" if (!receiverEmail || !emailReg.test(receiverEmail)) { $("#mailto").before(emailErrorMessage); return false; } if (!senderEmail || !emailReg.test(senderEmail)) { $("#surname").before(emailErrorMessage); return false; } //todo: add seperate jsp for emial content: return true; } /** * This method is called by the Ajax Form Plugin after the response from the server comes back. * @param responseText the text which comes from the server. * @param statusText the status of the message returned by the server * */ function processSuccess(responseText, statusText) { var emailSuccessMessage = "Thank you! Your email has been successfully sent."; $("#emailDelivered").remove(); $("#emailArticleSend").after(emailSuccessMessage); var clientDT = new Date().getTime(); var loggerImage = ""; $("#emailArticleSend").after(loggerImage); setTimeout(function() { $("#emailDelivered").remove(); $.jQpopup.close("emailFormPageTools"); }, 3000); } Note: We do not store your email address(es) but your IP address will be logged to prevent abuse of this feature. Please read our Legal Terms & Policies A A A Email
In June, the CPI excluding fresh food (the so-called core rate, the BoJ?s preferred measure) was up 0.4% over the year, standing at the highest level since November 2008
In June, the CPI excluding fresh food (the so-called core rate, the BoJ?s preferred measure) was up 0.4% over the year, i.e. 0.4 point higher than in the previous month. It thus stood above the zerothreshold for the first time since October 2012 and at the highest level since November 2008. The core rate for Tokyo in July, which is published one month ahead of the national index, rose from 0.2% to 0.3%, recording the third consecutive positive reading. This is the first time since 2009.
The objective of the BoJ?s policy is to defeat deflation. The Bank will continue its quantitative and qualitative easing to achieve the 2% inflation objective. Following its monthly meeting in July, the Board noticed for the third consecutive time that some indicators suggest a rise in inflation expectations. Indeed the yield on the 10-year JGB has risen by about 20 basis points to around 0.80% since the announcement of the new monetary policy on 4 April.
The governing LDP won victory in the Upper House elections on 21 July. This gives the Abe government a majority in both houses of parliament for the first time since 2007. Shinzo Abe has thus three more years left to implement the so called ?abenomics?, before next national election to be held in 2016. This gives him a good chance to implement the announced reforms. Following his electoral victory, the Prime minister pledged to keep his focus on the economy and suggested he would defer his ambition to rewrite the country?s constitution. However, details of structural reforms and deregulation have been scarce so far. A more concrete set of proposals has been promised for September. But the risk is that deputies might put pressure on the government for more fiscal stimulus.
The city of St. Paul has agreed to drop legal efforts to block the state of Minnesota from taking over food, swimming pool and lodging health inspections.
Alarmed by inaccuracies in the city's inspection reports, the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Agriculture terminated a longstanding "delegation" agreement with St. Paul on July 8 and began using state health inspectors to license the city's 2,100 restaurants, grocers, delis, food trucks, pools and hotels.
St. Paul responded by filing a request for a temporary restraining order against both departments in Ramsey County District Court, but Judge Elena Ostby denied the motion on July 12.
The legal to-and-fro is over. On Thursday, Assistant City Attorney Daphne Lundstrom signed a legal stipulation to dismiss "all claims raised by the (city) against defendants ... without costs, disbursements or fees to any party." The agreement also is signed by Assistant State Attorney General Jackson Evans.
City Hall officials say they have no plans to pursue additional legal action, despite the state ending a tradition of city-run health inspections dating back more than a century. The city continues to inspect and license other businesses, such as tobacco, liquor, fuel, entertainment and sidewalk cafes.
Joe Campbell, a spokesman for St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, said the city remains concerned by all of the issues it previously raised with the state, including allegations the state violated a two-year agreement that allowed the city to continue to inspect businesses while adding more staffing and training. The conditional agreement was adopted last November.
State officials say business inspections have always been a state function, but they've allowed some cities to conduct their own under "delegation" agreements, to which they maintain St. Paul failed to comply. Minneapolis, Hopkins and St. Louis Park also fared badly in state reviews that began in 2010.
Minneapolis responded with signifigant changes that included moving its inspections duties out of the city's licensing division and into its Health Department. In the past two years, Hopkins and St. Louis Park voluntarily ended their programs and allowed Hennepin County to assume responsibility for inspections.
