bangkok news headlines: May 2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

Top tips to a flat stomach - Oliver Kelly Health and Fitness

By Oliver on May 30, 2013

Toning the stomach is one of the main goals many clients share with us at the start of the Personal Training process. It is seen as such a keen area to work on, as aesthetically is can be so pleasing when toned and so depressing when not?

The answer to this holy grail of questions, ?How do I achieve a flat stomach? however is far more complicated than simply doing hundreds of crunches morning and night. First things first, no one is going to be toned in the stomach region if there is a layer of fat surrounding those muscles, therefore ?the answer lies within a combination of the right exercises and good quality nutrition. Without both these elements working together, success will not be achieved.

So to start with, GET MOVING MORE. Quite simple really! If you lead a sedentary lifestyle start moving more and increase your cardiovascular activity. This in turn will burn calories that you have consumed through your diet. The more calories you can burn off and the less you can consume (the right nutritious calories should be consumed, more on this later) then the balance will start tilting towards a reduction in your body fat. Try and MAKE BETTER LIFESTYLE CHOICES, take the stairs rather than the lifts, walk to the shops, park further from the office so you have to walk in and back. All these minor changes will reap big rewards in the middle to long term.

You need to think about the body as a whole and not just get bogged down with specific stomach exercises. Big movements will use more muscles and will burn more calories and in turn will increase your metabolism (calories your body naturally burns just at rest). One of the best forms of exercise you can follow for fat loss is STRENGTH TRAINING. ?Put simply the more muscle you can gain, the more calories you will burn day in, day out and the more efficient your natural metabolic system will be. Furthermore, doing high levels of high intensity cardiovascular exercise, such as running, cycling, swimming etc can deplete glycogen stores (carbohydrate/energy) leading to more eating. Hands up if you are starving after a good swim or aerobics class??? Strength training doesn?t give you this depletion and therefore you naturally tend to make better food choices as a result.

Intensity is the important word here. Walking to the shops a dozen times a week won?t deplete glycogen stores but running for 30 minutes fairly strenuously will. Please don?t think I?m trying to put anyone off running or any aerobic activity for that matter. Aerobic exercise is incredibly important for heart and lung health, I am merely discussing the best ways to burn body fat.

The other main element then is NUTRITION; you may well need to CLEAN UP YOUR DIET. A huge part of getting a flat stomach lies in what foods and drinks you consume. So cut down on the sugary foods and drinks and eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Try to always choose organic where possible and eat little and often to avoid energy drops and subsequent biscuit drawer raids.

So to conclude get moving more, make better lifestyle choices, adopt big movement strength training into your exercise regimes and clean up your diet. With these improvements and changes,?your stomach will only thank you.

Posted in Blog

Source: http://oliverkellyfitness.co.uk/top-tips-to-a-flat-stomach/

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Armando Uranga named outstanding athlete in El Paso's senior ...

EL PASO ? Approximately 250 to 300 senior athletes participated in the 31st annual El Paso senior games. El Paso Parks and Recreation hold the games each year during March and April.

Eligibility for the games is open to all male and female athletes 50 years old and over. They compete within their age groups, which are broken up in 5-year increments. The games include such sports as swimming, cycling, bowling, race walks, tennis, track and field, racket ball, basketball, horseshoes, washers and billiards.

The games are not only for El Pasoans, anybody can participate.

El Paso Parks and Recreation celebrated the end of a very successful senior games program with a Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet at the Hilo de Plata Senior Center on May 3. The awards ceremony serves to recognize individuals who displayed stamina, perseverance and good health while participating. The speakers for the occasion were Zafer Hayder, M.D., ABIM Internal Medicine, and Dr. Gina Nunez Mchiri, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UTEP.

The theme of their presentations was focused on how a well-rounded exercise program will help the senior athlete to successfully live a long and healthy life. They both agreed that seniors should maintain a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle- spiritually, socially and physically.

During the awards ceremony, Eva Navarro and Wright Stanton were inducted into the 2013 Senior Hall of Fame. Former Marfa resident Armando Uranga, a 2008 Hall of Fame Inductee, was honored for earning the Games? Outstanding Athlete of the Year for 2013. He earned the same honor in 2006 and 2008. He is a member of the El Paso Ex Shorthorn Association.

Armando said, ?Nothing would please me more than to see a lot of senior athletes from Marfa, Fort Davis and Presidio participating in the El Paso games?.

Armando received 28 gold, one silver and six bronze medals. He said that his best and most enjoyable events were the 20 K bike ride, 200-meter swim and the 5K race walk.

Benny Salcido, Hall of Fame inductee in 2012, also participated and won gold medals for bowling, washers and horseshoes. His main interest in the games are the track and field events and was able to take first place in the 50, 100, and 200 meter races, the standing long jump, long jump, triple jump and high jump. He also earned a silver in the shot put and bronze in the javelin.? Benny exceeded the Masters All-American standards in the long jump and the triple jump and was honored by USATF, United States Track and Field, as All-American in both events.

If any seniors are interested in the El Paso games, contact the El Paso Parks and Recreation

Information personnel: Sylvia Marquez (915) 533-3207, David Lopez (915) 240-3320, or Cody Rios (915) 503- 6544.

