Of competitions and consequences ? The Society for News Design ...

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February 28th, 2013

By Josh Crutchmer

I have a confession. I don?t believe everything I read from the media.

Does that make me a bad member of the media?

Here?s why I ask: I?m hearing from fellow journalists that SND has an infographics-and-illustration crisis on its hand, and the journalist in me can?t kick the skeptical habit that easily.

Full disclosure: I think the series from Dr. Mario Garcia is balanced, well-researched and written fairly. I am very glad the Best of News Design has generated some serious discussion this year. That?s exactly what it should be doing.

PART 1 of Dr. Garcia?s series explores whether it?s tougher today to win in the SND infographic category.

PART 2 talks about potential solutions to improve the infographics competition.

PART 3 looks at a winning and losing entry from this year?s competition.

My issue ? and admittedly I don?t think anyone can be closer to the issue right now, as I was a judge at SND34, the competition coordinator for SND33, and I am a member of the competition committee responsible for the structure of the competition ? is that I can?t make the immediate leap from ?SND did not give out many graphics and illustration awards? to ?SND has a major problem on its hands.?

The best I can offer is to examine the issue from all sides, and what follows is my best effort.

Let?s oversimplify the issue for the purpose of this discussion, and say this: The issue at hand is that SND34 judges awarded so few graphics and illustration entries that there is cause for concern over the viability and integrity of the competition. We know this based on public and private reaction to the announced results.

That?s our issue. Let?s take a look at all of the possibilities that arise in its wake.

Possibility No. 1: All of the above is absolutely true.

If that?s true, then it has to be ? TRUE: The results jeopardize the competition and call its integrity into question. But keep in mind, for that to be true, the graphics and illustration judges have to be wrong in their professional opinion. Let?s take a look at exactly who would have to be wrong, at a minimum. Friends, your SND34 visuals team judges:

Michael Whitley, AME, Los Angeles Times: For almost a decade, the Times? visual work has been led SND in awards, and has similarly been lauded by such competitions as Pictures of the Year International, Malofeij and the Best of Sports Design, among others. He?s a competition committee member and former coordinator.

Alex Fong, deputy design director, Bay Area News Group: He?s a member of Digital First Media?s print redesign team and has worked as a part of one of the most respected visual teams of the last 15 years.

Rob Schneider, SND president, Dallas Morning News presentation director: Because of what I?m about to say, it should be enough that he?s the elected leader of SND. His work, particularly in information layering, has consistently helped set the bar for excellence in print design since 2003.

Vanessa Wyse, creative director, The Grid: You may know her from the publication she oversees winning back-to-back World?s Best honors, or from the standing-room only session on creativity she presented at SND Cleveland.

Saulo Santana, art director, Bild am Sonntag: His previous work was at Correio Braziliense. His paper won World?s Best this year.

All of those judges assign, coordinate and edit graphics as part of their jobs, and the work they have been a part of is evidence they do those jobs very well.

The conflict judges were Christobal Edwards and Paul Wallen. The coordinator was Melissa Angle. Three of the most respected individuals in the Society today, whose volunteerism and attention to SND?s best interests could by itself fill a large book.

IF THIS YEAR?S JUDGING WAS NEGLIGENTLY FLAWED, THEN IT MUST BE TRUE THAT THOSE PEOPLE MADE IT SO.

And friends, enemies, and casual colleagues, that is one hell of an indictment to pin on those individuals.

But you can?t separate it. If you honestly, really do not respect the SND results in those two categories, it is a representation of their collective opinions that you do not respect. When I see terms like ?self-flagellation? thrown out, directed at a list of individuals whose track record and character indicate the exact polar opposite of self-flagellators, the first two words that spring to my little southern mind are not kind ones.

Possibility No. 2: None of the above is absolutely true.

Statistically, the percentage of graphics winners versus graphics entries has changed very little over the years. But it hasn?t been that long ago that SND was giving 30-40 awards in categories that had 800-900 entries. Now we?re hovering around 15-20 in categories that have 400-500. Math says that nothing?s wrong there.

Now is when I acknowledge that, yes, it does look rather jarring to pick up an SND book and see 17 graphics winners when you?re used to seeing 34. To onlookers, that inherently has to raise red flags.

But the larger point is, there?s a side to this discussion that says there?s not a great statistical difference this year, and would we really want there to be one?

Possibility No. 3: Entries that did not win could have been better.

One of the things that makes winning an award of excellence an honor is that it?s, um, really really hard to win awards of excellence. Others can break out the numbers, but my experience is that graphics and illustrations are awarded at about the same percentage that features entries are awarded, which is just under three percent, annually.

The reason for that is, there?s often a lot of truly great work entered in the competition. Winning requires rising above truly great work. It takes refining details and editing beyond greatness. Here are some things that separate ?great? from ?excellent? at SND:

? Use of the space. Was your entry a full-page graphic with a quarter-page of information?

? Originality. Were you the first to do something or did you expound on an idea that had been done before? Even if you did it better, it?s not a guarantee that it?s so much better that it deserves the same honor.

? Stopping a judge. Did you have a clear lead visual or a clean concept, or maybe a well-written headline? If you want a ?yes? vote, you have to stop a judge who will look at thousands of entries and make that judge want to consider yours. (A great test would be to look at your work while you have a headache. Does looking at it make your headache worse or does it make you want to fight through it and pore over it anyway?)

All of the above are just a handful of the reasons a chip can fall into a ?yes? or ?no? cup.

If you?re really really angry about your SND result, I would implore you to ask yourself, ?What could we have done to make that better?? and then ?Why didn?t we do it?? If there?s really no answer, then you absolutely have a valid point of contention.

At the heart of all competitions is this, and it?s a cold hard fact: They exist to set the bar.

Did your work set the bar this year? If it didn?t, are you willing to double down on your efforts next year? Those are personal questions. Greatness can?t be lectured.

By that same standard, this is important too: If you believe your work is already great, setting the bar and cannot be better, and you?re looking to SND to validate it, you?re looking at SND completely wrong. It?s OK to be comfortable in your knowledge of how good your work is. Competitions don?t exist to validate. They?re there to collectively set a bar. You have every right to differ in your opinion.

Possibility No. 4: The statement?s not true, but SND exists to evolve, and it should.?

