result is that we're able to push the coherence time from a millisecond to nearly two seconds."

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology and the Max-Planck-Institut f?r Quantenoptik also participated in the research. Funding was provided by theNational Science Foundation, the Center for Ultracold Atoms, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Element 6, the Packard Foundation, the European Union, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the Sherman Fairchild Foundation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard University.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. P. C. Maurer, G. Kucsko, C. Latta, L. Jiang, N. Y. Yao, S. D. Bennett, F. Pastawski, D. Hunger, N. Chisholm, M. Markham, D. J. Twitchen, J. I. Cirac, M. D. Lukin. Room-Temperature Quantum Bit Memory Exceeding One Second. Science, 2012; 336 (6086): 1283 DOI: 10.1126/science.1220513

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/~3/S11f360Mpis/120703181909.htm

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Monday, July 2, 2012

Cameron under pressure over EU referendum

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cameron-under-pressure-over-eu-referendum-004104026.html

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GOP: Voters will have final say on health care law

FILE - In this Thursday, June 28, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, after the Supreme Court ruled on his health care legislation. The victory will help define Obama's legacy. However, if Obama does not win a second term in November, he risks losing both the law and the core of his legacy. (AP Photo/The New York Times, Luke Sharrett, Pool, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, June 28, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, after the Supreme Court ruled on his health care legislation. The victory will help define Obama's legacy. However, if Obama does not win a second term in November, he risks losing both the law and the core of his legacy. (AP Photo/The New York Times, Luke Sharrett, Pool, File)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, accompanied by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters outside the Senate, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2012, following a political strategy session with other GOP Senate leaders. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(AP) ? Republican congressional leaders said Sunday that voters ? not the Supreme Court ? will have the final word on President Barack Obama's health care law come November. And they are betting that the law's unpopularity will be enough to drive Democrats from power.

The White House's response? Bring it on.

"We've got one last chance here to beat Obamacare, and we can do that in the November election," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling the law the "single worst piece of legislation" passed in modern times.

White House chief of staff Jack Lew countered that he believes most Americans want to put the health care debate to rest.

"I actually think the American people want us to focus on the economy, on creating jobs and moving forward," said Lew.

Republicans and Democrats have been wrangling for the upper hand in the health care debate since last week's Supreme Court ruling upholding the law's mandate that individuals buy health insurance or face a penalty. Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, provided the pivotal vote in that decision by ruling that the penalty was legal under the government's taxing authority.

While technically handing a political victory to Obama, Roberts' ruling invigorated Republicans eager to cast the law as a new tax.

"The American people do not want to go down this path," said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "They do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy, and how much they have to pay for it, and if you don't like it we're going to tax you."

Democrats refute the characterization of the law. Lew said the mandate would impact only 1 percent of Americans ? those who can afford health insurance but refuse to buy it.

"This is a penalty on free riders," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Yet public opposition to the health care law remains high. Forty-seven percent of respondents in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll said they oppose the law while 33 percent said they support it.

However, much of the polling does find strong support for individual elements, like allowing young adults to remain on their parents' plan to age 26. Some Democrats see that as an opening to reframe the debate.

Republicans say they believe last week's ruling by the high court gives them fresh ammunition to attack Obama ? and the Democrats who support him ? in the upcoming election because of the health care bill's connection to jobs. The GOP says the law puts onerous mandates on industry that could stifle job creation.

"I think it's intertwined with the economy, and I think it's an example where Washington doesn't get it," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., of the health care bill.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Republicans, including Mitt Romney, are "being the mouthpiece of the health care industry" and that the bill will actually improve the economy.

"The costs were unsustainable," she said of the current health care system. "It's a competitiveness issue for business and for our economy. So we had to (come) to a place where we lowered costs to all concerned, and that we again take it down a path where we continue to lower costs."

