Monday, January 30, 2012

WTO: China unfairly limits export of raw materials (AP)

GENEVA ? The World Trade Organization ruled Monday that China unfairly limited exports of nine raw materials to protect domestic manufacturers.

A WTO appeals body rejected China's appeal of an earlier ruling in July that concluded the Asian economic powerhouse had violated international trade rules. The appeals body largely sided with the United States, European and Mexico, which had taken issue with Chinese restrictions on its exports of nine materials used widely in the steel, aluminum and chemical industries.

They had complained that China drives up prices on overseas shipments of the materials by setting export duties, quotas and licensing requirements on them, giving the country's manufacturers an unfair edge over competitors. But China had argued that its export limits were needed to protect the environment.

The ruling affects China's exports of certain forms of bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorous and zinc. In it, the WTO appeals body says China must now "bring its export duty and export quota measures into conformity with its WTO obligations."

The issue has sparked tension with some of China's major trading partners. In a statement, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk called the ruling "a tremendous victory for the United States ? particularly its manufacturers and workers."

He called it a decision that "ensures that core manufacturing industries in this country can get the materials they need to produce and compete on a level playing field."

The European Commission said in a statement that while the case requires China to comply, the EU "continues to be deeply troubled by China's use of export restrictions" for other rare earth and industrial raw materials.

China's WTO mission in Geneva said it "deeply regrets" that the appeals body upheld major parts of the earlier panel's conclusions, but noted that some other aspects were reversed. It vowed to abide by the WTO findings.

But it explained that Chinese government had in recent years "reinforced its administration on certain resource products, especially the 'high-pollution, high-energy-consuming and resource-dependent' products" to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_wto_china_trade

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Asia stocks fall as US economic growth falls short (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets fell Monday, with slower-than-expected growth in the U.S. and uncertainty about a tentative deal to resolve Greece's debt crisis weighing on investor sentiment.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent to 8,785.22. South Korea's Kospi was 1.2 percent lower at 1,940.82 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.5 percent to 20,401.32. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent at 4,272.40.

Benchmarks in Singapore and the Philippines also fell. Shares in mainland China were mixed after being closed for a week for Chinese New Year holidays. Taiwan and New Zealand rose.

European leaders were to meet later Monday in Brussels to discuss austerity and belt-tightening measures as well as a tentative deal reached Saturday between Greece and its private investors that could avert a disastrous Greek default on its debt.

If the deal holds and works, it will help prevent a potential shock to the world banking system. But it doesn't resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.

Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said that "the Greece debt issues will remain a source of uncertainty and might dampen the risk mood ahead of the EU summit today."

Under the agreement, investors holding 206 billion euros ($272 billion) in Greek bonds would exchange them for bonds with half the face value. The replacement bonds would have a longer maturity and pay a lower interest rate.

The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense from about 10 billion euros to about 4 billion euros. When the bonds mature, Greece would have to pay its bondholders only 103 billion euro.

It is unclear how investors who buy and sell the bonds of other debt-burdened countries, such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, will react. If they drive up borrowing costs for those countries, the debt crisis could get worse.

Private investors hold two-thirds of Greece's debt, which is equal to an unsustainable 160 percent of its annual economic output. By restructuring the debt, Greece hopes to make it a more manageable 120 percent by decade's end.

On Wall Street, stocks mostly fell Friday after the government said the U.S. economy grew more slowly than expected in the last three months of 2011.

Economic growth for October through December came in at an annual rate of 2.8 percent. That was the fastest of 2011 but lower than the 3 percent that economists were looking for.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.6 percent to 12,660.46. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.2 percent to 1,316.33. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent to 2,816.55.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 36 cents to $99.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to end at $99.56 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3180 from $1.3208 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose slightly to 76.74 yen from 76.72 yen.

(This version CORRECTS Updates paragraph 2, corrects Hang Seng figure.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_as/world_markets

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe (AP)

LONDON ? British police searched the offices of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers Saturday after arresting a police officer and four current and former staff of his tabloid The Sun as part of an investigation into police bribery by journalists.

The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing ? which has already shut down one paper, the News of the World ? to a second Murdoch newspaper.

London's Metropolitan Police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London. A 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.

Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees. The BBC and other British media identified them as former managing editor Graham Dudman, former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, current head of news Chris Pharo and crime editor Mike Sullivan.

A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.

Officers searched the men's homes and the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence.

The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World.

Police said Saturday's arrests were made as a result of information provided by the Management and Standards Committee of Murdoch's News Corp., the internal body tasked with rooting out wrongdoing.

News Corp. said it was cooperating with police.

"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," it said in a statement.

Thirteen people have now been arrested in the bribery probe, though none has yet been charged.

They include Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International; ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson ? who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief; and journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.

Two of the London police force's top officers resigned in the wake of the revelation last July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the cell phone voicemail messages of celebrities, athletes, politicians and even an abducted teenager in its quest for stories.

Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old tabloid amid a wave of public revulsion, and the scandal has triggered a continuing public inquiry into media ethics and the relationship between the press, police and politicians.

An earlier police investigation failed to find evidence that hacking went beyond one reporter and a private investigator, who were both jailed in 2007 for eavesdropping on the phones of royal staff.

But News Corp. has now acknowledged it was much more widespread.

Last week the company agreed to pay damages to 37 hacking victims, including actor Jude Law, soccer star Ashley Cole and British politician John Prescott.

The furor that consumed the News of the World continues to rattle other parts of Murdoch's media empire.

