Muslims helped foil alleged Canada train bomb plot - World News

Trains originating in the U.S. were among the possible targets, NBC News has learned. Authorities say there was never any imminent danger to the public. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

The two suspects in the alleged al Qaeda-backed plot to blow up a rail line between the United States and Canada appeared in court on Tuesday, as revelations emerged that the Muslim community helped foil the potentially deadly plan.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday that it had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, of Toronto, over what sources said was a plan to derail a train from the United States after it had crossed the border.

Jaser, 35, appeared briefly in a Toronto court on Tuesday for a bail hearing. A?long beard covered his face, and he wore a black shirt with no tie, and was accompanied by ?his parents and brother, the Associated Press reported.

Jaser entered no plea and was ordered to appear again in court next month. His lawyer was granted?a publication ban on future evidence and testimony.

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In a Montreal courtroom, Esseghaier, 30, declined a court appointed lawyer and addressed the judge in French, according to the Montreal Gazette.??All the conclusions that have been made, I can describe them as conclusions that have been made from facts and things said that are nothing but appearances. We can?t make these conclusions because we are not in a backwards state,? the paper reports him telling the judge.

Neither of the men are Canadian citizens, but authorities have not revealed their nationalities.

Several sources told NBCNewYork.com that Amtrak trains out of New York City may have been scouted by the suspects.

Muhammad Robert Heft, a Muslim community leader in the Scarborough area of Canada's biggest city, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that he expected ordinary Muslims would experience problems because of the allegations.

But he said Muslims had helped the security services detain the suspects.

Canadian authorities hold a press conference after two men were arrested and charged in an alleged "al Qaeda-supported" plot to blow up a U.S.-Canada rain line.

"There is going to be backlash," Heft told the Sun. "But I want to reiterate. Who was the one who tipped the RCMP off? It was our community."

"We have to be on the front lines," he said. "To either nip it in the bud in the very beginning or co-operate with authorities so they can be brought to justice."

"In our community we may look a little different, but in our hearts we love Canada. It's our country. It's our tribe," he added. "We want safety for all Canadians regardless of their religion."

Police also said a tip from the Muslim community had helped their year-long investigation, Reuters reported.

"Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured," Royal Canadian Mounted Police?s Assistant Commissioner James Malizia told reporters.

"The individuals were receiving support from al Qaeda elements located in Iran," he said.

Iran denied any involvement in the alleged attack plan. ?Iran's position against this group is very clear and well known. Al Qaeda?has no possibility to do any activity inside Iran or conduct any operation abroad from Iran territory,? the Iranian Mission to the U.N. said in a statement to NBC News. ?We reject strongly and categorically any connection to this story.?

Malizia said the RCMP believed the two had the capacity and intent to carry out the attack, but there was no imminent threat to the public, passengers, or infrastructure, Reuters reported.

U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, a route that travels along the Hudson Valley into New York wine country and enters Canada near Niagara Falls.

New York-area commuters like Jason Rivers told NBCNewYork.com that they took the threat seriously.

"I'm always concerned," Rivers said at Penn Station. "I live in New Jersey, but every day I come through here. You just never know."

"Unfortunately, the country's a little bit on edge about what's going on, so I think it's natural that everybody be concerned," another commuter Michael Milch said.

Some security experts were surprised by the alleged link to al Qaeda factions in Iran, whose Shiite rulers have a generally hostile attitude toward the Sunni militant movement. Reuters explained:

Iran did host some senior al Qaeda figures under a form of house arrest in the years following the September 11 attacks, but there has been little to no evidence to date of joint attempts to execute violence against the West.

However, a U.S. government source said Iran is home to a little-known network of alleged al Qaeda fixers and "facilitators" based in the Iranian city of Zahedan, very close to Iran's borders with both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The source said the operatives serve as go-betweens, travel agents and financial intermediaries for al Qaeda operatives and cells operating in Pakistan and moving through the area.

They do not operate under the protection of the Iranian government, which periodically launches crackdowns on the al Qaeda elements, though at other times appears to turn a blind eye to them.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Canada thwarts plot to blow up U.S.-Canada rail line

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 23, 2013 5:08 AM EDT

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/23/17873250-muslims-helped-foil-alleged-canada-train-bomb-plot?lite

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Nanowires grown on graphene have surprising structure

Apr. 23, 2013 ? When a team of University of Illinois engineers set out to grow nanowires of a compound semiconductor on top of a sheet of graphene, they did not expect to discover a new paradigm of epitaxy.

The self-assembled wires have a core of one composition and an outer layer of another, a desired trait for many advanced electronics applications. Led by professor Xiuling Li, in collaboration with professors Eric Pop and Joseph Lyding, all professors of electrical and computer engineering, the team published its findings in the journal Nano Letters.

Nanowires, tiny strings of semiconductor material, have great potential for applications in transistors, solar cells, lasers, sensors and more.

"Nanowires are really the major building blocks of future nano-devices," said postdoctoral researcher Parsian Mohseni, first author of the study. "Nanowires are components that can be used, based on what material you grow them out of, for any functional electronics application."

Li's group uses a method called van der Waals epitaxy to grow nanowires from the bottom up on a flat substrate of semiconductor materials, such as silicon. The nanowires are made of a class of materials called III-V (three-five), compound semiconductors that hold particular promise for applications involving light, such as solar cells or lasers.

The group previously reported growing III-V nanowires on silicon. While silicon is the most widely used material in devices, it has a number of shortcomings. Now, the group has grown nanowires of the material indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) on a sheet of graphene, a 1-atom-thick sheet of carbon with exceptional physical and conductive properties.

Thanks to its thinness, graphene is flexible, while silicon is rigid and brittle. It also conducts like a metal, allowing for direct electrical contact to the nanowires. Furthermore, it is inexpensive, flaked off from a block of graphite or grown from carbon gases.

"One of the reasons we want to grow on graphene is to stay away from thick and expensive substrates," Mohseni said. "About 80 percent of the manufacturing cost of a conventional solar cell comes from the substrate itself. We've done away with that by just using graphene. Not only are there inherent cost benefits, we're also introducing functionality that a typical substrate doesn't have."

The researchers pump gases containing gallium, indium and arsenic into a chamber with a graphene sheet. The nanowires self-assemble, growing by themselves into a dense carpet of vertical wires across the surface of the graphene. Other groups have grown nanowires on graphene with compound semiconductors that only have two elements, but by using three elements, the Illinois group made a unique finding: The InGaAs wires grown on graphene spontaneously segregate into an indium arsenide (InAs) core with an InGaAs shell around the outside of the wire.

"This is unexpected," Li said. "A lot of devices require a core-shell architecture. Normally you grow the core in one growth condition and change conditions to grow the shell on the outside. This is spontaneous, done in one step. The other good thing is that since it's a spontaneous segregation, it produces a perfect interface."

So what causes this spontaneous core-shell structure? By coincidence, the distance between atoms in a crystal of InAs is nearly the same as the distance between whole numbers of carbon atoms in a sheet of graphene. So, when the gases are piped into the chamber and the material begins to crystallize, InAs settles into place on the graphene, a near-perfect fit, while the gallium compound settles on the outside of the wires. This was unexpected, because normally, with van der Waals epitaxy, the respective crystal structures of the material and the substrate are not supposed to matter.

