World News Brief, Tuesday July 30 | Pundit

Israel and Palestine to resume peace talks; Japan and Chins to hold talks in effort to de-escalate territorial row; Cambodia's opposition leaders reject election results; China activates natural gas pipeline from Burma; John Kerry to visit Pakistan; Morsi supporters call for fresh protest rallies in Egypt; Italian court to make appeal judgement on Berlusconi's alleged tax evasion; and more

Top of the Agenda: Kerry Restarts Mideast Peace Talks

Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams will resume peace talks (Haaretz) Monday night in Washington, DC, after the Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners who have been jailed since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. The release of the prisoners had been one of the major obstacles (AP) to the resumption of peace talks, which were brokered by U.S. secretary of state John Kerry. The talks represent the first direct dialogue (WaPo) since the peace process fell apart in September 2010, and will see Israel's Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho sitting down with Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Mahmoud Abbas aide Mohammed Shtayyeh.

Analysis

"Just this month [President Obama] gave a speech defending vigorously his use of drone attacks. So we escalate our effort to kill terrorists while urging an ally to release terrorists from prison. It would be worth asking the administration how that position can be defended morally," writes CFR's Elliott Abrams on his blog, Pressure Points.

"Israel and Palestine need a two-state peace. It would involve bitter compromises on both sides, but no more bitter than those accepted by Nelson Mandela in putting the future before the past, hope before grievance," writes Roger Cohen for the New York Times.

"The two-state solution may well be on the line as well. As former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin warned recently, Israel is 'approaching a point of no return.' Against this backdrop, Kerry's great challenge is to apply some Kissinger muscle. Putting the full-court press on the Israeli and Palestinian leadership, however, is going to require a little more media savvy," writes Bruce Van Voorst for Foreign Policy.

?

PACIFIC RIM

Japanese Minister Visits China

A top Japanese minister will visit China (Reuters) on Monday and Tuesday for talks with senior officials in a bid to smooth relations soured by an escalating territorial row. A top government adviser also said Sunday that Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe could soon hold a summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping.

CFR's Sheila Smith discusses Japan and the East China Sea dispute in this article.

CAMBODIA: Cambodia's opposition leaders rejected the preliminary results (NYT) of Sunday's election, accusing the authoritarian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen of cheating.

BURMA: China has activated a new pipeline bringing natural gas (AP) from Burma in a project that has raised concerns about China's energy project and its impact on Burma's locals.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA

Kerry to Visit Pakistan

U.S. secretary of state John Kerry is scheduled to visit Pakistan (Dawn) on July 31 after accepting an invitation on the sidelines of the ASEAN conference in early July. Kerry will hold meetings with Pakistani leaders and participate in the Pakistan-U.S. strategic dialogue.

This CFR Crisis Guide covers Pakistan's contentious history and evolution.

ELSEWHERE:

Morsi supporters call for more protests in Egypt

Italian court to make appeal judgement on Berlusconi's alleged tax evasion

?This is an excerpt of the CFR.org Daily News Brief. The full version is available on CFR.org.

Source: http://pundit.co.nz/content/world-news-brief-tuesday-july-30

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Is Snowden about to become a refugee in Russia?

The former NSA contractor could walk out of the Moscow airport with temporary political asylum Wednesday ? much to the chagrin of the United States.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / July 23, 2013

NSA leaker Edward Snowden looks down during a press conference at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, Friday, July 12, 2013.

Tanya Lokshina/Human Rights Watch/AP

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Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden could walk out of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Wednesday as a documented Russian political refugee, according to the Kremlin-connected lawyer who's been handling his affairs.

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

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"He should get this certificate [allowing him to leave the airport] shortly," the official Voice of Russia radio station quoted lawyer Anatoly Kucherena as saying.

Russian authorities have suggested it could take up to three months to fully process his request for political asylum. But Mr. Kucherena said a temporary document will likely be issued?tomorrow?that will enable him to leave the legal limbo of Sheremetyevo's transit zone ? where he has now been stranded for exactly a month ? and move to premises in downtown Moscow.

One straw in the wind that suggests Russian authorities may be leaning toward taking in the wayward ex-CIA employee, despite intense US pressure not to, is a timely round of statements from Russian government sources slamming the US for its "double standards" in dealing with Russian extradition requests.

The main thrust of Washington's appeal to Moscow has been that Mr. Snowden is a common criminal who should be handed over out of shared civilizational values, even though there is no formal extradition treaty between the US and Russia.

"Mr. Snowden ought to be returned to the United States to face the felony charges against him," United States Ambassador to Moscow?Michael McFaul tweeted?on Monday.

But in what looked like a coordinated pair of official blasts, Russian law enforcement agencies claimed that they have never experienced that sort of courtesy from their US counterparts.

"[Russian] law agencies have asked the US on many occasions to extradite wanted criminals through Interpol channels, but those requests were neither met nor even responded to," interior ministry spokesman Andrei Pilipchuk is quoted as saying by the Kremlin-funded, English-language news network Russia Today, which prefers to be known as RT.

And Sergei Gorlenko, head of the chief prosecutor's extradition office in Moscow, told the independent Interfax agency that "the United States has repeatedly refused Russian requests to extradite individuals, to hold them criminally liable, including those accused of committing serious crimes. We have been denied the extradition of murderers, bandits and bribetakers."

Officially, Russia has struck an ambivalent attitude toward Snowden since he arrived ? completely uninvited, President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly insisted. On one hand, Mr. Putin has said from the beginning that Russia will never extradite him to the US. On the other hand, he and other Russian officials have frequently wished out loud over the past month that Snowden would just move along, and stop creating unwanted complications for an already troubled US-Russia relationship.

Many Russians have embraced the idea of taking Snowden in, largely because it would represent an impressive turning-of-cold-war-tables, in which Russia becomes a free-speech haven for dissidents fleeing the US.

But Putin has been visibly cold to the idea, perhaps out of worries that the ongoing Snowden situation could chill planned talks with President Barack Obama?at the St. Petersburg G20 summit that's barely a month away, or even prompt a US-led boycott of the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics, as at least one US senator has suggested.

