ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) ? An arrested man from former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez's hometown was transferred to Massachusetts on Friday to face a gun charge connected to the murder case against Hernandez while a third suspect surrendered to authorities in Florida.
Carlos Ortiz, who lives in Bristol, Conn., and Ernest Wallace, who walked into a South Florida police station, were the men identified earlier as being with Hernandez and the victim the night of his shooting death, a prosecutor said.
Ortiz was charged with carrying an unlicensed firearm in North Attleborough, where Hernandez lives, on June 17, the day Boston semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd was found shot to death near Hernandez's home. Details of the charge weren't released.
Wallace, whose wanted poster was released Thursday night, surrendered in Miramar, Fla., police said. Authorities had been seeking Wallace on a charge of acting as an accessory after Lloyd's murder. Details of that allegation also weren't released.
Police arrested Hernandez on Wednesday at his home and charged him with orchestrating Lloyd's execution-style shooting. Prosecutors said Hernandez orchestrated the killing because Lloyd talked to the wrong people at a nightclub.
Hernandez, Ortiz and Wallace were in a car with Lloyd shortly before his death, Bristol County, Mass., District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said.
"We now have in custody the three individuals who were in the silver Nissan Altima," Sutter said Friday when Ortiz was arraigned on the gun charge in Attleboro District Court.
All three men have ties to Bristol, Conn.: Hernandez grew up there, Ortiz had been living there, and authorities had conflicting addresses for Wallace there and in Miramar.
Hernandez pleaded not guilty to murder and was denied bail Thursday. Ortiz also was being held without bail pending a court hearing on July 9. Wallace was taken to a jail in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., pending extradition proceedings, police said.
Hernandez's lawyer argued in court that the case is circumstantial. He said Hernandez, who was cut by the Patriots the day he was arrested, wanted to clear his name.
Ortiz's attorney, John Connors, said he will seek bail for his client at the July 9 hearing. He described Ortiz as a "gentle person" and said he will advise Ortiz to plead not guilty.
"I can say that his charge has nothing to do with homicide," Connors said.
Wallace walked into the police station and told officers there was a warrant for his arrest, which officers confirmed by checking a computer database.
"He stated he knew he had a warrant because he saw himself on TV," Miramar police Officer Gil Bueno said. "He was very cooperative. It was uneventful."
An attorney for Wallace, David Meier, told The Boston Globe that his client was visiting his mother and other family members in Miramar when he realized he was wanted in Massachusetts and went to police. Meier said Wallace intends to waive any rendition proceeding and return to Massachusetts "as soon as possible." Meier did not immediately return a telephone message left Friday evening by The Associated Press.
Earlier Friday, Ortiz appeared in Bristol Superior Court in Connecticut, where a judge authorized turning him over to a Massachusetts state trooper and a North Attleborough officer.
A friend and a relative of Ortiz said outside the courthouse that they were stunned by his arrest. They said Ortiz is the devoted father of two girls and a boy, all under the age of 9. Ortiz was unemployed recently but previously worked a long time at a Savers clothing store, they said.
They also said they couldn't believe Ortiz could be part of a murder.
"He's not that type of person. He has a good heart," said friend Milton Montesdeoca, who added he didn't know Hernandez and never heard Ortiz talk about the football star.
Also Friday, authorities said law enforcement officers recovered in Bristol a car Wallace was seen driving before he surrendered.
Meanwhile, Lloyd's relatives were preparing for his funeral in Boston on Saturday. A relative said the service will be at Church of the Holy Spirit in the city's Mattapan section.
Lloyd played for the Boston Bandits and was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee.
Authorities have said trouble that led to Lloyd's killing happened June 14, when Lloyd went with Hernandez to a Boston nightclub. Hernandez became upset when Lloyd began talking with people Hernandez apparently didn't like, prosecutors said.
On June 16, the night before the slaying, a prosecutor said, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends and asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut.
A few minutes later, he texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, prosecutors said. Authorities say the three men picked up Lloyd at around 2:30 a.m. June 17, drove him to an industrial park near Hernandez's home and shot him five times. They have not said who fired the shots.
Prosecutors said an ammunition clip was found in Hernandez's Hummer and matched the caliber of casings found at the scene of Lloyd's killing.
Hernandez was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 and signed a five-year contract worth $40 million last summer. He could face life in prison if convicted.
___
Collins reported from Bristol, Conn. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy in Boston and Michael Melia in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.
Global Thermostat's pilot plant in Menlo Park, Calif., pulls carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. The next challenge is to find uses for the captured gas.
Courtesy of Global Thermostat
Global Thermostat's pilot plant in Menlo Park, Calif., pulls carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. The next challenge is to find uses for the captured gas.
Courtesy of Global Thermostat
Every year, people add 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the air, mostly by burning fossil fuels. That's contributing to climate change. A few scientists have been dreaming about ways to pull some of that CO2 out of the air, but face stiff skepticism and major hurdles. This is the story of one scientist who's pressing ahead.
Peter Eisenberger is a distinguished professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University. Earlier in his career, he ran the university's famed Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, and founded Columbia's Earth Institute. He was never one of those scientists who tinkered into the night on inventions. But he realized he didn't need to be.
"If you looked at knowledge as a commodity, we had generated this enormous amount of knowledge and we hadn't even begun to think of the many ways we could apply it," Eisenberger says. He decided he'd settle on a problem he wanted to solve, and then dive into the pool of knowledge for existing technologies that could help him.
