Supplemental Disability Insurance

Supplemental disability insurance could be ideal to invest in, especially when you need a longer period of leave from your job such as during pregnancy, injury or sickness. As the name suggests, it is supplementary to short-term disability plan. It is ideal when you have bigger responsibilities on your shoulders while away from your work. Unlike short-term disability policies, supplementary excludes you being under doctor?s survey or continuous care. Further, your benefits can start post-waiting period depending on what you choose, which could be either from one week to 6 months.

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Eligibility:

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Eligibility rests on employment type, as different employment types demand different criterions. Most importantly, you need having a full time job for meeting the eligibility criteria of the supplementary disability. In fact, you may start with analyzing the eligibility rules before you enroll with supplemental disability insurance. What is the point in looking up the plan details and in the end finding that you are not eligible for the plan? Thus, it is recommended to first look at best disability insurance, reading about its eligibility criteria, as then becomes increasingly clear whether the plan is suitable for you or not. In case, the plan demands any specific demands, which you are not eligible to, then you may simply move to another that suits you the best with your eligibilities and needs.

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Enrollment:

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It is ideal to enroll in best disability insurance plans, when you foresee future dependence on them. That is, if you have a prior information about high requirement of cash before the event, then you may simply refer to enrolling yourself for the supplementary plans, as they can benefit you more specifically during the time you need them the most.

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It is ideal to invest in best disability insurance plans within the coverage periods of one month from your initial eligibility. However, in case you miss out this, that is if you postponed the supplementary needs after the eligibility has passed, then you may have to submit a health statement covering information about your health and condition. Further, it is easy to enroll as well as cancel supplementary disability any time you wish. This flexibility can be an added advantage, but you may also consider the fact, that disabilities wait for none. Hence, instead of changing dates back and forth, you can save more benefits, if you plan your ways through it

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Health Statement:

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In case you give a miss to enroll within stipulated period of 31 days, then you require submitting additional documents such as health statements. A health statement plays a pivotal role for your insurance firm to derive your past medical information. It helps them to gauge the risks involved in lending you disability insurance coverage. Further, it also helps them declare your eligibility. In case, they found you as high-risk client, then there are chances that you may end up paying higher premiums. However, there is also a chance, that they may reject your enrollment if found ineligible as per the set of rules.

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Coverage:

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Supplemental disability insurance benefits you weekly during disability periods with cash benefits as high as 70% of your gross earnings. Further, the amount of benefit you fetch could vary depending on plan and your salary as well. Further, you can fetch supplementary benefits along with short-term disability benefits for the first six months. However, if you want to benefit supplementary along with short-term disability, then you need to have a continuous care or doctor?s supervision. In addition, if your disability lasts longer than 12 months consecutively, then it is termed as permanent disability and one may lose the benefits of short-term disabilities if long-term plan is not clubbed with it

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Cost:

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Disability insurance coverage cost is one of the most important criteria, which makes people opt for one policy over another. Indeed, cost plays a crucial role, as it is hardly wise to invest in plans having wide flexibilities but at a high cost. Thus, cost is equivalently important to look before you decide on investing into any plan.

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Salary Hike:

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In case your salary increases, then it may not extend to your supplementary disability or disability insurance coverage, unless first day of the year comes. Thus, you can expect a hike only after new-year calendar sets in. Further the above holds true, in case you switch from full time to part time without changing the rate of pay. That is, you cannot expect a change of rate in supplementary disability benefits, even if you downgrade your fulltime job to part time when per hour income rate remains unchanged.

Source: http://individualshorttermdisabilityinsurance.org/supplemental-disability-insurance/

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Kelly Clarkson Announces New Single, Pays Tribute to Etta James

While Christina Aguilera had the floor during Etta James' funeral on Saturday, and used it to belt out a version of "At Last," former American Idol champion Kelly Clarkson paid tribute to the late, great artist in her own way last week, as well.

"This isn’t ‘At Last’ because everyone really covers that and so I wanted to do my favorite, actually," Kelly told a crown in New York City. "My favorite song is ‘I’d Rather Go Blind.’ So, this is for Etta!”

Kelly Clarkson - I'd Rather Go Blind (Live)

On Saturday night, meanwhile, during a performance in Pennsylvania, Clarkson also announced her next single, "I Forgive You." It will hit the radio any day now.

We can't wait!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/kelly-clarkson-announces-new-single-pays-tribute-to-etta-james/

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Massive radiation storm produces spectacular northern lights (+video)

The northern lights show was sparked by an intense solar flare that erupted from the sun, unleashing a wave of charged particles and triggering the strongest solar radiation storm since 2005.

A dazzling display of auroras lit up the far northern skies Tuesday night (Jan. 24) in a supercharged light show captured on camera by skywatchers around the world.

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"I was screaming from excitement like a small kid at Christmas," said skywatcher Jens Buchmann, who watched the northern lights dance across the sky from Kiruna, Sweden.

The northern lights show was sparked by an intense solar flare that erupted from the sun late Sunday (Jan. 22). The flare unleashed a wave of charged particles, triggering the?strongest solar radiation storm since 2005, NASA scientists said, adding that some minor satellite interference was possible.

Buchmann and a friend booked a last-minute flight from Stockholm to Kiruna after hearing about the solar storm. They braved freezing temperatures of about minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees Celsius) in order to see the aurora display, moving inside only to thaw off before heading out again. Their photos show wispy green ribbons of energy rippling across the sky over a snow-covered landscape. [See video and photos of the solar storm's northern lights]

"After the main show was over I just continued lying in the snow for nearly two hours and watched the fainter, but fast-pulsating auroras that were everywhere," Buchmann told SPACE.com in an email. "All faint stars just lost their meaning behind these auroras."?