Source: http://bigbendnow.com/2013/05/armando-uranga-named-outstanding-athlete-in-el-paso%E2%80%99s-senior-games/

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Olivia Newton-John?s Sister Rona Dies Of Brain Cancer

Olivia Newton-John’s Sister Rona Dies Of Brain Cancer

Olivia Newton-John & sister Rona pics Olivia Newton-John’s sister passed away at the age of 70, after her battle with brain cancer. The 64-year-old “Grease star”, who is a cancer survivor herself, revealed Rona passed away last Friday in California. In a Facebook message, Olivia wrote, “My beautiful sister Rona sadly passed on May 24th in Los Angeles. It was May ...

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/05/olivia-newton-johns-sister-rona-dies-of-brain-cancer-at-70/

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Zaha Hadid's First Storefront Puts a Living Legend Up Close

Even if you don?t get down with her brand of extreme formalism, it?s hard to deny that Zaha Hadid is a living legend. Hadid is the only female architect to have ever won the Pritzker Prize (well, unless you count those who were mysteriously excluded by the Pritzker jury) and the force behind some of the more controversial buildings of the past decade?she?s as much an entrepreneur as she is a designer. In fact, it?s likely that her architecture, these days, serves as something of a loss leader for the business her brand does outside of the construction industry.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Cicadas now emerging on Staten Island

Cicadas of the Brood II population are now making their debut in New York City, for the first time in 17 years.

By Megan Gannon,?LiveScience News Editor / May 28, 2013

After a dark 17-year juvenile period underground, Brood II cicadas having been emerging along the East Coast.

Courtesy of the National Pest Management Association / Tom Meyers

Enlarge

The 17-year-old sex-crazed cicadas of Brood II have started to stir in Staten Island.

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Historically, large numbers of these periodical cicadas have spent their short but dramatic adulthoods in the borough, but they might be harder to spot elsewhere in New York City.

The noisy creatures started emerging by the hundreds last week in certain parts of Staten Island, said Edward Johnson, director of science at the Staten Island Museum. But the insects are not likely to come out in droves in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, Johnson added.

"They don't fly very far as adults, and so are unlikely to colonize other boroughs from Staten Island," he said. [Ewww! 6 Crazy Facts About Cicadas]

Brood II is one of the distinct cicada populations that only matures every 13 or 17 years. Known as?periodical cicadas, they belong to the genus?Magicicada, and they can be found only in the eastern half of North America. Brood II's range extends from Georgia to Connecticut and it began its emergence earlier this month.

Their loud mating calls and carpet of corpses may come as a nuisance to some, but each emergence is exciting for entomologists studying the mysterious, long-lived insects ? they spend most of their lives in an immature stage. The cicadas coming out of the ground now were born in 1996, meaning they're the first Brood II generation to be greeted by Twitter and Flickr, which make it possible for people to socially share their pictures of the insects.?Radiolab's Cicada Tracker?and?Magicicada?as well allow citizen scientists to report their sightings in real time.

Mapping where these 17-year cicadas emerge could offer new insights on land use, climate change and the bugs themselves. The cicadas' long subterranean youth, which may be the longest of any known insect, means it's difficult for scientists to study their life cycle.

Geographically, the 17-year brood populations fit together like puzzle pieces. Brood II is almost like the keystone, since its range borders that of many other broods, University of Connecticut cicada expert John Cooley said earlier this month. Scientists think they might be able to learn about why different broods evolved by studying their boundaries.

For Johnson, the emergence will give him a chance to show off the Staten Island Museum's collection of?cicadas, the second largest in the world. He said he has dim memories of the Brood II emergences on Staten Island in 1962 and 1979, but better recollections from last time, in 1996.

From that year, Johnson recalls "lots of cicada song and activity in the woodlands, lots of media attention, and my youngest son was born three months before the emergence, so he is a 'cicada baby,' and gets to measure his life in cicada years."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/0jb0PlJjGjQ/Cicadas-now-emerging-on-Staten-Island

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Church?s Chicken looks back to its Texas roots

Church?s Chicken is introducing a new barbecue-style chicken dish called Texas Chicken as the company launches a new advertising campaign.

?Texas is the birthplace of Church?s Chicken and our chicken has been at the center of our culture since day one,? says Rob Crews, chief marketing officer for Church?s. ?Our product innovation team developed a whole new way to enjoy Church?s with a new menu item that pays tribute to Church?s Texas roots and some of the best barbecue in Texas.?

Texas Chicken is available for a limited time through July 28 at participating restaurants. The price for a half chicken starts at $3.69 and a combination meal at $5.69. Prices may vary at Church?s Chicken restaurants.

Atlanta-based Church?s was founded in San Antonio in 1952. The Church?s system consists of more than 1700 locations in 25 countries and system-wide sales of $1.2 billion.

Subscribe to the new San Antonio Business Journal Morning Edition at this link.

Mike W. Thomas covers technology/telecom, military, finance, regulatory issues as well as nonprofits/education.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_58/~3/WL1awLTZl4c/churchs-chicken-looks-back-to-its.html

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Art appreciation is measureable

May 28, 2013 ? Is it your own innate taste or what you have been taught that decides if you like a work of art? Both, according to an Australian-Norwegian research team.

Have you experienced seeing a painting or a play that has left you with no feelings whatsoever, whilst a friend thought it was beautiful and meaningful? Experts have argued for years about the feasibility of researching art appreciation, and what should be taken into consideration.

