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Source: http://www.qype.co.uk/review/2619101
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Iran Threatens Less Oil If More Sanctions Imposed
Iranian officials say more sanctions will result in less oil, even as Western leaders consider tougher sanctions against the country.
Despite the Nov. 8 International Atomic Energy Agency report affirming Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, Iranian leaders claim their nuclear ambitions are strictly peaceful.
Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Tuesday Iran will shut down the Strait of Hormuz if the West imposes more sanctions on its oil exports.
"If they [the West] impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz," Rahimi said, according to the state-sponsored IRNA news agency.
About 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes through the strait.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner called the threat "another attempt to distract attention away from the real issue?continued non-compliance with their international nuclear obligations."
Meanwhile, the Iranian navy began a 10-day training exercise Saturday in what some experts believe is intended to show its military prowess.
Source: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2011/December/Iran-Threatens-Less-Oil-If-More-Sanctions-Imposed/
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Friday, December 30, 2011
Oil hovers above $101 amid rising Iran tensions (AP)
SINGAPORE ? Oil prices hovered above $101 a barrel amid investor concern that rising Middle East tensions could disrupt crude supplies.
Benchmark crude for February delivery rose 6 cents to $101.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.66 to settle at $101.34 in New York on Tuesday.
In London, Brent crude was down 12 cents to $109.15 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Iran's official news agency IRNA reported Tuesday that Vice President Mohamed Reza Rahimi said his country will close the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off oil exports, if Western nations impose sanctions on Iran's oil shipments.
The U.S., the U.K. and other nations are mulling more sanctions against Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, over concern about its nuclear power program.
The Strait of Hormuz, the choke point of the Persian Gulf, is one of the world's busiest routes for crude shipments with about a sixth of the world's oil production passing through.
If tankers could not use the strait, they would have to take longer, more expensive routes to their destinations, which would likely boost prices.
"We doubt political posturing will turn into action, but oil remains above $100 regardless," energy consultant and trader The Schork Group said in a report.
Schork estimates crude would jump to above $140 if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Signs the U.S. economy is improving also helped bolster crude. The New York-based Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index jumped almost 10 points from November, to 64.5, the highest since April.
The National Retail Federation said it expects a 3.8 percent increase in Christmas holiday sales, up from its forecast of 2.8 percent in September.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 0.2 cent to $2.92 per gallon and gasoline futures slid 0.3 cents at $2.68 per gallon. Natural gas was down 2.1 cents to $3.09 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Samsung Galaxy S III ile ?ekildi?i belirtilen ilk test foto?raf? yay?nland?
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Source: www.donanimhaber.com --- Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Samsung Galaxy S III ile ?ekildi?i iddia edilen ilk test foto?raf? g?n ?????na ??kt?. 8 Megapiksel ??z?n?rl???nde kameraya sahip olan Galaxy S II'den farkl? olarak 12 Megapiksel ??z?n?rl???nde yepyeni bir kamera ile gelece?i konu?ulan Galaxy S III'?n ?ubat ay?ndaki Mobil D?nya Kongresi'nde tan?t?lmas? beklenirken, haberimize konu olan foto?raf?n EXIF bilgisi, Galaxy S III ile ?ekilmi? olabilece?i ihtimalini g??lendirmekte. ...
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Oil hovers below $100 amid low holiday volume
SINGAPORE (AP) ? Oil prices hovered below $100 a barrel Tuesday in Asia amid low holiday week trading volume.
Benchmark crude for February delivery was down 13 cents at $99.55 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 15 cents to settle at $99.68 in New York on Friday.
In London, Brent crude was up 13 cents at $108.09 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Global oil trading markets were closed Monday for the Christmas holiday.
Crude briefly popped above $100 on Friday amid growing evidence the U.S. economy is improving. Some analysts say concerns that Europe's debt crisis will trigger a recession on the continent next year will overshadow any positive news out of the U.S. this week.
"We don't expect this strength to be maintained this week given a likely shift in focus back toward the eurozone where major debt issues remain largely unresolved," energy consultant Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.
Because many traders are on vacation this week, trading volume is sharply lower and a few trades could jolt prices.
