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This was found at VideoBlazer.
AUGUSTA, Maine -- The Maine public advocate's office is raising concerns about Verizon Wireless' proposed purchase of Rural Cellular Corp.
Verizon Wireless announced Monday that it will pay $757 million in cash in a move to expand its wireless service coverage in rural markets. Rural Cellular's UNICEL network serves more than 700,000 customers in 15 states including Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Wayne Jortner is general counsel of the Maine public advocate's office. He said UNICEL has done a good job expanding service in rural areas with help from federal grants, and he questioned whether Verizon's ownership will mean any additional improvements.
He added that he is concerned because the deal would mean fewer wireless carriers and less competition in a state that currently has only five major wireless competitors.
This was found at WMTW Portland.
By Laura Clout
Last Updated: 1:49am BST 31/07/2007
Left-handed people may have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, scientists have found.
An international group of scientists, led by a team at Oxford University, have identified a gene that seems to increase the chance of being left-handed.
The researchers said that the same gene - called LRRTM1 - may slightly increase the risk of developing the brain disorder.
Schizophrenia is a highly complex condition that results in impaired perception and thought, it affects around one in every 100 people.
Although little is known about the gene, the Oxford team suspects it modifies the development of asymmetry in the human brain.
In humans, the left side of the brain usually controls speech and language, and the right side controls emotion. In left-handers, however, this pattern is often reversed. In a similar way, people with schizophrenia often have unusual patterns of brain asymmetry.
The leader of the study, Dr Clyde Francks of the Wellcome Trust Center for Human Genetics, said: "People really should not be concerned by this result. There are many factors which make individuals more likely to develop schizophrenia and the vast majority of left-handers will never develop a problem. We don't yet know the precise role of this gene."
There is also evidence that asymmetry of the brain was an important feature during human evolution. Apes' brains are more symmetrical than humans' and they do not show a preference for using either the right or left hand.
Dr Francks added: "We hope this study's findings will help us to understand the development of asymmetry in the brain.
"Asymmetry is a fundamental feature of the human brain that is disrupted in many psychiatric conditions."
This was found at The Telegraph.
Robert Stewart was allegedly caught in the act by two terrified cleaners who walked into his bedroom in a hostel.
Stewart has denied the accusation, claiming it was caused by a misunderstanding after he had too much to drink.
The 51-year-old bachelor was charged with the bizarre sexual offence after he was disturbed by the cleaner and her colleague in a private hostel in Ayr.
The charge alleges he conducted himself in a disorderly manner, simulated sex with a bicycle and continued to do so while naked from the waist down in the presence of two female employees.
Stewart had been living in the Aberley House hostel from October 2006 after moving from his council house in Girvan, Ayrshire.
He moved after a separate sex complaint to which he has pleaded not guilty at Ayr Sheriff Court.
Unemployed Stewart has now left Aberley House and is living in a flat in the center of Ayr.
Asked about the claim he was simulating sex with the bike, he said: "You'll need to ask the cleaners why they would say that, the Sunday Mail reports.
"It's a lot of rubbish, a lot of rubbish."
His solicitor Gerry Tierney said last night: "My client denies the allegations and intends to defend the charge vigorously."
A spokeswoman for the Aberley House hostel for the homeless said: "We cannot comment because of client confidentiality."
This was found at Fun Reports.
By John R. Ellement and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
Work crews carrying blowtorches fanned out across Massachusetts highways yesterday, searching for loose storm drain grates to weld shut, after a tractor-trailer dislodged a 250-pound cast-iron grate on Route 128 in Westwood, sending it flying through the windshield of a car and severely injuring the driver.
State officials said they believed that the grate that injured 39-year-old Pawel Swierczynski of North Easton had been welded to its cast-iron socket sometime between Wednesday morning and Thursday night, after drivers reported a series of loose storm grates in the area.
Luisa M. Paiewonsky, commissioner of the Massachusetts Highway Department, said the agency was investigating how the grate came loose. State Police were also probing the accident. Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating's office said it was closely watching the case, but declined to say whether the investigation could lead to criminal charges against state agencies or the contractors involved.
"The question we have to answer is why did one particular catch basin become dislodged and essentially become a projectile," Paiewonsky said in a telephone interview. "The quality of the work and what went wrong is all going to be the subject of the investigation that started right after the incident. Right now, we don't have any idea what caused this to be dislodged."
Paiewonsky said she was not sure how many grates might be in travel lanes on state highways, but said there are probably fewer than 50 locations to check. The vast majority are on highway shoulders and would only be in travel lanes if construction is forcing cars to detour onto the shoulder, she said.
"If we find one even rattling slightly in its frame, we're going to take immediate action," Paiewonsky said. "We're going to make sure everything is nice and snug."
The 24 grates near the scene of the accident are usually on the shoulder, but were in the northbound travel lanes because traffic had been shifted onto the shoulder at 5 a.m. Wednesday to make way for construction crews that are widening the highway. Crews rewelded the grates after the accident yesterday, and Paiewonsky said they would be inspected daily.
Swierczynski, a software engineer and married father of two, was headed to his job on the North Shore. He was driving north in the middle lane when the grate crashed through the windshield of his 2003 Toyota Corolla at about 5:30 a.m. The 2-foot-by-2-foot square, known in highway engineering circles as a catch basin, ended up in his back seat.
Swierczynski, who was wearing a seat belt, swerved and crashed into a concrete barrier. State Police did not say yesterday how fast he was driving. He was flown to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he was listed late yesterday in critical but stable condition.
The accident snarled traffic for the morning commute and through much of the day, at one point backing up cars for 13 miles. Some drivers reported being stuck in traffic for several hours. Northbound lanes were not completely reopened until about 7 p.m.
Some drivers were also badly shaken by the accident, particularly because several had reported driving over loose storm grates this week. To some, the accident recalled the death of 38-year-old Milena Del Valle from falling concrete in a Big Dig tunnel last July.
Martin Jacobs of Norwell said he called 911 after he drove over a loose grate Wednesday morning. A truck ahead of him swerved to avoid the grate, and then he barely cleared it in his sport utility vehicle.
"It was out of its frame, and it was sticking up maybe 8 or 10 inches," Jacobs said. "If a tire had hit it, it would have blown the tire out or taken the tire right off."
Tom Plaziak of Quincy said he, too, drove over a loose storm grate near Exit 13 on his morning commute earlier this week.
"It made a loud clanging sound," Plaziak said. "You could definitely hear it."
State Police said they forwarded the reports to MassHighway. Paiewonsky said her agency then sent crews to weld shut the grates.
"We immediately directed the contractor to secure all 24 catch basin covers to their frames in that construction zone," Paiewonsky said.