If given control of the Senate next year, McConnell said he would support using budget reconciliation rules to repeal the health care law. Doing so would prohibit Senate filibusters and require only 51 votes to succeed. In 2010, Republicans lambasted Democrats for relying on these rules to pass the health care bill, calling their tactics unusual and hyperpartisan.

McConnell said he'll do whatever it takes to repeal the law.

"I'm confident they're going to give us the votes to repeal it," he said of the American public.

The House is scheduled to vote to overturn the law on July 9. The vote will largely be symbolic since the Democrats control the Senate. But it will put lawmakers on record for the upcoming political campaign.

McConnell and Lew spoke on "Fox News Sunday." Boehner, Schumer and Coburn spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation." Pelosi spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-01-Health%20Care-Politics/id-6b894db0c63d42798f13b72207544635

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China court: Apple pays $60M to settle iPad case

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012 file photo, a man walks by an advertisement of Apple's iPad 2 in Shanghai, China. Apple has agreed to pay China's Shenzhen Proview Technology $60 million to settle a dispute over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, July 2, 2012, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012 file photo, a man walks by an advertisement of Apple's iPad 2 in Shanghai, China. Apple has agreed to pay China's Shenzhen Proview Technology $60 million to settle a dispute over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, July 2, 2012, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

(AP) ? Apple has paid $60 million to settle a dispute in China over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market.

Apple's dispute with Shenzhen Proview Technology highlighted the possible pitfalls for global companies in China's infant trademark system. It also posed a challenge for the communist government, which wants to attract technology investors to develop China's economy.

Apple Inc. says it bought the global rights to the iPad name from Proview in 2009 but Chinese authorities say the rights in China were never transferred. A Chinese court ruled in December that Proview still owned the name in China. Proview, which is struggling financially, asked Chinese authorities to seize iPads in an apparent effort to pressure Apple to settle.

"The iPad dispute resolution is ended," the Guangdong High People's Court said in a statement. "Apple Inc. has transferred $60 million to the account of the Guangdong High Court as requested in the mediation letter."

China is Apple's second-largest market after the United States and the source of much of the Cupertino, California-based company's sales growth.

Proview hoped for more money but felt pressure to settle because it needs to pay debts, said a lawyer for the company, Xie Xianghui. He said Proview sought as much as $400 million and might still be declared bankrupt in a separate legal proceeding despite the infusion of settlement money.

"This is a result that is acceptable to both sides," Xie said.

The dispute centered on whether Apple acquired the iPad name in China when it bought rights in various countries from a Proview affiliate in Taiwan for 35,000 British pounds ($55,000). The December court ruling said Proview, which registered the iPad trademark in China in 2001, was not bound by that sale, even though it was part of the same company.

The settlement should be good news for both Apple and its customers because it clears a potential obstacle for the company to start selling the new iPad 3 in China, said You Yunting, a lawyer for the DeBund Law Office in Shanghai.

"It is a good deal for Apple, because sales of iPads, which are in great demand, can compensate for this $60 million cost," You said.

Apple has yet to announce a China release date for the iPad 3 but the country's telecommunications equipment certification agency approved the tablet in May.

The case gave Chinese authorities a chance to show that their courts could impartially resolve intellectual property disputes but also raised the possibility that technology investors might be put off by a negative outcome for Apple. Chinese regulators said Proview clearly owned the mainland name rights under Chinese rules.

Without a formal ruling, it will be hard for companies to draw lessons about how Chinese courts will handle such disputes in the future, said Stan Abrams, an American lawyer who teaches intellectual property law at Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics.

"It's such an atypical case," he said. "Certainly, the details and specifics of this kind of commercial dispute aren't going to give us any long-term lessons."

The outcome reflects Chinese courts' preference for encouraging adversaries in commercial disputes to settle instead of pushing for a ruling, Abrams said. He said the relatively small size of the settlement by Apple's standards suggested Proview gave in, possibly under pressure from either its creditors or the court.

All of Apple's iPads are made in China by Foxconn Technologies Group, which employs more than 1 million people in sprawling factories. Brazil's government says Taiwan-based Foxconn plans to open factories there to produce iPads and other products.

