Exxon cleans up Arkansas oil spill; Keystone plan assailed

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a pipeline spill that loosed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude in Arkansas as opponents of oil sands development latched on to the incident to attack plans to build the Keystone XL line.

Exxon's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Pakota, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was shut after the leak was discovered late Friday afternoon in a subdivision near the town of Mayflower. The leak forced the evacuation of 22 homes.

The company did not have an estimate for the restarting of the pipeline, which was carrying Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude at the time of the leak. An oil spill of more than 1,000 barrels into a Wisconsin field from an Enbridge (Toronto: ENB.TO - news) pipeline last summer kept that line shuttered for around 11 days.

The Arkansas spill drew fast reaction from opponents of the 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry heavy crude from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining centre.

Environmentalists have expressed concerns about the impact of developing the oil sands and say the crude is more corrosive to pipelines than conventional oil. On Wednesday, a train carrying Canadian crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 15,000 gallons of oil.

"Whether it's the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or ... (the) mess in Arkansas, Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers and for our environment," said Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Supporters of Keystone XL and oil sands development say the vast Canadian reserves can help drive down fuel costs in the United States. A report from the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, put together by oil and gas consultancy Penspen, argued diluted bitumen is no more corrosive than other heavy crude.

CLEANUP

Exxon said that by 3 a.m. Saturday there was no additional oil spilling from the pipeline and that trucks had been brought in to assist with the cleanup. Images from local media showed crude oil snaking along a suburban street.

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration were deployed to the scene.

"Cleanup efforts are progressing 24 hours a day," said Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers, who added the oil had not leaked into nearby Lake Conway.

"We were very fortunate that the local responders made sure the oil did not enter the water."

(Reporting by Matthew Robinson in New York and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exxon-shuts-oil-pipeline-major-005905765.html

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Dolan: Catholic Church's Nature Means It Will be Out of Touch Sometimes (ABC News)

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Bosnia: Man sentenced to 45 years for war crimes

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) ? A court in Bosnia has sentenced a Montenegrin man to 45 years in jail for brutal murder, torture, rape and looting during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, the highest sentence ever issued in the country.

Judge Zoran Bozic said that Veselin Vlahovic has killed 30 people, raped a number of Bosniak and Croat women, tortured and robbed non-Serb residents of a Sarajevo suburb while fighting for the Bosnian Serbs. Among other crimes, the judge described how Vlahovic cut the throats of two brothers in front of their mother whom he then also killed before he went on to rape their two wives.

Vlahovic was extradited to Bosnia from Spain in 2010, after he was arrested for robbery and assault with a firearm. He will appeal the sentence.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bosnia-man-sentenced-45-years-war-crimes-111616575.html

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Bible comes to life as locusts swarm Israel

Israeli Jews celebrating Passover will easily relate to their ancestors this year ? the country has been swarmed by millions of locusts, one of the 10 plagues visited on the Egyptians.

By Christa Case Bryant,?Staff writer / March 27, 2013

Locusts make their way from Egypt just before they land in Kerem Shalom near the border with Egypt, in southern Israel's Negev Desert, March 11.

Ariel Schalit/AP

Enlarge

Locusts have descended on Israel this week, just in time for Passover. As millions of Jews commemorate the story of the children of Israel?s exodus from Egypt, including the 10 plagues that afflicted Pharaoh and his people, millions of the crunchy buggers are creeping all over Israel?s southern deserts.

Skip to next paragraph Christa Case Bryant

Jerusalem bureau chief

Christa Case Bryant is The Christian Science Monitor's Jerusalem bureau chief, providing coverage on Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as regional issues.

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This is nothing like the eighth plague of biblical times, in which locusts covered ?the whole face of the earth? in a kind of collective punishment for the Egyptians whose leader refused to let his Hebrew slaves go free.

But this year is the first time since 2005 that modern Israel has had to combat locusts, which can swarm so thickly that drivers can?t see beyond their windshield. Potato farmers bemoaned the detrimental effect of a previous wave of the grasshopper-like insects several weeks ago. The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, which was on ?locust alert,? has responded quickly to the latest wave with pesticides.?

But it?s not just Israel. Today the Palestinian Authority?s Ministry of Agriculture sprayed pesticides in Hebron, in the southern West Bank. And Egyptian farmers have suffered millions of dollars in damage after a swarm of about 30 million locusts hit Cairo earlier this month.

The most serious situation, however, appears to be in Sudan, where the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) head has warned that immature ?hoppers? are lining up along a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) stretch of the Nile and could pose a serious threat to Nile Valley crops in May.

OK, so locusts are not your average grasshopper. But still, how can they cause such massive damage?

Consider these arresting facts: They can eat their weight in crops every day; they can fly more than 80 miles a day ? in swarms as dense as 200 million per square mile; and females can lay as many as 1,000 egg pods in roughly 10 square feet, according to an FAO fact sheet.?

To put the threat in practical terms, one ton of locusts (just a fraction of your average swarm) can eat about as much food as 2,500 people can in a day, says FAO.

The Israelis have sought to reverse the food chain this Passover, however, by grilling the kosher insects for a crunchy, high-protein delicacy. And they?re not alone. Locust recipes abound.?

