US stocks down on Europe worries (AP)

NEW YORK ? Stocks dropped and yields for ultra-safe U.S. government debt fell to their lowest level this year Monday while financial markets around the world waited for Greece to nail down a deal to reduce its crushing debt.

Greece and the investors who bought its national bonds were close to a deal over the weekend. The investors would swap their bonds for replacements with half the face value.

Greece needs the deal to secure a crucial installment of bailout loans and avoid missing an upcoming bond payment. But the deal has been in the works for weeks and could still fall apart.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 72 points to 12,588 as of just before 1 p.m. EST, a drop of 0.6 percent. Financial stocks were the worst performers in the broader market, with Bank of America down 3.3 percent.

Borrowing costs for European countries with the largest debt burdens shot higher. The two-year interest rate for Portugal's government debt jumped to 21 percent from 14 percent last week.

U.S. Treasury yields sank to their lowest level this year as traders parked cash in the safest assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 1.83 percent. It was trading above 2 percent just last week.

The euro dropped 0.6 percent against the dollar, and European stocks sank. French and Spanish stocks closed down 1.6 percent, Italian stocks down 1.2 percent and German stocks down 1 percent.

The focus on Greece has shifted attention away from what's going well in the U.S., said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Companies have reported stronger quarterly earnings, and hiring has picked up.

"Our collective breath has been held for so many months," Ablin said.

While the market is waiting on an agreement to cut Greece's debt and contain a wider European debt crisis, even a messy default could eventually lead to a stronger U.S. stock market, he said.

"If it finally happens and the world doesn't fall apart, maybe we'll have a reason to take risk again," he said. "Once you pull off the Band-Aid, it feels better."

An agreement between Greece and its creditors could serve as a blueprint for other European countries with heavy debt burdens. Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, pointed to Portugal's soaring bond yields in a note to clients.

"At this rate, Portugal is going to move from the back to front burner in very, very short order," he said.

European leaders are also gathering in Brussels, focusing on how to stimulate economic growth when huge government spending cuts threaten to push many countries back into recession.

The latest data showed Spain's economy shrank in the last three months of 2011.

In other trading in the United States, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell nine points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,307. The Nasdaq composite lost 12 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,804.

The Commerce Department said Americans' income rose in December by the most in nine months. That's slightly better than what economists expected.

Among stocks making big moves Friday:

? The fast food chain Wendy's dropped 2 percent. The Wendy's Co. said Monday that a key measure of earnings dropped 30 percent in the fourth quarter. Charges for selling Arby's offset the effects of a jump in sales.

? PharMerica Corp. plunged 12 percent. The Federal Trade Commission said it was suing to block rival pharmacy company Omnicare Inc. from completing its $457 million takeover of PharMerica. The agency said a merger of the country's two largest long-term care pharmacies would raise the cost of Medicare prescription plans covering drugs for nursing home residents. Stock in Omnicare Inc. inched up less than 1 percent.

? Thomas & Betts Corp. soared 22 percent on news that Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd. agreed to buy the maker of power lines and other electrical products for $3.9 billion in cash.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

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Police open fire at Bangladesh protesters, 3 dead (AP)

DHAKA, Bangladesh ? News reports say police have opened fire and used batons on crowds of stone-throwing opposition activists in several Bangladesh towns, killing at least three people and injuring more than 100.

The United News of Bangladesh news agency says the violence occurred Sunday when two opposition parties held protests demanding the reinstatement of a 15-year-old system in which independent caretaker governments oversee national elections. The system was scrapped by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The opposition says elections will be rigged if held under the current government.

Doctors at two hospitals in the eastern towns of Chandpur and Laxmipur confirmed that three men died from bullet injuries.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_as/as_bangladesh_opposition_protest

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Djokovic wins Australian Open in longest final (AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia ? Novak Djokovic ripped off his shirt and let out a primal scream, flexing his torso the way a prize fighter would after a desperate, last-round knockout.

This was the final act in Djokovic's 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final ? a sweat-drenched, sneaker-squeaking 5 hour, 53-minute endurance contest that ended at 1:37 a.m. Monday morning in Melbourne.

Djokovic overcame a break in the fifth set to win his fifth Grand Slam tournament and third in a row. None, though, quite like this. This one involved tears, sweat and, yes, even a little blood. It was the longest Grand Slam singles final in the history of pro tennis and it came against Nadal, the player who built a career on his tenacity ? on outlasting opponents in matches like these.

"It was obvious on the court for everybody who has watched the match that both of us, physically, we took the last drop of energy that we had from our bodies," Djokovic said. "We made history tonight and unfortunately there couldn't be two winners."

When the drama was finally over at Rod Laver Arena, the 24-year-old Djokovic joined Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Nadal as the only men who have won three consecutive majors since the Open Era began in 1968. Nadal was his vanquished opponent in all three.

Djokovic will go for the "Nole Slam" at Roland Garros in May.

As the players waited for the trophy presentation, Nadal leaned on the net, while Djokovic sat on his haunches. Eventually, a nearby official took pity and they were given chairs and bottles of water.

Nadal held his composure during the formalities, and even opened his speech with a lighthearted one-liner.

"Good morning, everybody," he said.

A few minutes earlier, after hugging Nadal at the net, Djokovic tore off his sweat-soaked black shirt and headed toward his players' box, pumping his arms repeatedly as he roared. He walked over to his girlfriend, his coach and the rest of his support team and banged on the advertising signs at the side of the court.

"I think it was just the matter of maybe luck in some moments and matter of wanting this more than maybe other player in the certain point," Djokovic said. "It's just incredible effort. You're in pain, you're suffer(ing). You're trying to activate your legs. You're going through so much suffering your toes are bleeding. Everything is just outrageous, but you're still enjoying that pain."

The match was full of long rallies and amazing gets. Djokovic finished with 57 winners, along with 69 unforced errors. Nadal had 44 winners against 71 unforced errors.

Laver was part of the 15,000-strong crowd when the players walked on at 7:30 p.m. Sunday to flip the coin and start the warmup. He was still there, along with most of the crowd, after 2 a.m. for the trophy presentations.

Djokovic called it the most special of his five Grand Slam wins.

"This one I think comes out on the top because just the fact that we played almost six hours is incredible, incredible," he said. "I think it's probably the longest finals in the history of all Grand Slams, and just to hear that fact is making me cry, really.

"I'm very proud just to be part of this history."

It went so long because Nadal refused to yield. He was trying to avoid becoming the first man to lose three consecutive Grand Slam finals ? and seeing his losing streak in finals stretch to seven against Djokovic, who beat him for the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles and took his No. 1 ranking last year.

After a grueling four-set loss to Djokovic at Flushing Meadows last year, Nadal said that, indeed, he may have found a slight opening ? a glimmer of hope for next time against the player who dominated the 2011 season and had dismantled him time and again over the year.

This one was, in fact, closer, though not necessarily because of any strategic changes, but rather, because Rafa summoned up the heart to take this one the distance.

Nadal stayed in the contest for almost every point, sprinting from one side of the court to the other, chasing down balls and making Djokovic work extra time for the victory. But in the end, the same man was holding the trophy.

