Spiral | SilverScorpio.Com

Nervous Tiger ‘lived a lie’

March 23, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Tiger Woods says he was caught in a “horrific” spiral of infidelity before the sex scandal which engulfed his career late last year.

“I tried to stop and I couldn’t stop. It was horrific. It was disgusting behaviour,” he told ESPN in his first broadcast interview since news of his multiple affairs broke.

Woods said he did not know what kind of response he will get when he plays at Augusta in his return to professional golf at the US Masters next month.

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I’m a little nervous about that to be honest with you. It would be nice to hear a couple claps here and there,” he said.

The world number one and 14 times major winner has admitted to multiple extra-marital affairs and said his life became a lie.

“I was living a life of a lie, I really was. And I was doing a lot of things that hurt a lot of people,” he said.

“And stripping away denial and rationalisation you start coming to the truth of who you really are and that can be very ugly.

“But then again, when you face it and you start conquering it and you start living up to it, the strength that I feel now. I’ve never felt that type of strength.”

Woods has not played since winning the Australian Masters in mid-November after a sex scandal in which he admitted cheating on wife Elin, and apologised for igniting a tabloid frenzy where more than a dozen women have claimed affairs.

Woods conducted two separate brief-minute interviews with ESPN and The Golf Channel on Sunday afternoon.

Woods, dressed in a green sweater and a white baseball cap, chose his words carefully as he interviewed near his home in Windermere, Florida.

Woods said he reached a low point when he had to face his mother and wife with the truth.

“I had a lot of low points. Just when I didn’t think it could get any lower it got lower,” Woods said.

“There were so many different low points. People I had to talk to and face like my wife, like my mom.

“I hurt them the most. Those are the two people in my life who I am the closest to and to say the things that I’ve done, truthfully to them, is … honestly … was … very painful.”

Responding to how his wife took the news, Woods said, “She was hurt, she was hurt. Very hurt.

“Shocked. Angry. She had every right to be and I am disappointed as everyone else in my own behaviour because I can’t believe I actually did that to the people I loved.”

Woods’ interview come just days after former porn star Veronica Siwik-Daniels, known in the sex industry as Joslyn James, released more than 100 text messages on her website that portray Woods as someone who fantasises about having violent sex with submissive women.

“Just one is enough,” Woods said of his affairs. “Obviously that wasn’t the case and I’ve made my mistakes. I have hurt so many people. I have to make amends and that’s living a life of amends.”

Woods attended a clinic in Mississippi in January and February. Asked what he went into in-patient therapy for, Woods refused to go into specifics.

“That’s a private matter. But I can tell you that it was tough. Really tough to look at yourself in a light that you never want to look at yourself. That’s pretty brutal.

“A lot has transpired in my life. A lot of ugly things have happened. I have done some pretty bad things in my life.”

-ABC/Wires

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: apologised, Australian Masters, Baseball Cap, Broadcast Interview, denial, dozen women, espn, extra marital affairs, golf channel, infidelity, Minute Interviews, Mother And Wife, Professional Golf, Sex Scandal, spiral, sunday afternoon, Tabloid Frenzy, tiger woods, wife elin, Windermere Florida

NASA’s Swift satellite makes best-ever ultraviolet portrait of Andromeda galaxy

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 17 (ANI): NASA’s Swift satellite has acquired the highest-resolution view of a neighboring spiral galaxy ever attained in the ultraviolet.

The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, is the largest and closest spiral galaxy to our own.

“Swift reveals about 20,000 ultraviolet sources in M31, especially hot, young stars and dense star clusters,” said Stefan Immler, a research scientist on the Swift team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“Of particular importance is that we have covered the galaxy in three ultraviolet filters. That will let us study M31′s star-formation processes in much greater detail than previously possible,” he added.

M31, also known as the Andromeda Galaxy, is more than 220,000 light-years across and lies 2.5 million light-years away.

On a clear, dark night, the galaxy is faintly visible as a misty patch to the naked eye.

Between May 25 and July 26, 2008, Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) acquired 330 images of M31 at wavelengths of 192.8, 224.6, and 260 nanometers.

The images represent a total exposure time of 24 hours.

The task of assembling the resulting 85 gigabytes of images fell to Erin Grand, an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland at College Park who worked with Immler as an intern this summer.

“After ten weeks of processing that immense amount of data, I’m extremely proud of this new view of M31,” she said.

Several features are immediately apparent in the new mosaic.

The first is the striking difference between the galaxy’s central bulge and its spiral arms.

“The bulge is smoother and redder because it’s full of older and cooler stars,” Immler explained. “Very few new stars form here because most of the materials needed to make them have been depleted,” he added.

Dense clusters of hot, young, blue stars sparkle beyond the central bulge.

M31′s disk and spiral arms contain most of the gas and dust needed to produce new generations of stars.

Star clusters are especially plentiful in an enormous ring about 150,000 light-years across.

“Swift is surveying nearby galaxies like M31 so astronomers can better understand star- formation conditions and relate them to conditions in the distant galaxies where we see gamma-ray bursts occurring,” said Neil Gehrels, the mission’s principal investigator at NASA Goddard. (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: amount, andromeda, Andromeda Galaxy, ANI, bulge, center, Central Bulge, college, constellation, Constellation Andromeda, dense, Dense Clusters, dense star, detail, difference, disk, dust, Erin Grand, exposure, eye, flight, formation, galaxy, Galaxy Washington, Gas, goddard, goddard space flight, goddard space flight center, greenbelt, greenbelt maryland, importance, intern, investigator, July, maryland, May, million light years, mission, misty, NASA, nasa goddard, Neil Gehrels, night, optical, optical telescope, park, patch, Portrait, processing, Research, ring, satellite, scientist, September, space, space flight center, sparkle, spiral, spiral arms, spiral galaxy, star, star clusters, Star Formation Processes, Stefan Immler, student, summer, swift, swift satellite, task, team, Telescope, time, ultraviolet, Ultraviolet Sources, undergraduate, University, university of maryland at college park, UVOT, view, Washington

Polar bears face extinction in less than 70 years because of global warming

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 11 (ANI): A new research has warned that polar bears face extinction in less than 70 years because of global warming.

