Court wins expected to bolster gay pride events

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Cities across the nation were gearing up Sunday for what were expected to be especially well-attended and exuberant gay pride parades following the U.S. Supreme Court decisions restoring same-sex marriages to California and granting gay couples the federal benefits of marriage they were previously denied.

The gay pride celebrations scheduled in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Seattle and St. Louis are annual, and in most cases decades-old events whose tones and themes have mirrored the gay rights movement's greatest victories and defeats. This year's parades, coming on the heels of the high court's historic decisions, should be no exception.

In San Francisco, the four plaintiffs in the case that led to the end of California's gay marriage ban will be riding in a contingent organized by the city attorney. Newlyweds Kris Perry and Sandy Stier of Berkeley, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo of Burbank, were able to marry Friday after a federal appeals court lifted a hold it had put on same-sex marriages while the couples' lawsuit challenging the ban worked its way toward and then through the Supreme Court. City officials decided to keep the clerk's office open throughout the weekend so couples who were in town for the celebration could get married.

On Saturday, defeated backers of the state's gay marriage ban made a last-ditch effort to halt the ceremonies. Lawyers for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom filed an emergency petition to the high court asking for a halt to the weddings on the grounds that the decision was not yet legally final. The filing came as dozens of couples filled City Hall in San Francisco to obtain marriage licenses.

The parade in New York City, where the first pride march was held 44 years ago to mark the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots that kicked off the modern gay rights movement, also will become a sort of victory lap for Edith Windsor, the 84-year-old widow who challenged the federal Defense of Marriage Act after she was forced to pay $363,053 on the estate of her late wife. Windsor was picked as a grand marshal for the New York parade months ago, before the Supreme Court used her lawsuit to strike down the provision of the act that defined marriage as only between a man and a woman.

"We're very lucky, sometimes I like to think that when the decisions are made, they keep us in mind," joked NYC Pride media director Tish Flynn.

In an average year, an estimated 2 million people show up for what is one of the world's oldest and largest gay pride parades. But Flynn expects a surge in attendance like the one New York experienced two years ago, when the march was held days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo won legislative passage of a measure to legalize same-sex marriage in his state.

In Seattle, organizers of the city's annual Gay Pride parade were already planning on a larger gathering because Washington voters approved same-sex marriage last November. Voters upheld a law that the Legislature passed earlier in 2012. Since the measure took effect in December, more than 2,400 gay and lesbian couples have gotten married in the state.

Adam McRoberts, spokesman for Seattle Out & Proud, said it is expected that Sunday's parade will draw record crowds. Tens of thousands of people typically line the route through Seattle's Downtown and Belltown neighborhoods. McRoberts said the parade would have nearly 200 contingents participating.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., where Florida's largest gay pride event took place on Saturday, officials also made plans for a record turnout. It normally draws between 80,000-100,000 people, but Eric Skains, executive director of the St. Pete Pride Parade, said about 125,000 participants were expected, largely due to the Supreme Court ruling.

Although Florida is one of a few dozen states that does not recognize same-sex marriage, Skains said now is the time for the local LGBT community to work to change the laws locally and that the defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act "is an opportunity for us to be truly equal under the law."

This was the 11th year that parade was held in St. Petersburg. The mayor of Tampa, Bob Buckhorn, became the highest-ranking Florida official ever to participate when he walked the parade route on Saturday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-wins-expected-bolster-gay-pride-events-082807160.html

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Obama and Bush both pay Africa a visit at the same time (Washington Bureau)

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Mimicking living cells: Synthesizing ribosomes

June 29, 2013 ? Synthetic biology researchers at Northwestern University, working with partners at Harvard Medical School, have for the first time synthesized ribosomes -- cell structures responsible for generating all proteins and enzymes in our bodies -- from scratch in a test tube.

Others have previously tried to synthesize ribosomes from their constituent parts, but the efforts have yielded poorly functional ribosomes under conditions that do not replicate the environment of a living cell. In addition, attempts to combine ribosome synthesis and assembly in a single process have failed for decades.

Michael C. Jewett, a synthetic biologist at Northwestern, George M. Church, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues recently took another approach: they mimicked the natural synthesis of a ribosome, allowing natural enzymes of a cell to help facilitate the human-made construction.

The technology could lead to the discovery of new antibiotics targeting ribosome assembly; an advanced understanding of how ribosomes form and function; and the creation of tailor-made ribosomes to produce new proteins with exotic functions that would be difficult, if not impossible, to make in living organisms.

"We can mimic nature and create ribosomes the way nature has evolved to do it, where all the processes are co-activated at the same time," said Jewett, who led the research along with Church. "Our approach is a one-pot synthesis scheme in which we toss genes encoding ribosomal RNA, natural ribosomal proteins, and additional enzymes of an E. coli cell together in a test tube, and this leads to the construction of a ribosome."

Jewett is an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The in vitro construction of ribosomes, as demonstrated in this study, is of great interest to the synthetic biology field, which seeks to transform the ability to engineer new or novel life forms and biocatalytic ensembles for useful purposes.

The findings of the four-year research project were published June 25 in the journal Molecular Systems Biology.

Comprising 57 parts -- three strands of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and 54 proteins -- ribosomes carry out the translation of messenger RNA into proteins, a core process of the cell. The thousands of proteins per cell, in turn, carry out a vast array of functions, from digestion to the creation of antibodies. Cells require ribosomes to live.

Jewett likens a ribosome to a chef. The ribosome takes the recipe, encoded in DNA, and makes the meal, or a protein. "We want to make brand new chefs, or ribosomes," Jewett said. "Then we can alter ribosomes to do new things for us."

"The ability to make ribosomes in vitro in a process that mimics the way biology does it opens new avenues for the study of ribosome synthesis and assembly, enabling us to better understand and possibly control the translation process," he said. "Our technology also may enable us in the future to rapidly engineer modified ribosomes with new behaviors and functions, a potentially significant advance for the synthetic biology field."

The synthesis process developed by Jewett and Church -- termed "integrated synthesis, assembly and translation" (iSAT) technology -- mimics nature by enabling ribosome synthesis, assembly and function in a single reaction and in the same compartment.

Working with E. coli cells, the researchers combined natural ribosomal proteins with synthetically made ribosomal RNA, which self-assembled in vitro to create semi-synthetic, functional ribosomes.

They confirmed the ribosomes were active by assessing their ability to carry out translation of luciferase, the protein responsible for allowing a firefly to glow. The researchers then showed the ability of iSAT to make a modified ribosome with a point mutation that mediates resistance to the antibiotic clindamycin.

The researchers next want to synthesize all 57 ribosome parts, including the 54 proteins.

"I'm really excited about where we are," Jewett said. "This study is an important step along the way to synthesizing a complete ribosome. We will continue to push this work forward."