We learn things every year. Speaking strictly as a competition committee member, I fully understand how this looks to a great many people. Moreover, I understand that the consequences of looking a certain way can affect whether someone continues to enter the competition. I would never look at it as ?taking a ball and going home.? If the competition isn?t viable, people don?t participate, and viability is influenced by perception.

There can be no ambiguity if this is true, and neither can this: The stated concerns have been heard clearly and emphatically. Every part of the print competition will be scrutinized this year, nothing more so than graphics and illustrations. The competition committee will look at category breakdowns, whether it?s fair to have certain graphics judged against other types. Or whether news illustrations should be on the table next to sports illustrations.

And we?re not going to look at it with the purpose of doubling or tripling the number of winners. We are going to look at it from the perspective of fairness. Everybody who enters the competition has the right to expect that their work will be treated fairly, and there is nothing the competition committee values above that.

If you?re angry about this year, I just hope you?ll treat next year the way we do as journalists. Be skeptical, but thorough. Examine the changes and decide for yourself if it?s taken a step forward. If you do that and feel otherwise, at least you did that. That?s vastly different from stonewalling SND out of anger.

We exist to set the bar. That?s all we tried to do in three frigid February days. And nothing and nobody whose eyes fall upon this sentence deserved less.

Josh Crutchmer is the news design director at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

This post was tagged: snd34

Source: http://www.snd.org/2013/02/of-competitions-and-consequences/

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Having Sons Can Shorten a Woman's Life Expectancy

Each boy raises the risk of death by 7 percent. They may be energetically more demanding to breast-feed

By Zoe Cormier

Boys can be a handful for both parents, but they only seem to take a toll on their mothers' life expectancy. Image: Melinda Brookshire Photography/Flickr

From Nature magazine.

Women who bear sons can have slightly shorter lives than those who bear daughters, researchers have found. Their study showed that a woman?s risk of death increased by 7% per year for each son born ? a small but statistically robust effect, at least for the individuals the team looked at ? Finnish villagers in pre-Industrial Scandinavia.

?Previous investigations into the effect of the gender of a baby on its mother?s lifespan have been mixed, so our new analysis really is just another brick in the wall,? says Samuli Helle of the University of Turku in Finland, the study's lead author. ?I?m not surprised the results have been mixed, because the previous studies have involved different societies, cultural practices and so on.?

A litany of factors could influence a woman?s lifespan, such as affluence and nutrition, as well as the number of children she has. The impact of having a boy compared with a girl is likely to be most pronounced in settings where resources such as food and health care are poor.

Helle and his co-author, Virpi Lummaafound, investigated parish records for individuals in eight parishes who lived during the seventeenth to mid-twentieth centuries. They found that if a woman in these communities was 37 years old at the time of having her last child, her life expectancy would vary depending on the sex of her children. She would live for another 33.1 years if she had no sons, another 32.7 years if she had three and another 32.4 years if she had six.

The study, which appears in Biology Letters, builds on previous research published by the same team in the journal Science more than ten years ago, which found that for every son she had, a woman's life would be shortened by an average of 34 weeks. By contrast, daughters actually lengthened their mother's lifespan very slightly (though not statistically significantly). In both studies, the life-shortening effects were experienced only by mothers, not fathers.

Biological factors
But the reason behind this small difference is the big puzzle. ?The relative importance of biological versus cultural factors remains an open question,? says Helle, who speculates that it could be that girls are more likely to help their parents in household duties. ?We need more data, such as how many sons versus daughters helped in everyday tasks, what age they actually started to work outside the home and so on.?

Erik Lindqvist of the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm, who has looked at lifespan and births in Sweden, is not convinced. ?We have never been able to replicate their results," he says.

But Grazyna Jasienska, who studies longevity and reproductive health at Jagiellonian University Medical College in Cracow, Poland, believes that the effects of sons on a woman's lifespan are certainly real ? and are probably due to biological factors, such as breastfeeding.

Other studies have found that boys can take more of a toll on their mother biologically because they tend to be slightly heavier at birth than girls. And a few studies have found that women expend more energy in producing breast milk for boys ? although the results of such studies have been mixed.

?I think the costs of having boys over girls are more social than biological," she says. "But we still ultimately don?t know."

This story is reprinted with permission from Nature magazine. It was first published on February 27, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=6543e4dd9a684a9b0f1facf599e97ed2

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King Mohammed VI receives Emir of Kuwait | Morocco World News

Rabat, February 26, 2013 (MAP)

King Mohammed VI received, on Tuesday at the Royal Palace in Rabat, the Emir of the state of Kuwait, Cheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.

The meeting attests to the depth of ties between the two heads of state, as well as to the solid relations between the two countries, both at the bilateral level in the political, economic and social fields, and through the strategic partnership with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the ties of brotherhood and solidarity between the Moroccan and Kuwaiti peoples, the Royal cabinet said in a statement.

The talks provided an opportunity to highlight the importance of continued consultations over various issues of common interest, especially at the Arab, regional and international levels. The two sides also reiterated their firm commitment to continue their action for the benefit of the two brotherly peoples.

The audience comes after the visit by King Mohammed VI to Kuwait, which has imparted a strong momentum to the distinguished bilateral relations, particularly in the economic and investment fields.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/02/80171/king-mohammed-vi-receives-emir-of-kuwait/

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Music Revenue Grows For The First Time Since 1999 | Stuff.co.nz

More than a decade after online file swapping tipped the music industry into turmoil, record executives may finally be getting a sliver of good news.

Industry revenue is up. A measly 0.3 percent, but it's still up.

"We're on the path to recovery," said Frances Moore, whose International Federation of the Phonographic Industry put together the figures released in a report Tuesday. "There's a palpable buzz in the air."

In her forward to the IFPI report, Moore said the return to growth was a tribute to the transformation of the music industry, saying it had "adapted to the Internet world."

That change has been a long time coming. Online song sharing popularised by services such as Napster at the turn of the millennium seriously destabilised the industry, which reacted with a barrage of lawsuits and lobbying.

But the war on piracy failed to stem the tide of free music, and by the time executives finally began making legal music available through download services such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes, the industry was in a free fall.

Since its 1999 peak, the global music industry's revenues have crashed more than 40 percent. Tuesday's figures, which show a rise in global revenue from US$16.4 billion in 2011 to US$16.5 billion in 2012, are the first hint of growth in more than a decade.

Mark Mulligan, of UK-based Midia consulting, warned that Tuesday's figures did not mean the industry had put its misery years behind it.

