Mystery clouds deadly clash in western China with 'suspected terrorists'

Some say that Beijing deliberately exaggerates the terrorist threat in order to justify the iron grip it keeps on the Muslim majority province of Xinjiang in?western China.

By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / April 24, 2013

A woman looks up as a dust storm hits Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, last week. Xinjiang, once a predominantly Muslim province in China's far west, has seen massive settlement by ethnic Han immigrants in recent decades.

Reuters

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Mystery surrounds official Chinese reports Wednesday of a violent clash between ?suspected terrorists? and the authorities in the restive Muslim province of Xinjiang yesterday that left 21 people dead, including 15 officials.

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Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

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According to a statement on the provincial government website, a group ?planning to conduct violent terrorist activities? armed with knives seized three local officials who had surprised them in a house near the city of Kashgar (see map).

They then killed the three hostages and 12 of the policemen and local community workers who came to the rescue, setting fire to the house before armed police regained control of the situation, killing six of the suspects and arresting eight of them, the statement said.

The Chinese authorities have given only sketchy details of the incident, and have not accused any particular group of responsibility. Beijing has previously blamed Islamist separatists for earlier violent attacks on officials.

Xinjiang, once a predominantly Muslim province in China?s far west, has seen massive settlement by ethnic Han immigrants in recent decades. Local people complain that their culture and language are being eroded and that Han now outnumber original inhabitants, who are ethnic Uighurs, with linguistic and cultural ties to central Asian peoples.

Violence flares sporadically, despite a stiflingly heavy handed police and army presence. In 2009 almost 200 people were killed ? mostly ethnic Han ? in deadly rioting in the provincial capital of Urumqi. Last month the government announced that courts in Xinjiang had sentenced 20 men to prison terms as long as life for plotting jihadi attacks.

The men ?had their thoughts poisoned by religious extremism,? according to the Xinjiang provincial website, and had ?spread Muslim religious propaganda.?

Determining the truth behind such allegations, and incidents such as Tuesday?s clash,?is difficult. Chinese media are not allowed to carry reports other than those by the state-run news agency Xinhua and foreign reporters have found themselves restricted and harassed when trying to work in Xinjiang.

A leading Uighur activist, Dilxat Raxit, who lives in Germany, questioned the official account, telling the AP that local residents had reported that the police sparked the incident by shooting a Uighur youth during a house search.

It was not clear how the suspects, armed only with knives, had managed to kill 15 policemen and local officials before they were subdued.

China has often accused a shadowy group known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement of being behind violence in Xinjiang, but foreign observers are dubious, with some saying that Beijing deliberately exaggerates the terrorist threat in order to justify the iron grip it keeps on Xinjiang.

The US State Department put the group on its terrorist watch list in 2002, but has since removed it amid doubts about whether the group is a real organization.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/tasBOUfpA_A/Mystery-clouds-deadly-clash-in-western-China-with-suspected-terrorists

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Calif. grocer tries to profit off botched burglary

REDDING, Calif. (AP) ? A Northern California grocery store owner is trying to profit from a suspected thief's botched burglary attempt that was caught on video and went viral.

Footage shows the man breaking the Redding store's window last month and tripping twice as he ran away.

Now store owner Kent Pfrimmer has turned it into a television commercial for his business, Kent's Meats and Groceries.

The Record Searchlight of Redding reports (http://bit.ly/11CzlcU ) that the ad for the store's pastrami features footage of the suspect throwing something at the store's window. The sound of shattering glass can be heard before pastrami appears on camera, followed by the voice-over: "So good, some people will do just about anything to get more."

A call to Redding police to check on the investigation was not immediately returned.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/calif-grocer-tries-profit-off-botched-burglary-180043152.html

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Pushing the boundaries of transcription

Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
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Contact: Isabelle Kling
isabelle.kling@embl.de
49-622-138-78355
European Molecular Biology Laboratory

A new level of variation in messenger RNAs exposed

Like musicians in an orchestra who have the same musical score but start and finish playing at different intervals, cells with the same genes start and finish transcribing them at different points in the genome. For the first time, researchers at EMBL have described the striking diversity of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that such start and end variation produces, even from the simple genome of yeast cells. Their findings, published today in Nature, shed new light on the importance of mRNA boundaries in determining the functional potential of genes.

Hundreds of thousands of unique mRNA transcripts are generated from a genome of only about 8000 genes, even with the same genome sequence and environmental condition. "We knew that transcription could lead to a certain amount of diversity, but we were not expecting it to be so vast," explains Lars Steinmetz, who led the project. "Based on this diversity, we would expect that no yeast cell has the same set of messenger RNA molecules as its neighbour."

The traditional understanding of transcription was that mRNA boundaries were relatively fixed. While it has long been known that certain parts of mRNAs can be selectively 'spliced' out, this phenomenon is very rare in baker's yeast, meaning that the textbook one gene - one mRNA transcript relationship should hold. Recent studies have suggested that things aren't quite that simple, inspiring the EMBL scientists to create a new technique to capture both the start and end points of single mRNA molecules. They now discovered that each gene could be transcribed into dozens or even hundreds of unique mRNA molecules, each with different boundaries.

This suggests that not only transcript abundance, but also transcript boundaries should be considered when assessing gene function. Altering the boundaries of mRNA molecules can affect how long they stay intact, cause them to produce different proteins, or direct them or their protein products to different locations, which can have a profound biological impact. Diversifying mRNA transcript boundaries within a group of cells, therefore, could equip them to adapt to different external challenges.

The researchers expect that such an extent of boundary variation will also be found in more complex organisms, including humans, where some examples are already known to affect key biological functions. The technology to measure these variations across the entire genome as well as a catalogue of boundaries in a well-studied organism are a good starting point for further research. "Now that we are aware of how much diversity there is, we can start to figure out what factors control it," points out Vicent Pelechano, who performed the study with Wu Wei. Wei adds: "Our technique also exposed new mRNAs that other techniques could not distinguish. It will be exciting to investigate how these and general variation in transcript boundaries actually extend the functional capacity of a genome."