Jewett and Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, are authors of the paper, titled "In Vitro Integration of Ribosomal RNA Synthesis, Ribosome Assembly, and Translation." Other authors are Brian R. Fritz and Laura E. Timmerman, graduate students in chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern.

The work was carried out at both Northwestern University and Harvard Medical School.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/_1dSF3gpNfo/130629164739.htm

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Why Women Are More Likely to Be Bisexual

Women may be more "hetero-flexible," or be primarily attracted to men with some same sex attraction, because same-sex behavior allowed women to raise their children with other women, a new study has proposed.

The hypothesis, published this April in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, suggests that more fluid female sexuality may have evolved because it benefited women's offspring. Some women who were raped or fathered children with absentee or deceased dads formed sexual relationships with other women, which may have made it easier to raise children together, according to the theory.

"Being born with the ability to [be attracted to men and women] may have been beneficial to ancestral women," said study co-author Barry X. Kuhle, a psychologist at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. [5 Myths About Polyamory Debunked]

Not everyone agrees with Kuhle's hypothesis, pointing to the lack of evidence to support it and suggesting perhaps women's more fluid sexual boundaries may just be a byproduct of some other evolutionary change. There may be no evolutionary reason for the hetero-flexibility, they say.

More fluid

Several studies have shown that women are much more likely than men to report attraction to and physical contact with same-sex partners. Women also show similar genital arousal when viewing images of both sexes in erotic situations.

But exactly why has been a puzzle. Researchers have proposed that women's sexual fluidity enabled women to bond with sister wives in polygamous marriages. Still others have argued that it's a byproduct of the fact that women have weaker sex drives that are therefore easier to channel to different objects of attraction, Kuhle wrote in the paper.

To better understand women's sexuality, Kuhle looked to other animals for clues. The Laysan albatross's ability to form same-sex bonds may help them alloparent, or raise young that are not their own. Other studies suggest bonobos, which share more than 98 percent of their DNA with humans, often help rear other apes' offspring and cement social bonds by having sex with other troop members ? both male and female. (In general, bonobos have a lot of sex).

That made Kuhle wonder whether sexual fluidity in women has its origins in raising children.

He hypothesizes that being sexually attracted to women and men could come in handy in many circumstances: instances in which women have been raped, or when a father abandons his partner or dies. Women in those situations would need an extra pair of hands to help raise their children, and having sex with other women may have made it easier to find a same-sex child-rearing partner who wasn't related to them. (Kuhle's theory doesn't try to explain women who identify as lesbians.)

Kuhle lays out several ways to that researchers could test his hypothesis if they wanted to.Women who have been physically or sexually abused, abandoned by their husbands or widowed should be more likely to go on to same-sex relationships, he said. He also proposes that women who have lower "mate value" ? that is, are less attractive mates for males ? would be likelier to be bisexual.

"It's an intriguing idea, but there is actually very little evolutionary evidence for it," said Lisa Diamond, a psychologist at the University of Utah and the author of "Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire" (Harvard University Press, 2009).

If Kuhle's theory was accurate, women who have heterosexual and same-sex attraction in nonindustrial societies would have more children, which hasn't been shown, Diamond told LiveScience.

Instead, sexual fluidity in women may simply be a trait that hasn't been weeded out.

"Gay people were having babies throughout human history," Diamond told LiveScience. "So as long as there's no reason for evolution to get rid of a capacity for fluidity, then it probably survived as a fun little byproduct. It's like the appendix ? it may not serve a function, it may just be there."

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-women-more-likely-bisexual-224052122.html

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RIM posts larger-than-expected loss, shares plunge

TORONTO (AP) ? Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plunged nearly 30 percent Friday after the company posted a loss and warned of future losses despite releasing its make-or-break new smartphones this year.

RIM also announced that it will stop developing new versions of its slow-selling tablet computer called the Playbook.

Analysts were looking for insight into how phones running RIM's new Blackberry 10 operating system are selling. It wasn't good.

RIM said it sold 6.8 million phones overall versus 7.8 million last year. That includes older models. In wasn't until well into a conference call with analysts that RIM announced that 2.7 million of the devices sold in the quarter were Blackberry 10 models.

RIM's Blackberry 10 operating system is critical to the company's comeback. New phones running the BlackBerry 10 software began selling around the world this year. The BlackBerry Z10, a touchscreen model and the Q10, which sports a keyboard, have received positive reviews, but there was a delay in getting them to market in the U.S.

The first quarter, however, included a substantial period of sales of the Z10 phone in the U.S. It didn't include sales numbers for the Q10 in the U.S. The Q10 just went on sale in the U.S. earlier this month.

Sales results and RIM's projections, however, signal that the new BlackBerry 10 phones are not selling well. The company said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter, too.

Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said it's clear the new operating system has not turned the company around.

"With Z10, Q10, and Q5 all shipping in the August quarter and BlackBerry still guiding to a loss we believe that is strong evidence BB10 has not turned around BlackBerry in an extremely competitive smartphone market," Walkley said.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on a conference call with analysts that the "transition takes time" and noted things are better compared to last year when "we were told the company was finished."

Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. dropped $4.02, or 28 percent, to close at $10.46 Friday.

The BlackBerry, introduced in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. But it lost its cachet not long after Apple released the first iPhone in 2007. Apple's device reset expectations for what a smartphone can do. RIM promised to catch up while developing new a software system called BlackBerry 10, which uses technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. But the company took more than two years to unveil new phones that were redesigned for the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now demand. During that time, RIM cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth of more than $70 billion vanish.

The Canadian company said it lost $84 million, or 16 cents a share, in the three months ended June 1 on revenue of $3.1 billion. It lost $518 million, or 99 cents per share, on revenue of $2.8 billion a year ago.

Analysts expected RIM to earn 5 cents a share on revenue of $3.37 billion.

The number of BlackBerry users in the world also fell by four million to 72 million. RIM also said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter. Heins noted the highly competitive smartphone market makes it difficult to estimate revenue and levels of profitability.

Heins also announced on the call that he has halted further development of RIM's failed tablet offering, the Playbook. The Playbook has not sold well.

"Our teams have spent a great deal of time and energy looking at solutions that could move the BlackBerry 10 experience to Playbook, but unfortunately I am not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience and I made the difficult decision to stop these efforts and focus on our core hardware portfolio," Heins said.

Heins said they'll continue to support the PlayBook on the existing software platforms and configurations. Asked if RIM will continue to make the Playbook, a RIM spokeswoman said the company is evaluating its hardware strategy.

Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, said said it's tough for RIM because it's hard to make money on handsets now.

"There are a lot of people that haven't been able to make it happen. For all the talk about Apple and Samsung, there are companies like Nokia and HTC," Gillis said.

Gillis said things look bleaker for the company and it's going to continue to be a struggle.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek said the high end global smartphone market is saturated and brutally competitive.

