Fire breaks out in Egypt president's palace grounds

The violence continues in Egypt and Friday it spread to the presidential palace. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

By Ayman Mohyeldin, Correspondent, NBC News

CAIRO ? A fire that broke out inside the grounds of the presidential palace in Egypt Friday was contained and put out, the head of Republican Guard said.

The fire was triggered by demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and stones in clashes with riot police.

Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi issued a statement condemning the wave of violence that erupted outside the palace.

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At least two more people were killed in clashes in Egypt. The violence forced President Mohammad Morsi to cut short a trip to Europe and return to Cairo. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

The president also called on political forces to condemn the violence and withdraw all supporters from the areas surrounding the palace. Morsi said all relevant security agencies had been ordered to end the violence immediately and protect all state and public properties.

Opposition forces expressed their disapproval with protesters. It's unclear why the demonstrations turned hostile and violent.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood said it would "protect the legitimacy of the presidency," which is a veiled threat that the organization could deploy its members and supporters to the palace to confront anti-Morsi protesters.

Reuters reported that at least 15 petrol bombs were thrown over the wall of the palace grounds.

The Associated Press estimated the crowd outside the palace Friday numbered about 6,000.

The violence broke out for an eighth day as opponents of Islamist President Morsi held protests in cities across Egypt.

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On the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, huge crowds take to the streets in five cities.

According to the AP, about 60 people have been killed in clashes over the past week.

There were also minor skirmishes Friday in the Tahrir Square area, home to the U.S. and U.K. embassies.

A few protesters were injured by riot police and they were taken to local hospitals.

Police also fired tear gas near the British embassy to keep protesters at bay.?

NBC News Staff Writer Ian Johnston, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Amr Nabil / AP

An Egyptian protester tries to escape from fire after he burned an anti-Mohammed Morsi banner in front of the presidential palace in Cairo on Friday.

Related:?

Egypt army chief: Using military to secure the streets is 'very risky'

Analysis: Egypt violence is rooted in the economy, not just politics

US aid seems secure despite Egyptian turmoil

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/01/16804660-fire-breaks-out-in-egypts-presidential-palace-grounds-amid-violent-clashes?lite

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Habitat loss hits UK moth numbers

31 January 2013 Last updated at 21:42 ET By Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News

Two-thirds of Britain's 337 species of common larger moths have experienced a substantial decline over the past four decades, a survey has shown.

The V-moth (Marcaria wauaria), once a common sight in gardens, recorded a 99% fall in numbers from 1968-2007.

Habitat loss and deteriorating land are thought to be behind the decline.

The findings appear in the State of Britain's Larger Moths 2013 report, produced by Butterfly Conservation and Rothamsted Research.

"Larger moth in Britain are showing substantial and significant decreases in their populations over this 40-year period," observed lead author Richard Fox.

"This not only includes a big decrease in the total abundance of moths, but also a large decline in a large number of individual species."

"Generally speaking, these are common and widespread moths that live in our gardens and farmed countryside, so we are not talking about rare, special species."

Overall, the four decades of data showed that the total abundance of larger moths declined by 28%.

Changing habits

The biggest loser, the V-moth, was once found in most English counties but now its presence is restricted to "very few areas", Mr Fox, surveys manager for Butterfly Conservation, added.

"It is also quite an interesting example because V-moth caterpillars feed on gooseberry and currant leaves and, although we do not know why the species has declined, we are drawn to speculate that the decline of the V-moth might be something to do with our gardening habits.

"It may be that far fewer people grow their own gooseberries and currants in their gardens. Alternatively or in conjunction with this, it may be that people - especially in their own gardens - may be using pesticides far more than in the past."

He said that there was no clear evidence for the decline, but studies were finding that habitat loss and, as a result, diminishing food sources, were major contributing factors.

"In the farmed landscape, for example, intensification has removed hedgerows, hedgerow trees, field margins where there would have been wild flowers growing.

Continue reading the main story

Winners and losers

Some species - such as the Blair's shoulder-knot - have recorded an increase over the past 40 years

Losers:

V-moth(Macaria wauaria) 99% decrease

Garden dart (Euxoa nigrican) 98% decrease

Double dart (Graphiphora augur) 98% decrease

Dusky thorn (Ennomos fuscantaria) 98% decrease

Hedge rustic (Tholera cespitis) 97% decrease

Winners:

Least carpet (Idaea rusticata) 74,684% increase

Blair's Shoulder-knot (Lithophane leautieri) 7,878% increase

Treble brown spot (Idaea trigeminata) 4,312% increase

Buff footman (Eilema depressa) 3,884% increase

Scarce footman (E. complana) 3,590% increase

(Source: Butterfly Conservation/Rothamsted Research)

"Although we do not have a baseline of data that goes back to the pre-intensification of farming in Britain, there are quite a lot of studies that have been done which have shown that on farms where they do still have hedgerows, trees and wide field margins then that does have benefits, in terms of the variety of moths that are seen as well as overall abundance," he told BBC News.

