ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) ? The chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines says his company will seek compensation from Boeing for the grounding of its 787 Dreamliner planes.
Tewolde Gebremariam told The Associated Press on Tuesday his company will soon start discussions with Boeing over compensation.
The airline grounded its four Dreamliners in January following the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration order for a safety review on the aircraft after incidents of overheating by its lithium batteries. Ethiopian Airlines began flying the 787s again last month.
Gebremariam said his company's focus had been on getting the Dreamliners back into service. Now that they are flying again, the company's next step is to start compensation discussions with Boeing.
Boeing couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Touchscreen displays are common features in modern cars, but many add frustration instead of easing it. The default explanation is that the technology is new (some of it is), but the first touchscreen system available in a production car dates back to the 1986 Buick Riviera's Graphic Control Center. Unlike contemporary LCD screens with high-resolution graphics and colors, the GCC was a cathode-ray tube with a green-and-black screen reminiscent of an old ATM's. The 3 x 4?inch display allowed the driver to control electronic settings such as the trip, radio, and climate with just a touch. While the GCC was undeniably ahead of its time and spread to the Buick Reatta, the carmaker dropped the system in 1990 after owners found it onerous and distracting. When PM reviewed the 1986 Riviera T Type and its touchscreen display, we were impressed with the technology but found that it "violates the First Commandment of ergonomics?you must take your eyes off the road to make any adjustments." Sound familiar?
Some critics have seen 'Star Trek Into Darkness' early. What's the reaction to the new 'Star Trek' film?
By Sandy Schaefer,?Screen Rant / May 6, 2013
'Star Trek Into Darkness' stars (from l. to r.) Chris Pine, Alice Eve, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana.
Jon Furniss/Invision/AP
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Paramount is going to release director J.J. Abrams??Star Trek Into Darkness into U.S. theaters later this month. It will arrive four years after Abrams proved able to breath fresh life into the geek-favorite sci-fi franchise ? which is nearing the 50 years of existence (and relevance) benchmark ? with his critically-acclaimed and lucrative cinematic reboot.
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Screen Rant had a humble start back in 2003 as a place to rant about some of the dumber stuff related to the movie industry. Since then, the site has grown to cover more and more TV and movie news (and not just the dumb stuff) along with sometimes controversial movie reviews. The goal at Screen Rant is to cover stories and review movies from a middle ground/average person perspective.
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Does the final result justify the, by and large, highly-secretive marking buildup (maybe less secretive in recent weeks)? We?ve collected together informative excerpts from the initial wave of Star Trek Into Darkness reviews to arrive online, so you can hear it straight from the horses? mouth.
For the full reviews, click on the respective links below (NOTE: These excerpts are all?SPOILER-FREE):
The Guardian
Director?JJ Abrams?has followed up his sensational 2009?Star Trek?reboot with a sparkling 3D sequel? And the flashes of crackling, knowing comedy have been retained, punctuating the shuddering fight scenes and chase sequences that are the very currency of the action blockbuster? Everyone is a little more battered, a little less dewy-eyed. People are unlikely to charge out of the cinema with quite the same level of glee as they did in 2009; but this is certainly an astute, exhilarating concoction.
Time Out London
?Star Trek Into Darkness? is a brisk, no-nonsense sci-fi action sequel built around a conflict between the crew of the Starship Enterprise with a slick, slippery new villain, John Harrison [who?s] played with relish and poise by Benedict Cumberbatch? The result [this time] is a stop-gap tale that?s modest, fun and briefly amusing rather than one that breaks new ground or offers hugely memorable set pieces.
The Telegraph
[The 2009 'Star Trek' reboot] represented a fresh start for the Trek canon, and was fired by a swashbuckling spirit and full-blooded sense of adventure??This sequel starts in the same confident frame of mind, but after around 45 minutes it finds a comfortable spot [and] reverts to old bad habits?.?A large portion of Star Trek?s audience may well be satisfied by a film that amounts to not much more than an incredibly pretty and sporadically funny in-joke. [But] that pioneer spirit? It?s gone.
Film Ink
And so, after all the hype, the secrecy and the manipulations of the marketing machine, the final question remains; is the film any good? Thankfully the answer, for the most part, is a resounding yes??Visually, Star Trek Into Darkness?is stunning? And yes, J.J.?s trademark lens flare runs rampant once again, which occasionally plays havoc with the film?s otherwise impressive 3D transfer? [This] is a?big film, building on the foundations of its predecessor and holding true to the nature of the franchise. Combining humour, action and drama, Abrams once again delivers an original experience that feels nostalgic without any hint of being either stagnant nor stale. It?s an impressive feat, and one worth catching on the big screen.
Yahoo's Marissa Mayer and other CEOs have called a time-out on telecommuting. It's clear that just as some workers thrive on their own and some need to be in an office, some types work are better done in isolation and others in collaboration. It's also clear that telecommuting is only going to increase in the years to come.
