Chirality of a nanotube controls growth: Armchair nanotubes grow fastest

ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2012) ? The Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, has experimentally confirmed a theory by Rice University Professor Boris Yakobson that foretold a pair of interesting properties about nanotube growth: That the chirality of a nanotube controls the speed of its growth, and that armchair nanotubes should grow the fastest.

The work is a sure step toward defining all the mysteries inherent in what Yakobson calls the "DNA code of nanotubes," the parameters that determine their chirality -- or angle of growth -- and thus their electrical, optical and mechanical properties. Developing the ability to grow batches of nanotubes with specific characteristics is a critical goal of nanoscale research.

The new paper by Air Force senior researcher Benji Maruyama; former Air Force colleague Rahul Rao, now at the Honda Research Institute in Ohio; Yakobson and their co-authors appeared this week in the online version of the journal Nature Materials.

It's an interesting denouement in a saga that began with a 2009 paper by Yakobson and his collaborators. That paper, which presented the theoretical physicist's dislocation theory of chirality-controlled growth, described how nanotubes emerge as if single threads of atoms weave themselves into the now-familiar chicken-wire-like tubes. It also garnered a bit of controversy over what precisely the results meant.

"Boris caught some heat over it," Maruyama said. "The experimental work out there indicated his theory might be true, but they couldn't confirm it. The good part about our work is that it's fairly unambiguous."

Yakobson, Rice's Karl F. Hasselmann Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and professor of chemistry, took it all in stride. "The criticism didn't affect anything; it was actually the best advertisement and motivation for further work," he said. "In fact, (nanotube pioneer Sumio) Iijima noted early that 'helicity may aid the growth.' We have transformed it into a verifiable equation."

Experimental confirmation of a theory is never final but always satisfying, he admitted, and the Air Force lab was uniquely equipped to prove the linkage between the speed of a nanotube's growth and its chiral angle.

The chirality of a single-walled nanotube is determined by the way its carbon atoms are "rolled." Yakobson has described it as similar to rolling up a newspaper; sometimes the type lines up, and sometimes it doesn't. That alignment determines the nanotubes' electrical properties. Metallic armchair nanotubes, so named for the shape of their uncapped edges, are particularly desirable because electrons pass through from tip to tip with no resistance, while semiconducting nanotubes are useful for electronics, among other applications.

Rao developed a technique in Maruyama's lab to measure the growth rates of individual nanotubes. "It's an impressive setup," Yakobson said. "They can grow individual tubes in very low density and identify their signatures -- their chirality -- and at the same time measure how rapidly they grow."

The technique involved mounting catalyst nanoparticles on microscopic silicon pillars and firing tightly controlled lasers at them. Heat from the laser triggered the nanotubes to grow through a standard technique called chemical vapor deposition, and at the same time, the researchers analyzed nanotube growths via Raman spectroscopy.

From the spectra, they could tell how fast a nanotube grew and at what point growth terminated. Subsequent electron microscope images confirmed the spectra were from individual single-walled nanotubes, while chiral angles were determined by comparing post-growth Raman spectra and nanotube diameters to the Kataura plot, which maps chirality based on band gap and diameter.

They noted in the paper that the results provide a basis for further research into growing specific types of nanotubes. "Now that we know what the growth rate is for a particular chirality nanotube, one could think about trying to achieve growth of that specific chirality by influencing growth conditions accordingly," Rao said. "So, basically, we now have another 'knob' to turn."

"This work is at a very early development stage, and it's all about post-nucleation," Yakobson said. "Nucleation sets what I think of as the genetic code -- very primitive compared to biology -- that determines the chirality and the speed of growth of a nanotube." He said it may be possible someday to dictate the form of a nanotube as it begins to bubble up from a catalyst, "but it will take a lot of ingenuity."

Yakobson revealed a formula last year that defined the nucleation probability through the edge energies for graphene, which is basically a cut-and-flattened nanotube. But the earlier and related dislocation theory applies to the following growth, and if confirmed further may turn out to be his masterwork.

"The dislocation theory of growth is elegant and simple," Rao said. "It's still too early to say that it is the only growth mechanism, but Boris should be given plenty of credit for proposing this bold idea in the first place."

Co-authors are former Rice graduate student Tonya Leeuw Cherukuri and David Liptak, both researchers at the Air Force lab.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Research Council funded the work.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University.

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Journal Reference:

1. Rahul Rao, David Liptak, Tonya Cherukuri, Boris I. Yakobson, Benji Maruyama. In situ evidence for chirality-dependent growth rates of individual carbon nanotubes. Nature Materials, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3231

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

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

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130130843.htm

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Huge pythons annihilating Everglades wildlife, report scientists (+video)

Pythons that have entered the Everglades after escaping or being released by pet owners are destroying the parks native mammal populations, a new report has found. ?

Sixteen-foot-long pythons aren't just frightening movie concepts, they are a real-life threat in the Everglades where they are annihilating the park's mammal populations to unrecoverable numbers, researchers now say.

Skip to next paragraph

A family in South Florida had to call in animal control experts after discovering a 13-foot Burmese python in their backyard pool.

The pythons entered the park from?households that kept the snakes as pets, and may also have been set loose by hurricanes in the '90s, researchers say. Rangers started noticing the python's presence in 2000, when two snakes were removed from national lands. The?number of pythons has skyrocketed, with more than 300 pythons being removed from the Everglades every year since 2007. Researchers don't know their true numbers but estimate at least tens of thousands of the giant snakes inhabit the National Everglades Park.

"They turn up all over the U.S., but now they are established and reproducing and apparently doing very well in South Florida," said study researcher Michael Dorcas, of Davidson College in North Carolina. "It's 11 years later, and we are already recording a?hugely devastating impact." Dorcas is co-author of the book "Invasive Pythons in the United States" (The University of Georgia Press, 2011).

Snake effects

The researchers studied records of mammal deaths on roads from 1993 to 1999, before the pythons were commonly found in the Everglades. In addition, over 51 nights in 1996 and 1997, they drove along National Park roads and tallied live and dead mammals along the road. [See photos of the invading pythons]

They compared these results with animal numbers tallied from 2003 through 2011, the time after which pythons became common. These numbers were also gleaned from more than 35,000 miles of road surveys.