St. Paul took a third approach. After failing a top-to-bottom evaluation of its food, pool and lodging inspections last summer, St. Paul devoted more than $720,000 and seven new employees to the department to help comply with state standards. Instead, the city was forced this month to issue layoff notices to 13 of the 15 inspectors and supervisors in that division of the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections.
Two employees have been retained to help as part of a "transition team," which includes former supervisor Gary Edwards.
Coleman, in a letter to 2,100 establishments this week, said Edwards "will act as a liaison between the city and the state to track the progress on new business applications and expansions."
On Thursday, Department of Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger and Department of Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson said they were not opposed to the idea of St. Paul hiring a business advocate, though they've had no conversations with the city about what role Edwards might play.
What was clear was that the commissioners did not foresee Edwards having any authority over inspections. During inspections, Ehlinger said, "our interaction is with the businesses" and not with St. Paul.
"They have really no statutory ability to inject an ombudsman into this process," Frederickson said.
Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo.
While present-focused social networks like Facebook and Instagram make plenty of room for the narcissists in us, there’s not really a dedicated and focused place to reflect on the past. Timehop, which started out as 4SquareAnd7YearsAgo, has evolved into a mobile-first startup that surfaces old memories from your social networks. The app will pull up status updates from a year or more ago, reminding you of friends you’ve lost contact with or thoughts you had a year ago on this day. The New York-based startup says it just rounded up another $3 million in funding led by existing investor Spark Capital. O’Reilly Alphatech Ventures, which had also previously backed the company, participated as well. Andrew Parker, a principal at Spark, joins Timehop’s board. Timehop’s CEO Jonathan Wegener says that the company will use the round to build out the team beyond seven people and focus on mobile apps. Timehop just shut down its e-mail service last week. “The big, long-term vision is to be a place to reminisce online,” Wegener said. “Basically in this world, all social networks are real-time. They’re about what’s happening right now, but there’s no place online to discuss the past.” While the Series A crunch has made fundraising tough for all kinds of consumer-facing mobile and web products, Wegener said it was Timehop’s stickiness that made a compelling case. He said one-third of Timehop’s user base opens the product on any given day, which is a very respectable retention figure. “Users who try to the product fall in love with it. This helped us make the argument that people are working Timehop into their everday lives,” Wegener said. “At first, people don’t understand why they would want this. But they get really addicted to it. They see it as a mirror of their own life, and a reflection of their past self.” He said he’s used the app to remember which friends he’s lost touch with over the years. The app will pull up old group photos, reminding Wegener to reach out and reconnect. Timehop’s earlier investors also included angels like Foursquare?s Dennis Crowley, Naveen Selvadurai and Alex Rainert, Groupme?s Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht, Rick Webb and Kevin Slavin.
Princeton release: Princeton researcher digs into the contested peanut-allergy epidemicPublic release date: 25-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Hotchkiss mh14@princeton.edu 609-258-9522 Princeton University
The path of the peanut from a snack staple to the object of bans at schools, day care centers and beyond offers important insights into how and why a rare, life-threatening food allergy can prompt far-reaching societal change, according to a Princeton University researcher.
Before 1980, peanut allergies were rarely mentioned in medical literature or the media, said Miranda Waggoner, a postdoctoral researcher at the Office of Population Research in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Her article on the subject, "Parsing the peanut panic: The social life of a contested food allergy epidemic," was published recently in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
Starting around 1990, articles in medical journals began discussing the seriousness of peanut allergies, Waggoner said. At the same time, advocacy groups were emerging to raise awareness of the issue. By the mid-1990s, newspapers were printing articles with headlines such as "Nut Allergy Girl's Terror; Girl Almost Dies from Peanut Allergy."
And the 21st century brought descriptions of peanut allergies in medical journals and the media as an epidemic.
For those with a peanut allergy, ingesting the legume can lead to anaphylactic shock and, if untreated, death. But the allergy is quite rare and it isn't clear whether it is becoming more common, Waggoner said.
The increased focus on peanut allergies in the medical community, the media and society in general combined to push changes like peanut bans in schools, Waggoner said.
"All of this was happening at about the same time to produce this big societal problem that is based on what is a small problem in terms of the population affected," Waggoner said. "One physician has written that the same number of people die each year from peanut allergies as from lightning strikes, yet the perception of peanut allergy risk has invaded the common social spaces we all inhabit airlines, day cares and schools."
