TSX turns positive, bank earnings drive gains

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip. The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-may-open-higher-bank-earnings-top-forecasts-134724672--sector.html

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Police: Hotel altercation sparked Vegas shooting

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Bullets were flying from a black Range Rover at a gray Maserati as the vehicles raced toward a red light on the Las Vegas Strip.

Beneath the neon lights, police say, the Maserati ran a red light at one of the Strip's busiest intersections and smashed into a taxi that exploded into flames early Thursday, killing the two people inside.

Three more cars and a utility truck also collided at the crossroads home to Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Bally's, injuring at least six more people as the Range Rover sped off in the pre-dawn darkness.

The Maserati driver was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The dramatic scene that more than one tourist compared to something out of a violent action movie set off a frantic search for the occupants of the Range Rover that continued into the night, and marked the latest violent episode on the Strip since the beginning of the year.

Two people were critically wounded in a shooting at a parking garage Feb. 6, and a tourist was stabbed Saturday in an elevator at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters several hours after Thursday's attack that it was sparked by an argument in the valet area of the nearby Aria hotel-casino, and that the violence at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road did not reflect the values of Las Vegas residents or visitors.

"What happened will not be tolerated," Gillespie said. He promised the shooters would be "found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

On the Strip ? closed and snarling traffic throughout the day until reopening late Thursday night ? the fiery rampage shocked tourists.

"We get stabbings, and gang violence," said Mark Thompson, who was visiting from Manchester, England, with his wife, "but this is like something out of a movie. Like 'Die Hard' or something."

Police said they were contacting authorities in three neighboring states about the Range Rover Sport with dark tinted windows and distinctive black custom rims and plates that fled the scene about 4:20 a.m. It had a car dealer's advertisement in place of a license plate.

In Southern California, the California Highway Patrol alerted officers in at least three counties to be on the lookout for the SUV.

Las Vegas police Sgt. John Sheahan said the Range Rover was last seen near the Venetian resort as it headed north from the shooting scene on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Witnesses also told police the SUV and Maserati had come from the nearby CityCenter area, the home of Aria, just south of the site of the attack.

"We have numerous witnesses to this," Sheahan said. "But what is the genesis of this? We don't know yet."

Predawn jogger Eric Lackey was on his way back to the New York-New York hotel when he snapped a cellphone photo of the blazing scene moments after the crash. Black smoke billowed from the flaming taxi, amid popping sounds from the fire.

Lackey, of Forest Hill, Md., said a security officer in a yellow shirt performed CPR on a person on the sidewalk while police officers canvassed a small crowd of perhaps 15 onlookers gathering at the scene.

"Police were asking if anyone was still in the vehicles and if they heard gunfire," Lackey told The Associated Press. "That's when I realized it wasn't just a regular accident."

Sheahan said police have video from traffic cameras at the intersection and were checking hotel surveillance systems. The video will not be made public, he said.

Police did not release the names of the people who were killed, citing the ongoing investigation.

The crumpled, gray Maserati, which had no license plate, came to rest several feet away from the incinerated taxi.

"The people I feel sorry for are the people in the taxi," said Elvina Joyce, a tourist from Regina, Saskatchewan. "Seconds made all the difference in the world for them. Wrong place, wrong time."

The area near the scene has been the site of high-profile violence in the past.

Rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1996 about a block away under similar circumstances, as assailants opened fire on his luxury sedan from a vehicle on Flamingo Road. The killing has never been solved.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels and Hannah Dreier contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-hotel-altercation-sparked-vegas-shooting-182403826.html

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BP civil settlement remains elusive as trial nears

FILE - In this June 12, 2010 file photo, crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Ala. The U.S. Justice Department and the five Gulf coast states most affected by a massive 2010 oil spill have all indicated they would like to reach a settlement on civil claims against BP PLC that would avoid a trial scheduled to start next week. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

FILE - In this June 12, 2010 file photo, crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Ala. The U.S. Justice Department and the five Gulf coast states most affected by a massive 2010 oil spill have all indicated they would like to reach a settlement on civil claims against BP PLC that would avoid a trial scheduled to start next week. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

FILE -In this Wednesday, May 5, 2010 file photo, A shrimp boat is used to collect oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La. The U.S. Justice Department and the five Gulf coast states most affected by a massive 2010 oil spill have all indicated they would like to reach a settlement on civil claims against BP PLC that would avoid a trial scheduled to start next week. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? The U.S. Justice Department and the five Gulf coast states affected by a massive oil spill nearly three years ago have indicated they would like to settle their environmental and economic claims with BP PLC ahead of a trial scheduled to start next week.

The problem is that they haven't been able to agree on the possible terms of such an agreement. Months of negotiations have failed to resolve lingering differences ? not just with the London-based oil giant, but among themselves.

The Justice Department convened a meeting with Gulf Coast state officials in Washington late last week in an effort to hammer out an offer to resolve the outstanding civil claims, but an agreement wasn't reached, said a person familiar with the negotiations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said reaching a settlement that satisfies all states' competing interests has been difficult.

"We just want to make sure we get our fair share," he said. "We had more economic damage than probably any state because of the loss of all the tourism we had in 2010. So it's very important that the people of Alabama are compensated for the losses related to the oil spill."

Bentley said representatives of his office attended the meetings in Washington last week, but he declined to comment on the talks.

"We are ready to go to trial," he said Wednesday.

An 11th-hour settlement still could be reached before the trial starts Monday ? or even after it has begun ? but it is not surprising that a deal has proved elusive thus far in such a complex case, said David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan law professor and former chief of the Justice Department's environmental crimes section.

"It's extraordinarily difficult to negotiate any type of multiparty settlement, particularly when the sums involved reach into the tens of billions of dollars," he said. "The stakes are high. There are a lot of competing interests. Different parties may have different incentives to settle."

BP faces penalties under the Clean Water Act ranging from $5.4 billion to $21.1 billion, based on the government's estimate of how much oil spilled into the Gulf. Among the company's motivations to settle before a trial would be to avoid the higher end of that range, which U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier could impose if he ruled the company acted with gross negligence before the well blowout on April 10, 2010, that triggered an explosion, killing 11 workers and spawning the nation's worst offshore oil spill. With so much money at stake, "It's a high-stakes gamble to go to trial," Uhlmann said.

BP didn't participate in last week's talks, and pledged this week to take the case to trial. In a statement released Tuesday, the company's general counsel, Rupert Bondy, said BP has been open to settlements on "reasonable terms" but was "faced with demands that are excessive and not based on reality or the merits of the case."

In its most recent quarterly earnings report, released earlier this month, BP said state and local governments have formally presented the company with more than $34 billion in claims. The report claimed those figures are inflated and based on "seriously flawed" methodologies.

