Smart watches gain interest and popularity

Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble, displays his company's smart watch in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. These new watches not only tell time, but also connect to smart phones within 10 meters. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble, displays his company's smart watch in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. These new watches not only tell time, but also connect to smart phones within 10 meters. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble, displays his company's smart watch in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. This new watch not only tells time, but also connects to smart phones within 10 meters. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble, displays his company's smart watch in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. This new watch not only tells time, but also connect to smart phones within 10 meters. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble, displays his company's smart watch in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. This new watch not only tells time, but also connects to smart phones within 10 meters. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) ? On a sunny day at a picnic table in Silicon Valley, Eric Migicovsky glanced down at his wristwatch. He wasn't checking the time, he was checking his email. Glancing up, he grinned. The message was from yet another journalist.

In this corner of a world obsessed with the latest tech gadget, Migicovsky is this week's hotshot as his start-up company rolls out its new, high-tech Pebble smart watches. The $150, postage stamp-sized computer on a band is tethered wirelessly to a wearers' Android or iPhone.

With hands truly free, wearers can also read texts, see who is calling them, scan Twitter or Facebook feeds and yes, check the time, while digging in their garden, barbequing a steak or ? as he was doing when he conceived of the idea ? riding a bike when his phone began to ring.

And that's just the first version. Apps are being developed that could eventually bring everything from Angry Birds to eBay bidding onto our wrists.

"I like it when I'm running," says Migicovsky, "I like it on the subway, on an airplane, anytime I want to see what's on my phone without pulling it out of my pocket."

Pebble, which began shipping in January, is not the first to make a play for the watch market, which dwindled when consumers added smartphones to their purses and pockets. But this little firm of 11 is the most popular in the smart watch sector today, bubbling up amid rampant rumors that Apple has its own iWatch in the works.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison declined to comment, but it wasn't the first time she'd been asked. Apple has several patents for high-tech watches.

Tim Bajarin, a Creative Strategies analyst who's followed Apple for more than three decades, said he's been waiting for an iWatch ever since the company introduced a tiny Nano in 2010 and consumers began strapping them to their wrists.

"I do believe that Apple could potentially disrupt the watch market if they took their innovative design and tied it to their smartphones and ecosystems," he said. "We have no knowledge that they are doing this, but the area is ripe for innovation."

Meanwhile, Bajarin has one of the first 6,000 Pebbles shipped out so far, and he was gushing over it.

"I love it," he said. "I have four or five people who message me consistently, mostly my wife. In the past, I was always being forced to look at the face of my smartphone to see who it was, now I just glance at my wrist."

The next step? He wants a "Dick Tracy watch" that he could verbally order around, instead of pushing buttons.

Even without Apple, Pebble already faces serious competition with a handful of other smart watches.

The Cookoo, selling for $130, has a battery that lasts a year, compared to Pebble's once-a-week charge. The Sony SmartWatch, at $129.98, has a touchscreen, Motorola's $149 MOTOACTV includes a heart rate monitor and MetaWatch's $299 STRATA has a more feminine design.

These newly emerging devices are innovative not only for what they do, but also for how they were funded.

Last April, after failing to convince venture capitalists to fund Pebble, Migicovsky pitched it on Kickstarter, a website where any Internet user can support a project. He asked for $100,000. He got $10.3 million before capping his request. Supporters who spent $115 were promised a watch, which means Pebble has already sold about 85,000 watches. Cookoo and STRATA also turned to Kickstarter for start-up funding.

Michael Gartenberg, research director for technology research firm Gartner Inc., warned all of these start-ups face major challenges.

"There's been a lot of failed efforts to create smart watches and the key will be for vendors to understand the watch isn't just another digital device," he said. "Consumers wear watches for many reasons that have nothing to do with telling time, as evidenced by watch companies such as Rolex."

Gartenberg said that so far, none of the smart watches are really designed for the mass market. "The real question is will Apple or Google get into this space?" he asked, noting that Microsoft tried some years ago with their failed SPOT watches.

Any new device, even a watch, also raises regulatory questions. Are they safe to use on airplanes? Could they interfere with other devices? California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Erin Komatsubara said drivers are allowed to glance at a smart watch but it's not recommended to try to read anything at all while driving.

"It's considered a distraction," she said. "Two eyes on the road, two hands on the wheel, that's what we really, really want."

Manuel Yazijian, president of The American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute, said mechanical watches have a mystique of their own. But he said watchmakers may eventually turn their focus, attention to detail and ability to work on small items to smart watches.

"It's a different ballgame. I just don't know if they'll need maintenance and repair yet," he said. "Time will tell, no pun intended."

And the app Yazijian would like to see? "Our industry likes the old school mechanical stuff that ticks, like a heartbeat, like a live animal on your wrist," he said. "It would be so cool if the smart watch could make a ticking sound, right?"

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-28-What's%20On%20Your%20Wrist?/id-5ee5b895754a434ab843fbe169bc9502

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Bradley Manning pleads not guilty to aiding the enemy

Patrick Semansky / AP file

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning steps out of a security vehicle as he is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., on Nov. 29, 2012, for a pretrial hearing.

By Jim Miklazewski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

FORT MEADE, Md. ? U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning pleaded not guilty Thursday to a charge of aiding the enemy, but pleaded guilty to some of the lesser charges against him related to the unauthorized released of hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to the WikiLeaks website.

At a pre-trial hearing, Manning also was expected to ask Col. Denise Lind, the military judge hearing his case, to allow him to read a statement explaining his motive in releasing the documents.?

---

Manning, a 25-year-old former Army intelligence analyst, is facing 22 criminal charges and could face a life sentence if convicted of the most serious charges.

In addition to the charge of aiding the enemy, Manning pleaded not guilty to 16 counts alleging theft of U.S documents or videos -- including allegations that he stole the list of all of the emails and phone numbers of U.S. military and personnel in Iraq at the time -- unauthorized access of that information and downloading unauthorized software onto government computers.

The charges to which he sought to plead guilty were among the least-serious -- such as intentionally causing intelligence information to be published on the Internet, improper handling of classified information and nine of 16 counts of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.

Manning was attempting to enter what the government calls a "naked plea" -- meaning there is no agreement between the government and the defense that would limit the sentence. If Lind determines Manning's pleas were made knowingly and voluntarily, she can accept the pleas on Thursday, but not before engaging Manning in a dialogue about each of them to make sure he fully understands the implications of his decisions.