He started looking for a way to pull carbon dioxide right out of the air. "And it turned out the best device already exists," he says. "It's called a monolith. That is the same type of instrument that's in the catalytic converter in your car. It cleans up your exhaust."
Eisenberg's monoliths grab carbon dioxide from the air, and release it again when you heat them up.
He teamed up with a colleague at Columbia, Graciela Chichilnisky, and formed a company to develop the idea. Global Thermostat got seed money from Edgar Bronfman, Jr. ? CEO of Warner Music Group and the former CEO of Seagram's, his family's business.
The company has built two pilot plants in Menlo Park, Calif. But of course there are big issues to solve: what do you do with the carbon dioxide once you've captured it, and how do you make money?
"If they don't tell you you're crazy, you're not doing something worthwhile," says Peter Eisenberger, co-founder of Global Thermostat, a firm that's building a device to pull carbon dioxide from the air.
Chris Schmauch/Global Thermostat
"So we then we looked for ways to monetize CO2, and found that lots of people wanted to use CO2 as a feedstock to make a valuable product," Eisenberger says.
Growers pipe carbon dioxide into greenhouses. Oil companies pump it underground to help them squeeze out more oil. Soda companies use it to put bubbles in their drinks. These are mostly small-scale applications.
Maybe someday Eisenberg could get paid to clean up the atmosphere by sucking out the CO2 and burying it underground, though there's no market for that now.
But using carbon dioxide to make fuel could someday be big. So Eisenberger's first project involves using CO2 to feed algae that churn out biofuel.
"Our first demonstration plant is being erected right now down in Daphne, Alabama, with an algae company called Algae Systems, which sits on Mobile Bay," Eisenberger says. "They'll be floating their algae in plastic bags on the top of the water. We'll be piping in CO2 that we pull out of the air, and the sun will do the rest."
Of course, this one project will have zero effect on how much carbon dioxide is in the earth's atmosphere. But Eisenberger has much grander ambitions.
"I believe we have something that's economically viable, so our company will be successful," he says. "But I'm really in this because I want to contribute to a long term solution that the world needs."
Eisenberger says if he can open the door to capturing carbon dioxide from the air ? and make the process cheap enough ? someday we could actually slow down, or possibly even reverse, the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Robert Socolow at Princeton University started hearing a buzz about this technology a few years back.
"It's catchy," Socolow admits. "It's attractive conceptually that one could basically pour carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for the next several decades, and pull it out later and everything would be fine." But the appeal of the idea also worried him ? people might use the mere prospect of this technology as an excuse not to act.
So Socolow spearheaded a critique of the technique, on behalf of the American Physical Society.
Socolow's panel concluded that the technology would be hopelessly expensive, costing $600 for every ton of carbon dioxide it drew out of the air. And the scale would also be huge. In order to capture the emissions would waft into the air from a single coal-fired power plant, you'd need to build a structure 20 miles long and 30 feet high. "It's like the Great Wall of China," Socolow says.
The committee concluded that it would make a lot more sense to cut down on emissions first ? make our cars, homes and factories more efficient. Panel members also said it makes much more sense to capture carbon dioxide directly from smokestacks, where it's concentrated, instead of from the air.
Socolow says, maybe someday we'll have our emissions under control, and then we might need to remove some of the carbon dioxide that's already in the air, with a capture technology. But, in his view, that's a long way away. "I locate it in the 22nd century," he says. In other words, this might be a good project for Eisenberger's great-great-great grandchildren.
Researchers currently working on carbon dioxide capture technologies say the American Physical Society critique has made it much harder for them to raise money. Klaus Lackner, at Columbia University says he was turned down for a government grant. David Keith, at Harvard and the University of Calgary, says he struggled to get funding for his small company.
"It's a very powerful report from a very credible group of people and it may well help to kill us and other efforts," Keith says.
Proponents of air-capture technologies say some of the panel's conclusions are just plain wrong ? especially the estimated cost of $600 per ton.
"We have had third party reports, independent people, evaluating our technology, and it's under $50 a ton," Eisenberger says. He hasn't actually demonstrated that cost yet, and he agrees that nobody should take his word for it. But he's stopped arguing with his critics.
"I'm just going to go do it," he says. "And doing it or not ? that's the answer."
Pursuing a big idea takes some hard-headedness, and thick skin.
"If they don't tell you you're crazy, you're not doing something worthwhile," Eisenberger says. "Because what you do when you innovate is you disturb the existing order."
Fortunately, this won't be an academic argument forever. "That's the beauty of science. The people that take the time to come into the lab and see it working and do their own evaluation of the cost and the performance, they know it's not crazy."
If the researchers pursuing this technology can really make it inexpensive to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, Eisenberger says it could be a game-changer.
We could start producing fuels with the carbon dioxide that's already in the air, instead of unearthing more fossil fuels. This won't happen quickly, though.
"The energy infrastructure of the world is $55 trillion," Eisenberger says. So a technology to replace that is "not like a new Google app."
Still, human societies have made such transitions before. "They just don't happen in a day," Eisenberger says. "But they happen."
There's certainly no guarantee that capturing carbon dioxide from the air would ever become a big enough enterprise to make a difference to Earth's climate. But it won't even be put to the test unless people like Eisenberger give it a try.
Anti-surveillance hero Edward Snowden ironically wants to take shelter in a country with a terrible surveillance record: Ecuador.
