lime herdsman: April 2013

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

New mechanism for cell membrane fission proposed

Apr. 8, 2013 ? A study led by the Membrane Nanomechanics group of the Biophysics Unit of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has made it possible to characterise the functioning of a protein responsible for cell membrane splitting. The results of the study, published in the journal Science, make it possible to see the basic mechanisms of cell life from a fresh perspective, like the fusion and splitting of cell membranes. What is more, the methodology developed will allow various neuromuscular disorders to be diagnosed.

Cells have a series of specialised proteins so that their membranes can join together (fuse) or separate (split) without losing their protective role against the external medium. One of these specialised proteins is the protein dynamin responsible for the constriction and fission of the necks of endocytic vesicles. Two of the main characteristics of dynamin are its assembly capacity on membranes with high curvature (the necks of the vesicles) and its GTP activity, in other words, the capacity to use the energy stored inside the GTP molecules. GTP, which stands for guanosine triphosphate, is a chemical compound that plays a crucial role in cell metabolism.

It was hitherto thought that the dynamin used the GTP energy to produce a very strong constriction of the neck of the vesicle and thus bring about its fission. Nevertheless, the study led by the Ikerbasque lecturer, Vadim Frolov, has enabled the fission action by the dynamin to be characterised for the first time on nanometric scales and with great time resolution. "We have managed to characterise the minimal functional unit of the dynamin," says the researcher. This study has made it possible to separate the membrane splitting process by the dynamin into two stages: the first, a purely mechanical one in which the constriction of the vesicle neck takes place, and the second, in which the dynamin "functions like a catalytic centre by inserting some of its domains into the membrane," explains Frolov. "The GTP hydrolysis increases the internal flexibility of the dynamin molecule, thus allowing the optimum shape of the protein to be found on the membrane so that it splits. This optimization constitutes the essence of "geometric catalysis," a new way of seeing the activity of the proteins while the membrane is being remodelled," he adds.

Protein involved in neurodegenerative diseases

According to Frolov, this study has marked "the start of a new line of research in the Membrane Nanomechanics group." In fact, this project, which has had a two-year duration, has led to "the specification and development of the method necessary to be able to characterise the action of dynamin with great space-time precision." It is a combination of fluorescence microscopy measurements and electrophysiological ones. "Now we are in a position to measure the passing of the ions along the inside of a lipid nanotube while we observe it by means of fluorescence microscopy. The result can be translated into a technique that allows very fast processes on very small scales to be characterised," says Frolov.

"This technique will enable us to study why small mutations in the dynamin lead to various human diseases, like neuromuscular diseases," adds Frolov.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Basque Research, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

A. V. Shnyrova, P. V. Bashkirov, S. A. Akimov, T. J. Pucadyil, J. Zimmerberg, S. L. Schmid, V. A. Frolov. Geometric Catalysis of Membrane Fission Driven by Flexible Dynamin Rings. Science, 2013; 339 (6126): 1433 DOI: 10.1126/science.1233920

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/le57uk-FfZ0/130408085041.htm

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Trouble in penguin paradise? UC research analyzes Antarctic ice flow

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
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Contact: Tom Robinette
tom.robinette@uc.edu
513-556-1825
University of Cincinnati

UC student researcher uses satellite imagery to calculate ice flow velocity in the coldest place on Earth

University of Cincinnati student Shujie Wang has discovered that a good way to monitor the environmental health of Antarctica is to go with the flow the ice flow, that is.

It's an important parameter to track because as Antarctica's health goes, so goes the world's.

"The ice sheet in Antarctica is the largest fresh water reservoir on Earth, and if it were totally melted, the sea level would rise by more than 60 meters. So it is quite important to measure the ice mass loss there," says Wang, a doctoral student in geography in UC's McMicken College of Arts & Sciences.

Wang will present her research, "Analysis of Ice Flow Velocity Variations on the Antarctic Peninsula during 1986-2012 Based on Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Image Time Series," at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting to be held April 9-13 in Los Angeles. The interdisciplinary forum is attended by more than 7,000 scientists from around the world and features an array of geography-related presentations, workshops and field trips.

Antarctica is 5.5 million square miles of windswept, mountainous ice desert. The fifth largest continent is covered in a sheet of ice that is on average more than a mile thick. Across this province of penguins, outlet glaciers and ice streams funnel chunks of ice into the ocean where they eventually melt in warmer waters. If the ice begins to melt at an abnormally high rate and the sea level rises, a chain reaction of negative ecological effects could take place worldwide.

For her research, Wang uses remote sensing images recorded by satellites to gather data on Antarctica's ice motion. She's particularly interested in determining changes in the ice flow velocity, because the faster ice moves, the faster it's lost. By calculating that velocity at different time intervals, Wang hopes to further understand the process of ice motion and be able to predict changes to Antarctica's landscape. She's planning models that simulate the ice sheet dynamics and estimate any influence on the sea level.

"I hope to provide valuable research to the academia of global change studies," Wang says.

###

Additional contributors to Wang's research paper were Hongxing Liu (UC), Lei Wang (Louisiana State University) and Xia Li (Sun Yat-Sen University, China).

Funding for the research was provided by University Graduate Scholarship allocations from UC's Graduate School and the Department of Geography.

In 2012, UC was named among the nation's top "green" schools by The Princeton Review due to its strong commitment to sustainability in academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation. It was the third year in a row that UC earned a spot on the prestigious list.

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

Trouble in penguin paradise? UC research analyzes Antarctic ice flow

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Tom Robinette
tom.robinette@uc.edu
513-556-1825
University of Cincinnati

UC student researcher uses satellite imagery to calculate ice flow velocity in the coldest place on Earth

University of Cincinnati student Shujie Wang has discovered that a good way to monitor the environmental health of Antarctica is to go with the flow the ice flow, that is.

It's an important parameter to track because as Antarctica's health goes, so goes the world's.

"I hope to provide valuable research to the academia of global change studies," Wang says.

###

Additional contributors to Wang's research paper were Hongxing Liu (UC), Lei Wang (Louisiana State University) and Xia Li (Sun Yat-Sen University, China).

Funding for the research was provided by University Graduate Scholarship allocations from UC's Graduate School and the Department of Geography.

[ | E-mail |

Share ]

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uoc-tip040913.php

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Louisville leads 58-54 in 2nd half of title game

ATLANTA (AP) ? Chane Behanan scored nine quick points early in the second half to help Louisville take a 58-54 lead over Michigan with 10 minutes left in the national title game Monday night.