Nadal thought his win in the 2008 final against Federer was the best match he's played, but gave Sunday's match a top place in his personal rankings nonetheless.

"This one was very special," he said. "But I really understand that was a really special match, and probably a match that's going to be in my mind not because I lost, no, because the way that we played."

Djokovic had his off moments during this two-week tournament Down Under. He appeared to struggle for breath in his quarterfinal win over No. 5 David Ferrer and again during his five-set semifinal win over No. 4 Andy Murray. He blamed it on allergies, and he managed to control it better against Nadal.

Yet, at times in the final, he looked as if he couldn't go on.

When Nadal fended off three break points at 4-4 in the fourth set to win the game, spectators jumped to their feet and chanted "Rafa, Rafa, Rafa, Rafa!" Djokovic had lost the momentum. Play was stopped moments later when rain started to fall and a suddenly animated Nadal threw his arms up in disbelief and walked slowly back to his chair. The stadium roof was then closed.

Djokovic picked up his game after a 10-minute break and his pockets of supporters waved their Serbian flags again and started their own competing chant of "Nole, Nole, Nole" ? inserting Djokovic's nickname where "Ole" belongs in the tune and rhythm of the Spanish soccer chant.

It wasn't enough to get him through the tiebreaker in the fourth set, though, when Nadal won the last four points to finish it in 88 minutes. Nadal dropped to his knees on the baseline and pumped his arms at that point, celebrating as if he'd won the final. All he'd done was prolong it. This pair had never gone to five sets.

Just as he did during the first set, Djokovic took off a white shirt and replaced it with a black one.

It didn't seem to help immediately as he went down a break and a defeat loomed.

The match clock hit 5 hours with the score 2-2 in the fifth. Nadal won the next point and Djokovic started to stumble slightly, unsteady on his feet.

Nadal held that game without losing a point and then broke Djokovic for a 4-2 lead.

The turning point came in the next game, when Nadal had an open court but knocked a backhand volley wide down the line. He challenged the call, but the ball was clearly out. Instead of being up 40-15 and one point from a 5-2 lead, the game score became 30-30.

Djokovic found energy again and got a break point with a backhand that forced an error from Nadal. He pounced on a Nadal second serve to convert the break as the match clock ticked to 5:15, confirming it as the longest match in the history of the Australian Open. Nadal had that record, at 5:14, in his five-set semifinal win over fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in 2009.

This match had already long surpassed Mats Wilander's win over Ivan Lendl at the 1988 U.S. Open, in 4:54, as the longest final in the terms of duration.

Djokovic started to look better physically and Nadal started to make some unforced errors, giving the Serbian some extra seconds between points to get his heavy breathing under control. After getting back on serve at 4-4, Djokovic kissed the crucifix around his neck twice.

With Nadal serving, the pair engaged in a 31-shot rally that Nadal finally won when Djokovic committed a backhand error. The Serb fell flat on his back on the court, fully stretched out, arms over his head, while Nadal doubled over on his side of the court, hands perched on his knees.

It appeared Djokovic was ready to throw in the towel, but he said he never thought about staying down.

"At that point I was just thinking of getting some air and trying to recover for next point," he said. "Thousand thoughts going through the mind. Trying to separate the right from wrong. Trying to prioritize the next point. I'm playing against one of the best players ever ? the player that is so mentally strong. He was going for everything or nothing."

When Djokovic got the break to go up 5-4, the Serbian fans jumped up with their flags and screamed while the rest of the crowd sat in stony silence.

After kissing the crucifix around his neck repeatedly in the later games, Djokovic openly prayed out loud and looked upward as he got within points of sealing his victory.

"I was trying find every possible help and energy that I possibly can," he said. "It paid off I guess."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_sp_te_ga_su/ten_australian_open

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Study Shows That The Location Of The Itch Matters

By Christie Nicholson
(Click here for the original article and podcast)

Itch. Past studies have shown that whatever the cause?perhaps just hearing me talk about itch?something triggers nerve fibers that send a signal lighting up three areas of the brain: the emotional regions; the limbic system that sparks the urge to scratch; and the cortex that tells you where to scratch.

And recently researchers discovered that where the itch begins can predict how bad it is?and how much pleasure you?ll get by scratching it. The study is in the British Journal of Dermatology. ?

The researchers induced an itch on the ankles, forearms and backs of 18 subjects. And the research team also relieved the itch in a uniform way with a scratching device, rather than let each subject go to town in different and unmeasureable ways.

The results: The experimentally induced itch was particularly bad on the back and ankle. And scratching the back got rid of the itch most effectively. But scratching the ankle provided the most pleasurable relief.

So not all itches are created equal, even if they?re induced equally. The next steps are to find out why, and whether there is a treatment that can match the pleasure of the scratch.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/29/location-itch-scratch_n_1240459.html

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Making memories last: Prion-like protein plays key role in storing long-term memories

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2012) ? Memories in our brains are maintained by connections between neurons called "synapses." But how do these synapses stay strong and keep memories alive for decades? Neuroscientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered a major clue from a study in fruit flies: Hardy, self-copying clusters or oligomers of a synapse protein are an essential ingredient for the formation of long-term memory.

The finding supports a surprising new theory about memory, and may have a profound impact on explaining other oligomer-linked functions and diseases in the brain, including Alzheimer's disease and prion diseases.

"Self-sustaining populations of oligomers located at synapses may be the key to the long-term synaptic changes that underlie memory; in fact, our finding hints that oligomers play a wider role in the brain than has been thought," says Kausik Si, Ph.D., an associate investigator at the Stowers Institute, and senior author of the new study, which is published in the January 27, 2012 online issue of the journal Cell.

Si's investigations in this area began nearly a decade ago during his doctoral research in the Columbia University laboratory of Nobel-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel. He found that in the sea slug Aplysia californica, which has long been favored by neuroscientists for memory experiments because of its large, easily-studied neurons, a synapse-maintenance protein known as CPEB (Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation Element Binding protein) has an unexpected property.

A portion of the structure is self-complementary and -- much like empty egg cartons -- can easily stack up with other copies of itself. CPEB thus exists in neurons partly in the form of oligomers, which increase in number when neuronal synapses strengthen. These oligomers have a hardy resistance to ordinary solvents, and within neurons may be much more stable than single-copy "monomers" of CPEB. They also seem to actively sustain their population by serving as templates for the formation of new oligomers from free monomers in the vicinity.

CPEB-like proteins exist in all animals, and in brain cells they play a key role in maintaining the production of other synapse-strengthening proteins. Studies by Si and others in the past few years have hinted that CPEB's tendency to oligomerize is not merely incidental, but is indeed essential to its ability to stabilize longer-term memory. "What we've lacked till now are experiments showing this conclusively," Si says.

In the new study, Si and his colleagues examined a Drosophila fruit fly CPEB protein known as Orb2. Like its counterpart in Aplysia, it forms oligomers within neurons. "We found that these Orb2 oligomers become more numerous in neurons whose synapses are stimulated, and that this increase in oligomers happens near synapses," says lead author Amitabha Majumdar, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in Si's lab.