Specifically, Manning acknowledged that he had unauthorized possession of information, that he willfully communicated it and that he communicated it to an unauthorized person. However, he only acknowledged that for nine specific files or pieces of information, including:?

• Combat engagement video of a helicopter gunship;
• Two Army intelligence agency memos;
• Certain records of the combined information data network exchange Iraq (which tracks all significant acts and patrol reports);
• Combined information data network exchange Afghanistan records;
• Some SOUTHCOM files dealing with Guantanamo Bay;
• An investigation into an incident in a village in Farah, Afghanistan;?
• Some Department of State cables.

Each of the nine files carry a maximum sentence of two years (along with dishonorable discharge), meaning Manning could face a maximum of 18 years in prison if the judge accepts his plea to those charges. He will plead not guilty to stealing the the global address list (all of the emails and phone numbers of US military and personnel in Iraq at the time) and six other files.

If the judge determines Manning's pleas were made knowingly and voluntarily, she can accept the pleas Thursday, but not before the two will have a long dialogue about each of them to make sure Manning fully understands the implications of his decisions.

Related story: WikiLeaks case: Bradley Manning seeks first public statement on motive

Manning?s defense also was going to request that he be permitted to read a statement stating that in releasing the documents, he considered himself a "whistleblower" and he did so with "no malicious intent" or the intent to do "any harm to anyone."? The government contends the release of the documents put some lives at risks, including the names of Afghans who were working with the U.S. military and intelligence.

Manning?s court martial is set to begin June 3.

Jim Miklazewski is NBC News? Chief Pentagon Correspondent and Courtney Kube is NBC News? National Security Producer. ?

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/28/17132690-bradley-manning-pleads-not-guilty-to-aiding-the-enemy-will-admit-less-serious-charges?lite

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Iran thinks nuke talks going great, West not so much

ALMATY (Reuters) - Iran gave an upbeat assessment of two days of nuclear talks with world powers that ended on Wednesday, but Western officials said Tehran must start taking concrete steps to ease mounting concerns about its atomic activity.

The first negotiations between Iran and six world powers in eight months ended without a breakthrough in Almaty, but they agreed to meet again at expert level in Istanbul next month and resume political discussions in the Kazakh city on April 5.

Israel, assumed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, is watching the talks closely. It has strongly hinted it might attack Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies any such aim.

Iran's foreign minister said he was optimistic an agreement could be reached with the powers - the United States, France, Russia, Britain, Germany and China - on the country's disputed nuclear program.

"Very confident," Ali Akbar Salehi told Reuters when asked on the sidelines of a U.N. conference in Vienna how confident he was of a positive outcome.

The six powers offered at the February 26-27 Almaty meeting to lift some sanctions if Iran scaled back nuclear activity that the West fears could be used to build a bomb.

Tehran, which says its program is entirely peaceful, did not agree to do so and the sides did not appear any closer to a deal to resolve a decade-old dispute that could lead to another war in the Middle East if diplomacy fails.

But Iran still said the talks were a positive step in which the six powers tried to "get closer to our viewpoint".

Western officials had made clear they did not expect major progress in Almaty, aware that the closeness of Iran's presidential election in June is raising political tensions in Tehran and makes significant concessions unlikely.

"I hope the Iranian side is looking positively on the proposal we put forward," said European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who led the talks on behalf of the powers. "We have to see what happens next."

The United States did not expect a breakthrough and "the result was clearly in line with those expectations," a senior U.S. official said.

The meeting was "useful" as the two sides agreed dates and venues for follow-up talks but there was a need for progress on confidence building measures, the official added.

UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR SITE

The West's immediate priority is that Iran halts higher-grade uranium enrichment and closes an underground facility, Fordow, where this work is carried out. The material is a relatively short technical step from bomb-grade uranium.

"What we care about at the end is concrete results," the U.S. official said.

One diplomat in Almaty said the Iranians appeared to be suggesting at the negotiations that they were opening new avenues, but that it was not clear if this was really the case.

Both sides said experts would meet for talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on March 18 and that political negotiators would return to Almaty on April 5-6.

Russian negotiator Sergei Ryabkov confirmed that the powers had offered to ease sanctions on Iran if it stops enriching uranium to 20 percent fissile purity - a short technical step from weapons grade - at the Fordow underground site where it carries out its most controversial uranium enrichment work.

Western officials said the offer of sanctions relief included a resumption of trade in gold and precious metals.

One diplomat said that lifting an embargo on imports of Iranian petrochemical products to Europe, if Iran responded, was also on the table. But a U.S. official said the world powers had not offered to suspend oil or financial sanctions.

The sanctions are hurting Iran's economy and its chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, suggested Iran could discuss its production of higher-grade nuclear fuel, although he appeared to rule out shutting Fordow.

In comments in Persian translated into English, Jalili told a news conference Fordow was under the supervision of the U.N. nuclear watchdog and there was no justification for closing it.

MOOD "MORE OPTIMISTIC"

Asked about the production of 20-percent enriched fuel, he reiterated Iran's position that it needed this for a research reactor and had a right to produce it.

Iran says its enrichment program is aimed solely at fuelling nuclear power plants so that it can export more oil, and that Israel's assumed nuclear arsenal is the main threat to peace in the region.

But Jalili did indicate that Iran might be prepared to talk about the issue, saying: "This can be discussed in the negotiations ... in view of confidence building."

Iran has also previously suggested that 20-percent enrichment was up for negotiation if it received the fuel from abroad instead. It also wants sanctions lifted.

"While an agreement to meet again may not impress skeptics of diplomacy, an important development did occur," said Trita Parsi, an expert on Iran. "The parties began searching for a solution by offering positive measures in order to secure concessions from the other side.

Another expert, Dina Esfandiary of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: "I note that the mood is more optimistic and that's great, but a deal still hasn't been reached and in my view its unlikely to be reached before the Iranian elections have come and gone."

(Additional reporting Fredrik Dahl in Almaaty, Georgina Prodhan in Vienna, Zahra Hosseinian in Zurich, Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Marcus George in Dubai; Writing by Timothy Heritage and Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/powers-wait-hear-iran-response-nuclear-offer-043022098.html

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2 Palestinians in Israeli jail end hunger strike

Men march in support of the Palestinian prisoners, in the West Bank city of Jenin, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Palestinians have been staging support rallies for nearly 4,600 prisoners held by Israel, particularly for four inmates who have been on extended hunger strikes. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

Men march in support of the Palestinian prisoners, in the West Bank city of Jenin, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Palestinians have been staging support rallies for nearly 4,600 prisoners held by Israel, particularly for four inmates who have been on extended hunger strikes. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Two Palestinian prisoners held by Israel have ended their hunger strike of nearly three months and two other hunger strikers have been hospitalized, an Israeli official said Thursday.