"Volume will be thin through this abbreviated week," energy consultant and trader The Schork Group said in a report. "As such, the potential exists for some wild swings."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 0.8 cent to $2.91 per gallon and gasoline futures fell 0.5 cent at $2.67 per gallon. Natural gas futures were down 3.0 cents to $3.08 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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Malaysians pioneer China?s oleochemicals industry
MALAYSIAN investors in China?s oleochemical industry are gaining from the rising demand for eco-friendly soaps and detergent as consumers there pursue better living standards, said Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) director- general Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May.
?Household cleaning products made from oleochemicals are increasingly seen as sustainable alternative to petrochemical variants,? she told Business Times in a recent interview.
Detergent made from cheaper petroleum by-products like kerosene, containing an active ingredient called linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LABS), takes a very long time to biodegrade. This can cause foaming at rivers and excessive algae growth in the lakes. The algae covered lakes robs oxygen from the water, leaving fishes and other aquatic organisms to die.
As detergent manufacturers seek to improve their environmental profile, many replaced LABS with methyl ester sulfonates (MES), eventhough it is a little bit more expensive.
Since the 1990s, MES-based laundry detergent started to gain popularity as it is readily biodegradable, renewable, agreeable to vegetarians and most importantly ? cleans well, even in cold water.
Current market leaders of such a green product include Japan?s Lion Corp and America?s Stepan and Huish Detergents.
When contacted, Emery Oleochemicals (M) Sdn Bhd group chief executive officer Dr Kongkrapan Intarajang concurred with Choo that the bright outlook for palm oil-based detergents is fuelled by the global trend towards formulations derived from renewable plant-based ingredients instead of depleting fossil fuel.
In China, Emery with one of its shareholders Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd partnered detergent manufacturer Guangzhou Lonkey Industrial Co Ltd to form Guangzhou Keylink Chemical Co.
The joint venture company is setting up a 40,000-tonne a year MES plant.
?Our MES plant in China is nearing completion. We hope to commission it next year in first quarter,? said Kongkrapan.
Choo noted MPOB?s research in MES is applicable in China because this biodegradable detergent cleans well at low dosage, even in washing water that has high mineral content.
?Although China?s household waters tend to be high in mineral content, it is not a problem. Detergent manufacturers like Lonkey will find it easy to formulate concentrated washing powder using MES,? she said.
Among Lonkey?s laundry detergent brands in the Guangzhou include Gaofuli and Yeshu.
In Malaysia, KLK Oleochemicals Group?s unit, KL-Kepong Oleomas, operates a 50,000-tonne per year MES plant.
?We?re carrying out some upgrading works and doubling the capacity to 100,000 tonnes,? said KLK Oleochemicals managing director A.K. Yeow.
As the world?s top oleochemicals producer, Malaysia exports around 2.2 million tonnes every year.
Malaysia?s lead is partly driven by its community of engineers and chemists having the ability to process palm oil and palm kernel oil into more than 100 types of downstream products.
With such technical prowess and advantage, Malaysians have become pioneers and key investors in China?s oleochemical industry.
Among the earliest to set foot there are Wilmar International Ltd, in which Robert Kuok?s Kuok Group is a substantial shareholder. The other pioneer is Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd?s (KLK) unit KLK-Taiko Palm Oleo Co Ltd. Other Malaysian investors include Teck Guan Perdana Bhd and Kwantas Corp Bhd.
Wilmar?s pioneering investments have given it a headstart over its competitors. Today, it is the biggest player in China?s oleochemical industry with an estimated annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes.
As early as 1999, Yeow frequently flew to China to assess the benefits of producing oleochemicals there.
He recalled scouting for an affordable industrial site equipped with basic infrastructure of piped water and consistent electricity supply.
The management finally chose Zhangjiagang, a town two hours drive from Shanghai, and yet easily accessible by sea.
During the last five years, KLK-Taiko Palm-Oleo had invested some RM200 million there. Today, the facility is able to churn out 220,000 tonnes of fatty acids, soap noodles and glycerine in a year.
Teck Guan?s oleochemical plant at Rugao town, about four hours drive from Shanghai, is able to produce up to 200,000 tonnes of fatty alcohol, fatty acid and glycerin per year.
Kwantas? unit Dongma (Guangzhou Free Trade Zone) Oleochemicals Co Ltd plants in Zhangjiagang near Shanghai and in Guangzhou have a combined 200,000-tonne annual capacity.
These plants make soap noodles, glycerine and other oleochemical derivatives.