By John Yemma,?Editor / May 7, 2013
Employees at 2U, a distributor of online courses, enjoy the togetherness of office work in New York.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
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Who would have thought that well into the second decade of the 21st century water-cooler seminars and hallway chitchat would be held up as the unique value proposition of an office? But thanks to Yahoo?s Marissa Mayer and other managers who have newfound qualms about telecommuting, the serendipitous conversations and informal collaborations that take place in an office ? sometimes also called slacking and breeze-shooting ? are being touted as the secret sauce of business.?
Skip to next paragraph John Yemma
Editor, The Christian Science Monitor
John Yemma is Editor of The Christian Science Monitor, which publishes international news and analysis at?CSMonitor.com, in the?Monitor Weekly?newsmagazine, and in an email-delivered?Daily News Briefing. He can be reached at editor@csmonitor.com.
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There is something to that. Silicon Valley in California; Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass.; and other tech incubation districts are famous for their pizza parties, foosball tables, and networking mixers. Proximity is the point. But at the same time, technology and demographics are driving telecommuting. Which trend will win??
In a Monitor cover story, Eilene Zimmerman digs into that question, paying close attention to the trade-offs: human contact versus isolation, teamwork versus concentration, the distraction of co-workers versus the distraction of the fridge. Whichever camp you are in ? happily productive in your pj?s 24/7 or success-dressed and hopping from conference room to brainstorming session Monday through Friday ? you know there are pros and cons. Working side by side is good for some people and some projects; concentration and quiet are good for others. And there are plenty of jobs where showing up will always be necessary. Remote plumbing, policing, and nursing will never really cut it.?
Let?s imagine what work might look like a decade from now. First, set aside technological what ifs and meet the workers. As Eilene notes, Generations X and Y have a distinctly different view of the daily commute, the structured workday, and the value of water-cooler socializing than their predecessors. For them, the personal and professional blend. The office, while attractive in some regards, is not a place to rely on for job security or social gratification. In short, digital natives are predisposed to telecommuting.
By 2023, this new breed of workers will anchor the workforce, and telecommuting technology will have advanced by 10 years, bringing ever closer the possibility of seamless ?telepresence? from wherever people are. Human contact will still be important, however, and smart managers will make sure that occurs. But fighting traffic and clocking in every day looks like an idea whose time is passing.
If telecommuting is still novel, even controversial, in today?s workplace, it will be normal in tomorrow?s. The real challenge is how to manage it.
?John Yemma is editor of the Monitor. He can be reached at editor@csmonitor.com.
New Jersey poker pro Daniel Buzgon (GPI#116) has been a member of the GPI 300 since October of 2011. ?With the hours he puts in grinding the live tournament, one can wonder how Buzgon finds time to field a team on Fantasy Poker Manager at every event- but he does ? and he?s been quite successful so far.
I met up with Daniel during the Day 1C dinner break here at the Playground Poker Club near Montreal where he is fighting his way into Day 2 play at the PartyPoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship.
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Thanks for taking the time. ?Let?s start with how things have gone for you here in Montreal, you?re on your third bullet?
I think I?ve been playing pretty well it?s just the last level of Day 1A and 1B have not been pleasant.? Day 1A I lasted until the last 10 minutes to go in the night and then yesterday, I had 80K going into the last level and busted on the very last hand so it?s a little discouraging but these are things you can?t control.
You?re a Top 30 Fantasy Poker Manager, how have you liked the game so far?
It?s been fun, I?ve always liked fantasy sports but I don?t really follow a sport close enough to be competitive.? With poker, I?ve played with many of these guys, it gives me a little edge to know player values.
What?s your strategy when making your picks? ?Do you pile up with the big boys and girls and then fill your roster with value players or do you balance things out?
I guess it depends on the field of the tournament.? With this field (in Montreal), Christian Harder should be a lock with that chip count.? Even if he?s at around 300,000 points, his consistency is second to none.? It?s picks like that that make you win.
You can either get a few home run hitters than can win this or you can pick players who will cash on a consistent basis.
You have been playing several events on the World Poker Tour for the past few months, how do you explain the Matt Salsberg?phenomena?
I?ve started just keeping him on the team.? What he?s been doing is unprecedented.? I got to play with him last week in Jacksonville two tables left.? He just keeps grinding it out, I don?t know how he does it, and it?s impressive.
Do you have any dark horse picks for us?
Off the top of my head, I cannot think of anyone.? But there are so many out there that don?t play tournaments, they just play cash games on the side, they don?t have these results on the ranking system.
That?s one of the benefits, I know a lot of (those) guys or they?re friends of friends so it?s easier for me to see them on leaderboard and see the true value instead of the 10,000 value.
The World Series of Poker is right around the corner, are you starting to get excited?
Next week I?ll be excited.? I?m kind of poker-ed out at the moment.? I?m going to take a few weeks off and get ready for another two months, should be exciting.
Putting you on the spot, why should fans think of you when making their teams for the WSOP?
I?m a consistent player; I?ll go deep a decent amount of times with a good chance to cash.? I?ll probably be playing 20-25 events, hopefully less (with final tables and deep runs!)
?
Thank you, Daniel, best of luck the rest of the way!
