Samsung's European legal woes don't look to be abating anytime soon, as the EU today formally launched an investigation into the Korean manufacturers' competitive practices. At issue are, not surprisingly, a collection of patents that Samsung has used to launch a series of lawsuits against rival companies. The manufacturer maintains that these patents are essential to complying with European mobile standards, but the EU says Samsung may be in violation of a promise it made more than ten years ago. Back in 1998, the firm said it would license these essential telephonic patents to competing manufacturers, under the terms outlined in FRAND. The Commission explained the obligation and its potential ramifications in the following statement:
The Commission will investigate, in particular, whether in doing so (seeking injunctions on patent infringements in 2011) Samsung has failed to honor its irrevocable commitment given in 1998 to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to license any standard essential patents relating to European mobile telephony standards on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. The Commission will examine whether such behavior amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.
No word yet on how long the investigation may take, but we'll be sure to keep you updated going forward.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.?? Authorities investigating a robbery at a house in Birmingham found five people dead in the home on Sunday.
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Sgt. Johnny Williams says officers arrived at the house around 3:30 a.m. Sunday after getting a call that a robbery was in progress.
The officers soon discovered the five victims inside.
The victims were not identified.
Police have launched a homicide investigation, but there have been no arrests or charges filed in the case.
Brenda Houston, who lives across the street from the west Birmingham house where the bodies were found, said the house had been rented for about a year and a half by a woman in her late 40s and her son and brothers.
"They would speak to us, and that's all we knew," she said. "We didn't know their names but they were always friendly."
Houston, 64, said her street was a quiet one filled with older residents who were friendly with each other. She said there was a constant stream of visitors coming in and out of the home, but that the residents never seemed to cause any disturbances.
"Most people are in a state of shock. They never had any trouble over there," Houston said. "I never seen the police over there. This was really strange that this happened. It wasn't like they were real rowdy."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Stocks pare losses on a Fed survey revealing that loan demand from small business hit its highest level since 2005, with CNBC's Steve Liesman and Mandy Drury.
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Sadly there will be no Apps and Accessories Live or ZEN and TECH tonight as Rene is delayed en route back from Macworld 2012 and Seth is, according to Rene,
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? The family of a missing Kansas City baby has taped an appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show.
Viewers can tune in Friday to watch the interview with Lisa Irwin's parents and a private investigator who's searching for her.
Lisa was reported missing Oct. 4 when her father, Jeremy Irwin, came home from work around 4 a.m. and couldn't find her. Irwin and Deborah Bradley say they think someone broke into the house and took their daughter.
Deborah Bradley has said police have accused her of being involved in Lisa's disappearance. In tearful statements to the media early on, Bradley has repeatedly insisted she doesn't know what happened to her child.
No suspects have been named, despite an intensive search.
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama, fresh from a five-state tour following his State of the Union address, is calling for government reforms to ease gridlock and bar members of Congress from profiting from their position.
In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he encountered during his trip were optimistic but remained unsure "that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that."
"And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?" Obama said.
The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday's address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.
Without mentioning him by name, the president noted that Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to lead a new consumer protection agency, a move that many Republicans have called unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve "better than gridlock and games."
"One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned," the president said.
Obama said he also wants Congress to pass legislation to ban insider trading by lawmakers and prohibit lawmakers from owning securities in companies that have business before their committees.
In addition, the president is seeking to prohibit people who "bundle" campaign contributions from other donors for members of Congress from lobbying Congress. Obama urged the public to contact their member of Congress and tell them "that it's time to end the gridlock and start tackling the issues that really matter."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., delivering the GOP address, said Obama's address to Congress lacked much discussion of the president's achievements "because there isn't much."
"This president didn't talk about his record for one simple reason," Rubio said. "He doesn't want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because your feel the failure of his leadership every single day of the week."
Rubio accused the president of driving up the national debt, failing to reduce high unemployment across the country and offering divisive economic policies.
The Florida senator said there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor but the best way to solve the problem is by embracing the American free enterprise system. Rubio said he hopes 2012 "will be the beginning of our work towards a new and prosperous American century."
