Chinese state media on Wednesday welcomed news of the first summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama, saying the meeting will help "reduce suspicions" in the relationship.
The talks, the first since Xi was installed as Chinese leader and Obama began his second term, will be held in California on June 7 and 8, with ties strained by allegations of cyber spying, tensions in the Pacific and trade disputes.
"It's vital for us to establish confidence that the two countries are partners instead of rivals," the Global Times newspaper said in an editorial following official announcements Tuesday that Xi would visit the US.
"If both sides still attach importance to mutual trust then a strong positive signal is urgently needed to reduce suspicions," the paper added, under the headline "Xi, Obama meeting coming at right time".
The editorial did not go into detail on specific issues of conflict between the world's top two economies, but acknowledged that "as two big countries with their own interests, problems certainly exist between China and the US".
The China Daily newspaper called for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific to avoid tensions emanating from the US "pivot" to the region, a policy widely seen as an attempt to counter Beijing's growing power among its neighbours.
"The two should step up their cooperation in the Asia-Pacific so that the negative impact of the US strategic rebalancing to the region can be minimised and a much-speculated head on conflict between the two can be avoided," it said in an editorial.
It also said the world would be looking to Beijing and Washington to address major issues, citing the Syrian crisis and tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Washington has repeatedly called for Beijing to do more to rein in its nuclear-armed ally North Korea.
The White House also says US officials frequently raise the issue of Chinese cyber spying with top leaders in Beijing.
The two countries frequently swap accusations over trade disputes across their vast and interdependent economic relationship.
If you work for Amazon, you might soon have the option to feel like you're working outside every day. Proposed earlier this week at Seattle City Hall's Design Review Board, this trio of interconnected glass domes is the company's plan for a space where employees could work and hang out.
By most accounts, the HTC One is the most compelling Android smartphone on the market today, but only three of the major US carriers are wise enough to sell it. Up until this point, we've put the AT&T and Sprint models through their paces, and now we have an opportunity to round out the trio with T-Mobile's version. Given the carrier's recent shift to an unsubsidized pricing model -- which brings lower monthly fees in exchange for purchasing your phone outright -- you may be in for some sticker shock with the HTC One, which runs $580, but you can also pay $100 down with installments of $20 per month over the course of two years.
If you're currently on the fence about whether the HTC One is right for your needs, you'll definitely want to check out our full review, which features an in-depth look at the phone's design, camera and the many novel features that you'll find with HTC's custom software environment, Sense 5. Here, we'll explore the subtle nuances of T-Mobile's version, with plenty of benchmarks, impressions about the voice quality and battery life, an overview of the bundled apps and a comparison to the One's closest competitors on T-Mo. There's plenty to cover, so join us after the break as we explore everything that you need to know about the HTC One for T-Mobile.
UK ISPs Block Huge Movie Site Movie2K, Proxy Immediately Unblocks
Internet service providers in the UK have today begun blocking one of the world?s largest streaming movie portals. In a follow up to similar actions, the MPAA obtained a High Court order which compels all major ISPs to begin blocking Movie2K, a massive site with millions of visitors each month. However, in a ridiculously fast show of defiance, one of the largest Pirate Bay proxy operators has already deployed a brand new site to beat the censorship.
During the past couple of years the UK has become the easiest country in the world to have a website blocked on copyright grounds.
Against a background of initial pessimism, Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act has proven more than capable of enabling the filtering dreams of the entertainment industries after blocking provisions in the Digital Economy Act were deemed too controversial.
While more recent blocks were actioned by the UK recording industry under the watchful eye of the BPI, it was the MPAA who pioneered site censorship in the UK. Their success against Usenet indexing site Newzbin2 has become the model through which ISPs can be forced to black out sites based on the order of a judge.
Last week we reported that the music industry are considering future action against a wide range of sites but there is a more immediate situation developing courtesy of their movie-making counterparts.
Sometime in the past two months the MPAA went to court with a copyright complaint against two sites ? Movie2K and another called Download4All (DL4All). The precise details are unclear, but it seems likely that they presented similar arguments to those offered in earlier cases.
Broadly speaking the studios will explain that these sites breach their copyrights and cost them money and, since ISPs are now aware that they?re facilitating their users? infringements, they must now block the sites to avoid becoming liable themselves.
TorrentFreak can confirm that in the last week of April several of the UK?s leading ISPs including BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, and almost certainly O2, EE and Sky, received a copy of a High Court order compelling them to block the sites.
BT have already begun blocking the site in the UK and Virgin Media inform us that they too will initiate a blockade today.
?Virgin Media has received an order from the Courts requiring it to prevent access to Download4All and Movie2K in order to help protect against copyright infringement,? a spokesperson told TorrentFreak.
?As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders addressed to the company, but strongly believes that changing consumer behaviour to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives to give consumers access to great content at the right price.?
And in a final and somewhat amazing note, the operators of PirateReverse.info, one of the largest Pirate Bay proxy services, informs TorrentFreak that they have already deployed a proxy site to unblock Movie2K.
?We?ve just deployed movie2kproxy.com (in record time), still working on getting the images to load properly but should all be fixed shortly.?
The moles in this game now appear to be getting whacked even before they appear.
UPDATE: The operator of PirateProxy.net, the world?s largest Pirate Bay proxy, says that he too will unblock Movie2K for UK users.