As well as investigating phone hacking and allegations that journalists paid police for information, detectives are looking into claims of computer hacking by Murdoch papers.

News Corp. has admitted that the News of the World hacked the emails as well as the phone of Chris Shipman, the son of serial killer Harold Shipman. And The Times of London has acknowledged that a former reporter tried to intercept emails to unmask an anonymous blogger.

News Corp. is preparing to launch a new Sunday newspaper ? likely called the Sunday Sun ? to replace the News of the World.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_phone_hacking

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Quincy Jones 'So Proud' Of Daughter Rashida's Sundance Film: 'She's Amazing' (omg!)

Proud papa Quincy Jones poses with daughter Rashida Jones at the 'Celeste And Jesse Forever' Premiere at the Eccles Center Theatre during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on January 20, 2012
 -- Getty Premium

Quincy Jones is still beaming with pride after heading to Park City, Utah last week to support daughter Rashida Jones at the Sundance premiere of her film, "Celeste and Jesse Forever."

"I was so proud of her," the proud papa told Access Hollywood of Rashida's success, during an interview at the Los Angeles premiere of Cirque du Soleil's "Michael Jackson The Immortal" on Friday. "To see she produced, co-produced, co-wrote and starred in [the film] -- all [of my] kids are growing up... It's amazing.

PLAY IT NOW: 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Rashida Jones & Andy Samberg Talk Starring In ?Celeste & Jesse Forever?

"It's very satisfying and very rewarding," he added.

Quincy gave the movie - which nabbed a distribution deal with Sony Pictures Classic at the festival, and also stars Emma Roberts and "Saturday Night Live's" Andy Samberg - a rave review.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Rashida Jones

"I loved it!" he told Access, when asked if he enjoyed "Celeste and Jesse Forever." "[Rashida] is amazing. She really is. I am so proud of her."

While Quincy is thrilled to witness his daughter's growing success (the 35-year-old actress stars on NBC's "Parks and Recreation" and was recently seen on the big screen in "The Muppets"), the father of seven said raising girls may to be blame for his lost locks.

"Daughters will take all your hair away," he told Access with a laugh. "But they fill your heart up though!"

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood Dads & Their Adorable Little Ones!

"[Age 13 is] the werewolf stage. I've got six werewolves!" he jokingly added. "One son and six daughters."

Catch Rashida, alongside Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe, on "Parks and Recreation" -- Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: They?re In The Biz: Celebrity Offspring Following In Their Parents? Footsteps

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_quincy_jones_proud_daughter_rashidas_sundance_film_shes223020235/44340870/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/quincy-jones-proud-daughter-rashidas-sundance-film-shes-223020235.html

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Engine Runs On Liquid Air

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Nigeria sect leader threatens new attacks (AP)

LAGOS, Nigeria ? The leader of a radical Islamist sect launching increasingly bloody attacks in Nigeria has rejected offers for a negotiated peace, instead promising to kidnap government officials' family members and bomb schools, according to an Internet audio message allegedly posted by the group.

The message by Imam Abubakar Shekau of the sect known as Boko Haram comes amid continuing unrest in north Nigeria following the group's attack in Kano that killed at least 185 people. A daylight attack on Muslim traders in the north killed 15 people, while gunmen also have kidnapped a German there.

Shekau's 40-minute message also for the first time discusses Boko Haram's goal: Complete adoption of Islam across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely between a Christian south and a Muslim north. And Shekau said he remains prepared to order more violence to accomplish that.

"If (Nigerian security forces) are going to places of worship and destroying them, like mosques and Quranic schools, you have primary schools as well, you have secondary schools and universities and we will start bombing them," Shekau said. "Touch us and see. That is what we will do."

The video posted to YouTube on Wednesday shows a still image of Shekau sitting on a beige sofa, a Kalashnikov rifle at his back. Speaking at times in Arabic, English and the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, Shekau said negotiations suggested by President Goodluck Jonathan between the sect and the government will not happen.

"He's lying. He cannot do it," Shekau said. "If Jonathan does not repent as a Muslim, even if I die myself, Jonathan's going to see. He's looking at me like I'm nobody, but he'll see."

In the message, Shekau acknowledged that Boko Haram carried out the Jan. 20 attacks in Kano, Nigeria's second largest city, that killed at least 185 people. Gunmen from the sect armed with explosives and assault rifles, some wearing army and police uniforms, others suicide car bombers, attacked police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria' secret police.

However, Shekau denied killing civilians in the attack, claiming the sect's gunmen tried to protect the more than 9 million people who live in the important city in Nigeria's north. Government officials have said many of those killed by the sect were Muslim civilians.

"We're killing police officers, we're killing soldiers and other government people who are fighting Allah and Christians who are killing Muslims and talking badly about our Islamic religion," Shekau said. "I am not against anyone, but if Allah asks me to kill someone, I will kill him and I will enjoy killing him like I am killing a chicken."

Shekau also said the sect's attack on Kano came after the arrests, and in some cases torture, of sect members' wives and children. Nigeria's federal police often arrest family members to force those they want into turning themselves over to authorities.

The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the recording, though it sounded like others attributed to Shekau in the past.

Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims killed in religious and ethnic violence across Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, has now killed at least 262 people in 2012, more than half of the at least 510 people the sect killed in all of 2011, according to an Associated Press count.

The sect also began specifically targeting Christians living in the north at the start of the year, exploiting already existing tensions between the two religions in a nation where religious and ethnic rioting has killed thousands in recent years.

