Astronomer studies far-off worlds through 'characterization by proxy'

Apr. 25, 2013 ? A University of Washington astronomer is using Earth's interstellar neighbors to learn the nature of certain stars too far away to be directly measured or observed, and the planets they may host.

"Characterization by proxy" is the technique used by Sarah Ballard, a post-doctoral researcher at the UW, to infer the properties of small, relatively cool stars too distant for measurement, by comparing them to closer stars that now can be directly observed.

Ballard is lead author of a study accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal that used this method and observations from the Kepler Space Telescope to learn the nature of the distant star Kepler-61.

Our understanding of the size and temperature of planets depends crucially on the size and temperature of the stars they orbit. Astronomers already have a robust way to discern the physical properties of solar-type stars -- those like the sun -- by measuring the light they emit at different wavelengths and matching that to synthetically created spectra.

"The challenge is that small stars are incredibly difficult to characterize," Ballard said. Those theoretical methods don't work well for what are called M-dwarf stars, lower-mass stars about half the size of the sun and smaller -- which is too bad, because such stars make up about three-quarters of the universe.

Ballard is using the characterization by proxy method to try to fill this knowledge gap. She is building on what she calls "truly remarkable" work by astronomer Tabetha Boyajian, now at Yale University, who uses a near-infrared interferometer -- an array of telescopes working in unison studying light wavelengths a bit longer than visible light -- to resolve the physical size of relatively nearby stars.

Ballard said her characterization by proxy method takes "full advantage that there now exists this precious sample" of relatively nearby stars that have been directly measured. You could say the method borrows a bit from Greek mathematician Euclid, whose first "common notion" held that things that equal the same thing must necessarily also equal each other.

In the new paper, Ballard and co-authors used this reasoning to learn about Kepler-61b, a planet orbiting near the inner edge of the habitable zone of the distant, low-mass star Kepler-61, about 900 light-years away in the Cygnus Constellation. A star's habitable zone is that swath of space just right for an orbiting planet's surface water to be in liquid form, thus giving life a chance.

She did this by comparing it to temperature size averages from four spectroscopically similar stars between 12 and 25 light-years away in the Ursa Major and Cygnus constellations. A light-year is about 6 trillion miles.

A funny thing also happened along the way: Kepler-61 turned out to be bigger and hotter than expected, which in turn recalibrated planet Kepler-61b's relative size upward as well -- meaning it, too, would be hotter than previously thought and no longer a resident of the star's habitable zone.

All of this caused Ballard to informally subtitle the paper, "How Nearby Stars Bumped a Planet out of the Habitable Zone."

Funding for the research came from NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington. The original article was written by Peter Kelley.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/Pqnj7kUN2vI/130426114641.htm

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Now the House Takes on Immigration

The Senate has been hogging the spotlight on immigration over the past few months, starting in February with an agreed-upon set of principles from a bipartisan ?Gang of Eight? senators and ending this week with a fully drafted bill and at least 11 hours of hearings.

Now it?s the House?s turn, starring the enigmatic Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., an immigration attorney and 20-year veteran of Congress who assumed the helm of the committee this year. Goodlatte matters a great deal ?in this debate, but it still isn't clear exactly what he will do. And that's fine with him.

We learned a tad more about Goodlatte?s approach to immigration at a press conference Thursday. The committee is unveiling two small immigration bills this week as discussion pieces for House members?one creating an agricultural visa program and one requiring employers to use an electronic verification system.

Those bills aren't all, Goodlatte assured. More proposals are coming, and they will address all of the big areas, including the 11 million to 12?million undocumented immigrants currently in the country. The message to the anxious immigration-reform advocates who fear a ?piecemeal? approach is this: Don?t freak out. We just have to do this our own way.

Since it became clear after last year?s elections that immigration was going to be a top issue in Congress, Goodlatte has been resolutely unwilling to make declarations about where he stands. That is no small feat as stakeholders and reporters clamor for any tidbits that might inform the chances for the legislation.

Does he support legalization of the current undocumented population? Will his committee vote on a comprehensive bill being drafted by a House Gang of Eight that does not include him? That will all be worked out, he told me cheerfully in February as I chased him on the way out of a hearing.

Goodlatte was slightly more informative on Thursday, indicating a willingness to look at all proposals on immigration and emphasizing the need to include Democrats in the legislative process.?

But there are no committee votes scheduled and no promises of anything more than lots of hearings. It sounds a lot like delay tactics if not for the intensity with which he describes how the current immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed.

Goodlatte is starting from the beginning with his own caucus. He has already briefed 100 House Republicans on basic immigration law and the areas that need improving, and he will continue to hold small sessions to explain the basics. He is encouraging Democrats to do the same.?

Despite the vagueness, there were three important nuggets of information gleaned Thursday?from this sometimes frustratingly opaque lawmaker. They are:?