Behanan had 13 points for the game and Luke Hancock went 4-for-4 from 3-point range to lead the Cardinals (34-5) with 16 points, as the teams geared up for the stretch run of a breakneck, back-and-forth game.

Michigan freshman Spike Albrecht came in for Player of the Year Trey Burke and made his first four 3-point attempts to lead the Wolverines with 17 points. Albrecht finally missed with a little more than 11 minutes left; he was still 9 for 10 from long range for the tournament.

Burke, in early foul trouble, had seven second-half points and 14 for the game. He was also perfect (3 for 3) from 3-point range.

Hancock made all four of his 3-pointers to start a 14-1 run for Louisville that briefly gave the Cardinals a one-point lead late in the first half after they trailed by 12. Michigan's Glenn Robinson III made two free throws with 2 seconds left to give the Wolverines the lead at the half but Louisville led by as many as five early in the second.

The Cardinals (34-5) have won six games this season after trailing by 10 or more, including Saturday night's semifinals, when they beat Wichita State 72-68 after also falling behind by 12.

It was shaping up as a scintillating final act of a season that has been more of a grind, with scoring at its lowest (67.49 points per team) since 1951-52 and shooting at its worst (43.3 percent) since 1964-65.

The 131.2-points-per-game average during March Madness is the lowest since the 3-point line was brought to the game in 1987, though the teams were on pace to easily surpass that after the first half.

"Look at the story lines out there," Beilein said during a quick interview at halftime. "It's going to be one of the best games ever."

Watching from the stands were all five members of the Fab Five, the brash group of sophomores who led Michigan (31-7) to the final in 1993 ? the program's last appearance at the Final Four.

That included Chris Webber, who infamously called a timeout the Wolverines didn't have at the end of Michigan's 77-71 loss to North Carolina in the 1993 final. He has had very little to do with his alma mater in recent years, but was seen getting out of his car and heading into the Georgia Dome shortly before tip-off.

Top-seeded Louisville is trying to bring its first title back to the state of Kentucky's "other" school since 1986. Sitting on the bench with the Cardinals is sophomore guard Kevin Ware, the team's inspiration since snapping his tibia in the regional final last weekend.

Cardinals coach Rick Pitino is working the sideline hours after being chosen for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. Pitino is trying to become the first coach to lead two programs to national championships. He took Kentucky to the title in 1996.

Russ Smith, the Louisville team leader who Pitino has nicknamed "Russdiculous" for some of his wild ? and wildly effective ? antics on the court, scores 18.9 points a game for the Cardinals during the season but has picked up the scoring in the tournament, averaging 25 in the five Louisville wins.

The Cardinals are playing without their main reserve, Ware, who broke his leg in the regional final against Duke. Needing a pickup without Ware, Hancock led the scoring against Wichita State. And rarely used walk-on Tim Henderson made two key 3-pointers during the comeback.

"The other night, we were not going to play in the championship game unless a walk-on steps up and makes a play to give us momentum," Pitino said in a pregame interview.

Michigan topped Syracuse 61-56 on Saturday despite an off night from Burke, who finished with only seven points on 1-for-8 shooting.

Burke, a sophomore, seriously considered leaving for the NBA after last season but decided he had unfinished business left in Ann Arbor. He picked up the AP Player of the Year award, among others, and is now one victory away from the ultimate prize in college hoops.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/louisville-leads-58-54-2nd-half-title-game-031221368--spt.html

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Rare hermit crab specimens caught live for the first time in Caribbean

Barry Brown

These three hermit crabs, affectionately called "The Three Amigos" (in reference to the movie starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short), use tusk shells for housing.

By Douglas Main
OurAmazingPlanet

A recent submarine dive turned up a species of hermit crab that was previously only known through dead, dried specimens procured more than a century ago.

The sub collected a few of the animals, known as Pylopagurus discoidalis, from the Caribbean and brought them back to an aquarium, where they were photographed. These are the first pictures of the live animals ever taken, said Rafael Lemaitre, a research zoologist at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History.

Like other hermit crabs, these make their living in shells produced by other animals, mainly mollusks, Lemaitre told OurAmazingPlanet in an email. They must choose carefully, however, to find a shell that fits their tube-shaped body. The most striking feature of the animal is its chelae, a shield-shaped appendage that allows it to firmly seal its shell when alarmed, Lemaitre said. The other end of the shell can also be sealed by the hermit crab with the tail-like end of its body.

The animals were collected at a depth of 50 to 100 meters (164 to 328 feet) by a craft called the Curasub, just off the coast of the Caribbean island of Cura?ao. It was found as part of the Smithsonian's Deep Reef Observation Project, which provides "an extraordinary and unique opportunity for taxonomists like me to make direct, live observations of many species that have previously been known exclusively from preserved and colorless specimens in museum collections," Lemaitre said.

Not much has been revealed regarding how these little hermit crabs live their daily lives. "We know very little about the biology of this species except that it exists, and its general geographic and depth distribution," Lemaitre said. "Unfortunately, that is the case for the majority of invertebrate species."

After some of the collected crabs died, their DNA was taken and is currently being analyzed to understand its evolutionary history, Lemaitre added.

Barry Brown

A hermit crab (Pylopagurus discoidalis) "rides" a sea cucumber.

Email Douglas Main?or follow him @Douglas_Main. Follow us?@OAPlanet, Facebook?or Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a7d696c/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C0A80C176614440Erare0Ehermit0Ecrab0Especimens0Ecaught0Elive0Efor0Ethe0Efirst0Etime0Ein0Ecaribbean0Dlite/story01.htm

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Monday, April 8, 2013

Democrats bring gun control bill to Senate floor

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Democrats have brought gun control legislation to the Senate floor amid a threat from conservative Republican senators to use delaying tactics to prevent formal debate from even beginning.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took the first procedural step to begin debate on Monday. He said Republicans owed relatives of the massacre of school children in Newtown, Conn., a vote on gun proposals, adding, "Shame on them."