“Recent projections suggest polar bears could be extinct within 70 years,” Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University, who led the latest study, told the Telegraph.

“But we think this could be a very conservative estimate. The outlook is very bleak for them and other creatures such as ringed seals,” he said.

Melting ice is causing Polar bear numbers to drop dramatically, scientists warn.

“The rate at which sea ice is disappearing is accelerating and these creatures rely on it for shelter, hunting and breeding. If this goes, so do they,” said Post.

Others also at risk include ivory gulls, Pacific walruses, ringed and hooded seals and narwhals, small whales with long, spiral tusks.

One of the problems is that other animals are moving north, encroaching on their territory, spurred by increasing temperatures, pushing out native species.

The animals are also struggling with the loss of sea ice.

The international team analyzed average temperature in the Arctic over the last 150 years and warned many animals that are dependent upon the stability and persistence of sea ice are faring especially badly.

Polar bears and ringed seals both give birth in lairs or caves under the snow and can lose many newborn pups when the lairs collapse in unusually early spring rains, triggered by climate change.

Among animals migrating further north are red foxes, which are driving out the smaller Arctic foxes. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: ANI, arctic, arctic foxes, average temperature, bear, biology, birth, change, climate, climate change, collapse, conservative estimate, Early Spring, Eric Post, estimate, extinction, face, face extinction, global warming, Gulls, Hooded Seals, hunting, ice, Ivory, Lairs, London, loss, melting, melting ice, native species, newborn pups, outlook, pacific, penn, penn state university, persistence, polar, Polar Bear, polar bears, professor, rate, red foxes, Research, Ringed Seals, risk, sea, sea ice, September, shelter, snow, spiral, spring, stability, state, study, team, Telegraph, temperature, territory, tusks, University, warming

Astronomers see high-speed galaxy collision in action

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 10 (ANI): Astronomers at the Chandra X-ray Observatory have spotted a galaxy collision in action, with one galaxy passing through the core of other galaxies at almost 2 million miles per hour.

The image obtained is of Stephan’s Quintet, a compact group of galaxies discovered about 130 years ago and located about 280 million light years from Earth.

Four of the galaxies in the group are visible in the optical image from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.

A labeled version identifies these galaxies (NGC 7317, NGC 7318a, NGC 7318b and NGC 7319) as well as a prominent foreground galaxy (NGC 7320) that is not a member of the group.

The galaxy NGC 7318b is passing through the core of galaxies at almost 2 million miles per hour, and is thought to be causing the ridge of X-ray emission by generating a shock wave that heats the gas.

Additional heating by supernova explosions and stellar winds has also probably taken place in Stephan’s Quintet.

A larger halo of X-ray emission, detected by ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton could be evidence of shock heating by previous collisions between galaxies in this group.

Some of the X-ray emissions are likely caused by binary systems containing massive stars that are losing material to neutron stars or black holes.

Stephan’s Quintet provides a rare opportunity to observe a galaxy group in the process of evolving from an X-ray faint system dominated by spiral galaxies to a more developed system dominated by elliptical galaxies and bright X-ray emission.

According to scientists, being able to witness the dramatic effect of collisions in causing this evolution is important for increasing the understanding of the origins of the hot, X-ray bright halos of gas in groups of galaxies.

Stephan’s Quintet shows an additional sign of complex interactions in the past, notably the long tails visible in the optical image.

These features were probably caused by one or more passages through the galaxy group by NGC 7317. (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: action, agency, ANI, Astronomers, Binary Systems, black holes, Canada, chandra x ray, Chandra X-, collision, core, Earth, effect, elliptical galaxies, emission, ESA, European, european space agency, evidence, evolution, foreground, Foreground Galaxy, France, galaxy, Galaxy Collision, galaxy group, galaxy ngc, Gas, group, halo, hawaii, Hawaii Telescope, heating, hour, image, July, material, member, million light years, neutron, neutron stars, Newton, ngc, observatory, opportunity, past, place, process, Quintet, ray, ray emission, Ray Emissions, ray observatory, Ridge, shock, shock wave, sign, space, spiral, spiral galaxies, Stellar Winds, stephan, supernova, supernova explosions, system, Telescope, understanding, version, Washington, wave, witness, XMM-NEWTON

Tornado Fries – Tornado Potato – Tornado Potatoes – Tornado Fries Usa – Fair Food – Carnival Food

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Tornado Fries – Tornado Potato – Tornado Potatoes – Tornado Fries Usa – Fair Food – Carnival Food

You know what sounds good for a snack? skewered , A spiral-cut potato, and deep-fried – top it with some barbecue sauce , ketchup, ranch, or cheese, yum.

The twisty tornado fries were first created as a street vendor’s snack in Seoul, South Korea.

The Tornado fries look fun to eat, then fry it up nice and golden crispy. You end up with the leaning tower of tornado potato goodness.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: A Spiral-Cut Potato, Add new tag, Barbecue Sauce, carnival, Carnival Food, cheese, Fair Food, fries, goodness, ketchup, Leaning Tower, Potatoes, Seoul, Seoul Korea, Seoul South Korea, Skewered, snack, sounds, South Korea, spiral, Street Vendor, Tornado, Tornado Fries, Tornado Fries Usa, Tornado Potato, Tornado Potatoes, Yum

Herschel telescope obtains images of ‘whirlpool galaxy’ as first test observation

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Paris, June 20 (ANI): Herschel, the largest infrared space telescope ever flown, has obtained images of the famous ‘whirlpool galaxy’ for a first test observation.