The undocumented population won?t be left out.?Goodlatte opened his press conference referring to ?11 million people who live in the shadows.? They are real people with real problems trying to find a better way to help their families.? Asked specifically whether he supports legalization of this group, as the Senate gang has proposed, he said that in order to deal with immigration reform generally, ?You have to get to that point.?

Goodlatte reiterated statements from other conservative Republicans working toward a broad immigration overhaul in saying that he does not favor ?a special path to citizenship? but is open to ?some kind of legal status.?

Like many Republicans involved in crafting a bigger immigration package, Goodlatte stressed that his own support for a path to citizenship is dependent on a real commitment to shoring up enforcement on the border and at United States worksites.

"Piecemeal" approach not set in stone.?Rumors have been swirling all year that the House would be unwilling to take up a major immigration bill, with lawmakers preferring to pass a series of smaller bills on isolated issues. Many House Republicans are insisting on a separate border-security bill that doesn?t include unpopular provisions for their party, like the Dream Act for undocumented youth or probationary legalization for the broader unauthorized population.

The "piecemeal" strategy has been considered by advocates to be the death knell of the reform effort.

Goodlatte isn?t adopting a piecemeal approach, at least we don't think so. He?is?taking a piece-by-piece approach in analyzing immigration, but he made it clear Thursday?that when it comes down to actual committee votes, border security by itself ?does not have to be addressed in one separate bill.?

Dream Act eligibles could be given dispensation.?Asked specifically about the Dream Act, the easiest legalization piece of immigration reform for many conservatives to accept, Goodlatte indicated that kids brought to the country illegally by their parents should be considered separately.

?It should be obvious to most people that children brought here by their parents are in a different status ? than people who willfully violated immigration laws,? he said.

Going further, Goodlatte said there may be many different ways of dealing with unauthorized immigrants. ?You don?t have to consider the 11 million as one body of people. There are a number of different categories.? Criminals, for example, would not be given any legal status, he said.

The bottom line for Goodlatte and Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is that the House will work in its own way on its own schedule even as the Senate scrambles to pass an immigration bill this summer. Goodlatte will make sure they don?t look idle, but what actually happens on his side of the Capitol is still anyone?s guess.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a die-hard advocate of a path to citizenship, was encouraged by Goodlatte's proclamations, even though some questions remain unanswered. "Today's press conference confirms what I have been saying publicly and privately about the new tone and new interest among Republicans. They want to solve the immigration-policy issue and not just exploit it for partisan politics," he said in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/now-house-takes-immigration-113743224--politics.html

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Max Baucus's Sudden Retirement Puts Pressure on Former Montana Governor

Rarely has a senator done so much to prepare for reelection only to, in the end, retire instead. But that?s what happened with Sen. Max Baucus, and now Democrats are scrambling to recruit the one candidate who can prevent the Montana Senate seat from falling into Republican hands.

Baucus?s sudden retirement announcement Tuesday is such a surprise because he had worked so diligently to prepare for reelection?one far from assured given Montana?s conservative bent. (As one former campaign hand put it, ?Left field? This is out of the bleachers.?) The preparation was most evident in his fundraising: The six-term incumbent raised more than $1.5 million in the first three months of 2013, a prodigious total for any lawmaker but especially for one in a relatively inexpensive state for TV advertising. He had almost $5 million cash on hand.

In his votes and rhetoric, Baucus also looked like a lawmaker bent on courting red-state voters. He was one of four Democrats to oppose his colleagues? own budget proposal and the tax increases included in it. He voted against compromise gun-control legislation that expanded background checks despite it attracting the support of four Republican senators. Even two fellow Democrats up for reelection in red states next year?Kay Hagan and Mary Landrieu?backed the measure.

And just last week, Baucus called the implementation of Obama?s health care law a ?train wreck,? even though he helped shepherd the legislation through Congress, ?That caused a tizzy among many Senate Republican officials, who speculated the senator was attempting to save his own reelection campaign by performing early damage control on a politically toxic issue. ??

But even if retirement talk has been off the public?s radar, it?s been something the senator has been considering, according to one former Baucus aide. A contributing factor, according to the source, was the septuagenarian was not eager to balance legislative fights, fundraisers and another tough reelection battle.

Although the senator?s path to reelection was always going to be difficult in a state Mitt Romney won by double digits last year, he didn?t appear as endangered as colleagues such as Landrieu in Louisiana, Mark Begich in Alaska, and Mark Pryor in Arkansas. He had yet to draw a first-tier challenger?only state Senate Majority Leader Corey Stapleton and state Rep. Champ Edmunds had declared they were running. Just last year, incumbent Sen. Jon Tester won reelection in Montana.

Baucus is the fourth consequential Democratic retirement this year, joining Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. As with those previous retirements, his departure could give Republicans a golden opportunity to win a Senate seat and boost for their hopes of retaking the chamber.

But Democrats have been quick to suggest that former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who left office this year, is interested in running. The popular former statewide official, who doesn?t possess a potentially harmful voting record like Baucus has, might even be a stronger candidate than the incumbent.