The prisoners who ended their fast did so because an Israeli military prosecutor told them that he would not seek to extend their detention at a hearing next week, said their lawyer, Jawad Boulous.

The two prisoners, Tarek Qaadan and Jafar Ezzeldeen, are being held without charges or trial, in so-called administrative detention. This means their detention can be extended repeatedly.

Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman for Israel's prison service, said the two started eating on Wednesday, ending a fast that began Dec. 3.

Two other Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike were hospitalized to prevent their health from further deterioration, Weizman said.

The two who were hospitalized, Samer Issawi and Ayman Sharawneh, were released in 2011, as part of a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier who had been held by Hamas militants for more than five years.

Both were rearrested last year for violating the conditions of their release, and have staged lengthy hunger strikes since then.

All four refused food, but received vitamins and other nutrients intravenously.

Palestinians have been protesting for days in support of the hunger strikers and have warned of a backlash if any of them died.

Also Thursday, Israel's Health Ministry issued an update on the autopsy of a Palestinian man who died in Israeli custody over the weekend, but said it could still not determine the cause of death.

The ministry quoted pathologists as saying that Arafat Jaradat suffered bruising and fractured ribs close to the time of death and that these signs are typical of someone undergoing resuscitation. The ministry said medics and prison staff spent 50 minutes trying to revive him.

Palestinian officials, citing the autopsy, have said the bruising was a sign that he was tortured, but Israel has denied that claim.

The Israeli pathologists said no signs of other contusions were found, and that toxicology tests were also negative.

Israeli officials initially said Jaradat apparently died of a heart attack.

However, the Israeli pathologists said there were no signs that Jaradat, who was 30, suffered from an illness. They said more tests were needed to determine the exact cause of his death.

The Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, Issa Karake, rejected the Israeli findings.

"Our doctor found 10 places on his body with bruises. Israel is trying to hide its crime," he said. "We want an international committee to investigate the death. Otherwise, we accuse Israel of killing Jaradat."

__

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-28-Israel-Palestinians/id-df5602ef294441bfb8f96e8c7af5460f

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Why do Moroccans Underestimate their mother tongue? | Morocco ...

By Omar Bihmidine

Morocco World News

Sidi Ifni, Morocco, February 28, 2013

A mother tongue is the language that we first uttered and spoke when we were children. It is so blessed and much cherished that we continue to cling to it throughout our lives. It is the first language we became acquainted with and learned to speak at home with our parents. Hence, no one should say that one?s mother tongue is not worth speaking or using no matter what the reason or excuse is provided.

If you travel to France, you will hear the French speaking in their mother tongue?French. If you have been to America, you must have heard Americans speaking in English as the most common means of communication. If you happen to travel to Italy, you will undoubtedly hear the Italians communicating in Italian. It is true that Americans, the French and Italians sometimes speak another language apart from their own. Yet, most of the time, they do so because they have to, not necessarily because they feel like doing so.

Strangely, however, if you are in Morocco, you will hear Moroccans using other languages apart from their mother tongue in order to convey messages or express ideas to their fellow Moroccans. So many Amazigh people speak Moroccan Arabic even when they talk to their fellow Amazighs. Despite being the common denominator, the Amazigh language is sometimes absent from Amazigh homes or from circles of Amazigh friends. The same is true of Moroccans whose mother tongue is purely Moroccan Arabic. In many homes, these Moroccans resort to French to speak with each other. At times, Moroccans cannot help but utter French words despite the fact that they are not French and that they can still express the same thought using their first language.

Whereas developed countries give their mother tongues their due value, some Moroccans consider their mother tongue as a weakness and a defect. Oddly, even the educated Moroccans who are expected to be aware of this linguistic ignominy also fall prey to using some French words to speak their mind. If we look back, we will find that the same idea which was expressed in French could have been expressed in the mother tongue. Acknowledging one?s first language is of great value to one?s identity, culture and community.

Yet, resorting to French must be either a conscious or unconscious way of showing off or shaming some ?intellectuality.? Some Moroccans, teachers in particular, resort to French whenever they want to talk about a certain date. For instance, they say ?le trois? or ?le cinq? in French instead of saying the same thing in Arabic or in Amazigh?the two official languages of Morocco as stated in the new constitution. Dates are?among other things?a simple example to demonstrate how alienated we have become and how neglectful we are of our mother tongue.

We might wonder and ask whether our mother tongues are too vulnerable to express what we want to express and say what we want to say as clearly as possible? Is it because we find much solace in others? mother tongues that we begin to underestimate and avoid speaking our native language? We are addicted to this bad practice and find it hard to give up the habit. No doubt, many of those who do not recognize the importance of one?s mother tongue in expressing anything, be it a date or an abstract idea, are deluding themselves by the idea that a user of French is nobler than a user of Amazigh, Arabic or Moroccan Arabic.

Personally, it annoys me when I talk to my fellow Moroccans, and they begin to say ?donc?, ? alors?, ?oui?, ? c?est bien?, ? d?ja? ? deux fois?, ? Ca va?, etc. Can?t Moroccan Arabic or Amazigh express the same meaning these expressions do? For sure, they can. Why are we not treating our first languages justly, respectably and in a prestigious way? Have we ever heard the French or the Spaniards using Arabic while they are speaking to each other? I do not think so.

?Nobody can say that they should not learn as many languages as possible. Being polyglot is universally encouraged. But ignoring one?s mother tongue for no obvious reason is nonsensical.

Besides, it is a threat to our Moroccanness. It is a threat to the future of our children. It is a danger to posterity as well.

Jamal Ezzaoui, a Moroccan teacher of Arabic who has seen this ?common occurrence, said that ?When we resort to other languages, we automatically distort our Moroccan image and become what we are not. Also, we leave our Moroccan identity in the lurch?.

? State media in nearly all its forms is responsible for the spread of this phenomenon,? ?Ezzaoui added.

