Photographers who've spent years looking through the window of a high-end optical viewfinder may never find an electronic version that fully satisfies them. But this new MicroOLED EVF may get us closer than ever to an acceptable digital replacement for the TTL OVF, which will never find a home in modern-day compacts and mirrorless ILCs. Developed with military and medical-industry heads-up displays and digital camera viewfinders in mind, the new microdispay is able to deliver a 5.4 megapixel (2560 x 2048) monochrome image, or 1.3 megapixels in full 16-million color -- all in a 0.61-inch diagonal panel. The display boasts a top contrast ratio of 100,000:1, 96-percent uniformity and 0.2 watts of power consumption. There's no word yet on when the new tech will start popping up in enterprise devices and digital cameras, or how much of a premium it'll carry for electronics manufacturers, but it looks like we're closer than ever to having an excellent electronic alternative to the optical viewfinder. Jump past the break for the full PR from MicroOLED.
KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) ? A Hawaii-based lance corporal accused of hazing a fellow Marine who committed suicide at their remote outpost in Afghanistan is appearing in court after agreeing to a plea bargain.
In October, Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby was referred to a general court-martial on charges that he assaulted, threatened, and humiliated Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, who killed himself on April 3.
Jacoby will instead appear Monday before a special court martial ? a venue for less serious crimes than a general court-martial? at a Marine base in Kaneohe Bay after reaching a plea agreement. The Marines didn't release details of the agreement ahead of the trial.
Two other Marines have also been accused of hazing Lew, 21, a nephew of U.S. Rep. Judy Chu of California, before he shot himself with his machine gun in his foxhole.
Sgt. Benjamin Johns, the leader of the squad the Marines belonged to, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III will each have their own separate courts-martial at later dates.
The case involves the actions of Marines at an isolated patrol base the U.S. was establishing to disrupt Taliban drug and weapons trafficking in Helmand province.
At an Article 32 hearing ? the equivalent of a grand jury hearing in the civilian world ? in September, Marines testified Lew had repeatedly fallen asleep while he was on duty. Squad members and officers had tried different methods to get him to stay awake, including referring him up the chain of command for discipline and taking him off patrols so he could get more rest.
But on Lew's last night, those efforts escalated into alleged acts of violence and humiliation, according to charges outlined at the hearing. The Marines were accused of punching and kicking him, making him do push-ups and pouring sand in his face.
A significant share of the questions raised at the Article 32 hearing focused on whether the accused intended to humiliate and harm Lew or discipline him so he would stop falling asleep while on watch duty.
Before Lew put the muzzle of his machine gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, he scrawled a note on his arm: "May hate me now, but in the long run this was the right choice I'm sorry my mom deserves the truth."
A Marine commander in retrospect speculated Lew may have been nodding off because he suffered from depression or some other medical condition.
Chu discussed her nephew's death during a House Armed Services hearing on suicide prevention in September, held at the same time as the Article 32 hearing. She told military witnesses that Lew was "a very popular and outgoing young man known for joking and smiling and break dancing."
Chu also issued a statement saying no one deserves being "hazed and tortured" like her nephew was, and the military justice system must hold "any wrongdoers accountable."
For too long, small businesses have been struggling to bear the brunt of the recession. Lending has all but dried up for small employers, and too many lawmakers are spending more time playing politics than working to pass smart legislation to help them. If small businesses are going to help fix our country's employment problem, they need increased access to credit and smart jobs legislation. How do we know small business owners feel this way? We asked them.
According to a national poll of 500 small business owners released Jan. 26 by Small Business Majority, Main Street Alliance and the American Sustainable Business Council, an overwhelming 90 percent of small employers believe credit availability is a problem for small businesses. Employers also agree when it comes to lending, banks are less friendly than they were four years ago: 61 percent say it is harder to get a loan now than it was then.
Banks' loan portfolios have been reduced by more than $47 billion since the pre-recession peak--and that affects business owners across the country. Take Sandra Garratt, for instance. Since 1992, she has operated several organic clothing companies. As an early investor in innovative manufacturing--and one who has been named entrepreneur of the year, at that--she thought she'd be able to obtain a loan, or at least a line of credit for her business. She was wrong. She had to take time away from the business to care for aging parents, which negatively affected her credit. Despite her business acumen and accolades, every bank has turned her down. She's now forced to turn business away regularly because of an inability to stock fabric.
It's the experiences of real small business owners like Sandra that explain why 90 percent of entrepreneurs want community banks' and credit unions' lending authority expanded. And more than three-fourths of them support incentivizing community banks to boost their small business lending. Without these kinds of measures, many small business owners are forced to take extreme measures--like turning to credit cards.
Anyone familiar with credit cards knows their terms and conditions can make your head spin, and that debt can build in the blink of an eye. Yet despite the risk they pose, more than half of small business owners have used credit cards to help finance their business. But owners know they can cause problems, which is why four in five support requiring the credit card industry to provide clearer disclosure of terms and interest rates.
The bottom line is small business owners need increased cash flow to keep their doors open and hire more workers. But that can't happen without the help of smart policies that boost the private sector. Besides increased access to credit, small business owners also support current proposals being debated in Congress, and highlighted by the president in his 2012 State of the Union address, that aim to stimulate the economy and create jobs.
When asked about various provisions included in the president's American Jobs Act, small business owners were particularly supportive of investments in infrastructure: 69 percent favor investing $50 billion in projects to improve roads, bridges and water systems, and six in 10 small business owners support creation of a nationwide wireless network.