"We're probably near the bottom," he said, "but it's so marginal we could easily have another year or two where it could get worse."

The physical music market - everything from vinyl records to DVDs - continues to contract, losing another $500 million in revenue between 2011 and 2012, according to Tuesday's IFPI figures. The industry group has placed its bets on downloads, streaming, and subscription services to make up for lost ground, but there's still a long way to go.

Downloads and streaming audio now account for most of the music sold in the United States and Scandinavia, but physical music still accounts for the majority of industry revenue worldwide.

Illegal music downloads remain a problem worldwide, particularly in potentially huge markets such as Russia, India, and China. Moore urged governments to follow the example of the international enforcement action against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, accused by American prosecutors of facilitating millions of illegal downloads. Dotcom, who is fighting an attempt to extradite him from New Zealand to the United States, denies the allegations.

The report hailed the action against Megaupload and sites like The Pirate Bay - which has been blocked by several European countries - but it estimated that 32 percent of all Internet users still regularly downloaded pirated music.

"What other industry has to cope with a third of its customers being able to get copies of its products from illegal services?" Moore said.

With growth uneven across various countries and piracy still a stubborn problem, it could take years for the industry to return to its previous health. If it ever does.

Mulligan said he believes some of the lost revenue may never be recovered, with many casual users who used to buy the odd CD turning to free services such as YouTube, television music channels, or Internet radio instead.

"This is a case of managed decline," he said, predicting "a sustainable but smaller market built around more engaged music fans."

- AP

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8358744/Music-revenue-up-first-time-since-99

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OMG, Have You Seen Kim & Kanye's Naked Mag Cover?

When Kim Kardashian said during a recent interview that baby daddy Kanye West had taught her the value of privacy, we definitely didn't expect to see the two of them posing together naked on the cover of a French magazine just one week later. But this is a Kardashian we're talking about -- did you really think a little thing like a pregnancy was going to keep her inside?

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/kim-kardashians-naked-magazine-cover-kanye/1-a-524003?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Akim-kardashians-naked-magazine-cover-kanye-524003

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Gun control supporter backed by New York mayor wins Chicago vote

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Gun control supporter Robin Kelly won the Democratic primary for a Chicago area U.S. House seat on Tuesday, propelled by more than $2 million in television ads highlighting the guns issue bankrolled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Kelly, a former Illinois state representative, said in her victory speech that the vote was a setback for the powerful gun rights lobby, the National Rifle Association.

"The voters sent a message that tells the NRA that their days of holding our country hostage are coming to an end. And their days of scaring Congress into submission on gun control are coming to a close," Kelly said to cheers from supporters.

The NRA fiercely defends the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution setting out the right to bear arms.

The Chicago special election was the first U.S. electoral test since gun control rose to the top of the political agenda after a gunman killed 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December.

Since that massacre, which took the lives of 20 school children, President Barack Obama has pushed Congress to pass tighter gun restrictions and Bloomberg has vowed to use some of his fortune to help battle the political influence of the NRA.

The special election was to fill the seat of indicted former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr, who resigned in November citing health problems and pleaded guilty in federal court last week to using campaign funds for personal enrichment.

Jackson was a reliable vote in Congress for gun control. Until Bloomberg elbowed into the race, polls had shown that the special election might be won by Debbie Halvorson, a former congresswoman who had an A+ rating from the NRA and opposed an assault weapons ban.

Bloomberg blanketed Chicago television with ads on the gun issue, attacking Halvorson and endorsing Kelly in the final days of the campaign.

"He turned this election into a referendum on the NRA," said Chicago Democratic political analyst Don Rose.

A little over an hour after the polls closed, Halvorson called Kelly to concede defeat, saying that Bloomberg's television ads had overwhelmed her campaign.

"There was $2.3 million minimum spent against me," Halvorson told supporters. "That's the way it is. I can't help it."

The Illinois affiliate of the NRA had asked its members to vote for Halvorson.

Kelly, 56, highlighted Chicago's rash of murders from a surge in gang violence ravaging poor neighborhoods. The shootings have claimed the lives of dozens of young people, including Hadiya Pendleton, a high school student who was killed just over a week after she performed at Obama's inauguration.

Bloomberg issued a statement immediately after Kelly was declared the winner, saying that the Illinois vote showed Americans want change in Washington.

"As Congress considers the president's gun package, voters in Illinois have sent a clear message: We need common sense gun legislation now. Now it's up to Washington to act," he said.

Political analyst Rose said the Chicago district was receptive to Bloomberg's anti-gun message because it is heavily Democratic, and because of the plague of local gun violence. He said it was too soon to tell if the outcome would have national implications.

With nearly all the vote counted, Kelly had about 52 percent to 24 percent for Halvorson. More than a dozen other candidates, some of whom had withdrawn from the race but remained on the ballot, split the remainder of the Democratic vote.

Turnout was light because of a snowstorm that hit the Chicago area on Tuesday, making travel treacherous.

The winner of the Democratic primary is likely to be elected to the seat in the general election on April 9 because the district is Democratic. Three candidates were in a close race for the Republican nomination to face Kelly in April.

(Writing by Greg McCune, editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-control-supporter-wins-chicago-house-primary-021434104.html

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Vatican: Retired Pope Benedict XVI will be called "emeritus pope," continue to wear white

It began as a seemingly awkward Jack Nicholson introduction of the very long list on nominees, but the Best Picture denouement?at a very long Oscars ceremony on Sunday turned into a surprise appearance by Michelle Obama, via satellite from the Governors' Ball in Washington, D.C.?where earlier she had sat next to Chris Christie?to introduce and announce the winner,?Argo.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-retired-pope-benedict-xvi-called-emeritus-pope-115655863.html

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Top 5 Tips For Staging Your House | Motherhood, WTF?

I?m in the middle of the dreadful process of selling my house and buying a new one. If you?ve ever done either or both of these, then you know that it can be stressful, busy, repetitive, and annoying.

I spend my time:

• calculating hypothetical mortgage payments, hypothetical closing costs, hypothetical home-sale profits less hypothetical Realtor/attorney fees?
• scrubbing my kitchen sink, hiding my family?s toothbrushes and laundry, and timing the smells in my house ? cook with cumin only the night before a day with no scheduled house tours?
• walking through other people?s houses, seeing their scrubbed (or not) kitchen sinks, evidence (or none) of toothbrushes and laundry, and smelling their house smells?