He added that studies had also identified changes to forestry management and urbanisation as drivers for the decline in moths.

Silver lining

While the findings revealed a widespread overall decline, about a third of species did record an increase in numbers.

Among them was the footman group of moths, Mr Fox explained.

"The thing that they all have in common is that their caterpillars feed on lichen and algae.

"Again there is a temptation to wonder whether the improvement in these moths numbers and distribution might be linked to increases in the amount of food available to them in the landscape.

"This could be linked to improvements in air quality because lichens were greatly reduced during the time of acid rain and air pollution. We also have an increasingly nitrogen-rich environment that might be beneficial for algae."

The report's authors said that more than 2,500 moth species have been recorded in England, Wales and Scotland, of which about 900 are described as larger moths (macro-moths) and 1,600 micro-moths.

They added that the overall decline pointed to a wider insect biodiversity crisis and mirrored declines of butterflies, bees and carabid beetles.

"The declines could have a knock-on effect for plant pollination and animals reliant on moths for food, such as garden and woodland birds, bats and small mammals," they said.

Mr Fox highlighted that entry level enviro-agricultural stewardship schemes, such as the one funded by the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, offered a potential solution to halt the decline.

"They are aimed at large numbers of farmers and landowners doing simple thing that will put back some of the semi-natural features that have been lost in intensively farmed landscapes," he explained.

"The has been some really good research done in the past few years by Oxford University, in conjunction with Butterfly Conservation, that showed simply having trees in hedgerows on farms in lowland England has a really beneficial effect on both the variety and abundance of large moths that occur there."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21246322#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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German jitters hit European shares, euro

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares fell for a second straight day and the euro slid on Thursday, as weak German retail sales and poor earnings at its biggest bank added to investors' nerves after a shock fourth quarter contraction in the U.S. economy.

Data on Wednesday showed U.S. GDP slipped back 0.1 percent, though the country's central bank, the Federal Reserve, indicated the pullback was likely to be brief as it repeated its pledge to continue providing support.

European shares, which have surged 3.7 percent this month, took their biggest daily hit of the year on Wednesday, and a plunge in German retail sales and a huge quarterly loss from Deutsche Bank dashed hopes of a quick rebound.

London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> were all around 0.3 percent lower by 0830 GMT as trading gathered pace after shares in Asia posted modest gains. <.l><.eu><.n/>

"Perhaps the German retail sales have contributed a little bit, but we knew that Q4 was weak, so I would it attribute it more to earnings news," said Chris Scicluna, an economist at Daiwa Capital Markets.

"The Deutsche Bank loss does look to be on the sizable side. There has clearly been some mismatch between financial markets and the real economy so that does lend itself to a bit of a pullback."

In the currency market, the German jitters also left the euro under pressure. It was well off Wednesday's 14-month high at $1.3548, though the Federal Reserves promise of continued support was expected to mitigate the fall by keeping downward pressure on the dollar.

The nervy market atmosphere also pushed up Spanish and Italian government bond yields as some investors switched from higher-yielding debt into German Bunds.

Spanish 10-year yields rose 10 basis points on the day to 5.31 percent, while equivalent Italian debt rose 10 bps to 4.38 percent.

German Bund futures were half a point higher, spurred on by the Fed's determination to maintain its policy of stimulus for the U.S. economy.

Spot gold hovered near its one-week high of $1,683.39 an ounce reached on Wednesday. A weak yen pushed the most active gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange to a record high of 4,944 yen a gram on Thursday.

(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-off-highs-feds-stance-underpins-markets-033646580--finance.html

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Strategy Analytics: Apple tops US phone market for Q4 2012, but Samsung takes the year

Strategy Analytics have shared the state of the global smartphone OS market, but today it's focused specifically on the US, where the iPhone 5 helped Apple to reclaim the last quarter from Samsung. iPhone claimed 34 percent of vendor shipments in the last quarter, while Samsung's smartphone range wasn't far behind with 32.3 percent. Apple's resurgence with its new smartphone couldn't catch up with Samsung's lead earlier in the year, however, with the Korean phone-maker commanding a 31.8 percent share of all smartphones shipped over the last 12 months. Apple was next with 26.2 percent, while LG came third with 12.3 percent of all phones sold.