?Democrats have had a great deal of electoral success in Montana over the last decade, and I am confident that will continue,? Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Michael Bennet said in a statement. ?Democrats built an unprecedented ground game in Montana in 2012 when Senator Tester was reelected, and we will continue to invest all the resources necessary to hold this seat.?

Schweitzer, who won reelection as the state?s governor in 2008 with more than 60 percent of the vote, fits the model of the kind of candidate Senate Democrats like to recruit?someone who can carve out the necessary independent image for Democrats to win in red states.? He helped elect a Democratic successor, former state Attorney General Steve Bullock, into the governor?s mansion last year.

Some Montana Democrats are also floating the name of Stephanie Schriock, the president of EMILY?s List and a Montana native. The former chief of staff to Tester doesn't have the ideal background for the red-state race, but she would command a national fundraising base.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/max-baucuss-sudden-retirement-puts-pressure-former-montana-155457289--politics.html

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Full Samsung Knox launch delayed until a 'later date'

The Galaxy S 4 launch was also supposed to mark the release of Knox, Samsung's plan to balance home life and work through software. Unfortunately, Galaxy owners will have to live slightly off-kilter for a while longer -- the company has officially delayed full Knox service to a "later date." While the GS 4 ships with the necessary underpinnings, both distributors and providers have to fall into place before the suite is completely ready. Samsung hasn't officially said when it expects Knox to arrive in earnest, although the New York Times claims that it may appear as late as July. Whether or not that's true, the setback adds to what's becoming a hitch-prone debut for Samsung's 2013 Android flagship.

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5 shot to death in Illinois home, suspect killed

MANCHESTER, Ill. (AP) ? Authorities in central Illinois have yet to identify the five people who are believed to have been shot to death in their home by a man who was later gunned down by police.

The nephew of Manchester's mayor shot to death two women, two boys and a man before leading police on a chase that ended in an exchange of gunfire that left him dead, authorities said Wednesday.

Illinois State Police said they believe Rick O. Smith, 43, entered the home through the back door and shot the victims at close range with a shotgun. Two people were found in a bedroom, two in a second bedroom and the man in the hallway. A sixth victim, a 6-year-old girl, was injured and taken to a Springfield hospital.

"The offender took the 6-year-old out of the residence and put her in the hands of a neighbor," State Police Lt. Col. Todd Kilby said.

Officials have not revealed a motive for the killings. Police said the victims are related. The Scott County coroner's office says the identities of the victims will be released after autopsies are performed early Thursday.

Authorities believe Smith and the victims were acquainted, but they didn't provide details of the relationships.

A bystander called police and told them that Smith fled the home in a white sedan. A car chase ensued, leading authorities to the nearby town of Winchester, where Smith and officers exchanged gunfire. Officers shot Smith, and he later died at a hospital.

Police said they found a rifle, shotgun and large hunting knife in Smith's car.

Scott County State's Attorney Michael Hill said Smith, of rural Morgan County, had previous convictions for reckless homicide, drugs and bad checks.

Manchester Mayor Ronald Drake confirmed that Smith was his nephew, saying he hadn't spoken to Smith in two years but that he believed his nephew was unemployed. Drake said the last time Smith contacted him was to borrow tools.

In Manchester, yellow police tape surrounded the small one-story brick home where the victims were found. Manchester is a village of about 300 residents located about 50 miles west of Springfield.

"It's a close-knit community," Drake said. "Everybody talks to everybody. ... We enjoy everything that goes on (in) town. This is just a tragedy for (the) whole town."

The last homicide in Scott County was 20 years ago, in 1993.

Manchester resident Julie Hardwick, 48, said she lives in the same county housing authority complex as the victims. She said authorities told her she couldn't return to her home yet because of the investigation.

"The kids were really nice," Hardwick said of the family. "You couldn't ask for better kids."

The Rev. Robin Lyons of Manchester United Methodist Church, one of two churches in the community said, "this shows tragedy can happen anywhere."

Two area school superintendents said they received calls from county sheriffs before 6 a.m. informing them that five people had been shot to death at a house in Manchester and that a suspect was at large.

Superintendent David Roberts of the Winchester School District and Les Stevens of the North Greene Unit District No. 3 both said they immediately canceled classes when they were told of the shootings and that other school districts did the same.

Roberts said the wounded girl is a student at Winchester Grade School and her teacher was with her at the Springfield hospital.

The school will use its own counselor, nurse and other staff members to help students who need to talk, Roberts said. Other area districts have offered to help too.

Roberts said he also will call on area ministers to be available on campus. "I've found that to be helpful in the past," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Don Babwin and Jason Keyser in Chicago and David Mercer in Champaign, Ill., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-shot-death-illinois-home-suspect-killed-071322758.html

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Metro profit triples on stake sale, warns of competition

(Reuters) - Metro Inc, Canada's No. 3 grocer, more than tripled quarterly earnings after selling part of a convenience store operator, but it warned of a "challenging" competitive environment.