"We didn't expect it, but once we saw it, it made sense," Mohseni said.

In addition, by tuning the ratio of gallium to indium in the semiconductor cocktail, the researchers can tune the optical and conductive properties of the nanowires.

Next, Li's group plans to make solar cells and other optoelectronic devices with their graphene-grown nanowires. Thanks to both the wires' ternary composition and graphene's flexibility and conductivity, Li hopes to integrate the wires in a broad spectrum of applications.

"We basically discovered a new phenomenon that confirms that registry does count in van der Waals epitaxy," Li said.

This work was supported in part by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. Postdoctoral researcher Ashkan Behnam and graduate students Joshua Wood and Christopher English also were co-authors of the paper. Li also is affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab, and the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Lab, all at the U. of I.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Parsian K. Mohseni, Ashkan Behnam, Joshua D. Wood, Christopher D. English, Joseph W. Lyding, Eric Pop, Xiuling Li. InxGa1?xAs Nanowire Growth on Graphene: van der Waals Epitaxy Induced Phase Segregation. Nano Letters, 2013; 13 (3): 1153 DOI: 10.1021/nl304569d

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/UDh-obHK4Rc/130423135847.htm

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Bomb suspect influenced by mysterious radical

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, speaks with the media outside his home in Montgomery Village in Md. Friday, April, 19, 2013. Tsarni urged his nephew to turn himself in. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In the years before the Boston Marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev fell under the influence of a new friend, a Muslim convert who steered the religiously apathetic young man toward a strict strain of Islam, family members said.

Under the tutelage of a friend known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music, his family said. He began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Jews controlled the world.

"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence. Efforts over several days by The Associated Press to identify and interview Misha have been unsuccessful.

Tamerlan's relationship with Misha could be a clue in understanding the motives behind his religious transformation and, ultimately, the attack itself. Two U.S. officials say he had no tie to terrorist groups.

Throughout his religious makeover, Tamerlan maintained a strong influence over his siblings, including Dzhokhar, who investigators say carried out the deadly attack by his older brother's side, killing three and injuring 264 people.

"They all loved Tamerlan. He was the eldest one and he, in many ways, was the role model for his sisters and his brother," said Elmirza Khozhugov, 26, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister, Ailina. "You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say.

"Even my ex-wife loved him so much and respected him so much," Khozhugov said. "I'd have arguments with her and if Tamerlan took my side, she would agree: 'OK, if Tamerlan said it.'"

Khozhugov said he was close to Tamerlan when he was married and they kept in touch for a while but drifted apart in the past two years or so. He spoke to the AP from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan. A family member in the United States provided the contact information.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout Friday. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, and he could face the death penalty if convicted.

"Of course I was shocked and surprised that he was Suspect No. 1," Khozhugov said, recalling the days after the bombing when the FBI identified Tamerlan as the primary suspect. "But after a few hours of thinking about it, I thought it could be possible that he did it."

Based on preliminary written interviews with Dzhokar in his hospital bed, U.S. officials believe the brothers were motivated by their religious views. It has not been clear, however, what those views were.

As authorities try to piece together that information, they are touching on a question asked after so many terrorist plots: What turns someone into a terrorist?

The brothers emigrated in 2002 or 2003 from Dagestan, a Russian republic that has become an epicenter of the Islamic insurgency that spilled over from the region of Chechnya.

They were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect. They were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.

Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a slightly older, heavyset bald man with a long reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they'd met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together. Misha was an Armenian native and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend, family members said.

Once, Khozhugov said, Misha came to the family home outside Boston and sat in the kitchen, chatting with Tamerlan for hours.

"Misha was telling him what is Islam, what is good in Islam, what is bad in Islam," said Khozhugov, who said he was present for the conversation. "This is the best religion and that's it. Mohammed said this and Mohammed said that."

The conversation continued until Tamerlan's father, Anzor, came home from work.

"It was late, like midnight," Khozhugov said. "His father comes in and says, 'Why is Misha here so late and still in our house?' He asked it politely. Tamerlan was so much into the conversation he didn't listen."

Khozhugov said Tamerlan's mother, Zubeidat, told him not to worry.

"'Don't interrupt them,'" Khozhugov recalled the mother saying. "'They're talking about religion and good things. Misha is teaching him to be good and nice.'"

As time went on, Tamerlan and his father argued about the young man's new beliefs.

"When Misha would start talking, Tamerlan would stop talking and listen. It upset his father because Tamerlan wouldn't listen to him as much," Khozhugov said. "He would listen to this guy from the mosque who was preaching to him."

Anzor became so concerned that he called his brother, worried about Misha's effects.

"I heard about nobody else but this convert," Tsarni said. "The seed for changing his views was planted right there in Cambridge."

It was not immediately clear whether the FBI has spoken to Misha or was attempting to.

Tsarnaev became an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, two U.S. officials said. He read Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate.

Tamerlan loved music and, a few years ago, he sent Khozhugov a song he'd composed in English and Russian. He said he was about to start music school.

Six weeks later, the two men spoke on the phone. Khozhugov asked how school was going.

"I quit," Tamerlan said.

"Why did you quit?" Khozhugov asked. "You just started."

"Music is not really supported in Islam," he replied.

"Who told you that?"

"Misha said it's not really good to create music. It's not really good to listen to music," Tamerlan said, according to Khozhugov.

Tamerlan took an interest in Infowars, a conspiracy theory website. Khozhugov said Tamerlan was interested in finding a copy of the book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," the classic anti-Semitic hoax, first published in Russia in 1903, that claims a Jewish plot to take over the world.

"He never said he hated America or he hated the Jews," Khozhugov said. "But he was fairly aggressive toward the policies of the U.S. toward countries with Muslim populations. He disliked the wars."

One of the brothers' neighbors, Albrecht Ammon, recently recalled an encounter in which Tamerlan argued about U.S. foreign policy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and religion.

Ammon said Tamerlan described the Bible as a "cheap copy" of the Quran, used to justify wars with other countries.

"He had nothing against the American people," Ammon said. "He had something against the American government."

Khozhugov said Tamerlan did not know much about Islam beyond what he found online or what he heard from Misha.

"Misha was important," he said. "Tamerlan was searching for something. He was searching for something out there."

___

Associated Press writers Lara Jakes and Eileen Sullivan contributed to this report.

___

AP's Washington investigative team can be reached at DCinvestigations(at)ap.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-23-Boston%20Marathon-Radicalization/id-b972b1cc07c74c90a9fd88ecd5139726

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21 Things SMBs Can Do To Make Google Love Their Website (Plus ...

I consider myself to be a very active participant of social media, and agree that it offers a lot of interesting opportunities. However, I think it?s important for us to avoid getting so caught up in the social media whirlwind that we forget about good old fashioned SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Think about it this way: When you go to your financial advisor, he would never recommend that you put your entire net worth into a single stock. Well, any good Internet marketing consultant will tell you the same thing about your online marketing strategy. The most effective strategies are those that are well diversified between social media, natural search and paid search.