During the past couple of years the UK has become the easiest country in the world to have a website blocked on copyright grounds. Against a background of initial pessimism,...
Derek Hough may be back for yet another season of "DWTS."
"Dancing With the Stars" pro Derek Hough seems poised to win his fourth mirror ball trophy Tuesday night with partner Kellie Pickler. But will he return when the show comes back in September for another season?
?I don?t know yet,? he told reporters on the post-show red carpet Monday. ?Next year (2014) is going to be a little different. That?s when these projects I?m working on will come to life. Right now, they?re in the preparation stages. (So) it might be a good idea to do next season.?
As fans of Hough know, the three-time winner almost didn?t partake in this season.
?I was literally within an hour of not doing it,? he shared. ?I called the producers and said I have this weird feeling that I need to do this season. ... They said, ?Well, we need to know within the next hour.? Then, I was like, ?OK, Let?s do it.? Now, I know why.?
That reason? His amazing run with current partner, "American Idol" alum Pickler.
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba criticized the pair earlier in the season for not having enough of an emotional connection in their dances.
?That actually stuck with me,? Hough said. ?I wanted (our freestyle) to be an emotional routine. I wanted it to connect with people and connect with us. Afterwards, I looked over and saw Carrie Ann crying. That was the moment to top off the season for us.?
Hough knows he could have gone all out and added more production values to the freestyle routine, but he opted to keep it simple.
?I?m all for big productions,? he told TODAY.com. ?I love putting on shows. I wondered if it was it right to downsize the routine physically and supersize it emotionally? I wanted to make it about Kellie and not wow the audience with a spectacle, but to wow them with heart. I think it paid off, but there was definitely a ping pong match going on in my mind.?
Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp reacts as he crosses the plate after hitting a home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, May 20, 2013, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp reacts as he crosses the plate after hitting a home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, May 20, 2013, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
This frame grab courtesy KFOR TV shows the aftermath of a massive tornado as much as a mile wide with winds up to 200 mph roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy KFOR TV)
This frame grab courtesy of KFOR TV shows the aftermath of a massive tornado as much as a mile wide with winds up to 200 mph roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy KFOR TV)
The massive tornado that ripped through a handful of Oklahoma City suburbs and killed at least 50 people grabbed the attention of the sports world on Monday, especially the players and coaches with ties to the area.
Kevin Durant, a three-time scoring champion for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, posted on his Twitter account that he was praying for everyone involved. He added: "Everybody stay safe!"
Mets pitcher Jeremy Hefner went to Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, just south of Oklahoma City. The school had its roof torn off and walls knocked down. Some of those killed died at the school.
"I mean, it's terrifying," the right-hander said.
Hefner still has family living in Moore. He said he had been in contact with his mother, who told him his cousins and uncles were OK.
"It's just unfathomable," he said. "I used to live there."
Dodgers star Matt Kemp posted on Twitter: "'m giving $1000 for tonight's HR and every HR until the All-Star break for the victims of my hometown in OKC. (hash)PrayforOklahoma"
Coverage of the tornado damage was on the clubhouse TV as the Red Sox prepared for their game at the Chicago White Sox.
"It's a tragedy when you see a natural disaster like that take place, so many innocent people that are certainly affected, if not directly by injury or possibly loss of life," Boston manager John Farrell said. "Having been though something similar back in 1997 that had probably very similar damage, it's a scary situation. Our thoughts are with all the people affected."
Farrell played for Oklahoma State in college, and then served as the assistant coach and pitching and recruiting coordinator for the Cowboys for five seasons from 1997-2001.
"The location today is very close to where it was back in '97," Farrell said. "Just that area just south of Oklahoma City seems to be right in the path of unfortunately a lot of storm fronts and certainly the tornadoes again today."
White Sox manager Robin Ventura also played his college ball at Oklahoma State, where was a three-time All-America. The Santa Maria, Calif., native said he didn't know anything about tornadoes until there were a couple that passed through the area while he was in school.
"It's scary," he said. "There's nothing you can do about it."
Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden, who played at Oklahoma State and grew up in the Oklahoma City area, was relieved that no one in his wife's family was injured.
"Devastating damage to Moore, Oklahoma due to Tornadoes," Weeden wrote on his Twitter account. "Please keep these people in your prayers. Thankfully (at)MelanieWeeden family is safe."
Kansas coach basketball coach Bill Self also went to Oklahoma State.
"We wish nothing but the very best for (those affected by the storm) and our thoughts are with them," he said.
I much enjoy watching Cosmos by Carl Sagan, Into the Wormhole, and occasionally in my free time doing a bit of independent research concerning various scientific topics. You must understand, however, that my research is very second hand and internet based. I'm just another random college freshman with a few questions on his mind, and with summer about to begin, I have nobody easily within reach to answer my amateur questions.
So here it goes: I was sitting by myself tonight, slightly bored, slightly stoned, when I started to wonder. If the velocity of an object through space affects the passage of time, which our perception of is limited on a biological level by the speed at which our body systems permit, do creatures on faster moving celestial bodies who have similar biological systems experience time in a different way? As I wrangled with this question, I did some thinking and tried to establish an answer as follows:
There is as of yet no way to test the biological perception of time while moving at a velocity necessary to facilitate a noticeable difference in its passage, so there is no sure answer. It has been proposed that the perception for an individual on earth versus one travelling at .99c of shaving would be the same due to the limitations of human reference. Yet when the traveler returns to earth he finds that time has contracted for him, and more has passed for the man who remains on earth. In this way, the concept of time as a measurable real thing blurs with the concept of time as warping beyond human perception. If this proves to be true, that time and its passage is not constant regardless of the limitations of human experience, it is an example of the ways in which we as humans overcome our biological restrictions using ideas and mathematical experimentation.
