CAIRO (Reuters) - An International Monetary Fund delegation will arrive in Egypt on Wednesday for talks with the government on a $4.8 billion loan, Egypt's government spokesmanAlaa El Hadidi said on Sunday.
More than two years of political upheaval have battered the Egyptian economy, leaving it in dire need of IMF funding to relieve a currency and budget crisis. The country's reserves of foreign currency have fallen to critically low levels, threatening its ability to import essential supplies of fuel and wheat.
President Mohamed Mursi's government initialed a deal with the IMF last November but postponed final ratification in December in the face of unrest triggered by a political row over the extent of his powers.
Hadidi, talking to reporters, gave no details on the new round of talks with the IMF. The IMF said last week a technical delegation would visit Cairo in the "first days of April".
Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, visited Cairo on March 17, saying the Fund would continue talks aimed at agreeing possible financial aid.
(Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Catherine Evans)
North Korea said on Saturday that it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, following a call to arms by the country's young leader Kim Jong Un and days of increasingly belligerent rhetoric from the isolated state.
Baengnyeong Island, home to 5,000 South Korean civilians, sits just 10 miles from the border with North Korea. Fearing an attack from the north, the island has become a fortress with fences, bomb shelters and mine fields. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
The North's official news agency KCNA published the joint statement issued by the government, political parties and other organizations.
"From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering a state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly," it said.?
The statement also warned that if the U.S. and South Korea carried out a pre-emptive attack, the conflict "will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war."
Analysts have said the North's threats have followed a similar pattern but that the country's 30-year-old leader is unpredictable and potentially dangerous.
The White House responded on Saturday by reiterating that "North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric and threats," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. However, she said the U.S. "takes these threats seriously".
"We continue to take additional measures against the North Korean threat, including our plan to increase the U.S. ground-based interceptors and early warning and tracking radar, and the signing of the ROK-U.S. counter-provocation plan," she said.
David Guttenfelder / AP
As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.
On Thursday the U.S. sent two nuclear-capable bombers to South Korea, where they dropped inert munitions in a military exercise. The flight sparked an angry response from the North, which declared on Friday that it was preparing rockets aimed at American bases in South Korea and the Pacific.
A South Korean defense ministry official said there were no early signs that the North was mobilizing, Reuters reported.
The two nations have technically been at war since a truce ended their 1950-53 conflict, but tensions have been increasing since the North carried out its third nuclear weapons test in February.
NBC News' Kristen Welker and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related:
Analysis: North Korea's threats predictable but Kim Jong Un is not
North Korea's Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist
PhotoBlog: Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'
The lead Swedish prosecutor pursuing sexual assault charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is no longer handling the case, media reports revealed. Her departure comes as a top Swedish judge is set to speak publicly on the ?Assange affair.?
Recent court documents have revealed that starting Wednesday, high-profile Swedish prosecutor Marianne Nye will no longer be at the helm of the case against Assange, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Nye will be replaced by her far less experienced colleague Ingrid Isgren; the reasons for her departure have not been disclosed.
However, according to a Swedish newspaper report, Nye "has not quit the Assange case formally rather that there is a new 'investigator,'" WikiLeaks tweeted on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Anna Ardin, one of two women who accused Julian Assange of sex crimes, also moved to fire her controversial lawyer Claes Borgstrom late last month after she lost faith in his ability to represent her. ?
Ardin charged that Borgstrom was more interested in being in the media spotlight than providing her legal counsel, and has often referred her inquiries to his secretary or assistant. The court has approved Ardin?s new lawyer, Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Borgstrom reportedly supported his former client?s decision, saying that "in cases concerning sexual offenses, it is particularly important that the plaintiff has confidence in the lawyer representing her," Swedish tabloid Expressen quoted him as saying.
News of the legal shakeup in the Assange case comes less than a week before Swedish Supreme Court judge Stefan Lindskog?s lecture at the University of Adelaide on the ?Assange affair, and freedom of speech, from the Swedish perspective."
Assange blasted Justice Lindskog ? who is chair of the Supreme Court of Sweden, the country's highest court of appeal ? for his decision to publicly discuss the case.
"If an Australian High Court judge came out and spoke on a case the court expected or was likely to judge, it would be regarded as absolutely outrageous," he told Fairfax media.
"This development is part of a pattern in which senior Swedish figures including the Swedish Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister and Minister for Justice have all publicly attacked me or WikiLeaks," Assange added.
Upon announcing Lindskog?s upcoming lecture, Adelaide University said that "as one of Sweden's most eminent jurists he is uniquely able to provide an authoritative view of the Assange affair.?
WikiLeaks characterized the judge?s lecture as part of the Swedish government campaign against Assange, following Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt?s recent visit to Australia.
"The head of Swedish Supreme Court campaigning on a case they expect to judge with $ from the embassy in the run up to an election," the group wrote on Twitter.
Assange, who is running in for the Australian Senate in the September 14 federal elections, has previously said that securing a seat in the senate could potentially secure him safe passage out of the UK.
He has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June, after claiming asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sexual assault allegations. British authorities have vowed to detain him if he sets foot outside of the embassy, in light of the European Arrest Warrant issued against him.
If handed over to Swedish authorities, Assange fears he will be re-extradited to the United States to be questioned over the WikiLeaks release of thousands of US diplomatic cables. Assange believes that a conviction in a US court could result in the death penalty.
Ecuador has offered to allow the Swedish government to conduct an interview on the embassy?s premises, but the Swedish government has so far refused the offer.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa's first black president, has been admitted to a hospital with a recurring lung infection, South Africa said Thursday.
Mandela, 94, has become increasingly frail in recent years and has been hospitalized several times since last year, mostly recently earlier this month when he received what a presidential spokesman described as a "successful" medical test.
