Texas teen Jordan Spieth already achieved big goal, now shooting for a PGA Tour win

BETHESDA, Md. - At this time a year ago, Jordan Spieth was playing a couple of PGA Tour events for nothing more than experience and gearing up for a summer of amateur golf before returning to Texas for the start of his sophomore season.

Golf is a job now, and it's even more fun.

The 19-year-old Texan describes this summer as "free swinging," and it's not a bad place to be. He started the season in January with no guaranteed place to play, and he already is assured of a PGA Tour card when the new season starts in October.

Now he wants more ? a PGA Tour win that would create bountiful opportunities ? and the AT&T National would be a good place to start.

Spieth hit all 18 greens in regulation Friday, extended his streak without a bogey to 29 holes at tough Congressional and wound up with a 5-under 66 to share the 36-hole lead with Roberto Castro going into the weekend.

Not everyone has completed 36 holes just yet. Thunderstorms late in the afternoon halted the second round, and the other half of the field was to return Saturday morning to complete the round. Spieth and Castro (69) were at 7-under 135. Andres Romero of Argentina was at 5-under with five holes remaining. No one else was within four shots of the leaders when play was stopped.

Asked what it would mean to win, Spieth said it would be "huge," until showing some maturity.

"I can't really think about that at this point," he said. "It's only halfway through the tournament. So there's a long way to go."

It already feels like a long journey this year.

For a teenager who started the season with no tour to call his own, this is his 14th tournament on the PGA Tour ? five more than Tiger Woods ? and he already has earned more than $900,000, which is the equivalent of being No. 39 on the tour money list.

But he won't be eligible for the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs unless he's a PGA Tour member, and he can't be a member this year unless he wins.

"Honestly, I think it's a great position to be in," Spieth said. "I'm just free swinging. I can't be in the playoffs unless I win, and that makes winning the No. 1 goal. You'd like to get in the playoffs and play against the top players, the best players from this year. It's everyone's goal out here to win the FedEx Cup. My goal is to move up the world rankings as much as I can, and that's the way to do it, is to get into those playoffs."

D.H. Lee had a 66 and was two shots behind at 5-under 139. Cameron Tringale (67) and James Driscoll (69) were another shot behind, while the group at 3-under 139 included former British Open champion Stewart Cink (69), Gary Woodland (69) and David Lingmerth, who went from around the cut line to contention with a 65.

Spieth has lived up to the hype he first generated when he played late on Sunday in the Byron Nelson Championship at age 16 and tied for 16th. In one year at Texas, the Longhorns won the NCAA title. And in six months as a pro, he has shown quickly that he belongs.

He already has four top 10s and has special temporary membership, meaning he gets unlimited exemptions. His goal was to somehow get a PGA Tour card for 2013-14 season, and a win would be over the top.

Even so, the teenager who was born just three years before Woods turned pro is savvy to realize the tournament is not even halfway over.

"Now all there's left to do is try and get a win to make the playoffs," he said. "So I'm just going out there trying to win and being aggressive, and hopefully, it will work out for me."

Scoring was slightly better at Congressional, a course that has hosted the U.S. Open three times. Warmer weather in the morning made the ball fly a little farther and shortened the longest PGA Tour course on the mainland.

Spieth began his day with a 25-foot birdie putt on the first hole, avoided a long three-putt from above the hole on No. 4 by making a 12-foot par putt and then picked up four birdies over the final five holes on the front nine for a 31. He made nine pars on the back nine, never coming close to a bogey.

It was a clean round, executed well by a teenager who plays like he knows where he is going.

"I'm excited for what the weekend is going to bring," he said.

Castro tied the course record on the TPC Sawgrass in May with a 63 to lead the opening round of The Players Championship, and then he followed with a 78 and never seriously challenged the rest of the week. After opening with a 66 at Congressional, he dropped a shot early from a fairway bunker on No. 3 and was plodding along until finishing the back nine with a pair of birdies, and then adding a birdie on the par-5 16th.

"I felt good," he said. "I probably learned a lot there (at Sawgrass) and realized that one round doesn't mean anything ? just got to keep going. And I was able to do that."

Woods, the defending champion, is not playing because of an elbow injury, and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose withdrew earlier in the week because of fatigue. Some of the other big names most likely won't be around for the weekend, such as Hunter Mahan, who had a 72 and was at 5-over 147. Masters champion Adam Scott traded birdies and bogeys in his round of 71 that left him nine shots behind.

Brandt Snedeker had to salvage a scrappy round with two late birdies for a 71, leaving him five shots behind.

? Copyright 2013

Source: http://www.timescolonist.com/cmlink/gmg/canadian-press/sports/golf/texas-teen-jordan-spieth-already-achieved-big-goal-now-shooting-for-a-pga-tour-win-1.337980

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Drew Houston And Bryan Schreier On Dropbox's Future As An Enterprise And Consumer Company

Dropbox founder and CEO Drew Houston and Sequoia Capital partner Bryan Schreier joined us in the TechCrunch TV studio for a special three-part series on how Houston and Schreier work together on recruiting, growing as a CEO, and building the company.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qvN8sPUGoPs/

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Trapped in Transit: Orwellian Moscow airport hotel

SHEREMETYEVO AIRPORT (AP) ? "An interesting route, Mr. Phillips," says the airport transit desk employee. "This activity makes for suspicion."

It was the start of an Orwellian adventure in which I deliberately got myself sequestered in the hopes of finding Edward Snowden at Moscow's main airport.

The experience leaves me feeling that if the NSA leaker is indeed in the transit zone of the airport, as President Vladimir Putin claims, he may already have a taste of what it's like to be in prison.

Snowden is possibly holed up in the wing of an airport hotel reserved for travelers in transit who don't have visas to enter Russia. The Novotel's main building, located outside the airport, has a plush lobby with a fountain, a trendy bar and luxury shops. One wing, however, lies within the airport's transit zone ? a kind of international limbo that is not officially Russian territory.

And that's where Snowden, whose U.S. passport has been revoked, may be hiding.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Eastern Europe News Director Ian Phillips flew from his home base of Prague in the Czech Republic to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport with the goal of getting to the bottom of the mystery of fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden. What followed was a surreal 21 hours.