Although it may seem like I have answered my own question, I wanted to post this to allow others to critique my answer, help me further understand the ideas and questions I'm trying to address, and start a general discussion in relation to the above material between users on this site.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's exports are expected to have risen in April from a year earlier for a second straight month led by U.S.-bound shipments of cars and Asian demand for electronics parts in a sign a weak yen and global recovery are helping the export-reliant economy.
However, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) data due on Wednesday is also likely to highlight the costs associated with a weak currency, with the country expected to log its 10th straight month of trade deficits in April, as a higher import bill offsets export gains.
The median forecast was for a 5.9 percent increase in exports in the year to April, which would follow a 1.1 percent rise in March, a Reuters poll of 25 economists showed.
The data could provide another encouraging signal for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive policies as he seeks to maintain high support in the run-up to an upper house election in July.
Abe's policy mix of sweeping fiscal and monetary stimulus, dubbed "Abenomics", has driven the yen to a 4-1/2 year low against the dollar and boosted Tokyo shares by 70 percent since November, prior to his election the following month.
However, the benefits of a weak yen has not been fully reflected in the trade sector. The drop in the currency has so far sharply raised fuel import costs and offset gains made from an uptick in export volumes, with many analysts predicting trade deficits to persist through this year.
The import bill has been bumped up in recent years as Japan's fuel requirements grew substantially following the idling of nuclear plants in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
"Brisk sales of cars in the United States and shipments of electronics parts to Asia have pushed up Japanese exports, and I expect a weak yen to boost exports from around the summer," said Ayumi Maekawa, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute.
"But a trade deficit is likely to persist at least this year given elevated costs of imports and a tepid recovery in the global economy due to uncertainty over China's outlook and weakness in Europe."
Wednesday's data is expected to show imports rising 6.7 percent in the year to April, which would mark a sixth straight month of annual increase, led by gains in liquefied natural gas, according to the Reuters poll.
That would bring Japan's trade balance into a deficit of 621.1 billion yen ($6.03 billion), marking a 10th straight month of deficits, the longest such run since 1979-1980 when the import bill was hit by surging oil prices, the poll showed.
Data last week showed that the world's third-largest economy grew a faster-than-expected 0.9 percent in January-March from the previous quarter, as private consumption and a rebound in exports led a recovery from a slump last year.
Economists expect the recovery to firm up in the coming quarters backed by exports and private consumption.
But risks to the outlook remain, including uncertainty in the global economy, underlined recently by a string of weak data from the United States and China, Japan's two biggest export markets.
The central bank is expected to leave monetary policy steady on Wednesday, having unleashed a massive burst of stimulus on April 4, pledging to inject about $1.4 trillion into the economy in less than two years to end nearly two decades of stagnation.
($1 = 102.9750 Japanese yen)
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
RNA capable of catalyzing electron transfer on early earth with iron's help, study saysPublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Toon jtoon@gatech.edu 404-894-6986 Georgia Institute of Technology
A new study shows how complex biochemical transformations may have been possible under conditions that existed when life began on the early Earth.
The study shows that RNA is capable of catalyzing electron transfer under conditions similar to those of the early Earth. Because electron transfer, the moving of an electron from one chemical species to another, is involved in many biological processes including photosynthesis, respiration and the reduction of RNA to DNA the study's findings suggest that complex biochemical transformations may have been possible when life began.
There is considerable evidence that the evolution of life passed through an early stage when RNA played a more central role, before DNA and coded proteins appeared. During that time, more than 3 billion years ago, the environment lacked oxygen but had an abundance of soluble iron.
"Our study shows that when RNA teams up with iron in an oxygen-free environment, RNA displays the powerful ability to catalyze single electron transfer, a process involved in the most sophisticated biochemistry, yet previously uncharacterized for RNA," said Loren Williams, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The results of the study were scheduled to be published online on May 19, 2013, in the journal Nature Chemistry. The study was sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which established the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution (Ribo Evo) at Georgia Tech.
Free oxygen gas was almost nonexistent in the Earth's atmosphere more than 3 billion years ago. When free oxygen began entering the environment as a product of photosynthesis, it turned the earth's iron to rust, forming massive banded iron formations that are still mined today. The free oxygen produced by advanced organisms caused iron to be toxic, even though it was and still is a requirement for life. Williams believes the environmental transition caused a slow shift from the use of iron to magnesium for RNA binding, folding and catalysis.
Williams and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry postdoctoral fellow Chiaolong Hsiao used a standard peroxidase assay to detect electron transfer in solutions of RNA and either the iron ion, Fe2+, or magnesium ion, Mg2+. For 10 different types of RNA, the researchers observed catalysis of single electron transfer in the presence of iron and absence of oxygen. They found that two of the most abundant and ancient types of RNA, the 23S ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA, catalyzed electron transfer more efficiently than other types of RNA. However, none of the RNA and magnesium solutions catalyzed single electron transfer in the oxygen-free environment.