Be sure to follow Tim on Twitter @WiLDmAn_75.
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Ready to add Daniel to your FPM team? ?Head on over to Facebook and signup to play the?GPI Fantasy Poker Manager?? ?FPM is the official Fantasy game of the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker!
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More news and updates? on our?facebook page. You can also?follow us on Twitter!
'If I'm lying and I chose not to come out, that's my choice ,' DJ says after he was arrested for allegedly soliciting a male prostitute. By Rob Markman
May 6, 2013 ? Brown University scientists have found that a species of bat uses blood flow to reshape its tongue while feeding. The quick dynamic action makes the tongue an effective "mop" for nectar and could even inspire new industrial designs.
Nectar-feeding bats and busy janitors have at least two things in common: They want to wipe up as much liquid as they can as fast as they can, and they have specific equipment for the job. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes the previously undiscovered technology employed by the bat Glossophaga soricina: a tongue tip that uses blood flow to erect scores of little hair-like structures exactly at the right time to slurp up extra nectar from within a flower.
The bat's "hemodynamic nectar mop," as the paper dubs the tongue tip, features speed and reliability that industrial designers might envy, said lead author Cally Harper, a graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University. As a matter of what nature can evolve, she said, the tongue tip is surprisingly clever.
"Typically, hydraulic structures in nature tend to be slow like the tube-feet in starfish," Harper said. "But these bat tongues are extremely rapid because the vascular system that erects the hair-like papillae is embedded within a muscular hydrostat, which is a fancy term for muscular, constant-volume structures like tongues, elephant trunks and squid tentacles."
In other words, the bat's cylindrical tongue has a mesh of muscle fibers that contract so that the tongue becomes thinner but longer (extending farther into the flower). The discovery reported in the paper is that the same muscle contraction simultaneously squeezes blood into the tiny hair-like papillae.
As blood is displaced to the tongue tip, the papillae flare out perpendicular to the axis of the tongue. In their erect state, they not only add exposed surface area, but also width, allowing the tongue to function as a highly effective nectar gathering device.
The entire extension and retraction of the tongue tip occurs within an eighth of a second. Hovering requires a lot of energy, so nectar-feeding bats must get a lot of calories quickly for it to be worthwhile.
Scientists knew about the papillae before this paper, but had always thought they were as passive as the strings on a floor mop. Recent insights by other scientists into the mechanics of hummingbird tongues prompted Harper to take a closer look at the shape of the tongue tip in bats and how it is involved in gathering nectar.
In detailed anatomical studies, Harper was able to observe clear vascular connections between the main arteries and veins of the tongue and the papillae. In experiments she could get them to erect by pumping in saline.
But the color videos of bats feeding on nectar, while challenging to create, Harper said, were especially convincing.
"That was one of my favorite parts of the study -- the Aha moment," she said. "We shot color high-speed video of the bats gathering nectar, which is challenging to obtain because color cameras require a lot of light and the one thing that bats don't like is a lot of light."
But along with professors and senior co-authors Beth Brainerd and Sharon Swartz, Harper figured out how to focus a lot of light right where the tongue tip would be without shining any of that light into the bats' eyes.
What Harper could then see is that when the papillae extend, they turn from a light pink to a bright red as they fill with blood.
"That was really the icing on the cake as far as nailing this vascular hypothesis," Harper said.
Harper said she does not know for sure whether other nectar-feeding bats also have blood-activated papillae on their similar-looking tongues. The honey possum might also employ the idea, the authors speculate in PNAS.
Other species such as hummingbirds and bees employ different rapid means of morphing their tongues for improved nectar feeding. Any or all of these highly evolved designs, the authors speculate, could give people technological inspiration.
"Together these three systems could serve as valuable models for the development of miniature surgical robots that are flexible, can change length and have dynamic surface configurations," Harper, Brainerd and Swartz wrote.
Or maybe the discovery can just be applied to making one heck of a mop.
Funding for the study came from Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society, the American Microscopical Society, The Bushnell Graduate Research and Education Fund, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-07-1-0540) and the National Science Foundation (1052700 and 0723392).
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Three women, two of them missing for a decade since they were teens in Cleveland, have been found alive, according to police.A 52-year-old man has been arrested, police say. The women were being treated at the hospital. One of the women reportedly had a baby since she came up missing, according to reports.?
One of the women, Amanda Berry, was last heard from in 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from the Burger King restaurant where she worked, reported the Cleveland TV station WEWS. She was to turn 17 the day after she disappeared.
The other woman, Gina DeJesus, was 14 when she went missing on April 2, 2004. She was walking home from school.
The third woman, Michelle Knight, 32, was missing since she was 20.
Ariel Castro, the owner of the home where the women were found, has been arrested, according to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. Live TV reports showed hundreds of people and media gathered outside the Cleveland home, where the women were found.?
The women all "seem to be in good health," Cleveland police reported. Police have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday.
It's Monday, and you know what that means; another Engadget HD Podcast. We hope you will join us live when the Engadget HD podcast starts recording at 8:30PM. If you'll be joining us, be sure to go ahead and get ready by reviewing the list of topics after the break, then you'll be ready to participate in the live chat.