The key was to show that the disruption of Orb2 oligomerization on its own impairs Orb2's function in stabilizing memory. Majumdar was able to do this by generating an Orb2 mutant that lacks the normal ability to oligomerize yet maintains a near-normal concentration in neurons. Fruit flies carrying this mutant form of Orb2 lost their ability to form long-term memories. "For the first 24 hours after a memory-forming stimulus, the memory was there, but by 48 hours it was gone, whereas in flies with normal Orb2 the memory persisted," Majumdar says.

Si and his team are now following up with experiments to determine for how long Orb2 oligomers are needed to keep a memory alive. "We suspect that they need to be continuously present, because they are self-sustaining in a way that Orb2 monomers are not," says Si.

The team's research also suggests some intriguing possibilities for other areas of neuroscience. This study revealed that Orb2 proteins in the Drosophila nervous system come in a rare, highly oligomerization-prone form (Orb2A) and a much more common, much less oligomerization-prone form (Orb2B). "The rare form seems to be the one that is regulated, and it seems to act like a seed for the initial oligomerization, which pulls in copies of the more abundant form," Si says. "This may turn out to be a basic pattern for functional oligomers."

The findings may help scientists understand disease-causing oligomers too. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, as well as prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, all involve the spread in the brain of apparently toxic oligomers of various proteins. One such protein, strongly implicated in Alzheimer's disease, is amyloid beta; like Orb2 it comes in two forms, the highly oligomerizing amyloid-beta-42 and the relatively inert amyloid-beta-40. Si's work hints at the possibility that oligomer-linked diseases are relatively common in the brain because the brain evolved to be relatively hospitable to CPEB proteins and other functional oligomers, and thus has fewer mechanisms for keeping rogue oligomers under control.

Other researchers who contributed to the work include Wanda Col?n Cesario, Erica White-Grindely, Huoqin Jian, Fangzhen Ren, Mohammed 'Repon' Khan, Liying Li, Edward Man-Lik Choi, Kasthuri Kannan, Feng Li, Jay Unruh and Brian Slaughter at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri.

The research was supported by the Searle Foundation, the March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Starter Award, the Klingenstein Foundation and the McKnight Foundation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stowers Institute for Medical Research, via Newswise.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Amitabha Majumdar, Wanda Col?n Cesario, Erica White-Grindley, Huoqing Jiang, Fengzhen Ren, Mohammed ?Repon? Khan, Liying Li, Edward Man-Lik Choi, Kasthuri Kannan, Fengli Guo et al. Critical Role of Amyloid-like Oligomers of Drosophila Orb2 in the Persistence of Memory. Cell, 26 January 2012 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.01.004

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127162409.htm

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NASA study solves case of Earth's 'missing energy'

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2012) ? Two years ago, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth's heat and measurements of ocean heating amounted to evidence of "missing energy" in the planet's system.

Where was it going? Or, they wondered, was something wrong with the way researchers tracked energy as it was absorbed from the sun and emitted back into space?

An international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers, led by Norman Loeb of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and including Graeme Stephens of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., set out to investigate the mystery.

They used 10 years of data -- spanning 2001 to 2010 -- from NASA Langley's orbiting Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Experiment (CERES) instruments to measure changes in the net radiation balance at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The CERES data were then combined with estimates of the heat content of Earth's ocean from three independent ocean-sensor sources.

Their analysis, summarized in a NASA-led study published Jan. 22 in the journal Nature Geosciences, found that the satellite and ocean measurements are, in fact, in broad agreement once observational uncertainties are factored in.

"One of the things we wanted to do was a more rigorous analysis of the uncertainties," Loeb said. "When we did that, we found the conclusion of missing energy in the system isn't really supported by the data."

"Missing Energy" is in the Ocean

"Our data show that Earth has been accumulating heat in the ocean at a rate of half a watt per square meter (10.8 square feet), with no sign of a decline," Loeb said. "This extra energy will eventually find its way back into the atmosphere and increase temperatures on Earth."

Scientists generally agree that 90 percent of the excess heat associated with increases in greenhouse gas concentrations gets stored in Earth's ocean. If released back into the atmosphere, a half-watt per square meter accumulation of heat could increase global temperatures by 0.3 or more degrees centigrade (0.54 degree Fahrenheit).

Loeb said the findings demonstrate the importance of using multiple measuring systems over time, and illustrate the need for continuous improvement in the way Earth's energy flows are measured.

The science team at the National Center for Atmospheric Research measured inconsistencies from 2004 and 2009 between satellite observations of Earth's heat balance and measurements of the rate of upper ocean heating from temperatures in the upper 700 meters (2,300 feet) of the ocean. They said the inconsistencies were evidence of "missing energy."

Other authors of the paper are from the University of Hawaii, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, the University of Reading United Kingdom and the University of Miami.

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Journal Reference:

1. Norman G. Loeb, John M. Lyman, Gregory C. Johnson, Richard P. Allan, David R. Doelling, Takmeng Wong, Brian J. Soden, Graeme L. Stephens. Observed changes in top-of-the-atmosphere radiation and upper-ocean heating consistent within uncertainty. Nature Geoscience, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1375

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/2012/01/120127173235.htm

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Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6614

We've seen several laptops lately that peg the intersection of the desktop replacement and budget categories at around $700. The Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6614 is a bit steeper at $779.99 list, but don't dismiss it: For one thing, we've seen online resellers offering it for around $750. For another, the 15.6-inch Aspire is loaded with everything from Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) to a discrete Nvidia graphics adapter that actually passed our gaming tests at medium resolution and detail settings.

As you might guess from its model number, the Acer 5830TG-6614 is a refreshed version of the Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6402 ($799.99 direct, 3.5 stars) we tested in August. Besides a $20 price cut and the addition of WiDi 2.0?which beams the notebook's display to an HDTV equipped with an extra-cost ($100 or so) Belkin, D-Link, or Netgear adapter?the changes include slightly faster graphics and processing hardware.

Design
Unchanged from August is the Aspire's handsome cobalt blue aluminum lid with chrome Acer logo and matching blue plastic palm rest; the black chiclet-style keys are framed in a silver aluminum keyboard surround. There's a numeric keypad, with small but dedicated Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys, to the right of the primary keys; the touchpad is centered under the latter (actually, under the space bar), so some users perceive it as being too far to the left. I had no complaints myself?I quite enjoyed typing on the laptop, and the touchpad, though a little small compared to some of the jumbo ones you see today, worked smoothly, with comfortable left and right buttons instead of invisible clickpad corners.

Measuring 1.2 by 14.9 by 9.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 5.4 pounds, the 5830TG-6614 has an appealingly angular design. The 15.6-inch widescreen has the same 1,366-by-768 resolution that's ubiquitous in the class?if you want more space, you'll have to either pay for the likes of the Dell XPS 15z ($1,534 direct, 4 stars) or opt for a 17.3-inch system such as the HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx ($699.99 list, 4 stars). Sufficient for viewing videos in 720p, the display offers a glossy finish and fairly narrow viewing angles. The laptop's audio is a good partner for those videos, with above-average sound from the Dolby Home Theater speakers mounted above the keyboard.