In today?s post, we?re going to focus exclusively on the natural search piece of the puzzle. Since paid search and Google+ Local would require their own dedicated posts, hopefully HostGator will invite me back in the future to discuss those topics.

Having spent a little over a decade as a search marketing professional, I can tell you with absolute authority and conviction that a well-targeted SEO campaign will result in highly targeted traffic and conversions, which in turn will add to the bottom line of your business.

To help you get started in the right direction, I?ve assembled a list of twenty-one ways small businesses can make their websites more ?Google friendly.? This will also benefit your rankings in Yahoo and Bing. Before we dive in, I want to point out that this list assumes you?ve already done keyword research to identify your target keywords. If you haven?t had a chance to do that, bookmark this page, research what?keywords you should optimize your website for,?and then come back and dive right in:

Have good title tags:?Not only do title tags tell search engines what your site is about, but compelling title tags will also give users a reason to click through to your website when it appears in their search results.

Have well-written meta descriptions:?Since a meta description is used to provide the text under the title link in search results, you want to write really good ones that contain keywords and accurately describe the different pages of your site. If you?re using WordPress, you can use the All in one SEO Pack to help with both title tags and meta descriptions.

Use keywords in your internal link anchor text: Search engines pay a lot of attention to the links on your site, along with the words that you use in them. Instead of using phrases like ?click here? or ?for more information,? use anchor text that contains keywords and tells users where they will be going. However, only do this when it?s natural and will make sense to visitors. Be sure not to get too key wordy with this. Example if your business services page is about blue widget repair you could use ?blue widget repair? for your internal link anchor text or maybe just ?widget repair? is you do more than just blue widgets, but you wouldn?t want to use ?blue widget repair in Houston? because it sounds forced and unnatural (too key wordy).

Use relevant keywords in your general copy (but don?t overdo it):?This can be tricky, but it?s worth the effort. While some people will say you should ONLY write for humans and others will say you should write for search engines, the truth is that you need to find a balance between the two. While stuffing a keyword into your content dozens of times will sound ridiculous when humans read it and could trigger an ?over-optimization penalty?, you can find creative ways to include a couple of keywords for search engines to come across. It?s usually sufficient if you use your keywords a few times in your copy, as well as once in the title, heading or subheading of the page.

Use a good link structure:?Instead of domainname.com/page.html, it?s better to use a structure like domainname.com/descriptivekeyword.html. If you?re using WordPress, you?ll want to?change the default permalink structure. As with most keyword tips, moderation is key. Don?t go ?over the top? with long keyword phrases!

Use descriptive alt text and titles on images:?All images on your website should have alt tags (alternative text) and titles. Alt tags are used to describe the image, and in the event that the server cannot find the image it?s looking for, this text will display to visitors. This text also improves the accessibility of your pages, and helps visitors like those who have a visual impairment and use a screen reader. Alt tags are also a great opportunity to legitimately add some extra keywords to a page.

Use descriptive filenames for images:?If you have an image of a frog, instead of something generic like 1.jpg, you should name the file frog-1.jpg.

Have an XML sitemap:?An XML sitemap is a coded sitemap that makes it easier for search engine spiders to index all the pages of your website. WordPress users can create one with the?Google XML Sitemaps?plugin, while other website owners with a standard HTML site can use the?XML Sitemaps Generator. Once it?s created, you?ll want to register your sitemap with Google Webmaster Tools.

Have an HTML sitemap:?Putting an HTML sitemap on your website will not only make it easier for Google to crawl your deep content, but will also provide users with a better navigational experience.

Use keywords in heads and subheads:?An important aspect of basic on-page optimization, this allows you to tell Google and users exactly what your website is all about.

Have a clean link structure:?Instead of cluttering your HTML with style attributes, use?CSS?to style your website without hindering search engine spiders from crawling your code.

Validate your source code:?Like the tip above,?validating your source code?will ensure that search engine spiders don?t run into any technical difficulties when crawling your website.

Focus on homepage optimization:?This is the most important page of your website, and the key to your site being found by search engines. Your homepage should be easy to understand and summarize the rest of your website. Your homepage should also have your main keywords spread throughout the title, heading, content and alt tags of the homepage. Just remember to keep things natural and avoid the temptation to stuff in too many keywords.

Start a link building campaign: Having quality inbound links shows Google that your site can be trusted. When it comes to inbound links, ?quality? is the most important word. For example, a link you get from publishing a great guest post is going to be worth a lot more than multiple links from borderline spammy directories. Also be sure not to go nuts with ?exact match? anchor text, or you could actually see yourself losing rankings for your desired keyword phrases. Click here for a quick primer on the different kinds of anchor text and how to use them.

Guest post frequently:?In addition to helping you build links, this will also allow you to network with other people in your industry, which can lead to them linking to you on additional occasions. Just be aware that there?s a big difference between the right way and the wrong way to do this!

Have a company blog on your website:?The nice thing about this one is it can also aid in your social media efforts. A blog can be used to communicate directly to your customers, as well as demonstrate your expertise in your field. And in regards to SEO, publishing new content will ensure your website is being crawled on a regular basis. Consistent blogging is also a great way to naturally attract incoming links.

Avoid most WYSIWYG HTML editors:?The reason it?s generally best to avoid most WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors is because they will add a lot of clutter and junk to your source code. This can make it difficult for search engines to pick out the content that?s actually important. While I haven?t had many problems with the editor in WordPress, an example of a troublesome editor is the one included with cPanel.

Add your site to Google Webmasters tools:?There are multiple reasons to add your site to?Google Webmaster Tools. For an in-depth look at all of the reasons, check out this post.

Have a robots.txt file:?As mentioned above, you can create this file with Google Webmaster Tools. The main benefit of a robots.txt file is you can tell Google if there are any pages of your site that you don?t want indexed.

Add your business listing to Google Places for Business: While Google?s frequent name changes of their local service can be confusing, all you need to do is click that link, add your business listing and then you?ll be good to go. While optimizing for Google+ Local (which is the current name of this Google Maps section) is beyond the scope of this post, if you just add your business listing there, you?ll already be way ahead of many businesses. Also, you can check out a breakdown of Google?s recent changes in this article.

Last but not least:?While this one only applies to WordPress users, because it will automatically do many of the things we?ve discussed today, I highly recommend installing the free?All in One SEO Pack plugin.

Now that I?ve covered a lot of the things that you should do, I?d also like to list a few common but deadly Internet marketing mistakes I see businesses make on a regular basis. You can also click here for a more extensive list.

6 Internet Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Like the Plague

1. Not having a professionally designed website: If your site doesn?t look professional or trustworthy, visitors aren?t going to stick around long enough to become a lead or customer.
2. Doing nothing else after getting a website up: Since the Internet?s extremely competitive, if you want results, you have to consistently promote your site through channels like organic search and social media.
3. Attempting to save money by going with the cheapest vendor: Given that a bad SEO provider can literally get your website kicked out of Google?s search results, it?s not worth risking your entire online presence over trying to save a little money.
4. Not having a clear call to action above the fold: Whether you want visitors to sign up for your mailing list or make a direct purchase, you need to let them know what to do. If visitors have no idea what to do once they reach your site, you?re going to be very disappointed with your conversion metrics.
5. Not enlisting professional help: Because you?ve already got so much on your plate, the smart thing to do is enlist help from a reliable professional so that you can stay focused on the things you do best.
6. Not setting up conversion tracking: While basic Google Analytics data is helpful, it?s really only the tip of the iceberg. If you want data that?s truly actionable, you need to set up conversion goals and call tracking for your site.