The Nevada Democrat spoke shortly after receiving a letter from 13 conservative Republicans saying they would try to block Senate debate on the bill. The letter said gun curbs would violate the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, and the group indicated they would force Democrats to garner 60 votes to proceed ? a difficult hurdle in the 100-member chamber.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-08-Gun%20Control-Congress/id-91338498c94d4066866c90958f50e940

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Reducing waste of food: A key element in feeding billions more people

Apr. 7, 2013 ? Families can be key players in a revolution needed to feed the world, and could save money by helping to cut food losses now occurring from field to fork to trash bin, an expert said in New Orleans on April 7. He described that often-invisible waste in food -- 4 out of every 10 pounds produced in the United States alone -- and the challenges of feeding a global population of 9 billion in a keynote talk at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

"We will need another 'Green Revolution' to feed the world by 2050," said John Floros, Ph.D., referring to the development of high-yield, disease-resistant breeds of grain and other agricultural innovations that took root in the 1960s. "That will mean scientific innovations, such as new strains of the big three grains -- rice, wheat and corn -- adapted for a changing climate and other conditions. It also will require action to reduce a terrible waste of food that gets too little attention."

Floros cited estimates that in many developing countries up to half of the food harvested from farmers' fields is lost before reaching consumers. He is dean of the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University. That waste can occur due to spoilage from improper storage of grain during transportation or from pests. Rats and mice alone eat or spoil 20 percent of the world's food supply due to contamination with their urine and feces.

"A different kind of waste occurs in the United States and some other developed countries," Floros said. "Developed countries have much more efficient systems for preserving, storing, transporting and protecting food from spoilage and pests. But as a nation -- households, supermarkets, restaurants, other food-service providers -- we throw away about 4 out of every 10 pounds of food produced each year."

Government studies show, for instance, that the average family in the United States throws away 20 pounds of food a month, more than $2,000 worth every year for a family of four. It includes food that has gone uneaten and spoiled in refrigerators and on pantry shelves, as well as food that people throw away after cooking. Uneaten food actually rivals paper, plastic and other refuse as the No. 1 material in some municipal landfills.

Scientists know that food waste in landfills, for instance, releases methane gas as it decomposes. Methane is about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas that fosters global warming. Floros pointed out that reducing food waste would contribute to solving other great global challenges that society faces in the 21st century, beyond feeding a booming population. Wasting food wastes the freshwater needed to grow it, at a time when 1.2 billion people lack access to clean water. It also wastes energy, fertilizers, pesticides and other resources used in the food supply.

Supplying more food, however, is only part of the challenge, Floros emphasized. "Millions of people in some developing countries are becoming more affluent. In the past, people were satisfied with food that filled them up and sustained life. Increasingly, they will demand food that is convenient to prepare, certified as safe and highly nutritious and tastes good."

He cited the People's Republic of China as an example. The middle class in China is now larger than the U.S. population and is increasing in size year by year. And people in China are now consuming almost 3 times as much meat compared to a few decades ago. Demand for convenience foods also is rising with the growth of the urban population.

Several other food-related challenges lie ahead, Floros pointed out. Water, for instance, is becoming scarcer, as is fertile farmland. Global climate change may stress those resources even further. The demand for sustainable energy may divert more cropland to production of crops for biofuel production. Economic conditions threaten less investment in agricultural research and development. Drought and other extreme weather could impact food production. And consumption of too much food and less nutritious foods underpins epidemics in obesity and type 2 diabetes.

"We're not doing enough to resolve these complex issues that are critical for providing 9-10 billion people with a nutritious diet," said Floros. "Consumers, industry, universities and governments all need to pitch in. The first step is more awareness of these issues and the need for action on multiple levels of society."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS).

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/YlxbTCcUqSo/130407183539.htm

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How three Ontario school friends grew up to become Islamist terrorists in North Africa

The distressed family of Ali Medlej explained the unexpected death of their son by saying he was killed in a car accident. The truth, as they ? and the world ? now knows, is more ghastly and perplexing: The young London man died perpetrating January?s terrorist attack on an Algerian gas plant.

Aaron Yoon says he has been tortured in prison

A media report says an Ontario man who reportedly travelled with two Canadians killed during the Algerian terrorist siege is claiming he has been tortured and beaten in an African jail.

CBC News says it interviewed Aaron Yoon from a Mauritania prison where he says he has been held for the past two years.

The CBC broadcast excerpts of the interview Friday.

The man interviewed said he didn?t know how the two Canadians killed in Algeria had become linked with militants, and the CBC says the man denied being involved in terrorist activities.

In the excerpts the CBC broadcast, the man also accused the Canadian government of doing nothing to help him.

The Canadian government has said it was aware a Canadian has been detained abroad.

Yoon travelled overseas with London, Ont., classmates Ali Medlej and Xristos Katsiroubas, the two men whose bodies were found at the site of the Algerian gas plant siege.

- The Canadian Press

The violent end of Ali Medlej, along with Xristos Katsiroubas, his chum from school whom he helped convert to Islam, came not in a car, but in the North African desert in an attack that left 37 hostages dead, most of them incinerated in an explosion that likely also purposely killed the Canadian attackers.

That was their startling end.

Now everyone, even those close to the young men, wonder where their dark odyssey began.

While the geography is somewhat clear ? from London to Edmonton to Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and, ultimately, to the ill-fated gas plant in In Amenas, Algeria ? it is the psychological journey, from suburban rascals to jihadi commandos, that leaves friends befuddled.

The men, along with Aaron Yoon, who was convicted in Mauritania last year of membership in a terrorist group, were all part of a larger group of friends, mostly Muslim, at London South Collegiate Institute, a high school in the southwestern Ontario city.

The boys emerged from adolescence immersed in twin obsessions with Islam and hip-hop music.

And if those influences offer a cultural contrast, the lives of the three men portray a similar duality, said family, many friends and former schoolmates, some of whom were close to one or more of the men since kindergarten.

Ali, with most of those in his clique, for instance, devoutly attended prayers but also, while in Grade 12, got into trouble for taking a fake gun to a neighbouring school to settle a dispute with a student there, friends said. And although dying in a bloody al-Qaeda attack, in Grade 9, he once mocked the Taliban.

Xristos, in turn, was a late convert to Islam after being raised in a Greek-Canadian Orthodox Christian home and, with the zeal of a new convert, announced he was to be called Mustafa.

?Xris [prounounced Chris] was a much more serious Muslim than Ali,? said Justin VanderTuin, 24, who was on the high school football team with Ali. ?Ali certainly was not. He was a kid who drank and smoked, but I never saw Xris with any of those things.?

And Aaron, a Korean-Canadian Catholic who also converted in his teens, under influence from Ali, shunned schoolwork and reading but ended up studying the Koran and Arabic at an Islamic centre in North Africa.