Asked on China?s oleochemical demand in the next five years, Choo said: ?Last year, China consumed some 2.5 million tonnes. The market continues to grow because consumption of soaps, detergent, cosmetics and bioplastics will expand as living standards improve?.
She also noted that through China?s Cleaning Industry Association?s appeal for affordable and steady supply of oleochemical ingredients from Southeast Asia, the China government had lowered palm stearin import duty to 2 per cent.
Choo, however, sees the demand for oleochemicals moderating in future. The operating environment there has become highly competitive.
?It will not be as fast as previous years, around 10 to 15 per cent annually.?
Nevertheless, she remains optimistic that new applications like biolubricants, green chemicals, bioplastics and biopolymers will continue to drive the oleochemicals industry there.
Choo also expects more usage of palm-based polyols in China?s polyurethane industry.
Source: http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20111226232711/Article/
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
4 bedroom house in London, E17 : London, E17 : £346pw
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Date available
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House
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4
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Trade
Features:
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Sudanese media accuses Israel of attacking convoy
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Monday's Carolina Football news (Last post on 12/26/2011 at 02:30 AM PST)
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Mexico makes huge meth precursor chemicals seizure (AP)
MEXICO CITY ? Mexico said Friday that it seized 229 metric tons of precursor chemicals used to make methamphetamine, the third such huge seizure this month at the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, all of which were bound for a port in Guatemala.
The seizure brings to more than 534 tons the amount of meth chemicals detected at the Mexican port in less than a month.
Authorities announced on Dec. 19 that they had found almost 100 metric tons of methylamine at Lazaro Cardenas, and earlier said that 205 tons of the chemical had been found there over several days in early December.
Experts familiar with meth production call it a huge amount of raw material, noting that under some production methods, precursor chemicals can yield about half their weight in uncut meth.
The Attorney General's Office said the most recent seizure was found in 1,600 drums, and had been shipped from Shanghai, China. All three shipments originated in China and were destined for Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.
The office has not indicated which cartels may have been moving the chemicals, but U.S. officials have noted that the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's most powerful, has moved into meth production on an industrial scale.
Sinaloa also has operations in Guatemala, and given recent busts by the Mexican army of huge meth processing facilities in Mexico, the gang may have decided to move some production to the Central American country.
Lazaro Cardenas is located in the western Michoacan state, which is dominated by the Knights Templar cartel and previously by the La Familia group.
However, a series of arrests, deaths and infighting may have weakened those gangs' ability to engage in massive meth production.
Also Friday, the attorney general's office in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz reported that it had found ten bodies in an area along the border with the neighboring state of Tamaulipas. The office said investigators were alerted to the bodies by a tip, and are working to identify them and the cause of death.
The area has been the scene of bloody battles between the Gulf and Zetas cartels.
Finally Friday, federal police captured Javier Mercado Guerrero, alias "El Indio," who allegedly led the operations of the Zetas drug cartel in the Veracruz city of Poza Rica and surrounding areas inland.
Police said Mercado Guerrero had served as a local police officer in 2010, and passed information to the Zetas.
Local police in Veracruz have become so corrupt that on Wednesday, the government decided to dissolve the entire police force in the state's largest city, also known as Veracruz, and sent the Navy in to patrol.
State spokeswoman Gina Dominguez said 800 police officers and 300 administrative employees were laid off. Dominguez said they can apply for jobs in a state police force, but must meet stricter standards.
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Health Tip: Use Medications Safely (HealthDay)
(HealthDay News) -- If your child isn't feeling well and needs an over-the-counter medication recommended by your pediatrician, the American Academy of Family Physicians offers these safety guidelines:
- Make sure the medicine treats only your child's symptoms, nothing more.
- Make sure any caregivers know the correct timing, dosage and type of medication your child needs.
- Always read the medication's label and follow directions carefully.
- Keep medications stored in their original packaging, so you can easily refer to instructions.
- Never give cough and cold medication to a child younger than age 4 or aspirin to anyone younger than age 18.
- Don't combine medications unless your child's pediatrician says it's OK to do so.
- Don't give any adult medication to a child.
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Variable dark energy could explain old galaxy clusters
Does dark energy change over time? An alternative model of the as yet undetected entity that is thought to be accelerating the universe's expansion could explain some puzzling observations of galaxy clusters. But it will have to jump many more hurdles to compete with the simplest and so far most successful model of the elusive entity.