The analytics firm reckons that 52 million devices were shipped in Q4, increasing just short of 2 million units since the same period last year. However, it also noted that annual sales in the US were actually less than in 2012 than in the preceding year, dropping just under 20 million units in the interim. Strategy Analytics pointed the finger at economic uncertainty and tougher carrier upgrade policies for the drop in shipments.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung

Comments

Via: TNW

Source: Strategy Analytics

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/01/strategy-analytics-apple-tops-us-phone-market-for-q4-2012/

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Archaic Native Americans built massive Louisiana mound in less than 90 days

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Nominated early this year for recognition on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which includes such famous cultural sites as the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu and Stonehenge, the earthen works at Poverty Point, La., have been described as one of the world's greatest feats of construction by an archaic civilization of hunters and gatherers.

Now, new research in the current issue of the journal Geoarchaeology, offers compelling evidence that one of the massive earthen mounds at Poverty Point was constructed in less than 90 days, and perhaps as quickly as 30 days ? an incredible accomplishment for what was thought to be a loosely organized society consisting of small, widely scattered bands of foragers.

"What's extraordinary about these findings is that it provides some of the first evidence that early American hunter-gatherers were not as simplistic as we've tended to imagine," says study co-author T.R. Kidder, PhD, professor and chair of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

"Our findings go against what has long been considered the academic consensus on hunter-gather societies ? that they lack the political organization necessary to bring together so many people to complete a labor-intensive project in such a short period."

Co-authored by Anthony Ortmann, PhD, assistant professor of geosciences at Murray State University in Kentucky, the study offers a detailed analysis of how the massive mound was constructed some 3,200 years ago along a Mississippi River bayou in northeastern Louisiana.

Based on more than a decade of excavations, core samplings and sophisticated sedimentary analysis, the study's key assertion is that Mound A at Poverty Point had to have been built in a very short period because an exhaustive examination reveals no signs of rainfall or erosion during its construction.

"We're talking about an area of northern Louisiana that now tends to receive a great deal of rainfall," Kidder says. "Even in a very dry year, it would seem very unlikely that this location could go more than 90 days without experiencing some significant level of rainfall. Yet, the soil in these mounds shows no sign of erosion taking place during the construction period. There is no evidence from the region of an epic drought at this time, either."

Part of a much larger complex of earthen works at Poverty Point, Mound A is believed to be the final and crowning addition to the sprawling 700-acre site, which includes five smaller mounds and a series of six concentric C-shaped embankments that rise in parallel formation surrounding a small flat plaza along the river. At the time of construction, Poverty Point was the largest earthworks in North America.

Built on the western edge of the complex, Mound A covers about 538,000 square feet [roughly 50,000 square meters] at its base and rises 72 feet above the river. Its construction required an estimated 238,500 cubic meters ? about eight million bushel baskets ? of soil to be brought in from various locations near the site. Kidder figures it would take a modern, 10-wheel dump truck about 31,217 loads to move that much dirt today.

"The Poverty Point mounds were built by people who had no access to domesticated draft animals, no wheelbarrows, no sophisticated tools for moving earth," Kidder explains. "It's likely that these mounds were built using a simple 'bucket brigade' system, with thousands of people passing soil along from one to another using some form of crude container, such as a woven basket, a hide sack or a wooden platter."

Kidder analyzes the varied colors and layers of the soils of Mound A, which are a result of the building process. Indians carried basket-loads of dirt weighing roughly 55 pounds and piled them up carefully to form the mound.

To complete such a task within 90 days, the study estimates it would require the full attention of some 3,000 laborers. Assuming that each worker may have been accompanied by at least two other family members, say a wife and a child, the community gathered for the build must have included as many as 9,000 people, the study suggests.

"Given that a band of 25-30 people is considered quite large for most hunter-gatherer communities, it's truly amazing that this ancient society could bring together a group of nearly 10,000 people, find some way to feed them and get this mound built in a matter of months," Kidder says.

Soil testing indicates that the mound is located on top of land that was once low-lying swamp or marsh land ? evidence of ancient tree roots and swamp life still exists in undisturbed soils at the base of the mound. Tests confirm that the site was first cleared for construction by burning and quickly covered with a layer of fine silt soil. A mix of other heavier soils then were brought in and dumped in small adjacent piles, gradually building the mound layer upon layer.

As Kidder notes, previous theories about the construction of most of the world's ancient earthen mounds have suggested that they were laid down slowly over a period of hundreds of years involving small contributions of material from many different people spanning generations of a society. While this may be the case for other earthen structures at Poverty Point, the evidence from Mound A offers a sharp departure from this accretional theory.