A Mexican version from ?Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects,? by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio, calls for roasting locust torsos and sprinkling them on homemade guacamole in a taco shell. Scrap that. Sprinkle and?enjoy, the cookbook says.?

B?tayavon, as the Israelis would say.?Bon app?tit.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/G0pZQ4Y1GOg/Bible-comes-to-life-as-locusts-swarm-Israel

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'Dairy-Free' Mixes Recalled Over Milk

Mar 29, 2013 11:17am

Heartland Gourmet is recalling some "dairy-free" mixes that may contain milk. (Image credit: Heartland Gourmet/FDA)

A gourmet food company is recalling three of its ?dairy-free? baking mixes because they might contain milk, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Heartland Gourmet, based in Lincoln, Neb., announced the voluntary recall Thursday after routine sample testing in Canada uncovered milk in some cookie and pizza crust mixes, which are labeled both gluten-free and dairy-free.

The recall notice cites ?a temporary breakdown in the company?s production and packaging processes? leading to the contamination, but a company spokeswoman said the problem is still under investigation.

Milk is one of the most common food allergens, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious disease. It can cause hives, wheezing and vomiting, as well as abdominal cramps and diarrhea. In rare cases, milk can cause anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction.

17 Scary Allergy Triggers

An ABC News analysis in?December?2012 revealed that more than 400 recalls for undeclared allergens in food were reported to the FDA since March 2009. More than 140 of them were for desserts and snack foods, including cookies, candy and ice cream.

The Heartland Gourmet?mixes were distributed to stores in Minnesota, Texas, Indiana, Connecticut, North Carolina, California and Colorado between October 2012 and March 2013, according to the recall notice. The company also supplies mixes for fundraisers, according to its website. No illnesses have been reported to date.

The recalled products include:

• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix: Item # 2017 UPC Code 7376967020171 16 oz. Lot #0023065, best buy date of 12/2014 and distributed in March of 2013, and Lot # 0023007, best buy date of 10/2014 and distributed in February 2013.
• Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cookie Mix: Item # 1530 -UPC Code 737697015306 16 oz. Lot #0012289 ? Best buy Date of 10/2014 and distributed in October of 2012; Lot #0022317 with a best buy date of 10/2014 and distributed in November of 2012; and Lot #0012341 with a best buy date of 01/2014 and distributed in December of 2012.
• Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix: Item # 2024 UPC Code 737697020249 15.4 oz. Lot #0073007. Best buy date of 09/2014 and distributed in January of 2013.

Customers are urged to return the recalled products to the place of purchase for a refund, according to the recall notice. Click here for more information.

SHOWS: Good Morning America

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/03/29/dairy-free-baking-mixes-recalled-over-milk/

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The truth behind N. Korea's threats

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Across North Korea, soldiers are gearing up for battle and shrouding their jeeps and vans with camouflage netting. Newly painted signboards and posters call for "death to the U.S. imperialists" and urge the people to fight with "arms, not words."

But even as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is issuing midnight battle cries to his generals to ready their rockets, he and his million-man army know full well that a successful missile strike on U.S. targets would be suicide for the outnumbered, out-powered North Korean regime.

Despite the hastening drumbeat of warfare ? seemingly bringing the region to the very brink of conflict with threats and provocations ? Pyongyang aims to force Washington to the negotiating table, pressure the new president in Seoul to change policy on North Korea, and build unity inside the communist country without triggering a full-blown war.

North Korea wants to draw attention to the tenuousness of the armistice designed to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula, a truce Pyongyang recently announced it would no longer honor as it warned that war could break out at any time.

In July, it will be 60 years since North Korea and China signed an armistice with the U.S. and the United Nations to bring an end to three years of fighting that cost millions of lives. The designated Demilitarized Zone has evolved into the most heavily guarded border in the world.

It was never intended to be a permanent border. But six decades later, North and South remain divided, with Pyongyang feeling abandoned by the South Koreans in the quest for reunification and threatened by the Americans.

In that time, South Korea has blossomed from a poor, agrarian nation of peasants into the world's 15th largest economy while North Korea is struggling to find a way out of a Cold War chasm that has left it with a per capita income on par with sub-Saharan Africa.

North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans ... more? North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for the mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin) less? The Chinese troops who fought alongside the North Koreans have long since left. But 28,500 American troops are still stationed in South Korea and 50,000 more are in nearby Japan. For weeks, the U.S. and South Korea have been showing off their military might with a series of joint exercises that Pyongyang sees a rehearsal for invasion.

On Thursday, the U.S. military confirmed that those drills included two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers that can unload the U.S. Air Force's largest conventional bomb ? a 30,000-pound super bunker buster ? powerful enough to destroy North Korea's web of underground military tunnels.

It was a flexing of military muscle by Washington, perhaps aimed not only at Pyongyang but at Beijing as well.

In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un reacted swiftly, calling an emergency meeting of army generals and ordering them to be prepared to strike if the U.S. actions continue. A photo distributed by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency showed Kim in a military operations room with maps detailing a "strike plan" behind him in a very public show of supposedly sensitive military strategy.

North Korea cites the U.S. military threat as a key reason behind its need to build nuclear weapons, and has poured a huge chunk of its small national budget into defense, science and technology. In December, scientists launched a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket using technology that could easily be converted for missiles; in February, they tested an underground nuclear device as part of a mission to build a bomb they can load on a missile capable of reaching the U.S.