Kathy Aiello -- a spokeswoman for contractor SPS New England Inc., a Salisbury construction firm -- said the company was taking part in the investigation.
"Right now, we have just been meeting with MassHighway and cooperating with them as they undertake a full investigation as to what the situation with the grate is and was and why it came loose," Aiello said. "We're not going to speculate as to what caused the accident."
In Easton, Swierczynski's neighbors were stunned. They described him as devoted to his wife, Beata, and their two children, an 11-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. The family moved to a quiet side street in town about five years ago, they said. The couple were born in Poland.
Beata Swierczynski teaches at a Montessori school in Quincy, neighbors said.
"He's a great family man," neighbor Janice Ledwith said.
Ellement reported from Westwood and Easton; Levenson from Boston
This was found at Boston.com
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Congress sent President Bush legislation Friday to intensify anti-terror efforts in the U.S., shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding screening of air and sea cargo to stave off future Sept. 11-style attacks.
The measure carries out major recommendations of the independent 9/11 Commission.
The bill, passed by the House on a 371-40 vote, ranks among the top accomplishments of the six-month-old Democratic Congress. The Senate approved the measure late Thursday by 85-8, and the White House said the president would sign the bill.
Six years after the Sept. 11 attacks and three years after the 9/11 Commission made its recommendations, "Congress is finally embracing what the 9/11 families have been saying all along," said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. "It takes a willingness to do things a different way."
The bill elevates the importance of risk factors in determining which states and cities get federal security funds — that would mean more money for such cities as New York and Washington — and also puts money into a new program to assure that security officials at every level can communicate with each other.
It would require screening of all cargo on passenger planes within three years and sets a five-year goal of scanning all container ships for nuclear devices before they leave foreign ports.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who steered the legislation through the Senate with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said it would "make our nation stronger, our cities and towns more secure and our families safer."
Republicans generally backed the bill while stressing their own administration's success in stopping another major terrorist attack. The bill, said Rep. Peter King of New York, top Republican on the Homeland Security panel, "is another step in the right direction building on the steps of the previous 5 1/2 years."
"These efforts build upon the considerable progress we've made over the past six years," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.
Completion of the bill, six months after the House passed its original version on the first day of the current Congress, was a major victory for Democrats who have seen some of their other priorities — immigration and energy reform and stem cell research funding — thwarted by GOP and presidential resistance and House-Senate differences.
Another goal, raising the minimum wage, went into effect last Tuesday, and Democratic leaders still hope for agreement on ethics and lobbying changes before Congress departs for its August recess at the end of next week.
The independent 9/11 Commission in 2004 issued 41 recommendations covering domestic security, intelligence gathering and foreign policy. Congress and the White House followed through on some, including creating a director of national intelligence, tightening land border screening and cracking down on terrorist financing.
Democrats, after taking over control of Congress, promised to make completing the list a top priority.
Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., the vice chair of the 9/11 Commission, said with enactment of the bill some 80 percent of the panel's recommendations will have been met. "The bottom line is that the American people will be safer," he said.
The 9/11 bill led off the first busy legislative week in the House last January, and the Senate passed its version in March. The measure stalled after that, partly because of a White House veto threat over language, since dropped, to give collective bargaining rights to aviation screeners.
House-Senate negotiators finally reached an agreement this week after Democrats worked out a provision satisfying GOP demands that people who report what they in good faith believe to be terrorist activity around planes, trains and buses be protected from lawsuits.
The most controversial provision in the legislation requires the radiation scanning of cargo containers in more than 600 ports from which ships leave for the U.S. The White House, and other critics, say that the technology isn't there, that the requirement could disrupt trade and that current procedures including manifest inspections at foreign ports and radiation monitoring in U.S. ports are working well.
Supporters argue that the unthinkable devastation from the detonation of a nuclear device in an American port makes it imperative to scan cargo before it reaches U.S. shores. As a compromise, it was agreed that the Homeland Security secretary can extend the five-year deadline for 100 percent scanning in two-year increments if necessary.
The White House was also unhappy with a provision that requires total amounts requested and appropriated for the intelligence community to be made public.
There was more agreement on changing the formula to ensure that more federal security grants go to high-risk states and cities. The current formula makes sure that every lawmaker, even those representing rural areas relatively safe from terrorism, get a chunk of the federal grants. Under the new formula a larger percentage of grants will go to high-risk urban areas.
The bill also establishes a new grant program to ensure that local, state and federal officials can communicate with each other and approves $4 billion over four years for rail, transit and bus security.
It strengthens security measures for the Visa Waiver Program, which allows travelers from select countries to visit the United States without visas.
The massive legislation also contains language requiring the president to confirm that Pakistan is making progress in combatting al-Qaida and Taliban elements within its borders before the United States provides aid to the country.
Hamilton said that one shortcoming of the bill is that it fails to carry out the commission's recommendation that Congress streamline its own overlapping setup for monitoring intelligence and homeland security matters. "I think congressional oversight still remains a weakness in our homeland security," he said.
___
The bill is H.R. 1
This was found at Yahoo! News.
An experiment being performed at the Hokkaido Toyako G8 summit in Chitose, Japan, aims to prove that the revolutionary Magnesium Energy Cycle could one day free society from dependence on fossil fuels. The demonstration conducted by Tokyo Institute of Technology Professor Takashi Yabe uses water and the common metallic element Magnesium to create pollution-free power.
What's more, solar-powered lasers are used to renew the magnesium fuel with the only waste product being oxygen. Professor Yabe's team at TIT has been steadily testing the technology for several years now, and the pilot plant at Chitose is intended to showcase the environmentally-friendly fuel cycle to an influential audience at the G8 environmental summit.
Magnesium: OPEC's worst nightmare?
The cycle is relatively simple: magnesium powder is mixed with water (H2O) at room temperature, upon which a chemical reaction occurs bonding the magnesium with the oxygen and creating heat energy. What's left is hydrogen, which is collected and burned to produce more heat with water as its byproduct.
The cycle renews itself by applying solar-powered lasers to break the oxidized magnesium back down to metallic magnesium and oxygen. The only energy used is sunlight while the waste products are oxygen, hydrogen and water. As for magnesium , it's hardly rare - the light, shiny metal is the ninth-most common element in the universe, makes up 2 percent of the earth's crust and is the third-most common element dissolved in seawater.
Works like MAGIC! A so-called "MAGIC " (MAGnesium Injection Cycle) engine was constructed in 2006 by Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. using Professor Yabe's ideas, and this engine could be introduced for commercial use in power plants, ships, even cars before the end of this decade!