Features
WiMAX or other mobile broadband is absent, but otherwise the TimelineX has a full complement of wireless features: Besides WiDi, there's 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There's also Clear.fi, a proprietary streaming technology that lets Acer products (such as the Aspire and an Iconia tablet) share multimedia content over a home Wi-Fi network.

On the Aspire's right side are three USB 2.0 ports and a dual-layer DVD?RW drive, with an SD/MMC/xD/MS Pro memory card slot on the front edge. Ethernet, microphone, and headphone jacks are on the left side, as are VGA and HDMI ports and one USB 3.0 port. The last can be used to charge a cell phone or other device; a handy utility lets you specify whether to allow USB charging only when the laptop is plugged in or discontinue it when the latter's battery sinks to a certain percentage.

The Acer's 640GB, 5,400rpm hard drive is smaller than the 750GB drives found in competitors like the Lenovo IdeaPad Z570-10249ZU ($699.99 list, 3.5 stars), but still offers plenty of room for your documents and multimedia files. It's also packed with more than its share of bloatware, from a slew of house-brand utilities to usual suspects like Microsoft Office Starter 2010 and a 60-day trial of McAfee Internet Security to New York Times and Nook e-readers and Netflix and eBay links. Acer backs the Aspire with a two-year mail- or carry-in parts-and-labor warranty and one-year international travelers' warranty offering access to service centers abroad for owners who carry a copy of the original sales receipt.

Performance
The 5830TG-6614 is built around Intel's 2.4GHz Core i5-2430M, the same dual-core, four-thread processor found in our Editors' Choice Asus U56E-BBL6 and numerous competitors, with 6GB of DDR3 memory. It's not surprising, then, that many of its benchmark scores are virtual ties with those laptops'. Its PCMark 7 score of 2,388, for instance, is well within the margin of error of the 2,376 of the Lenovo Z570-10249ZU, and its Photoshop CS5 time of 4 minutes 8 seconds is just six seconds behind that of the Asus U56E-BBL6 and HP dv7-6b55dx.

The Aspire strides to the front, however, in graphics tests, thanks to its 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 540M discrete graphics adapter. Running at 1,024-by-768 resolution with medium quality and detail settings, the Acer posted a playable 39.1 frames per second (fps) in Lost Planet 2 and a better-than-playable 58.1fps in Crysis, as well as nearing the impressive 10,000-point mark (9,551) in 3DMark06.

Nvidia's Optimus technology automatically switches from the GeForce adapter to the Core i5 chip's more placid integrated graphics when running visually undemanding applications, which boosts battery life. Indeed, though I'm by nature biased against batteries sealed inside laptop cases so they can't be swapped out, it's hard to criticize the Acer's too much, because it lasted a hardy 9 hours 1 minute in our MobileMark 2007 test?trailing its 5830TG-6402 predecessor (9:57) and the HP Pavilion (9:33), but besting the Asus (7:42) and Lenovo (5:30).

Overall, the Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6614 comes within a whisker of unseating the Asus U56E-BBL6 as our budget laptop Editors' Choice, the latter clinging to its title by dint of its lower price and removable battery. But if you're looking for an affordable desktop replacement that won't fold when you fire up a few games, the Acer is a strong candidate.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6614 with several other laptops side by side.

More laptop reviews:
??? HP Folio 13
??? Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6614
??? Toshiba Portege Z830-S8302
??? HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr (Verizon)
??? Dell Latitude E6420 XFR
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/oSWv6AhgHpw/0,2817,2399062,00.asp

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Android tablets approach tipping point, mimic smartphone rise (Appolicious)

Google?s winning smartphone strategy was to make Android open source and invite anyone and everyone to create a device for their mobile platform. It worked, as HTC, Motorola and others jumped on the opportunity to create smartphones to rival the iPhone. However, the market was reset when Apple released the iPad. Yet another game-changer, the iPad set new standards for tablets, and is already prepping for a third generation release. All the while, Google?s been building an Android platform designed for tablets, eventually releasing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich towards the end of last year. While Android?s been unable to topple iOS in the tablet arena, the tides are finally starting to turn as Android?s tablet market share rose to 39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

According to Strategy Analytics, that?s up from 29 percent in the year-earlier period. The iPad still accounted for 68.2 percent of tablet sales, but the pattern is following a path similar to the smartphone market since the iPhone was first released in 2007.

?In other words, Android tablets are rising at broadly the same rate as Android smartphones did in the past,? says Neil Mawston, executive director of the global wireless practice of Strategy Analytics.

That?s good news for device makers, who have been anxious to release better Android tablets into the market. Price is certainly a factor, with gadgets like the Amazon Kindle Fire appealing to a broad range of consumers. Companies like Samsung have been able to rise to the top of the Android competition with one of the best iPad alternatives in terms of features. And while Samsung faces a slew of patent infringement lawsuits from Apple, Android OEMs can apply some of the lessons learned from their smartphone experiences, making improvements in their tablet strategies moving forward.

Tablets boost the mobile market

More Android tablets could be a boost for carriers as well, which rely on a diverse mobile device line up to draw in consumers. AT&T may have lost a few billion in the failed T-Mobile merger, but the wireless provider still managed to beat Wall Street?s expectations last quarter with total revenue of $32.5 billion, an increase of 3.6 percent from the same period last year. AT&T had its best-ever quarter for smartphones, setting records for Android and iPhone activations. If tablets truly are to follow the smartphone market, networks like AT&T will be able to further their revenue streams around tablets and data plans over the next few quarters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_androidapps_com_articles10876_android_tablets_approach_tipping_point_mimic_smartphone_rise/44314419/SIG=13d56tn0b/*http%3A//www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/10876-android-tablets-approach-tipping-point-mimic-smartphone-rise

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Genetic screens bring new hope for tackling sleeping sickness

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? New genetic technique allows to look into the mechanism of action of the drugs used to treat sleeping sickness for the first time and to understand how resistance develops.

Research led by scientists at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has exploited a revolutionary genetic technique to discover how human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) drugs target the parasite which causes the disease. The new knowledge could help lead to the development of better treatments for the tens of thousands of people in sub-Saharan Africa who are affected each year.

The findings, published in Nature, are based on the simultaneous analysis of thousands of genes and the action of the five drugs effective against HAT, also known as sleeping sickness.?

The disease ? usually fatal if left untreated - is caused by a parasite called Trypanosoma brucei, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly and attacks the central nervous system. Although treatment is available, until now there has been little understanding of how and why the drugs are particularly effective against African trypanosomes and therefore limited scope to tackle resistance when it arises. In particular, an arsenic-based drug called melarsoprol is increasingly ineffective and has the added problem of severe toxicity in patients; it is only because HAT is such a lethal disease that this drug is still in use.

Employing a process of specific gene disruption that prevents the parasite from producing its signature proteins, and targeting one gene in each cell (the parasite is unicellular), the scientists identified which modifications resulted in drug resistance. This implied that the original gene was essential for the drug to work. The technique, called RNA interference target sequencing (RIT-seq), depends upon technology developed by scientists at LSHTM over several years and a high-throughput DNA sequencing approach developed in collaboration with researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

The team screened the entire T. brucei genome of 7,500 genes and found a total of 50 genes, and therefore 50 proteins, that are linked to drug action and resistance. With this information, the group analysed the biological processes those proteins are involved in and deduced how the drugs interact with the parasite.