However, what North Korea really wants is legitimacy in the eyes of the U.S. ? and a peace treaty. Pyongyang wants U.S. troops off Korean soil, and the bombs and rockets are more of an expensive, dangerous safety blanket than real firepower. They are the only real playing card North Korea has left, and the bait they hope will bring the Americans to the negotiating table.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said North Korea's "bellicose rhetoric" would only deepen its international isolation, and that the U.S. has both the capability and willingness to defend its interests in the region.

Narushige Michishita, director of the Security and International Studies Program at Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, isn't convinced North Korea is capable of attacking Guam, Hawaii or the U.S. mainland. He says Pyongyang hasn't successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

But its medium-range Rodong missiles, with a range of about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers), are "operational and credible" and could reach U.S. bases in Japan, he says.

More likely than such a strike, however, is a smaller-scale incident, perhaps off the Koreas' western coast, that would not provoke the Americans to unleash their considerable firepower. For years, the waters off the west coast have been a battleground for naval skirmishes between the two Koreas because the North has never recognized the maritime border drawn unilaterally by the U.N.

As threatening as Kim's call to arms may sound, its main target audience may be the masses at home in North Korea.

For months, the masterminds of North Korean propaganda have pinpointed this year's milestone Korean War anniversary as a prime time to play up Kim's military credibility as well as to push for a peace treaty. By creating the impression that a U.S. attack is imminent, the regime can foster a sense of national unity and encourage the people to rally around their new leader.

Inside Pyongyang, much of the military rhetoric feels like theatrics. It's not unusual to see people toting rifles in North Korea, where soldiers and checkpoints are a fixture in the heavily militarized society. But more often than not in downtown Pyongyang, the rifle stashed in a rucksack is a prop and the "soldier" is a dancer, one of the many performers rehearsing for a Korean War-themed extravaganza set to debut later this year.

More than 100,000 soldiers, students and ordinary workers were summoned Friday to Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang to pump their fists in support of North Korea's commander in chief. But elsewhere, it was business as usual at restaurants and shops, and farms and factories, where the workers have heard it all before.

"Tensions rise almost every year around the time the U.S.-South Korean drills take place, but as soon as those drills end, things go back to normal and people put those tensions behind them quite quickly," said Sung Hyun-sang, the South Korean president of a clothing maker operating in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. "I think and hope that this time won't be different."

And in a telling sign that even the North Koreans don't expect war, the national airline, Air Koryo, is adding flights to its spring lineup and preparing to host the scores of tourists they expect to flock to Pyongyang despite the threats issuing forth from the Supreme Command.

War or no war, it seems Pyongyang remains open for business.

___

Lee is chief of AP's bureaus in Pyongyang, North Korea, and Seoul, South Korea. She can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean. Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-nkorea-threat-may-more-bark-bite-132942749.html

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To Google or not to Google?

A Christian Science perspective: Online research can be helpful and informative as well as addictive and captivating, especially when symptoms of illness are involved. How does anyone draw the line?

By Laura Moliter / March 28, 2013

Does it seem that it?s easy to get drawn into finding all the answers to our lives through the Internet? This available, expansive, and fast technological advance is bringing information to the world quickly and comprehensively. Anytime we need to find a restaurant, a date, or the last time the moon was full, we have an immediate answer on the Web.

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The advancements in accessibility of information and communication can lead us to new ideas, expanded thought, and connections across the globe. It?s a tool that has saved lives by reaching those in need with inspiration and care. Exploring topics of well-being with discernment, expectation, as well as wisdom and self-control, can open us up to the very idea we need just when we need it.

But there is also a danger I?ve learned to be alert to. A reliance on other people?s thoughts and opinions can be addictive and hypnotic. Instead of leading to well-being, it can lead us into a morass of information that is overwhelming, conflicting, confusing, and often depressing. How helpful is that?

While I?ve certainly found gems of inspiration and comforting insights on the Web just when I?ve needed them, I?ve also been a victim of the hypnotism it can promote when I?m not on guard. I have willingly set myself down before the Google god and typed my question into its gaping maw. The answers have usually been prolific. And one answer has led only to another question and another question, portal to portal into an endless, dark maze.

I?ve found this mesmerizing trip into a cyberspace abyss to be the most compelling in relation to health, which is such a prime personal concern for everyone. It?s a topic ripe for a bottomless trough of information. When we are suffering from some malady, human nature wants to know what it is. And since very often we are shy about talking about our ailments, why not consult Google? Or Bing? Or Ask Jeeves? Or this or that blog that looks reputable? These resources don?t know me, so they won?t lie to me or judge me.

And so the appointment with Dr. Google uncovers the fact that I am either (1) on my last days and should prepare my estate, (2) paranoid and ignorant, (3) stuck with my problem forever as there is no cure, or (4) easily cured with expensive drugs or a drink of cool water.

So, more questions, more googling, more time wasted, weary eyes, frustration, and often, increased fear. What have I gained? Isn?t this process of search with no rescue akin to mesmerism? Isn?t it simply putting faith in another?s opinion, needing another?s validation to tell me what is true even if I don?t know the integrity of the source? Even when that source has no particular awareness of my individual situation?