In areas where pythons had been present the longest, between 2003 and 2011, populations of raccoons dropped 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent and bobcats 87.5 percent. Marsh and cottontail rabbits, as well as foxes, though common before the pythons were seen in the area, were not seen at all in these surveys.

In areas where pythons had recently taken root, the mammal decreases were smaller; in areas where pythons hadn't been spotted mammal numbers were similar to those in the Everglades' pre-python years.

Future of the Everglades

Carla Dove, a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution who wasn't involved in the study, said the results of this survey were "much worse than expected" and noted that the?pythons don't just eat mammals?? they can also eat birds and other reptiles (even huge alligators). Her own soon-to-be published research indicates that birds, and their eggs, are also being preyed upon by the python populations in the Everglades. [Image Gallery: Invasive Species]

While Dorcas' survey focused on common mammals, "it raises lots of disconcerting questions about [other] species that are rare and endangered," Dorcas said. "We don't yet know about those species and if similar impacts are occurring in those species as well, but it certainly warrants further investigation."

To try to?limit the spread of invasive pythons, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently (finalized Jan. 17) banned the import and transport between states of the Burmese python and three other large snakes into the U.S. as pets. These regulations may be too late to save the wildlife in the Everglades, Dorcas said.

"What was most striking to me was the magnitude of the observed changes in mammal numbers," Gordon Rodda, of the U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, told LiveScience in an email. "These are not incremental changes but nearly complete removal of some very key components of the Everglades ecosystem," said Rodda, who was not involved in the current study.

Snakes are hard to hunt, especially in wild areas like the Everglades, because they are extremely secretive. "It makes it really difficult to suppress their populations under most circumstances," Dorcas said.

The study was published today (Jan. 30) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

You can follow LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh on Twitter @microbelover. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter?@livescience?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/oz38eruiGJE/Huge-pythons-annihilating-Everglades-wildlife-report-scientists-video

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Economics and Investing: - SurvivalBlog.com

The Massive Debt Bomb: $7,600,000,000,000 Dollars Of Debt Must Be Rolled Over In 2012

G.G. sent this: John Williams - Accelerating Great Collapse & Hyperinflation

Several readers sent this from Business Insider: 2011 GDP: 1.7%

Kevin K, sent the link to this interesting piece by Jim Willie: Tail Events, Isolation, New Normal

Items from The Economatrix:

Fitch Goes On A Rampage, Cuts Spain, Italy, Belgium, Cyprus, And Slovenia

Merkel Casts Doubts On Saving Greece From Meltdown

Aging Japan Faces "Chronic" Trade Deficit After Fukushima

IMF Slashes Global Growth Forecasts

Soros:? There Will Be Riots In The Streets Of America

Davos:? Big Questions From Top Delegates

Source: http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/01/economics_and_investing_1067.html

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Video: Meet Jacksonville Jaguars New Owner

Insight on his decision to buy the Jaguars and how profitable he hopes to be, with Shahid Khan, Jacksonville Jaguars and CNBC's Darren Rovell.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Top of page

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46190891/

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Suspect shown by Mexico cops says he beat Canadian (AP)

CULIACAN, Mexico ? A Mexican man charged with severely beating a Canadian woman at a resort hotel has told journalists that he tried to hold her in an elevator and punched her several times when she yelled for help.

Jose Ramon Acosta said during a Saturday news conference held by police that he had sneaked into the hotel in Mazatlan early the morning of Jan. 20 and encountered Sheila Nabb of Calgary, Alberta, by chance.

State prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez says Acosta had been drinking and using drugs. Prosecutor have said the suspect was seen on a hotel security camera as he left the elevator.

The victim has been flown to Canada where she remains hospitalized.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_canadian_attacked

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Santorum: Daughter with pneumonia recovering (AP)

BOCA RATON, Fla. ? Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Sunday his daughter Bella remains in the hospital with pneumonia but is recovering after a rough 36 hours.

Santorum spoke with Florida supporters by telephone from 3-year-old Bella's hospital room and said doctors hope she can go home in the next few days.

The former Pennsylvania senator also said, "We're going to get out on the campaign trail later tomorrow ... heading out to the Midwest, and start campaigning in the next states as we move this campaign forward."

Santorum scheduled a speech Monday in Missouri and another event in southwest Minnesota ? two states with early February contests. He then planned to head to Colorado and Nevada for events Tuesday.

"I feel very, very good about where we are and where the campaign is going," the candidate said.

But during the call with Florida voters, Santorum opened his remarks with his daughter, who has a genetic condition known as Trisomy 18. The condition typically proves fatal and Santorum often says his daughter wasn't expected to live past 12 months.

"She without a doubt has turned the corner," he said. But he cautioned she "isn't out of the woods yet."

Santorum called his daughter's improvement a "miraculous turnaround" after an unexpected detour from the campaign just days before Tuesday's Florida primary.

Santorum got to his home in Virginia around midnight Friday for a quick break to do his taxes, but found his daughter "was not doing well."

"I was up with her a lot of the night," he said. "By the end of the day, it was really, really clear she was struggling."

Saturday evening, Santorum aides announced Bella had been admitted to the hospital and they canceled his morning interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" and church services in Miami. His aides later canceled his trip to Florida and instead sent his 20-year-old daughter to campaign for him.

Santorum described the situation as a "very, very tough night last night" but said by late Sunday Bella was "alert and back to her own beautiful, happy girl."

"It's been a very hectic 36 hours," Santorum said. "Life in the Santorum family has dramatically improved since the late afternoon."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_el_pr/us_santorum_daughter

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Smuggling brings down Texas deer breeders

Reporting from New Summerfield, Texas?

Texas' hunting season for white-tailed deer draws to a close this month. Normally Billy Powell would be counting his profits from catering to "hornographers," hunters who will pay as much as $100,000 to bag a monster buck with impressive headgear.

Instead, the 78-year-old deer breeder is under house arrest and wearing an ankle monitor.

Meanwhile, hundreds of his deer, part of a herd that had included two big bucks named Hit Man and Barry, have been put down in a scandal that has rocked Texas' $2.8-billion deer hunting and breeding industry, the largest in the nation.