###

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Isabelle Kling
isabelle.kling@embl.de
49-622-138-78355
European Molecular Biology Laboratory

A new level of variation in messenger RNAs exposed

Like musicians in an orchestra who have the same musical score but start and finish playing at different intervals, cells with the same genes start and finish transcribing them at different points in the genome. For the first time, researchers at EMBL have described the striking diversity of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that such start and end variation produces, even from the simple genome of yeast cells. Their findings, published today in Nature, shed new light on the importance of mRNA boundaries in determining the functional potential of genes.

Hundreds of thousands of unique mRNA transcripts are generated from a genome of only about 8000 genes, even with the same genome sequence and environmental condition. "We knew that transcription could lead to a certain amount of diversity, but we were not expecting it to be so vast," explains Lars Steinmetz, who led the project. "Based on this diversity, we would expect that no yeast cell has the same set of messenger RNA molecules as its neighbour."

The traditional understanding of transcription was that mRNA boundaries were relatively fixed. While it has long been known that certain parts of mRNAs can be selectively 'spliced' out, this phenomenon is very rare in baker's yeast, meaning that the textbook one gene - one mRNA transcript relationship should hold. Recent studies have suggested that things aren't quite that simple, inspiring the EMBL scientists to create a new technique to capture both the start and end points of single mRNA molecules. They now discovered that each gene could be transcribed into dozens or even hundreds of unique mRNA molecules, each with different boundaries.

This suggests that not only transcript abundance, but also transcript boundaries should be considered when assessing gene function. Altering the boundaries of mRNA molecules can affect how long they stay intact, cause them to produce different proteins, or direct them or their protein products to different locations, which can have a profound biological impact. Diversifying mRNA transcript boundaries within a group of cells, therefore, could equip them to adapt to different external challenges.

The researchers expect that such an extent of boundary variation will also be found in more complex organisms, including humans, where some examples are already known to affect key biological functions. The technology to measure these variations across the entire genome as well as a catalogue of boundaries in a well-studied organism are a good starting point for further research. "Now that we are aware of how much diversity there is, we can start to figure out what factors control it," points out Vicent Pelechano, who performed the study with Wu Wei. Wei adds: "Our technique also exposed new mRNAs that other techniques could not distinguish. It will be exciting to investigate how these and general variation in transcript boundaries actually extend the functional capacity of a genome."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/embl-ptb042513.php

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Bittersweet News: Chocolate May Trigger Acne

Eating chocolate may change the immune system in ways that aggravate acne, a small new study from the Netherlands suggests.

In the study, researchers collected blood from seven healthy people before and after they ate 1.7 ounces of chocolate, each day for four days. (The chocolate contained about 30 percent cocoa.)

The researchers then exposed the blood cells to bacteria called Propionibacterium acnes, which contribute to acne when they grow inside clogged pores and cause pores to become inflamed, and to Staphylococcus aureus, another skin bacteria that can aggravate acne.

After eating chocolate, the participants' blood cells produced more interleukin-1b, a marker of immune system inflammation, when exposed to Propionibacterium acnes. This suggests chocolate consumption could increase the inflammation that contributes to acne, the researchers said.

In addition, eating chocolate increased production of another immune system factor called interleukin 10 after exposure to Staphylococcus aureus. Interleukin 10 is thought to lower our bodies' defenses against microorganisms, and thus, higher levels of interleukin 10 could create conditions that allow bacteria to infect pimples, and worsen them, the researchers said.

However, the results are preliminary, and the jury is still out on whether indulging in the sweet treat can really prompt a breakout.

Future studies should look into which components of chocolate (fats, sugars, etc.) might be responsible for the effects, and whether fat-free chocolate would have a different effect, the researchers said.

A 2011 study also found that chocolate consumption worsened acne, but the study involved only 10 men who consumed pure chocolate.

Although there's a lot of talk about chocolate and other foods playing a role in acne, there's very little evidence to show they do, said Dr. Kanade Shinkai, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, who specializes in acne treatments.

"I think there's 10 times more discussion about it than there is data," Shinkai said.

There is some evidence that so-called high glycemic foods, such as white bread, which release sugar very quickly into the bloodstream, may be linked to acne, Shinkai said. For instance, one study found that a population in Papua New Guinea with a low glycemic diet had no cases of acne across all ages, while in the United States more than 80 percent of teenagers have acne. Other studies looking at a possible link between diary products and acne have had conflicting results, Shinkai said.

While there may be a subset of people whose acne is influenced by diet, this is probably not true for everyone, Shinkai said. Multiple factors contribute to acne, including genetics, hormones and certain medications. [See Acne in Women Can Signal Hormone Problems.]

Shinkai said most dermatologists do not recommend dietary changes to help with acne, unless a patient is certain that a particular food is linked with his or her acne. Shinkai cautioned against broad dietary restrictions, such as avoiding diary, because diary products are important sources of calcium and vitamin D for many people, and the nutritional benefits of the products outweigh the impact of acne, she said.

Eating small amounts of chocolate has been linked with health benefits, such as a reduced risk of heart attack and stroke.

The new study, conducted by researchers at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands, was published online March 1 in the journal Cytokine.?

Pass it on: For some people, chocolate consumption may worsen acne .

Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on MyHealthNewsDaily.

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bittersweet-news-chocolate-may-trigger-acne-162147774.html

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How to Get the Most From Your Home Warranty

Suppose someone is considering buying a home, and the furnace works but is getting on in years. The seller is not required to replace it, but the potential buyer is leery about taking on a home in which the furnace might be on its last legs.

That is where home warranties, also called home service contracts, come into play. These guarantees are designed to protect a homeowner from unexpected repair costs for major appliances like refrigerators, washers, and dryers. The home service contract is the ideal solution, and the new homeowner has the option of extending it beyond that first year.

A home service contract or warranty, which usually lasts one year, offers repairs or replacements for the major appliances and systems in a home. While coverage options vary, a home service contract usually includes interior plumbing, heating and electrical systems, water heaters, ductwork, dishwashers, stoves, washer/dryer, pool equipment, refrigerators, air-conditioning, garage-door openers, garbage disposals, and spa equipment. Typically, these contracts cost between $200 and $600. The cost varies by state and depends on the size and age of the property and the amount of coverage chosen.