If you have any questions about the tips outlined in this please let me know in the comments section.

***

Gerald Weber is the founder of sem-group.net in Houston Texas and co-founder of viralcontentbuzz.com which is the free platform that helps bloggers generate REAL ?social buzz? on quality content. Follow Gerald on Google+ to learn more.

Source: http://blog.hostgator.com/2013/04/22/21-things-smbs-can-do-to-make-google-love-their-website-plus-6-mistakes-to-avoid-like-the-plague/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=21-things-smbs-can-do-to-make-google-love-their-website-plus-6-mistakes-to-avoid-like-the-plague

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Amazon's pilots reign supreme on Instant Video | Internet & Media ...

Amazon's new shows.

(Credit: Amazon)

Amazon's pilot programs launched last week, and already they're making an impact on the e-retailer's streaming video service.

Amazon said today that over this past weekend, eight of the 10 most-streamed episodes on its Instant Video service came from the new TV pilots it launched last week.

Amazon claims that it combed through more than 4,000 submissions for its Amazon Studios division, which will produce original series for its streaming service. Out of that, it chose to make 14 pilots. The shows range in type from comedies -- including one starring John Goodman, named "Alpha House" -- to children's shows. Now that the pilots have aired, Amazon will decide whether it wants to move forward with full seasons.

Amazon did not say today whether it will green-light any of the shows for full seasons.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57580735-93/amazons-pilots-reign-supreme-on-instant-video/

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Police: Man killed girlfriend, 3 others in Wash.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) ? A man fatally shot his live-in girlfriend at an apartment south of Seattle then killed three men, including a neighbor who told others to call 911 and retreated inside his unit before the gunman blasted open the door with a shotgun and opened fire, authorities said Monday.

The 27-year-old suspect was later shot and killed in a parking lot by responding officers.

"We believe this is a domestic-violence homicide," Federal Way Police Chief Brian Wilson said at a news conference.

Wilson said investigators believe the shooter may also have been trying to kill witnesses, KOMO-TV reported.

Police encountered a chaotic situation in Federal Way on Sunday night when they responded to reports of gunshots.

The suspect confronted arriving officers with a shotgun in a stairwell then fled to the parking lot after officers fired at him, Wilson said.

He was killed on the ground while reaching for a handgun, Wilson said.

"This is one of the most dangerous ... calls for law enforcement to respond to," Wilson said of the active shooter situation.

A King County medical examiner's spokeswoman said Monday that the identities of the dead were not expected to be released until Tuesday afternoon.

Wilson said the victims included the suspect's 25-year-old girlfriend, and three men, including the 62-year-old neighbor. The other men were 24 and 46.

Police were still piecing together information but believe the suspect shot his girlfriend in their apartment, then killed the two younger men after he left the unit.

Wilson said the 62-year-old heard the commotion from another apartment, went outside to investigate and urged others to call authorities. The man returned to his residence before he was shot and killed, the chief said.

Police said the gunman used the shotgun to fire on the man's door to gain entry. It did not appear that the older man knew the shooter, police said.

Authorities received the first reports of suspicious circumstances about 9:35 p.m. Sunday.

"When officers arrived there were still shots being fired," said police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock.

Officers swarmed and searched the large apartment complex off Interstate 5 before saying they were confident there were no more casualties.

By dawn, a medical examiner's office truck had arrived to pick up bodies while crime scene investigators kept working. One officer was seen carrying books and a gun to what appeared to be an evidence van.

A total of eight officers fired their weapons, Schrock said. All have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard policy in such situations, as the investigation continues.

Wilson said the suspect, who had a valid concealed weapons permit, had no criminal history. However, he had been involved in two prior domestic violence calls in Federal Way and Seattle, Wilson said.

Both incidents were verbal in nature and no arrests were made, Wilson said.

Federal Way is about 20 miles south of Seattle.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-man-killed-girlfriend-3-others-wash-221100319.html

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Study finds scientific basis for 'chemo brain' in breast cancer patients

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Study Finds Scientific Basis for ?Chemo Brain? in Breast Cancer Patients




By Janice Wood Associate News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on April 19, 2013

While breast cancer patients often report difficulties with memory, concentration and other cognitive functions following treatment, there?s been a debate in the medical community as to whether this mental fogginess is psychosomatic or a symptom of changes in brain function.

Now, a new study has shown a correlation between poorer performance on neuropsychological tests and memory complaints in post-treatment, early-stage breast cancer patients, particularly those who have undergone chemotherapy and radiation.

?The study is one of the first to show that such patient-reported cognitive difficulties ? often referred to as ?chemo brain? in those who have had chemotherapy ? can be associated with neuropsychological test performance,? said Dr. Patricia Ganz, director of cancer prevention and control research at the University of California-Los Angeles?s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Ganz and her colleagues looked at 189 breast cancer patients who enrolled in the study about a month after completing their initial breast cancer treatments and before beginning endocrine hormone-replacement therapy. Two-thirds had breast-conserving surgery, more than half had received chemotherapy, and three-quarters had undergone radiation therapy. Average age of the women was 52.

Because cognitive complaints following cancer treatment have often been associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms, the researchers excluded women with serious depressive symptoms. They also took into account the cancer treatments used and whether menopause and hormonal changes could be influencing the cognitive complaints. A group of healthy women of about the same age was used as a control group.

The researchers gave a self-reporting questionnaire to the women and found that those with breast cancer reported more severe complaints than normal ? 23.3 percent had higher complaints about their memory, and 19 percent reported higher complaints about higher-level cognition, such as problem-solving and reasoning.

The researchers noted that the breast cancer patients who reported more severe memory and higher-level cognition problems were more likely to have undergone both chemotherapy and radiation.

The UCLA researchers found that even when patients reported subtle changes in their memory and thinking, neuropsychological testing showed detectable differences.

For instance, they discovered that poorer performance on the neuropsychological test was associated with higher levels of cognitive complaints and with combined radiation and chemotherapy treatment, as well as with symptoms related to depression.

?In the past, many researchers said that we can?t rely on patients? self-reported complaints or that they are just depressed, because previous studies could not find this association between neuropsychological testing and cognitive complaints,? Ganz said. ?In this study, we were able to look at specific components of the cognitive complaints and found they were associated with relevant neuropsychological function test abnormalities.?

The findings are part of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the extent to which hormone therapy contributes to memory and thinking problems in breast cancer survivors, she said. This latest study provided a pre-hormone therapy assessment, which was able to separate the effects of initial treatments on these cognitive problems, she said. Earlier post-treatment studies of breast cancer patients were difficult to interpret, as they included women already taking hormone therapy, she noted.

?As we provide additional reports on the follow-up testing in these women, we will track their recovery from treatment, as well as determine whether hormone therapy contributes to worsening complaints over time,? Ganz said.