That model, called the cosmological constant, holds that there is a certain amount of repulsive energy in every cubic centimetre of space, and that amount stays the same over time. As the universe expands, more space exists, and so the expansion accelerates.
Now Edoardo Carlesi of the Autonomous University in Madrid, Spain, and his colleagues have simulated a universe where the amount of repulsive energy per unit of volume changes with time.
They say the model can explain how several galaxy clusters grew to weigh as much as a quadrillion (1015) suns by the time the universe was just 6?billion years old. That's a puzzle because some researchers say 6?billion years would not have been enough time for gravity to amass such large structures.
Standard recipe
The puzzle arises if the standard "recipe" for the universe is used. The ingredients for that recipe are a large amount of dark energy, in the form of a cosmological constant, and a dollop of matter. Their ratio has been calculated by studying the cosmic microwave background, radiation that reveals the distribution of matter and energy in the early universe.
Looking at the cosmic microwave background data through the lens of a different dark energy model can produce different ratios of ingredients. The cosmological constant model allows for matter to make up 27 per cent of the universe's energy density, whereas the dark energy model studied by Carlesi's team provides a more generous helping: 39 per cent.
Massive clusters can form up to 10 times as often using this recipe, the researchers say. "You can explain current observations within a model that allows much more matter," says Carlesi. As a result, galaxies attract other galaxies through their gravitational pull, so massive clusters form faster.
First hurdle
The cluster problem may not even be a problem, though, says Dragan Huterer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He says the jury is still out on whether the clusters challenge the leading cosmological model, because there is a lot of uncertainty about their mass, most of which is thought to be tied up in invisible dark matter.
The cosmological constant has so far been able to explain a wide range of observations, so turning to a relatively unproven model to account for a few galaxy clusters that may be heavier than expected "is like using a huge hammer to kill a tiny fly", he says.
Carlesi says this is just the first test of the model, and Cristian Armend?riz-Pic?n at Syracuse University in New York agrees. He says the model Carlesi is using should undergo further tests that the cosmological constant has already passed. For example, its effects should be consistent with the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, in which photons from the cosmic microwave background experience slight changes in wavelength as they feel the gravity of superclusters of galaxies they pass through.
Journal reference: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19660.x
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Police pepper spray rowdy shoe shoppers in US
SEATTLE (AP) ? Police used pepper spray to break up fights among pushing and shoving customers waiting outside a Seattle-area mall to buy the first Nike retro Air Jordan basketball shoes that went on sale early Friday.
Tukwila Officer Mike Murphy says about 20 people were sprayed. One man was arrested for assault after police say he pushed an officer.
Murphy says more than 1,000 people lined up to buy shoes at 4 a.m. at four stores in the mall.
Across the country, at least four people were arrested at a suburban Atlanta mall after a crowd of customers broke down a door before a store selling the Air Jordans opened.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
LAPD officers involved in shooting in Pico Union area
Los Angeles police Wednesday night were involved a shooting that left one person wounded in the Pico Union area.
The incident began after 7 p.m. when officers made a stop regarding a suspected stolen vehicle at Washington Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
It was unclear what sparked the shooting and how many officers may have fired their weapons.?
"We do have someone hit," said Officer Norma Eisenman.?
She said no officers were wounded. The condition of the person who was shot was not immediately known.
No other information was immediately available.
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Graphic: Map shows the area where an officer-involved shooting occurred Wednesday night.
Credit: Google Maps
Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/lapd-officer-involved-shooting.html
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CatholicNewsSvc: CNS Rome bureau: For pope, 2011 was year of evangelization, travel and technology: http://t.co/Sygrq2jB #CNSstory
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Friday, December 23, 2011
iMAME Game Emulator Lands In Apple?s App Store
A new game emulator has landed in Apple?s app store, called iMAME, the emulator comes with a number of games, which include games like Circus, Side Track,and Hard Hat, and you can apparently load other games onto the emulator.
It is possible that Apple could pull the iMAME game emulator form the app store at any time as it has done with previous game emulators, and the app is available for free.
You can find out more details about the iMAME game emulator app over at iTunes, and it works with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running iOS 4.3 or above.