Lead researcher Dr David Horn, Reader in Molecular Biology at LSHTM, said: ?We now know a lot more about how these drugs work. This new understanding of how these medications kill parasites, or fail to kill parasites, could lead to the development of tests that guide the intervention strategy as well as more active and safer intervention options. What is important now is to begin the process of translating the new findings into clinical advances such as new diagnostics and therapies.?

The research was a collaboration between LSHTM, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge and was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

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Journal Reference:

1. Sam Alsford, Sabine Eckert, Nicola Baker, Lucy Glover, Alejandro Sanchez-Flores, Ka Fai Leung, Daniel J. Turner, Mark C. Field, Matthew Berriman, David Horn. High-throughput decoding of antitrypanosomal drug efficacy and resistance. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature10771

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125131212.htm

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PFT: Vikings open to offers for No. 3 pick

AP

After the Colts introduced their new head coach on Thursday, the owner addressed the status of their possibly former quarterback.

Rosenthal pointed out earlier in the day comments that Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star communicated via Twitter.? Kravitz now has a full article based on the things Irsay said to Kravitz and other reporters.

It?s now even more clear that Manning and Irsay are positioning themselves to absorb minimal blame for a possible divorce.? Manning wants to create the impression that, if he leaves, it will have been the team?s decision.? Irsay?s comments suggest that it will be a joint decision ? and thus that any blame should be shared.

?We?ll work it through and we?ll work it through hand in hand, and we?ll talk and we?ll continue to talk as we get into February and get closer to the league year,? Irsay said.? ?That?s kind of where it stands right now.?

Still, it?s clear that Irsay isn?t happy with things Manning recently said, including his characterization of the team facility as ?not . . . a very good place for healing? due to all the recent changes.? ?There?s not any sort of bad situation around here for healing or anything like that,? Irsay said. ?That?s not a correct perspective.? Like I said, you keep it in house, your family, you talk to each other if you have problems, and he knows that.?

Irsay believes Manning?s remarks undermine the team.? ?I don?t think it?s in a good interest to paint the horseshoe in a negative light, I really don?t,? Irsay said.? ?He?s such a big part of that and everything else, but the horseshoe always comes first.?

Manning may disagree with that.? He thinks the people come first, and right now Manning undoubtedly is thinking about his own interests ? as he should.

And so the ball is now back in the court of the quarterback Irsay called a ?politician.?? While it?s still never wise to get involved in a land war in Asia, Chuck Pagano?s new boss is the Vizzini in this rapidly unfolding battle of wits.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/26/spielman-says-vikings-more-than-willing-to-listen-to-trade-offers-for-no-3-pick/related/

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Takes from the President's State of the Union (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191168238?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Mass. dentist admits doing paper clip root canals (AP)

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. ? A former dentist has pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud for using sections of paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in root canals in an effort to save money.

Michael Clair, who had a practice in Fall River, is scheduled to be sentenced next week. He pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding Medicaid of $130,000, assault and battery, illegally prescribing prescription drugs and witness intimidation charges.

Some of Clair's patients reported infections after he performed root canals on them, said Grant Woodman, a spokesman for state Attorney General Martha Coakley, whose office prosecuted Clair.

Prosecutors say Clair was suspended by Medicaid in 2002 but continued filing by using the names of other dentists in his practice.

Clair's license to practice dentistry was suspended in Massachusetts in July 2006. Woodman said Clair is no longer licensed to practice dentistry in any state.

Clair's lawyer, John Dingee, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday. The 53-year-old Clair now lives in Crofton, Md.

James Kulild, a professor of endodontics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry, said there are very limited circumstances under which a paper clip could be used during dental procedures. He said a paper clip should never be left in permanently.

"Paper clips do not satisfy the requirements for posts, not only because they aren't made of stainless steel but because their shape and consistency will not allow them to be functionally acceptable to use," Kulild said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_us/us_paper_clips_dentist

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Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich: Isn't Charity a 'Christian Value?' (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | OK, Republican presidential hopefuls, let's have it out. Enough with the shadowy references and whispered slams.

Poor people are still people. And people deserve to eat. For a collection of the so-called "religious" who wave and tout and bleat their religulousity (thank you, Bill Maher) constantly, you sure have a dim view on helping your fellow man. After a State of the Union address that covered a range of issues bearing down on a nation in risk of losing its middle class, what does Newt Gingrich talk about?

Food stamps.

Newt said of President Barack Obama's address, according to ABC News: "He will always prefer a food stamp economy to a paycheck economy and call it fair." This remark follows his previous offer to speak to the NAACP about encouraging its membership to focus on jobs over what? Food stamps.

Newt, we get it. You seem to think that every person of color -- including the President of the United States -- is obsessed with food stamps. It's an implication fraught with racism so thinly veiled, it might as well be sheer.

Though it shouldn't need saying, once again, all black people are not on food stamps or trying to get on food stamps or recently off food stamps, and all people who need government assistance to eat are not black. Now, with that overarching racism out of the way, let's get to the heart of what these candidates think of charity.

Newt's not the only one finding political fodder in disdain for the poor (or in Newt's case, the imagined poor). Gov. Mitt Romney's tax plan would raise taxes on low-income Americans to finance high-end cuts, reports the Associated Press.

Keep in mind Mitt paid a tax rate of about 13.9 percent the past two years, and earned about $45.2 million in that time period, according to Reuters. And yet apparently he thinks his taxes are too high because he wants to cut taxes for the rich (read: Mitt).

Arguments that these "job creators" need tax breaks to help the economy are protectionist nonsense: if it worked, the economy would be helped by now. How much lower than 14 percent does the tax rate have to be before the rest of the country sees the benefit?

Enough. Enough of the poor-blaming, race-baiting rhetoric that raises hackles but accomplishes nothing. Enough of empty words that translate into more of the same: benefits for the wealthy and shaming of the poor. We are all Americans, whether we are rich, poor, religious, non-religious. Bruce Springsteen recently penned the future anthem "We Take Care of Our Own" about these lost values, and hearing it rips at any American who cares about our fellow citizens, any American who can remember when it wasn't this way, because it's just not true anymore.

Now the fight is over which candidate can outdo the other, punishing our own most severely for the new sin of poverty. Enough.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120125/pl_ac/10883791_mitt_romney_newt_gingrich_isnt_charity_a_christian_value

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Women Feel Pain More Intensely Than Men Do

News | Health

Future research is needed to find out the exact causes of pain perception differences, and which ones would be best to target for more effective pain control

By Rachael Rettner and MyHealthNewsDaily ?| January 23, 2012?|

When a woman falls ill, her pain may be more intense than a man's, a new study suggests.

Across a number of different diseases, including diabetes, arthritis and certain respiratory infections, women in the study reported feeling more pain than men, the researchers said.

The study is one of the largest to examine sex differences in human pain perception. The results are in line with earlier findings, and reveal that sex differences in pain sensitivity may be present in many more diseases than previously thought.