In 2002, Massachusetts became the first state to enact guidelines for the management of food allergies in schools, calling for "peanut-free" tables in the lunchroom under some circumstances. Many schools and day care centers have banned peanuts, and some baseball parks now offer peanut-free zones.
"This was part of a broader concern about food risks, changing perceptions of food production, as well as changes in the way we think about child risk," Waggoner said. "If you ask adults about peanut allergies when they were in school, most of them will say it wasn't an issue. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a staple, healthy snack. It's the classic American kid snack.
"The fact that this sort of mundane food is under attack is really a potent moment for us as a society."
Several factors make it difficult to assess the prevalence of peanut allergies or whether the problem is becoming more common, Waggoner said. Before the 1990s, little data were collected on peanut allergies. And peanut allergy numbers are generally based on self-reporting, which leaves them open to interpretation and influence by increased media attention.
"There's definitely increased awareness about it," Waggoner said. "There's more medical research being done. There's more medical awareness, but what is contested is the prevalence, because it is based on self-reporting. We don't have a good sense of long-term change over time."
Experts now say about 1 percent of the American population has a reported peanut allergy, Waggoner said.
Another unknown is the cause of peanut allergies, Waggoner said, adding that researchers are using genetic and molecular testing in the search for a cause.
Peter Conrad, a medical sociologist at Brandeis University who is an expert on the medicalization of society, said Waggoner's research offers important insights into the evolution of peanut allergies as a public problem.
"This paper helps us understand how a relatively rare disorder, peanut allergies, has become seen as a public risk and even as a childhood epidemic," Conrad said. "While the individual risk is high, the risk on a population level is small.
"Sometimes the public's response to a disorder may significantly outpace the actual public health risk potential. Papers like this help us understand how the sociological nature of the disorder may well shape the public response more than its medical and epidemiological nature."
Along with continuing medical research into the causes and prevalence of peanut allergies, Waggoner said another important area for future research is why it is the peanut allergy that has sparked this level of public interest and resulting changes in society.
"While eight foods account for over 90 percent of food allergy reactions, including milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat, the peanut allergy has arguably received the largest share of medical and social attention," Waggoner writes in the paper.
Among the possible explanations: the severity of allergic reactions to peanuts and the harmful potential of such a mundane food, Waggoner said.
###
Waggoner's research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Princeton release: Princeton researcher digs into the contested peanut-allergy epidemicPublic release date: 25-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Hotchkiss mh14@princeton.edu 609-258-9522 Princeton University
The path of the peanut from a snack staple to the object of bans at schools, day care centers and beyond offers important insights into how and why a rare, life-threatening food allergy can prompt far-reaching societal change, according to a Princeton University researcher.
Before 1980, peanut allergies were rarely mentioned in medical literature or the media, said Miranda Waggoner, a postdoctoral researcher at the Office of Population Research in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Her article on the subject, "Parsing the peanut panic: The social life of a contested food allergy epidemic," was published recently in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
Starting around 1990, articles in medical journals began discussing the seriousness of peanut allergies, Waggoner said. At the same time, advocacy groups were emerging to raise awareness of the issue. By the mid-1990s, newspapers were printing articles with headlines such as "Nut Allergy Girl's Terror; Girl Almost Dies from Peanut Allergy."
And the 21st century brought descriptions of peanut allergies in medical journals and the media as an epidemic.
For those with a peanut allergy, ingesting the legume can lead to anaphylactic shock and, if untreated, death. But the allergy is quite rare and it isn't clear whether it is becoming more common, Waggoner said.
The increased focus on peanut allergies in the medical community, the media and society in general combined to push changes like peanut bans in schools, Waggoner said.
"All of this was happening at about the same time to produce this big societal problem that is based on what is a small problem in terms of the population affected," Waggoner said. "One physician has written that the same number of people die each year from peanut allergies as from lightning strikes, yet the perception of peanut allergy risk has invaded the common social spaces we all inhabit airlines, day cares and schools."
In 2002, Massachusetts became the first state to enact guidelines for the management of food allergies in schools, calling for "peanut-free" tables in the lunchroom under some circumstances. Many schools and day care centers have banned peanuts, and some baseball parks now offer peanut-free zones.
"This was part of a broader concern about food risks, changing perceptions of food production, as well as changes in the way we think about child risk," Waggoner said. "If you ask adults about peanut allergies when they were in school, most of them will say it wasn't an issue. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a staple, healthy snack. It's the classic American kid snack.