"Everybody is coming to this reality. You talk to HTC, Samsung and even Apple, the high end is saturated. That's a fact," Misek said. "Anybody in the high end who wants a smartphone in the world has one, so you have to knock somebody away from another platform. That is a brutal, brutal market."

RIM has unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry aimed at consumers in emerging markets, but hasn't said if the device will be available in North America.

Misek was expecting the company to sell 4 million BlackBerry 10 phones. He said the sale of 2.7 million new BlackBerry 10 phones was the most disappointing news Friday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rim-posts-larger-expected-loss-shares-plunge-121958378.html

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Braves retire Chipper Jones' No. 10 jersey

By GEORGE HENRY

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 7:18 p.m. ET June 28, 2013

ATLANTA (AP) - Chipper Jones has been greeted with a long ovation as the Atlanta Braves retired his No. 10 jersey Friday night.

Jones, the 1999 NL MVP and an eight-time All-Star, was honored before Atlanta's game against Arizona. The former third baseman retired after last season's playoff loss to St. Louis having played his entire 19-year career with the Braves.

Wearing a gray suit and a red tie, Jones spoke to the Turner Field crowd before he threw out the ceremonial first pitch and was driven around the field to adoring cheers.

Most seats in the stands were filled as Jones stepped to the microphone while "Crazy Train," the 1980 hit single by Ozzy Osbourne that used to play before his at-bats, boomed through the public address system.

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

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Egyptian clerics warn of 'civil war' ahead of mass protests

As Egypt approaches a weekend of confrontation, the divide between those who love and those who despise President Mohammed Morsi and his pro-Islamist government is wider than ever. NBC's Charlene Gubash reports.

By Charlene Gubash and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

Egypt risks sliding into civil war, the country?s leading religious authority warned Friday, as the nation braced itself for mass nationwide protests.

Organizers of ?June 30? demonstrations -- which mark one year since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's election -- claim they have the backing of an estimated 15 million Egyptians who want him to resign.

?Only God knows what will happen [on Sunday],? said Gamal Abdul Aziz, a pro-Morsi car mechanic in Madba?a, a blue-collar district in Cairo.

NBC News

Gamal Abdul Aziz, left, a pro-Morsi car mechanic, argues with anti-Morsi computer science student Mohamed Abdul Munim, right, while being interviewed this week.

Building on discontent about a range of social and economic issues, Morsi?s opponents hope to force early presidential elections.

His supporters, meanwhile, have promised they will also take to the streets to defend the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government.

?Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war,? clerics of the Al-Azhar institute said in a statement broadly supportive of Morsi, Reuters reported.

It blamed ?criminal gangs? who besieged mosques for street violence which the Brotherhood said has killed five of its supporters in a week.

There were ominous signs on Friday. A Health Ministry source told Reuters that at least 36 people were wounded when hundreds scuffled outside a local office of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A Reuters reporter saw about a dozen men break off from an anti-Morsi march on the seafront to throw rocks at the building's guards. They responded and bricks and bottles flew. Gunshots were also heard.

In an example of just how polarized the debate over Egypt?s future has become, Aziz and his family became embroiled in a shouting match with a nearby resident, anti-Morsi computer science student Mohamed Abdul Munim, 23, while being interviewed this week.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptian drivers wait outside in long lines at a gasoline station in Cairo on Tuesday.

The argument, which took place after NBC News filmed a political discussion between the two, ended when Munim stormed off.

The dispute and recent violence -- one man was shot dead and four wounded in an attack on a Muslim Brotherhood office on Thursday -- was an ill omen for Sunday?s marches that will be held a year to the day after Morsi became Egypt's first freely elected leader.

The country's powerful army, which helped protesters topple Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime in 2011, has reinforced its presence in cities like Cairo and Port Said.

Munim said he believed ?most? of Egypt?s registered 50 million voters will be out on the streets, supporting one side or the other.

?We are sure that we will go out and get beaten up by the [Muslim] Brotherhood [but] we are going out despite this," he said. ?There is no security, there is economic collapse, the electricity cuts off and everybody is suffering. They will say Morsi is not at fault, but electricity didn?t cut off when the military governed.?

Aziz, meanwhile, said his life had improved under Morsi, and accused the mostly-secular opposition of ?waging a war against Islam.?

?Can you build a house in a day? No, it takes time. What can a president do in one year when a country is in ruins? The old [Mubarak] regime stole the country and left it destroyed.?

In a sign of the nervousness many felt, Egyptians were stocking up on food, fuel, water and cash in the days leading up the protests.

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart took his satire to Cairo Friday, appearing on a show hosted by the man known as "Egypt's Jon Stewart" and who has faced investigation for insulting the country's president and Islam. "If your regime is not strong enough to handle a joke then you don't have a regime," said Stewart. TODAY's Jenna Wolfe reports.

Morsi?s supporters claim the demonstration? organized?by an opposition umbrella group named "Tamarod," meaning "Rebel"?? is setting the stage for a repeat of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.

Mahmoud Badr, a 28-year-old journalist and founder of the Tamarod movement, dismissed a televised speech by Morsi on Wednesday night in which the president appealed for calm.

"Our demand was early presidential elections and since that was not addressed anywhere in the speech then our response will be on the streets on [Sunday]," he told the?English-language Egypt Independent news site.?

The U.S.?Embassy announced Tuesday it would be closing its doors for the day of the demonstrations, but added that ?potentially violent protest activity may occur before June 30,? and urged U.S. citizens to ?maintain a low profile? from Friday onwards.

Underscoring fears of violence, defenders of Morsi on Tuesday revealed plans to form vigilante groups to protect public buildings from opposition demonstrations, the Egypt Independent reported, quoting Safwat Abdel Ghany, a member of Islamic umbrella organization Jama'a al-Islamiya.?

?If chaos sweeps across the country, Islamist groups will secure state institutions and vital facilities against robbery by thugs and advocates of violence," he was quoted as saying.

Members of Tamarod were so confident that they?would force Morsi from power that the organization set out a constitutional ?road map? that it said would take Egypt forward without a president until new elections.

Eric Trager, fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, said this week that battle lines were drawn between ?an enraged opposition? and ?an utterly incapable, confrontational ruling party that now counts some of Egypt's most violent political elements as its core supporters.?

?Rising food prices, hours-long fuel lines, and multiple-times-daily electricity cuts -- all worsening amidst a typically scorching Egyptian summer -- have set many Egyptians on edge, with clashes between Brotherhood and anti-Brotherhood activists now a common feature of Egyptian political life," he said.

?Whatever happens on [Sunday], it can't end well,? he added.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

This story was originally published on Fri Jun 28, 2013 5:30 AM EDT

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CHART OF THE DAY: Vine Sharing Plummets ... - Business Insider

Instagram's decision to add video may have snuffed out Vine. At least, temporarily.?

According to data from Topsy, which tracks Twitter sharing, Vine video sharing has collapsed on Twitter.?