Mandela was admitted to a hospital just before midnight Wedesday "due to the recurrence of his lung infection," the office of President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.
"Doctors are attending to him, ensuring that he has the best possible expert medical treatment and comfort," the statement said. It appealed "for understanding and privacy in order to allow space to the doctors to do their work."
Zuma wished Mandela a speedy recovery, referring to him affectionately by his clan name, "Madiba."
"We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts. We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery," the presidential statement quoted Zuma as saying.
Mandela spent a night in a hospital and was released on March 10 following a medical test. At that time, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela was "well."
In December, Mandela spent three weeks in a hospital, where he was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones. A year ago, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. He was discharged days later. He also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.
Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, Mandela served 27 years in prison, where he contracted tuberculosis, before being released in 1990. He later became the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 under the banner of the African National Congress, helping to negotiate a relatively peaceful end to apartheid despite fears of much greater bloodshed. He served one five-year term as president before retiring.
Perceived successes during Mandela's tenure include the introduction of a constitution with robust protections for individual rights and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that heard testimony about apartheid-era violations of human rights as a kind of national therapy session. South Africa still struggles with crime, economic inequality and other social ills.
Mandela last made a public appearance on a major stage when South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.
Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...
Actor and 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto has revealed his rather bizarre gift that he received in the mail from a fan. Leto received someone’s actual ear, which he began wearing as a necklace. Leto told XFM, “Someone cut their ear off once and sent it to me, that was very strange. A ...
The US Supreme Court this week takes up two key gay marriage cases. Public opinion is changing rapidly here ? a particular challenge for Republicans trying to rebrand their party.
By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / March 24, 2013
People stand in line Sunday to get a chance to watch arguments in cases against a pair of gay marriage statutes at the US Supreme Court building. The court will hear arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday on one of the most politically charged dilemmas of the day, bound with themes of religion, sexuality and social custom.
Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
Enlarge
As elected officials and pundits wait to hear US Supreme Court arguments in two gay marriage cases this week, they find the political ground on this hottest of social issues rapidly shifting beneath them.
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Headlines in recent days tell the story: ?Support for gay marriage is soaring? (Washington Post) ?Why Republicans Are Saying ?I Do? to Gay Marriage? (Time) ?The Normalization of Gay Marriage? (The Atlantic) ?Millennial Support For Gay Marriage Hits All-Time High? (Huffington Post)
The stories and the shift in public opinion they reflect are most challenging to Republicans.
When Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio came out for same-sex marriage recently (because his son is gay), fellow Republicans professed their personal support for him while gently disagreeing with his newly-declared stance.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ? who faces re-election this year and is considered to be a strong possible candidate for president in 2016 ? wrestled rhetorically over whether he would sign a proposed law outlawing so-called ?conversion therapy,? the controversial practice which seeks to make those who see themselves as homosexual ?convert? to heterosexuals.
?I?m of two minds just on this stuff in general. No. 1, I think there should be lots of deference given to parents on raising their children,? Gov. Christie said at a news conference last week. ?I don?t ? this is a general philosophy, not to his bill ? generally, philosophically, on bills that restrict parents? ability to make decisions on how to care for their children, I?m generally a skeptic of those bills. Now there can always be exceptions to those rules, and this bill may be one of them.?
Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he was for civil unions, but (through a spokesman) quickly retracted that.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia tried to deflect the issue with a quip that drew snickers: ?I'm not gay, so I'm not going to marry one."?
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky ? a hot prospect for the 2016 presidential race ? fell back on his libertarian/states right leanings. ?I don?t want the government promoting something I don?t believe in, but I also don?t mind if the government tries to be neutral on the issue,? he told Fox News Sunday ? which would mean that the Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA (one of the Supreme Court cases) would no longer apply.
Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and head of the 2004 Bush re-election campaign who came out of the closet in 2010, gathered signatures from 131 prominent Republicans to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the other case before the Supreme Court ? a challenge to California?s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure which defines marriage in the state constitution as a legal union of one man and one woman.
Asked on Fox News Sunday if he could imagine the next Republican nominee for the White House supporting gay marriage, Karl Rove said he can.
Margaret Hoover, a former George W. Bush White House aide and a leading Republican Party operative, agrees.
?At the rate this issue is changing within the party, I think it?s not out of the question,? she told Time.
According to the polls the issue is changing more rapidly with the public than it is with the GOP.
Some 58 percent of Americans now say gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to get married, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC poll. Nine years ago, support for gay marriage was just 32 percent, and just three years ago it was less than half at 47 percent.
Meanwhile, the Pew Research Center finds that among ?millenials? (those born after 1980), support has soared to 70 percent from 51 percent when President Obama took office in 2009. The Post/ABC poll finds that 81 percent of adults under 30 support same-sex marriage. As Pew points out, millenials as a portion of the adult population have grown from 9 percent to 27 percent over the past decade.
None of this is news to the GOP, which clearly lost this portion of the electorate in last year?s presidential election, when the party platform advocated a marriage amendment to the Constitution and defended the Boy Scouts of America?s ban on gay scouts and troop leaders.
Today, the party?s effort to rebrand itself assumes a softer tone regarding gay rights as part of an overall effort to appear (if not become) more inclusive. At the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ? another possible presidential candidate in 2016???chided his party for appearing to be ?anti-everything,? including ?anti-gay.?
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus took the same tack in comments to reporters this past week.
?I think Senator Portman made some pretty big inroads last week,? Mr. Priebus said. ?I think it?s about being decent. I think it?s about dignity and respect, that nobody deserves to have their dignity diminished, or people don?t deserve to be disrespected. I think that there isn?t anyone in this room ? Republican, Democrat, in the middle ? that doesn?t think that Rob Portman, for example, is a good, conservative Republican. He is. And we know that.?