Powell is one of 1,236 registered Texas breeders. Some have paid up to $1 million for first-rate bucks they mate with captive does. Their progeny, 103,155 registered this year, are raised in pens and released on high-fenced ranches before the start of hunting season, which runs from October to late January.

But Hit Man and Barry were smuggled into Texas from northern states where two deer diseases are found.

After a four-year federal investigation, Powell paid $1.5 million in fines and restitution and pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling more than three dozen white-tailed deer worth more than $800,000 from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania over a three-year period.

Mitch Lockwood, big game director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said Powell put the state's 4 million wild deer "and the entire Texas deer breeding industry at risk."

Powell and other breeders say regulators have become overzealous, out for hefty fines that become their agency's cut of the burgeoning cervine, or deer, farming business.

"Parks and Wildlife don't like deer breeders, and they'll do anything to get you," Powell said earlier this month, wearing a western shirt adorned with bucks and rifles outside his ranch in New Summerfield, where deer blinds and "Deer Lease" signs punctuate the piney woods. "I did wrong, but they did more wrong."

Hunters rate trophy bucks according to a scoring system developed by Theodore Roosevelt's Boone and Crockett Club in 1887, even though the club does not recognize farmed or high-fence hunted deer. The score includes antler length and circumference, with the best Texas white-tails traditionally scoring 150 to 160.

Today, thanks to breeding, mammoth deerzillas are scoring 200 or more.

Breeders say they can sell semen from outstanding bucks for up to $35,000 dollars a sample, or "straw," to engineer the next generation of Dr. Seuss-worthy antlers.

The breeders advertise pedigreed Texas bucks with storied names and bloodlines like those of racehorses: Stickers, Dinero and Golden Boy.

"It's like a rock star: The white-tail is the most sought-after animal in Texas," breeder Roy Malonson said while checking on his herd of 168 deer recently at RS Deer Ranch outside Houston. "We have the challenge to produce that."

Many breeders rely on artificial insemination partly because Texas outlawed importing out-of-state deer seven years ago to prevent the introduction of bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease, a neurological disorder similar to mad cow disease. Texas has never had a case of chronic wasting, which can be spread by contact, but regulators are concerned because 17 other states have, including neighboring New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Still, some breeders have ignored the ban.

Powell, who made his money running successful nurseries, became interested in white-tailed deer as a hunter, and started breeding them as a hobby at his 5 P Farms in the 1990s. By 2008, his buck Barry, named after Powell's eldest son, had scored 440 on the Boone and Crockett scale, well above the white-tail world record of 333 7/8.

But Barry was among the bucks Powell had smuggled from Pennsylvania, distinctive enough to draw the attention of regulators. (In Pennsylvania, the buck was known as Fat Boy.) After Powell placed an ad in the Texas Deer Assn. magazine to sell semen from Barry and another monster buck, Hit Man, the investigation began.

Hit Man, it turned out, was actually Silver Storm, a well-known buck from Indiana.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/Ur-_FadQa7k/la-na-texas-deer-20120129,0,2642083.story

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Romney, Gingrich focus on Hispanic voters in Fla. (AP)

DORAL, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney pitched their ideas for reforming immigration law and pushing democracy into Cuba and across Latin America as the Republican presidential candidates vied for Hispanic votes Friday, entering the final, frenzied weekend before Florida's primary.

"We are not anti-immigrant, we are not anti-immigration" Romney said to applause, suggesting the news media had unfairly tarnished his party's reputation among Hispanics. His refrain also echoed a theme that was at the heart of one of several clashes with Gingrich at Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville.

Romney followed Gingrich in speeches before hundreds of Hispanic leaders meeting near Miami, and each avoided criticizing his closest rival in what now looks like a two-man race for the nomination.

Immigration is a flashpoint issue in Florida for the GOP candidates, who are trying to strike a balance between sounding compassionate and firm about stemming the tide of illegal workers. The state has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters.

Gingrich called for a measured approach to revising the nation's immigration laws, "because any bill you write that is comprehensive has too many enemies." The former House speaker says he wants stricter border control, faster deportation proceedings and a guest worker program for certain immigrants.

Gingrich called for a U.S.-supported "Cuban spring" uprising against the long-standing communist regime.

If elected, Gingrich said, he would bring to bear "the moral force of an American president who is serious about intending to free the people of Cuba, and willingness to intimidate those who are the oppressors and say to them, `You will be held accountable.'"

Romney said the United States needs to work harder to promote democracy across Latin America and elsewhere. He compared it to selling soda: "We convince people around the world to buy a brown, caramel-colored water called Coca-Cola and to pay like a half day's wage for it. And they'll buy it. It's unbelievable. We're able to convince people of things that sometimes you scratch your head. ... And yet democracy, we don't sell that so well. "

Romney also pledged to appoint a Latin American envoy and to create a task force to focus on drug trafficking and other Latin American troubles.

Gingrich said he would support a Puerto Rican referendum on whether it should be granted statehood.

Their remarks were mild in comparison to their debate clash sparked by immigration issues.

Gingrich responded to a question Thursday night by saying Romney was the most anti-immigrant of all four contenders on stage. "That's simply inexcusable," the former Massachusetts governor responded.

Gingrich fired back that Romney misled voters by running an ad accusing the former House speaker of once referring to Spanish as "the language of the ghetto." Gingrich said he was referring to a multitude of languages, not just Spanish.

Romney initially said of the ad, "I doubt it's mine," but moderator Wolf Blitzer pointed out that Romney, at the ad's conclusion, says he approved the message.

Gingrich rushed out an ad Friday using debate footage that raised questions about Romney's credibility, including his reluctance to own up to the "ghetto" commercial. "If we can't trust Romney in a debate, how can we trust him in the White House," a narrator says in the Gingrich ad.

The debate was the 19th since the race for the Republican nomination began last year, and came five days before the Florida primary on Tuesday. Opinion polls show a close race, with a slight advantage for Romney. Two other contenders, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, were far behind.

Paul has already made clear his intention to skip Florida in favor of smaller, less-expensive states. On Friday, he began a two-day stretch of campaigning in snowy Maine.

Santorum, who had been campaigning aggressively here, conceded that he's better off sitting at his kitchen table Saturday doing his taxes instead of campaigning in a state where he can't keep up with the GOP front-runners.