Metro and other Canadian supermarket chains face stern competition from Target Corp, the U.S. discount retailer, which opened its first three Canadian stores last month and plans to have more than 100 by the end of this year.

Metro and rivals such as Loblaw Cos Ltd, Canada's largest grocer, are already under pressure from the expansion of Wal-Mart Stores Inc's grocery business in Canada.

"The competitive environment will remain challenging in the coming quarters," Chief Executive Eric La Fleche said in a statement.

Loblaw, in its fourth-quarter earnings in February, had said sales growth in 2013 would be moderated by the entry of a new competitor, among other things.

Metro's net earnings rose to C$366.8 million ($357.5 million), or C$3.77 per share, in the second quarter, from C$96.1 million, or 94 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

The earnings were helped by an after-tax, one-time gain of C$266.4 million related to the sale of nearly half of its stake in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned C$1.02 per share from continuing operations.

Sales fell 3 percent to C$2.51 billion. The fall was primarily due to the inclusion of the week preceding Christmas in the first quarter, compared with the second quarter a year earlier.

Sales at established stores, an important indicator for retailers, were flat for the quarter.

Metro, which operates more than 600 food stores and more than 250 drugstores in Canada, said it planned to repurchase for cancellation up to 1 million of its common shares.

The repurchase would form part of the renewed buyback program, which company announced in September.

Shares of Montreal, Quebec-based Metro closed at C$66.09 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Shounak Dasgupta in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/metro-profit-more-triples-alimentation-stake-sale-gain-112317251--sector.html

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The Situation Reality Show: Apparently Still Happening For Some Reason

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Taraji P. Henson At The Cinema Society Screening of 'Mud ...

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Actress Taraji P. Henson?showed her love for neon at the The Cinema Society Screening of ?Mud? hosted by Fiji Water and Levis held at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She wore a?Mary Katrantzou?spring 2013 bird and tribal printed dress ($1,160).

MUST READ:?FAB OR FUG: Jennifer Hudson?s Disco Diva Jumpsuit (POLL)

I am so impressed by Taraji?s style. I?ve watched her throughout the years, and either she?s got a new dope stylist or is really feeling being 40 and fabulous. And let?s have a dance party for those shoes! I know you beauties love this look, right? Or ?

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BumpWatch: Kristin Richardson?s Backstreet Belly

Joining Richardson, 41, at the ceremony was wife Kristin -- whose pregnancy was announced last week -- and their son Mason, 5?.

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Paraguayans vote for president; Colorado favored

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) ? Paraguayans are voting for president, congress and governors in elections they hope will end the country's isolation from regional groups that challenged last year's impeachment of President Fernando Lugo as a threat to the democracies of neighboring countries.

Most pre-election polls are giving the lead in Sunday's contest to wealthy businessman Horacio Cartes of the Colorado Party. Leading challenger Efrain Alegre of the Radical Liberals says he might not accept the results until votes are certified in May.

The initial count is to be announced Sunday night by Paraguay's Supreme Electoral Court.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner laureate Oscar Arias is leading an observer mission from the Organization of American States. He says he has complete confidence in the results that will be released by the electoral court.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paraguayans-vote-president-colorado-favored-172650363.html

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Photos force suspects' move, breaking bombing case

This Monday, April 15, 2013 photo provided by Bob Leonard shows second from left, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was dubbed Suspect No. 1 and third from left, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforcement. This image was taken approximately 10-20 minutes before the blast. (AP Photo/Bob Leonard)

This Monday, April 15, 2013 photo provided by Bob Leonard shows second from left, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was dubbed Suspect No. 1 and third from left, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforcement. This image was taken approximately 10-20 minutes before the blast. (AP Photo/Bob Leonard)

This Monday, April 15, 2013, shows a man who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforcement, in the upper center of the frame, wearing a white baseball cap, walking away from the scene of the explosions. The FBI identified him as 19-year-old college student Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his brother Tamerlan, 26, previously known as Suspect No. 1, killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and hurled explosives at police in a car chase and gun battle during a night of violence, early Friday, April 19, 2013. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed overnight, officials said, while his brother Dzhokhar remains at large. (AP Photo/David Green) EXCLUSIVE CONTENT-SPECIAL RATES APPLY FOR NON-AP MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS.

This combination of photos provided on Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, left, and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, right, shows a suspect that officials have identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, being sought by police in connection with Monday's Boston Marathon bombings. (AP Photo/FBI, BRIC)

This Monday, April 15, 2013 photo provided by Bob Leonard shows third from right, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforcement. This image was taken approximately 10-20 minutes before the blast. (AP Photo/Bob Leonard)

This combo of photos released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation early Friday April 19, 2013, shows what the FBI is calling suspects number 1, left, and suspect number 2, right, walking through the crowd in Boston on Monday, April 15, 2013, before the explosions at the Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/FBI)

BOSTON (AP) ? Moments after investigators went before television cameras to broadcast photos of the two men in ball caps wanted for the Boston Marathon bombing, queries from viewers started cascading in ? 300,000 hits a minute that overwhelmed the FBI's website.