One piece of the puzzle regarding official Russia's attitude toward Snowden concerns the role of the lawyer, Mr. Kucherena, who has apparently enjoyed almost unrestricted access to his client in the extraterritorial no-man's land of Sheremetyevo's transit zone.

Kucherena is chairman of the law enforcement commission in Russia's Public Chamber, a semi-official assembly of Kremlin-approved civil society groups and a prominent Moscow lawyer. The Kremlin-funded RT network, which has been able to talk extensively with Kucherena,?has posted a thumbnail biography of him.

But other analysts suggest Kucherena may be part of a Kremlin plan to admit Snowden to Russia, but keep him boxed in and under tight control of Russian security services.???

In other words, Snowden may successfully leap from the frying pan of Sheremetyevo's sterile transit zone, but it remains to be seen where he will land.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/Eesx52ajFW4/Is-Snowden-about-to-become-a-refugee-in-Russia

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Alleged Exploding Samsung Galaxy S4 Adds to China's Smartphone Woes

Posted 07/29/2013 at 1:11pm | by Leif Johnson

It turns out it's not just Apple products that have been involved in tragic incidents in China lately. As reported by Gizmodo, a man in Hong Kong was simply playing an app on his Samsung Galaxy S4 when the device allegedly exploded. After he threw it across the room and under the couch in panic, the fire spread and caused some massive damage to his apartment.

The man, known only as "Du," claims he was using products that all originated with Samsung, including the battery and the charger. Du claims he was playing a game called "Love Machine," a simple and poorly reviewed app that can picked up for iOS as well. (Although, considering the circumstances, you might want to think twice before you attempt to mimic Du's evening on your iOS device.)

Source: Xianguo

Previously Apple bore the brunt of the horror stories surrounding faulty smartphones and accessories in China, particularly after a flight attendant suffered a fatal electrocution from a charging iPhone. It was later revealed that the charger was manufactured by a company other than Apple.

That's not to say that we're necessarily safe from such accidents on the home front. Just last month, we reported that Best Buy had recalled 5,100 third-party battery replacements for the MacBook Pro following 13 incidents in which the batteries went up in flames.

Follow this article's writer, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.

Source: http://www.maclife.com/article/news/alleged_exploding_samsung_galaxy_s4_adds_chinas_smartphone_woes

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Impaired boaters target of weekend crackdown on Lake Washington

Law enforcement agencies will take to the water this weekend looking for impaired boaters during the annual Seafair activities on Lake Washington.

The?Washington State Patrol, along with city, county and federal agencies, will participate in the?Impaired Boating Emphasis from Friday through Sunday during the hydroplane races and airshow.?During last year?s emphasis patrols,?officers made a total of 61 arrests for boating under the influence (BUI); and 70 arrests in 2011.

According to the State Patrol, boating under the influence is similar to DUI:?the legal limit is .08 or under the influence and/or affected by drugs.? In addition, new BUI laws that went into effect on Sunday include:

? BUI?changed from a misdemeanor to?a gross misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 and up to 364 days in jail;

? Law enforcement is now able to require operators suspected of BUI to take a breath or blood test;

? Law enforcement now has the authority to issue citations to vessel operators during the investigation of collisions/accidents they did not witness, thus holding negligent and reckless boaters more accountable.

Source: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/07/impaired-boaters-target-of-weekend-crackdown-on-lake-washington/

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Harford Community College to host living history performance featuring Kate Campbell Stevenson as environmentalist Rachel Carson on July 14

A living history performance,?part of a series organized by the Maryland Humanities Council and other local partners, comes to Harford Community College July 14 featuring?Kate Campbell Stevenson performing as environmentalist?Rachel Carson. Here are the details:

HARFORD COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO HOST CHAUTAUQUA FEATURING RACHEL CARSON

Harford Community College will host a Chautauqua living history performance on July 14, at 4 PM, in the Chesapeake Theater. The performance, which is free and open to the general public, will feature Kate Campbell Stevenson performing as the mother of the environmental movement Rachel Carson, author of The Silent Spring.

A dramatic reading by Ben Fisler, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theatre at Harford Community College and regional professional actor, will open the performance. Dr. Fisler will present ecologically-focused selections from the works of such early twentieth-century playwrights as Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekov, and August Strindberg. These pieces will help demonstrate how the spirit of environmental responsibility brewed in literature and the performing arts of the previous half-century, literally setting the stage for Rachel Carson?s work.

The performance at Harford Community College is co-sponsored by several departments and other units within the College, including the Division of Library & Information Resources, the STEM Division, the Humanities Division, the Office of Student Activities, and the Sustainability Committee. The show will also include an overview of the many ways in which the College has actively promoted environmental awareness and taken steps to make practices at the College ?green.?

The Chautauqua is part of a series organized by the Maryland Humanities Council (MHC) in conjunction with local partners statewide. Live local musical and theatrical acts open each show. Living history performances are followed by question and answer sessions, which often spark spirited conversation and provides informative family fun. Audiences will hear from the voices of Jackie Robinson, Rachel Carson, and Amelia Earhart. Via partnership with the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, the July 6 performance (Rachel Carson), will be live streamed; audiences will be able to access the performance via the MHC homepage at www.mdhc.org. Visit www.mdhc.org to access a statewide schedule or to learn more.

Chautauqua is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Garrett Lakes Arts Festival, Garrett College, the Community College of Baltimore County, the College of Southern Maryland, Montgomery College, the Historical Society of Talbot County, Avalon Theatre, Warren Kilmer and Judith Needham, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Town of Perryville, Cecil County Public Library, Delmarva Power, Cecil Tourism, Harford Community College, and MHC donors. MHC is a statewide educational nonprofit that uses the humanities (literature, history, archaeology, poetry, etc.) to promote civic engagement and informed dialogue about critical issues.

For more information about the HCC performance, contact Carol Allen, Director, Library & Information Resources, 443-412-2144 or CaAllen@harford.edu .