Outside advisers were urging him to pack up in Florida completely and not spend another minute in a state where he is cruising toward a third straight loss.

The cash-strapped Santorum said he'll make a handful of Florida campaign stops but will finish Friday with his family in Pennsylvania, where he'll spend all day Saturday. He planned to return to Florida for campaign events on Sunday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Yemeni president heads to US for medical treatment (AP)

SANAA, Yemen ? Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh headed to the United States on Saturday for medical treatment, his spokesman said, the latest stage in an effort to distance him from his country's policies to help ease a transition from his rule.

Ahmed al-Soufi, the press officer for the presidency, told The Associated Press that Saleh had arrived in London and would leave later Saturday for New York for medical treatment in the United States for wounds suffered in a June assassination attempt in the Yemeni capital.

Saleh left Yemen for to neighboring Oman a week ago, planning to head to the United States, after weeks of talks with the U.S. over where he could go. Washington has been trying to get Saleh to leave his homeland, but it does not want him to settle permanently in the United States, fearing it would be seen as harboring a leader considered by his people to have blood on his hands.

In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that Saleh's plane was scheduled to land Saturday at a British commercial airport "to refuel en route to the United States." Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, she said Saleh and those accompanying him were not going to enter the United Kingdom.

Saleh was traveled on a chartered Emirates plane with a private doctor, translator, eight armed guards and several family members, an official in the Yemeni president's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the details.

In November, Saleh handed over his powers to his vice president and promised to step down completely after months of protests by millions across the country demanding an end to his nearly 33-year rule. A national unity government was formed between his ruling party and the opposition.

But opponents say he has continued to interfere in the work of a unity government through his allies and relatives in key posts ? particularly his son and nephew, who command the country's most elite and powerful military units. As a result, the past two months have seen persistent violence, power struggles and delays in reforms.

The U.S. and its allies have been pressured Saleh to leave in hopes of removing him from the scene will smoothen the transition.

Saleh agreed to step down in return for a sweeping immunity from prosecution on any crimes committed during his rule, a measure that has angered many in Yemen who want him tried for the deaths of protesters in his crackdown on the uprising against him. Protests have continued demanding his prosecution and the removal of his relatives and allies from authority.

It is also unclear how permanent Saleh's exile is. In a farewell speech before leaving to Oman, Saleh promised to return to Yemen before Feb. 21 presidential elections as the head of his party.

Some in Yemen suspect Saleh is still trying to slip out of the deal and find ways to stay in power, even if it's behind the scenes.

Even since the protests against his rule began a year ago, Saleh has proved a master in eluding pressure to keep his grip, though over the months his options steadily closed around him. He slipped out of signing the accord for the power handover three times over the months before finally agreeing to it.

He was badly burned in a June explosion in his compound in Sanaa. He received medical treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for three months. American officials had hoped he would remain there, but the Yemeni leader returned home and violence worsened anew.

His maneuvering and the turmoil on the ground left the United States struggling to find a stable transition in the country to ensure a continued fight against al-Qaida militants based in the country, who make up the most active branch of the terror network in the world. Saleh was a close ally of Washington in the fight, taking millions in counterterrorism aid.

During the past year of turmoil, al-Qaida-linked militants outright took control of several cities and towns in the south, including Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province.

On Friday, government forces battled with the militants near the town of Jaar, which they also control. At least five people were killed in the fighting, Yemeni security officials said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

___

AP correspondent Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen

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Obama courts Latino vote on economic tour (AP)

BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. ? President Barack Obama is courting Hispanics in politically important states, setting himself up as a champion of the crucial Latino voting bloc and as a foil to Republican candidates fighting for a share of support from the same groups.

With Latino voters voting overwhelmingly Democratic, Obama is not in danger of losing the support of a majority of Hispanics. But he does need their intensity, and a Gallup tracking poll shows that while a majority of Hispanics approve of Obama, that approval is not as high as it is among black voters.

Pitching his economic agenda during a three-day, five-state trip this week, Obama has not ignored the fact that three of the states ? Nevada, Arizona and Colorado ? all have Hispanic populations of 20 percent or more. A majority of them are Democratic, but they also could be a factor in upcoming nominating contests in those states. Nevada and Colorado hold caucuses within two weeks and Arizona has a primary Feb. 28.

In Arizona Wednesday, where he was drawing attention to his efforts to increase manufacturing, Obama playfully interacted with a supporter who shouted out: "Barack es mi hermano! (Barack is my brother!)"

"Mi hermano ? mucho gusto (My brother, a real pleasure)," Obama shouted back.

And it was no accident that he scheduled an interview with Univision, the Spanish language network that reaches a broad swath of the U.S. Latino population, while he was in Arizona and with local Telemundo affiliates Thursday in Las Vegas and in Denver. All that while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the rest of the Republican presidential field were battling in Florida, another state with a key Latino voting bloc.

"It's an important community in this country and he will continue to have those interactions," White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Obama's efforts to reach out to Spanish language media.

No issue reverberates more in the appeal to Latinos than immigration.

For Obama, it reared up suddenly for him Wednesday when Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who signed one of the toughest laws to curtail illegal immigration, greeted him at the airport tarmac in Mesa, Ariz., with a handwritten invitation for the president to join her in a visit to the Mexican border.

Obama replied coolly, noting that he did not appreciate the way she had depicted him in a book she published last year, "Scorpions for Breakfast." In the book, Brewer writes that Obama was condescending and lectured her during a meeting at the White House to discuss immigration. "He was a little disturbed about my book," Brewer told two reporters shortly after the encounter.

Obama continued to promote his economic plan Thursday in Nevada and Colorado, focusing on energy policy and his attempts to expand oil and gas exploration while also emphasizing clean energy.

"Doubling down on a clean energy industry will create lots of jobs in the process," the president said at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado, where the Air Force has installed solar panels and tested jets that run on biofuels.

As such, he was indirectly pitching to Hispanics as well. A new Pew Research Center poll found that 54 percent of Latinos believe that the economic downturn has been harder on them than on other groups in the U.S.

"There is no question that Latinos were hard hit, especially by the bursting of the housing bubble and the resulting steep decline in construction work," Carney said Thursday. "Latinos are overrepresented in the construction industry. It's one of the reasons why, certainly, Latinos would greatly benefit from infrastructure investments that put construction workers back to work."