?I was surprised when I read about Aaron studying Islamic texts ? Aaron, study?? said a former classmate at Cartier Public School. ?He could never even remember when Confederation was.?

The circumstances of these young men ? who were in many ways ordinary and in others extraordinary ? do not make for a clean portrait to be drawn; just as it makes it more important for investigators, and the community, to understand what went wrong.

I was surprised when I read about Aaron studying Islamic texts ? Aaron, study?

At the well-maintained, single-storey home of the Medlej family in a residential neighbourhood of southeast London, a distressed woman declined to speak to a reporter. At the used car lot owned by Ali?s father, Wassim Medlej, who goes by the Anglicized name Sam Medley, a sign hangs in the window saying he would be back in 30 minutes, but he has not been seen for days, said those living and working nearby.

A motion-sensor detects anyone approaching the door and triggers a loud, recorded message: ?You are trespassing.? The family wants privacy.

Although Ali Medlej died in January, their grief is raw; the family was only notified last week by the RCMP that their son?s remains were identified at the scene of the Algeria bombing.

A family acquaintance said they explained their grief and shock by saying Ali had died in a car accident. Ali?s sister, who is a local star soccer player, recently lamented to friends how much she missed her brother.

Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, the Medlej family is not well known in the community, said a Lebanese woman arriving for prayer at the London Muslim Youth Association this week.

?I?ve been around here for 30 years and I?ve never heard of them, except now in the news,? she said.

But former classmates remember Ali.

He was known as dynamic, loud, often funny but also remembered for slamming his fist into a locker in frustration and for being physically intimidating.

One classmate recalls Ali acting out a scene from Shakespeare?s Romeo and Juliet in Grade 10 English and turning it into a mock fight to the amusement of the students, although the teacher was unimpressed.

When the class wrote their literacy test, Ali couldn?t be bothered to read the instructions and just wrote an unrelated essay on gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur.

Several students described Ali as a bully ? one calling him a ?wannabe thug.?

?He was definitely a bully in the sense that if he thought you were weak, he didn?t respect you,? said Mr. VanderTuin.

But Devon Abrahams, 24, remembers Ali interceding when a classmate was being picked on in 2006.

?Ali stopped him,? Mr. Abrahams said. ?Ali was a good guy, stood up for a friend of mine, got high marks in school but hid it from his peers.?

Several classmates said Ali was smart but liked to hide it.

?He could be kind of an ass sometimes,? said Osrenko Jovic, a Western University business graduate now running his own company. ?It depends who he was with. It depends which crowd it was.

?I just don?t know what the hell happened, to be honest,? he said. ?When we all left high school, that?s when he started to change.?

Xristos Katsiroubas? religious roots are clear from his given name, which is the Greek word for Christ. He converted to Islam about 2004 and shunned his name, introducing himself as Mustafa.

?I think his mom was concerned about the people he was hanging out with, namely my group of friends, but they weren?t radicals, just troublemakers I guess,? said a man who was best friends with him since elementary school. Like some people interviewed, he did not want his name published and associated with terrorism.

?I think he started going to the mosque because he was close with Ali. I think after a little while he felt at home there.

?It was a thing for a lot of my friends to go to the mosque together. I think Xris just went along one time and eventually decided he liked it.?

The group, however, showed little ambition about the future. That, more than the group?s growing interest in Islam, became a wedge between himself and his friends.

?I wanted to move on to bigger and better things and they weren?t interested in doing much with their life,? he said.

The conversion of Aaron Yoon, now 24, came as a surprise to his family, but seemed to bring him a measure of calm, his brother said. He planned to attend a London Catholic high school, although he eventually linked up with Ali and Xristos at South Collegiate.

He was an indifferent student with a propensity for silliness, said a former elementary school classmate.

His conversion, however, seemed to ignite his academic curiosity.

The three, despite the diverse backgrounds, were part of a clique dominated by Muslim students of Middle Eastern descent, part of a subtle racial division at the school, a classmate said.

?They had their own little group. I was more at the side of the school with all the skaters and jocks. All the ?inter-racial people? were at the front of the school ? that?s where they hung out.?

Mr. Jovic said of Aaron: ?He was always smiling, always a nice guy. Apparently he started changing as well after high school.?

The end of high school did not move the boys into higher education.

Instead, they embraced their religion more publicly: Ali started wearing traditional Islamic garb after high school and Xristos started growing a beard.

In 2007, they moved to Edmonton in search of work, but ended up in trouble there, the CBC reported.

Their landlady ended up evicting them from a rented condominium for causing damage, including breaking windows and punching holes in doors. Even worse, court records indicate they and another friend from London were convicted of stealing groceries in March, 2007. (London police currently have an arrest warrant for that friend, Benjamin Thomas, 24, for failing to comply with conditions for a shoplifting conviction in the Ontario city.)

?Ali was insistent that we rent them a place because they were in a bind. I kind of felt like helping them,? CBC quoted their landlady as saying.

Afterward, they travelled to Morocco and made their way to Mauritania. At least one of them, Aaron, pursued studies there and investigators suspect the others may have found their way to an Islamic school or centre that facilitated their entry into a jihadist group.

Aaron went in 2010 to study the Koran and Arabic, his brother said. He was reunited with Ali and Xristos in Morocco, he said.

Aaron lost contact with his two friends in 2011 when he was arrested in Mauritania for involvement in a terrorist group.

However they were attracted to North Africa and however they financed the trip, it was a journey from which Ali and Xristos would not return.

Jean-Luc Marret, a senior fellow at the Fondation pour la Recherche Strat?gique, a Paris-based public policy think tank, said some Islamic schools in the area serve as recruiting grounds for armed Islamist factions, but the process is informal.

?What you call a madrassa can be a very mainstream organization, but with one individual inside doing radical proselytism,? he said. ?You need to have the chance to meet someone, then convince him about your motivation without being monitored by the police.?

Recruits might arrive with an introduction from someone trusted who vouches for them. It would not be unusual for armed groups in the region to welcome foreign recruits, he said.

The region?s most powerful armed faction, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, had been trying to internationalize recruitment.

A key question for the RCMP is whether someone facilitated their connection to that school. If so, was that person in Canada or elsewhere? And did these young men go to study and only then get drawn into armed conflict, or did they go there with the intent of joining the fighting?

The group behind the attack in Algeria was led by the Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who had allegedly split with the AQIM and formed his own militia, The Signatories in Blood. They allegedly trained in Mali and then travelled east, skirting the borders of Mali and Niger before crossing into Algeria from Libya.