"Our findings suggest that the catalytic competence of RNA may have been greater in early Earth conditions than in present conditions, and our experiments may have revived a latent function of RNA," added Williams, who is also director of the RiboEvo Center.
This new study expands on research published in May 2012 in the journal PLoS ONE. In the previous work, Williams led a team that used experiments and numerical calculations to show that iron, in the absence of oxygen, could substitute for magnesium in RNA binding, folding and catalysis. The researchers found that RNA's shape and folding structure remained the same and its functional activity increased when magnesium was replaced by iron in an oxygen-free environment.
In future studies, the researchers plan to investigate whether other unique functions may have been conferred on RNA through interaction with a variety of metals available on the early Earth.
In addition to Williams and Hsiao, Georgia Tech School of Biology professors Roger Wartell and Stephen Harvey, and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry professor Nicholas Hud, also contributed to this work as co-principal investigators in the Ribo Evo Center at Georgia Tech.
###
This work was supported by NASA (Award No. NNA09DA78A). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of NASA.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
RNA capable of catalyzing electron transfer on early earth with iron's help, study saysPublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Toon jtoon@gatech.edu 404-894-6986 Georgia Institute of Technology
A new study shows how complex biochemical transformations may have been possible under conditions that existed when life began on the early Earth.
The study shows that RNA is capable of catalyzing electron transfer under conditions similar to those of the early Earth. Because electron transfer, the moving of an electron from one chemical species to another, is involved in many biological processes including photosynthesis, respiration and the reduction of RNA to DNA the study's findings suggest that complex biochemical transformations may have been possible when life began.
There is considerable evidence that the evolution of life passed through an early stage when RNA played a more central role, before DNA and coded proteins appeared. During that time, more than 3 billion years ago, the environment lacked oxygen but had an abundance of soluble iron.
"Our study shows that when RNA teams up with iron in an oxygen-free environment, RNA displays the powerful ability to catalyze single electron transfer, a process involved in the most sophisticated biochemistry, yet previously uncharacterized for RNA," said Loren Williams, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The results of the study were scheduled to be published online on May 19, 2013, in the journal Nature Chemistry. The study was sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which established the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution (Ribo Evo) at Georgia Tech.
Free oxygen gas was almost nonexistent in the Earth's atmosphere more than 3 billion years ago. When free oxygen began entering the environment as a product of photosynthesis, it turned the earth's iron to rust, forming massive banded iron formations that are still mined today. The free oxygen produced by advanced organisms caused iron to be toxic, even though it was and still is a requirement for life. Williams believes the environmental transition caused a slow shift from the use of iron to magnesium for RNA binding, folding and catalysis.
Williams and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry postdoctoral fellow Chiaolong Hsiao used a standard peroxidase assay to detect electron transfer in solutions of RNA and either the iron ion, Fe2+, or magnesium ion, Mg2+. For 10 different types of RNA, the researchers observed catalysis of single electron transfer in the presence of iron and absence of oxygen. They found that two of the most abundant and ancient types of RNA, the 23S ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA, catalyzed electron transfer more efficiently than other types of RNA. However, none of the RNA and magnesium solutions catalyzed single electron transfer in the oxygen-free environment.
"Our findings suggest that the catalytic competence of RNA may have been greater in early Earth conditions than in present conditions, and our experiments may have revived a latent function of RNA," added Williams, who is also director of the RiboEvo Center.
This new study expands on research published in May 2012 in the journal PLoS ONE. In the previous work, Williams led a team that used experiments and numerical calculations to show that iron, in the absence of oxygen, could substitute for magnesium in RNA binding, folding and catalysis. The researchers found that RNA's shape and folding structure remained the same and its functional activity increased when magnesium was replaced by iron in an oxygen-free environment.
In future studies, the researchers plan to investigate whether other unique functions may have been conferred on RNA through interaction with a variety of metals available on the early Earth.
In addition to Williams and Hsiao, Georgia Tech School of Biology professors Roger Wartell and Stephen Harvey, and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry professor Nicholas Hud, also contributed to this work as co-principal investigators in the Ribo Evo Center at Georgia Tech.
###
This work was supported by NASA (Award No. NNA09DA78A). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of 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.
Starling Farms outside of Kampot, Cambodia, grows and harvests by hand the black, red, and white pepper that has become a culinary delicacy among chefs around the world.
By Owen Thomas,?Staff writer / May 19, 2013
A Cambodian worker in a traditional headscarf hoes among the pepper towers at Starling Farms pepper plantation near Kampot, Cambodia.
Owen Thomas
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?Bong ? how much farther?? Our oldest son, Roswell, was asking our tuktuk driver how much longer we?d be bouncing along this potholed dirt road somewhere in Cambodia. In Khmer (pronounced ?k?MAI,?), you address any male older than you as ?bong?: it means ?older brother.?
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A visitor offers a video tour of the Starling Farms pepper plantation.
We were heading toward a pepper plantation that the driver had assured us he knew how to find. There were five of us jammed into the tuktuk ? a four-passenger cart pulled by a motorcycle. (It?s like riding in an escaped carnival ride.) We?d left the riverside city of Kampot in southern Cambodia far behind; past the city center with its giant statue of a durian fruit, past endless low shops lining either side of the asphalt road, and onto a dirt track. We had been bouncing along like this for maybe 20 minutes.