Innovation has historically been one of the driving forces behind entrepreneurship. It's no wonder small business owners recognize the potential and opportunity for innovation to stimulate the private sector. It's not just a select group of small business owners that feel this way, either--survey respondents' political views run the gamut: 50 percent of respondents identified as Republican, 32 percent as Democrat and 15 percent as independent.
Small businesses need a hand if they're going to help rebuild the economy. Today's credit barrier limits small business expansion and strains entrepreneurs' capacity to put America back to work. While lawmakers in Congress are using partisan rhetoric to dismantle proposals aimed at creating jobs, entrepreneurs are repeatedly voicing their support for these exact ideas. For their sake, legislators need to focus on bettering credit conditions and try to repair our jobs problem.
John Arensmeyer is the founder and CEO of Small Business Majority. Follow him on Twitter at @SmlBizMajority.
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Follow John Arensmeyer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SmlBizMajority
KHARTOUM (Reuters) ? Rebels in Sudan's oil-producing border state of South Kordofan said on Sunday they were holding Chinese workers for their own safety after a battle with the Sudanese army.
The army has been fighting rebels of the SPLM-N in South Kordofan bordering newly independent South Sudan since June. Fighting spread to the northern Blue Nile state in September.
"We are holding 29 Chinese workers after a battle with the army yesterday," a spokesman for the SPLM-N said. "They are in good health. We are holding them for their own safety because the army was trying to strike again."
The army said rebels had attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company operating in the area between the towns of Abbasiya and Rashad in the north of the state and captured 70 civilians.
"Most of them are Chinese. They (the rebels) are targeting civilians," said army spokesman Sawarmi Khalid Saad.
He said there had been no battle in the area and the army was now trying to rescue the civilians.
China's foreign ministry urged Sudan to guarantee the safety of Chinese personnel during the search and rescue process, according to a statement released in Beijing.
South Kordofan is the main oil-producing state in Sudan, while Blue Nile is rich in minerals such as chrome.
The fighting in both states has forced about 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan, according to the United Nations.
Both states contain large groups who sided with the south in a decades-long civil war, and who say they continue to face persecution inside Sudan since South Sudan seceded in July.
The SPLM is now the ruling party in the independent south and denies supporting SPLM-North rebels across the border.
Events in South Kordofan and Blue Nile are difficult to verify because aid groups and diplomats are banned from areas where fighting takes place.
SPLM-North is one of a number of rebel movements in underdeveloped border areas who say they are fighting to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and end what they see as the dominance of the Khartoum political elite.
Sudan and South Sudan, which still have to resolve a range of issues including the sharing of oil revenues, regularly trade accusations of supporting insurgencies on each other's territory.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Khalid Abdelaziz; additional reporting by David Stanway in Beijing)
Garmin now owns Navigon and while you think twice as many turn-by-turn navigation apps from one company would be doubly confusing, they’re doing a good job at differentiating their products,
WASHINGTON ? Just how rich is Mitt Romney? Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you're in Romney territory.
He would be among the richest presidents in American history if elected ? probably in the top four.
He couldn't top George Washington who, with nearly 60,000 acres and more than 300 slaves, is considered the big daddy of presidential wealth. After that, it gets complicated, depending how you rate Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Herbert Hoover's millions from mining or John F. Kennedy's share of the vast family fortune, as well as the finer points of factors like inflation adjustment.
But it's safe to say the Roosevelts had nothing on Romney, and the Bushes are nowhere close.
The former Massachusetts governor has disclosed only the broad outlines of his wealth, putting it somewhere from $190 million to $250 million. That easily could make him 50 times richer than Obama, who falls in the still-impressive-to-most-of-us range of $2.2 million to $7.5 million.
"I think it's almost hard to conceptualize what $250 million means," said Shamus Khan, a Columbia University sociologist who studies the wealthy. "People say Romney made $50,000 a day while not working last year. What do you do with all that money? I can't even imagine spending it. Well, maybe ..."
Of course, an unbelievable boatload of bucks is just one way to think of Romney's net worth, and the 44 U.S. presidents make up a pretty small pond for him to swim in. Put alongside America's 400 or so billionaires, Romney wouldn't make a ripple.
So here's a look where Romney's riches rank ? among the most flush Americans, the White House contenders, and the rest of us:
_Within the 1 percent:
"Romney is small potatoes compared with the ultra-wealthy," said Jeffrey Winters, a political scientist at Northwestern University who studies the nation's elites.
After all, even in the rarefied world of the top 1 percent, there's a big difference between life at the top and at the bottom.
A household needs to bring in roughly $400,000 per year to make the cut. Romney and his wife, Ann, have been making 50 times that ? more than $20 million a year. In 2009, only 8,274 federal tax filers had income above $10 million. Romney is solidly within that elite 0.006 percent of all U.S. taxpayers.
Congress is flush with millionaires. Only a few are in the Romney realm, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. Kerry's ranking would climb much higher if the fortune of his wife, Teresa Heinz, were counted. She is the widow of Sen. John Heinz, heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune.
Further up the ladder, top hedge fund managers can pocket $1 billion or more in a single year.
At the top of the wealth pile sits Bill Gates, worth $59 billion, according to Forbes magazine's estimates.
_As a potential president:
Romney clearly stands out here. America's super rich generally don't jockey to live in the White House. A few have toyed with the idea, most notably New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whom Forbes ranks as the 12th richest American, worth $19.5 billion. A lesser billionaire, Ross Perot, bankrolled his own third-party campaigns in 1992 and 1996.
Many presidents weren't particularly well-off, especially 19th century leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan and Ulysses S. Grant. Nor was the 33rd president, Harry Truman.