European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Herschel opened its ‘eyes’ on June 14 and the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer obtained images of M51, which is popularly dubbed the ‘whirlpool galaxy’.

Scientists obtained images in three colours, which clearly demonstrate the superiority of Herschel, the largest infrared space telescope ever flown.

This image shows the ‘whirlpool galaxy’, first observed by Charles Messier in 1773, who provided the designation Messier 51 (M51).

This spiral galaxy lies relatively nearby, about 35 million light-years away, in the constellation Canes Venatici. M51 was the first galaxy discovered to harbour a spiral structure.

The image is a composite of three observations taken at 70, 100 and 160 microns, taken by Herschel’s Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) on June 14 and 15, immediately after the satellite’s cryocover was opened on June 14.

Herschel, launched only a month ago, is still being commissioned and the first images from its instruments were planned to arrive only in a few weeks.

But, engineers and scientists were challenged to try to plan and execute daring test observations as part of a ‘sneak preview’ immediately after the cryocover was opened.

The objective was to produce a very early image that gives a glimpse of things to come.

To the left is the best image of M51, taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, with the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS), juxtaposed with the Herschel observation on 14 and 15 June at 160 microns.

The obvious advantage of the larger size of the telescope is clearly reflected in the much higher resolution of the image. Herschel reveals structures that cannot be discerned in the Spitzer image.

These images clearly demonstrate that the shorter the wavelength, the sharper the image, which is a very important message about the quality of Herschel’s optics, since PACS observes at Hersche”s shortest wavelengths.

Produced from the very first test observation, these images lead scientists to conclude that the optical performance of Herschel and its large telescope is so far meeting their high expectations. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: advantage, agency, ANI, array, Array Camera, camera, canes, cannot, Charles Messier, composite, constellation, cryocover, designation, ESA, European, european space agency, first test, galaxy, glimpse, harbour, Hersche, Herschel, Herschel Telescope, image, imaging, Infrared Space Telescope, June, left, M51, message, microns, million light years, MIPS, month, multiband, Multiband Imaging, NASA, objective, observation, Paris, part, performance, Photoconductor, Photometer, preview, produced, quality, resolution, satellite, size, space, spectrometer, spiral, spiral galaxy, spiral structure, spitzer, spitzer space telescope, structure, superiority, Telescope, test, Test Observation, Test Observations, the, Three Colours, Venatici, wavelength, Whirlpool, Whirlpool Galaxy

Satyam Australia chief quits

May 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, May 27 (ANI): The E head of Satyam Computer Services in Australia, Deepak Nangia, has resigned.

Nangia told The Australian he left the company around three weeks ago to pursue other opportunities.

During his seven-year tenure, Nangia built Satyam Australia into a 200 million dollar company, securing blue chip clients such as Telstra, National Australia Bank and Qantas.

However, the actions of Satyam founder and chairman B. Ramalinga Raju, who admitted to over-inflating the value of the company’s cash and bank balances by more than one billion American dollars hurt its reputation and bottom line.

A Satyam spokeswoman said Nangia’s successor will be named soon.

Like many of his counterparts in other countries, Nangia has been battling to retain Satyam’s clientele.

However some clients, including Telstra and NAB, have either decided to cut all ties or reduce their engagement with the Indian firm.

Satyam’s bid to build a 75 million dollar, 10 hectare software facility at Deakin University in Geelong remains in limbo more than a year after it was first trumpeted.

Late last year, Nangia said that Satyam employed around 1000 people locally, with an additional 700 workers in India servicing Australian customers.

Despite being acquired by Tech Mahindra, Satyam’s finances are still in bad shape, with revenue on a downward spiral. (ANI)

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: american dollars, ANI, Australia, Australian Customers, b ramalinga raju, B. Ramalinga, bad shape, bank, bank balances, bid, Cash, chairman, chip, Chip Clients, company, Computer, deakin, deepak, Deepak Nangia, dollar, dollar company, downward spiral, engagement, facility, firm, founder, Geelong, head, hectare, India, limbo, line, mahindra, May, Melbourne, nab, national, National Australia Bank, one billion, qantas, raju, reputation, revenue, satyam, satyam computer services, shape, software, Software Facility, spiral, spokeswoman, successor, Tech, tech mahindra, telstra, Telstra Australia, tenure, University, value, year

Kids with early attention problems struggle in high school

May 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 26 (ANI): A new study by researchers from UC Davis Medical School and Michigan State University has found a link between problems early in school – as early as kindergarten – and lower high school test scores.

“In our study, a child’s inability to pay attention when they start school had the strongest negative effect on how they performed at the end of high school – regardless of their IQ (intelligence quotient),” said lead study author Joshua Breslau, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and a researcher with the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities.

He suggested that addressing attention problems early in life could keep some children from entering “a downward spiral of failure.”

Breslau and colleagues analysed data on approximately 700 children who were followed from kindergarten (ages 5 through 6) through the end of high school (ages 17 through 18).

It examined the relationship between aggressive, inattentive and depressive behaviours and children’s later performance on standardized high school achievement tests.

The researchers found that inattentiveness in kindergarten was the only behaviour that consistently predicted lower scores on reading and math achievement tests administered more than a decade later.

“Our study shows that early attention problems predict poor performance later in math and reading,” Breslau said.

