Mired in recession, ex-Yugoslav Croatia joins troubled EU

By Zoran Radosavljevic

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union at midnight on Sunday, a milestone that caps the Adriatic republic's recovery from war but is tinged with anxiety over the state of the economy and the bloc it joins.

EU flags fluttered from a stage in Zagreb's central square ahead of the evening's festivities, though there have been few signs of the gushing welcome that marked past expansions to ex-communist Eastern Europe.

Croatia joins the bloc just over two decades after declaring independence from federal Yugoslavia, the trigger for four years of war in which some 20,000 people died.

But, facing a fifth year of recession and record unemployment of 21 percent, few Croatians are in the mood to party.

They join a bloc deeply troubled by its own economic woes, which have created internal divisions and undermined public support for the union.

"Just look what's happening in Greece and Spain! Is this where we're headed?" asked pensioner Pavao Brkanovic. "You need illusions to be joyful, but the illusions have long gone," he said at a Zagreb market.

The country of 4.4 million people, blessed with a coastline that attracts 10 million tourists each year, is one of seven that emerged from the ashes of Yugoslavia during a decade of war in the 1990s.

Slovenia was first to join the EU, in 2004, but Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo are still years away.

Some in Croatia have drawn comparisons between Sunday night's celebrations in Zagreb and the Eurovision Song Contest that the city hosted in 1990, when Yugoslavia was on the brink of collapse just as Europe was poised to unite with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Italy's Toto Cutugno won with the refrain "Unite, unite Europe", but instead Yugoslavia fell apart and Croatia went to war with Serb rebels who tried to break away from the newly-independent state with the backing of Belgrade.

MERKEL NO-SHOW

"Back then, it looked to me as if everything should be resolved in a fortnight and we would quickly jump in (to the EU)," Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told the European Parliament this week.

"But then the war happened, and it didn't come to pass until today."

To get to this point, Croatia has gone through seven years of tortuous and often unpopular EU-guided reform.

It has handed over more than a dozen Croatian and Bosnian Croat military and political leaders charged with war crimes by the United Nations tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

It has sold shipyards, steeped in history and tradition but deeply indebted, and launched a high-profile fight against corruption that saw former prime minister Ivo Sanader jailed.

Some EU capitals remain concerned at the level of graft and organized crime. Croatia will not yet join the 17-nation single currency zone, nor the visa-free Schengen zone.

The spirit of the occasion took another knock when German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the bloc's most powerful leader, pulled out of the accession ceremony, saying she was too busy.

Croatian media linked the move to a row over a former Croatian secret service operative wanted in Germany, though a spokesman for Merkel denied this.

The chancellor, instead, urged Croatia to press on with reforms.

"There are many more steps to take, especially in the area of legal security and fighting corruption," Merkel said in a weekly podcast.

Despite the mood, however, for some Croatians the merits of accession are undeniable.

"The EU is not perfect but it is Croatia's only option," said popular novelist Slavenka Drakulic Ilic.

"We need it for financial and economic reasons," she told the T-portal website on Friday, "and we need it for the sake of peace and stability. We belong to a region that is still volatile."

(Additional reporting by Annika Breidthardt in Berlin; Editing by Matt Robinson and Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mired-recession-ex-yugoslav-croatia-joins-troubled-eu-224458948.html

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Kent Place School Ethics Internship Challenges Teens - Top News ...

Students and business leaders discussed rights and wrongs in commerce at a 5-day seminar on ethics.

The Ethics Institute at Summit's?Kent Place School ?welcomed 15 incoming 10th through 12th grade?students from across New?Jersey for the first-ever Ethical Leadership in Business Summer Research Internship, which ran?June 17-21.

Organizers say the program provided students a hands-on opportunity to study ethical leadership through?creating business plans that modeled ethical leadership.?

?I learned so much from this program," enthused Laura Whelan of Summit, a sophomore at Kent Place School. "I now understand a business plan?and how to put one together. I understand what being in business means, and I gained a whole new?perspective on what leadership in business is and how important it is to be ethical in a leadership role.?

?One of the most significant?takeaways I got from this program was the fantastic and ample knowledge about business ethics," said Arnob Dam, a sophomore from the Peddie School in?Hightstown. "Putting it to use probably made me a better person.? Sophomore Laura Whelan (Kent Place School,?

Participants studied issues associated with 21st century American business such as product lifecycle,?workplace culture, ecological footprints, financial cost-benefit analyses and relationships between?business strategy and ethics.
Concentrating on the leadership roles of CEO, COO and CFO, students?learned to create and read financial statements and supported their learning with contemporary case?studies. The teenagers also were able to speak face-to-face about ethics with leaders from companies including Montblanc North?America, Deutsche Bank, Endo Health Solutions, Celgene, Prudential, Alcatel-Lucent and others.

After developing their business plans, students presented their work to a panel of judges and engaged?in discussions about strengths and challenges associated with their business.
?The key was to provide?students with enough information so that they could identify ethical issues associated with business?management and to provide a ready context for application,? said Ethics Institute Program Coordinator?Kimberly Coelho. ?The plans, which required a great deal of?
research and ethical decision-making, proved to be an excellent part of the program.?

Students came from the Peddie School, St. Benedict?s Preparatory School in?Newark, ?Edison's Wardlaw-Hartridge School and Kent Place School of Summit.
?With the overwhelming success of this year's program, we are already planning an?expanded version for next summer that will allow us to offer this unique and exciting program to even?more students from across the region," said institute Director Karen?Rezach.

"One can only speculate on the profound impact that this program?will have on the students who participate and on the greater society who will benefit from the ethical leadership that these young women and men will provide in the future.?