The Wall Street Journal's golden box of anonymous sources has rattled once more, this time with news that Facebook is finally going public. Now that's cooler than a million dollars. More »
Workers and officials inspect the collapse at the Horseshoe Casino under construction on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Cincinnati. Authorities say at least 11 people have been taken to hospitals with minor injuries, non life-threatening.
By msnbc.com news services
A partial collapse at a casino construction site early Friday in Cincinnati has?left at least 11 people with minor injuries, according to news reports.
Ten of the wounded were taken to area hospitals, but their conditions were unknown, Jennifer Spieser, a fire department spokeswoman, told NBC News. The collapse was a ?large? event, with 26 fire companies sent to the scene, she added.
Authorities reported differing numbers of the wounded, with fire officials saying 13 had been hospitalized and police saying at least 11 were.
Workers were pouring concrete on the structure's second floor when a metal beam in the middle of the section fell, making the second floor buckle. No one was underneath the collapse, Fire Chief Dick Braun told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Firefighters had to craft a makeshift bridge to move the injured workers due to muddy conditions. The site was closed and workers sent home, said city spokeswoman Meg Olberding, the newspaper reported.
Rock Gaming is developing the casino in partnership with Caesar's Entertainment.
A partial collapse of a garage at another Ohio casino under construction -- and also being developed by the Rock Gaming-Caesar's partnership -- occurred last month. No one was injured in that incident, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press and NBC News services contributed to this report.
Living on the edge: An innovative model of mangrove-hammock boundaries in FloridaPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marie Guma-Diaz marie.guma.diaz@gmail.com 786-375-7397 University of Miami
University of Miami and US Geological Survey researchers team up to create a model to describe effects of weather and sea level rise on Florida's coastal landscape
CORAL GABLES, FL. -- The key to understanding how future hurricanes and sea level rise may trigger changes to South Florida's native coastal forests lurks below the surface, according to a new model linking coastal forests to groundwater. Just inland from the familiar mangroves that line the coasts lie hardwood hammocks that are sensitive to salinity changes in water found in the soils.
University of Miami (UM) Ecologist Donald L. DeAngelis, who is also a researcher for the U.S Geological Survey (USGS), has worked with collaborators to develop a novel computer model describing the underlying forces that maintain this vegetative boundary. The findings, published in the current issue of the journal Landscape Ecology, indicate that large pulses of saline water into the hammock vegetation may cause mangroves to invade areas now populated by hardwood hammocks.
"A high level of salt in the soil favors the mangroves and stresses the hardwoods," says DeAngelis, professor in the Biology Department at the UM college of Arts and Sciences and one of the principal investigators of this project "Hardwood hammocks are a unique feature of the Everglades, they are home to many species, and if they decrease in numbers that will mean a loss of habitat for some organisms."
During storm surges, the salty winds and waves rush into areas of brackish water. The likelihood of such salt water overwash from the coast is expected to increase as sea level rise affects the natural coastal processes in the region.
The study is one of the first to couple vegetation dynamics with hydrology and salinity of the area in order to study the factors affecting the forest boundary. The work reveals that the sharp mangrove-hammock boundary, or ecotone, is defined by a combination of factors such as water levels during the dry season, tides, changes in the land's features, and trees own ability to alter the environment to their benefit (a process known as positive feedback).
"Ecotones are of great interest to ecologists because many species like to live along the edges between different vegetation types, so you can get rich diversity in those areas," says Jiang Jiang, doctoral student in the Biology Department at UM College of Arts and Sciences and co-author of the study.
Changes in water management, such as the expected increase in freshwater from the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, may help offset the possible effects caused by future salt water overwash and inundation.
"The USGS project that we are working on will include a big landscape hydrology model that will predict the freshwater flow into the southern Everglades and at the same time take into account sea level rise," says DeAngelis.