The study appears online in the June issue of the medical journal Paediatrics. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: achievement, Achievement Tests, ANI, assistant, attention, Attention Problems, author, behaviour, behaviours, Breslau, center, child, Davis, decade, disparities, downward spiral, effect, end, failure, Health, inability, inattentiveness, intelligence, Intelligence Quotient, internal medicine, issue, Joshua Breslau, journal, June, kids, kindergarten, Kindergarten Ages, life, link, math, Math Achievement, May, medical, medicine, michigan, Michigan State University, Online, paediatrics, performance, poor performance, professor, quotient, reading, reducing health disparities, relationship, researcher, school, School Achievement, school of medicine, School Test Scores, spiral, state, struggle, study, study author, test, Uc Davis Medical, Uc Davis Medical School, Uc Davis School, University, Washington

Strong bond with parents may keep teens away from alcohol problems

April 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 24 (ANI): Adolescents who share a strong bond with their parents often start drinking at a later age, which could subsequently prevent them from developing future alcohol problems, concludes a new study.

The results of the study highlight the importance of the role played by parents in the risk of problem drinking.

Earlier studies have indicated that the age at which kids start drinking governs whether they eventually develop alcohol-related problems, like getting into fights or having academic or work problems.

Thus, Dr. Emmanuel Kuntsche, of the Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems in Lausanne, Switzerland, has said that it is often assumed that drinking at an early age, in and of itself, is the problem.

“Our work shows that the ‘preventive effect’ of a later drinking age is likely to be a side effect of a good parent-child relationship. In other words, the circumstances in which that first drinks occurs-and how parents deal with it-is important,” said Kuntsche.

In the study, researchers surveyed 364 teenagers three times over two years.

It was found that generally, teens, who reported an earlier drinking age during the first survey, tended to be drinking more heavily by the second survey and were at greater risk of drinking-related problems by the third survey.

After looking a little closer at the data, researchers noticed that only teenagers, who reported both a later drinking age and a high-quality relationship with their parents, had a lower risk of drinking problems compared with their peers.
high-quality relationship was one where teenagers felt they could discuss their problems with their parents and that their parents respected their feelings.

The findings, according to the researchers, suggest that such parent-child relationships can “trigger a spiral of healthy development during adolescence” that may lead to a lower risk of alcohol problems.

Kuntsche said that parents should remember how important they are when it comes to their children’s risk of substance abuse.

Also, being attentive to their children’s needs in general, may be one way to protect them from developing drinking problems.

The study is published in the May issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: adolescence, adolescents, Alcohol And Drug Problems, alcohol problems, alcohol related problems, drinking age, drinks, emmanuel, feelings, Lausanne Switzerland, parent child relationship, parent child relationships, peers, preventive effect, quality relationship, spiral, study researchers, swiss institute, teenagers, three times

Indonesia’s illegal orangutan trade on the rise – report

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

JAKARTA, April 16 (Reuters) – More of Indonesia’s critically endangered orangutans are being caught for the pet trade now than in the 1970s, reflecting the country’s weak law enforcement, a wildlife protection group said in a report published on Thursday.

Less than 8,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild but a new report from wildlife trade monitors, TRAFFIC, found that an increasing number are being rescued from private ownership and handed over to Indonesian rehabilitation centres.

“More effort has gone into orangutan conservation than any other wildlife over the last 30 years and yet we are seeing the same thing happening,” said Chris Shepherd, Acting Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.

“Confiscating these animals without prosecuting the owners is futile. There is no deterrent for those committing these crimes, if they go unpunished. Indonesia has adequate laws, but without serious penalties, this illegal trade will continue, and these species will continue to spiral towards extinction.”

An estimated 2,000 orangutans have been confiscated or handed in by their owners to rehabilitation centres in Indonesia in the last 30 years, but very few owners or traders have been prosecuted, TRAFFIC said.

The head of the enforcement arm of North Sumatra’s Regional Office for the Conservation of Natural Resources, Djati, said he had never charged, jailed, or fined anyone for owning an orangutan, despite the fact that it was against Indonesian law.

“When we find them, we request that they give them up and if they do not, we take the orangutan away by force,” said Djati, who like many Indonesians has only one name.

“Most of the people who own them are village people who do not realise it is against the law,” he said, adding that his office was setting up a new wildlife crime unit to crack down on black market traders.

A new population of up to 2,000 orangutans was recently discovered in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, but TRAFFIC’s Shepherd said this community was also in great danger from poachers, who tend to kill female orangutans and steal their babies.

“It would be surprising if traders didn’t know it was there already,” he said. (Editing by Sara Webb)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: acting, Adequate Laws, anyone, April, arm, borneo, Borneo Island, Chris Shepherd, community, Confiscating, conservation, Conservation Of Natural Resources, country, Crime, crime unit, danger, deterrent, director, director of traffic, Djati, Editing, effort, enforcement, Enforcement Arm, extinction, fact, force, group, happening, head, Indonesia, Indonesian Law, Indonesians, island, Jakarta, law, market, Market Traders, name, natural, North Sumatra, number, office, orangutan, orangutans, ownership, part, Part Of Borneo, pet, Pet Trade, population, protection, realise, regional, rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Centres, report, reuters, rise, Sara Webb, southeast asia, spiral, Sumatran, thing, Thursday, trade, traffic, unit, village, Village People, wildlife, Wildlife Crime, Wildlife Protection Group, wildlife trade

Indonesia’s illegal orangutan trade on the rise

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

JAKARTA (Reuters) – More of Indonesia’s critically endangered orangutans are being caught for the pet trade now than in the 1970s, reflecting the country’s weak law enforcement, a wildlife protection group said in a report published Thursday.

An estimated 2,000 orangutans have been confiscated or handed in by their owners to rehabilitation centers in Indonesia in the last 30 years, but very few owners or traders have been prosecuted, TRAFFIC said.

“When we find them, we request that they give them up and if they do not, we take the orangutan away by force,” said Djati, who like many Indonesians has only one name.