The attack began on Jan. 16 when 32 gunmen stormed the In Amenas gas plant and began executing some of the 800 hostages. Witnesses recalled seeing a blond-haired, blue-eyed attacker who spoke perfect English ? a description that fits neither Ali or Xristos.

While the majority of hostages were freed, 37 foreign workers and a local were killed, as well as all but three of the terrorists.

After Algeria?s prime minister identified the attackers as Algerian, Tunisian, Egyptian, Malian, Nigerien, Mauritanian and Canadian, the RCMP dispatched its Disaster Victim Identification team, the same unit that helps identify bodies after natural disasters.

By late March, the RCMP had identified two of the bodies at the siege site as Ali and Xristos.

Testing is continuing to determine whether any of the other attackers were Canadians.

National Post, with files from Jodee Brown

? Email: ahumphreys@nationalpost.com | Twitter:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NP_Top_Stories/~3/xDcQ8U-Df-g/

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Sunday, April 7, 2013

Screening blood samples for cancer-driving mutations more comprehensive than analyzing traditional tumor biopsy

Apr. 6, 2013 ? Researchers using a tool called BEAMing technology, which can detect cancer-driving gene mutations in patients' blood samples, were able to identify oncogenic mutations associated with distinct responses to therapies used to treat patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), according to a researcher who presented the data at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington D.C., April 6-10.

Data from a subanalysis of the phase III GIST-Regorafenib In Progressive Disease (GRID) trial indicated that this blood-based screening technology may provide physicians with a real-time, comprehensive picture of a patient's tumor mutations, according to George D. Demetri, M.D., director of the Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.

"Our results show that it is possible to sum the total of all of the heterogeneity in a cancer and get a clear picture of the entire tumor burden, using a simple blood sample," Demetri said.

In this era of targeted cancer therapies, the goal is to focus cancer treatments on a specific molecular target. However, as researchers discover more about cancers and their heterogeneity, they are finding many patients have anywhere from one to dozens of different mutations in their tumors.

"It is a real issue that when you do a biopsy on one tumor, and then biopsy a different tumor in that same patient a few inches away or on the other side of the body, you may get a different answer when you do the molecular analysis," Demetri said. "With this blood test, you get a robust summary statement about all the different mutations present across the different tumors in the body. I believe this testing technology has promise to become a standard part of care in the next five to 10 years."

Data from the main analysis of the phase III GRID study showed that the molecularly targeted drug regorafenib significantly improved progression-free survival compared with placebo for patients with GIST. The researchers hope these results will ultimately lead to the drug's approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to Demetri. The drug is intended to treat patients with advanced GIST whose disease has failed to be controlled by the only two other FDA-approved therapies for GIST, imatinib and sunitinib (Sutent).

Demetri and colleagues conducted an exploratory analysis on patients in the GRID study to assess GIST genotypes. They isolated DNA from archival tumor tissue, which was then analyzed for mutations in two genes, KIT and PDGFRA, which generate the cancer-driving proteins that are the targets of imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib. The researchers believed that primary mutations would be detectable using traditional analysis, but that those mutations that developed after treatment with imatinib and sunitinib would not be detectable. They then took blood samples drawn at study entry after failure of both imatinib and sunitinib, and analyzed them for mutations via BEAMing technology.

Mutations in the KIT gene were detected in 60 percent of the blood samples compared with 65 percent of the tumor tissue samples. However, when focusing their analysis on secondary KIT mutations, which are the mutations that drive resistance to targeted therapies like imatinib and sunitinib, the researchers found mutations in 48 percent of blood samples compared with only 12 percent of tissue samples. In addition, nearly half of blood samples in which secondary KIT mutations were found harbored multiple secondary mutations.

Importantly, regorafenib was clinically active compared with placebo in patients with secondary KIT mutations.

According to Demetri, the results show a clear association between the presence of different cancer-driving gene mutations in patients' blood samples and clinical outcomes.

"By using this technology, we hope to develop the most rational drug combinations and better tests to match patients with the most effective therapies going forward," Demetri said.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/F_Xmn3nCydE/130407090631.htm

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Sweeping anti-abortion bill goes to Kansas gov.

Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick, right, a Stilwell Republican, watches the chamber's electronic tally board as it approves a sweeping anti-abortion bill, Friday, April 5, 2013, at the Statehouse, in Topeka, Kan. To Merrick's left is Majority Leader Jene Vickrey, a Louisburg Republican. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas state Sen. David Haley, left, a Kansas City Democrat, debates anti-abortion legislation with Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Shawnee Republican, Friday, April 5, 2013, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Haley opposes the bill's new restrictions on abortion providers, while Pilcher-Cook supports them. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas abortion-rights lobbyists Elise Higgins, left, and Holly Weatherford, watch the Senate's debate on anti-abortion legislation from the gallery, Friday, April 5, 2013, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Higgins represents the Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women and Weatherford, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, right, a Shawnee Republican, confers with state Rep. John Rubin, left, another Shawnee Repulbican, in the House chamber, Friday, April 5, 2013, in the Statehouse, in Topeka, Kan. Pilcher-Cook is a leading advocate of a bill banning sex-selection abortions, and Rubin also supports it. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, right, a Shawnee Republican, talks to state Rep. John Rubin, left, another Shawnee Republican, in the House chamber, Friday, April 5, 2013, in the Statehouse, in Topeka, Kan. Pilcher-Cook is a leading advocate of a bill blocking tax breaks for abortion providers, and Rubin supports it as well. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ? Kansas legislators gave final passage to a sweeping anti-abortion measure Friday night, sending Gov. Sam Brownback a bill that declares life begins "at fertilization" while blocking tax breaks for abortion providers and banning abortions performed solely because of the baby's sex.

The House voted 90-30 for a compromise version of the bill reconciling differences between the two chambers, only hours after the Senate approved it, 28-10. The Republican governor is a strong abortion opponent, and supporters of the measure expect him to sign it into law so that the new restrictions take effect July 1.

In addition to the bans on tax breaks and sex-selection abortions, the bill prohibits abortion providers from being involved in public school sex education classes and spells out in more detail what information doctors must provide to patients seeking abortions.

The measure's language that life begins "at fertilization" had some abortion-rights supporters worrying that it could be used to legally harass providers. Abortion opponents call it a statement of principle and not an outright ban on terminating pregnancies.