The attack by Boko Haram comes during continued unrest across Nigeria's north. In Kano, gunmen kidnapped a German citizen Thursday working for Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company Ltd.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke told journalists Friday that the embassy and a ministry crisis unit were working hard to resolve the case.

"I can't yet report any substantial progress," Peschke said.

Meanwhile, Zamfara state spokesman Ibrahim Muhammad Birnin Magaji said Friday that gunmen killed 15 Muslim traders on their way to market. Birnin Magaji said the gunmen burned the bodies of their victims in a rural village in Katsina state on Thursday, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from Kano.

He said authorities suspect an armed robbery attack, but no goods were reported missing.

___

Associated Press writers Ibrahim Garba in Kano, Nigeria; Yinka Ibukun in Lagos, Nigeria and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence

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Rashad Evans says boo all you want, he likes it

This is a nice behind-the-scenes video blog following Rashad Evans. As always Evans drops some awesome lines. He talks about being a heel and that he wouldn't want it any other way (5:35 mark). Watch the end, the delivery is dynamite.

Evans faces Phil Davis in the main event of Saturday's UFC on Fox 2 card in Chicago.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/rashad-evans-says-boo-want-likes-223605991.html

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

China's economy may surpass US before 2020

China's economy is now nearly half as big as the U.S. economy. Its economic growth figures suggest that China could become bigger sooner than previously thought.

According to preliminary estimates, China's GDP in 2011 was 47.156 trillion yuan, which at the current exchange rate of 6.3138 translates into roughly $7.47 trillion.

Skip to next paragraph Stefan Karlsson

Stefan is an economist currently working in Sweden.

Recent posts

By comparison, tomorrow's GDP report for the United States will likely show that 2011 GDP was roughly, or slightly over $15 trillion. That means that China's economy is now nearly half as big as the U.S. economy.

This in turn means that China's economy could become bigger even sooner than previously thought. If the economic growth gap is 6% per year(lower than the average rate the last decade) and real appreciation is 2.5% per year (again, a lot lower than the average rate the last decade) than that would be sufficient for China's economy to become bigger by 2020. If the growth gap and/or real appreciation is closer to the average rate for the last decade, it could happen even sooner.

It is true that per capita income in China would still be a lot lower since China's population is more than 4 times as big. And in per capita terms, China might never surpass America. However, the fact that average income is so low is reason to believe thatv the "catch up" effect will continue to fuel growth in China. And so note that per capita income of one fourth of the U.S. level means that it would still be a lot lower than in the other majority Chinese countries (Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Singapore).

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. This post originally ran on stefanmikarlsson.blogspot.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/fm3qJMgm8L4/China-s-economy-may-surpass-US-before-2020

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Travolta's stolen Mercedes recovered in pieces

By Dan Whitcomb, Reuters

LOS ANGELES -- Film star John Travolta's vintage Mercedes-Benz, stolen from a Los Angeles suburb, has been recovered in pieces and two men have been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

Ryan Pierse / Getty Images

"Don't [mess] with another man's vehicle. It's just against the rules," John Travolta said in the film "Pulp Fiction."

Travolta's convertible 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280-SL vanished from the street in Santa Monica while the "Pulp Fiction" star was visiting a nearby Jaguar dealership in September.

Michael Green, 58, and D.L. Rayford, 52, were taken into custody in December by members of a law enforcement task force investigating a sophisticated car-theft ring, Santa Monica police Sergeant Richard Lewis said.

"Through the collaborative efforts of investigators ... two individuals were identified as suspects relating to the theft of Mr. Travolta's Mercedes, and were arrested by investigators from the task force," Lewis said.

Lewis said leads developed following the theft led investigators to a "chop shop," where stolen vehicles were found, including parts of the actor's car.

"It was not recovered in whole, it was chopped," Lewis said. "We have numerous pieces recovered but not the entire car."

He said the arrests were not announced earlier to avoid compromising a larger investigation into the car theft ring.

Both Green and Rayford were charged with grand theft auto, a Los Angeles County District Attorney's spokeswoman said.

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10236094-john-travoltas-stolen-vintage-mercedes-recovered-in-pieces

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Algorithm maps cancer trajectory | Stanford Daily

Monday, January 23rd, 2012
By Sarah Moore

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a mathematical algorithm to help predict the severity of bladder cancer.

?

The results were published online Monday, Jan. 16, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and may influence treatment plans for patients with bladder cancer.

?

?There were two main findings,? said Chad Tang, a medical student who contributed to the study. The researchers ?divided up the bladder cancer into different subtypes, which have different prognostic implications. Second, one of the markers they used was a robust predictor of clinical outcomes.?

?

Before applying the algorithm, the team also researched bladder cancer stem cells.

?

?The algorithm was originally published in the context of predicting genes in development and differentiation,? said co-author Debashis Sahoo, instructor at the Pathology Stem Cell Center. ?What we have now is an application to cancer.?

?

The work with the algorithm started approximately two years ago after a 2009 paper identified three different types of bladder cancer: basal, intermediate and differentiated. These subgroups are identified by markers of the keratin (KRT) protein family. The basal subtype is marked by KRT14, intermediate is identified by KRT5 and differentiated is identified by KRT20.

?

The most severe cases of bladder cancer are consistently related to the basal subgroup. This knowledge will allow doctors to plan the treatment of patients diagnosed with this type of cancer.

?

?The clinician has to remove the bladder in the case of certain patients because of the progress of the cancer, and the way they do it now is based on state and the grade of the cancer, which is very subjective,? Sahoo said. ?This would be the first time that a molecular marker, which is very objective, can guide the clinician.?

?