As an Amazigh man, I know a number of Amazigh people, especially the uneducated, who choose not to speak their mother tongue. For them, speaking it is a clear sign of being crude and backward. Speaking Arabic or French instead, they believe, will help them break out of the uncivilized and underdeveloped part of Moroccan society. Seeking development through speaking others? languages has made us unable to speak or master at

least one language. Very few Moroccans purely speak their mother tongue. Reasons differ regarding this phenomenon, but the common denominator among Moroccans is that they still underestimate their mother tongue.

The views expressed in this article are the author?s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News? editorial policy

? Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/02/80356/why-do-moroccans-underestimate-their-mother-tongue/

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Shiite militant threatens Iranian exiles in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) ? The head of a new Shiite militant group in Iraq on Tuesday threatened to carry out more attacks on a camp for Iranian exiles that was struck by dozens of rockets and mortar shells earlier this month.

Seven people were killed in the Feb. 9 attack on the camp near Baghdad airport that houses members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, the militant wing of a Paris-based Iranian opposition group. Iraq's government, which maintains friendly ties with Tehran, considers the MEK a terrorist group and wants its members out of country.

Tuesday's comments from Wathiq al-Batat suggest he shares the government's goal, even if he disagrees with its handling of the exiles. In a phone interview with The Associated Press, al-Batat said his newly formed Mukhtar Army group was behind the attack and promised more attacks to come.

"It is time for the people of the MEK to leave Iraq. We have demanded that the government kick the group out of the country, but the Iraqi government did not respond positively to our demand," he said. "We will strike them again until they leave."

It was not possible to independently confirm al-Batat's claim that his group was behind the attacks, but Iraqi officials and MEK members say they are taking his threats seriously. No other groups have taken responsibility.

"Mukhtar Army" appeared on threatening leaflets delivered to Sunni households in a Baghdad neighborhood last week warning residents to leave or face grave consequences.

The MEK opposes Iran's clerical regime and has carried out assassinations and bombings in Iran. It fought alongside Saddam Hussein's forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary in Iraq. It renounced violence in 2001. The Obama administration took it off the U.S. terrorism list last September.

The refugee camp is located on a former American military base known as Camp Liberty. It is meant to be a temporary way station while the United Nations works to relocate the exiles abroad.

MEK members reluctantly began moving to Camp Liberty last year. They previously lived in a compound known as Camp Ashraf in northeastern Iraq. It was twice raided by Iraqi security forces, leaving more than three dozen people dead.

Al-Batat was a senior official in the Hezbollah Brigades, which is believed to be funded and trained by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard. It was among the Shiite militias that targeted U.S. military bases months before troops pulled out in December 2011.

Earlier this month, he announced he was forming a new group known as the Mukhtar Army. He continues to use the Hezbollah name as well, suggesting he is trying to claim rightful leadership of that group. It is unclear what links, if any, he maintains with Iraq's Hezbollah.

Although Iraq's Hezbollah Brigades and the better-known Hezbollah in Lebanon are both backed by Iran, they appear to operate largely independently from one another.

Al-Batat is a wanted man. The Iraqi government issued an arrest warrant against him shortly after he announced the formation of the Mukhtar Army.

"The security forces are now even more determined to arrest him following these recent statements" about the camp attack, said Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the prime minister.

Al-Batat said Tuesday he is in Iraq but declined to say where.

The Iranian opposition group that oversees the MEK, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, sees al-Batat and his followers as an arm of Iran's Quds Force, which oversees external operations of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

"In reality the operation against Camp Liberty was carried out by the Iranian regime with the cooperation of the government of Iraq," alleged Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the Paris-based opposition group. "Al-Batat is part of this terror machine."

Gobadi called for the MEK members to be returned to Camp Ashraf, where the refugees feel they would be more secure.

In Tuesday's interview, al-Batat described himself as a follower of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He said his group receives weapons and other support from Iran, but declined to provide details. He has previously said he is advised by Iran's Quds Force.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard official dismissed suggestions it supports any armed group in Iraq, saying, "the claims are aimed at defaming the Guard. We do not see any reason to respond to such baseless claims." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The U.N. envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, urged Baghdad to thoroughly investigate the Camp Liberty attack and to share their findings with the UN. The Iraqi government is responsible for the safety of camp residents.

"We continue to remind them of their obligation and urge them to take all appropriate measures to protect residents and ensure their security," Kobler told the AP.

Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesman, Lt. Col. Saad Maan Ibrahim, said security measures have been intensified after the recent rocket attack on camp.

___

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed reporting.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shiite-militant-threatens-iranian-exiles-iraq-152127773.html

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'New Girl' star not worried about being typecast

NEW YORK (AP) ? Max Greenfield, who's been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role as Schmidt on the Fox comedy "New Girl," says he isn't worried about being typecast.

The idea makes him laugh.

"I don't think anybody was ever gonna put me in like 'Winter's Bone' anyway," the 32-year-old actor said in a recent interview. "You know what I mean? I don't think like if they were making a very dramatic, serious movie, they were gonna think, 'You know, I really like Max Greenfield, but Schmidt is just ... it's too much of a THING to put him in that movie.'"

He even took the bit further.

"I don't think they're trying to put me in 'Saving Private Ryan. 'We're looking for Ryan. (Pauses.) Is that Schmidt?'" he said. "I'm fine. I'm getting to do everything I want to do on this show."

"New Girl" stars Zooey Deschanel as a young woman with three male roommates, played by Greenfield, Jake Johnson and Lamorne Morris.

Schmidt is a vain, oversexed ladies man with obsessive-compulsive disorder. He makes frequent references to his Jewish heritage. The character could be unlikable, but Greenfield's portrayal of Schmidt makes many viewers root for him.

Fans tweet Greenfield's lines as Schmidt while the show airs. And Greenfield garners respect from his peers.

"I wanna live in a world where the only person I see or interact with is Schmidt," actress Mindy Kaling tweeted last year. Gwyneth Paltrow wrote in her newsletter, GOOP, that she "fell in TV love" with the character. Greenfield now occasionally contributes to GOOP.

Greenfield worried before "New Girl" debuted in 2011 that viewers would dislike Schmidt.

"I thought, 'There's a good chance that I'll never work again after this.' I mean, we've played him in such a way that this could go terribly wrong, and then we started to air and the response was so positive. It kind of affirmed all the things that the writers were doing, all the things that I was doing. I think it said to everyone, 'We're on the same page. We can keep moving forward.' And then they just went crazy with it."

Schmidt's first name hasn't been revealed, and Greenfield hopes it never will be, unless it's done in a clever way, like if the character gets married.