The study, supported and funded by the USGS, lays groundwork for a larger investigation in which the agency is developing models to look at how sea level rise will affect coastal regions in South Florida. Other co-authors are Thomas J. Smith III, ecologist at the USGS and co-principal investigator of the project; Su Yean Teh, lecturer at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia; and Hock-Lye Koh, professor at the School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
The scientists hope to extend the application of this model to include other ecotones and other parts of the world that experience frequent storm surges. The researchers would like to be able to predict if salt water intrusion will have a long-lasting effect on vegetation, and on fresh water supply.
###
The University of Miami's mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world. www.miami.edu
The USGS serves the nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life www.usgs.gov
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Living on the edge: An innovative model of mangrove-hammock boundaries in FloridaPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marie Guma-Diaz marie.guma.diaz@gmail.com 786-375-7397 University of Miami
University of Miami and US Geological Survey researchers team up to create a model to describe effects of weather and sea level rise on Florida's coastal landscape
CORAL GABLES, FL. -- The key to understanding how future hurricanes and sea level rise may trigger changes to South Florida's native coastal forests lurks below the surface, according to a new model linking coastal forests to groundwater. Just inland from the familiar mangroves that line the coasts lie hardwood hammocks that are sensitive to salinity changes in water found in the soils.
University of Miami (UM) Ecologist Donald L. DeAngelis, who is also a researcher for the U.S Geological Survey (USGS), has worked with collaborators to develop a novel computer model describing the underlying forces that maintain this vegetative boundary. The findings, published in the current issue of the journal Landscape Ecology, indicate that large pulses of saline water into the hammock vegetation may cause mangroves to invade areas now populated by hardwood hammocks.
"A high level of salt in the soil favors the mangroves and stresses the hardwoods," says DeAngelis, professor in the Biology Department at the UM college of Arts and Sciences and one of the principal investigators of this project "Hardwood hammocks are a unique feature of the Everglades, they are home to many species, and if they decrease in numbers that will mean a loss of habitat for some organisms."
During storm surges, the salty winds and waves rush into areas of brackish water. The likelihood of such salt water overwash from the coast is expected to increase as sea level rise affects the natural coastal processes in the region.
The study is one of the first to couple vegetation dynamics with hydrology and salinity of the area in order to study the factors affecting the forest boundary. The work reveals that the sharp mangrove-hammock boundary, or ecotone, is defined by a combination of factors such as water levels during the dry season, tides, changes in the land's features, and trees own ability to alter the environment to their benefit (a process known as positive feedback).
"Ecotones are of great interest to ecologists because many species like to live along the edges between different vegetation types, so you can get rich diversity in those areas," says Jiang Jiang, doctoral student in the Biology Department at UM College of Arts and Sciences and co-author of the study.
Changes in water management, such as the expected increase in freshwater from the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, may help offset the possible effects caused by future salt water overwash and inundation.
"The USGS project that we are working on will include a big landscape hydrology model that will predict the freshwater flow into the southern Everglades and at the same time take into account sea level rise," says DeAngelis.
The study, supported and funded by the USGS, lays groundwork for a larger investigation in which the agency is developing models to look at how sea level rise will affect coastal regions in South Florida. Other co-authors are Thomas J. Smith III, ecologist at the USGS and co-principal investigator of the project; Su Yean Teh, lecturer at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia; and Hock-Lye Koh, professor at the School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
The scientists hope to extend the application of this model to include other ecotones and other parts of the world that experience frequent storm surges. The researchers would like to be able to predict if salt water intrusion will have a long-lasting effect on vegetation, and on fresh water supply.
###
The University of Miami's mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world. www.miami.edu
The USGS serves the nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life www.usgs.gov
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa ? President Barack Obama is arguing that manufacturing must be the foundation for a renewed American economy, as he takes his State of the Union economic message on a tour of politically crucial states.
Obama toured a plant that makes giant conveyor belt screws Wednesday before addressing a crowd about the importance of bringing manufacturing back to American shores.
Running for re-election against Republicans who've questioned his economic stewardship, the president said he wants to restore the basic promise of America, "and it starts with manufacturing."