Removing the bladder is a complicated operation. Markers identified by this algorithm will provide better indication of whether surgery is necessary when compared to traditional methods.

?

?I was motivated to do research where I could use my expertise in computer science to contribute to healthcare, in particular cancer,? Sahoo said. ?Some of the relatives in my family were victims of cancer.?

?

Tang cited intellectual interest as motivating his involvement.

?

?I got involved because I was interested in cancer and biology,? Tang said. ?I knew the post docs pretty well, and I was really interested in stem cell studies.?

?

The study will motivate further research on the subject.

?

?So far, breast cancer is the only kind with a similar way of subtyping,? said Keith Chan, assistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicine and a co-author of the 2009 paper. ?Hopefully we can extend it to other types of cancer and provide better prognostic information for the patients.?

?

?The next step is to try to move it to a prospective clinical trial to validate its results,? Chan said. ?The second thing is to try to understand the biology of these cells, so we can target them. That?s what we?re working on right now.?

Source: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/01/23/math-algorithm-informs-cancer-treatment/

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Aid group: S.Sudan clashes show 'extreme violence' (AP)

JUBA, South Sudan ? South Sudan residents with gunshot and stab wounds continue to emerge from the bush weeks after a massive tribe-on-tribe attack killed an untold number of people, an international medical group said Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of residents in Jonglei state fled columns of approaching warriors during tribal attacks that began around Christmas and carried on until around New Year's.

"One recurring characteristic of the attacks in Jonglei is their extreme violence," Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday, describing the account of one woman who said she ran away from attackers for 11 hours.

She and her 15 family members were then found by a group of men who beat her daughter and shot at them, she told the medical group, wounding her in the thigh and her son in the chest. The boy survived.

A 24-year-old woman who was shot in the leg and cheek told Doctors Without Borders that her village was the first to be attacked. When Lou Nuer warriors arrived, she and two other women fled with their children.

"We ran and tried to hide in the high grass when we heard them approaching. But they heard my child crying so they found us three women and the three children. They abducted my child and slit the throats of the two boys in front of us. They told us three women to run. We ran 10 meters (yards) and they started shooting. The other two women were killed right away," the woman said.

Doctors Without Borders said its workers have seen dozens of gunshot and stab wounds at one hospital and that 25 of their local staff of 156 remain missing. The group said one of their clinics in the village of Lekwongole was largely destroyed.

The U.N. has said that more than 120,000 people need humanitarian aid after columns of Lou Nuer fighters attacked Murle communities in the remote and volatile region. Since that late December assault, Murle fighters have carried out several revenge attacks on the Lou Nuer.

No reliable death toll for the clashes has yet been established. One official said more than 3,000 people died in the original Lou Nuer attack, but that toll has not been confirmed by the central government or the U.N.

"A deeply worrisome pattern is emerging, where people and their scarce resources are deliberately targeted by all the armed groups in this inter-communal violence," the statement said. "Hospitals, health clinics, water sources ? these have become targets for armed groups on all sides, suggesting a tactic of depriving people of their basic life essentials just when they will need them most, after fleeing into the bush."

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in July and is struggling to contain internal violence that has plagued the region for years.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_af/af_south_sudan_violence

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Occupy New Zealand Camps Raided By Authorities After Court Ruling

Auckland Council officers and police raided four sites in Auckland today, and effectively shut down the Occupy movement after more than 100 days of protest, The Associated Press reported.

Auckland Council officers and police Monday confiscated cars, tents and camping gear from more than 50 protesters at four sites in Auckland. The raid came after a local court ruled authorities could remove property from people who were illegally camping.

Police arrested three people in Aotea Square during the raids.

For more, click here.

Newark Patch has the story:

Nearly two dozens protesters trekked through downtown Newark Friday in solidarity with Move to Amend, a nationwide movement against what organizers call "corporate personhood."

To read the full piece and watch a video of the protest, go here.

When about 80 Occupy Cal students took over a UC Berkeley anthropology library Thursday night, some of their professors came along. The faculty told students they were both joining in the protests, and ensuring that they wouldn't be evicted by police.

"Members of the faculty and I have volunteered and have been authorized to provide the required supervision while we continue discussing a resolution...so we can avoid the immediate need to remove you from the building. I have been asked to emphasize that our continuing dialogue does not imply permission for you to stay," Anthropology department chairman Terry Deacon told the student protesters, after negotiating with the university's administration. He added, tongue-in-cheek, "I'm not going to suggest that you can't let your friends in. I didn't tell you you could...If you know someone that you trust that wants to come in here and play a role in this activity, of course, I won't notice that you're going down to open the doors."

Watch:


Video streaming by Ustream

The students were in the library to protest cuts in hours, according to the Contra Costa Times. The deal worked out with faculty was only valid through Friday morning, but as of this afternoon, about a dozen students remained in the library.

A previous Occupy rally at UC Berkeley ended in a violent confrontation with campus police.

-- Ariel Edwards-Levy

Protesters gathered outside the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse in downtown Detroit Friday afternoon, joining the nationwide Occupy Our Courts protest taking place at more than 130 courthouses across the country.

A hat tip to OfftheBus contributor Pamela Powers Hannley...

To share your own photos, videos or first-hand reports from these or other political events, email us at offthebus@huffingtonpost.com.

There's a man in a gray hoodie carrying a video camera behind police lines. Activists have targeted him as the culprit for the clash. They claim via live stream that he started pushing folks.

Cops carry one activist away.

Activists have retreated to the base of the plaza. Mic check is called to talk about the police.

"We can not in one breath say they are a part of us and then in one breath tell them to fuck off."