"I'm just thinking of this now, but what a smart move this would be. 'Will you (first name) Schmidt take ... ' and that's the moment she goes, 'That's your first name?' That would be a nice moment. Under a chuppah."

___

Online:

http://www.fox.com/new-girl/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/girl-star-not-worried-being-typecast-163122750.html

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Afghans hold anti-U.S. rally following abuse claims

Maiden Shar, AFGHANISTAN (Reuters) - More than five hundred men marched through the capital of Afghanistan's restive Wardak province on Tuesday in an outburst of anger against U.S. special forces accused of overseeing torture and killings in the area.

Shouting "Death to America", "Death to Obama" and "Death to special forces", the protesters called for the immediate withdrawal of the American soldiers and threatened to join the Taliban if their demand was not met.

A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced on Sunday that all U.S. special forces must leave Wardak province within two weeks following the accusations that Afghans working for them had tortured and killed innocent people.

Karzai's demand could further complicate talks between the United States and Afghanistan over the presence of American troops once most NATO forces leave the country by the end of 2014.

Reuters interviewed dozens of residents of Wardak and Afghan government officials who alleged that Afghan men working with a small unit of U.S. special forces had illegally detained, tortured and killed suspected insurgents.

A U.S. defense official in Washington said a review in recent months in cooperation with Afghanistan's Defense Ministry and National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence agency found no involvement of Western forces in any abuse.

The peaceful two-hour protest began on Tuesday at the offices of the Wardak provincial council shortly after it held a meeting.

"If the situation remains like this, this province will collapse very soon," said protester Haji Abdul Qadim. "People will join the insurgency very soon because of the abuses of these forces."

In another incident that could feed local hostility to the American forces in Wardak, a Swedish organization which runs health clinics across Afghanistan accused the U.S. military on Tuesday of occupying and damaging one of its facilities.

The incident occurred before dawn on February 11, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) said in a statement.

"Foreign soldiers entered the ... health facility by force, tied up and blindfolded the guard on duty, and occupied the facility," the statement said.

Doors and windows were broken and medical equipment was destroyed, SCA director Andreas Stefansson said.

It was the second time one of SCA's clinics had been occupied by foreign forces since October, when soldiers spent three days in another Wardak clinic.

After the October incident, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had told them it would ensure it did not happen again, Stefansson said.

"What we are seeking is that they actually live up to what they say," Stefansson said.

A spokesman for ISAF said the latest operation was carried out in conjunction with Afghan forces and aimed at detaining an insurgent leader who had taken refuge inside the clinic.

ISAF said the building was not marked as a medical facility and they had compensated residents for the damage.

Stefansson also said a group of Afghan special forces had bullied and threatened the lives of health workers at the Maidan Shar hospital several days earlier.

(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghans-hold-anti-u-rally-following-abuse-claims-165114384.html

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Evolution and the ice age

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Dr John Stewart has made important contributions to a growing body of work that shows how the evolution of ecosystems has to be taken into account when speculating between different geological eras. Go back to the time of the dinosaurs or to the single-celled organisms at the origins of life, and it is obvious that ecosystems existing more than 65 million years ago and around four billion years ago cannot be simply surmised from those of today.

Although the most drastic evolutionary changes occur over long spans of time, the effects can be seen relatively recently, argues Dr Stewart.

Stewart has studied the interaction between ancient ecosystems -- paleoecology -- and evolution of humans and other organisms over the past 100,000 years, undertaking everything from excavating cave sites in Belgium to exploring the desert of Abu Dhabi.

In one milestone collaborative study, Dr Stewart has taken existing knowledge of the geographical spread of plant and animal species throughout the warming and cooling of the Ice Ages to provide insights into human origins, including the evolution and extinction of Neanderthals.

He has also examined the rise of the 'first Europeans', along with the Denisovans -- a newly discovered group -- mysterious cousins of the Neanderthals, who occupied a vast realm stretching from the chill expanse of Siberia to the tropical forests of Indonesia.

The key insight in this work, conducted alongside Prof Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum, came from understanding the important role of the refuge taken by a species from harsher conditions -- known as a refugium -- which has a tremendous influence on the evolutionary future of the species. Once the climate changes again, for instance as ice sheets melt, these refuges can expand or connect up again.

But, of course, there's a twist. Evolution has also had a huge influence. The inhabitants are not the same as the original populations as a result of genetic mutations. The time spent apart in refuge generally serves to splinter a once unified species.

Previous research into hedgehogs, polar bears and other animals suggest that, even once an Ice Age ends and the different populations start intermingling again, they never really merge back together as a single group. This process drives important evolutionary changes, which can ultimately lead to the origins of a new species.

Ultimately, this explains why Homo sapiens are still here and our archaic human cousins went extinct some 30,000 years ago: our ancestors chose the right refuge to wait out the Ice Age.

Today, Dr Stewart's work has shifted away from fossil remains to ancient DNA. Traditionally insights into the evolution of species have come from fossils, but we now know that the genetic changes that underlie a major change in body shape can be minor.

"The most exciting development in my field has been the ability to analyse ancient DNA, which has begun to allow us to see evolution happening over the last several dozen thousand years," explains Dr Stewart.

His claim that climate change caused the Neanderthals' demise is supported by work by Love Dal?n at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, who has looked at the genes in 13 Neanderthal fossils found in southern Europe and western Asia.

All Neanderthal fossils more than 48,000 years old, and those found in Asia, had a higher level of genetic diversity than later European fossils, suggesting that the Neanderthals probably went through an evolutionary 'bottleneck' where a significant percentage of them perished.

When a bottleneck occurs, the remaining individuals are often a much less diverse group, which makes it more difficult for them to evolve and adapt to a changing environment.

Dr Stewart, who is doing DNA studies in collaboration with teams at the Natural History Museum in Stockholm and the Universities of York and Royal Holloway, is now focusing on using genetics to elucidate the evolution of a wide range of creatures.

He has conducted recent studies at the cave site of Trou Al'Wesse, a refugium once occupied by Neanderthals, in Belgium. He is studying how animal populations changed as a result of Ice Age climate change to understand the evolutionary processes that have taken place over the last 50,000 years.

But his work is not confined to the past. It informs the present too. Recently there had been a proposal to eradicate the Eagle Owl because it killed other birds, such as hen harriers, and was not thought to be a native species. But Dr Stewart's studies of fossils and more recent archaeological records revealed the bird, or something like it, has been present in Britain for up to 700,000 years. The plan to cull the birds has now been abandoned.