"The fact that this sort of mundane food is under attack is really a potent moment for us as a society."
Several factors make it difficult to assess the prevalence of peanut allergies or whether the problem is becoming more common, Waggoner said. Before the 1990s, little data were collected on peanut allergies. And peanut allergy numbers are generally based on self-reporting, which leaves them open to interpretation and influence by increased media attention.
"There's definitely increased awareness about it," Waggoner said. "There's more medical research being done. There's more medical awareness, but what is contested is the prevalence, because it is based on self-reporting. We don't have a good sense of long-term change over time."
Experts now say about 1 percent of the American population has a reported peanut allergy, Waggoner said.
Another unknown is the cause of peanut allergies, Waggoner said, adding that researchers are using genetic and molecular testing in the search for a cause.
Peter Conrad, a medical sociologist at Brandeis University who is an expert on the medicalization of society, said Waggoner's research offers important insights into the evolution of peanut allergies as a public problem.
"This paper helps us understand how a relatively rare disorder, peanut allergies, has become seen as a public risk and even as a childhood epidemic," Conrad said. "While the individual risk is high, the risk on a population level is small.
"Sometimes the public's response to a disorder may significantly outpace the actual public health risk potential. Papers like this help us understand how the sociological nature of the disorder may well shape the public response more than its medical and epidemiological nature."
Along with continuing medical research into the causes and prevalence of peanut allergies, Waggoner said another important area for future research is why it is the peanut allergy that has sparked this level of public interest and resulting changes in society.
"While eight foods account for over 90 percent of food allergy reactions, including milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat, the peanut allergy has arguably received the largest share of medical and social attention," Waggoner writes in the paper.
Among the possible explanations: the severity of allergic reactions to peanuts and the harmful potential of such a mundane food, Waggoner said.
###
Waggoner's research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Google's relationship with television is spotty, at best. Google TV, whether as a set-top box or as a built-in product, has been an ongoing punchline. It didn't even sell television shows in the Play Store until a year ago. But Chromecast is different. It's Google's cross-platform answer to AirPlay, a video-friendly dongle that fits snuggly behind your TV. And, most importantly, they're practically giving it away.
Workers comb through debris Tuesday, July 9, 2013, after a train derailed Saturday causing explosions of railway cars carrying crude oil in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)
Workers comb through debris Tuesday, July 9, 2013, after a train derailed Saturday causing explosions of railway cars carrying crude oil in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)
TORONTO (AP) ? Canadian transportation authorities banned one-man crews for trains with dangerous goods Tuesday, responding to calls for tougher regulations after an oil train derailment in Quebec killed 47 people.
Transport Canada also said trains with dangerous goods will not be allowed to be left unattended on a main track. Hand brakes must be applied to trains left one hour or more.
The July 6 tragedy occurred when a runaway train carrying 72 carloads of crude derailed, hurtled down an incline and slammed into downtown Lac-Megantic. Several train cars exploded and 40 buildings were leveled. The unattended Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train had been parked overnight on a rail line before it came loose.
"The disaster brought to light several industry practices which have caused some concern," said Gerard McDonald, assistant deputy minister of safety and security at Transport Canada. "Given that and with an abundance of precaution, we thought it would be prudent to implement these measures now."
Transport Canada says the cause of the derailment remains unknown. Canada's Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, had asked for changes in regulations governing rail traffic.
Transport Canada also is giving rail operators five days to ensure nobody without authorization can enter the cab of unattended locomotives on a main track or sidings.
Meanwhile, the town of Lac-Megantic is taking legal action against Montreal, Maine & Atlantic.
Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche said the rail company has not yet paid any of the workers it hired to clean up the crude oil that leaked from dozens of tanker cars. She said at a news conference that the town paid the workers $4 million after some threatened to walk off the job. Lawyers have been asked to inform the rail company it must reimburse the money immediately, Roy Laroche said.
The company did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
A Chicago-based law firm has begun filing wrongful-death lawsuits on behalf of victims of the Quebec railway disaster in a U.S. court against the rail and oil companies involved in the accident.
Peter Flowers, of the law firm Meyers & Flowers, had filed two lawsuits by the end of Tuesday, and was expected to file five more lawsuits on Wednesday at the Cook County courthouse in Illinois.
"We expect 15 to 20 at least over the next couple of days," Flowers said Tuesday. "We'll be asking for millions of dollars for every one of these folks. ... This is a horrible tragedy."