We wish Professor Yabe and his team the best of luck in perfecting this revolutionary technology. To quote the professor, "Magnesium can save the world!" (via Mainichi News)
This was found at Inventors Spot.
BURBANK, Calif., July 26 (UPI) -- Michael Thursday said the Bush administration has served him with a subpoena regarding his trip to Cuba during the making of his new film, "Sicko."
The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who appeared Thursday on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," said he was notified about the subpoena at the network's studios in Burbank, Calif.
"I haven't even told my own family yet," Moore said. "I was just informed when I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me."
Moore filmed the trip as part of his film comparing the U.S. healthcare system with government healthcare systems in other countries.
He took three Sept. 11, 2001, emergency rescue workers to Guantanamo Bay "because I heard the al-Qaida terrorists we have in the camps there, detained, are receiving free dental, medical, eye care, the whole deal, and our own (Sept. 11) rescue workers can't get that in New York City."
Moore said the film's distributor, the Weinstein Co., will donate 11 percent of "Sicko's" box-office receipts Aug. 11 to "help these workers and the other workers who need help."
This was found at United Press International.
By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer
ELM MOTT, Texas - A Navy man who got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas to teach the other guy a lesson.
As he made his way toward Texas, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares posted photos online showing the welcome signs at several states' borders, as if to prove to his Internet friends that he meant business.
When he finally arrived, Tavares burned the guy's trailer down.
This week, Tavares, 27, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading no contest to arson and admitting he set the blaze.
"I didn't think anybody was stupid enough to try to kill anybody over an Internet fight," said John G. Anderson, 59, who suffered smoke inhalation while trying to put out the 2005 blaze that caused $50,000 in damage to his trailer and computer equipment.
The feud started when Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco, joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his artwork and political views. After he blocked some people from his page because of insults and foul language, they retaliated by making obscene digitally altered pictures of him, he said.
Anderson, who went by the screen name "Johnny Darkness," traded barbs with Tavares, aka "PyroDice."
Investigators say Tavares boiled over when Anderson called him a nerd and posted a digitally altered photo making Tavares look like a skinny boy in high-water pants, holding a gun and a laptop under a "Revenge of the Nerds" sign.
Tavares obtained Anderson's real name and hometown from Anderson's Web page about his Museum of Horrors Haunted House.
Tavares took leave from his post as a weapons systems operator at the AEGIS Training and Readiness Center in Dahlgren, Va., and started driving. Investigators say he told them he planned to point a shotgun at Anderson and shoot his computer.
Instead, when he got to Elm Mott — after posting one last photo of a "Welcome to Texas" sign — Tavares threw a piece of gasoline-soaked plastic foam into the back of Anderson's mobile home and lit a flare, authorities say.
Tavares' attorney, Susan Kelly Johnston, said his trip to the Waco area was a last-minute decision during a cross-country trip to visit his parents in Arizona. She said he never intended to hurt Anderson and did not think he was in the trailer when he set the fire.
James Pack, an investigator with the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, caught up with Tavares after talking to people in several states and Spain who had been involved in the online feud. Tavares' cell phone records showed he was in the Waco area at the time of the fire, Pack said.
Tavares told investigators that Anderson had spread computer viruses and insulted his online friends for too long, Pack said.
"He lost everything — all over an Internet squabble," the investigator said.
Tavares was discharged last year from the Navy, where he earned several medals — including the pistol expert and rifle expert medals — in his nine-year career, said Navy spokesman Mike McLellan.
Tavares would not let the feud go even at his sentencing. According to Pack, Tavares took cell-phone photos of Anderson in the courtroom while the judge was hearing another case. Authorities ordered the photos erased.
Anderson, an ex-Marine who served in Vietnam, said he continues to be harassed online, has been startled by people knocking on his window late at night and found bullet holes in a door to his business.
He said he is convinced the harassment is related to the Internet feud and plans to spend $30,000 on more fencing topped with barbed wire.
"Before this happened, the rule was: Nobody messes with the haunted house guy," Anderson said.
This was found at Yahoo! News.
By TOM BERG
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
HUNTINGTON BEACH - It was 50 years ago this month the two men defied death in the Nevada desert.
One hour before dawn, the young Marines were placed in an open trench, then ordered to kneel and cover their eyes.
Three miles away, what would be the largest atomic device detonated over U.S. soil was about to explode. Test shot Hood was five times greater than the bomb that killed 90,000 people in Hiroshima, Japan. And no one was sure what would happen this close to ground zero.
The blast blew doors off hinges 14 miles away, rattled homes all the way to Santa Ana and was seen by pilots near Hawaii. And that's not all.
“It was the dirtiest test stateside in terms of radiation fallout,” says R.J. Ritter, national commander of the National Association of Atomic Veterans. “And they walked about 2,200 Marines right into ground zero.”
This included the two men in the closest trench. One was Gary King, now 70, of Huntington Beach, a rough-and-tough Marine who still calls the blast “no big deal.” The other was a former Santa Ana Marine, who saw it quite differently. Darel Brower's memoirs, posted online, describe the eerie pre-dawn silence, the panicky Marines, the silvery-white explosion and the trek through 100-degree heat to ground zero with no masks.
When King read this, he tried to e-mail his former platoon mate. It bounced back. Then he tried to phone, but there was no listing.
He knew they'd both survived the blast 50 years ago. He was left to wonder if they'd both survived the fallout.
BOMB PARTIES
In retrospect, the audacity of 1957's Operation Plumbbob was stunning: a series of 29 aboveground atomic explosions witnessed at close range by 18,000 men testing their ability to fight on a nuclear battlefield.
Planes flew through radioactive clouds. Marines marched through radioactive sand. Paratroopers jumped through radioactive skies. Assaults were launched. Objectives taken. The military measured blast effects on pigs, dogs, rabbits, mannequins, tanks, trucks and the psyches of men witnessing unparalleled power.
Sixty-five miles south, Las Vegas was measuring how to cash in on the mushroom-cloud spectacle with “dawn bomb parties” on hotel rooftops.
Knowledge of radiation was still in its infancy.
“At the time, we were all very cavalier about it,” says King, whose specialty was atomic, biological and chemical warfare. “Nobody really talked about radiation too much. It wasn't a big thing. From the military standpoint, an A-bomb was nothing more than a high-explosive bomb.”
Both King and Brower had to monitor radiation at three detonations: Priscilla, Diablo and Hood. Their observations could not be any more different.
“People ask, ‘Weren't you scared?' ” King says. “The answer is no. We were macho. It was just another assignment.”
Marines climbed out of trenches after each blast and smoked, he says. Or ate. Or napped.
“Most ignored the devices,” he says.