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Source: http://summit.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/kent-place-school-ethics-internship-challenges-teens

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Baldwin blasts back over alleged funeral tweets

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

7 hours ago

Farewell, Alec Baldwin's Twitter account. Again. After his wife Hilaria was accused by London's Daily Mail of tweeting a variety of comments during the hours the pair were attending James Gandolfini's funeral Thursday, he went on a rage-filled rampage against the author of that article, with comments like "I am gonna f--- you up."

In the article, writer George Stark noted that Hilaria's feed was full of "upbeat" posts, talking about wedding anniversary presents and a summer smoothie she enjoyed after seeing it on "Rachael Ray."

But the reporter may need a refresher course in Twitter time-stamp interpretation; according to a statement released Friday morning by the Baldwin camp, the reporter misinterpreted when the tweets were sent.

The statement read: "It's disgraceful that a reporter would manufacture and publish a story and not call for comment or explanation -- especially when it's intended to take away attention from honoring the memory of a beloved figure like James Gandolfini. There are multiple witnesses to the fact that Hilaria left her phone in the car, and wouldn't, couldn't and didn't tweet during the service.... And as for the tweets -- 1) some of the time stamps in the report were wrong because he listed the time of the original tweet not the retweet 2) she left early and wasn't in the service at the time of tweeting 3) it's possible that a previously scheduled tweet wasn't cancelled."

Still, Baldwin wasn't in the mood for a rational discussion, and his responsive tweets (now deleted, along with that account) grew increasingly irate. As noted in a report from TODAY's Mara Schiavocampo, Baldwin tweeted:

"Someone wrote that my wife was tweeting at a funeral. Hey. That's not true. But I'm gonna tweet at your funeral," he said.

He also wrote, "My wife and I attend a funeral to pay our respects to an old friend, some toxic Brit writes this (expletive) trash."

And this: "I'm gonna find you, George Star, you toxic little (expletive), and I'm gonna f--- you up."

Baldwin's temper on and off Twitter has been the subject of headlines before; in 2011 he was asked to stop playing "Words With Friends" on a flight and was ejected from the plane; in 2012 he got in a scuffle with a photographer (another Twitter rant followed).

Meanwhile, though Baldwin has quit Twitter again, his wife Hilaria has continued to post. One of her latest? "I would like a real apology."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/alec-baldwin-twitter-rants-after-wife-accused-tweeting-during-gandolfini-6C10480515

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Weekend heat wave to bake western US

A construction worker is shown atop a roof at sunrise to beat daytime high temperatures, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Queen Creek, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A construction worker is shown atop a roof at sunrise to beat daytime high temperatures, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Queen Creek, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 by Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Elvis impersonator Cristian Morales wipes sweat from his brow while standing out on The Strip posing for photos with tourists, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Las Vegas. Morales preferred to stand out in the 112 degree heat of the day instead of working the cooler evening hours saying "We'd much rather fight with the sun than fight with the drunk people." A high pressure system parking over the West is expected to bring temperatures this weekend and into next week that are extreme even for a region used to baking during the summer. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Tourists watch the Bellagio fountain show during a heat wave Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Five-year-old Ashawn Rabb runs through a fountain of water at the Red Ridge Park kids water park, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in Las Vegas. Children with their parents stayed past sundown to cool off in the park's fountains after temperatures in Las Vegas hit 112 degrees. A high pressure system parking over the West is expected to bring temperatures this weekend and into next week that are extreme even for a region used to baking during the summer. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Mercedes Lopez, 2, lays in the shade amid high temperatures at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Allen J. Schaben)

PHOENIX (AP) ? Tigers at the Phoenix Zoo are getting frozen fish snacks. Temporary cooling stations are popping up to welcome the homeless and elderly. And airlines are monitoring the soaring temperatures to make sure it's safe to fly as the western U.S. falls into the grips of a dangerous heat wave.

A strong high-pressure system settling over the region Friday and through the weekend will bring extreme temperatures even to the typically blazing Southwest. Notoriously hot Death Valley in California is forecast to reach 129 degrees, not far off the world-record high of 134 logged there exactly one century ago.

The National Weather Service is calling for 118 in Phoenix, and 117 in Las Vegas on Sunday ? a mark reached only twice in Sin City.

Temperatures are expected to soar even as far north as Reno, Nev., across Utah and into parts of Wyoming and Idaho, where forecasters are calling for triple-digit heat in the Boise area through the weekend.

Cities in Washington state better known for cool, rainy weather should break the 90s early next week, while northern Utah ? marketed as having "the greatest snow on Earth" ? is expected to hit triple digits. In Albuquerque, N.M., the mercury hit 105 on Thursday afternoon, the hottest it has been in the state's most populous city in 19 years.

"This is the hottest time of the year but the temperatures that we'll be looking at for Friday through Sunday, they'll be toward the top. We'll be at or above record levels in the Phoenix area and throughout a lot of the southwestern United States," said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark O'Malley. "It's going to be baking hot across much of the entire West."

Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center based in Idaho, said crews are especially worried about wildfires igniting in the Four Corners region where the borders of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona intersect.

Some of the strongest parts of the high pressure system are expected to be parked over the area through the weekend, where forecasters are calling for lightning but little to no precipitation, Smith said.

The hottest cities are taking precautions to protect vulnerable residents. Police are pleading with drivers not to leave children or pets in vehicles, and temporary cooling stations are being put up to shelter homeless people and the elderly on fixed incomes who hesitate to use air conditioning.

Officials said extra personnel have been added to the U.S. Border Patrol's Search, Trauma, and Rescue unit as people illegally crossing the border from Mexico into Arizona could succumb to exhaustion and dehydration. At least seven people have been found dead in the last week in Arizona after falling victim to the desert's brutal heat.

Even airlines are watching the mercury for any signs that temperatures could deter operations.

In June 1990, when Phoenix hit 122 degrees, several airlines, including America West, which later merged with US Airways, were forced to cease flights for several hours because the planes didn't have the data needed to know how they would fly in temperatures above 120 degrees.