And his research can help us predict the future. The fear is that our ever-expanding impact on the planet will trigger ecological collapse. But the only way to know for sure is to look back into the past.

"By studying how organisms have reacted to past climate change," explains Dr Stewart, "we can learn lessons about what may take place due to human-caused global warming."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Bournemouth University, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/jCPuJPg8uuc/130226135241.htm

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Oscars' strong showing boosts other ABC shows, too

NEW YORK (AP) ? The 40.4 million people who watched the Oscars this year boosted some other ABC shows, too.

Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscars talk show got its biggest audience in the eight years he's been doing it, the Nielsen Co. said. About 5.8 million people tuned in for the show, which didn't begin until after midnight on the East Coast. Kimmel's earlier time slot on weeknights has also increased his visibility.

It was Kimmel's second-biggest audience ever, behind only a post-Super Bowl program in 2006.

Similarly, the Oscars-focused edition of "Good Morning America" on Monday reached 6.13 million viewers, above the show's season average of 5.27 million. NBC's "Today" show on Monday had 4.71 million viewers. ABC said it checked back to 2004 and couldn't find a larger margin of victory over "Today." Given the longtime dominance of "Today" up until last year, it's a good bet "Good Morning America" hasn't won by that much since the early 1990s.

NBC's most-watched show on Sunday night had less than a tenth of the "Oscars" audience, so it could be considered an achievement that "Today" got that close the next morning.

"Good Morning America" reached 6.12 million viewers last Wednesday, on co-host Robin Roberts' return to work after being out since last summer with a blood and bone marrow disease.

The Oscars had its biggest audience in three years.

When the month is over, CBS said it will have beaten all the other networks in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that many advertisers seek for the first February since 1998. Among all viewers, CBS has had the top 31 most popular scripted programs in February.

On the other side, NBC's mid-winter slide continued. For the second time in six weeks, the network had a smaller prime-time viewership than the Spanish-language network Univision. Only one NBC show, "Chicago Fire," had a bigger audience than Univision's music awards show "Premio Lo Nuestro."

For the week in prime time, ABC averaged 11.3 million viewers (6.9 rating, 11 share). CBS was second with 9.6 million viewers (6.1, 10), Fox had 6.6 million (3.9, 6), NBC had 3.8 million (2.5, 4), the CW had 1.5 million (1.0, 2) and ION Television had 1.2 million (0.8, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision had a 4 million viewer average (2.1, 3), Telemundo had 1.3 million (0.7, 1), UniMas had 590,000 (0.3, 1), Estrella had 190,000 and Azteca 110,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.4 million viewers (6.3, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 8.4 million (5.6, 11) and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.4 million viewers (4.9, 9).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Feb. 18-24, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "The Oscars," ABC, 40.38 million; "Oscars Red Carpet Live" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), ABC, 25.53 million; "NCIS," CBS, 21.08 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 17.62 million; "Oscars Red Carpet Live" (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.), ABC, 16.5 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16.27 million; "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 14.37 million; "Person of Interest," CBS, 14.23 million; "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 13.66 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.41 million.

___

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

___

Online:

http://www.nielsen.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oscars-strong-showing-boosts-other-abc-shows-too-204742671.html

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March 5 hearing on Nevada teachers tax initiative

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- An initiative pushed by the state teachers' union and other labor groups will get a hearing before a Nevada legislative panel on March 5.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick on Monday said the measure will be considered during a joint hearing before the Senate and Assembly taxation committees.

Backers of the initiative gathered more than 150,000 signatures to send the margins tax proposal by state lawmakers. Legislators have until March 15 to enact it or it will automatically be put to voters in 2014.

The proposal seeks to impose a 2 percent margins tax on businesses grossing more than $1 million. Supporters say it would raise $800 million a year for K-12 education.

Critics say it doesn't guarantee more money for education and argue it could hurt businesses.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/march-5-hearing-nevada-teachers-150603949.html

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Leap Motion's Sick 3D Gesture Control Hardware Will Only Cost $80

Leap Motion's amazing-looking gesture control debuted last May, and it's had developers crawling all over it ever since. Now, the company is finally getting ready to sell it to you—and it'll only cost $80. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uAVrpJ9kxY4/this-sick-3d-gesture-control-hardware-will-only-cost-80

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Live Chat on Compulsive Hoarding -- Tuesday, February 26 at 4 P.M. EST

Join us for a live online chat with Randy Frost of Smith College and Lee Shuer on compulsive hoarding

By The Editors

Image: Flickr/buzzfarmers

Scientific American recently published an article about compulsive hoarding, which is defined as the excessive accumulation of stuff and the refusal to discard it, resulting in problematic clutter. This May, the new edition of psychiatry's standard guidebook (the DSM-5) will recognize compulsive hoarding as an official disorder, separate from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Research in the last ten years has shown that hoarding and OCD are distinct, changed the way psychologists think about hoarding, refuted popular assumptions about people with excessive clutter and informed new, promising treatments. Today at 4pm EST, Randy Frost of Smith College ? a leading expert on hoarding ? and Lee Shuer, who is currently decluttering his home in Massachusetts, join us for a live web chat.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=007a9b51bcce538759c6c4d702c45869

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Advanced breast cancer edges up in younger women - Herald Online

CHICAGO ? Advanced breast cancer has increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests. The disease is still uncommon among women younger than 40, and the small change has experts scratching their heads about possible reasons.

The results are potentially worrisome because young women's tumors tend to be more aggressive than older women's, and they're much less likely to get routine screening for the disease.

Still, that doesn't explain why there'd be an increase in advanced cases and the researchers and other experts say more work is needed to find answers.

It's likely that the increase has more than one cause, said Dr. Rebecca Johnson, the study's lead author and medical director of a teen and young adult cancer program at Seattle Children's Hospital.

"The change might be due to some sort of modifiable risk factor, like a lifestyle change" or exposure to some sort of cancer-linked substance, she said.

Johnson said the results translate to about 250 advanced cases diagnosed in women younger than 40 in the mid-1970s versus more than 800 in 2009. During those years, the number of women nationwide in that age range went from about 22 million to closer to 30 million - an increase that explains part of the study trend "but definitely not all of it," Johnson said.

Other experts said women delaying pregnancy might be a factor, partly because getting pregnant at an older age might cause an already growing tumor to spread more quickly in response to pregnancy hormones.