FEATURED HISTORICAL FIGURESJack Roosevelt ?Jackie? Robinson (1919-1972) ended 60 years of baseball segregation with his 1947 Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was named the National League?s Rookie of the Year and in 1949 received the league?s Most Valuable Player award. After his baseball career, Robinson worked in business and helped to establish the Freedom National Bank in Harlem. He was an activist for social change and served on the board of the NAACP. In 1962 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) has been called the mother of the environmental movement. A writer, scientist, and ecologist, Carson received her master?s in marine biology at Johns Hopkins University, taught zoology at the University of Maryland, and contributed articles to the Baltimore Sun. She worked at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and in 1951 published the bestseller, The Sea Around Us. Her controversial book, Silent Spring, alerted the public to the dangers of pesticides. Carson died of cancer in Silver Spring and is buried in Rockville.

Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to solo the Pacific, but she was much more than a courageous aviatrix. She was also a nurse?s aide, social worker, truck driver, writer, editor, and the first ?celebrity? to create a line of clothing that included practical outfits for active and working women. Along with friend Eleanor Roosevelt, she championed women?s rights and was an inspiration for women to pursue nontraditional roles.

ABOUT THE PERFORMER/SCHOLARS

Gregory Gibson Kenney (Jackie Robinson) is a professional actor who has performed in theatre, feature films, and television commercials. He has served as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Education Advisory Board since 2000 and is the winner of the 1998 YWCA Racial Justice Award. Other portrayals include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Louis Armstrong, and Roberto Clemente. Through EDUCATE Us, he has presented over 3,500 programs for schools and organizations throughout the East Coast and the Midwest. Kenney studied at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in association with Point Park College.

Kate Campbell Stevenson (Rachel Carson) combines over 25 years of professional experience in music, theatre, and education to create Women: Back to the Future leadership programs. Kate Stevenson brings to life many strong women leaders including Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt. She has starred in over 30 musicals in regional theaters across the United States and has performed in radio and television commercials. Her one-woman shows have inspired audiences at conventions, conferences, colleges and universities, schools, museums, and state and national government meetings.

Mary Ann Jung (Amelia Earhart) is the actress behind History Alive! interactive shows and appearances. She has been a lead actress and Director of Renaissance History and Shakespearean Language at the Maryland Renaissance Festival for over thirty years. She is a Smithsonian scholar/performer and has appeared on CNN, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. Jung?s living history performances also include Clara Barton, Julia Child, Good Queen Bess, Mistress Margaret Brent, Rosalie of Riversdale, and Rosie the Riveter. She has a B.A. in British History from the University of Maryland.

?

Source: http://www.belairnewsandviews.com/2013/06/harford-community-college-to-host-living-history-performance-featuring-kate-campbell-stevenson-as-environmentalist-rachel-carson-on-july-14.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harford-community-co

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Lightning strikes three children at Indianapolis summer camp; one critically injured

By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

A lightning strike in a field at an Indianapolis summer camp injured three children Saturday afternoon, leaving one in critical condition, police said.

Emergency crews responded to the Goldman Union Camp Institute, a reform Jewish camp near Zionsville, Ind., around 1:40 p.m. Saturday, where they learned that three children had been hit by a sudden burst of lightning, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department release.

Camp counselors had already begun lifesaving efforts when responders arrived at the scene of the strike, according to police.

The injured children were transported to local hospitals, police said. Their names have not been released by authorities.

It was not immediately clear which one of the three victims ? a 9-year-old girl from Missouri, a 9-year-old boy from Kentucky, and a 12-year-old boy from Ohio ? was in critical condition on Saturday afternoon.

When reached by phone, a representative from the camp declined to provide information about the incident but said employees are working to ensure the safety of other campers.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2dfb4c23/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C290C1920A79820Elightning0Estrikes0Ethree0Echildren0Eat0Eindianapolis0Esummer0Ecamp0Eone0Ecritically0Einjured0Dlite/story01.htm

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70 vote goal vanishes as Senate nears immigration reform vote

The Senate will vote on a sweeping immigration reform bill on Thursday morning, and a recently hashed-out compromise on border security is expected to win over some conservative support for the measure.

The "Gang of Eight," a bipartisan group of senators who drafted the bill, had hoped to get 70 out of 100 senators to vote to pass the bill and send a strong signal to the Republican-controlled house that the legislation is bipartisan. But on Wednesday, test votes drew only 67 votes each, suggesting the bill might fall short of that goal.

The reform would implement a mandatory, national employment verification system, allow for more legal immigration of low- and high-skilled workers, beef up border security and eventually give green cards to most of the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants.

The bill has moved to the right in the Senate on border security, thanks to an amendment adopted last week that will double the number of Border Patrol officers and increase fencing on the southern border by hundreds of miles before any unauthorized immigrants are offered permanent legal status. But House members working on their own version of immigration reform told The Hill this is not enough: They would prefer that no unauthorized immigrant be offered even temporary legal status until all the border security measures in the bill are fully implemented.

Union leaders representing both Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers say they oppose the bill, and groups that seek lower immigration levels have tried to rally members to call and write senators asking them to kill the bill. But so far, the critics of the bill have been outnumbered. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has worked as a conservative ambassador for the legislation. Rubio will deliver a "closing argument" for immigration reform, highlighting his parents' journey to the United States.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/senate-takes-immigration-vote-supporters-back-off-70-143951088.html

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Botswana GDP shrinks 2.2 pct in first quarter of 2013

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Botswana's economy contracted by 2.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2013 after rising by a revised 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, data from the statistics office showed on Friday.

On a year-on-year GDP was up 3.2 percent in the first quarter compared with a revised 4.1 percent expansion for Q4, Statistics Botswana said in a report posted on its website.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/botswana-gdp-shrinks-2-2-pct-first-quarter-154521435.html

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No, Children of 1990, Computers Are Not the Devil

Computers may be ubiquitous now but in 1990 they were just beginning to enter the mainstream. And like any revolutionary technology, the desktop computer was viewed with more than a little skepticism by the average American. Luckily, David Neil of PBS's Newton's Apple was there to explain to a group of dubious high schoolers that computers are not inherently evil. And he brought a two story exhibit to help illustrate.