One day I found myself wondering about a recurring physical symptom, and, against my higher intuitions, ruminating about it. Before I knew it, I was caught in the middle of this googled mire of sometimes incomprehensible information and found myself transfixed by it. Time whipped by. My mind became a jumble of prognoses, remedies, causes, and fears. I was google-eyed! Then, blessedly, a firm yet inaudible voice broke the mesmerism and rescued me: ?Step away from the machine. God, Truth, has the reliable answer, the right one for you, and it is also full of love. Hit ?escape? and ?refresh!? ?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/axavPL2vhNM/To-Google-or-not-to-Google

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What you missed from ?The Ultimate Fighter?

It was a fight-packed episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" as Tuesday night's episode had two fights and visits from two different champs.

Ronda Rousey stops by -- Kelvin won his first match, so he was rewarded with a visit with UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. It wasn't just for show, either, as Rousey showed Team Sonnen several judo techniques. She also pumped them up with some of her favorite "Momisms," including the choice line, "No one has the right to beat you."

Collin Hart (Team Jones) vs. Kelvin Gastellum (Team Sonnen)

Gastellum said in his pre-fight interviews that no one respects his boxing. Uh, they will now. Gastellum struck Hart quickly with a left hook that sent him down to the ground. Hart hit his head on the canvas, rolled over, and took a few more punches before the fight was stopped. It was a vicious, vicious knockout.

Mike Tyson! Oh, hey, no big deal. Mike Tyson showed up at the training center. He stopped in the locker rooms to say hello to the fighters.

Dylan Andrews (Team Jones) vs. Luke Barnatt (Team Sonnen)

A fight for the Queen as Australian Andrews takes on Brit Barnatt. Andrews got the takedown early in the first round, and Barnatt had no answer on the ground for much of the round. Andrews tried for a few chokes, but was unsuccessful.

Barnatt did a much better job in the second, creating offense from the bottom. This led to a third round, where Andrews took over. He knocked a clearly tired Barnatt around until he finally knocked him out in the third round.

Everyone was impressed with how Andrews fought through the third round, including the man signing the checks.

"I'm blown away and impressed with Dylan. That's how it's done here." ? Dana White

The next two quarterfinals are next week, and they'll have a tough act to follow.

College basketball video from Yahoo! Sports:

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Pat Forde: Breaking down the Sweet 16
? Lakers' Metta World Peace has lateral meniscus tear in his knee
? David Shaw building Stanford into a perennial power
? Undefeated Gennady Golovkin could become boxing's next big thing

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/missed-ultimate-fighter-125847222--mma.html

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Sanford Health in talks to take control of Fairview Health Services (Star Tribune)

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Maybe Isolation, Not Loneliness, Shortens Life

NPR:

Loneliness hurts, but social isolation can kill you. That's the conclusion of a study of more than 6,500 people in the U.K.

The study, by a team at University College London, comes after decades of research showing that both loneliness and infrequent contact with friends and family can, independently, shorten a person's life. The scientists expected to find that the combination of these two risk factors would be especially dangerous.

Read the whole story at NPR

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John Kerry arrives in Kabul seeking to repair ties with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai

NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports on the news conference between Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President ?Hamid Karzai.

By Andrea Mitchell and Jamieson Lesko, NBC News

Jason Reed / AP

Secretary of State John Kerry, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham, left, meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Monday.

KABUL -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has infuriated U.S. officials with anti-American rhetoric, on Monday denied suggesting that the U.S. was colluding with the Taliban to convince Afghans that foreign forces were needed in the country beyond 2014.?

In a joint news briefing with Secretary of State John Kerry, Karzai said the media misinterpreted comments he made during a visit by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on March 10.

Karzai said the point he was trying to make was that by continuing to bomb and kill innocent Afghans, the Taliban is giving a reason for the U.S. to stay.

It was the media, Karzai said, that misinterpreted that to mean collusion, a word he said he did not use.

?If they want the international forces to leave, the best thing to do is stop hurting Afghans,? Karzai said.

Kerry arrived in Afghanistan?s capital Monday on an unannounced visit that aims to repair fractured ties with President Hamid Karzai.

For his part, Kerry said the United States and Afghan leaders share the same goals ? bringing the Taliban into peace talks.

The meeting came on the same day the U.S. turned over the detention facility at the U.S.-run Bagram military base north of Kabul to Afghan control, which has been a priority for Karzai.?U.S. officials say they've been assured the most dangerous prisoners will not be released.

It is Kerry?s sixth visit to Afghanistan since President Barack Obama took office, but his first as secretary of state.

State Department officials told reporters traveling with Kerry that he is optimistic the U.S. and Afghanistan can overcome recent differences, including the awkward moment earlier this month when Karzai accused the U.S. and the Taliban of colluding to convince Afghans that foreign forces were needed beyond 2014.

The officials said Kerry was not in Kabul to lecture or chide Karzai, adding that he acknowledged the relationship was ?not always going to be easy.?