In 2008, Obama beat Republican John McCain by a 2-1 margin among Hispanics.

To win again, he will need that level of enthusiasm to make up for weaknesses elsewhere in his voter support. In a bright spot for Obama, the Pew poll found that even though Hispanics believe their economic condition is poor, two-thirds of those polled said they expect their financial situation to improve over the next year, whereas 58 percent of the overall population expect the same.

In his interview with Univision, Obama made a point of noting that both Romney and Gingrich have said they would veto legislation, known as the DREAM Act, that would give a pathway to citizenship to children who came to the United States illegally but who attend college or enlist in the military.

"They believe that we should not provide a pathway to citizenship for young people who were brought here when they were very young children and are basically American kids but right now are still in a shadow," Obama said. "They've said that they would veto the DREAM Act. Both of them."

At a debate Monday on NBC, however, both Gingrich and Romney said they would support modified legislation that only applied to young people who joined the military. "I would not support the part that simply says everybody who goes to college is automatically waived for having broken the law," Gingrich said.

Obama, in the interview, explicitly connected the Republican presidential field to congressional Republicans, who suffer from bottom-dwelling approval ratings right now. Asked why he had been unable to deliver on his promise for overhauling the immigration system, Obama replied:

"Well, it's very simple. We couldn't get any Republican votes. Zero. None," he said. "So this is the kind of barrier that we're meeting in Congress. We're just going to keep on pushing and pushing until hopefully we finally get a break."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama

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Greek military overspending (Americablog)

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World of Warcraft server blades help you save the children, feel slightly better about yourself

If you're going help save the world, you might as well get a little something for yourself at the same time, right? World of Warcraft fans listen up, because Blizzard wants you to help them help St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and it's willing to give you a fairly unique piece of WoW memorabilia for digging deep. The game developer is once again auctioning off World of Warcraft server blades. This time, the company's offering up 2,000 HP p-Class blades that were recently retired when it upgraded its backend hardware. The blades, which have gone up for auction on eBay, have been fitted with a clear case bearing the WoW logo and a plaque featuring a slew of developer signatures. One-hundred percent of proceeds will go to help the research hospital.

World of Warcraft server blades help you save the children, feel slightly better about yourself originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Life's secrets lie in stars and Petri dishes

Marcus Chown, consultant

WE CAN kid ourselves about big questions. What is the origin of mass? What is dark matter? Does time really exist? But in our heart of hearts there is only one question we desperately want to answer: what is life and how did it come about?

Astrophysicist Dimitar Sasselov argues that we are on the brink of being able to answer this question, and his enthusiasm is infectious.

Sasselov cites two key developments. The first will come as no surprise: the discovery of planets outside our solar system. The total stands at over 700, with new ones being discovered every day. Rarely in the history of science can a field have advanced at such a breakneck pace.

Of crucial importance to the life question, which explains Sasselov's title, is a certain type of extrasolar planet, a super-Earth. These are solid planets of rock and ice between 1 and 10 times the mass of the Earth. We never suspected they existed because, in our own solar system, with its rocky terrestrial planets and bloated gas giants, such bodies are conspicuous by their absence.

It is these super-Earths that are key, argues Sasselov. They are even more attractive as life-bearing worlds than our home planet. They have a relatively small surface area to volume ratio, for instance, so they are better at holding on to their internal heat than Earth. That makes them likely to have the plate tectonics necessary to prevent carbon dioxide from volcanoes building up to dangerous, Venusian levels. If born with sufficient ice, super-Earths may even have giant oceans spanning the surface, 10 times deeper than any ocean on Earth. Think of those as habitats.

But most importantly, according to Sasselov, the surfaces of super-Earths will be at temperatures that permit large molecules to survive over long periods of time and attain the concentrations necessary for the chemistry of life.

What chemistry? Ah, this is where the second development crucial to the life question comes in: synthetic life. More specifically, the creation of a chemical system enclosed in a "vesicle" and capable of life's main functions. According to Sasselov, this field will enable us to overcome our most crippling handicap: that we know of only a single instance of life. It will enable us to explore the limits of biology, to extrapolate from the specific to the general. And here Sasselov sees the two developments feeding off each other. Super-Earths will tell us about the chemical environments for alien life, which will help those seeking synthetic life to zero in on other biochemistries.

And the results of all this striving? To know ourselves, of course. Only by knowing what is possible, says Sasselov in this inspirational book, can we ever understand how life got going on Earth and why it has the characteristics it has. Sasselov quotes T. S. Eliot: "We must never cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploration will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time."

Book Information
The Life of Super-Earths: How the Hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize life on our planet
by Dimitar Sasselov
Published by: Basic Books
?17.99/$25.99

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Recording: Bombing suspect had 'nothing to lose' (AP)

PHOENIX ? One of two white supremacist brothers accused of bombing a black city official in suburban Phoenix told a government informant shortly before his arrest that once his mother died, he would return to a life of "bomb throwing" and "sniper shooting" because he had nothing to lose, according to a recording played for jurors Wednesday.

The recording of 61-year-old Dennis Mahon was made by a government informant, identified in court records as civilian Rebecca Williams, after he left her a voicemail on March 29, 2009, about three months before he and his identical twin brother, Daniel Mahon, were arrested at their Illinois home.

Prosecutors played the tape and others for jurors Wednesday as Williams sat on the stand and confirmed that the voices on the recordings were hers and Dennis Mahon's.

The Mahons have pleaded not guilty to the February 2004 bombing of Don Logan, Scottsdale's diversity director at the time. Logan's hand and arm were injured, and a secretary was hurt.

But prosecutors are arguing to jurors that phone conversations between Dennis Mahon and Williams, and other in-person recordings of Daniel Mahon, prove that they admitted their involvement to her.

"Once my mother passes away, I go back to my radical bomb-throwing, sniper-shooting realm," Dennis Mahon said. "Look out because I've got nothing to lose."

In the same voicemail, he goes on to say that he knows how to take down the U.S. electrical power system during the coldest part of winter or hottest part of summer using explosives and high-powered rifles, and once he does that: "The non-whites shall destroy each other," he said.