In all of this I?ve learned a few things about getting your house sale-ready. It?s all about staging ? which means tricking your perspective buyers into thinking that if they live in your house, it will be clean.

Top 5 Tips for Staging Your House:

1. When people recommend that you declutter before showing your home, they mean it. You may have the biggest and most impressive windmill salt and pepper shaker collection this side of Amsterdam, but I don?t care. It?s distracting at best, and nightmare inducing at worst.
2. You can?t hide all evidence of having children, but you can be selective about what you leave in view. Technicolor plastic toy explosion? No. Adorable tiny sneakers? Yes.
3. You may not know it, but if you live with people who are under four feet tall, you have snot crusted on?40% of your walls. (Did you know that kids leave a slime trail not unlike slugs?) Getting it off is a?loathsome?but necessary job.
4. Magic Erasers really are magic. You will need approximately 1 for every 300 sq. feet of your home. (Alternatively, you can repaint everything.) I?m normally a huge fan of generic brands, but in this case only the real deal did the job.
5. If your house smells like mold/dog/cat/feet, bake some damn cookies.

Apply these fail-proof tips and you can sell your home twice in the first week just like I did!* ?You may also choose to follow my strict regimen of insomnia,?Xanax,?coffee, wine, rinse and repeat.

*Home sellers tip: do not think that having a signed contract means you?re done.

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This entry was posted in WTF Moments and tagged buying a home, selling a home, staging your home, tips to sell your house fast by Allison @ Motherhood, WTF?. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://motherhoodwtf.com/2013/02/25/top-5-tips-for-staging-your-house/

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Right Wing Rages Uncontrollably at Michelle Obama: "Someone Put a Bullet in That Fat Pig" (Little green footballs)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287328761?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Cuban leader Raul Castro says he will retire in 2018

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro announced on Sunday he will step down from power after his second term ends in 2018, and the new parliament named a 52-year-old rising star to become his first vice president and most visible successor.

"This will be my last term," Castro, 81, said shortly after the National Assembly elected him to a second five-year tenure.

In a surprise move, the new parliament also named Miguel Diaz-Canel as first vice president, meaning he would take over if Castro cannot serve his full term.

Diaz-Canel is a member of the political bureau who rose through the Communist Party ranks in the provinces to become the most visible possible successor to Castro.

Raul Castro starts his second term immediately, leaving him free to retire in 2018, aged 86.

Former President Fidel Castro joined the National Assembly meeting on Sunday, in a rare public appearance. Since falling ill in 2006 and ceding the presidency to his brother, the elder Castro, 86, has given up official positions except as a deputy in the National Assembly.

The new government will almost certainly be the last headed up by the Castro brothers and their generation of leaders who have ruled Cuba since they swept down from the mountains in the 1959 revolution.

Cubans and foreign governments were keenly watching whether any new, younger faces appeared among the Council of State members, in particular its first vice president and five vice presidents.

Their hopes were partially fulfilled with Diaz-Canel's ascension. He replaces former first vice president, Jose Machado Ventura, 82, who will continue as one of five vice presidents.

Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes, 80, and Gladys Bejerano, 66, the comptroller general, were also re-elected as vice presidents.

Two other newcomers, Mercedes Lopez Acea, 48, first secretary of the Havana communist party, and Salvador Valdes Mesa, 64, head of the official labor federation, also earned vice presidential slots.

Esteban Lazo, a 68-year-old former vice president and member of the political bureau of the Communist Party, left his post upon being named president of the National Assembly on Sunday. He replaced Ricardo Alarcon, who served in the job for 20 years.

Six of the Council's top seven members sit on the party's political bureau which is also lead by Castro.

Castro's announcement came as little surprise to Cuban exiles in Miami.

"It's no big news. It would have been big news if he resigned today and called for democratic elections," said Alfredo Duran, a Cuban-American lawyer and moderate exile leader in Miami who supports lifting the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. "I wasn't worried about him being around after 2018," he added.

The National Assembly meets for just a few weeks each year and delegates its legislative powers between sessions to the 31-member Council of State, which also functions as the executive through the Council of Ministers it appoints.

Eighty percent of the 612 deputies, who were elected in an uncontested vote February 3, were born after the revolution.

EFFORT TO PROMOTE YOUNGER GENERATION

Raul Castro, who officially replaced his ailing brother as president in 2008, has repeatedly said senior leaders should hold office for no more than two five-year terms.

"Although we kept on trying to promote young people to senior positions, life proved that we did not always make the best choice," Castro said at a Communist Party Congress in 2011.

"Today, we are faced with the consequences of not having a reserve of well-trained replacements ... It's really embarrassing that we have not solved this problem in more than half a century."

Speaking on Sunday, Castro hailed the composition of the new Council of State as an example of what he had said needed to be accomplished.

"Of the 31 members, 41.9 percent are women and 38.6 percent are black or of mixed race. The average age is 57 years and 61.3 percent were born after the triumph of the revolution," he said.

The 2011 party summit adopted a more than 300-point plan aimed at updating Cuba's Soviet-style economic system, designed to transform it from one based on collective production and consumption to one where individual effort and reward play a far more important role.

Across-the-board subsidies are being replaced by a comprehensive tax code and targeted welfare.

Raul Castro has encouraged small businesses and cooperatives in retail services, farming, minor manufacturing and retail, and given more autonomy to state companies which still dominate the economy.

The party plan also includes an opening to more foreign investment.

At the same time, Cuba continues to face a U.S. administration bent on restoring democracy and capitalism to the island and questions about the future largess of oil rich Venezuela with strategic ally Hugo Chavez battling cancer.

(Editing by Kieran Murray and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cuban-leader-raul-castro-announces-retire-2018-004912977.html

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App connects users around the globe to personal trainers via video

(Reuters) - For fitness enthusiasts who can't make it to the gym a web-based app will bring group video classes, and some friends for motivation, to them.

Wello, an app that connects users with personal trainers for video-based workouts, has launched group classes for a range of activities, including yoga, Taekwondo and high-intensity interval training. Classes are led by certified trainers and are accessible to anyone around the globe with a webcam and an Internet connection.

"It's that ability to join in on something last-minute and also to explore something new," said Ann Scott Plante, co-founder of San Francisco-based company Wello.