US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher said the airline's fleet of Boeings can now fly up to 126 degrees, and up to 127 degrees for the Airbus fleet.

But the company's smaller express planes flying out of the Phoenix area may be delayed if the temperature tops 118 because as the air heats up, it becomes less dense and changes liftoff conditions.

"The hotter is it, your performance is degraded," Lehmacher said. "We're monitoring this very closely to see what the temperatures do."

Officials at Salt River Project, the Phoenix area's largest electricity provider, also are closely monitoring usage in order to redirect energy in case of a potential overload.

Company spokeswoman Scott Harelson said he doesn't expect usage to get anywhere near SRP's record 6,663 megawatts consumed in August 2011.

"While it's hot, people tend to leave town and some businesses aren't open, so that has a tendency to mitigate demand and is why we typically don't set records on weekends," Harelson said.

Meanwhile, over at the Phoenix Zoo, animals from elephants to warthogs will be doused with hoses and sprayed with sprinklers and misters throughout the weekend.

The tigers will get frozen fish snacks while the lions can lounge on concrete slabs cooled by internal water-filled pipes, said zoo spokeswoman Linda Hardwick.

"And they'll all have plenty of shade," she said. "The keepers will all just be very active looking for any behavior changes, anything that would tip them off that an animal is just getting too hot."

In Las Vegas, two Elvis impersonators and a performer costumed as the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign said they still planned to keep up their routine of working the tourist corridor in the broad daylight and turning in for the evenings, heat notwithstanding.

"We'd much rather fight with the sun than fight with the drunk people," Elvis impersonator Cristian Morales said.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Jablon in Los Angeles, Julie Jacobson and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, Michelle Price in Salt Lake City, and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-06-28-US-West-Heat-Wave/id-fc237f80aaf84c28a5bcd3aaf045189d

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Tanker cars removed from broken bridge in Canada

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) ? Six tanker cars that teetered on a partially collapsed railway bridge over Calgary's swollen Bow River were successfully removed Friday.

Calgary's Acting Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc said the rail cars were stabilized before locomotives pulled them safely off the bridge early Friday morning. He said no one was injured during the incident.

The partially collapsed bridge gave way Thursday morning after most of the train had crossed.

Five of the derailed cars had been carrying a product used to dilute raw oils ands bitumen, but workers earlier removed it to new cars on an adjacent stable bridge. Uzeloc said no product was released into the Bow River.

The bridge, southeast of downtown Calgary, typically sits about 25 feet (7.6 meters) above water level, though water levels remain high after last week's flooding.

Hunter Harrison, the CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway, called the incident an "extraordinary" event. He said bridge piers at the bottom of the river failed, and that engineers blamed the failure on fast water scouring away gravel under the support.

Uzeloc said there were concerns that things could have ended much worse.

"You had five rail cars full of flammable liquid that if they had ruptured or opened up could have leaked into the river," he said.

"You also had rail cars, if they had gone into the river, would have floated down a significant portion of the river, then could have run into other bridge abutments or caused damage further down."

Canadian Pacific said the bridge was inspected by a qualified inspector on Saturday and the track was inspected on Monday.

Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi questioned the timing of the last bridge inspection when water on the river was still at record levels.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tanker-cars-removed-from-broken-bridge-in-canada-193856655.html

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Bombs hit Iraq funeral and football stadium, killing 22

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - A series of bombs near a bakery, at a funeral, inside a senior police officer's car and at a football stadium killed at least 22 people across Iraq on Friday, police and medics said.

The violence is part of a trend of increasing militant attacks since the start of the year, which claimed more than 1,000 lives in May alone, making it the deadliest month since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006-07.

Twin blasts at a neighborhood football stadium killed five players in Madaen, about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and a roadside bomb near a bakery shop in the west of the capital left three people dead, police said.

A senior Iraqi police officer was killed when a bomb exploded inside his car and a second blast came five minutes later as police and bystanders gathered near the wreckage of the vehicle in the city of Ramadi in Anbar province.

Ten people died in those blasts.

"We were on duty at a nearby checkpoint when the car exploded. We ran to work out what was going on, but before we reached the car it exploded again," said a policeman at the scene. "Many civilians and policemen were killed."

A suicide bomber attacked a funeral in the mainly Shi'ite city of Dujail, killing at least four others, police and medics said.

Concerns that Iraq may lapse back into full-scale sectarian conflict have mounted in recent months amid tensions fuelled by the civil war in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting to overthrow a leader backed by Shi'ite Iran.

Sunni insurgents often target members of the security forces, heads of tribes and officials they see as supporters of the Shi'ite-led government, as well as Shi'ites.

Minority Sunnis have felt sidelined since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein and empowered majority Shi'ites.

At the height of Iraq's insurgency in 2006-07, Anbar was in the grip of al Qaeda's local affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, which has been regaining strength in recent months.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Friday's attacks. Suicide bombings are a trademark of al Qaeda's Iraqi wing.

The attacks followed bomb blasts in coffee shops and other targets that killed at least 22 on Thursday.

(Reporting by Kamal Naama in Ramadi and Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit; Writing by Suadad al-Salhy; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bombs-hit-iraq-funeral-football-stadium-killing-22-212653419.html

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Terminator Reboot: Coming in 2015!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/terminator-reboot-coming-in-2015/

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We'll Fix It In Post: Writers, Editors, And Making The Internet A Better ...

In the film business, the movies, there?s a common saying, ?We?ll fix it in post.? That means that the sound, a visual effect, or some other annoyance will be corrected in post production. That?s easy to do when you have a budget of millions of dollars and teams of talented artists fixing the myriad problems.

It is a less effective, desirable, or useful approach for businesses or individuals publishing online.