Obama's remarks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, came on the first stop of a three-day tour the morning after his State of the Union address. Obama stops later Wednesday in Arizona before traveling Thursday to Nevada and Colorado and wrapping up Friday in Michigan.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
President Barack Obama embarked Wednesday on a three-day tour of politically crucial states in a post-State of the Union journey to sell his 2012 economic policy goals while pitching his presidency to a divided public.
Fresh from his address to a joint session of Congress, Obama was promoting his agenda to attract more manufacturing to American soil by showcasing a conveyor belt maker in Iowa and an Intel plant in Arizona.
Obama will highlight energy security Thursday in Nevada and Colorado and wrap up Friday by pushing education and training proposals at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Presidential travel following the State of the Union is commonplace, allowing presidents to temporarily bask in the afterglow of their prime-time performances, milking their message before key constituencies.
Obama was touring Conveyor Engineering & Manufacturing, a small family-owned Cedar Rapids company that builds conveyor belts, working primarily with the ethanol and food industries. The president planned to discuss a series of tax incentives to help manufacturers, including ways of reducing tax rates for manufacturing companies and a proposal to double the tax deduction for high-tech manufacturers to spur more jobs in the U.S.
Obama's trip comes amid signs of economic improvements even as battling Republican presidential contenders appeal to conservatives by sounding increasingly hostile to his policies.
Underlying the president's specific policy proposals will be the election-year economic fairness argument that he has been refining since he spelled it out in Osawatomie, Kan., last month, including higher taxes on the wealthy. Reinforcing the political subtext of the trip is the fact that four of the five states he will visit will hold Republican presidential caucuses or primaries within the next month. The two caucuses ? in Nevada and Colorado ? come within two weeks of his visit.
Obama has made a point of grabbing headlines in states in the midst of Republican presidential contests, eager not to cede the political message to his rivals.
What's more, of five paths that Obama campaign manager Jim Messina has charted to win re-election in November, all foresee winning Michigan, three require winning Iowa, two require Colorado and Nevada, and one has Arizona in the Obama win column. In 2008, of the five states he's visiting, Obama only lost Arizona, the home state of then rival John McCain.
Obama will also use his trip to grant two high-profile interviews, one to the Spanish-language television network Univision and the other to ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer. With Univision, the White House hopes to reach an important Latino voting bloc, a constituency that could be important in states such as Arizona and Nevada. The White House also likes the reach ABC gives the president because the interview will be spread among three news shows ? the evening news, "Nightline" and "Good Morning America."
As part of his focus on manufacturing on Wednesday, Obama's trip to Arizona marks his second visit to an Intel plant. He traveled to the firm's Oregon campus in 2011, when Intel announced it would spend $5 billion on a new computer chip manufacturing facility. Intel's CEO, Paul Otellini, is a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
Looking to increase domestic manufacturing, Obama on Tuesday reiterated his proposal to eliminate tax incentives that make it more attractive for companies to ship jobs overseas. The proposal would require American companies to pay a minimum tax on their overseas profits in order to prevent other countries from attracting U.S. businesses with unusually low tax rates.
Obama also wants to eliminate tax deductions companies receive for the cost of shutting down factories and moving production overseas. He wants to create a new tax credit to cover moving expenses for companies that close production overseas and bring jobs back to the U.S. He also wants to reduce tax rates for manufacturers and double the tax deduction for high-tech manufacturers in order to create more manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
BOSTON/DUBLIN (Reuters) - ? A legal dispute in Boston pits researchers' academic freedom against a police quest to solve one of the most notorious killings of Ireland's sectarian "Troubles."
The case centers an archive of interviews with participants in the conflict gathered from 2001-2006 kept at Boston College. Known as the Belfast Project, the interview materials sat quietly until May when, at the request of Northern Ireland's police, the U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed many interviews with figures from the Irish Republican Army guerrilla group.
Officials say they want help solving the death of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1972 whose body was recovered in 2003.
But their actions have drawn criticism that authorities are overreaching and questions whether Boston College has done enough to stand behind the promises of confidentiality given to the interview subjets.