?Ten minutes,? the driver said.
We passed small neat farms, with one-story houses up on stilts, Brahma cows strolling by or lying down, and strutting long-legged chickens. Emerald-green swaths of ? something. Is that what rice looks like? Little children wearing shorts would wave vigorously as we chugged past and shout ?Hello!? They seemed delighted to make a connection. Their lively greetings sounded like bird calls.
But now the landscape was getting scruffier, more hilly. There was more exposed red dirt, and no farms. Where was he taking us?
Ten minutes later we passed a sign for the Starling Farms pepper plantation, and soon bumped to a halt. We?d arrived, our driver indicated, and pointed down the slope. I saw rows of what looked like evenly spaced green towers. As we got closer, we saw that the towers were openwork brick columns, like chimneys, about 10 feet tall. They were wrapped in lush green vines ? pepper plants, which in the wild wrap around the trunks of trees. We spotted the green berries, peppercorns, clumped in strings about three inches long. Most of the berries were small and green, but a few ? no more than three per clump ? were red.
The rows of towers stretched into the distance. We saw a few workers, wearing the typical Khmer head cloths, hoeing among the towers.
?Be careful of the ants,? our driver warned. Leaf-weaver ants can sting, but they also attack other insects. On this certified organic farm, we learned later, further insect control was achieved by soaking in water the leaves of a weed that grows naturally among the plants, and then spraying the concoction on the plants; it?s a natural insect repellent. Workers rub the leaves on their arms to keep biting insects away. All the fertilizer used is organic, too: cow dung, bat guano (from nearby caves), small fish, plant matter ? and more of the insect-repelling weeds. The fertilizer is composted anaerobically in big underground pits, then spread on the plants.
We could go up to the gift shop, our driver said. And just as we approached a rather grand-looking two-story stone home, someone driving a big Land Rover pulled up ? the owner, it turned out. The gift shop was the front room of his house, which overlooked the plantation in the valley below. It seemed a beautiful, tranquil spot.
?I originally bought the land as a getaway from Phnom Penh,? said owner Mark Hanna, a CPA originally from Derry, Ireland. He mostly lives and works in the city, a grueling four-hour drive. In fact, the roads were so bad that he?d considered buying a helicopter, he said, to get back and forth more easily. He?d also considered buying a brick factory ? and now wished that he had. He?d needed a million bricks to make the pepper towers. And now, with building in nearby Vietnam booming, the cost of bricks had gone up 1,000 percent. His wife, Anna (?to be honest,? Mark said, ?she does all the work?), who is Cambodian, plans to expand the plantation. But they?d be using cheaper, less durable wooden towers this time.
LONDON (Reuters) - The government said on Friday it had hired a team of auditors to investigate whether it was overcharged on two contracts with outsourcing firms Serco and G4S.
The Ministry of Justice said auditors from professional services firm PWC would examine two contracts signed in 2005 which together cost the department 107 million pounds in 2012/13 for electronic tagging and monitoring of offenders released from prison.
"I take this issue very seriously and my priority is to ensure that taxpayers' money is spent appropriately and delivers value for money," Justice Minister Chris Grayling said, adding the auditors would report their findings within six weeks.
An MOJ spokeswoman said the issue concerned the number of people tagged and the duration of the monitoring period.
Both G4S and Serco had their original contracts extended and are currently bidding on the new electronic tagging deals with the MOJ expected later this year.
The companies said that they were cooperating with the Ministry. G4S added that it had cut the cost of the service by 13 percent since it first won the contract in 2005.
Contracts for electronic tags - which monitor whether offenders are adhering to curfews and are a cheaper alternative to keeping someone in prison - are part of a government drive to save money by tendering services to private companies to run.
The MOJ is one of the most active in this process, asking private firms to bid to run prisoner escort, private prisons and more recently probation services.
Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald calculate that the total value of MOJ new services contracts jumped tenfold from 8 million in 2008 to 79 million in 2012, based on data from 8 months of each year.
G4S Chief Executive Nick Buckles said in a call with analysts earlier this month that he had learned there would be "a couple" of new private prisons built under the controversial Private Finance Initiative, which funds public infrastructure with private capital, coming out next year.
Buckles also said that G4S, which made a 70 million pound loss on its security contract at the London 2012 Olympics after failing to provide enough guards, was getting a lower profit margin on the extension of its current tagging deal.
He added that lower prisoner numbers in its private prisons were dragging down group margins.
(Additional reporting by Neil Maidment; Editing by Sophie Walker)
The best time to hire a Los Angeles personal injury attorney is when you have suffered injuries in an auto accident. Filing a claim against your insurance coverage often requires the skill of a personal lawyer to help you win a just and fair settlement for the damages you received in the incident.
Having legal representation in a court of law will ensure you get the best settlement. Generally, insurance companies work hard to settle for as little money as possible, taking advantage of your legal inexperience. Alternatively, skillful lawyers should know exactly how much the case is worth, for the suffering you have experienced, during the incident and afterwards.
A skill, experienced personal injuries lawyer should have a full understanding of the dynamics of the legal court system. Spending years working with comparative negligence cases, they know how to fight for you to get you just compensation, based on how you were involved in the accident. Typically, they will know whether the case has merit, and if you can expect to receive money even if you caused the accident.
In the world of the court system, insurance company law is unique. Opening a case to seek compensation requires a full understanding of how to gather evidence, information and details from witnesses to obtain the money you are entitled to for the experience you suffer.