Neuroscientists believe that biological processes that take place in the brain decide whether one likes a work of art or not. Historians and philosophers say that this is far too narrow a viewpoint. They believe that what you know about the artist?s intentions, when the work was created, and other external factors, also affect how you experience a work of art.

Building bridges

A new model that combines both the historical and the psychological approach has been developed.

"We think that both traditions are just as important, although incomplete. We want to show that they complement each other," says Rolf Reber, Professor of Psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway. Together with Nicolas Bullot, Doctor of Philosophy at the Macquarie University in Australia, he has developed a new model to help us understand art appreciation. The results have been published in ?Behavioral and Brain Sciences? and are commented on by 27 scientists from different disciplines.

"Neuroscientists often measure brain activity to find out how much a testee likes a work of art, without investigating whether he or she actually understands the work. This is insufficient, as artistic understanding also affects assessment," says Reber.

Eye-opening experience

"We know from earlier research that a painting that is difficult ? yet possible ? to interpret, is felt to be more meaningful than a painting that one looks at and understands immediately. The painter, Eug?ne Delacroix, made use of this fact to depict war. Joseph Mallord William Turner did the same in ?Snow storm?. When you have to struggle to understand, you can have an eye-opening experience, which the brain appreciates," explains Reber.

He hopes that other scientists will use the Australian-Norwegian model.
"By measuring brain activity, interviewing test persons about thoughts and reactions, and charting their artistic knowledge, it?s possible to gain new and exciting insight into what makes people appreciate good works of art. The model can be used for visual art, music, theatre and literature," says Reber.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/8hw_93Jb0Hw/130528092125.htm

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Arctic current flowed under deep freeze of last ice age, study says

Public release date: 29-May-2013
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Contact: Kim Martineau
kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu
646-717-0134
The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Evidence retrieved from sediments in remote polar basins

During the last ice age, when thick ice covered the Arctic, many scientists assumed that the deep currents below that feed the North Atlantic Ocean and help drive global ocean currents slowed or even stopped. But in a new study in Nature, researchers show that the deep Arctic Ocean has been churning briskly for the last 35,000 years, through the chill of the last ice age and warmth of modern times, suggesting that at least one arm of the system of global ocean currents that move heat around the planet has behaved similarly under vastly different climates.

"The Arctic Ocean must have been flushed at approximately the same rate it is today regardless of how different things were at the surface," said study co-author Jerry McManus, a geochemist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Researchers reconstructed Arctic circulation through deep time by measuring radioactive trace elements buried in sediments on the Arctic seafloor. Uranium eroded from the continents and delivered to the ocean by rivers, decays into sister elements thorium and protactinium. Thorium and protactinium eventually attach to particles falling through the water and wind up in mud at the bottom. By comparing expected ratios of thorium and protactinium in those ocean sediments to observed amounts, the authors showed that protactinium was being swept out of the Arctic before it could settle to the ocean bottom. From the amount of missing protactinium, scientists can infer how quickly the overlying water must have been flushed at the time the sediments were accumulating.

"The water couldn't have been stagnant, because we see the export of protactinium," said the study's lead author, Sharon Hoffmann, a geochemist at Lamont-Doherty.

The upper part of the modern Arctic Ocean is flushed by North Atlantic currents while the Arctic's deep basins are flushed by salty currents formed during sea ice formation at the surface. "The study shows that both mechanisms must have been active from the height of glaciation until now," said Robert Newton, an oceanographer at Lamont-Doherty who was not involved in the research. "There must have been significant melt-back of sea ice each summer even at the height of the last ice age to have sea ice formation on the shelves each year. This will be a surprise to many Arctic researchers who believe deep water formation shuts down during glaciations."

The researchers analyzed sediment cores collected during the U.S.-Canada Arctic Ocean Section cruise in 1994, a major Arctic research expedition that involved several Lamont-Doherty scientists. In each location, the cores showed that protactinium has been lower than expected for at least the past 35,000 years. By sampling cores from a range of depths, including the bottom of the Arctic deep basins, the researchers show that even the deepest waters were being flushed out at about the same rate as in the modern Arctic.

The only deep exit from the Arctic is through Fram Strait, which divides Greenland and Norway's Svalbard islands. The deep waters of the modern Arctic flow into the North Atlantic via the Nordic seas, contributing up to 40 percent of the water that becomes North Atlantic Deep Waterknown as the "ocean's lungs" for delivering oxygen and salt to the rest of world's oceans.

One direction for future research is to find out where the missing Arctic protactinium of the past ended up. "It's somewhere," said McManus. "All the protactinium in the ocean is buried in ocean sediments. If it's not buried in one place, it's buried in another. Our evidence suggests it's leaving the Arctic but we think it's unlikely to get very far before being removed."

###

Other authors are William Curry, president and director of Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and emeritus scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and L. Susan Brown-Leger, a retired Woods Hole researcher.

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Arctic current flowed under deep freeze of last ice age, study says

Public release date: 29-May-2013
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Contact: Kim Martineau
kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu
646-717-0134
The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Evidence retrieved from sediments in remote polar basins

"The water couldn't have been stagnant, because we see the export of protactinium," said the study's lead author, Sharon Hoffmann, a geochemist at Lamont-Doherty.