FILE - This Nov. 2, 2007 file photo shows Amanda Marie Knox, of the U.S., left, and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, of Italy, outside the rented house where 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in Perugia, Italy. The Court of Cassation on Monday March 25, 2013 is considering prosecutors' contentions that the 2011 acquittals of American Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher should be thrown out and a new trial ordered. (AP Photo/Stefano Medici, File)
FILE - This Nov. 2, 2007 file photo shows Amanda Marie Knox, of the U.S., left, and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, of Italy, outside the rented house where 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in Perugia, Italy. The Court of Cassation on Monday March 25, 2013 is considering prosecutors' contentions that the 2011 acquittals of American Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher should be thrown out and a new trial ordered. (AP Photo/Stefano Medici, File)
Key dates in the case of American student Amanda Knox, convicted in the slaying of British roommate Meredith Kercher.
? Nov. 2, 2007: The body of Kercher, 21, is found in her apartment in Perugia, Italy. Investigators say she was killed the night before.
? Nov. 6, 2007: Knox is arrested with then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, the Congolese owner of pub where Knox occasionally worked.
? Nov. 20, 2007: Lumumba, implicated by Knox statements to police, is released from jail for lack of evidence.
? Dec. 6, 2007: Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede is extradited from Germany and jailed on arrival in Italy.
? Oct. 28, 2008: Judge indicts Knox and Sollecito on murder and sexual assault charges. Guede, who was granted a fast-track trial, is convicted of murder and sexual assault and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
? Jan. 16, 2009: Trial of Knox and Sollecito opens in Perugia.
? June 12, 2009: Knox takes stand; tells court she was shocked by Kercher's death, offers alibi, says police beat her into making false statement.
? Dec. 4, 2009: Court finds Knox guilty of murder and sexual assault, sentences her to 26 years in prison. Sollecito is convicted of same charges and sentenced to 25 years.
? Dec. 22, 2009: Appeals court upholds Guede's conviction but cuts sentence to 16 years.
? Nov. 24, 2010: Appeals trial for Knox and Sollecito opens in Perugia.
? June 29, 2011: Independent forensic report ordered by the appeals court finds much of the DNA evidence used to convict Knox and Sollecito is unreliable.
? Oct. 3, 2011: Appeals court clears Knox, Sollecito of murder convictions, orders them freed immediately
? March 26, 2013: Italy's highest criminal court overturns acquittal of Knox and Sollecito, orders new trial.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Four in ten new parents start feeding their babies solid foods before their four-month birthday, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Physician groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) currently recommend against parents introducing solid foods until infants are about six months old.
In part, that's because early solids have been tied to obesity and other chronic conditions and because public health experts agree it's best if mothers can breastfeed exclusively for six months.
"Introducing solid foods early means that the baby gets less breast milk over the course of their infancy, and that decreases the ability to get optimal benefits, like protection against infection," said Dr. Alice Kuo, from the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities.
Kuo, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health there's been less research on when babies are developmentally ready to chew and swallow solid foods without choking - another important consideration.
"Infants should be able to sit up (and) take food off the spoon," said the CDC's Kelley Scanlon, who worked on the research.
"Sometimes if they're not ready, if they get presented with the food, they might not open their mouth? or they might spit it back up."
Her team's research included 1,334 new moms who filled out questionnaires each month about what their baby had eaten in the past week. The surveys were conducted between 2005 and 2007, when AAP recommendations called for starting solid foods no earlier than four months of age.
Just over 40 percent of parents reported their babies were eating solids, such as cereals and purees, before that point.
Those parents said they thought their babies were old enough to eat solid foods, infants seemed hungry or - in the case of more than half of early solid feeders - doctors or nurses had recommended they start introducing those foods.
"There's not clear communication of the recommendations or the potential health impacts of early introduction," Scanlon told Reuters Health.
Nine percent of early introducers gave their baby solid food before one month, according to findings published Monday in Pediatrics.
Women who reported exclusive breastfeeding during their baby's first couple of months were less likely to introduce solid foods earlier than recommended compared to formula-feeding mothers, the CDC researchers found.
Kuo said the new findings are further evidence that pediatricians should tailor their messages about breastfeeding and solid foods to each particular parent and child - rather than always giving "the same spiel" about introducing solids at the four-month visit.
"The decision to start solid foods in babies has to be a compromise between what makes sense for the baby and what makes sense for the mom, who most likely is working," she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/YzHFtC Pediatrics, online March 25, 2013.
Explorer James Cameron gives DEEPSEA CHALLENGER sub to Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionPublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Media Relations Office media@whoi.edu 508-289-3340 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Forms partnership with WHOI to accelerate technology development, ocean research and discovery
Explorer and filmmaker James Cameron and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have formed a partnership to stimulate advances in ocean science and technology and build on the historic breakthroughs of the 2012 Cameron-led DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition exploring deep-ocean trenches. The announcement comes on the one-year anniversary of Cameron's unprecedented solo dive to 35,787 feet, almost 11,000 meters, to the deepest place on Earththe Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trenchin the vertically-deployed vehicle he and his team engineered, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible system and science platform.
Cameron will transfer the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER to Woods Hole, where WHOI scientists and engineers will work with Cameron and his team to incorporate the sub's numerous engineering advancements into future research platforms and deep-sea expeditions. This partnership harnesses the power of public and private investment in supporting deep-ocean science.