BERLIN (AP) ? A 93-year-old man who was deported from the U.S. for lying about his Nazi past was arrested by German authorities Monday on allegations he served as an Auschwitz death camp guard, Stuttgart prosecutors said.
Hans Lipschis was taken into custody after authorities concluded there was "compelling evidence" he was involved in crimes at Auschwitz while there from 1941 to 1945, prosecutor Claudia Krauth said.
Lipschis has acknowledged being assigned to an SS guard unit at Auschwitz but maintains he only served as a cook and was not involved in any war crimes.
Krauth said, however, that a judge upheld her office's request for an arrest warrant after concluding there was enough evidence to hold him before charges on accessory to murder are brought. Bringing formal charges, a process similar to a U.S. grand jury indictment, would take another two months, she said.
In the meantime, Krauth said a doctor has confirmed Lipschis' health remains good enough for him to be kept in detention.
Lipschis does not currently have an attorney, and a public defender has not yet been appointed, she said.
Lipschis was deported from the U.S. in 1983 for lying about his Nazi past when he immigrated to Chicago in the 1950s after the war.
With no evidence linking him to specific war crimes, however, it was impossible under previous German law to bring charges against him in Germany.
But the case is now being pursued on the same legal theory used to prosecute former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk, who died last year while appealing his 2011 conviction in Germany for accessory to murder on the grounds that he served as a guard at the Sobibor death camp.
Under the new line of thinking, even without proof of participation in a specific crime, a person who served at a death camp can be charged with accessory to murder because the camp's sole function was to kill people.
Even though the Demjanjuk conviction is not considered legally binding because he died before his appeals were exhausted, the special German prosecutors' office that deals with Nazi crimes has said that about 50 other people in the same category are being investigated.
Efraim Zuroff, the chief Nazi hunter with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called the arrest of Lipschis ? who is No. 4 on his current list of "most wanted Nazi war criminals" ? a good start.
"This is a very positive step, we welcome the arrest," he said in a telephone interview from Israel. "I hope this will only be the first of many arrests, trials and convictions of death camp guards."
In an interview last month with Die Welt newspaper at his home in southwestern Germany, Lipschis said he spent his entire time as a cook and had witnessed none of the atrocities. He did say, however, that he "heard about" what was going on.
About 1.5 million people, primarily Jews, were killed at the Auschwitz camp complex between 1940 and 1945.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Slower growth in the pace of U.S. healthcare spending reflects a fundamental change in the use of medical services that could save the country nearly $800 billion in the next decade, according to two new studies released on Monday.
The research, published in the journal Health Affairs, disputes the claim that a slowdown in the rise of spending in the last few years was mostly due to a weak economy and high jobless rate that forced many Americans to cut back on trips to the doctor, use of medications and elective surgeries.
Instead, the studies conclude, everything from consumer price shopping to patent expirations on brand name drugs is transforming the world's most expensive healthcare system in ways that will constrain costs for years to come.
If their argument proves correct, the Medicare health plan for the elderly could pay out $401 billion less in 2021 than government actuaries have projected, one of the studies calculates, while total spending over the period from 2013 to 2022 would be $770 billion less.
That would reduce the pressure to make draconian changes such as raising the Medicare-eligibility age and could provide a boost to President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul.
"It's not an overstatement to say that if we solve the healthcare spending problem we solve the federal deficit," said health economist Martin Gaynor of Carnegie Mellon University, who was not involved in the new research.
Early in the last decade, healthcare spending increased 5.7 percent annually. But from 2010 to 2012, it rose only 0.9 percent a year.
The recession and continued unemployment, causing job-related insurance loss and strained finances, did keep people from going to doctors, filling prescriptions and undergoing elective surgery, according to economists David Cutler and Nikhil Sanhi of Harvard University.
But those one-off changes accounted for only 37 percent of the slowdown between 2003 and 2012, they report in Health Affairs. A decline in private insurance coverage and cuts to some Medicare payment rates accounted for a bit more.
What the economists call "a host of fundamental changes" drove the majority of the spending slowdown. Among them: fewer expensive new imaging technologies, fewer pricey new drugs and the expiration of patents on many expensive ones, patients shouldering more of the cost of care through high-deductible insurance plans, and greater efficiency by doctors and hospitals.
There are hopeful signs that might continue. Medications accounting for one-sixth of spending on prescription drugs will lose patent protection in the next five years, opening the door to cheaper generics. And more surgeries are being done on an outpatient basis, which is cheaper than a hospital stay, a trend also likely to persist.
David Cordani, president and chief executive of health insurance giant Cigna Corp, told the Reuters Health Summit on Monday that another force is at work: patients can find out where to get a $500 MRI for a battered knee rather than an identical $3,000 one, and higher-deductible insurance policies give them an incentive to seek out the $500 one.
"I believe consumer-directed plans and this information transparency are the largest drivers" of moderating healthcare spending, Cordani said. "Whether or not it's a new normal, I don't know.