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News Corp settles 7 further hacking cases (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? The British newspaper arm of News Corp said on Tuesday it had settled legal claims with a further seven people, including a former lover of Princess Diana and a former politician, after it admitted hacking into phones.
News International said it had reached agreement with the seven claimants and agreed to pay appropriate sums by way of compensation and costs. It expressed regret for the distress caused.
The seven were Mark Oaten, Ulrika Jonsson, Abi Titmuss, Michelle Milburn, Paul Dadge, James Hewitt and Calum Best.
News International is currently negotiating a host of legal claims after it admitted hacking in to the phones of celebrities, politicians and victims of crime to secure stories.
Sky News, the news channel of BSkyB which is part owned by News Corp, said on Tuesday that News International had paid out settlements totaling hundreds of thousands of pounds.
(Reporting by Kate Holton)
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
WATCH: 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' Trailer!
It's time to head back to Middle-earth! Almost exactly 10 years after The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings first wowed audiences, the first trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, part 1 of the two-part LOTR prequel, has debuted online. Watch it below!
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Monday, December 19, 2011
'Cold shutdown': Japan reactor declared stable
David Guttenfelder / Pool via EPA, file
A building of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station as seen through a bus window in Okuma, Japan, on Nov. 12.
By NBC News and msnbc.com news services
Updated at 6:23 a.m. ET
TOKYO -- The tsunami-devastated Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has reached a "cold shutdown" and is no longer leaking substantial amounts of radiation, Japan's prime minister?said Friday.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's announcement marks a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.?It is a?crucial step toward lifting evacuation orders and closing the plant.
"Even if unforeseeable incidents happen, the situation is such that radiation levels on the boundary of the plant can now be maintained at a low level," Noda said. "Now that we have achieved stability in the reactors, a major concern for the nation has been resolved."
However,?experts noted that the plant remains vulnerable. Its surroundings are contaminated by radiation and closing the plant safely will take 30 or more years.
'Our battle is not over'
NBC News reported that there are still sporadic reports of leaks of contaminated water from the site.?
"There are many issues that remain," Noda added. "Our battle is not over."
Noda's?announcement means officials?can now start discussing whether to allow some evacuees to return to less-contaminated areas ? although a 12-mile zone around the plant is expected to remain off limits for years to come. The crisis displaced some 100,000 people.
A cold shutdown normally means a nuclear reactor's coolant system is at atmospheric pressure and its reactor core is at a temperature below 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius), making it impossible for a chain reaction to take place.
According to?plant operator?TEPCO, temperature gauges inside the Fukushima reactors show the pressure vessel is at around 158 degrees??F (70 C). The government also says the amount of radiation now being released around the plant is at or below 1 millisievert per year ? equivalent to the annual legal exposure limit for ordinary citizens before the crisis began.
Akira Yamaguchi, a nuclear physicist at Osaka University, said that the government's definition of cold shutdown is disputable.
"But what's most important right now is that there aren't any massive radiation leaks any more," he said.
Winter woes?
Putting longer-term issues aside, he warned that much of the backup equipment installed at the plant since the crisis began is makeshift and may break down. He said winter cold could test their strength.
Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of?evacuated Naimie town,?told a?press conference Friday that it was "hard to accept" Noda's declaration.
"We still feel a major distrust towards the government," he added.
Located 150 miles northeast of Tokyo, the plant was wrecked by a huge earthquake and a?tsunami that exceeded 45 feet in some areas, which knocked out its cooling systems, triggering meltdowns and radiation leaks.
NBC News reported that?the extraction of more than 3,000 fuel rods from the site, most likely?involving robotic cranes, is due to begin next year. High-powered water sprays will be used to decontaminate?roads and other infrastructure in nearby towns from early next month.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
NBC News' Arata Yamamoto, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
652 dead, 808 missing in Philippine floods (AP)
ILIGAN, Philippines ? The Philippine Red Cross says the death toll from a storm that ravaged a wide swath of the south has risen to 652 with 808 others still missing.
Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang said Sunday that flash floods set off by Tropical Storm Washi killed 346 people in Cagayan de Oro city and 206 in nearby Iligan city. Deaths were also reported in five other southern and central provinces.
Pang said more people have reported missing relatives, including 447 in Iligan and 347 in Cagayan de Oro.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) ? As a storm that killed more than 530 in the southern Philippines raged outside the store where she works, Amor Limbago worriedly called home to check on her parents, but their cellphones just kept ringing and later went dead.