"The seven years we spent designing and building the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER were dedicated to expanding the options available to deep-ocean researchers. Our sub is a scientific proof-of-concept, and our partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a way to provide the technology we developed to the oceanographic community," says Cameron. "WHOI is a world leader in deep submergence, both manned and unmanned. I've been informally associated with WHOI for more than 20 years, and I welcome this opportunity to formalize the relationship with the transfer of the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible system and science platform. WHOI is a place where the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system will be a living, breathing and dynamic program going forward."
"Jim's record-breaking dive was inspirational and helped shine a spotlight on the importance of the deep ocean," says Susan Avery, president and director of WHOI. "We face many challenges in our relationship with the ocean, so there is heightened urgency to implement innovative approaches. Partnerships such as this one represent a new paradigm and will accelerate the progress of ocean science and technology development."
The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system demonstrated the effectiveness of a human-piloted vehicle as a science platform for investigating the deepest part of the ocean. Due to the extreme pressures of these deep-sea environments and the technical challenges involved in reaching them, ocean trenches are among the least explored environments on the planet. The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system incorporated innovative solutions to some of the challenges of accessing the oceans depths. Among several of the significant innovations are approaches to flotation, energy storage, camera and lighting systems that enabled Cameron to gather data, samples, and imagery in order to maximize science value from the expedition.
"Jim and his team saw challenges and overcame them with forward, innovative thinking. The technological solutions they developed for the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system can be incorporated into other human-occupied and robotic vehicles, especially those used for deep-sea research," says Avery. "We plan to make that happen."
WHOI envisions a range of uses for the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system that will bring value to research programs in ocean trenches. For example, WHOI scientists plan to use the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER's cameras and lighting systems on the Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle Nereus, which dove to the Mariana Trench in 2009 and will return to trenches in the Atlantic and the Pacific during the next two years. These systems enabled Cameron to capture high-resolution 3D images of geological processes and species in the Challenger Deep during 13 piloted dives and 19 lander deployments. The full spectrum of applications for these new technologies has yet to be determined - it will take scientists and engineers some months to fully document the system's component technologies after the sub's scheduled arrival in Woods Hole early this summer.
Recognizing the power of new technologies, like those embodied in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system, to explore and understand the ocean, WHOI recently launched the Center for Marine Robotics (CMR), a novel collaborative model that enhances the development of robotic technologies by bringing together partners from academia, the federal government, and the private sector. The CMR's scientists and engineers will revolutionize the way people and machines work together in the marine environment and enable new approaches to complex scientific challenges. Jim Cameron will serve on the Center's Advisory Board.
"We are delighted that Jim has agreed to join the Center's Advisory Board, a group distinguished by its members' deep experience and commitment to ocean science," says Avery. "By virtue of much of his work in the ocean, he is in a perfect position to provide fresh perspectives on the challenges we face. It's just one manifestation of the kind of sustained partnership developing between WHOI and the Cameron team."
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James Cameron has logged more than 3,000 hours underwater, is a veteran of 85 submersible dives, most of them to depths greater than two miles, and of eight oceanographic expeditions. Beginning with his film The Abyss in 1989, Cameron has advanced underwater cinematography and robotics during the production of numerous features and marine documentaries. In 1995, he made 12 manned-submersible dives to the Titanic wreck for his movie of the same name, which won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and broke the record for global box office. (Titanic's earnings have only been surpassed by Cameron's 2009 film, Avatar, still the box office leader.) In May 2002, Cameron piloted his robotic cameras inside the wreck of the DKM Bismarck, at a depth of 16,000 feet, for the documentary Expedition Bismarck. He has continued to evolve and improve on innovations in fiber-optic-spooling mini-ROV's, deep-ocean lighting and photographic technologies for subsequent underwater documentaries including Ghosts of the Abyss in 2003, Aliens of the Deep in 2005 and the forthcoming DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D. The film utilizes and builds on the 3D technology and camera
systems Cameron and engineering partner, Vince Pace, developed in 1999 and that form the basis of their 3D technologies and services company, the CAMERON | PACE Group.
Cameron is an Explorer-in-Residence at National Geographic and a member of the Deep Submersible Pilots Association. He has contributed to a number of robotic space exploration projects and, for three years, served on the NASA Advisory Council. Cameron is the founder of the Avatar Alliance Foundation, a non-profit aimed at addressing climate change, the destruction of the natural world and the loss of indigenous land and culture.
DEEPSEA CHALLENGE is a joint scientific expedition by James Cameron, the National Geographic Society, and Rolex. Learn more at deepseachallenge.com.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. WHOI operates the National Deep Submergence Facility, which operates deep sea exploration vehicles for the benefit of the entire US oceanographic community and includes the human occupied vehicle Alvin, the remotely operated vehicle Jason and the autonomous vehicle Sentry. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the oceans' role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit http://www.whoi.edu.
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Explorer James Cameron gives DEEPSEA CHALLENGER sub to Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionPublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Media Relations Office media@whoi.edu 508-289-3340 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Forms partnership with WHOI to accelerate technology development, ocean research and discovery
Explorer and filmmaker James Cameron and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have formed a partnership to stimulate advances in ocean science and technology and build on the historic breakthroughs of the 2012 Cameron-led DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition exploring deep-ocean trenches. The announcement comes on the one-year anniversary of Cameron's unprecedented solo dive to 35,787 feet, almost 11,000 meters, to the deepest place on Earththe Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trenchin the vertically-deployed vehicle he and his team engineered, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible system and science platform.
Cameron will transfer the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER to Woods Hole, where WHOI scientists and engineers will work with Cameron and his team to incorporate the sub's numerous engineering advancements into future research platforms and deep-sea expeditions. This partnership harnesses the power of public and private investment in supporting deep-ocean science.