Shenzhen Proview Technology is a subsidiary of LCD screen maker Proview International Holdings Ltd., headquartered in Hong Kong.

A Hong Kong court ruled in July that Proview and the Taiwan company both were "clearly under the control" of the same Taiwanese businessman, Yang Long-san, and had refused to take steps required to transfer the name under the agreement. The judge said the companies acted together "with the common intention of injuring Apple."

However, that judgment had no automatic force in the mainland case because Hong Kong, while Chinese territory, has a separate legal system.

Apple also ran into a trademark dispute before it launched the iPhone in 2007.

Cisco Systems Inc., the maker of networking hardware, had owned the trademark since 2000 and used it for a line of Internet-connected desk phones. After Cisco sued, the companies reached an undisclosed settlement and the phone launch went off as planned.

The dispute came amid complaints Beijing is failing to stamp out rampant unlicensed Chinese copying of goods ranging from music and Hollywood movies to designer clothing and pharmaceuticals.

But unlike "trademark squatters" who register names of products already sold abroad and then demand foreign companies pay for the Chinese rights, Proview registered the iPad name long before Apple planned its tablet computer.

"The only thing companies really should take form this case is, be careful when you do transactions, be careful with your contracts," Abrams said. "Be careful you're doing it the right way or you could pay a lot for your mistakes."

___

AP researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-07-02-China-Apple-iPad%20Dispute/id-8a61fb3af248488fbf7e02dc34584f54

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Sunday, July 1, 2012

BN Saturday Celebrity Interview: ?I Had The Wedding Of My Dreams? Newlywed Actress, Uche Jombo is Glowing as she gives BN an Exclusive on Her Wedding, Her Husband, Her Career & More

Nollywood actress, Uche Jombo is a darling of the big screen and has been so for over a decade now. Ever since she cut her teeth into acting in 1999 with her first movie ?Visa To Hell?, she has improved her craft with every production and has had a steady climb up her professional ladder. Now, aside from acting, she owns movie production outfit called Uche Jombo Studios which has been responsible for churning out great movies in recent times.
On May 16, 2012 Uche got married to her beau Kenney Rodriguez at a private beach wedding on the Island of Puerto Rico. Her wedding which took many by surprise has been the talk of the town for several weeks.
In this exclusive interview with Adeola Adeyemo, Uche speaks about having the wedding of her dreams, her husband, her career and more.

Uche is still basking in the euphoria of her wedding. She is happy as she speaks about it, laughs at the pictures, and has a special glow when speaking about her husband. But aside from the excitement of her wedding, chatting with her reveals a bubbly and intelligent personality; someone that has had an interesting career climb and has a lot to share with the world.

Hi Uche. It?s been a bit of a task getting you to sit down for this interview. You seem to have been very busy lately. What have you been up to?
We are trying to clear out. We have some productions from my production company, Uche Jombo Studios so I?m basically doing more of post-production work. My Life My Damage, we are looking at starting the tour in September. And i?m working on another comedy which I was the co-executive producer with Desmond Elliott. It?s like nothing you?ve ever seen before. I?m happy to say that the special effects are coming out as expected.

Tell me about some of the movies we should be expecting to see you featured in soon.
Mrs Somebody, a comic look at the pressure to get married in the everyday Nigerian society by Emem Isong. Holding Hopes, Broken Silence which has Uti Nwachukwu and Tonto Dikeh. Also Ikenna, an epic is coming out soon. I also just finished a film, Misplaced Affections.

I read somewhere that you?re affiliated with a Reality TV Show, Nollywood Search in the UK. What is your role in it?
It?s organized by Nollywood Uncut. I got interested in their script. It?s not my show per say but whoever wins will work with us.