Like traditional classes, the instructors in the video classes, which have three to five students, offer motivation and feedback. Users can join an existing class, or organize a new one with friends.

Students can see a video feed of each other in the app, along with a feed of the instructor, who can provide feedback to them during the class.

"Instead of watching a static video that could get boring, or isn't necessarily built for you, we thought we would give people the opportunity to meet with a real person who would spend the whole workout with you and correct your form," Plante said.

Trainers on the platform are professionally certified in the United States and their experience and reviews can be viewed online before booking a class.

Plante said that by comparison to a traditional in-person class, trainers in the video class give more verbal instructions to make it easier to follow along and because they cannot physically adjust the students.

Although trainers can offer personal fitness classes with a video calling service such as Skype, Plante said the scheduling, payment and review features of Wello make it appealing for both instructors and users looking for a workout.

Wello, is available on the web with classes starting at under $10 per class. The company, which launched in July 2012, is working on iPad and television apps.

(Reporting by Natasha Baker in Toronto; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/app-connects-users-around-globe-personal-trainers-via-155600289.html

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BP Spill Settlement Reportedly Being Considered By U.S. Justice, Gulf States

In this June 3, 2010 file photo, a bird is seen on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast after being drenched in oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government's point man on the disaster, said Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010, BP's well "is effectively dead." A permanent cement plug sealed BP's well nearly 2.5 miles below the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico, five agonizing months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. (Charlie Riedel, AP)

This May 28, 2010 image taken from a BP live video feed shows fluid escaping from a fractured pipe which has been spouting oil for 36 days on the seabed off the Louisiana coast following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform. The United States filed suit on December 15, 2010 against BP and eight other companies for damages stemming from this year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst in US history. The complaint was filed by the Justice Department with a federal court in New Orleans, where thousands of individuals and small businesses have already sued the oil giant. (AFP / Getty Images)

In this April 21, 2010 file photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning. A BP scientist identified a previously unreported deposit of flammable gas that could have played a role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but the oil giant failed to divulge the finding to government investigators for as long as a year, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press. (Gerald Herbert, AP)

Massive Oil Slick Threatens U.S. Gulf Coast

GULF OF MEXICO- MAY 5: Gathered concentrated oil burns during a controlled oil fire May 5, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Coast Guard oversaw the oil burn after the sinking and subsequent massive oil leak because of the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform off the coast of Louisiana. (Photo by Justin E. Stumberg/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

In this aerial photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, an oil slick is seen as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns. (Gerald Herbert, AP)

In this May 5, 2010 file photo, shrimp boats are used to collect oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La. (Eric Gay, AP)

BP CEO Tony Hayward (C) answers questions from the media on an oil-stained beach on May 24, 2010 at Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Hayward said that BP is doing everything possible to clean up the massive oil spill still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Officials now say, however, that it may be impossible to clean the hundreds of miles of coastal wetlands and islands affected. (John Moore, Getty Images)

In this June 5, 2010, file photo Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. Hahn lifts his boot out of thick beached oil at Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La. After three long months, the bleeding from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has been finally, mercifully stanched. But in so many ways, the prognosis remains uncertain. (Gerald Herbert, AP)

A brown pelican covered with oil from th

A brown pelican covered with oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, swims at Sandy Point in the Gulf of Mexico, near Venice, Louisiana, June 15, 2010, prior to being captured by team of biologists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Birds are caught and then cleaned at the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Gulf Coast Battles Continued Spread Of Oil In Its Waters And Coastline

GULFPORT, MS - JULY 1: An Oil cleanup worker uses a shovel to remove thick oil that washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on July 1, 2010 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In this June 3, 2010 file photo, a brown pelican is mired in heavy oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government's point man on the disaster, said Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010, BP's well "is effectively dead." A permanent cement plug sealed BP's well nearly 2.5 miles below the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico, five agonizing months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. (Charlie Riedel, AP)

Massive Oil Slick Reaches Louisiana Gulf Coast

VENICE, LA - MAY 02: Oil spill workers head out to their boats as they prepare to help with the cleanup of the massive oil spill created in the aftermath of the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig May 2, 2010 in Venice, Louisiana. High winds and rough water have slowed the cleanup effort. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A man cleans a beach May 4, 2010 in Bilo

A man cleans a beach May 4, 2010 in Biloxi, Mississippi, as the gulf coast is still being threatened by the oil spill from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster. AFP PHOTO/Stan Honda (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. President Barack Obama picks up balls of tar while touring the beach May 28, 2010 in Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon disaster now officially ranks as the worst in U.S. history. (Win McNamee, Getty Images)

Hermit crabs struggle to cross a patch of oil from the the Deepwater Horizon spill on a barrier island near East Grand Terre Island, La, Sunday, June 6, 2010. (Charlie Riedel, AP)

Mississippi River water (L) meets sea wa

Mississippi River water (L) meets sea water and an oil slick that has passsed inside of the protective barrier formed by the Chandeleur Islands, as cleanup operations continue for the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster off Louisiana, on May 7, 2010. The Gulf of Mexico oil slick threatens disaster for the fragile US coast, causing clean-up efforts to focus on the best of a bad set of options: fight it there before it arrives here. An army of workers hired by British Petroleum, along with the US Coast Guard and local officials in Louisiana, have rushed to set out protective booms, spread dispersants and burn the oil when they can as it moves toward the shore. The strategy is to deal with the growing slick as much as possible before it laps into wetlands on Louisiana's coast, where its effects could be catastrophic and cleaning it is infinitely more difficult if not impossible. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Workers put the finishing touches on the

Workers put the finishing touches on the Pollution Control Dome at the Martin Terminal worksite in Port Fourchon, as BP rushes to cap the source of the oil slick from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster in Louisiana, on May 4, 2010. BP delayed until May 5 the deployment of a giant 'dome' to try to contain the main leak spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The British energy giant now plans to load the 98-ton structure onto a boat at 'noon tomorrow' before shipping it out to the leak site. The dome, which is to be guided onto the largest of three oil leaks by remote-controlled submarines a mile down on the seabed, should be 'operational within six days,' Suttles said. Two weeks after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, the full impact of the disaster is being realized as a massive slick looms off the US Gulf coast, threatening to wipe out the livelihoods of shoreline communities. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