During a May 4, 2006, phone call, Dennis Mahon mentions Logan by name and continues telling Williams that Scottsdale police officers were responsible for bombing him, but that he helped. He also suggests that next time, Logan wouldn't survive.

"He doesn't understand ? they're not going to get him where he works. They're going to get him where he lives," he said. "They're going to tail pipe the son of a bitch and blow up his car while he's in it."

In other conversations, Mahon speculates about his own eventual arrest, saying that he'd be armed when authorities come knocking on his door.

"They'll find out they've got a big problem with something called white terrorists," he said during a Jan. 5, 2009 phone call with Williams.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutors played for jurors recordings of the brothers using racial slurs for black people and pointing out the bombing site to Williams while they were in Scottsdale under a ruse that she had to pay a speeding ticket.

Williams met the Mahons in January 2005 after federal investigators recruited her to become an informant. They hoped that Williams could use her feminine wiles while acting like a white supremacist and a government separatist to get the brothers to admit to the bombing.

Over a four-and-a-half-year period, she spent several weeks in person with the brothers, but many of the recordings were made over the phone while she lived in Arizona and the brothers were in Illinois.

Defense attorneys have heavily criticized her behavior with the brothers, referring to her as a "trailer park Mata Hari" ? a reference to the Dutch exotic dancer who was convicted of working as a spy for Germany during World War I.

Prosecutors say that Williams never had sex with either brother, but did flirt with them and send racy photos to them in order to allay their suspicions that she was not to be trusted.

Among the racy photos she sent them was one that showed her in a white bikini with a grenade hanging between her breasts and a swastika and pickup truck in the background. Another showed her from behind wearing Confederate flag bikini bottoms, a black leather vest, thigh-high black boots and ripped fishnet stockings.

Defense attorneys have shown the photos to jurors.

Williams appeared in court for the first time Tuesday, testifying under questioning by prosecutors that the Mahons fell for her so much that Dennis Mahon even said he wanted to father her child and marry her.

Under tense cross-examination by defense attorney Deborah Williams on Wednesday, the informant acknowledged previously being an exotic dancer and became bashful when asked whether she knows how to use her body around men.

As she was being questioned, Deborah Williams repeatedly displayed the racy photos that the informant had sent to Dennis Mahon for the jurors.

Rebecca Williams said that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recruited her as an informant after they worked with her brother, an informant himself who worked with ATF and the Arizona Department of Public Safety to infiltrate the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang.

At the time she was recruited, Rebecca Williams testified that she was about to be evicted from her trailer in Flagstaff and that she decided to become an informant for the money.

She said that she was paid $100 for in-person contact with the brothers on top of $300 every month for their phone conversations. She got a total of $45,000 for her work, including reimbursements for her expenses, and said that she was promised to be paid $100,000 upon the Mahons' convictions.

Williams said that she planned to use the $100,000 to help set up a home for herself in Hawaii.

Her testimony will continue Thursday.

___

Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_us/us_scottsdale_bombing_trial

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Kraft 'shuddered' when Brady belted on TD plunge (AP)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ? Patriots owner Robert Kraft "shuddered" when he saw Tom Brady take a crunching hit on a 1-yard touchdown plunge. He even wondered if Brady's back was broken.

Such a graceful dive. Such a powerful blow.

"It was scary," Kraft said Monday, his momentary fears quickly put to rest, "but he popped right up."

Brady shook off the body-bending force of Ray Lewis' helmet to his lower back, spiked the ball and punched the air in celebration. He had just scored the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter of New England's 23-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game Sunday.

He was OK and so are the Super Bowl-bound Patriots, who will face the New York Giants on Feb. 5.

But at the instant of impact, there was concern in the owner's box where Kraft was sitting with friends, family members and former Patriots.

"We all shuddered up in the box," he said. "We thought that his back might have been broken."

Another unexpected occurrence also caught Kraft's attention ? the vertical leap of the lumbering Brady. He soared high over his offensive line, arcing his back and reaching the ball over the goal line while clutching it with both hands.

"I actually didn't know he had that kind of rise," Kraft said with a smile.

But as Brady was landing, the picture wasn't as pretty.

He had his head toward the ground and his legs up in the air as if he was about to complete a somersault. Then Lewis, who had lined up a few yards behind the line, barreled in for the blow and sent Brady's legs back from where they had come. Both players got up without jawing as their teammates prepared for the extra point.

"That's the way the game should be played, physical," Patriots wide receiver Matthew Slater said. "This game is not a noncontact sport. So there's going to be hits. We knew that going into the game with those guys. They play physical football and we knew we had to match that going in.

"I didn't see it as a dirty hit at all."

Two plays earlier, on second-and-goal at the Ravens 1-yard line, Brady ran off left guard for what officials initially ruled a touchdown. But it was reversed when replays showed his knee hit the ground before the ball crossed the goal line. On the next play, the Ravens stopped BenJarvus Green-Ellis for no gain.

Trailing 20-16, the Patriots decided to go for a touchdown on fourth down. They got it on Brady's leap with 11:29 left in the game that the hard-hitting Lewis stopped ? just a split-second late.

"I saw him get crunched," wide receiver Julian Edelman said. "I'm sure if it was reversed, TB would do the same. (They're) competitors. Whatever it takes to win that little play, that's what guys are going to do, especially in an AFC championship game."

Brady didn't complain.

"It's just the way the game was played," safety James Ihedigbo said. "It's two teams battling for the AFC championship. There's going to be those type of hits and it's all a part of the game. Tom understood that. Everyone on the field knew that. Once you stepped in between those white lines, that's the type of game that was being played."

Brady and Lewis had an earlier collision in the first two minutes of the third quarter, and that time, the intense leader of the three-time Super Bowl champs was angry.

On a second-and-one at the Baltimore 46, Brady carried around left tackle for a 4-yard gain. Lewis, who already had started toward him, landed lightly on his back.

Brady came up yelling. Lewis gave it back. But the confrontation was over in seconds.

"It was definitely a physical game," Edelman said. "That's what you expect when you play the Baltimore Ravens."

Green-Ellis felt that early in the second quarter when linebacker Dannell Ellerbe pulled his helmet off as he was running off right guard. As bodies landed around him, Green-Ellis finished with a 1-yard gain and no damage to his unprotected head.