A key sticking point among the states themselves has been deciding how much money BP would pay in Clean Water Act penalties and how much it would pay through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process. The NRDA process, authorized by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, only funds environmental-restoration projects and uses scientific research to assess spill damage and decide how to fix it.

A settlement that funnels more money into NRDA projects could mean a greater share of the funding would flow into Louisiana, which bore the brunt of the spill's ecological impact.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder last week, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., urged the Justice Department not to settle with BP over Clean Water Act penalties without agreeing on NRDA payments.

Louisiana officials, however, don't appear to be uniformly in favor of a NRDA-heavy approach to a settlement. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., joined senators from other Gulf states in signing an Oct. 5, 2012, letter to the White House that expressed "grave concerns" about a settlement that would boost NRDA payments at the expense of Clean Water Act penalties.

The RESTORE Act, which Landrieu sponsored and Congress approved last year, dictates that 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties paid by BP be divided among Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas. Not only would a large chunk of that money be spread out evenly among the Gulf states, but the legislation also gives them some flexibility in deciding how the money is spent.

"Circumventing the will of Congress by shortchanging the RESTORE Act is wholly unacceptable to us. We urge you to reject such an approach," the senators wrote.

The civil trial set for Monday originally was scheduled for February 2012, but Barbier delayed it to allow BP to wrap up a settlement with a team of private attorneys representing residents and businesses that claimed economic losses from the spill.

The trial's first phase, which could last up to three months, is designed to identify causes of the blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. The second phase would determine how much oil spilled into the Gulf.

Bondy, the BP attorney, said the company will "vigorously" defend itself against gross-negligence allegations.

"This was a tragic accident, resulting from multiple causes and involving multiple parties," he said.

He also disputed the federal government's estimate of how much oil spilled into the Gulf, claiming it's inflated by at least 20 percent.

The Justice Department and the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, the lead private attorneys in the case, have vowed to prove at trial that BP was grossly negligent and that it engaged in willful misconduct in causing the spill.

"We remain as determined as ever to hold those responsible accountable," Department of Justice spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said in a statement.

A team of scientists working for the government estimated that more than 200 million gallons of oil spewed from BP's blown-out Macondo well from April to July 2010.

BP already has reached a settlement with the Justice Department resolving its criminal liability for the spill. The company has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges and agreed to pay $4 billion in criminal penalties.

Rig owner Transocean Ltd. reached a separate settlement with the federal government, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge and agreeing to pay $1.4 in civil and criminal penalties.

___

Associated Press reporter Phillip Rawls in Montgomery, Ala., contributed to this report.

Follow Michael Kunzelman at https://twitter.com/Kunzelman75.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-20-Gulf%20Oil%20Spill-Trial/id-c8da7230ac554d5b82b18af03ff66b67

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NCAA allegations against current, former Miami Hurricanes surface

After the University of Miami?s announcement Tuesday night that it had received its Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, information began seeping out and painting a clearer picture Wednesday in the nearly two-year-old case.

Among that information, The Miami Herald learned the specifics of two other Notices of Allegations through public records requests:

??Former Miami assistant basketball coach Jake Morton, now the director of basketball operations at Western Kentucky University, had charges that included accepting ?supplemental income in the amount of at least $6,000? from former UM booster Nevin Shapiro.

??Former UM basketball coach Frank Haith ?failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance within the men?s basketball program.?

And though UM president Donna Shalala said Tuesday in a written statement that the NCAA enforcement staff ?could not find evidence? of Shapiro claims such as UM-related prostitution, expensive cars for players, bounty payments and ?rampant alcohol and drug use,? Miami declined again Wednesday to release its Notice of Allegations.

Both basketball and football information leaked from various directions.

For instance, the University of Louisville confirmed that former UM football assistant coach Clint Hurtt had received his Notice of Allegations, but that the school had not responded to a public records request.

A source close to Hurtt said he will dispute some of the allegations.

Another source familiar with the NCAA?s investigation of UM and its former relationship with imprisoned Ponzi-schemer Shapiro told The Miami Herald that former UM football receivers coach Aubrey Hill and former UM basketball assistant Jorge Fernandez were being charged with violating NCAA bylaw 10.1, entitled ?unethical conduct.? When reached by phone Wednesday evening, Fernandez, who resigned from Marshall in May, declined comment. ?I?m not talking to anybody,? he said.

Hurtt also was charged with violating the ?unethical conduct? bylaw, the Associated Press reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed source. The AP stated that the NCAA said Hurtt and Hill ?committed the same violations? regarding bylaw 10.1 ? ?both denying that they provided meals, transportation and lodging to recruits, current players or both in either 2008 or 2009,? while players who were interviewed pointed to the contrary.

Bylaw 10.1 includes, but is not limited to, ?knowingly furnishing or influencing others to furnish the NCAA or the individual?s institution false or misleading information? regarding a possible NCAA violation.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions informed Haith, and likely the others involved in the case, that the scheduled hearing date of June 14-15 ?is unlikely? and ?is anticipated? to occur in July.

Yahoo! Sports reported Wednesday that there will be a conference call Friday for UM and the involved coaches to ?address their complaints about procedural concerns.? A Miami Herald source familiar with the case confirmed the conference call.

The AP reported Wednesday that the allegations also entail Shapiro paying for ?dinners at Benihana, televisions, sneakers, Miami Heat tickets, bowling parties, one player?s engagement ring, a used washer-dryer set for current New England Patriots lineman Vince Wilfork, and that he directed his girlfriend to give two former Hurricanes no-show jobs for a couple of months? ? not to mention ?buying a suit for former UM tailback Willis McGahee for him to wear to the 2002 Heisman Trophy ceremony.?

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/21/3243991/ex-miami-hurricanes-basketball.html

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Molecules assemble in water, hint at origins of life

Public release date: 20-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jason Maderer
maderer@gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology

The base pairs that hold together two pieces of RNA, the older cousin of DNA, are some of the most important molecular interactions in living cells. Many scientists believe that these base pairs were part of life from the very beginning and that RNA was one of the first polymers of life. But there is a problem. The RNA bases don't form base pairs in water unless they are connected to a polymer backbone, a trait that has baffled origin-of-life scientists for decades. If the bases don't pair before they are part of polymers, how would the bases have been selected out from the many molecules in the "prebiotic soup" so that RNA polymers could be formed?