Most skillful Los Angeles personal injuries attorneys have handled a variety of cases similar to yours. They understand how to investigate your specific accident, and obtain all the details from the police, the accident adjuster, and every party involved in the incident. Both your insurance company, and the carrier of the person who hit you, will deal directly with your attorneys instead of discussing the case with you.
The simplest way to negotiate fair compensation is to hire legal representation. As a representative speaking for you, your legal professional will move your case quickly through the court system until a remedy has been found an agreed-upon by the judge.
The best way to determine which experienced Los Angeles personal injuries attorney will have the skills and knowledge required to handle the case is to interview or consult three or four lawyers. You need to ask each one how many years of practice they have, how many cases identical to yours they been involved in, and whether other lawyers and non-attorneys will be involved in your case.
You will need to know if that particular lawyer believes your case is one that will settle or need to go to trial. You should discuss the potential expenses involved in investigating, preparing and taking your case to settlement or to trial.
After you have selected and hired the best Los Angeles personal injury attorney to represent you in the case, it is imperative to be straightforward concerning all the details and information about your accident. When your lawyer has complete knowledge of everything that occurred, he or she will be able to develop a plan to best represent your case in the court system, based on all the evidence, details and information they have available.
Read more about When You Should Hire A Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney visiting our website.
Emmelie de Forest of Denmark performs her song "Only Teardrops" during a rehearsal for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden, Friday, May 17, 2013. The contest is run by European television broadcasters with the event being held in Sweden as they won the competition in 2012, the final will be held in Malmo on May 18. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Emmelie de Forest of Denmark performs her song "Only Teardrops" during a rehearsal for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden, Friday, May 17, 2013. The contest is run by European television broadcasters with the event being held in Sweden as they won the competition in 2012, the final will be held in Malmo on May 18. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Bonnie Tyler of Britain performs her song "Believe in Me" during a rehearsal for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden, Friday, May 17, 2013. The contest is run by European television broadcasters with the event being held in Sweden as they won the competition in 2012, the final will be held in Malmo on May 18. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Cezar of Romania performs the song "It's My Life" during a rehearsal for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden, Friday, May 17, 2013. The contest is run by European television broadcasters with the event being held in Sweden as they won the competition in 2012, the final will be held in Malmo on May 18. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Cezar of Romania performs the song "It's My Life" during a rehearsal for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden, Friday, May 17, 2013. The contest is run by European television broadcasters with the event being held in Sweden as they won the competition in 2012, the final will be held in Malmo on May 18. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Anouk of the Netherlands performs her song "Birds" during a rehearsal for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden, Friday, May 17, 2013. The contest is run by European television broadcasters with the event being held in Sweden as they won the competition in 2012, the final will be held in Malmo on May 18. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
MALMO, Sweden (AP) ? An ethno-inspired flute and drum tune from Denmark is the bookmakers' favorite to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, which also features a bizarre opera pop number from Romania and an Armenian rock song written by the guitarist of Black Sabbath.
Yes, it's that time of the year again.
The televised pan-European extravaganza, known for its kitschy shows, bad taste and bizarre offerings, is still expected to be seen by about 125 million television viewers worldwide.
This year's contest is being hosted in Malmo, southern Sweden, following the victory of the Nordic country's contestant Loreen with "Euphoria" last year.
According to bookmakers, the hippie-chic Emmelie De Forest of Denmark is the favorite to win, driving the song "Only Teardrops" with her deep, Shakira-like voice. Her main challenge comes from the clean-cut techno pop tune "I Feed You My Love" by Norway's Margaret Berger, who rose to fame at home after becoming the runner-up in Norway's version of Pop Idol in 2004.
"I will be nervous before going on stage," De Forest said Friday. "I think we have a really good song that can take us far, but let's see, anything can happen."
Finland's Krista Siegfrid provided this year's controversy, ending her bouncy bubble-gum pop number "Marry Me" with a girl-on-girl kiss that some have interpreted as a stance promoting gay marriage. While the show will not raise eyebrows in most parts of Western Europe ? where Eurovision has long been a bastion of gay culture ? the act may jar sensitivities in parts of eastern and southern Europe.
"The fact is that Finland is the only country in the Nordic countries where gay marriage is not allowed, and I think that's wrong," Siegfrid told The Associated Press. "It's 2013 now and ... I can kiss anyone I want to. It shouldn't be a problem."
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who arrived in Malmo to watch the competition Saturday, said it is a unique event that unites Europe.
"We see the old Yugoslavia, now independent states, after a decade of war they always vote for each other in Eurovision, " Bildt said. "That I think is fun."
This year's competition also sees the return to the international stage of two seasoned European stars. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" singer Bonnie Tyler is representing Britain with "Believe In Me" while Anouk, whose song "Nobody's Wife" was a big hit in Europe in the 1990s, is singing the song "Birds" for The Netherlands.
Among the more notable performances is the Ukraine's Zlata Ognevich with her song "Gravity." Ognevich is carried onstage by the tallest man in the U.S. ? Ukrainian-born Igor Vovkovinskiy. Vovkovinskiy ? who stands 7 feet, 8 inches (234 centimeters) ?wobbles onstage in a fur and feathers, placing the fairy-like Ognevich on a rock where she stands for the rest of the performance.