Limbago, 21, rushed home as soon as the flash floods receded and confirmed her worst fear: Her parents and seven other relatives were gone, swept away from their hut by the river. They had eagerly planned a small Christmas dinner in that hut just days earlier.
"I returned and saw that our house was completely gone," a weeping Limbago told The Associated Press from Cagayan de Oro city. "There was nothing but mud all over and knee-deep floodwaters."
Tropical Storm Washi blew away Sunday after devastating a wide swath of the mountainous region on Mindanao island, which is unaccustomed to major storms.
Most of the victims were asleep Friday night when flash floods cascaded down mountain slopes with logs and uprooted trees, swelling rivers and killing at least 532 people. The late-season tropical storm turned the worst-hit coastal cities of Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan into muddy wastelands filled with overturned cars and broken trees.
Most of the dead were children and women, Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang said.
With 458 others reported missing, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and top military officials flew to Cagayan de Oro to help oversee search-and-rescue efforts and deal with thousands of displaced villagers. Among the items urgently needed are coffins and body bags, said Benito Ramos, who heads the government's disaster-response agency.
"It's overwhelming. We didn't expect these many dead," Ramos said.
Although the disaster-prone Philippines is lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms annually, the devastation shocked many, coming close to Christmas ? the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's most-awaited time for family reunions. Army officials in the south said they canceled Christmas parties and would donate the food to homeless survivors.
Limbago said she and her mother, Jean, 50, and father Amancio, 63, planned to have a simple Christmas dinner of spaghetti. Those plans had evaporated Sunday as she and surviving relatives checked crowded morgues, hospitals and evacuation centers for any sign of her missing parents.
Others lost homes and belongings but were happy to have survived.
Edmund Rubio, a 44-year-old engineer, said he, his wife and two children scrambled to the second floor of their house in Iligan city as floodwaters engulfed the first floor, destroying his TV set and other appliances and washing away his car and motorcycle.
Amid the panic, he heard a loud pounding on his door as neighbors living in nearby one-story houses pleaded with him to allow them up in his second floor. He said he brought 30 neighbors into the safety of the second floor of his house, which later shook when a huge floating log slammed into it.
"It's the most important thing, that all of us will still be together this Christmas," Rubio told the AP. "There was a nearby shantytown that was smashed by water. I'm afraid many people there may not have been as lucky as us."
Army officers reported unidentified bodies piled up in morgues in Cagayan de Oro, where electricity was restored in some areas, although the city of more than 500,000 people remained without tap water.
At least 239 died in Cagayan de Oro and 206 in nearby Iligan, the Red Cross said. The death toll was expected to rise because many isolated villages still had not been reached by overwhelmed disaster-response personnel.
"Our fear is there may have been whole families that perished so there's nobody to report what happened," Red Cross chief Pang said.
Both Iligan, a bustling industrial center about 485 miles (780 kilometers) southeast of Manila, and Cagayan de Oro were filled with scenes of destruction and desperation.
A lone worker gingerly embalmed scores of bodies laid side by side in an Iligan city funeral parlor. Outside the embalming room, seven white coffins were placed in a corridor, surrounded by weeping relatives.
"Many mothers, fathers were walking from one funeral parlor to another, looking for their children," said army Maj. Eugenio Osias, who led a rescue effort in Cagayan de Oro.
Ramos attributed the high casualties "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.
In just 12 hours, Washi dumped more than a month of average rain on Mindanao.
Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts, but were hampered by flooded-out roads and lack of electricity. Rescuers in boats rushed offshore to save people swept out to sea.
___
Jim Gomez reported from Manila. Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.
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Chrome 15 overtakes IE 8 for top browser spot
By Athima Chansanchai
If you're reading this on Chrome, you're part of a wave that has ditched Internet Explorer or Firefox and helped vault Google's browser to the top Web browser spot worldwide.
We've been watching for a while now as reports have shown a consistent rise in Chrome's popularity. We saw how in one report, it's already gone past Firefox, knowing it was just a matter of time before it usurped one of the longest reigning dynasties in the browser world, IE.
But wait, there is a caveat to this: Chrome 15 beat IE 8, specifically, this one week at the end of November, with 23.6 percent of the worldwide market, compared to IE 8's at 23.5 percent.?With all the versions of IE floating around, IE is still No. 1 in the world, but Chrome is right behind it.