Tools like WordPress and Tumblr make it very easy to publish online. They don?t make it easy to publish great content. That takes work. I see a lot of businesses and far too many individuals constantly fixing, updating, and correcting their errors, all in front of an audience who does not forgive or forget.

As a reader, I?ve given up reading a number of potentially interesting people because what they publish online is unreadable. They write poorly and their copy is filled with errors. They might have great ideas, but I don?t have the time or energy to try and figure out what they mean. Errors and poor writing tell me, the reader, that the writer was rushed and didn?t care enough to write, rewrite, and work with an editor.

You are not a lesser writer because you need an editor. ALL writers need editors. I need an editor. Penny, my editor, will tell you exactly how much I need an editor for what I publish here. Our work together is what makes this site effective. The writing AND editing make this site popular.

The hit and run method of online publishing can be exciting. Someone gets an idea, dashes it off, and hits PUBLISH. And it?s there, on the web, for everyone to see. That?s a real rush. And it?s a very bad idea. It will almost certainly result in errors, mistakes, and incomplete communication.

For my part and as a writing professional I?m embarrassed when others do this. I know what they wanted to do, but I know that they could do it better.

Let?s make the Internet safe for reading. For those of us who write, please seek out an editing partner. For those of us who publish, please insist on a publishing workflow that insures clear, error-free, well developed content.

There?s no post production for online publishing. Let?s do what it takes to get it right the first time.

The We?ll Fix It In Post: Writers, Editors, And Making The Internet A Better Read by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Source: http://whowritesforyou.com/2013/06/27/well-fix-it-in-post-writers-editors-and-making-the-internet-a-better-read/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=well-fix-it-in-post-writers-editors-and-making-the-internet-a-better-read

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NASA probe finds new zone at doorstep to interstellar space

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Reports last summer than NASA's long-lived Voyager 1 space probe had finally left the solar system turned out to be a bit premature, scientists said on Thursday.

Rather, the spacecraft, which was launched in 1977 for a five-year mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, has found itself in a previously unknown region between the outermost part of the solar system and interstellar space.

It is an unusual and unexpected thoroughfare, a place where charged particles from the sun have virtually disappeared and those coming from galactic cosmic rays beyond the solar system are plentiful.

By that measure alone, scientists initially thought Voyager 1 did indeed finally reach interstellar space on August 25, 2012, becoming the first man-made object to leave the solar system.

But one key measurement killed that theory. The magnetic field in which Voyager 1 traveled was still aligned like the sun's. If the probe were truly in interstellar space, scientists expect that the direction of the magnetic field would be different.

"You can never exclude a really peculiar coincidence, but this was very strong evidence that we're still in the heliosheath" - the bubble of plasma from the sun that surrounds the solar system, said Voyager scientist Leonard Burlaga, with NASA's Goddard Space Fight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Additional measurements later turned up a second odd reading. The cosmic ray particles were not uniformly distributed around Voyager 1 like scientists expected them to be in interstellar space. Instead, the charged particles, which stem from distant supernova explosions, were oriented in particular directions.

That led scientists to conclude that Voyager 1 was in some sort of magnetic boundary zone, where particles from inside and outside the solar system could easily swap places, but where the sun's influence still reigns supreme.

"We have no explanation for why we even found this new region," Burlaga told Reuters.

So far, Voyager's sister probe, Voyager 2, which is exiting the solar system in a different direction, has not encountered the same phenomena - nor may it ever.

"Voyager 2 has seen exactly what the models predicted we would see, unlike Voyager 1, which didn't," said lead scientist Ed Stone, with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

Voyager 1 may be in an unusual place where the heliosheath and interstellar space connect, he added.

Voyager 1 is now about 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth. At that distance, it takes radio signals, which move at the speed of light, 17 hours to make a one-way trip to Earth.

Scientists do not know how much farther Voyager has to travel to reach interstellar space. The spacecraft, which is powered by the slow decay of radioactive plutonium, will begin running out of energy for its science instruments in 2020. By 2025, it will be completely out of power.

The research appears in the journal Science this week.

(Editing by Kevin Gray)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-probe-finds-zone-doorstep-interstellar-space-215232697.html

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6 Americans, 1 Briton vanish at sea while sailing from New Zealand to Australia

"Nina," a historic schooner built in 1928, was last seen in the South Pacific off the north coast of New Zealand three weeks ago.

By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor

Six Americans and a Briton have been missing at sea for more than three weeks after setting sail from New Zealand, officials said Thursday.

The seven?were aiming to sail the 70-foot schooner Nina to Newcastle, Australia.

The New Zealand Herald on Friday identified four of the people on the boat: David Dyche, 58; his wife, Rosemary, 60; their son David, 17; and Evi Nemreth, 73, of Boulder, Colo., a maritime technology expert and retired University of Colorado professor.

A 35-year-old British man, a 28-year-old American man and an 18-year-old American woman on board have not yet been identified.

A statement from Maritime New Zealand released early Thursday expressed "grave concerns" for the Nina's crew.

Maritime New Zealand via AP

The Nina was built in 1928.

The vessel left the Bay of Islands area of northern New Zealand?on May 29. It has not been heard from since June 4, when the ship was 370 miles west-north west of Cape Reinga in "very rough" conditions with winds gusting to 68 mph and 26-foot swells.

Authorities said the vessel's emergency beacon has not been activated.?

Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand?search and rescue mission coordinator Kevin Banaghan said that a military aircraft had covered a 160,000 square nautical mile search area on Tuesday, with an additional 324,000 square nautical miles examined on Wednesday.

"No sign of the vessel has been found," Banaghan said. "We do hold grave concerns for the Nina and her crew but remain hopeful of a positive outcome."

On Thursday, the rescue center was set to search the northern shores of New Zealand, in case the crew had abandoned ship and attempted to raft to safety ? but ?windy and rainy? weather conditions delayed the effort, said spokesman Steve Rendle.