___

The woman at the transit desk raises an eyebrow and stares at my flight itinerary, which includes a 21-hour layover in Moscow before a connection to Ukraine. "Why would ANYONE stay here in transit for so long? There are so many earlier connections you could have taken. This is strange behavior."

After a nearly two-hour wait inside the terminal, a bus picks me up ? only me ? from the transit area. We drive slowly across the tarmac, through a barrier, past electronic gates covered in barbed wire and security cameras.

The main part of the Novotel is out of bounds. My allotted wing feels like a lockup: You are obliged to stay in your room, except for brief walks along the corridor. Three cameras track your movements along the hallway and beam the images back to a multiscreen monitor. It's comforting to see a sign instructing me that, in case of an emergency, the locks on heavily fortified doors leading to the elevators will open.

When I try to leave my room, the guard outside springs to his feet. I ask him why room service isn't responding and if there's any other way to get food. He growls: "Extension 70!" I rile him by asking about the Wi-Fi, which isn't working: "Extension 75!" he snarls.

"Don't worry, Mr. Phillips," the transit desk employee had said. "We have all your details and information. We will come and get you from your room at 6 p.m. on Friday, one hour before your connecting flight."

Now it's midnight, and I'm getting edgy. I feel trapped inside my airless room, whose double windows are tightly sealed. And the room is extortionate: It costs $300 a night, with a surcharge of 50 percent slapped on because I will be staying past noon.

("Can't I just wait in the lobby after midday?" I asked the receptionist at check-in. "Of course not," she retorted. "You have no visa. You will stay until you are picked up.")

I look out the window. If Snowden is here and has the same view, he can see the approach to the departures terminal at the airport. A large billboard shows a red 4x4 vehicle driving along an ocean road. A parking lot below is filled with vehicles. A man in green overalls is watering a patch of parched grass. Vehicles whizz in and out of the airport.

A maid has just brought a tea bag. She puts a tick against the room number on the three-page document on her trolley. On it, there are no guest names, only numbers ? and departure dates. A quick look suggests there are perhaps a few dozen people staying here. A couple of rooms on my floor have tell-tale signs of occupancy ? food trays lying outside from the night before.

But no sign of Snowden.

The guard allows me to stretch my legs in the corridor. The signs on the wall rub things in. Under a pretty picture of the Moscow skyline and Red Square, a message reads: "Should you wish to see the full range of facilities offered by our hotel during your next stay, we strongly recommend you to get a visa before flying to Moscow."

A fleeting glimpse of a possible change of scene: a set of guidelines posted on the wall say I can go out for a smoke!

Rule No. 6: "It is possible to go and smoke one time per hour for 5 minutes in the beginning of each hour escorted by security service."

I don't smoke, but this would be a way to escape this floor. But when I ask him to take me down, the security guard scoffs. "No!" he says flatly.

I call the front desk. "You need a visa to go outside and smoke, Mr. Phillips" the receptionist says.

If he's here, Snowden has access to a few international TV stations. He also has a fair amount of options with room service ? the only source of food in this wing. But after almost a week, he might be getting bored. And he'd need a credit card or a lot of Russian cash. A selection:

Buffalo mozzarella and pesto dressing starter? 720 rubles (about $20).

Ribeye steak: 1,500 rubles (about $50).

Bottle of Brunello di Montalcino red wine: 5,280 rubles ($165).

A miniature bottle of Hennessy XO cognac: 2,420 rubles ($80).

I've called all the 37 rooms on my floor in hopes of reaching Snowden. No reply except for when I get my security guard.

The floor above? A similarly futile attempt.

I only reach a handful of tired and irritated Russians who growl "Da? Da? Da?" ? "Yes? Yes? Yes?"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trapped-transit-orwellian-moscow-airport-hotel-152338275.html

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Katekyo Hitman Reborn!: The new generation only two spots

we have been RPing for close to a month now and we have a really great group of people we need to fill two more roles the rain Guardian and an OC Guardian if you are interested comes by and take a look if it looks like something you would like to just just character first come first severed roleplay/katekyo-hitman-reborn-the-new-generation-rm

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/5z3oAATe9xg/viewtopic.php

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Over-Engineered Speaker Cables? Nope, Actual Speakers

Do you live in a bizarre, warped, Escher-style home that's made installing a booming sound system next to impossible? The Anakonda KAN200 might look like a well shielded audio cable, but it's actually a flexible speaker designed to squeeze into spots where traditional boxy speakers don't fit, but still require jam pumping.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0OOPbJmc55M/over-engineered-speaker-cables-nope-actual-speakers-612362215

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The violent birth of neutron stars

June 27, 2013 ? A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics conducted the most expensive and most elaborate computer simulations so far to study the formation of neutron stars at the center of collapsing stars with unprecedented accuracy. These worldwide first three-dimensional models with a detailed treatment of all important physical effects confirm that extremely violent, hugely asymmetric sloshing and spiral motions occur when the stellar matter falls towards the center. The results of the simulations thus lend support to basic perceptions of the dynamical processes that are involved when a star explodes as supernova.

Stars with more than eight to ten times the mass of our Sun end their lives in a gigantic explosion, in which the stellar gas is expelled into the surrounding space with enormous power. Such supernovae belong to the most energetic and brightest phenomena in the universe and can outshine a whole galaxy for weeks. They are the cosmic origin of chemical elements like carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron, of which Earth and our bodies are made of, and which are bred in massive stars over millions of years or freshly fused in the stellar explosion.

Supernovae are also the birth places of neutron stars, those extraordinarily exotic, compact stellar remnants, in which about 1.5 times the mass of our Sun is compressed to a sphere with the diameter of Munich. This happens within fractions of a second when the stellar core implodes due to the strong gravity of its own mass. The catastrophic collapse is stopped only when the density of atomic nuclei -- gargantuan 300 million tons in a sugar cube -- is exceeded.

What, however, causes the disruption of the star? How can the implosion of the stellar core be reversed to an explosion? The exact processes are still a matter of intense research. According to the most widely favored scenario, neutrinos, mysterious elementary particles, play a crucial role. These neutrinos are produced and radiated in tremendous numbers at the extreme temperatures and densities in the collapsing stellar core and nascent neutron star. Like the thermal radiation of a heater they heat the gas surrounding the hot neutron star and thus could "ignite" the explosion. In this scenario the neutrinos pump energy into the stellar gas and build up pressure until a shock wave is accelerated to disrupt the star in a supernova. But does this theoretical idea really work? Is it the explanation of the still enigmatic mechanism driving the explosion?