Be careful, however, not to confuse these home warranties with the home warranty offered by builders, which guarantee the quality of the new-home construction itself, not the systems or appliances inside. While your home service contract will cover those appliances, most don?t cover home foundations, walls, structures, or finish.

While these contracts may seem like the ideal option when buying an older home, homeowners need to carefully read the fine print to avoid some loopholes?home service contracts are very specific.

Here are some things to watch out for, and what not to do because it could void your coverage:

? A mechanical failure that existed before the agreement was effective. Say, for instance, that the air conditioning hasn?t worked for five years. Summer comes around and the new homeowner tries to start it, only to realize he?s out of luck. In this case, repairs or replacement might not be covered. (Several firms do offer different levels of coverage that could cover your home?s preexisting conditions.)

? A failure not caused by normal wear and tear. If the family pet is using refrigerator coils as a chew toy, or if a raccoon has taken up residence in the air-conditioning unit, those repairs would not be covered.

? Inspectors finding asbestos, hazardous or toxic materials, or mold.

? Faulty workmanship on your appliances. Carefully research technicians. Check with the Better Business Bureau before choosing one to make sure it is a reputable company. Do not tackle any job on your own that you are not qualified for.

? An appliance has clearly been mistreated.

? Calling a repairman before the home warranty company gives approval for a repair or replacement. Always consult with the warranty company first.

? Changing the property use from residential to commercial. If the homeowner decides to convert the home into a beauty salon, the contract would be voided.

Follow these tips to get the most out of your home service contract:

? Make sure all appliances are installed properly, including those installed by a trained technician. Again, check with the Better Business Bureau if you are not sure about a technician.

? Take care of routine maintenance. Don?t let rust run wild. An annual maintenance plan for air conditioning and heating is a good idea; you can avoid the rush in summer and winter when everyone else needs help.

? Make sure multiple appliances are covered. Yes, your kitchen refrigerator is covered, but what about the backup fridge in the garage?

? Find a quality home inspector. This person will make sure everything is running the way it should before you finalize the home purchase.

? If you have a problem, remember to call your home service contract company before you call a contractor. The warranty company will not pay for a claim unless you call them first. They may suggest a contractor or let you choose your own, depending on the company policy.

? If a claim is denied, don?t take ?no? for an answer. Carefully review your policy and then ask to talk to a manager. Find out what has happened with similar situations to get the problem resolved.

Visit the National Home Service Contract Association for a complete list of all registered companies. The website also includes a consumer section for fraud reports or complaints.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-get-the-most-from-your-home-warranty-15367939?src=rss

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SES demos first Ultra HD transmission in more efficient HEVC standard

We're still a bit away from Ultra HD becoming the standard for television. One of the things standing in the way is just how much bandwidth pushing that many pixels demands. SES recently demonstrated an Ultra HD transmission that uses the up and coming HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) standard, as opposed to the more established H.264. The 3,840 x 2,160 image was broadcast at a data rate of 20 Mbps, roughly a 50-percent improvement in encoding efficiency over H.264-based MPEG-4. The demonstration was performed with support from SES's partners, Harmonic and Broadcom, the latter of which provided the BCM7445-based decoding box used for pulling in the video. The tech still isn't quite ready for prime time, but we'd say a 4K House of Cards stream is probably closer than any of us realized.

Filed under: HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/20/ses-demos-first-ultra-hd-transmission-in-more-efficient-hevc-sta/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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'Survival of the fittest' now applies to computers: Surprising similarities found between genetic and computer codes

Apr. 16, 2013 ? "Survival of the fittest" originally referred to natural selection in biological systems, but new research from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University scientists shows that this evolutionary theory also applies to technological systems.

Computational biologist Sergei Maslov, a research staff member in Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), holding appointments with Stony Brook University's Department of Physics and Astronomy and Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, worked with Tin Yau Pang, a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook, to compare the frequency with which components "survive" in two complex systems: bacterial genomes and operating systems on Linux computers. Their work, "Universal distribution of component frequencies in biological and technological systems," was published in the April 9 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Maslov, who received his PhD in Physics from Stony Brook in 1996, discussed the discovery on NPR's Marketplace Tech.

Maslov and Pang set out to determine not only why some specialized genes or computer programs are very common while others are fairly rare, but to see how many components in any system are so important that they can't be eliminated.

"If a bacteria genome doesn't have a particular gene, it will be dead on arrival," Maslov said. "How many of those genes are there? The same goes for large software systems. They have multiple components that work together and the systems require just the right components working together to thrive.'"

Using data from the massive sequencing of bacterial genomes, now a part of the Department of Energy's Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase), the researchers examined the frequency of occurrence of genes in genomes of 500 bacterial species and found a surprising similarity with the frequency of installation of 200,000 Linux packages on more than 2 million individual computers. Linux is an open source software collaboration that allows designers to modify source code to create programs for public use.

The most frequently used components in both the biological and computer systems are those that allow for the most descendants. That is, the more a component is relied upon by others, the more likely it is to be required for full functionality of a system.

It may seem logical, but the surprising part of this finding is how universal it is.

"It is almost expected that the frequency of usage of any component is correlated with how many other components depend on it," said Maslov. "But we found that we can determine the number of crucial components -- those without which other components couldn't function -- by a simple calculation that holds true both in biological systems and computer systems."

For both the bacteria and the computing systems, take the square root of the interdependent components and you can find the number of key components that are so important that not a single other piece can get by without them.

The finding applies equally to these complex networks because they are both examples of open access systems with components that are independently installed.

"Bacteria are the ultimate BitTorrents of biology," he said, referring to a popular file-sharing protocol. "They have this enormous common pool of genes that they are freely sharing with each other. Bacterial systems can easily add or remove genes from their genomes through what's called horizontal gene transfer, a kind of file sharing between bacteria," Maslov said.

