Nations need food security goals

Researchers are calling for a concerted approach
 to agricultural policy, based on science 

The biggest environmental summit for a decade must make meaningful progress on global food security and sustainable agriculture, say researchers.

CGIAR, the world's largest publicly funded research body, has published a seven-point "call to action" plan.

Ahead of the Rio gathering, scientists are calling for an improved commitment to deliver nutrition security and lessen the need to aid.

Agriculture is estimated to provide jobs for 40% of the world's population.

The organisations listed a seven-point "call to action" list, which they will present at the gathering, including:

Improved partnerships to maximise the management of agriculture, aquaculture, forest and water resources;
need to address unequal sharing of natural resources via better governance and dissemination of technology;
support for a knowledge sharing system to improve production and minimise adverse impacts;
adopting measures to restore degraded environments and ecosystems.


The Rio+20 Conference, formally known as the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012, marking the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which was also held in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The conference will focus on two themes: a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and the institutional framework for sustainable development.

Seven priority areas have also been identified, including: decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.

Heads of states from more than 100 nations are expected to attend the summit.

At Least 3.1 Million Americans Employed In Green Sector, Labor Department Says

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least 3.1 million Americans are employed in green jobs, a sector that now accounts for about 2.4 percent of the nation's total employment, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The report represents the first time the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics has come up with an official count of environmentally friendly jobs, an emerging part of the economy and a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan.

Environmental groups cheered the report as an affirmation that green jobs are a real factor in the nation's economic growth. Obama has set a goal of creating 5 million green jobs and his stimulus plan provided $80 billion to help boost this sector.

Gary Connery in world's first skydive without using parachute

A stuntman is thought to have become the first person to jump out of a helicopter and land safely without deploying a parachute.

Gary Connery, 42, used a "wingsuit" to make his descent from 2,400ft (730m) above Oxfordshire.

The 42-year-old said he felt "elated" after landing on a pile of 18,600 cardboard boxes.

He was fitted with a parachute for the jump, which saw him accelerate to 80mph, but it was not deployed.

The entire flight took less than a minute to complete.

He used a landing strip of cardboard boxes, known as a box rig, covering about 350ft (100m) by 45ft (15m).

Minutes after landing, Mr Connery said: "I feel incredible, just completely elated.

"Tonight will be all about celebrating with friends and family. Tomorrow I will be plotting my next daring challenge."

Mr Connery, who has worked on films including Die Another Day, Batman Begins and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, said performing stunts was "his life".

He has already completed about 880 skydives and 450 base jumps.

Before carrying out the flight in countryside near his home in Henley-on-Thames, Mr Connery, whose wingsuit has the ability to dramatically reduce speed on descent, said he was "100% confident" he would be successful.

Third of malaria drugs 'are fake'

A third of malaria drugs used around the world to stem the spread of the disease are counterfeit, data suggests.

Researchers who looked at 1,500 samples of seven malaria drugs from seven countries in South East Asia say poor-quality and fake tablets are causing drug resistance and treatment failure.

Data from 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including over 2,500 drug samples showed similar results.

Experts say The Lancet Infectious Diseases research is a "wake-up call".

The US researchers from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health who carried out the work believe the problem may even be much greater than data suggests.

No large studies of drug quality have been carried out in China or India - countries that house a third of the world's population and are a "probable" source of many counterfeit drugs as well as genuine antimalarial medicines, they say.

Lead researcher Gaurvika Nayyar stressed that 3.3 billion people were at risk of malaria, which is classified as endemic in 106 countries.

"Between 655,000 and 1.2 million people die every year from Plasmodium falciparum infection," he said.

"Much of this morbidity and mortality could be avoided if drugs available to patients were efficacious, high quality, and used correctly."

Students, Teachers Poisoned In Afghanistan

TALIQAN, Afghanistan, May 23 (Reuters) - More than 120 schoolgirls and three teachers have been poisoned in the second attack in as many months blamed on conservative radicals in the country's north, Afghan police and education officials said on Wednesday.

The attack occurred in Takhar province where police said that radicals opposed to education of women and girls had used an unidentified toxic powder to contaminate the air in classrooms. Scores of students were left unconscious.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Education said last week that 550 schools in 11 provinces had been closed down by insurgents.

Last month, 150 schoolgirls were poisoned in Takhar province after they drank contaminated water.

Apple design chief Jonathan Ive is knighted

Jonathan Ive - the British designer responsible for Apple's iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad - has been knighted at Buckingham Palace.

The 45-year-old said the investiture in front of the Princess Royal was "really thrilling and particularly humbling".

Now based in the US, Apple's senior vice-president of industrial design flew in to the UK with his wife and eight-year-old twin sons for the event.

He was born in Chingford, east London, and studied at Newcastle Polytechnic.

Sir Jonathan had a brief chat with Princess Anne and later revealed they had talked about how often he comes back to the UK while she spoke of her iPad.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the New Year Honours list for services to design and enterprise.

After graduating from Newcastle Polytechnic - now Northumbria University - Sir Jonathan began working as a commercial designer before founding design agency Tangerine with three friends.


The "Bondi blue" iMac G3 was launched in 1998
One of the agency's clients, Apple, was so impressed with his work it took him on as a full-time employee in 1992.

Sir Jonathan, who now lives in San Francisco, has led the Apple design team since 1996.

He was described by Steve Jobs as his "spiritual partner", according to the late Apple co-founder's biographer Walter Isaacson.


Over the past 15 years, the company has created a series of products which are all considered to be design classics.

They include the iMac G3 - the "Bondi blue" computer launched in 1998 - and the iPod, released in 2001, which helped to revolutionise the music industry.

Earlier, in a rare interview, Sir Jonathan told the Daily Telegraph he was "the product of a very British design education".

Parents Put Child Inside Washing Machine

A seemingly routine trip to the laundromat turned into an urgent ordeal after a couple's child became stuck inside an active washing machine.