Unfortunately (or luckily!) the processes in the center of exploding stars cannot be reproduced in the laboratory and many solar masses of intransparent stellar gas obscure our view into the deep interior of supernovae. Research is therefore strongly dependent on most sophisticated and challenging computer simulations, in which the complex mathematical equations are solved that describe the motion of the stellar gas and the physical processes that occur at the extreme conditions in the collapsing stellar core. For this task the most powerful existing supercomputers are used, but still it has been possible to conduct such calculations only with radical and crude simplifications until recently. If, for example, the crucial effects of neutrinos were included in some detailed treatment, the computer simulations could only be performed in two dimensions, which means that the star in the models was assumed to have an artificial rotational symmetry around an axis.

Thanks to support from the Rechenzentrum Garching (RZG) in developing a particularly efficient and fast computer program, access to most powerful supercomputers, and a computer time award of nearly 150 million processor hours, which is the greatest contingent so far granted by the "Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE)" initiative of the European Union, the team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) in Garching could now for the first time simulate the processes in collapsing stars in three dimensions and with a sophisticated description of all relevant physics.

"For this purpose we used nearly 16,000 processor cores in parallel mode, but still a single model run took about 4.5 months of continuous computing," says PhD student Florian Hanke, who performed the simulations. Only two computing centers in Europe were able to provide sufficiently powerful machines for such long periods of time, namely CURIE at Tr?s Grand Centre de calcul (TGCC) du CEA near Paris and SuperMUC at the Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ) in Munich/Garching.

Many Terabytes of simulation data (1 Terabyte are thousand billion bytes) had to be analysed and visualized before the researchers could grasp the essence of their model runs. What they saw caused excitement as well as astonishment. The stellar gas did not only exhibit the violent bubbling and seething with the characteristic rising mushroom-like plumes driven by neutrino heating in close similarity to what can be observed in boiling water. (This process is called convection.) The scientists also found powerful, large sloshing motions, which temporarily switch over to rapid, strong rotational motions. Such a behavior had been known before and had been named "Standing Accretion Shock Instability," or SASI. This term expresses the fact that the initial sphericity of the supernova shock wave is spontaneously broken, because the shock develops large-amplitude, pulsating asymmetries by the oscillatory growth of initially small, random seed perturbations. So far, however, this had been found only in simplified and incomplete model simulations.

"My colleague Thierry Foglizzo at the Service d' Astrophysique des CEA-Saclay near Paris has obtained a detailed understanding of the growth conditions of this instability," explains Hans-Thomas Janka, the head of the research team. "He has constructed an experiment, in which a hydraulic jump in a circular water flow exhibits pulsational asymmetries in close analogy to the shock front in the collapsing matter of the supernova core." This phenomenon was named "SWASI" ("Shallow Water Analogue of Shock Instability") and allows one to demonstrate dynamical processes in the deep interior of a dying star by a relatively simple and inexpensive experimental setup of table size, of course without accounting for the important effects of neutrino heating. For this reason many astrophysicists had been sceptical that this instability indeed occurs in collapsing stars.

The Garching team could now demonstrate for the first time unambiguously that the SASI also plays an important role in the so far most realistic computer models. "It does not only govern the mass motions in the supernova core but it also imposes characteristic signatures on the neutrino and gravitational-wave emission, which will be measurable for a future Galactic supernova. Moreover, it may lead to strong asymmetries of the stellar explosion, in course of which the newly formed neutron star will receive a large kick and spin," describes team member Bernhard M?ller the most significant consequences of such dynamical processes in the supernova core.

The researchers now plan to explore in more detail the measurable effects connected to the SASI and to sharpen their predictions of associated signals. Moreover, they plan to perform more and longer simulations to understand how the instability acts together with neutrino heating and enhances the efficiency of the latter. The goal is to ultimately clarify whether this conspiracy is the long-searched mechanism that triggers the supernova explosion and thus leaves behind the neutron star as compact remnant.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/xulUjZRJoLM/130627083034.htm

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Public transit agencies deride 'patent trolls'

CHICAGO (AP) ? Public transit agencies nationwide are being targeted with questionable lawsuits by so-called patent trolls squeezing settlements out of financially strapped public entities unable to mount legal defenses against claims they are infringing on intellectual property protections, industry representatives said Thursday.

Lawsuits or threats of legal action have been lodged against at least 23 transit providers in some of the nation's largest cities, including New York, Boston and Chicago. Opponents say the claims are frivolous and are stifling innovation, draining resources and costing taxpayers millions.

"We are seeing this huge onslaught of patent lawsuits," said James LaRusch, chief counsel for the nonprofit American Public Transportation Association, which has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to protect its hundreds of member agencies.

Critics of the practice deride the firms as "patent trolls" because they appear to do little genuine business or technology development beyond buying up patents and using them to demand licensing fees from other companies.

Known in technical jargon as patent assertion entities, they have also gone after private sector companies but are increasingly targeting public and governmental agencies, including utilities, cities, the U.S. Postal Service and now transit providers. The resulting settlements are draining already depleted public coffers.

That shift is alarming some in Congress, where several pending bills could help limit the damage from frivolous claims. The head of the Federal Trade Commission is seeking an investigation of such firms and their business practices.

"This type of litigation undercuts the purpose of the patent system and exploits the fact that public agencies are at a disadvantage in defending themselves," said U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski of Illinois, the state's senior member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The Chicago-area Democrat wrote to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez this week to urge her to follow through with an investigation that would determine the scope of such activity and identify which companies are the most prolific filers of such legal claims.

The claims against transit companies have largely challenged the use of GPS-based tracking systems that alert customers to bus and train arrival times at stations and online.

The transit industry association is challenging the validity of the patents cited in the claims, but says many agencies have no choice but to settle to avoid litigation costs that can reach $2 million to $3 million even if they're successful.