###

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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/2013-05/teia-acf052813.php

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Re-creating the original colors of treasured ivory carvings from the ancient past

Public release date: 29-May-2013
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Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

The fabled ivory carvings from the ancient Phoenician city of Arslan Tash literally meaning "Stone Lion" may appear a dull monochrome in museums today, but they glittered with brilliant blue, red, gold and other colors 2,800 years ago, a new study has confirmed after decades of speculation. It appears in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry.

Ina Reiche and colleagues explain that these carvings are rare, housed in museums like the Louvre, and art experts regard them as the most beautiful ivory carvings of the era. Experts long believed that the lion heads, amulets and other objects were brightly colored, rather than the bland beiges and whites that remain today. But until recently, there was no adequate way to test the ivories for traces of pigment without damaging these priceless objects.

The scientists describe how a non-destructive testing technology brought to life traces of red, blue and other pigments and gold gilding allowing re-creation of the long-vanished colors that decorated the original ivories. In addition to contributing to a new understanding of the Phoenician carvings, the technology could be used to glimpse the original paintings on other objects, the authors note. Those include the Elgin Marbles, the classical Greek marble sculptures that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis in Athens.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from a doctoral grant from the Universit Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC).

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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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.

Re-creating the original colors of treasured ivory carvings from the ancient past Public release date: 29-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

The fabled ivory carvings from the ancient Phoenician city of Arslan Tash literally meaning "Stone Lion" may appear a dull monochrome in museums today, but they glittered with brilliant blue, red, gold and other colors 2,800 years ago, a new study has confirmed after decades of speculation. It appears in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry.

Ina Reiche and colleagues explain that these carvings are rare, housed in museums like the Louvre, and art experts regard them as the most beautiful ivory carvings of the era. Experts long believed that the lion heads, amulets and other objects were brightly colored, rather than the bland beiges and whites that remain today. But until recently, there was no adequate way to test the ivories for traces of pigment without damaging these priceless objects.

The scientists describe how a non-destructive testing technology brought to life traces of red, blue and other pigments and gold gilding allowing re-creation of the long-vanished colors that decorated the original ivories. In addition to contributing to a new understanding of the Phoenician carvings, the technology could be used to glimpse the original paintings on other objects, the authors note. Those include the Elgin Marbles, the classical Greek marble sculptures that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis in Athens.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from a doctoral grant from the Universit Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC).

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook
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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/2013-05/acs-rto052913.php
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Bombings, clashes kill 11 in Iraq wave of violence

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Bombings and gunfire in central and northern Iraq killed at least 11 people and wounded 35 others on Tuesday, officials said, in the latest bloody chapter of a wave of violence that has edged the country closer to all-out internal warfare.

A day earlier, 70 people were killed, and more than 450 have died this month. Most of the attacks are sectarian in nature, with Sunni and Shiite areas targeted frequently.

The sudden spike in bloodshed is reminiscent of the upheavals of the last decade, when U.S. forces were still in Iraq in large numbers. The sectarian carnage has resumed with new ferocity since the last U.S. troops withdrew last December.

Tuesday's violence spread across the country.

A bomb explosion inside a bus killed five commuters in Sadr City, a poor Shiite district in the Baghdad's east, a police officer said. Five policemen and 20 civilians were wounded.

In the town of Tarmiyah north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber set off his explosives-laden truck after passing a police checkpoint, killing a policeman and a civilian, police said. Nine people were wounded.

In the northern city of Mosul, clashes erupted out between police and gunmen, killing three policemen, two officers said. Four gunmen were killed and 15 others arrested. South of Mosul, a bomb hit a police patrol, killing an officer and wounding another, police said.

Mosul, about 360 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is a former stronghold of Sunni militants.

Three medical officials confirmed the casualties. All spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information to reporters.

No one has claimed responsibility for the recent wave of attacks, but such systematic bombings bear the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents under the leadership of the al-Qaida branch in Iraq, known as the Islamic State of Iraq. They appear aimed at drawing the country's majority Shiites into an exchange of attacks like that which brought the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.

On Monday, more than a dozen car bombs hit commercial areas in mostly Shiite areas of the Iraqi capital, killing 71 people and wounding nearly 200.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki charged that the motive behind the current flare-up was to return Iraq to the "dark days" of the past decade. He vowed to hunt down all militant groups, regardless of their religious and political affiliations.

"The recent attacks that killed dozens of innocents expose the criminal intentions and the goals of the terrorist organizations to send Iraq back to sectarian fighting," al-Maliki told reporters in Baghdad.

On Tuesday, U.N. envoy Martin Kobler pressed Iraqi leaders to do more to halt the violence, saying it is "their responsibility to stop the bloodshed now."

Kobler has repeatedly urged Iraqi officials to engage in dialogue as violence and political tensions have increased in recent weeks.

He warned political leaders Tuesday that "the country will slide into a dangerous unknown if they do not take immediate action."

___

Associated Press writer Adam Schreck contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bombings-clashes-kill-11-iraq-wave-violence-153108657.html

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Monday, May 27, 2013

US, Russia discuss peace plan for worsening Syria

PARIS (AP) ? The top U.S. and Russian diplomats met Monday to try to accelerate frustratingly slow peace efforts in Syria, where the signs point only to a worsening conflict.

Capping off an eight-day trip to the Middle East and Africa, Secretary of State John Kerry flew into the French capital to see Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and exchange updates on their respective diplomatic efforts.

