Thursday, April 11, 2013

Suspect arrested in Texas stabbing rampage

A stabbing victim is loaded into a helicopter on the Lone Star College CyFair campus. (Reuters)

At least 14 people were wounded in an apparent mass stabbing at Lone Star College's CyFair campus in Cypress, Texas, on Tuesday morning.

The suspect, a white male armed with what one witness described as an X-Acto knife, was detained, police said. The suspect, believed to be 21, was enrolled at the school.

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said police received a 911 call at 11:12 a.m. local time reporting a white male "on the loose stabbing people."

The school was placed on lockdown.

"Seek shelter now," Lone Star College's Twitter feed warned Tuesday afternoon. "If away, stay away."

The incident occurred near and around the school's Health Science Center and remains an active crime scene, Garcia said.

"Buildings are still being searched," he added.

Four victims were transported by helicopter with serious injuries "consistent with laceration," a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office said. Two others were taken by ambulance to a local trauma center.

Two of those victims are in critical condition, he said. Four are in fair condition. Others victims were treated for minor injuries, and two refused treatment, Garcia said.

One witness told CNN that the stabber was hearing impaired.

An announcement was made over loudspeakers warning students to seek shelter. "This is an emergency," the announcement said, according to KHOU-TV. "Everybody stay inside of your rooms. Do not leave your rooms."

An alert issued on the school's website indicated that "another suspect may possibly be at large." But Garcia said surveillance video reviewed by police indicated there was one "and only one" suspect.

An Instagram user who said he helped apprehend the stabber posted a photo of a man face down on the ground with a backpack. He said the man had stabbed five people, including two girls in the cheek. "Everyone ran the other way ... ," he said. "Me and this kid got em." #copsaretooslow

Police would not confirm the exact weapon used, but said no firearms were found at the scene.

The campus was evacuated, Vice Chancellor Randy Key told reporters, and the college will remain closed for the remainder of the day.

In January, three people were wounded in a shooting at Lone Star College's North Harris campus near Houston. More than 90,000 students attend classes across the Lone Star College system's six campuses.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/lone-star-stabbing-184840929.html

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Forecast-busting Alcoa earnings shore up markets

Money traders work under a screen indicating the U.S. dollar is trading at 98.500 yen at a foreign exchange company, in Tokyo, Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Money traders work under a screen indicating the U.S. dollar is trading at 98.500 yen at a foreign exchange company, in Tokyo, Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Money traders work under a screen indicating the U.S. dollar is trading at 98.500 yen at a foreign exchange company in Tokyo, Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

LONDON (AP) ? Forecast-busting earnings from aluminum company Alcoa Corp. shored up markets Tuesday at the start of the first-quarter U.S. corporate reporting season in spite of ongoing concerns over North Korea, bird flu in China and Europe's debt crisis.

Alcoa, as is traditional, kicked off the reporting season in an after-hours statement Monday with first-quarter earnings of 11 cents a share, well ahead of expectations of 8 cents. Despite a fall in revenues, Alcoa saw demand for aluminum growing 7 percent in 2013, with gains cutting across many industries.

"The latest U.S. earnings season started with a flourish last night after Alcoa beat estimates and this does seem to be helping stocks," said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.3 percent at 6,298 while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 7,677. The CAC-40 in France was 0.5 percent higher at 3,688.

The improved mood in Europe has also helped the euro consolidate over the past few sessions. It was trading another 0.2 percent higher at $1.3043.

"Concerns remain however as European officials head off to Greece and Portugal as both countries wrestle with issues with respect to their respective bailout programs," said Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets.

Wall Street was poised for a fairly flat opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures unchanged.

Much of the focus in markets will remain on the U.S. corporate sector over the coming couple of weeks as investors seek to assess the health of the world's largest economy. The flow of earnings picks up through the week with banks Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase due to report on Friday.

Another key focus will be Japanese financial assets.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo has posted strong gains over the past week as the Bank of Japan unveiled an aggressive new approach to shake the world's third-largest economy out of its near-two-decade stagnation and growth-crippling deflation. The bank will pump huge amounts of money into the economy via government bond purchases and pursue a 2 percent inflation target in order to spark lending and spending.

Earlier, the rally ran out of stream and the Nikkei edged down slightly to close at 13,192.35. However, the yen continues to push four year lows against the dollar, and was trading 0.8 percent lower at 98.83 yen. It hasn't breached 100 yen since April 2009.

Gains in Hong Kong and mainland China markets reflected a decreasing sense of alarm over the outbreak of a new bird flu strain in eastern China that has killed seven people so far. There is no sign that the virus is being transmitted from human to human.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent to 21,870.34 and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6 percent to 2,225.77. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index advanced 0.8 percent to 926.22.