“Most of the people who own them are village people who do not realize it is against the law,” he said, adding that his office was setting up a new wildlife crime unit to crack down on black market traders.

“It would be surprising if traders didn’t know it was there already,” he said.

(Editing by Sara Webb)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: acting, Adequate Laws, anyone, arm, borneo, Borneo Island, Chris Shepherd, community, Confiscating, conservation, Conservation Of Natural Resources, country, Crime, crime unit, danger, deterrent, director, director of traffic, Djati, Editing, effort, enforcement, Enforcement Arm, extinction, fact, force, group, happening, head, illegal trade, Indonesia, Indonesian Law, Indonesians, island, Jakarta, law, market, Market Traders, name, natural, North Sumatra, number, office, orangutan, orangutans, ownership, part, Part Of Borneo, pet, Pet Trade, population, protection, regional, rehabilitation, report, reuters, rise, Sara Webb, southeast asia, spiral, Sumatran, thing, Thursday, trade, traffic, unit, village, Village People, wildlife, Wildlife Crime, Wildlife Protection Group, wildlife trade

King of Jordan to meet Obama on April 21

April 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

AMMAN (Reuters) – King Abdullah of Jordan will meet U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on April 21 to lobby on behalf of Arab states for a stronger U.S. role in Middle East peacemaking, palace officials said on Sunday.

They said the staunch U.S. ally, the first Arab leader to hold face-to-face talks in the White House since Obama took office in January, will urge him to do more to bring about a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.

The monarch will also convey Arab concerns about the prospects for peace under the right-leaning Israeli government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said his priority is to focus on economic and security issues rather than negotiating core issues such as statehood, borders, and the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Diplomats said the monarch, backed by the Arab League and Arab allies of Washington in the region, will tell Obama that Arabs are still committed to an Arab peace initiative.

A palace official said the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority met the king on Saturday in Amman and officially asked him to “convey the unified Arab position.”

The Arab initiative, approved at an Arab summit in 2002, offers Israel peace and normal relations with all Arab countries in return for withdrawal from all land captured in the 1967 war.

Successive Israeli governments have either ignored or rejected the offer, which would require Israel to dismantle settlements which house hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Officials say the monarch will tell Obama that only a Palestinian state and an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territory could end the spiral of violence and bring real security to Israel.

(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by Jonathan Wright)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: abdullah, al, Al Khalidi, ally, Amman, amman jordan, April, Arab, arab countries, Arab Leader, Arab States, Arab Summit, authority, barack, Barack Obama, behalf, benjamin netanyahu, core, core issues, diplomats, Editing, Egypt, fate, Government, house, initiative, Israel, Israeli, Israeli Governments, israeli prime minister, Israeli Withdrawal, israelis and palestinians, January, Jerusalem, Jonathan Wright, Jordan, Khalidi, king, King Abdullah Of Jordan, land, leader, league, Lebanon, Middle East, Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, monarch, Obama, offer, office, official, palace, Palestinian, Palestinian Refugees, peace, peace initiative, position, president, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin, priority, qatar, Real Security, region, reporting, return, reuters, role, Saturday, Saudi Arabia, security, solution, spiral, state, statehood, successive, Suleiman, summit, sunday, territory, US, Violence, war, Washington, white, withdrawal

Having kids can mean end of marital bliss

April 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 9 (ANI): Thought marriage, money and kids were the cornerstone of happiness? Well, in that case, here’s a news flash for you: having children can send martial bliss in a downward spiral.

According to researchers at the University of Denver (DU) and Texas A and M, children can add problems and stress to a marriage.

As per an eight-year study of 218 couples, ninety percent of the couples experienced a decrease in marital satisfaction once the first child was born.

“Couples who do not have children also show diminished marital quality over time,” says Scott Stanley, research professor of psychology at DU.

“However, having a baby accelerates the deterioration, especially seen during periods of adjustment right after the birth of a childm,” he added.

The study has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The research also showed couples who lived together before marriage experienced more problems after birth than those who lived separately before marriage, as did those whose parents fought or divorced.

However, some couples said their relationships were stronger post-birth. Couples who had been married longer, or who had higher incomes, seemed to have fewer marital problems related to having a baby than those with lower incomes or who had been married for a shorter period of time.

Stanley cautions against concluding that children damage overall happiness in life.

“There are different types of happiness in life and that while some luster may be off marital happiness for at least a time during this period of life, there is a whole dimension of family happiness and contentment based on the family that couples are building. This type of happiness can be powerful and positive but it has not been the focus of research,” Stanley says. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: adjustment, ANI, Apr, baby, birth, case, child, childm, contentment, cornerstone, couples, decrease, Denver, deterioration, dimension, downward spiral, end, family, Family Happiness, flash, focus, happiness, having a baby, having children, incomes, journal, journal of personality, journal of personality and social psychology, life, luster, marital bliss, Marital Happiness, Marital Problems, Marital Quality, Marital Satisfaction, marriage, MONEY, NEWS, News Flash, percent, period, personality, professor, psychology, quality, Research, research professor, right, satisfaction, Scott Stanley, social, spiral, Stanley, Stanley Research, stress, study, Texas, thought, time, type, University, University Of Denver, Washington

Pakistan fighting for survival but will not succumb: Zardari

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, April 7 (IANS) Pakistan is ‘fighting for its survival’ but will not ‘succumb’ to the militants, President Asif Ali Zardari told top US officials here Tuesday.

‘Pakistan is fighting a battle for its own survival,’ a statement issued by the presidency quoted Zardari as saying at a meeting with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, and Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

‘The president said the government would not succumb to any pressure by militants,’ the statement added.

The talks covered regional security issues, the new Afghanistan strategy US President Barrack Obama unveiled late last month and the surge in militancy and extremism in the region, the statement said.