Brower was positioned several miles from the blast, facing away so as not to go blind. He describes the 37-kiloton Priscilla test this way:
“I'm not sure anyone was breathing, as it surely could have been heard,” he wrote. “When the count went from 10 to zero, everything lost its color, including the olive, drab truck parked in front of us. It all turned brilliant silver-white. The air around us was alive with the sizzling and crackling of electrical charges. My neck, which was the only thing exposed to the light, felt as if someone was holding a blowtorch to it.”
A few days later, both men were brought to the trenches for Diablo. It would prove stranger than Priscilla.
Countdown to nothing
Before you're sent to the bottom of a 6-foot-deep trench, three miles from an atomic explosion, you get a warning to close your eyes tight and place an arm in front of them. If they open, you may go blind. You are also warned that if you lift a finger in the air, it will be scorched.
So when the loudspeakers count down – 3, 2, 1, 0 … – and nothing explodes, what should you do?
“No one dared move,” wrote Brower. “For close to 20 minutes we held those positions.”
Legs went numb. Expletives were shouted. Men feared crawling out of the trenches, but Diablo was a dud. Eventually, they were ordered up and trucked away. For King and Brower, that left only the granddaddy of atmospheric tests, the 74-kiloton Hood.
About it they would later agree on something. With eyes clenched tight, kneeling at the bottom of a trench, they both saw the same thing at detonation – the bones in their arms.
21 Cancers
We'll never know what Marine Maj. Charles Broudy saw in the trenches when Hood exploded. Or what he breathed when he marched – like King and Brower – to ground zero. He died of lymphoma in 1977.
We do know that the Veterans Administration denied him benefits, saying he couldn't prove he was there. And that his widow later showed he received more than 5,000 times the 13-millirad dose the government said his film badge read.
Broudy's widow Pat Broudy, 83, of Dana Point, fought an 11-year battle to help win benefits for atomic veterans, who now can claim relief for 21 kinds of cancers.
For many, however, it's too little, too late.
“Most of our guys are old,” she says. “And they don't have the fight or will or knowledge to confront our government agencies anymore.”
The number of living atomic veterans is hard to place. But the National Association of Atomic Veterans estimates that more than 900,000 men and women took part in about 1,000 nuclear tests from 1945 to 1992. And more than 140,000 may have suffered cancer or other illnesses as a result.
So far King is not among them.
“I have prostate cancer, but it's not attributed to that,” says the still macho Marine. “It's because I'm 70 years old. All men get it.”
Which leaves us wondering about his old battalion-mate Darel Brower, whose memoirs prompted King to reflect on the nuclear war games they played 50 years ago. What about him?
Godlike and demonic
Darel Brower, it turns out, is 76 and living in Jacksonville, N.C.
“For an old duff, I'm in good shape,” he says, suffering only heartburn and a slight heart arrhythmia.
The blasts remain vivid in his mind: The greens and blues, the beautiful hues glowing around the fireball, once he could look up, were both godlike and demonic.
That is the lesson he took from those long-ago tests.
“We are definitely part of something deeper,” he says, as if he were still in that trench. “And we are very fragile.”
This was found at The Orange County Register.
LONDON (Reuters) - A group of witches and wizards based in central England said on Monday they had forced developers to change the name of a new multi-million pound shopping center because it clashed with their own moniker.
Property firm Hammerson had intended to name the 350 million pound shopping center it is building in Leicester, "Highcross Quarter".
But that provoked the ire of a local coven of Wiccans, witches and wizards who use the name because it refers to a special date in the pagan calendar.
The coven had also set up a number of Web sites "to break through the ignorance and misunderstanding, prejudice and stigma often attached to Wicca, witchcraft and earth oriented belief systems" using the High Cross Quarter name.
The witches said on their Web site that, following a year-long dispute, the developers had now backed down and agreed to call their new project "Highcross Leicester".
"It was our only wish all along, to be left in peace to develop our Web site and maintain the aspirations for faith and of our simple way of life," said the group's spokeswoman who called herself Morrigan Wisecraft.
"It is our expectation that as a 'big' company, Hammerson will now be big in the way it concedes to us, a small local alternative faith group, and that we can draw a line under this whole matter."
In a statement released to the media, Hammerson did not say whether it had changed its mind because of the row with the witches and wizards.
"Initially, Highcross Quarter was used to describe the development to potential new retailers and to our city center partners in recognition of the wider city regeneration," said Richard Brown, senior development executive at Hammerson.
"It has now evolved to Highcross Leicester, which we believe will give it a stronger identity for customers and raise the profile not only of the development but also the city."
This was found at Reuters.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has produced the world's first cloned rabbit using a biological process that takes cells from a fetus, state media said on Tuesday.
The female rabbit, which weighed 60 grams at birth in February, was now growing normally at an animal center in Shanghai, the China Daily said.
Scientists have cloned mice, cattle and other animals since the first cloned sheep, Dolly, was born in 1996. Malaysia is even trying to clone some of its threatened leatherback turtles to save them from extinction.
But it was only in 2002 that French scientists produced the world's first cloned rabbit using cells from an adult female rabbit, the paper said.
The Chinese rabbit was the world's first to be cloned using "fibroblast" cells from a fetal rabbit, the China Daily said.
"Chinese cloning research has reached a global advanced level," the newspaper quoted Wang Hongguang, director of the China Center for Biotechnology Development, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, as saying.
"We can reproduce almost all the cloning results in top-class laboratories around the world. However, we are lacking in original creations such as the newly cloned rabbit."
It was not clear if the findings had been published in a scientific journal or independently verified.
This was found at Reuters.
The body was spotted in a series of images taken by cameras onboard the Cassini spacecraft.
Initial calculations suggest the moon is about 2km-wide (1.2 miles) and its orbit sits between those of two other Saturnian moons, Methone and Pallene.
The Cassini Imaging Team, who found the object, said Saturn's moon count could rise further still.
New family
The moon appears as a dim speck in images taken by the Cassini probe's wide-angle camera on 30 May 2007.
Professor Carl Murray, a Cassini Imaging Team scientist from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), said: "After initially detecting this extremely faint object, we carried out an exhaustive search of all Cassini images to date and were able to find further detections."
It is thought, like many of Saturn's other moons, to be mostly made up of ice and rock.
The body's proximity to Methone and Pallene suggests the three satellites may constitute a family of moons.
"Naturally we are going to use Cassini's cameras to search for additional family members," added Professor Murray.
The moon, currently dubbed Frank by the scientists who discovered it, has yet to be officially named. This decision will be taken by the International Astronomical Union.
Professor Murray said: "The Saturnian system continues to amaze and intrigue us with many hidden treasures being discovered the more closely we look."