It marked a key turning point in a search that, for all the intensity of its first 72 hours, had failed to locate the suspects. While it's unclear how much the tips that resulted helped investigators zero in, experts say it instantly turned up already intense pressure on the two men to flee or almost certainly be recognized ? increasing the chances they'd make mistakes that would lead to them being exposed.

The decision to ask the public for help also was something of a gamble, one that investigators had to weigh carefully.

"It was a good decision to put this out to the public ... and this would have been a calculated risk. But the intent would have been to get these guys to change their pattern" of behavior, said Martin Reardon, who spent 21 years as an FBI agent and is now a vice president of security consultant The Soufan Group.

Releasing the photos greatly increased the odds the two men would be recognized and turned in, even as it significantly upped the chances they would try to vanish or commit more mayhem ? exactly the scenario that has played out.

"Clearly these guys were reacting and responding exactly as (law enforcement) predicted," said Robert Taylor, a criminologist at the University of Texas at Dallas who studies terrorism. "If you saw your face on TV and everywhere else as associated with the bombing ... you would act irrationally, and that's exactly what they did."

After three days without being able to identify a suspect by name, investigators clearly made the decision to release the photos Thursday on the belief that, without doing so, the suspects might remain at large for weeks or months, with the chance to flee or to act again, said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami.

So with photos in hand, investigators made a choice deemed both necessary and prudent.

"And then the worst possible thing happens," Weinstein said. "They do actually begin their flight and then start to wreak vengeance on the whole city of Boston."

Weinstein, Reardon and other experts had differing opinions on whether investigators' decision to release the photos was worth the cost exacted by the two men: the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, a carjacking, the shooting of another transit police officer and a block-by-block manhunt that led officials to shut down Boston and many of its surrounding suburbs.

But all agreed the photo release was pivotal in breaking open the case, because it instantly deprived suspected bombers Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, of time, anonymity and options.

By late Friday, many of the details in the chain of events that led to the older brother's death and a massive hunt for the younger one were still unclear, but the pursuit had consumed the region with apprehension, tempered by hope that it might be nearing an end.

It began just after 5 p.m. Thursday, when investigators released the photographs and video of two unidentified suspects and asked for the public's help. Just over five hours later, shots were heard on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, across the Charles River from Boston in Cambridge. Ten minutes later, an MIT campus police officer who was responding was found shot multiple times in his vehicle and was later pronounced dead.

Soon after, two armed men carjacked a Mercedes SUV in Cambridge, holding the driver for about half an hour before releasing him unharmed. Police pursued and the men inside the vehicle threw explosive devices from the windows, while exchanging gunfire. A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer was wounded in a firefight with the suspects and the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was critically injured and pronounced dead.

The hunt then continued for the younger brother, who fled on foot.

In the pre-dawn hours Friday, dozens of police officers and FBI agents converged on Watertown, Mass., after gunshots and explosions were heard, ordering people to stay inside. But the search proved fruitless, leading authorities to shut down Boston's mass transit system and urge residents of several cities and towns to stay indoors.

State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said police realized they were dealing with the bombing suspects based on what the two men told the carjacking victim during their getaway attempt.

"We believe this man to be a terrorist," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said, of the brother who remained a fugitive late Friday. "We believe this to be a man who's come here to kill people."

The chaos of the pursuit contrasted sharply with the sweeping, methodical investigation that began almost immediately after the Monday afternoon bombing that killed three and wounded more than 180, marked by officials' notable reluctance to disclose information. In the hours and days immediately after the bombing, dozens of investigators in white hooded suits carefully combed, cataloged and photographed evidence at the scene, even canvassing the roofs of nearby buildings to search for items blown into the air by the bomb's force.

Investigators gathered hours of videotape footage from security cameras that scanned the area around the bombing and appealed to the public to turn in their own video and photos, for help in determining the sequence of events and identifying a suspect.

They then used software to search for certain types of objects or people matching a height and weight description. The software can also spot patterns that human analysts might not notice, such as a car that turns up in different places, said Gene Grindstaff, a scientist at Intergraph Corp., a company that makes video analysis software used by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

"Back in the days of 20 years ago, you were lucky if you had video and it was probably of poor quality and it took a tremendous amount of enhancement. Today you have a completely different issue," Grindstaff said.

"Here's the first thing that the computer was told: Tell me if you can find the same people at both of those (bombing) locations," said Taylor, the criminologist.

Additional parameters would further narrow the search to, for example, look for people carrying backpacks.

"It's kind of like going through a series of strainers and filters," Taylor said.

But with the video winnowed down, the process required examination frame-by-frame, a laborious process done by an FBI unit called the Operational Technologies Division, said Joe DiZinno, former director of the FBI lab in Virginia.