As Matt McGee at Marketing Land notes, since Instagram added video there's been a 70% drop in Vine video shares on Twitter.

BI

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-vine-sharing-plummets-after-instagram-launches-video-2013-6

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Where did Miesha Tate, the Jones family and Brendan Schaub fall on Cagewriter?s hot list?

It's been a slow week of MMA, but never fear. UFC 162 and a championship fight are oh-so-close. Who had a good week, and who didn't?

Hot -- Miesha Tate: She's filming "The Ultimate Fighter" now as a coach against UFC women's bantamweight championship. She will also pose nude as a part of ESPN the Magazine's Body Issue.

Not -- Brendan Schaub and Matt Mitrione: The one-time teammates started squabbling on Twitter like a bunch of seventh graders. They are fighting on July 27, so the squabbling will likely continue until then.

Hot -- The Jones' jewelry collection: According to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones' Instagram, the Jones family has much better jewelry than most of us.

Hot -- GLORY: The kickboxing promotion will become more available to the U.S. fans. They will start airing fights on Spike come October.

Thank you for reading Cagewriter this week. Want more? Follow Cagewriter on Facebook or Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/where-did-miesha-tate-jones-family-brendan-schaub-211833292.html

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Final gov't birth control rule for faith groups

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration issued its final compromise Friday for religiously affiliated charities, hospitals and other nonprofits that object to covering birth control in their employee health plans.

The Health and Human Services Department said the final plan simplifies how insurers provide the coverage separately from faith-based groups and gives religious nonprofits more time to comply. However, the changes are unlikely to resolve objections from faith groups that the requirement violates their religious freedom.

More than 60 lawsuits have been filed challenging the rule. The cases are expected to reach the Supreme Court.

The birth-control rule was first introduced in February 2012, as part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, drawing praise from women's groups and condemnation from religious leaders. The original plan exempted churches and other houses of worship, but required faith-affiliated charities, universities and other nonprofits to provide the coverage for their employees.

The regulation became an election-year issue as Roman Catholic bishops, evangelicals and some religious leaders who have generally been supportive of Obama's policies lobbied fiercely for a broader exemption. The Obama administration offered a series of accommodations, leading to the final rules released Friday.

Under the compromise, administration officials said they simplified the definition of religious organizations that are fully exempt from the requirement. The change means a church that also ran a soup kitchen would not have to comply.

Other religious nonprofits must notify their insurance company that they object to birth control coverage. The insurer or administrator of the plan will then notify affected employees separately that coverage will be provided at no cost. The insurers would be reimbursed by a credit against fees owed the government.

Michael Hash, director of the health reform office of the Health and Human Services Department, said the final regulation spells out in more detail the buffer between religious charities and contraceptive coverage. Faith-based groups were given another reprieve ? until Jan. 1 ? to comply.

"There's a much brighter line here ? a simpler line ? and we think that responds to a good many of the comments that we got," said Michael Hash, director of the Health and Human Services office of health reform. More than 400,000 comments were submitted over the last several months, the agency said.

Judy Waxman of the National Women's Law Center, an advocacy group based in Washington, said she would prefer women hear directly about the coverage from their insurer, but her organization could accept the plan. "It's fair," she said.

However, Eric Rassbach, an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm challenging the contraception coverage rule, said "it doesn't really change the overall way they're trying to do this." The Becket Fund represents many of organizations challenging the regulation in federal court.

The Catholic Church prohibits the use of artificial contraception. Evangelicals generally accept the use of birth control, but some object to specific methods such as the morning-after contraceptive pill, which they argue is tantamount to abortion, and is covered under the policy.

The lawsuits are split almost evenly between nonprofit plaintiffs ? including several Roman Catholic dioceses ? and for-profit businesses who say the rules go against their religious beliefs. For-profit businesses are not included in the accommodation released Friday and were not eligible for the time extension.

The Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is the largest and best-known of the businesses that have sued. On Thursday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver allowed the lawsuit to move forward on religious grounds. The judges said the portion of the law that requires them to offer certain kinds of birth control to their employees is particularly onerous and sent the case back to a lower court in Oklahoma. On Friday the lower court granted Hobby Lobby a temporary injunction against full enforcement of the law. Businesses that fail to comply potentially face fines based on the number of workers they employ and other factors. The amount for Hobby Lobby could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Many of the nonprofit lawsuits had been put on hold until the final rules were announced.

Neither the Catholic Health Association, a trade group for hospitals, nor the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had an immediate reaction Friday, saying the regulations were still being studied. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the bishops' conference, said he appreciated the time extension.

___

AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/final-govt-birth-control-rule-faith-groups-154455085.html

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Review: Angelina Ballerina Mousical Medleys ~ Trendy Mom Reviews

Review: Angelina Ballerina Mousical Medleys
Relase date: July 9, 2013
Are you ready to get your dance on?!? My toddler has been partying with Angelina and friends with this awesome DVD that has 6 episodes and 2 bonus features.? I had no idea that my little guy was developing his dance skills until I watched him watching this DVD. It's super adorable!? Similar to other Angelina DVDs, Angelina is bright, colorful, and engaging to my little one. I won't spoil it for you, but I will tell you that we loved it and that there are musicals, parades, and more!? A "Dancing Star" Memory Game is one of my toddler's favorites!

?The following information is from a press release:
ANGELINA BALLERINA: MOUSICAL MEDLEYS
Available On DVD, Digital Download And Video on Demand July 9, 2013 From Lionsgate And HIT Entertainment
Street Date: 7/9/13???
DVD SRP:? $14.98
?
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
It?s showtime!? Turn up the lights, cue the music and set the stage for an all-new song-and-dance filled extravaganza with preschool?s favorite ballerina in Angelina Ballerina?: Mousical Medleys available on DVD, Digital Download and Video on Demand July 9, 2013 from Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment.

A beloved publishing property for close to three decades, selling over 1.5MM books and printing over 50 titles, Angelina Ballerina embodies dance, music and performance while inspiring girls to achieve their dreams.? Angelina dances her way into little girls? hearts while sharing lessons in friendship, loyalty and of course, fun!

SYNOPSIS
With musicals, dance-a-thons, parades and more, there?s always a reason for Angelina to enjoy the spotlight! See what happens when the mouselings? plans to welcome the stars of Mousical the Musical are ruined?or are they?? Watch as Gracie puts the dance-a-thon in jeopardy when she becomes an enthusiastic recycler.? Get in on the fun when Viki finds her inner artist in dance but with lots of paint!? Join Angelina and her friends as they take center stage and enjoy the show!

Episodes:
???????? ?Angelina and the Musical Theater?
???????? ?Angelina and the Art Show?
???????? ?Angelina?s Camembert Parade?
???????? ?Angelina and the Dance-a-Thon?
???????? ?Angelina?s Opera?

