John Lundberg: A Brief Guide to National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, poetry lovers! An annual celebration (since 1996) sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, the event aims to spread the gospel of poetry and celebrate the art's rich past and vibrant present.

Local celebrations will be popping up all over the country. New York's Southeast Steuben County Library plans to celebrate Prufrock-style: "Guests are invited to break out their favorite hats and join the library for a sumptuous tea" (expect some talk of Michelango). The city of Redmond, Washington is hosting a poetry contest for poems based solely on the spines of books. And the University of Buffalo will hold a 14-hour marathon reading of all 1,789 of Emily Dickinson's poems--an event that would probably terrify Emily Dickinson.

The academy's official site previews some of this year's national events. I've highlighted a few of my favorites.

The Dear Poet Project
This new project, inspired by Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, invites students to write a letter to a poet serving on the academy's board. The hope is for these letters to spark a correspondence about poetry that will be featured on the site.

April 17: Poetry & the Creative Mind Gala
The Academy's annual gala, where celebrities and some of the country's best-known poets meet to celebrate the art, will be held at Lincoln Center in New York. This year's readers include Mario Batali, Dick Cavett, Patricia Clarkson and Amber Tamblyn. You can still buy tickets here.

April 18: Poem in Your Pocket Day
A day to carry your favorite verse with you and share it with others. If you don't already have a poem in mind, explore the academy's list of poems ready for printing. You'll find terrific choices like "Love III" by George Herbert (excerpt below). And it's fun to explore the site's themes--like Hill, Fins, Moo, Rake, and Dark to see what verse is underneath.

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd any thing.
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd any thing.

In none of these events float your boat, don't worry, the academy has dreamt up 30(!) ways to celebrate, like signing up to receive a poem in your inbox each morning throughout the month of April. It's a chance to enjoy poetry in the quiet of your own home -- with or without your favorite hat.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/national-poetry-month_b_2964168.html

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Blunts And Dancing Dogs In Tutus: How The Sharing Economy Is Re-Humanizing Business

I feel oddly guilty rejecting my Uber driver’s offer of a beer and a blunt. It’s 4 am. I’m drenched, hungover, and bewildered as to why I’m in a rustic garage on the outskirts of downtown Austin, watching tattooed pedicab drivers dance with a tiny dog in a pink tutu. This was not the ride home I expected. Yet, my experience isn’t entirely unusual. After two years of experimenting with Internet services that allow everyday individuals to sell their cars, houses, and things — the so-called “sharing economy” — I’ve become accustomed to getting a face full of the sellers’ hopes, fears and quirks. Between services rendered and cash exchanged, friendships are forged, awkwardness is experienced, and memories are made. Before the Industrial Revolution uprooted us from our small-town community roots, I imagine most business transactions included a side of humanity. Modern-day business sterilize transactions of the personal element. Human resource departments have hollowed out their employees, leaving little more than a pleasantly smiling husk of a person. South By Southwest By The Sharing Economy Every March, over 25,000 technology enthusiasts cram into the moderately sized metro of downtown Austin for the annual tech pilgrimage, South By Southwest Interactive. Hotels are sold out six months in advance, and every public service is bleeding out their windows with demand. You’d have an easier time catching a cab stumbling naked and drunk down Times Square on New Years Eve than hailing a taxi during SXSW. At 4 a.m., after the final after parties had simmered down, the only shot I had at making it back to my bed before I had to wake up the next morning was Uber, the popular smartphone taxi application that had contracted with independent pedicabers during SXSW, to usher sleepy technologists to and fro downtown Austin. I did not, however, foresee the torrential downpour halfway though my trip that instantly saturated my clothes to my frigid bone. No longer able to stand the sharp icicles falling from the sky, yet still needing to finish the ride, our courtesy pedicab driver took a pit stop at Pediacab HQ to pick up his car and stow his bike. Pedicab headquarters is like the second-class deck of the Titanic, a dimly lit haven where free-spirited tattooed servicemen party their blue collars off to loud music, an abundance of cheap beer, and liberally available recreational drugs. “I got jungle juice for

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Artificial spleen to treat bloodstream infections: Sepsis therapeutic device under development

Mar. 30, 2013 ? The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced today that it was awarded a $9.25 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further advance a blood-cleansing technology developed at the Institute with prior DARPA support, and help accelerate its translation to humans as a new type of sepsis therapy.

The device will be used to treat bloodstream infections that are the leading cause of death in critically ill patients and soldiers injured in combat.

To rapidly cleanse the blood of pathogens, the patient's blood is mixed with magnetic nanobeads coated with a genetically engineered version of a human blood 'opsonin' protein that binds to a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and toxins. It is then flowed through microchannels in the device where magnetic forces pull out the bead-bound pathogens without removing human blood cells, proteins, fluids, or electrolytes -- much like a human spleen does. The cleansed blood then flows back to the patient.

"In just a few years we have been able to develop a suite of new technologies, and to integrate them to create a powerful new device that could potentially transform the way we treat sepsis," said Wyss founding director and project leader, Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. "The continued support from DARPA enables us to advance our device manufacturing capabilities and to obtain validation in large animal models, which is precisely what is required to enable this technology to be moved towards testing in humans."

The team will work to develop manufacturing and integration strategies for its core pathogen-binding opsonin and Spleen-on-a-Chip fluidic separation technologies, as well as a novel coating technology called "SLIPS," which is a super-hydrophobic coating inspired from the slippery surface of a pitcher plant that repels nearly any material it contacts. By coating the inner surface of the channels of the device with SLIPS, blood cleansing can be carried out without the need for anticoagulants to prevent blood clotting.

In addition to Ingber, the multidisciplinary team behind this effort includes Wyss core faculty and Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty member Joanna Aizenberg, Ph.D., who developed the SLIPS technology; Wyss senior staff member Michael Super, Ph.D., who engineered the human opsonin protein; and Mark Puder, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School who will be assisting with animal studies.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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From Dallas to Damascus: The Texas 'straight shooter' who could replace Syria's Assad

Ozan Kose / AFP - Getty Images

Ghassan Hitto, speaking to reporters after his March 18 election as Syria's interim prime minister.

By Ayman Mohyeldin and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

He is a ?straight shooter? from Texas who worked as a telecoms executive until November. But Ghassan Hitto now finds himself the presumptive caretaker-leader of Syria as world powers plot the end of Bashar Assad?s crumbling regime.

The American citizen, born in Syria, is the new prime minister of the opposition?s interim government ? the apparatus that the international community hopes will seal the end of Assad?s rule.

Friends describe Hitto, 50, as ?sincere? and ?practical,? but the charismatic technocrat will need all the charm he can muster to unify Syria?s fragmented opposition.

His rapid rise has prompted questions about how the deadly conflict should end and has cast a light on infighting, fueled by regional countries purportedly supporting certain opposition figures.