The huge search was launched after family and friends raised concerns about the crew's whereabouts.

The Nina was built in 1928. It is also?equipped with a satellite phone and a spot beacon, which allows tracking signals to be sent manually.

This story was originally published on Thu Jun 27, 2013 4:03 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663309/s/2de83087/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C270C19165510A0E60Eamericans0E10Ebriton0Evanish0Eat0Esea0Ewhile0Esailing0Efrom0Enew0Ezealand0Eto0Eaustralia0Dlite/story01.htm

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Oil pipe defect caused 2010 Qantas engine blowout

SYDNEY (AP) ? The dramatic disintegration of a Qantas Airbus A380 jet engine during a flight in 2010 was triggered by a poorly built oil pipe that failed to conform to design specifications, Australian investigators said Thursday in their final report into the emergency.

The Rolls-Royce engine exploded on the Qantas A380 shortly after takeoff from Singapore, forcing an emergency landing and becoming the most significant safety issue the superjumbo had faced since starting passenger flights in 2007. Rolls-Royce faced intense scrutiny of its engines, and A380s around the world were temporarily grounded.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's report confirmed the agency's earlier findings that an oil leak from a pipe inside one of the plane's massive Trent 900 engines sparked a fire. The fire caused a disintegration of one of the engine's giant turbine discs, sending pieces of it blasting through the plane's wing.

The agency, which led an international investigation into the Qantas engine breakup, concluded that the walls of several pipes were too thin and didn't conform to design specifications. The error prompted a disastrous domino effect, with the weak wall of the pipe breaking down, then cracking and finally releasing oil into the superheated engine, sparking the fire.

The transport agency said Rolls-Royce has identified all the affected pipes, overhauled its quality management system and implemented a safety feature that should shut an engine down before it can blow apart if the same scenario ever happened again.

Rolls-Royce said it supported the agency's findings and had improved its manufacturing and design processes.

"This was a serious and rare event which we very much regret," Colin Smith, director of engineering and technology for Rolls-Royce said in a statement. "At Rolls-Royce we continually strive to meet the high standards of safety, quality and reliability that our customers and their passengers are entitled to expect. On this occasion we clearly fell short."

The Nov. 4, 2010, engine blowout sent debris raining down onto Indonesia's Batam Island. The plane landed safely and no one was hurt, but the emergency forced the temporary grounding of 20 A380s with Trent 900 engines, operated by Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa. Qantas later reached a 95 million Australian dollar ($86 million) settlement with Rolls-Royce.

"This was an unprecedented event and, as the report confirms, all possible steps have been taken to ensure that it can never happen again," Qantas said in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-pipe-defect-caused-2010-qantas-engine-blowout-031431583.html

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Reports: Retired general target of leaks probe

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is under investigation for allegedly leaking classified information about a covert cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to media reports.

Retired Marine Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright has been told he is a target of the probe, NBC News and The Washington Post reported Thursday. A "target" is someone a prosecutor or grand jury has substantial evidence linking to a crime and who is likely to be charged.

The Justice Department referred questions to the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore, where a spokeswoman, Marcia Murphy, declined to comment.

The investigation of the leak about the Iran cyberattack is one of a number of national security leak investigations that have been started by the Obama administration, including ones involving The Associated Press and Fox News.

In June 2012, the New York Times reported that Cartwright was a crucial player in the cyber operation called Olympic Games, started under President George W. Bush.

Bush reportedly advised President Barack Obama to preserve Olympic Games.

According to the Times, Obama ordered the cyberattacks sped up, and in 2010 an attack using a computer virus called Stuxnet temporarily disabled 1,000 centrifuges that the Iranians were using to enrich uranium.

Congressional leaders demanded a criminal probe into who leaked the information, and Obama said he had zero tolerance for such leaks. Republicans said senior administration officials had leaked the details to bolster the president's national security credentials during the 2012 campaign.

The Times said Cartwright was one of the crucial players who had to break the news to Obama and Vice President Joe Biden that Stuxnet at one point had escaped onto the Internet.

An element of the program accidentally became public in the summer of 2010 because of a programming error that allowed it to escape Iran's Natanz plant and sent it out on the Internet, the Times reported. After the worm escaped onto the Internet, top administration officials met to consider whether the program had been fatally compromised.

Obama asked if the program should continue, and after hearing the advice of top advisers, decided to proceed.

Cartwright, a four-star general, was cleared in February 2011 of misconduct involving a young aide. An anonymous accuser had claimed Cartwright acted inappropriately during a 2009 overseas trip on which the aide traveled as a military assistant. Several sources confirmed that the former aide was a young woman.

The Pentagon inspector general quickly cleared Cartwright of the most serious allegations, which involved claims that he may have had an improper physical relationship with the woman. The report did find that Cartwright mishandled an incident in which the aide, drunk and visibly upset, visited his Tbilisi, Georgia, hotel room alone and either passed out or fell asleep on a bench at the foot of his bed. Cartwright denied any impropriety and was later cleared of all wrongdoing.

Cartwright, once considered the leading candidate to become Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, resigned from the military in August 2011.

NBC said Cartwright did not respond to request for comment and that his attorney, former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig, said he had no comment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reports-retired-general-target-leaks-probe-020959907.html

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Rising Mortgage Rates Might Snarl Sales of New Homes | AOL Real ...

By Diana Olick

Sales of newly built homes rose to their highest level in five years in May, according to numbers compiled by the U.S. Census, but those numbers are at risk of being wrong. They are based on signed contracts, not closings, for homes, many of which have not yet been built. Those contracts were signed well before a huge spike in mortgage rates, and those closings could be up to nine months away, when the homes are completed.