The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Source: University of California-Los Angeles

Breast cancer patient photo available from Shutterstock

APA Reference
Wood, J. (2013). Study Finds Scientific Basis for ?Chemo Brain? in Breast Cancer Patients. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 22, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/20/study-finds-scientific-basis-for-chemo-brain-in-breast-cancer-patients/53922.html

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/20/study-finds-scientific-basis-for-chemo-brain-in-breast-cancer-patients/53922.html

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The unfolding of a 5-day manhunt for bomb suspects

Ten seconds and 100 yards. The time and distance between two bombs.

Two crudely built bombs set off 10 seconds and 100 yards apart without warning or threat, ripping through a crowd of spectators and runners, filling the street with fire, blood and limbs. Two bombs that began a cascade of casualties and terror, that triggered a massive manhunt that paralyzed a city.

It began Monday with two bombs 10 seconds and 100 yards apart just shy of the finish line of the Boston Marathon, blasts that sounded the start of a new race ? to identify and find those responsible. This is how that race unfolded.

___

MONDAY, APRIL 15

? Just before 3 p.m., an explosion shatters the cheers on Boylston Street near the finish line of one of Boston's largest and most cherished events. More than 17,000 runners already had crossed the finish line, but thousands more still were headed for the site of the bombing. Ten seconds later, a second explosion shatters windows and bodies. Sirens and screams erupt as rescuers scramble and the crowd panics.

"They just started bringing people in with no limbs," runner Tim Davey of Richmond, Va., said of his view from inside a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners.

? The blasts killed three people ? 8-year-old Martin Richard, of Boston; 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, of Medford; and 23-year-old Lu Lingzi, a Boston University graduate student from China ? and injured more than 180 others, but it would be hours before the chaos cleared enough to give authorities a true sense of the casualties. Or even where the bombs had been hidden. If they had been hidden.

? A citywide shutdown that will become nearly complete by the end of the week begins by early evening. A no-fly zone is created over the bombing sites, major sporting events are canceled, people are urged to stay indoors, SWAT team members with machine guns patrol hospitals. And the world takes notice, beefing up security at nuclear plants, public transit systems and anywhere crowds gather.

? Is it terrorism? Americans are eager for answers, but when President Barack Obama addresses the nation three hours after the explosion, he stops short of that. "We will find out who did this. We'll find out why they did this," Obama said in his brief statement. "Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice."

? Knowing that thousands of smartphones and cameras were in the crowd, by nightfall authorities officially tap the power of crowd sourcing and put out the call for pictures, videos and tips.

___

TUESDAY, APRIL 16

? The day begins with a city ? and a nation ? on edge and without answers. No suspects. No motives. No claims of responsibility. An apartment in nearby Revere was searched overnight, but no details emerge. Copley Plaza ? the typically bustling site of the bombings ? was blocked to vehicles and pedestrians.

? By noon, Obama inches the nation forward but only barely. Calling the bombings "a heinous and cowardly act," he says they are being investigated as an act of terrorism, but authorities still don't know who is responsible. Later in the day, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the bombings don't appear to be part of a large plot, but security on public transit nationwide ? and around the world ? remains high.

? A picture of the bombs begins to emerge. Based on debris at the site, investigators determine the bombs were crudely fashioned from ordinary kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and ball bearings. And they were hidden in black backpacks and left on the ground.

? Pictures of the victims emerge, too. Photos flood social media. There is 8-year-old Martin Richard, smiling and holding a sign that calls for peace and reads, "No more hurting people." And there is 27-year-old Jeff Bauman Jr., being pushed in a wheelchair from the scene of the explosions, bloodied with both legs blown off below the knees.

? It would be another two days before pictures of the suspects, 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would emerge. But already the younger of the two appears nervous. The owner of an auto body shop near the brothers' Cambridge home later recalled a visit from Dzhokhar on Tuesday.

Gilberto Junior said the usually easygoing teen often stopped by to talk cars and soccer. But on Tuesday, he was biting his nails and trembling. The mechanic told Dzhokhar he hadn't had a chance to work on a Mercedes the teen had dropped off for bumper work. "I don't care. I don't care. I need the car right now," Junior says Dzhokhar told him.

___

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17

? Investigators plow through thousands of tips, scour the rooftops and roads around the blast site, and use sophisticated software to sift through mountains of images and video for patterns or unusual behavior. Obama signs an emergency declaration to send federal aid to Massachusetts.

? Amid conflicting ? and ultimately false ? reports of a break in the case, investigators discover department store surveillance footage shot near the site of the bombs that shows a man dropping off a bag believed to contain one of the bombs. But officials say they still don't know the man's name.

? Boston remains under a heavy security presence, with police officers stationed on street corners across the city. National Guardsmen have set up tents on the Boston Common and stationed tactical vehicles.

___

THURSDAY, APRIL 18

? Obama and other dignitaries attend an interfaith service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. "You will run again!" Obama tells the city.

? Using facial recognition technology and a painstaking frame-by-frame search, investigators have narrowed their search to images of two young men, Suspect No. 1 and Suspect No. 2. But officials still don't know who they are. And as of 1 p.m., they won't publicly describe them.

? At 5:10 p.m., investigators reveal the photos and video of the two men, a tactic intended to apply pressure in hopes the men will be identified or reveal themselves. But it comes with risk. The men could reveal themselves by lashing out with more violence. Within moments, the images trigger a flood of responses that overwhelm the FBI's website.

"We consider them to be armed and extremely dangerous," FBI Agent Richard DesLauriers said.

? About five hours later, something happens. It's not clear what, but something snaps and the city of Boston seems to spin violently out of control for nearly 24 hours.

? At 10:20 p.m., shots are heard on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, across the Charles River from Boston in Cambridge. Ten minutes later, a 26-year-old MIT campus police officer, Sean Collier, is found shot multiple times in his car and pronounced dead. He had been responding to a report of a disturbance.

? Shortly after, two armed men carjack a Mercedes SUV in Cambridge. They hold the driver for half an hour, then release him unharmed. That man runs into a gas station and calls police. Whatever the carjackers had told him during his time with them convinces police they are dealing with the bombing suspects.

? The search for the Mercedes leads to a chase that ends in Watertown. Residents there describe war zone-like scenes, with the suspects hurling explosive devices from the car and exchanging gunfire with police. The men were prepared. They had collected pipe bombs, grenades and improvised explosive devices. A transit police officer, 33-year-old Richard Donohue, is shot and critically wounded.

? In the course of the gunfire, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev is shot. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, escapes in a stolen vehicle, running over his wounded brother as he flees. In his wake are 200 spent shells. Tamerlan Tsarnaev dies shortly after at a Boston hospital from multiple gunshot wounds and a possible blast injury. Meanwhile, at some point his brother abandons his car and flees on foot.

___

FRIDAY, APRIL 19

? Gunshots and explosions are heard in Watertown around 1 a.m. Police SWAT teams, sharpshooters and FBI agents descend on an area stretching from Watertown to Cambridge, surrounding buildings. Police helicopters buzz overhead and armored vehicles rumble through the streets. Trains are searched. And by 4:30 a.m., residents of eastern Watertown are told to stay in their homes.