The Free Syrian Army, one of the key rebel groups fighting Assad?s forces on the ground inside Syria, responded to Hitto?s appointment in Istanbul on March 18 by refusing to recognize his authority.

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?The situation there is so dire, I?m afraid for him,? said Mustafa Carroll,?who worked alongside Hitto in Texas as a volunteer at Muslim advocacy groups. ?It?s a big responsibility and it?s very complicated.?

?He?s a straight shooter, very sincere, very well-regarded and a very active community person,? said Carroll, who is director of the Houston chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations.

Seen as Muslim Brotherhood's pick
Hitto, a father of four, lived in the U.S. for three decades, most recently on the outskirts of Dallas working as director of operations for telecoms supplier Inovar, where co-worker?Arshad Syed remembers him as "honest" and "personable."

He left Syria in the early 1980s and received an MBA at Indiana Wesleyan University on top of a degree in computer science and mathematics from Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Strongly active in community groups, he was a member of the board of directors at the private Islamic school Bright Horizons Academy, in Garland, Texas, where his wife Suzanne still teaches English.

In November, he made the decision to get involved in the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces -- the international grouping that seeks to end Syria?s civil war on the condition that Assad is removed from power.

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A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

?Like a lot of people living away, he just wanted to help his homeland,? said Carroll.

Hitto?s wife did not return calls, but the academy issued a statement describing him as ?a practical man with great management experience.?

It said: ?He was always open minded and open to debate. He conducted himself with the highest honesty and integrity. His talent for bringing people together for the common good will be missed in our community.?

Hitto, a respected technocrat but an inexperienced politician, won the overwhelming number of votes from those who cast a ballot -- other possible candidates that included a former Syrian regime official -- but some members of the Coalition boycotted the vote in protest at the process.

Not everyone was convinced the opposition needed an interim government, seeing it as yet another organization that could compete for control of a post-Assad Syria.

Official spokesman Walid al-Bunni walked out of the vote in protest and Moaz al-Khatib, president of the Coalition, resigned and had to be persuaded back on board just in time for the Arab Summit in Doha, which began Tuesday.

?Hitto?s whole role has been undermined from the start,? said Christopher Phillips, associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at U.K. think tank, Chatham House.

?He?s very much the Muslim Brotherhood?s man, and is seen as such. There was a lot of pressure to get an interim opposition leader in place ahead of the Doha talks, but the way in which it was done, and the choice of very much the man that Qatar and Turkey wanted, has infuriated and alienated just about every key player in the process.?

Represents 'the some of the some'
Salman Shaik, director of the Brookings Center in Doha, said many Syrians "still regard the appointment of Hitto with suspicion." Even if Assad is toppled from power, Hitto is by no means certain of the authority he needs to implement free and fair elections.

?The huge elephant in the room is that there is no guarantee that, if and when the Assad regime falls, that any of the groups fighting in Syria will gather around this official opposition,? said Phillips. ?There are huge uncertainties in all of this.?

Abdulrahman al-Rashed, commentator and general manager of the Al Arabiya news channel, wrote: ?I am confident that Mr. Hitto is a respectable person and that he cares about Syria. But during this difficult time, we want a person who represents everyone and not only some Syrians. Some members of the Syrian coalition decided to choose Hitto but the coalition itself only represents some Syrians. Therefore, Hitto represents the some of the some!?

Yasser Tabarra, the Chicago-based legal adviser to the Coalition, says the interim government will focus on managing the 60 to 70 percent of the country that is liberated and controlled by opposition rebels.

The government would coordinate local management efforts, including establishing law and order, and delivering basic goods and services, Tabarra said.

Two key stumbling blocks remain: whether the Coalition should enter into any form of negotiations with the regime while Assad is still in power, and whether Hitto, an ethnic Kurd viewed as the Muslim Brotherhood's favored candidate, can unite the ideological differences between its liberal and Islamist members.

In his task, Hitto at least has the backing of the U.S.

?This is an individual who, out of concern for the Syrian people, left a very successful life in Texas to go and work on humanitarian relief for the people of his home country,? said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland after Hitto?s election.

?We?re very hopeful that his election will foster unity and cohesion among the opposition.?

NBC News' Becky Bratu contributed to this report.

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Man City beats Newcastle 4-0 in Premier League

Associated Press Sports

updated 2:01 p.m. ET March 30, 2013

MANCHESTER, England (AP) -Manchester City scored two goals in each half to cruise to a 4-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday and maintain its slim hopes of catching rival Manchester United for the title.

Carlos Tevez and David Silva both netted late in the first half to put City firmly in control and Vincent Kompany marked his return from an eight-game absence by netting the third in the 56th.

James Perch's own goal in the 69th capped the scoring for a dominant City, which strengthened its grip on second place but remained 15 points behind United with eight games to play.

Tevez slid in to turn Gael Clichy's cross at the far post in the 41st minute for his seventh goal in six games and 17th overall this season. Newcastle never had a chance to recover, as Clichy and Edin Dzeko both forced saves from Rob Elliott over the next few minutes before Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri combined to set Silva up for the second.

Kompany then scored his first goal for City in nearly a year, flicking home Gareth Barry's off-target shot to put the result beyond doubt. Kompany missed the previouse eight games with a calf injury, but played for Belgium during the international break.

The fourth came after Toure strode through Newcastle's defense and beat Elliot at his near post with a shot that deflected off Perch.

City will face United in a Manchester derby at Old Trafford next weekend, when it can further delay its rivals title celebrations.

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

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PST: Teenager Jose Villarreal hit a spectacular bicycle kick in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw for the Galaxy in Toronto.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45367483/ns/sports-soccer/

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The name's BuckWheat. - ADK= Gaming Community

As you can see above, my name is BuckWheat.? I got into this community through Planetside2 (awesome outfit) and decided to join you guys.? I am very much of a strategic and puzzle gamer (like Portal 2, Civilization and such) but also like to play some casual FPS. Came to this community just looking for some people just to casually play games with.

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Root Fungus Stores a Surprising Amount of the Carbon Sequestered in Soil

Falling leaves and branches are important, but roots and their fungi win out

By Mark Fischetti

Boreal forest in Lake Uddjaure, Sweden. Image: courtesy of Karina Clemmensen

A forest floor can store lots of atmospheric carbon, helping to limit global warming that results from carbon dioxide emissions. Most of that storage, scientists have thought, is found in tree leaves and branches that absorb carbon, eventually fall to the ground and slowly decay into soil. A new study in Sweden, however, indicates that 50 to 70 percent of the carbon bound in soil is actually from tree roots and the fungi that grow on them.

This surprising insight comes from Karina Clemmensen at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and colleagues who studied boreal forests on 30 islands in northern Swedish lakes. The forests were consumed by different numbers of fires over the past 5,000 years, providing a broad mix of soil compositions on different forest floors. The comparison revealed that the amount of carbon stored in soil was linked to mycorrhizal fungi that grow along tree-root systems and help to keep them healthy.