"These things ebb and flow," said sociologist Khan. "It's not the case that all presidents were always rich."
A few former chief executives died in debt, including Thomas Jefferson, ranked in a Forbes study as the third-wealthiest president.
Comparing the landlocked wealth of early Americans such as Washington, Jefferson and James Madison, with today's millionaires is tricky, even setting aside the lack of documentation and economic changes over two centuries.
Research by 24/7 Wall St., a news and analysis website, estimated Washington's wealth at the equivalent of $525 million in 2010 dollars.
Yet Washington had to borrow money to pay for his trip to New York for his inauguration in 1789, according to Dennis Pogue, vice president for preservation at Mount Vernon, Washington's Virginia estate. His money was tied up in land, reaping only a modest cash income after farm expenses.
"He was a wealthy guy, there's no doubt about it," Pogue said, and probably among the dozen richest Virginians of his time. But, "the wealthiest person in America then was nothing in comparison to what these folks are today."
_How does Romney stand next to a regular Joe?
He's roughly 1,800 times richer.
The typical U.S. household was worth $120,300 in 2007, according to the Census Bureau's most recent data, although that number is sure to have dropped since the recession. A typical family's income is $50,000.
Calculations from 24/7 Wall St. of the peak lifetime wealth (or peak so far) of Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama add up to a total $128 million ? while Romney reports assets of up to $250 million.
If you consider only those presidents' assets while in office, without millions earned later from speeches and books, their combined total would be substantially lower, and Romney's riches would leave the pack even further behind.
LAGOS, Nigeria ? A U.S. citizen kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta has been freed after a week in captivity, the U.S. Embassy said Friday.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Deb MacLean told The Associated Press that the man had been released after being kidnapped in Warri in Delta state on Jan. 20. MacLean declined to offer any other details, citing privacy rules. Delta state police spokesman Charles Muka said he had not been informed about the man's release, as his company refused to cooperate with local authorities.
The freed hostage was identified as William Gregory Ock, 50, of Bowdon, Ga., by his sister, Dee Dee Patterson.
Patterson told the AP on Friday that the family had no details of his release.
"The only thing we know is that he is safe and he is in a secure location," Patterson said by telephone.
She had no information on when Ock would return home to Georgia.
It was not immediately clear whether a ransom had been paid to secure his release, though many companies working in the region carry kidnap insurance and simply pay a negotiated price to see their employees freed. Kidnappers had made contact with authorities previously and demanded a $333,000 ransom.
The attack Jan. 20 occurred outside a bank branch in Warri, one of the main cities in nation's Niger Delta, a region of mangroves and swamps where foreign oil companies pump 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day. The gunmen attacked Ock as he came outside, shooting his police escort to death before abducting him, Muka said.
Investigators believe the gunmen trailed him for some time before the attack, Muka said.
Foreign firms have pumped oil out of the delta for more than 50 years. Despite the billions flowing into Nigeria's government, many in the delta remain desperately poor, living in polluted waters without access to proper medical care, education or work.
In 2006, militants started a wave of attacks targeting foreign oil companies, including bombing their pipelines, kidnapping their workers and fighting with security forces. That violence waned in 2009 with a government-sponsored amnesty program promising ex-fighters monthly payments and job training. However, few in the delta have seen the promised benefits and criminal gangs still roam the region, increasingly targeting middle-class Nigerians.
In 2011, there were five reported kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Nigeria, according to a recent U.S. State Department travel warning about the country. The most recent occurred in November when two U.S. citizens and a Mexican were kidnapped from a Chevron Corp. offshore oil field and held for about two weeks, the State Department said.
A German working in the city of Kano in north Nigeria was abducted Thursday by unknown gunmen, authorities have said.
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Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
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Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
CHICAGO -- Rashad Evans and Phil Davis both wrestled in the Big Ten in college, a fact that has been discussed several times over in the build-up to their UFC on Fox 2 bout on Saturday. Davis has questioned Evans' credentials, while Evans called Davis' technique trash.
During Thursday's press conference, Evans even went as far to call competition Davis faced during his tenure weak.
"You wrestled in a year that was kind of soft," Evans said. "Your technique is trash."
Unfortunately, the facts don't support Evans' claims.
Davis was a four-time All-American at Penn State, which means he placed in the top eight of the country in every year he wrestled. It's a difficult feat, no matter the competition. But the wrestlers Davis faced every year that he earned All-American status are names that are familiar to MMA fans.
Davis won the national title as a senior, beating three-time All-American Wynn Michalak from Central Michigan along the way. Max Askren, Ben's brother who won the title in 2010, also placed in the top eight that year.
In 2007, he shared the podium with the same man he shared the dais with today: UFC middleweight Chris Weidman, who beat future world team member J.D. Bergman on the way to a third-place finish. Davis lost in the finals in 2006 to Jake Rosholt, a UFC and WEC veteran and a three-time NCAA champion. When Davis took seventh his freshman year, he beat UFC light heavyweight Ryan Bader in the second round of the tournament.
Evans has talked about how he is better at MMA wrestling than Davis, and he'll get to test out that theory on Saturday. However, questioning his wrestling credentials is a waste of trash talk. A man with a national title, four All-Americans and two Big Ten titles has already proven himself on the mat.
LONDON ? Chris Isaak is returning to the roots of rock 'n' roll and doing it old-school: All in one take.
The U.S. soul singer headed back to the original Sun Studios in Memphis to record a collection that includes cover versions of hits by Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. The album, "Beyond the Sun," was released this week and Isaak will soon embark on a string of U.S. concert dates.