There is also Armenian rock group Dorians, whose gloomy song "Lonely Planet" has been written by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.
Romania's Cezar, who resembles a Dracula reborn as a high-pitched vocalist, is apparently a reputable opera singer, but is attempting a crossover opera pop number with techno beats and pyrotechnics. Three muscular male dancers in red body paint are delivered out of a large red cape.
Two semifinals this week have whittled down the contestants from 40 to 26. The winner is picked by juries and television viewers across the continent, and the winning nation will stage next year's event.
Having won five times, most famously with ABBA's Waterloo in 1974, Sweden is a veteran of Eurovision. This weekend it is taking the opportunity to showcase some of its big music acts. The opening of the competition is set to feature a song especially composed by Swedish super DJ Aviici, together with ABBA members Bjorn Ulveaus and Benny Andersson.
Yet the event ? with a price tag of around 153.5 million Swedish kronor ($23 million) ? won't measure up to last year's lavish competition hosted by oil-rich Azerbaijan in its capital, Baku.
"We have attempted to host Eurovision with less money to show that it is possible to do this without it being too painful for the host country," said Jan-Erik Westman, a spokesman of host broadcaster SVT.
The festive atmosphere was visible throughout the city of Malmo on Saturday, where residents and visitors blended on the streets waving the flags of their favorite countries.
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Associated Press television producer David MacDougall and Associated Press reporter Jan Olsen contributed to this report.
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Emma Watson and her cast mates from "The Bling Ring," along with director Sofia Coppola, made a splash on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.
While we're sad we can't bring you a new disco GIF of Watson, you should at least enjoy another stylish turn from the actress as she rolls out her latest film with all the required French flair.
AFP - Getty Images
Emma Watson poses at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.
Getty Images
Watson blows a kiss as Katie Chang, left, and Sophia Coppola look on.
Watson, who rose to fame as Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter" film series, said at a Cannes news conference that those days seem "like such a long time ago."
"I enjoy the chance to transform into new roles and work with new creative people," the 23-year-old actress said of her turn in the film about a gang of celeb-robbing teens.
"The Bling Ring" opens in theaters in the US next month.
Getty Images
Bling ring, indeed. A detail view of the earrings worn by Watson on Thursday.
Getty Images
"The Bling Ring" stars, from left, Claire Julien, Taissa Fariga, Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Watson and director Sophia Coppola.
May 16, 2013 ? NASA's first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in preparation for its launch in 2016.
The Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) passed a confirmation review Wednesday called Key Decision Point (KDP)-C. NASA officials reviewed a series of detailed project assessments and authorized the spacecraft's continuation into the development phase.
OSIRIS-REx will rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2018 and return a sample of it to Earth in 2023.
"Successfully passing KDP-C is a major milestone for the project," said Mike Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This means NASA believes we have an executable plan to return a sample from Bennu. It now falls on the project and its development team members to execute that plan."
Bennu could hold clues to the origin of the solar system. OSIRIS-REx will map the asteroid's global properties, measure non-gravitational forces and provide observations that can be compared with data obtained by telescope observations from Earth. OSIRIS-REx will collect a minimum of 2 ounces (60 grams) of surface material.
"The entire OSIRIS-REx team has worked very hard to get to this point," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "We have a long way to go before we arrive at Bennu, but I have every confidence when we do, we will have built a supremely capable system to return a sample of this primitive asteroid."
The mission will be a vital part of NASA's plans to find, study, capture and relocate an asteroid for exploration by astronauts. NASA recently announced an asteroid initiative proposing a strategy to leverage human and robotic activities for the first human mission to an asteroid while also accelerating efforts to improve detection and characterization of asteroids.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will provide overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance. The University of Arizona in Tucson is the principal investigator institution. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver will build the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages New Frontiers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
SAN DIEGO (AP) ? Finals week was dangerous for Thomas Saenz.
The Navy lieutenant needed armed guards and an armored car to get to an exam site, in Kabul, Afghanistan. A deadly bomb attack also caused him to his miss classes ? transmitted live via the Internet ? but he persevered and earned a master's degree in engineering from the University of Southern California while commanding a top security team.
His class graduated on Friday, as he joins a growing number of service members earning college degrees while deployed in a war zone.
"Not only was he out there living on the edge, but he had to get his homework done," USC professor Frank Alvidrez said.
The Obama administration is pushing universities to find creative ways to help service members complete their degrees as it tracks the success of its post 9/11 GI Bill, which is designed to be the most comprehensive education benefit for veterans since World War II.
Enrollments for the new GI Bill number more than 480,000, according to the Veteran's Administration, which is starting to track the number of graduates.
It's not known just how many others like Saenz earn their degrees while in combat. A commencement ceremony for 100 war-zone graduates from various universities is planned in late May in Kandahar.
"They really are multi-tasking in the extreme," said Bob Ludwig, spokesman for the University of Maryland University College, adding that the coursework can provide relief from the mental turmoil of war. "It really is an opportunity to step away from the battlefield and have the sort of the safety of being in a classroom."
UMUC has about 30,000 active-duty service members among its students and was among the first schools to send faculty to Iraq to teach troops in 2008 during the war. UMUC also has adjunct professors giving classes in tents in remote outposts of Afghanistan as well as online instruction on bases.
Completing degrees online is a growing phenomenon, as more traditional public universities join private, for-profit schools in offering courses.