The father was allegedly playing with his child when he placed him inside the machine. However, when the door locked, the automatic cycle began with the tot trapped inside.

The panicked parents banged and pulled on the door without success as the child continued to spin inside the machine, according to surveillance video posted on YouTube.

Out of options, the dad urgently ran to the back of the laundromat to get the attention of a worker, who rushed to the scene and unplugged the washer. When the door finally unlatched, the worker pulled the child out of the machine.

Despite being trapped for more than a minute, the child managed to escape the machine with only minor bruising, according to Real Talk NY.

Zuckerburg sued by shareholders

Facebook shareholders have sued the social network, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and a number of banks, alleging that crucial information was concealed ahead of Facebook's IPO.

The lawsuit charges the defendants with failing to disclose in the critical days leading up to Friday's initial public offering "a severe and pronounced reduction" in forecasts for Facebook's revenue growth, as users more and more access Facebook through mobile devices.

Earlier this month, Facebook updated its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to say that the shift to smartphones and other mobile gadgets is cutting into the prices it can set for advertisers, which would in turn hurt the company's revenue. In March, the social network had 488 million monthly average unique users of its mobile products, out of a total of just over 900 million registered users.

The plaintiffs charge that the changes to the forecast by several underwriters of the IPO were only "selectively disclosed" to a small group of preferred investors and not to the investment community at large. "The value of Facebook common stock has declined substantially and plaintiffs and the class have sustained damages as a result," the complaint says, per the Reuters report.

Facebook's stock opened Friday priced at $38 and, aside from a slight uptick right at the start, has been trading lower since then. It closed at $31 last night. In early trading today, shares are up better than three percent to around $32.

A report from well-known Wall Street watcher Henry Blodget, citing an unnamed source, posits that a Facebook executive was responsible for telling institutional investors, but not smaller investors, about the reduction in revenue estimates.

Headline May24,2012/Ali's Laila

ALI'S ..... LAILA

Respectful dedication Floyd Patterson - Sonny Liston - Joe Frazier

---

Floyd Patterson

Sonny Liston

Joe Frazier

Who could have imagined that even in the 21st century, boxing would still be around or even grandeur - that it would now be a sport with growing numbers of female participants. Literally even factually the spectacle is unfolding whereof, an army of gym-rat amazons eager to bloody each other up. Foremost among them, only just so recently, in terms of glamour and reknown if not the most refined pugilist skills, was Laila Ali.

Her vitals: 5 feel 10", 165 pounds, former owner of a Santa Monica nail salon, daughter of the greatest athlete of all times - Muhammad Ali - and who didn't want her to enter the ring come what may! But having inherited not only his strength and his charisma but also his will, Laila told him she would go ahead anyway, with or without his support.

How would you expect Muhammad Ali to respond??!! He promptly sparred with her and pronounced Laila worthy of this supreme of all sports.

Since her first fight in 1999 - Oct, she won almost all her fights with knock outs - Though frankly at least a couple of her opponents have been whatever the lady equivalent of a tomato can is. Hahaha ! Still, she's ranked fifth in the world in her weight class and has picked up a splendidly corny nick name. Madame Butterfly. From Muhammad Ali's great poetic quote : "Fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee"

It turns out we are timing through Golden age of Daughters of great 70's fighters lacing up the gloves themselves for a long time there was a speculation that Laila may take on JacuiFrazier-Lyde daughter of Joe Frazier, and Freeda Foreman, daughter of George . But hey And Leon Spinks too has a girl. Haha

Thanks to !WOW! for research and many many thanks to all of you for your great support!

Don't miss the future headline post. Great stories await you!

Good night and God bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

Silicon Valley to pay $36,000 for dinner with Obama?

President Barack Obama will be the special guest at a dinner tonight in Silicon Valley that will cost attendees a sizable sum to brush shoulders with the commander in chief.

Details on the dinner party and how much it will cost attendees have been mixed. However, the event is scheduled to take place at the Atherton, Calif., home of Lisa and Doug Goldman, well-known Bay Area philanthropists. According to reports, attendees will pay $35,800 for a ticket to the event. The Mercury News reported earlier this month that President Obama's campaign will receive $5,000 of that contribution, while the remaining $30,800 will go to the Democratic National Committee.

Jeremiah Owyang, an industry analyst at Altimeter Group, set Silicon Valley ablaze with hype yesterday after announcing on his Twitter account that Silicon Valley bigwigs had dinner with the president last night for $38,500. Owyang, however, had the date incorrect. It's not clear if Owyang's price was a typo, and thus should have been $35,800, or if another figure is floating around.

No one has come forward yet to say who will be attending the event, but it's sure to be a highly sought-after audience with the president. Back in September, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg hosted the president at her home for another fundraiser. At that event, Obama spoke and offered a question-and-answer session to attendees.

Source

Bunch of Windows 8 devices coming from Dell

Dell is preparing a raft of tablets, hybrids, and ultrabooks for the Windows 8 launch later this year.

"The addition of capacitive touch capability into Windows 8, we think, will be a welcome addition...and will have a full complement of products at time of launch," Michael Dell said today during the company's first-quarter 2013 earnings conference call, in response to an analyst's question.

"We're totally lined up with Windows 8. You'll see us introduce tablets," he added.

And he suggests that Windows 8 touch-centric interface means that current PCs will not be a good fit.

"This is a transition where you generally are going to need a new PC, whether it's a tablet or an ultrabook with touch or a notebook with touch or a PC with touch or some derivative hybrid of all of the above type of products," he said.

Needless to say, Dell wants to sell you a new PC, but he may have a point because of the heavy emphasis Microsoft is placing on the Metro touch interface.

And touch won't be cheap, echoing sentiment that Intel has also expressed. "But what I can tell you is that we think that the touchscreen products will certainly cost more. They're more in the price points and price bands that we tend to operate in," Dell said.