The 56-year-old, well known for his mesmerizing vocals on the now-classic 1989 hit "Wicked Game," says the decision to make the new album was easy.
"I just went 'I'll sing a bunch of those songs I like singing. I got a band, I'll just call them up and tell them to come over,'" he told the Associated Press in an interview in London.
To make it truly authentic, Isaak and his band recorded with no headphones, no separate takes, just everyone listening to each other and going with the flow.
"It scared the hell out of the band because they go, you know, 'If I screw up the guitar solo then everybody is going to look at me,'" Isaak said.
Sun Studios, the record label owned by Sam Phillips, launched the careers of some of the greatest U.S. singer/songwriters ? including Elvis, Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison.
Influenced by those big names while growing up as a child in California, Isaak delivers his interpretations of "Ring of Fire," "Great Balls of Fire," "Can't Help Falling In Love," "Oh, Pretty Woman," while also penning his own original songs.
The first single to be released is one of Isaak's own, "Live It Up."
Fortunately for the band, the old-school approach to recording meant they ended up producing more songs than they had bargained for. Even Isaak's manager was surprised at the speed of production.
"She goes '38 songs? You finished 38 songs?' I said 'Yeah.' She said 'Well, you have to mix all those, that's going to cost a fortune.' I said 'No, they're all done. We just did it all at one time in a room.'"
The singer says he's never missed a show and neither has his drummer Kenney Dale Johnson or his bass player Rowland Salley in the 27 years they've been playing together.
"I'm very proud of them," he said.
Before forging a career in music, Isaak tried his hand at many different occupations: roofing, truck-driving, being a bouncer and even a boxer. He claims he was "lousy" at all of them, it was only with music that he finally found a job he can do well.
"Singing is something that I'm always happy to do it and going in the studio I never felt any pressure. I just feel like I get to sing, you know. It's fun," he said.
While many musicians decry the strain of touring, Isaak says he's lucky to be able to travel the world doing what he loves.
"I come from a small town and I come from a background where we didn't have money to travel," he said. "I thought I'd have to join the military to get to Europe. So I'm thrilled to travel."
U.S. fans will get a chance to see Isaak in action starting in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 13 and ending in Napa, California, on April 27.
But, despite the stereotypes about rockers, don't expect him to be raising hell on tour.
"I liked the rock n' roll, I never wanted the drugs and I never saw the sex because ...nobody ever suggested anything wild to me!" he said. "I think I look too much like a cop."
(Reuters) ? Roche Holding AG is offering $5.7 billion in cash to buy U.S. gene sequencing company Illumina Inc in an unfriendly takeover bid that marks a major play by the Swiss drugmaker into the gene technology field.
Gene sequencing is central to personalized medicine, which allows scientists to predict a patient's response to a particular drug, both during clinical practice and in drug trials.
Roche is already the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, where gene analysis is progressing fastest, as well as a major maker of diagnostic tests.
"This ... will help Roche sustain its leadership position in targeted therapies, which we consider as highly promising," said Bryan Garnier analysts in a research note.
But they added a deal would probably be neutral to earnings in the first year of ownership at the current offer price, which is 18 percent above Illumina's closing price on Tuesday and over 60 percent above the level before rumors of a bid started, and that Roche might have to raise its offer to secure a deal.
Roche Chief Executive Severin Schwan said the company had no intention of raising its offer for the San Diego-based group that was founded in 1998 and employs just over 2,000 people.
At 4:55 a.m. ET, Roche stock was down 2.2 percent at 161 Swiss francs, lagging a 1.3 percent drop in the European healthcare index as some investors fretted over the cost of a deal.
UNWILLING TO TALK
Basel-based Roche said it would offer to buy Illumina's shares for $44.50 each in cash. Roche currently owns a very small number of Illumina shares, finance chief Alan Hippe said.
It plans to commence a tender offer because Illumina was not willing to negotiate a transaction.
"Roche has made multiple efforts to engage with Illumina in order to reach a negotiated transaction, but Illumina has been unwilling to participate in substantive discussions," it said.
Oddo Securities analysts described the offer as "very generous," saying it equated to 22 times Illumina's forecast operating profit for 2011 at a time when diagnostics sector peers are trading at around 10 times forecast earnings.
However, Deutsche Bank analysts said Illumina's earnings were forecast to grow strongly in the coming years.
A deal, which would be Roche's largest since it bought the remaining stake in U.S. biotech group Genentech for nearly $47 billion, would be financed from available cash and borrowings under its credit facilities and would not require a financing condition, Roche said.
The company also said it would nominate a slate of independent candidates for election to Illumina's board.
"It is our strong preference to enter into a negotiated transaction with Illumina," Roche's Schwan said.
Illumina urged shareholders take no action pending a recommendation from the board.
In 2008, Roche, with Schwan as its diagnostics head, overcame resistance from testmaker Ventana Medical Systems to snap it up for $3.4 billion, a deal that was deemed as expensive at the time, but a good strategic fit.
SHARES WEAK
Capital Research Global Investors, Baillie Gifford & Co, Sands Capital Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Jennison Associates are the five biggest shareholders of Illumina, who, according to Reuters data based on filings, own about 44 percent of its outstanding shares.
Companies such as Illumina, Affymetrix and Life Technologies get 20-40 percent of their revenue from U.S. government-backed research and may take a hit from any government funding cut.
Shares of Illumina, which receives a significant portion of its revenue from research institutes that depend on government funding, have halved over the past six months after the company warned it expects the uncertainty in research funding to continue through at least the fourth quarter.