Mullen and Holbrooke will also hold talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi before leaving for New Delhi later Tuesday.

With the Pakistani Taliban threatening to carry out ‘two attacks a week in Pakistan’, Gilani Monday called a meeting of the chief ministers and police chiefs of the four provinces to mull a fresh strategy to counter the growing number of terror strikes in the country.

At least 24 people, including four children, were killed and 35 others injured Sunday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a Shia mosque in Punjab province.

On Saturday, six police personnel were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpost near the crowded Jinnah Super Market in a high security area of Islamabad.

On March 30, heavily armed terrorists stormed into the Manawan police academy on the outskirts of Lahore and held over 400 trainees hostage for over eight hours before the security forces recaptured the complex.

Eight terrorists were killed and three were captured alive. Eight police trainees and two civilians were also killed.

On March 3, militants attacked a bus transporting the Sri Lankan cricket team to Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium for the third day’s play in the second Test against Pakistan.

Six players and the team’s assistant coach were injured in the assault that saw the Sri Lankan government immediately calling off the tour and flying the team back home.

Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians lost their lives in the attack

As terror incidents spiral, a leading US think tank has noted that Pakistan ‘is a thriving sanctuary’ for both Afghan and Al Qaeda militants operating in Afghanistan and that Washington needs to get Islamabad on board with its new Af-Pak strategy, though progress is nowhere near assured.

To give its strategy of negotiating with Afghan Taliban even a remote chance of success, ‘involvement in Pakistan is both a headache and a necessity for the United States’, global intelligence agency Stratfor said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: academy, admiral mike mullen, Af, afghan, Afghanistan, agency, al-Qaeda, ali, April, area, asif, assault, assistant, attack, barrack, barrack obama, battle, board, bomber, bus, chairman, chance, checkpost, Chief, chief ministers, chiefs of staff, coach, complex, Complex Eight, corps, country, Cricket, day, entrance, envoy, extremism, foreign, four provinces, frontier, gaddafi stadium, gilani, Government, headache, home, hostage, IANS, intelligence, involvement, Islamabad, jinnah, joint chiefs of staff, Lahore, lankan, manawan, March, market, meeting, mehmood, militancy, minister, Monday, month, mosque, necessity, New Delhi, number, Obama, Pak, Pakistan, Pakistani, play, police, Police Academy, police chiefs, policemen, presidency, president, pressure, prime, progress, province, Punjab, qureshi, raza, region, Regional Security Issues, Richard Holbrooke, Sanctuary, Saturday, security, Security Area, shah, shia, spiral, sri, sri lankan cricket, staff, statement, strategy, STRATFOR, success, succumb, suicide, suicide bomber, sunday, super, surge, survival, Taliban, tank, team, terror, terror strikes, test, tour, Tuesday, United States, US, Washington, week, yousuf, zardari

Riot police save France’s Pinault from workers

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Angry shop workers facing the sack blocked French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault in a taxi on Tuesday before riot police were called in to clear away the protesters, officials and police said.

Pinault, chief executive of retail and luxury group PPR, was surrounded in a car in central Paris by staff from two of his stores that have announced 1,200 job cuts.

“They briefly delayed Mr. Pinault’s car as he was leaving a company meeting,” said a spokesperson for the group.

French radio said he was blocked for an hour before the CRS riot police, brandishing shields, secured his release.

Pinault, one of France’s wealthiest men, is the latest businessman to fall foul of protesters in France, with labour relations deteriorating during the sharp economic downturn.

Earlier on Tuesday, dozens of workers at a factory run by U.S. company Caterpillar Inc blocked five managers in their offices in southeast France and demanded further talks on plans to lay off some 733 employees.

One of the managers was released in the early evening for health reasons, but employees told French television they planned to keep the other four barricaded in an office overnight to press their case for more generous redundancy terms.

“The actions that are taking place today, led by a small minority of individuals, are not helping as we work for a positive resolution of this situation,” Chris Schena, a Caterpillar executive, said in a statement.

SCAPEGOATS

Directors at plants run by Japan’s Sony and U.S. group 3M were also held hostage in March in separate disputes over redundancies. On both occasions, unions said they managed to wring extra concessions from the executives.

Police have previously been reluctant to intervene to avoid fomenting violence and Pinault is the only businessman who has so far been freed by the security forces.

Business leaders speaking in private have expressed increasing concern at the situation and say they are being made scapegoats for a crisis that was not of their making.

French managers working for German tyre maker Continental decided to hold an important works council meeting in the southern city of Nice on Tuesday, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the firm’s factory for fear of possible violence.

When bosses announced on March 12 that they were eliminating 1,120 jobs and closing Continental’s Clairoix plant, they were pelted with eggs and had to run for cover.

France has a long tradition of street protests, with labour conflicts often degenerating into a show of force between unions and bosses.

Government officials have said they are worried that the situation could spiral out of control, with job losses piling up and French workers appearing increasingly militant.

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: angry, Billionaire, briefly, business, businessman, car, case, caterpillar, Caterpillar Inc, central paris, Chris Schena, city, Clairoix, closing, company, Company Meeting, concern, continental, control, Council, cover, crisis, CRS, downturn, economic downturn, Elizabeth Pineau, evening, executive, factory, fear, firm, force, France, francois, francois henri pinault, french billionaire, French Radio, French Television, Government, group, Health, health reasons, hostage, hour, inc, Japan, job, labour, Labour Relations, luxury, Luxury Group, maker, March, meeting, minority, Mr. Pinault, nice, office, place, plant, police, ppr, radio, redundancies, redundancy, release, reporting, resolution, retail, riot, riot police, sack, SCAPEGOATS, Schena, security, shop, show, situation, Small Minority, sony, southeast France, spiral, spokesperson, staff, statement, street, taxi, television, today, tradition, Tuesday, tyre, U S Company, US, Violence, Wealthiest Men

CT imaging used to examine hidden face in Nefertiti bust

April 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 1 (ANI): Researchers, using CT imaging to study a priceless bust of Nefertiti, have uncovered a delicately carved face in the limestone inner core and gained new insights into methods used to create the ancient masterpiece and information pertinent to its conservation.