The auroras from the solar flare could potentially be seen at latitudes as low as Maine or Montana, they added.

"The trip was totally worth it!" Buchmann said.

Delta Airlines officials said the commercial airline rerouted some planes from polar routes as a precaution to avoid any interference from the solar storm, according to press reports.

Buchmann and his friend were not the only skywatchers to make a special trip to see the auroras.

In Muonio, Lapland in Finland, skywatcher and photographer Antii Pietk?nen made a special snowmobile ride with companion Thomas to try to catch the display. They posted one photo to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com, which received several others from different observers.

"The show started slowly and after 15 [minutes] the landscape was green!" Pietk?nen?told Spaceweather.com. "This was the first time for Thomas to see the northern lights, and he was very happy."

Photographer Chad Blakely in Lapland, Sweden recorded an?eye-popping time-lapse video of the northern lights display, showing auroras swirling over a snowy meadow while observers alternate between snapping photos and staying warm at a campfire.

A streaming camera at the Aurora Sky Station in Sweden's Abisko National Park, an observing post for aurora hunters, beamed real-time photos of the northern light show every few minutes. The images revealed stunning hues of red and green across the northern night sky.

Auroras are created when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, causing an energy release that can be seen as lights. Because the charged solar particles are typically funneled to Earth's poles by the planet's magnetic field, the most dazzling displays occur in the far north and south. The so-called northern lights are known as the aurora borealis, while their southern counterpart is dubbed the aurora australis.

Tuesday's aurora display was sparked by a powerful solar flare on Sunday night that triggered an eruption of solar plasma, called a coronal mass ejection. The flare was?classified as an M9-class solar flare, a moderate ? but still powerful ? sun storm. This eruption flung charged particles out into space, which delivered a glancing blow to Earth.

The sun storm is only the latest solar weather to ignite dazzling auroras on Earth. A series of flares late last week made for a great weekend northern lights show for some observers, even as the sun was unleashing its latest solar tempest.

The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar cycle, which is called Solar Cycle 24. Solar activity is expected to peak in 2013.

You can follow Tariq Malik on Twitter?@tariqjmalik.?Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/n-yGV9viCwo/Massive-radiation-storm-produces-spectacular-northern-lights-video

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Israel Mines To Be Cleared From Desert

JERUSALEM -- Israel's defense ministry says it will soon begin clearing thousands of mines in southern Israel.

In a statement Sunday, defense official Ervin Lavi says the ministry will clear 60 acres of land near the Dead Sea in March.

Lavi says the ministry eventually intends to clear some 32,500 acres of land in areas where mines have shifted over time and in mined areas conquered by Israel.

Israel's move to destroy outdated land mines was spurred by fate of Israeli child Daniel Yuval.

In February 2010, while playing in the snow, the then-11-year-old child lost his leg after stepping on a land mine that drifted in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

His family has been campaigning to get rid of the old mines.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/29/israel-mines-desert_n_1240048.html

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IAEA Iran Visit: UN Nuclear Officials Want Iranian Cooperation

VIENNA -- The head of a U.N. nuclear team traveling to Iran on Saturday urged the country to work with his mission on probing Tehran's alleged attempts to develop an atomic arms program, adding such cooperation is long overdue.

The unusually blunt comments by International Atomic Energy Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts reflected the importance the IAEA is attaching to the chief focus of the trip ? ending more than three years of Iranian refusal to answer questions about such suspicions.

Ahead of departure, Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport he hopes Iran "will engage with us on all concerns."

"So we're looking forward to the start of a dialogue," he said: "A dialogue that is overdue since very long."

Diplomats said Iran had accepted the inclusion of two senior weapons experts ? Jacques Baute of France and Neville Whiting of South Africa ? with relatively little fuss. That suggests the Islamic Republic may be prepared to address some issues related to the allegations.

Also on the team is Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano's right-hand man.

Any progress would be significant.

Tehran has blocked IAEA attempts for more than three years to follow up on U.S. and other intelligence, dismissing the charges as baseless and insisting all its nuclear activities were peaceful and under IAEA purview.

Faced with Iranian stonewalling, the IAEA summarized its body of information in November, in a 13-page document drawing on 1,000 pages of intelligence. It stated then for the first time that some of the alleged experiments can have no other purpose than developing nuclear weapons.

Iran continues to deny the charges and no change in its position is expected during the three-day Tehran talks with IAEA officials. But even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from outright refusal to talk about them.

The diplomats said that the IAEA team was looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of weapons work, inspect documents relating to such suspected work and get commitments for future visits to sites linked to such allegations.

Iran says it is enriching only to generate energy. But it has also started producing uranium at a higher level than its main stockpile ? a move that would jump-start the creation of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium, should it chose to go that route. And it is moving its higher-enriched operation into an underground bunker that it says is safe from attack.

__

AP video reporter Philipp Jenne contributed.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/28/iaea-iran-visit_n_1239112.html

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Friend says on 911 call Demi Moore was convulsing

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2011 file photo, actress Demi Moore attends the premiere of "Margin Call" in New York. A spokeswoman for Moore on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 said the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2011 file photo, actress Demi Moore attends the premiere of "Margin Call" in New York. A spokeswoman for Moore on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 said the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Demi Moore smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and was convulsing and "semi-conscious, barely," according to a caller on a frantic 911 recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.

The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had been "having issues lately."

"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.

"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.

The recording captures the 10 minutes it took paramedics to arrive as friends gather around the collapsed star and try to comfort her as she trembles and shakes.

Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.

"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."

When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.

"Some form of ... and then she smoked something. I didn't really see. She's been having some issues lately with some other stuff. So I don't know what she's been taking or not," the friend says.

The city attorney's office advised the fire department to redact details about medical conditions and substances to comply with federal medical privacy rules.

"She smoked something. It's not marijuana. It's similar to incense," the friend says to the 911 operator.

While Moore's friends don't say exactly what she smoked, an increasingly popular drug known as Spice is sometimes labeled as "herbal incense."

Spice is a synthetic cannabis drug and also called K2. It's sold in small packets over the Internet, in smoke shops and at convenience stores. The packaging sometimes reads "not for human consumption" to conceal its purpose.

In 2011, there were twice as many spice-related calls to Poison Control Centers nationwide as in the previous year, according to the National Office of Drug Control Policy.

The adverse health effects associated with synthetic marijuana include anxiety, vomiting, racing heartbeat, seizures, hallucinations, and paranoid behavior.

Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.

"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.

The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.

"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."

Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.

The past few months have been rocky for Moore.

She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.

Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.

Meanwhile, Millennium Films announced Friday that Sarah Jessica Parker will replace Moore in the role of feminist Gloria Steinem in its production of "Lovelace," a biopic about the late porn star Linda Lovelace. A statement gave no reason for the change. The production, starring Amanda Seyfried, has been shooting in Los Angeles since Dec. 20.

During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and was holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.

"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."

The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.

There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.

As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"

"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.

Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.

By the end of the call, Moore has improved.

"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.

Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.

Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.

Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations' efforts to fight human trafficking, a scourge the international organization estimates affects about 2.5 million people worldwide.

Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-27-People-Demi%20Moore/id-c0afa84ed4ef4763abae213a217f5690

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How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel

ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2012) ? Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time, says Professor Alexandra Navrotsky of the University of California, Davis.

But Navrotsky and others have since discovered a new way in which seawater can corrode nuclear fuel, forming uranium compounds that could potentially travel long distances, either in solution or as very small particles. The research team published its work Jan. 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This is a phenomenon that has not been considered before," said Alexandra Navrotsky, distinguished professor of ceramic, earth and environmental materials chemistry. "We don't know how much this will increase the rate of corrosion, but it is something that will have to be considered in future."

Japan used seawater to avoid a much more serious accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant, and Navrotsky said, to her knowledge, there is no evidence of long-distance uranium contamination from the plant.

Uranium in nuclear fuel rods is in a chemical form that is "pretty insoluble" in water, Navrotsky said, unless the uranium is oxidized to uranium-VI -- a process that can be facilitated when radiation converts water into peroxide, a powerful oxidizing agent.

Peter Burns, professor of civil engineering and geological sciences at the University of Notre Dame and a co-author of the new paper, had previously made spherical uranium peroxide clusters, rather like carbon "buckyballs," that can dissolve or exist as solids.

In the new paper, the researchers show that in the presence of alkali metal ions such as sodium -- for example, in seawater -- these clusters are stable enough to persist in solution or as small particles even when the oxidizing agent is removed.

In other words, these clusters could form on the surface of a fuel rod exposed to seawater and then be transported away, surviving in the environment for months or years before reverting to more common forms of uranium, without peroxide, and settling to the bottom of the ocean. There is no data yet on how fast these uranium peroxide clusters will break down in the environment, Navrotsky said.

Navrotsky and Burns worked with the following co-authors: postdoctoral researcher Christopher Armstrong and project scientist Tatiana Shvareva, UC Davis; May Nyman, Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, N.M.; and Ginger Sigmon, University of Notre Dame. The U.S. Department of Energy supported the project.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.

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. C. R. Armstrong, M. Nyman, T. Shvareva, G. E. Sigmon, P. C. Burns, A. Navrotsky. Uranyl peroxide enhanced nuclear fuel corrosion in seawater. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119758109

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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126152132.htm

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Come with me if you want to live (Unqualified Offerings)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191909753?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Soderbergh's Side Effects Gains Catherine Zeta-Jones, Loses Financing

Before tonight, we knew a few things about the ?psychopharmacology thriller? that Steven Soderbergh and his Contagion writer Scott Z. Burns are developing:

• The title is either The Side Effects or The Bitter Pill.
• Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Channing Tatum form the three corners of the love triangle at the center of the tense plot.
• Annapurna is financing.? Open Road is distributing.

A lot has changed.? First the addition: Catherine Zeta-Jones joined the cast.? Now the subtraction: the latest reports omit the article, referring to the project as just Side Effects.? More notably, Annapurna has pulled out of the project, which puts the involvement of the aforementioned cast in jeopardy.? More after the jump:

According to the timestamps, Variety published their report about Annapurna backing out first, suggesting that the commitment of Lively, Law, and Tatum are unclear.? Encouragingly, a spokesperson for Open Road confirmed, ?The Open Road deal to release the picture is in place.?? Phew.

Deadline was up next?seemingly unconcerned by parallel reporting?with a post that states Zeta-Jones is on board, Annapurna is financing, and the $30 million production is scheduled for April in New York.? We?ll take the Zeta-Jones casting at face value and chuck the rest aside for now.

The Playlist heaps intrigue to the mix.? Sources tells the site that Annapurna backed out because they didn?t like Lively in the lead, ?a troubled young woman who develops a dangerous love triangle between her doctor (Law) and her newly paroled husband (Tatum).?? The project did have other suitors, so Soderbergh can probably land new financing soon, and maybe even make that April start date.? But based on what they?re hearing, The Playlist wonders if Lively will still be involved in Side Effects 2.0, and passes along a few possible replacements from their sources: Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, Emily Blunt, and Imogen Poots.