?These fungi live in symbiosis with plant roots and transport carbon from plant photosynthesis directly into the soil,? Clemmensen wrote in response to e-mail questions. ?The prevailing dogma had been that aboveground plant litter (dead needles and wood) is the principal source of carbon storage in boreal forest soils,? she explained. But her results show that ?a large proportion of the carbon stored in boreal forests instead enters the soil from beneath, via roots and their associated mycorrhizal fungi.?

Boreal forest soils are a major sink, holding 16 percent of all carbon sequestered in soils worldwide, according to a paper by Clemmensen?s team published March 29 in Science. The most immediate implication of the finding is that climate models should be revised to take into account the role that the fungi play. Revised models, Clemmensen wrote, would give more precise predictions of how forest management practices (such as thinning of trees) and environmental changes could influence carbon storage.

More research is also needed to determine if more older trees (so-called old-growth forests) worldwide would mean increased storage. As trees age, they allocate less carbon to root fungi, yet residues from old, dead fungi hang on to carbon more tightly than do dead needles and wood in the soil. Other studies, however, suggest that mycorrhizal fungi decompose organic matter in the soil, thereby releasing carbon. How these factors interact to form stable soil ?is a very interesting and intriguing question that we do not yet have the answer to,? Clemmensen wrote. What is clear is that mycorrhizal fungi are much more important to carbon sequestration than anyone had realized.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1ce2ebff1e0b582a08177a147f9d8546

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South Africa leader Zuma: We 'must not panic' over health of Nelson Mandela

The former South African president is responding to treatment for a recurring lung infection, officials say. This marks the third time in four months the 94-year-old has been hospitalized. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

Former South Africa leader Nelson Mandela was in ?good spirits? Friday, officials said, as he spent a second day in hospital where he is being treated for a recurring lung infection.

?The doctors report that he is making steady progress,? said a statement from the country?s presidency, adding that the 94-year-old had ?enjoyed a full breakfast.?

Earlier, South Africa?s president, Jacob Zuma, sought to reassure his country over Mandela?s health,?saying in a BBC interview that people "must not panic."

However, he appeared to agree with the suggestion that South Africa should prepare for Mandela?s eventual death.

?Is this a time for us to be aware of what is inevitable?? asked the BBC's Lerato Mbele. ?Well, I would imagine so,? replied Zuma.

Mandela, 94, was taken to a hospital just before midnight local time (6 p.m. ET) on Wednesday ? his third hospital visit since December.

He has a history of lung problems dating back to his days as a political prisoner in the notorious Robben Island jail under the apartheid regime, where inmates worked in an open quarry. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1988 after being moved to Pollsmoor Prison.

Mandela spent 18 days in hospital in December, undergoing surgery for gallstones.

Earlier, President Barack Obama sent his best wishes to the former leader.

"He is as strong physically as he's been in character and in leadership over so many decades, and hopefully he will ... come out of this latest challenge," Obama told reporters at the White House Thursday.

"When you think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the first name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. And so we wish him all the very best," Obama said.

NBC News? Stacey Klein contributed to this report.

Related:

Secrecy over Mandela's health fuels concern for South Africa icon

'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world

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This story was originally published on Fri Mar 29, 2013 5:03 AM EDT

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Summer melt season is getting longer on the Antarctic Peninsula

Thursday, March 28, 2013

New research from the Antarctic Peninsula shows that the summer melt season has been getting longer over the last 60 years. Increased summer melting has been linked to the rapid break-up of ice shelves in the area and rising sea level.

The Antarctic Peninsula ? a mountainous region extending northwards towards South America ? is warming much faster than the rest of Antarctica. Temperatures have risen by up to 3 oC since the 1950s ? three times more than the global average. This is a result of a strengthening of local westerly winds, causing warmer air from the sea to be pushed up and over the peninsula. In contrast to much of the rest of Antarctica, summer temperatures are high enough for snow to melt.

This summer melting may have important effects. Meltwater may enlarge cracks in floating ice shelves which can contribute to their retreat or collapse. As a result, the speed at which glaciers flow towards the sea will be increased. Also, melting and refreezing causes snow layers to become thinner and more dense, affecting the height of the snow surface above sea level. Scientists need to know this so they can interpret satellite data correctly.

Dr Nick Barrand, who carried out the research while working for the British Antarctic Survey, led an analysis of data from 30 weather stations on the peninsula. "We found a significant increase in the length of the melting season at most of the stations with the longest temperature records" he says. "At one station the average length of the melt season almost doubled between 1948 and 2011."

To build up a more complete picture across the whole peninsula, the team (funded by the European Union's ice2sea programme) also analysed satellite data collected by an instrument called a scatterometer. Using microwave reflections from the ice sheet surface, the scatterometer was able to detect the presence of meltwater. The team were able to produce maps of how the melt season varied from 1999 to 2009, and showed that several major ice shelf breakup events coincided with longer than usual melt seasons. This supports the theory that enlargement of cracks by meltwater is the main mechanism for ice shelf weakening and collapse.

The researchers also compared data from both the satellite and weather stations with the output of a state-of-the-art regional climate model.

Dr Barrand, who now works at the University of Birmingham, says, "We found that the model was very good at reproducing the pattern and timing of the melt, and changes in melting between years. This increases confidence in the use of climate models to predict future changes to snow and ice cover in the Antarctic Peninsula."

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British Antarctic Survey: http://www.nerc-bas.ac.uk

Thanks to British Antarctic Survey for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127498/Summer_melt_season_is_getting_longer_on_the_Antarctic_Peninsula

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Could The 'Tomb Raider' Reboot Be 'Hunger Games'-Inspired?

Rumors about a "Tomb Raider" reboot have been swirling, particularly since the video game franchise was resurrected by publishers Square Enix Ltd. to rave reviews, selling more than 3 million units worldwide since its release. Now, MGM has acquired film rights to the video game series, and a new "Tomb Raider" is on the horizon. [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/03/28/tomb-raider-reboot/

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Pope names successor in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? Pope Francis has made his first appointment of a bishop, naming Mario Poli on Thursday to succeed him as archbishop of Buenos Aires and the top churchman in Argentina.

Poli, 66, is a priest very much in Francis' vein, focused on pastoral work, and he made news recently when he publicly dressed-down a priest who had posted a Facebook greeting on the birthday of former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla.

Poli has been the bishop in Santa Rosa in the rural La Pampa province, and from 2002-2008 he served as one of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's auxiliary bishops in the Argentine capital, but he was not among the church officials rumored to be top candidates for the post.

He has a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of Argentina, but before he was ordained as a priest in 1978, he earned a degree in social work from the public University of Buenos Aires, known as UBA. That apparently impressed Bergoglio, who talked about the benefits of such training in a 2012 book, "On Heaven and Earth."

"It's no longer like it was. In the seminary, older people are coming in. This is a much better situation, because in the UBA you become acquainted with real life, the different points of view there are about it, the different scientific aspects, cosmopolitanism," Bergoglio said. "It's a way of having your feet well planted in the earth."