'Epic journey'
The Cassini-Huygens mission, a collaboration between the US space agency (Nasa), the European Space Agency (Esa) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), set off on its mission to explore Saturnian system in 1997.
The Cassini space probe arrived at its destination in 2004, while the Huygens probe, initially carried onboard Cassini, landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 2005.
Professor Keith Mason, chief executive of the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), said: "It is amazing to think that when Cassini embarked upon its epic journey to Saturn in 1997, we only knew about 18 of its moons.
"Since then, through observations from ground based telescopes and the Cassini spacecraft, a further 42 have been identified."
This was found at BBC News.
By BRIAN ROGERS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Two-and-a-half months after being freed because of a clerical error, Willie Joe McAdams was arrested Thursday and is expected to be booked into prison to serve at least 16 more years of a 40-year sentence for shooting a Houston man in the head, blinding him in one eye.
When McAdams was sentenced in 2004 to 40 years in prison for shooting Cedric Thomas in the head, Thomas thought it was a just punishment.
While enjoying himself at a bar during the Fourth of July weekend, Thomas was shocked when McAdams approached him, shook his hand and apologized.
"What if he still had malice in his heart and wanted to kill me," said Thomas, who lost an eye in the March 2003 sports bar shooting.
McAdams was released from prison 36 years early after serving four years of his 40 year sentence because of a "clerical error," according to Michelle Lyons, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman. McAdams was released May 4.
Lyons said that the mistake was "human error" when keying in McAdams personal information and punishment time during intake in 2004.
Lyons said McAdams was arrested at Hillcroft and Main during a traffic stop after being followed from his home Thursday afternoon.
Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force detective C.J. Mitchell said he and other officers began watching McAdams' home Thursday morning.
Lyons said she expects him to be put back in prison to serve the rest of his time. He will be eligible for parole in 16 years.
Someone getting out of prison because of a clerical error is a rare occurrence, Lyons said. When it does happen, the situation is that an inmate is requested to come to another jurisdiction for other crimes, but TDCJ doesn't get the correct paperwork.
"We let out hundreds of inmates a day,'' Lyons said. "It usually goes off without a hitch."
Lyons said the agency was made aware of the mistake Wednesday. TDCJ Inspector General John Moriarty said his office — an internal affairs division — is investigating how McAdams was released.
"I can think of no legal reason he wouldn't have to go back,'' said his appellate attorney, Dick Wheelan.
By statute, McAdams, who was convicted twice for drug offenses, has to complete half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. Because it is an aggravated offense, he has 16 more years to serve.
Although he was surprised at seeing McAdams, earlier this month Thomas had heard rumors that McAdams was out, in early May, his friend Clarence Walker said.
Walker, a former reporter for America's Most Wanted magazine, said Thomas called him about three months ago and asked him to check on the rumors. At that time, nothing came of the search and Thomas' concerns were discounted.
After McAdams approached Thomas and shook his hand, Walker contacted Harris County District Attorney investigator Johnny Bonds, who figured out what happened.
Bonds searched the records to find that the "somebody at TDCJ wrote 4 instead of 40."
"He's not even on parole," Bonds said. He said TDCJ discharged his sentence as completed.
"Somebody dropped the ball, that's for sure," Bonds said.
This was found at The Houston Chronicle.
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- Having someone's name permanently etched into your flesh is considered by some to be the ultimate testament to a relationship. But wouldn't it be great to make that commitment without really making it ... forever?
A new dye due to hit tattoo parlors this fall will provide an exit strategy of sorts for people who have thought about getting a tattoo, then wondered if they might someday have regrets.
The permanent but removable ink is made by storing dye in microscopic capsules that will stay in the skin for good. But if that butterfly tattoo on the small of your back starts looking lame, it can be zapped away with a single laser treatment that is simpler and less painful than the barrage of treatments now needed.
While the idea might intrigue some -- for example, the 36 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 who get tattoos, according to a 2006 study by the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology -- some enthusiasts say getting inked without the lifetime commitment wouldn't be appealing. Those in the industry are also skeptical, especially since the company making the dye says it will cost considerably more than a regular tattoo.
"I don't know anyone who would pay more for a tattoo where their thought is, 'Maybe one day I'm going to remove this,' " said Jerry Lorito, vice president of the tattoo removal company Tat2BeGone in Costa Mesa, California.
The idea was developed in the late 1990s by Rox Anderson, a dermatology professor at Harvard University who founded the New York-based company Freedom-2 in 1999 to bring the product to market.
In 2004, Anderson approached Edith Mathiowitz, a professor of medical science and engineering at Brown University. Mathiowitz specializes in microcapsulating medicines, DNA, hormones and insulin in plastic polymers, which control the time and rate of the drug's release in the body. Some molecules are designed to break open when exposed to heat, ultraviolet light or ultrasound.
Using the same technology, Mathiowitz trapped dye pigments in microscopic beads coated with a safe, biodegradable plastic.
It's possible to remove regular tattoos with lasers, but it can cost thousands of dollars and usually requires between seven to 15 treatments.
With each conventional laser treatment, the dye is broken down into fragments until they are small enough to be carried away by the bloodstream, usually into the lymph nodes. But the Freedom-2 ink particles held in the tiny beads are already small enough. In just one laser treatment, the polymers combust, and the fragments are released and naturally expelled from the body, Mathiowitz said.
She hopes to eventually design molecules that will dissolve over time for a long-term temporary tattoo that would not require any laser treatment.
Mathiowitz doesn't have a tattoo and said that as a scientist, she never thought she'd be working with them. But she said she is happy to help improve an ancient art form.
"This will make tattoos so much safer. None of the toxins from the ink will be able to leak out" and linger in the dermis, as occurs with conventional tattoos, Mathiowitz said.
Freedom-2 boasts it could save a painful and costly removal process for those who have their heart broken or make a spring break mistake.
"Regret is a strong word, but there are people who are parents or are in a job where they do not want their tattoo to show," said Martin Schmieg, president of Freedom-2. "There are times that your life circle changes things, and the form of self-expression you were proud of in your past just doesn't match now."
Schmieg is the only person to use the ink so far. He tattooed his bicep with the company's red logo, then removed it four months later. Photos show the color has disappeared and only a shadow of it looms. Schmieg said it has since faded.
For Elke O'Connor, 39, of Los Angeles, having a decade-old tribal print removed from her throat is costing her at least $1,000, about a dozen laser treatments and pain she described as "excruciating." "It's the worst pain I've ever had in my life," said O'Connor, who had her first treatment last week. "It's like razor blades cutting you."
Despite the pain, she said she still would have declined if she had the option for removable ink back then. "When someone's going into something like getting a tattoo, it's usually something they want forever," she said.