HIGHER DEDUCTIBLES AND CO-PAYS
More patients have a financial incentive to find the $500 MRI: since 2006, 24 percent more workers have insurance policies with a deductible greater than $1,000 for an individual, Cutler and Sanhi report. Co-payments for doctor visits have also risen: 47 percent of plans have a co-pay greater than $25 for primary care, up from 20 percent in 2006.
Partly as a result of cost shifting to patients, physician visits fell 17 percent from spring of 2009 through the spring of 2011. There is a limit to how few doctor visits people can have, but experts suspect we are nowhere near that yet.
"When people are first exposed to the cost of medical services" through higher co-pays and the like, "they're a little bit like deer in the headlights," said Mike Thompson of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. "But over time they get better at choosing services," which suggests the slowdown in healthcare spending increases will continue.
The brakes are also being applied by providers cutting waste and reducing hospital errors, infections and re-admissions, he said. Hospital-acquired illness and avoidable readmissions account for 5 percent of U.S. healthcare spending.
"It's an uphill fight to change the supply side in a fee-for-service healthcare system," Thompson said, "but I think we're only in the infancy of these efforts," which means there is more room for reining in spending.
The conclusion that the recession explains 37 percent of the slowdown in healthcare spending is at odds with a study released last month, which attributes 77 percent of the reduced growth in healthcare spending to the economy.
"But we're in agreement that the economy is not the only factor in the historic slowdown in spending," said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation, who led that study. "It's difficult to pinpoint the precise reasons" for the brake on spending growth, "but we clearly have made changes in the health system that are keeping costs down."
In a second study in Health Affairs, researchers conclude that both the recession and higher deductibles explain only some of the moderation in medical spending.
"What I personally believe is that there has been something of a change in the culture of providers, with doctors becoming more cost-conscious," said Michael Chernew, professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, who led the study.
That might be reflected in the campaign by medical specialty groups to urge their members to cut back on tests and procedures that do not benefit patients. It is too soon, however, to know if this "Choosing Wisely" campaign, which began last year, is affecting how doctors practice.
NEW YORK (AP) -- High taxes have emerged as the No. 1 weapon in the war on smoking. The more cigarettes cost, research has shown, the fewer people buy them. That is one of the reasons six states are considering proposals to hike tobacco taxes.
But the effectiveness of that strategy is being undercut in the home of the nation's highest tobacco taxes ? New York City ? by light penalties for merchants caught selling cheap cigarettes smuggled in from low-tax states.
Of the 1,105 licensed tobacco retailers inspected by New York City's sheriff last year, 586 had cigarettes in their inventories that had been purchased on the black market, according to the city's Finance Department.
Evidence of tax evasion is literally all over the ground in some neighborhoods.
An Associated Press reporter who took a short stroll up the Grand Concourse in the Bronx recently picking up discarded packs found that 6 out of 10 had a tax stamp from Virginia. Some had no stamps at all. Only 1 in 10 had a stamp indicating that the pack was purchased legally within the city limits.
The reason for so many out-of-state packs is simple: A bootlegger who stuffs a van with 50 cases of cigarettes in Virginia, where the tax is 30 cents a pack, can evade $166,500 in tariffs by selling that load in New York City, where the combined city and state tax is $5.85.
And the penalty for getting caught has historically been low. Shops caught selling untaxed cigarettes currently face fines of around $150 per carton.
That will change in June, when the penalty goes up to $600 per carton as a result of budget legislation recently signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The New York City Council held a hearing Thursday on a bill that would also create a city fine of $2,000 for selling untaxed cigarettes. A second offense would lead to a $5,000 fine and mandatory revocation of the retailer's cigarette license if it occurs within three years of the first offense. The bill would also allow the city to shut merchants for 60 days for selling untaxed cigarettes.
But Finance Commissioner David Frankel is concerned that even those increased penalties won't be enough. Most merchants who sell bootleg cigarettes, he said, "think of our enforcement efforts as the cost of doing business."
Part of the issue, he said, are quirks in state and city law that make it unlikely that business owners caught selling modest amounts of contraband will feel any serious pain. Under the current system, fines usually have to be assessed on the clerk who makes the sale rather than the store owner.
"We are entitled to arrest the clerk who is on duty. The 20-year-old who is just sitting there ... I don't get to go after the guy who is really doing it," Frankel said.
Last year, investigators working for New York City Sheriff Edgar Domenech seized 4,814 cartons of contraband cigarettes during spot inspections. They also made 15 arrests and issued 122 summonses. But because the city has no practical system in place for taking administrative action against retailers for tax violations, those operations didn't result in any businesses losing their license to sell cigarettes, the finance department said.
Frankel said New York City officials plan to seek state legislation in the coming weeks to give authorities greater enforcement power.
The details are still being worked out, but Frankel said the city would like to lower the number of cartons of untaxed cigarettes a person is allowed to have for "personal use" without facing any penalty ? now set at five. He said the city would also like tougher sanctions for store owners, rather than a system of fines that targets low-paid clerks.
New York state officials already have the power to suspend or fine retailers caught selling contraband cigarettes, but it isn't clear how often that happens.
