Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314681061?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
To Store More Carbon, Make Grasshoppers Nervous
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The grasshopper is a carefree creature?according to Aesop's fables. But in real life, grasshoppers can have a lot to worry about. For example, grasshoppers get quite anxious when they know there's a deadly spider about, and it puts them off their food. Since their food is grass, nervous grasshoppers leave more grass intact to perform photosynthesis, turning sunlight and carbon dioxide into plant food. More CO2 in these grasses and their roots means less CO2 in the air. That's according to a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Yale researchers tracked CO2 as it cycled through Plexiglass cages containing just grass, grass and grasshoppers, or grass, grasshoppers and spiders. Grasses stored 1.4 times as much carbon with spiders about than when grasshoppers were allowed to roam unmolested. That's even better than when there were no grasshoppers at all because nervous grasshopper grazing did little damage but spurred greener growth. In other words, spiders protect the climate, just by being spiders and scaring grasshoppers. Similar results may also prove true in ecosystems with larger predators, whether wolves and caribou or lions and zebras. Keeping predators around may be another way to combat climate change. ?David Biello Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/store-more-carbon-grasshoppers-nervous-140008078.html
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Obama to lay out climate change plan in speech on Tuesday
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Saturday that he will outline a climate change plan on Tuesday centered around reducing pollution from carbon emissions as he attempts to make good on a pledge for his second term.
"This Tuesday, I'll lay out my vision for where I believe we need to go - a national plan to reduce carbon pollution, prepare our country for the impacts of climate change and lead global efforts to fight it," he said in a White House video.
Obama made tackling climate change a top priority in his inaugural address in January when he began his second term. His speech will be at Georgetown University, the day before he goes on a three-nation tour of Africa.
In his video message, Obama outlined what would be a major national effort to address climate change. He said scientists will be needed to design new fuels, farmers to grow them, engineers to devise new sources of energy and workers to build the foundation for a clean energy economy.
"There's no single step that can reverse the effects of climate change. But when it comes to the world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can," he said.
Sources familiar with his plans have said Obama is likely to roll out a number of measures on climate policy. They may include a strategy to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, which account for roughly 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
Controlling carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning coal and other fossil fuels, is seen as a vital step in confronting climate change.
Federal regulations are still pending on power plants that have yet to be built, after the Environmental Protection Agency missed an April deadline to roll out emissions rules.
However, environmentalists have been pushing Obama's administration to go after a bigger target and set tighter standards for the roughly 1,400 coal-fired burners that already feed the nation's electric grid.
It is unclear if Obama's speech on Tuesday will make any reference to TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport heavy crude oil from Canada's oil sands region to the refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Opponents say the 830,000-barrel-per-day pipeline, which awaits U.S. approval, would raise greenhouse gas emissions and lock the United States into oil dependency for decades into the future.
The White House's top energy and climate adviser, Heather Zichal, said recently that Obama will take several steps to make tackling climate change a second-term priority.
"In the near term, we are very much focused on the power plant piece of the equation," she said at an energy and environment forum.
Besides framing power plant emissions in the context of climate change, many of the steps outlined by Obama to curb demand for carbon-based fuels are likely to be modest.
He is likely to talk about the importance of conserving energy, for example.
Other steps he could announce include an expansion of energy efficiency standards for appliances and accelerate clean energy development on public lands. Another move could be to raise onshore oil and gas royalties, which was suggested by the administration earlier this year.
(Additional reporting by Patrick Rucker, Valerie Volcovici and Jeff Mason.; Editing by Eric Beech and Christopher Wilson)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-lay-climate-change-plan-tuesday-speech-194942416.html
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Sunday, June 23, 2013
Brazil leader to break silence about protests
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) ? More than a week of massive, violent protests across Brazil invited only stoic silence Friday from President Dilma Rousseff, even after she had called an emergency meeting with a top Cabinet member in response to the growing unrest.
Only on Friday night did the government confirm that Rousseff would address the nation a few hours later, but through a prerecorded message. She was expected to meet in the evening with top bishops from the Roman Catholic Church about the protests' effects on a papal visit still scheduled for next month in Rio and Sao Paulo state.