The same goes for Linux operating systems, which allow free installation of components built and shared by a multitude of designers independently of one another. The theory wouldn't hold true for, say, a Windows operating system, which only runs proprietary programs.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stony Brook University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. T. Y. Pang, S. Maslov. Universal distribution of component frequencies in biological and technological systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; 110 (15): 6235 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217795110

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/FkyfYEdLMUs/130416171631.htm

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UC Berkeley selected to build NASA's next space weather satellite

Public release date: 17-Apr-2013
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Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley

ICON to explore connection between upper atmosphere and ionosphere to predict space weather

NASA has awarded the University of California, Berkeley, up to $200 million to build a satellite to determine how Earth's weather affects weather at the edge of space, in hopes of improving forecasts of extreme "space weather" that can disrupt global positioning satellites (GPS) and radio communications.

The satellite mission, called the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), will be designed, built and operated by scientists at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. Scheduled for launch in 2017, ICON will orbit 550 kilometers (345 miles) above Earth in the ionosphere: the edge of space where the sun ionizes the air to create constantly shifting streams and sheets of charged particles. These charged particles can interfere with GPS signals and radio signals that bounce off the ionosphere.

ICON will collect data needed to establish the connection between storms that occur near Earth's surface and space-weather storms, allowing scientists to better predict space weather. These results could help airliners, for example, which today cannot rely solely on GPS satellites to fly and land because signals from these satellites can be distorted by charged-particle storms in the ionosphere.

"Ten years ago, we had no idea that the ionosphere was affected and structured by storms in the lower atmosphere," said the project's principal investigator, Thomas Immel, a senior fellow at the Space Sciences Laboratory. "We proposed ICON in response to this new realization."

NASA announced the award last week, along with another mission called the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD), which will image Earth's thermosphere and ionosphere from a commercial geosynchronous satellite.

"One of the frontier areas of heliophysics is the study of the interface between outer space and the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere," said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "These selected projects use innovative solutions to advance our knowledge of this relatively unexplored region. The two missions together will result in significantly more advances in our understanding of Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere than either would alone."

Until recently, Immel said, the ionosphere was thought to be affected primarily by solar wind particles emitted from the sun - that scours the upper atmosphere. When the sun is active and firing bursts of charged particles toward Earth, the ionosphere erupts in chaotic storms. But a slew of satellites orbiting Earth to study the sun, solar wind and Earth's magnetic field have now shown that Earth's space environment, specifically activity in the ionosphere, can't be explained solely by particles streaming from the sun.

"We know that the solar wind plays a big role in the ionosphere, but most of the time the sun is relatively quiet, and our space environment still varies quite a bit," he said. "We think that variability is coming from weather on our own planet, which can be very powerful."

This can happen, Immel said, when surface storms compress and heat the atmosphere, driving huge waves upward into space and causing charged particles to move across magnetic fields in unpredictable ways. This can also lead to extreme fluctuations of temperature in the ionosphere.

"There are huge waves at an altitude above 100 kilometers (63 miles), with amplitudes as large as 50 degrees Kelvin, where the average temperature is about 300 degrees Kelvin (77 degrees Fahrenheit) a 20-30 percent variation," he said. "That may sound small, but imagine a wave rolling through your neighborhood with a temperature swing of 100 degrees Kelvin, or 180 degrees Fahrenheit from freezing to boiling! These waves can change the composition of the upper atmosphere and how the ionosphere grows during the day."

ICON will explore these and other processes that control the dynamics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. One issue, for example, is why "North America is, in a way, like tornado alley for space," Immel said, where huge masses of ionized plasma roll over the country and disrupt GPS and other communications.

"We want to understand where this plasma comes from Is it generated in situ? Does it grow in outer space? Or are we pulling plasma up from lower latitudes like the Caribbean?" he said.

The satellite will operate in a circular orbit tilted 27 degrees from the equator and simultaneously map winds in the upper atmosphere and charged particle currents, called plasmas, in the ionosphere, a region that stretches from an altitude of about 85 to 600 kilometers (50 to 370 miles).

The instrument called MIGHTI (Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging), which will be built by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory, will detect the aurora-like glow of air molecules and measure their temperature and speed via Doppler imaging. These winds routinely blow at 200 miles per hour in a part of the upper atmosphere called the thermosphere.

Two other instruments built at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory will simultaneously image the upper atmosphere in the far and extreme ultraviolet, while a fourth instrument from the University of Texas, Dallas, will measure the charged particles and flowing plasma at the location of the satellite.

"ICON's imaging capability, combined with its in situ measurements on the same spacecraft, gives a perspective of the coupled system that would otherwise require two or more orbiting observatories," he said.

UC Berkeley will control the spacecraft from its Mission Operations Center at the Space Sciences Laboratory, which currently operates the satellite missions THEMIS, ARTEMIS, RHESSI and NuSTAR, all NASA Explorer missions, and recently operated the FAST Explorer.

NASA is funding ICON through the Explorer program, the agency's oldest continuous program, designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the heliophysics and astrophysics programs in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

###

The ICON web site is http://icon.ssl.berkeley.edu/.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 17-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley

ICON to explore connection between upper atmosphere and ionosphere to predict space weather

NASA has awarded the University of California, Berkeley, up to $200 million to build a satellite to determine how Earth's weather affects weather at the edge of space, in hopes of improving forecasts of extreme "space weather" that can disrupt global positioning satellites (GPS) and radio communications.

The satellite mission, called the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), will be designed, built and operated by scientists at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. Scheduled for launch in 2017, ICON will orbit 550 kilometers (345 miles) above Earth in the ionosphere: the edge of space where the sun ionizes the air to create constantly shifting streams and sheets of charged particles. These charged particles can interfere with GPS signals and radio signals that bounce off the ionosphere.

ICON will collect data needed to establish the connection between storms that occur near Earth's surface and space-weather storms, allowing scientists to better predict space weather. These results could help airliners, for example, which today cannot rely solely on GPS satellites to fly and land because signals from these satellites can be distorted by charged-particle storms in the ionosphere.

"Ten years ago, we had no idea that the ionosphere was affected and structured by storms in the lower atmosphere," said the project's principal investigator, Thomas Immel, a senior fellow at the Space Sciences Laboratory. "We proposed ICON in response to this new realization."