“We acquired a lot of information on how the bust was manufactured more than 3,300 years ago by the royal sculptor,” said the study’s lead author Alexander Huppertz, M.D., director of the Imaging Science Institute in Berlin, Germany.

“We learned that the sculpture has two slightly different faces, and we derived from interpretation of the CT images how to prevent damage of this extremely precious art object,” he added.

Nefertiti, the wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, was the most renowned Great Royal Wife of all 31 Egyptian dynasties.

Considered one of the greatest finds of ancient Egypt, the bust of Nefertiti was discovered in 1912, during excavation of the studio of famous royal sculptor Thutmose.

The Nefertiti bust consists of a limestone core covered in layers of stucco of varying thickness.

The bust was examined using CT for the first time in 1992, but recent advances in CT technology allowed the researchers to analyze the statue in 2007 with greater precision.

“CT has changed significantly since 1992,” Dr. Huppertz said. “We can now acquire three-dimensional (3-D) images at a much higher resolution,” he added.

Dr. Huppertz and colleagues used a 64-section spiral CT technique with submillimeter section thickness to examine the bust and assess its conservation status, gain information on its creation and provide a 3-D surface reformation of the inner limestone sculpture.

The results showed that a multi-step process was used to create the sculpture.

The stucco layer on the face and ears is very thin, but the rear part of the reconstructed crown contains two thick stucco layers.

CT findings also may be important in preventing future damage to the bust.

The findings of multiple, varying layers of stucco, as well as fissures in the shoulders, lower surface of the bust and rear of the crown, indicate vulnerable areas requiring very careful handling, and pressure on the layers of thick stucco is to be avoided.

“Noninvasive CT technology and very advanced 3-D post-processing tools allow us greater insight into the internal composition and conservation status of the sculpture,” Dr. Huppertz said. “This knowledge will greatly contribute to the preservation of this priceless antiquity,” he added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: Advances In Ct Technology, Akhenaten, Alexander Huppertz, Ancient Masterpiece, ANI, antiquity, April, art, Art Object, author, Author Alexander, Berlin, bust, Bust Of Nefertiti, composition, conservation, core, creation, crown, Ct Findings, Ct Images, ct imaging, damage, Different Faces, director, Dr. Huppertz, Egypt, Egyptian Dynasties, egyptian pharaoh, excavation, face, gain, Germany, Great, handling, Hidden Face, imaging, imaging science, information, insight, institute, interpretation, knowledge, layer, lead, limestone, Limestone Sculpture, lot, masterpiece, md, Nefertiti, new insights, Noninvasive, part, pharaoh, Pharaoh Akhenaten, Precious Art, precision, preservation, pressure, process, rear, reformation, resolution, royal, Royal Wife, Science, Sculptor, sculpture, section, Section Thickness, spiral, Spiral Ct, statue, status, stucco, studio, study, submillimeter, surface, technique, Technology, thickness, Thutmose, time, Washington, wife

India at the high table but will be the voice of developing economies

April 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Apr 1 (ANI): India is very clear about priorities. In the rush for being part of the high table it has not forgotten the developing world. It still wants to be the voice of the underprivileged. Speaking on the background to the G 20 summit officials say that India has been approached by smaller countries of Asia and Africa to speak on their behalf at the G20.

The 10 emerging economies that are now part of the G20 include Brazil, Russia, India, China Mexico, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Argentina and Turkey. These countries have suffered as a result of the global economic downturn, which originated in the rich nations and enveloped the whole world in its deathly embrace.

Among these countries the BRIC nations, which constitute Brazil Russia India and China, have already issued a joint communiqué in March calling for more lending to emerging economies hit by the collapse of private capital and for urgent reforms to improve their representation at the International Monetary Fund.

Indian officials say that there is not dilution of focus as far as India’s objectives are concerned. Inclusive growth is what India is looking at. The G20 has already upheld India’s stand on rejection of protectionism. The joint communiqué issued by finance ministers of G20 countries in march made it clear that raising barriers to trade and free movement of workers would not resolve the crisis, promising to “fight all forms of protectionism.” This is probably going to be reflected even at tomorrow’s summit statement.

But the fact is that the G20 is more and event rather than a process. Governments merely signing up and promising to deliver may not do so. Here in London it will be more a political exercise than a technical one. The rich nations of the world will have to resist the temptation of selfish national policies, which will be self-defeating if nothing else.

It is acceptable that to some extent each country has to evolve its own mechanisms to deal with the current crisis but unless a decisive coordinated and comprehensive approach is not taken soon enough, the downward spiral will not stop. By Smita Prakash (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Africa, ANI, approach, Apr, Argentina, asia, background, Barriers To Trade, behalf, Brazil, BRIC, capital, China, collapse, communiqué, Countries Of Asia, country, crisis, developing economies, developing world, dilution, downturn, economic downturn, Emerging Economies, event, exercise, extent, fact, fight, finance, finance ministers, focus, fund, g20 countries, growth, inclusive, India, india china, indian officials, Indonesia, international, International Monetary Fund, lending, London, March, Mexico, monetary, movement, national policies, nothing, part, Political Exercise, prakash, Private Capital, process, protectionism, rejection, representation, result, rush, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Smita, South Korea, spiral, stand, statement, summit, Summit Statement, table, temptation, tomorrow, Turkey, voice, world

‘Cannibalistic’ Jupiter gobbled up its early moons

March 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, March 9 (ANI): A computer simulation has indicated that the gas giant Jupiter was once a cannibal, in the sense that it ate many of its moons early in its history.