A dead fish is seen on the beach May 5,

A dead fish is seen on the beach May 5, 2010 in Pass Christian, Mississippi as the gulf coast is still threatened by the oil spill from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster. Emergency crews rushed to protect fragile shorelines and islands as the Gulf of Mexico oil slick expanded, prompting a mobilization of more national guard troops and alerts as far as the Florida Keys. With oil still gushing Wednesday from the ruptured offshore well, volunteers and others descended on the region to help stave off a looming environmental crisis from the huge oil patch. AFP PHOTO/Stan Honda (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Seagulls and other birds fly past oil booms that were placed in preparation of the looming oil spill from last week's collapse and spill of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Saturday, May 1, 2010, along the North Shore south of Venice, Louisiana. Wildlife in the region is vulnerable to the looming oil spill from last week's collapse and spill of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. (Eric Gay, AP)

Bayou Candlelight Vigil Marks 100 Days Since BP Oil Spill

GRAND ISLE, LA - JULY 29: Local residents gather near an oil processing area on the beach to commemorate 100 days of the BP oil spill on July 29, 2010 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Eleven lives were lost and three to five million barrels of oil have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Eric Melerine sheds tears as he talks about possibly losing his fishing business, that has been in the family for genertions, if he can't continue to work because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on May 1, 2010 in Delacroix, Louisiana. As oil-polluted waters approach the Louisiana coast, fishermen don't want to take chances selling possibly contaminated crabs so they are pulling their traps and dumping their catches. Oil is still leaking out of the Deepwater Horizon wellhead at a estimated rate of 1,000-5,000 barrels a day. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

Massive Oil Spill's Damage To Gulf Environment And Economy Increases

WAVELAND, MS - JULY 09: An oil coated containment boom is seen close to the shore after it was moved out of place during the high winds and waves in the past days which brought oil ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico July 9, 2010 in Waveland, Mississippi. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Massive Oil Spill's Damage To Gulf Environment And Economy Increases

WAVELAND, MS - JULY 09: A worker uses a shovel to pick up oily globs that washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico July 9, 2010 in Waveland, Mississippi. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

One of the New harbor Islands is protected by two oil booms against the oil slick that has passsed inside of the protective barrier formed by the Chandeleur Islands, as cleanup operations continue for the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster off Louisiana, on May 10, 2010. Days after failing to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with a giant dome, BP said it will make a second attempt this week using a smaller version dubbed the "top hat." A four-story, 100-ton box was lowered Friday to the seabed to try to capture most of the oil and allow it to be funneled up to a ship on the surface, but it was rendered useless on Sunday when ice crystals formed in its domed roof. BP experts believe the smaller "top hat" containment box would not suffer the same problem as it would not hold so much freezing cold seawater, and they are preparing to drop it into the inky depths to carry out a similar fix to what is unfolding as one the worst oil spills in US history. (Mark Ralston, AFP / Getty Images)

Gulf Coast Battles Continued Spread Of Oil In Its Waters And Coastline

PORT FOURCHON, LA - JULY 03: Workers clear off some of the oil washing on to Fourchon Beach from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on July 3, 2010 in Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Gulf Coast Battles Continued Spread Of Oil In Its Waters And Coastline

GULFPORT, MS - JULY 1: Thick oil is seen washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on July 1, 2010 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Gulf Coast Battles Continued Spread Of Oil In Its Waters And Coastline

ORANGE BEACH, AL - JUNE 27: Workers place absorbent material on to the beach as oil residue washes ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on June 27, 2010 in Orange Beach, Alabama. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Massive Oil Spill's Damage To Gulf Environment And Economy Increases

WAVELAND, MS- JULY 09: Workers clean up oily globs that washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico July 9, 2010 in Waveland, Mississippi. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Gulf Coast Battles Continued Spread Of Oil In Its Waters And Coastline

ORANGE BEACH, AL- JUNE 27: Pete Duchock holds his daughter, Maddie Duchock, as they stand near oil residue that has stained the beach after washing ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on June 27, 2010 in Orange Beach, Alabama. Pete Duchock said his daughter cried after seeing the oil washing ashore when they arrived for their vacation. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Gulf Coast Battles Continued Spread Of Oil In Its Waters And Coastline

ORANGE BEACH, AL - JUNE 26: A beach goer walks on the beach where oil is seen in the water as it washes ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on June 26, 2010 in Orange Beach, Alabama. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

BP CEO Tony Hayward Testifies Before House Hearing On Oil Spill

WASHINGTON - JUNE 17: BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward is sworn in before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for a hearing on the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill June 17, 2010 in Washington, DC. BP agreed yesterday to place $20 billion into an escrow account managed by a third party to pay out claims resulting from the oil spill and also said it will not pay out additional dividends to shareholders for the remainder of the year. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Congress Holds Hearings On BP Oil Spill

WASHINGTON - JUNE 17: A protester is escorted from the hearing room after disrupting the hearing of BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward (R) on the Gulf Coast oil spill on Capitol Hill June 17, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Members of AnimaNaturalis with their bod

Members of AnimaNaturalis with their bodies covered with black paint protest against the oil spill of BP's drilling well in the Gulf of Mexico, on July 22, 2010 in Mexico city. Demostrators aim to alert people about the animals dying because of the oil spill and call to use less petrol. AFP PHOTO/ Omar TORRES (Photo credit should read OMAR TORRES/AFP/Getty Images)

Bayou Candlelight Vigil Marks 100 Days Since BP Oil Spill

GRAND ISLE, LA - JULY 29: Cacinda Voisin (C) holds a balloon to comemorate the eleven lives lost and 100 days of the BP oil spill on July 29, 2010 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Three to five million barrels of oil have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Crosses with descriptions of fish, wildl

Crosses with descriptions of fish, wildlife and summer pastimes are displayed in a front yard of a home in Grand Isle, Louisiana, June 14, 2010, of things potentially lost to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

A support ship related to the collection

A support ship related to the collection of oil from over the site of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil well transitions through a sheen of oil as workers try to stem the flow of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, June 12, 2010. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Thick oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon

Thick oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill floats on the surface of the water and coats the marsh wetlands in Bay Jimmy near Port Sulphur, Louisiana, June 11, 2010. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Oil covered brown pelicans found off the

Oil covered brown pelicans found off the Louisiana coast and affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico wait in a holding pen for cleaning at the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, Louisiana, June 11, 2010. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

The glove-covered hands of Dan Howells,

The glove-covered hands of Dan Howells, deputy campaign director with Greenpeace, are coated with a layer of oil after he dipped them in oil floating on the surface in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill near Grand Isle, Louisiana, June 10, 2010. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

An American flag lays in a slick of oil that washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on July 4, 2010 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The oil spill may have a huge negative economic impact on gulf coast businesses during what should be a busy 4th of July. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

Also On The Huffington Post...