The PC maker reported first-quarter earnings of $635 million, or 36 cents a share, on revenue of $14.42 billion, down 4 percent from a year ago.




Source

Google search was pretty bad five years ago: Larry Page

Google CEO Larry Page has taken aim at his own company's search platform.

Speaking at his company's Zeitgeist conference, Page acknowledged that about five years ago, Google Search was not operating as well as it could have, according to TechRadar, which was in attendance at the event. But since then, his company has made it much better, he believes.

"I think if you used Google five years ago you'd be astounded by how bad it is, or how bad it was right?" Page asked during the conference, according to TechRadar. "And you know search has got a lot better."

Google last year acknowledged that its search wasn't necessarily delivering the best results. The issue resulted from search engine optimizers finding a way to game the platform by making low-quality content more visible. In response, Google launched its Panda algorithm to cut down on the number of low-quality sites gaining placement.

According to Page, search is very much a work in progress, and his company is making changes to its platform each day. However, the changes tend to be slight, so the company doesn't "distract" users.

But that's not always the case. Last week, for example, Google launched the Knowledge Graph, a database of 500 million people, places, and things that show up on the side of results. The change is designed to give users more information, but some wonder if it might steal traffic from destination sites that house that data. However, Google believes it'll do quite the opposite.

"We found that by doing better information summaries, the vast majority of the time people don't just get facts and walk away," Jack Menzel, Product Management Director of Search at Google, told in an interview last week. "Actually, it entices them to go a little deeper. And now they have the time for it since their research was faster."

Source

Facebook settles lawsuit with angry users

Facebook has settled a lawsuit with five users who were angry about their profiles being used in adverts on the site.

The legal case, which began last year after users were annoyed about their faces being used as part of Facebook’s ‘sponsored stories’ – which allow brands to use the photos and names of people who have ‘liked’ their brand in their adverts on the social network.

At the time a Facebook spokesman said: “We are reviewing the decision and continue to believe that the case is without merit.”

However, the social network, which is struggling to retain its huge valuation post its flotation last week, has now settled the proposed class action lawsuit. The details of the settlement are not yet known and Facebook has declined to comment.

Last year, in a BBC documentary about Facebook, presenter Emily Maitlis asked Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s head of global communications and public policy, about this type of controversial activity on the site.

He said that by people clicking the ‘like’ button on brands’ Facebook pages, was them effectively giving their consent for their name to be allied to that company and endorsing it in a sponsored story or advert.

The case is the first one of its kind to have made any progress in the courts. Previous similar cases have been thrown out or have failed.

However, if the case had succeeded, consumer rights groups had hoped it could mean a major change as to one of the ways Facebook makes money out of marketing brands. (Telegraph)

Raspberry Pi faces challenge from Android-based rivals

The Raspberry Pi computer faces fresh competition from two Asian micro-PC rivals.

Taiwan's Via Technologies has announced plans to sell the APC. Like the Pi it comes with its motherboard exposed and is designed to be connected to a TV or monitor.

It follows the MK802 - an enclosed PC-on-a-stick from China's Rikomagic - which went on sale last week.

Both new devices use the Android system, while the Pi runs Linux.

Some analysts believe that means the British-designed Pi machine will remain a favourite with educators.

"There's a much bigger amateur community writing code for the Linux system," said Paul O'Donovan, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"It's much easier to program on and therefore a better way to introduce people to the basics of writing software and experimenting with computers."

The Android-based devices will, however, benefit from the wealth of software available for Google's operating system.

Pocket PCs

Via says the APC will be sold for $49 (£31) when it begins shipping in July.

It features 2GB of flash memory storage and runs an "optimised" version of Android 2.3. It measures 17cm by 8.5cm (6.7in by 3.3in)

The firm boasts that it only consumes up to 13.5 watts of power, a tenth of that consumed by a standard PC system.

By contrast, the MK802 is being advertised for $79, but offers higher specifications with 4GB of storage - upgradable to 32GB, as well as built-in wireless connectivity and the newer Android 4.0 system.

It measures 8.8cm by 3.5cm and is described as "the smallest volume Google TV player".

New market

The Raspberry Pi - which is advertised for $25 - remains the cheapest option. That reflects the fact that it is a not-for-profit project by a charitable foundation, as well as its reliance on separate SD cards for storage.

All three systems are based on chip designs by the low-power specialist ARM Holdings.

"System on chip designs can do an awful lot these days and we will probably see more of these devices coming out," said Mr O'Donovan,

"Memory, processors and connectivity slots have all become much cheaper.

"So these micro-PCs are inexpensive to make, and Chinese manufacturers are always looking to enter high-growth markets and secure sales even if their margins are low."

Others outside Asia are also trying to break into the nascent market.

Norway's FXI Technologies plans to release the USB-stick sized Cotton Candy PC later this year, while Intel plans to launch a new budget platform called "Next Unit of Computing" in the second half of the year. (BBC)

Dell looks to future tablets as consumer sales slump

Dell is pinning its hopes on new touchscreen products pegged to Windows 8's launch to boost the fortunes of its consumer products division.

Sales of the US firm's notebook computers and other mobile devices were down by 10% over the three months to 4 May, compared with the same period the previous year.

It blamed competition from cheap entry-level products in emerging markets, a category it does not participate in.

Its shares fell 13% in extended trade.

Net income for the first quarter was $635m (£404m), a fall of 33%.

Revenue dropped 4% to $14.4bn, with its consumer unit reporting a steeper 12% decline.

The company predicted only a small increase in sales over the current period.

Although it expected to benefit from falling hard disk prices as suppliers recovered from last year's Thai floods, it warned that the savings would be offset by higher memory and display costs.