"We are all Americans. Never forget that."

Mass of cops gathered around activist being arrested. The cops are surrounded by screaming activists holding up cameras.

"We are the 99 Percent and we are not afraid," an activist tells the cops.

Moments ago, activists had taken the top steps of the Supreme Court. They had gathered -- against police orders -- and chanted "money isn't free speech." Police issued a warning for them to disperse. And then went about taken activists into custody. During the clash with police, several activists fell down the steps.

Police pinned one activist to the steps of the Supreme Court. On the live stream, activists are saying the main instigator was a plain clothes cop and not one of their own.

During a mic check, activists calls for a little humor: "Our numbers and our humor let us breakthrough." Activists do the hokey pokey along the police line. The cops look on expressionless.

Activists take a few steps as police look on. The police have formed a loose line -- they do not look worried. Activists chant "money is not free speech!"

Outside the Supreme Court, dozens of activists have pushed down the barricades. Police have lined up along the court steps. The activists are chanting: "The people united will never be defeated!"

Dahlia Lithwick writes in the Guardian U.K.:

At one level, Occupy the Courts could not be a more brilliant campaign at more opportune moment. After all, Occupy Wall Street has been faulted for being ? as they might say in Texas ? all hat no cattle; a movement with huge popular support but no coherent objective. By taking a position on Citizens United and the massive influx of corporate dollars pouring into election campaigns, protesters not only align themselves with the 99% of Americans who can't yet afford to buy and sell entire elections, but also seize upon the most abhorrent metaphor deployed by the 5-4 majority in the Citizens United decision: that corporations are the same as living, breathing humans when it comes to constitutional protections.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Live stream from the Supreme Court protest can be found here.

The direct action begins at 9 a.m. Details here.

Occupy Wall Street plans evening actions and speakers. Details here.

The Portland Press Herald reports that local politicians took stand in support against corporate personhood:

The Portland City Council has approved a resolution that calls on members of Maine?s congressional delegation to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing corporate personhood.

After listening to more than an hour of testimony tonight about the undue influence corporate donations can play in politics and elections, the council voted 6-2 to adopt the resolution.

The Des Moines Register reports:

In Des Moines, protest activities are slated to begin on Thursday with a funeral march around the Capitol Rotunda from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. to mourn ?the death of democracy.?

An Occupy the Courts rally has been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Friday at the federal courthouse at 123 E. Walnut St.

Judge rules the activists are not allowed to protest in front of the federal courthouse in Manhattan. They will instead protest at Zuccotti Park, reports The New York Daily News.

The Boston Globe reports:

As public opposition mounts for service cuts and fare hikes proposed by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Occupy Boston activists have turned their attention to the issue.

Working largely through social media, an Occupy MBTA group has begun an effort to organize opposition to the MBTA?s proposals. At 3 p.m. Wednesday, the group?s Twitter account had 176 followers.

The MBTA?s proposals present options many T riders find unacceptable. In one, fares would increase by 35 percent overall, setting the price of a train ride at $2.25, while 101 weekday bus routes would be cut. Fares would increase from $2 to $3 for most trips on The Ride, the MBTA?s door-to-door transit service for the disabled, and to $5 for trips outside the T?s fixed-route service area.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/occupy-new-zealand-raid_n_1222688.html

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Samsung SSD 830 Series (256GB)


If 2011 wasn't the year that solid-state drives (SSDs) went mainstream, it was a year they delivered newly groundbreaking performance. First came the incredibly fast 240GB OCZ Vertex 3, which was followed by its slightly less impressive 120GB version. Those looking for a lower-capacity SSD had at least one outstanding choice, the 128GB Samsung SSD 830 Series. But when Samsung's drives hit higher capacities, how well do they stand up against OCZ's? Pretty well, at least with regards to the 256GB version ($429.99 list)?though it doesn't come out on top in every situation.

Even so, it has all the features you have a right to expect from a top SSD contender at the beginning of 2012, starting with 6Gbps SATA III. (Samsung's 2010 debut consumer model, the SSD 470 Series, only used 3Gbps SATA II.) More impressively, this 2.5-inch-form-factor drive (which measures only 7mm in height?on the short side for an SSD) is Samsung all the way down, from its stylish and shiny black brushed-metal frame to its three-core controller to the DRAM to the 20nm MLC toggle DDR NAND flash memory itself. Samsung even claims that the drive's wear-leveling and garbage collection technologies are proprietary (though traditional TRIM is supported). You can expect to get about 238GB of usable space from the drive (the remaining gigabytes are dedicated to overprovisioning), and it's covered by a three-year warranty. Other nice inclusions are discs containing the full version of Norton Ghost and Samsung's SSD Magician software for performing tasks like optimizing performance (via garbage collection) and updating the drive's firmware and, as of early January 2012, a free download code for Batman: Arkham City.

Performance was robust as well, with the Samsung drive constantly trading top scores and times with the 240GB Vertex 3. What drive came out ahead and on which task depended on the particular application. On our AS SSD benchmark, OCZ's drive generally did better with reads and Samsung's with writes, and we witnessed something similar on the ATTO Disk Benchmark?up to a point. From 0.5KB to 2KB, OCZ owned the reads and the Samsung writes; at 4KB the two flipped and continued alternating wins straight down the line through 512KB. With results upwards of 546MBps in 128KB, 256KB, and 512KB sequential reads, the Samsung drive even surpassed its own stated performance rating of 520MBps?an impressive feat. (For the record, the Samsung drive also promises up to 400MBps sequential write speeds, and routinely performed above that rating, too.)