The secretary of state arrived in Kabul this morning just a day after another unannounced visit to Baghdad. Kerry plans to meet with Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai to discuss political and security issues. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

Kerry is optimistic the two countries can move in from Karzai?s anti-U.S. rhetoric, which the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan warned was putting the lives of Western troops in danger.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

An Afghan prisoner leaves with his belongings from the Parwan Detention Facility outside Kabul after the U.S. military gave control to Afghan authorities, Monday.

On Sunday, Kerry visited Iraq before leaving for dinner in the Jordanian capital, Amman, with Pakistan's powerful army chief of staff, Ashfaq Kayani.

The secretary of state is not visiting Pakistan during this trip as the country is in the midst of a political transition.

NBC News' Catherin Chomiak and Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

Related:

Kerry urges Iraq to stop arms flow to Syria on Baghdad visit

Full Afghanistan coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:03 AM EDT

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Central African Republic suspended from African Union, says official

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union has suspended the Central African Republic after rebels seized power in the country and has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on insurgent leaders, a senior AU official said on Monday.

The power grab by the Seleka rebel coalition, the latest in a series of coups and rebellions since the mineral-rich nation won independence from France in 1960, has already been condemned by the African Union and United Nations.

"The (Peace and Security) Council has decided to suspend with immediate effect the Central African Republic from all the African Union's activities," the AU's Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra, told reporters in Addis Ababa, where the African organization is based.

The United States, France and regional powerbroker Chad have called on Seleka leader Michel Djotodia to respect a January power-sharing deal signed in the Gabonese capital Libreville. A rebel leader has pledged to name a power-sharing government.

The Libreville agreement had created a government drawn from rebel leaders, the civilian opposition and loyalists of former president Francois Bozize. It was led by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, a former lawyer and member of the civilian opposition.

Seleka, a loose coalition of five rebel groups whose name means 'alliance' in the Songo language, had accused Bozize of breaking the January agreement by failing to integrate their fighters into the army.

(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/central-african-republic-suspended-african-union-says-official-131219253.html

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Your Minifig Magic Could Get a Lego: The Movie Cameo

You're never going to be a movie star, but with a little luck, maybe your Lego bricks can be. Thanks to a new contest for the upcoming blockbuster, Lego: The Movie, you've got a shot at your own 15-30 seconds of vicarious stardom. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/zzymUNwKWNI/your-minifig-magic-could-get-a-lego-the-movie-cameo

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Jailed for 23 years, freed man suffers heart attack a day later

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

A man released 23 years after he was wrongly convicted for the 1991 murder of a New York rabbi suffered a heart attack on his second day as a free man, his attorney confirmed to NBC News.

David Ranta was hospitalized after the heart attack, attorney Pierre Sussman said. The man's heart attack was first reported by the New York Times.

?On Friday evening, David Renta suffered a heart attack. My office is happy to report that he?s been stabilized and is being treated in cardiac intensive care at a metropolitan hospital,? Sussman said in a written statement. ?He is presently resting, with his family by his bedside. We will continue to ensure that David receives the required, ongoing medical attention he needs.?

Ranta, 58, spent more than two decades in jail after he was found him guilty of killing Hasidic rabbi Chaskel Werzberger. A lengthy review of his case ended with prosecutors admitting that the case against Ranta had fallen apart over the years. He was freed at a Brooklyn courthouse on Thursday.

?The accumulated trauma of being falsely convicted and incarcerated for 23 years, coupled with the intense emotions experienced surrounding his release, has had a profound impact on his health,? Sussman said in the statement.

Long-pent emotions welled for relatives when the judge vacated Ranta?s sentence. The man's pregnant daughter, who was two years old when he was jailed, were among those present.

?Sir, you are free to go,? acting state Supreme Court Justice Miriam Cyrulnik said at the Brooklyn courthouse.

?The evidence no longer establishes the defendant?s guilt is beyond a reasonable doubt,? Assistant District Attorney John O?Mara told Reuters.

?I?m overwhelmed,? Ranta told reporters after being cleared. ?Right now, I feel like I?m under water, swimming.?

Related:

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/29e8e906/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C230C17430A1990Ejailed0Efor0E230Eyears0Efreed0Eman0Esuffers0Eheart0Eattack0Ea0Eday0Elater0Dlite/story01.htm

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Kaleida Health Gates Vascular Institute / Cannon Design | ArchDaily

? K C Kratt

Architects: Cannon Design
Location: Buffalo, USA
Design Principal: Mehrdad Yazdani, Associate AIA
Area: 476,000 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: K C Kratt, Bjorg Magnea Architectural & Interior, Thomas Mayer, Greg Meadows, Tim Wilkes

Construction Manager: Turner Construction (GVI) and LPCiminelli (CTRC)
Client: Kaleida Health and State University of New York at Buffalo
Cost: $291,000,000

? Tim Wilkes

The spirit of collaboration was the driving force uniting Kaleida Health and the University at Buffalo within a single structure, and the building strives to bring several disciplines and its patients, surgeons and researchers, together to exchange knowledge and ignite innovation.? The 476,000 sf facility achieves this by stacking a translational research building over a clinical vascular institute.? The first four floors of this 10-story ?vertical campus,? house the Gates Vascular Institute (GVI), with the Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) occupying the top half of the building.? Sandwiched between the two, is a two-level ?collaborative core??the ?binder? that connects doctors and researchers from varying specialties to meet in a variety of dynamic situations to accelerate medical discoveries?moving science from the bench to the bedside.