The 30-year-old former Booz Allen contractor, thought to be in Moscow after leaking top secret documents on domestic spying conducted by the NSA, has petitioned for asylum in the South American country that also sheltered Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Secret documents obtained by Rosie Gray at BuzzFeed indicate Ecuador has a record of spying on social media, targeting of political opponents and journalists, and innovation in facial recognition, as well as the recent purchase of?a "GSM Interceptor" by SENAIN, Ecuador's intelligence service.
Gray writes:
In a letter to Pablo Romero last year in June, a Smart Solutions representative named Gabriel Guecelevich touted the capabilities of the GSM system, promising the ability to ?copy SIM cards, identify phone calls, route phone calls to different places, intercept text messages, falsify and modify the text messages, keep messages in their system, disconnect calls, block phone calls, system should be able to intercept a minimum of 4 phone calls simultaneously.?
...
Guecelevich also specified that the GSM system, which has previously been mentioned in WikiLeaks files as a spy tool, can be used from a car that is 250 meters away and that it is portable. Guecelevich explained which tests Smart Solutions can run to prove that the system works. The first system, he wrote, is intercepting technology; the second is a passive system that can intercept GSM communication which Guecelevich promised can process 32 channels simultaneously, record conversations, among other capabilities.
It's not only domestic spying problems, either. From CBS News:
[Ecuador] ranks 119th out of 179 countries on Reporter Without Borders'?Press Freedom Index, and Human Rights Watch?says?"President Rafael Correa has undercut freedom of the press in Ecuador by subjecting journalists and media figures to public denunciation and retaliatory litigation."
Before Snowden can get there, he has other serious hurdles. He's currently in Russia ? likely having a chat with their intelligence agents ? and without a valid U.S. passport, his travel plans are temporarily halted.
But even given the ability to leave Russia for Ecuador ? he faces stiff opposition from business leaders, who see a potential threat to the?40 percent of exports purchased by the United States.
With a trade deal expiring at the end of July, the U.S. has serious leverage of?$9 billion per year.
"What would we gain from giving political asylum to Snowden ? confirming Ecuador's international image as an anti-imperialist country?" the?head of the Ecuadorian Business Committee, Roberto Aspiazu, told AFP. "I?don't think we need that."
June 22, 2013 ? Scientists from South Africa, Australia and France have discovered a world first association while scanning a 250 million year old fossilised burrow from the Karoo Basin of South Africa.
The burrow revealed two unrelated vertebrate animals nestled together and fossilised after being trapped by a flash flood event. Facing harsh climatic conditions subsequent to the Permo-Triassic (P-T) mass extinction, the amphibian Broomistega and the mammal forerunner Thrinaxodon cohabited in a burrow.
Scanning shows that the amphibian, which was suffering from broken ribs, crawled into a sleeping mammal's shelter for protection. This research suggests that short periods of dormancy, called aestivation, in addition to burrowing behaviour, may have been a crucial adaptation that allowed mammal ancestors to survive the P-T extinction.
The international team of scientists was led by Dr Vincent Fernandez from Wits University, South Africa and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. The other authors from Wits University include Prof. Bruce Rubidge (Director of the newly formed Palaeosciences Centre of Excellence at Wits), Dr Fernando Abdala and Dr Kristian Carlson. Other authors include Dr Della Collins Cook (Indiana University); Dr Adam Yates (Museum of Central Australia) and Dr. Paul Tafforeau (ESRF).
After many impressive results obtained on fossils, synchrotron imaging has led to revived interest in the studies of the numerous fossilised burrows discovered in the Karoo Basin of South Africa and dated to 250 million years ago. The first attempt to investigate one of these burrow-casts surprisingly revealed a world-first association of two unrelated animals.
The fossil was recovered from sedimentary rock strata in the Karoo Basin. It dates from 250 million years ago, at the beginning of the Triassic Period. At that time, the ecosystem was recovering from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction that wiped out most of life on Earth. In the Pangea Supercontinent context, what is now South Africa was an enclave in the southern half called Gondwana. It was the scene of pronounced climatic warming and increased seasonality marked by monsoonal rainfall. To survive this harsh environment, many animals, including mammal-like reptiles (mammal forerunners), developed a digging behaviour, attested by the numerous fossilised burrow casts discovered in the Karoo Basin. These casts have long been thought to enclose fossilised remains, triggering interest from palaeontologists. Early this year, an international group of scientists started to research the contents of these burrows using X-ray synchrotron computed microtomography.
Two burrow casts were selected from the collection at Wits to be scanned using the state-of-the-art facility at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). Using the unique properties of the X-ray beam which enables non-destructive probing, the scan of the first burrow started to reveal the skull of a mammal-like reptile called Thrinaxodon, an animal previously reported in another burrow.
As the scan progressed, the three-dimensional reconstruction displayed results beyond expectations: the mammal-like reptile was accompanied by an amphibian Broomistega, belonging to the extinct group of Temnospondyl.
"While discovering the results we were amazed by the quality of the images," says lead author Fernandez, "but the real excitement came when we discovered a second set of teeth completely different from that of the mammal-like reptile. It was really something else."
Besides the pristine preservation of the two skeletons, the team focused on the reasons explaining such an unusual co-habitation. Fernandez explains: "Burrow-sharing by different species exists in the modern world, but it corresponds to a specific pattern. For example, a small visitor is not going to disturb the host. A large visitor can be accepted by the host if it provides some help, like predator vigilance. But neither of these patterns corresponds to what we have discovered in this fossilised burrow."