Saenz, a 33-year-old father of two, used the GI Bill to enroll at USC but midway through his studies, the Navy pilot was called to be deployed to Afghanistan.
After getting approval from his professors and Navy commanders, Saenz spent his final year of studies racing to his computer on base at 5 a.m. to attend the live transmission of his classes before dedicating his day to overseeing security for top generals and then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
He missed a class that required his online presence when a suicide bomber blew himself up near NATO's headquarters in Kabul, killing six civilians.
The base was locked down. Saenz wrote to his professor and aide when the Internet was back up to explain his absence.
"I was worried because it was early in the semester and I was afraid it would affect my grade," he said. "But they were real supportive."
Another time, he was absent because he was arranging a helicopter to transport Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Saenz caught up by watching the recorded classes.
"I told my class if Thomas can get his homework done on time then I don't think there are any excuses for the rest of you all," Alvidrez said. "And he pulled an 'A.' He was one of the top 10 percent."
Even getting to finals was treacherous. After military officials checked intelligence to ensure there were no imminent threats, he crossed Kabul on a highly dangerous road with armed guards in an armored SUV to the Army base where a military official was certified to give him the university exams. While there, he picked up ammo, weapons and dropped off radios to be repaired, then grabbed some barbeque at a tent.
Saenz said he was determined to finish his advanced degree ? the second person in his extended family to do so ? knowing his 10-year Navy career was ending in June. He is one of 91 service members in the university's distance learning program.
An essay he wrote for one of his classes was on WWII veterans going on to lead top companies after returning home. With today's technology, he sees opportunities for veterans to follow in those footsteps more easily than ever.
"I think we're in that period again, with the post 9/11 GI Bill and all these kids coming back with their experience overseas," Saenz said. "Hopefully we can come back and do great things for our country outside of our uniform."
NEW YORK (AP) ? Jennifer Lopez is the newly appointed chief creative officer of NUVOtv.
The versatile J-Lo was announced last fall as a creative partner with the English-language Latino network, but her role was solidified Wednesday as NUVOtv held its upfront for advertisers and prepared for a re-launch of its programming in July.
In an interview before the presentation, Lopez said about two years ago she was approached by NUVOtv to serve "probably more as the face of the network. But once we sat down and I started expressing my point of view about the programming and the network, it grew into something bigger."
She said that, with the support of her own production company, she will be involved in marketing, branding and program development.
"A network that reflects the modern Latino experience, but in English, must have the quality that everybody has," she said.
Lopez will also be the subject of a 90-minute biographical special, the network said.
Among new series announced will be "Gotta Dance," a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of professional dancers accompanying Lopez on a world concert tour.
Asked if her on-camera presence is likely to extend beyond those programs, she said yes ? "if we find a great show that I would star in anyway. But I always want to do what's right for the network as opposed to using it as a vehicle for myself. That's not the point."
Lopez laughed when asked if she would consider returning to "American Idol," where she spent two seasons as judge on a panel that is currently in turmoil.
"I'm gonna perform there (Thursday) night," she replied. "I don't know what else is gonna happen."
Looking ahead to the July 18 debut of the NUVOtv programming slate, she said, "We've given it enough of a facelift to launch, but we know we have work ahead of us."
Other series announced include "Rodney's Joy," a reality show about Grammy Award-winning producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins as he takes on a new client ? his wife, Joy Enriquez ? as well as "Mario Lopez: One on One," an interview show.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) ? Connecticut chef Bun Lai is already known for his Mexican grasshopper dish and his fried rice with meal worms and crickets. But he might soon also be recognized as the cicada chef.
Lai, owner of Miya's Sushi, tells the New Haven Register (http://bit.ly/16eNZfy ) that he plans to fill a big freezer full of Brood II cicadas, once the red-eyed bugs' 17-year life cycle brings them above ground for about five weeks.
"I'm going to catch a whole bunch of them and preserve them for future eating," he said. "I plan on eating a whole bunch of them myself."
Lai said cicadas, and insects in general have great nutritional value and are "healthier for our bodies than eating meat."
He plans to feature the cicada in some theme dishes, steaming some of the bugs and boiling others, with the appropriate spices and herbs.
"I don't want to take something that's inherently nutritious and deep fry it," he explained. "If I'm going to interrupt this amazing, 17-year life cycle, I'm going to honor it and respect it."
Lai tells the Register that he sees it as a challenge to take something that's abundant and nourishing and make it appealing, not to mention tasty.
"I'm not trying to gross people out," he said. "I'm not running a frat house. I respect the cicada."
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Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com
Making it even easier for attendees to find and interact with sessions
On the eve of Google I/O 2013 kicking off in San Francisco, Google has just updated the official I/O 2013 app with a few tweaks to make following the conference a little easier. There's now a session feedback form for attendees to let Google know how a session went after the fact, as well as improved Maps functionality to let you navigate the expanses of the Moscone Center and find those sessions. The update also upped the resolution of speaker photos, and added DashClock widget support -- presumably to let you keep tabs on upcoming events.
We'll be awake bright and early tomorrow morning to cover the three hour long marathon of a keynote starting at 9am PT, so be sure to set a reminder from that Google I/O app so you don't miss a minute. We'll see you there.
During the past couple of years the UK has become the easiest country in the world to have a website blocked on copyright grounds.
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Public release date: 19-May-2013
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