DVD BONUS FEATURES
???????? ?Dancing Star? Memory Game
???????? ?Front Row Seats? Karaoke Music Video
??? ?
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production: 2013
Title Copyrights: ? 2013 Hit Entertainment Limited.? The Angelina Ballerina name and character and the dancing Angelina logo are trademarks of Hit Entertainment Limited, Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig. HIT and the HIT logo are trademarks of HIT Entertainment Limited.
Type: TV on DVD
Rating: Not Rated
Genre: Children/Family/Animated
Age Target: 2-6 years old
Closed Captioned: English
Running Time: 62 minutes
Format: 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
DVD Audio Status: English, Spanish and French 2.0 Dolby Digital
Program Website
Facebook
Twitter: @ABLoveToDance

The following is an affiliate link, but this release is also available at many other stores nationwide.


We appreciate the complementary product that we received. All opinions are honest and our own.

Source: http://www.trendymomreviews.com/2013/06/review-angelina-ballerina-mousical.html

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Obama yet to have African legacy like predecessors

CENTURION, South Africa (AP) ? President Barack Obama is receiving the embrace you might expect for a long-lost son on his return to his father's home continent, even as he has yet to leave a lasting policy legacy for Africa on the scale of his two predecessors.

Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush passed innovative Africa initiatives while in the White House and passionately continue their development work in the region in their presidential afterlife. Obama's efforts here have not been so ambitious, despite his personal ties to the continent.

His first major tour of Africa as president is coming just now, in his fifth year, while Bush and Clinton are frequent fliers to Africa. Bush even will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, next week at the same time as Obama, although they have no plans to meet. Instead, their wives plan to appear together at a summit on empowering African women organized by the George W. Bush Institute, with the former president in attendance.

For Obama, one potentially memorable aspect of this trip -- a meeting with former South African president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela -- remained in doubt. Mandela is hospitalized in Johannesburg in critical condition. Obama arrived in South Africa Friday after visiting Senegal.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Obama said it was uncertain whether he would get an opportunity to see the 94-year-old Mandela, a personal hero to the president.

"I don't need a photo-op, and the last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned about Nelson Mandela's condition," he said.

In French-speaking Senegal, Africa's westernmost country, spirited crowds greeted Obama on his visit, with revelers frequently breaking into song and dance at the sight of the first African-American president. However thrilled they were to see him, many said they wish his visits weren't so rare.

"Two visits in five years, it's not enough," said Faye Mbissine, a 30-year-old nanny who took an early morning bus to come see Obama on Thursday outside the presidential palace. "We hope that he can come more."

Manougou Nbodj, a 21-year-old student, said he hopes Obama will bring American resources like jobs and health care. "If Obama can work with Macky Sall the way that George Bush worked with Africa before him, then we will be happy," he said, referring to the Senegalese president.

One of Bush's chief foreign policy successes was his aid to Africa, including AIDS relief credited with saving millions of lives and grants to reward developing countries for good governance. Bush followed on momentum on African policy that began under Clinton, who allowed several dozen sub-Saharan countries to export to the U.S. duty-free.

Obama has continued the Bush and Clinton programs during tough economic times. But his signature Africa policy thus far has been food security, through less prominent programs designed to address hunger with policy reforms and private investment in agriculture.

On Friday, Obama toured displays in small thatched booths at his hotel grounds on a bluff overlooking the ocean, meeting with farmers and entrepreneurs who are using new methods and technologies to advance the cause of food security.

"This is a moral imperative," he said. "I believe that Africa is rising and it wants to partner with us not to be dependent but to be self-sufficient.

Witney Schneidman, former deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Obama's efforts are not like Bush's AIDS initiative "where you put people on a medicine to save their lives ? very, extremely important. This is more of a structural change, and I think that's going to take time."

Under Clinton and Bush "you had this major funding, major attention, major initiatives going to Africa, and then President Obama came in, and there was a sense of stall, in a way," said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She said that's understandable as he grappled with wars and an economic crisis, and she gave Obama credit for working diplomatically with African governments in his first term.

But, she said, "they weren't big, splashy initiatives that got peoples' attention either in Africa or here at home, and no big money and no big ideas that really helped define what Obama was about in Africa."

That's a disappointed those who were expecting more from the first African-American president, especially after his speech during a brief stopover in Ghana his first summer in office, in which he spoke personally of his father's life in Kenya and declared "a new moment of great promise" in Africa. "I have the blood of Africa within me," Obama said.

Schneidman argued that Obama's personal connection may also have been an impediment to deeper engagement in his first term. "The whole birther movement here in the U.S. that was sort of questioning his place of birth to begin with ... I think it was a real constraint on dealing with Africa," Schneidman said.

Mwangi Kimenyi, a Kenyan who directs the Brookings Institutions' Africa Growth Initiative, said Obama may be a victim of misplaced sky-high expectations on the continent when he was first elected.

"Africans still consider Clinton their president," Kimenyi said. "If you go to Africa and mention Clinton ? I mean, he is a hero, even today. I don't think President Obama is going to approach the level of President Clinton at all, in terms of respect, in terms of what they feel, and it's partly because, as one whose family is from Africa, the expectations were rather high."

"There is not that feeling that, you know, we have our son there," Kimenyi said. "There's probably more reference of a prodigal son than a, you know, son."

Clinton first drew extensive attention to Africa in 1998 when he made the longest trip ever by a U.S. president, with stops in six countries that had never before been visited by any occupant of the Oval Office.

Bush's trip this week is his third in 19 months to promote his Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partnership to combat breast and cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. On this visit, he and his wife, Laura, plan to help renovate a cervical cancer screening and treatment clinic in Zambia before heading to Tanzania for the African First Ladies Summit advocating investment in programs for women and girls.

"Frankly, Africa is a place that we had not yet been able to devote significant presidential time and attention to," Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes said. "And there's nothing that can make an impact more in terms of our foreign policy and our economic and security interests than the president of the United States coming and demonstrating the importance of our commitment to this region."

___

Associated Press writer Robbie Corey-Boulet contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-yet-african-legacy-predecessors-071731058.html

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Obama protesters rally near hospital treating Mandela

By Peroshni Govender

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africans protesting a visit to their country by U.S. President Barack Obama rallied on Friday a few blocks from well-wishers at a hospital in Pretoria where anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is critically ill.

Obama, on a three-nation tour of Africa, was due to arrive in South Africa on Friday with White House officials saying they will defer to Mandela's family on whether the first African-American president of the United States will visit South Africa's first black president.

Mandela, 94, is fighting a lung infection that has left him in a critical condition and in hospital for nearly three weeks.

His fourth hospitalization in six months has focused attention in South Africa and globally on the faltering health of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who is admired as a symbol of resistance against injustice and of racial reconciliation.

President Jacob Zuma has said Mandela's condition improved over Wednesday night but he remained critical.