"It's football," he said. "Guys are grabbing and scratching and clawing for anything they can get. That was the helmet. That was the part he got. I was able to get away from him. I wasn't really thinking about anything but moving forward."

It was clear to Ihedigbo from the start that there would be plenty of blows exchanged.

With so much at stake, the officials were letting two physical teams pound each other.

"Right off the bat, we knew it's one of those games where they were going to let us play and it was physical on both ends," Ihedigbo said. "It was really a heavyweight boxing match."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_patriots_brady_hit

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Penn State Coach Bill O'Brien Issues Statement After Death Of Joe Paterno

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State's football coach says following Joe Paterno in the job is an honor.

Bill O'Brien said in a statement Sunday after Paterno died that the school and all college football have suffered a great loss.

Paterno, who won more games than any other major college coach, was fired in November in the midst of a child sex abuse scandal that centered on a retired Penn State assistant coach. The school hired O'Brien, the New England Patriots offensive coordinator, this month.

He says Penn State is one of the game's iconic programs because "it was led by an icon in the coaching profession."

He also offers condolences to Paterno's family on behalf of the team.

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WrestleMania XXVIII Axxess tickets available this Saturday

The ultimate interactive WWE fan experience ? WrestleMania Axxess ? is coming to Miami from March 29 - April 1 at the Miami Beach Convention Center (Hall D). This is one event WWE fans of all ages will want to be part of! (WATCH)

TICKETS
Available this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. ET at:
?- Ticketmaster
?- Ticketmaster.com
?- Charge by phone: 800-745-3000

ATTRACTIONS
?- Live matches
?- Superstar Q&A's
?- Superstar signings
?- Photo stations
?- WWE Shop
?- Undertaker's Graveyard
?- WWE Championship Titles
?- Memorabilia Display
????? And much more! ?

LIMITED VIP TICKETS - $95*

VIP TICKETS INCLUDE:
?- Autograph from designated Superstar at VIP Autograph Stage
?- Entrance to VIP standing area next to ring at WrestleMania Axxess
?- 8x10 Superstar Photo
?- VIP wristband required for meet & greet (wristband will be provided once tickets are scanned on site)

VIP MEET & GREET WITH AUTOGRAPH SIGNING AND MORE!
Thursday, March 29 - Meet WWE Superstar CM Punk
Thursday, March 29 - Meet 2012 WWE Hall of Famer Edge
Friday, March 30 - Meet WWE Superstar Triple H
Friday, March 30 - Meet WWE Superstar John Cena
Saturday, March 31 - Meet WWE Superstar Randy Orton
Saturday, March 31 - Meet 2011 WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels
Saturday, March 31 - Meet WWE Superstar Chris Jericho
Saturday, March 31 - Meet WWE Legend Mick Foley
Sunday, April 1 - Meet WWE Superstar Sheamus
Sunday, April 1 - Meet WWE Superstar?Big Show
Sunday, April 1 - Meet WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio

GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS - $40*

SESSION SCHEDULE & TIMES
Thursday, March 29
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Friday, March 30
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 31
? Session 1: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
? Session 2: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
? Session 3: 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 1
? Session 1: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
? Session 2: 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Children 3 years and under - FREE

*Prices are PER SESSION and do not include applicable fees or sales tax.

WrestleMania XXVII Axxess photos
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/28/axxess-tickets

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WWE Raw SuperShow results: Jan. 23, 2012

PHOENIX ? With only one week until the 25th Anniversary of the Royal Rumble, calling WWE Raw SuperShow "eventful" would be a gross understatement. Chris Jericho informed the WWE Universe that "it's going to be the end of the world as you know it," while Dolph Ziggler managed to upstage WWE Champion CM Punk on two separate occasions. Also, Zack Ryder was horrifically chokeslammed through the entrance stage by Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. John Laurinaitis did not take place (PHOTOS | WATCH)
Moments before Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis battled WWE Champion CM Punk, he received word from WWE's Board of Directors that his job performance would be evaluated. The Board of Directors is bringing Mr. Laurinaitis' decision-making into question, especially his declaration that he would screw CM Punk at Royal Rumble. Furthermore, the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations' job performance would be evaluated personally by WWE's COO, Triple H.?

David Otunga and Mr. Laurinaitis read the letter to CM Punk inside the squared circle. Mr. Laurinaitis apologized to Punk, announcing he would fairly call the WWE Title Match at Royal Rumble and that Mick Foley was officially an entrant in the Royal Rumble Match. However, the Interim Raw General Manager also informed the WWE Champion that their match would not take place and Punk would battle David Otunga. This prompted Otunga to attack The Voice of the Voiceless.

Otunga's attack was short-lived and CM Punk was soon left alone in the ring with Mr. Laurinaitis. The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations extended his hand in peace, but was reciprocated with a resounding GTS from the WWE Champion. This bold move by The Second City Savior was quickly upstaged when Dolph Ziggler snuck into the ring and took down his Royal Rumble opponent with the Zig Zag.

R-Truth def. The Miz (PHOTOS | WATCH)
Earlier in the evening, the former tag team partners engaged in a heated argument during a backstage interview. As a result, Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis informed the two Superstars that the loser of the match would be the first entrant in the Royal Rumble Match. When the opening bell rang, the two bitter rivals each did their best to gain an early advantage in the contest. Momentum swings were fairly even at first, but it was R-Truth who ultimately bested The Awesome One. As a result, The Miz will certainly have the odds stacked against him in the Royal Rumble Match.

Brodus Clay def. Heath Slater (PHOTOS | WATCH)
The Funkasaurus continued to show that he had all the right moves and picked up a victory against Heath Slater on WWE Raw SuperShow. The Superstar hailing from Planet Funk made quick work of The One Man Southern Rock Band and immediately got back to getting his groove on. William Regal watched from the announce table, criticizing Clay?s every move. On SmackDown, Regal was unceremoniously decimated by The Funkasaurus after busting some moves of his own.

Sheamus def. Jindar Mahal? (PHOTOS | WATCH)
Jinder Mahal failed to capture a victory over The Celtic Warrior on WWE Raw SuperShow. With Wade Barrett joining the commentary team, he watched as Sheamus built a great deal of momentum and pummeled Mahal. While the Punjabi Superstar did mount a brief offense, he was stopped in his tracks by a powerful Brogue Kick. Following the contest, The Great White made sure to reaffirm his commitment to win the Royal Rumble Match.