Lorito said the biggest obstacle the company faces is marketing the product to tattoo salons, where he said temporary tattoos, made from henna or vegetable dye that last weeks and sometimes months, are frowned upon.
"When an artist tattoos somebody, in their mind, they want their work on that body for the rest of that person's life," he said.
At Bambu Tattoo Art Studio in Providence, tattoo artist George Dietz said he's skeptical about whether the ink will last, and said he probably won't use it when it's available this fall.
"If people don't want something permanent," he said, "they shouldn't get a tattoo."
This was found at CNN.
By Jennifer Hill
LONDON (Reuters) - More than two million people are permanently overdrawn, and the average worker goes into the red 27 days after payday, a survey shows.
Almost half of working Britons -- more than 10 million people -- have slipped into the red at least once in the past 12 months, including 2.1 million people who are continually overdrawn, according to price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com.
Those who are unable to stay in the black go overdrawn on the 20th of the month, on average -- 27 days after payday, as most people are paid on the 24th day of the month.
Kevin Mountford, head of current accounts at Moneysupermarket.com, said the findings were not surprising, particularly as the Bank of England has hiked the base rate five times in the past year.
"Consumers are no doubt feeling the squeeze," he said.
He urged them to beware of overdraft interest rates: some can be "punitive", he said, so some people might be better off using a 0 percent interest credit card to tide them over until payday.
"Not only this, but your overdraft can be a murky place to reside, especially if you are close to the edge of the authorized limit," added Mountford.
"Unauthorized rates are often much higher and there are sharp penalty fees for breaching your agreement."
Nearly half of those surveyed said they cut back on spending or curbed their lifestyle as their cash started to run out and one in 10 dipped into their savings.
YouGov interviewed a sample of 2,116 people for the poll.
This was found at Reuters.
By Lauran Neergaard
WASHINGTON - Scientists have unraveled the DNA of another of our primate relatives, this time a monkey named the rhesus macaque — and the work has far more immediate impact than just to study evolution.
These fuzzy animals are key to testing the safety of many medicines, and understanding such diseases as AIDS, and the new research will help scientists finally be sure when they’re a good stand-in for humans.
“The thing we’re all fascinated with is what makes us different from these animals who are so close to us,” said Dr. Richard Gibbs of the Baylor College of Medicine, who led a team of more than 170 scientists that collaborated on the project.
In Friday’s edition of the journal Science, the researchers report deciphering the macaque’s DNA and comparing it to the genetic blueprints of humans and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives.
Among the most intriguing discoveries so far: a list of diseases where the same genetic mutation that makes people ill seems normal for the macaques.
“That is really quite a stunner,” said Dr. Francis Collins, genetics chief at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the research. “It gives you a glimmer of how subtle changes in DNA cause big trouble.”
Third primate genome
The mapping of the human genome in 2001 sparked an explosion of work to similarly decipher the DNA of other animals, so scientists could compare species in the effort to understand the functions of various genes.
The rhesus macaque is the third primate genome to be completed, work that promises to greatly enhance understanding of primate evolution, perhaps even to help explain what makes us human.
Not surprisingly, the DNA of humans, chimps and macaques are highly similar. Humans and chimps have evolved separately since splitting from a common ancestor about 6 million years ago, but still have almost 99 percent of their gene sequences in common.
Macaques branched off from the ape family tree far earlier, about 25 million years ago — yet still share about 93 percent of their DNA with humans, the new work shows.
Here’s the key: Six million years isn’t long in evolutionary history. So if a particular gene is different in the human and the chimp, it’s impossible to know which version came first. Add these more ancient Old World monkeys into the mix, however, and it may be possible to tease out genetic changes that were important for key traits of modern humans, such as higher brain power and walking upright.
“That does point us, in a much more powerful way, to answering the question, ’What does humanness mean?’ at the DNA level,” said Collins, director of NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute.
Important biomedical questions
But right away, the work raises some important biomedical questions, because rhesus macaques are ubiquitous in medical research. Most vaccines and many drugs are tested in the monkeys before ever reaching people. And they’re used as models of many human diseases, most notably the AIDS virus.
“As models, we expect them to behave like us,” noted Baylor’s Gibbs.
Yet consider some of the differences found so far:
Gibbs said the work has importance for the animals, too — because knowing their genetic makeup should cut the number of monkeys needed in many biomedical experiments.
“It’s really about experimenting less and being able to learn more,” he said.
This was found at MSNBC.
Message to the Congress of the United States Regarding International Emergency Economic Powers Act
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)(IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)(NEA), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that, due to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by acts of violence threatening the peace and stability of Iraq and undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq and to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people, it is in the interests of the United States to take additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13303 of May 22, 2003, and expanded in Executive Order 13315 of August 28, 2003, and relied upon for additional steps taken in Executive Order 13350 of July 29, 2004, and Executive Order 13364 of November 29, 2004. I hereby order:
Section 1. (a) Except to the extent provided in section 203(b)(1), (3), and (4) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(1), (3), and (4)), or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior to the date of this order, all property and interests in property of the following persons, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons, are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported,
withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense,
(i) to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of:
(A) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq; or
(B) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people;
(ii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, such an act or acts of violence or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or
(iii) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.
(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section include, but are not limited to, (i) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order, and (ii) the
receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
Sec. 2. (a) Any transaction by a United States person or within the United States that evades or avoids, has the purpose
of evading or avoiding, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
Sec. 3. For purposes of this order:
(a) the term "person" means an individual or entity;
(b) the term "entity" means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization; and
(c) the term "United States person" means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.
Sec. 4. I hereby determine that the making of donations of the type specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(2)) by, to, or for the benefit of, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order would seriously impair my ability to deal with the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13303 and expanded in Executive Order 13315, and I hereby prohibit such donations as provided by section 1 of this order.
Sec. 5. For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that, because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets
instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this order would render these measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13303 and expanded in Executive Order 13315, there need be no prior notice of a listing or determination made pursuant to section 1(a) of this order.
Sec. 6. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government, consistent with applicable law. All agencies of the United States Government are hereby directed to take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order and, where appropriate, to advise the Secretary of the Treasury in a timely manner of the measures taken.
Sec. 7. Nothing in this order is intended to affect the continued effectiveness of any rules, regulations, orders, licenses, or other forms of administrative action issued, taken, or continued in effect heretofore or hereafter under 31 C.F.R. chapter V, except as expressly terminated, modified, or suspended by or pursuant to this order.
Sec. 8. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right, benefit, or privilege, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers or employees, or any other person.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
July 17, 2007.
This was found at The Freakin' White House.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A mayor in eastern Germany has filed charges against workers at his local zoo for shooting animals and selling them as meat.