It was after that, however, that the Samsung's limitations began to show. The OCZ took the rest of the rest of the ATTO tests?both write and read?up to 8MB, all of the CrystalDiskMark tests except Sequential and 4KB QD32 reads, and all of the PCMark 7 storage trials. The biggest discrepancy we noticed was on CrystalDiskMark's 4KB QD32 Write test: The OCZ delivered a result of 252MBps, whereas the Samsung drive could only muster up 147.4MBps. Combined with the ATTO results, this shows that, when you're more intensively moving larger amounts of data, the 256GB Samsung drive can't quite keep up with the competition.

Based on what we observed, the Samsung SSD 830 Series isn't quite able to wrest our Editors' Choice title away from the 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 (which is also priced at $399.99 list, $30 less than the Samsung)?but in more standard everyday applications it's essentially a neck-and-neck race. Our standard position in situations like this is that, all else being equal, when you're paying this much money for this (relatively) little storage space, you want the fastest speeds possible, and you get those with the OCZ drive. Nevertheless, Samsung's drive is an attractive, consistent performer ideal for slightly lower-level applications, and its larger amount of storage space and free software may help cushion the blow of the marginally slower transfer rates that just keep the SSD 830 Series from taking the top prize.

More Storage Device reviews:
??? Iomega Helium Portable Hard Drive (1TB)
??? Iomega Mac Companion (3TB)
??? LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (240GB SSD)
??? Seagate Momentus XT (750GB)
??? LaCie Rugged Mini (500GB)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/_MkNYMiVzYg/0,2817,2398958,00.asp

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Discovery Communications

DISCA 011912

Discovery Communications (DISCA)

What if you could touch 1.5 billion people in over 200 countries with your content?? Discovery Communications is the world?s number one non-fiction media company that does just that!? Did I mention it?s growing at a breakneck pace? ?Since you probably watch their productions, you might want to watch the stock.

They are the original "reality" TV network.?

Company Description & Developments
Not only does Discovery Communications own traditional media brands like the Oprah Winfrey Network, TLC, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, they also own the website howstuffworks.com and many more valuable, popular brands.

If you?ve had enough of the Jersey Shore and Real Housewives programs like most of us, the Discovery brands offer cool, unique and informative programming in a world that otherwise lacks interesting, non-fictional TV. Discovery?s programs are eye opening, funny and relatable on many levels according to their reviews (and mine).? Its content spans cultures and creeds around the world.

Discovery also does a great job on web integration and content for other forms of media so they can keep up with an evolving space.

Aside from the solid financial growth which we will touch on shortly, I just love their programming!? Anecdotally, I hear so much positive chatter about their content coming from men and women in a wide age and social range that it?s hard to argue their reach.

If consumers are indeed getting healthier, they will be more likely to buy cable and satellite. ?Of course advertisers will be paying more, which is why expectations are for about 20% earnings growth over the next year.

Financial Profile
Discovery Communications is a larger mid-cap company (11.8 billion) that is trading at about 18 times trailing earnings (P/E).? Looking forward, Zacks Consensus Estimates sees Discovery Communication?s P/E dropping to 15.62, with no change in price from these levels. ??That puts it into a slightly elevated category, but certainly not overvalued in my opinion.

Discovery Communications jumped to a Zacks Rank 1 Strong Buy just yesterday.

One analyst revised their FY2012 earnings estimate up within the past month, which was most likely the push that got DISCA its current rating. ??

Last quarter DISCA reported sales growth of 18.25% year over year and 3% over the previous quarter with total sales of 3.8 billion in FY2010.? Discovery is expected to earn $2.39 in FY2011 according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate.?

Earnings Estimates
Expectations are for Discovery to make 69 cents this quarter when they report on February 10th.? Of the 16 analysts who cover the media company, the consensus is for the company to grow earnings by 34% in FY2011 and 18% in FY2012.

In terms of the magnitude of analyst estimate trends, we have seen most of the consensus estimates higher than they were 90 days ago.? This is not extremely bullish, but certainly positive.?

Discovery surprised analysts to the upside by 7.27% last quarter, with the average earnings surprise being a positive 4.20%. ??Positive surprises have been the norm over the past year.?

Market Performance & Technicals
Discovery?s stock has really picked up steam over the past month, rising almost 13.5%.? This extreme movement may be detraction to analysts upping their targets and estimates.

Momentum for Discovery has really been building since August, but it?s been a rocky road.? Given the past behavior of DISCA, it might be best to wait for the pullback before buying, as the stock has been up for nearly 10 days straight. Like many of the stocks I have targeted in our momentum picks, DISCA is knocking on the door of its 52 week high of $45.81.?

Even with the elevated volatility, it remains in a bullish channel (since August) and firmly above its 50 and 200 day moving averages of $41.49 and $41.01 respectively.

As I stated earlier, Discovery is a bit volatile, but yet its beta only reads .73.? ?That could also mean that Discovery just has a low correlation to its index, because there is no doubt this stock moves.?

Discovery has outpaced the S&P 500 by 9% over the past year and almost 4% over the past month.? Given the recent volume decline as DISCA has been rallying, I would be looking for a pullback before entering, perhaps to the $42.00 level.? ??

Jared A Levy is the Momentum Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. He is also the Editor in charge of the market-beating Zacks Whisper Trader Service.

?