The scientists gathered all the information to try to reconstitute the events that led to this incredible fossil aggregation, testing scenarios one after another. "It's a fascinating scientific question: what caused the association of these two organisms in the burrow? One of the more obvious possibilities is a predator-prey interaction, but we inspected both skeletons looking for tooth marks or other evidence implying predation, ultimately finding no support for one having attempted to feed on the other," says Carlson.
His colleague, Cook, adds that the consecutive broken ribs resulted from a single, massive trauma. The amphibian clearly survived the injury for some time because the fractures were healing, but it was surely quite handicapped. According to Fernandez this Broomistega is the first complete skeleton of this rare species that has been discovered. "It tells us that this individual was a juvenile and mostly aquatic at that time of its life," he says.
The scientists eventually concluded that the amphibian crawled into the burrow in response to its poor physical condition but was not evicted by the mammal-like reptile.
Numerous Thrinaxodon specimens have been found in South Africa, many of them fossilised in a curled-up position. Abdala says: "I have always been fascinated by the preservation of Thrinaxodon fossils in a curled-up position that show even tiny bones of the skeleton preserved. It's as if they were peacefully resting in shelters at the time of death."
The shelters prevented disturbance of the skeletal remains from scavengers and weathering. "We also think it might reflect a state of torpor called aestivation in response to aridity and absence of food resources," Abdala says.
Piecing all the clues together, the team finally elucidated the enigmatic association, concluding that "the mammal-like reptile, Thrinaxodon, was most probably aestivating in its burrow, a key adaptation response together with a burrowing behaviour which enabled our distant ancestors to survive the most dramatic mass extinction event. This state of torpor explains why the amphibian was not chased out of the burrow," says Rubidge.
Both animals were finally entrapped in the burrow by a sudden flood and preserved together in the sediments for 250 million years.
Tafforeau says: "Thanks to the unique possibilities for high quality imaging of fossils developed during the last decade at the ESRF, these unique specimens remain untouched, protected by their mineral matrix. Who knows what kind of information we'll be able to obtain from them in the future and which would have been completely lost if the specimen had been prepared out of its burrow cast?"
When purchasing, or considering the purchase of, large deductible (LD) workers? compensation, auto, and other policies, insurance companies often require the policyholder to post collateral to secure the risk. This collateral will often be governed by a separate ?collateral agreement.? Included below are a few important tips to consider when entering into, and negotiating the terms of, any such collateral agreement:
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BEIRUT (AP) ? The commander of Syria's rebels confirms they have received new weapons, giving his forces more power in battles against government troops and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon.
Gen. Salim Idris refused to say in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV Friday where the weapons came from.
This month U.S. officials said President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time. Gulf states have long been funneling weapons to the rebels.
While refusing to disclose the sources, he said, "I would like to thank the brothers and the friends whom I don't want to name," he said.
Pressed to disclose whether the weapons came from the U.S., Idris said, "We are waiting, and we urge them to hurry up in supplying us with weapons and ammunition."
?She?s back?and so is the ?80s hair. We can?t stop talking about Cher?s crazy, multi-colored mohawk wig (that reminded at least one editor of roadkill), which she wore to perform The Voice last night [People]
?Find yourself lusting over the cast?s wardrobe on Pretty Little Liars? (That?s one of the main reasons we watch the show!) Here?s where to find the looks Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Ashley Benson and Troian Bellisario don on the hit CW show [PopSugar]
?Tom Ford is expanding his empire to include a line of grooming products for men [WWD]
?Love uploading outfits on Instagram? Then you?re gonna want to check out Forever 21?s new social media platform, 21st Street, for a very interactive shopping (and sharing!) experience [Forever 21]
?Bling Ring director Sofia Coppola knows how Karl Lagerfeld likes his coffee. She use to intern for the Chanel Creative Director in Paris! [Vogue UK]
?Obsessed with The Wanted? Then you?ll want to check out Buffalo?s latest ad campaign. Trust us! [Buffalo Jeans Facebook]
John Martorano, a close associate of James 'Whitey' Bulger, testified Monday, saying that Bulger was involved in numerous murders, including at least one that went badly wrong.
By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / June 17, 2013
John Martorano is questioned about his plea agreement in exchange for testifying against former FBI agent John Connolly in the Miami Courthouse in this file photo. Martorano testified Monday in Boston in the James 'Whitey' Bulger trial.
Marice Cohn Band/AP/File
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The trial of crime-boss James ?Whitey? Bulger took a dive Monday into sordid stories of mob-related murder, mistrust, and deadly mistakes.
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John Martorano, a former member of Mr. Bulger?s Boston gang, described Bulger as a co-conspirator behind a string of murders in which Mr. Martorano pulled a trigger. Often Bulger served as a car driver, he said.
The motive was sometimes retribution against rival criminals. But sometimes, Martorano told a federal jury, it was simply the fear that someone who knew too much would end up testifying against them.
And sometimes victims were gunned down in a tragedy of errors, Martorano said, as the accomplices set hit squads in motion against people who, they later found out, were not the intended targets.
?Wrong guy,? Martorano said at one point, describing a man who died in a ?broadside? of machine gun fire.
Martorano is one of the key witnesses in the high-profile case, a man who claims firsthand knowledge of Bulger?s actions, saying Bulger was involved in numerous murders. Bulger spent years on the FBI?s ?Most Wanted? list.
But defense lawyers are preparing to argue that Martorano?s testimony isn?t credible. They say that when Martorano was arrested back in 1995, he saw an opportunity to lighten his own sentence dramatically by agreeing to testify against Bulger and others.
At that time, Bulger had disappeared (fleeing Boston after a federal indictment).