? Bjorg Magnea Architectural & Interior

The GVI boasts a ?hotel? comprised of 62 private patient rooms arranged into four nursing pods?each capable of independent operation, but flexible enough to work together with adjacent pods over the ebb and flow of patient volume.? The ?hotel? creates a more restive environment distinct from the active treatment areas.? The GVI also features 59 exam rooms, five admissions offices, 16 intensive care beds,seven surgery rooms, and numerous patient and family amenities.? The perimeter of the building is designed to admit abundant natural daylight.? These architectural responses, combined with an approach akin to a concierge desk, provide the positive first and last impressions so vital to patient and family satisfaction.

? Bjorg Magnea Architectural & Interior

Designed to handle 60,000 patient visits per year, GVI?s state-of-the-art Emergency Department features a spacious main waiting room, accommodating up to 90 people, with direct elevator access for immediate vertical transport of patients into procedure labs and operating rooms.? Located adjacent to the imaging department with CT scan technology, the ED features 53 private patient rooms in four separate pods, two dedicated, state-of-the-art diagnostic x-ray machines, overhead electronic files for safe patient handling and dedicated space with waiting rooms for behavioral health patients.

? Thomas Mayer

Sandwiched between the GVI and the CTRC is the ?collaborative core,? containing education, catering and conference facilities, linked by multiple height atrium spaces. Included within the core is a 4,000 sf business incubator?part of the ?binder? connecting doctors, researchers and entrepreneurs to meet in a variety of dynamic situations to accelerate medical discoveries?moving science from the bench to the bedside.?

? Bjorg Magnea Architectural & Interior

Occupying the top half of the building, the CTRC offers 170,000 sf of dedicated laboratory space, advanced imaging facilities; a bio-repository and a clinical research center, biomedical laboratories, specialist research facilities for biomedical engineering, physiology and angiography, and dry laboratories for epidemiology and biostatistics. ?Design features such as open-plan laboratories, put researchers side-by-side, when traditionally they would be isolated in individual labs.? The goal is to break down the ?silos? that result when researchers in one discipline are isolated from researchers in another discipline.? This design of the New Scientific Workplace encourages the exchange of ideas and collaboration between researchers in different areas of inquiry.

? Bjorg Magnea Architectural & Interior

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/346337/kaleida-health-gates-vascular-institute-cannon-design/

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FAA to close 149 air traffic towers under cuts

In this March 9, 2010 photo, an American Eagle flight waits for release from the air traffic control tower at Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, Ill. Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday, March 22, 2013, of 149 air traffic control facilities that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month. The tower at Central Illinois Regional was included on that list. (AP Photo/The Pantagraph, Steve Smedley)

In this March 9, 2010 photo, an American Eagle flight waits for release from the air traffic control tower at Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, Ill. Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday, March 22, 2013, of 149 air traffic control facilities that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month. The tower at Central Illinois Regional was included on that list. (AP Photo/The Pantagraph, Steve Smedley)

FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2013 file photo, a twin-engine airplane flies past the air traffic control tower at St. Louis Regional Airport in Bethalto, Ill. Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday, March 22, 2013, of 149 air traffic control facilities that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month. The tower at St. Louis Regional was included on that list. (AP Photo/The Telegraph, John Badman, File)

In this Nov. 26, 2012 photo, the air traffic control tower is seen at Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro, Ill. Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday, March 22, 2013, of 149 air traffic control facilities that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month. The tower at Southern Illinois was included on that list. (AP Photo/The Southern, Joel Hawksley)

In this Nov. 26, 2012 photo, small aircraft are seen on the tarmac at Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro, Ill. Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday, March 22, 2013, of 149 air traffic control facilities that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month. The air traffic control tower at Southern Illinois was included on that list. (AP Photo/The Southern, Joel Hawksley)

In this Dec. 9, 2009 photo, an Air Choice One flight taxis past the control tower after landing at the Decatur Airport in Decatur, Ill. Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday, March 22, 2013, of 149 air traffic control facilities that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month. Decatur Airport was included on that list. (AP Photo/Herald & Review, Stephen Haas)

CHICAGO (AP) ? Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday released a final list of 149 air traffic control towers that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month.

The closures will not force any of those airports to shut down, but pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency with no help from ground controllers. Those procedures are familiar to all pilots.

Since a preliminary list of facilities was released a month ago, the FAA plan has raised wide-ranging concerns, including worries about the effect on safety and the potential financial consequences for communities that rely on airports to help attract businesses and tourists.

"We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a statement.

Airlines have yet to say whether they will continue offering service to airports that lose tower staff. The trade group Airlines for America said its member carriers have no plans to cancel or suspend flights as a result of the closures.

The FAA is being forced to trim $637 million for the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. The agency said it had no choice but to subject most of its 47,000 employees, including tower controllers, to periodic furloughs and to close air traffic facilities at small airports with lighter traffic. The changes are part of the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, which went into effect March 1.

The airports targeted for tower shutdowns have fewer than 150,000 total flight operations per year. Of those, fewer than 10,000 are commercial flights by passenger airlines.

Airport directors, pilots and others in the aviation sector have argued that stripping away an extra layer of safety during the most critical stages of flight will elevate risks and at the very least slow years of progress that made the U.S. aviation network the safest in the world.