NASA announced the award last week, along with another mission called the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD), which will image Earth's thermosphere and ionosphere from a commercial geosynchronous satellite.

"One of the frontier areas of heliophysics is the study of the interface between outer space and the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere," said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "These selected projects use innovative solutions to advance our knowledge of this relatively unexplored region. The two missions together will result in significantly more advances in our understanding of Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere than either would alone."

Until recently, Immel said, the ionosphere was thought to be affected primarily by solar wind particles emitted from the sun - that scours the upper atmosphere. When the sun is active and firing bursts of charged particles toward Earth, the ionosphere erupts in chaotic storms. But a slew of satellites orbiting Earth to study the sun, solar wind and Earth's magnetic field have now shown that Earth's space environment, specifically activity in the ionosphere, can't be explained solely by particles streaming from the sun.

"We know that the solar wind plays a big role in the ionosphere, but most of the time the sun is relatively quiet, and our space environment still varies quite a bit," he said. "We think that variability is coming from weather on our own planet, which can be very powerful."

This can happen, Immel said, when surface storms compress and heat the atmosphere, driving huge waves upward into space and causing charged particles to move across magnetic fields in unpredictable ways. This can also lead to extreme fluctuations of temperature in the ionosphere.

"There are huge waves at an altitude above 100 kilometers (63 miles), with amplitudes as large as 50 degrees Kelvin, where the average temperature is about 300 degrees Kelvin (77 degrees Fahrenheit) a 20-30 percent variation," he said. "That may sound small, but imagine a wave rolling through your neighborhood with a temperature swing of 100 degrees Kelvin, or 180 degrees Fahrenheit from freezing to boiling! These waves can change the composition of the upper atmosphere and how the ionosphere grows during the day."

ICON will explore these and other processes that control the dynamics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. One issue, for example, is why "North America is, in a way, like tornado alley for space," Immel said, where huge masses of ionized plasma roll over the country and disrupt GPS and other communications.

"We want to understand where this plasma comes from Is it generated in situ? Does it grow in outer space? Or are we pulling plasma up from lower latitudes like the Caribbean?" he said.

The satellite will operate in a circular orbit tilted 27 degrees from the equator and simultaneously map winds in the upper atmosphere and charged particle currents, called plasmas, in the ionosphere, a region that stretches from an altitude of about 85 to 600 kilometers (50 to 370 miles).

The instrument called MIGHTI (Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging), which will be built by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory, will detect the aurora-like glow of air molecules and measure their temperature and speed via Doppler imaging. These winds routinely blow at 200 miles per hour in a part of the upper atmosphere called the thermosphere.

Two other instruments built at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory will simultaneously image the upper atmosphere in the far and extreme ultraviolet, while a fourth instrument from the University of Texas, Dallas, will measure the charged particles and flowing plasma at the location of the satellite.

"ICON's imaging capability, combined with its in situ measurements on the same spacecraft, gives a perspective of the coupled system that would otherwise require two or more orbiting observatories," he said.

UC Berkeley will control the spacecraft from its Mission Operations Center at the Space Sciences Laboratory, which currently operates the satellite missions THEMIS, ARTEMIS, RHESSI and NuSTAR, all NASA Explorer missions, and recently operated the FAST Explorer.

NASA is funding ICON through the Explorer program, the agency's oldest continuous program, designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the heliophysics and astrophysics programs in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

###

The ICON web site is http://icon.ssl.berkeley.edu/.

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uoc--ubs041713.php

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Intel's Q1 2013 Meets Revenue Expectations At $12.6B, Misses On EPS At $0.40 As PC Market Slows

Intel’s fiscal Q1 earnings are out today, and the company reported profit and earnings at expectations on revenue with $12.6 billion for the quarter, and below on earnings per share at $0.40, according to Bloomberg’s analyst consensus.?Revenue was down from Q1 2012, as were earnings per share, as the chip-making giant continues to weather the storm of a declining PC market. PC sales for the beginning of the year were reportedly steep, according to research firm IDC, with Windows 8 taking blame for the decline. IDC found that overall, sales were down 13.9 percent for PCs, a category which excludes tablets and notebooks with removable keyboards. Even if you count those in, the news still wouldn’t be great for Intel, which continues to struggle with making any real headway in the mobile processor market.?The PC group’s revenue alone totaled only $8 billion, down nearly 6 percent year over year. Intel said in a statement from the CFO’s office that the sequential decline in overall revenue of 7 percent was in line with what they’d expect to see coming out of a holiday season. Intel CEO Paul Otellini is leaving the company after eight years leading the company in May. Otellini announced that he’d be leaving Intel late last year, giving the company ample time to plan for and put in place succession arrangements. Otellini has been vocal about Intel’s work on “reinventing?the PC” as it continues to face challenging market conditions and try to overcome them. This definitely wasn’t a great quarter for Intel, and that means the incoming CEO will have a lot of expectations to live up, in a very challenging market environment. Intel’s roadmap includes big plans for mobile, like the Bay Trail 22nm design with native quad core processing built in, slated to arrive by the end of this year. It’s going to power budget, convertible PC designs, Intel says, which might inject some fresh life in the sluggish PC market, though we’ve yet to see any real promising indication that Microsoft’s efforts along those lines with the Surface RT are paying any big dividends ? in fact, quite the opposite. Intel spent over $10 billion on research and development in 2012, up $2 billion from the previous year, as Intel said it was investing heavily in mobile, tablets, ultrabooks and server technologies. The company is clearly spending big to try to make sure it can

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Steve Carell Enthusiastically Endorses 'Anchorman 2': 'It's Pretty Good'

In the few weeks that "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" has been filming in Atlanta, the actors have been tight-lipped on what exactly will happen when Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team reassemble this December. Things weren't any different on Sunday at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards when MTV News' Josh Horowitz got a [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/04/16/steve-carell-anchorman-2-pretty-good/

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Trash Talkin? Tuesday

Trash Talkin’ Tuesday

Beyonce Unveils Costumes for “Mrs. Carter Show” Tour?[The Frisky] Rebel Wilson Has a Twin Sister??[HollyWire] Jane Seymour Back on the Market?[Right Celebrity] Leonardo DiCaprio Has No Time to Settle Down?[The Celebrity Cafe] First Look of Jamie Foxx as Electro?[The Blemish] Jon Hamm Appears on Sesame Street Skit?[The Huffington Post] Hugh Jackman Stalker Nabbed?[PopCrunch] Kate Middleton ...