Trying to decipher the president's reaction to the unrest has become a national guessing game, especially after some 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets the night before across the country to denounce everything from poor public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for next year's World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
The protests continued Friday, as about 1,000 people marched in western Rio de Janeiro city, with some looting stores and invading an enormous $250 million arts center that remains empty after several years of construction. Police tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas as they were pelted with rocks. Police said some in the crowd were armed and firing at officers.
Local radio was also reporting that protesters were heading to the apartment of Rio state Gov. Sergio Cabral in the posh Rio neighborhood of Ipanema.
Other protests broke out in the country's biggest city, Sao Paulo, and in Fortaleza in the country's northeast. Demonstrators were calling for more mobilizations in 10 cities on Saturday.
The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops came out in favor of the protests, saying that it maintains "solidarity and support for the demonstrations, as long as they remain peaceful."
"This is a phenomenon involving the Brazilian people and the awakening of a new consciousness," church leaders said in the statement. "The protests show all of us that we cannot live in a country with so much inequality."
Rousseff, a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-85 military regime, had never held elected office before she became president in 2011 and remains clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight.
She's the political protege of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a charismatic ex-union leader whose tremendous popularity helped usher his former chief of staff to the country's top office. A career technocrat and trained economist, Rousseff's tough managerial style under Lula earned her the moniker "the Iron Lady," a name she has said she detests.
While Rousseff has stayed away from the public eye, Roberto Jaguaribe, the nation's ambassador to Britain, told news channel CNN Friday the government was first trying to contain the protests.
He labeled as "very delicate" the myriad demands emanating from protesters in the streets.
"One of our ministers who's dealing with these issues of civil society said that it would be presumptuous on our part to think we know what's taking place," Jaguaribe said. "This is a very dynamic process. We're trying to figure out what's going on because who do we speak to, who are the leaders of the process?"
Marlise Matos, a political science professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, said that answer wasn't good enough.
"The government has to respond, even if the agenda seems unclear and wide open," she said. "It should be the president herself who should come out and provide a response. But I think the government is still making strategic calculations to decide how to respond. What I'd like to see as a response is a call for a referendum on political reform. Let the people decide what kind of political and electoral system we have."
Brazil watchers outside the country were also puzzled by the government's silence, although Peter Hakim, president emeritus at the U.S.-based Inter-American Dialogue think-tank, said he appreciated the complicated political picture, especially with protests flaring in areas where the president is unpopular.
"It's unusual that there has not been a major speech by Dilma, in which she could say that Brazil has come a long way but admit it's got a long way to go," Hakim said. "This is a puzzle in the midst of a huge labyrinth maze and she can't figure out the best direction to take."
Carlos Cardozo, a 62-year-old financial consultant who joined Friday's protest in Rio, said he thought the unrest could cost Rousseff next year's elections. Even as recently as last week, Rousseff had enjoyed a 74 percent approval rating in a poll by the business group the National Transport Confederation.
"Her paying lip service by saying she's in favor of the protests is not helping her cause," Cardozo said. "People want to see real action, real decisions, and it's not this government that's capable of delivering."
Social media and mass emails were buzzing with calls for a general strike next week. However, Brazil's two largest nationwide unions, the Central Workers Union and the Union Force, said they knew nothing about such an action, though they do support the protests.
A Thursday night march in Sao Paulo was the first with a strong union presence, as a drum corps led members wearing matching shirts down the city's main avenue. Many protesters have called for a movement with no ties to political parties or unions, which are widely considered corrupt here.
In the absence of such groups, the protests have largely lacked organization or even concrete demands, making a coherent government response nearly impossible. Several cities have cancelled the transit fare hikes that had originally sparked the demonstrations a week ago, but the outrage has only grown more intense.
The one group behind the reversal of the fare hike, the Free Fare Movement, said on Friday it would not call any more protests. However, it wasn't clear what impact that might have on a movement that has moved far beyond its original complaint.
Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota hit back at protesters the morning after his modernist ministry building was attacked by an enraged crowd Thursday. At one point, smoke had billowed from the building, while demonstrators shattered windows along its perimeter.
Standing before the ministry, Patriota told reporters he "was very angry" that protesters attacked a structure "that represents the search for understanding through dialogue." Patriota called for protesters "to convey their demands peacefully."
"I believe that the great majority of the protesters are not taking part in this violence and are instead looking to improve Brazil's democracy via legitimate forms of protest," Patriota said.
Most protesters have indeed been peaceful, and crowds have taken to chanting "No violence! No violence!" when small groups have prepared to burn and smash. The more violent demonstrators have usually taken over once night has fallen.
At least one protester was killed in Sao Paulo state Thursday night when a driver apparently became enraged about being unable to travel along a street and rammed his car into demonstrators. News reports also said a 54-year-old cleaning woman had died Friday after inhaling tear gas the night before while taking cover in a restored trolley car.
The unrest is hitting the nation as it hosts the Confederations Cup soccer tournament, with tens of thousands of foreign visitors in attendance.
For some, the police response to the protests has been yet another reason to hit the streets.
"Even though I didn't see much of police violence on TV because the coverage was focused on the vandalism, I heard about it from friends and family," said 26-year-old journalist Marcela Barreto, who was marching in Rio Friday. "And I wanted to show the government it's not going to work. We're not scared."
___
Barchfield reported from Rio de Janeiro and Brooks from Sao Paulo. Associated Press writers Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Jack Chang in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-leader-break-silence-protests-221307466.html
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Hotels Near Gurgaon Are A Blend Of Luxury And Affordability
Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of cosmopolitan lifestyle, hotels near Gurgaon offer a truly memorable accommodation experience. Be it business or leisure, finding a good place to stay is most important. However, it is often difficult to find a quality hotel in Delhi, especially during peak seasons, owing to the millions of footfalls from across the world. Therefore, if you are looking for good accommodation away from the chaos of the city, Gurgaon will never disappoint you.
Most of the leading Gurgaon hotels are strategically situated in proximity to the booming business center, making them an ideal destination for leisure and corporate travelers. Moreover, being located at only a few kilometers distance from the capital city of India, the hotels add to the convenience of the travelers. With regard to quality services and amenities, Gurgaon hotels are in no way inferior to 4 star hotels in Delhi. As a matter of fact, some of the top-notch deluxe accommodation in Gurgaon presents a perfect blend of superb facilities and great prices that make your stay most worthwhile.
One of the key factors that make 4 star Gurgaon hotels stand ahead is their location. Most of the hotels are near the major conveyance facility or commercial center, adding to the budget convenience of the travelers. Moreover, car rental, airport pickup and drop, sightseeing, and other transportation facilities are also provided by the hotels, saving much of your time and money to travel in and around the city. Special sightseeing tours are also arranged by the hotels to let you explore the hidden jewels of Gurgaon.
However, what steals the show is implausible guest amenities that blissful blend with the vast space accommodating distinct taste and preferences. An exquisite blend of quality services and business, accommodation in Gurgaon beautifully represents the warm hospitality and dedication of 4 star hotels in Delhi. Spaciously built guest rooms and suites are tastefully appointed with world class amenities such as tea and coffee maker, bathrobe and slippers, mini bar, electronic safe, hair dryer, telephone with voicemail, DVD player, satellite television, and private bathroom with toiletries.
Away from the comfort and lavishness of the room lies splendor of the hotel, exemplified in its state-of-the-art facilities such as meeting and conference hall, gymnasium, airport transfers, Wi-Fi, babysitting, car rental, doctor on call, and spa and wellness. Surprisingly, all these come at unbelievably reasonable rates at hotels in Gurgaon. Hotels near Gurgaon are a blend of luxury and affordability and that"s what make them the ultimate destination to make your stay most memorable and worthwhile. Make sure that you inquire about any special deal or promotional offer at the time of booking your hotel to further add to your budget convenience.