We are entering into more speculative territory than I am comfortable with.? And I am pretty distraught at the idea that the fate of a Steven Soderbergh film depends on who wins the fight over Blake Lively.? So if you don?t mind, let?s press pause, and check back in when we know more.? I sincerely hope we only have good news next time around.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924374/news/1924374/

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Why the Supreme Court GPS Decision Won't Stop Warrantless Digital Surveillance

Image: Thomas Hawk on Flickr

On January 23 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that law enforcement authorities do not generally have a right to affix a GPS tracking device to a suspect's car without first obtaining a valid warrant. Of the many things that can be said about the case, which has been called the most important Fourth Amendment test in a decade, perhaps the most sobering in the long run will be this: the decision is based on technology assumptions that are rapidly becoming irrelevant.

The case, formally known as United States v. Jones, has its roots in the technologically distant past of 2005, when smart phones, tablets, mobile apps, social networking and license plate cameras had not yet become ubiquitous?when it was still possible to make a trip to the grocery store without leaving a megabits-long trail of digital footprints.

The question before the Court turned in significant part on the physical trespass involved in placing a GPS tracker on a suspect's car. Nowhere is this clearer than in the majority opinion, delivered by Justice Antonin Scalia, explaining why the Court ruled against the government (pdf):

"It is important to be clear about what occurred in this case: The Government physically occupied private property for the purpose of obtaining information. We have no doubt that such a physical intrusion would have been considered a 'search' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when it was adopted."

However, the majority opinion stops well short of addressing the most pressing privacy issues that accompany today's location tracking technologies. First, there are many more ways today to perform surveillance without physically trespassing on private property, a point explicitly recognized by Justice Samuel Alito in a concurrence joined by three other justices. And, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in another concurring opinion (pdf), "the Fourth Amendment is not concerned only with trespassory intrusions on property."

Second, the assumption that tracking a person's location requires advance planning and action is fast becoming outdated. Increasingly, and likely irreversibly, to be engaged in the world means leaving detailed digital records of almost everything we do.

Mobile phone service providers log the list of cell sites to which our cell phones connect throughout the day. Mobile apps, more than half a billion of which were downloaded in the U.S. during the last week of December alone, gather data on the usage patterns of our wireless devices. In addition, mobile apps often track device location to the accuracy of a specific residence or office building, undermining the oft-cited claim that the data gathered is not "personal." Much of this data is collected and then sold with our consent, in accordance with privacy policies that few of us read before accepting, to a complex ecosystem of mobile application providers and advertisers. License plate cameras record our automobile trips. When we walk into a store, restaurant, office building, or sit in a taxi, images of us are recorded and date-stamped.

In the past it would have been impractical to archive all of this information. Not anymore. Retail hard drive costs are over one million times cheaper today than in the mid-1980's, and currently stand at roughly 5 cents per gigabyte. About $50 worth of storage can hold the information identifying the location of each of one million people to 4.5-meter accuracy at five-minute intervals, 24 hours a day for a full year. Data from video surveillance cameras is more voluminous, but storage cost trends are making it easier to archive that information as well.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ad2b136e74286fda76c35f3f9e48ff51

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Son Of Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz Arrested In Drug ...

SOUTH BOSTON (CBS) ? The son of Legal Sea Foods? President and CEO Roger Berkowitz has been charged with drug possession and trafficking.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030?s Carl Stevens reports

Thirty-two-year-old Matthew Berkowitz was arrested by Boston Police Tuesday.

Prosecutors say he received a package from overseas that contained nearly 2,000 grams of opium poppies and that it was his intention to make heroin and sell it.

He pleaded not guilty in South Boston District Court Wednesday and was released on $7,500 bail.

His father was in court for the arraignment.

Matthew Berkowitz?s attorney told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 that his client was drinking the drug in his tea.

?It?s just a sad case here of personal use and addiction. It?s something that the family didn?t know about, but they?re behind him, they support him,? attorney Tom Hoopes said.

?We call it a Class B substance. It?s no different than a lot of the pills that people are addicted to. Pain killer pills that you see on the street.?

?It?s just a little easier because you?re having it in tea, rather than having it some other place.?

Hoopes said Berkowitz needs treatment and that there?s a bed at McLean Hospital waiting for him.

Source: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/25/son-of-legal-sea-foods-ceo-arrested-in-drug-bust/

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Japan posts first annual trade deficit since 1980

In this photo taken Jan. 19, 2012, Japanese cars are unloaded from trailer trucks before being shipped for export at a port in Kawasaki near Tokyo. Japan reported Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset the impact of its devastating tsunami and exporters grappled with the rising value of the yen. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

In this photo taken Jan. 19, 2012, Japanese cars are unloaded from trailer trucks before being shipped for export at a port in Kawasaki near Tokyo. Japan reported Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset the impact of its devastating tsunami and exporters grappled with the rising value of the yen. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 file photo, photovoltaic modules and a windmill of the wind farm are seen when residents of the radiation-stricken area around Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear reactors of Fukushima are visiting the village of Feldheim near Berlin, Germany. Japan reported Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset the impact of its devastating tsunami and exporters grappled with the rising value of the yen. A major factor behind the figures was the impact of the expensive energy imports Japan turned to after the March disaster touched off a nuclear crisis and led the country to shut down, or not restart, a large portion of its reactors, said Martin Schulz, senior economist with the Fujitsu Research Institute. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset shortfalls caused by the devastating tsunami and manufacturers shifted production overseas to avoid the damage inflicted by the strong yen.