Trash Talkin’ Tuesday Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/04/trash-talkin-tuesday-91/

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Bringing Down The Mexican Mafia: How Hackers Stopped A $9.3 Million Fraud

Editor?s note:?Maria Rocio Paniagua currently works at?Flit, a PR firm that helps?products, projects and events launch in Mexico. ?When the geeks go marching in, good stuff can happen, but if everyone joins in, real change can take place.? That?s what the hackers and team behind Codeando M?xico,?a civil innovation platform where government and organizations publish projects,?thought when they launched the #app115 challenge, an app competition that aimed to prove that great code can be very inexpensive if motivated by the right reasons.

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Students in Togo march to support their teachers

LOME, Togo (AP) ? Over 20,000 school children from primary, secondary and high schools marched on Thursday in the capital of Togo in support of teachers who are on strike to seek better working conditions.

"Education is the key to development," said one of the placards held by the students, who marched toward government offices in Lome, capital of the West African nation.

"I want the government to understand that teachers are playing a key role in the development of our country. So they deserve better working conditions," said Tengue Ahoefa, a student.

On Wednesday, Togolese trade unions started a three-day protest. The unions are under the umbrella of the "Togolese Workers Synergy" or " Synergie des Travailleurs Togolais."

Last week, hundreds of medical workers in the main central hospital of Lom?, the Sylvanus Olympio Hospital, also laid down their tools while the central mortuary of Lom? remained functioning only few hours.

The public service workers are asking for a review of their official general status and the adoption of a new minimum wage.

Over 60,000 workers are employed by the state.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/students-togo-march-support-teachers-114952792.html

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Accel Adds Yelp Communications Exec Stephanie Ichinose As First Marketing Partner

VC firm Accel Partners is bringing on its first marketing partner with the addition of former Yelp Senior Director of Communications, Stephanie Ichinose. In her new role, Ichinose will be responsible for managing the Accel Partners brand and advising entrepreneurs in the Accel portfolio on their strategic positioning and communications strategies.

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Think Ch?vez was paranoid? Venezuela's Maduro warns of US-funded biker gangs.

Interim President Nicol?s Maduro has spoken publicly about conspiracies ranging from murder plots to Salvadoran mercenaries. They serve as a political tool to unify the population and silence criticism.

By Hugo P?rez Hern?iz & David Smilde,?WOLA / April 11, 2013

Venezuela's acting President and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro (r.) holds a painting of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez during a campaign rally in the state of Vargas April 9, 2013. Venezuelans will hold presidential elections on April 14.

Carlos Garcia Rawlins/REUTERS

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Since the day of Hugo Ch?vez?s death, acting president and presidential candidate Nicol?s Maduro and other top government officials have put forward a steady flow of conspiracy theories unmatched by any period in the Ch?vez era, eight by our count.

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March 5, acting President Maduro expels two US attach?s for ?searching for active military personal in order to propose conspiratorial plans to them.?

March 5, Maduro, in the last public announcement before the passing of the President, suggests that Ch?vez was ?inoculated? with cancer by foreign enemies (See our previous post on the issue). He afterwards insisted many times on this theory, originally proposed by Ch?vez himself, the latest on March 21. On that day he promised that after winning the elections, he would name a scientific commission in charge of investigating the issue. He also mentioned that ?there are already a lot of articles on the internet on this. You only have to look them up. The Empire has created these types of experimental viruses since the 40s. They are methods of biological, bacteriological warfare.?

March 6, Maduro says there is a conspiracy led by Otto Reich and Roger Noriega to assassinate, not him, but the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, with the purpose of destabilizing the government. On March 17, in a TV interview with Jos? Vicente Rangel, Maduro insists on the existence of the plot. He announces that he has proof of this plot and that he will make them public, but [that] proof has never surfaced. Otto Reich has denied the accusations.

March 20, Maduro claims that the United States government has ?ordered? the Venezuelan opposition to withdraw from the elections, generate ?situations of violence,? and cry foul once the electoral results are public.

April 5, in a meeting with supporters in Cojedes, Maduro declares that the opposition ?took down the electricity of all the poor areas of Aragua on Wednesday night. There is no technical justification for this, so we have dismissed the Corpoelec [State electricity company] of Aragua and he is under investigation, and all the public officials that plot against the people will go to prison.? Maduro also accuses the opposition of planning a total energy black out in the country.

April 6, in an interview for Telesur, Foreign Minister?Elias Jaua declares that ?we have filtered through our intelligence agencies' conversations from groups of the right referring to the inclusion of mercenaries from Central America in the destabilization activities in the country.??On April 7 Maduro elaborates this plot during a public meeting in Guayana. He denounces a plot of to kill him ?generate chaos, and sabotage the electric grid?. He directly accused Armando Briquet, a top manager of the opposition campaign, of being the link between Capriles and ?mercenaries sent by the right from El Salvador? that, according to Maduro, are already in Venezuela to carry out the plot. In these new plot denunciations, Maduro has assured [Venezuelans] that at first he though Capriles was not directly responsible for the wide ranging conspiracies, and that he was only being duped by ?sectors of the right? (indeed in the previous version of the ?mercenaries plot? Capriles was considered the potential victim of assassination attempts). Now he claims to have been forced by his sources to realize that Capriles, through Mr. Briquet, is directly behind the plots.

April 8, Minister of Penitentiary Services, Iris Valera, denounces ?a destabilization plan by a well-known NGO led by someone called Humberto Prado.? ?This NGO would promote violence in Venezuela?s prisons in order to ?rarify? the electoral environment of the next days.