? An hour later, the lockdown is extended across Boston, affecting more than 1 million people. Open your door only for uniformed officers, they are told. Mass transit is shut down, including Amtrak trains to New York. Businesses are told not to open. It is a city paralyzed. Signs up and down the highways leading into Boston warn to avoid the city.

"We believe this man to be a terrorist," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. "We believe this to be a man who's come here to kill people."

? Investigators begin a methodical, door-to-door sweep of Watertown. By midmorning, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth closes and evacuates its campus after confirming that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was registered there. Around midday, the suspects' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, of Maryland, pleads on television: "Dzhokhar, if you are alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness."

? Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had somehow evaded an army. As night fell, authorities start scaling back the hunt. Mass transit is allowed to resume and people are told they can leave their homes.

? But just as that order is lifted, there is a break. A man in Watertown sees blood on a boat parked in a yard. When he pulls back the tarp, he sees a man covered in blood and calls police. When authorities arrive, they try to talk the suspect ? already weakened by a gunshot wound received some 20 hours earlier ? into getting out of the boat.

? He doesn't. Police say the 19-year-old suspect exchanges gunfire with law enforcement for an hour while holed up in the boat before being captured.

? Just before 9 p.m., Boston police take to Twitter: "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

? People pour into the streets. Church bells ring. American flags are waved. A city erupts again.

___

J.M. Hirsch tweets at http://twitter.com/JM_Hirsch

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/unfolding-5-day-manhunt-bomb-suspects-004153220.html

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Whoops, CBS Got Twitter-Hacked And Spat Out Virus-y Links (Update: There's More!)

Twitter hacks are an unfortunate reality of everyday social media life. Today, it was CBS's 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and CBS Denver accounts that took the hit and started dishing out some linkbait-y tweets with a virus-laiden garnish. Careful what you click. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/EtQPOWFKq_c/whoops-some-cbs-twitter-accounts-got-hacked-and-spat-out-virus+y-links

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After long period of quiet, Guantanamo grows tense

In this image reviewed by the U.S. Military, Navy Capt. Robert Durand stands next to some of the makeshift weapons, including broomsticks and batons made of plastic and steel, that were confiscated from prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison following a Saturday clash between prisoners and guards, on display for the press at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. Soldiers with riot helmets and shields swept into recreation yards and met with resistance from several dozen prisoners, the leadership of the detention center said. The guard force raided Camp 6 because the prisoners had for several weeks covered up 147 of the 160 security cameras, making it impossible to monitor them amid a weeks long hunger strike. The hunger strike goes on, with 45 prisoners refusing meals and 13 being force fed, officials said. (AP Photo/Ben Fox)

In this image reviewed by the U.S. Military, Navy Capt. Robert Durand stands next to some of the makeshift weapons, including broomsticks and batons made of plastic and steel, that were confiscated from prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison following a Saturday clash between prisoners and guards, on display for the press at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. Soldiers with riot helmets and shields swept into recreation yards and met with resistance from several dozen prisoners, the leadership of the detention center said. The guard force raided Camp 6 because the prisoners had for several weeks covered up 147 of the 160 security cameras, making it impossible to monitor them amid a weeks long hunger strike. The hunger strike goes on, with 45 prisoners refusing meals and 13 being force fed, officials said. (AP Photo/Ben Fox)

FILE - In this Oct. 9, 2007 file photo, Guantanamo guards keep watch over a cell block with detainees in Camp 6 maximum-security facility, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. Guards clashed Saturday, April 13, 2013 with prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison as the military sought to move hunger strikers out of a communal section of the detention center, officials said. The confrontation occurred after the commander decided to move prisoners into single, solid-walled cells so that prison authorities could monitor them more closely during the hunger strike, the military said.. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) ? The morning routine started before dawn with a prisoner chanting the Muslim call to prayer through a small opening in the heavy steel door of his cell as soldiers with face shields quietly paced in the dimly lit corridor. The calm did not last long.

Within minutes, troops began rushing about, the words "code yellow" echoing through their handheld radios. The emergency was a prisoner in another cellblock who did not appear to be moving, prompting the urgent call to the medics to come check him, something they have been called upon to do many times in recent weeks, said the Army captain in charge of the maximum-security section of the Guantanamo Bay prison known as Camp 5.

"Recently, it's been happening very frequently," said the captain, whose name the military would not allow to be released for security reasons.

Officials later said the man who sparked the alarm Thursday was OK, merely faint and dizzy, and he did not have to be hospitalized as others have had amid a weeks-old hunger strike at the prison. Still, it was an illustration of just how tense Guantanamo has become of late, with more than a third of prisoners refusing to eat and nearly everyone locked down for most of the day since a violent clash with guards on- April 13. At least two detainees have tried to kill themselves since that confrontation between guards in riot gear and prisoners with broomsticks and metal bars.

Prison officials opened the prison to journalists from The Associated Press and three other news organizations this week, portraying the atmosphere as tense but under control at this detention center that has been open for 11 years and now holds 166 men, most without charge.

The visit came with certain restrictions. Among them was a prohibition on identifying by name certain officials, such as the Muslim cultural affairs adviser who blamed the recent troubles, including the hunger strike, on a small group of jihadist "troublemakers" who he says are trying to make sure at least one fellow prisoner commits suicide.

"Are they done? No, they are not done yet. And there will be more than one death," said the Arab-American adviser, who goes by the name "Zak" and has worked at the prison since September 2005.

Seven prisoners have killed themselves over the years at Guantanamo. The most recent, last September, was Adnan Latif, who took an overdose of prescription psychiatric medicine. Though the government had accused him of training with the Taliban in Afghanistan, he was not being prosecuted nor could he be sent back to his native Yemen, which is considered too unstable to control former Guantanamo prisoners.

It is the uncertainty over when, if ever, the men held at Guantanamo will be released that has caused widespread despair and frustration among prisoners, lawyers for the men say. President Barack Obama ordered the detention center closed upon taking office, but Congress thwarted him and made it harder to move prisoners elsewhere. Releases and transfers have since become rare.

"Until such time as our government starts to do the right thing in connection with Guantanamo Bay, the frustration is only going to continue to build, and I can't imagine what the outcome will be," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Bogucki, a military lawyer visiting clients at the base this week.

Journalists are not permitted to interview prisoners and can see them only from afar, passing time in cramped recreation pens under a glaring Caribbean sun or, watched on a security monitor via a camera in each cell, pacing back and forth in beige-walled cells.

Prisoners to Guantanamo were first held in open cages, but conditions improved under President George W. Bush and Obama.

In March 2012, officials were proudly saying that 80 percent of the men were living in a communal setting at the prison's Camp 6, free to spend 22 hours a day roaming about their pods and recreation yards with fellow prisoners, watching more than two dozen satellite television channels and taking language lessons and other classes. The military had begun allowing some to make Skype calls to their families and was about to provide a DVD player to every detainee so they wouldn't have to fight over what to watch.

Things went bad on Feb. 6. That's when troops went into Camp 6 and began a shakedown for contraband and seized a number of personal items. Prisoners soon began complaining that their Qurans had been mishandled and their treatment had suddenly worsened. Then they launched what has become the most sustained hunger strike in years at the prison.