A spokeswoman for the mayor's office said deer were among the animals killed and sold by workers at Erfurt Zoo without permission over a number of years.
"The case is now with the state prosecutors," said the spokeswoman, declining to give further details.
The German Animal Protection League demanded a review of controls at the zoo and at all other institutions with animals in the state of Thuringia.
"We are worried this is only the tip of the iceberg," said Wolfgang Apel, president of the League, who also said the case raised serious questions about the zoo's management.
Die Zeit newspaper quoted an anonymous zoo employee as saying the number of animals had been declining and: "It is high time something is done about it."
Erfurt Zoo, home to lions, elephants and giraffes as well as horses, donkeys, sheep and goats, declined to comment.
Animal rights campaigners and federal authorities have previously complained about the zoo's imports of wild elephants from South Africa.
This was found at Reuters.
Gods of war....Homer painted next to fertility legendBy ONLINE REPORTER
July 16, 2007
PAGANS have pledged to perform “rain magic” to wash away cartoon character Homer Simpson who was painted next to their famous fertility symbol - the Cerne Abbas giant.
The 17th century chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused, club-wielding giant is believed by many to be a symbol of ancient spirituality.
Many couples also believe the 180ft giant, which is carved in the hillside above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, is an aid to fertility.
A giant 180ft Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was painted next to the well-endowed figure today in a publicity stunt to promote The Simpsons Movie released later this month.
It has been painted with water-based biodegradable paint which will wash away as soon as it rains.
Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: “It’s very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing.
“We were hoping for some dry weather but I think I have changed my mind. We’ll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away.”
She added: “I’m amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. It’s an area of scientific interest.”
She also expressed fears that the painting of Homer, from the animated television series The Simpsons, would cause a mess as it washed away.
During the Second World War, he was disguised to prevent the Germans from using him as an aerial landmark.
Since then he has always been visible, receiving regular grass trimming and a full re-chalking every 25 years.
This was found at The Sun.
Science Daily — Geckos are remarkable in their ability to scurry up vertical surfaces and even move along upside down. Their feet stick but only temporarily, coming off of surfaces again and again like a sticky note. But put those feet underwater, and their ability to stick is dramatically reduced.
Water is an enemy of adhesives, which typically do not work well in wet environments -- think of how long a bandage on your finger lasts. Now two Northwestern University biomedical engineers have successfully married the gecko's adhesive ability with that of an animal well known for its sticking power underwater: the mussel.
Combining the important elements of gecko and mussel adhesion, the new adhesive material, called "geckel," functions like a sticky note and exhibits strong yet reversible adhesion in both air and water.
The findings, which could lead to applications in medical, industrial, consumer and military settings, will be published in the July 19 issue of the journal Nature.
"The geckel material should be useful for reversible attachment to a variety of surfaces in any environment," said Phillip B. Messersmith, professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and an author of the paper.
"I envision that adhesive tapes made out of geckel could be used to replace sutures for wound closure and may also be useful as a water-resistant adhesive for bandages and drug-delivery patches. Such a bandage would remain firmly attached to the skin during bathing but would permit easy removal upon healing."
A gecko's strong but temporary adhesion comes from a mechanical principle known as contact splitting. Each gecko foot has a flat pad that is densely packed with very fine hairs that are split at the ends, resulting in a greater number of contact points than if the hairs were not split. (The diameter of one of the split hairs is as small as 200 nanometers.) More contact points between hairs and surface result in a significant increase in adhesion force. Flies, bees and other insects also use this strategy.
Many researchers before Messersmith have attempted to mimic the gecko foot but have had limited success in replicating the reversible property over many contact cycles. No synthetic mimics have been able to stick past two contact/release cycles, and none work underwater.
In contrast, the geckel material created by Messersmith and Haeshin Lee, one of his graduate students and lead author of the Nature paper, sticks through 1,000 contact/release cycles (like a gecko) and performs extremely well underwater, with high adhesion strength (like a mussel). The material performs similarly in dry environments.
"I was reading a research paper about the drop of adhesion in geckos when underwater, and it hit me -- maybe we could apply what we know about mussels to make gecko adhesion work underwater," said Messersmith.
In earlier work, he and his research group created mussel-mimetic polymers and have studied extensively an amino acid called 3,4-L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), which is found in high concentration in the "glue" proteins of mussels.
Messersmith and Lee imitated a gecko's foot by nanofabricating arrays of silicone pillars that exhibit enough flexibility to adapt to rough surfaces. Next they brought in the mussel power, coating the pillars with a very thin layer of a synthetic polymer, designed by the researchers, that mimics the wet adhesive mussel proteins.
The researchers measured the performance of the geckel material using an atomic force microscope. They found that pillar arrays coated with the mussel-mimetic polymer improved wet adhesion 15-fold over uncoated pillar arrays. (The pillars in the arrays tested were 400 nanometers in diameter and 600 nanometers high.)
In a control experiment, the researchers took the DOPA out of the polymer coating and found the adhesion strength dropped rapidly, illustrating the importance of the synthetic amino acid. DOPA, said Messersmith, is critical to the polymer sticking both to the pillars and to the surface with which the pillars are interacting.
"We have demonstrated a proof of concept, but it will be necessary to develop a patterning approach that works on a large scale," said Messersmith, who believes they can produce a material with even better adhesion. "The challenge will be to scale up the technology and still have the geckel material exhibit adhesive behavior."
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and NASA.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Northwestern University.
This was found at ScienceDaily.
Leading U.S. Brewer Takes Equity Interest in Icelandic Water Holdings
July 18, 2007: 08:00 AM EST
ST. LOUIS and THORLAKSHOFN, Iceland, July 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Anheuser-Busch, Inc. and Icelandic Water Holdings ehf jointly announced today Anheuser-Busch will become the master distributor for Icelandic Glacial super-premium natural spring water in the United States, effective immediately. Anheuser-Busch has taken a 20 percent equity interest in Icelandic Water Holdings as part of the agreement.
Icelandic Glacial is a naturally pure, high-quality spring water sourced exclusively from the Olfus Spring in Southwest Iceland, which was formed during a volcanic eruption more than 4,500 years ago. The spring is one of the largest in the world and is protected by a barrier of lava rock. The water is piped directly from the Olfus Spring and packaged at Icelandic Glacial's state-of-the-art bottling facility in Thorlakshofn, Iceland. Icelandic Water Holdings controls the sole commercial rights to bottle and sell water from the Olfus Spring in Thorlakshofn.