About 200 trade unionists, student activists and South African Communist Party members gathered in the capital Pretoria to protest Obama's visit this weekend, calling his foreign policy "arrogant, selfish and oppressive".

"We had expectations of America's first black president. Knowing Africa's history, we expected more," said Khomotso Makola, a 19-year-old law student.

"He has come as a disappointment, I think Mandela too would be disappointed and feel let down," Makola said.

South African critics of Obama have focused in particular on his support for U.S. drone strikes overseas, which they say have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, and his failure to deliver on a pledge to close the U.S. military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba housing terrorism suspects.

"TWO GREAT MEN"

A few blocks away at the Pretoria heart hospital where Mandela is being cared for, well-wishers paying tribute to the legendary retired statesman had words of praise for Obama, who met Mandela in 2005 when he was still a U.S. senator.

Nigerian painter Sanusi Olatunji, 31, had brought portraits of both Mandela and Obama to the wall of the hospital, where flowers, tribute notes and gifts for Madiba, as Mandela is affectionately known, have been piling up.

"These are the two great men of my lifetime," he said.

"To me, Mandela is a prophet who brought peace and opportunity. He made it possible for a black man like me to live in a country that was only for whites."

During his weekend trip to Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, Obama is scheduled to visit Robben Island, the former penal colony where Mandela passed 18 years of the 27 years he spent in apartheid prisons.

Starting off his Africa trip in Senegal on Wednesday, Obama praised Mandela as "a personal hero".

"If and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we'll all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages," he told reporters in Dakar.

Obama, who has been in office since 2009, is making his first substantial visit to Africa following a short trip to Ghana at the beginning of his first term.

South Africans held prayer meetings and vigils outside the Pretoria hospital and at Mandela's former Soweto home through Thursday night.

But as his health has deteriorated this year, there is a growing realization among South Africa's 53 million people that the man who forged their multi-racial "Rainbow Nation" from the ashes of apartheid will not be with them forever.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-protesters-rally-near-hospital-treating-mandela-110724050.html

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Spiral galaxies like Milky Way bigger than thought

June 27, 2013 ? Let's all fist bump: Spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way appear to be much larger and more massive than previously believed, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study by researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope.

CU-Boulder Professor John Stocke, study leader, said new observations with Hubble's $70 million Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, designed by CU-Boulder show that normal spiral galaxies are surrounded by halos of gas that can extend to over 1 million light-years in diameter. The current estimated diameter of the Milky Way, for example, is about 100,000 light-years. One light-year is roughly 6 trillion miles.

The material for galaxy halos detected by the CU-Boulder team originally was ejected from galaxies by exploding stars known as supernovae, a product of the star formation process, said Stocke of CU-Boulder's astrophysical and planetary sciences department. "This gas is stored and then recycled through an extended galaxy halo, falling back onto the galaxies to reinvigorate a new generation of star formation," he said. "In many ways this is the 'missing link' in galaxy evolution that we need to understand in detail in order to have a complete picture of the process."

Stocke gave a presentation on the research June 27 at the University of Edinburgh's Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics in Scotland at a conference titled "Intergalactic Interactions." The CU-Boulder research team also included professors Michael Shull and James Green and research associates Brian Keeney, Charles Danforth, David Syphers and Cynthia Froning, as well as University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Blair Savage.

Building on earlier studies identifying oxygen-rich gas clouds around spiral galaxies by scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College and the University of California, Santa Cruz, Stocke and his colleagues determined that such clouds contain almost as much mass as all the stars in their respective galaxies. "This was a big surprise," said Stocke. "The new findings have significant consequences for how spiral galaxies change over time."

In addition, the CU-Boulder team discovered giant reservoirs of gas estimated to be millions of degrees Fahrenheit that were enshrouding the spiral galaxies and halos under study. The halos of the spiral galaxies were relatively cool by comparison -- just tens of thousands of degrees -- said Stocke, also a member of CU-Boulder's Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, or CASA.

Shull, a professor in CU-Boulder's astrophysical and planetary sciences department and a member of CASA, emphasized that the study of such "circumgalactic" gas is in its infancy. "But given the expected lifetime of COS on Hubble, perhaps another five years, it should be possible to confirm these early detections, elaborate on the results and scan other spiral galaxies in the universe," he said.

Prior to the installation of COS on Hubble during NASA's final servicing mission in May 2009, theoretical studies showed that spiral galaxies should possess about five times more gas than was being detected by astronomers. The new observations with the extremely sensitive COS are now much more in line with the theories, said Stocke.

The CU-Boulder team used distant quasars -- the swirling centers of supermassive black holes -- as "flashlights" to track ultraviolet light as it passed through the extended gas haloes of foreground galaxies, said Stocke. The light absorbed by the gas was broken down by the spectrograph, much like a prism does, into characteristic color "fingerprints" that revealed temperatures, densities, velocities, distances and chemical compositions of the gas clouds.

"This gas is way too diffuse to allow its detection by direct imaging, so spectroscopy is the way to go," said Stocke. CU-Boulder's Green led the design team for COS, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder for NASA.

While astronomers hope the Hubble Space Telescope keeps on chugging for years to come, there will be no more servicing missions. And the James Webb Space Telescope, touted to be Hubble's successor beginning in late 2018, has no UV light-gathering capabilities, which will prevent astronomers from undertaking studies like those done with COS, said Green.

"Once Hubble ceases to function, we will lose the capability to study galaxy halos for perhaps a full generation of astronomers," said Stocke. "But for now, we are fortunate to have both Hubble and its Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to help us answer some of the most pressing issues in cosmology."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/JOkGclMu0Qg/130627102625.htm

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A Look At The Nastiest And Cleanest U.S. Beaches

America's Cleanest Swimming Spots

The Natural Resources Defense Council has collected data from beaches across the country. Here's a look at the some of the winners.

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  Summertime swimmers at Bolsa Chica Beach in Huntington Beach, Calif.

  Jeff Turner/Flickr

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  A lone lifeguard tower is caught in the final light across the sands at Gulf Shores Public Beach in Alabama.

  MikeC/Flickr

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  A calm beach view at Park Point Beach in Duluth, Minn.

  Sharon Mollerus/Flickr

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  Lazy day summer beach goers relax on the sands of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.

  Ted Van Pelt/Flickr

From California to the Great Lakes, persistent water pollution shows that no beach is an island when it comes to public health threats like hepatitis, dysentery and stomach flu.

The Natural Resources Defense Council released its annual beach report card Wednesday detailing the levels of bacteria hanging around beaches across the nation.

East Coast, stand up. These gold stars go to you. The report says beaches dotting shores in Delaware, New Hampshire and North Carolina had laudably low bacterial levels last year.

The NRDC categorizes water pollution levels two ways. By overall pollution in each state and by individual beach.

Here, according to the NRDC, are the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to U.S. beaches.