In 1990, we still had a foot in the stone age. You've got to remember that high school students then lived before the Internet. They used tapes and CDs, tablets were still just very small tables, and the average cell phone looked like this:

And since computers were still primarily "something my mom uses at work," kids didn't have the native experience with electronics that many do now. That's where How Computers Work: A Journey Into The Walk-Through Computer comes in. This educational short produced by The Computer Museum aims to demystify the inner workings of the desktop computer. By explaining it in a way that even their parents could understand.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/no-children-of-1990-computers-are-not-the-devil-597933666

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Source: http://dublingeorgia.blogspot.com/2013/06/tractor-supply-co-store-dublin-georgia.html

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Will Indigo Books and Music expand outside Canada?

During the annual meeting of the bookstore company, CEO Heather Reisman said 'the new Indigo will be a global company.'

By Molly Driscoll,?Staff Writer / June 27, 2013

Indigo Books and Music was founded in Canada in 1996.

Shaun Best/Reuters

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Is Canada?s Indigo bookstore chain crossing the border?

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Indigo CEO and founder Heather Reisman stated that ?our intention is that the new Indigo will be a global company? during the annual meeting of the company, according to the Globe and Mail. She declined to elaborate on where new stores might open.

She predicted that the expansion wouldn?t be happening for two years or so.

Indigo Books and Music (also known as? ?!ndigo?), is often described as the country?s leading bookseller and has gone through other changes recently, with stores selling items such as toys and home goods in an effort to appeal to more consumers. Their lines include Indigo Home, Indigo Tech, and Indigo Kids. The company will also increase sales of Apple products such as the iPad in its stores next year. (Currently only the company's Toronto store has an Apple section.) Reisman called the revamping of the stores ?a fundamental transformation.?

?The new physical format store will feel like you can meander through a series of shops, each one anchored by books,? Reisman said of the stores? multiple product lines.?

However, the CEO said books will remain Indigo?s priority.

?Books will remain at the heart and soul of this company, and as long as there are people on the planet who want to buy physical books, we are deeply committed to physical books, both in store and online,? Reisman said.

She stated that sales of merchandise that isn?t books increased during 2013 from 12 percent of the company?s sales to 22 percent.

Indigo had a loss of $8.2 million for the past quarter. For the same period, American bookstore chain Barnes & Noble reported a $118.6 loss.

Indigo was founded in 1996 and acquired the bookstore chain Chapters in 2001. Kobo Inc., the company which creates e-readers that are sold by many indie bookstores, was a division of Indigo Books until the subsidiary was sold to the Japanese company Rakuten in 2011.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/5Yj0CKS9ihE/Will-Indigo-Books-and-Music-expand-outside-Canada

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Falcon Northwest Fragbox (GeForce GTX 780 SLI)

High-end gaming rigs like the Falcon Northwest Fragbox (GeForce GTX 780) are made to play premier AAA gaming titles at the highest resolution possible with the highest quality settings. The Fragbox is certainly capable of that, and it's semi-portable to boot. It's going to cost you, but not as much as you'd think. It comes in at just under $5,000, but can compete on the game grid with systems costing thousands more. The Fragbox is our latest Editors' Choice award winner for high-end gaming desktops.

Design and Features
The newest Fragbox follows in the same style as previous Fragbox models, but the styling has been updated. The black painted metal chassis still has an integrated carry handle on the top, which is more than robust enough to handle the system's hefty components. Users can choose to remove the handle, in case they are going for a built-in look.

The front panel is now flat, with a slot-loading Blu-ray/DVD combo drive replacing the old tray mechanism. The Falcon NW logo is now laser-cut into the front panel and backlit with blue lights, the older model had a clear polymer panel with the Falcon NW or Fragbox skull logo cut in. Overall, it's a nice design and shows that you're serious about gaming without resorting to flashy lights and an overabundance of chrome. The Fragbox is shorter than competing systems like the Maingear F131 SS, and is certainly smaller than full sized behemoths like the Origin Genesis (Core i7-3970X).

The internals are top notch, as we've come to expect from Falcon Northwest. The system comes with a quad-core Intel Core i7-4770K processor, 32GB of DDR3-1866 memory, two 960GB Crucial M500 SSDs in a RAID 0 array, and a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 graphics card setup in a two-way SLI configuration. At most you can currently put 32GB of system memory into the chassis, as are the two GTX 780 cards. Having 32GB means that you will be able to load virtually any game in existence right now, or any in the future before the system becomes obsolete. It also means you have plenty of memory to multitask while gaming, including simple tasks like Web surfing and instant messaging. However, with 32GB at your disposal, you have the space to do real work in the foreground like recalculating spreadsheets or editing photos while grinding or mining for resources in the background on a RTS like Starcraft II.

The Intel Core i7-4770K processor is one of Intel's new fourth-generation (Haswell) processors, which is more power efficient than older 3rd and second gen CPUs. Falcon NW overclocked the i7-4770K in the Fragbox to 4.5GHz, but it is unlocked so you can experiment further. The new i7 processor, 32GB of memory, and the two SSDs work together to give Fragbox users the same multimedia benchmark performance as systems powered by overclocked six-core Intel i7-3970X processors (more on that below).

The two SSDs are Crucial M500s with 960GB of storage capacity. Together in a RAID 0 array they give you about 1.9TB of total storage capacity on the C: drive. While this is more than enough for most users and many hardcore gamers, you may want more space for downloads and other media files. The Fragbox is well equipped for extra storage, as there is space for an additional 3.5-inch hard drive or two 2.5-inch SSDs in the chassis. Plus, you can always hook up an additional external hard drive to one of the system's six USB 3.0 ports (two are above the front panel). With a high end system like this, we would've liked to have seen a 10Gbps Thunderbolt port for professional hard drive array support, but as configured this Fragbox is very connectable with four more USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, digital audio out, analog surround audio, HDMI, DVI, and all the video ports on the GeForce GTX 780 graphics cards. In addition to the Ethernet port, the Fragbox comes with 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi built in. The system has a 1000W power supply, so the system is capable of supporting power-hungry next generation graphics cards, whenever Nvidia releases its next monster card.

The two 3GB GeForce GTX 780 graphics cards are aimed at high-end enthusiast gamers, the ones that absolutely have to have everything turned up to 11. Together, the two cards can support at least four displays simultaneously, including Nvidia Surround gaming. Though stereoscopic 3D gaming never really took off, the system will support Nvidia's 3D Vision kit as well.