One of the facilities on the closure list is at Ogden-Hinckley Airport in Utah, where air traffic controllers keep planes safely separated from the F-16s screaming in and out of nearby Hill Air Force Base and flights using Salt Lake City International Airport.

"There's going to be problems," said Ogden airport Manager Royal Eccles. "There will be safety concerns and ramification because of it."

Opponents of the closures are also warning of possible disruptions to medical transport flights and flight schools training the next generation of pilots.

The 149 air traffic facilities slated to begin closing on April 7 are all staffed by contract employees who are not FAA staffers. There were 65 other facilities staffed by FAA employees on the preliminary list of towers that could be closed. A final decision on their closure will require further review, the FAA said.

The agency is also still considering eliminating overnight shifts at 72 additional air traffic facilities, including some at major airports like Chicago's Midway International and General Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee. There was no word Friday on when that decision will come.

The targeted towers are located in nearly every state.

Hundreds of small airports around the country routinely operate without controllers. Pilots flying there are trained to watch for other aircraft and announce their position over the radio during approaches, landings and takeoffs.

But the overall air system's safety is built on redundancy. Taking away the controller's extra set of eyes is like removing stop signs or traffic lights from city intersections and forcing drivers to be more vigilant and cautious, said Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

"That's what the pilot is going to have to do now," said Rinaldi, whose group represents nearly 15,000 FAA-employed controllers as well as some staff at privately run contract towers. "A pilot is now going to have that extra duty of making sure that everybody seems to be doing the right thing on a crowded" radio frequency.

Some aviation experts say overnight shifts should have been eliminated regardless of the sequester at facilities that don't see enough traffic to justify the expense. The budget cuts being forced on the FAA could provide the agency with political cover to make some of those changes.

"There's a tendency over time to have Congress direct more money to small airports than would probably be economically justified," explained Robert Poole, an aviation analyst at the Reason Foundation think tank.

He said his own initial review of the list released Friday showed that many of the towers are at airports with few or no scheduled passenger flights, suggesting there will be little effect on airline service.

Rinaldi acknowledged that "just maybe there are some that don't warrant" air traffic control services.

"But I would bet the vast majority of them do," he said.

In Dallas' northern suburbs, local officials plan to put up the $315,000 needed to keep the tower open for the next six months at Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney, said airport Director Kenneth Wiegand.

That will drive the airport into a deeper operating deficit, but it is worth it to keep the dozens of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the area happy and the local economy healthy, Wiegand explained.

"These businesses aren't going to fly a $70 million airplane into an airport that doesn't have positive control," he said. "They don't want to mix it up with the smaller aircraft."

In New Mexico, officials in the state capital of Santa Fe said they were concerned about the impact on tourism.

In just the past few years, the mountain community has won back commercial jet service. For now, Mayor David Coss remains optimistic the airlines will continue to fly in, adding that the city cannot afford to pick up the $60,000 a month cost of operating the tower without federal funds.

"None of them have indicated otherwise," he said. "Our airport manager has contacted all of them, and they have all said they didn't have any change in plans right now."

___

Associated Press writers Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City and Jeri Clausing in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.

___

FAA statement on tower closures with list of affected airports: www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=14414

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-22-Budget%20Battle-Airports/id-4d1562c9e8624b04bd9e3f6a38c63398

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Build Your Career Master Plan with a Mind Map

A career plan is a map that guides you to where you really want to go professionally. While there are several approaches to career planning and mapping your way to your next job, a mind map is an excellent tool for brainstorming and organizing your career ideas?especially if you're not sure yet what you want to do.

As Farnoosh writes on the Prolific Living blog, mind maps help you visually and textually organize your thoughts in a way that gives you a structure, linking related concepts. You can use a mind map to brainstorm and discover your career purpose.

This example includes what Farnoosh calls the "foundational pillars" of your career plan?things you need to explore and answer to find your ideal career and plan where you want to go. They include:

• Current job or role
• Career goals and dreams (short and long term)
• Your big why: Why you want to do the work
• Core values: Values you're not willing to compromise on, such as flexibility or integrity
• Limits and boundaries: What you're not willing to do or whom you wouldn't want to work with
• Top strengths
• Desired strengths
• Education investment in yourself: What you're willing to invest for yourself and career
• Execution strategies: What you might do (e.g., change jobs) to accomplish your plan
• Role models
• Ideal client or company
• Ideal professional self: Describe how you want to see yourself and been seen as professionally

As you fill out the answers to these, no doubt other branches and levels will surface, creating a wide web of ideas to help you get a clearer picture of not only where you want to go but also, perhaps, how to get there.

The Power of Mind Maps to Build Your Career Master Plan | Prolific Living

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/eaiA0g3YOaQ/build-your-career-master-plan-with-a-mind-map

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Comet, Not Asteroid, Killed Dinosaurs, Study Suggests

The rocky object that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago may have been a comet, rather than an asteroid, scientists say.

The 112-mile (180 kilometers) Chicxulub crater in Mexico was made by the impact that caused the extinction of dinosaurs and about 70 percent of all species on Earth, many scientists believe. A new study suggests the crater was probably blasted out by a faster, smaller object than previously thought, according to research presented this week at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.