Some of the best:

Alabama: Gulf Shores Public Beach
California: San Clemente State Beach
Delaware: Dewey Beach
Maryland: Ocean City
Michigan: Bay City State Recreation Area
Minnesota: 13th Street South Beach
New Hampshire: Hampton Beach State Park

Topping the list of repeat bacterial offenders list is Avalon Beach in Los Angeles. It has consistently ranked as one of the least suitable places to go for a good, clean swim.

Some of the worst:

California: Orange Doheny State Beach,
Indiana: Lake Jeorse Park Beach
New Jersey: Ocean Beachwood Beach
New York: Monroe Ontario Beach
Ohio: Ashtabula Lakeshore Park
Wisconsin: Milwaukee South Shore Beach

Away from the ocean coasts, there are problems, too. In the NRDC's statewide analysis, over 500 samples collected in Ohio flunked national health standards. Other poor performers included Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Steve Fleischli, the NRDC's water program director, helped develop this year's study and says that these just how the bacterial levels steal sunshine every year has a lot to do with what's going on under city streets.

Many cities still use combined waste and storm runoff treatment plants and sewer lines built decades ago. During heavy rains, they often overflow, and the contaminated water's final destination could be a nearby beach.

"It's urban slobber flowing untreated into our waterways," said Fleischli in a media briefing conference Wednesday. "There's no ominous theme song to warn beach goers."

Swimmers can't see the bacteria contaminating beach water the way they might spy the dorsal fin of a great white shark. But that doesn't mean beachgoers aren't risking it in the water.

"We think of rain water as having only leaves and twigs," said Fleischli. "The reality, though, is much different." Trash, chemicals, bacteria and viruses ride along, too.

The NRDC's senior water attorney Jon Devine tells Shots that there should be changes at the federal level. "The [Environmental Protection Agency] should reform national requirements," says Devine. "The agency has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to propose a strong stormwater rule, and must do so promptly."

Some lawmakers, like Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk have been pushing for better water infrastructure for a while now. Kirk blamed Milwaukee's "cheesehead sewer water" from combined sewage and water treatment plants for dozens of closed beach days in Chicago back in 2004. That claim was later debunked by the EPA.

"Milwaukee does push sewage out into the lake during storms, but so does the Windy City," says the NRDC's Jon Devine.

Kirk's not all talk. His Great Lakes Water Protection Act has been floating around Congress, and last spring he again brought the issue to the floor. His bill would end sewage dumping in the Great Lakes by 2033 and increase fines for violators to as much as $100,000 a day.

A day at the beach may not be so simple these days. Still, the NRDC says don't stress too much. There are a few things you can do to prevent a weird skin rash or gastrointestinal discomfort. Check online for beach closings and avoid the beach after heavy rains.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/06/26/195896606/a-look-at-the-nastiest-and-cleanest-u-s-beaches?ft=1&f=1007

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Stocks gain on encouraging news about the economy

Trader William McInerney works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, May 28, 2013. A jump in home prices is helping send the stock market sharply higher in early trading. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader William McInerney works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, May 28, 2013. A jump in home prices is helping send the stock market sharply higher in early trading. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Good news on jobs and consumer spending pushed stocks higher again Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose for a third straight day. Yields on Treasury securities fell for a second day, easing worries that a sudden spike in interest rates could hurt the economy.

Consumer spending rose 0.3 percent last month and incomes increased 0.5 percent, the most in three months, the government reported. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 9,000 to 346,000 last week. The report added to evidence that the job market is improving modestly.

Stocks have rallied this week as investors took advantage of lower prices after a sell-off last week that erased 560 points from the Dow over Wednesday and Thursday. The market swooned after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the central bank could cut back on its stimulus later this year and possibly end it next year, if the economy continued to improve.

Even with the gains this week the index is still 293 points below where it was June 18, the day before the Fed laid out its plans for how it might wind down its stimulus.

The central bank is buying $85 billion in bonds every month to hold down long-term interest rates and encourage borrowing and spending. Fed stimulus has underpinned a stock market rally that started in March 2009 by encouraging investors to put money into risky assets.

"What's driving that market up is that people are realizing that they are in a 'win-win' situation," said Rick Robinson, a regional Chief Investment Officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank. "If you have good economic data that should be good for stocks, if you have poor economic data ... that means the Fed will probably have its (stimulus) longer."

The Dow closed up 114.35 points, or 0.8 percent, to 15,024.49. The S&P 500 index climbed 9.94 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,613.20.

Nine of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, led by financial stocks. Banks and insurers listed in the S&P 500 have gained 4 percent in the last three days. Materials companies were the only group that fell.

The Nasdaq composite rose 25.64 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,401.86.

In a sign that investors were once again more confident in holding riskier assets, the Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks rose 16.09 points, or 1.7 percent, to 979.92, more than twice as much as other major indexes.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.47 percent from 2.54 percent late Wednesday. The yield climbed as high 2.66 percent on Monday, the highest since August 2011. The rate has surged since May 3, when it touched its low for the year of 1.63 percent.

Investors who have added bonds to their portfolios at the expense of stocks should consider selling some because yields are likely to rise further, said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management. When yields rise, the value of bonds falls.

Bonds rose in value from 2007 until the middle of last year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to a record low of 1.39 percent last July.

"For the first time in five years, equities are the safest asset class," Cote said.

Higher yields on Treasury bonds translate into higher borrowing costs on many kinds of loans including home mortgages. Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages surged this week to their highest levels in two years. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on a 30-year mortgage jumped to 4.46 percent. That's up from 3.93 percent last week and the highest since July 2011.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing instrument, soared this week to 3.50 percent ? its highest point since August 2011 ? from 3.04 percent last week.

Homebuilders got a lift from a report Thursday suggesting that the housing recovery remains intact. The number of people who signed contracts in May to buy a home jumped to the highest level in more than six years. D.R. Horton rose 79 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $21.71. Lennar gained $1.37 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $37.38.

Investors were also encouraged by comments from key Fed officials. The president of the New York branch of the Federal Reserve said the central bank would likely keep buying bonds if the economy failed to grow at the pace the Fed was expecting.

"If labor market conditions and the economy's growth momentum were to be less favorable than in the (Fed's) outlook ? and this is what has happened in recent years ? I would expect that the asset purchases would continue at a higher pace for longer," William Dudley said at a news conference in New York.

That message was reinforced by two other Fed officials Thursday. Jerome Powell, a member of the Fed's board in Washington, said investors appear to have incorrectly concluded that the Fed will taper its purchases soon. Dennis Lockhart, president of the Fed's Atlanta branch, said that the pace of purchases still depended on "how economic conditions evolve."

While the S&P 500 index is on track to record its first monthly loss since October, the index is still poised to end June with the best first half of a year since 1998, when it rose 17.7 percent. The index has gained 13.2 percent so far this year.