That's all well and good, but the reason you want two top-end graphics cards is so you can play high-end AAA games at the highest quality settings. If you're lucky enough to own a 2,560-by-1,600 or 2,560-by-1,440 resolution display, the Fragbox is certainly capable of driving it with all the eye candy turned on. The two GTX 780 cards have four dual-link DVI ports, two HDMI, and two DisplayPorts between them. The cards run quiet as well. Under normal operation, the cards ran almost silent, and only made themselves present when running our most strenuous gaming benchmarks. Even then, you'd have to have the Fragbox backwards, with the video connectors pointed at your ears to hear the fan noise.

Our review unit came with Windows 8, and as usual Falcon NW keeps the software preloads to a minimum. The SSDs are mostly empty, since Windows, the drivers and utilites for the graphics cards, and Nvidia's GeForce Experience are all that occupy the C: drive. GeForce Experience can help you automatically setup optimal quality and resolution settings for your system, depending on any game it has in its database. Nvidia has also promised first-day driver support for all current and upcoming AAA gaming titles, so you'll be able to optimally play the day you download the next Bioshock Infinite on launch day. Other neat GeForce Experience features include Shadowplay, which will automatically record the last 20 minutes of gameplay, so you can save gameplay videos for future analysis, or so you can relieve a particularly sweet move and share the experience with your friends.

Performance
The reason you spend almost $5,000 on a gaming rig is so that you can play high-end games at all quality settings. This is totally the case with the Fragbox, as it destroys our 3D gaming tests, returning a glass smooth 129fps at Aliens vs. Predator and 132fps at our Heaven benchmark tests at maximum quality. We tested at our standard 1,920-by-1,080 resolution settings, but the system is easily capable of driving a 2,560-by-1,600 resolution 30-inch panel at the same quality settings. Granted, these tests numbers aren't quite as high as the systems with dual GTX 690 cards like the Origin Genesis (Core i7-3970X) or dual GTX Titans like the Maingear F131 SS (GTX Titan), but once you get past a hundred fps or so, you're just gilding the lily. At that point, you're really just bragging about top frame rates. The Origin Genesis, Maingear F131SS, and other ?ber-gaming systems like the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan) really are more about the bragability, like owning a high-end sports car to drive on public roads.

The Fragbox also makes short work of the other benchmark tests we run, returning one of the highest, if not the highest score on the day-to-day PCMark7 test (7,322 points). This is high score is a result of the system's quad-core processor, 32GB of memory, and dual SSDs working in concert with the graphics cards and the rest of the system's components. Other multimedia tests like the Handbrake video test and Photoshop CS6 test were also class leading, coming in marginally faster than the overclocked Falcon Mach V and Maingear F131 SS systems.

Though just under $5,000, the Falcon Northwest Fragbox (GeForce GTX 780 SLI) displays a very good bang for the buck compared with systems costing thousands more. It's quite competitive with systems like our former Editors' Choice, the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan), especially if you're not already running a multi-monitor gaming rig. It doesn't have the tower PCs' future expandability, but with these components already in the chassis, you likely won't have to upgrade for a very long time. The Fragbox gives users the benefit of the latest technology, and as such is our new Editors' Choice award for high-end gaming desktop PCs.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Falcon Northwest Fragbox (GeForce GTX 780 SLI) with several other desktops side by side.

More desktop reviews:
??? Maingear Vybe
??? Falcon Northwest Fragbox (GeForce GTX 780 SLI)
??? Vizio 24-inch Touch All-in-One (CA24T-B0)
??? V3 Gaming Traverse
??? Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/A6yZAUcNuv4/0,2817,2420591,00.asp

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James, Heat beats Spurs 103-100 in OT; Game 7 next

MIAMI (AP) ? LeBron James saved a championship reign, canceled a celebration.

The toughest part now might be topping this performance in Game 7.

"It's by far the best game I've ever been a part of," James said.

He wouldn't let the Miami Heat lose it ? or their NBA title.

If the San Antonio Spurs want that, they'll have to fight just a little harder to get it. One last game, winner take all.

James powered Miami to a frantic fourth-quarter rally and overtime escape as the Heat beat the Spurs 103-100 on Tuesday night to extend the NBA Finals as far as they can go and keep Miami's repeat chances alive.

Losing his headband but keeping his cool while playing the entire second half and overtime, James finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, making the go-ahead basket with 1:43 remaining in the extra period.

So close to being eliminated that they noticed officials bringing yellow tape out to block off the court for the Spurs' trophy presentation, the Heat hit a couple of big 3-pointers, got some defensive stops, and did everything else that makes great teams champions.

"We seen the championship board already out there, the yellow tape. And you know, that's why you play the game to the final buzzer," James said. "And that's what we did tonight. We gave it everything that we had and more."

Tim Duncan scored 30 points for the Spurs, his most in an NBA Finals game since Game 1 in 2003, but was shut out after the third quarter. He added 17 rebounds.

Game 7 will be here Thursday, the NBA's first do-or-die matchup to determine its champion since the Lakers beat the Celtics in 2010.

"They're the best two words in sports: Game 7," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

And two the Spurs were oh-so-close to avoiding.

They looked headed to a fifth title in five chances when they built a 13-point lead with under 4 minutes left in the third quarter, then grabbed a five-point edge with 28 seconds left in regulation after blowing the lead.

But James hit a 3-pointer and Ray Allen tied it with another. Just 5.2 seconds remained in regulation. The Heat were that close to the edge.

"It's a tough moment. We were a few seconds away from winning the championship and we let it go," Spurs veteran Manu Ginobili said. "A couple rebounds we didn't catch, a tough 3 by Ray and a couple missed free throws. It's a very tough moment."

James was just 3 of 12 after three quarters, the Heat trailing by 10 and frustration apparent among the players and panic setting in among the fans.

Nothing to worry about. Not with James playing like this.

He finished 11 of 26, even making a steal after his basket had given Miami a 101-100 edge in the OT.

Somewhere in there, early in the fourth quarter, James lost his familiar headband. He couldn't remember exactly when or how. Nor was it particularly important to him.

Losing the game would have been far worse.

"I guess the headband was the least of my worries at that point," James said.