Poli was involved in the church's failed effort to prevent Argentina from becoming the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage in 2010, writing lawmakers an open letter urging them to vote against it.

Poli also wrote a firm response after a priest in one of his parishes, Jorge Luis Hidalgo, posted a Facebook message praising the dictator Videla, whom human rights activists accuse of killing as many as 30,000 people in the 1970s "dirty war." ''They weren't 30,000, nor were they innocent. Happy birthday General! A soldier never asks for forgiveness for having saved his fatherland from a communist dictatorship," wrote the priest.

Poli said Hidalgo's gesture caused "confusion, sadness and a serious injury to the Church, and his expressions are far from who we are and our mission of love."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-names-successor-buenos-aires-111706310.html

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A User's Guide to Day 2 of Gay Marriage at the Supreme Court, DOMA Edition

Have you heard? The Supreme Court is finally reviewing the gay marriage issue that this country's been waiting literally decades to resolve. Tuesday, the justices heard oral arguments?and asked key questions on Hollingsworth vs. Perry, the case about California's Proposition 8. On Wednesday, it's time for United States vs. Windsor, the decisive case in determining whether the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is constitutional or not. Political stars like Nancy Pelosi and Tammy Baldwin, the nation's only gay senator, plan to attend. So do a lot of other people. Corporations, non-profits, and all their friends have weighed in with over 300 amicus briefs having been filed. It's a big deal, and compounded all the more by the will-they-or-won't-they hedge from Day One on same-sex marriage at the Court. But if you haven't been following this case for the past four years, or if the last 24 hours have been a little overwhelming with all the?legalese, don't worry. We've got you covered.

RELATED: How to Follow Today's Supreme Court Prop 8 Hearing, Voraciously

The Basics

Edith Windsor is a New York woman in her eighties who married Thea Speyer, her same-sex partner of 40 years, in Canada six years ago. In 2009, Speyer passed away, leaving her entire estate to Windsor who was slapped with a $363,000 tax bill. If it hadn't been for DOMA, the 1996 law that defined marriage at the federal level as the union between a man and a woman, she wouldn't have had to pay any taxes. So she reached out to some gay and lesbian advocacy groups, found a lawyer willing to start the fight, won the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2011.?

RELATED: How the Supreme Court May Buck Public Opinion on Gay Marriage, in Charts

It was destined to be a big case from the start. Windsor's was one of the cases that Attorney General Eric Holder cited in his February 23, 2011 statement announcing that the Obama administration could no longer defend portions of DOMA that it believed to be unconstitutional. This set the stage either for Congress to repeal the law or for the courts to overturn it. In June of 2012, the Southern District Court in New York ruled Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional, pointing to the Fifth Amendment, and ordered for the federal government to give Windsor a tax refund. The Justice Department appealed a few days later, sending the case back to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court's ruling in October. The DOJ appealed again, and on December 11, the Supreme Court granted certiorari, paving the way for Wednesday's hearing.

RELATED: Jon Stewart on Conservatives' Big Gay Marriage Trap

All this stirred the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), a Republican-led group of congressmen and women who want to uphold the law in its current form, into action. The group disagreed with Obama administration which argued that sexual orientation was subject to heightened scrutiny, because gays and lesbians were discriminated against. BLAG later said that gays and lesbians are "one of the most influential, best-connected, and best-organized groups in modern politics, and have attained more legislative victories, political power, and popular favor in less time than virtually any other group in American history." BLAG has filed briefs along the way and argued that Congress doesn't infringe upon states' rights, as other's have claimed. While they're not technically defending DOMA in court, they've filed an amicus brief ahead of Wednesday's arguments and have played a major role in the case so far.

RELATED: Federal Court: DOMA Violates Married Same-Sex Couples' Rights

The Issues?

As many have pointed out, the challenges against DOMA have as much to do with how the country makes laws as they do with gay rights. The tricky thing is that the federal government actually agrees with the plaintiff that the law is unconstitutional, so the Supreme Court's first order of business will be to figure out if it even has the jurisdiction to hear the case. It's also unclear exactly what role, if any, BLAG should play in the case. As a result of the weird web of connections between the three parties, the Court appointed Harvard Law Professor Vicki Jackson as a friend of the Court to argue these two points. If everything checks out, the Court will proceed.

RELATED: The Annotated Transcript of the Prop 8 Oral Arguments, with For and Against

This is when things get really fun. The crux of the case rests on whether the federal government overstepped its authority when passing DOMA, but the more fundamental arguments regarding gay rights will play a key role. Windor's lawyers, like the Obama administration, maintain that the law violates the Constitution's equal protection clause.?"The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite-sex couples," writes Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli. These benefits include not only?tax breaks like Windsor missed out on but also immigration and medical benefits.

The other side of the argument represents a mix of tradition and uncertainty. Lawyers for BLAG, however, argue that the law is necessary to encourage responsible procreation ? in other words, to encourage couples to get married before having kids. Windsor's lawyers say that's "irrational, fantastical thinking." However, based on Tuesday's arguments in the case that will determine whether California's voters were within their power when they overturned a state Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage, the justices themselves are split. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who many legal experts think?holds the deciding vote in the Prop. 8 case, wondered aloud Tuesday about the country having "five years of information to weigh against 2,000 years of history or more" in order to determine the impact of gay marriage on society. But some Court watchers insist that Tuesday's tepidness could have just been the justices teeing up to to strike down DOMA, which President Bill Clinton signed into law more than 16 years ago.

The Comparison

Many people are appropriately wondering how the Court is going to reconcile the DOMA case with the Prop. 8 case. It's not going to be easy. The New York Times's Adam Liptak?suggests that the justices in Tuesday's questioning may have left itself "with an all-or-nothing choice on the merits" of Prop. 8, hinting at a ruling that would be much broader and apply to the whole country. (Rulings on both cases are expected at the end of the Court's term in June.) Then again, as Justice Kennedy's statements suggest, there's been a fair amount of hesitation over whether or not now is the right time to make the final call on gay marriage. It's possible that they could go after a very narrow in one or both cases. Consensus seems to suggest that they might just strike down DOMA and wait for the Prop. 8 issue.

And striking down DOMA?would immediately trigger benefits in the ten states that currently have legalized same-sex unions: Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. If the justices uphold it, well, nothing changes. Or Edith Windsor could just get her money back in Option No. 3, if the Court deems itself "powerless to decide."

So the bad news is that the fight for gay marriage still faces a pretty uncertain future ? at least until June, and maybe in two pieces when that decision day finally rolls along. The good news is that the wait won't be much longer. So hunker down, bookmark the?SCOTUS blog?for a little after 10 a.m. Eastern,?follow these people on Twitter coming out of the courtroom, and enjoy the show. We'll be right here to make sense of it all for you.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/users-guide-day-2-gay-marriage-supreme-court-051548776.html

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Cookbook showcases Gaza's hidden culinary delights

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) ? Spicy stuffed squid and roasted watermelon salad are among the unexpected culinary delights of the Gaza Strip, a densely populated seaside sliver of land that that has been choked by Israeli border blockades and battered by wars.