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are exploring an alternate theory for the origin of RNA: they think the RNA bases may have evolved from a pair of molecules distinct from the bases we have today. This theory looks increasingly attractive, as the Georgia Tech group was able to achieve efficient, highly ordered self-assembly in water with small molecules that are similar to the bases of RNA. These "proto-RNA bases" spontaneously assemble into gene-length linear stacks, suggesting that the genes of life could have gotten started from these or similar molecules. The research is published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The discovery was made by a team of scientists led by Georgia Tech Professor Nicholas Hud, who has been trying for years to find simple molecules that will assemble in water and be capable of forming RNA or its ancestor. Hud's group knew that they were on to something when they added a small chemical tail to a proto-RNA base and saw it spontaneously form linear assemblies with another proto-RNA base. In some cases, the results produced 18,000 nicely ordered, stacked molecules in one long structure.

"Thinking about the origin of RNA reminds me of the paradox of your grandfather's ax," said Hud, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "If your father changed the handle and you changed the head, is it the same ax? We see RNA the same way. Its chemical structure might have changed over time, but it was in continual use so we can consider it to be the same molecule."

Hud concedes that scientists may never be 100 percent sure what existed four billion years ago when a complex mixture of chemicals started to work together to start life. His next goal is to determine whether the proto-RNA bases can be linked by a backbone to form a polymer that could have functioned as a genetic material.

Georgia Tech partnered with the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain on the project. The proto-RNA's two-component, self-assembling system consisted of cyanuric acid (CA) and TAPAS, a derivative of triaminopyrimidine (TAP).

In addition to addressing the origin-of-life questions, Hud suggests the self-assembly process could be used in the future to create new materials, such as nanowires.

###

This project is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA (Award Number CHE-1004570), and by NASA Exobiology (Award Number NNX08A014G). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF or NASA.

---

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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.

Public release date: 20-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jason Maderer
maderer@gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology

The base pairs that hold together two pieces of RNA, the older cousin of DNA, are some of the most important molecular interactions in living cells. Many scientists believe that these base pairs were part of life from the very beginning and that RNA was one of the first polymers of life. But there is a problem. The RNA bases don't form base pairs in water unless they are connected to a polymer backbone, a trait that has baffled origin-of-life scientists for decades. If the bases don't pair before they are part of polymers, how would the bases have been selected out from the many molecules in the "prebiotic soup" so that RNA polymers could be formed?

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are exploring an alternate theory for the origin of RNA: they think the RNA bases may have evolved from a pair of molecules distinct from the bases we have today. This theory looks increasingly attractive, as the Georgia Tech group was able to achieve efficient, highly ordered self-assembly in water with small molecules that are similar to the bases of RNA. These "proto-RNA bases" spontaneously assemble into gene-length linear stacks, suggesting that the genes of life could have gotten started from these or similar molecules. The research is published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The discovery was made by a team of scientists led by Georgia Tech Professor Nicholas Hud, who has been trying for years to find simple molecules that will assemble in water and be capable of forming RNA or its ancestor. Hud's group knew that they were on to something when they added a small chemical tail to a proto-RNA base and saw it spontaneously form linear assemblies with another proto-RNA base. In some cases, the results produced 18,000 nicely ordered, stacked molecules in one long structure.

"Thinking about the origin of RNA reminds me of the paradox of your grandfather's ax," said Hud, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "If your father changed the handle and you changed the head, is it the same ax? We see RNA the same way. Its chemical structure might have changed over time, but it was in continual use so we can consider it to be the same molecule."

Hud concedes that scientists may never be 100 percent sure what existed four billion years ago when a complex mixture of chemicals started to work together to start life. His next goal is to determine whether the proto-RNA bases can be linked by a backbone to form a polymer that could have functioned as a genetic material.

Georgia Tech partnered with the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain on the project. The proto-RNA's two-component, self-assembling system consisted of cyanuric acid (CA) and TAPAS, a derivative of triaminopyrimidine (TAP).

In addition to addressing the origin-of-life questions, Hud suggests the self-assembly process could be used in the future to create new materials, such as nanowires.

###

This project is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA (Award Number CHE-1004570), and by NASA Exobiology (Award Number NNX08A014G). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF or NASA.

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/giot-mai022013.php

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Fox News co-host under fire for rape remark

A Fox News co-host is facing a considerable--and justifiable--backlash for doubting questioning the prevalence of rape on college campuses.

?When was the last time you heard about a rape on campus?? Bob Beckel, a liberal co-host of Fox News' "The Five," asked his four colleagues on Tuesday's show.

?What are you talking about?" co-host Eric Bolling responded. "It?s rampant."

?In particular, date rape on campus,? co-host Dana Perino added.

In 2010, the Department of Justice estimated that 25 percent of college women "will be victims of rape or attempted rape before they graduate within a four-year college period." Women "between the ages of 16 to 24 will experience rape at a rate that's four times higher than the assault rate of all women," the DOJ said. And schools with more than 6,000 students "average of one rape per day during the school year.?

And according to New York University's "National Statistics about Sexual Violence on College Campuses," fewer than five percent are reported to law enforcement.

The group was discussing a proposal to ban on concealed weapons on Colorado campuses. In his argument supporting the ban, Democratic Colorado Rep. Joe Salazar said: ?It?s why we have call boxes. It?s why we have safe zones. That?s why we have the whistles, because you just don?t know who you?re going to be shooting at.?

Salazar's comments drew the ire conservatives, and prompted the mocking #LiberalTips2AvoidRape hashtag on Twitter. (The hashtag itself sparked a backlash among those who found the rape jokes offensive.)

"It is so enormously inappropriate to assume that a woman that is trained and has a concealed-carry permit will just pop off," Republican Rep. Lori Saine said. Salazar later apologized.

Beckel's comments were met with similar criticism. Twitchy.com, the website operated by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, called Beckel a "cretinous misogynist."

"Vomit," Malkin herself tweeted.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/fox-news-co-host-under-fire-rape-remark-203159297.html

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Blogging: What is Behind The Republicans' Hostility Toward President Obama's Immigration Plan? by Roger Algase

The big headline about immigration reform over the past several days has been Prwsident Obama's "leaked" immigration plan (which is not much different from his previously announced one), followed by Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio's hostile announcement that the president's plan (which is also not too different from the one that Rubio supports as a member of the bipartisan Senate Group of Eight), would be "dead on arrival" in Congress.

What is going on here? Why is there such a bitter reaction on the Republican side to a plan put forward by the president, which differs from one that influential Republican Congressional leaders say they are willing to consider more in detail than in concept?

For example, the president's plan would grand permanent resident status to up to 11 million unauthorized immigrants in 8 years. The Republican proposals might put this off for 18 years - or 28 years. Yes, that is a difference, but one that could easily be resolved by tossing a coin or just splitting the difference. But "dead on arrival"? This does not sound like the support for bipartisan immigration reform that was being so widely applauded in the media only a few weeks ago.

Why is Senator Rubio so anxious to throw cold water on the president's latest immigration plan? (No pun intended.) One theory, put forward by Eugene Robinson in Tuesday's (February 19) Washington Post and by Al Sharpton on his "Politics Nation" MSNBC TV show, is that the Republicans hate President Obama so much personally that they will kill their own plan about almost anything if he comes out in favor of it.