"The seven years we spent designing and building the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER were dedicated to expanding the options available to deep-ocean researchers. Our sub is a scientific proof-of-concept, and our partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a way to provide the technology we developed to the oceanographic community," says Cameron. "WHOI is a world leader in deep submergence, both manned and unmanned. I've been informally associated with WHOI for more than 20 years, and I welcome this opportunity to formalize the relationship with the transfer of the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible system and science platform. WHOI is a place where the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system will be a living, breathing and dynamic program going forward."
"Jim's record-breaking dive was inspirational and helped shine a spotlight on the importance of the deep ocean," says Susan Avery, president and director of WHOI. "We face many challenges in our relationship with the ocean, so there is heightened urgency to implement innovative approaches. Partnerships such as this one represent a new paradigm and will accelerate the progress of ocean science and technology development."
The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system demonstrated the effectiveness of a human-piloted vehicle as a science platform for investigating the deepest part of the ocean. Due to the extreme pressures of these deep-sea environments and the technical challenges involved in reaching them, ocean trenches are among the least explored environments on the planet. The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system incorporated innovative solutions to some of the challenges of accessing the oceans depths. Among several of the significant innovations are approaches to flotation, energy storage, camera and lighting systems that enabled Cameron to gather data, samples, and imagery in order to maximize science value from the expedition.
"Jim and his team saw challenges and overcame them with forward, innovative thinking. The technological solutions they developed for the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system can be incorporated into other human-occupied and robotic vehicles, especially those used for deep-sea research," says Avery. "We plan to make that happen."
WHOI envisions a range of uses for the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system that will bring value to research programs in ocean trenches. For example, WHOI scientists plan to use the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER's cameras and lighting systems on the Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle Nereus, which dove to the Mariana Trench in 2009 and will return to trenches in the Atlantic and the Pacific during the next two years. These systems enabled Cameron to capture high-resolution 3D images of geological processes and species in the Challenger Deep during 13 piloted dives and 19 lander deployments. The full spectrum of applications for these new technologies has yet to be determined - it will take scientists and engineers some months to fully document the system's component technologies after the sub's scheduled arrival in Woods Hole early this summer.
Recognizing the power of new technologies, like those embodied in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER system, to explore and understand the ocean, WHOI recently launched the Center for Marine Robotics (CMR), a novel collaborative model that enhances the development of robotic technologies by bringing together partners from academia, the federal government, and the private sector. The CMR's scientists and engineers will revolutionize the way people and machines work together in the marine environment and enable new approaches to complex scientific challenges. Jim Cameron will serve on the Center's Advisory Board.
"We are delighted that Jim has agreed to join the Center's Advisory Board, a group distinguished by its members' deep experience and commitment to ocean science," says Avery. "By virtue of much of his work in the ocean, he is in a perfect position to provide fresh perspectives on the challenges we face. It's just one manifestation of the kind of sustained partnership developing between WHOI and the Cameron team."
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James Cameron has logged more than 3,000 hours underwater, is a veteran of 85 submersible dives, most of them to depths greater than two miles, and of eight oceanographic expeditions. Beginning with his film The Abyss in 1989, Cameron has advanced underwater cinematography and robotics during the production of numerous features and marine documentaries. In 1995, he made 12 manned-submersible dives to the Titanic wreck for his movie of the same name, which won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and broke the record for global box office. (Titanic's earnings have only been surpassed by Cameron's 2009 film, Avatar, still the box office leader.) In May 2002, Cameron piloted his robotic cameras inside the wreck of the DKM Bismarck, at a depth of 16,000 feet, for the documentary Expedition Bismarck. He has continued to evolve and improve on innovations in fiber-optic-spooling mini-ROV's, deep-ocean lighting and photographic technologies for subsequent underwater documentaries including Ghosts of the Abyss in 2003, Aliens of the Deep in 2005 and the forthcoming DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D. The film utilizes and builds on the 3D technology and camera
systems Cameron and engineering partner, Vince Pace, developed in 1999 and that form the basis of their 3D technologies and services company, the CAMERON | PACE Group.
Cameron is an Explorer-in-Residence at National Geographic and a member of the Deep Submersible Pilots Association. He has contributed to a number of robotic space exploration projects and, for three years, served on the NASA Advisory Council. Cameron is the founder of the Avatar Alliance Foundation, a non-profit aimed at addressing climate change, the destruction of the natural world and the loss of indigenous land and culture.
DEEPSEA CHALLENGE is a joint scientific expedition by James Cameron, the National Geographic Society, and Rolex. Learn more at deepseachallenge.com.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. WHOI operates the National Deep Submergence Facility, which operates deep sea exploration vehicles for the benefit of the entire US oceanographic community and includes the human occupied vehicle Alvin, the remotely operated vehicle Jason and the autonomous vehicle Sentry. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the oceans' role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit http://www.whoi.edu.
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Left, Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful for the last time. Right, his namesake Pope Benedict XV, circa 1915.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
The first clue about what kind of leader the next pope will be ? liberal or conservative, reformer or by-the-book ? will come only minutes after the smoke clears at the Sistine Chapel.
From a balcony at St. Peter?s Basilica, the world will learn not just who has been elected but what he chooses to call himself, a decision steeped in centuries of church history ? and a good indicator of the new pope?s vision and inspiration.
Until the sixth century, popes went by their given names. There was a Pope Sylvester, a Pope Julius and a Pope Victor. Then, in 533, a priest named Mercurius was elected to lead the church and decided that a pope named after a pagan god? ? "Mercury" ? just wouldn?t do.
He chose to go by John II. Since then, most popes have abandoned their birth names and adopted tributes to saints, popes and even relatives who have gone before.
?You?re trying to pick up some of the glow of your predecessor,? said the Rev. Thomas Reese, Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter.