Martorano admitted to 10 murders and other crimes, but served just a dozen years in prison.
On Monday, Martorano described his shock when a judge disclosed in 1997 that Bulger and another former crime partner had served for years as informants to the FBI. It ?sort of broke my heart,? Martorano said.
Martorano ended up serving as a key witness against John Connolly, Bulger?s handler at the FBI. Connolly was convicted of turning into an accomplice of Bulger, helping to arrange a murder that Martorano carried out.
Now it?s Bulger?s turn for trial. He is charged under federal racketeering law with various crimes including extortion and 19 murders.
Martorano?s testimony Monday covered several of those murders. Most stunning perhaps, was the hunt in 1973 for Al Notarangeli, a gambling bookmaker who had gotten on the wrong side of the Mafia. Bulger?s group agreed to work with the Italian-American mob on to carry out the job, but ended up killing the wrong people several times, Martorano said.
?Don't make a mistake again,? Martorano recalls telling a colleague whose job was to identify Mr. Notarangeli in a restaurant. Bulger was present for the string of killings that ended, finally, with Notarangeli?s body left in the trunk of a stolen car, Martorano said.
The courtroom testimony also touched on how Bulger?s relationship with FBI Agent Connolly began.
Martorano said that Connolly, who had grown up near the Bulger family, felt indebted to state Sen. William Bulger (Whitey?s brother) after getting a job at the FBI.
The state senator, Martorano said, told Connolly to help keep his brother ?out of trouble.? Martorano said he believed the resulting relationship was about providing payoffs to Connolly in return for information that would help the gang avoid indictment or arrest.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's newly elected president pledged on Monday to follow a "path of moderation" and promised greater openness over the country's nuclear program, but sided with the hard-line Islamic establishment that refuses to consider halting uranium enrichment.
However, the overall tone of Hasan Rowhani's first post-election news conference, will likely be viewed by the West as further evidence that his stunning victory last week could open new possibilities for dialogue to ease tensions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.
In his outreach to Washington, Rowhani also had a dual message. He urged for no additional tensions and said both countries should "look to the future." But he repeated past statements from Iran's leadership that one-on-one talks are only possible if the U.S. vows to "never interfere in Iranian affairs."
Many other questions remain. Rowhani sidestepped the issue of Iran's close alliance with Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying only that the efforts to end the civil war and restore stability rest with the "Syrian people."
He also must balance the hopes of many supporters who want him to push hard against the ruling system. At the end of the news conference, a spectator yelled out for the release of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest for more than two years. Rowhani made no comment.
Rowhani does not have authority to set major policies, such as the direction of the nuclear program or relations with the West. All those decisions rest with the ruling clerics and the powerful Revolutionary Guard, which have so far appeared to embrace Rowhani but could easily turn against him if he is perceived as a threat to their grip on power.
Rowhani, however, can use the strength of his landslide victory and his influential connections, including with former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to try to sway policies. He also will serve as Iran's main international envoy and is almost certain to present a much milder tone than his combative predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is to formally give up power in August.
This could help lower political friction between Iran and the West and also undercut calls by some factions in Israel and the U.S. to study military options against Iran's nuclear facilities.
The 64-year-old Rowhani ? the only cleric in the presidential race ? described his election as opening a "new era" and said he would "follow the path of moderation and justice, not extremism."
"We have to enhance mutual trust between Iran and other countries," he said. "We have to build trust."
He also said dealing with the economy was among his priorities, in a clear reference to how Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear efforts have helped spike inflation to more than 30 percent and slashed vital revenue. Previously, Rowhani ? a former nuclear negotiator ? criticized Iranian positions that have led to increased sanctions but also described the economic pressures by the U.S. and others as "oppressive."
"The Iranian nation has done nothing to deserve sanctions. The work it has done has been within international frameworks . If sanctions have any benefits, they will only benefit Israel. They have no benefits for others," he said.
He promised to encourage "step by step" measures to reassure the West over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The West claims that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon. Iranian leaders, including Rowhani, insist Iran seeks reactors only for energy and medical applications.
Enriched uranium is used as fuel for energy and research reactors but it can be further boosted to make a nuclear warhead.
"The first step will be showing greater transparency. We are ready to show greater transparency and make clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran's actions are totally within international frameworks," he said. "The second step is promoting mutual confidence. We'll take measures in both fields. The first goal is that no new sanctions are imposed. Then, that the (existing) sanctions are reduced."
On Syria, he said the ultimate responsibility to resolve the more than two-year-old civil war should be in the hands of the "Syrian people."
"We are opposed to foreign intervention," he said. "We hope peace and tranquility will return to Syria through the cooperation with countries of the region and world."
Rowhani formally takes office in August. In the meantime, it appears Ahmadinejad's political foes could be plotting a payback, underscoring the often cutthroat nature of internal Iranian affairs.
Iran's official news agency said a criminal court summoned Ahmadinejad over a lawsuit filed by the country's parliament speaker and others.
Monday's report by IRNA gave no further details, but Ahmadinejad and the speaker, Ali Larijani, have waged political feuds for years. In February, Ahmadinejad released a barely audible videotape that purported to show discussion over bribes that included Larijani's brother. A parliamentary committee also joined Larijani in the legal action.
IRNA, which comes under the president's authority, noted there were several other subpoenas issued previously against Ahmadinejad and described the latest as unconstitutional. The court has set a November date for Ahmadinejad's appearance, it said.