The 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) deficit for 2011 reflected a 2.7 percent decline in the value of Japan's exports to 65.55 trillion yen ($843 billion). In December, the trade balance was a deficit of 205.1 billion yen, according to the Ministry of Finance figures released Wednesday.

"It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy, particularly among manufacturers," said Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute. "Japan is losing its competitiveness to produce domestically."

"It's gotten difficult for manufacturers to export, so they're they've moved production abroad so that products sold outside the country are made outside the country," he said.

The yen's surge to record levels against the dollar and euro has made Japanese exports more expensive and also erodes the value of foreign earned income when brought home. Recently, Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. have shifted some of their output to factories overseas.

At the same time, Japan is facing intense competition from South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, where labor and production costs are cheaper.

Japanese manufacturers have been battered by a host of negatives in the past year. The tsunami temporarily disrupted the production of automobile makers and others. Weakness in the U.S. economy and Europe's debt problems and recent flooding in Thailand, where many Japanese automakers have assembly lines, also contributed to export declines.

Another major factor behind the figures was the impact of the expensive energy imports Japan turned to after the March disaster touched off a nuclear crisis and led the country to shut down, or not restart, a large portion of its reactors, said Martin Schulz, senior economist with the Fujitsu Research Institute.

He said pressure to import energy will continue to weigh heavily on Japan for the next year, but will subside as the country pursues greater efficiency measures.

Much of Japan's oil and natural gas is imported from the Middle East, with which Japan had a 10.88 trillion yen trade deficit last year, up 33 percent, figures showed.

Japan still has a trade surplus with the U.S., although that is shrinking. For 2011, exports exceeded imports by 4.10 trilion yen ($52.6 billion), down 8.2 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the U.S. declined 2.8 percent to 10.02 trillion yen during the year, while imports inched up 0.2 percent to 5.9 trillion.

Japan had a 1.57 trillion yen trade surplus with China for the year. A breakdown of figures showed a trade deficit with mainland China, but a big surplus with Hong Kong.

Trade with Germany was fairly balanced last year as imports grew nearly 10 percent to 1.86 trillion yen. Exports came to 1.87 trillion yen, giving Japan a relatively small trade surplus of 16 billion yen.

The turmoil in Europe and the U.S. has driven up the yen as global investors flock to the currency as a relative safe haven. The yen hit multiple historic highs against the dollar, and touched a record against the euro earlier this month as well.

The yen is trading at around 78 to the dollar recently, a level that is extremely painful for exporters. Five years ago, the dollar was trading above 120 yen.

Matsumura believes that Japan will likely log another trade deficit this year amid prospects for high energy prices and a persistently strong yen, but that renewed strength in the global and Asian regional economies could put Japan back into the black in 2013.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-25-AS-Japan-Trade/id-dc1b7a0e4ec44fb89ca22c9dabe60c70

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Sevigny and Webber to star in Jarmusch film (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Chloe Sevigny and Mark Webber have been attached to star in "Panarea," a drama about a young married couple with intimacy issues who vacation on an Italian island where their relationship is tested.

Adam Mansbach wrote the screenplay. Adam Bhala Lough is directing. Jim Jarmusch is executive producing.

Webber is especially in-demand lately. The actor, who played Stephen Stills in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," has three premieres at the Sundance Film Festival -- "The End of Love," "Save the Date" and "For a Good Time, Call ..."

In "Panarea," Webber plays Paul, an American who is married to Sevigny's character, the headstrong Swedish Linnea.

Mangusta Productions' Sol Tryon and Giancarlo Canavesio are producing with Mike S. Ryan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/media_nm/us_chloesevigny

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Syria denounces Arab League for telling Assad to quit (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Syria Monday rebuffed as a "conspiracy" an Arab League call for President Bashar al-Assad to step down in favor of a unity government to calm a 10-month-old revolt in which thousands of Syrians have been killed.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour criticized the League's move, saying its ministers had taken an "unbalanced" approach to the crisis by disregarding violence perpetrated by Assad's opponents.

Damascus has not rejected the League's decision to keep Arab observers in Syria one month longer, Mansour said, even though critics say their presence has not stemmed the bloodshed and only bought more time for Assad to crush his opponents.

Many Syrians remain defiant, however. Tens of thousands turned out in the Damascus suburb of Douma Monday under the protection of rebel Free Syrian Army fighters to mourn 11 people killed by the security forces, activists and a resident said.

Security forces, apparently keen to avoid a confrontation, stayed outside the area, where fighting had erupted overnight.

The Sudanese general who heads the monitoring mission said violence had dipped in the past month, contradicting accounts by Syrian activists who say at least 600 people were killed.

"After the arrival of the mission, the intensity of violence began to decrease," Mohammed al-Dabi told a news conference at the Cairo-based Arab League, saying the monitors had logged only 136 deaths on both sides since they began work.

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For graphic on Arab League http://link.reuters.com/pev65s

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"Our job was to check what is happening on the ground and not investigate it," said Dabi.

His role as chief monitor has displeased Assad's critics given that he has held senior military and government posts in Sudan, including in Darfur, where the International Criminal Court prosecutor says the army carried out war crimes and the United Nations says 300,000 people may have died.

Saudi Arabia, an adversary of Syria's ally Iran, undermined the mission's credibility when it withdrew its own monitors on Sunday, accusing Damascus of defying an earlier Arab peace plan.

CONSPIRACY

Responding to the new League plan unveiled in Cairo on Sunday, an official Syrian source told the state news agency SANA that the initiative, which told Assad to hand power to a deputy pending elections, was a "conspiracy against Syria."