This theory may have some validity, but perhaps also only so far. It might be more likely that the Republicans could be signaling a retreat on immigration reform, in order to appease their white anti-immigrant base.

However, instead of sabotaging immigration reform directly under the xenophobic slogan "No Amnesty For Illegals" as was the case in 2007, the Republicans might be preparing a retreat under the cover of a poison pill, such as putting off full green card status for 11 million unauthorized immigrants and leaving them in legal limbo as a permanent underclass. Then they could blame the Democrats for failure of a legalization plan which the Republican basically detest and fear as a threat to their future existence as a party.

There may be an analogy with the negotiations over health care reform in President Obama's first term. Initially, the Republicans seemed to be eager, or at least willing, to participate in discussions over a health care reform bill. They put forth many proposals of their own (of which President Obama later claimed to have adopted no less than 200 in the final version of the law), including, of course, the famous individual mandate which almost undid the entire law except for one surprise vote in the Supreme Court.

However, in the end, as we all remember, not one single Congressional Republican actually voted for the health care reform law. In the current debate over immigration reform, could the Republican insistence on putting off full legal status for unauthorized immigrants for as much as a generation, if not indefinitely, be the poison pill that kills reform?

Or, if the Democrats accept this poison pill in order to get a bill through Congress, as they did with the individual health care mandate when they threw single payer under the bus, will the Republicans find some other excuse to turn against immigration reform?

There is already one available, namely the red herring that the border is not yet "secure" enough and that employer sanctions for hiring unauthorized workers are not yet "effective". These things will never happen from the standpoint of people who do not really want immigration reform.

To take the analogy with health care reform one step further, suppose that President Obama and the Democrats agree to Republican proposals to bar unauthorized immigrants from ever becoming permanent residents or US citizens as the price of granting them relief from deportation and work permission. Would this be consistent with the basic rights guaranteed by the US Constitution?

Or might we see another Constitutional challenge to a major reform law passed during Barack Obama's presidency, this time dealing with immigration rather than health care? And could the survival of immigration reform itself depend on a single vote in the Supreme Court? These questions might be worth thinking about before rushing to compromise over basic principles of immigration reform, including resonable provisions for permanent resident status and eventual US citizenship.

Roger Algase is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He has been practicing business immigration law in New York City for more than 20 years.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) alone and should not be imputed to ILW.COM.

Source: http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?1348-Blogging-What-is-Behind-The-Republicans-Hostility-Toward-President-Obama-s-Immigration-Plan-by-Roger-Algase

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Burger King apologizes after Twitter hacking

This frame grab taken Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, shows what appears to be Burger King's Twitter account after it was apparently hacked. Starting just after noon Eastern time on Monday, the fast-foot company's Twitter picture was changed to a McDonald's logo, and the account tweeted that it had been sold to rival McDonald's. (AP Photo)

This frame grab taken Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, shows what appears to be Burger King's Twitter account after it was apparently hacked. Starting just after noon Eastern time on Monday, the fast-foot company's Twitter picture was changed to a McDonald's logo, and the account tweeted that it had been sold to rival McDonald's. (AP Photo)

Somebody hacked Burger King's Twitter account on Monday, posting obscene messages and changing its profile picture to a McDonald's logo.

The tweets stopped after a little more than an hour, and Burger King said it had reached out to Twitter to suspend the account. A Twitter spokesman did not immediately respond to a phone message left on Monday.

Late Monday, Burger King tweeted: "Interesting day here at BURGER KING, but we're back! Welcome to our new followers. Hope you all stick around!"

Burger King, which usually tweets several times a week, typically does so to promote sales on chicken sandwiches, or to ask questions such as how many bites it takes to eat a chicken nugget.

But just after noon EST on Monday, someone tweeted via Burger King's account, "We just got sold to McDonalds!" They also changed the icon to rival McDonald Corp.'s golden arches and the account's background picture to McDonald's new Fish McBites.

About 55 tweets and retweets followed over the next hour and a quarter, including some that contained racial epithets, references to drug use and obscenities. The account tweeted: "if I catch you at a wendys, we're fightin!"

Monday's appropriation of Burger King's Twitter account was a relatively mild example of cybersecurity problems, which are causing increasing concern in Washington and for industry. Media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have all said this year that their computer systems were breached, while several NBC websites were briefly hacked in November. White House officials and some lawmakers are pursuing legislation that would make it easier for the government and industry to share information on how to defend against hacking.

Burger King didn't know who hacked the account, and no other social media accounts were affected, said Bryson Thornton, a spokesman for Miami-based Burger King Worldwide Inc. Its social media team and an outside agency manage the Twitter account, but Thornton declined to say how many people knew the account's password. Late Monday, Thornton issued an apology to the company's Twitter followers.

"Earlier today, our official BK Twitter Account was compromised by unauthorized users," Thornton said in a statement. "Upon learning of this incident, our social media teams immediately began working with Twitter security administrators to suspend the compromised account until we could re-establish our brand's official Twitter page. We apologize to our loyal fans and followers, whom might have received unauthorized tweets from our account. We are pleased to announce that the account is now active again."

Twitter acknowledged on Feb. 1 that cyber attackers may have stolen user names and passwords of 250,000 users. It said at the time that it notified users of the breach.

Competitors were sympathetic.

McDonald's responded on Twitter that it empathized with its Burger King counterparts. "Rest assured, we had nothing to do with the hacking."

"My real life nightmare is playing out" on Burger King's twitter feed, wrote Wendy's social media worker Amy Rose Brown.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-19-Burger%20King-Twitter%20Hacked/id-d439bcd01b1845e8a1f1686c51c946c4

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University to reopen, classes resume at 12:30 p.m. Mon. Feb 18

University to reopen, classes resume at 12:30 p.m. Mon. Feb 18
2013-02-18 06:28:59

Following this morning's storm closure, Mount Allison University will reopen and classes will resume at 12:30 p.m. today, Monday, February 18.

Source: http://www.mta.ca/news/index.php?id=4036

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Your car stinks!

By Ken Y-N ( February 17, 2013 at 23:50) ? Filed under Polls, Rankings

goo Ranking took a look at what awful in-car smells would you be unable to tell the driver about.

Demographics

Over the 7th and 8th of December 2012 1,059 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.4% of the sample were female, 10.8% in their teens, 14.4% in their twenties, 24.9% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 11.5% in their fifties, and 9.6% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

It?s got to be ciggie smells for me too, followed closely by too much Magic Tree (are they still popular?), usually used to mask said ciggies! Here?s a car that probably manages to avoid number 12 only?