Because pain is subjective, the researchers can't know for sure whether women, in fact, experience more pain than men. A number of factors, including a person's mood and whether they take pain medication, likely influence how much pain they say they're in.

"Whatever the reason, I think it's important to be aware of this pain discrepancy between men and women and look into it further," said study researcher Linda Liu, a doctoral student in Stanford University Biomedical Informatics program.

Future studies, in both people and animals, should analyze their results to see whether sex differences in pain may be present, Liu said. Many studies in animals do not include females, or fail to report the sex of animals used, Liu said.

The study was published online Jan. 12 in the Journal of Pain.

Sex differences

Most human studies examining gender differences in reported pain have compared the number of women with the number of men with a given condition who say they are in pain. But most haven't looked at how intense the pain is, and many have not included enough people to be able to detect differences between the sexes in pain perception, the researchers said.

The new study included information from more than 11,000 patients whose pain scores were recorded in electronic medical records at Stanford Hospital and Clinics between 2007 and 2010. Patients were asked to rate their pain on a scale of zero (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable).

In all, the researchers assessed sex differences in reported pain for more than 250 diseases and conditions.

For almost every diagnosis, women reported higher average pain scores than men. Women's scores were, on average, 20 percent higher than men's scores, according to the study.

Women with lower back pain, and knee and leg strain consistently reported higher scores than men. Women also reported feeling more pain in the neck (for conditions such as torticollis, in which the neck muscles twist or spasm) and sinuses (during sinus infections) than did men, a result not found by previous research.

Pain perception

It could be that women assign different numbers to the level of pain they perceive compared with men, said Roger B. Fillingim, a pain researcher at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, who was not involved with the new study.

But the study was large, and the findings are backed up by previous work, Fillingim said.

"I think the most [simple] explanation is that women are indeed experiencing higher levels of pain than men," Fillingim said.

The reason for this is not known, Fillingim said. Past research suggests a number of factors contribute to perceptions of pain level, including hormones, genetics and psychological factors, which may vary between men and women, Fillingim said. It's also possible the pain systems work differently in men and women, or women experience more severe forms of disease than men, he said.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a4cc6d8ea32ccecd2e453aa04f25720b

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Arab League extends Syria mission 1 more month

AAA??Jan. 22, 2012?9:15 AM ET
Arab League extends Syria mission 1 more month
HADEEL AL-SHALCHIHADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press??

Syrian army defectors gather at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria, near the Lebanese border, on Friday Jan. 20, 2012. President Bashar Assad's forces attacked Zabadani, some 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of the capital, for six days, sparking fierce fighting that involved heavy bombardments and clashes with army defectors. On Wednesday, government tanks and armored vehicles pulled back, leaving the opposition in control of the town. Buoyed by the opposition's control of a town near the Syrian capital, thousands of people held anti-government protests Friday, chanting for the downfall of the regime. At least eight people were killed by security forces across the country, activists said. (AP Photo)

Syrian army defectors gather at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria, near the Lebanese border, on Friday Jan. 20, 2012. President Bashar Assad's forces attacked Zabadani, some 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of the capital, for six days, sparking fierce fighting that involved heavy bombardments and clashes with army defectors. On Wednesday, government tanks and armored vehicles pulled back, leaving the opposition in control of the town. Buoyed by the opposition's control of a town near the Syrian capital, thousands of people held anti-government protests Friday, chanting for the downfall of the regime. At least eight people were killed by security forces across the country, activists said. (AP Photo)

An anti-Syrian regime protester flashes victory sign as he marches during a demonstration at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria, near the Lebanese border, on Friday Jan. 20, 2012. President Bashar Assad's forces attacked Zabadani, some 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of the capital, for six days, sparking fierce fighting that involved heavy bombardments and clashes with army defectors. On Wednesday, government tanks and armored vehicles pulled back, leaving the opposition in control of the town. Buoyed by the opposition's control of a town near the Syrian capital, thousands of people held anti-government protests Friday, chanting for the downfall of the regime. At least eight people were killed by security forces across the country, activists said. (AP Photo)

Anti-Syrian regime protesters chant slogans as they gather beneath a large Syrian revolution flag during a demonstration at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria, near the Lebanese border, on Friday Jan. 20, 2012. President Bashar Assad's forces attacked Zabadani, some 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of the capital, for six days, sparking fierce fighting that involved heavy bombardments and clashes with army defectors. On Wednesday, government tanks and armored vehicles pulled back, leaving the opposition in control of the town. Buoyed by the opposition's control of a town near the Syrian capital, thousands of people held anti-government protests Friday, chanting for the downfall of the regime. At least eight people were killed by security forces across the country, activists said. (AP Photo)

Anti-Syrian regime protesters gather at a square as they hold an Arabic banner, center, reading, "hey, the miserable, the tyrant, what else," during a demonstration at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria, near the Lebanese border, on Friday Jan. 20, 2012. President Bashar Assad's forces attacked Zabadani, some 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of the capital, for six days, sparking fierce fighting that involved heavy bombardments and clashes with army defectors. On Wednesday, government tanks and armored vehicles pulled back, leaving the opposition in control of the town. Buoyed by the opposition's control of a town near the Syrian capital, thousands of people held anti-government protests Friday, chanting for the downfall of the regime. At least eight people were killed by security forces across the country, activists said. (AP Photo)

CAIRO (AP) ? The Arab League observer's mission in Syria has been extended for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said on Sunday.

The decision was made during a meeting by Arab foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital, where they decided to add more members to the mission and provide them with more resources.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media, said the U.N. would train the observers.

The move had been widely expected after the troubled mission technically expired on Thursday. Many in Syria's opposition movement have complained that the observers have failed to curb the bloodshed in the country as the regime cracks down on a 10-month-old uprising against it.

Diplomacy has taken on urgency as opponents of Assad's regime and soldiers who switched sides increasingly take up arms and fight back against government forces, raising fears the conflict is veering toward civil war after beginning with largely peaceful protests in March.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' head Rami Abdul-Rahman said government troops had pulled back early Sunday to a provincial headquarters and a security agency building in the Damascus suburb of Douma after hours of clashes, although they still controlled the entrances. The clashes broke out after Syrian troops opened fire at a funeral on Saturday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-ML-Syria/id-d94e0c437c6548f0964ff0e3df6ba189

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Egypt Islamists ease rhetoric on eve of power

CAIRO?? After decades of dreaming of power, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood finally comes face to face with the question of how to use it, as a new parliament that it dominates opens Monday.

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The fundamentalist group has eased off talk of Islamic-style legislation, saying it will focus on fixing Egypt's ailing economy, and it has even backed off introducing further explicit Islamic references in the new constitution it will have a major hand in writing. But it has other tools to push Egypt toward greater religious conservativism.

The Brotherhood's caution in its Islamic rhetoric and parliament agenda reflect its worries of a backlash against it at a time when Egypt's politics are still in major flux. Egyptians are eager to see quick improvements in an economy that has been battered by turmoil and mismanagement since the fall of Hosni Mubarak nearly a year ago.