Your movie, Damage has been out for over a year now. How has the reception been?
It?s been fantastic. We are also online where people can pay to watch it on www.damagemovie.com. We are also going to upload soon on DVD.
Damage is a trilogy. We are on the second one now which is My Life My Damage which is about drugs and HIV. It is more student friendly so we are thinking of doing a proper tour for Nigerian Universities outside the premiere because it is that kind of movie.

Recalling the Early Years
Now Uche, please take me back to the beginning of your acting career. How did you step into shoes of an actress?
I know it sounds like a clich? but it was just about being at the right place at the right time. It was almost like a challenge. I was asked ?Can you act?? I was like ?Yes I can? and I was given a script to read even though that was not what I went there for. That is how I got my first role from Fidelis Duker in 1999. Eventually, the movie, Visa To Hell came out in 2000.

How has the journey been so far? What encouragement would you give to people just starting out in their acting career?
I?d like to say it?s been rosy but that is not how it was. It?s been a struggle but by God?s grace, it?s been a successful story. I always tell people starting that it?s always about self belief because in this business you are going to get lots of no?s before you get the yes?. But don?t be discouraged. Work more on your craft and self confidence.

You started out acting mostly ?Tom Boy? roles but have now grown to the leading ?Diva? kind of roles. Tell me about your career growth.
I?m one of those people who would be right if I say I started from a very humble beginning in my career. I did lots of supporting roles and behind the scenes. I think to be consistent at what you do, at a point you should work on yourself more.
I?m in love with the art. It was never about money or fame with me. I can?t count how many movies I did without payment. So when you pursue whatever you do with a passion and the love you have for it, it might not be that lucrative at the beginning but at the end of the day, every other thing follows. That?s how it?s been for me.

Did your ?Tom Boy? status in movies then have anything to do with what you were like when growing up?
I was not an easy child. I did everything teenagers do but probably more. My mother was so scared that she had to enroll me in a church drama group and quarterly they give the best drama student scholarship so three years out of my secondary school was paid for by the church. She did that because I was always either trying to play ball with boys or climbing trees.

That is funny. What is your educational background like?
I read Mathematics and Statistics as my first degree at University of Calabar and Computer Programming as my Post Graduate Diploma at Federal University of Technology, Minna.

You have two degrees and decided to put it aside for acting? Why?
Acting is a way of life. For me, acting is something you are born with. It?s either you are born with it or you?re not. I have a friend who is a graduate of Theater Arts. She cannot act to save her life so it?s really not about what you have read. It?s looking at how you can be useful to yourself and the society.

?Fashion & Style
I watched a show once where the camera had a peek into your wardrobe and showed that you have quite a large number of shoes?
Shoes was one of my guilty pleasures but now it?s equipment for my work.

Why do you have this love for shoes?
Because I am short. I am five feet four inches. And then, someone said to me once, ?if you don?t have the height you can just buy it.? I do not own one pair of flats.

Growth & Controversies
A number of Nigerian actors are spreading their wings into the Hollywood scene. Do you have any plans to do something similar to that?
I?ve always said I won?t go to Hollywood, Hollywood will come to us. It?s not about up and going to Hollywood to look for roles. Do you know how many actors are jobless in Hollywood? Lots of them. You cannot be more American than the American, you can only be you. What makes us peculiar is that we are African people, telling African stories to Africans. It?s about Hollywood coming to us because there is a void which we are going to fill.

You are one of the few Nollywood actresses to clinch a Glo Ambassador deal. How did you get it?
I got it like every other person. They did profiles for some actors and they called. At first I thought it was a joke.

As a celebrity, you might have been sometimes misinterpreted or wrongly accused by the media. What is the most ridiculous thing you?ve ever read or heard about yourself?
The abortion one, the one I am in court for. It was the most ridiculous thing I?ve ever heard about myself. ?You don?t say someone lost weight because they aborted a six-month pregnancy. That is actually not intelligent because when people are pregnant, they actually add weight. I lost weight for a movie ?Holding Hope? and that?s what started the whole thing.
And also the one I heard now that I did a nose job. Of all the things I could do to my body, is it my nose I would want to fix? Sometimes, you pick up a paper and the only truth you read there about yourself is your name.