In Ireland, the Boston case is closely followed because of allegations that Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA and a key player in the 1998 peace deal in Northern Ireland, led the IRA unit responsible for McConville's execution and secret burial.
Adams has always denied he had anything to do with her disappearance or that he was ever a member of the IRA. But the revived controversy comes as Sinn Fein is trying to establish itself as a major political force in the Republic of Ireland. Last year Adams won a seat in Ireland's parliament. His constituency is in Louth, where McConville's remains were discovered in 2003.
Adams said Sunday he has nothing to fear from the college's material. "They have been saying this for years, for decades," Adams told Irish state broadcaster RTE. "I learnt a long time ago not to worry about things you have no control over."
Neil Jarman, the director of the Institute for Conflict Research in Belfast, said the case highlights the difficulties of trying to establish a truth and reconciliation process, never nailed down as part of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
"There is a recognition for some need, for some means, of addressing some of the issues of the past but I am not sure there is a clear agreement as to what that should be," Jarman said. "I don't think there is a clear model to meet the situation of Northern Ireland."
CAMPUS CONFRONTATION
The Boston case's trans-Atlantic implications were on display on Tuesday when the wife of one of the researchers, Anthony McIntyre, appeared at a hearing on an action that he and Irish journalist Ed Moloney filed seeking to end the federal probe of the records. McIntyre is a former IRA member who spent 18 years in prison and conducted interviews for the project, while Moloney served as project director.
Ironically, the hearing was held at Boston College's own law school where U.S. District Court Judge William Young sometimes sets up a remote courtroom for law students to watch legal proceedings.
Though extra security was deployed for the hearing, held in a classroom packed with several hundred law students, the 20-minute proceeding was uneventful.
Carrie Twomey, McIntyre's wife and an American citizen, observed the hearing. She said in media interviews the government's actions are sure to anger many former partisans who believed the archive's interviews would remain secret. The police probe of one family's loss could lead to more tragedy, she said, by giving rise to revenge attacks.
"I'm only here because I'm frightend and concerned for the safety of my family," she said in an interview on Monday. "I feel like the human side of this case, the real lives involved in this case, has been completely overlooked."
She also alluded to a split that has formed between the researchers and Boston College over how strongly to oppose the government's motions. The researchers say they had arranged for the university to promise strong confidentiality; the school says it could only promise that as far as U.S. law allowed.
When Twomey tried to speak with a university spokesman in front of journalists after the hearing, he was shielded by security officers. "He's putting my family in danger!" Twomey yelled as she was led away.
FULL DECISIONS TO COME
Tuesday's hearing was held on just one strand of the matter, in which Judge Young ruled Moloney and McIntyre lack standing under international treaties to bring their own suit to block the subpoenas. The ruling does not affect a broader case brought by Boston College and due for an appeals court hearing in March.
It stems from interviews granted by IRA member Brendan Hughes, who died in 2008. According to Moloney, Hughes discussed how he warned McConville about her suspected activities as an informant for the British Army, something her family denies.
In an interview broadcast on Irish TV in 2010, Hughes said Adams commanded a unit called "The Unknowns" responsible for making McConville disappear. "I had no control over this squad. Gerry had control of this particular squad," he said. Another former IRA member, Delours Price, the same year gave interviews connecting herself and Adams to the crime.
The revelations set off the moves by prosecutors to gain access to the Belfast Project. Boston College has already released the Hughes interviews, free to do so after his death. It also agreed to release the Price interviews, citing her talks with other media. And it allowed Judge Young to confidentially review the archive.
On Jan 20 Young ordered the school to turn over at least parts of interviews with a half-dozen people out of the 24 initially sought. He added that having read thousands of pages, "It's very clear to the court this was a bona fide academic exercise of considerable intellectual merit."
Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said it is weighing its options and may appeal Young's Jan 20 order, "given the effect that it will likely have on future oral history projects."