Another focus in Asia has been the rise in tensions between the two Koreas, as Pyongyang recalled all its workers from the Kaesong industrial complex, the last major economic link between South Korea and North Korea. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1 percent to 1,920.74 but the country's currency, the won, hovered at its lowest levels since July 2012.

Oil prices were steady, with the benchmark New York rate up 22 cents at $93.58 a barrel.

____

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-09-World%20Markets/id-039a85d3e7b740c69c9cef598bb68036

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Giant John Paul II statue readied for unveiling

A worker adds finishing touches to a giant statue of the late Pope John Paul II being readied for unveiling this weekend, in Czestochowa, Poland, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The 13.8-meter (45.3-foot) white fiberglass figure will tower over the southern city of Czestochowa, home to Poland's most important Catholic pilgrimage site, Jasna Gora. Funded by a private investor, the pontiff appears smiling and stretching his arms to the world. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A worker adds finishing touches to a giant statue of the late Pope John Paul II being readied for unveiling this weekend, in Czestochowa, Poland, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The 13.8-meter (45.3-foot) white fiberglass figure will tower over the southern city of Czestochowa, home to Poland's most important Catholic pilgrimage site, Jasna Gora. Funded by a private investor, the pontiff appears smiling and stretching his arms to the world. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A woman looks at the giant statue of late Pope John Paul II being readied for unveiling this weekend, in Czestochowa, Poland, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The 13.8-meter (45.3-foot) white fiberglass figure will tower over the southern city of Czestochowa, home to Poland's most important Catholic pilgrimage site, Jasna Gora. Funded by a private investor, the pontiff appears smiling and stretching his arms to the world. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Workers adding finishing touches to a giant statue of the late Pope John Paul II being readied for unveiling this weekend, in Czestochowa, Poland, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The 13.8-meter (45.3-foot) white fiberglass figure will tower over the southern city of Czestochowa, home to Poland's most important Catholic pilgrimage site, Jasna Gora. Funded by a private investor, the pontiff appears smiling and stretching his arms to the world. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

(AP) ? Workers are putting the finishing touches on a new statue of the late Pope John Paul II that its backer is calling the tallest one of the pontiff in the world.

The 13.8-meter (45.3-foot) white fiberglass figure will tower over the southern Polish city of Czestochowa, home to the predominantly Catholic country's most important pilgrimage site, the Jasna Gora monastery.

Funded by a private investor and put up on his land, the statue of the Polish-born pontiff shows him smiling and stretching his arms to the world. On Tuesday, workers were joining the pieces together and painting them before the official unveiling of the statue Saturday, to be attended by church and city authorities.

Leszek Lyson, who is funding the project, called the pope "a great and good man who has done a lot for the world: ended communism and opened borders in Europe, reached out to people in his pilgrimages around the world."

He said the statue "should make everyone stop and think about life."

Its construction comes as the traditionally respected church is facing criticism for its conservative views on the family and ethics, and its opposition to abortion, in-vitro fertilization and gay marriage.

Poland has long been predominantly Roman Catholic, but church statistics show attendance shrinking from some 50 percent of parish members in the 1980s; to 45 percent in 2005, the year the pope died; to 41 percent in 2010.

Born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, southern Poland, John Paul was elected pope in 1978, a surprise choice from communist-controlled eastern Europe.

In Poland, he is credited with inspiring the Solidarity movement that helped end communism in 1989. His death was a time of national mourning.

Lyson told The Associated Press that he wants the new statue to remind future generations of the Polish pope.

However, 22-year-old Ewelina Gozdek, who was watching the preparations with her friends, was skeptical. "It is an attraction now in a city where nothing ever happens, but will be forgotten soon enough," she said.

The unveiling ceremony will mark three years since Lyson saved his son from drowning and is a sign of thanks.

He is also trying to get the statue into Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest one of John Paul.

That will generate comparisons with two John Paul statues in other countries.

Last year, an adapted version of a controversial 5.5-meter (18-feet) bronze sculpture of Pope John Paul II went on display in Rome. The original had irked many Romans who said it was ugly and didn't adequately capture the likeness of their beloved pope.

In Santiago, Chile, a small statue of the pope was inaugurated on San Cristobal Hill in 2011, after a proposal to build a 13-meter (43-foot) one was rejected as too big.

Poland already boasts that it has the world's tallest statue of Jesus, unveiled in 2010 in the western town of Swiebodzin.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-09-Poland-Giant%20John%20Paul/id-097b4319a44e46e0a65a4d26cd184d97

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Discovery of a blue supergiant star born in the wild

Apr. 10, 2013 ? A duo of astronomers, Dr. Youichi Ohyama (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica or ASIAA, Taiwan) and Dr. Ananda Hota (UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in the Basic Sciences or CBS, India), has discovered a blue supergiant star located far beyond our Milky Way Galaxy in the constellation Virgo.