"We've been talking a lot with salespeople across the country to get a read on the current situation," says Stephen East, a home building analyst with ISI Group. "Sales people are very worried about it. Customers are worried that they cannot yet lock in, and they are watching the rates get away from them. I do think cancellations will climb."

The 100 basis point move higher affects the monthly payment by 13 percent, according to East.

"That can be make or break to many buyers," he adds.

Of the sales contracts signed in May, according to numbers compiled by California-based analyst Mark Hanson, 31 percent were for completed homes, so buyers likely would have locked in their mortgage rates near record lows. Those deals would close easily. And 24 percent were for homes under construction. Some buyers may have locked in a rate if the home was almost done, but some likely did not.

The biggest risk is with the rest of the contracts. Of the signed contracts in May, 36 percent were for homes that were not yet started. Completion and closing would be anywhere from three to nine months out. Those buyers, in most cases, could not lock in mortgage rates yet. Rates are up a full percentage point from the beginning of May and continue to rise.

"Bottom line, 70 percent of all May 'sales' are suspect with respect to locked mortgage financing, which is a key metric to how much the buyer can pay for the house," says Hanson.

"Not all of these will fall out. Some will move to a higher-risk adjustable rate mortgages in order to save the deal. However, builder sales fall-out will spike and the May new home "sales" number will be revised sharply lower unless rates comply or builders help to soften the blow of the house being 20 percent more expensive to own than originally thought."

Stephen Paul, of Mid-Atlantic Homes, a small private builder based in Maryland, says he is now getting calls from concerned customers asking about rate locks.

"The challenge of course for a loan lock for a home that's under construction is that they never know when they are going to actually have their closing dates," says Paul. "The cost of doing a loan lock up to nine months runs 2? points and a lock for three months is ? point, so people are trying to judge on whether they want to invest in that loan lock. Lengthy loan locks could cost buyers thousands of extra dollars, which on the lower end might not be affordable and could scuttle the deal. While some builders can complete a home in 100 days, labor constraints have been slowing construction across the industry.

"A lot of the sub-contractors are seeing an increase in business, yet they're reluctant to hire staff or have an inability to hire skilled labor, so we're seeing delays with framers coming onto our properties to frame the houses, we're seeing challenges with drywall finishers and painters," says Paul.

Many builders are also seeing supply constraints, as they did not expect to see such a surge in demand. Demand is strong in large part because there is such a small supply of existing homes for sale nationwide, and because banks have been exceedingly slow to work through foreclosures in some states.

"About one third of homes sold are completed, down pretty significantly from where we were earlier in the cycle, which was in the 50 to 60 percent range," notes David Goldberg, an analyst at UBS.

While the major public builders have not voiced concern publicly over risks to their backlogs, the analysts that cover them say if rates continue to rise, they will not be able to ignore it.

More about real estate on CNBC:
Cramer: Wind Now 'Out of the Sails' for Housing
Despite Gains, Real Estate Market 'Uncomfortable'
Million-Dollar Home Challenge

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
See celebrity real estate.

Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/06/27/rising-mortgage-rates-impact-homebuilders/

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The Engadget Show 44: Education with Google, OLPC, Code.org, LeapFrog, SparkFun, Adafruit and more

It's time to rethink the way our children learn. It's all a bit overwhelming, attempting to restructure the age-old classroom model, particularly in a system as bogged down in bureaucratic red tape as education. This month, however, we packed up our things and toured the country to find out how educational institutions are adopting new models to help reinvent the learning process -- rather than sitting idly by, waiting for the system to change around them. Naturally, technology is playing a huge role in that shift, moving from models of teaching to models of learning, where students can explore, express themselves and learn at their own speed.

We kick things off in Chicago, where Jackie Moore, a former systems programmer, is teaching inner city students how to build robots in a shopping mall basement at LevelUP. Next up, we head Miami and California, to see how technologies like the iPad, Google Chromebook and One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop are being implemented in three schools, including interviews with educators, students, OLPC CEO Rodrigo Halaby and Google director of product management, Rajen Sheth. We'll also talk to component retailers SparkFun and Adafruit about the initiatives those companies have implemented to help kids learn electronics at an early age, and then we sit down with American Museum of Natural History president, Ellen Futter, to discuss the ways the New York City institution is redefining itself for the 21st century.

We've also got an interview with Ali Partovi, a serial entrepreneur, who is working to make computer science an essential part of the elementary-level STEM program, through Code.org. Richard Culatta, the acting director of the US Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology discusses how devices can help target the learning process for individual students and LeapFrog CEO John Barbour tells us how his company is rethinking the educational toy. All that plus prognostications from John Roderick and some really sweet moose dioramas can be yours to enjoy after the break.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Laptops, Robots, Tablets, Science, Internet, Software, HD, Mobile, Alt, Google, Acer

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/25/the-engadget-show-44/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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New rules aim to rid schools of junk foods

WASHINGTON (AP) ? High-calorie sports drinks and candy bars will be removed from school vending machines and cafeteria lines as soon as next year, replaced with diet drinks, granola bars and other healthier items.

The Agriculture Department said Thursday that for the first time it will make sure that all foods sold in the nation's 100,000 schools are healthier by expanding fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits to almost everything sold during the school day.

That includes snacks sold around the school and foods on the "a la carte" line in cafeterias, which never have been regulated before. The new rules, proposed in February and made final this week, also would allow states to regulate student bake sales.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. The rules have the potential to transform what many children eat at school.

While some schools already have made improvements in their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods. Standards put into place at the beginning of the 2012 school year already regulate the nutritional content of free and low-cost school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government. However most lunchrooms also have the "a la carte" lines that sell other foods ? often greasy foods like mozzarella sticks and nachos. Under the rules, those lines could offer healthier pizzas, low-fat hamburgers, fruit cups or yogurt, among other foods that meet the standards.