The school declined to comment on Tuesday's hearing, to which it was not party. Moloney and McIntyre afterward said in a statement they will appeal Tuesday's ruling, an action they expect to be heard by the appeals court in March, "when we expect a much more positive outcome."
Assistant U.S. Attorney George Henderson said Young ruled correctly on Tuesday but declined to comment further.
James Farentino and his wife Stella in Los Angeles in August 2011.
By Associated Press
A family spokesman says actor James Farentino, who appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, has died in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 73.
Family spokesman Bob Palmer says Farentino died of heart failure after a long illness at Cedars-Sinai Hospital on Tuesday.
Farentino starred alongside Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen in a 1980 science fiction film "The Final Countdown."
Farentino also starred opposite Patty Duke in 1969's "Me, Natalie."
He also had recurring roles on "Dynasty," "Melrose Place," "The Bold Ones: The Lawyers" and "ER," playing the estranged father to George Clooney's character.
A four-time divorcee, Farentino's tumultuous personal life made headlines, too.
In March 1994 he pleaded no contest to stalking his ex-girlfriend Tina Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra.
There's a lot at stake in the outcome of the Environmental Protection Agency's Final Study Plan to Assess Hydraulic Fracturing: The future of the practice also known as "fracking" and the nations ability to continue to move forward toward energy independence.
Ten senators and two representatives, all Republicans, are pressing EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to ensure the study is done as a "highly influential scientific assessment," according to The Oklahoman.
What Is a Highly Influential Scientific Assessment?
According to the Office of Management and Budget, a highly influential scientific assessment is one that must be a strict minimum of peer review standards over and above what a typical governmental study must provide. Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and cannot be employed by the agency conducting the study. Committee selection policies must be conducted as specified by the National Academy of Sciences.
Because a study deemed to be a highly influential scientific assessment is a more thorough process than studies of lesser magnitude -- and more costly -- there are criteria that federal agencies use to determine what type of study will be undertaken. The Fort Worth Star Telegram says that among the criteria specified by the OMB, study results that are likely to have an impact of $500 million or more on the private or public sector qualify, as do reports that may be precedent-setting or controversial.
EPA Study
The EPA study is to determine the potential impacts that hydraulic fracturing might have on groundwater quality. The specific situation is a theorized link between groundwater contamination that has occurred in a Wyoming gas field site and the process of fracking, reports the Star-Telegram. Legislators are asking the reports be completed with the more strict criteria of a highly influential scientific assessment.
What Is the Importance of the Future of Hydraulic Fracturing to Oklahoma?
More than 100,000 gas/oil wells have been developed using hydraulic fracturing in Oklahoma, as reported in the 2011 Oklahoma Hydraulic Fracturing State Review. Fracking, according to the review, has been going on in the state for more than 60 years without evidence of groundwater contamination.
Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation, L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of "The Red Man" state. With what he hopes is an everyman's view of life's concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions.
MAPUTO, Mozambique ? Storms have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and killed 22 in the southern African nation of Mozambique, disaster relief officials said Monday.
State TV on Monday reported that 12 people died Sunday in the central province of Zambezia. Ten deaths in southern areas had been reported earlier in the aftermath of a tropical depression that brought fierce rains and wind last week.
Storms have abated, but Dulce Chilundo, director of the national emergency office, told Radio Mozambique the government is feeding and housing more than 56,000 people whose homes and belongings were swept away.
The governor of Gaza, Raimundo Diomba, said several schools in his southern province were destroyed. Elsewhere, flooding has made stretches of highway impassable.
Remember Jonathan Bouman, the young, Netherlands-based developer who brought us the awesome creation that isScrolldit, a scrollable version of Reddit? Well, he's back. And this time, he's made a scrollable version of Etsy. It's called Scrollsy, and, if you're an Etsy lover, I guarantee that you're about to waste a whole bunch of time on this site.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney meets supporters at Cherokee Trike and More in Greer, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Michael Justus)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney meets supporters at Cherokee Trike and More in Greer, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Michael Justus)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ? Attacked as a corporate raider, Mitt Romney defended his record in a new television ad Friday that accuses Republican presidential rivals who criticized his time at the helm of a private equity firm of "embarrassing themselves by taking the Obama line."