Zack Ryder vs. Kane ended in a No Contest (PHOTOS | WATCH)
The former United States Champion proved for a second week in a row that he is a true fighter. After losing the U.S. Title in part to injuries suffered at the hands of Kane one week prior, Long Island Iced-Z stood up against The Big Red Monster in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. Still injured, Ryder tried to go after Kane early-on, but Kane quickly overpowered his opponent and targeted his injured ribs.

As Eve begged Kane to show mercy, it seemed to only enrage The Big Red Monster further. However, even as he took tortuous punishment, Ryder continued to kick out of Kane?s pinfall attempts. As they battled through the crowd, the two ring warriors made their way to the entrance area. After relentless punishment that left the WWE Universe cringing with every strike, Kane chokeslammed Ryder through the stage.

Chris Jericho?s ?Highlight Reel? returned to Raw (PHOTOS | WATCH)
After weeks of bizarre behavior since returning to WWE, Chris Jericho seemed poised to address all the questions of the WWE Universe with the return of Jericho?s ?Highlight Reel.? With the Jeri-Tron 5000 back to full power, Jericho played a video highlighting his storied career. He then grabbed a microphone and said, ?This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it?s going to be the end of the world as you know it.? The first-ever Undisputed Champion then exited the arena.

Dolph Ziggler & U.S. Champion Jack Swagger def.? WWE Champion CM Punk & John Cena (PHOTOS | WATCH)
In an impromptu tag team match, John Cena and CM Punk immediately showed great teamwork in an effort to take out their frustrations with Mr. Laurinaitis. With momentum not in their favor, Ziggler and Swagger tried to regroup and re-strategize. With a combination of pure athleticism and show-boating, The All-American American and No. 1 contender to the WWE Title built a fair amount of momentum against Cena. But the fighting spirit deep within the Cenation leader overpowered Swagger with an Attitude Adjustment paving the way for the WWE Champion to get inside the squared circle. However, as The Voice of the Voiceless ascended the ropes to elbow drop Ziggler, Mr. Laurinaitis distracted Punk, allowing The Show-Off to capture the victory.

In response, CM Punk challenged the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations to a match tonight and Mr. Laurinaitis accepted!

WWE Champion CM Punk called out Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis (PHOTOS)
One week after unloading a verbal tirade on Mr. Laurinaitis, The Voice of the Voiceless opened WWE Raw SuperShow by calling out the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, and demanding he admit that he will screw Punk at Royal Rumble. To the surprise of the WWE Universe, John Cena made his way to the ring as Mr. Laurinaitis did not. Cena took the opportunity to demand a match with Kane on Raw and to grant Zack Ryder a U.S. Title rematch.

The Interim Raw General Manager finally appeared and announced that Zack Ryder would face Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere Match tonight. He also declared that if Cena interfered, Long Island Iced-Z would never have another U.S. Title opportunity. Mr. Laurinaitis then announced that CM Punk and John Cena would battle Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler next!

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2012-01-23/results

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Romney's Bain Problem (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Rights group says Iraq becoming 'police state'

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraq's Shiite-led government cracked down harshly on dissent during the past year of Arab Spring uprisings, turning the country into a "budding police state" as autocratic regimes crumbled elsewhere in the region, an international rights groups said Sunday.

Security forces abuse protesters, harass journalists, torture detainees and intimidate activists, Human Rights Watch said in the Iraq chapter of its annual report.

"Iraq is quickly slipping back into authoritarianism," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for the New York-based group. "Despite U.S. government assurances that it helped create a stable democracy (in Iraq), the reality is that it left behind a budding police state," she said.

Protests against Iraq's U.S.-backed and democratically elected government erupted around the country in February 2011, alongside other demonstrations in the Arab world.

While protests in other countries demanded the downfall of autocratic regimes, most of the demonstrations in Iraq pushed for improved services like reliable electricity and water, and an end to corruption.

The government clamped down, sometimes sparking bloody clashes ? as when 14 were killed in confrontations between security forces and civilians across the country during the Feb. 25 protests billed as the "Day of Rage."

A year later, with U.S. troops withdrawn and Iraq's government mired in a political crisis, the protest movement has all but died out. Demonstrators who gather in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square are usually outnumbered by the security forces watching over them.

"Iraqis are quickly losing ground on the most basic of rights, including the right to free speech and assembly," said Samer Muscati, an Iraq researcher for the group. "Nowadays, every time someone attends a peaceful protest, they put themselves at risk of attack and abuse by security forces or their proxies," he said.

Prison brutality, including torture in detention facilities, was a major problem throughout the year, the group's annual report said.

In February 2011 Human Rights Watch uncovered a secret detention center, controlled by elite forces who report to the prime minister's military office.

The group claimed authorities transferred more than 280 detainees to the facility since the beginning of 2010 and charged detainees were tortured there with impunity. Government officials denied the facility's existence and alleged abuses.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-22-ML-Iraq/id-e829cc0085ea407ca31e5855e2eb01a8

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Sony VAIO series get minor processor refresh, Z series grabs LTE option on the way

Ahead of any possible Ultrabook announcements, Sony's looking to give its existing VAIO catalogue a (relatively underwhelming) shot in the arm with a bundle of hardware retweaks. The Z series looks to gain the most out of the Spring refresh, with a new off-white Carbon Fiber Silver color option set to be offered up alongside an optional LTE modem. The series also gets a processor step-up, with new Intel Core i5 and i7 options rounded off with the choice of SSD storage. Including the connectable drive, prices for the series refresh will start from $1,950. Meanwhile, both the S (13-inch, $800, 15-inch, $980)and E series will get a similar bump to Core i7 processors, with both the S and aforementioned Z series able to lock into an extended sheet battery accessory. If minor processor improvements, more battery options and LTE connectivity enough to fork over your cash, you can expect the revitalized units to arrive early next month.

Sony VAIO series get minor processor refresh, Z series grabs LTE option on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/23/sony-vaio-processor-spring-refresh-z-series-lte/

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Overnight Video: Yosemite HD (Little green footballs)

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