One of the biggest changes under the rules will be a near-ban on high-calorie sports drinks, which many beverage companies added to school vending machines to replace high-calorie sodas that they pulled in response to criticism from the public health community.

The rule would only allow sales in high schools of sodas and sports drinks that contain 60 calories or less in a 12-ounce serving, banning the highest-calorie versions of those beverages.

Many companies already have developed low-calorie sports drinks ? Gatorade's G2, for example ? and many diet teas and diet sodas are also available for sale.

Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, carbonated water, 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, and low fat and fat-free milk, including nonfat flavored milks.

First lady Michelle Obama, an advocate for healthy eating and efforts to reduce childhood obesity, pointed out that many working parents don't have control over what their kids eat when they're not at home.

"That's why as a mom myself, I am so excited that schools will now be offering healthier choices to students and reinforcing the work we do at home to help our kids stay healthy," Mrs. Obama said in a statement.

At a congressional hearing, a school nutritionist said Thursday that schools have had difficulty adjusting to the 2012 changes, and the new "a la carte" standards could also be a hardship.

Sandra Ford, president of the School Nutrition Association and director of food and nutrition services for a school district in Bradenton, Fla., said in prepared testimony that the healthier foods have been expensive and participation has declined since the standards went into effect. She also predicted that her school district could lose $975,000 a year under the new "a la carte" guidelines because they would have to eliminate many of the foods they currently sell.

"The new meal pattern requirements have significantly increased the expense of preparing school meals, at a time when food costs were already on the rise," she said.

Ford called on the USDA to permanently do away with the limits on grains and proteins, saying they hampered her school district's ability to serve sandwiches and salads with chicken on top that had proved popular with students.

The Government Accountability Office said it visited eight districts around the country and found that in most districts students were having trouble adjusting to some of the new foods, leading to increased food waste and decreased participation in the school lunch program.

However, the agency said in a report that most students spoke positively about eating healthier foods and predicted they will get used to the changes over time.

One principle of the new rules is not just to cut down on unhealthy foods but to increase the number of healthier foods sold. The standards encourage more whole grains, low-fat dairy, fruits, vegetables and lean proteins.

"It's not enough for it to be low in problem nutrients, it also has to provide positive nutritional benefits," says Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest who has lobbied for the new rules. "There has to be some food in the food."

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Last year's rules making main lunch fare more nutritious faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department left one of the more controversial parts of the rule, the regulation of in-school fundraisers like bake sales, up to the states.

The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The USDA so far has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government temporarily relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law three years ago.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rules-aim-rid-schools-junk-foods-100107920.html

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Jennifer Aniston: Pregnant and Alone?!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/jennifer-aniston-pregnant-and-alone/

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Samsung Galay S4 Mini and Mega now in stock at Clove

Both phones available in black and white, earliest shipments arrive June 30

Both the biggest and smallest siblings in the new Galaxy family, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and Galaxy Mega (6.3) are becoming available to order in the United Kingdom.

Clove announced today they're accepting orders for both the Galaxy S4 Mini and the Galaxy Mega, priced at £376.80 and £454.80 respectively, including VAT. Both devices can be ordered in either black or white. While orders can be placed today, none will be dispatched until Friday, June 29, with shipments arriving no earlier than Saturday, June 30. That's to keep everything in line with the official Samsung launch date.

Full specifications are available for both the Galaxy S4 Mini and Galaxy Mega — also be sure to check out our first hands-on with the S4 Mini from last week's Samsung Premiere showcase event.

Source: Clove

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/gwbblmRISTI/story01.htm

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Sprint shareholders give thumbs up to SoftBank deal

By Carey Gillam

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - Shareholders of Sprint Nextel Corp voted on Tuesday in favor of a sweetened takeover offer from SoftBank Corp , ending a contentious takeover battle for the No. 3 U.S. wireless service provider.

Japan's SoftBank, which fought Dish Network Corp to buy Sprint, now just needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. telecommunications regulator, to close the deal.

According to Sprint, about 80 percent of its shares outstanding were voted in favor of the $21.6 billion deal that would leave SoftBank with 78 percent ownership of the company.

Sprint said in a statement released after a sparsely attended meeting that it was sticking by its previous target for the deal to close in early July.

On June 10 SoftBank increased its bid to $21.6 billion from $20.1 billion and raised the cash component of the deal for shareholders by $4.5 billion, trumping Dish's bid and gaining support from Sprint's second biggest shareholder Paulson & Co. which had previously said it preferred Dish's bid.

Dish, which made a bid for Sprint on April 15, abandoned its efforts to buy the company after SoftBank raised its bid.

The SoftBank/Sprint deal would be Japan's biggest takeover of an overseas company. SoftBank's founder Masayoshi Son is looking to expand beyond the mature Japanese cellphone market.

Sprint needs investment from SoftBank to help it pay for a network upgrade and its proposed buy out of the minority shareholders of Clearwire Corp , in which Sprint already has a majority stake.

Last week Sprint had to raise its offer for wireless service provider Clearwire to $5 per share from $3.40 per share to fight off a rival bid of $4.40 per share from Dish.

Clearwire shareholders will vote on that deal on July 8.

Sprint shares were up 10 cents or 1.45 percent to $6.96 on the New York Stock Exchange after the news.

Shareholders attending the meeting said they were happy SoftBank had beaten Dish in the takeover battle.

"Long term this is better for the company," Rick Weir, a Kansas City based shareholder who is retired Sprint employee told Reuters at the meeting.

John Massman, another Kansas City shareholder, said SoftBank's financial strength won him over. He cited concerns that a Dish deal would have required Sprint to take on too much debt and could have resulted in a move of Sprint operations out of Kansas City to Dish's headquarters outside of Denver.