"The human is a magnificent piece of work at all stages of development, wondrous in every regard, from the microscopic until full development," said Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a Leavenworth Republican who supported the bill.

Abortion opponents argue the full measure lessens the state's entanglement with terminating pregnancies, but abortion-rights advocates say it threatens access to abortion services.

The declaration that life begins at fertilization is embodied in "personhood" measures in other states. Such measures are aimed at revising their constitutions to ban all abortions, and none have been enacted, though North Dakota voters will have one on the ballot in 2014.

But Kansas lawmakers aren't trying to change the state constitution, and the measure notes that any rights suggested by the language are limited by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. It declared in its historic Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that women have a right to obtain abortions in some circumstances, and has upheld that decision while allowing increasing restrictions by states.

Thirteen states, including Missouri, have such language in their laws, according to the National Right to Life Committee.

Sen. David Haley, a Kansas Democrat who opposed the bill, zeroed in on the statement, saying that supporters of the bill were pursuing a "Taliban-esque" course of letting religious views dictate policy limiting women's ability to make decisions about health care and whether they'll have children.

And in the House, Rep. John Wilson, a Lawrence Democrat, complained that the bill was "about politics, not medicine."

"It's the very definition of government intrusion in a woman's personal medical decisions," he said.

Brownback has signed multiple anti-abortion measures into law, and the number of pregnancies terminated in the state has declined 11 percent since he took office in January 2011.

The governor said he still has to review this year's bill thoroughly but added, "I am pro-life."

This year's legislation is less restrictive than a new North Dakota law that bans abortions as early as the sixth week of pregnancy and a new Arkansas law prohibiting most abortions after the 12th week. But many abortion opponents still see it as a significant step.

"There is a clear statement from Kansas with respect to the judgment on the inherent value of human life," said Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairwoman Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Shawnee Republican and leading advocate for the measure.

The bill passed despite any solid data on how many sex-selection abortions are performed in Kansas. A 2008 study by two Columbia University economists suggested the practice of aborting female fetuses ? widespread in some nations where parents traditionally prefer sons ? is done in the U.S. on a limited basis.

But legislators on both sides of the issue said the practice should be banned, however frequent it is.

The bill also would require physicians to give women information that addresses breast cancer as a potential risk of abortion. Advocates on both sides acknowledge there's medical evidence that carrying a fetus to term can lower a woman's risk for breast cancer, but doctors convened by the National Cancer Institute a decade ago concluded that abortion does not raise the risk for developing the disease.

The provisions dealing with tax breaks are designed to prevent the state from subsidizing abortions, even indirectly. For example, health care providers don't have the pay the state sales tax on items they purchase, but the bill would deny that break to abortion providers. Also, a woman could not include abortion costs if she deducts medical expenses on her income taxes.

"Every taxpayer will be able to know with certainty that their money is not being used for abortion," Pilcher-Cook said.

But Jordan Goldberg, state advocacy counsel for the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Rights, called the tax provisions "appalling and discriminatory."

"It's probably, if not definitely unconstitutional, and it's incredibly mean-spirited," she said.

___

The anti-abortion legislation is HB 2253.

___

Associated Press Writer Maria Fisher in Kansas City, Mo., also contributed to this report. Follow John Hanna on Twitter at www.twitter.com/apjdhanna

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-06-Kansas-Abortion/id-c16d42f8059140e582c14efc454e78bc

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Saturday, April 6, 2013

USCCB grants $3.1M to assist Church in Latin America

CWN - April 05, 2013

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops? Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America has granted over $3.1 million to 132 projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Three grants totaling $1.1 million were awarded for the reconstruction of churches in Haiti; the remaining grants will be used for a variety of projects, including diocesan pastoral initiatives, World Youth Day, and the pastoral care of migrants.

In 2012, the subcommittee awarded nearly $6.5 million in grants for Latin American pastoral projects and $5.7 million for church reconstruction in Haiti.

The grants are funded by special collections.

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Source: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=17514

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Judge rejects BP bid to block Gulf spill payouts

BP's request to block settlement payouts associated with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was rejected Friday by a federal judge.?BP estimated a year ago that it would spend roughly $7.8 billion to resolve tens of thousands of claims by businesses and individuals covered by the settlement.?

By Michael Kunzelman,?Associated Press / April 5, 2013

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion in April 2010.

Gerald Herbert/AP/File

Enlarge

A federal judge on Friday rejected BP's request to block what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses that claim the company's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cost them money.

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Before the ruling, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier already had upheld court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau's interpretation of settlement terms governing payments to businesses affected by the spill. Barbier said he saw no reason to change his March 5 ruling on the same matter and issue a preliminary injunction that would block Juneau from making payments to businesses.

Barbier also on Friday dismissed a separate lawsuit that BP filed against Juneau, who had argued he was entitled to immunity from the suit.

BP argued that Juneau made decisions in January that expose the company to fictitious losses that were never contemplated in the settlement.

"We think it rewrites the contract. We think it rewards people who have no losses," BP attorney Rick Godfrey said.

Private plaintiffs' attorneys who brokered last year's deal with BP say the London-based oil giant's allegations are baseless and self-serving. Steve Herman, one of the lead plaintiffs' attorneys on the case, said BP's request was merely a legal gambit designed to clear another path for an appeals court to review the matter.

Rick Stanley, Juneau's lawyer, said his client has a duty to follow the judge's orders and "move this (settlement) process forward."

"He did not participate in the negotiation of it. He really has no position about the wisdom of the settlement agreement or how it came to be. He just wants to do his job as claims administrator," Stanley said.

Barbier scheduled Friday's hearing before BP appealed his March 5 ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans earlier this week.

"Seems like this whole exercise is a belt-and-suspenders operation," Barbier said of BP's separate request for preliminary injunction.

"Not quite," Godfrey said.

"There's no subtlety here. You're trying to get this issue to the 5th Circuit," Barbier said.

BP spokesman Scott Dean said the company "will evaluate how to proceed" in light of Barbier's latest ruling "to protect our rights and prevent continued meritless awards."

"BP believes today's proceedings and the related filings were necessary steps on the way to appellate review in the 5th Circuit, which has not yet considered this issue," Dean said in a statement.