Touchscreens

However, the firm's founder and chief executive, Michael Dell, told analysts he expected a pick-up in demand when Microsoft released its new system software later in the year.

The upgrade features a new Metro user interface - designed for touch gesture controls - which Mr Dell said should prompt users to change their computer.

"Unlike other Windows transitions, this is a transition where you generally are going to need a new PC, whether it's a tablet or ultrabook with touch or a notebook with touch or a PC with touch or some derivative hybrid on all the above type of products," Mr Dell was quoted as saying in a conference call transcript provided by financial news site Seeking Alpha.

"The product refresh cycle associated with this release of Windows is likely to be very different from other releases, but it's hard to know exactly what that looks like. We're preparing a full complement of products, and we'll be ready with those."

Mr Dell added that the new touchscreen products would cost more to produce than their non-touch equivalents, suggesting they should fall within the price bracket Dell targets, rather than the super-low end of the market that it had opted out of.

However, he added that it would take longer for the new system to drive business sales.

"Corporations are still adopting Windows 7, so we don't think there'll be a massive adoption of Windows 8 by corporations early on," he said.

Competition

Dell has already tried to crack the mobile tablet market with its Latitude and Inspiron tablets that run on existing versions of Windows and its Streak tablets that run on Google's Android.

However, the market has been dominated by Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle Fire.

"We see Windows 8 as opportunity for all the PC manufacturers to reclaim the huge ground that they have lost to Apple and some of the other Android tablet makers," Chris Green, technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe, told the BBC.

"You can't underestimate how much the sector has hit PC sales. The challenge for Dell is that it will be competing against Acer, Lenovo and others - but the sheer size of the company should act as an advantage." (BBC)

Qatar records strong growth among GCC visitors

Officials at the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) have released a report on the performance of the tourism sector in the country during the first quarter of 2012, revealing a 22 per cent increase in the number of GCC visitors to Doha.

According to the report, average hotel occupancy rates reached 64 per cent from January to the end of March, and revenues of four and five star establishments stood at QR734,349 million, an increase of QR32 million compared to the same period in 2011.

The report also revealed there are currently 112 hotels in the capital.

QTA chairman Ahmed Al Nuaimi said the report revealed the sector was growing to meet the demands placed on it.

“These statistics show that Qatar’s tourism and hospitality sector is going from strength to strength,” he explained.

“Qatar has established itself as a unique tourism destination as well as playing to our strengths as a business and sports tourism.

“The strong showing for our hotel sector shows how it is maturing ahead of the challenges we face in the next decade.”

According to the report, average hotel occupancy rates reached 64 per cent compared to 68 per cent during the first quarter of 2011.

But there has been a 12 per cent increase in the number of hotel facilities compared to last year, which consequently led to an increase in the number of hotel rooms and serviced apartments available on the local market.

There are currently 85 hotel facilities compared to 74 hotels in 2011 and their revenues are also stronger than for the same period last year.

Hotel sector statistics show that revenues of four and five star hotels from January to March 2012 were better than the 2011 results during the same period.

Four star hotel revenues increased by QR5 million reaching QR27 million, and five star hotels surged dramatically during the same period, reaching approximately QR32 million out of the total revenues during 2012.

In terms of GCC tourists visiting Qatar statistics reveal a 22 per cent growth rate in visitors during the first quarter of 2012.

Travellers from Saudi Arabia represented the majority of tourists from the GCC countries with 161,549 tourists for the first quarter of 2012, a 25.3 per cent increase.

Overseas visitor numbers also increased, especially from Asia. Asian tourists visiting Qatar registered the highest growth rate with a total of 36,385 visitors in the first quarter of 2012, followed by European tourists with a total of 10,456 tourists.

'Provocative' Lady Gaga allowed second Manila show

MANILA: Lady Gaga will be allowed to hold a second concert in Manila on Tuesday night after state censors ruled her "provocative" act was within legal bounds, a city official said.

Officials who monitored the first show on Monday found no violations of the permit terms banning nudity, blasphemy, and lewd conduct, said Antonino Calixto, mayor of Pasay City, the district where the event was held.

"Admittedly, some of the statements and choreography were provocative but the content and presentation taken all together can be considered as part of an artist's expressions" that are protected by the constitution, he added.

"Therefore, the city government of Pasay sees no compelling or legal reason to disallow the second concert from proceeding," Calixto said in a statement.

Up to 20,000 fans are expected to attend the American pop phenomenon's final Manila show, the same number as were at Monday's concert.

Conservative Christians in the Catholic-majority nation have been staging street protests daily to demand a government ban on the events, alleging some of Lady Gaga's songs are blasphemous.

One senior church leader said her show amounted to "devil worship".

Lady Gaga spoke out against her local critics at Monday's concert, declaring she was "not a creature of your government" before belting out her controversial song "Judas".

Her world tour, "The Born This Way Ball", has hit the headlines on its way through Asia, with an upcoming concert in Muslim-majority Indonesia denied a police permit for fear of violence from religious hardliners.

Prominent Filipino lawyer Romulo Macalintal, one of those who sought to block the Manila concert, said he was resigned to the local government's ruling.

"They are the persons authorised by law and if that is their decision, I cannot do anything, I just leave it to God," he said. (AFP)

The Girl Below by Bianca Zander

Suki Piper is a stranger in her hometown...

After ten years in New Zealand, Suki returns to London, to a city that won't let her in. However, a chance visit with Peggy—an old family friend who still lives in the building where she grew up—convinces Suki that there is a way to reconnect with the life she left behind a decade earlier. But the more involved she becomes with Peggy's dysfunctional family, including Peggy's wayward sixteen-year-old grandson, the more Suki finds herself mysteriously slipping back in time—to the night of a party her parents threw in their garden more than twenty years ago, when something happened in an old, long-unused air-raid shelter. . . .