The territory's hidden gourmet treasures have been detailed in "The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey," a new cookbook showcasing a unique, fiery variation of Mediterranean-style cuisine kept alive despite food shortages and poverty.

Many of Gaza's 1.7 million people struggle just to get by. About 1 million get regular food rations of vegetable oil and white flour, key to survival but hardly ingredients of scrumptious dishes. Rolling power cuts lasting several hours a day frazzle the nerves of all those trying to prepare meals.

The daily hardships are a result of border restrictions imposed by neighboring Israel and Egypt in 2007 when the Islamic militant group Hamas seized the territory.

Gaza's people ? most descendants of refugees displaced by the war over Israel's 1948 creation ? often have to improvise to cling to their food traditions.

"Our situation hasn't always let us cook everything, but we have adapted," said housewife Nabila Qishta, 52, in the southern town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Qishta once used an electric oven to bake bread and make her spicy stews. Tired of the power outages, she built a wood-fired kiln in her garden four years ago.

Such resolve is helping keep Gaza's unique cuisine alive.

Gaza cooks like to mix chili peppers and garlic to flavor food. It's a taste acquired at a young age, with children often showing up at school with chili spread on their lunch sandwich.

Dishes are laced with piquant flavors like sour plums, limes and a sour pomegranate molasses, or sprinkled fresh dill, an herb not widely used elsewhere in the region.

Gaza's cuisine gives traditional Palestinian food "a spicy, sour, bright twist," said Maggie Schmitt, co-author of the Gaza cookbook.

The territory's penchant for strong flavors likely dates back to Gaza City's history as a port on the ancient spice route from Asia to Europe, Palestinian anthropologist Ali Qleibo said.

Gaza's location, on the fault line between Asia and Africa, and the influx of refugees more than six decades ago also have contributed to culinary diversity.

The refugees uprooted by Israel's creation included villagers, Bedouin shepherds and sophisticated city dwellers, all coming with their own food traditions.

In Gaza, they cooked familiar foods, passing on recipes to children and grandchildren, keeping a link to lost communities.

"For Palestinian people, their food connects them," said Laila El-Haddad, another co-author of the cookbook. "It locates them, when maps don't."

For Bassam el-Shakaa, 33, whose Bedouin roots trace back to what is now the southern Israeli town of Beersheba, home cooking is "libbeh."

On a recent day, he made the dish by roasting bread directly on hot coals, dusting it off, shredding and mixing it with roasted eggplant, diced chili, tomatoes and olive oil. The eggplant was a substitute for young green watermelon, meant to crown the dish, but out of season.

Like his ancestors, el-Shakaa and other men sat in a circle and ate from the same bowl. They used their hands to scoop out fleshy bread, made smoky, spicy and dewy. "We inherited this from our fathers and grandfathers," he said. "This is the food we crave."

Another Gaza specialty is cooking with clay pots, and the territory's signature dish is a fiery tomato shrimp stew with pine nuts. Spices are crushed in a mortar, using a lemon-wood pestle that releases their fragrance. The dish is assembled, baked and eaten in the clay pot.

Gaza's rich clay deposits were the likely reason for the favored cooking method, said el-Haddad, 35, who is from Columbia, Maryland.

Another local specialty is tiny stuffed squid with dill, spices, raisins and rice.

Gaza's border blockade has restricted many imports, raising the price of fuel and basic ingredients, such as sesame paste tahini, olive oil, meat and spices.

For years, smugglers defied the blockade by hauling in goods through tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt. Israel has progressively loosened the blockade; what remains are long power cuts and a ban on most exports, choking Gaza industry and keeping unemployment and poverty high.

Urban sprawl has eradicated most of Gaza's farmlands. Israel limits access to farms near the border because militants have used the areas to fire rockets. Israel also restricts where fisherman can cast their nets, driving up the price of seafood.

Gazans are experts at recycling.

Qishta, the Rafah housewife, built her kiln from clay dumped by smugglers as they dug tunnels under the nearby border with Egypt. With her husband unemployed for years, she relies on U.N. food packages.

Rawan Salmi, a busy 39-year-old school teacher and mother of two, can no longer cook ahead for an entire week and freeze portions since daily power cuts mean food will spoil quickly. Instead, she cooks a day at a time.

El-Haddad and Schmitt, of Miami, visited Gaza in 2010 to research their book. They found Palestinians eager to show off their dishes and passionately arguing over the tastiest way to prepare meals like okra and lentil stew.

Transforming meals into recipes was another challenge. Through re-testing and pleas to women to repeat instructions, the authors said they recorded generations of oral knowledge.

Some dishes that proved nearly impossible to find, like the roasted watermelon salad, because the authors came in the wrong season.

The 140-page cookbook has sold 4,000 copies since it was released in March, said Asa Winstanley of publisher Just World Books.

It reflects growing interest in Palestinian cooking and culture, said Mahmoud Muna, of Jerusalem's "Educational Bookshop" which specializes in Palestinian books.

Bestselling Jerusalem-born British chef Yotam Ottolenghi also recently wrote a book with Palestinian Sami Tamimi called "Jerusalem," covering Arab and Jewish cooking in the holy city.

Qishta, the Rafah housewife, said Gaza residents deserve the praise.

"Palestinian women are proud of their food," said Qishta, as she baked her bread.

___

Follow Hadid on twitter.com/diaahadid

The book: justworldbooks.com/the-gaza-kitchen-a-palestinian-culinary-journey-paperback/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cookbook-showcases-gazas-hidden-culinary-delights-173842644.html

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S&P nears record as home price surge lifts stocks

NEW YORK (AP) ? More good news on the economy Tuesday drove the Standard & Poor's 500 index to within two points of its record closing high.

The S&P rose 12.08 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,563.77. Its record close of 1,565.16 was on Oct. 9, 2007, before the Great Recession and ensuing financial crisis battered markets.

Rising home prices and orders for manufactured goods drove all other major indexes higher as well. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 111.90 points, or 0.8 percent, to another record high ? 14,559.65.

"Unless something major comes along to derail this rally, it just seems like the market is going to keep climbing higher," said Marty LeClerc, the managing partner of Barrack Yard Advisors, an investment firm in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Factory orders surged in February, helped by stronger demand for commercial aircraft. Overall orders for durable goods, a catchall term for products ranging from refrigerators to jumbo jets, jumped 5.7 percent from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was the biggest increase in five months.

All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, led by health care and energy companies. But smaller companies, which have been beating the market all year, didn't do as well Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite rose 17.18 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,252.48, and the Russell 2000 rose 3.97 points, or 0.4 percent, to 949.82.