LIVE VIDEO ? Monitor scenes from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, which will emit white or black smoke to signal if a new pope has been elected.
It is a solemn decision. Newly-elected popes are asked only two questions by the senior cardinal inside the chapel. The first is whether he wants the job. The second: ?By which name do you wish to be called??
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope, in 2005, he chose Benedict XVI as a tribute to two men. One was the previous Pope Benedict, who guided the church through World War I. But Benedict XVI said that he also meant the choice as homage to St. Benedict, an intellectual like Ratzinger and one of the patron saints of Europe, for his ?powerful call to the irrefutable Christian roots of European culture and civilization.?
In particular, Benedict XVI prayed to his saintly namesake to help Catholics keep Christ at the center of their lives.
?Benedict saw Europe as the key problem and the place where we really needed to focus,? Reese said.
But the choice is not always a nod to papal history. The reformer Pope John XXIII, elected in 1958, said he picked the name it part because it was the name of the small parish church where he was baptized. John is by far the most popular name for a pope to choose, making it? difficult to predict what a John XXIV would be signaling by taking the name.
In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani declared himself Pope John Paul I, the first pope to choose a double name ? and the first to declare himself ?the First.?
He said that he meant the name as a tribute to his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. They had led the church through the Second Vatican Council, which modernized the church?s relationships with the rest of the world and other branches of Christianity.
On purpose and by chance, Americans join crowd in St. Peter's Square to watch for signs of a newly elected Pope.
When John Paul I died just 33 days later, he was remembered so adoringly that Reese recalls making a bet with a colleague that the next pope would take the same double name.
?He just caught everybody?s imagination,? Reese said. ?This smiling pope. It was just a whole month of very positive response to him.?
He won the bet, and Pope John Paul II led the church for the next 27 years.
This time around, only one bet would be a sure loser. No pope has chosen to be called Peter II. There?s no rule against it, but it is seen as poor form ? an honor reserved for the first pope.
Church analysts say there are several names to watch for as hints to the new papacy.
The choice of Leo XIV could be a call for social justice, said Matthew Bunson, senior correspondent for the Catholic publishing nonprofit Our Sunday Visitor. Leo XIII, who served at the turn of the 20th century, and sought to help the world understand the dignity of workers.
Choosing Pius XIII, on the other hand, would be a more conservative choice, and a ?statement of determination to defend the teachings of the faith,? Bunson said. Pius V led in opposition to the Protestant Reformation, and Pius VI and VII both died prisoners.
One-third of Americans who grew up in the Catholic Church have left, but the percentage of U.S. Catholics has held steady at 25 percent, largely because of Hispanic immigrants. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
John Paul III, even if only as a tribute to the beloved, globetrotting John Paul II, might be seen by the world as a repudiation of Benedict, Reese said.
Of course, the new pope could always choose to be called Benedict XVII ? certainly a possibility because Benedict XVI appointed most of the cardinals who will choose his successor. But such a selection might disappoint Catholics who are hoping for a reformer after a papacy marked by a sexual abuse scandal, other missteps and shrinking membership in the United States and Europe.
Beyond that, it?s anyone?s guess. The new pope could choose to make his mark and choose a name never used before. Reese said he has always wondered why no one has adopted the name Pope Joseph.
Or he could set 1.2 billion Catholics around the world scratching their heads.
?The new guy,? Reese said, ?could be John Paul Benedict I.?
Andrew Medichini / AP
Cardinals from around the world gather in the Vatican to elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Related:?
Full coverage of the papal abdication from NBC News
This story was originally published on Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:29 PM EDT
A study published in the March 11 JAMA-Internal Medicine suggests that 23 percent of over-75-year-olds have colonoscopies that may be ?potentially inappropriate? according to national guidelines which include an upper age limit, as well as how often negative colonoscopies should be repeated.
In a retrospective population study, University of Texas researchers looked at billings for 100 percent of colonoscopies performed in Medicare beneficiaries in Texas who were aged 70 years and older who had a colonoscopy in 2008 or 2009. They also examined a nationwide sample of 5% of Medicare claims. Colonscopies were classified as ?screening? if records (including claims from 2000 to 2009) did not indicate a diagnosis, or any visits for related symptoms in the previous 3 months.
Colonoscopies were labeled ?potentially inappropriate? based on patient age over 75, or because the procedure was done less than 10 years after a previously negative colonoscopy. (The study population did not include anyone with a history of colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, colon resection, or whose procedure was performed during a hospital admission or emergency room visit.)
Among Texas residents, overall percentages of potentially unnecessary colonoscopies were:
Age 70-75: 9.9 % of procedures done
Ages 76-85: 38.8%
Aged 86-plus: 24.9%.
There was wide variation in geographic areas of Texas, plus among individual doctors doing the screening procedures. The researchers did note that reasons for doing a colonoscopy in an individual patient cannot be assumed from billing information alone. (In fact only 15% of the claims included a screening code, although experts believe about two-thirds of colonoscopies are for routine screening.) The authors noted that there might be poor communication between a primary care doctor and the gastroenterologist; there could be financial incentives to do the procedure, or doctors might disagree with the national guidelines.
What are the guidelines?
In fact, there are different sets of guidelines. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (and recently, the American College of Physicians) specify age limits. The USPSTF says ?For adults aged 76 to 85 years, there is moderate certainty that the net benefits of screening are small?.and [for] adults older than age 85 years, there is moderate certainty that the benefits of screening do not outweigh the harms.?
However, joint guidelines developed by the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Multi-Society Task force on Colorectal Cancer, and the American College of Radiology do not include age limits. Part of the problem is lack of evidence: experts note that far too few population studies and clinical trials include those over age 75, even though about 30% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed in those 75 or older.