A breathtaking whirlwind of mystery, transgression, and self-discovery, Bianca Zander's The Girl Below is a haunting tale of secrets, human frailty, and dark memory that heralds the arrival of an extraordinary new literary talent.

Gap raises profit outlook, shares rise

(Reuters) - Gap Inc raised its yearly profit forecast, prompted by first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street estimates and rising sales, and its shares rose 8 percent after hours.

For the full year, Gap estimated earnings of $1.78 to $1.83 a share, above the $1.75 to $1.80 it forecast in February.

"It's important to remain measured in our outlook given that our biggest selling seasons are still ahead of us," said Chief Financial Officer Sabrina Simmons.

Given the first quarter beat, "the current forecast does appear to be conservative," said Betty Chen, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.

She said that while the company appeared to be on the right track, "We're all waiting to see some sustainability."

For the first quarter ended April 28, the owner of the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains earned $233 million, or 47 cents a share, compared with $233 million, or 40 cents a share, a year ago.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting Gap to earn 46 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

After years of being accused of selling boring clothes, Gap has regained an edge in fashion, following a prolonged turnaround that included a change in top management.

The company's spring merchandise is selling well, and its website has been revamped.

Gap, the third biggest clothes retailer in the world after Zara owner Inditex , and H&M owner Hennes & Mauritz AB , had preannounced that sales rose 6 percent to $3.49 billion, while comparable store sales were up 4 percent.

During the quarter, sales at established North American stores rose 5 percent each for the Gap and Banana Republic brands. Sales at Old Navy stores rose 4 percent, the company said.

Gap shares rose to $28.50 after the bell. They closed down 2.9 percent at $26.31 on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Bonnie and Clyde is a 1967 crime film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the title characters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The film features Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons, with Denver Pyle, Dub Taylor, Gene Wilder, Evans Evans, and Mabel Cavitt. The screenplay was written by David Newman and Robert Benton. Robert Towne and Beatty provided uncredited contributions to the script; Beatty also produced the film. The soundtrack was composed by Charles Strouse.

Bonnie and Clyde is considered a landmark film, and is regarded as one of the first films of the New Hollywood era, since it broke many cinematic taboos and was popular with the younger generation. Its success motivated other filmmakers to be more forward about presenting sex and violence in their films. The film's ending also became iconic as "one of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history".

The film received Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Estelle Parsons) and Best Cinematography (Burnett Guffey). It was among the first 100 films selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Sweet Briar College: Passion for History Prompts Gift

Cynthia Wilson Ottaway ’57 has committed $500,000, to be apportioned over the next decade, to establish the Ottaway Endowed Fund in support of the Tusculum Institute. Annual contributions will be split between programming costs and building an endowment to fund Tusculum’s core mission of environmentally sustainable historic preservation and education over the long term.

Ottaway, who has previously made donations to the College for historical preservation, says she is motivated by her love for history and the heritage that old buildings represent.

The Tusculum Institute is named for the childhood home of Maria Crawford Fletcher, mother of Sweet Briar founder Indiana Fletcher Williams. Its mission — and the fact that many of the 18th-century timber-frame house’s architectural elements are being preserved — is deeply appealing to Ottaway. If she could rebuild the house to its original form, she would, she says.

Ottaway’s father was from Virginia and growing up, she spent a lot of time in the state. She remembers visiting Williamsburg and watching the archaeologists dig. Later, she took her own children there and to the homes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others.

“If I can find a project that replicates that, I’m all for it,” she says. “I have an imagination. I can go through those houses in Williamsburg and just feel like I’m back in the seventeen hundreds.”

Ottaway recognizes the College has many needs, but she’s long appreciated its efforts to preserve its heritage by maintaining Sweet Briar House, the slave cabin and other structures, or reusing buildings such as the train station.

“I think alumnae tend to want to support, and rightfully so, professors and classes. But somebody has to support the history of the College and that’s where I come in.”

Ottaway views the Tusculum Institute as an “excellent instrument” to pass on to younger generations the value of preserving historical buildings and places in an environmentally sustainable way. The institute is committed to the idea that old can be made new again, saving resources and honoring the rich historical legacy of the region.

“I have great confidence in the fact that the institute is in good hands,” Ottaway said.

Two of those hands belong to Lynn Rainville, the founding director of the institute. Rainville, who has a doctorate in anthropology and archaeology, has done extensive research on the history of Sweet Briar Plantation, especially its enslaved families and their descendents.

As director, she works closely with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, architectural historians, preservationists and other professionals on community outreach to those interested in saving historical structures, as well as teacher development and school programs.

“The Tusculum Institute is very fortunate to receive Ms. Ottaway’s support,” Rainville said. “Her generous gift will enable us to host years of programming to support the College’s mission while researching and preserving historic places on the Sweet Briar campus and beyond.”


University Press Release here.

Center for Women Writers Announces 2012 International Literary Awards

The Salem College Center for Women Writers announces the winners of their ninth annual International Literary Awards, chosen from over six hundred entries. The winner of each genre will receive $1,200. An honorarium of $150 will be awarded to the two honorable mentions of each genre.

Jennifer Christie of Corvallis, Oregon received the Reynolds Price Fiction Award for her short story “The Festival.” This contest was judged by Kate Bernheimer. Christie was named a Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Gold Key Recipient for Regions at Large in Manhattan in 2005. Currently, Christie is enrolled at Oregon State University where she is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. Jennifer Christie greatly admires Flannery O’Connor and says she “is thrilled” that some of the proceeds from this contest will go toward the long-awaited adoption of her future feline companion, Bartleby, the Pussycat.

An Honorable Mention for Fiction was awarded to Grazina Smith for her story “Auslander.” Smith, originally from Lithuania, now resides in Chicago, Illinois. Her work has appeared in several magazines including The Sun, Women’s World, and BAC Street Journal. Smith was also a finalist for the 2011 Salem College International Literary Awards.