At the same time, Romney's allies were assailing rival and former Sen. Rick Santorum in ads in South Carolina and Florida for pork-barrel spending as they worked to keep the challenger, who has avoided criticizing Romney's business past, from catching fire while Romney pushes for a four-state win streak.
"Mitt Romney helped create and ran a company that invested in struggling businesses, grew new ones and rebuilt old ones, creating thousands of jobs," says Romney's new ad in South Carolina that lists Staples, The Sports Authority and Steel Dynamics as successes of the Bain Capital venture firm. "We expected the Obama administration to put free markets on trial ... Romney's GOP opponents are embarrassing themselves by taking the Obama line."
That line was a slap at Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, who have gone after Romney over his Bain tenure and drawn criticism from across the GOP for doing so.
As if on cue, Obama's campaign released a scathing memo noting that Bain closed companies and cut wages and benefits, while Romney and his partners became wealthy. The memo amounts to a roadmap of the Obama campaign's general election playbook should Romney win the GOP nomination.
"His overwrought response to questions about it has been to insist that any criticism of his business record is an assault on free enterprise itself," top Obama aide Stephanie Cutter wrote. "But this is just an attempt to evade legitimate scrutiny of the record on which he says he's running."
Romney also rolled out a radio ad about values in South Carolina ? likely to counter a TV ad by Gingrich that hits Romney on abortion ? and one in Nevada promoting his jobs experience. Romney and his allies are the only presidential campaign entities on the air in Florida, running moderate to heavy levels of ads.
With the Bain issue now spreading across both the primary and general election campaigns, Romney was looking to blunt the force of attacks on the central rationale for his candidacy in hopes of preventing those criticisms from taking hold, if they haven't already. It's unclear whether attacks by Gingrich and his allies are having an impact on the race in South Carolina, where unemployment is high.
Gingrich and Perry, looking to right their struggling bids ahead of the state's Jan. 21 presidential primary, have described Romney as a greedy corporate raider, not the business-savvy job creator he has tried to portray himself as.
They've been aided by an outside group that supports Gingrich and has pledged to run $3.4 million worth of ads attacking Romney on this issue in South Carolina. So far, less than $1.5 million in airtime has been bought for the ad, which features snippets of people talking about how they lost their jobs when Bain intervened at their companies.
Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, has steered clear of the Bain fight and is aggressively competing in South Carolina, where polls show Romney leading.
Some Republicans think Santorum is well positioned to rise in South Carolina, much like he did just before the Iowa caucuses, where he narrowly lost to Romney. Santorum fared more poorly in New Hampshire but South Carolina is more friendly terrain for the champion of culturally conservative issues.
The Romney-aligned super PAC called Restore Our Future, which is running $2.3 million in TV ads in South Carolina alone, is taking no chances of allowing a more conservative alternative to Romney to emerge and drag the race into a long slog through the spring nominating contests. The group, which spent nearly $3 million on advertising in Iowa attacking Gingrich, was seen as effectively ending Gingrich's rise in Iowa before the caucuses.
In addition to ads critical of Gingrich in South Carolina, the group run by former Romney aides is also now targeting Santorum on fiscal issues with TV ads and direct mail here and Florida, which holds the next primary on Jan. 31 and where Romney is considered the one to beat.
The commercials assail Santorum's support for pork-barrel ? or earmark ? spending while in Congress and votes to increase the federal debt limit. Both were common positions among Republicans, but have become flashpoints for conservatives angry about spending and the federal budget deficit.
"So how will Santorum beat Obama? Obama knows he can't," the ad says.
A flier filling mailboxes in South Carolina makes a similar pitch, stating: "America is in a financial mess because of politicians like Rick Santorum."
Santorum has stepped up his own advertising and a super PAC supporting him also is airing ads in South Carolina, although so far they have been upbeat messages about the candidate. The group confirmed Friday it was adding an additional $600,000 in advertising time in the state.