About the Author:
Author loves to travel and wants to share his travelling experience among others. Here he is telling about Hotels near Gurgaon and 4 star hotels in Delhi. For more information You can prior visit: http://www.nidrahotels.com/new_delhi/about_us.asp.
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Saturday, June 22, 2013
A Typeface Designed To Thwart Spying Computers
If people are snooping on your textual communications and you don't like it, there are a couple of things you can do. You can try to block the prying eyes, you can stop saying things you don't want to be seen, or you can make your messages make no sense to the outside. The anti-authoritarian typeface ZXX is shooting for that last one.
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American Businesses Embrace Chinese Marketing Secret
To compete in the future, ecommerce businesses will need a more personal touch, a new study suggests.
The research found that although online marketplaces are usually thought of as distant and impersonal, they can generate loyalty, interactivity and repeat transactions by creating personal and social relationships with their customers.
In the past, it's been assumed that online shoppers prefer impersonal transactions, but the study argues that both online retailers and customers inherently desire a more social and personal relationship.
[10 Happiest US Retailers]
As part of the study, researchers ? led by Paul Pavlou, a professor at Temple University's Fox School of Business ? studied data from TaoBao, a popular Chinese online marketplace. They examined the effectiveness of using computer-mediated-communication (CMC) technology, like instant messaging, to build personal relationships ? or swift guanxi,? a Chinese term for this kind of relationship marketing, and turn impersonal, onetime shoppers into loyal, committed, long-term customers through personal rapport.
The instant-messaging technology used on TaoBao allows buyers and sellers to interact immediately and to use emoticons and avatars in the negotiation and verification of the transaction details. In addition, all of the customers' messages related to a specific product are shown in a message box, while the feedback system provides users with textual and numerical evaluations of buyers and sellers that further establish rapport.
The study discovered that with the use of CMC tools ? including instant messaging, message boxes and feedback ? TaoBao achieved a loyalty rate of more than 70 percent of its customer base. Researchers said loyalty rates that high are typically associated with only brick-and-mortar retailers.
"The role of CMC tools in establishing swift guanxi via interactivity, presence and trust suggests that buyer-seller interaction can easily and quickly transform strangers into acquaintances," the researchers wrote. "In terms of repeat transactions, the effective use of CMC tools creates a significant opportunity for online sellers who wish to reinforce swift guanxi with buyers via building buyers' trust."
Pavlou said it is clearly in online retailers' best interest to spend time learning about how technology can improve their relationship with customers.
"The future of electronic commerce lies in personal relationships virtually enabled by social technologies," he said.
The study, co-authored by Carol Xiaojuan Ou of Tilburg University and Robert M. Davison of the City University of Hong Kong, is published online in the information-systems journal MIS Quarterly.
This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Chad Brooks on Twitter @cbrooks76 or BusinessNewsDaily @BNDarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+. This story originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/american-businesses-embrace-chinese-marketing-secret-104308971.html
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Friday, June 21, 2013
Watchdog faults background check of NSA leaker
A banner supporting Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, is displayed at Central, Hong Kong's business district, Thursday, June 20, 2013. A WikiLeaks spokesman who claims to represent Snowden has reached out to government officials in Iceland about the potential of the NSA leaker applying for asylum in the Nordic country, officials there said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A banner supporting Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, is displayed at Central, Hong Kong's business district, Thursday, June 20, 2013. A WikiLeaks spokesman who claims to represent Snowden has reached out to government officials in Iceland about the potential of the NSA leaker applying for asylum in the Nordic country, officials there said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A government watchdog testified Thursday there may have been problems with a security clearance background check conducted on the 29-year-old federal contractor who disclosed previously secret National Security Agency programs for collecting phone records and Internet data ? just as news media disclosed more information about those programs.
Appearing at a Senate hearing, Patrick McFarland, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's inspector general, said USIS, the company that conducted the background investigation of former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, is now under investigation itself.
McFarland declined to say what triggered the inquiry of USIS or whether the probe is related to Snowden. But when asked by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., if there were any concerns about the USIS background check on Snowden, McFarland answered: "Yes, we do believe that there may be some problems."