The American Public Transportation Association believes there are only two companies targeting transit agencies with lawsuits. It is aware of 11 formal lawsuits and 12 other threats of legal action but believes there are many others that have not become public due to confidentiality clauses in the settlement deals.

The lawsuit the association filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan identifies the two companies as ArrivalStar S.A. in Luxembourg and its affiliate Melvino Technologies Ltd., an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands.

Dowell Baker, a Lafayette, Ind., law firm that represents the two companies did not respond to a phone message seeking comment Thursday.

One of the law firm's claim letters, sent to the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority in February 2012, says it represents a founder of ArrivalStar who invented tracking technology used in public transportation and shipment of cargo and packages.

"ArrivalStar has licensed its technology to over 180 companies," the claim letter says. "Although many of these licenses were granted in settlement of patent infringement actions filed by ArrivalStar, many resulted from amicable business negotiations."

LaRusch, of the American Public Transportation Association, disputed the assertion that the companies have developed any technology.

"They don't develop anything. They don't produce anything. Their reason for being appears to be simply to file claims against people who go out and create things," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/public-transit-agencies-deride-patent-trolls-184526586.html

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Identify Where Your Leads Coming From Using Call Tracking Utility ...

At its basic definition, call tracking utility tells a business or organization which ad campaign or marketing method is very effective and which is not through tracking the number of the phone calls that are made from a specific ad campaign.

Many businesses and huge companies assume that their marketing campaigns and ads are working and that they generate leads randomly from one to another. So, they kept spending on the same campaigns that they once have had without minding the expenses. What they mistook a lot is that they do not know which ad generates leads.

Many advertisers failed to know if the potential customer is calling because they found a listing on Google, or through receiving a flier in the mail, or clicked through an online banner, or watched on TV or heard over the radio. If you are so keen enough, most of the business websites will add a special poll question at the bottom of their page to inquire about where do you find their article or website.

Call tracking allows businesses to know which form of advertising or campaigns that keep the phone ringing. This helps them stop wasting money on the ads that aren?t so effective and focus on a campaign that is more effective in driving buying customers instead.

How Does this Work?

Okay, let?s start with the most basic example. Let?s say you own a medium sized business. You occasionally do direct mail ads, radio commercials, banner ads, you listed your business on an online directory and Google PPC campaign. The call tracking software will assign a unique phone number to each of the campaigns and then the database will show you which ad or phone number generates the phone call and which is not.

You no longer need a tracking code after the call is connected or a coupon to bring into the store. You will simply put a unique phone numbers on each of the marketing pieces and wait which is working.

Who Could Benefit from Call Tracking?

If you pay to advertise elsewhere, especially on more than one platform, you could benefit from using call tracking software. You could waste a lot of revenues allotted for marketing campaigns if you do not use call tracking to identify which platform serves the utmost purpose.

Other Uses of Call Tracking Utility

Aside from the above functions, call tracking software also offers several other tools like call recording, call tagging, lead scoring, and goals and alerts.

Call recording allows you to record every call that comes in through a tracking number. You can also use call recording to gather customer feedback, concerns, problems, track employees customer handling performance and held them accountable, improve sales skills, improve customer service and gather important marketing data.

Call tagging allows you to tag or label calls in accordance to their marketing lead quality. The example is when a customer is calling simply to check the price but is not interested in buying the product, you can tag the call as ?far away from sale? or ?cold lead.?

Lead scoring allows you to score the call on certain criteria you choose to measure the lead quality. For instance, you can use the lead scoring to measure whether or not the caller is going to buy the product within 30 days, or whether they don?t have the money to buy now, or whether they are just hunting around.

Goals and alerts allows you to set goals and alerts for campaign ROI. You can use this tool to set a goal to generate specific amount of income from specific advertising campaign or set a goal to close a number of deals from specific ad campaign. It will also alert you when the deadline of your goals is approaching via text message or email.

With these crucial tools, you will never waste another amount of penny paid on advertising that does not work.

About the author...

Steven Wright ? who has written 1 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Steven Wright is a Marketing Expert at Dial800. His task is to reach out prospective clients through online marketing, and promotes their company's online social presence. He is passionate about virtual phone business, call tracking and the wonders of inbound marketing. You can connect with Steven via Twitter at @Dial800.

---

Jason recommends you check out these amazing posts:

1. Should I sell my website?
2. Movies That Motivate Me
3. Seven Deadly Sins For People Trying to Make Money Online

Source: http://www.shoemoney.com/2013/06/26/identify-where-your-leads-coming-from-using-call-tracking-utility

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U.S. set to suspend Bangladesh trade privileges

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The United States is expected to suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh because of concerns over labor rights and worker safety that intensified after hundreds died there in the global garment industry's worst accident.

Congressional aides said the Obama administration would make its announcement Thursday, the culmination of a yearslong review of labor conditions in the impoverished South Asian nation.

Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for the step. Under the Generalized System of Preferences, Bangladesh can export nearly 5,000 products duty-free to the U.S., its leading market. While the GSP covers less than 1 percent of Bangladesh's nearly $5 billion in exports to the U.S. and doesn't include the lucrative garment sector, it could deter American companies from investing in Bangladesh.

The office of U.S. Trade Representative has said a decision would be made by the end of June whether to curtail Bangladesh's trade privileges. The office did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment.

A congressional official aware of the administration's thinking on the issue said Bangladesh won't be expelled from the program, and its suspension will come with some kind of roadmap to enable the restoration of suspended trade privileges if it makes progress on labor issues. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made.

Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, is anxious to keep the trade benefit. While the immediate economic costs may not be significant, it carries reputational costs and may sway a decision by the European Union, which also is considering withdrawing GSP privileges. EU action could have a much bigger economic impact, as its duty-free privileges cover garments.

Bangladesh's government says it is taking steps to improve worker safety after the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka that killed 1,129 people, and to amend the nation's labor law.

The U.S. Trade Representative review of labor conditions in Bangladesh follows a petition filed in 2007 by the AFL-CIO seeking withdrawal of the GSP benefits. The review was expedited late last year amid concern from U.S. lawmakers over deadly industrial accidents, deteriorating labor rights and the April 2012 killing of prominent labor activist Aminul Islam ? a case that has not been solved.

Calls for the benefits to be curtailed have multiplied since the Rana Plaza disaster.