BBC's Mohsen Asgari: "It seems a motor cyclist pasted a bomb to his car which he was in with two other passengers
A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran.
Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, an academic who also worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, and the driver of the car were killed in the attack.
The blast happened after a motorcyclist stuck an apparent bomb to the car.
Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years, with Iran blaming Israel and the US. Both countries deny the accusations.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
The assassination on Wednesday of another Iranian nuclear scientist may now prompt Iran to try to respond in kind.
The murder in Tehran of Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan comes on top of a sophisticated cyber sabotage programme and two mysterious explosions at Iranian military bases, one of which in November killed the general known as 'the godfather' of Iran's ballistic missile programme.
No-one is claiming responsibility for these attacks but Iran blames its longstanding enemy, Israel, and occasionally the US.
Whoever is behind them, Iran is clearly being subjected to an undeclared campaign to slow down its nuclear programme.
The US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters she did not have "any information to share one way or the other" on the latest attack.
Iran's Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi told state television that the attack against Mr Ahmadi-Roshan would not stop "progress" in the country's nuclear programme.
He called the killing "evidence of [foreign] government-sponsored terrorism".
Local sources said Wednesday's blast took place at a faculty of Iran's Allameh Tabatai university.
Two others were reportedly also injured in the blast, which took place near Gol Nabi Street, in the north of the capital.
'Magnetic bomb'
Mr Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, was a graduate of Sharif University and supervised a department at Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan province, semi-official news agency Fars reported.
"The bomb was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and the work of the Zionists [Israelis]," deputy Tehran governor Safarali Baratloo said.
Witnesses said they had seen two people on the motorbike fix the bomb to the car, reported to be a Peugeot 405. The driver died of his wounds after the attack though the car itself remained virtually intact.
The BBC's Mohsen Asgari, in Tehran, says that the explosion was caused by a targeted, focused device intended to kill one or two people and small enough not to be heard from far away.
The latest attack comes almost two years to the day since Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a 50-year-old university lecturer at Tehran University, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb as he left his home in Tehran on 12 January 2010.
Nuclear suspicions
Reports at the time described Dr Mohammadi as a nuclear physicist, but it later appeared that he was an expert in another branch of physics.
There was also confusion as to whether the attack had any domestic political overtones because of reports about his apparent links to an opposition presidential candidate.
However, in August 2011, an Iranian man - Majid Jamali Fashi - was sentenced to death for the killing, with state authorities saying he was paid by Israel's Mossad spy agency. Israel does not comment on such claims.
Continue reading the main storyCLICKABLE
Massoud Ali Mohammadi
A physics professor at Tehran University. Died 12 January 2010 outside his home when a motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated next to his car.
Majid Shahriari
A member of nuclear engineering faculty at Shahid Beheshti University. He was killed in Tehran 29 November 2011 when a bomb was attached to his car by a motorcyclist.
Fereydoon Abbasi Davani
The future head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran. He was injured 29 November 2011 when a motorcyclist attached an explosive device to the side of his car.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan
A professor at the Technical University of Tehran and senior supervisor at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. He died 11 January 2012 after a bomb was placed on his car by a motorcyclist.
Of the latest attack, Fars reports that the bombing method appears similar to another 2010 bombing which injured former university professor Fereydun Abbasi-Davani, now the head of the country's atomic energy organisation.
There has been much controversy over Iran's nuclear activities.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes, but the US and other Western nations suspect it of seeking to build nuclear weapons.
In a statement quoted on Iranian television on Wednesday, the country's atomic energy agency said its nuclear path was "irreversible", despite mounting international pressure.
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Here are some highlights from yesterday’s post on TechCrunch Gadgets: Live Coverage of CES 2012 Eyes On: The Delightfully Retro Samsung DA-E75 Speaker Dock New Pocket Projectors From 3M Pump Up The Lumens MakerBot Announces Their Latest 3D Printer, The Replicator Vizio Breaks Into PC Market With Five New Models Monster Wins CES With Feathers And Spikes