Another Honorable Mention for Fiction was awarded to Karen Tucker of Asheville, NC, for her story “Long Before I Grew Used to Strange Men.” Tucker graduated from Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program and is the recipient of an Elizabeth George Foundation grant for Emerging Writers.

The Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award, judged by Sigrid Nunez, was awarded to Jennifer Rose of Waltham, MA, for her essay “Buffalo (1971).” Rose has published two books of poetry, The Old Direction of Heaven (Truman State University Press) and Hometown for an Hour (Ohio University Press), the latter of which received the Hollis Summers Award. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Nation, Ploughshares and elsewhere. She has received awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Poetry Society of America and Astraea Foundation.

Daisy Hernandez’s essay “The Stories She Tells Us” was named an Honorable Mention in the Creative Nonfiction competition. Hernandez, who resides in Coral Gables, FL, in pursuit of her MFA from the University of Miami, is the co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism (Seal Press). Her essays have appeared in several anthologies including 50 Ways to Support Lesbian and Gay Equality and her commentaries have been featured on NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, and Ms. Magazine. Gabriel Houck of Lincoln, NE, also received a Creative Nonfiction Honorable Mention for his essay “A Hurricane on my Television.” Houck grew up in New Orleans and is now completing his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Houck holds an MFA in writing from the California Institute of the Arts, and an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Iowa. His writing has appeared in Drunken Boat, Spectrum, and Flyaway. He lives happily with an ancient Keeshound named Logan.

“The Typists Play Monopoly” by Kathleen McClung of San Francisco, California, won the 2012 Rita Dove Poetry Award, judged by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. McClung teaches at Skyline College and the Writing Salon. She holds Masters degrees from Stanford University and California State University Fresno, where she studied with Alan Shapiro and Phillip Levine in the 1980s. Her poetry, memoir, and fiction have been featured in Poetry Northwest, Unsplendid, Bloodroot, Tule Review, Poetry Now, Spirituality & Health, Song of the San Joaquin, Poets 11, and A Bird Black as the Sun: California Poets on Crows and Ravens.

An Honorable Mention in Poetry was awarded to “Jellyfish Creed” by Celisa Steele, who published her first poetry chapbook How Language Is Lost in 2011. Steele’s poetry has also appeared in Tar River Poetry, Anglican Theological Review, and Wild Goose Poetry Review. Jessica Bane Robert also received Honorable Mention recognition for her poem

“And What of God?” Jessica currently teaches Writing and Literature courses at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her poetry has appeared in Naugatuck River Review, The Ghazal Page, Outrider Press, and Cider Press Review.

Original source here.

How Technology is Taking Hold of Our Children's lives

Jennifer Egan’s epoch-defining novel A Visit from the Goon Squad ends with a vision of our near future: by the 2020s toddlers have become the music industry’s most influential consumer group, known as “pointers” for the ease with which they download tracks via touch screens. One critic told me she found this final chapter “implausible”. She wouldn’t have said that, I replied, had she had a toddler in her house.

It’s commonplace now to see tots who can’t talk, but can navigate an iPhone with ease, or infants who scowl when they touch a computer screen that doesn’t respond with the immediate elasticity of an iPad. These fledgling hi-tech junkies are, of course, reflections of their Wi-Fi-zombie mums and dads. I can’t be the only parent who has, on occasion, conducted an entire conversation with a child without once tearing my eyes away from a screen – leading my younger son to shout, “You’re not looking at me, Mummy!”

Granted, I work from home and my laptop is the tool of my trade, but I can’t avoid the guilty realisation that my computer can seem, at times, even more compelling than my offspring – or, at least, less demanding. I am equally aware that the TV sometimes makes a convenient au pair. It’s small wonder a psychologist, Aric Sigman, this week warned of the perils of “passive parenting” and “benign neglect” caused by our reliance on gadgets. Indeed, Sigman’s presentation to members of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health outlined the parallels between screen dependency and alcohol and drug addiction: the instant stimulation provided by all those flickering graphics leads to the release of dopamine, a chemical that’s central to the brain’s reward system.

Not that you need to be a research scientist to realise how addictive the virtual world can be. When I’m bidding for junk on eBay, all semblance of sanity flies out of the window; my hands sweat, my heartbeat surges and I truly feel like I’ve “won” that item, even though I’ve just parted with £200 and I don’t need a rocking horse. So I’m with Sigman when he says screen dependency poses high risks to children’s mental and physical health and their access to such gadgets should be restricted. Some have attacked Sigman’s views, saying there’s not enough evidence to support his opinions. I imagine people said the same thing to the late farmer and environmentalist Elspeth Huxley when she suggested, decades before the outbreak of BSE, that no good would come of feeding cows with bone meal made from the reconstituted parts of dead cattle.

All around us we observe the behaviour-altering sway of new technology on adults, so it seems astounding that anyone wouldn’t fret about its influence on developing brains. Walk past any bus stop and you will see grown people so disconnected from one another that they might as well be in Perspex boxes, as they angrily jab at tiny keypads or talk to the air. Go to a restaurant and you will see diners so addicted to their “CrackBerries” that every social nicety is ignored in pursuit of staying connected. I was on a plane last week where three people seated near me filmed the landing views on their smart phones, in preference to actually looking at them. An even madder sight was the suit in business class who was taking photos of himself on his iPad, before flicking through a collection of plane portraits.

It seems to me alcohol’s hold on society is as nothing to the manic grip of digital technology, and we’re not handing booze out indiscriminately to our young. So aren’t we right to fret when we see the hypnotised look that comes over our children’s faces when they spend too long on the computer? My eight-year-old’s glazed expression when he plays his favourite Bin Weevils (on his father’s computer, supervised, twice weekly) is radically different from the lively cognitive whirrings glimpsed when he draws, or writes stories, or builds Lego cities. Only an idiot need be told there’s a great difference between hewing out your own imaginative realm or, at the push of a button, entering a virtual world created for you. The latter is seductive in its easy accessibility, and corrupting for the same reason.