This deal will give Icelandic Glacial natural spring water access to more consumers through Anheuser-Busch's strong network of wholesalers across the country. It also provides Anheuser-Busch distributors with a pure, high-end natural spring water to compete in the fast-growing, nearly $11 billion U.S. bottled water market at a time when consumer demand for superior-quality water is increasing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Icelandic Water Holdings has plans to build a new 70,000-square-foot bottling facility on 1,500 acres in Hlidarendi, Iceland. The new facility will enable Icelandic Water Holdings to meet increased consumer demand for Icelandic Glacial natural spring water and make more bottled water available for Anheuser-Busch's distribution network in the United States. In keeping with the company's ongoing commitment to minimizing its impact on the environment, the new facility will incorporate a sophisticated Building Energy Management System that reflects their CarbonNeutral(R) status announced just last month. Icelandic Glacial is the first super-premium bottled water distributed in the United States to receive this certification in recognition for its ongoing commitment to reduce its overall carbon imprint on the environment.
Icelandic Glacial natural spring water was introduced in the United States in November 2005, and also is available in Canada, Iceland and selected markets throughout mainland Europe. The brand currently is available in a limited number of U.S. markets through a variety of local beverage distributors, including tests with a few Anheuser-Busch wholesalers. Icelandic Water Holdings will transition distribution to the Anheuser-Busch network effective immediately. Initial distribution will focus on select markets -- including California, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut -- with plans to expand nationwide in 2008. Icelandic Water Holdings will continue to oversee all sales and marketing for the brand in the United States.
"Icelandic Glacial is pure natural spring water imported from one of the cleanest, most natural environments in the world, which gives it a competitive advantage in the United States' high-end bottled water market," said August A. Busch IV, president and chief executive officer of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. "Our business landscape is changing, and we are looking for opportunities outside the alcohol beverage category to fuel additional growth for our company and our wholesalers. We believe Icelandic Glacial natural spring water has tremendous potential in the United States when combined with the strength of our distribution network."
According to recent statistics from the International Bottled Water Association and Beverage Marketing Corporation, U.S. bottled water volume increased 9.5 percent in 2006 with sales exceeding $10.8 billion. The super-premium segment in which Icelandic Glacial competes in the United States is relatively small, but profitable and rapidly growing. According to a 2006 survey conducted by Zenith International, the U.S. market for super-premium, imported water sales grew by nearly 20 percent in value during 2005 due to increased recognition and demand for quality by U.S. consumers.
"Anheuser-Busch immediately understood the value to consumers of our rare source of naturally and exceptionally pure spring water," said Jon Olafsson, executive chairman of Icelandic Water Holdings ehf, parent company of Icelandic Glacial. "We have a shared commitment to provide consumers access to the highest-quality natural spring water in the world, something that can only be found thousands of miles from major sources of pollution. This has become a highly coveted resource, and Anheuser-Busch can now pave the way for broad consumer access."
Anheuser-Busch wholesalers will distribute Icelandic Glacial natural spring water in 500-milliliter, 750-milliliter sports-cap, 1-liter PET bottles, and 500-milliliter PET bottle six-packs. Icelandic Glacial's distinct packaging features square, ice-chunk bottles with four different Icelandic landscape label designs wrapped around each bottle.
About Icelandic Glacial Natural Spring Water
Icelandic Glacial is the product of Icelandic Water Holdings ehf, which was founded in April 2004 and is located in Thorlakshofn, Iceland. Largely uninhabited and pollution free, Iceland has one of the cleanest environments on the planet. The source of this legendary water is the Olfus Spring, a naturally replenished catchment zone formed during a massive volcanic eruption more than 4,500 years ago. The local government is particularly appreciative of the need to protect this valuable resource and has applied an exclusion zone around the spring. For more information on Icelandic Glacial, see http://www.Icelandicglacial.com.
About Anheuser-Busch
Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.4 percent share of U.S. beer sales. The company brews the world's largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer, and a 27 percent share in China brewer Tsingtao, whose namesake beer brand is the country's best-selling premium beer. Anheuser-Busch ranked No. 1 among beverage companies in FORTUNE Magazine's Most Admired U.S. and Global Companies lists in 2007. Anheuser-Busch is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and one of the world's largest recyclers of aluminum cans.
This was found at CNNMoney.com
By Dean Yates
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior operative for al Qaeda in Iraq who was caught this month has told his U.S. military interrogators a prominent al Qaeda-led group is just a front and its leader fictitious, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
Brigadier-General Kevin Bergner told a news conference that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, which was purportedly set up last year, did not exist.
The Islamic State of Iraq was established to try to put an Iraqi face on what is a foreign-driven network, Bergner said. The name Baghdadi means the person hails from the Iraqi capital.
Bergner said the information came from an operative called Khalid al-Mashadani who was caught on July 4 and who he said was an intermediary to Osama bin Laden.
He said Mashadani was believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda in Iraq network.
"In his words, the Islamic State of Iraq is a front organization that masks the foreign influence and leadership within al Qaeda in Iraq in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq," Bergner said.
U.S. military officials in recent weeks have been pressed to explain the link between al Qaeda in Iraq and bin Laden's global network given the military's heightened focus on al Qaeda in Iraq as the biggest threat to the country.
The military blames al Qaeda in Iraq for most of the major bombings in Iraq, saying the group is trying to spark all-out civil war between majority Shi'tes and minority Sunni Arabs.
Bergner said Mashadani served as an intermediary between the al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Egyptian Abu Ayyab al-Masri and bin Laden and also the Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahri, who is the global network's No. 2 commander.
The Islamic State of Iraq was set up in October, comprising a group of Sunni militant affiliates and tribal leaders led by Baghdadi. In April, it named a 10-man "cabinet".
The Islamic State of Iraq has claimed many high-profile acts of violence.
But Bergner said Mashadani and Masri had co-founded a "virtual organization in cyberspace called the Islamic State of Iraq in 2006 as a new Iraqi pseudonym for AQI".
"To further this myth, Masri created a fictional head of the Islamic State of Iraq known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi," he said.
"To make al-Baghdadi appear credible, al-Masri swore allegiance to al-Baghdadi and pledged to obey him, which is essentially pledging allegiance to himself since he knew Baghdadi was fictitious and a creation of his own," he said.
"The rank and file Iraqis in AQI believe they are following the Iraqi al-Baghdadi. But all the while they have been following the orders of the Egyptian Abu Ayyab al-Masri."
Voice recordings purporting to be from Baghdadi have appeared on the Internet, although Bergner said he had been played by an actor. He did not refer to any video clips.
Bergner said Mashadani was al Qaeda's "media emir" for Iraq.
He said the operative was "providing significant insights into the nature and circumstances of al Qaeda in Iraq".
The U.S. military has always said al Qaeda in Iraq was run by foreigners.
This was found at Reuters.
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