Over 55 million years ago, the star emerged in an extremely wild environment, surrounded by intensely hot plasma (a million degrees centigrade) and amidst raging cyclone winds blowing at four million kilometers per hour. Research using the Subaru Telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope (CFHT) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) revealed unprecedented views of the star formation process in this intergalactic context and showed the promise of future investigations of a possibly new mode of star formation, unlike that within our Milky Way.

About one thousand galaxies reside in a cluster filled with million-degree hot plasma and dark matter. The Virgo cluster, the nearest cluster of galaxies located about 55 million light years from Earth in the constellation Virgo, is an ideal laboratory to study the fate of gas stripped from the main body of galaxies falling into the intra-cluster medium. Does star formation take place in the clouds of stripped gas? If so, how? Dr. Ohyama and Dr. Hota focused on the trail of IC 3418 to explore a potentially new mode of star formation. Dr. Hota has been collecting data from multiple telescopes since 2006 to understand this galaxy, which he first spotted in the GALEX data during his Ph.D. research.

IC 3418 is a small galaxy falling into the Virgo cluster of galaxies at such a high speed (a thousand kilometers per second) that its blanket of cool gas strips off. As it passed through the cluster, its stripped-off cool gas formed a 55,500 light-years-long trail that looks very much like the water vapour condensation trail from a supersonic jet's path. Hot plasma surrounds the trail of IC 3418, and it has not been clear whether the clouds of cool gas would vaporize like water sprinkled on a hot frying pan or condense further to form new young massive stars. The GALEX ultraviolet image shows that new massive stars do form in the trail. How did the stripped gas condense to form new stars without getting vaporized by the hot plasma? This process does not conform to star formation in our Milky Way Galaxy where massive stars develop in groups inside of stellar nurseries sheltered within giant cold molecular gas clouds.

Dr. Ohyama suspected that a tiny dot of light emission in the trail of IC 3418 might be different from other blobs of ultraviolet light emissions in the trail. Spectroscopy of the little dot from Subaru Telescope's Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) revealed something stunning. Dr. Ohyama recalls, "When I first saw the spectrum, I was so puzzled, since it did not look like anything I had known of in extra-galactic astronomy." Unlike typical star-forming regions, the telltale signs of stellar nurseries were missing.

Intense UV-radiation usually ionizes/heats-up the surrounding gas when a star is born. Instead of any sign of heated gas, the observation showed fast winds blowing out of the stellar atmosphere at a speed of about 160 kilometers per second. Comparison with emissions from nearby stars made it clear that this massive, hot (O-type) star had passed its youth and was now aging; it was at a stage known as Blue Supergiant star and would soon face its explosive death as a supernova.

Dr. Ohyama commented on the significance of the research: "If our interpretations are correct, this is probably the farthest star ever discovered with spectroscopic observation. Since we only observed for a fraction of the night with the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope, there is huge potential for stellar spectroscopy with extremely large telescopes, e.g., the Thirty Meter Telescope, being planned for the future. We look forward to that exciting time."

Dr. Hota emphasized how important it is for astronomers to pay attention to this exotic system: "Precisely because the thermal and dynamic contrast of star formation that our research shows cannot be observed within our Milky Way, the details revealed by the Subaru Telescope's spectroscopy and the deep, sharp imaging of CFHT are opening up a new avenue for investigating the baffling fundamentals of star formation." Future in-depth investigations of this cocktail of hot plasma and turbulent, cold gas may reveal very different characteristics of stars, which may remain wild, exotic objects, challenging current theories of star formation.

This research was partially supported by the following:

  • National Science Council of Taiwan (grant to Dr. Ohyama)
  • National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCRA-TIFR) and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), both in India (for Visiting Astronomer position to Dr. Hota).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Youichi Ohyama, Ananda Hota. Discovery of a Possibly Single Blue Supergiant Star in the Intra-cluster Region of Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 767 (2): L29 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/767/2/L29

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/3UKjZOosQyI/130410194227.htm

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Most Popular Document Scanner for Going Paperless: Doxie Go

Most Popular Document Scanner for Going Paperless: Doxie Go When you're ready to digitize and organize that mountain of paper clutter, there are plenty of scanners on the market ready to help you out. Sure, you could use any old multifunction scanner/printer, but document scanners offer software integration with web services like Dropbox and Evernote, optical charcater recognition (OCR) to make your scanned documents searchable, one-touch operation, super fast page-per-minute scanning, and more. Last week, we asked you which scanners were the best for the job. Then we looked at the five best document scanners for going paperless. Now we're back to highlight the winner.