The United States and its Arab allies are attempting to secure the participation of Syria's fractured opposition at an international peace conference in Geneva, planned for next month. Russia is pledging to deliver Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime to the talks.

But despite claims of progress by both, there is little evidence to suggest either side is ready to halt more than two years of violence that has killed more than 70,000 people. President Barack Obama has demanded that Assad leave power; Russia has stood by its closest ally in the Arab world.

The one-on-one Paris meeting between Kerry and Lavrov, to be immediately followed by a dinner that includes French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, comes at an increasingly dangerous time for Syria.

For the past week, regime troops and allies from Lebanon's Hezbollah ? and even some Iranian fighters ? have waged an offensive in Qusair, gaining ground against the rebels behind intense bombardments of the strategic western Syria town.

Hezbollah's enhanced role poses an assortment of concerns for the Obama administration, with the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, vowing over the weekend that his militants would back Assad to victory.

Beyond providing powerful reinforcements to Assad's regime, Hezbollah's involvement increases the risk of spillover into Lebanon, a country as ethnically divided and fragile as Syria. Two rockets struck a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut on Sunday, raising fears that the country could be plunged back into civil war.

And any conflict with Hezbollah threatens to drag in Israel, which has proven with airstrikes it won't tolerate large-scale and advanced weapons transfers to its northern border. Lebanon's state-run news agency reported one missile fired from that area toward the Jewish state on Sunday night.

For Kerry and other would-be peacemakers, the confluence of developments only reaffirms the need for a serious peace process to begin.

The Americans have stressed that any talks be carried out in good faith and lead to the full transfer of power to an interim government. Logic, they say, compels that this government not include Assad or other members of his government culpable in widespread abuses.

Getting to the talks hasn't been easy. Kerry is waiting for Syria's Sunni-led opposition coalition to unearth itself from a mountain of internal divisions, from adding new representatives to determining how Islamist or how secular to define their movement.

Opposition leaders met among themselves Monday in Istanbul for the fifth straight day. And while they've grappled for unity, they haven't given a firm yes to the peace strategy outlined by Kerry and Lavrov earlier this month.

Russia has achieved, rhetorically at least, greater success. The Syrian government said Sunday it agreed "in principle" to send delegates to Geneva, strengthening Moscow's hand ahead of any direct ? and potentially proxy ? U.S.-Russian diplomatic negotiations.

With Syria's opposition scrambling politically and militarily, some European countries are looking to change the equation. However, the bloc remained divided Monday on whether to scrap its arms embargo to allow Britain and France to provide the rebels with military aid.

The Obama administration has been mulling a similar step for months. Despite Assad's military advances and evidence that his forces used chemical weapons against the rebels, the Obama administration remains wary about getting too involved.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-27-US-Syria%20Diplomacy/id-f432456887d44685af126bb6cc3faa9c

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In prior overhaul, legalized farmworkers prospered

MADERA, Calif. (AP) ? After Paulino Mejia crossed the border illegally into the U.S. in 1980, he picked grapes, peaches and other crops in California's agricultural heartland, lived in crowded rental housing, hid from immigration agents and sent paychecks to family in his native Mexico.

His life, however, changed in 1986, when Congress agreed to allow immigrants who were in the country illegally to get legal status ? with a special provision that focused on farmworkers.

Mejia then stopped living in fear. He left agriculture to join a construction company that hired only legal workers, sent his two daughters to college and bought a house in Madera, near Fresno, instead of wiring money to Mexico.

"Immigration reform changed my life. It gave my family freedom," he said. "It allowed us to reach the American dream."

With Congress considering a new immigration proposal that includes a speedier process to legal status for farmworkers, experts say the best indicator of how such an overhaul would play out is to look at the fate of the generation of farmworkers legalized over two decades ago.

In Central California, the nation's agricultural powerhouse and a region with one of the highest poverty levels, the 1986 law had a profound impact on people like Mejia.

And like him, many other farmworkers legalized after 1986 have left the fields, moving to jobs in packing houses, warehouses and factories, attending college and working as professionals. And many who remained in agriculture became supervisors, crew leaders or labor contractors.

As their wages soared, they bought cars, houses and trailer homes ? and many airplane tickets to visit family south of the border.

Workers, advocates and experts say immigration reform could again lift many farmworkers, one of the poorest groups of immigrants, out of poverty. But this time, they say, legalization's impact would be much bigger: in 1986, many farmworkers were single men; today most have families.

Unlike in 1986, growers and worker advocates say the current reform proposal would also ensure that a poor, illegal class of farmworkers isn't created again ? by including a viable guest worker program that would allow for a flow of legal temporary workers into California's fields.

"Nobody knows the future, but if the past is any guide, the farmworkers who get legalized, many of them will leave agriculture pretty quickly," said Philip Martin, professor of agricultural and resource economics at University of California, Davis.

More than 1 million farmworkers applied for legalization under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

After the corresponding drop in the number of farmworkers in the country illegally, federal data show that farmers failed to retain their legalized workers and turned again to hiring employees from the groups of people entering the U.S. illegally.

Today, experts say, at least two-thirds of the nation's farmworkers are in the country illegally and those legalized thanks to the 1986 changes make up just 12 to 15 percent of the agricultural workforce.

Experts say newly legalized farmworkers sought non-seasonal, year-round employment with a steady income and benefits such as health insurance or vacations, which are rare in agriculture.