In the longer term, however, many analysts believe gene sequencing technology has the potential to revolutionize some areas of medicine, especially as the cost of the technology tumbles.
Earlier this month Ion Torrent, a division of Life Technologies, said it would sell a tabletop machine that is able
to sequence a person's whole genome for just $1,000.
Mapping the complete genome sequence of people with cancer or autism, for instance, may elucidate a disease's underlying genetic causes as well as possible ways to treat it.
Fourth-quarter figures are due from Illumina on January 31 and from Roche on February 1.
Roche said it has hired Greenhill & Co and Citigroup as financial advisers. Goldman, Sachs & Co and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are acting for Illumina.
(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler, Deena Beasley and Katie Reid; Editing by Muralikum Anantharaman and Mark Potter)
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
President Barack Obama steps off Marine One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Barack Obama walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) ? President Barack Obama is arguing that manufacturing must be the foundation for a renewed American economy, as he takes his State of the Union economic message on a tour of politically crucial states.
Obama toured a plant that makes giant conveyor belt screws Wednesday before addressing a crowd about the importance of bringing manufacturing back to American shores.
Running for re-election against Republicans who've questioned his economic stewardship, the president said he wants to restore the basic promise of America, "and it starts with manufacturing."
Obama's remarks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, came on the first stop of a three-day tour the morning after his State of the Union address. Obama stops later Wednesday in Arizona before traveling Thursday to Nevada and Colorado and wrapping up Friday in Michigan.
U.S. and Canadian box-office performance as of Sunday for Oscar best-picture nominees, in order of gross receipts to date:
? "The Help," Disney, four nominations, $169.5 million, released Aug. 10.
? "Moneyball," Sony Pictures, six nominations, $75.5 million, released Sept. 23.
? "War Horse," Disney, six nominations, $72.2 million, released Dec. 25.
? "Midnight in Paris," Sony Pictures Classics, four nominations, $56.4 million, released May 20.
? "Hugo," Paramount, 11 nominations, $55.8 million, released Nov. 23.
? "The Descendants," Fox Searchlight, five nominations, $51.2 million, released Nov. 16.
? "The Tree of Life," Fox Searchlight, three nominations, $13.3 million, released May 27.
? "The Artist," Weinstein Co., 10 nominations, $12.1 million, released Nov. 25.
? "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," Warner Bros., two nominations, $10.7 million, released Dec. 25.
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Online:
http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice/
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Sony and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Fox Searchlight is owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.
WASHINGTON ? Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday will give a clearer picture of where they expect short-term interest rates to be in the next few years.
The Fed's quarterly economic forecast will show where members of the policy committee expect the rate to be at the end of each of the next three years. And it will signal when each member expects the first rate hike will occur.
The change is intended to reassure consumers and investors that they will be able to borrow cheaply well into the future. And some economists said it could lead to further Fed action to try to invigorate the economy.
Many private economists expect the forecasts will show the Fed is unlikely to increase the rate before 2014. That would mark a shift from the Fed's plan to keep the rate low at least until mid-2013.
The Fed will offer the views of those officials at the conclusion of its two-day meeting. The forecast on interest rates will be released along with the Fed's updated projections for economic growth, unemployment and inflation.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will discuss the forecasts and Fed policy at a news conference after the meeting.
The economy is looking a little better, according to a raft of recent private and government data. Companies are hiring more, the stock market is rising, factories are busy and more people are buying cars. Even the home market is showing slight gains after three dismal years
Still, the threat of a recession in Europe is likely to drag on the global economy. And another year of weak wage gains in the United States could force consumers to pull back on spending, which would slow growth.
Most economists don't expect the Fed to drastically alter their forecasts. Some expect a more positive outlook for unemployment after rate fell to 8.5 percent in December ? the lowest rate in nearly three years.
The decision to share policymakers' views on interest rates is the Fed's latest effort to make its communications with the public more open and explicit.
Until last year, the Fed has been fairly cryptic about the future direction of interest rates. The rate has been a record low near zero since December 2008.
The Fed may also include a statement on its long-term goals, although most economists expect the Fed will delay its release until a later meeting. The statement could provide clarity on the Fed's targets for the two parts of its congressional mandate, keeping inflation and unemployment low.
No announcements are expected Wednesday of any further Fed action to try to lift the economy. Most analysts think Fed members want to put off any new steps, such as more bond purchases, to see if the economy can extend the gains it's made in recent months.
That's true even though the new roster of voting members is more likely to support further steps to boost the economy.
Twice last year, Fed action to try to further lower long-term rates drew three dissenting votes out of 10. But the three members who dissented have rotated off the voting panel. They have been replaced by officials thought to be more supportive of moves that Bernanke may push.
The Fed has taken previous steps to strengthen the economy, including purchases of $2 trillion in government bonds and mortgage-backed securities to try to cut long-term rates and ease borrowing costs.
The idea behind the Fed's two rounds of bond buying was to drive down rates to embolden consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more. Lower yields on bonds also encourage investors to shift money into stocks, which can boost wealth and spur more spending.
Some Fed officials have resisted further bond buying for fear it would raise the risk of high inflation later. And many doubt it would help much since Treasury yields are already near historic lows. But Bernanke and other members have left the door open to further action if they think the economy needs it.
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama delivered an election-year broadside to Republicans: Game on.
The GOP, from Congress to the campaign trail, signaled it's ready for the fight.
In his third State of the Union address, Obama issued a populist call for income equality that echoed the Occupy Wall Street movement. He challenged GOP lawmakers to work with him or move aside so he could use the power of the presidency to produce results for an electorate uncertain whether he deserves another term.