Ranking result

Q: When do you come to want to quit using SNS? (Sample size=1.072)

Rank	?	Score
1	Tobacco smell	100
2	Air conditioner smell	71.2
3	Sweat, body odour smell	64.5
4	Dusty smell	60.4
5	Mold smell	53.4
6	Air freshener smell	51.6
7	Food oil smell	41.9
8	Perfume smell	27.7
9	Pet smell	26.0
10	Fish bait, other raw smell	24.9
11	Pickles, other strong food smell	23.7
12	New car smell	21.6
13	Leather seat smell	17.8
14	Coffee smell	12.7

Read more on: goo ranking,smell

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhatJapanThinks/~3/7DzFk1mJWP8/

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Wedding Hair Flower, Ivory, White, wedding accessory, bridal headpiece - LORI - by deLoop

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I am located in Canada and make a trip to the USA every Monday to mail out my items. Mailing items from the USA allows your package to arrive much sooner. I add gas and tolls into my shipping price. Generally allow 2 weeks before the item is shipped out but, If you need your item in a rush please contact me with details.

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Source: http://www.etsy.com/listing/91241171/wedding-hair-flower-ivory-white-wedding

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Elect [The Source] SAMSUNG GALAXY S III PHONE COVER - BLUE $4.96

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Agent cancels all future races for Pistorius

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, South Africa's Oscar Pistorius starts in the men's 400-meter semifinal during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, with the murder of his girlfriend who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the Blade Runner for his high-tech artificial legs. Reeva Steenkamp, a model who spoke out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women, was shot four times in the predawn hours in the home, in a gated community in the capital, Pretoria, police said. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, South Africa's Oscar Pistorius starts in the men's 400-meter semifinal during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, with the murder of his girlfriend who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the Blade Runner for his high-tech artificial legs. Reeva Steenkamp, a model who spoke out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women, was shot four times in the predawn hours in the home, in a gated community in the capital, Pretoria, police said. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

FILE - This is a Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012 file photo of South Africa's Oscar Pistorius as he reacts after finishing first in a men's 400-meter heat during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday Feb. 14. 2013 with the murder of his girlfriend who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the Blade Runner for his high-tech artificial legs. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Peet van Zyl, managing agent for Olympian athlete Oscar Pistorius, talks to the press outside the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria, South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013, after visiting Pistorius. Oscar Pistorius faces a bail hearing Tuesday and Wednesday, in which prosecutors will have to offer a great explanation about why they?ve charged the Olympian with murder over the Valentine?s Day shooting death of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius hasn?t entered a plea in the case, though his family has said they strongly deny the 26-year-old double-amputee runner committed murder. They have not, however, denied outright that Pistorius shot Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law school graduate now being featured in a South African reality television show. (AP Photo)

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop police station, east of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 en route to appear in court charged with murder. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was taken into custody and was expected to appear in court Thursday after a 30-year-old woman who was believed to be his girlfriend was shot dead at his home in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. (AP Photo/Chris Collingridge) SOUTH AFRICA OUT

Arnold Pistorius, right, uncle of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, comforts his niece after making a statement to selected press in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 16, 2013. Pistorius said that Oscar is numb with shock, as well as grief after the shooting death of his model girlfriend at his home in South Africa, Thursday. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Oscar Pistorius' track career was put on hold indefinitely Sunday because of his murder charge, reinforcing the possibility that the double-amputee Olympian and disabled sports icon might never run again competitively on his famous carbon fiber blades.

Pistorius' agent was forced to cancel all future races, he said, so Pistorius could concentrate on defending himself against allegations he murdered his model girlfriend by shooting her several times in his upscale house on Valentine's Day morning.

Reeva Steenkamp died from gunshot wounds suffered inside Pistorius' home in the predawn hours of Thursday. Pistorius was arrested and charged with her murder the same day. His family denies he murdered her.

"I have decided that following these tragic events that we have no option but to cancel all future races that Oscar Pistorius had been contracted to compete in," agent Peet van Zyl said in a written statement late Sunday night.

A few hours earlier, Van Zyl had visited his athlete at a police station in the South African capital, Pretoria, where he is being held in custody in a red-bricked, one-story building with green metal fencing.

Pistorius has been there since Friday following the shocking developments at his villa in a gated community in Pretoria's eastern suburbs where Steenkamp was shot dead.

Her death and Pistorius' arrest stunned South Africans, who revered Pistorius for his humble nature and success at overcoming adversity to become an international star, despite having his lower legs amputated as a baby.

Pistorius still had "overwhelming support" from his fans, Van Zyl said as he left Brooklyn police station, but the agent steered away from a question from a reporter on what Pistorius' emotional state was now like following the death of his girlfriend and a possible realization that his entire career was in ruins.

Pistorius' sponsors ? including big-name brands Nike and eyewear manufacturer Oakley ? were also sticking by him, Van Zyl said. But that could depend on the outcome of a possibly lengthy murder trial.

"Regarding sponsors and partners, I can confirm that at this point in time, all parties are supportive and their contractual commitments are maintained," Van Zyl's In Site Athlete Management company said. "They have said they are happy to let the legal process takes its course before making any change in their position."

The Beaverton, Ore-based Nike Inc. and Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Oakley Inc. did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Pistorius was quickly arrested and charged with murder Thursday, with prosecutors saying at his first court appearance a day later that they would pursue a more serious premeditated murder charge, which carries a life sentence.

Pistorius broke down and wept in the court, with his face in his hands. His family later denied he murdered Steenkamp and said the state's own evidence "strongly refutes" any possibility of a murder.

"I am not going to comment on anything except that (what) is related to his athletics career at this point in time," Van Zyl told reporters outside the police station after being asked how Pistorius was coping. "Obviously from a management side and also as a friend, it's a tragic circumstance and events that have unfolded and we can only give Oscar our support at this point in time."

Family members and his lawyers also visited Pistorius on Sunday, but declined comment both when they arrived and when they left the city center police station.

The family of Steenkamp, a model, law graduate and budding reality TV star, told The Associated Press that her body had been released by police after an autopsy and was back in their hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast.

"Reeva is back home," the late model's brother, Adam Steenkamp, told the AP by phone. He had flown back from Britain, where he now lives, to be with the family.

They also said Steenkamp's funeral would be held Tuesday and would be a private ceremony for family at a local crematorium. Media would not be allowed in.

The main purpose for Van Zyl's visit to Brooklyn police station Sunday afternoon was to discuss Pistorius' running career, but "also to visit him as a friend and give him my moral support," the agent said. "On a personal level I wanted to offer my support to Oscar, who I have known and worked with for the last seven years and consider a friend and a great professional athlete."