Last month, 25 House Democrats wrote to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina calling for comprehensive action to improve worker safety, and this week, nine Democratic senators urged President Barack Obama to suspend trade privileges but also establish a roadmap and schedule for reinstating them to Bangladesh based on improvements in worker safety and related labor law reforms.

Lawmakers also have criticized U.S. retailers that source garments from Bangladesh for not joining the more than 40 mostly European companies that have adopted a five-year, legally binding contract that requires them to help pay for fire safety and building improvements. The Bangladeshi garment manufacturers' association says it stepping up inspections and has closed 20 factories.

The garment industry employs some 4 million people in Bangladesh, 80 percent of them women.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-set-suspend-bangladesh-trade-privileges-035354248.html

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Snowden mystery deepens: All eyes on airport

MOSCOW (AP) ? Moscow's main airport swarmed with media from around the globe Wednesday, but the man they were looking for ? National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden ? was nowhere to be seen. The mystery of the former spy's whereabouts only deepened a day after President Vladimir Putin said that Snowden was in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport.

An Associated Press reporter entered the area Wednesday by flying from Kiev, Ukraine, and found ordinary scenes of duty free shopping, snoozing travelers and tourists sipping coffee, but no trace of America's most famous fugitive. If Putin's statement is true, it means that Snowden has effectively lived a life of airport limbo since his weekend flight from Hong Kong, especially with his American passport now revoked by U.S. authorities.

In a further twist, Ecuador's foreign minister said Wednesday it could take months to decide whether to grant asylum to Snowden and the Latin American nation would need to take into consideration its relations with the U.S. when doing so. Speaking during a visit to Malaysia's main city, Kuala Lumpur, Ricardo Patino compared Snowden's case to that of Julian Assange, the founder of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

"It took us two months to make a decision in the case of Assange, so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time," Patino told reporters.

Snowden, who is charged with violating American espionage laws, fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia. He booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela, but didn't board the plane. His ultimate destination was believed to be asylum in Ecuador.

The airport zone where Snowden is purportedly staying serves both connecting passengers traveling via Moscow to onward destinations and passengers departing from Moscow who have passed border and security checks.

The huge area unites three terminals: the modern, recently built D and E, and the older, less comfortable F, which dates to the Soviet era. The transit and departure area is essentially a long corridor, with boarding gates on one side and gleaming duty free shops, luxury clothing boutiques and souvenir stores selling Russian Matryoshka dolls on the other. About a dozen restaurants owned by local and foreign chains serve various tastes.

Hundreds of Russian and foreign tourists awaited flights here, some stretched out on rows of gray chairs, others sipping hot drinks at coffee shops or looking out through giant windows as silver-blue Aeroflot planes land and take off.

Business ran as usual at the terminals on Wednesday morning. An Asian girl, about 10 years old, slept peacefully on her father's lap. A middle-aged mother and her teenage daughter tried out perfume samples at a duty free store, while nearby a woman in a green dress picked out a pair of designer sunglasses. A pilot was buying lunch at Burger King.

Putin insisted Tuesday that Snowden has stayed in the transit zone without passing Russian immigration and is free to travel wherever he likes. But the U.S. move to annul Snowden's passport may have severely complicated his travel plans. Exiting the transit area would either require boarding a plane or passing through border control. Both require a valid passport or other identification.

Hordes of journalists armed with laptops and photo and video cameras have camped in and around the airport, looking for Snowden or anyone who may have seen or talked to him. But after talking to passengers, airport personnel, waiters and shop clerks, the press corps has discovered no sign of the leaker.

Russian news agencies, citing unidentified sources, reported that Snowden was staying at a hotel in the transit terminal, but he was not seen at the zone's only hotel, called "Air Express." It offers several dozen capsule-style spaces that passengers can rent for a few hours to catch some sleep. Hotel staff refused to say whether Snowden was or has in the past stayed there.

"We only saw lots of journalists, that's for sure," said Maxim, a waiter at the Shokoladnitsa diner not far from Air Express. He declined to give his last name because he wasn't allowed to talk to reporters.

The departure and transit area is huge and has dozens of small rooms, some labeled "authorized personnel only," where one could potentially seek refuge with support from airport staff or security personnel. And security forces or police patrolling the area can easily whisk a person out of this area though back doors or corridors.

There are also a few VIP lounge areas, accessible to business-class passengers or people willing to pay some $20 per hour. Snowden was not seen in those areas.

Sheremetyevo's press service declined to comment on Snowden's whereabouts. A policeman at the airport laughed off a question from an AP reporter about Snowden's whereabouts. "Journalists have searched this place for three days and have found nothing. Was he ever here in the first place?" the policeman asked. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks gave a terse update on Snowden's condition earlier on Wednesday, saying in a statement posted to Twitter that Snowden was "well."

WikiLeaks says that one of its staffers, Sarah Harrison, was traveling with Snowden, but the statement gave no indication if the update came from her, from Snowden, or from some other source.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson did not immediately return a call and a text seeking further comment.

In a conference with reporters on Monday, Assange said that he was limited in what he could say about Snowden due to security concerns. He denied reports that Snowden was spending his time at the airport being debriefed by Russian intelligence officers.

In another development, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon said Wednesday that he had decided not to represent the leaker. A statement from his law firm provided no further explanation.

Garzon, who has fought on WikiLeaks' behalf, became famous for indicting former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998 and trying to put him on trial for crimes against humanity. He was suspended from office in Spain for overstepping his powers by starting an investigation into killings committed on behalf of former Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.

_____

Yoong reported from Kuala Lumpur. Lynn Berry in Moscow and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-mystery-deepens-eyes-airport-170621319.html

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Video: In his own shadow

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From tiny to massive: Mammal size evolution explained

June 25, 2013 ? Scientists have added another piece to the evolutionary puzzle to explain why certain mammal families evolved to be very large, while others remained tiny.

In research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, an international group of scientists including Monash University's Dr Alistair Evans proposed a new theory explaining the diversity of mammal sizes -- from the Etruscan shrew which weighs around two grams, to the blue whale which clocks in at almost 200 tonnes. Surprisingly, baby weight relative to adult body mass is key.