A TV screen shows the news of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, in the underground train in Hong Kong Sunday, June 16, 2013. Top U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday that information gleaned from two controversial data-collection programs run by the National Security Agency thwarted potential terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries - and that gathered data is destroyed every five years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A TV screen shows the news of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, in the underground train in Hong Kong Sunday, June 16, 2013. Top U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday that information gleaned from two controversial data-collection programs run by the National Security Agency thwarted potential terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries - and that gathered data is destroyed every five years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Current and former top U.S. officials are supporting the government's collection of phone and Internet data following new revelations about the secret surveillance programs aimed at disrupting terrorist plots.
In interviews on Sunday news programs, guests ranging from White House chief of staff Denis McDonough to former Vice President Dick Cheney and former CIA and National Security Agency head Michael Hayden defended the government's reliance on data collection from Americans.
The latest comments came as the Washington Post reports that the government runs four major data collection programs ? two aimed at phone and Internet metadata and two more targeting contents of phone and Web communication.
The metadata pulled in by the secret programs does not contain communication contents but includes phone and Internet contacts and location information.
Reproductive Health: What Does that Mean for Women?551
Andres Rodriguez/PhotoSpin
Female reproductive health is important to the overall health of the woman, and to the health and viability of any children she may have, according to the Center for Environmental Research and Children?s Health (CERCH).
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that reproductive health depends on many factors such as age, lifestyle and overall health.
Women have an elaborate reproductive system that is vulnerable to dysfunction or disease, wrote the United Nations.
Women's reproductive health covers diseases and conditions that affect the female reproductive system, stated About.com. This includes symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of women's reproductive health issues. It covers woman's health diseases that affect the uterus, cervix, vagina, fallopian tubes and breasts.
Women?s reproductive health includes a broad range of topics such as birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, one?s ability to become pregnant and infertility, said HHS.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) reported that disorders of women?s reproduction health include birth defects, developmental disorders, low birth weight, preterm birth and menstrual disorders.
Other female reproductive health issues include uterine fibroids (benign tumors in the wall of the uterus), endometriosis (uterine tissue implants and grows outside the uterus,; disorders of the thyroid gland, and cancer, wrote CERCH. Female reproductive cancers include ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wrote that the female?s reproductive system is one of the most fragile systems of the female body. It can easily become infected or injured. If it does, women might have long-term health problems.
Taking simple steps to prevent getting or spreading HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) will help protect your reproductive health. HHS warned some STDs show no early signs, while others can lead to painful symptoms or even infertility. CDC recommended getting regular checkups for STDs, even if you do not have any symptoms.
FILE - In this Saturday, March 10, 2012 file photo, Hana, 12, flashes the victory sign next to her sister Eva, 13, as they recover from severe injuries after the Syrian Army shelled their house in Idlib, north Syria. Syria's upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of almost 93,000 people, the United Nations' human rights office said Thursday but acknowledged the real number is likely to be far higher. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, March 10, 2012 file photo, Hana, 12, flashes the victory sign next to her sister Eva, 13, as they recover from severe injuries after the Syrian Army shelled their house in Idlib, north Syria. Syria's upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of almost 93,000 people, the United Nations' human rights office said Thursday but acknowledged the real number is likely to be far higher. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
FILE - This Wednesday, April 17, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a mass burial of people allegedly killed by Syrian Army snipers, in Aleppo, Syria. Syria's upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of almost 93,000 people, the United Nations' human rights office said Thursday but acknowledged the real number is likely to be far higher. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, March 11, 2012 file photo, a man carries a boy who was severely wounded during heavy fighting between Syrian rebels and Syrian Army forces in Idlib, north Syria. Syria's upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of almost 93,000 people, the United Nations' human rights office said Thursday but acknowledged the real number is likely to be far higher. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows damaged buildings during battles between the rebels and the Syrian government forces, in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, June 13, 2013. Syria's upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of almost 93,000 people, the United Nations' human rights office said Thursday but acknowledged the real number is likely to be far higher. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
FILE - In this Sunday, March 11, 2012 file photo, a man carries a boy who was severely wounded during heavy fighting between Syrian rebels and Syrian Army forces in Idlib, north Syria. Syria's upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of almost 93,000 people, the United Nations' human rights office said Thursday but acknowledged the real number is likely to be far higher. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Nearly 93,000 people have been confirmed killed in Syria since an uprising against President Bashar Assad began more than two years ago, the U.N. said Thursday, a sharp rise in the death toll as the fighting turns increasingly sectarian and the carnage gripping the country appears unstoppable.
The grim benchmark came as Assad's regime has scored a series of battlefield successes against the rebels seeking his ouster and international efforts to forge a round of peace talks have stalled. After regaining control of the strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon, regime forces appear set on securing control of the central provinces of Homs and Hama, a linchpin area linking Damascus with regime strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and Aleppo to the north.
In continued violence, a mortar round slammed into an area near the runway at the Damascus International Airport Thursday, briefly disrupting flights to and from the Syrian capital, officials said, a few weeks after the government announced it had secured the airport road that had been targeted by rebels in the past.
It was the first known attack to hit inside the airport, located south of the capital.
The country's transportation minister Mahmoud Ibrahim Said told Syrian TV that a mortar round fired by "terrorists" struck near a warehouse, breaking its windows and wounding a worker there.
He said the attack delayed the landing of two incoming flights, from Latakia and Kuwait, as well as the takeoff of a Syrian flight to Baghdad. No passengers were harmed and no planes were damaged, he said. The regime refers to rebels as "terrorists."