Following the meeting, Van Zyl announced publicly that the five races that Pistorius had confirmed for in 2013 were canceled: two in Australia in March, exhibition races against fellow Paralympic champions Alan Oliveira of Brazil and Jonnie Peacock of Britain, and an appearance at the U.S. Drake Relays in Iowa.

Van Zyl's decision to cancel those races was first reported by the AP on Saturday. All others that were still in negotiation were also now called off, Van Zyl said on Sunday.

The high-profile rematch with Oliveira, who beat Pistorius in the 200 meters at the London Paralympics last year, was to be a straight line 200 race on Copacabana beach to promote the 2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympics.

The runner's main goal for 2013 was to qualify for the worlds in Moscow in August, which is now almost certainly not going to happen.

Pistorius was the first amputee athlete to run at the world championships in 2011, then made history when he competed at last year's Olympics in London.

He and his coach have both said that they aimed to retire from track after the Rio Games, but one of the world's most famous athletes, who fought for years to be allowed to run against able-bodied competitors, is now facing the possibility he will never go to any major meet again.

___

Follow Gerald Imray at http://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-17-Pistorius-Shooting/id-2a8835b32ce64b86ae88eab9df7f5962

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Private equity industry attempts to woo union leaders

Britain's private equity industry is angling for closer ties with the Trade Union Congress ? which famously denounced buyout firms as "amoral asset-strippers after a quick buck".

Mark Florman, the chief executive at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA), revealed he had held talks with Frances O'Grady, the general secretary of the TUC in hope of building a stronger relationship.

Although the talks were informal, it is hoped that they could eventually lead to co-operation on issues like pay and working conditions.

A spokesman for the BVCA said: "We had a productive meeting with the TUC at the end of last year when we discussed shared points of interest. Obviously we're hoping to build on this but there isn't anything more formal in place at the moment."

In response, the TUC said it always maintained "regular relations" with business bodies and political parties but played down any plans for "joint activities or special ties".

The private equity industry has struggled to convince unions that the buy-out model works. In 2007, the TUC's Brendan Barber, Ms O'Grady's predecessor, launched the "quick buck" attack after hearing that Blackstone, KKR and CVC were considering bidding for Sainsbury's.

During this period the BVCA and TUC also held roundtable discussions, which were viewed as peace talks by some observers.

Unions once paraded a camel outside a church visited by Damon Buffini, the former head of AA owner Permira. The gesture was to remind him of the parable that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3511/s/28a3d481/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cbusiness0Cnews0Cprivate0Eequity0Eindustry0Eattempts0Eto0Ewoo0Eunion0Eleaders0E84977370Bhtml/story01.htm

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Roberts: Fixing Fox News - and the GOP

?

??????????? Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News Channel, is a very smart man. And he knows how to count, a skill that has apparently eluded many of his fellow conservatives.

??????????? Moreover, he runs a business and wants to make a profit. He reports to a boss, Rupert Murdoch, who did not become the 106th-richest person in the world by ignoring the bottom line. Neither Ailes nor Murdoch can afford to substitute ideology for reality.

??????????? This helps explain the "course correction," in Ailes' words, that's been taking place at Fox News in recent months. The cable channel has jettisoned some of its most incendiary personalities - Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Dick Morris - while reaching out to a rising tide of Hispanic voters and potential customers. "The contributions being made by Latinos are extraordinary," Ailes recently told Eliza Gray of The New Republic, "and we need to talk to them."

??????????? Just as Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana warned fellow Republicans not to be the "stupid party," Ailes doesn't want Fox to be the stupid network. Stupid doesn't sell.

??????????? When Murdoch hired Ailes to start Fox News in 1996, they were building on the work of another brilliant media strategist, Newt Gingrich. We can debate endlessly whether the mainstream media - the big papers and big networks - are endemically liberal. But there's no doubt that conservatives believe they are, and that gave Gingrich his opening.

??????????? While he was still a backbencher in the 1980s, representing a congressional district in Georgia, Gingrich carved out new channels of communication that could be used to reach and recruit conservative cadres. Utilizing the technology of that pre-Internet era, Gingrich would make cassette tapes, expounding the gospel according to Newt, and send them to like-minded activists.

??????????? He'd gather those same activists in Holiday Inn conference rooms on Saturday mornings and address them by satellite hookup. And he and his young allies would make speeches on the House floor after the regular sessions had concluded. No one was there, but that didn't matter. The speeches were carried on C-SPAN, and any audience was better than none.

??????????? Above all, Gingrich saw how talk radio could emerge as the bully pulpit of the conservative movement, and he became a fixture on shows run by the likes of Rush Limbaugh. When Republicans finally captured the House of Representatives in 1994 and Gingrich became the first GOP speaker in 40 years, talk radio hosts were honored guests at his swearing-in ceremony.

??????????? Ailes and Murdoch followed the same formula of appealing to disgruntled conservatives when they created Fox News a year later. They knew what they were doing. Fox has been by far the most popular cable network for the last decade. But lately, ratings have slipped, and so has the network's credibility. According to a recent survey by Public Policy Polling, the number of viewers who said they trusted Fox dropped from 50 percent to 40 percent.

??????????? One of the problems is demographics. If the Republicans cannot build a party for the future based on grumpy old white men, Fox cannot build a network on that same foundation. That's why Ailes is making such a big effort to target Hispanics. As he told The New Republic, they constitute a "tremendous business opportunity."

??????????? Ailes is right when he says that "the Latino audience is an essentially traditional audience" that is open to appeals based on "traditional American values." Many are small-business owners and entrepreneurs who like the conservative message of lower taxes and less regulation. But they won't even listen if the pitch comes from a party or a network that is wrong on immigration. That's why Fox hosts such as Sean Hannity have shifted sides and endorsed measures that eventually would provide citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Even Ailes says, "I don't have a problem with a path to citizenship."

??????????? Immigration is only part of Fox's problem. During the election, the network became a sealed echo chamber for Republican views, shutting out voices and evidence that pointed to a GOP defeat. On the eve of the election, Morris predicted a landslide victory for Mitt Romney. And on election night, analyst Karl Rove refused to accept the clear signs that Ohio - and the country - were going for Barack Obama. At that point, Fox looked like the stupid network.

??????????? For Ailes and Murdoch, who crave credibility, that had to be a mortifying moment. They've always been able to count - votes, audiences, profits. That's why they're correcting their course, and why the Republican Party can learn a lot from them.

?

??????????? Steve and Cokie Roberts can be contacted by email at stevecokie@gmail.com.

??????????

Source: http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/x1522324356/Roberts-Fixing-Fox-News-and-the-GOP

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Vanessa Hudgens And Selena Gomez: ?Spring Breakers' Paris Dinner (PHOTOS)

Just Jared:

Vanessa Hudgens walks arm in arm with her Spring Breakers? co-star Selena Gomez while grabbing dinner at L?Avenue restaurant on Saturday (February 16) in Paris, France.