Kidder's home base in St. Louis is just across the Mississippi River from one of America's best known ancient earthen structures, the Monk Mound at Cahokia, Ill. He notes that the Monk Mound was built many centuries later than the mounds at Poverty Point by a civilization that was much more reliant on agriculture, a far cry from the hunter-gatherer group that built Poverty Point. Even so, Mound A at Poverty Point is much larger than almost any other mound found in North America; only Monk's Mound at Cahokia is larger.

"We've come to realize that the social fabric of these socieites must have been much stronger and more complex that we might previously have given them credit. These results contradict the popular notion that pre-agricultural people were socially, politically, and economically simple and unable to organize themselves into large groups that could build elaborate architecture or engage in so-called complex social behavior," Kidder says. "The prevailing model of hunter-gatherers living a life 'nasty, brutish and short' is contradicted and our work indicates these people were practicing a sophisticated ritual/religious life that involved building these monumental mounds."

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Washington University in St. Louis: http://www.wustl.edu

Thanks to Washington University in St. Louis for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126557/Archaic_Native_Americans_built_massive_Louisiana_mound_in_less_than____days

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Obama confident about immigration, but warns 'I'm not a king' (Washington Bureau)

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Changing Mindsets on Adoption

In a recent article by Ashley Lauren at care2.com she asks, ?Why Aren?t People Adopting?? She goes through some reasons that deserve further elaboration?.

The first has to do with cost. Lauren writes that the cost of adoption ?is incredibly prohibitive.? Adoption.com states, ?Adopting from the U.S. foster care system is generally the least expensive type of adoption, usually involving little or no cost, and states often provide subsidies to adoptive parents?Agency and private adoptions can range from $5,000 to $40,000 or more depending on a variety of factors including services provided, travel expenses, birthmother expenses, requirements in the state, and other factors. International adoptions can range from $7,000 to $30,000. This can be especially prohibitive considering many insurance carriers cover fertility treatments as well as doctors appointments leading up to and including the birth of the child.?

Hope for Orphans also has indicated that the cost can range ?nothing upwards of $30,000.? Now, that is a lot of money. However, what many people don?t realize is how much assistance is available for parents who adopt. There are federal adoption tax credits and grants for sizeable amounts to assist families wanting to adopt. There are also fee reductions for special needs children, and financial assistance is often offered through churches. The way Hope for Orphans sees it, adoption can be made ?affordable for almost anyone willing to pursue the options available.?

What if this was the mindset!

Other issues have to do with wait time and legalities. Lauren writes that ?with tighter restrictions, hopeful parents often have to wait years before they can bring their child home.? While it has been common to believe that it takes a long time to complete the adoption process, recent polls indicate otherwise; according to adoption expert and founder of Lifetime Adoption Center Mardie Caldwell, the process generally takes about a year.

But the biggest reason why more people don?t adopt has to do with wanting newborns. Lauren writes, ?Many partners who want children want newborn babies so they can experience those cute baby years, but oftentimes the heartbreak associated with trying to adopt a newborn is too much to bear as birth mothers can, and do, change their minds about adoptions when they see their babies.?

Caldwell might very well disagree ? that in reality, there are tens of thousands of families each year that adopt healthy, newborn babies through adoption. Many of them are through open adoption, where the biological mother, often called the birth mother, may have chosen the family herself. And today?s adoption laws protect against birth parents being able to take the child back. Hope for Orphans suggests that adoptive parents work with attorneys who have expertise in this area and can make sure all legal papers are signed. This will ?nearly eliminate this possibility.?

Beyond the myths and true reasons, there is a deeper reason why more people who want children do not adopt.? It boils down to the pronatalist assumption that ?biology is best.? Pronatalist dogma has stressed that having your own child is the way to have a child. Somehow you are not a ?real? woman, a true mother, if you don?t have your own biological child.

What if we dumped this thinking, and instead valued adoption as the first choice, not as the last resort? Women who are having a hard time conceiving not feel something is ?wrong? and that the only solution is an expensive procedure like in vitro fertilization, and they could more readily decide to put that money toward adopting a child.? Children in need of loving homes would clearly greatly benefit. Foster homes could decrease, and the adoption process would become even more effective-because we more highly value it. Want-to-be-parents would get to have the experience of parenting.? The world would not bring another person onto an already crowded planet.? With? each adopted child, the world would be saved from the carbon wake that comes with every new biological child.

So many benefits would come from changing mindsets away from having to feel the need to have a biological child in order to fulfill one?s desire to be a parent!

Source: http://lauracarroll.com/changing-mindsets-on-adoption/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=changing-mindsets-on-adoption

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