Obesity and having at least a drink or two daily have both been linked with breast cancer but research is inconclusive on other possible risk factors, including tobacco and chemicals in the environment. Whether any of these explains the slight increase in advanced disease in young women is unknown.

There was no increase in cancer at other stages in young women. There also was no increase in advanced disease among women older than 40.

Overall U.S. breast cancer rates have mostly fallen in more recent years, although there are signs they may have plateaued.

Some 17 years ago, Johnson was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer at age 27, and that influenced her career choice to focus on the disease in younger women.

"Young women and their doctors need to understand that it can happen in young women," and get checked if symptoms appear, said Johnson, now 44. "People shouldn't just watch and wait."

The authors reviewed a U.S. government database of cancer cases from 1976 to 2009. They found that among women aged 25 to 39, breast cancer that has spread to distant parts of the body - advanced disease - increased from between 1 and 2 cases per 100,000 women to about 3 cases per 100,000 during that time span.

The study was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

About one in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, but only 1 in 173 will develop it by age 40. Risks increase with age and certain gene variations can raise the odds.

Routine screening with mammograms is recommended for older women but not those younger than 40.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer Society's deputy chief medical officer, said the results support anecdotal reports but that there's no reason to start screening all younger women since breast cancer is still so uncommon for them.

He said the study "is solid and interesting and certainly does raise questions as to why this is being observed." One of the most likely reasons is probably related to changes in childbearing practices, he said, adding that the trend "is clearly something to be followed."

Dr. Ann Partridge, chair of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory committee on breast cancer in young women, agreed but said it's also possible that doctors look harder for advanced disease in younger women than in older patients. More research is needed to make sure the phenomenon is real, said Partridge, director of a program for young women with breast cancer at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The study shouldn't cause alarm, she said. Still, Partridge said young women should be familiar with their breasts and see the doctor if they notice any lumps or other changes.

Software engineer Stephanie Carson discovered a large breast tumor that had already spread to her lungs; that diagnosis in 2003 was a huge shock.

"I was so clueless," she said. "I was just 29 and that was the last thing on my mind."

Carson, who lives near St. Louis, had a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments and she frequently has to try new drugs to keep the cancer at bay.

Because most breast cancer is diagnosed in early stages, there's a misconception that women are treated, and then get on with their lives, Carson said. She and her husband had to abandon hopes of having children, and she's on medical leave from her job.

"It changed the complete course of my life," she said. "But it's still a good life."

----

Online:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/index.htm

Source: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/02/26/4649441/advanced-breast-cancer-edges-up.html

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kumarabilai: Nanaimo Sports | Recreation | Hockey Nights at The ...

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Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

We have a brand new 100 inch BIG screen at The Lighthouse Pub. Perfect for watching the hockey game or any of your other favorite sports games!

Every Saturday Night is Hockey Night in Canada.

With 2 for 1 appies after 6pm and drink specials all night. Double header games start at 4pm every Saturday.
Bring your friends and have a great game night!

Mention this HarbourLiving.ca listing and receive 15% off your food bill**
(**on any regular priced food items only**)

Source: http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/hockey-nights-the-lighthouse-pub/2013-02-23/

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Source: http://kumarabilai.blogspot.com/2013/02/nanaimo-sports-recreation-hockey-nights.html

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LG reveals Optimus L3II worldwide rollout starts this week in Brazil

When LG took the wraps off of its Optimus L-Series II family of phones only the L7II had any launch details attached to it. Now the company say its smaller L3II will debut in Brazil this week with other unspecified Central / South American, European and Asian markets on deck. Bucking the bigger-is-better / more-power trend, the 3.2-inch handset contains just a Snapdragon S1 CPU and 512MB of RAM to push its Android Jelly Bean software and a QVGA res screen. If the combination of dual-SIM capability, smaller size and budget-friendly specs appeal to you (and it's headed to your area) check out our hands-on experience from earlier this week at Mobile World Congress for more information.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/lg-optimus-lgii-launch/

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Zimbabwe PM's party reports increase in violence

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) ? The party of Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Tuesday that violence against its supporters is increasing as political tensions rise before upcoming elections.

The Movement for Democratic Change party said an arson attack on the home of an election candidate in eastern Zimbabwe killed the politician's 12-year-old son. The attack was one of 120 incidents of violence recorded so far this year, said the third ranked MDC official, Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

The candidate's house has suffered nine attacks surrounding previous elections and the last violent and disputed elections in 2008. The child's burial is to be on Thursday.

Biti said his party was "enraged at the increase in politically motived violence throughout the country" that he blamed on a faction of President Robert Mugabe's party.

Biti accused Mugabe's ZANU PF party of attempting to once again instill fear in the electorate.

"ZANU PF intends to harvest fear in the 2013 elections," he said.

He also alleged that Mugabe's security services have crafted a strategy of intimidation, arrests and possible assassination attempts against leaders of the former opposition in a shaky coalition government with Mugabe.

Voters go to the polls March 16 in a referendum on a new constitution, followed by parliamentary and presidential elections slated around July to end the coalition brokered by regional mediators after the troubled 2008 vote.

No arrests have been made in the death of the 12-year-old. Party officials said it took seven hours for police to reach the scene of the fire in the Headlands district, 140 kilometers (90 miles) east of Harare, on Saturday.

Mugabe's party, blamed along with loyalist police and military for much of the political violence surrounding elections over the last decade, has denied the involvement of its supporters in the fire at Headlands, a stronghold of a staunch veteran Mugabe ally, Didymus Mutasa.

The United States embassy in Harare immediately called for urgent and impartial investigations into the alleged arson attack.

"Respect for the law and apolitical policing are essential for creating conditions for credible and non-violent Zimbabwe elections this year," it said in a statement.

Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have repeatedly called for violence-free elections.

Human rights monitors of an independent group, Heal Zimbabwe Trust, said authorities on Tuesday attempted to stop mourners and sympathizers gathering at the scene of the fire.

Tsvangirai party activist and aspiring lawmaker Shepherd Maisiri, the father of the dead child, said communities were fast losing confidence in the calls for peace by political leaders, according to the trust's information bulletin on Tuesday.

The trust quoted Maisiri telling its monitors: " I am told I must trust Robert Mugabe that elections are going to be peaceful. Well, this is proving false. My son is dead before we even get to the referendum. What more will happen as we approach highly contested elections?"

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network also reported Tuesday its observers noted the re-emergence of feared pro-Mugabe youth militia groups in several parts of the country.

It reported "instability and political tension" across the nation.