Increased risks might outweigh benefits for colonoscopy in those over age 75
Although the USPSTF urges caution in any screening over age 75, colonoscopy itself carries higher risks to elderly patients. Both this study?s authors and guideline developers urge extra caution?especially in unnecessary procedures?in the elderly who face higher risks from the preparation (fluid imbalance, start of a diarrhea/constipation cycle, dizziness or a rush to bathroom causing falls) plus effects of anesthesia in elderly patients.
Some over 75 will benefit
A caveat common among the experts: Among those who have never been screened, a screening colonoscopy might be indicated?especially if the older person is healthy, active, has few other diseases, and has an expected lifespan of more than 7 years.
Another study in the March 5 2013 Annals of Internal Medicine showed that in?four HMOs, screening among people aged 55 to 85 did reduced the risk of advanced colorectal cancer by 70% in average-risk adults. However, the study showed that annual stool samples in this population (particularly when reminders and stool-sample kits were mailed to people?s homes) were as effective as colonoscopy.
What to do?
Probably the Centers of Disease Control & Prevention says it best: ?The decision to be screened after age 75 should be made on an individual basis. If you are older than 75, ask your doctor if you should be screened.?
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Patient Take-Away
All guidelines recommend a colonoscopy only every 10 years, unless you have symptoms, family history, or a previous removal of polyps or an adenoma. (In those cases, plan your ?surveillance colonoscopy? with your doctor.)
People aged 75 or older should pause to consider the need for a routine screening colonoscopy, especially if it?s less than 10 years since a previous negative colonoscopy. You can also consider other screening methods, such as a yearly stool sampling that is very effective at finding early cancer.
Discussions about cancer (and other) preventive screening probably are best with your primary-care doctor, who knows all of your other health conditions, your general fitness level, etc.
If you do have a colonoscopy, it?s best to get your own written record of the results, including number and type of any polyps. A common cause of getting too-frequent colonoscopies could be that a different doctor doesn?t know the results of your previous test(s).
As always, stay tuned for updates on both screening and colorectal cancer treatment in the elderly: As boomers age in, and hopefully more seniors are included in clinical and prevention studies, the science will get clearer.
For More information:
* CDC brief summary of guidelines
* Choosing Wisely: on colonoscopies
* Who is the USPSTF? ?A Conversation with Dr. Virginia Moyer, Chair, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Nov. 27 2012 NCI Cancer Bulletin.
Sources:
?Potentially Inappropriate Screening Colonoscopy in Medicare Patients,? Kristin M. Sheffield, Ph.D. et al, ?JAMA Internal Medicine, published online March 11, 2013
Other coverage of this study includes: ?Seniors Getting Unnecessary Colonoscopies: Study,? Monday, Mar. 11 HealthDay News;?and ?Many Colonoscopies for Seniors May be Inappropriate,? Christian Nordqvist, 12 Mar. 2013 Medical News Today.
See previous Research News blogs, including the Feb. 14 2013 ?Colorectal Cancer is (or Could Be) the Poster Child for Cancer Prevention? and the May 16 2011 ?Fight CRC Site Update: Some People Getting Colonoscopy Screening Too Often.?
Other recent articles about screening: ?CRC Screening Tools?The Data and the Guidelines,? Linda Rabeneck, M.D., M.P.H., at January 2013 ASCO GI-Symposium; and ??Screening Colonoscopy and Risk for Incident Late-Stage Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis in Average-Risk Adults,? March 5 Annals of Internal Medicine .
Eye Care and Vision Associates, located the corner of Elmwood and Delavan, in nearing its completion of its transformation from a masonry building to one featuring a brick veneer facade (see more). For years this building was as bland as could be, without so much as a window. Then about a decade ago a window and a small awning were added on the Elmwood side - a big improvement, but nothing to write home about.?Today we're looking at something that might not win any architectural prizes, but it's a heck of a lot better than what we have had. Now passersby can actually look into the windows and see the displays. ?While there's more to come, this is a good start to re-humanizing this corner, along with a couple other projects that have come to fruition in recent years including Bike or Bar,??Evans Bank?and?Elmwood Taco & Sub.?
South Korean soldiers set up barbed-wire fencing during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, on Monday.
By Hyung-Jin Kim, The Associated Press
SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States began annual military drills Monday despite North Korean threats to respond by voiding the armistice that ended the Korean War and launching a nuclear attack on the U.S.
After the start of the drills, South Korean officials said their northern counterparts didn't answer two calls on a hotline between the sides, apparently following through on an earlier vow to cut the communication channel because of the drills.
Pyongyang has launched a bombast-filled propaganda campaign against the drills, which involve 10,000 South Korean and about 3,000 American troops, and last week's U.N. vote to impose new sanctions over the North's Feb. 12 nuclear test. Analysts believe that much of that campaign is meant to shore up loyalty among citizens and the military for North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang isn't believed to be able to build a warhead small enough to mount on a long-range missile, and the North's military has repeatedly vowed in the past to scrap the 1953 armistice. North Korea wants a formal peace treaty, security guarantees and other concessions, as well as the removal of 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
Still, South Korean and U.S. officials have been closely monitoring Pyongyang's actions and parsing the torrent of recent rhetoric from the North, which has been more warlike than usual.
North Korea regularly claims South Korea-U.S. drills are a preparation for invasion, but Pyongyang has signaled more worry about the drills that began Monday. The drills follow U.N. sanctions that the North says are the result of U.S. hostility aimed at toppling its political system.
North Korea has also warned South Korea of a nuclear war on the divided peninsula and said it was cancelling nonaggression pacts.