Flowers' first lawsuit, filed Monday, was initiated by the family of Jean-Guy Veilleux, who was killed in the runaway train disaster.
It seeks damages from 10 defendants, including Montreal, Maine & Atlantic; its major stockholder Rail World Inc.; Edward Burkhardt, president of Rail Road and chairman of MMA, and several U.S. petroleum companies. The train was carrying North Dakota oil destined for a refinery in St. John, New Brunswick.
Calls placed Tuesday to most of the defendants listed in the lawsuit were not immediately returned.
The lawsuit alleges that the railway and petroleum companies named had a duty to operate their businesses in a "safe manner and to take reasonable measures to avoid exposing the public to the dangers associated with the transport of crude oil to refineries."
The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants were negligent for transporting crude oil in flawed DOT-111 tanker cars. The safety of these tanker cars has been called into question by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board since a 1991 study found that they were known to rupture at a high rate during derailments.
Burkhardt was the only individual listed in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Burkhardt has a past record as a top executive with other railway companies of reducing crew sizes to cut costs ? a measure that allegedly increased the accident rate.
Alabama and Saban prominently mentioned in story about larger support staffs
I enjoyed it. Hope you do, too!
"According to the Tuscaloosa News, last year Alabama employed 24 noncoaching individuals devoted solely to football (not including graduate assistants) and pays them a combined $1.6 million. Some handle off-field issues such as discipline, while others deal with the minutiae of down-and-distance. As recently as 2009 there was no one on Saban's staff with the title of analyst; last year there were nine."
LINK http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...44/1/index.htm
WASHINGTON -- A Texas man ran a Ponzi scheme through the virtual online money system called Bitcoin, pocketing some of his investors' proceeds for his personal expenses and gambling, securities regulators charged on Tuesday, warning that the rise of such digital currencies could lead to more frauds.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement that Trendon Shavers, 30, of McKinney, Texas, and his company Bitcoin Savings & Trust used money from new investors to cover withdrawals by other investors and his own expenses.
He raised at least 700,000 Bitcoin, or $4.5 million, from investors in multiple states, the SEC said.
Attempts to reach Shavers or find a representative were unsuccessful. The agency is moving to freeze Shavers' assets and seeking other relief, including financial penalties.
Bitcoin, which is not managed by any one company or government, is a relatively new phenomenon that exists through an open-source software program. Users can buy Bitcoin through exchanges that convert real money into the virtual currency.
In its statement about the Shavers case, the SEC on Tuesday also said it issued an alert warning investors to be on the lookout for scams involving virtual currencies.
"We are concerned that the rising use of virtual currencies in the global marketplace may entice fraudsters to lure investors into Ponzi and other schemes," the SEC said.
Less regulatory oversight and supposed greater privacy of virtual currencies compared with conventional ones could make virtual currencies more attractive to scammers, the agency said.
The U.S. government in May seized two accounts linked to a large Bitcoin operator, Tokyo-based exchange Mt. Gox.
Also in May, U.S. prosecutors filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world to launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds.
Bitcoin grabbed headlines in early July when Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins famous for having alleged that Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea that became Facebook Inc, applied to the SEC to launch a Bitcoin-tracking exchange-traded product (ETP) called the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust.
It is unclear whether the SEC's concerns about Bitcoin laid out in its investor alert on Tuesday could pose a problem for that offering.
The application is currently being reviewed by the SEC's Corporation Finance Division. That division reviews applications to ensure they meet SEC filing guidelines but cannot reject one based on the offering's merits.
However, once an exchange applies to list the ETP, another division in the SEC that oversees trading and markets can explore whether a Bitcoin product is viable or potentially vulnerable to manipulation.
The price of Bitcoin rose slightly to $96.50 during early Tuesday afternoon trading, after ending Monday at midnight at $93.
Additional reporting by David Gaffen in New York.
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? An out-of-control natural gas well burned Wednesday off Louisiana hours after it ignited following a blowout, though authorities said there was no sign of a slick on the surface of the water.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement says it saw no sheens near the well during flyovers Wednesday morning. The lack of sheen indicates the gas is burning off without releasing oil or other hydrocarbons ? which are sometimes found in gas wells ? into the water.
The fire broke out late Tuesday following a blowout in the morning, authorities said. Forty-four workers were evacuated from the drilling rig, and no injuries were reported.