"Zak," the Muslim cultural adviser, said troublemakers convinced other prisoners that they needed to shake things up, to flout the rules, if they wanted to get out. "They said, 'What you are doing right now is not going to teach the world about Guantanamo.' They got up and preached, and preached, and preached," he said.

The men have charged through their lawyers that guards have kept them from praying and sleeping by being noisy, denied them water, painfully strapped them down to be force-fed. The military denies those allegations specifically and any mistreatment in general.

Army Col. John Bogdan, who is in charge of the guard force, met with detainees and said he couldn't address their main complaint. "They were asking to be released from Gitmo," he said. "I can't do that."

Officials at the base this week did paint a picture of a Camp 6 that had, in the eyes of some members of the military, grown too lax: Prisoners had hoarded hundreds of bottles of water and food, made weapons out of pieces of exercise equipment and whatever else was at hand. Some threw urine or feces at guards or poked at them with broomsticks through the fence. One managed to secure a contraband iPod, which officials said could have come via a corrupt guard.

The biggest concern was that dozens of men had covered the security cameras in their cells with plastic cereal bowls, making it impossible for guards to monitor them and make sure they weren't attempting suicide, officials said.

The troops, meanwhile, did not risk entering and perhaps setting off a melee with prisoners ? at least not until April 13, when commanders decided to move nearly every prisoner back to individual cells.

"We were trying to be patient and work with them and give them an opportunity to comply," Bogdan said. "We hit the point where we were accepting too much risk and it was time to take action."

The raid touched off a clash between guards and several dozen prisoners, but authorities say it lasted only a few minutes, with two guards and five prisoners suffering minor injuries.

All but a handful of the prison's 166 prisoners are now in individual cells, allowed out for only about two hours a day, returning to conditions that human rights groups previously called inhumane, especially for men who have not been convicted of a crime.

Bogdan and other officials said they will gradually allow some detainees ? even those participating in the hunger strike ? to return to communal living if they follow prison rules.

As of Thursday, the military counted 59 prisoners on hunger strike, including four in the detainee hospital for observation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-19-Guantanamo-Tense%20Time/id-46bba4d724c84da6b5c3ab2f757fdd80

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Lufthansa considers legal action over planned strike

By Victoria Bryan and Frank Siebelt

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa said it is considering legal action after trade union Verdi called on thousands of workers to go on strike on Monday to increase pressure on management in pay negotiations.

Lufthansa said the planned action, which would see workers walk off their jobs for a full day at several airports - including Europe's third largest at Frankfurt - goes far beyond a regular "warning strike" and would cost the airline tens of millions of euros.

Warning strikes are a common tool in German pay disputes and are usually a shorter form of action before an all-out strike is declared.

Lufthansa has used the courts before to prevent strikes going ahead in previous disputes, such as those with pilots and air traffic controllers.

"It's completely out of proportion," a Lufthansa spokesman said. "Especially given that four further dates for pay talks had already been agreed upon."

Staff represented by Verdi have already held a one-day strike on March 21, forcing Lufthansa to cancel nearly 40 percent of its flights for the day.

Verdi, representing about 33,000 employees, has described a pay offer put forward by Lufthansa management on Wednesday as "scandalous" and said that it would represent a drop in pay in real terms over the next 12 months.

Lufthansa's offer was to raise salaries by 1.2 percent from October this year and a further 0.5 percent a year later, in a deal that would run for 29 months and would not contain job guarantees.

COST-CUTTING

Like European peers Air France-KLM and SAS, Lufthansa is trying to keep down staff costs as it battles competition from low-cost carriers and fast-growing rivals from the Gulf.

Verdi is demanding a 5.2 percent pay rise for cabin crew and ground staff at Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Systems, catering unit LSG Sky Chefs and ground crews. It also wants a commitment by Lufthansa to safeguard jobs.

Further talks have been arranged for April 29-30 and June 2-3.

Friday's call for industrial action was for full-day strikes at Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Hanover, Duesseldorf, Cologne and Norderstedt.

Workers have been asked to strike during the morning in Nuremberg and until 0830 ET in Berlin.

Lufthansa earlier said it was too early to predict the exact impact on Monday's flight schedule but said that there would be delays and cancellations.

"We will, of course, put the necessary measures into place," a spokesman said just after the strike was announced.

Lufthansa shares were down 0.6 percent at 13.91 euros at 05.33 ET, underperforming a 0.4 percent rise in the Dax.

(Editing by Christoph Steitz and David Goodman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lufthansa-workers-strike-monday-over-pay-080739870--finance.html

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Lataguri Flora And Fauna - ArticleSnatch.com

Lataguri is a village in the Jalpaiguri district in the state of West Bengal, located amidst thick forests, rivers and grasslands. Lying just outside Gorumara National Park off the National Highway 31 it is the entry point to Gorumara National Park and Chapramari Wild Life Sanctuary. A Nature Interpretation Centre located at Lataguri gives information about the flora and fauna of the area.

The area of Lataguri was under the kingdom of Kamrupa and extended up to River Karatoya and included Duars which was part of Bhutan and Cooch Behar. In 1864 the British captured the area. In 1869 the area was divided in to two and one part was added to Jalpaiguri district. Raj Bangshis are the main inhabitants of Lataguri along with tribes like Mechs, Revas, Totos, Limbus and Lepchas. British brought migrants from Chotta Nagpur to work in plantations. Kali Puja, Durga Puja, Manosha Puja and Teesta Burir Puja are the festivals celebrated here. Chor chunni and Dham Gaan are the folk arts of the people.

Lataguri with a forest department office is the base for visitors coming to Gorumara National Park. Gorumara was declared a Wild Life Sanctuary in 1949 and a National Park in 1992. Single horned rhinos, elephant, sambar, gaur, hispid hare and leopard are some of the animals seen here. Nearly 200 bird species are there in the Park including minivet, drongo, pheasant, Indian pied horn bill among others. There are five watch towers working in two shifts one starting at 5.30 am and the other at 4.30 pm. From Jatra Prasad tower visitors are sure to spot rhinos. Chuck Chuki tower near Murti River is famous for bird watching. Only 25 passes are issued per tower per shift.

Chapramari Wild Life Sanctuary spread over 96 km area is located on the foothills of Eastern Himalaya, 20 km away from National Park. Tourists get good views of Kanchenjunga and other peaks of Himalaya. Buxa Tiger Reserve, 120 km from Lataguri is a National Park and the home of 230 types of birds, 67 types of mammals and 36 species of reptiles. Buxa Fort at a height of 2600 feet is also visited by many. Original fort in bamboo and wood was reconstructed in stone by the British. During Tibetan crisis this was used as a refuge by refugees.

Rovers Point, Rupam Valley and Jayanti Mahakal are some sites for trekking. The Dark Caves of Mahakal are also visited by tourists. Besides Forest department rest houses at Gorumara and Chapramari a few private resorts like Rose Valley resort, Resort Mayur and Panchvati Forest resort are there at Lataguri. Nearest airport is Bagdogra airport at Silguri and nearest railhead is Jalpaiguri. November to March is the best time to visit Lataguri.