Vanessa, 24, and Selena, 20, were joined by their beanie wearing co-star Ashley Benson.

Read the whole story at Just Jared

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/16/vanessa-hudgens-and-selena-gomez-spring-breakers_n_2703003.html

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2 space rocks hours apart point up the danger

FILE - In this 1953 file photo, trees lie strewn across the Siberian countryside 45 years after a meteorite struck the Earth near Tunguska, Russia. The 1908 explosion is generally estimated to have been about 10 megatons; it leveled some 80 million trees for miles near the impact site. The meteor that streaked across the Russian sky Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, is estimated to be about 10 tons. It exploded with the power of an atomic bomb over the Ural Mountains, about 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) west of Tunguska. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this 1953 file photo, trees lie strewn across the Siberian countryside 45 years after a meteorite struck the Earth near Tunguska, Russia. The 1908 explosion is generally estimated to have been about 10 megatons; it leveled some 80 million trees for miles near the impact site. The meteor that streaked across the Russian sky Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, is estimated to be about 10 tons. It exploded with the power of an atomic bomb over the Ural Mountains, about 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) west of Tunguska. (AP Photo, File)

In this photo provided by Chelyabinsk.ru a meteorite contrail is seen over Chelyabinsk on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. A meteor streaked across the sky of Russia?s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring around 100 people, including many hurt by broken glass. (AP Photo/Chelyabinsk.ru)

This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows a simulation of asteroid 2012 DA14 approaching from the south as it passes through the Earth-moon system on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The 150-foot object will pass within 17,000 miles of the Earth. NASA scientists insist there is absolutely no chance of a collision as it passes. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? A space rock even bigger than the meteor that exploded like an atom bomb over Russia could drop out of the sky unannounced at any time and wreak havoc on a city. And Hollywood to the contrary, there isn't much the world's scientists and generals can do about it.

But some former astronauts want to give the world a fighting chance.

They're hopeful Friday's cosmic coincidence ? Earth's close brush with a 150-foot asteroid, hours after the 49-foot meteor struck in Russia ? will draw attention to the dangers lurking in outer space and lead to action, such as better detection and tracking of asteroids.

"After today, a lot of people will be paying attention," said Rusty Schweickart, who flew on Apollo 9 in 1969, helped establish the planet-protecting B612 Foundation and has been warning NASA for years to put more muscle and money into a heightened asteroid alert.

Earth is menaced all the time by meteors, which are chunks of asteroids or comets that enter Earth's atmosphere. But many if not most of them are simply too small to detect from afar with the tools now available to astronomers.

The meteor that shattered over the Ural Mountains was estimated to be 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. It blew out thousands of windows and left more than 1,000 people injured in Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million. And yet no one saw it coming; it was about the size of a bus.

"This is a tiny asteroid," said astronomer Paul Chodas, who works in NASA's Near-Earth Object program in Pasadena, Calif. "It would be very faint and difficult to detect ? not impossible, but difficult."

As for the three-times-longer asteroid that hurtled by Earth later in the day Friday, passing closer to the planet than some communications satellites, astronomers in Spain did not even discover it until a year ago. That would have been too late for pre-emptive action ? such as the launch of a deflecting spacecraft ? if it had been on a collision course with Earth.

Asteroid 2012 DA14, as it is known, passed harmlessly within 17,150 miles of Earth, zooming by at 17,400 mph, or 5 miles per second.

Scientists believe there are anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million "near-Earth" asteroids comparable in size to DA14 or bigger out there. But less than 1 percent have actually been spotted. Astronomers have catalogued only 9,600 of them, of which nearly 1,300 are bigger than 0.6 miles.

Earth's atmosphere gets hit with 100 tons of junk every day, most of it the size of sand, and most of it burning up before it reaches the ground, according to NASA.

"These fireballs happen about once a day or so, but we just don't see them because many of them fall over the ocean or in remote areas. This one was an exception," NASA's Jim Green, director of planetary science, said of the meteor in Russia.

A 100- to 130-foot asteroid exploded over Siberia in 1908 and flattened 825 square miles of forest, while the rock that is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was a monster 6 miles across.

The chances of Earth getting hit without warning by one of the big ones are "extremely low, so low that it's ridiculous. But the smaller ones are quite different," Schweickart said. He warned: "If we get hit by one of them, it's most likely we wouldn't have known anything about it before it hit."

Chodas said the meteor strike in Russia is "like Mother Nature is showing us what a small one ? a tiny one, really ? can do."

All this points up the need for more money for tracking of near-Earth objects, according to Schweickart and the former space shuttle and station astronaut who now heads up the B612 Foundation, Ed Lu.

A few years ago, Schweickart and others recommended NASA launch a $250 million-a-year program to survey asteroids and work up a deflection plan. After 10 years of cataloging, the annual price tag could drop to $75 million, they said.

"Unfortunately, NASA never acted on any of our recommendations," he lamented. "So the result of it is that instead of having $250 million a year and working on this actively, NASA now has $20 million. ... It's peanuts."

Congress immediately weighed in on Friday.

"Today's events are a stark reminder of the need to invest in space science," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House science, space and technology committee. He called for a hearing in the coming weeks.

Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said the space agency takes asteroid threats seriously and has poured money into looking for ways to better spot them. Annual spending on asteroid-detection at NASA has gone from $4 million a few years ago to $20 million now.

"NASA has recognized that asteroids and meteoroids and orbital debris pose a bigger problem than anybody anticipated decades ago," Cooke said.

Schweickart's B612 Foundation ? named after the asteroid in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "Le Petit Prince" ? has been unwilling to wait on the sidelines and is putting together a privately funded mission to launch an infrared telescope that would orbit the sun to hunt and track asteroids.

Its need cannot be underestimated, Schweickart warned. Real life is unlike movies such as "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact." Scientists will need to know 15, 20 or 30 years in advance of a killer rock's approach to undertake an effective asteroid-deflection campaign, he said, because it would take a long time for the spacecraft to reach the asteroid for a good nudge.

"That's why we want to find them now," he said.

As Chodas observed Friday, "It's like a shooting gallery here."

___

Associated Press writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

B612 Foundation: http://b612foundation.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-02-15-Meteor%20Menace/id-856bfdcf1ffe455dacebfabae0f174c5

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Gun ban would protect more than 2,200 firearms

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress' latest crack at a new assault weapons ban would protect more than 2,200 specific firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle that is nearly identical to one of the guns used in the bloodiest shootout in FBI history.

One model of that firearm, the Ruger .223 caliber Mini-14, is on the proposed list to be banned, while a different model of the same gun is on a list of exempted firearms in legislation the Senate is considering. The gun that would be protected from the ban has fixed physical features and can't be folded to be more compact. Yet the two firearms are equally deadly.