Of the 18,300 cigarette retailers in the state, fewer than 70 currently have their registrations suspended, according to an Internet database maintained by the state Department of Taxation and Finance.
A spokesman for the department, Geoff Gloak, refused to say how many, if any, of those suspensions were related to tax evasion as opposed to other offenses such as selling tobacco to minors. "As a policy, we don't release information about our investigations or enforcement program," he said.
Lawmakers in several states are now weighing legislation to increase cigarette taxes, including Minnesota, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, California and Connecticut. President Barack Obama has also proposed an increase in the federal tobacco tax.
Officials in Virginia have taken action this year in an attempt to stem that state's flow of illegal cigarettes. State lawmakers recently passed legislation making it a criminal offense for unauthorized individuals to possess more than 25 cartons of cigarettes at a time.
That will at least make things more difficult on some smugglers, who in the past have been able to walk into warehouse retailers and walk out with 1,000 cartons or more.
In the meantime, New York City plans to roughly double the size of its relatively anemic enforcement staff, which now consists of five sheriff's deputies, two fraud investigators and a lieutenant.
The City Council is also considering legislation to raise the minimum age to purchase cigarettes from 18 to 21, and another that would prohibit merchants from displaying the packs of cigarettes that are for sale. Merchandise would have to be kept in a cabinet or behind a counter instead.
Jim Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, said he had no problem with tougher penalties for merchants who turn to smugglers to evade high taxes.
But he thought that infractions by licensed detailers were few, compared to a burgeoning underground trade by unregistered bootleggers who sell out of backpacks, apartments and the trunks of their cars.
"The problem is the alternative sources of cigarettes," he said. "And who is holding the unlicensed, unregulated, untaxed sellers of cigarettes accountable? No one."
Study evaluates effect of different supplements on reducing risk of progression to advanced AMDPublic release date: 5-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jean Horrigan jh@nei.nih.gov 301-496-5248 The JAMA Network Journals
In a large, multicenter, randomized clinical trial that included persons at high risk for progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD), adding the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, or both to a formulation of antioxidant vitamins and minerals that has shown effectiveness in reducing risk did not further reduce risk of progression to advanced AMD, according to a study published by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.
"Age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, accounts for more than 50 percent of all blindness in United States," according to background information in the article. In 2004 it was estimated that 8 million individuals had intermediate AMD and approximately 2 million had advanced AMD, with no effective proven therapies for atrophic AMD. "Without more effective ways of slowing progression, the number of persons with advanced AMD is expected to double over the next 20 years, resulting in increasing socioeconomic burden," the authors write. "Oral supplementation with the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) formulation (antioxidant vitamins C, E, and beta carotene and zinc) has been shown to reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD. Observational data suggest that increased dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin, omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] and eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA]), or both might further reduce this risk."
Emily Y. Chew, M.D., of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues with the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2) Research Group examined whether adding lutein + zeaxanthin, DHA + EPA, or both to the AREDS formulation might further reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD. A secondary goal was to evaluate the effect of eliminating beta carotene, lowering zinc doses, or both in the AREDS formulation. AREDS2, a multicenter, randomized phase 3 study was conducted in 2006-2012, enrolling 4,203 participants 50 to 85 years of age at risk for progression to advanced AMD with bilateral large drusen (tiny yellow or white deposits in the retina of the eye or on the optic nerve head) or large drusen in 1 eye and advanced AMD in the fellow eye.
Participants were randomized to receive lutein (10 mg) and zeaxanthin (2 mg), DHA (350 mg) + EPA (650 mg), lutein + zeaxanthin and DHA + EPA, or placebo. All participants were also asked to take the original AREDS formulation or accept a secondary randomization to 4 variations of the AREDS formulation, including elimination of beta carotene, lowering of zinc dose, or both.
A total of 1,608 participants had experienced at least 1 advanced AMD event by the end of the study (1,940 events in 6,891 study eyes). The researchers found that the probabilities of progression to advanced AMD by 5 years were 31 percent for placebo, 29 percent for lutein + zeaxanthin, 31 percent for DHA + EPA, and 30 percent for lutein + zeaxanthin and DHA + EPA. In the primary analyses, comparisons with placebo demonstrated no statistically significant reductions in progression to advanced AMD.
"There was no apparent effect of beta carotene elimination or lower-dose zinc on progression to advanced AMD. More lung cancers were noted in the beta carotene vs. no beta carotene group (23 [2 percent] vs. 11 [0.9 percent]), mostly in former smokers," the authors write.
None of the nutrients affected development of moderate or worse vision loss.
The researchers add that "these null results may be attributable to the true lack of efficacy. Other factors to consider include inadequate dose, inadequate duration of treatment, or both."
"Based on apparent risks of beta carotene and possible benefits that are only evident within exploratory subgroup analyses, lutein + zeaxanthin requires further investigation for potential inclusion in the AREDS supplements."
###
(doi:10.1001/jama.2013.4997; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
There will also be a digital news release available for this study, including the JAMA Report video, embedded and downloadable video, audio files, text, documents, and related links. This content will be available at 6 p.m. CT Sunday, May 5 at this link.