Facing a deeply divided Congress, Obama appealed for lawmakers to send him legislation on immigration, clean energy and housing, knowing full well the election-year prospects are bleak but aware that polls show that the independent voters who lifted him to the presidency crave bipartisanship.
"I intend to fight obstruction with action," Obama told a packed chamber and tens of millions of Americans watching in prime time. House Republicans greeted his words with stony silence.
The Democratic president's vision of an activist government broke sharply with Republican demands for less government intervention to allow free enterprise. The stark differences will be evident in the White House's dealings with Congress and in the presidential campaign over the next 10 months.
In the Republican response to the president's address, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who once considered a White House bid, railed against the "extremism" of an administration that stifles economic growth.
"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant effort to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said, speaking from Indianapolis. "As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat."
Obama said getting a fair shot for all Americans is "the defining issue of our time." He described an economy on the rebound from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, with more than 3 million jobs created in the last 22 months and U.S. manufacturers hiring. Although unemployment is high at 8.5 percent, home sales and corporate earnings have increased, among other positive economic signs.
Republicans say the president's policies have undermined the economy.
Obama "had the opportunity and the responsibility to level with the American people, admit that the policies of the past three years have delivered an underwhelming record of economic growth and job creation, and show an interest in changing direction and uniting, not dividing the nation," said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., head of the Republican Policy Committee. "The president failed to meet that responsibility."
There were brief moments of bipartisanship. Republicans and Democrats sat together, continuing a practice begun last year. The arrival of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt, elicited sustained applause and cheering, with chants of "Gabby, Gabby." Republican Rep. Jeff Flake escorted her into the chamber and Obama greeted her with a hug.
The president received loud applause from both sides when he said: "I'm a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more."
But all that belied a fierce divide.
Obama ticked off items on a hefty agenda that he wants from Congress ? a path to citizenship for children who come to the United States with their undocumented parents if they complete college, tax credits for clean energy, elimination of red tape for Americans refinancing their mortgages, a measure that bans insider trading by lawmakers and a payroll tax cut.
Political reality suggests it was largely wishful thinking on Obama's part. The payroll tax cut and must-do spending bill are the most likely legislative items to survive the election year.
But Obama's far-reaching list and the hour-plus speech offered a unique opportunity to contrast his record with congressional Republicans and his top presidential rivals, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
"Anyone who tells you America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn't know what they're talking about," Obama said ? a clear response to the White House hopefuls who have pummeled him for months.
In an attack on the nation's growing income gap, Obama called for a new minimum tax rate of at least 30 percent on anyone making more than $1 million. Many millionaires ? including Romney ? pay a rate less than that because they get most of their income from investments, which are taxed at a lower rate.
"Now you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."
Obama calls this the "Buffett rule," named for billionaire Warren Buffett, who has said it's unfair that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does. Emphasizing the point, Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, attended the address in first lady Michelle Obama's box.
Obama made his appeal on the same day that Romney released some of his tax returns, showing he made more than $20 million in a single year and paid around 14 percent in taxes, largely because his wealth came from investments.
In advance of Obama's speech, Romney said, "Tonight will mark another chapter in the misguided policies of the last three years ? and the failed leadership of one man."
Obama highlighted his national security successes ? the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the diminished strength of al-Qaida and the demise of Moammar Gadhafi. In hailing the men and women of the military, the commander in chief contrasted their cooperation and dedication with the divisions and acrimony in Washington.
"At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations," Obama said. "They're not consumed with personal ambition. They don't obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example."
Obama leaves Washington for a three-day tour of five states crucial to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he'll visit Iowa and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he'll discuss energy; and in Michigan on Friday he'll talk about college affordability, education and training.
He also addresses a conference of House Democrats focused on their own re-election in Cambridge, Md., on Friday.
Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.
SFU hits hot buttons at 2012 AAAS conferencePublic release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Carol Thorbes cthorbes@sfu.ca 778-782-3035 Simon Fraser University
An international gathering of world media, researchers, academics including several from Simon Fraser University and members of the public is coming to the Vancouver Convention Centre Feb. 16-20.
Simon Fraser University's President Andrew Petter was on hand at the first sounding of a bell announcing the 2012 AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) conference, at the Vancouver Aquarium yesterday.
"The AAAS conference is a must for scientists, academics and science journalists from around the world, and provides an opportunity to showcase outstanding science taking place across Canada," says Petter, a conference co-chair.
The AAAS is an international non-profit organization founded in Washington D.C. in 1848 and dedicated to advancing pure and social science worldwide through annual conferences and its journal Science.
For only the second time since 1981, the AAAS is holding its annual conference in Canada. The international research fair was last held outside of the United States in Toronto in 1981.
Nine well known SFU researchers will be among more than 700 speakers at this conference, which is bringing scientists, policymakers, media and the public together to collaborate and communicate on high profile issues.
So cutting edge is the research that they're presenting on a wide range of complex, interconnected challenges confronting our 21st century world that much of it is being presented for the first time. In some cases, researchers known for their expertise on particular topics will be speaking on others for the first time.
Cancer, fracking and earthquake connections, climate change, forest fire prediction and ecosystem losses are some of the timely issues to be covered by SFU researchers.
SFU PAMR through the AAAS 2012 conference newsroom and our own news release and issues and experts websites will begin regular coverage of what SFU scientists are presenting starting Thurs., Feb. 16.