Meanwhile, new details emerged about the scope of two recently disclosed NSA programs ? one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism.
Two new documents published Thursday by The Guardian newspaper ? one labeled "top secret" and the other "secret" ? said NSA can keep copies of intercepted communications from or about U.S. citizens indefinitely if the material contains significant intelligence or evidence of crimes.
McFarland declined after the Senate hearing to describe to reporters the type of investigation his office is conducting. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said she was told the inquiry is a criminal investigation related "to USIS' systemic failure to adequately conduct investigations under its contract."
"We are limited in what we can say about this investigation because it is an ongoing criminal matter," said McCaskill, chairwoman of the Senate subcommittee on financial and contracting oversight. "But it is a reminder that background investigations can have real consequences for our national security."
McCaskill's panel conducted the hearing jointly with Tester's subcommittee on efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs.
USIS, based in Falls Church, Va., said in a statement that it has never been informed that it is under criminal investigation. USIS received a subpoena from the inspector general's office in January 2012 for records, the statement said. "USIS complied with that subpoena and has cooperated fully with the government's civil investigative efforts," according to the company.
USIS declined to comment on whether it conducted a background investigation of Snowden. The company said it performs thousands of background investigations each year for OPM and other government agencies. "These investigations are confidential and USIS does not comment on them," the USIS statement said.
The background check USIS performed on Snowden was done in 2011 and was part of periodic reinvestigations that are required for employees who hold security clearances, according to McFarland and Michelle Schmitz, the assistant inspector general for investigations at OPM.
Schmitz said the investigation of USIS commenced later in 2011.
Booz Allen Hamilton, the company where Snowden was working at the time of the disclosures, fired him for violations of the firm's code of ethics and firm policy. The company said he had been a Booz Allen employee for less than three months.
Snowden worked previously at the CIA and probably obtained his security clearance there. But like others who leave the government to join private contractors, he was able to keep his clearance after he left and began working for outside firms.
Of the 4.9 million people with clearance to access "confidential and secret" government information, 1.1 million, or 21 percent, work for outside contractors, according to a January report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Of the 1.4 million who have the higher "top secret" access, 483,000, or 34 percent, work for contractors.
OPM's Federal Investigative Services division performs almost all the background investigations for federal agencies and nearly 75 percent of the investigators who perform background checks are contractors, according to information on the agency's website.
At the hearing, McFarland called for much closer oversight of the investigators who conduct background checks. He said that 18 background investigators and record searchers have been criminally convicted since 2006 for fabricating information in background reports.
McFarland's office is actively working on 11 fabrication cases and another 36 cases involving background investigators are pending, according to data he provided to the subcommittees.
Of the 18 investigators who were criminally convicted, 11 were federal employees and seven were contractors. Of the 47 active and pending cases, six involve federal employees and 41 involve contractors, according to McFarland.
The new documents revealed by The Guardian were signed by Attorney General Eric Holder. They include point-by-point directions on how an NSA employee must work to determine that a person being targeted has not entered the United States. If NSA finds the target has entered the U.S., it will stop gathering phone and Internet data immediately, the documents say.
If supervisors determine that information on a U.S. person or a target who entered the U.S. was intentionally targeted, that information is destroyed, according to the documents.
But if a foreign target has conversations with an American or a U.S.-based person whom NSA supervisors determine is related to terrorism, or contains significant intelligence or evidence of crimes, that call or email or text message can be kept indefinitely. Encrypted communications also can be kept indefinitely, according the documents.
Administration officials had said the U.S. phone records NSA gathered could only be kept for five years. A fact sheet those officials provided to reporters mentioned no exceptions.
The documents outline fairly broad authority when the NSA monitors a foreigner's communications. For instance, if the monitored foreigner has been criminally indicted in the U.S. and is speaking to legal counsel, NSA has to cease monitoring the call. The agency, however, can log the call and mine it later so long as conversation protected by attorney-client privilege is not used in legal proceedings against the foreigner.
The NSA had no comment when asked about the newly revealed documents.
___
Follow Lardner on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rplardner and Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier
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