Under newly inaugurated President Park Geun-hye, South Korea's Defense Ministry, which often brushes off North Korean threats, has looked to send a message of strength in response to the latest threats. The ministry warned Friday that the North's government would "evaporate from the face of the Earth" if it ever used a nuclear weapon. The White House also said the U.S. is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korean ballistic attack.
North Korea has said the U.S. mainland is within the range of its long-range missiles, and an army general told a Pyongyang rally last week that the military is ready to fire a long-range nuclear-armed missile to turn Washington into a "sea of fire."
Related:
North Korea threat of nuclear attack predictable but worrisome
UN passes sanctions despite North Korea threats
North Korea warns of 'miserable destruction' over drills
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? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should consider leaving the European Convention on Human Rights because it interferes with the government's ability to fight crime and control immigration, Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May said on Saturday.
May's Conservative Party has long criticized the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which enforces the convention, as an encroachment on British sovereignty.
But supporters of the convention say it is an important safeguard of human rights in Britain, which does not have a written constitution enshrining fundamental rights.
In a speech to a pro-Conservative political conference, May said that ahead of the next general election in 2015 her party should commit to tackling the issue.
"By 2015 we'll need a plan for dealing with the European Court of Human Rights. And yes, I want to be clear that all options - including leaving the convention altogether - should be on the table," May said.
This view had been floated in newspapers a week ago but it was the first time May had spoken out in person so explicitly. She has been accused of spearheading a Conservative "lurch to the right" following a humiliating defeat in a parliamentary by-election on March 1, when the party was beaten into third by the anti-Europe UKIP.
The ECHR is not an institution of the European Union, but it has become wrapped into a wider debate about Britain's ties with the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has pledged that if his party wins the 2015 election, a referendum will be held by 2017 on whether to stay in or leave.
By coincidence, May was speaking on a day when radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, whose case is the example most often cited by British critics of the ECHR, was sent back to jail for breaching his bail terms.
The government wants to deport the cleric to Jordan, where he is wanted on terrorism charges, but the ECHR ruled in January last year that he could not lawfully be deported because a trial in Jordan could be tainted by evidence obtained under torture.
"MOVING THE GOALPOSTS"
The ECHR overruled Britain's top court on the issue, causing a furor in Britain. Many critics say decisions like the Qatada judgment protect the human rights of those who show little regard for the human rights of others.
"When Strasbourg constantly moves the goalposts and prevents the deportation of dangerous men like Abu Qatada ... we have to ask ourselves, to what end are we signatories to the convention?" May said in her speech on Saturday.
"Are we really limiting human rights abuses in other countries? I'm skeptical. But are we restricting our ability to act in the national interest? Are we conceding that our own Supreme Court is not supreme? I believe we are."
Scrapping the European Convention on Human Rights would be a controversial step and may not be easy.
The Conservatives had pledged in their campaign manifesto for the 2010 general election that they would replace the Human Rights Act, the legislation that enshrines the European convention in British law, with a new British bill of rights.
The government, a coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, set up a commission of experts in March 2011 to investigate how to create a bill of rights. The commission reported in December 2012 that its members had failed to reach agreement on what should be done.
When it comes to obtaining public funding for an NFL stadium, the best approach is to not approach the voters directly.? In Miami, the plan making its way through the legislature would, if successful, result in a public referendum.
Thus, getting the bills passed has been much easier than the voter-circumvention strategy employed elsewhere, such as Minnesota.
Via the Associated Press, three legislative committees in Florida have approved a bill that would guarantee $3 million per year for 30 years to help pay for an upgrade of SunLife Stadium, which is owned by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.? If the bill becomes law, the voters will then become involved.
Some lawmakers nevertheless oppose the effort.? ?The NFL is conning us, vote against this madness,? Rep. Bill Hager, a Republican representing Delray Beach, told the AP.
Nationwide, the trend among voters is to reject such measures.? In Miami, current polling conducted not by the Dolphins indicates that opposition is significant.
That?s why the Dolphins need to make an extra-big splash in free agency this year.? They need to create the kind of excitement that will increase supporters of the effort and motivate them to show up and cast ballots at the appropriate.
Still, unless and until the Dolphins have the leverage that comes from a potential relocation of the franchise, the locals will remain ambivalent, at best.
We just wrapped up our tour of duty at MWC dodging the notorious pickpockets in Barcelona, so perhaps that's why we're particularly intrigued by Cabel Kraft's anti-snatch wallet hack over at Hackaday. Most billfold alarms rely on a light trigger, which can be problematic if the thief squirrels away his prize for a later reveal. Kraft solves that issue by using magnetic alarms -- the sort attached to windows for break-in alerts -- that set off when the wallet is removed from the victim's pocket. He did have to remove a lot of the alarm's bulk and alter the location of the reed switch, but the setup seems otherwise uncomplicated. If you'd like to prevent your wallet from getting picked and have some soldering chops to boot, have a peek at Kraft's handiwork at the source or just view the video after the break.
Actor and 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto has revealed his rather bizarre gift that he received in the mail from a fan. Leto received someone’s actual ear, which he began wearing as a necklace. Leto told XFM, “Someone cut their ear off once and sent it to me, that was very strange. A ...![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uB-71M4xMN70FdIBuQRn3jk_DT88QaVvUjFdQZLx2YFVhmU0sMX9QP9Gz1eYKCIUuANGCzMwAsy2kL9OwtHjPfAzGgZwHo4lQ7e_Xt0oQ=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Mar-2013
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A study published in the March 11 JAMA-Internal Medicine suggests that 23 percent of over-75-year-olds have colonoscopies that may be ?potentially inappropriate? according to national guidelines which include an upper age limit, as well as how often negative colonoscopies should be repeated.
What to do? 