That was a long time ago. How long has the case been in court?
We?ve been in court for over two years but it?s OK, I have the time.

Is the publication still being circulated?
It?s still on but I intend to close it even if it?s the last thing I do.

Just for fun
On a lighter note now, if you were stuck on a lonely island, what three things would you love to have with you?
My Bible, my water and my husband.

What is your favourite colour?
It used to be black and then I didn?t know when it came to blue. I just go with the flow, I don?t really have a favourite colour now.

Do you cook often?
Yes but not as often as I want to.

What meal do you have the biggest challenge with when cooking?
If I have challenge about cooking a particular meal, I just won?t cook it. Cooking has to be fun for me. It has to be something I know I can make.

Tell me something most people don?t know about you?
I have Insomnia. I called my producer up one time and she was sounding very sleepy and then I checked the time and it was past two am. I had no idea. When people say they have time changes affecting them, not me. I just write or I am in the studio.

Mr & Mrs Rodriguez

The Wedding of her Dreams
The news has been buzzing for a while that you got married in Puerto Rico last month, but you?ve been quiet about it. Why?
Because I have an exclusive publication already on that and eventually, BN would also have it. I also don?t want it to just be all over the place. The whole point was doing something that is totally unexpected. People were busy writing what they didn?t know. I have a right to say this is the information I want out and this is the information I don?t want out. Also because it has stopped being me and now us, we have to continuously agree to how we want stuff done. I am from a different background and my partner is from a different background. We just wanted to savour the moment.

I?m itching to hear more about your wedding. Was it a fairy tale kind of wedding?
It was exactly the kind of wedding I wanted. Every bride has a dream wedding. I had always wanted that kind of simple beach wedding. I went on vacation last year in Puerto Rico Island and I loved it and I said I would like to come back there for my wedding.

Tell me about your husband. Where is he from? How did you meet him?
Contrary to what i?ve been hearing in the media, he is American and not from Puerto Rico. He has been to Puerto Rico twice and those times were with me. Once on vacation and then we went back for our wedding. He is a New Yorker, he works and lives in New York.
Also, contrary to what I?ve been hearing that I met him online, no I did not. He came to talk to me about some business venture and that?s how we started talking. I met him through a mutual friend who is his business partner.

What attracted you to him?
His positive energy, it?s amazing.

Desmond Elliott & Kenney Rodriguez

How long did you date before getting married?
Not up to a year. I met him last year.

Was there any particular reason why Desmond Elliott was the only Nollywood star that attended your wedding?
He is one of my oldest friends in Nollywood. I don?t know anybody as long as I?ve known Desmond in Nollywood.

Were you able to have most of your family members in Puerto Rico to share your memorable day with you?
No, not everybody.

What is the most romantic thing your husband has ever said or done for you?
He is not like anybody I?ve met before. He is certainly the most romantic person I?ve ever met in my whole life, needless to say that is why I married him.

Wow, that?s really sweet. How did he propose to you?
He actually proposed twice! The first time, we just continued talking. The second time, we went jet skating and I was so scared. The water was so deep, you had to swim like eight feet into the water to get to the bike. I consider myself a very good swimmer but that day, the tides kept pushing me back. By the time I got there, I was so mad, I said ?I am so going to kill you? and he said ?why don?t you just marry me and then you can kill me afterwards?. And I was like ?very funny?, and he said ?you haven?t given me an answer?. That was when I knew. Since I didn?t kill him there I said I was going to go back to that exact beach and have our wedding there.

You?re here in Nigeria and he is back in America. How are you coping with the long distance separating you both?
It?s not really long distance because I?m only here when I?m working. When I?m not working, I?m with him.

I know it?s been just over a month now but how has married life been for you so far?
Well, we just started so we are still at that point where everything is rosy.

Is there going to be any name change for you?
There was in the marriage license but because I?m a brand, in order not to confuse people, you can still call me Uche Jombo. Uche Jombo and Mrs. Rodriguez are two different people. One is the brand and one is the wife.