I’m not advocating prohibition: like most addictive pursuits, the online world has many upsides, and our children will be part of the digital revolution in a way that we’re only just beginning to comprehend. I wouldn’t want either of my sons to be isolated from their peers. But I do believe that Sigman is right when he calls for children’s viewing time to be heavily restricted. Even adults should exercise restraint. Where’s the evidence? Google boss Eric Schmidt told an audience of students at Boston University last Sunday that they should put down their gadgets for at least an hour every day: “Take your eyes off that screen and look into the eyes of the person you love. Have a conversation, a real conversation.” And if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, no one does.

Haverford Joins Nobel Laureates At Chicago Summit

The 12th annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates welcomed former Peace Prize winners such as Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton and the Dalai Lama to Chicago in April for panels and discussions on peacemaking and human rights. But this year’s conference, the first ever held in on U.S. soil, also featured a delegation of less well-known peace advocates: four Haverford students.

Invited by 1947 Nobel Prize winners the American Friends Service Committee and sponsored by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, Jenine Abbassi ’12, Jackie LaBua ’13, Josh Mussa ’13 and Abigail Sweeney ’15 were chosen from more than 30 Haverford applicants to go to the Windy City for three days to learn from and engage with some of the leading minds in social justice and humanitarianism in the world. (Accompanying the group on the trip were Professor of History James Krippner and, in her role as director of Quaker Affairs, Associate Professor of Independent College Programs Kaye Edwards.)

“The Summit [was] an extraordinary opportunity to be surrounded by those who do not just believe in, or think about, peace, but actively strive to create it on a global scale,” said LaBua. “I’m consistently challenged to think more critically about issues of peace and human rights by my classes, but they can only go so far to transport you out of the ‘Haverbubble’ and make the transition from theory into practice.”

The focus of this year’s event was on youth engagement and its recurring refrain was “one person can make a difference.” The students were moved and motivated by talks by laureates such as Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, women- and children’s-rights activist Shirin Ebadi and anti-landmine campaigner Jody Williams. All four called the Summit “life-changing” upon their return to campus.

“Attending the Summit and learning about the work of these incredibly inspiring people has imbedded a sense of responsibility in me to take action,” said Abbassi. “As a member of society with access to benefits such as education, the right to vote and freedom of speech, I have an opportunity to be a catalyst for change.”

“Because we were staying at the same hotel as many of the laureates, we got to speak with many of them,” said Sweeney. “I told Professor Yunus that our generation was going to change the world, and he responded, ‘That’s what I like to hear!’ ”

University Press Release here.

DePauw Students Study Harder Than Most

Over the past half-century, the amount of time college students actually study — read, write and otherwise prepare for class — has dwindled from 24 hours a week to about 15, survey data show,” begins a Washington Postarticle. But Daniel de Vise writes, “Colleges that rate high in study time are typically small liberal-arts schools, often set in remote locales. Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., and Centre College in Danville, Ky., all report more than 20 hours of average weekly study for freshmen, seniors or both.”

The piece, based on results of the National Survey for Student Engagement, asks, “What sets such schools apart? Pedar Foss, dean of academic life at DePauw, found clues sprinkled across the student survey. DePauw students almost never work off campus, care for relatives or commute long distances. DePauw seniors are twice as likely as students at other schools to read at least 11 assigned books in an academic year. They write more than their peers.”

Dr. Foss tells the Post, “They’re held accountable for how well they can speak, and how well they can draw upon evidence, and whether they know what they’re talking about.”

Headlined “Is college too easy? As study time falls, debate rises,” de Vise’s story notes, “Nationally, few colleges even approach the historical standard of 24 hours of weekly study … Even among colleges rated ‘most competitive’ in the Barron’s college guide, the survey shows, weekly study averages less than 18 hours.”

You’ll find the complete text here.

The National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) finds that the academic challenges provided by DePauw University are within the top 10% of colleges in the nation and that a large number of DePauw seniors report their educational experiences have been enriching. The report also finds that DePauw seniors score significantly higher than both peer institutions and all schools in the categories “Active and Collaborative Learning” and that first-year students at DePauw encounter a higher “Level of Academic Challenge” than found on other campuses.

Original source here.

Qatari women prepare for Olympic debut

For the very first time, conservative Gulf Arab state will send female athletes to the Games, in London.
Competing at the Olympics may almost be taken for granted by athletes in some countries, but for others they simply have not had the chance to get there before.

That is now changing in Qatar, which will send female athletes to the London Games for the very first time.

Al Jazeera's Rhodri Davies met one of them, Nada Arakji, a member of the Gulf Arab state's national swimming team.

Pietersen wants Gayle return

Kevin Pietersen has said it would be "brilliant for the game" if West Indies recalled Chris Gayle for the remainder of the Test series against England.

Gayle has not played Test cricket since December 2010 following a much documented fall out with the WICB. But, with both sides having moved to patch up some of their differences and Gayle's involvement with the 2012 IPL season now over - his team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, have been eliminated despite Gayle being the leading run-scorer in the round-robin stages - it has raised the possibility that he could be recalled to the Test squad although Darren Sammy was cagey on the matter.

West Indies, suffering from some brittle top-order batting and a lack of depth in their bowling, lost the first Test at Lord's by five wickets. Gayle, with more than 6,000 Test runs and over 70 Test wickets, could strengthen both departments.

"It will be brilliant for the game if he comes back to play this Test match," Pietersen said. "He is an entertainer. People want to watch entertainers. They don't want to watch people blocking the ball. They want to watch entertainers. He is one of those people that people will pay their money to watch him play and if he comes back that could be brilliant for the series. He is a superstar and he is one of my real good mates in cricket. I love the way he plays."