"If you're a seventh-grade educated worker, after legalization you're still a seventh-grade educated worker, but you have more confidence that you will get another job and more opportunities are open to you," Martin said.

Even those who remained in the fields due to lack of language skills, little education or other barriers still benefited, because they were able to claim unemployment insurance and other benefits when farm work dried up for the season.

Other farmworkers went to college.

Fausto Sanchez, of Arvin, Calif., left agriculture for a job as a certified interpreter of Mixteco, an indigenous Mexican language spoken by many farmworkers.

He then got his high school diploma in adult school and an associate's degree in human services. He now works for a nonprofit, educating farmworkers about pesticides, heat rules and workers' rights. He and his wife own a house and two cars ? and he is planning to return to college to become a social worker.

"If I didn't get legalized, all this would not have been possible for me," Sanchez said.

California growers and labor contractors acknowledge many farmworkers would leave the fields if granted legal status.

"There's no question that once farmworkers get a green card, many will apply for other jobs and leave agriculture," said Tom Nassif, president of Western Growers, an industry group that represents California and Arizona growers. "We support the pathway to citizenship at our own peril, knowing we will lose the people who are most skilled and most productive employees within a short time."

But the flight from agriculture may not happen as fast, Nassif said, because the current version of immigration reform requires farmworkers to remain in agriculture for at least five years to qualify for the speedier legalization process.

The current reform proposal, Nassif said, also includes a viable guest worker program to provide a future flow of workers.

And once legalized, some farmworkers will choose to stay in the fields ? as was the case with Julia Cervantes, Mejia's wife, who still occasionally picks grapes and other crops. "I like fresh air. I sincerely like working in the fields," she said.

For Mejia, it came down to wages: He and his wife could not make ends meet with what farmers paid in the fields. "Our family started growing, and we didn't have enough to survive," Mejia said.

Legalization allowed Mejia to get a job erecting the metal frames of big box stores. His brother became a roofer. Other friends became plumbers and electricians, or field supervisors. "The work is easier and the money is better," Mejia said of his new profession.

Prior to the 1986 Amnesty, Mejia wanted to return to Mexico and wired money to build a house in Oaxaca, in southwestern Mexico. But after reform, Mejia's new construction job and his newly acquired social security number allowed his family to buy a home in California. Paying a mortgage and taxes cemented their decision to remain in the U.S.

"Before reform, we were afraid to buy anything or to settle here, because if they deported us, we would lose everything," he said. "Reform helped us to invest here."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prior-overhaul-legalized-farmworkers-prospered-144500757.html

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Japanese politician apologizes for sex comment

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto listens to a reporter's question during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo Monday, May 27, 2013. The outspoken Japanese politician apologized Monday for saying U.S. troops should patronize adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce rapes, but defended another controversial remark about Japan's use of sex slaves during World War II. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, second right, walks off after a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo Monday, May 27, 2013. The outspoken Japanese politician apologized Monday for saying U.S. troops should patronize adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce rapes, but defended another controversial remark about Japan's use of sex slaves during World War II. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo Monday, May 27, 2013. The outspoken Japanese politician apologized Monday for saying U.S. troops should patronize adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce rapes, but defended another controversial remark about Japan's use of sex slaves during World War II. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, center in background, speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo Monday, May 27, 2013. The outspoken Japanese politician apologized Monday for saying U.S. troops should patronize adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce rapes, but defended another controversial remark about Japan's use of sex slaves during World War II. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

TOKYO (AP) ? An outspoken Japanese politician apologized Monday for saying U.S. troops should patronize adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce sex crimes, but defended another inflammatory remark about Japan's use of sex slaves before and during World War II.

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who is also the co-head of an emerging nationalistic party, said his remarks two weeks ago rose from a "sense of crisis" about cases of sexual assaults by U.S. military personnel on Japanese civilians in Okinawa, where a large number of U.S. troops are based under a bilateral security treaty.

"I understand that my remark could be construed as an insult to the U.S. forces and to the American people" and was inappropriate, he said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Tokyo. "I retract this remark and express an apology."

Hashimoto had created an uproar with comments to journalists two weeks ago about Japan's modern and wartime sexual services. They added to recent anger in neighboring countries that suffered from Japan's wartime aggression and have complained about the lack of atonement for atrocities committed during that time.

Hashimoto said on May 13 that on a recent visit to the southern island of Okinawa, he suggested to the U.S. commander there that the troops there "to make better use" of the legal sex industry. "If you don't make use of those places you cannot control the sexual energy of those tough guys," he said.

He also said that Japan's wartime practice of forcing women from across Asia but mostly from South Korea and China to work in front-line brothels was necessary to maintain discipline and provide relaxation for soldiers.

He didn't apologize for those comments Monday, and insisted that Japan's wartime government did not systematically force girls and women into prostitution.

"If only Japan is blamed because of the widely held view that the state authority of Japan was intentionally involved in the abduction and trafficking of women, I will have to inform you that this view is incorrect," he said.

Hashimoto also urged the government to clarify Japan's landmark apology in a 1993 statement by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, and clearly state that Japan's government did not systematically force women into prostitution for its wartime military. Hashimoto has previously supported the view by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government denying official proof of coercion but open to further investigation.