Big-company stocks and small-company stocks often part ways, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. Recently, Europe has been the reason. Big corporations generally do more business in Europe, and their stocks had wavered over the past week as traders watched negotiations to rescue Cyprus.

After a deal was announced Sunday, there was still uncertainty on Wall Street Monday. But by Tuesday, investors seemed back to focusing on the U.S. economy, and stocks of big companies rose the most.

By contrast, smaller companies are less exposed to the rest of the world. "That's part of the reason small-caps have outpaced the market this year," Ablin said. The Russell 2000 is up 11.8 percent this year, compared with 9.7 percent for the S&P 500.

European markets rose modestly as investors gained confidence in the new bailout plan arranged for Cyprus and its banking system. Cyprus decided to keep its banks closed for another two days in an attempt to ward off panicked withdrawals.

Netflix surged 5 percent, leading the S&P 500, after an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities said the stock will likely climb as the company continues to add subscribers. Netflix's database of its members' viewing habits should give it an edge in creating shows and draw more people to sign up for its video-streaming service, the analyst said. Netflix rose $9.82 to $190.61.

Housing prices rose in January at the fastest pace since the summer of 2006, before the housing bubble popped. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of prices in 20 cities was up 8.1 percent over January 2012. That compared with a 6.8 percent year-over-year increase in the index in December. Prices rose in all 20 cities, led by 23.2 percent in Phoenix and 17.5 percent in San Francisco.

The economic reports out Tuesday added to evidence that the economy is slowly improving, and that's what many investors want right now, LeClerc said. Slow growth and continued low inflation mean it could be a long time before the Federal Reserve starts unraveling its bond-buying program and raising interest rates.

In the market for U.S. government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 1.91 percent from 1.92 percent late Monday.

Among other stocks making big moves Tuesday:

? Drive-in restaurant chain Sonic jumped 10 percent after reporting that its quarterly earnings more than doubled. Revenue was flat, but Sonic said it expects improvement. Its stock rose $1.14 to $12.87.

? Supervalu rose after announcing plans to lay off more than 1,000 people, roughly 3 percent of its workforce. The supermarket operator said its recent sale of five grocery chains means it needs fewer workers. Supervalu's stock gained 7 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $5.12.

? Children's Place Retail Stores sank 3 percent after the company reported weaker quarterly earnings. The retailer also said bad weather would crimp revenue. The company's stock lost $1.48 to $44.51.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-nears-record-home-price-surge-lifts-stocks-205255060--finance.html

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Supreme Court could strike down DOMA

Protestors rally in support of gay marriage in front of the Supreme Court, March 27, 2013.(Reuters/Jonathan Er??

A majority of Supreme Court justices expressed concern Wednesday about a federal law that bars same sex marriage, signaling the nation's highest court may be poised to extend a potentially historic victory to the gay rights movement.

Hearing arguments in the second of two major gay marriage cases over two days, the probing questions from both wings of the court suggest the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from recognizing same sex marriage in states where it is legal, could be struck down. Such a decision would be breakthrough for supporters of same sex nuptials, who until now have measured progress at a state by state level.

But the fundamental question of whether gay couples can marry in the U.S. will most likely not be settled by the court this time. Striking down DOMA would likely benefit only married same sex couples in the nine states (and the District of Columbia) where their marriages are legal. And a day earlier, justices hinted they might toss a challenge to Prop 8, a California law banning gay marriage, on procedural grounds.

Justices across the spectrum Wednesday seemed troubled by DOMA, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Clinton has since announced his opposition to the law.

The court's conservative leaning justices asked pointed questions about whether the law was anti-federalist, since it intrudes into states' traditional right to regulate marriage. The more liberal justices seemed amenable to the argument that DOMA discriminates against gay people and was passed with the clear intention of excluding an unpopular group.

Justices could strike down the law in a narrow way that would force the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages only in states where it's already allowed. There's a chance the court could rule more broadly, making dozens of state gay marriage bans legally vulnerable. Such an expansive ruling from the court is considered much less likely.

The Justice Department would typically defend a federal law being challenged in the Supreme Court, but he Obama administration has declined to do so because it believes it is unconstitutional. Paul Clement, an attorney chosen by House Republicans who support DOMA, defended it instead.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative-leaning swing vote who has written two landmark opinions affirming gay rights, seemed unconvinced by the argument advanced by Clement that DOMA defines marriage as only between opposite-sex couples to avoid confusion. Clement said that the federal government has an interest in "uniformity," and had passed the law to avoid having to treat same-sex couples differently based on whether they live in states that allow gay marriage or not.

Kennedy pointed out that DOMA excludes married same-sex couples in more than 1,100 federal statutes and laws, which has a substantial impact on the "day to day life" of those couples and their children. He said the law does not provide uniformity because it affects "only one aspect of marriage."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said excluding married gay couples from sick leave, tax benefits, Social Security survivor benefits, and hundreds of other federal benefits and obligations, relegates same-sex couples to a "skim milk marriage" that is substantially worse than what heterosexual couples are allowed.

Justice Elena Kagan suggested that the law was not passed for uniformity's sake, but to discriminate. She read aloud from the House report on the law when it passed 17 years ago saying it expressed "moral disapproval of homosexuality."

Chief Justice John Roberts objected to the argument that Congress passed DOMA based on a dislike or hatred for gays and lesbians. He asked Attorney General Donald Verrilli, representing the Obama administration, whether he believed the 84 senators who voted for it at the time were all motivated by animus. Verrilli said the lawmakers could have voted for DOMA due to a "lack of careful reflection," but that the law discriminates no matter why it was passed.

Roberts also objected to Attorney Roberta Kaplan's characterization of gay people as a disadvantaged minority group lacking political power.

"As far as I can tell, political figures are falling over themselves to endorse your case," Roberts said.

But Roberts did seem concerned by the federalist argument. He, Kennedy and Justice Samuel Alito posed tough questions about whether the federal government was overreaching with the statute. Kennedy said DOMA did not seem to recognize states's "historical" responsibility for marriage and suggested the central question of the case is whether the federal government has the authority to regulate marriage.

Both attorneys arguing to strike down DOMA refused to make a federalist argument against the law, however -- instead insisting it was a discrimination case.

Before even getting to the merits of the case, the justices spent nearly an hour grappling with whether they should decide it at all because of procedural issues.They appointed Harvard professor Vicki Jackson to make the case that House Republicans do not have the legal right, or standing, to appeal the lower court's decision.

Several justices were also critical of the Obama administration's decision to stop defending the law in court while still enforcing it. Roberts appeared to have serious doubts about the case's procedural issues, repeatedly saying that it is "unprecedented" for the U.S. government to appeal a case even when the parties agreed with a lower court's ruling.

The two gay marriage cases before the court this term have been dogged by procedural concerns, as both were left orphaned by public officials who no longer wanted to defend them.

On Tuesday, Kennedy wondered whether the court should have agreed to hear the Proposition 8 case at all. Other justices suggested they were skeptical that supporters of Proposition 8 had standing to appeal the case once California officials decided to drop it.