This Week's Momentum Zacks Rank Buy Stocks:

Brightpoint, Inc. (CELL)
The future of global communicaton and culture is without cords and boundaries.? Wireless technologies are changing the way we live, work and play.? Companies like Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Sandisk, Lenovo, Plantronics and many more are creating products that influence everything we do as a society. ?Brightpoint is a necessary catalyst for their continued success and in turn reaps serious rewards from growth in the entire space. ?READ FULL ARTICLE

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. (DTG)?
This car company showed strong Q3 results and beat estimates across the board.? Now with a new CEO, great rates and increasing demand, they may be poised for another strong year after rising 53% over the past twelve months. ? READ FULL ARTICLE

American Water Works Co., Inc (AWK)
Contrary to what you might believe, the most important commodity is not crude oil, natural gas, silver or even gold - humans can survive without any or all of them.? The one essential commodity that humans cannot live without is potable water.
What is most interesting is that there currently is no way to ?trade it? or to take advantage of this integral part of our lives or its scarcity. American Water Works is one of the ways you can invest in water, without having to build a tower in your neighborhood to store it.? READ FULL ARTICLE

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Source: http://www.zacks.com/commentary/19947/discovery-communications

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GM regains crown as world's top-selling automaker (Reuters)

DETROIT/TOKYO (Reuters) ? General Motors Co (GM.N) regained its title as the world's top-selling automaker in 2011, less than three years after its 2009 taxpayer-funded bankruptcy under the Obama administration.

The Detroit-based automaker's return to the top slot comes as Japanese rival and former No. 1 seller Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) slips in the rankings after an earthquake in Japan and deadly floods in Thailand hampered its production in 2011.

GM said it sold 9.026 million vehicles globally last year, up 7.6 percent from 2010.

Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), the German company vying to become the world's largest carmaker, finished the year in second place with 8.16 million vehicles sold.

Toyota will publish its final sales results for 2011 later this month but has projected sales of 7.9 million in 2011, down about 6 percent from a year earlier.

The tabulation of global auto sales is not without controversy. Rankings are mostly about bragging rights, but there has been a long-running and robust debate over how to account for vehicles sold through affiliates.

The sales figures released by GM, which was the largest automaker until 2008 when Toyota took its place, include vehicles sold through its joint ventures in China. Some analysts extract those sales from GM's results.

Depending on how the results are tallied, Toyota may have finished the year in third place. However, Toyota would fall to fourth place behind Renault SA (RENA.PA) and its partner Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) if the alliance's sales through Russia's AvtoVAZ (AVAZ.MM) are included.

Including AvtoVAZ, Renault-Nissan sold 8.03 million cars worldwide last year. This includes the 638,000 cars sold by AvtoVAZ, in which Renault owns a minority 25 percent.

The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, a global trade group based in France, has not yet released its annual ranking of automakers by production.

TOYOTA MOUNTS COMEBACK

Toyota's 2011 worldwide sales tally included listed subsidiaries Daihatsu Motors Co (7262.T) and Hino Motors Ltd (7205.T).

Toyota's sales were hurt by a series of disasters that triggered auto parts shortages and curtailed its vehicle production last year.

But now Toyota is ramping up production to rebuild depleted inventory and will add output capacity in emerging markets such as Brazil and China this year. However, analysts said it also faced stiffer competition as rivals step up their game.

"Toyota's biggest problem is that even without the natural disasters, its sales weren't exactly growing," JP Morgan auto analyst Kohei Takahashi said.

"The ranking is not that important, but they need a convincing strategy to boost their sales," he said, adding that Toyota was behind rivals such as Nissan in rolling out small cars for emerging markets.

Toyota has lagged the sharper sales growth at rivals such as Nissan and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) because of a relatively slow push into emerging markets as it scrambled to meet runaway demand in mature markets in the past decade.

In a bid to catch up, Toyota is adding factories in Brazil, China, Thailand and elsewhere, aiming to sell half its cars in emerging markets by 2015, up from around 40 percent now.

South Korean sister carmakers Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and its 34 percent owned Kia Motors Corp (000270.KS) racked up total sales of 6.53 million last year.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman in Detroit, Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo; Editing by Mark Bendeich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/bs_nm/us_gm

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Friday, January 20, 2012

Wale: 'I Still Support' Pill Despite MMG Split

'I believe in Pill, and I'm sure Rozay believes in Pill, and we wish him the best,' Wale tells MTV News of former Maybach Music comrade.
By Rob Markman


Wale
Photo: MTV News

There is no love lost between Maybach Music and Pill. Earlier this month, the Atlanta MC dropped a bomb when he revealed that he was working to terminate his deal with Warner Music Group and leave Rick Ross' Maybach Music crew.

There isn't any beef with Wale, though; the D.C. spitter told MTV News he still supports his former MMG comrade.

"Personal is personal, business is business. I'm friends with people that I've fired, so I've been in the game long enough to understand [you need to] separate the two," Wale said Wednesday when he walked the red carpet for the reopening of Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in New York. "So shout-out to Pill and what he's doin'."

On December 28, Pill vented via Twitter, criticizing his label for not providing enough television and radio support. Though the "Trap Goin' Ham" MC was featured heavily on Maybach's 2011 Self Made Vol. 1 compilation, on January 3, he told MTV News he was never actually signed to Ross' label. According to Pill, his recording contract was with MMG's parent label, Warner Bros.

Still, P-I-Double-L was included on a number of label-driven projects, appearing on the October XXL cover with Ross and company as well as a May 2011 episode of "RapFix Live" with Rozay, Wale and Meek Mill. In the end, however, things just didn't work out.

Though Pill is obviously frustrated, he maintains that he doesn't harbor any ill will toward anyone in MMG. "I ain't got nothing against none of them, nobody. It's just the situation don't work," Pill said matter-of-factly.