Tarek Wahibi, head of operations at the airport, said takeoff and landing then resumed normally.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel fighters had targeted the airport with homemade rockets.
Rebels also battled regime forces for control of a key military base in the central Hama province after chasing soldiers out and setting fire to installations there, activists said.
Following dawn battles, rebels took control of the base on the northern edge of the town of Morek, which straddles the country's strategic north-south highway leading to Aleppo.
By midday, regime forces shelled the base and sent reinforcements in an apparent attempt to regain control of the area, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory, which has a vast network of Syrian activists on the ground, said the rebels killed six government fighters and seized ammunition and weapons. Two rebel fighters were killed.
An amateur video posted on Hama activists' Facebook page showed flames rising from the burning compound and the bodies of some of the killed fighters. In the video, fighters celebrated the capturing of the base, calling it one of the "most critical" regime outposts in the region.
State-run TV reported Thursday that troops have secured four towns in the central province of Hama after killing 60 members of al-Qaida-linked group Jabhat al-Nusra. It said the towns included Masaadah, Abu Hanaya and Abu Jbeilat.
Meanwhile in Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said it had documented 92,901 killings in Syria between March 2011 and the end of April 2013. But the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said it was impossible to provide an exact number, which could be far higher.
The figure was up from nearly 60,000 through the end of November, recorded in an analysis released in January. Since then, U.N. officials had estimated higher numbers, most recently 80,000. The latest report adds more confirmed killings to the previous time period and an additional 27,000 between December and April.
The conflict in Syria began in March 2011 as largely peaceful protests against Assad's autocratic regime. After a relentless government crackdown on the protests, many Syrians took up arms against the regime, and the uprising descended into civil war.
The figures trace the arc of violence, with the average monthly number of documented killings rising from around 1,000 per month in the summer of 2011 to an average of more than 5,000 per month since last July. At its height from July to October 2012, the number of killings rose above 6,000 per month.
"The constant flow of killings continues at shockingly high levels," Pillay said. "This is most likely a minimum casualty figure. The true number of those killed is potentially much higher."
Among the victims were at least 6,561 children, including 1,729 children younger than 10.
"There are also well-documented cases of individual children being tortured and executed, and entire families including babies being massacred ? which, along with this devastatingly high death toll, is a terrible reminder of just how vicious this conflict has become," Pillay said.
Her office commissioned San Francisco-based nonprofit Human Rights Data Analysis Group to study eight data sets provided by various groups containing 263,000 reported killings. Those lacking a name, date and location of death were excluded, and some duplicates were found.
"Civilians are bearing the brunt of widespread, violent and often indiscriminate attacks which are devastating whole swaths of major towns and cities, as well as outlying villages," Pillay said.
"Government forces are shelling and launching aerial attacks on urban areas day in and day out," she said. "Opposition forces have also shelled residential areas, albeit using less firepower, and there have been multiple bombings resulting in casualties in the heart of cities, especially Damascus."
The vast majority of the victims are male. Three-quarters of the reported killings do not indicate the victim's age, and the analysis did not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants.
The most documented killings were in rural areas surrounding Damascus, with 17,800 people dead. Next was Homs, with 16,400; Aleppo, with 11,900; and Idlib, with 10,300.
___
Heilprin reported from Geneva.
___
Online:
Full report: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/SY/HRDAG-Updated-SY-report.pdf
NTU designs social media and web system that can predict dengue hotspotsPublic release date: 11-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Feisal Abdul Rahman feisalar@ntu.edu.sg 65-679-06687 Nanyang Technological University
System taps on crowdsourcing for real-time dengue monitoring
When it comes to stopping dengue, social media posts, tweets and a web system may be just what the doctor ordered.
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a social media-based system called Mo-Buzz that can predict where and when dengue might occur.
It combines a web system that taps into historical data on weather and dengue incidents and swift reports by the public on mosquito bites and breeding sites via smart phones and tablets.
These reports are geo-tagged to the user's location and shown live on Google Maps in the system.
These real-time information can boost the authorities' efforts to keep a constant eye on the spread of dengue and, more importantly, help in using resources more accurately and in a more targeted manner.
The system is developed by NTU at the Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities (COSMIC), which, as its name suggests, aims to develop social media innovations to bring about self help in a more integrated society.
Mo-Buzz is a combination of a public health surveillance web application, integrated with a social media-based mobile app. By leveraging crowdsourcing and advanced computing, Mo-Buzz can potentially predict dengue outbreaks weeks in advance, and enable users to help health authorities monitor the spread of dengue in real-time using their mobile devices.
"This new capability represents a significant shift in how the spread of dengue and other infectious diseases can and will be monitored in the future," said Associate Professor May O. Lwin, the principal investigator of the programme.
"What we're hoping to do with a dynamic system like Mo-Buzz is to create active channels of communication between citizens and health authorities during the dengue season. The main advantage is that it helps everyone take preventive action well ahead of time, which is what is important for preventing dengue and saving lives."
Health alerts and advice tailored to locations and users
Unlike conventional public health reporting, the system automatically processes historic weather and dengue incidence data using a computer simulation to generate predictive hotspot maps that forewarn the public and health authorities where and when dengue might occur. As soon as an area on the map is identified as a hotspot, health alerts and education messages can be quickly sent to residents in that area.
Users can also receive customised health information that they can share with their family and friends using social networking tools, such as Facebook, Twitter and even SMS. This encourages the community to adopt behaviours that will reduce their risk of contracting dengue.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has invited COSMIC to implement the system in Monaragala, a rural district that is part of the WHO's global network of age friendly cities and communities.