A 2-foot-wide pipe in the Gulf of Mexico was ejaculating oil to the tune of half a million gallons a day. We went down to Louisiana over Memorial Day to see some of the damage this caused on the people and the environment.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/23/bp-spill-settlement-gulf_n_2750701.html

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World's Smallest Space Telescopes Launching Monday

Two tiny satellites billed as the world's smallest space telescopes will launch into orbit Monday (Feb. 25) on a mission to study the brightest stars in the night sky.

The Bright Target Explorer (BRITE) nanosatellites?look like little cubes and will blast off atop an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT) on Monday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.

While tiny nanosatellites have launched into space before, they have been mainly used to study Earth or test new spaceflight technologies, but the BRITE satellites will be the first to peer into the cosmos, their builders say. The diminutive spacecraft are less than 8 inches (20 centimeters) wide and weigh less than 15.5 pounds (7 kilograms). Once in orbit, they are expeted to observe the brightest stars (from Earth's perspective), including those that make up well-known constellations like Orion, the Hunter.

"BRITE is expected to demonstrate that nanosatellites are now capable of performance that was once thought impossible for such small spacecraft," said Cordell Grant, manager of satellite systems for the Space Flight Laboratory at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), where the satellites were designed.

One of the BRITE satellites launching Monday was designed and built at the Space Flight Laboratory. The other was designed by the center, but assembled in Austria, university officials said in a statement. They are two of seven satellites set to blast off with India's rocket launch on Monday.

The nanosatellites can only fit small telescopes, so they won't be capturing amazing high-resolution images of the cosmos, Grant explained in the statement. But they will be able to observe and record changes in a star's brightness over time. Such observations could help scientists find spots on the star, an orbiting planet or secondary star, or "starquakes" caused by oscillations within the star itself.

The nanosatellites can monitor their target stars from whatever orbit they are placed on. They just need to be above the atmosphere to avoid the twinkling, or scintillating effect, that overwhelms stars' relatively small changes in brightness, researchers said.

The two BRITE satellites launching Monday are designed to be the first wave of a planned constellation of six space telescopes to study the brightest stars in the night sky, UTIAS officials said. In all, the six-spacecraft constellation will include two Austrian nanosatellites, a pair from Poland and a pair provided by Canada.

By keeping the satellites small, they can be built faster and at a lower cost than their larger counterparts, and be launched as a piggyback payload on rockets carrying larger spacecraft, UTIAS officials said.

"A nanosatellite can take anywhere from six months to a few years to develop and test, but we typically aim for two years or less," Grant said.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook?and?Google+.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/worlds-smallest-space-telescopes-launching-monday-223020950.html

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Video: Suspect in Las Vegas Strip shooting identified

>>> stories.

>>> police in las vegas have identified the person responsible for a deadly shooting on the strip. they found the vehicle believed to be involved in the shooting and subsequent crash that killed three people on thursday. also, they've identified 26-year-old amare harris as the suspect. they haven't found him, but his vehicle found blocks away from the shooting scene.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50927773/

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Mozilla, AT&T and Ericsson team up to help you make calls from your browser, sans-plugin

Seems like you can make calls from everywhere these days, so really, why not one's browser? Mozilla, AT&T and Ericsson are using MWC to launch their new WebRTC-based proof of concept that'll bring plugin-free phone functionality to Firefox, letting users make voice calls, video calls, share files and access things like their address book through the comfort of their browser. Ericsson and Mozilla will be showing the proof of concept off this week at MWC -- if you're not in Barcelona, you can live vicariously through the press release after the break.

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/j9kGzLCX9pA/

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Penelope Disick Rocks a Baby Balenciaga ? Thanks to Aunt Kim

Kim Kardashian shares an adorable photo of her niece and a mini Balenciaga bag on Instagram.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/b2DPSMcykjY/

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New York Times received bid of over $100 million for Boston Globe: WSJ

(Reuters) - The New York Times Co last month received a formal bid that valued its Boston Globe subsidiary at more than $100 million, with about a third of the value from buyers assuming some of the newspapers's pension liabilities, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Times has been in quiet talks for the past year with the potential buyer group, which included former Boston Globe President Rick Daniels and managing director Heberden Ryan of private equity firm Boston Post Partners, the report said on Friday, citing the same sources.

The Times Co has been hoping for a bid from News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, the report said, citing several people close to the Times and Globe. But News Corp's ownership of a Boston television station would preclude its purchase of the Globe, given regulatory rules that prohibit companies from owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market, the report said, citing one person familiar with the situation.

The Times and News Corp declined to comment on the report. Neither Daniels nor Ryan could immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting By Jennifer Saba and Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/york-times-received-bid-over-100-million-boston-011528196--finance.html

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Carmelo Anthony, Knicks continue to struggle (national sports report and TV schedule)

Here's a quick look at Friday night in sports and a look ahead to Saturday:

NBA

&raquo Carmelo Anthony will get a needed break today when he has his number retired at the Carrier Dome. Rudy Gay scored a season-high 32 points, DeMar DeRozan had 18 and the Raptors beat New York 100-98 on Friday, handing the slumping Knicks their season-worst fourth straight defeat. Anthony and Raymond Felton both missed 3-pointers in the final minute.

&raquo Andray Blatche was limited to four points and one rebound as the Houston Rockets beat the Brooklyn Nets 106-96.

&raquo Wes Johnson had three points and four rebounds as his Phoenix Suns were blown out by the Boston Celtics.

&raquo NBA Scoreboard??|??&raquo NBA Standings??|??&raquo NBA Stats

College Basketball

Saint Louis took control of the Atlantic 10 race with a 65-61 comeback win over No. 15 Butler on Friday night.

&raquo Top 25 scoreboard??|??&raquo College Basketball Standings??|??&raquo College Basketball Polls

NHL

&raquo The Blackhawks set an NHL record for the best start to a season, beating the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Friday to give them at least one point in their first 17 games.