They also want signs of long-term change in a system where corruption was rife, nearly half the population fell to the edge of poverty or below, young people searched in vain for jobs and for housing and neighborhoods were left to fall into dilapidation as Mubarak's regime built clean new suburbs for the few wealthy.

Moreover, how much authority the Brotherhood will have to bring changes remains unsettled. The military, which took over when Mubarak was ousted, holds ultimate power for at least six more months. The Brotherhood and ruling generals are expected to jostle and cajole each other over dividing power, and the Brotherhood is wary of moves that could cause a clash.

"We can't talk about implementing Islamic Shariah law when the country is experiencing such devastating economic problems," said Mohammed Gouda, a Brotherhood policymaker and member of the party's economic committee.

The Brotherhood feels little need to push through legislation enforcing an Islamic vision, he and other members say, especially since Egyptian society is already deeply religious and conservative. More effective, they say, is influencing the culture. Brotherhood members show a confidence that they can show a "correct" example of Islam that will bring the public into their way of life.

Indeed, Gouda said that the Egyptian public is "already convinced" and doesn't need much persuasion.

He pointed to the dramatic spread of the Muslim headscarf among women in past decades. In the past, few women wore it, but now it is nearly universal among Muslim women in Egypt as society has grown more conservative. He and others shrug off the need for laws on traditionally "Islamic " issues such as banning alcohol and encouraging or even requiring gender segregation and Islamic dress.

Critics in Egypt worry that the Brotherhood is only biding its time to bring a more Islamic agenda, and their greatest fear is of a long-term understanding between the Brotherhood and military to run the country, even after the generals step aside for a civilian president, due to take place by late June.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report Sunday that the West must recognize that Islamists are "the majority preference" in Egypt and other Arab countries and will naturally grow stronger in a democratic system.

But it said pressure must be maintained to ensure respect for human rights.

The Brotherhood has been "saying the right things" but "we have to see how they govern and how they deal with women, religious minorities. These are the big questions," said HRW's executive director Kenneth Roth.

By any measure, it will be an unprecedented moment on Monday with the convening of the first parliament since last year's dramatic wave of protests led to the Feb. 11 fall of Mubarak after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule. The protests were led by leftist and secular youth, but the free elections that resulted ? Egypt's first in living memory ? were a prize for Islamists, particularly the Brotherhood, which was banned under Mubarak.

In the parliament chamber Monday, 47 percent of the 498 lawmakers will belong to the Brotherhood, including the parliament speaker. Another quarter will be Salafis, a more radical Islamic group who only a year ago shunned democracy as a violation of God's law but who now see government as the way to bring it about.

Parliament's biggest upcoming task is the writing of the new constitution. It is to form a 100-member assembly to draft the document, though the military is pressing for a say as well, and the Brotherhood is under pressure to ensure secular and liberal voices have an equal say with Islamists.

The Brotherhood says it does not intend to enshrine further Islamic structures into the new charter, beyond its current Article 2, which says principles of Islamic law are "the main basis" for legislation in Egypt.

The phrasing is broad enough to mean almost whatever those in power want it to mean. Mubarak's nominally secular regime did little to legislate Shariah beyond family laws, but future decision-makers could cite the clause to insist on expanding Shariah's scope.

Instead, the Brotherhood's priority in the constitution is, again, political more than religious. It wants to restructure Egypt's system where the president had overwhelming power ? the legal grounding for Mubarak's authoritarian rule.

For months, the Brotherhood advocated a strictly parliamentary system. That raised criticism that it seeks to concentrate power in a body that it is likely to dominate for the foreseeable future, so it has shifted to advocating a mixed system sharing powers between president and parliament.

In parliament itself, the focus will be on the economy, said Gouda.

The Brotherhood's economic platform, as much as it is spelled out, is strongly liberal capitalist, reflecting the business and professional backgrounds of many of its members, so much so that it has come under criticism from the left for neglecting "social justice."

Gouda said the group's priority is stability to encourage investment. It wants to tackle corruption by activating a consumer protection law that was introduced under Mubarak but sat idle, and by making regulatory bodies independent so they can do their work without corruption.

"We will set up a system to encourage people to report those who offer bribes, and actually make sure laws that protect consumers be applied," he said.

For spreading its conservative ideology through the culture, the Brotherhood already boasts a nationwide system of charities and social work. If it gains positions in government as well as parliament, it could have further tools, including greater influence over the powerful state television and other media ? which it has always been shut out of. Some Brotherhood figures have spoken of the Education Ministry as a key sector.

The Brotherhood, however, may face a challenge to this gradualist approach from the right.

The Salafis who form the second largest bloc in parliament espouse a far more rigid, literalist and uncompromising stance on Shariah. The two blocs were often rivals in the election campaign over the past months, and pressing for more overtly Islamic laws could help the Salafi parties with their base.

"What we may see is that each side will try to out-Muslim the other," said Mohammed Abbas, a young former Brotherhood member who left the group after being frustrated with the group for not giving youth a stronger voice.

Nathan J. Brown, a professor at George Washington University and who studies Middle Eastern Islamist parties said the Salafis "are one of the biggest issues on their mind ? almost as big as the military."

The Brothers' worry is that they would be pushed into a more radical stance. They remember the experiences of Islamic movements in Algeria and Palestine, where Islamic groups that were too aggressive brought a backlash. They also don't want to lose their focus on showing they can bring good governance.

"They would never say they are de-emphasizing religion, and I think they are being sincere," Brown said. "For them good governance providing for the needs of people, this is Islam."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46092528/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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Deputy head of Libya's NTC quits after protests (Reuters)

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) ? The deputy head of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Sunday he was resigning after a series of protests against the new government which the country's leader warned could drag Libya into a "bottomless pit."

The protests have pitched the NTC into its deepest crisis since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown with help from NATO powers last year, and they raise new questions about the council's ability to govern the oil exporting country.

Late Saturday, a crowd demanding the government's resignation forced their way into the NTC's local headquarters in Benghazi while the NTC chief was inside, in the most serious show of anger at the authorities since Gaddafi's ouster.

The NTC has the support of Western powers, but it is unelected, has been slow to restore basic public services, and some Libyans say too many of its members are tarnished by ties to Gaddafi.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-president of the NTC and one of the council's highest-profile members, was the target of some of the protesters' criticism. Last week, students jostled him when he visited a university in Benghazi and he had to be pulled to safety.

"My resignation is for the benefit of the nation and is required at this stage," Ghoga told Al Jazeera television.

He said the national consensus that helped the country rise up and end Gaddafi's 42-year rule had not lasted into peace-time, giving way to what he called an atmosphere of hatred.

"I do not want this atmosphere to continue and negatively affect the National Transitional Council and its performance," said Ghoga, who also acted as the NTC's spokesman.

DISAPPOINTED HOPES

Protesters say the NTC has failed to live up to the aspirations of the revolt against Gaddafi, the most violent of the "Arab Spring" uprisings.

"We hoped for security, peace and transparency. We have seen the opposite," said Miftah Al-Rabia, 28, who was standing outside the NTC's Benghazi headquarters Sunday with a group of protesters.

NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, speaking at a news conference in Benghazi just over an hour before Ghoga announced he was resigning, appealed to the protesters to be more patient.