Evidence of the space rock's impact comes from a worldwide layer of sediments containing high levels of the element iridium, dubbed the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, which could not have occurred on Earth naturally.

The new research suggests the often-cited iridium values are incorrect, however. The scientists compared these values with levels of osmium, another element delivered by the impact.

Their calculations suggested the space rock generated less debris than previously thought, implying the space rock was a smaller object. In order for the smaller rock to have created the giant Chicxulub crater, it had to have been going exceedingly fast, the researchers concluded.

"How do we get something that has enough energy to generate that size of crater, but has much less rocky material? That brings us to comets," study author Jason Moore, a paleoecologist at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, told BBC News. [Meteor Crater: Experience an Ancient Impact]

Comets?are balls of ice, dust and rocky particles that are distinguished from asteroids by their highly eccentric orbits and thin, fuzzy atmospheres, called comas or tails. The Chicxulub impact is more compatible with a long-period comet, the results indicated, which can take hundreds, thousands or sometimes millions of years to orbit the sun once.

It is possible that a rapidly moving asteroid?could have caused the Chicxulub impact crater, the researchers said, but the fastest-moving objects that have been observed are mostly comets.

"I think it's some very interesting work," physicist Brandon Johnson of Purdue University, In., who was not involved in the research, told LiveScience. If the impact were in fact a comet, "it could change things quite a bit," he said ? a comet would have rained down a lot more material than an asteroid.

But the findings are debatable: "There's a possibility that lot of the impacted material could have been ejected at escape velocity, so we couldn?t find it on Earth," Johnson said. This means the remnants of the impact could be just a fraction of the mass of the space rock, suggesting it could still have been an asteroid.

Geologist Gareth Collins of Imperial College London, U.K., agreed. "Geochemistry tells you ? quite accurately ? only the mass of meteoritic material that is distributed globally, not the total mass of the impactor," Collins told BBC News, adding, "To estimate the latter, one needs to know what fraction of the impactor was distributed globally, as opposed to being ejected to space or landing close to the crater."

The researchers suggest that 75 percent of the space rock's mass was distributed on Earth, Collins said, but he contends that it could have been less than 20 percent ? an amount that could have come from a larger and slower asteroid. In response, the researchers point to studies that suggest the object lost an amount of mass consistent with their findings.

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter?and Google+.?Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/comet-not-asteroid-killed-dinosaurs-study-suggests-211815677.html

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The After Math: Engadget Expand SF special

Welcome to The After Math, where we attempt to summarize this week's tech news through numbers, decimal places and percentages.

Last weekend, we wrapped up our inaugural Expand event, and while several of our international editors (yours truly included) are still battle a testing combination of jetlag and the sniffles, we've pulled together some numbers that should offer at least a glimpse at how the weekend in San Francisco all went down. What if you missed out on all the tech, discussions, Engadget editors and giveaways this time? We wouldn't worry. Next stop, New York.

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/VpXthICxDpI/

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Google says Android and Chrome OS will remain separate

By Steve Keating ORLANDO, Florida, March 20 (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy's decision to skip the Arnold Palmer Invitational surprised the tournament host, who expressed his disappointment on Wednesday that the world number one was not at Bay Hill this week. The 83-year-old Palmer said he had jokingly suggested he might break McIlroy's arm if he did not show up but did not try to force the young Northern Irishman into making an appearance. "Frankly, I thought he was going to play, and I was as surprised as a lot of people when he decided he was not going to play," said Palmer. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-says-android-chrome-os-remain-separate-124501782.html

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Tom Cruise sets up page on Russian social network

This screen shot provided by the Russian social network Vkontakte shows a page set up by Hollywood star Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise has become the first Hollywood star to set up a page on the Russian social network Vkontakte. The "Top Gun" actor's page appeared Friday, announced by a message on Twitter saying "See you there!" in Russian. His profile picture is a poster for his new film "Oblivion," which comes out in Russia on April 11, two weeks before it opens in the U.S. (AP Photo/Vkontakte)

This screen shot provided by the Russian social network Vkontakte shows a page set up by Hollywood star Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise has become the first Hollywood star to set up a page on the Russian social network Vkontakte. The "Top Gun" actor's page appeared Friday, announced by a message on Twitter saying "See you there!" in Russian. His profile picture is a poster for his new film "Oblivion," which comes out in Russia on April 11, two weeks before it opens in the U.S. (AP Photo/Vkontakte)

MOSCOW (AP) ? Tom Cruise has become the first Hollywood star to set up a page on the popular Russian social network Vkontakte.

The "Mission Impossible" actor's page appeared Friday, announced by a message on Twitter saying "See you there!" in Russian.

His profile picture is a poster for his new science fiction film "Oblivion," which comes out in Russia on April 11, two weeks before it opens in the U.S.

Cruise's page is a sign of Russia's increasing box office clout. Box office income rose 8 percent last year to $1.3 billion, the ninth-highest in the world, and is expected to grow 9 percent this year.

Vkontakte, which means "In Contact," dominates the Russian social media market with more than 40 million users ? about 10 times as many as use Facebook.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-22-EU-Russia-Tom-Cruise/id-1565c5f8319f4352a8c5ecff859f1aab

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