Before that, he had been 12 minutes from hearing the familiar criticisms about not being able to get it done, from having to watch a team celebrate on his home floor again.

Then he changed the game and erased that story.

The Heat, who haven't lost consecutive games since Jan. 8 and 10, had too much defense and way too much James for the Spurs in the final 17 minutes. They are trying to become fourth team to win the final two games at home since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format for the finals in 1985.

James came in averaging 31.5 points in elimination games, highest in NBA history, according to a stat provided through the NBA by the Elias Sports Bureau.

This wasn't quite the 45-point performance in Game 6 of last year's Eastern Conference finals in Boston, but given the higher stakes may go down as more important ? if the Heat follow it with another victory Thursday.

The Heat were in the same place as they were in 2011 at the end of their Big Three's first season together, coming home from Texas facing a 3-2 deficit in the finals.

This is a different team. And oh, what a different James.

"He just plays with great force," Allen said.

The Heat said they welcomed this challenge, a chance to show they how much mentally tougher they were than the team the Dallas Mavericks easily handled in Game 6 that night.

James made sure they did, looking nothing like the player who was so bad in the fourth quarters during that series.

He was simply unstoppable down the stretch of this one.

"He just made plays. I don't think there's any two ways to put it," Duncan said. "We were in the right position to close it out and he found a way to put his team over the top and we just didn't make enough plays to do that."

Kawhi Leonard had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs. Tony Parker had 19 points and eight assists, but shot just 6 of 23 from the field.

The Spurs had one final chance down 103-100, but Chris Bosh blocked Danny Green's 3-pointer from the corner as time expired.

Bosh had said Green wouldn't get open the way he has all series ? and he didn't.

Green finished 1 of 5 from behind the arc after going 25 of 38 on 3-pointers (65.8 percent) in the first five games.

The Heat, the NBA's 66-win powerhouse during the regular season, will be playing a seventh game for the second straight round, having needed to go the distance to beat the Indiana Pacers in the East finals.

"See you in Game 7!" the public address announcer hollered as some Heat fans tossed their white T-shirts ? the ones that hang on chairs in the arena. These read "First to 16 Wins," meaning the number of victories it takes to win the championship.

The race will go down to a final day.

The Heat are 13-0 after losses over the last five months, though this was nothing like the previous 12 that had come by an average of nearly 20 points. Nor was it like the previous four games of this series, which had all been blowouts after the Spurs pulled out a four-point victory in Game 1.

San Antonio had an 11-0 run in the first half, then a 13-3 burst in the third quarter for a 71-58 lead, and a final flurry late in regulation that seemed to have them ready to walk off with another title.

Parker's 3-pointer over James tied it at 89 with 1:27 left. He then came up with a steal, spinning into the lane for a 91-89 lead with 58 seconds to go. Miami coughed it up again and Ginobili made two free throws, and he hit another after a third straight Miami turnover to put the Spurs ahead 94-89.

But James nailed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left, and the Heat had one more chance after Leonard made just one foul shot to give the Spurs a 95-92 edge. James missed but Bosh got the rebound out to Allen, the league's career leader in 3-pointers, who made another one from the corner to even it up.

The Spurs went ahead by three again in overtime, but James found a cutting Allen for a basket, then scored himself to put the Heat on top. They clinched it when Bosh blocked San Antonio's final two shot attempts.

Bosh finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Mario Chalmers scored 20 points and Dwyane Wade had 14.

After shooting 60 percent in Game 5, the Spurs hadn't cooled off when they traded Texas heat for the South Florida sun, making nine of their first 12 shots to open a 20-16 lead. Duncan made all six shots in the first quarter, but consecutive 3-pointers by Shane Battier and Chalmers late in the period rallied Miami to a 27-25 advantage.

Duncan made his first eight shots, scoring 13 straight San Antonio points over nearly 8 minutes in the second quarter. Boris Diaw finally stopped that stretch with a little scoop shot in the lane and Leonard tipped in a miss with 1.3 seconds left, capping the Spurs' 11-0 run to end the second quarter. It was 50-44 at the break.

With Duncan 37 and Ginobili nearly 36, the Spurs know they may never get another shot like this one.

Duncan knew how tough it would be to get back to the top six years ago, when the Spurs swept James' Cleveland Cavaliers for their most recent title.

San Antonio's leader told James afterward that the league would someday belong to him.

And on Tuesday, James refused to let it go.

Notes: James had his 11th postseason triple-double and second of this series. ... Allen moved two behind Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher (48) for second place in finals 3-pointers. Robert Horry, a former champion with the Spurs, made 56 3-pointers in the finals. Horry held the Spurs' record for 3s in a finals with 15 in 2005 that Green has broken with his finals-record 26. ... Duncan and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich appeared in their 210th playoff game together, moving 30 ahead of Phil Jackson and Bryant for most all-time.

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/james-heat-beats-spurs-103-100-ot-game-050129642.html

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Self-fertilizing plants contribute to their own demise

June 10, 2013 ? Many plants are self-fertilizing, meaning they act as both mother and father to their own seeds. This strategy -- known as selfing -- guarantees reproduction but, over time, leads to reduced diversity and the accumulation of harmful mutations. A new study published in the scientific journal Nature Genetics shows that these negative consequences are apparent across a selfing plant's genome, and can arise more rapidly than previously thought.

In the study, an international consortium led by Stephen Wright in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto sequenced the genome of the plant species Capsella rubella, commonly known as Red Shepherd's Purse. They found clear evidence that harmful mutations were accumulating over the species' relatively short existence.

"The results underscore the long-term advantages of outcrossing, which is the practice of mating between individuals, that gives us the wide array of beautiful flowers," said Wright. "Selfing is a good short-term strategy but over long timescales may lead to extinction."

Red Shepherd's Purse is a very young species that has been self-fertilizing for less than 200,000 years. It is therefore especially well-suited for studying the early effects of self-fertilization. By contrasting Red Shepherd's Purse with the outcrossing species that gave rise to it, the researchers showed that self-fertilization has already left traces across the genome of Red Shepherd's Purse.

"Harmful mutations are always happening," said Wright. "In crops, they could reduce yield just as harmful mutations in humans can cause disease. The mutations we were looking at are changes in the DNA that change the protein sequence and structure."