Most of the Lataguri hotels also offers facilities for sightseeing expedition and jungle safaris, apart from pick-up and drop facilities from the various transit points.

About the Author:
Holiday IQ offers you online booking of Lataguri hotels at best possible rates. For more information on please visit our site www.holidayiq.com.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Lataguri-----Flora-And-Fauna/4550613

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Criminal lawyer courts UK charts in her alter ego as pop star

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian lawyer who for years has traded her staid court robes and wig for fur and lycra to sing pop tunes in her off hours now stands only a step away from every musician's dream - breaking into the top 10 on the music charts.

"Luv Bomb", the debut single by "Bowie Jane", the 27-year-old's musical alter ego, has climbed to No. 11 on the UK Pop Club Charts in the high point of a double life she has kept secret for more than four years.

"Of course my close friends were aware ... but generally it hasn't been too hard to keep the two separate," said Bowie Jane, declining to reveal her real name, in an email to Reuters.

"I dress differently in court and I don't have a fringe. On stage you wouldn't pick it was the same person."

Passionate about music all her life, she originally wanted to pursue it as a career but went to university and became a lawyer to please her parents, who wanted her to have something practical to fall back on.

A typical day involved arriving at court, meeting with clients and preparing a case before racing off in the evening for her shows. Once, she had to leave early to get to her performance on the main stage at the Australian Open tennis.

"I'd perform, then go home with a husky voice, rest and get up and do court the next day," she said.

The hectic double life occasionally has led to her wearing her stage costumes under her legal robes.

"I really have to flick my mind from one mode to the other. I am very serious in court and on stage I am the complete opposite," she said.

(Reporting By Thuy Ong; Editing by Elaine Lies)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/criminal-lawyer-courts-uk-charts-her-alter-ego-065919582.html

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How smart are your clothes? Interactive electronic fabrics created

Apr. 16, 2013 ? From corsets to caftans, we have seen dramatic changes in popular style over the past 100 years. New research from Concordia University now brings the future of fashion into focus by taking a closer look at the next quantum leap in textile design: computerized fabrics that change their colour and their shape in response to movement.

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Joanna Berzowska, professor and chair of the Department of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia, has developed interactive electronic fabrics that harness power directly from the human body, store that energy, and then use it to change the garments? visual properties. ?Our goal is to create garments that can transform in complex and surprising ways ? far beyond reversible jackets, or shirts that change colour in response to heat. That?s why the project is called Karma Chameleon,? says Berzowska.

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The major innovation of this research project is the ability to embed these electronic or computer functions within the fibre itself: rather than being attached to the textile, the electronic components are woven into these new composite fibres. The fibres consist of multiple layers of polymers, which, when stretched and drawn out to a small diameter, begin to interact with each other. The fabric, produced in collaboration with the ?cole Polytechnique?s Maksim Skorobogatiy, represent a significant advance in the development of ?smart textiles.?

Although it?s not yet possible to manufacture clothing with the new composite fibres, Berzowska worked with fashion designers to create conceptual prototypes that can help us visualize how such clothing might look and behave. ?We won?t see such garments in stores for another 20 or 30 years, but the practical and creative possibilities are exciting,? says Berzowska. Imagine a dress that changes shape and colour on its own, or a shirt that can capture the energy from human movement and use it to charge an iPhone.?

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There would also be a performative aspect to wearing such garments, whose dramatic transformations may or may not be controlled by the wearer. This research raises interesting questions about human behaviour relative to fashion and computers. What would it mean to wear a piece of clothing with ?a mind of its own,? that cannot be consciously controlled? How much intimate contact with computers do we really want?

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Berzowska will explore these questions and present her findings at the Smart Fabrics 2013 conference this week in San Francisco. She has also written an article detailing her research for The Fashion Studies Handbook, forthcoming from Berg Publishers. An exhibit, to be held at the PHI Centre in the next year, will give the public an opportunity to learn about her research, and to enter the imaginative space produced by her futuristic fabrics and clothing.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/554Lnd6ScI8/130417092204.htm

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FOR KIDS: Sound cloak

New device hides objects from sonar

By Stephen Ornes

Web edition: April 15, 2013

Enlarge

This strange-looking cage can hide an object inside it from being detected by sound waves.

Credit: L. Sanchis et al

It would be easy to mistake engineer Jos? S?nchez-Dehesa?s latest creation for a trinket. The plastic gizmo is a mere 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) long and looks like a cross between a birdcage and an ostrich egg. But appearances can be deceiving. This little device achieves something never done before: It hides a solid object from sound waves. Essentially, it?s a cloaking device.

Visit the new?Science News for Kids?website?and read the full story:?Sound cloak

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349673/title/FOR_KIDS_Sound_cloak

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Bieber criticized for Anne Frank comment

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Justin Bieber wrote an entry into a guestbook at the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam, saying he hoped the Jewish teenager who died in a Nazi concentration camp "would have been a Belieber" ? or fan of his ? if history were different.

The message triggered a flood of comments on the museum's Facebook page Sunday, with many criticizing the 19-year-old Canadian pop star for writing something they perceive to be insensitive.

Calls made and emails sent to Bieber's publicist and agent in Los Angeles weren't immediately returned.

Museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart confirmed that Bieber visited Friday evening. She said the museum was happy to have received Bieber and didn't see anything offensive in his remarks.

Anne Frank hid with her family in a small apartment above a warehouse during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Her family was caught and deported, and Anne died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

The diary she kept in hiding was recovered and published after the war, and has become the most widely read document to emerge from the Holocaust.

Bieber's whole note read: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber."

Mostart said Bieber called ahead and was given a guided tour.

Bieber's remarks led to criticism from some quarters, as a Facebook response insulting Bieber received more than 1,000 "likes" ? slightly more than the museum's original post about the incident.

Meanwhile on Twitter, posts mocking Bieber and imagining that he had visited the museum and walked away thinking only of himself began circulating Sunday, though the message is open to interpretation.

Some of Bieber's 37 million followers also tweeted messages of support. Others in his fan base ? which is heavily weighted toward young girls ? tweeted that they didn't know who Anne Frank was.

Frank was 13 years old when she began keeping her diary in 1942. Like many teenage girls, she made a collage of the celebrities of her day ? movie stars, dancers, and royalty ? and kept it on her bedroom wall.

"Our little room looked very bare at first with nothing on the walls; but thanks to Daddy who had brought my film-star collection and picture postcards ... with the aid of a paste pot and brush, I have transformed the walls into one gigantic picture," she wrote on July 11, 1942, just days after going into hiding. "This makes it look much more cheerful."

Many of those pictures can still be seen on the walls of the museum Bieber visited Friday.

Bieber has had a tough few weeks in Europe. He had to leave a monkey in quarantine after landing in Germany without the necessary papers for the animal. Before that, the 19-year-old singer had a trying stay in London. The star struggled with his breathing and fainted backstage at a show, was taken to a hospital and then was caught on camera clashing with a paparazzo. Days earlier, he was booed by his fans when he showed up late to a concert.

He performed in Arnhem, Netherlands, on Saturday night, and will next perform three nights in Oslo, Norway.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bieber-criticized-anne-frank-193012193.html

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