BP estimated a year ago that it would spend roughly $7.8 billion to resolve tens of thousands of claims by businesses and individuals covered by the settlement. The company now says it can't give a reliable estimate for the total value of the deal.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/w27lqZ5FXiQ/Judge-rejects-BP-bid-to-block-Gulf-spill-payouts

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Florida court: Undocumented immigrant can't be admitted to bar

Denny Henry for NBCNews.com

Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio poses for a portrait on Capitol Hill, April 19th, 2011. Godinez-Samperio is an undocumented immigrant who is pushing for immigration law reform.

By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

An undocumented immigrant who applied to for a law license in Florida cannot be admitted to the bar, the State Supreme Court said Thursday in a case being watched closely by both sides of the immigration debate.

But the decision, according to legal observers, did not appear to be an actual rejection of the request made by Jose Godinez-Samperio, 26.

Rather, the court indicated it would be deciding on the larger question it had been asked --?whether or not to allow people?unlawfully in the country to become lawyers -- and not on a specific individual case.?

?In this cause, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners has petitioned this Court for an advisory opinion regarding a clearly stated question. The separate issue of the individual movant's admission is not before the Court,? the court said in a short order.

The Florida Board of Bar Examiners asked the court in late 2011 to decide if undocumented immigrants can be admitted to the state bar after receiving the application of Godinez-Samperio, an undocumented youth who came from Mexico on a tourist visa with his parents as a child.

The board, which filed the request for an opinion last year, said last year that Godinez-Samperio met their requirements though the court has yet to issue an opinion in the case.

After receiving a work permit on Christmas Eve last year under the new deferred action program for undocumented youth, Godinez-Samperio had his lawyer submit a ?motion of admission? to the bar in January.

That motion was rejected on Thursday, with the court indicating that the larger question on undocumented immigrants ? not the specific case of Godinez-Samperio ? was what they had been asked to review even though Godinez-Samperio's lawyer had been making filings in the case.

Bob Blythe, general counsel of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, said he didn?t ?think that it?s accurate to say that the court has denied him (Godinez-Samperio) admission.?

"They?re just saying this case isn?t about his admission but rather the more general question,? Blythe told NBC News. ?The answer from the court in this case is going to be whether undocumented immigrants can be admitted and then once we get that then the court will take the appropriate action with regard to his application. ? In many respects it really doesn?t change anything at this point.?

Godinez-Samperio said the meaning of the order wasn?t entirely clear to him, but that he too felt the court was saying it would first address the larger question.

?We had moved to the court (in January) to just go ahead and admit me already and it?s a very strange ruling ? One thing we are sure about is that I haven?t been denied to become a lawyer yet,? he said, noting that he didn?t view it as a setback.

?If anything ? I am glad somebody?s looking at the file and I hope -- although I can?t predict what the court will do -- I hope that this means they?ll make a ruling soon,? he added.

Blythe said the court didn?t have a deadline or time frame for when it would issue a ruling.

Godinez-Samperio came to the U.S. at age nine with his parents from Pachuca, Mexico. They entered the country on tourist visas, which they overstayed. During that time, Godinez-Samperio graduated from high school, college and law school.

A case similar to his in California has reached that state?s supreme court, too. There, the State Bar of California has gone further than its Florida counterpart in saying that Sergio Garcia, a 36-year-old who was born in Mexico and first came to the U.S. as a child, should get a license, noting he had met the rules of admission and that his lack of legal status in the U.S. should not automatically disqualify him.

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Friday, April 5, 2013

France wants to keep 1,000 soldiers in Mali permanently

By Adama Diarra and John Irish

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - France has proposed keeping a permanent force of 1,000 French troops in Mali to fight armed Islamist militants, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday.

Fabius, on a visit to Bamako, said France was pushing ahead with plans to reduce its 4,000-strong military presence from the end of this month but planned to keep a combat force in Mali to support a future U.N. peacekeeping mission.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called last week for the deployment of a U.N. mission of 11,200 troops and 1,440 police in Mali once major combat ends.

This would include thousands of African troops already in Mali in support of France's three-month military campaign, which has swept Islamist rebels out of the towns of northern Mali and into remote desert and mountain hideaways.

Ban's plan also referred to a parallel force to tackle al Qaeda-linked Islamist extremists directly, which diplomats had said would likely be French. Paris has repeatedly warned that the Islamist enclave in north Mali posed a threat to the West and pledged to entirely eradicate it.

"France has proposed, to the United Nations and to the Malian government, a French support force of 1,000 men which would be permanent, based in Mali, and equipped to fight terrorism," Fabius said before leaving Bamako after a one-day visit.

A diplomatic source in Paris said France hoped to have the peacekeeping force approved by the Security Council within three weeks, and to have it deployed by the end of June or early July in time for scheduled presidential elections.

A clause in the U.N. resolution will allow Ban to request the rapid intervention of France's 1,000 troops, which would be deployed under a bilateral deal with Mali, the source said.

Despite widespread concerns over continuing Islamist attacks in northern Mali and the lack of an effective government presence in many areas, France is pressing its former colony to quickly organize nationwide elections to complete a democratic transition after a March 2012 coup.

"It is best that elections are held," Fabius said. "Our Malian partners say they want that and it is possible. The target is July and everything is being done to meet that deadline."

CALL FOR TUAREGS TO DISARM

Fabius called directly on the MNLA Tuareg separatist rebels, who have assisted French forces in northern Mali after Islamists fled the Tuareg stronghold of Kidal, to lay down their arms and take part in the political process.

Tuareg fighters have helped France and their Chadian allies to track down pockets of militants near Kidal. The success of an MNLA uprising early last year sparked March's military coup but the northern rebellion was soon hijacked by Islamist groups.

"All groups including the MNLA must agree to be confined to barracks and disarm," Fabius said, after meeting with Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore. "We wish to see the official reopening of negotiations."

Many observers have questioned plans for a swift reduction of France's 4,000 troops in light of the continuing Islamist insurgency and a freeze in peace talks with Tuareg rebels.

Islamist insurgents attacked the northern city of Timbuktu for the second time in a fortnight last week, promising to "open the gates of hell" when the French leave.

Mariam Diallo, an analyst with the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, said the July date for the elections was not feasible and could lead to further problems.

"Everything is in chaos and trying rush the elections could be problematic," she said, adding Mali should be given time to resolve the question of displaced people and the electoral register.

Mali's Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said the gold- and cotton-producing nation was capable of meeting the timetable.

"Refugees and those displaced internally by the crisis could vote in their camps. It is technically possible," he said.