April 8, an opposition group of students protesting for ?clean elections? in Chacao is violently attacked by motorbikers wearing pro-government paraphernalia. Six students are injured. Maduro immediately orders an investigation saying: ?I have been informed of violent events in the Chacao Municipality, strange violent events involving a small violent group, financed by the government of the United States.?

Of course, conspiracy theories can sometimes [hold an element of truth] ? Watergate, Iran-Contra, Ch?vez?s 1992 coup, the opposition?s 2002 coup ? the list of actual conspiracies is endless.

And in a region in which the US has a long history of intervention, the population does not necessarily regard theories of foreign conspiracy as crazy and irresponsible but with a ?could be? attitude.

But they are also a political tool for unifying a population and silencing criticism. They essentially make dissent look out of place by pointing to an imminent threat that only those in power understand. They also deflect blame for administrative problems such as food shortages, power outages, and lack of security by suggesting that the problem lies elsewhere.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/EPaYAxJO9jA/Think-Chavez-was-paranoid-Venezuela-s-Maduro-warns-of-US-funded-biker-gangs

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Woods favored, but challengers aplenty at Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) ? Eighty-three-year-old Arnold Palmer punched the air on an overcast morning.

The Masters was under way.

Three of golf's greatest players ? Palmer, 77-year-old Gary Player and 73-year-old Jack Nicklaus ? struck ceremonial tee shots to begin the first major of the year Thursday.

Palmer was clearly pleased with his effort, which settled right in the middle of the fairway. He pumped his right fist as the crowd roared.

"The only nerves are to make sure you make contact," Nicklaus quipped. "It doesn't make a diddly-darn where it goes."

Sandy Lyle, John Peterson and amateur Nathan Smith followed the former champions to the tee, beginning their rounds under gray skies after three warm, sunny days of practice. There was a chance of rain in the afternoon.

Lyle and Smith both left No. 1 with bogeys. Larry Mize, the 1987 winner, was the very early leader with birdies on the first three holes.

Four-time Masters champion Tiger Woods came into the week as the overwhelming favorite. He already has three wins this year and reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the world rankings.

"I feel comfortable with every aspect of my game," Woods said. "I feel that I've improved and I've gotten more consistent, and I think the wins show that."

But Woods hasn't won a major since 2008, and he has gone eight long years since his last win at Augusta. He was scheduled to tee off at 10:45 a.m. with Luke Donald and Scott Piercy.

"Obviously, Tiger is Tiger," Piercy said. "He's always going to be that target. He knows it, and that's how he wants it. But there's a lot of people getting closer. And the golfing gods, or whatever you want to call them, have a lot to do with winning. A bounce here, a bounce there. A lip in, a lip out."

Angel Cabrera got one of those bounces off a pine tree and back into the 18th fairway in 2009 that helped him save par and win a playoff on the next hole. Sure, he was a former U.S. Open champion, but the big Argentine was No. 69 in the world that year, the lowest-ranked player to win the Masters.

The hole got in the way twice for Charl Schwartzel in 2011, once on a chip across the first green that fell for birdie, another a shot from the third fairway that dropped for eagle. He finished with four straight birdies to win.

Zach Johnson was just a normal guy from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who would not seem to fit the profile of a Masters champion. He wasn't very long, didn't hit the ball very high and didn't go for the green in two on any of the par 5s. He won by two shots in 2007.

"The favorite is all media-driven, all public-driven," Johnson said. "There are no surprises out there. There's probably 70 or 80 guys that you would not be surprised one bit if any of them won."

Three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo didn't name them all, but his list kept growing when he talked about 20 players who could win the Masters, all from what he referred to as the second tier and described as "pretty darn good."

Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald. Brandt Snedeker and Bill Haas. Louis Oosthuizen and Schwartzel.

Not to mention three-time winner Phil Mickelson, defending champ Bubba Watson and former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.

"Yes, Tiger is the favorite," Faldo said. "He's strong. He's determined. We will see. But he's going to be chased by a lot of really good players."

Augusta National chairman Billy Payne held his annual "State of the Masters" news conference on Wednesday, where of course the subject turned to the club's first female members, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore.

"I hope the experience for Condi and Darla, as members of our club, has been every bit as enjoyable for them over the last eight months as it has been for their fellow members," Payne said. "It's just awesome."

While Augusta National had long resisted female members, with a former chairman famously declaring the club wouldn't change its all-male membership "at the point of a bayonet," Payne said his membership was now eager to lead the sport into a new era.

"What we've done is do what we're supposed do," he said, "and that is to be a beacon in the world of golf and do our best to influence others to want to be a part of it."

While claiming to look forward, Augusta National is about tradition more than anything.

That was never more apparent than during the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday, a chance for the sport to embrace its past and give the players an opportunity to unwind before the shots that really count.

Everyone from moms to small children ? some barely old enough to walk ? took on caddying duties. The greats of the game, long past their prime, thrilled the patrons with a few more swings. Technically, they kept score, but everyone knew it was all for fun. No need to get worked up about these nine holes. That's for Thursday, after everyone moves over to "the big course."

"It's a good way to unwind before the stress of the tournament starts," Brandt Snedeker said. "This is a great way to relax and spend time with your family."

This picturesque spot ? nine exquisite little holes tucked into the northeast edge of Augusta National ? provides another of those quirky trademarks that sets the first major apart from the next three.

Where else can you see a threesome that includes Nicklaus, Palmer and Player? Where else can you see former top-ranked tennis player Caroline Wozniacki on the bag for her boyfriend, McIlroy? Where else can you find 91-year-old Jack Fleck, who won the 1955 U.S. Open in one of golf's greatest upsets, taking a few whacks?

"It's fun down here," Fred Couples said. "It's a good little spot."

Especially when Nicklaus, Palmer and Player ? with 13 green jackets and 34 major championships among them ? stroll around the "little course" for an hour or so, providing a running commentary on the deteriorating state of their once-mighty games.

After Palmer sliced one into the water, he joked, "That was my last ball."

"I can loan you one," Nicklaus quipped, as he hunched over to tee up his ball.

"Is my credit good?" Palmer asked.