Officials stressed that the blowout wouldn't be nearly as damaging as the 2010 BP oil spill. That disaster included an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling that killed 11 workers and the release of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Natural gas generally poses much less of an environmental risk to the Gulf than crude oil, said several scientists contacted about Tuesday's blowout.
"Gas being discharged now would not necessarily affect the water system of the Gulf proper," said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science and a member of the federal panel that investigated the BP oil spill. That's because it's likely most of the gas is venting directly into the atmosphere given the fire and shallow depth of the well, he said.
Also, by nature natural gas ? mostly methane ? is far more soluble than oil, meaning it more easily dissolves, dilutes and disperses than crude oil, Boesch said. And that means concentrations that are far less lethal to the marine environment, he said.
The federal authorities said in a news release that well owner Walter Oil & Gas was preparing to move equipment to the area in case it needs to drill a relief well. The owner of the blown rig, Hercules Offshore Inc., said the relief well was among options being considered.
Two firefighting vessels had to be moved away to a safe distance from the fire, according to the federal news release. A third was being brought to the area.
The gas blowout was reported Tuesday morning.
The Coast Guard kept nautical traffic out of an area within 500 meters of the site throughout the day. The Federal Aviation Administration restricted aircraft up to 2,000 feet above the area.
On Tuesday before the fire broke out, a light sheen had been spotted by federal inspectors.
Earlier this month, a gas well off the Louisiana coast flowed for several days before being sealed.
Chris Roberts, a member of the Jefferson Parish Council in south Louisiana, said the travel restrictions might pose an inconvenience for participants in an upcoming deep sea fishing tournament.
"It could change some plans as to where some people plan to fish," he said.
Tuesday's blowout occurred near an unmanned offshore gas platform that was not currently producing natural gas. The workers were aboard a portable drilling rig known as a jackup rig, owned by Hercules Offshore Inc., which was a contractor for exploration and production company Walter Oil & Gas Corp.
Walter Oil & Gas reported to the BSEE that the rig was completing a "sidetrack well" ? a means of re-entering the original well bore, Angelico said.
The purpose of the sidetrack well in this instance was not immediately clear. A spokesman for the corporation did not have the information Tuesday night. Industry websites say sidetrack wells are sometimes drilled to remedy a problem with the existing well bore.
"It's a way to overcome an engineering problem with the original well," Ken Medlock, an energy expert at Rice University's Baker Institute said. "They're not drilled all the time, but it's not new."
___
Associated Press writers Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this story.
THE full extent of how EU rules are strangling UK business and damaging NHS patient care will be laid bare in a landmark report today.
The audit of the EU?s impact on British life is part of David Cameron?s crusade to win back powers from Brussels.
It is expected to include stark warnings from doctors? leaders that Brussels regulations are battering the NHS.
They say the Working Time Directive ? which imposes a 48-hour week on doctors ? leads to a ?conveyor belt? of care, with patients seeing various medics on different shifts.
Business leaders are expected to support the European single market, but will warn too many regulations cost firms billions and stifle vital innovation.
It comes after Japan warned that thousands of British jobs with Japanese firms could be lost if the UK quits the EU.
The PM said yesterday that Europe?s leaders know full well Britain could leave the union if it can?t agree a new deal.
But he added: ?This is an agenda that is achievable.? And he said he had backing from Germany, Italy, Holland and Sweden.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]sciencehabit writes "Behind every great man, the saying goes, there's a great woman. And behind every sperm, there may be an X chromosome gene. In humans, the Y chromosome makes men, men, or so researchers have thought: It contains genes that are responsible for sex determination, male development, and male fertility. But now a team has discovered that X—'the female chromosome'—could also play a significant role in maleness. It contains scores of genes that are active only in tissue destined to become sperm. The finding shakes up our ideas about how sex chromosomes influence gender and also suggests that at least some parts of the X chromosome are playing an unexpectedly dynamic role in evolution."
The fact that a character died on Sunday night's episode of "True Blood" wasn't a surprise. The death ? sans details ? was announced over a month ago. But sometimes knowing about something doesn't make it any easier.
In fact, after last week's episode, which left several of Bon Temps' best in danger, the anticipation of doom just made it all that much more devastating.