"Syria rejects the decisions of the Arab League ministerial council ... and considers them a violation of its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in its internal affairs," the source said. [ID:nL5E8CN04X]

Rami Khouri, a Beirut-based commentator, said the unusually bold Arab initiative was clearly "bad news" for Assad, one of a string of authoritarian Arab leaders to face popular uprisings in the past year. Three have been overthrown.

"The fact that Arab countries would propose such a clear intervention and essentially order him to step aside and give him a mechanism to do so is quite a dramatic sign of how much credibility and legitimacy he has lost in the region," he said.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed by the security forces since an anti-Assad revolt began in March. The authorities say they are fighting foreign-backed "terrorists" who have killed 2,000 soldiers and police.

EU foreign ministers tightened sanctions against Syria on Monday, adding 22 people and eight entities to a list of banned people and groups, and said Assad's repression was unacceptable.

"The message from the European Union is clear," said the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. "The crackdown must stop immediately." [ID:nL5E8CN1XA]

Splits among the League's 22 members have complicated its diplomacy on Syria, but in the end only Lebanon refused to approve the latest proposal, although Algeria objected to taking the plan to the United Nations Security Council.

"TYRANNICAL REGIME"

Burhan Ghalioun, head of the main opposition Syrian National Council, welcomed the initiative, saying it "confirms that all Arab countries today consider the tyrannical regime of Bashar al-Assad to be finished and that it must be replaced."

The U.N. Security Council is also divided on how to respond, with Western powers demanding tougher sanctions and an arms embargo, measures opposed by Assad's longstanding ally Russia.

A Western diplomat said the tough Arab League stance would put more pressure on Moscow to drop its objections to Security Council action against the Syrian leadership. "The Russians are not putting all their chips on Assad," the diplomat said.

Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahama, said the Arab plan would extract no concessions from Assad and that the Security Council had no alternative strategy to offer.

"Without the credible threat of foreign intervention, Assad continues to feel confident that he can contain, if not beat, the opposition," Landis said. "The United Nations is as divided over Syria as the Arab League is."

Qatar has proposed sending Arab peacekeepers to Syria, but no other Arab country has shown any enthusiasm for this.

Syria, keen to avoid harsher foreign action, has made several moves to show it is complying with the initial Arab peace plan, which required an end to killings, a troop pullout from cities, release of detainees and a political dialogue.

The violence, however, has raged on unabated.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven civilians were killed Monday and 12 the previous day.

Activists said an army deserter fighting for the Free Syrian Army had been killed in al-Quseir near the border with Lebanon.

SANA said three security personnel had been killed and 14 wounded in al-Quseir and one had died while trying to defuse a bomb in the eastern region of Deir al-Zor.

It said Brigadier-General Hassan al-Ibrahim and another officer were killed Sunday when insurgents shot at their car in Damascus province. He was the third brigadier killed in a week. It said 11 people were also killed in an attack in Homs.

(Additional reporting by Tamim, Elyan, Ayman Samir and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo and Dominic Evans and Erika Solomon in Beirut)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_syria

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AP IMPACT: Health overhaul lags in states

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Here's a reality check for President Barack Obama's health overhaul: Three out of four uninsured Americans live in states that have yet to figure out how to deliver on its promise of affordable medical care.

This is the year that will make or break the health care law. States were supposed to be partners in carrying out the biggest safety net expansion since Medicare and Medicaid, and the White House claims they're making steady progress.

But an analysis by The Associated Press shows that states are moving in fits and starts. Combined with new insurance coverage estimates from the nonpartisan Urban Institute, it reveals a patchwork nation.

Such uneven progress could have real consequences.

If it continues, it will mean disparities and delays from state to state in carrying out an immense expansion of health insurance scheduled in the law for 2014. That could happen even if the Supreme Court upholds Obama's law, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"There will be something there, but if it doesn't mesh with the state's culture and if the state is not really supporting it, that certainly won't help it succeed," said Urban Institute senior researcher Matthew Buettgens.

The 13 states that have adopted a plan are home to only 1 in 4 of the uninsured. An additional 17 states are making headway, but it's not clear all will succeed. The 20 states lagging behind account for the biggest share of the uninsured, 42 percent.

Among the lagging states are four with arguably the most to gain. Texas, Florida, Georgia and Ohio together would add more than 7 million people to the insurance rolls, according to Urban Institute estimates, reducing the annual burden of charity care by $10.7 billion.

"It's not that we want something for free, but we want something we can afford," said Vicki McCuistion of Driftwood, Texas, who works two part-time jobs and is uninsured. With the nation's highest uninsured rate, her state has made little progress.

The Obama administration says McCuistion and others in the same predicament have nothing to fear. "The fact of states moving at different rates does not create disparities for a particular state's uninsured population," said Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

That's because the law says that if a state isn't ready, the federal government will step in. Larsen insists the government will be ready, but it's not as easy as handing out insurance cards.

Someone has to set up health insurance exchanges, new one-stop supermarkets with online and landline capabilities for those who buy coverage individually.

A secure infrastructure must be created to verify income, legal residency and other personal information, and smooth enrollment in private insurance plans or Medicaid. Many middle-class households will be eligible for tax credits to help pay premiums for private coverage. Separate exchanges must be created for small businesses.

"It's a very heavy lift," said California's health secretary, Diana Dooley, whose state was one of the first to approve a plan. "Coverage is certainly important, but it's not the only part. It is very complex."

California has nearly 7.5 million residents without coverage, more than half of the 12.7 million uninsured in the states with a plan. An estimated 2.9 million Californians would gain coverage, according to the Urban Institute's research, funded by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Democrats who wrote the overhaul law had hoped that most states would be willing partners, putting aside partisan differences to build the exchanges and help cover more than 30 million uninsured nationally. It's not turning out that way.