"Observers continue to report the presence of intolerance and a generalized lack of freedom of association and expression," the group said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimbabwe-pms-party-reports-increase-violence-152612203.html

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Study: Same-sex cohabitors less healthy than those in heterosexual marriages

Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Fowler
pubinfo@asanet.org
202-527-7885
American Sociological Association

Findings may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents

WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2013 Same-sex cohabitors report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a new study, which may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents.

"Past research has shown that married people are generally healthier than unmarried people," said Hui Liu, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University. "Although our study did not specifically test the health consequences of legalizing same-sex marriage, it's very plausible that legalization of gay marriage would reduce health disparities between same-sex cohabitors and married heterosexuals."

Titled, "Same-Sex Cohabitors and Health: The Role of Race-Ethnicity, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status," the study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, compares the self-rated health of 1,659 same-sex cohabiting men and 1,634 same-sex cohabiting women with that of their different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, unpartnered divorced, widowed, and never-married counterparts. The study of white, black, and Hispanic 18 to 65-year-olds used pooled, nationally representative data from the 1997 to 2009 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). NHIS respondents rated their overall health as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. As part of their study, Liu and her co-authors, Corinne Reczek, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati, and Dustin Brown, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, divided the respondents into two groups: those who reported excellent, very good, or good overall health and those who reported fair or poor overall health.

"When we controlled for socioeconomic status, the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 61 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting men than for men in heterosexual marriages and the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 46 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting women than for women in heterosexual marriages," Liu said.

As for why same-sex cohabitors reported worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status in heterosexual marriages, Liu said there could be several reasons. "Research consistently suggests that 'out' sexual minorities experience heightened levels of stress and higher levels of discrimination, and these experiences may adversely affect the health of this population," Liu said. "It may also be that same-sex cohabitation does not provide the same psychosocial, socioeconomic, and institutional resources that come with legal marriage, factors that are theorized to be responsible for many of the health benefits of marriage."

According to the researchers, it is possible that providing same-sex cohabitors the option to marry would boost their measures of self-rated health because they would experience higher levels of acceptance and lower levels of stigma. "Legalizing same-sex marriage could also provide other advantages often associated with heterosexual marriagesuch as partner health insurance benefits and the ability to file joint tax returnsthat may directly and indirectly influence the health of individuals in same-sex unions," Liu said.

The researchers also found that same-sex cohabitors reported better health than their different-sex cohabiting and single counterparts, but these differences were fully explained by socioeconomic status. "Without their socioeconomic status advantages, same-sex cohabitors would generally report similar levels of health as their divorced, widowed, never-married, and different-sex cohabiting counterparts," Liu said.

Interestingly, the study suggests that the pattern of poorer self-rated health of same-sex cohabitors in comparison with those in heterosexual marriages does not vary by gender and race-ethnicity. In contrast, results comparing same-sex cohabitors with different-sex cohabiting and single women, but not men, revealed important racial-ethnic patterns. "After we controlled for socioeconomic status, black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships reported worse health than black women of any other non-married union status, while white women in same-sex cohabiting relationships actually reported better health than both white women in different-sex cohabiting relationships and divorced white women," said Liu, who explained that black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships may experience significant social discrimination and homophobia, and such stressors may shape their health in especially detrimental ways.

###

About the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior

The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The Journal of Health and Social Behavior is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.

The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.

---

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?

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

Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Fowler
pubinfo@asanet.org
202-527-7885
American Sociological Association

Findings may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents

WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2013 Same-sex cohabitors report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a new study, which may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents.

"Past research has shown that married people are generally healthier than unmarried people," said Hui Liu, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University. "Although our study did not specifically test the health consequences of legalizing same-sex marriage, it's very plausible that legalization of gay marriage would reduce health disparities between same-sex cohabitors and married heterosexuals."

Titled, "Same-Sex Cohabitors and Health: The Role of Race-Ethnicity, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status," the study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, compares the self-rated health of 1,659 same-sex cohabiting men and 1,634 same-sex cohabiting women with that of their different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, unpartnered divorced, widowed, and never-married counterparts. The study of white, black, and Hispanic 18 to 65-year-olds used pooled, nationally representative data from the 1997 to 2009 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). NHIS respondents rated their overall health as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. As part of their study, Liu and her co-authors, Corinne Reczek, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati, and Dustin Brown, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, divided the respondents into two groups: those who reported excellent, very good, or good overall health and those who reported fair or poor overall health.

"When we controlled for socioeconomic status, the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 61 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting men than for men in heterosexual marriages and the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 46 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting women than for women in heterosexual marriages," Liu said.

As for why same-sex cohabitors reported worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status in heterosexual marriages, Liu said there could be several reasons. "Research consistently suggests that 'out' sexual minorities experience heightened levels of stress and higher levels of discrimination, and these experiences may adversely affect the health of this population," Liu said. "It may also be that same-sex cohabitation does not provide the same psychosocial, socioeconomic, and institutional resources that come with legal marriage, factors that are theorized to be responsible for many of the health benefits of marriage."

According to the researchers, it is possible that providing same-sex cohabitors the option to marry would boost their measures of self-rated health because they would experience higher levels of acceptance and lower levels of stigma. "Legalizing same-sex marriage could also provide other advantages often associated with heterosexual marriagesuch as partner health insurance benefits and the ability to file joint tax returnsthat may directly and indirectly influence the health of individuals in same-sex unions," Liu said.

The researchers also found that same-sex cohabitors reported better health than their different-sex cohabiting and single counterparts, but these differences were fully explained by socioeconomic status. "Without their socioeconomic status advantages, same-sex cohabitors would generally report similar levels of health as their divorced, widowed, never-married, and different-sex cohabiting counterparts," Liu said.

Interestingly, the study suggests that the pattern of poorer self-rated health of same-sex cohabitors in comparison with those in heterosexual marriages does not vary by gender and race-ethnicity. In contrast, results comparing same-sex cohabitors with different-sex cohabiting and single women, but not men, revealed important racial-ethnic patterns. "After we controlled for socioeconomic status, black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships reported worse health than black women of any other non-married union status, while white women in same-sex cohabiting relationships actually reported better health than both white women in different-sex cohabiting relationships and divorced white women," said Liu, who explained that black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships may experience significant social discrimination and homophobia, and such stressors may shape their health in especially detrimental ways.

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About the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior

The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The Journal of Health and Social Behavior is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.

The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/asa-ssc022113.php

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