Dr Evans, of the Monash School of Biological Sciences, said size impacts on all aspects of an animal's physiology and anatomy, and the roles it can play in ecosystems.

"Size is fundamental to your life and your body -- how fast your heart beats, how much food you need to eat, and how you move," Dr Evans said.

Following the extinction of the dinosaurs, mammals flourished and their size increased dramatically. The study examined the maximum size of groups including whales, elephants, primates and rodents over this period to examine the constraints on size.

The researchers found that species that matured more quickly and produced a larger mass of young each year relative to body weight were able to evolve to a larger maximum size. Further, they are likely to reach that size in fewer generations.

This high rate of biological production is vital, regardless of whether many small young or just one large offspring are born in a year.

Dr Evans said whales were an excellent example of the theory.

"The blue whale is the largest animal to have evolved, even larger than dinosaurs, and it reached this size at the fastest rates we recorded. Key to this success is that they produce large young that mature quickly, reaching around 30 metres in eight to 10 years," Dr Evans said.

Lead author of the study, Dr Jordan Okie from Arizona State University, said primates were at the opposite end of the spectrum.

"Primates have a low production rate and have evolved very slowly. They have never got bigger than about 500 kilograms," Dr Okie said.

The study also linked maximum size to mortality rate. Because larger animals tend to breed less frequently than smaller animals, if the mortality rate doubles, the maximum size is predicted to be 16 times smaller.

"This is a really surprising finding," said Dr Evans.

"It points to why many of the large animals went extinct after the last Ice Age, as changing climates probably increase mortality rates. Large animals are also at high risk of extinction in modern environments because it takes a long time for their population to rebound from disasters."

In the future, this work will be extended to help explain how extinction risk may be reduced in the face of climate change.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/WVYra1sPi-A/130625092012.htm

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Judge in Trayvon Martin case weighs police calls

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? Several times in six months, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman called police to report suspicious characters in the gated townhouse community where he lived. Each time, he pointed out that the suspects were black males.

On Tuesday, the judge at Zimmerman's murder trial in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin listened to the five calls and weighed whether to let the jury hear them, too.

Prosecutors want to use them to bolster their argument that Zimmerman was increasingly frustrated with repeated burglaries and had reached his breaking point the night he shot Martin.

The recordings show Zimmerman's "ill will," prosecutor Richard Mantei told Judge Debra Nelson.

"It shows the context in which the defendant sought out his encounter with Trayvon Martin," Mantei said.

Defense attorney Mark O'Mara argued that the calls were irrelevant and that nothing matters but the seven or eight minutes before Zimmerman fired the deadly shot into Martin's chest.

The prosecution is "going to ask the jury to make a leap from a good, responsible, citizen behavior to seething behavior," O'Mara said.

Prosecutors played the calls with the jurors out of the courtroom at the beginning of a day in which the state presented graphic photos of Martin's body, a police officer described trying to revive Martin as bubbling sounds came from his chest, and a police manager described how she helped Zimmerman set up the neighborhood watch.

In the calls, Zimmerman identifies himself as a neighborhood watch volunteer and recounts that his neighborhood has had a rash of recent break-ins. In one call, he asks that officers respond quickly since the suspects "typically get away quickly."

In another, he describes suspicious black men hanging around a garage and mentions his neighborhood had a recent garage break-in.

Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for gunning down Martin as the young man walked from a convenience store. Zimmerman followed him in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight.

Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, saying he opened fire after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk.

Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, has denied the confrontation with the black teenager had anything to do with race, as Martin's family and its supporters have charged.

On Tuesday, Day 2 of testimony, prosecutors called to the stand a Sanford police sergeant who was the second officer to arrive on the scene. Sgt. Tony Raimondo testified that he tried to seal a bullet wound in Martin's chest with a plastic bag and attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Bubbling sounds indicated air was escaping the teen's chest, Raimondo said. Martin was pronounced dead a short time later.

During Raimondo's testimony, prosecutors showed jurors a photo of a dead Martin face-down in the grass, another of Martin's body face up with his eyes slightly open, and a third of the bullet wound. Martin's father, Tracy Martin, walked out of the courtroom during the testimony.

Wendy Dorival, former coordinator of the Sanford Police Department's neighborhood watch program, testified how she had worked with Zimmerman to set up a watch in his neighborhood.

When asked by prosecutor John Guy if neighborhood watch participants should follow or engage with suspicious people, she said no.

"They are the eyes and ears of law enforcement," Dorival said. "They're not supposed to take matters into their own hands."

Similarly, Donald O'Brien, president of Zimmerman's homeowners association, said it was his understanding that neighborhood watch members are supposed to "stay at a safe distance" and "let the police handle it."

But Dorival said she was impressed with Zimmerman's professionalism and dedication to his community.

"He seemed like he really wanted to make changes in his community, to make it better," she said.

___

Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-trayvon-martin-case-weighs-police-calls-193729208.html

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Study details cancer-promoting mechanisms of overlooked components in secondhand smoke

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Sundem
garth.sundem@ucdenver.edu
University of Colorado Denver

Small PAHs promote the cancer-causing abilities of more known components like BaP

Tobacco smoke, diesel exhaust and oil combustion carry polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs that are known to cause cancer. But of these PAHs, the obviously dangerous high-molecular-weight PAHs like benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) have received the vast majority of research attention. Their low-molecular-weight cousins have been largely overlooked, in part because studies have shown that these compounds alone aren't very successful at mutating genes in cancer-causing ways.

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal PLoS One explores two of these low-molecular-weight (LMW) PAHs 1-methylanthracene (1-MeA) and 2-methylanthracene (2-MeA) and shows that while they don't necessarily cause cancer, 1-MeA promotes conditions that will likely allow cancer to grow.

"There's a big distinction between initiating cancer and promoting it," says Alison Bauer, PhD, CU Cancer Center investigator and assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. Her study showed that in a mouse cell model using a progenitor cell of lung cancer, the LMW 1-MeA promoted inflammation and increased mitogenic pathways, both of which are linked to tumor promotion. 2-MeA, while nearly structurally identical, did not.

"These LMW PAHs have been considered less of a concern," Bauer says, "but we're finding evidence that's not the case. They're not likely initiating the cancer, but it looks as if they could promote it."