From an England viewpoint, Pietersen expressed his delight in Andrew Strauss' return to form. Strauss made his first Test century since November 2010 at Lord's though Pietersen insisted he never doubted the England captain.

"The wheel was going to turn at some point and it turned at Lord's," Pietersen said at a Chance to Shine event. "It's brilliant for English cricket. I have been through a period where I didn't score a hundred for a while. It just turns and since then I have scored I don't know how many hundreds. Strauss is a fantastic guy and I was more happy for him scoring that hundred than I have been for any other team-mate when they have scored a hundred. I loved the fact that he did that.

"Somebody's going to get it from the media at one stage in the month or the year. That's just what happens in our job. So long as you just accept that and understand that and concentrate on the ball as a batter, or the areas you bowl as a bowler, then everything's fine. You just have to park that to one side and just do your job. But the wheel turns for everyone. Everyone should notice that by now."

Pietersen also suggested that the "cricketing world" will be eagerly anticipating England's forthcoming Test series against South Africa later in the season. It will be contest to decide the No. 1 Test team in the world if England go on and complete victory over West Indies.

"We are going to have to play very good cricket because the South African team is a very strong cricketing unit with some fantastic players," Pietersen said. "We will have to play really positive cricket too at every opportunity. I think the cricketing world will be looking forward to that South Africa series."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Japan's economy downgraded by Fitch on debt concerns

Japan's credit rating has been downgraded by two levels by rating agency Fitch on concerns about the country's high levels of debt.

Fitch cut Japan's rating to A+ from AA and warned that further downgrades were possible.

Japan has by far the highest debt to GDP ratio of any major economy, although much of this debt is held by domestic investors.

The government has spent huge amounts of money on trying to stimulate growth.

"The downgrades and negative outlooks reflect growing risks for Japan's sovereign credit profile as a result of high and rising public debt ratios," Fitch said.

"[Japan's] fiscal consolidation plan looks leisurely relative even to other fiscally-challenged high-income countries, and implementation is subject to political risk."

Following the downgrade, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said he would continue with plans to address rising debt levels.

"I would like to move ahead with fiscal reform, while making efforts to enact tax and social security reform bills," he said.

Strong growth
Japan's debts total more than twice its annual economic output, but because the majority of this debt is held domestically, the interest rate it has to pay to borrow money is very low - less than Germany and the US.

Unlike many highly-indebted countries in Europe, it therefore has no problems in raising funds to repay debts.

Last week, official figures showed that Japan's economy grew by 1% between January and March compared with the previous three months, as government spending helped fuel a recovery from last year's earthquake and tsunami.

That translates to an annualised growth rate of 4.1%, the government said, considerably higher than all eurozone economies, including Germany, and the US.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged to spend more than 20tn yen ($249bn; £156bn) on reconstruction, money that the government has to borrow.

However, if strong growth can be maintained following the stimulus, the government will be more able to pay down some of its debts.   (BBC.co.uk)

Rewritable DNA memory shown off

 Biological systems are "one of the coolest

 places for computing", say researchers.

Researchers in the US have demonstrated a means to use short sections of DNA as rewritable data "bits" in living cells.

The technique uses two proteins adapted from viruses to "flip" the DNA bits.

Though it is at an early stage, the advance could help pave the way for computing and memory storage within biological systems.

A team reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences say the tiny information storehouses may also be used to study cancer and aging.

The team, from Stanford University's bioengineering department, has been trying for three years to fine-tune the biological recipe they use to change the bits' value.

The bits comprise short sections of DNA that can, under the influence of two different proteins, be made to point in one of two directions within the chromosomes of the bacterium E. coli.

The data are then "read out" as the sections were designed to glow green or red when under illumination, depending on their orientation.


The two proteins, integrase and excisionase, were taken from a bacteriophage - a virus that infects bacteria. They are involved in the DNA modification process by which the DNA from a virus is incorporated into that of its host.

The trick was striking a balance between the two counteracting proteins in order to reliably switch the direction of the DNA section that acted as a bit.

After some 750 trials, the team struck on the right recipe of proteins, and now have their sights set on creating a full "byte" - eight bits - of DNA information that can be similarly manipulated.

The work is at the frontier of biological engineering, and senior author of the research Drew Endy said that applications of the approach are yet to come.

"I'm not even really concerned with the ways genetic data storage might be useful down the road, only in creating scalable and reliable biological bits as soon as possible," Dr Endy said.

"Then we'll put them in the hands of other scientists to show the world how they might be used."

As the DNA sections maintained their logical value even as the bacteria doubled 90 times, one clear application would be in using the DNA bits as "reporter" bits on the proliferation of cells, for example in cancerous tissue.

But longer-term integrations of these computational components to achieve computing within biological systems are also on the researchers' minds.

"One of the coolest places for computing is within biological systems," Dr Endy said.   (BBC.co.uk)

Massive protest to mark 100th day of student strike

(Canada) MONTREAL - Student leaders plan to mark the 100th day of their strike Tuesday with their largest rally to date, with thousands of people expected to gather downtown in the rain.

Students from across Quebec are expected to voice their opposition to Premier Jean Charest's planned $1,800 tuition hike over seven years.

They're also upset about a special law aimed at curbing violent clashes with police.

All eyes will be on Quebec's radical CLASSE association, which says it will defy the special law passed last week.

CLASSE plans to break off in an unannounced direction, which would be a violation of the law that stipulates any group of 50 people or more must present an itinerary to police at least eight hours in advance.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested during the strike, including more than 300 in the past three days since Charest's government began legislating attempts to end the violence.

About 30% of Quebec students have been on strike since Feb. 14, and the movement has garnered international support.

American filmmaker Michael Moore and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger have shown solidarity with the movement.

Groups in New York and Paris have said via social media that they will hold rallies Tuesday in their respective cities.