By Thursday, once facial recognition software and agents had narrowed the search to images of two young men, investigators had to make a decision about how to proceed.

Meanwhile, the Tsarnaev brothers were already on edge.

At an auto body shop near their home, the younger brother, Dzhokhar, had often stopped to talk with owner Gilberto Junior about cars and soccer. But on Tuesday, the day after the bombing, the normally relaxed young man showed up biting his nails and trembling, Junior said.

The mechanic told Tsarnaev he hadn't had a chance to work on a Mercedes he'd dropped off for bumper work.

"I don't care. I don't care. I need the car right now," Junior says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told him.

By Thursday afternoon, the brothers had to know their options were narrowing quickly. And then the FBI released their photos to millions of viewers across the city, and around the world via newspaper, television stations and websites. The time to move was now.

"I think this developed rather quickly last night," State Police Col. Timothy Alben said late Friday. "I would wager that most of the activity that was printed in the media yesterday forced them to make decisions or take actions that ultimately revealed who they were."

___

Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in Miami, Jeff Donn in Boston and Jay Lindsay in Watertown, Mass., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-19-Boston%20Marathon-Cracking%20the%20Case/id-dae652dcda3b43e58443b3c88fa46b40

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Suspect Manhunt Puts Boston on Lockdown (Voice Of America)

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Factbox - Britain's standing with international rating agencies

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's credit standing suffered a blow on Friday when Fitch Ratings became the second international agency to strip the country of its triple-A credit rating.

The move is an embarrassment for the government, which vowed to protect the rating when it took office in 2010, and has fanned a fierce debate about the speed of deficit cuts.

The following is a summary of how each rating agency views Britain's credit profile:

MOODY'S

Moody's was the first major agency to downgrade Britain's credit rating. It lowered Britain's rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa in February, citing weak growth prospects and the drag from "ongoing domestic public and private sector de-leveraging".

It put a "stable" outlook on the new rating and said downgraded growth forecasts contained in the government's March budget were unlikely to alter that.

"Moody's is assessing the UK budget and expects that it will confirm the government's policy commitment to reverse the debt trajectory which, along with the country's underlying economic strength, underpins the stable outlook on the UK's Aa1 government bond rating," it said on March 20.

FITCH RATINGS

Fitch downgraded Britain by one notch to AA-plus on April 19, citing a weaker economic and fiscal outlook.

It said it expected general government gross debt to peak at 101 percent of GDP in 2015-16 and start declining only in 2017-18. It was previously projecting debt on this measure to peak at 97 percent and to start falling sooner.

In an interview with Reuters, Fitch said the pace of deficit cuts in Britain was not excessive, but noted that a lot of the burden of fiscal adjustment had been pushed beyond 2015, after the next national elections.

"A lot of the deficit reduction is falling into the next parliament, so it's not just the plans of this government but also what the next government plans to do," said Fitch Managing Director David Riley.

Despite the stable outlook on the rating, Riley also said that another downgrade could be in the offing if growth did not pick up as expected - Fitch is forecasting an average rate of 2.0-2.25 percent over the next 10 years - or if debt stayed high for longer.

STANDARD & POOR'S

S&P rates Britain AAA but cut the outlook on that rating to negative last December, implying a one-in-three chance of a downgrade.

On April 5, it reaffirmed its negative outlook and warned that disappointing economic growth and slow progress in repairing public finances would force it to act.

"The outlook remains negative, reflecting our view of at least a one-in-three chance that we could lower the ratings if the UK's economic and fiscal performances were to weaken beyond our current expectations," S&P said.

(Reporting by Christina Fincher; editing by Ron Askew)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-britains-standing-international-rating-agencies-182721774--business.html

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Relive It (CNN's 90 Minutes of Awesome) (talking-points-memo)

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Democrats Risk Alienating Young Voters by Opposing Cuts in Entitlement Spending

My National Journal colleague Ron Brownstein wrote a column for last week?s magazine that I thought was the most important piece of the week. In it, he argues that ?large portions of the Democratic base still don?t understand the political and economic dynamics of the party?s changing electoral coalition.? Brownstein is absolutely right.

For liberals, Democrats, and others to argue that Social Security and Medicare should not be touched in any way sends the message that we are just going to run up the tab and send the bill to the millennial and subsequent generations. Given the size of baby-boom generation?the so-called pig in the python, whose leading edge began turning 65 in 2010?this is a very big tab for the smaller generations that will follow.

Brownstein says Obama?s newly released budget is ?seeking to restrain entitlement spending while invigorating public investment (through initiatives such as expanded preschool, an infrastructure bank, and more college aid). That combination would challenge the federal budget?s hardening tendency to favor the old over the young. Through proposed changes in the way inflation is calculated to determine Social Security benefits, more cost-sharing for Medicare recipients, and cost savings from drug companies and health providers, the president is looking to reduce entitlement spending by about $800 billion over 10 years.?