(Writing by Bate Felix and Daniel Flynn; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-says-mali-elections-feasible-urges-tuaregs-disarm-191839430.html

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Microsoft's latest pitch to business: Make Windows Azure 'your datacenter'

Next week is Microsoft's annual Microsoft Management Summit conference in Las Vegas. No, I won't be there (me and Las Vegas -- we're not friends). But I have been combing through the session list for the event, which runs from April 8 to April 12.

In case you don't already know about MMS, this isn't a show for tech wimps. It's for IT managers who love things like System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 and User State Migration Tookit 5.0. But it's also a place where some of Microsoft's higher-level messaging around Windows Server, System Center and Windows Azure occasionally bubble up.

Two of the sessions from the online MMS catalog piqued my interest because of their focus on getting enterprise users to see Windows Azure as YOUR datacenter."

WS-B331 Windows Azure and Active Directory
Speaker(s): David Tesar
Track(s): Windows Server & Azure Infrastructure
Session Type: Breakout Session
Product(s): Active Directory, Windows Azure
In this session you will learn how to plan, deploy and manage Active Directory within Windows Azure. Windows Azure is YOUR datacenter. Deploying Active Directory within your cloud is a key part of enabling LOB applications to work.

WS-B333 Windows Azure in the Enterprise
Speaker(s): Karri Alexion-Tiernan, Venkat Gattamneni
Track(s): Windows Server & Azure Infrastructure
Session Type: Breakout Session
Product(s): Windows Azure
In this session, you will discover how you can make Windows Azure YOUR datacenter. From compute and storage on demand, to messaging and identity services, come and see how you can power your enterprise today with Windows Azure.

I haven't heard Microsoft make this pitch in this way before. Sure, the company has been encouraging corporate customers to go the Azure route, by onboarding their existing apps using the still-in-preview Azure virtual machines and/or by writing new applications that take advantage of Windows Azure's platform-as-a-service capabilities. (This is in addition to encouraging developers of all stripes, including mobile developers, to write apps that connect to the Azure cloud.)

But telling enterprise customers that Windows Azure, which is hosted by Microsoft in its own datacenters, to consider Azure THEIR datacenter is new. (New to me, at least.)

A few years ago, Microsoft was moving toward providing its largest enterprise customers and partners with an Azure-in-a-box capability, via Azure appliances. This effort seems to have been tabled, best I can tell. Instead, Microsoft has been adding Azure features to Windows Server, enabling its hosting partners to turn their implementations of Windows Server into something that more closely resembles Windows Azure. There have been hints that Microsoft might allow large customers to deploy these same Azure features internally, but so far no announcement to that effect.

This doesn't mean that enterprise users, even those who are not sold wholescale on this public cloud thing, can't find some ways to use parts of Azure today, as Windows Azure General Manager Bill Hilf explained in a succint but largely overlooked post from a week ago.

Among the ways enterprise users can tap into Azure, according to Hilf:

Store, back up and recover their data in the cloud at a lower cost than using SAN technology, via Windows Azure Storage plus StorSimple, Windows Azure Online Backup and/or SQL Availability Groups. (Note: Microsoft execs are going to be talking about StorSimple -- the cloud-storage appliance technology Microsoft acquired last year --?at MMS.)
Tap into "the power of big data" by pairing Azure Websites with HDInsight, so as to mine data, generate business analytics and make adjustments
Integrate with on-premises Windows Servers; Linux servers; System Center; data services for SQL, No SQL; .Net, Java, Node.js, Python . (However, speaking of integration, the Azure team hasn't said anything lately about what's going on with its various Azure networking services -- including Windows Azure Connect, a k a "Sydney" and Windows Azure Virtual Network, a k a "Brooklyn." But maybe those will exit preview in the coming weeks/months, along with the aforementioned Virtual Machines for Linux and Windows Server.)
Test services and apps quickly by using Windows Server/Linux Server virtual images (though this capability, as I've noted before, is still in preview right now).

One other MMS session that I found interesting: Windows RT in the Enterprise. Yes, Microsoft is still maintaining that Windows RT devices aren't just for consumers. And no, no one should expect to see Outlook RT debut there. It's coming. Not yet, though....

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zdnetaustralia/~3/jAJ0BrUkR9w/

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Martin Luther King's 'Letter From Birmingham Jail' (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Thursday, April 4, 2013

Authorities: Escaped Texas inmates now in custody

SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas (AP) ? Officials say someone trying to pawn stolen jewelry led them to the hideout of two inmates who escaped from an East Texas jail.

Capital murder suspect Brian Allen Tucker and admitted drug offender John Marlin King were returned Thursday to the Hopkins County Jail in Sulphur Springs.

Ricky Smith is the sheriff of nearby Delta County, where the arrests were made.

Smith says authorities were led to the men after a pawn shop clerk reported that someone had been trying to pawn jewelry left in a vehicle that had been stolen. Investigators believed the fugitives had stolen the vehicle.

Police then question the person who tried to pawn the jewelry. Smith says that person told them where the fugitives were hiding.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

A capital murder suspect and a convicted drug offender who escaped from an East Texas jail were captured Thursday, two days after they slipped past a fence only to be found in a neighboring county to the north.

Brian Allen Tucker and John Marlin King were captured in the town of Cooper, said Hopkins County sheriff's Deputy Alvin Jordan. He said they were being returned to the Hopkins County Jail in Sulphur Springs but had no other details.

Sheriff's officials said the inmates fled the jail Tuesday by scaling a fence or slipping through a gap in a perimeter fence in Sulphur Springs, about 75 miles northeast of Dallas. Officials said a maintenance person noticed a problem with the fence around a recreation yard used by female inmates. Hours later, deputies and other law enforcement were searching the woods and area east and northeast of the jail.

The men were found Thursday just 20 miles north of the jail, holed up in a barn behind a house, said Scott Cass, sheriff from nearby Lamar County, which helped in the capture.

Tucker was being held on $1 million bond in the 2011 death of Bobby Riley of Mahoney. Riley was found strangled in his home and some music instruments and firearms had been stolen. Jury selection in his murder trial was set to begin June 3. He previously was convicted of burglary and driving while intoxicated, and has been arrested several times for violating parole.

King was being held on several charges, including evading arrest, burglary and possession of a controlled substance. According to court documents, he pleaded guilty last month to the possession charge as a habitual offender and received a sentence of 40 years in prison.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/authorities-escaped-texas-inmates-captured-224431972.html

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Video: Possible Deal in the Works For Enron's Skilling

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51428359/

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