The findings represent a major breakthrough in the study of self-fertilization.

"It is expected that harmful mutations should accumulate in selfing species, but it has been difficult to support this claim in the absence of large-scale genomic data," says lead author Tanja Slotte, a past member of Wright's research team and now a researcher at Uppsala University. "The results help to explain why ancient self-fertilizing lineages are rare, and support the long-standing hypothesis that the process is an evolutionary dead-end and leads to extinction."

The researchers said that with many crops known to be self-fertilizing, the study highlights the importance of preserving crop genetic variation to avoid losses in yield due to mutations accumulating.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/1Q3TfhatJtA/130610095148.htm

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Apple confirms new Mac Pros will be assembled in the USA

Springsteen will be proud. Today, Apple has confirmed that the company's new Mac Pro line of desktops will be assembled in the US before they arrive later this year. While we were promised it a fair while back, Tim Cook was certainly right when he said it would involve an existing line of devices -- even if it arrives with a completely new look.

Follow all of our WWDC 2013 coverage at our event hub.

Filed under: Desktops, Apple

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/10/apple-mac-pro-made-in-us/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Victims of Saddam-era gas attack seek French probe

PARIS (AP) ? Twenty victims of Saddam Hussein's 1988 chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja are demanding a French judicial investigation of the companies that supplied the materials.

Halabja marked the deadliest chemical weapons attack against civilians. Saddam suspected the non-Arab Kurds of siding with Iran in the Iran-Iraq war. Up to 5,000 people died in the March 1988 attack.

Gavriel Mairone, a lawyer for the group, says the victims continue to suffer health problems and are demanding that the companies that knowingly supplied Saddam with the raw materials and equipment needed for chemical weapons take responsibility. Among other things, the victims want a health clinic and advanced medical care, he said.

Mairone said he expects to file additional cases in Germany, the U.S., Holland and potentially elsewhere.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/victims-saddam-era-gas-attack-seek-french-probe-122846366.html

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Matthew Weiner On Megan Draper Murder Theories, 'Mad Men' Finale

TV Guide:

"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner is well aware of fan speculation that Don Draper's wife, Megan (Jessica Par?), will be murdered on the June 23 season finale of the AMC drama. Tongues started wagging after the May 26 episode, in which Megan wore a T-shirt with a red star -- the same as that worn by actress Sharon Tate in a 1967 Esquire article, two years before she was stabbed to death in L.A. by members of the Manson Family.

Read the whole story at TV Guide

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/09/matthew-weiner-megan-draper_n_3411811.html

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Xbox 360 gets a One-like redesign, is available today

While all eyes are on Xbox One news at Microsoft's E3 keynote, the company's just announced that the Xbox 360 is getting yet another design iteration. Taking cues from the "modern look and feel of the Xbox One," it's touted as smaller, sleeker and quieter. Microsoft did a good job keeping this quiet, as it's available today. "Hundred of new games" are apparently headed to the 360 over the next couple of years, proving the old console's still got some life in it yet. We're in the dark on the price of the new model, but we'll let you know more as soon as we do.

Follow our liveblog for all of the latest news from E3 2013.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/10/xbox-360-redesign/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Study adds to evidence that cigarettes are gateway to marijuana

May 5, 2013 ? een smokers who rationalize their use of cigarettes by saying, "At least, I'm not doing drugs," may not always be able to use that line.

New research to be presented Sunday, May 5, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC, supports the theory that cigarettes are a gateway drug to marijuana.

"Contrary to what we would expect, we also found that students who smoked both tobacco and marijuana were more likely to smoke more tobacco than those who smoked only tobacco," said study author Megan Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH, FAAP, an investigator at Seattle Children's Research Institute and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.

Dr. Moreno and her colleagues randomly selected incoming college students from two universities -- one in the Northwest and one in the Midwest -- to participate in the longitudinal study. Students were interviewed prior to entering college and again at the end of their freshman year regarding their attitudes, intentions and experiences with substances.

Specifically, students were asked if they had used tobacco or marijuana ever in their lives and in the past 28 days. Researchers also assessed the quantity and frequency of marijuana and tobacco use in the past 28 days.

Results showed that prior to entering college, 33 percent of the 315 participants reported lifetime tobacco use, and 43 percent of lifetime users were current users. In addition, tobacco users were more likely to have used marijuana than those who did not use tobacco.

By the end of their freshman year, 66 percent of participants who reported tobacco use prior to entering college remained current users with an average of 34 tobacco episodes per month. Of these, 53 percent reported concurrent marijuana use. Overall, users of both substances averaged significantly more tobacco episodes per month than current users of tobacco only (42 vs. 24).

"These findings are significant because in the past year we have seen legislation passed that legalizes marijuana in two states," Dr. Moreno said. "While the impact of these laws on marijuana use is a critical issue, our findings suggest that we should also consider whether increased marijuana use will impact tobacco use among older adolescents."

Future work should involve designing educational campaigns highlighting the increased risks of using these substances together, Dr. Moreno concluded.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/6zOfyzPin34/130505073742.htm

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Large robotic jellyfish could one day patrol oceans

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds.

The prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro, is a larger model of a robotic jellyfish the same team -- headed by Shashank Priya of Blacksburg, Va., and professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech -- unveiled in 2012. The earlier robot, dubbed RoboJelly, is roughly the size of a man's hand, and typical of jellyfish found along beaches.

"A larger vehicle will allow for more payload, longer duration and longer range of operation," said Alex Villanueva of St-Jacques, New-Brunswick, Canada, and a doctoral student in mechanical engineering working under Priya. "Biological and engineering results show that larger vehicles have a lower cost of transport, which is a metric used to determine how much energy is spent for traveling."

Both robots are part of a multi-university, nationwide $5 million project funded by U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the Office of Naval Research. The goal is to place self-powering, autonomous machines in waters for the purposes of surveillance and monitoring the environment, in addition to other uses such as studying aquatic life, mapping ocean floors, and monitoring ocean currents.