Before taking office in December Abe had advocated revising the Kono statement, but has said recently he stands by that statement and won't revise it.

He said the murkiness of the Kono statement has contributed to longstanding disputes between Japan and South Korea. "We should bring an end to irrational debate."

Hashimoto did call the use of so-called comfort women an "inexcusable act that violated the dignity and human rights of the women, in which large numbers of Korean and Japanese were included."

Still, he claimed he had been quoted out of context to say that he personally believed that the use the system was necessary. He was trying to say that armed forces of nations around the world "seem to have needed women" in past wars and also violated women's human rights during wartime.

Singling out Japan was wrong, as this issue also existed in the armed forces of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the former Soviet Union during World War II, he alleged, without elaborating.

"Based on the premise that Japan must remorsefully face its past offenses and must never justify the offenses, I intended to argue that other nations in the world must not attempt to conclude the matter by blaming only Japan and by associating Japan alone with the simple phrase of 'sex slaves' or 'sex slavery,'" Hashimoto said in the statement.

Hashimoto said any forms of sexual exploitation of women at conflict, whether it is commercial or military run, is inexcusable.,

Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels. While some other World War II armies had military brothels, Japan is the only country accused of such widespread, organized sexual slavery.

Hashimoto, 43, has become well-known in recent years for his outspokenness. Last year, he formed a conservative party, the Japan Restoration Party, with former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, a strident nationalist. The party is now an opposition party in the parliament.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-27-Japan-Sex%20Slaves/id-86f5e1dea101471ba3222c446087fd2e

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East title series shifts to Indy, knotted at 1-1

MIAMI (AP) ? Chris Bosh stood up in a relatively quiet Miami Heat locker room and offered a concise, blunt and accurate assessment of where things stand so far in the Eastern Conference finals.

"Our backs are against the wall," Bosh said.

He's absolutely correct. Advantage, Indiana.

Over the first two games of these Eastern Conference finals in Miami, it was Indiana that primarily had control, never allowing the reigning NBA champions to hold anything more than a five-point lead. The Pacers got a split for their efforts, and now head home to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Sunday night, surely aware that they've already taken a huge step toward pulling off what would undoubtedly be called a huge upset.

"It's even. It's 1-1," Pacers star Paul George said. "They have the possibility of a split as well and taking home-court advantage back. So it's even. We don't feel like they've got the upper hand on us. We don't feel like we've got the upper hand on them."

If they were inclined, the Pacers could be justified to feel otherwise.

Other than letting Game 1 slip away when LeBron James was allowed basically unfettered access to the rim for an easy score on the final play of overtime, Indiana couldn't have asked for more out of its few days in South Florida. The Pacers handed the Heat what became their fourth loss in 50 games. They grabbed home-court advantage. They had the Heat juggling rotations more than at any point so far in this postseason.

Maybe most importantly, they get a sports rarity: A do-over.

A year ago, the Pacers split two games in Miami, took the series back to Indianapolis and couldn't ultimately finish the job. Losing to the Heat last season has haunted the Pacers to some extent ever since, so perhaps it's fitting that a year later ? albeit one round deeper into the playoffs ? the same scenario has presented itself again.

"This whole team is showing great desire and great heart and great belief," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "And that's the only way to put what these guys are doing right now, is they believe we can win this series, and they're giving it all their might. All their might. And they're playing with confidence and they are rising to the challenge. I'm very, very proud of them. We still have a lot of work to do. We all understand that."

So far in this postseason, work has seemed easy for the Pacers in Indianapolis.

Indiana is 6-0 at home in these playoffs, winning by an average of 14 points. The Heat are 4-0 on the road this postseason, also winning those games by an average of 14 points.

Welcome to the "something's got to give" scenario.

"We just stay even-keeled," James said. "We don't get too high, we don't get too low in the series. We know we're going to go into a hostile environment against a very good team, and we look forward to the challenge."

It wouldn't be surprising if James spent the 45 hours spanning the end of Game 2 to the start of Game 3 replaying two passes in his mind, over and over again.

With the Heat down two, James twice tried to get passes to Ray Allen in the final 45 seconds. Both were broken up by West for turnovers that doomed Miami's comeback hopes, and it was just the second time in James' last 442 games where he was charged with two turnovers in the final minute of a fourth quarter, according to STATS.

Indiana's defensive brilliance in this series goes beyond making passing lanes disappear late in Game 2.

The Pacers defended the 3-pointer better than anyone in the league during the regular season, while Miami had the second-best percentage from beyond the arc. That matchup has been all Indiana so far, with the Pacers keeping the Heat to a 30 percent clip. Ray Allen, the most prolific 3-point shooter in league history, is 1 for 6 from that distance. Shane Battier is 0 for 6. Norris Cole, who came up big in the Chicago series, is 1 for 4.

"We're a growing and evolving team," Pacers center Roy Hibbert said. "I think our defense really won us the game for us. ... A lot of times teams just start buckling, and we've been through the wringer before. We're young guys, but we know what we're doing."

Hibbert ? a matchup nightmare for Miami ? has made 19 of 33 shots in the series, averaging 24 points and 9.5 rebounds. George has scored 49 points in the two games. West has scored 39, got to the foul line more than anyone else in the first two games, and made the two huge defensive plays late in Game 2 while being asked to guard a sharpshooter like Allen, no less.