StatCounter
Ireland-based?StatCounter???which posts Web analytics based on aggregate data it collects from a?sample exceeding 15 billion pageviews per month (including 4 billion in the U.S.),?collected from the StatCounter network of more than 3 million websites???released a statement?about Chrome 15's ascension, humbling the initial enthusiasm of any Google devotee when it also made it clear that in the?U.S., reports of IE's demise are still premature. According to StatCounter, It was still able to capture?27 percent of browser action last week, compared to 18.1 percent for Chrome 15.
Live Poll
Which Web browser are you using?
171054
IE. Why mess with a classic?
23%
171055
Firefox. Mozilla all the way!
34%
171056
Chrome. So far it's working for me.
38%
171057
Safari. Ok, I'm old school, alright?!
5%
VoteTotal Votes: 4450
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)
Different companies will issue different stats on just how much of a lead IE still has on Chrome, with companies such as?NetMarketShare?showing?IE's year-long steady free fall, but still at about 52 percent a month ago.?
Chrome has made a steady rise as IE declines, but Firefox still stands in its way. But not by much. And by StatCounter's measure, in the world outside the U.S., Chrome already brushed past Firefox in November, when it wrested the No. 2 spot with 25.69 percent of the worldwide market (up from 4.66 percent in November 2009) compared to Firefox's 25.23 percent.?
Will 2012 be the year that sees the fall of IE everywhere, including the U.S.? Take our poll and let us know which browser you're using.
More stories:
Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Research shows hands-free phones just as risky (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Like it or not, when someone is talking to you, your brain is listening, processing and thinking about what's being said ? even when you're in the driver's seat trying to concentrate on traffic.
That's why drivers get distracted during cellphone conversations, even when using hands-free phones, researchers said. It's also part of the reason why the National Transportation Safety Board went ahead this week with a recommendation it knows a lot of drivers won't like ? that states ban hands-free, as well as handheld, cellphone use while driving.
It's not where your hands are, but where your mind is that counts, NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman told reporters.
The board doesn't have the power to force states to impose a ban, but its recommendations carry significant weight. And, judging from the public reaction, they've already started a national conversation on the subject. NTSB has been swamped with calls, emails and tweets from drivers both praising and condemning the action.
But it's the proposed hands-free ban that has generated the most controversy.
What's next? No passengers? No kids? No tuning the radio? Maybe NTSB will ban driving altogether, was the tenor of the response on Twitter.
The scientific evidence, however, is generally with NTSB, researchers said.
"There is a large body of evidence showing that talking on a phone, whether handheld or hands-free, impairs driving and increases your risk of having a crash," Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said.
Jim Hedlund, a safety consultant and former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official, recently examined 300 cellphone studies for the Governors Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He couldn't recall a single study that showed drivers talking on a headset or hands-free phone were at any less risk of an accident than drivers with one hand on the wheel and a phone in the other.
A similar analysis for the government of Sweden recently came to the same conclusion: "There is no evidence suggesting that hands-free mobile phone use is less risky than handheld use."
What's missing is hard evidence that accidents are increasing because of cellphone use. One reason is that U.S. privacy laws have made it difficult for researchers to study whether cell phones were in use in accidents in the U.S. The two large studies that have been done ? in Canada and Australia ? found drivers were four times more likely to have a crash if talking on a cellphone. It didn't matter whether the cellphone was hands-free or handheld.
But that hasn't translated to an increase in highway fatalities in the U.S., which hit their lowest level since 1949 last year.
Of 6,000 drivers surveyed by the highway administration, 40 percent said they don't consider it unsafe for drivers to talk on a hands-free cell phone. Less than 12 percent said that about a hand-held phone.
Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, isn't surprised.
It's counterintuitive to think that hands-free talking is dangerous because people don't have any sense that their conversation is draining brain power away from driving, but that's exactly what's happening, he said.
Just is the co-author of a 2008 study that used driving simulators to test the performance of drivers not engaged in conversation and drivers who could hear someone talking to them through headphones. Drivers took the simulator tests inside an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine that recorded images of changes in their brains while driving, including which areas of the brain were used for driving. The amount of the brain devoted to driving was 37 percent less in drivers who could hear someone talking to them than for drivers not using cellphones.