Jellyfish are attractive candidates to mimic because of their ability to consume little energy owing to a lower metabolic rate than other marine species. Additionally, they appear in wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors, allowing for several designs. They also inhabit every major oceanic area of the world and are capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures in both fresh and salt waters. Most species are found in shallow coastal waters, but some have been found in depths 7,000 meters below sea level.

Partner universities in the project are Providence College in Rhode Island, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Dallas, and Stanford University. Priya's team is building the jellyfish body models, integrating fluid mechanics and developing control systems.

Cyro is modeled and named after the jellyfish cyanea capillata, Latin for Llion's Manemain jellyfishJellyfish, with "Cyro" derived from "cyanea" and "robot." As with its predecessor, this robot is in the prototype stage, years away from use in waters. A new prototype model already is under construction at Virginia Tech's Durham Hall, where Priya's Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems is based.

"We hope to improve on this robot and reduce power consumption and improve swimming performance as well as better mimic the morphology of the natural jellyfish," Villanueva said, adding that the project also allows researchers such as himself to better understand aquatic creatures live. "Our hopes for Cyro's future is that it will help understand how the propulsion mechanism of such animal scales with size."

A stark difference exists between the larger and smaller robots. Cyro is powered by a rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery, whereas the smaller models were tethered, Priya said. Experiments have also been conducted on powering jellyfish with hydrogen but there is still much research to be done in that area.

In both cases, the jellyfish must operate on their own for months or longer at a time as engineers likely won't be able to capture and repair the robots, or replace power sources. "Cyro showed its ability to swim autonomously while maintaining a similar physical appearance and kinematics as the natural species," Priya said, adding that the robot is simultaneously able to collect, store, analyze, and communicate sensory data. This autonomous operation in shallow water conditions is already a big step towards demonstrating the use of these creatures."

How does the robot swim? Its body consists of a rigid support structure with direct current electric motors which control the mechanical arms that are used in conjunction with an artificial mesoglea, or jelly-based pulp of the fish's body, creating hydrodynamic movement.

With no central nervous system, jellyfish instead use a diffused nerve net to control movement and can complete complex functions. A parallel study on a bio-inspired control system is in progress which will eventually replace the current simplified controller. As with the smaller models, Cyro's skin is composed of a thick layer of silicone, squishy in one's hand. It mimics the sleek jellyfish skin and is placed over a bowl-shaped device containing the electronic guts of the robot. When moving, the skin floats and moves with the robot, looking weirdly alive.

"It has been a great experience to finally realize the biomimetic and bio-inspired robotic vehicles," Priya said. "Nature has too many secrets and we were able to find some of them but many still remain. We hope to find a mechanism to continue on this journey and resolve the remaining puzzles."

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Obama must support global Arms Trade Treaty

The global arms trade is out of control. In armed conflicts from Syria to Sudan, Mali to Myanmar, and Congo to Columbia, thousands of people are slaughtered by weapons of war that are transferred by governments into the hands of unscrupulous regimes, criminals, illegal militias, and terrorist groups.

The unregulated global arms trade, which increases the availability of small arms and ammunition in conflict zones, is fueling wars and human rights abuses against civilians. More than 740,000 men, women and children die each year as a result of armed violence.

The deaths caused each year are at the center of a larger tragedy. The poorly regulated arms trade makes development in war-torn countries more difficult. For example, the prevalence of AK-47?s and ammunition in the rural areas of South Sudan, a country plagued by five decades of war, is having devastating effects on peace-building and poverty-eradication efforts.

OPINION: 5 ways US must promote nuclear nonproliferation

The time for action to reduce the illicit, unregulated flow of weapons and ammunition is now.

Rather than watching this destruction from afar, the international community has an opportunity to offer a solution. Diplomats from the United States and more than 150 other countries are at the United Nations in New York for the ?final? round of negotiations (set to conclude tomorrow) for a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty. The treaty would restrict the flow of weapons across borders and close the loopholes unscrupulous traders now navigate with impunity.

Last July, the US was among a handful of states that failed to join a consensus on the treaty during the last hour of negotiations, saying "more time was needed" to complete the process. Now, the Obama administration has had that time.

President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry must now work with other countries at the United Nations to close the deal on a robust, effective Arms Trade Treaty with the highest possible standards. The Arms Trade Treaty will not, by itself, prevent all illicit and irresponsible arms trafficking, but it will help reduce the enormous toll of armed conflict around the globe.

Mr. Obama should join other leaders to finalize a treaty that outlaws arms deals where the exporter knows or should know that the weapons will be used to commit the world?s worst crimes. No country should be able to hide behind ambiguous international law to aid and abet genocide, crimes against humanity, serious war crimes, or a consistent pattern of serious human rights abuses.

The treaty should also require each country to assess the risks associated with an arms deal prior to transfer and be required to not transfer the weapons if there is a substantial risk that the arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights, the laws of war, or acts of terrorism.

The implementation of an Arms Trade Treaty based on this standard would prevent, or at least make it more difficult to justify, the ongoing supply of weapons to the Assad regime in Syria, for example.

While the US has some of the strictest regulations governing the export and import of weapons, less than half of the countries in the world have any basic laws governing arms trade. That?s why the treaty must mandate that countries adopt and enforce comprehensive legal regime to regulate the import and export of all conventional weapons and ammunition. Arms dealers have no problem finding countries to base their operations and escape law enforcement. The treaty must close this lethal loophole.

The treaty must also avoid other loopholes ? like the one sought by India and opposed by the US ? that would exempt arms deals made under previous defense cooperation agreements from the treaty. And finally, the treaty should ensure that states make their reports on arms transfers available to the public to improve accountability.

THE MONITOR'S VIEW: For Obama's second term, a call to arms control

The Arms Trade Treaty is about making it harder for irresponsible states and arms dealers to put profits ahead of people. It is a vital tool to help protect civilians, aid workers, and missionaries from the violence fueled by the illicit arms trade. Its time is now.

Daryl G. Kimball is the executive director of the Arms Control Association.

Raymond C. Offenheiser is president of Oxfam America.

ALSO BY DARYL KIMBALL: Time to curb the illicit global arms trade

ALSO BY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER: How to make US foreign aid work

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-must-support-global-arms-trade-treaty-140817424--politics.html

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