Among other effects, Bauer and colleagues found that 1-MeA disrupts communication between cells, affecting the "gap junctions" across which adjoining cells pass information. 1-MeA also upregulates the gene COX2, which has been shown in other studies to create an over-aggressive inflammatory response and this inflammation in turn can promote tumor growth.

"There are many different PAHs in secondhand smoke," Bauer says. "Some are obviously dangerous like BaP, which directly mutates genes. Others, like 1-MeA, we known very little about. Think about all these PAHs like chess pieces first you have to know how each piece moves and then you can start looking at how they all work together."

Bauer points to these PAH mixtures as the next step in research. Eventually, knowing the effects of these mixtures could help evaluate the risks of different combustion products. The work could also lead to new therapy targets if, perhaps, some of the changes promoted by these LMW PAHs prove preventable or reversible by medicines.

"With smoking rates decreasing, we think this problem is going away, but high levels of secondhand smoke still exist in the U.S., for example in some apartment buildings," Bauer says. "And around the world, in China, Russia, Poland and many other countries, secondhand smoke is still a major issue. Knowing the effects of these LMW PAHs like 1-MeA could help us prevent or treat cancers associated with them."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Sundem
garth.sundem@ucdenver.edu
University of Colorado Denver

Small PAHs promote the cancer-causing abilities of more known components like BaP

Tobacco smoke, diesel exhaust and oil combustion carry polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs that are known to cause cancer. But of these PAHs, the obviously dangerous high-molecular-weight PAHs like benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) have received the vast majority of research attention. Their low-molecular-weight cousins have been largely overlooked, in part because studies have shown that these compounds alone aren't very successful at mutating genes in cancer-causing ways.

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal PLoS One explores two of these low-molecular-weight (LMW) PAHs 1-methylanthracene (1-MeA) and 2-methylanthracene (2-MeA) and shows that while they don't necessarily cause cancer, 1-MeA promotes conditions that will likely allow cancer to grow.

"There's a big distinction between initiating cancer and promoting it," says Alison Bauer, PhD, CU Cancer Center investigator and assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. Her study showed that in a mouse cell model using a progenitor cell of lung cancer, the LMW 1-MeA promoted inflammation and increased mitogenic pathways, both of which are linked to tumor promotion. 2-MeA, while nearly structurally identical, did not.

"These LMW PAHs have been considered less of a concern," Bauer says, "but we're finding evidence that's not the case. They're not likely initiating the cancer, but it looks as if they could promote it."

Among other effects, Bauer and colleagues found that 1-MeA disrupts communication between cells, affecting the "gap junctions" across which adjoining cells pass information. 1-MeA also upregulates the gene COX2, which has been shown in other studies to create an over-aggressive inflammatory response and this inflammation in turn can promote tumor growth.

"There are many different PAHs in secondhand smoke," Bauer says. "Some are obviously dangerous like BaP, which directly mutates genes. Others, like 1-MeA, we known very little about. Think about all these PAHs like chess pieces first you have to know how each piece moves and then you can start looking at how they all work together."

Bauer points to these PAH mixtures as the next step in research. Eventually, knowing the effects of these mixtures could help evaluate the risks of different combustion products. The work could also lead to new therapy targets if, perhaps, some of the changes promoted by these LMW PAHs prove preventable or reversible by medicines.

"With smoking rates decreasing, we think this problem is going away, but high levels of secondhand smoke still exist in the U.S., for example in some apartment buildings," Bauer says. "And around the world, in China, Russia, Poland and many other countries, secondhand smoke is still a major issue. Knowing the effects of these LMW PAHs like 1-MeA could help us prevent or treat cancers associated with them."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/uocd-sdc062513.php

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HP announces Slate 21 AIO, a $400 21.5-inch Android tablet with Tegra 4

What do you do if your home turf of PC sales is being eroded by tablets? If your answer is "sell tablets as desktops," then you're on Meg Whitman's wavelength. At an event in Beijing, HP announced a 21.5-inch, Android-powered tablet that's expressly designed as a desktop unit. The HP Slate 21 AIO comes with a full-HD touchscreen and NVIDIA's Tegra 4 internals, running Android 4.2.2. Prospective owners won't need to purchase an artists' easel, however, as there's a handy rear kickstand that'll let you stand it upright or at a 30-ish degree angle (pictured after the break), making us hope that its digitizer is sensitive enough for pen-based drawing. There's no word on pricing or availability, but there's a press release, translated from Chinese, after the break, if you'd like to know more.

Update: You'll now find the English-language PR after the break. The unit will launch in the US in September at a starting price of $400.

Filed under: Desktops, Tablets, Google, HP

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/sia1qfaWZck/

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There has got to be a better way to announce Supreme Court decisions (Americablog)

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Body of Sopranos star Gandolfini to be returned to U.S. Monday

ROME (Reuters) - The body of star actor James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack in Rome last week, will be returned to the United States on Monday, earlier than expected, a family friend said.

Gandolfini, best known for his leading role in the Emmy-winning series The Sopranos, was found dead in his Rome hotel late on Wednesday.

Family friend Michael Kobold thanked the Italian authorities and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for helping accelerate procedures for the return of the body.

"We are fully aware that this process normally takes seven days and we are extremely grateful for their (the authorities') efficiency in dealing with this matter," he told reporters in Rome on Sunday.

"We are now looking at hopefully getting James Gandolfini's remains back to the United States tomorrow," he said.

An autopsy showed Gandolfini had died of natural causes. He was on holiday in Italy with his 13-year-old son and was due to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday.

Gandolfini's performance as New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano made him a household name and helped usher in a new era of American television drama.

Since "The Sopranos" ended its six-season run in June 2007, Gandolfini appeared in a number of big-screen roles, including the crime drama "Killing Them Softly" and "Zero Dark Thirty", a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Gandolfini had been working on an upcoming HBO series, "Criminal Justice," and had two films due out next year.