"I still support what he's doin'; it just didn't work out on the business side," Wale echoed. "Everybody gets chances, though. Everybody gets second, third, fourth, fifth chances. I believe in Pill, and I'm sure Rozay believes in Pill, and we wish him the best."

What do you think of Wale's support for Pill despite the MMG split? Tell us in the comments!

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677561/wale-pill-maybach-music-group-split.jhtml

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Man pleads no contest to stalking Halle Berry (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? A man with a criminal history who showed up at Oscar winner Halle Berry's house in the Hollywood Hills pleaded no contest on Thursday to a charge of stalking her, and a judge ordered him to stay 200 yards away from the actress for 10 years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dennis Landin also handed down a 386-day jail sentence to the 28-year-old man, Richard Franco.

But Franco will soon be released because he has already served half that term behind bars since his arrest in July, and he is being given credit for the other half of the sentence under measures to reduce overcrowding in the Los Angeles County jail system, prosecutors said.

Franco, who according to Los Angeles police has a history of violence, theft and drug offenses, was found to have a book with "nonsensical ramblings" and Berry's name in his handwriting, the actress said in court papers filed last year.

Franco first approached Berry's home on July 9, 2011, when she was talking to her manager and saw through a glass door that Franco -- whom she does not know -- was in the gated backyard, the papers stated. Berry's manager yelled at Franco and he left, she said in the papers.

The actress further said that on July 10, she went to her kitchen to get a Diet Coke and noticed Franco was on the other side of a glass door, less than one foot away.

She said she ran upstairs to call police. That evening, arrangements were made to have armed security officers at her home, and Franco was caught when he returned the next day.

Los Angeles police Detective John Gregozek testified in court last year that he spoke to Berry a day after the defendant's arrest.

"She was afraid for her safety and that of her daughter, as well," Gregozek said. "She hired armed security to stay at her residence 24 hours."

As a result of his plea, a residential burglary charge against Franco was dismissed.

In addition to jail time and the stay away order, Franco was placed on five years probation and ordered to undergo one year of psychological counseling, said Los Angeles deputy district attorney Wendy Seagall.

(Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/en_nm/us_halleberry_stalker

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Ancient popcorn discovered in Peru

Ancient popcorn discovered in Peru [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Beth King
kingb@si.edu
202-633-4700 x28216
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored by Dolores Piperno, curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and emeritus staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Some of the oldest known corncobs, husks, stalks and tassels (male flowers), dating from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago were found at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two mound sites on Peru's arid northern coast. The research group, led by Tom Dillehay from Vanderbilt University and Duccio Bonavia from Peru's Academia Nacional de la Historia, also found corn microfossils: starch grains and phytoliths. Characteristics of the cobsthe earliest ever discovered in South Americaindicate that the sites' ancient inhabitants ate corn several ways, including popcorn and flour corn. However, corn was still not an important part of their diet.

"Corn was first domesticated in Mexico nearly 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte," said Piperno. "Our results show that only a few thousand years later corn arrived in South America where its evolution into different varieties that are now common in the Andean region began. This evidence further indicates that in many areas corn arrived before pots did and that early experimentation with corn as a food was not dependent on the presence of pottery."

Understanding the subtle transformations in the characteristics of cobs and kernels that led to the hundreds of maize races known today, as well as where and when each of them developed, is a challenge. Corncobs and kernels were not well preserved in the humid tropical forests between Central and South America, including Panamathe primary dispersal routes for the crop after it first left Mexico about 8,000 years ago.

"These new and unique races of corn may have developed quickly in South America, where there was no chance that they would continue to be pollinated by wild teosinte," said Piperno. "Because there is so little data available from other places for this time period, the wealth of morphological information about the cobs and other corn remains at this early date is very important for understanding how corn became the crop we know today."

###

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems. Website: www.stri.si.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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


Ancient popcorn discovered in Peru [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Beth King
kingb@si.edu
202-633-4700 x28216
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored by Dolores Piperno, curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and emeritus staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Some of the oldest known corncobs, husks, stalks and tassels (male flowers), dating from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago were found at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two mound sites on Peru's arid northern coast. The research group, led by Tom Dillehay from Vanderbilt University and Duccio Bonavia from Peru's Academia Nacional de la Historia, also found corn microfossils: starch grains and phytoliths. Characteristics of the cobsthe earliest ever discovered in South Americaindicate that the sites' ancient inhabitants ate corn several ways, including popcorn and flour corn. However, corn was still not an important part of their diet.

"Corn was first domesticated in Mexico nearly 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte," said Piperno. "Our results show that only a few thousand years later corn arrived in South America where its evolution into different varieties that are now common in the Andean region began. This evidence further indicates that in many areas corn arrived before pots did and that early experimentation with corn as a food was not dependent on the presence of pottery."

Understanding the subtle transformations in the characteristics of cobs and kernels that led to the hundreds of maize races known today, as well as where and when each of them developed, is a challenge. Corncobs and kernels were not well preserved in the humid tropical forests between Central and South America, including Panamathe primary dispersal routes for the crop after it first left Mexico about 8,000 years ago.

"These new and unique races of corn may have developed quickly in South America, where there was no chance that they would continue to be pollinated by wild teosinte," said Piperno. "Because there is so little data available from other places for this time period, the wealth of morphological information about the cobs and other corn remains at this early date is very important for understanding how corn became the crop we know today."

###

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems. Website: www.stri.si.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/stri-apd_1011812.php

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