It was great chatting with Uche and on behalf of Bellanaija.com, we wish her a very happy married life. I got to see some of her wedding pictures and they were really lovely *wink*. Stay tuned to BN for more on the wedding and the exclusive pictures coming soon.?

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Tags: BN Saturday Celebrity Interview, uche jombo

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Source: http://www.bellanaija.com/2012/06/30/bn-saturday-celebrity-interview-i-had-the-wedding-of-my-dreams-newly-wed-actress-uche-jumbo-is-glowing-as-she-gives-bn-an-exclusive-on-her-wedding-her-husband-her-career-more/

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Space station trio gets back down to Earth

After half a year living on the International Space Station, three astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday aboard a Russian-built space capsule.

The Soyuz spacecraft landed in the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan at 4:14 a.m. ET, returning NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers to their home planet.

"Everything is good, we feel great," Kononenko radioed Russia's Mission Control Center just before landing.

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The spacefliers undocked from the space station several hours earlier in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft to begin the journey home. They landed upright under a blue sky dotted with some white clouds in Kazakhstan, where the local time was Sunday afternoon. Live video tracked the Soyuz's descent at the end of its parachute, right down to the ground.

Veterans return from frontier
Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers arrived at the orbiting outpost in December 2011. All three had flown previous missions to the space station, making them a crew of veteran spacefliers.

In a blog post describing his final day in space, Pettit reflected on the impact of his months-long mission, and encouraged humanity to keep pushing the boundaries of space exploration.

"On Earth, the frontiers opened slowly," Pettit wrote. "The technology of sailing was known and advanced for over a thousand years before the Earth was circumnavigated. Such bold acts require the technology, the will, and the audacity to explore. Sometimes you have one, but not the others. I only hope that my small efforts here, perhaps adding one grain of sand to the beach of knowledge, will help enable a generation of people in the future to call space 'home.'" [Landing Photos: Soyuz Capsule Returns 3 Astronauts Home]

Throughout their mission, Pettit and Kuipers shared stunning photos of Earth from space with the public through Twitter and the Flickr photo-sharing site. Pettit also regularly updated his blog with accounts of his experiences on the space station, including several poems in tribute to life in space.

Pettit kept a journal as a fun way to document his scientific activities on the orbiting outpost. For instance, Pettit wrote blog updates using the persona of a zucchini plant when he experimented with growing different kinds of plants in microgravity.

On Friday, Pettit wrote a poem called "Last Day in Space," touching upon his memories of the mission, the experiences that moved him, and his anticipation over seeing his wife and children again soon.

Milestone mission
Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers made up half of the station's Expedition 31 crew. During their stay at the orbiting laboratory, the spacefliers rolled out the welcome mat for the first commercial spacecraft to visit the station.

SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule was launched to the International Space Station on a test flight to demonstrate the spacecraft's ability to carry cargo to and from low-Earth orbit. As Dragon approached the station, Pettit and Kuipers used the outpost's robotic arm to pluck it from space and manually park it to the complex.

The successful test flight lays the groundwork for NASA to use commercial spaceships to ferry cargo ? and one day, astronauts ? to the space station. SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion contract with the agency for 12 unmanned cargo delivery flights.

Kononenko served as commander of Expedition 31 during his stay, but passed the torch to fellow Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka during a change-of-command ceremony Saturday.

The departure of Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers leaves only three residents occupying the space station until three new crewmembers launch to the complex on July 14. Padalka, NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin will remain aboard the orbiting outpost until September.

Russian space station flight controllers radioed Padalka and his Expedition 32 crew after Sunday's landing to let the spacefliers know their comrades were back on Earth and in good health.

"Good to hear," Padalka radioed back. "Another mission completed."

Follow Denise Chow on Twitter? @denisechow, or Space.com? @Spacedotcom. We're also on? Facebook and? Google+.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48030438/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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