Given the central role younger voters play for the Democratic Party, it?s ironic that so many congressional Democrats are taking this view on entitlements. These Democrats are basically taking the side of a generation who voted against them rather than that of the younger generation that strongly supports the party. As Brownstein puts it, ?they are favoring the predominantly white senior population, which cast about three-fifths of its votes for Republicans in last year?s presidential and congressional elections, over the diverse millennial generation, which voted about three-fifths Democratic on both fronts.?

We often hear the argument made that seniors are simply saying, ?We paid into Social Security and Medicare, it?s our money.? This ignores the fact that most Americans draw down from Social Security and Medicare far more than they ever paid in?in Medicare, almost $3 received for every $1 contributed in many cases. Both are unsustainable as it is, but it?s the Flat Earth Society members who choose to ignore the numbers and pretend that we can just go on. Liberals and Democrats love to refer to conservatives and Republicans as science-deniers on issues such as climate change, but in this case, those who refuse to address the entitlement challenge are statistics-deniers.

The argument that these Democrats and liberals should be making to voters is this: Who? should you trust to address the challenges of fixing Social Security and Medicare, the party that created the programs, or the party that was largely opposed to the establishment of both? It is precisely because Democrats have the credibility on these issues to address the problems that they should step forward.

Aside from the political arguments, there is the moral one of generational fairness. In his column, Brownstein points to figures the Office of Management and Budget recently released showing that in 1969, ?payments to individuals (primarily entitlements) and investments in the future (defined as education and training, scientific research, and infrastructure) each constituted about one-third of the federal budget. By 2012, payments to individuals had reached 65 percent of the budget?and investments had plummeted to just 14 percent.? He cites an Urban Institute study that calculated that ?Washington now spends seven times as much per senior citizen as it does per child.?

History has shown that any society that spends more on the present rather than investing in the future is doomed to a dismal future. That is precisely what my generation, the baby boomers, has done. Our parents? and grandparents? generations sacrificed the present for the future, for example by investing in an interstate highway system and national infrastructure that was exceedingly forward-thinking but is now decaying. In more-recent years, infrastructure spending has declined, parallel to the quality of our elementary and secondary education. For the first time in American history, parents can no longer confidently say that the future for their children is brighter than it was for them at that age.

We?ve heard and read a lot from liberals and Democrats pointing to Republicans as having become captive to their base and constituency groups at the expense of the national interest. Now it?s time for them to take a look in the mirror.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democrats-risk-alienating-young-voters-opposing-cuts-entitlement-223411894--politics.html

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MTV Movie Awards Craziest Moments: From Aubrey Plaza To Rebel Wilson's Nip 'Slip'

Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson took the Best WTF Moment Award, but plenty other moments made us say, 'What the?' on Sunday night.
By Josh Wigler

Aubrey Plaza stage-crashes Will Ferrell during his acceptance speech for Comedic Genius
Photo: Kevork Djansezian

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705694/mtv-movie-awards-craziest-best-moments.jhtml

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Reds put RH Cueto on 15-day DL with muscle strain

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto tosses his glove as he leaves the game after apparently injuring his arm throwing to Pittsburgh Pirates' Pedro Alvarez in the fifth inning of the baseball game on Saturday, April 13, 2013, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto tosses his glove as he leaves the game after apparently injuring his arm throwing to Pittsburgh Pirates' Pedro Alvarez in the fifth inning of the baseball game on Saturday, April 13, 2013, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto throws against the Washington Nationals in the first inning of their baseball game in Cincinnati, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)

CINCINNATI (AP) ? The Reds have lost top starter Johnny Cueto for at least a few weeks because of a strained muscle in his back.

The defending NL Central champions put Cueto on the 15-day disabled list on Monday and called up right-hander Justin Freeman from Triple-A Louisville, giving Cincinnati another reliever for the start of a series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Reds are likely to call up left-hander Tony Cingrani to start in Cueto's spot on Thursday.

Last year, the Reds made it through the season without one of their starters getting hurt. That streak ended when Cueto pulled an oblique muscle in the first inning of a playoff appearance against San Francisco.

Cueto strained a back muscle in the fifth inning of a 3-1 loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-15-BBN-Reds-Cueto/id-da511b2df3b4484cac94151510aab006

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These Are North Korea's Favorite Things To Pirate

When North Korea isn't busy shooting missiles into the sea or photoshopping its navy to make it look a little less pathetic, it takes to a very global hobby: torrenting. TorrentFreak took a peek into exactly what the would-be-supervillian nation-state likes to pirate and, well, they've got to get their surveillance software somewhere. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/sNW7xHT7zzA/these-are-north-koreas-favorite-things-to-pirate

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Matt Damon, wife to renew vows in St. Lucia

SOURFRIERE, St. Lucia (AP) ? A former top government official in St. Lucia says actor Matt Damon and his wife, Luciana Barroso, are renewing their wedding vows of eight years with a lavish party on the eastern Caribbean island.