"Our system will vastly reduce the time lag between collecting and reporting data and preventive action taken by the authorities. The app is quick and easy to use for health workers who are constantly on the move and performing multiple duties; it is simply a click of a button, rather than pages of paper work. They can also provide health education in a visually engaging format. Moving forward, we see this as an essential tool that can also be used in Singapore, Malaysia and other countries in the region," said Associate Professor Lwin, who specialises in research in public health communication.
Professor Schubert Foo, Director of the NTU COSMIC, comments, "Dengue is a problem in the region and Mo-Buzz provides a platform the community to fight dengue together with the authorities. As researchers, adoption of the system in different communities where dengue problems are severe will also enable us to better understand the necessary conditions for a successful public dengue health campaign and management system."
###
Established in 2010, COSMIC is an inter-disciplinary research centre that aims to use the power of social media for addressing critical challenges in Asia such as healthcare, agriculture and community cohesion. COSMIC is funded by the Media Development Authority's (MDA) Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO) in Singapore.
Media contact:
Feisal Abdul Rahman
Senior Assistant Director (Media Relations)
Corporate Communications Office
Nanyang Technological University
Tel: (65) 6790 6687
Email: feisalar@ntu.edu.sg
About Nanyang Technological University
A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, and Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London.
NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).
A fast-growing university with an international outlook, NTU is putting its global stamp on Five Peaks of Excellence: Sustainable Earth, Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road, and Innovation Asia.
Besides the main Yunnan Garden campus, NTU also has a satellite campus in Singapore's science and tech hub, one-north, and a third campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district.
For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg
[ | 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.
NTU designs social media and web system that can predict dengue hotspotsPublic release date: 11-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Feisal Abdul Rahman feisalar@ntu.edu.sg 65-679-06687 Nanyang Technological University
System taps on crowdsourcing for real-time dengue monitoring
When it comes to stopping dengue, social media posts, tweets and a web system may be just what the doctor ordered.
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a social media-based system called Mo-Buzz that can predict where and when dengue might occur.
It combines a web system that taps into historical data on weather and dengue incidents and swift reports by the public on mosquito bites and breeding sites via smart phones and tablets.
These reports are geo-tagged to the user's location and shown live on Google Maps in the system.
These real-time information can boost the authorities' efforts to keep a constant eye on the spread of dengue and, more importantly, help in using resources more accurately and in a more targeted manner.
The system is developed by NTU at the Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities (COSMIC), which, as its name suggests, aims to develop social media innovations to bring about self help in a more integrated society.
Mo-Buzz is a combination of a public health surveillance web application, integrated with a social media-based mobile app. By leveraging crowdsourcing and advanced computing, Mo-Buzz can potentially predict dengue outbreaks weeks in advance, and enable users to help health authorities monitor the spread of dengue in real-time using their mobile devices.
"This new capability represents a significant shift in how the spread of dengue and other infectious diseases can and will be monitored in the future," said Associate Professor May O. Lwin, the principal investigator of the programme.
"What we're hoping to do with a dynamic system like Mo-Buzz is to create active channels of communication between citizens and health authorities during the dengue season. The main advantage is that it helps everyone take preventive action well ahead of time, which is what is important for preventing dengue and saving lives."
Health alerts and advice tailored to locations and users
Unlike conventional public health reporting, the system automatically processes historic weather and dengue incidence data using a computer simulation to generate predictive hotspot maps that forewarn the public and health authorities where and when dengue might occur. As soon as an area on the map is identified as a hotspot, health alerts and education messages can be quickly sent to residents in that area.
Users can also receive customised health information that they can share with their family and friends using social networking tools, such as Facebook, Twitter and even SMS. This encourages the community to adopt behaviours that will reduce their risk of contracting dengue.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has invited COSMIC to implement the system in Monaragala, a rural district that is part of the WHO's global network of age friendly cities and communities.
"Our system will vastly reduce the time lag between collecting and reporting data and preventive action taken by the authorities. The app is quick and easy to use for health workers who are constantly on the move and performing multiple duties; it is simply a click of a button, rather than pages of paper work. They can also provide health education in a visually engaging format. Moving forward, we see this as an essential tool that can also be used in Singapore, Malaysia and other countries in the region," said Associate Professor Lwin, who specialises in research in public health communication.
Professor Schubert Foo, Director of the NTU COSMIC, comments, "Dengue is a problem in the region and Mo-Buzz provides a platform the community to fight dengue together with the authorities. As researchers, adoption of the system in different communities where dengue problems are severe will also enable us to better understand the necessary conditions for a successful public dengue health campaign and management system."
###
Established in 2010, COSMIC is an inter-disciplinary research centre that aims to use the power of social media for addressing critical challenges in Asia such as healthcare, agriculture and community cohesion. COSMIC is funded by the Media Development Authority's (MDA) Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO) in Singapore.
Media contact:
Feisal Abdul Rahman
Senior Assistant Director (Media Relations)
Corporate Communications Office
Nanyang Technological University
Tel: (65) 6790 6687
Email: feisalar@ntu.edu.sg
About Nanyang Technological University
A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, and Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London.
NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).
A fast-growing university with an international outlook, NTU is putting its global stamp on Five Peaks of Excellence: Sustainable Earth, Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road, and Innovation Asia.
Besides the main Yunnan Garden campus, NTU also has a satellite campus in Singapore's science and tech hub, one-north, and a third campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district.
For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg
[ | 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.
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Public release date: 11-Jun-2013
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