RIP One-by-one, the likely candidates escaped peril. Eric and Pam outsmarted the Vamp Camp stake-off by killing one of the guards who was meant to kill them if they didn't kill each other. (Follow?) Sookie escaped death when Warlow saved her from her possessed pal Lafayette ? and she saved Lafayette from Warlow by explaining that he wasn't exactly himself. And Alcide helped Sam to live to see another day by simply deciding not to kill him.
So it went, save after save. Heck, even Arlene worked out that hubby Terry had a major death wish, and she figured it out in plenty of time to turn things around. With Holly's help, she found a vamp willing to glamour all those haunting images right out of his head ? no more war, no more marines, no murder. Terry was a clean slate.
It was nice to see the always-shaky vet finally shake off the fear and anxiety and just live life. Well, live a little life.
While Arlene knew about the death wish, she didn't know about the hit Terry had already put out on himself.
Terry's best day ever was his last one thanks to that prearranged bullet. The devoted husband, father, step-father, cousin, friend and armadillo-caregiver died in Arlene's arms as she sang him a lullaby and cried (along with every Truebie ever).
This one time at Vamp Camp? While things didn't turn out well for the Bellefleurs, Eric's family had a little better luck. In addition to escaping certain death with Pam, the Viking vamp set in motion an even bigger plan to escape the prison all together.
After the increasingly sadistic governor had Eric's sister, Nora, injected with Hepatitis V (yeah, that's a thing now), Eric summon his new daughter (the gov's old daughter), Willa, to come to his rescue. She did just that by glamming a LAVTF goon.
Before rounding up the rest of the gang, Eric spied Vamp Camp's all-new Tru Blood bottling facility, which appeared to be ready to supply thirsty vamps with their favorite non-living beverage (now with 100 percent more Hep V).
Heads up Back at Compton Manor, Bill finally realized that Jessica wasn't around anymore. Making matters worse, he couldn't even summon Warlow back to the house after sending him on a save-Sookie mission. So what's an undead demi-god to do? Why, ask his hostage Hiro Takahashi to drain him of almost all of his blood so he can have a comatose catch-up with Lilith ? of course.
After a quick "everything is bad, and it's your fault"/"no, it's your fault" chat with his inner proto-vampire, Bill gulped down a vial of Warlow's blood and took a trip to see the governor in broad daylight.
Bill wanted to find out the location of the Vamp Camp sunroom from his visions, but the politico wouldn't give away anything ? except his head. Actually, Bill sort of took that.
Half-fae, all woman While everyone else was fighting for something, Sookie was spending some quality time with Warlow in the fairy dimension. The same kind of quality time she used to spend with Bill and Eric ? but with restraints and a whole lot more fairy light.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to resume peace talks with Israel only after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave him a letter guaranteeing that the basis of the negotiations will be Israel's pre-1967 borders, two senior Palestinian officials said Saturday.
The officials, both of whom are close to the Palestinian leader and privy to internal discussions, said the U.S. letter also stipulated that both sides are to refrain from taking any steps that would jeopardize the outcome of the talks. Israel is not to issue new tenders for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, while the Palestinians are not to pursue diplomatic action against Israel at any international organizations, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.
"The talks with Kerry were about to collapse, and the letter came as a lifeline in the last minute bargaining," one of the Palestinian officials said.
There was no immediate comment from the State Department.
After intense shuttle diplomacy, Kerry announced on Friday that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed on a basis for returning to the peace process, which broke down five years ago. The two sides are to meet ? likely in the coming week ? to work out final details on actually resuming their negotiations on the toughest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Kerry would not give details on the agreement on the negotiations' framework. "The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private." he said. "We know that the challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead. Today, however, I am hopeful."
The Palestinians long refused to return to the negotiating table unless Israel agreed to several preconditions, including that the talks be based on Israel's borders before the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the Gaza Strip, West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel frequently called for talks to resume without preconditions, insisting that all core issues should be resolved through dialogue.
Speculation has been rife for weeks that the sides would find a way to sidestep Israel's reluctance to offer assurances of its pre-1967 borders as the framework for talks by having the guarantee provided by the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces sharp opposition from within his majority coalition to such a move. One key ally, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, has threatened to pull his Jewish Home Party out of the government altogether if the prime minister agrees to the border conditions.
The basis of the negotiations themselves ? not even the core issues at the heart of the conflict ? has been a major impediment to resuming talks. On Thursday evening, the Palestinian leadership balked at dropping a main condition: They demand a guarantee that negotiations on borders between a Palestinian state and Israel would be based on the cease-fire line that held from 1949 until the 1967 war.