"We are going through a political movement that can take the country to a bottomless pit," he said. "There is something behind these protests that is not for the good of the country."

"The people have not given the government enough time and the government does not have enough money. Maybe there are delays, but the government has only been working for two months. Give them a chance, at least two months."

He said he had accepted the resignation of Benghazi's mayor, Saleh El-Ghazal, following the protests, and promised elections to choose the mayor's successor.

In a glimpse of the lack of coordination which Western diplomats say pervades the workings of the NTC, Abdel Jalil was asked if Ghoga would be stepping down and said he would not.

Sources in the NTC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ghoga has not submitted a letter of resignation.

They said he was angry at being manhandled at the university and that a delegation had gone to his home to try to talk him out of resigning.

The location of the protests is particularly galling for the NTC. Benghazi, in eastern Libya, was the birthplace of the revolt against Gaddafi's rule and the site of the NTC's headquarters during the revolt.

HASTILY-FORMED COUNCIL

The protests add to the list of challenges facing the NTC.

It is struggling to bring to heel dozens of armed militias who have carved the country into rival fiefdoms and are so far refusing to join a newly created national army.

Foreign states are worried about the NTC's capacity to secure its borders against arms traffickers, al Qaeda insurgents and migrants trying to reach Europe illegally.

The NTC was formed in the early days of the revolt against Gaddafi from a hastily-assembled group of lawyers, government officials who defected, Muslim clerics, tribal leaders and civil society activists.

At the time, Gaddafi's troops were using automatic weapons to fire on protests in Benghazi and elsewhere, and there was little time to vet the members.

But nearly six months on from the moment the rebellion took control of the capital Tripoli, Libyans are started to question the council's legitimacy.

In particular, some people have cast doubt over the loyalties of former Gaddafi lieutenants who are now in the NTC. These include Abdel Jalil himself, who was justice minister under Gaddafi before defecting early in the uprising.

The council says it will dissolve itself once elections are held for a transitional national assembly. That vote is scheduled to take place in about six months.

At the NTC headquarters in Benghazi Sunday, smashed windows bore witness to the protests Saturday night. Guards in camouflage fatigues patrolled the building.

"We still don't know who exactly is in the NTC. There is no transparency," said Al-Rabia, a protester standing outside the building with a group of about 30 other men.

Another protester, 24-year-old Mohammed Mahmoud, said he fought against Gaddafi during the revolt and wounded his shoulder and hand.

"We fought on the front line and received injuries but we did not see the NTC with us," he said. "I have one single question: Why has the NTC failed at everything except selling oil? We want to correct the path of the revolution."

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Ali Shuaib and Taha Zargoun in Tripoli and Mohammad Al Tommy in Benghazi; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/wl_nm/us_libya_benghazi_protests

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James' passion, great range remembered (AP)

NEW YORK ? On her last album "The Dreamer," released just three months before her death, Etta James sings a mix of covers, from the R&B classic "Misty Blue" to the Ray Charles song "In the Evening." But perhaps the most curious tune included on the disc may be the Guns N' Roses staple "Welcome to the Jungle."

That a 73-year-old icon of R&B would tackle the frenetic rock song ? albeit in a pace more fitting her blues roots ? might seem odd. But the song may be the best representation of James as both a singer and a person ? rambunctious in spirit, with the ability to sing whatever was thrown at her, whether it was jazz, blues, pining R&B or a song from one of the rowdiest bands in rock.

"She was able to dig so deep in kind of such a raw and unguarded place when she sang, and that's the power of gospel and blues and rhythm and blues. She brought that to all those beautiful standards and rocks songs that she did. All the number of vast albums she recorded, she covered such a wide variety of material that brought such unique phrasing and emotional depth," said Bonnie Raitt, a close friend, in an interview on Friday afternoon after James' death.

"I think that's what appealed to people, aside from the fact that her personality on and off the stage was so huge and irrepressible. She was ribald and raunchy and dignified, classy and strong and vulnerable all at the same time, which is what us as women really relate to."

James, whose signature song was the sweeping, jazz-tinged torch song "At Last," died in Riverside, Calif., from complications of leukemia. Her death came after she struggled with dementia and other health problems, health issues that kept her from performing for the last two or so years of her life.

It was a life full of struggles. Her mother was immersed in a criminal life and left her to be raised by friends, she never knew her true father (though she believed it was billiards great Minnesota Fats), and she had her own troubles, which included a decades-long addiction to drugs, turbulent relationships, brushes with the law, and other tribulations.

One might think all of those problems would have weighted down James' spirit, and her voice, layering it with sadness, or despair. While she certainly could channel depression, anger, and sorrow in song, her voice was defined by its fiery passion: Far from beaten down, James embodied the fight of a woman who managed to claw her way back from the brink, again and again.

It's an attitude that influenced her look as well. Despite the conservative era, she dyed her hair platinum blonde, sending out the signal that she was far from demure, and owning a brassy, sassy attitude. She relished her role as saucy singer, a persona that she celebrated in her private life as well.

"In terms of 1950s rhythm and blues stars, she had kind of a gutsy attitude and she went out there and did what she did, and she was kind of bold ... and it had a huge influence," said David Ritz, the co-author of her autobiography "Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story." "I think her gutsiness and her lack of fear and just her courage (made her special). ... I believe that made her important and memorable."

Beyonce, who played James in the movie "Cadillac Records" about Chess Records, also spoke about her influence on other singers.

"I feel like Etta James, first of all, was the first black woman I saw with platinum, blonde hair. She wore her leopard and she wore her sexy silhouette and she didn't care. She was strong and confident and always Etta James," said Beyonce in a 2008 interview.

James could often be irascible. Ritz remembers when he was working with her on her autobiography, touring with her around the country, that one time he approached her with his tape recorder and she barked: "If see that tape recorder again I'm going to cram it up your (expletive)."

But at other times, she'd be effusive and warm and anxious to talk.

"Once she did talk, she was always candid and unguarded. She was a free spirit," Ritz said.

While Ritz put her in the category of other greats like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye, she never enjoyed their mainstream success. Though "At Last" has become an enduring classic, there were times when James had to scrounge for work, and while she won Grammys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she did not have the riches, the multitude of platinum records or the hits that some of her peers enjoyed.

"She at least enjoyed a great resurgence like John Lee Hooker did and B.B. King, (and) has had some great decades of appreciation from new generations around the world," said Raitt. "There's no one like her. No one will ever replace Etta."

And Ritz said the lack of commercial success does nothing to diminish her greatness, or her legacy.

"Marvin certain knew it and Ray knew it ... the people who know that she was in that category," he said. "Whatever the marketplace did or didn't do or whether her lack of career management didn't do, it has nothing to do with her talent."

And on Friday, the Queen of Soul was among those who paid tribute to James greatness, calling her "one of the great soul singers of our generation. An American original!

"I loved `Pushover,' `At Last' and almost any and everything she recorded! When Etta SUNG, you heard it!"

___

AP Entertainment Writer Chris Talbott and AP Writer Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.

___

Nekesa Mumbi Moody is the AP's music editor. Follow her at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_en_mu/us_etta_james_appreciation

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