"Good with me," Nicklaus said.

No one has ever won the Par 3 Contest and gone on to win the Masters, which doesn't bode well for Ted Potter Jr. He beat Mickelson and Matt Kuchar in a three-way, two-hole playoff after they tied at 4-under 23. Ernie Els and Nick Watney also shot 23, but they had already left the club and didn't take part in the playoff.

___

Follow Paul Newberry at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/woods-favored-challengers-aplenty-augusta-072436416--golf.html

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James Deen: Farrah Abraham "Sex Tape" All Her Idea, Really More Like a Porno

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Showdown gun control vote set Thursday in Senate

Neil Heslin, center, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was killed in the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., arrives with other victims' families to meet privately on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Heslin gave moving testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February on the proposed assault weapons ban. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Neil Heslin, center, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was killed in the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., arrives with other victims' families to meet privately on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Heslin gave moving testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February on the proposed assault weapons ban. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks with reporters following a Democratic strategy session at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Reid said he plans showdown vote on gun control on Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Neil Heslin, right, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was killed in the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., arrives with other victims' families to meet privately on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Heslin gave moving testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February on the proposed assault weapons ban. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Vice President Joe Biden speaks about gun legislation, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington. The Obama administration continued its efforts to pressure Republicans, with Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder speaking at the White House, joined by law enforcement officials. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Bill Sherlach, with daughter Maura Lynn Schwartz, arrives with other families of the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre to meet privately on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. His wife, Mary Sherlach, was a school psychologist who was killed during a mass shooting that left 26 people dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate's top Democrat is setting Congress' first showdown vote for Thursday on President Barack Obama's gun control drive as a small but mounting number of Republicans appear willing to buck a conservative effort to prevent debate from even beginning.

Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced his decision Tuesday as the White House, congressional Democrats and relatives of the victims of December's mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., amped up pressure on GOP lawmakers to allow debate and votes on gun control proposals. Twenty first-graders and six educators were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School, turning gun control into a top-tier national issue.

"We have a responsibility to safeguard these little kids," Reid said on the Senate floor, pointing to a poster-sized photo of a white picket fence that had slats bearing the names of the Newtown victims. "And unless we do something more than what's the law today, we have failed."

"We don't have the guts to stand up and vote yes or no? We want to vote maybe? Tell that to the families in Newtown" and other communities where there have been mass shootings, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of 13 conservative senators who signed a letter promising to try blocking debate, said the Senate bill puts "burdens on law abiding citizens exercising a constitutional right." He said none of its provisions "would have done anything to prevent the horrible tragedy of Sandy Hook."

Obama was calling senators from both parties Tuesday to push for the gun bill, according to a White House official.

Reid's determination to stage a vote came despite inconclusive talks between Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., aimed at finding compromise on expanding background checks to more gun purchasers.

But Manchin left a meeting in Reid's office late Tuesday and said he hoped a deal could be completed on Wednesday. Such a compromise would be likely to attract bipartisan support because both lawmakers are among their parties' most conservative members.

The checks, aimed at keeping firearms from criminals and certain other buyers, are the cornerstone of Obama's gun plan, which has been struggling in Congress. Democrats have been buoyed by polls consistently showing more than 8 in 10 Americans support subjecting more buyers to background checks.

A Senate vote to begin debating the guns package would mark a temporary victory for Obama and his allies.

Some Republicans, though eager to avoid blocking debate, could vote against the measure on final passage. Coupled with resistance by leaders of the GOP-run House to main parts of Obama's effort ? including bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines ? the ultimate outcome seems shaky for Democrats.

Reid said he did not know if he had the 60 votes he will need to defeat the conservatives' roadblock. But at least eight Republicans have said they want to begin debate or have indicated a willingness to consider it: Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Susan Collins of Maine, Roy Blunt of Missouri and Mark Kirk of Illinois.

But some moderate Democrats are remaining noncommittal and might oppose opening the gun debate, including Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who are seeking re-election next year.

Begich declined to directly state his position and said of Alaskans, "We like our guns."

There are 53 Senate Democrats and two independents who lean Democratic.

In a written statement, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said conservatives want to prevent Obama from rushing the legislation through Congress "because he knows that as Americans begin to find out what is in the bill, they will oppose it."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he will join the conservatives' attempt to block debate.

The bill would expand required federal background checks to nearly all gun transactions, stiffen penalties for illegal firearms trafficking and provide a small boost in school safety aid.

Eleven Sandy Hook family members representing eight of the shooting victims were on Capitol Hill to lobby senators from both parties for gun legislation, including Isakson.

"We bring a face to this tragedy," said Mark Barden, who lost his 7-year-old son, Daniel. "We bring a very personal perspective. People should listen to what we have to say and move the debate forward. It's not just about our tragedy. Lots of kids are killed every day in this nation. We have to help lead the change."

Some relatives had breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden at his residence in the Naval Observatory. Later, Biden spoke to law enforcement officials at the White House and told reporters that conservatives would not succeed in blocking debate.

"This is not one of these votes that they block a vote and somehow we're going to go away," Biden said. "The American public will not stand for it."

The president's gun-control proposals have hit opposition from the National Rifle Association, which was using the Internet and emails to urge its members ? it claims nearly 5 million ? to tell members of Congress of their opposition.

In GOP-heavy Louisiana, where Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is seeking re-election next year, the NRA wrote to its members, "Please contact Senator Landrieu and encourage her to oppose this anti-freedom legislation."

Counteracting that has been an effort by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, one of whose leaders is billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The group was running a television ad in Pennsylvania asking voters to contact Toomey and tell him to back expanded background checks. It also said it will keep track of key gun-related congressional roll calls and make the information available to voters and contributors ? a tactic long used by the NRA and other groups.

Manchin has been hoping for a deal with Toomey that would expand the requirement to sales at gun shows and online while exempting other transactions, such as those involving private, face-to-face purchases.

Currently, the checks are required only for sales through licensed gun dealers.

___

Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler, Jim Abrams, Andrew Miga and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-09-Gun%20Control-Congress/id-76a9a6b6d35047228ff0a04025b0dae4

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