"I am not a big fan of foreign ownership but if Dish had gotten it a lot of jobs would have gone to Denver," he said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew in New York and Carey Gillam; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Chris Reese)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sprint-shareholders-thumbs-takeover-softbank-154057732.html

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OWN Doubles Episode Order for Tyler Perry's 'The Haves and Have Nots'

By Greg Gilman

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Oprah Winfrey Network has ordered an additional 16 episodes of Tyler Perry's drama series, "The Haves and the Have Nots," the network announced on Tuesday.

As a result, the first season will now consist of 32 episodes. The current cycle of the hit series will conclude on September 3, while the additional episodes will air early next year.

When the drama debuted on May 28, it became the highest-rated series premiere in network history with 1.77 million total viewers tuning in. Since its launch, the series has become Tuesday night's number one original cable series for women 25-54 and is averaging over 1.5 million total viewers.

"The Haves and the Have Nots" follows the complicated dynamic between the rich and powerful Cryer family, and the hired help who work in their opulent Savannah, Georgia mansion. From the outside, the Cryers are the enviable face of success and wealth, but behind the veil, the family's dysfunction threatens to destroy their world of privilege.

"Naturally, it is wonderful to have the network's first scripted series score so resoundingly," OWN president Sheri Salata said in a statement. "Tyler's fans and OWN viewers have responded to this guilty pleasure in record numbers, and we are happy to give them more of a good thing."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/own-doubles-episode-order-tyler-perrys-haves-nots-203157444.html

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Marysol Patton Confirms Demotion on The Real Housewives of Miami

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/marysol-patton-confirms-demotion-on-the-real-housewives-of-miami/

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Lizard Family Tree Solves 30-Year-Old Mystery

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128764/Lizard_Family_Tree_Solves____Year_Old_Mystery

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Danish Company Creates Software That Will Stop You From Printing A Gun

A Danish company called Create It Real has built a software package that recognizes digital gun part models and prevents them from being printed. The software compares each piece you are attempting to print with a database of potential firearm parts and, the company notes, "for safety reasons, there are no models of firearms stored on the user's computer but rather a list of characteristics."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/fIAaUOFkxgI/

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Pop Rocks to Slurpees: The Science of America's Wackiest Summer Treats

Decades before molecular gastronomists were hocking vodka mist and caviar foam, we had food that was just plain fun: Pop Rocks, Magic Shell, and countless other strange creations that required a science lab to invent.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/dW-HGFnq2oc/pop-rocks-to-slurpees-the-science-of-americas-wackies-564885201

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Boozy Memory Blocking Reduces Risk of Relapse among Alcohol Abusers

A molecule associated with learning and memory consolidation could be key to treating alcoholism

By Helen Shen and Nature magazine

If former addicts could forget some of their sensory associations with a past of abuse, they might learn to avoid the cravings that can lead to a relapse. Image: etrarte/Alamy

• 

  In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...

  Read More??

Wiping out drinking-associated memories could help those with alcohol problems to stay sober, suggests a study in rats.

As with other forms of addiction, environmental cues linked to drinking ? such as the smell of beer ? can trigger the urge to consume alcohol and increase the risk of a relapse into abuse. Over time, these learned associations can be maddeningly difficult to break.

Scientists have now identified a potential molecular target in the brains of rats that could one day lead to treatments to help people stay dry. Dorit Ron, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and her team show that strategically blocking the mTORC1 signaling pathway reduces alcoholic relapse by disrupting memories linked to past drinking. This pathway controls the production of several proteins associated with learning and memory.

A memory is thought to become vulnerable when it is retrieved, like a folder checked out from a library archive. Pages can be shuffled or lost before the folder is returned to long-term storage. A number of studies have suggested that disrupting the mTORC1 pathway during this time window can destabilize the process of memory restoration and can potentially help treat post-traumatic stress disorder as well as drug addiction.

In the latest study, published today in Nature Neuroscience, rats became problem drinkers after spending seven weeks exposed to a choice of water or a mixture of water and 20% alcohol. Ron says that the concoction probably tastes terrible to the rodents, but the animals eventually drink it in large quantities.

?It?s pretty amazing. You don?t do anything,? she says. ?Over time, you can see they develop a strong preference for alcohol.? When the animals binged on alcohol, they reached concentrations of about 80 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood ? the legal driving limit in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

The researchers took alcohol away from the animals for 10 days and then gave each of them a tiny drop ? just enough for the taste and odor to reawaken alcohol-related memories. Immediately afterwards, some rats received a drug called rapamycin, which inhibits mTORC1 activity.

All the rats had been trained to press a lever to receive alcohol, but those that received rapamycin after memory reactivation showed significantly less inclination to do so over a two-week period.

Doctoring memories
?We don?t know what the specific memory is that we?re messing with, but we know the cue that?s triggering it,? says co-author Patricia Janak, a UCSF neuroscientist. Ron says that the memory trace disrupted by rapamycin is probably that which links the smell and taste to the pleasurable effects of alcohol consumption.

?It?s really excellent,? says Charles O?Brien, director of the Center for Studies of Addiction at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, referring to the study. ?Fundamentally, addiction is a memory, and [the authors] are going straight at what is actually going on in the brain.?

Rapamycin does not seem to affect memory formation, but instead disrupts the reconsolidation of existing memories into long-term storage after they have been reactivated. Preliminary tests suggest that the drug?s effects can be quite specific, and do not affect the animals? consumption of other desirable substances such as sugar-water.

Although Ron says her group does not plan to pursue studies in humans, she says that research by others may turn rapamycin or a related compound into an effective treatment for alcohol abuse. The US Food and Drug Administration has already approved rapamycin as an immunosuppressant for organ-transplant recipients.

?I would be eager to try this in my patients as soon as it can be determined that it?s safe,? says O?Brien.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on June 23, 2013.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=boozy-memory-blocking-reduces-risk-of-relapse-among-alcohol-abusers

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