(Reporting by Cristiano Corvino; Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/body-sopranos-star-gandolfini-returned-u-monday-162409623.html

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Forget pandas ? ugly animals should be protected too

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Virtuix Omni Takes Virtual Reality In Every Direction

Editor?s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive. Part videogame accessory and part exercise equipment, the Virtuix Omni was inspired by the success of Kinect a few years ago, itself a response to the ?Wiimote controller? that defined Nintendo?s last gaming console. While both products get you off the couch, they don?t necessarily give you any place to go once you?re there.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Xzp5yxZTyUY/

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Friend: Gandolfini's body may return home Monday

Michael Kobold, a family friend of actor James Gandolfini, meets the media at the Exedra Hotel in Rome, Friday, June 21, 2013. Kobold said an autopsy confirmed the actor died of a heart attack and that there was no evidence of foul play or substance abuse. He said the body of the actor has been turned over to a funeral director and that the family is working to get through the red tape to get the body back to the United States. Gandolfini died Wednesday night after being discovered in a Rome hotel room by a family member. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Michael Kobold, a family friend of actor James Gandolfini, meets the media at the Exedra Hotel in Rome, Friday, June 21, 2013. Kobold said an autopsy confirmed the actor died of a heart attack and that there was no evidence of foul play or substance abuse. He said the body of the actor has been turned over to a funeral director and that the family is working to get through the red tape to get the body back to the United States. Gandolfini died Wednesday night after being discovered in a Rome hotel room by a family member. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME (AP) ? A family spokesman says James Gandolfini's body may be repatriated as soon as Monday.

Michael Kobold told reporters Sunday that the "provisional plan" is to depart Rome on Monday afternoon for the United States, several days earlier than anticipated. He did not specify which U.S. airport.

Kobold thanked Italian and U.S. authorities, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, his predecessor Hilary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton for helping with arrangements.

Gandolfini, 51, died Wednesday in Rome. Kobold has said an autopsy revealed the cause was a heart attack. Authorities have not released the report.

The "Sopranos" star had been en route to Sicily for an appearance at the Taormina Film Festival, which paid tribute to him Saturday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-23-EU-James-Gandolfini-Italy/id-6127ef442b4d428dae7c160320db52ee

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Egypt court: Brotherhood members planned jailbreak

CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian court on Sunday said Muslim Brotherhood members conspired with Hamas, Hezbollah and local militants to storm a prison in 2011 and free 34 Brotherhood leaders, including the future President Mohammed Morsi.

The court statement read by judge Khaled Mahgoub named two members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood ? Ibrahim Haggag and Sayed Ayad ? to be among the alleged conspirators in the attack on Wadi el-Natroun prison on Jan. 29, 2011.

It is the first statement by a court that holds members of the three Islamist groups ? the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian Hamas, and Lebanon's Hezbollah ? responsible for a series of jailbreaks during the chaos of Egypt's 2011 uprising. Two other prisons in which Hamas and Hezbollah members were held were also attacked.

Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders have maintained that they were freed by local residents. Hamas, the Palestinian chapter of the Brotherhood, has denied involvement in the attacks on prisons.

The court statement is likely to further fuel opposition to Morsi's rule just a week before his opponents are scheduled to stage massive protests to force him out of office. The planned June 30 demonstrations mark his first anniversary in office as Egypt's first freely elected leader.

The past year has seen growing polarization as Egypt struggles with a host of problems that many accuse Morsi of failing to effectively tackle. They include surging crime, rising prices, power cuts, fuel shortages and unemployment.

Morsi has not spoken publicly about his escape from Wadi el-Natroun since he gave an account of what happened in a frantic phone call he made to Al-Jazeera Mubasher TV moments after being freed.

"From the noises we heard ... It seemed to us there were (prisoners) attempting to get out of their cells and break out into the prison yard and the prison authorities were trying to regain control and fired tear gas," Morsi said in the call.

By the time they got out, the prison was empty, and there was no sign of a major battle, he said.

The prison breaks took place during the 18-day popular uprising that toppled the 29-year regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The breaks led to a flood of some 23,000 criminals onto the streets, fueling a crime wave that continues to this day. Among those who escaped were around 40 members of Hamas and Hezbollah as well as the 34 Brotherhood leaders.

A total of 26 top police, prison and intelligence officials have testified before the court, which held its hearings in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. Some gave their testimony in closed session.

Haggag and Ayad, the two Brotherhood officials named by Mahgoub, took part in the attack on Wadi el-Natroun with "those (foreign) elements who violated the sovereignty of the Egyptian state and its territory in addition to spreading chaos throughout the republic and terrifying unarmed civilians at their homes by releasing thousands of prisoners who are danger to society," the court statement said.

The case began in January when a former inmate appealed a three-month sentence passed by a lower court that convicted him of escaping Wadi el-Natroun. The defendant was acquitted by judge Mahgoub, who on Sunday referred to prosecutors the testimonies and evidence gathered during the trial on the jailbreak at Wadi el-Natroun in order "to reveal the truth and honor the state's right to mete out justice."

There was no immediate word from the office of the country's top prosecutor on whether his office planned to take up the case.

In Egypt's polarized political climate, Morsi's opponents have been using his escape from Wadi el-Natroun against him, saying friends of the Brotherhood violated the country's security and fed its instability. The eagerness of some in the intelligence and security agencies to blame Hamas could in part reflect resentment of the Brotherhood's ties with the militant group, which they have long seen as a threat.

The Wadi el-Natroun prison in which Morsi and his Brotherhood comrades were held is part of a four-jail complex northwest of Cairo. A total of 11,171 inmates were released from the complex. Thirteen inmates were also killed, according to Mahgoub, who said the attackers used machine-guns mounted on pickup trucks and SUVs as well as huge earth-moving vehicles that demolished parts of the walls and gates.

Mahgoub said the attackers also seized large amounts of firearms belonging to prison guards. He said allies of Hamas in Sinai prepared for the entry of its fighters into the Egyptian peninsula with attacks on Jan. 25, 2011 against security forces on the Sinai side of tunnels running under the border with Hamas-ruled Gaza. Fighters from Hamas and Hezbollah crossed into Egypt on Jan. 28, he said.

The 34 Brotherhood leaders were arrested early on Jan. 27 and arrived in Wadi el-Natroun shortly before their escape, said Mahgoub.

The last two hearings of the trial witnessed scuffles between supporters and opponents of Morsi. Sunday's hearing was held amid tight security with stringent control over who gets to enter the tiny courtroom.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-court-brotherhood-members-planned-jailbreak-093513553.html

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