Some states, mainly those led by Democrats, are far along. Others, usually led by Republicans, have done little. Separately, about half the states are suing to overturn the law.

Time is running out for states, which must have their plans ready for a federal approval deadline of Jan. 1, 2013. Those not ready risk triggering the default requirement that Washington run their exchange.

Yet in states where Republican repudiation of the health care law has blocked exchanges, there's little incentive to advance before the Supreme Court rules. A decision is expected this summer, and many state legislatures aren't scheduled to meet past late spring.

The result if the law is upheld could be greater federal sway over health care in the states, the very outcome conservatives say they want to prevent.

"If you give states the opportunity to decide their own destiny, and some choose to ignore it for partisan reasons, they almost make the case against themselves for more federal intervention," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

A conservative, Nelson was on the winning side of a heated argument among Democrats over who should run exchanges, the feds or the states. Liberals lost their demand for a federal exchange, insulated from state politics.

"It's pretty hard to take care of the states when they don't take care of themselves," said Nelson, who regrets that the concession he fought for has been dismissed by so many states.

The AP's analysis divided states into four broad groups: those that have adopted a plan for exchanges, those that made substantial progress, those where the outlook is unclear, and those with no significant progress. AP statehouse reporters were consulted in cases of conflicting information.

Thirteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have adopted a plan.

By contrast, in 20 states either the outlook is unclear or there has been no significant progress. Those states include more than 21 million of the 50 million uninsured Americans.

Four have made no significant progress. They are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire. The last three returned planning money to the federal government. In Arkansas, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe ran into immovable GOP opposition in the Legislature. Beebe acknowledges that the federal government will have to run the exchange, but is exploring a fallback option.

In the other 16 states, the outlook is unclear because of failure to advance legislation or paralyzing political disputes that often pit Republicans fervently trying to stop what they deride as "Obamacare" against fellow Republicans who are more pragmatic.

In Kansas, for example, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger is pushing hard for a state exchange, but Gov. Sam Brownback returned a $31 million federal grant, saying the state would not act before the Supreme Court rules. Both officials are Republicans.

"It's just presidential politics," said Praeger, discussing the situation nationally. "It's less about whether exchanges make sense and more about trying to repeal the whole law." As a result, outlook is unclear for a state with 361,000 uninsured residents.

There is a bright spot for Obama and backers of the law.

An additional 17 states have made substantial progress, although that's no guarantee of success. Last week in Wisconsin, GOP Gov. Scott Walker abruptly halted planning and announced he will return $38 million in federal money.

AP defined states making substantial progress as ones where governors or legislatures have made a significant commitment to set up exchanges. Another important factor was state acceptance of a federal exchange establishment grant.

That group accounts for just under one-third of the uninsured, about 16 million people.

It includes populous states such as New York, Illinois, North Carolina and New Jersey, which combined would add more than 3 million people to the insurance rolls.

Several are led by Republican governors, including Virginia and Indiana, which have declared their intent to establish insurance exchanges under certain conditions. Other states that have advanced under Republican governors include Arizona and New Mexico.

For uninsured people living in states that have done little, the situation is demoralizing.

Gov. Rick Perry's opposition to the law scuttled plans to advance an exchange bill in the Texas Legislature last year, when Perry was contemplating his presidential run. The Legislature doesn't meet this year, so the situation is unclear.

McCuistion and her husband, Dan, are among the nearly 6.7 million Texans who lack coverage. Dan is self-employed as the owner of a specialty tree service. Vicki works part time for two nonprofit organizations. The McCuistions have been uninsured throughout their 17-year marriage, although their three daughters now have coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program. Dan McCuistion has been nursing a bad back for years, and it only seems to get worse.

"For me it almost feels like a ticking time bomb," his wife said.

Dan McCuistion says he doesn't believe Americans have a constitutional right to health care, but he would take advantage of affordable coverage if it was offered to him. He's exasperated with Perry and other Texas politicians. "They give a lot of rhetoric toward families, but their actions don't meet up with what they are saying," he said.

Perry's office says it's principle, not lack of compassion.

"Gov. Perry believes 'Obamacare' is unconstitutional, misguided and unsustainable, and Texas, along with other states, is taking legal action to end this massive government overreach," said spokeswoman Lucy Nashed. "There are no plans to implement an exchange."

___

Online:

AP interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2011/healthcare

Urban Institute estimates: http://tinyurl.com/86py8nd

Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight: http://cciio.cms.gov

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-22-US-Health-Overhaul-States/id-d24137291c1e4d1995924669a9499539

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Heidi Klum and Seal call it quits (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Supermodel and "Project Runway" TV host Heidi Klum and British singer Seal are separating after seven years of marriage, a parting the pair termed amicable in a statement on Sunday night.

"While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul-searching we have decided to separate," the two said in a statement.

"We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart."

The German-born Klum and Seal, who married in 2005, have four children ranging in age from 2 to 7. They said protecting the well-being of their children was their top priority.

They also thanked family and friends for their support.

Signs of trouble in their marriage surfaced over the weekend on celebrity magazine websites, surprising fans of the couple who had seemed to enjoy a stable relationship.

The two released a steamy music video in September 2010 for the Grammy-winning singer's single "Secrets," which featured the naked couple in bed together.

In an interview with Reuters at the time, Seal said that he had titled his sixth album "Commitment" because that was a recurring theme for him, particularly since meeting Klum.