It's possible that neither case could end with a decision. In DOMA, that means the lower court's decision would stand and DOMA would be illegal in the Third Circuit. The plaintiff, Edith Windsor, would be repaid the $360,000 she had to pay in estate taxes when her wife died because the government didn't recognize her marriage in New York, where gay marriage is legal. In the Proposition 8 case, gay marriage would most likely become legal in California if the justices throw it out on standing or do not reach a majority.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/conservative-justices-stress-federal-overreach-gay-marriage-case-163526050--politics.html

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Wall Street soars on upbeat economic news

JeeYeon Park , CNBC ? ? ? 55 min.

Stocks closed near their best levels Tuesday, with the Dow posting a new closing high and S&P 500 finishing less than 2 points from its closing high, lifted by a handful of encouraging economic reports that pointed to an improving economy and as investors seemed to temporarily overlook worries in the euro zone.

(Read More: American Dream Is Back, So Are Stocks: CNBC Survey)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared more than 100 points, led by Boeing and American Express, wiping out all of the previous session's losses.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also finished near session highs. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, slumped below 13.

(Read More:Sell in May? Why it May Not Happen)

All key S&P sectors were ended in positive territory, led by health care and energy.

"From a fundamental perspective, while the dominant domestic theme has heretofore been better-than-expected economic data boosting investor confidence in the earnings outlook, despite sluggish first-quarter guidance and fears of fiscal drag, many are now beginning to lock in gains realizing that the flipside of stronger growth is that QE tapering is potentially drawing closer, Chairman Bernanke's assurances to the contrary notwithstanding," wrote Alec Young, global equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. "After all, markets are forward looking."

In Europe, Fitch put Cyprus on rating watch negative, saying the shock from the country's banking system could damage the domestic economy and thus public finances. But Wall Street was unfazed by the announcement.

Banks in Cyprus will be closed until Thursday, and will then be subject to capital controls to prevent a run on deposits. Cyprus's Finance Minister Michael Sarris told BBC radio big depositors in Cypriot banks could lose about 40 percent of their deposits but an exact figure had yet to be decided. Banks are due to reopen on Thursday and will be subject to capital controls to prevent a run on deposits.

(Read More: Why It's Important to Keep Cypriot Banks Shut)

Still, investors seemed less fazed over Cyprus. European shares ended higher, snapping their thee-day losing streak.

"We're more optimistic about Cyprus than we were a couple days ago, but it's going to continue to be unpredictable and if nothing else, even if it does get resolved, it's a reminder of just how fragile the situation in Europe is," said Matthew Kaufler, portfolio manager of the Federated Clover Fund of the day's economic data.

Goldman Sachs rose after the financial giant and Berkshire Hathaway amended the warrants Berkshire holds as part of the lifeline it gave Goldman during the financial crisis.

Meanwhile the Federal Reserve ordered Citigroup to improve its anti-money laundering controls, after several units of the bank were subject to similar orders in 2012.

Netflix rallied to lead the S&P 500 gainers after Pacific Crest raised its price target on the movie-streaming company to $225 from $160.

Apple fluctuated after Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster called consensus estimates for the tech giant's March and June quarters too high, but said new product launches mean investors will look to the second half of the year for opportunity. In addition, Munster said he believes Apple will increase its dividend to around $14 a share from the current $10.60.

Boeing said the first round test of its new battery system for its 787 Dreamliner went according to plan, putting the jet one step closer to returning to service.

Children's Place slumped after the kids' apparel retailer issued a downbeat earnings outlook for the current quarter and fiscal year.

On the economic front, the S&P/Case Shiller home price 20-city index soared 8.1 percent compared to a year ago, kicking off the year with the biggest year-over-year increase since 2006. But new home sales declined 4.6 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 units, according to the Commerce Department, missing estimates. Homebuilders were in the red, led by Beazer and DR Horton.

Consumer confidence index dropped in March, according to the Conference Board as Americans turned more pessimistic about economic prospects in the short term.

But durable goods orders climbed in February as demand for transportation equipment rebounded, according to the Commerce Department, topping expectations.

"It's been a mixed bag and a continuation of what we've seen all along," said Kaufler. "The key takeaway is that the economy is on the mend, but in a very slow way?it's a slow grind."

Treasurys eased their gains after the government auctioned $35 billion in 2-year notes at a high yield of 0.255 percent. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 3.27.

?By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a029220/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cwall0Estreet0Esoars0Eupbeat0Eeconomic0Enews0E1C90A7990A6/story01.htm

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Today in History

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/today-history-050206767.html

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Apple and Samsung neck and neck with smartphone, tablet, and laptop sales

Apple has nearly closed the distance between itself and Samsung in worldwide sales of smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Apple jumped from holding 15.7 percent of worldwide market share in Q3 2012 to having 20.3 in Q4, just behind Samsung?s 21.2 percent. IDC believes that Apple?s jump is due to the debut of the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini.

In terms of market share, Apple significantly closed the gap with market leader Samsung in the quarter, as the combination of Apple's iPhone 5 and iPad Mini brought Apple up to 20.3% unit shipment share versus 21.2% for Samsung. On a revenue basis for the fourth quarter, Apple continued to dominate with 30.7% share versus 20.4% share for Samsung.

Worldwide shipments of devices like smartphones and tablets passed 1 billion units last year. Additionally, tablet shipments are expected to overtake desktop shipments this year, and laptop shipments next year. The iPad remains extremely popular, and Apple should be able to hold on to its newfound market share, but they will have a fight on their hands as competition with Samsung continues to escalate.

Source: IDC

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/8IYT3MXoZKk/story01.htm

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Berezovsky's billions: How the tycoon lost so much

FILE - A Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 photo from files showing Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky talking to the media after losing his case against Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich as he leaves the High Court in London. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013.(AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

FILE - A Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 photo from files showing Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky talking to the media after losing his case against Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich as he leaves the High Court in London. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013.(AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

LONDON (AP) ? How do you burn through billions?

The unexplained death of Boris Berezovsky, whose body was found Saturday inside his upscale English home, has refocused attention on the fantastic wealth racked up by Russia's ruthless oligarchs ? and their propensity for spending it. Berezovsky, 67, had once been considered Russia's richest man ? but by this January, a British judge was wondering whether the tycoon would be able to pay his debts.

Police say Berezovsky's death is unexplained but that there was no evidence of anyone else being involved. His lawyer said the oligarch had been in "a horrible, terrible" emotional state. The tycoon had survived several assassination attempts, including a 1994 car bomb in Moscow, and there was speculation as to whether his death was natural, part of a conspiracy or a suicide.

To understand how one man could lose so much money, it helps to see how he made it in the first place.