Here is a synopsis of SFU presenters at AAAS seminars and poster sessions:
John Clague
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Hydraulic Fracturing of Shale: Building Consensus Out of Controversy
Sat., Feb. 18, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., poster presentation, Geomorphic Changes to Lillooet River Due to 2010 Mount Meager Landslide
Sun., Feb. 19, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., Climate Change in Northern Latitudes
Adam Holbrook
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Searching for the Right Space for Innovation
Note: Holbrook's SFU School of Communication students in two classes will be taking a course that involves them attending and doing volunteer work at the AAAS conference.
Anne Salomon
Fri., Feb. 17, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Six Things Everyone Cares About: Connecting Ecosystems and Human Well-Being
Sun., Feb. 19, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Good Science, Good Communication: Talking to Media and the Public
Sun., Feb. 19, 1 to 5 p.m., poster presentation, The Socio-ecological Role of Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) in Nearshore Ecosystems
Mark Collard
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Climate Change and Human Evolution: Problems and Prospects
Sat., Feb. 18, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Constructing a Human World Fit for Nature
Richard Routledge
Sun., Feb. 19, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Forest Fires in Canada: Impacts of Climate Change and Fire Smoke
Robert Young
Sat., Feb. 18, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Autophagy: An Emerging Therapeutic Target in Human Disease
Diana Allen
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., moderator at Water Security: Multidisciplinary Responses to a Global Challenge
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
SFU hits hot buttons at 2012 AAAS conferencePublic release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Carol Thorbes cthorbes@sfu.ca 778-782-3035 Simon Fraser University
An international gathering of world media, researchers, academics including several from Simon Fraser University and members of the public is coming to the Vancouver Convention Centre Feb. 16-20.
Simon Fraser University's President Andrew Petter was on hand at the first sounding of a bell announcing the 2012 AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) conference, at the Vancouver Aquarium yesterday.
"The AAAS conference is a must for scientists, academics and science journalists from around the world, and provides an opportunity to showcase outstanding science taking place across Canada," says Petter, a conference co-chair.
The AAAS is an international non-profit organization founded in Washington D.C. in 1848 and dedicated to advancing pure and social science worldwide through annual conferences and its journal Science.
For only the second time since 1981, the AAAS is holding its annual conference in Canada. The international research fair was last held outside of the United States in Toronto in 1981.
Nine well known SFU researchers will be among more than 700 speakers at this conference, which is bringing scientists, policymakers, media and the public together to collaborate and communicate on high profile issues.
So cutting edge is the research that they're presenting on a wide range of complex, interconnected challenges confronting our 21st century world that much of it is being presented for the first time. In some cases, researchers known for their expertise on particular topics will be speaking on others for the first time.
Cancer, fracking and earthquake connections, climate change, forest fire prediction and ecosystem losses are some of the timely issues to be covered by SFU researchers.
SFU PAMR through the AAAS 2012 conference newsroom and our own news release and issues and experts websites will begin regular coverage of what SFU scientists are presenting starting Thurs., Feb. 16.
Here is a synopsis of SFU presenters at AAAS seminars and poster sessions:
John Clague
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Hydraulic Fracturing of Shale: Building Consensus Out of Controversy
Sat., Feb. 18, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., poster presentation, Geomorphic Changes to Lillooet River Due to 2010 Mount Meager Landslide
Sun., Feb. 19, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., Climate Change in Northern Latitudes
Adam Holbrook
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Searching for the Right Space for Innovation
Note: Holbrook's SFU School of Communication students in two classes will be taking a course that involves them attending and doing volunteer work at the AAAS conference.
Anne Salomon
Fri., Feb. 17, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Six Things Everyone Cares About: Connecting Ecosystems and Human Well-Being
Sun., Feb. 19, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Good Science, Good Communication: Talking to Media and the Public
Sun., Feb. 19, 1 to 5 p.m., poster presentation, The Socio-ecological Role of Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) in Nearshore Ecosystems
Mark Collard
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Climate Change and Human Evolution: Problems and Prospects
Sat., Feb. 18, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Constructing a Human World Fit for Nature
Richard Routledge
Sun., Feb. 19, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Forest Fires in Canada: Impacts of Climate Change and Fire Smoke
Robert Young
Sat., Feb. 18, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Autophagy: An Emerging Therapeutic Target in Human Disease
Diana Allen
Fri., Feb. 17, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., moderator at Water Security: Multidisciplinary Responses to a Global Challenge
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The Choiix Power Fort 5600 is a rechargeable 5600 mAh brick a little smaller than a deck of cards or a pack of smokes, yet able to recharge your iPhone, iPod, Droid, GPS, flip phone, or just about anything else that you'd usually charge through your computer's USB port.
MANILA, Philippines ? Rising wealth in Asia and fishing subsidies are among factors driving overexploitation of the world's fish resources, while fish habitat is being destroyed by pollution and climate change, U.N. marine experts said Tuesday.
Up to 32 percent of the world's fish stocks are overexploited, depleted or recovering, they warned. Up to half of the world's mangrove forests and a fifth of coral reefs that are fish spawning grounds have been destroyed.
The U.N. Environment Programme says less-destructive ways of fishing that use more labor and less energy are needed to help restore the health of the world's oceans and coasts.
The agency is leading a five-day conference in Manila of experts and officials from 70 governments.
Jacqueline Alder, head of UNEP's marine, coastal and freshwater office, said the increasing ranks of rich Asians are driving demand for better quality fish that are often not abundant, adding pressure to their supply.
"People don't want to eat the little anchovies anymore when they can eat a nice snapper or grouper ? much nicer fish, shows much more of your wealth," she told reporters.