Most Popular Document Scanner for Going Paperless: Doxie Go Surging up from behind to take the lead late in the weekend was the Doxie Go, our own Adam Dachis' scanner of choice, bringing in 46% of the overall vote. It's fast, portable, and easy to use?and if its price point is a bit high, there are other Doxie models with similar features available.

In second place with just shy of 21% of the vote was the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500/ScanSnap iX500, the venerable parent/child desktop scanner models that many of you praised for being stellar performers over the years, super-fast, and super-reliable. In third place with close to 19% of the vote was your smartphone's camera. In fourth with close to 9% of the overall vote was the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i, a smaller, more portable ScanSnap model with a lower price point but that still packs great features and software compatibility (not to mention support for Evernote, Dropbox, SugarSync, and more). Bringing up the read in fifth place was the Neat Scanner, with over 5% of the vote.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it?it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!

Photo by Brooks Duncan.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/BL5A_2ZhqqM/most-popular-document-scanner-for-going-paperless-doxie-go

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Lundbeck antidepressant gets boost from clinical trial

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - Denmark's Lundbeck got a fresh boost for its experimental antidepressant Brintellix on Monday when a clinical trial showed benefits over another medicine called agomelatine that some doctors use when cheap generic pills fail.

Lundbeck and its Japanese partner Takeda submitted Brintellix, also known as vortioxetine, for regulatory approval in the United States and Europe at the end of last year.

Industry analysts at Deutsche Bank see the new drug having sales potential in excess of $1.5 billion and possibly up to $3 billion a year, although consensus forecasts for 2016 are a more modest $500 million, according to Thomson Reuters Pharma.

In the latest study, Lundbeck said that after four weeks of treatment Brintellix proved significantly more effective than agomelatine, which is sold as Valdoxan by private French drugmaker Servier.

Current antidepressants are mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, and many are widely available as cheap generics, including Prozac.

A large number of patients, however, do not respond adequately to SSRIs or another class of antidepressants known as serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), prompting doctors to seek alternatives.

It is this market in "second-line" treatments that Lundbeck aims to tap into with Brintellix.

"This latest study clearly demonstrates that patients who have not had an adequate response on SSRIs or SNRIs can be switched to Brintellix and get a treatment effect - which is the relevant question for physicians," Lundbeck R&D head Anders Gersel Pedersen said in an interview.

Agomelatine was approved in Europe in 2009, making it the most recent new antidepressant to reach the market, although it is not sold in the United States.

Lundbeck hopes the new antidepressant will provide a new source of revenue as its existing antidepressant, Cipralex, sold as Lexapro in the United States and Japan, comes off patent protection.

Lundbeck also reported more positive clinical trial results for Selincro, its alcohol dependence drug. Selincro was recently approved in Europe, but is seen by analysts as a relatively modest seller.

Shares in the Danish group were 1.3 percent higher by 4:00 a.m. EST.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lundbeck-antidepressant-gets-boost-clinical-trial-072454513--finance.html

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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon

U.S. Navy

The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) temporarily installed aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey.

By Courtney Kube, NBC News

The U.S. Navy announced Monday that it is preparing to deploy a new weapon that can disable a hostile boat and even destroy a surveillance drone overhead ? all without dispensing any expensive ammunition.

The Navy released this video showing its new laser weapons system during an exercise at sea. The laser is capable of destroying planes, drones and boats.

It is the Navy's Laser Weapons System (LaWS), a laser mounted on a ship that is so strong it can ignite a drone, sending it crashing and burning to earth in mere moments.


The USS Ponce, an amphibious transport docking ship, will be the first Navy vessel to deploy with the LaWS, officials announced Monday.

The new laser will be installed on the Ponce over the next year and operational in summer 2014. The Ponce is now based in the Fifth Fleet area, which covers the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa.

The LaWS will initially be used to combat small boats that pose a threat to larger U.S. Navy vessels ? much like the small Iranian fast boats that pester U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

The Navy plans to use the laser to combat missiles and other threats from the air, to ward off threatening ships and to stop other foreign threats. Eventually the system will be able to stop an incoming missile.

While making the announcement in Maryland today, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert praised the LaWS ability to take out targets at a tiny fraction of the cost of other conventional weapons.

He claimed that the LaWS can shoot down a small drone for about $1 worth of electricity and, once the laser is operational, it should be able to replace a Gatling gun, whose rounds can cost several thousand dollars each.

A defense official also stressed that the laser will not have full capability to take down a larger target for a decade or so.

Despite speculation the laser is deploying to the Fifth Fleet to warn Iran, a U.S. military official says that the real reason it's going to that region is that it is "the hardest environment" the Navy has available to test the new system.

Related:

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a7b9508/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C0A80C176581470Enavy0Eunveils0Epowerful0Eship0Emounted0Elaser0Eweapon0Dlite/story01.htm

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