The four giant “Galilean” moons orbiting Jupiter are the last survivors of at least five generations of moons that once circled the planet.

“All the other moons – and there could have been 20 or more – were devoured by the planet in the early days of the solar system,” Robin Canup of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, told New Scientist.

The four Galilean moons have played a key role in the history of science. Their discovery by Galileo 400 years ago provided irrefutable evidence that not all bodies orbited the Earth.

But until recently, nobody had suspected that Jupiter had once had many more moons.

“Astronomers have long been aware of a mystery thrown up by simulations of the way Jupiter and its moons formed,” said Canup.

These models indicate that the mass of the debris disc around Jupiter, from which the moons formed, was several tens of a per cent of the mass of giant planet; And yet only 2 per cent is enough to make the moons we see today.

Now, Canup and her colleague William Ward believe they know why. The extra mass can be explained if other moons formed while the debris disc was still present.

“A key process is therefore the interaction between the growing moons and the disc material still flowing in from the solar system,” said Canup.

This interaction would have caused the early moons to spiral in towards Jupiter and eventually be “eaten”.

According to Canup, this would explain the discrepancy in the earlier simulations, as one set of moons was swallowed, a new set immediately began to form.

“There could have been five generations of moons,” she said. “The current Galilean moons formed just as the inflow of material into the disc from the solar system choked off, so they escaped the fate of their unfortunate predecessors,” she added.

According to Canup and Ward, in each generation, the total mass of the moons was the same, but the number of moons could have varied.

“We think something similar happened around Saturn, where the last generation contained one giant moon – Titan,” said Canup.

This could have implications for the solar system as a whole. Rocky planets may take as long as 10 million years to aggregate, chunk by chunk. (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ANI, Astronomers, Boulder, boulder colorado, cannibal, Cannibalistic, cent, chunk, colleague, Colorado, Computer, computer simulation, debris, disc, Disc Material, discovery, discrepancy, Earth, evidence, fate, Five Generations, Galilean, Galilean Moons, galileo, Gas, Gas Giant Jupiter, generation, giant, Giant Planet, history, history of science, inflow, institute, interaction, jupiter, Jupiter And Its Moons, Jupiter Moons, Last Survivors, London, london march, March, mass, material, moon, mystery, New, New Scientist, nobody, number, Orbiting Jupiter, planet, process, Research, Robin Canup, rocky, role, saturn, Science, scientist, sense, set, simulation, solar system, something, southwest, southwest research institute, spiral, system, Titan, today, ward, way, whole, William Ward

Galactic ‘tug of war’ may create giant ‘island universe’ in deep space

March 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Berlin, March 4 (ANI): A new Hubble image shows three galaxies locked in a gravitational tug- of-war that may result in the eventual demise of one of them, and merger into a giant ‘island universe’.

About 100 million light-years away, in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish), three galaxies are playing a game of gravitational give-and-take that might ultimately lead to their merger into one enormous entity.

A new image from the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope allows astronomers to view the movement of gases from galaxy to galaxy, revealing the intricate interplay among them.

The three pictured galaxies – NGC 7173, NCG 7174 and NGC 7176 – are part of the Hickson Compact Group 90, named after astronomer Paul Hickson, who first catalogued these small clusters of galaxies in the 1980s.

NGC 7173 and NGC 7176 appear to be smooth, normal elliptical galaxies without much gas and dust.

In stark contrast, NGC 7174 is a mangled spiral galaxy, barely clinging to independent existence as it is ripped apart by its close neighbors.

The strong tidal interaction surging through the galaxies has dragged a significant number of stars away from their home galaxies.

These stars are now spread out, forming a tenuous luminous component in the galaxy group.

Ultimately, astronomers believe that the stars in NGC 7174 will be redistributed into a giant ‘island universe’, tens to hundreds of times as massive as our own Milky Way. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: advanced, ANI, astronomer, Austrinus, Berlin, camera, close, compact, component, constellation, contrast, demise, dust, entity, ESA, existence, galactic, galaxy, game, Gas, giant, group, home, hubble, image, interaction, interplay, island, March, merger, Milky Way, movement, NASA, NCG, ngc, number, part, paul hickson, Piscis, southern fish, space, spiral, spread, Telescope, tug, universe, war

Public votes for “handshake” galaxies as Hubble’s next target

March 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 3 (ANI): In an online vote, the public has voted for a pair of close-knit galaxies that look like they are shaking hands, as the next target for observation by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Out of a total of 139,944 votes cast online by the public since the “Hubble, You Decide” contest opened on January 28, nearly 50 percent favored the interacting pair of spiral galaxies called Arp 274 (from the Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies) over five other celestial candidates.

The galaxies look like they are shaking hands, or rather, spiral arms.

Hubble has shown that interacting galaxies are very photogenic because, under the relentless pull of gravity, they weave elegant twisted lanes of dust and stars, and brilliant blue clusters of newborn stars.

The new picture of Arp 274 promises to reveal intriguing never-before-seen details in the galactic grand slam.

The Hubble observations will be taken during the International Year of Astronomy’s “100 Hours of Astronomy,” taking place from April 2-5.

The full-color galaxy image will be released publicly during that time. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: ANI, April, arp, astronomy, atlas, cast, celestial, contest, dust, galaxies, galaxy, gravity, handshake, hubble, image, international, January, March, observation, Online, pair, peculiar, percent, picture, place, Public, pull, space, spiral, target, Telescope, time, total, vote, Washington, weave, year