The party is being held at the Sugar Beach resort with an invitation list including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Ben Affleck.

A former Cabinet minister and current CEO of a private company that oversees economic development in Soufriere says the party will help boost the island's weak economy.

Walter Francois of Soufriere Regional Development Foundation said Saturday, however, that people including fishermen and others not allowed near the hotel's beach for security reasons should be reimbursed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-13-St%20Lucia-People-Matt%20Damon/id-97b3f5144ce04f11a2c270e22ad85158

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Economists wary of Pence income tax proposal

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana economists are wary of Gov. Mike Pence's proposed personal income tax cut and say a better move would be to reduce the corporate income tax ? or cut no taxes at all.

Lawmakers have until April 29 to work out a budget that likely will include some tax cuts. The proposed House budget doesn't include Pence's proposal, while the Senate plan gives Pence only part of the $500 million cut he sought.

The final budget will be guided largely by the revenue forecast that's to be unveiled Tuesday.

University of Indianapolis associate professor of finance Matt Will tells The Journal Gazette that cutting the corporate tax would fuel investment. But he says the economy is still fragile and suggests leaving taxes as they are.

Source: http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/politics/economists-wary-of-pence-income-tax-proposal

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Jonathan Winters Dies at Age 87

From Jonathan Winters to Annette Funicello, see the stars who have passed away this year -- but left their mark on the world.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-deaths-2013/1-b-532648?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-deaths-2013-532648

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BlackBerry to ask regulators to probe report on returns

By Euan Rocha and Emily Flitter

TORONTO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackBerry plans to ask securities regulators in Canada and the United States to probe what it said is a "false and misleading" report that consumer return rates for BlackBerry's new Z10 smartphone have been especially high.

The Canadian company, which has pinned its turnaround hopes on its new BlackBerry 10 line of smartphones, went on the offensive on Friday after the report from Boston-based research and investment firm Detwiler Fenton sent its stock tumbling on Thursday.

BlackBerry said return rates for its flagship Z10 devices have been at, or below, its forecasts and in line with industry norms.

"To suggest otherwise is either a gross misreading of the data or a willful manipulation," Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said in a statement. "Such a conclusion is absolutely without basis and BlackBerry will not leave it unchallenged."

BlackBerry said Detwiler Fenton had so far refused to share its report or its methods. It said it would present a formal request for an investigation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and to the Ontario Securities Commission, which is Canada's major securities regulator, over the next few days.

Detwiler has had run-ins with regulators in the past, documents reviewed by Reuters show. But none of the cases involved questions about the accuracy of Detwiler's research or were linked to BlackBerry.

The OSC said it would review the matter once it receives a formal complaint.

"After the first 14 days, quality performance of the Z10 has been in line with similar devices we've launched," said Debra Lewis, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless.

A spokeswoman for Detwiler did not respond to a phone call and an email from Reuters seeking comment. The director of research also did not respond to a call seeking comment.

"We believe key retail partners have seen a significant increase in Z10 returns to the point where, in several cases, returns are now exceeding sales, a phenomenon we have never seen before," its report said. Detwiler Fenton gave no details on how it had gleaned this information.

While a number of brokerage firms have in recent weeks published reports saying Z10 sales in the U.S. market are slow, none of them have flagged any major concerns about returns.

Since 2007, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the industry body that oversees broker-dealers, has fined Detwiler over $250,000 and has cited it for several compliance violations over the past decade.

In December 2011, FINRA sanctioned Detwiler for failing to properly supervise its employees and for allowing its brokers to make more trades than necessary in clients' accounts to boost commissions during a period between 2006 and 2009.

In 2007, the firm, which was then called Detwiler Mitchell Fenton & Graves, settled administrative proceedings that the SEC brought against it for failing to supervise Bradford Bleidt, a former employee who had been simultaneously running a $30 million Ponzi scheme.

TURNAROUND PLAN

BlackBerry is attempting to claw back market share lost to rivals such as Apple Inc's iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co's Galaxy line of smartphones with its new line of devices, powered by the revamped BlackBerry 10 operating system.

The new Z10 touchscreen smartphone, the first of its new devices, hit store shelves earlier this year. And the Q10, with BlackBerry's famed physical keyboard, will go on sale in Canada and the United Kingdom before the end of April.

BlackBerry, which has changed its name from Research In Motion, has yet to prove to the market that its new devices can trigger a turnaround. The company expects to report break-even results in the current quarter, but a true picture will not emerge until later this year.

BlackBerry stock has remained highly volatile as analysts are split on whether the turnaround plan will succeed. Research reports often bring major swings in the company's share price.

Shares of Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry, which fell 7.7 percent on Thursday, closed up less than a percent on Friday at $13.64 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha, Emily Flitter, Allison Martell, Sinead Carew and Noel Randewich; Editing by Janet Guttsman, Bernadette Baum, Peter Galloway and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-ask-regulators-probe-report-returns-124314017--finance.html

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