&raquo Former Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff already misses coaching. Ruff found it difficult tuning in Buffalo's 3-1 loss at Toronto on Thursday. "I watched one period and I found it incredibly strange and I had to turn it off," he said. "I just couldn't get through last night."

&raquo NHL scoreboard??|??&raquo NHL Standings??|??&raquo NHL Stats

Video of the day

Ashlee Arnau, a cheerleader at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Miss., made an incredible front-flip half-court shot Thursday night at halftime of the school's men's basketball game that became an instant Internet sensation.

Friday's TV schedule

Auto Racing
1:15 p.m. NASCAR Nationwide Series: Drive4COPD 300 (ESPN)

Baseball
12 p.m. MLB Spring Training: Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets (SNY)

Basketball
12 p.m. NCAA: Clemson vs. Maryland (ESPN2)
1 p.m. NCAA: University of Southern Mississippi vs. Memphis (MSG)
2 p.m. NCAA: South Carolina vs. Georgia (CBS)
2 p.m. NCAA: Oklahoma State vs. West Virginia (ESPN2)
2 p.m. NCAA Women: Syracuse vs. South Florida (TWCS)
3 p.m. NCAA: Washington State vs. Arizona (MSGPL)
4 p.m. NCAA: North Carolina State vs. North Carolina (ESPN)
4 p.m. NCAA: Detroit vs. Wichita State (ESPN2)
4 p.m. NCAA: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M (MSG)
4 p.m. NCAA Women: Seton Hall vs. Connecticut (SNY)
4 p.m. NCAA: New Mexico vs. Colorado State (NBCSN)
4:15 p.m. NCAA: Georgetown vs. Syracuse (CBS)
6 p.m. NCAA: Creighton vs. St. Mary's (ESPN)
6 p.m. NCAA: Marquette vs. Villanova (ESPN2)
6 p.m. NCAA: Nevada vs. San Diego State (NBCSN)
8 p.m. NCAA: NCAA: South Dakota State University vs. Murray State (ESPN2)
8 p.m. NCAA: Connecticut vs. DePaul (SNY)
9 p.m. NCAA: Missouri vs. Kentucky (ESPN)
10 p.m. NCAA: Ohio vs. Belmont (ESPN2)

Boxing
9 p.m. Showtime Championship: Bundrage vs. Smith (SHOW)

Golf
12 p.m. WGC Accenture Match Play Championship (GOLF)
2 p.m. WGC Accenture Match Play Championship (NBC)

Hockey
12 p.m. NHL: New Jersey Devils vs. Washington Capitals (MSGPL)
7 p.m. NHL: New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens (MSG)
7 p.m. NHL: New York Islanders vs. Buffalo Sabres (MSGPL)
7 p.m. NCAA: Air Force vs. Rochester Institute of Technology (TWCS)

Soccer
7:30 a.m. EPL: Stoke City vs. Fulham (ESPN2)
8 p.m. MLS: Desert Diamond Cup Final. Teams TBA (NBCSN)

Wrestling
9:30 a.m. NYSPHSAA Championship Semifinal (TWCS)

?

Source: http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2013/02/carmelo_anthony_knicks_continu.html

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India on high alert: Twin bike bombs kill at least 11 in southern Indian city of Hyderabad

The explosions, which injured scores of market goers, come amid ongoing tensions in India over its recent execution of convicted terrorist Mohammad Afzal Guru.

By Arthur Bright,?Staff writer / February 21, 2013

Fire fighters extinguish a fire at the site of an explosion in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad February 21, 2013. Two bombs placed on bicycles exploded in a crowded market-place in Hyderabad on Thursday, and the federal home minister said at least 11 people were killed and 50 wounded.

Reuters

Enlarge

A pair of bicycle bombs rocked a crowded marketplace in Hyderabad today, killing at least 11 people and injuring scores more in the southern Indian city of 6.8 million, a major hub for information technology where Microsoft and Google have a large presence.

Skip to next paragraph Arthur Bright

Europe Editor

Arthur Bright is the Europe Editor at The Christian Science Monitor.? He has worked for the Monitor in various capacities since 2004, including as the Online News Editor and a regular contributor to the Monitor's Terrorism & Security blog.? He is also a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

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Reuters reports that India has gone on high alert after the explosions, which local television stations report may have killed up to 15 people and wounded at least 50.?The last major bomb attack in India was a blast in September of 2011 outside the high court in New Delhi that killed 13 people.

"Both blasts took place within a radius of 150 meters," federal Home (Interior) Minister Sushil Shinde told reporters, adding the explosives were placed on bicycles parked in the crowded marketplace. "Eight people died at one place, three at the other."

The explosions come less than two weeks after India hanged a Kashmiri man for a militant attack on the country's parliament in 2001 that had sparked violent clashes.

Witnesses told Reuters they heard at least two explosions in the Dilsukh Nagar area of Hyderabad just after dusk but there could have been more.

The Hindustan Times reports that Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters that "it was too early to say anything" about whether it was a terrorist attack, but that the government was investigating. But the Times notes that the country had already been on alert for attacks due to the recent execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru, a convict in the 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament.

The Monitor reported earlier this month that Mr. Afzal Guru's death sentence, though handed down in 2002, was carried out on Feb. 9 without advance warning, and appears to involve a significant political impetus.

The execution is being seen by analysts as the ruling Congress party?s way of regaining public confidence in the wake of several corruption scandals and protests over the recent Delhi gang-rape. Political commentator Seema Mustafa says the sudden decision to execute Afzal Guru, after years of dilly-dallying, is part of a Congress party effort?to improve its position for the 2014 general elections. ?The Congress in its usual cynical manipulation of the votes is trying to eat into the majority constituency with this action,? she says.

Executions had become more rare up until [that of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the 2008 Mumbai attacks] ? the first in India in eight years. Like Kasab's hanging in November, Azfal Guru's?came just ahead of a parliament session. ?I would just say it's extremely tragic if Indian democracy is going to survive on executing someone or the other before every Parliament session,? says lawyer Vrinda Grover. Congress party spokesman?Abhishek Manu Singhvi called such suggestions about the timing "irresponsible and childish."

The execution led to days of protest in Kashmir, where Afzal Guru was from.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/1etGfeXBkH4/India-on-high-alert-Twin-bike-bombs-kill-at-least-11-in-southern-Indian-city-of-Hyderabad

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