"The human mind can multitask, but each task is performed with less brain power and lower proficiency," Just said.
The driving simulators also showed a deterioration of skills on the part of drivers who could hear someone talking to them, including weaving between lanes and edging over the side of the road.
"When someone is speaking your native language, you can't will yourself to not hear and process it. It just goes in," Just said. Even if a driver tries to ignore the words, scientists "can see activation in the auditory cortex, in the language areas (of the brain). "
Accident investigators have seen cases of drivers talking on hands-free phones whose minds are so engrossed in their conversations that they ran into something plainly visible.
In a 2004, a bus driver taking students on a class trip drove his 12-foot-high bus into a 10-foot, 2-inch-high bridge arch in Alexandria, Va., peeling off the roof of the bus. There were signs warning drivers about the height of the bridge, and the bus driver was familiar with the route. He also saw a bus in front of him change lanes to avoid the low arch. But the bus driver, who was talking a hands-free phone at the time, drove right into it.
"There is a standard code for crash investigations called roughly `look, but didn't see.' In other words, I was looking in the right place, but I didn't register what was there," Hedlund said.
Of course, drivers don't have to be using cell phones to have conversations ? they talk with passengers all the time. But talking to an adult passenger doesn't involve the same risk as a phone conversation, researchers said. That's because passengers are engaged in the driving experience with the driver. If they see a danger, they'll usually warn the driver. Passengers also tend to instinctually adjust their conversation to the level of traffic and other difficulties confronting the driver.
There are lots of other things that go on in cars that are risky: eating and drinking, tuning the radio, studying maps and applying makeup, for example. Just like talking on the phone, most of those things involve a choice by the driver.
As for the screaming toddler in the backseat demanding attention, "some things are just part of life," McCartt said.
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Obama nominates 2 for labor board (AP)
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced plans to nominate two Democrats to the National Labor Relations Board, despite a Republican threat to block any appointments to the agency.
The president intends to nominate Sharon Block, deputy secretary for congressional affairs at the Labor Department, and Richard Griffin, currently the general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers, to fill two vacancies on the board.
The move comes just days after the board's top lawyer dropped a controversial lawsuit that charged Boeing with illegally retaliating against union members in Washington state by opening a new plant in South Carolina. That case ? along with other union-friendly decisions ? has made the board a target of Republicans who contend it has acted too favorably toward unions.
Obama's nominees would have to be confirmed by the Senate, but Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said last week he would block Obama from making any further appointments to the board. The agency usually has five members but has operated for months with three. It will lose another member by the end of the year, leaving it without enough members to conduct business.
Graham has said his goal is to keep the NLRB from making any more key decisions during the rest of Obama's time in office. He and other Senate Republicans have blocked other Obama appointees, most recently Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray, whom Obama nominated to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Last week, Obama held out the possibility of bypassing the Senate to install Cordray when Congress is in recess.
Obama's attempt to fill the NLRB posts is fueling speculation that the board members could be included with Cordray in a group of recess appointments. Union officials have been pushing the White House to keep at least three members on the board so it can function next year.
But it remains unclear whether Obama will have a chance to make any recess appointments. For months, House Republicans have convened brief, pro forma sessions whenever Congress is away to prevent the Senate from going into a full recess. GOP lawmakers have pledged to continue the tactic.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
AAA: U.S. holiday travel to rise at year-end
NEW YORK?? Family ties will trump economic worries this holiday season as more Americans take to the road for the Christmas and New Year break, travel group AAA said on Wednesday.
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Just under 92 million Americans are expected to drive or fly 50 miles (80 km) or more from home between Dec. 23, 2011 and Jan. 2, 2012, AAA said.
That would represent a 1.4 percent increase over the numbers that traveled a year earlier and the second-highest year-end exodus in a decade, the group said.
Some 93.7 million people traveled for the year-end holiday in 2006, AAA data shows.
About 91 percent of holiday travelers are expected to drive to their destination, a 2.1 percent increase year-on-year.
AAA said a gallon of gasoline sells for $3.27 at present, about 29 cents more than a year ago.
The forecast, based on a monthly survey of 50,000 homes, said about 5.4 million -- down 10 percent year-on-year -- would fly over the holiday season.
(Reporting By Selam Gebrekidan; Editing by Dale Hudson)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45664038/ns/travel-news/
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