The couple, who at one time renewed their marriage vows every year, in 2010 were also preparing to shoot a pilot program for cable television that gave couples the chance to have the wedding of their dreams.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/en_nm/us_heidiklum_seal

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Revenge of the Return of the Giant Newt (Balloon Juice)

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2 bombs hit Northern Ireland city of Londonderry (AP)

DUBLIN ? Two bombs planted by Irish Republican Army dissidents detonated Thursday night in the Northern Ireland city of Londonderry, but no injuries were reported as police quickly evacuated the area following phoned warnings.

Martina Anderson, a former Irish Republican Army member who represents Londonderry for the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, said one bomb left outside the city's main tourist office exploded as about 75 elderly residents of a nursing home were still being evacuated about 25 yards (meters) away.

She said IRA dissidents "need to come forward and explain how they believe this achieved anything, other than the disruption of vulnerable old people's lives."

Chief Superintendent Stephen Martin, the police commander in Northern Ireland's second-largest city, said much of central Londonderry would be sealed off Friday so that police could comb the bomb sites for forensic clues.

Police evacuated the city's major shopping center as bombs placed in nearby streets detonated within 10 minutes of each other. At least one bomb appeared to have been concealed in an abandoned gym bag.

Martin said police received two coded telephone warnings about a half hour before the first of the bombs exploded. The extent of damage wouldn't be determined until daybreak Friday because of the risk that dissidents had placed additional booby-trap bombs in the area to ambush officers.

"Thankfully we are not dealing with mass casualties or worse this evening," Martin said.

"The people in Derry do not want this disruption. It is cowardly and callous. People simply want to move on with their lives, not take a step back. Regrettably the whole community will once again suffer because of the needless actions of a few," he said.

IRA splinter groups based in the overwhelmingly Catholic west side of Londonderry have repeatedly targeted local businesses and police stations with a range of homemade bombs. They reject the IRA's 2005 decision to renounce violence and disarm, and insist that Northern Ireland should be ejected from the United Kingdom by force.

Their attacks have caused relatively little damage and few casualties, and chiefly appear to rally politicians from all sides in support of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant government, the central accomplishment of nearly two decades of peacemaking.

"These are the desperate actions of yesterday's men. They seem to be more wedded to the struggle than to the cause they claim to be pursuing," said David Ford, justice minister of the unity government.

Thursday's attacks came on the eve of a court judgment in the trial of two suspected IRA dissidents charged with murdering two British soldiers in March 2009. The victims were off duty and unarmed when IRA dissidents shot them at close range as they collected pizzas outside the entrance of an army base. They were the first killings of British security forces in Northern Ireland since 1998, the year of the province's Good Friday peace accord.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nireland_ira_dissidents

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Schoolkids Name Moon Orbiters

60-Second Science | Space

GRAIL A and B, the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory lunar moon satellites, are now Ebb and Flow, courtesy of Montana students. Cynthia Graber reports.

January 20, 2012

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Two washing-machine-sized satellites recently went into orbit around the moon. In March, they?ll start to gather detailed data about the quirks of the moon?s gravity. The working names for the satellites have been GRAIL A and B, for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory. But they just got new names?courtesy of fourth graders from Bozeman, Montana.

NASA invited U.S. students to submit essays with suggested names. The Bozeman entry was picked out of more than 900 schools representing 11,000 students. The winners impressed the judges with their careful research about the goal of the mission. Because the moon?s gravity gives us our tides, the kids suggested GRAIL A and B?s new handles: Ebb and Flow.

The mission is NASA?s first with instruments aboard entirely dedicated to education. Each satellite has a small camera that middle school students can request be aimed at target areas on the moon for study.

The winning essay writers said that what are now called Ebb and Flow are on a journey, just as the moon is on a journey around the Earth. And as the students have begun their own journey, of scientific exploration.

?Cynthia Graber

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=811c1a9ccbae289008963e3b1acb5577

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Stocks set to dip amid earnings, Europe

By Reuters

Stocks are set to dip Friday, indicating the S&P 500 may snap a three-day win streak after Google results fell short of expectations and as investors eyed Greek debt talks for signs of progress.

Google Inc shares slumped 7.6 percent to $591 in premarket trading after quarterly profit and revenue for the No. 1 Internet search engine missed Wall Street expectations on declining search advertising rates.

Greece and its private bondholders inched closer to reaching a long-awaited debt swap deal that would prevent the nation from spiraling toward bankruptcy and ratchet up fears about the euro zone's economic stability.

General Electric Co fell 3.3 percent to $18.52 after the largest U.S. conglomerate reported roughly flat profit from continuing operations.

But a strong outlook from International Business Machines Corp and decent results from Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp indicated corporate leaders were shaking off nervousness about economic growth and boosting spending on technology.

Microsoft shares were up 2.1 percent to $28.70, and Intel edged up 0.2 percent to $25.69 premarket. IBM gained 2.4 percent to $184.92 in light premarket trade.

European shares slipped 0.3 percent early Friday after hitting 5-1/2 month highs in the previous session as major indexes neared "overbought" territory. Asian shares rose to fresh two-month highs as solid euro zone sovereign debt sales.

Economic data on existing home sales was due from the National Association of Realtors for December at 10 a.m. ET. Economists forecast a 4.65 million annual rate in December, versus 4.42 million in November.

Chinese factory activity likely fell for a third successive month in January, an early indicator showed, suggesting Beijing's pro-growth policies will remain in place despite early signs a downward drift was slowing.

U.S. stocks rose Thursday, sparked by results from Bank of America Corp and Morgan Stanley and as the latest jobless claims dropped to a near four-year low.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10198316-stocks-set-to-dip-amid-earnings-europe

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