Kerry's announcement late Friday suggested that the question had been resolved, although Kerry offered no details and said the "best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private."
Netanyahu issued a statement Saturday evening welcoming Kerry's announcement and thanking him for his efforts, saying he "views the resumption of the political process at this time a vital strategic interest."
Earlier Saturday, Israel's intelligence and strategic affairs minister offered a few details on the framework. He confirmed that Israel would release some Palestinian prisoners, but said it will not meet other long-standing Palestinian demands before negotiations resume, such as a settlement freeze or defining the 1967 borders as the basis for talks.
Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that prisoners Israel has agreed to release include some who "have been sitting in jail for dozens of years," He did not say how many would be freed, adding only that they would be released in phases.
The fate of the prisoners is extremely sensitive in Palestinian society. After decades of fighting Israel, many families have had a member imprisoned and the release of prisoners has been a longstanding demand. The Palestinians are held on a range of charges, from rock throwing to deadly assaults like shooting attacks or bombings targeting Israeli soldiers and civilians. The Palestinians mostly view the prisoners as heroes while Israelis tend to see them as terrorists.
In a sign of the opposition Netanyahu faces even within his own government, deputy defense minister Danny Danon issued a statement condemning the prisoner release, saying "these murderers must not be released as an 'act of good will' or as a prize for returning to the negotiating table."
Steinitz said it a nine-month timetable was agreed to for the talks to prevent them from collapsing along the way. He also said the Palestinians agreed to refrain from taking action against Israel at the United Nations while the talks are taking place.
Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, Tzipi Livni, welcomed the revival of the peace process but said Saturday she was not allowed to relay any details.
"This is a very heavy responsibility," Livni told Israel's Channel 2 TV of the talks. "All the issues will be on the table."
She said it was difficult to restart talks after years of mistrust between the sides, but that she is "hopeful" about them.
Final status negotiations aim to reach a deal on the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Jerusalem, borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security arrangements. Talks ground to a halt five years ago, and previous efforts to revive them have stalled, particularly over Palestinian demands that Israel announce a freeze in construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which they claim as part of a future state along with Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said his group rejects Kerry's announcement, saying it does not recognize Abbas' "legitimacy to negotiate" on their behalf.
Palestinian official Ahmed Majdalani said on Friday that Kerry had assured the Palestinians that Israel would free some 350 prisoners gradually in the coming months. The prisoners would include some 100 men that Israel convicted of crimes committed before interim peace accords were signed in 1993.
Majdalani also said Kerry would endorse the 1967 lines as the starting point of negotiations.
While present-focused social networks like Facebook and Instagram make plenty of room for the narcissists in us, there’s not really a dedicated and focused place to reflect on the past. Timehop, which started out as 4SquareAnd7YearsAgo, has evolved into a mobile-first startup that surfaces old memories from your social networks. The app will pull up status updates from a year or more ago, reminding you of friends you’ve lost contact with or thoughts you had a year ago on this day. The New York-based startup says it just rounded up another $3 million in funding led by existing investor Spark Capital. O’Reilly Alphatech Ventures, which had also previously backed the company, participated as well. Andrew Parker, a principal at Spark, joins Timehop’s board. Timehop’s CEO Jonathan Wegener says that the company will use the round to build out the team beyond seven people and focus on mobile apps. Timehop just shut down its e-mail service last week. “The big, long-term vision is to be a place to reminisce online,” Wegener said. “Basically in this world, all social networks are real-time. They’re about what’s happening right now, but there’s no place online to discuss the past.” While the Series A crunch has made fundraising tough for all kinds of consumer-facing mobile and web products, Wegener said it was Timehop’s stickiness that made a compelling case. He said one-third of Timehop’s user base opens the product on any given day, which is a very respectable retention figure. “Users who try to the product fall in love with it. This helped us make the argument that people are working Timehop into their everday lives,” Wegener said. “At first, people don’t understand why they would want this. But they get really addicted to it. They see it as a mirror of their own life, and a reflection of their past self.” He said he’s used the app to remember which friends he’s lost touch with over the years. The app will pull up old group photos, reminding Wegener to reach out and reconnect. Timehop’s earlier investors also included angels like Foursquare?s Dennis Crowley, Naveen Selvadurai and Alex Rainert, Groupme?s Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht, Rick Webb and Kevin Slavin.
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Public release date: 25-Jul-2013
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