___

FOUNDATIONS OF A FORTUNE

Berezovsky, a mathematician, made his fortune in the 1990s during the catastrophic privatization of the Soviet Union's state-run economy. That era was marked by hyperinflation, contract killings and rampant corruption. As Russia's GDP crumbled, oligarchs leveraged their ties to ruthless criminals and crooked officials to tear off huge chunks of the country's assets for themselves, draining resources and stripping factories to build fabulous fortunes.

Berezovsky ? whose interests ran from automobiles to airplanes to aluminum ? was one of this dark period's primary beneficiaries. He became a political operator in Russian President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, trading on his connections to rack up assets estimated by Forbes to be worth roughly $3 billion in 1997.

"No man profited more from Russia's slide into the abyss," author Paul Klebnikov wrote in a critical profile of Berezovsky titled "Godfather of the Kremlin."

Eventually, the abyss began threatening Berezovsky as well.

The tycoon had been instrumental in orchestrating the accession of Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, but when the new leader and Berezovsky began to clash, his political cover disintegrated. Berezovsky then fled the country in 2000, eventually claiming political asylum in Britain.

___

LIVING LARGE IN LONDON

How much money Berezovsky really had ? and how much he was able to take with him from Moscow ? remains shrouded in uncertainty. Rich Russians at the time routinely stashed their money in labyrinthine offshore trusts or held assets under the names of associates or family members. Many deals weren't even put into writing.

What's clear is that the 1998 Russian financial crisis, coupled with Berezovsky's spectacular fall from political grace, had a big impact on his bottom line. Forbes estimated his post-Moscow fortune in the hundreds of millions. Rival oligarch Roman Abramovich testified in court that Berezovsky had been down to his last $1 million when he fled Russia.

If Berezovsky were strapped for cash, he didn't show it. He rode around London in a reinforced Maybach limousine and was often seen huddled with business contacts in the exclusive hotels that line London's Hyde Park. His string of oversize mansions in England, France and the Caribbean suggested he was a cut above the average millionaire.

Russian officials seemed to believe that Berezovsky had plenty of cash on hand, trying ? with mixed success ? to claw back some of the exile's assets. Charges are still pending against him in relation to the alleged embezzlement of some $13 million from Russia's now-defunct SBS-Agro bank. Berezovsky had also previously been convicted in absentia of bilking hundreds of millions of rubles from the airline company Aeroflot and the carmaker AvtoVaz.

___

THE BILLS PILE UP

Berezovsky often expressed a fondness for Britain's legal system, despite his frequent and expensive encounters with it. A search of British court records throws up roughly three dozen judgments ? libel, fraud, divorce, breach of contract ? involving the tycoon in some way.

Berezovsky sued a business associate over a fraudulent loan. Other business associates sued him over a botched oil deal. Berezovsky sued Forbes over an unflattering profile. He sued Russian television for suggesting he had a hand in the poisoning death of ex-Russian KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. His second wife sued him for a divorce. His girlfriend sued him for a house he'd promised her. He sued the wife of his long-time partner, Badri Patarkatsishvili, in a complicated dispute over how to split the man's assets after his death.

The sums involved were staggering. The loan deal was worth $5 million. His second divorce settlement in 2011 reportedly cost him 100 million pounds (about $154 million at the time). Patarkatsishvili's assets could be worth hundreds of millions more. The biggest lawsuit of all, against Abramovich for breach of contract and blackmail, was for a mind-boggling $5.6 billion.

Berezovsky lost the lawsuit against Abramovich last year and the judge involved stopped just short of calling him a liar. He was stuck with tens of millions of pounds in legal bills.

___

A FORTUNE FALTERS

Whatever the extent of Berezovsky's wealth, his expensive divorce, Patarkatsishvili's death and his paper mountain of litigation left it much reduced.

In 2008, Berezovsky was forced to sell the Darius, a 110-meter (360-foot) -long custom-built yacht that many believed was an attempt to compete with an even larger ship, the Eclipse, being built for Abramovich.

Earlier this month, the Times of London reported that Berezovsky was downsizing his art collection, selling off his homes, firing staff and closing his office in London's upscale Mayfair district.

In a January ruling in a dispute between Berezovsky and his ex-girlfriend Helena Gorbunova, High Court Judge George Mann wrote that the oligarch's fortune appeared to have been spread thin.

"On the evidence, Mr. Berezovsky is a man under financial pressure," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-25-Britain-Berezovsky's%20Fortune/id-d5651e3d05de4f6ab715dd893b1af8e4

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Other stomach microbiota modulate resistance to H. pylori-driven ulcers

Mar. 25, 2013 ? Mice with different naturally occurring stomach bacteria have distinct susceptibilities to disease caused by Helicobacter pylori, the well-known cause of ulcers in humans, according to a study published online ahead of print in the journal Infection and Immunity. This is the first study to document (in mice) that the presence of certain bacteria in the stomach microbiota can prevent pathology from H. pylori.

The gastro-intestinal tract is a veritable ecosystem packed with microbes, and over the last decade, investigators have been discovering that the species composition of that ecosystem can have a profound effect on human health. But the eureka moment that led to this study came "when we realized that mice from different vendors mount different responses to H. pylori infection," says principal investigator Karen Ottemann of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Following this discovery, the researchers divided mice from the vendor, Taconic Farms, into three groups: mice treated with antibiotics in order to kill some of the resident bacteria, mice that were fed normal stomach bacteria after antibiotic treatment, and mice that were not treated. They then infected each group with H. pylori, and assayed the animals' stomachs for immune system cells.

"The antibiotic-treated mice had small quantities of particular inflammatory cells, called Th1 T helper cells," says Ottemann. Both the untreated mice, and the treated mice that were then fed normal stomach bacteria had normal (higher) levels of Th1 T helper cells. These results suggested that the normal stomach microbes contribute to disease caused by H. pylori, says Ottemann.

The researchers then determined that around 4,000 species of bacteria were different in the high- and low-inflammation (no antibiotics, and antibiotic-treated, respectively) mice. Notably, the mice with low inflammation "had elevated amounts of Clostridia, bacteria known to prevent inflammation in the intestine," says Ottemann. Thus, the Clostridia may be key to dampening H. pylori pathology, although that remains to be determined, she says.

Ottemann says that this research may lead to predicting future H. pylori disease, including ulcers and gastric cancer -- which has few treatment options and high mortality -- based on stomach microbiota.

"After we determine which microbes underlie H. pylori disease outcomes, we could test whether H. pylori-infected people harbor those particular bacteria, and target them for curing," says Ottemann. Alternatively, such people could receive the protective bacteria as probiotics. The latter might be a superior option, because while prone to ulcers in middle and advanced age, people who harbor H. pylori are less likely to get esophageal cancer and asthma.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Society for Microbiology.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. A. S. Rolig, C. Cech, E. Ahler, J. E. Carter, K. M. Ottemann. The degree of Helicobacter pylori inflammation is manipulated by the pre-infection host microbiota. Infection and Immunity, 2013; DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00044-13

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Kh72_jqXsZE/130325135355.htm

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