The market will likely remain volatile though the second half of the year as investors assess when the Fed will end its stimulus, said Kate Warne, investment strategist at retail brokerage firm Edward Jones.

"The general outlook for the economy is solid," Warne said. "The trend in stock prices is likely to continue to be higher, even though we'll see a lot more zig-zagging as everyone debates the timing of the Fed's next move."

The price of gold fell $18.20, or 1.5 percent, to $1,211.60 an ounce, following a 3.6 percent slump Wednesday. It traded below $1,200 for the first time since August 2010. Gold has dropped 28 percent this year as Treasury yields have risen and the dollar has strengthened, diminishing gold's appeal as an alternative investment.

Crude oil rose $1.55, or 1.6 percent, to $97.05 a barrel. The dollar fell against the euro and the Japanese yen.

Among stocks making big moves:

? ConAgra Foods rose $1.69, or 5.1 percent, to $35.04 after the company posted a quarterly profit that came in a penny above the forecasts of Wall Street analysts. The maker of Chef Boyardee, Hebrew National and other packaged foods benefited from acquisitions and price cuts that helped increase sales. ?Payroll processor Paychex fell $1.39, or 3.7 percent, to $36.60 after posting earnings that fell short of analysts' expectations. The company said profit for the three months through May 31 came in roughly flat at 34 cents per share. Analysts had expected earnings of 37 cents a share.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-27-US-Wall-Street/id-333d07d31a704e2881afd53b8fa11fc3

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Skype for iOS update brings unlimited free video messaging, unending joy

Earlier this month, Skype brought its video messaging to nearly every major platform. Now, the outfit updated the iOS version of its app to lend a hand with the video snippets. The latest version of the software for Apple's mobile gadgets carries free unlimited messaging of the moving picture type. As you might expect, the download also includes a smattering of bug fixes and usability improvements as well. In the event that your device hasn't alerted you to the goods -- or if you're looking to cash in on the freebies -- the source link below holds the key.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile

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Source: iTunes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/skype-ios-update-unlimited-free-video-messaging/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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US boss held in China leaves plant after payout

BEIJING (AP) ? An American boss detained nearly a week by his company's Chinese workers left the Beijing factory Thursday after he and a labor representative said the two sides reached agreement in a pay dispute.

Chip Starnes, who said he was "saddened" by the experience, told The Associated Press a deal was reached overnight to pay the scores of workers who had demanded severance packages similar to ones given to laid-off co-workers in a phased-out division, even though the company said the remaining workers weren't being laid off.

Remaining workers at the medical supply plant in Huairou district, on the outskirts of Beijing, had said they believed the entire factory was shutting down, that the company owed unpaid salary and that they saw equipment being packed and itemized for shipping to India.

Starnes said the workers' demands were unjustified. Neither he nor district labor official Chu Lixiang gave details of the agreed compensation. Chu said all the workers would be terminated, and Starnes said some of them would be rehired later.

"It has been resolved to each side's satisfaction," Chu told reporters at a conference room at the plant in late morning. She said they had been sorting out paperwork until 5 a.m. and that 97 workers had signed settlement agreements.

Starnes, a co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, had quietly departed the factory grounds by the time Chu spoke, returning to his hotel in Beijing.

"Yes!! Out and back at hotel," Starnes wrote in a text message. "Showered... 9 pounds lost during the ordeal!!!!!!"

Police in Huairou district had made no moves to halt the labor action but guarded the plant and said they were guaranteeing Starnes' safety while local labor officials brokered negotiations.

It is not rare in China for managers to be held by workers demanding back pay or other benefits, often from their Chinese owners. Police are reluctant to intervene, as they consider it a business dispute, and local officials typically are eager to see the matter resolved in the way least likely to fuel unrest.

The labor action reflected growing uneasiness among workers about their jobs amid China's slowing economic growth and the sense that growing labor costs make the country less attractive for some foreign-owned factories.

About 80 workers had started blocking all exits starting last Friday, and Starnes had spoken to reporters in recent days through the barred window of his factory office.

Earlier Thursday, he said in a telephone interview that he had been forced to give in to what he considered unjustified demands. He summed up the past several days as "humiliating, embarrassing." At the beginning of his captivity, workers had deprived him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office, he said.

"We have transferred our funds from the U.S.," he said. "I am basically free to go when the funds hit the account here of the company."

Starnes told the AP he planned to get back to business, and even rehire some of the workers who had been holding him. "We're going to take Thursday off to let the dust settle, and we're going to be rehiring a lot of the previous workers on new contracts as of Friday," he said.

Starnes previously said the company had been winding down its plastics division, with plans to move it to Mumbai. When he arrived in Beijing last week to lay off the last 30 people, workers in other divisions started demanding similar severance packages.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-boss-held-china-leaves-plant-payout-044656354.html

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Pending home sales soar to six-year high

homes

Diana Olick CNBC.com

2 hours ago

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

A Sale Pending sign is seen in front of a home on April 29, 2013 in Miami, Florida.

Signed contracts to buy previously owned homes rose to the highest level in six years, according to figures released on Thursday, and rising interest rates may be causing some buyers on the fence to get in quickly before they are priced out.

The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors rose 6.7 percent in May from April, and is now up 12.1 percent from a year ago. A shortage of homes for sale has weighed on the market this year, even as demand increases. Contracts to buy new homes rose to a five-year high in May, according to the U.S. Census.

"Even with limited choices, it appears some of the rise in contract signings could be from buyers wanting to take advantage of current affordability conditions before mortgage interest rates move higher," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors.

"This implies a continuation of double-digit price increases from a year earlier, with a strong push from pent-up demand."

(Read More: Rising Mortgage Rates Cause 'Rush to ARMs')

The average rate on the 30-year fixed conforming mortgage is up about 100 basis points from the beginning of May to around 4.5 percent. The rate spiked the most in the past week, before these May contracts were signed.

Pending sales were highest in the West, where prices jumped the highest.

(Read More:Million-Dollar Homes: Summertime Edition)

The index was unchanged in the Northeast in May month-to-month, but was 14.3 percent higher from a year ago. In the Midwest, sales jumped 10.2 percent monthly and were 22.2 percent higher than in May 2012. The South saw a 2.8 percent monthly gain, and is 12.3 percent above a year ago. The index in the West rose 16 percent monthly but is just 1.1 percent higher than it was a year ago, due to limited inventory.

Earlier this week, the latest data showed that U.S. home prices went through the roof in April, posting their biggest monthly gain in seven years.

"The recovery is definitely broad based," said David Blitzer of S&P Dow Jones, which released the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, showing that from March to April, home prices gained 2.6 percent in the top ten U.S. housing market and 2.5 percent in the top 20 market.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2de14522/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cpending0Ehome0Esales0Esoar0Esix0Eyear0Ehigh0E6C10A4680A0A4/story01.htm

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