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Study evaluates effect of different supplements on reducing risk of progression to advanced AMDPublic release date: 5-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jean Horrigan jh@nei.nih.gov 301-496-5248 The JAMA Network Journals
In a large, multicenter, randomized clinical trial that included persons at high risk for progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD), adding the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, or both to a formulation of antioxidant vitamins and minerals that has shown effectiveness in reducing risk did not further reduce risk of progression to advanced AMD, according to a study published by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.
"Age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, accounts for more than 50 percent of all blindness in United States," according to background information in the article. In 2004 it was estimated that 8 million individuals had intermediate AMD and approximately 2 million had advanced AMD, with no effective proven therapies for atrophic AMD. "Without more effective ways of slowing progression, the number of persons with advanced AMD is expected to double over the next 20 years, resulting in increasing socioeconomic burden," the authors write. "Oral supplementation with the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) formulation (antioxidant vitamins C, E, and beta carotene and zinc) has been shown to reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD. Observational data suggest that increased dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin, omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] and eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA]), or both might further reduce this risk."
Emily Y. Chew, M.D., of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues with the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2) Research Group examined whether adding lutein + zeaxanthin, DHA + EPA, or both to the AREDS formulation might further reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD. A secondary goal was to evaluate the effect of eliminating beta carotene, lowering zinc doses, or both in the AREDS formulation. AREDS2, a multicenter, randomized phase 3 study was conducted in 2006-2012, enrolling 4,203 participants 50 to 85 years of age at risk for progression to advanced AMD with bilateral large drusen (tiny yellow or white deposits in the retina of the eye or on the optic nerve head) or large drusen in 1 eye and advanced AMD in the fellow eye.
Participants were randomized to receive lutein (10 mg) and zeaxanthin (2 mg), DHA (350 mg) + EPA (650 mg), lutein + zeaxanthin and DHA + EPA, or placebo. All participants were also asked to take the original AREDS formulation or accept a secondary randomization to 4 variations of the AREDS formulation, including elimination of beta carotene, lowering of zinc dose, or both.
A total of 1,608 participants had experienced at least 1 advanced AMD event by the end of the study (1,940 events in 6,891 study eyes). The researchers found that the probabilities of progression to advanced AMD by 5 years were 31 percent for placebo, 29 percent for lutein + zeaxanthin, 31 percent for DHA + EPA, and 30 percent for lutein + zeaxanthin and DHA + EPA. In the primary analyses, comparisons with placebo demonstrated no statistically significant reductions in progression to advanced AMD.
"There was no apparent effect of beta carotene elimination or lower-dose zinc on progression to advanced AMD. More lung cancers were noted in the beta carotene vs. no beta carotene group (23 [2 percent] vs. 11 [0.9 percent]), mostly in former smokers," the authors write.
None of the nutrients affected development of moderate or worse vision loss.
The researchers add that "these null results may be attributable to the true lack of efficacy. Other factors to consider include inadequate dose, inadequate duration of treatment, or both."
"Based on apparent risks of beta carotene and possible benefits that are only evident within exploratory subgroup analyses, lutein + zeaxanthin requires further investigation for potential inclusion in the AREDS supplements."
###
(doi:10.1001/jama.2013.4997; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
There will also be a digital news release available for this study, including the JAMA Report video, embedded and downloadable video, audio files, text, documents, and related links. This content will be available at 6 p.m. CT Sunday, May 5 at this link.
[ | 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.
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He had just given up a broken-bat single to Brett Gardner and thrown a wild pitch to Robinson Cano, moving the potential tying run to second base with two outs in the ninth inning.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin called for an intentional walk.
"I don't make the decisions. He felt that that was the decision to make. That's not really for me to answer on this stuff," the Athletics closer said.
Up came Vernon Wells, 6 for 12 with two homers and two doubles against Balfour in his career.
Balfour fell behind 2-1 in the count, got two foul balls, then got Wells to swing over a 92 mph fastball, saving Oakland's 5-4 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday.
"I guess I got lucky today facing Wells then, with the history," Balfour said.
Andy Pettitte had his second straight shaky outing for New York, allowing Luke Montz's solo home in the fourth - his first in 4 1-2 years - and Yoenis Cespedes' two-run homer in the fifth. After the Yankees rallied in the sixth against Jerry Blevins to tie the score 4-4, Josh Donaldson homered into the left-field second deck in the eighth off Boone Logan (2-2).
Balfour retired Chris Nelson on a lineout to right and struck out pinch-hitter Brennan Boesch before Gardner's hit. Cano, 4 for 12 against Balfour, took a called strike before the reliever bounced a curveball, which nicked the wrist of catcher Derek Norris, temporarily creating some numbness.
Melvin didn't hesitate to call for the walk.
"Trust me, I know it's 6 for 12 and two homers sitting right behind him," he said, "but in this ballpark and the way Cano is swinging, it was a better option for me."
Balfour got his fifth save and his 23rd in a row in a streak that began on May 5 last year.