"Take nothing away from their 'Big Three' and what they have going," George said, referring to James, Dwyane Wade and Bosh. "But we'll take a 'Big Five' any day. And that's what we have. We have a 'Big Five' where we have guys who can make plays and we don't lean on one guy. It's a team contribution and that's how we play the game."

James has scored 66 points in the series, one less than what Wade and Bosh have combined for against the Pacers. He also leads the Heat in free throws made and attempted, offensive rebounds, total rebounds and assists in the series.

Even the Pacers' George Hill compared James to God after Game 2. And it was James who, with a brilliant effort in Indianapolis last year, found a way to save Miami in that series. He sounds eager to try and make it happen again.

"I am very disappointed in my judgment and my plays down the stretch," James said. "But I'll make up for them."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/east-title-series-shifts-indy-knotted-1-1-145903480.html

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Watch These Lunatics Ride the Highest Swings in the World

Rumor has it that sometimes sane people enjoy the thrill of an adrenaline rush, but Six Flags Over Texas' new SkyScreamer seems reserved for the insane.

The Texas SkyScreamer officially opens today and stands a whopping 400 feet tall, dwarfing its second tallest brother in Georgia which seems tiny at a mere 242 feet. While the Texas SkyScreamer is based on a pretty tried and true formula, parts of it were actually toned back on account of its crazy height. Unlike other models, it only supports 12 two-seat swings instead of the normal 16, and they spin at a reduced 35 mph as opposed to the usual 43 pmh.

But 400 feet. It's still pretty ridiculous. Just seeing it in action on YouTube is enough to get my knees shaking. I guess I must be a coward. A sane coward. [Reddit]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/watch-these-lunatics-ride-the-highest-swings-in-the-wor-509832981

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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Disco Balls Can Actually Facilitate Art, Not Just Boogying Down

Putting 50 mirrored balls in a semi-lighted room seems like a terrible idea. Actually it seems like a great idea for a rave and a bad idea for an art installation. But it worked out pretty well at the CLICK Festival in Denmark.

Light Leaks by Kyle McDonald and Jonas Jongejan is an installation that uses projectors to control light shining on disco balls. The design relies on structured light scans, which take 41 images each, to map different reflection patterns on the walls. By combining data from all the scans, the designers can predict the position of every projected pixel and can model the reflections in the room using SketchUp.

According to Creative Applications, the designers are planning to install similar works in the future when they can have more control and advanced information about their display space. Surprisingly, the installation is the most mellow and captivating disco ever. [Creative Applications]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/disco-balls-can-actually-facilitate-art-not-just-boogy-509916202

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Russian pro-, anti-gay activists arrested after defying ban

By Jason Bush

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police detained around 30 pro- and anti-gay activists in central Moscow on Saturday, imposing the city's ban on gay rights demonstrations.

The arrests, underlining Russia's tough response to public demonstrations by gay groups, coincided with the first ever gay rally in neighboring Ukraine, which was allowed by the authorities and protected by the police.

Russia's parliament has given preliminary approval to a ban on "homosexual propaganda" targeting minors, which critics say would effectively ban gay rights demonstrations.

The legislation has prompted condemnation from abroad, but President Vladimir Putin has rejected that criticism, saying Russia did not discriminate against gay people.

Putin's traditional support base is among conservative voters, including Russian Orthodox followers, some of whom turned up to show their disapproval of Saturday's rally.

A few dozen gay rights activists gathered in front of the Duma parliament building, as well as on a nearby square.

"It's an outrage that they didn't allow a gay parade ... but I'm glad there weren't fights as in Georgia," said Alexander Asman, who described himself as a gay sympathizer and an observer, a few minutes before being hauled away by police.

There were minor scuffles as police swooped to detain protesters from both sides, but the mostly peaceful event avoided the large-scale violent clashes of gay rallies in Georgia and the Russian city of St Petersburg earlier this month.

Protester Galina Kovtun, who was shaven-headed and wearing a pink T-shirt, described the actions of the authorities as "disgusting and unjust ... There is such a thing as freedom of speech, after all: Article 31 (of the constitution)," she added.

There were also small groups of anti-gay protesters, most wearing traditional Russian dress and religious symbols and chanting hymns and passages from the Bible.

"We are Orthodox believers, defending our Russian land, our traditions and our faith," said Marina Lovtsova, an elderly woman in a traditional head-scarf who was attending the counter-demonstration at the Duma.

"God doesn't allow Sodom and Gomorrah. We will make a stand until the last Russian person."

Despite Russia's constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and assembly, Moscow authorities have repeatedly rejected annual requests by gay activists to hold a parade in the city.

(Reporting By Jason Bush; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-pro-anti-gay-activists-arrested-defying-ban-145031928.html

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Gerard Depardieu goes to Chechnya to film next movie

Depardieu and actress Liz Hurley are paying a visit to Chechnya to make a movie, in what appears to be an effort to remake the former war zone's international image.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / May 23, 2013

Actor Gerard Depardieu participates in a news conference in Grozny May 21, 2013. According to local media, Depardieu is visiting the Chechen capital for the filming of his new movie, "Turquoise."

Rasul Yarichev/REUTERS

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Russians often grit their teeth at the way their country is portrayed in Hollywood films: a grim, wintry post-Soviet wasteland peopled with mafia thugs, drunks, and Kremlin megalomaniacs.

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

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