"What a joke," said former FBI agent John Hanlon, who survived the 1986 shootout in Miami. He was shot in the head, hand, groin and hip with a Ruger Mini-14 that had a folding stock. Two FBI agents died and five others were wounded.

Hanlon recalled lying on the street as brass bullet casings showered on him. He thought the shooter had an automatic weapon.

Both models of the Ruger Mini-14 specified in the proposed bill can take detachable magazines that hold dozens of rounds of ammunition. "I can't imagine what the difference is," Hanlon said.

President Barack Obama has called for restoring a ban on military-style assault weapons and limiting the size of ammunition magazines.

A bill introduced last month by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. would ban 157 specific firearms designed for military and law enforcement use and exempt others made for hunting purposes. It also would ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Yet there are firearms that would be protected under Feinstein's proposal that can take large capacity magazines like the ones used in mass shootings that enable a gunman to fire dozens of rounds of ammunition without reloading.

Feinstein said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press that the list of more than 2,200 exempted firearms was designed to "make crystal clear" that the bill would not affect hunting and sporting weapons.

The December shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 students and educators dead forced Washington to focus on curbing gun violence, a risky political move not tried in decades.

The gun industry, which is fighting any sort of ban, says gun ownership in the U.S. is the highest it's ever been, with more than 100 million firearms owners.

Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden have traveled around the country in an effort to gain support for new laws. Feinstein's proposal is the only sweeping piece of legislation designed to ban assault weapons currently being considered.

But some gun experts say the lists of banned and exempted firearms show a lack of understanding and expertise of guns.

"There's no logic to it," said Greg Danas, president of a Massachusetts-based expert witness business and firearms ballistic laboratory. "What kind of effect is it going to have?"

Feinstein's bill defines an assault weapon as a semi-automatic firearm with a detachable magazine that has one of several military characteristics that are specified in her legislation. Examples of those characteristics include a pistol grip, which makes a firearm easier to hold, and a forward grip, which makes the firearm easier to stabilize to improve accuracy. The definition is similar to the one in Congress' original ban on assault weapons, which went into effect in 1994 and was widely criticized for outlawing firearms based on cosmetic features.

Feinstein was behind the 1994 law which, at the time, protected more than 600 firearms. The current bill would exempt by name and model more than 2,200 firearms by name and model.

Feinstein said her staff had worked for more than a year to draft updates for the ban that expired in 2004, and it was apparent in the wake of recent mass shootings that now was the time to introduce a new bill. She said her staff consulted with law enforcement agencies and policy experts for months to create the expanded list.

Naming firearms that would remain legal under an assault weapons ban is a politically motivated gesture that was used to help pass the original ban in the early 1990s, people familiar with the process said.

Any firearm that does not fall within the law's definition of an assault weapon would not be banned. As a result, the list gives vulnerable politicians cover from constituents who do not want to give up their firearms.

For example, a politician can look at the list and assure a constituent that the government would not ban the firearm he or she loves to use for deer hunting. Under the 1994 law and the currently proposed one, the government would not have the authority to take away guns people already legally own. The ban would only apply to specific firearms manufactured and sold after the law is enacted.

A list of exempted firearms was not part of Feinstein's original assault weapons ban two decades ago, said Michael Lenett, one of the lead congressional staffers on gun control issues in 1994. A separate bill in circulation exempted far fewer hunting and sporting firearms, Lenett said.

The purpose of creating such a list was to assure people that the government was not going after any legitimate hunting or sporting weapons. "The other purpose of the list was to have a high profile way of assuring certain folks ? including legislators ? that we would not be going after their weapons that they use for those legitimate purposes," Lenett said.

"It was a win-win situation," Lenett recalled, because, he said, if the list could help pick up votes needed to pass the bill and temper some of the opposition, it could assuage some opponents of the ban without making the law less effective.

But gun experts say the lists in 1994 and the expanded lists of today don't make much sense.

"The bill demonstrates a shocking ignorance of the product they are purporting to regulate," said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association based in Newtown, Conn., that represents gun manufacturers. "I have no idea how they arrived at this list. It would seem to be random, bordering on throwing darts at a dart board."

For instance, Feinstein's current proposal includes exemptions for three specific types of the M-1 Carbine, an assault rifle designed for the military that the U.S. currently bans from being imported. A draft of the legislation, created and modified in November and early December last year, banned the M-1 Carbine and didn't exempt any models, according to a copy obtained by the AP.

Feinstein said there was disagreement among firearms experts, law enforcement and gun safety organizations about whether to include the M-1 Carbine on the list of banned weapons.

"It has been used in multiple police shootings, and was originally used by U.S. soldiers on the battlefield," Feinstein said. "On the other hand, it comes in models that would not meet the military characteristics test." She said she decided to limit banned weapons to those that met the definition outlined in the bill.

At a Jan. 30 hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on gun violence, National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre said Feinstein's bill is "based on falsehoods to people that do not understand firearms, to convince them that the performance characteristics of guns that they are trying to ban through that bill are different than the performance characteristics that they're not trying to ban."

The Ruger Mini-14 is a perfect example.

The model that has a fixed stock would be exempted by Feinstein's ban; the gun was protected in the 1994 law as well. A Ruger Mini-14 with a collapsible and folding stock would be illegal.

The guns fire the same caliber bullet and can take detachable magazines that could hold dozens of rounds of ammunition. The folding stock only reduces the gun's length by 2.75 inches, according to the manufacturer's website.

"It's irrelevant," Edmund Mireles, an FBI agent who survived the Miami shootout, said of the differences in features. "They're equally dangerous."

Mark D. Jones, a senior law enforcement adviser for the University of Chicago Crime Lab, said the folding stock does not affect the firearm's lethal potential.

"Given that both firearms will accept a 30 round or larger magazine, it renders the differences between them entirely cosmetic," Jones said.

Kristen Rand, the legislative director at the Washington-based Violence Policy Center, said the Ruger Mini-14 model that would be banned under Feinstein's legislation is easier to hold while firing because it has a pistol grip, and it's easier to hide because it has a collapsible stock. That's what makes it more dangerous that the Ruger Mini-14 with the fixed stock which would be exempted under the Feinstein bill, she said.

"And that's supposed to save somebody's life?" asked Hanlon, the FBI agent shot alongside Mireles.

Hanlon considered the differences between the two models and whether the events of April 11, 1986, would have been different if the shooter used a Ruger Mini-14 with a fixed stock. "I don't think it would have changed a damn thing," he said. "I don't see what makes that gun less dangerous."

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Follow Eileen Sullivan on Twitter: http://twitter.com/esullivanap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-ban-protect-more-2-200-firearms-132222943.html

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