He would have rather ended the game by retiring Cano, who leads the Yankees with eight home runs.
"I was fired up. I want to face him. I want to get him out," Balfour said. "It was a 1-1 count. I felt good about it. Like I said, it was Bob's decision to make."
Sean Doolittle (2-0) pitched a perfect seventh, and Ryan Cook got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth by striking out Jayson Nix and retiring Lyle Overbay on a flyout to deep center. Oakland has won seven of its last 10 games against the Yankees.
"I've been through so many unnerving ninths, either here or in the other ballpark, that I know you literally have to play 27 outs and three strikes on the last out to get a win here," Melvin said.
New York, missing five regular starters who are on the disabled list, lost for just the third time on its 10-game homestand.
"We had chances in the eighth and the ninth," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I assumed we might get it done."
Oakland went ahead in the third on Cano's throwing error at second, then he tied it with an RBI single in the bottom half.
Montz, called up from the minors after Coco Crisp and Chris Young were injured in Tuesday's 19-inning win against the Los Angeles Angels, homered leading off the fourth. It was just his second big league homer and first since Sept. 28, 2008, for Washington.
"2008 seems like a long time ago. It felt like my first one again today," he said. "Being at Yankee Stadium against Pettitte, made it that much more impressive. Big game, big win."
Cespedes homered into the visiting bullpen in left for a 4-1 lead in the fifth. After he crossed the plate and exchanged high-fives with teammates, he waved to his mother, Estela Milanes, who was sitting behind the third-base dugout. The Cuban defector was reunited with his family members earlier this year.
New York tied the score in the sixth, when Oakland starter Dan Straily allowed Cano's leadoff single and a one-out walk to Travis Hafner. While Straily had thrown just 85 pitches, Melvin brought in left-hander Jerry Blevins to face Ichiro Suzuki, 6 for 16 off him coming in.
"I was a bit shocked," said Straily, who respected Melvin's decision.
Suzuki reached out to hook an RBI double to right and Nix struck out, but Overbay fouled off three two-strike pitches and singled softly to center, driving in two runs.
"I just didn't want him out there and a couple more guys get on," Melvin said. "Blevins has been so good for us in those situations."
NOTES: Josh Reddick had been 0 for 33 at new Yankee Stadium before doubling to lead off the ninth. ... Oakland is 13-4 when Cespedes starts, 5-10 when he doesn't. He has two homers and nine RBIs since coming off the DL on April 28. "Even when he's not swinging well, he makes everybody in the lineup better," Melvin said. "You know you're more apt to pass the baton and not feel like you have to be the guy to knock in runs and be the guy." ... The A's won their season series at Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2007.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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CSN: Stephen Strasburg's final line looked pedestrian by his standards, but he saw enough in his most recent outing to feel like he's turning the corner.
When we reviewed Lenovo's IdeaTab S2109, one quote sums up the essential frustration of this particular device. "There's no one huge, glaring reason to stay away; no, it's the combination of a middling CPU, unimpressive battery life and design quirks [...] that adds up to an experience that leaves us wanting more." So let's talk about why this device inspires so much apathy? If you bought it, what about it made it so unspectacular, and what do you think Lenovo could have done differently?
BEIRUT (AP) ? Israel's military has deployed a rocket defense system to the north of the country following reported Israeli airstrikes in neighboring Syria targeting weapons believed to be destined for Lebanon's Hezbollah militants.
The military said it moved two Iron Dome batteries Sunday as part of "ongoing situational assessments."
The move came hours after Israel carried out what an intelligence official said was an airstrike in Damascus that attacked a shipment of Iranian-made missiles bound for Hezbollah.
It was the second Israeli strike in three days.
The stepped-up Israeli activity has raised tensions with Syria, Hezbollah and the group's Iranian backers.
Iron Dome protects against short-range rockets. Hezbollah has thousands of such projectiles.
May 3, 2013 ? These delicate wisps of gas make up an object known as SNR B0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. The thin, blood-red shells are actually the remnants from when an unstable progenitor star exploded violently as a supernova around 600 years ago. There are several types of supernovae, but for SNR 0519 the star that exploded is known to have been a white dwarf star -- a Sun-like star in the final stages of its life.
SNR 0519 is located over 150 000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish), a constellation that also contains most of our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Because of this, this region of the sky is full of intriguing and beautiful deep sky objects.
The LMC orbits the Milky Way galaxy as a satellite and is the fourth largest in our group of galaxies, the Local Group. SNR 0519 is not alone in the LMC; the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope also came across a similar bauble a few years ago in SNR B0509-67.5, a supernova of the same type as SNR 0519 with a strikingly similar appearance.
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If Google is worried about Google Glass being too "nerdy", they probably wouldn't be sending people rockin' the Glass into the heart of the most gloriously nerdy thing in the world, the Large Hadron Collider. Fortunately, Google doesn't seem to care (nor should they) if their amazing little experiment gets a few knocks along the way. As a result, we get videos like this one.
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Public release date: 5-May-2013
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If Google is worried about Google Glass