Alder said booming population, more awareness of health benefits from eating fish, fuel and boat-building subsidies in industrial fisheries, weak management and limited understanding of ecosystems' values are also driving fish overexploitation.
She said subidies should be reduced or eliminated, fishing gears should be less destructive, and the number of boats and fishers reduced. Habitat management should also be strengthened and marine protected areas established.
Fish is the main source of protein for up to 20 percent of the of world's population and some 180 million people are directly or indirectly employed by the fishing industry, she added.
Vincent Sweeney, UNEP's coordinator for the Global Program of Action to prevent marine environment degradation from land-based pollutants, said up to 90 percent of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated into rivers, lakes and oceans, posing one of the most serious threats to water resources.
Other pollutants from land including nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizers and detergents result in hypoxia or "dead zones" where too many nutrients cause an undesirable growth of plants that compete with coral reef and other marine life for oxygen.
Jerker Tamelander, head of UNEP's coral reef unit, said healthy coral reefs can produce up to 35 tons of fish per square kilometer each year while there is a catch reduction of 67 tons for every square kilometer of clear-cut mangrove forest.
The global market value of marine and coastal resources and industries is estimated at $3 trillion per year or about 5 percent of the global economy, he said. Non-market value such as climate, water, nutrients and carbon regulation is estimated at $22 trillion a year.
"We've lost a fifth of the world's coral reefs and 60 percent are under direct and immediate threat and climate change plays an additional role in driving reef loss," he said.
Tamelander said the decline in coastal ecosystems' health and productivity can be reversed by shifting to greener and more sustainable strategies, addressing threats and better management that involves all stakeholders.
"The sooner we act, the easier it will be and the longer we wait the harder it will be," he warned.
The raven-size creature long thought of as the earliest bird, Archaeopteryx, may have been adorned with black feathers, researchers have found.
The structures that held the black pigment may have strengthened wing feathers, perhaps helping Archaeopteryx fly, scientists added.
Archaeopteryx lived about 150 million years ago in what is now Bavaria in Germany. First unearthed 150 years ago, the fossil of this carnivore, with its blend of avian and reptilian features, seemed an iconic evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds.
One recent study has called into question whether Archaeopteryx was a true bird or just one of many birdlike dinosaurs. To learn more about whether birds and birdlike dinosaurs might have evolved flight, and if so, why, researchers often turn to the animals' feathers. Illustrations of the creature are often colorful, but such depictions of its plumage until now had little else but artistic license to draw on.
"Being able to reconstruct the colors of feathers can help us gain more knowledge about the organisms and more responsibly reconstruct what they looked like," researcher Ryan Carney, an evolutionary biologist at Brown University, told LiveScience.
Black feathers
An international team of scientists now finds that a well-preserved feather on Archaeopteryx's wing was black. The color-generating structures within the creature's feather, known as melanosomes, "would have given the feathers additional structural support," Carney said. "This would have been advantageous during this early evolutionary stage of dinosaur flight."
The Archaeopteryx feather was discovered in a limestone deposit in Germany in 1861. After two unsuccessful attempts to pinpoint any melanosomes within the feather, the investigators tried a more powerful type of scanning electron microscope.
"The third time was the charm, and we finally found the keys to unlocking the feather's original color, hidden in the rock for the past 150 million years," Carney said.
The group located patches of hundreds of melanosomes encased within the fossil. The sausage-shape melanosomes were about 1 millionth of a meter long and 250 billionths of a meter wide ? that is, about one-hundredth the diameter of a human hair in length and less than a wavelength of visible light in width. To determine the color of these melanosomes, researchers compared the fossilized structures with those found in 87 species of living birds that represented four classes of feathers ? black, gray, brown and ones found in penguins, which have unusually large melanosomes compared with other birds.
"What we found was that the feather was predicted to be black with 95 percent certainty," Carney said.
Did Archaeopteryx fly?
To better pin down the structure of the feather, they analyzed its barbules ? tiny, riblike appendages that overlap and interlock like zippers to give a feather rigidity and strength. The barbules and the way melanosomes are lined up within them are identical to those found in modern birds, Carney said.
This analysis revealed the feather is a covert, one that covers the primary wing feathers that birds use in flight. Its feather structure is identical to that of living birds, suggesting "that completely modern bird feathers evolved as early as 150 million years ago," Carney said.
Color may serve many functions in modern birds, and it remains unclear what use or uses this pigment had in Archaeopteryx. Black feathers may have helped the creature absorb sunlight for heat, acted as camouflage, served in courtship displays or assisted with flight.
"We can't say it's proof that Archaeopteryx was a flier, but what we can say is that in modern bird feathers, these melanosomes provide additional strength and resistance to abrasion from flight, which is why wing feathers and their tips are the most likely areas to be pigmented," Carney said. "With Archaeopteryx, as with birds today, the melanosomes we found would have provided similar structural advantages, regardless of whether the pigmentation initially evolved for another purpose."
More feathers will need to be tested across Archaeopteryx to see how the animal was colored overall, researchers said. Unfortunately, this is the only Archaeopteryx feather discovered with the kind of residues one can test for color.
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Still, this one feather is enough to leave an indelible mark on Carney. "I got a tattoo of the feather on the 150th anniversary that Archaeopteryx's scientific name was published," he said.
The scientists detailed their findings online Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Their work was funded by the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.
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CHICAGO -- Rashad Evans and Phil Davis both wrestled in the Big Ten in college, a fact that has been discussed several times over in the build-up to their UFC on Fox 2 bout on Saturday. Davis has questioned Evans' credentials, while Evans called Davis' technique trash.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
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