Western officials offered to ease sanctions in return for Iran reducing its uranium enrichment activities. Following talks on Wednesday, Iran's chief negotiator expressed appreciation that the other countries had moved 'closer to our viewpoint'.
By Justyna Pawlak,?Reuters, Fredrik Dahl,?Reuters / February 27, 2013
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, left, poses with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Sacher Hotel in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday. Talks on Wednesday ended with an agreement to meet again in the future.
AP Photo/The United Nations, Evan Schneider
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Iran was upbeat on Wednesday after talks with world powers about its nuclear work ended with an agreement to meet again, but Western officials said it had yet to take concrete steps to ease their fears about its atomic ambitions.
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Rapid progress was unlikely with Iran's presidential election, due in June, raising domestic political tensions, diplomats and analysts had said ahead of the Feb. 26-27 meeting in the Kazakh city of?Almaty, the first in eight months.
The?United States,?China,?France,?Russia, Britain and?Germany?offered modest sanctions relief in return for Iran?curbing its most sensitive nuclear work but made clear that they expected no immediate breakthrough.
In an attempt to make their proposals more palatable to Iran, the six powers appeared to have softened previous demands somewhat, for example regarding their requirement that the Islamic state ship out its stockpile of higher-grade uranium.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator?Saeed Jalili?said the powers had tried to "get closer to our viewpoint", which he said was positive.
In?Paris, U.S. Secretary of State?John Kerry?commented that the talks had been "useful" and that a serious engagement by Iran?could lead to a comprehensive deal in a decade-old dispute that has threatened to trigger a new?Middle East?war.
Iran's foreign minister said in?Vienna?he was "very confident" an agreement could be reached and Jalili, the chief negotiator, said he believed the?Almaty?meeting could be a "turning point".
However, one diplomat said Iranian officials at the negotiations appeared to be suggesting that they were opening new avenues, but it was not clear if this was really the case.
Iran expert?Dina Esfandiary?of the?International Institute?for Strategic Studies said: "Everyone is saying Iran?was more positive and portrayed the talks as a win."
"I reckon the reason for that is that they are saving face internally while buying time with the West until after the elections," she said.
The two sides agreed to hold expert-level talks in?Istanbul?on March 18 to discuss the powers' propsals, and return to?Almaty?for political discussions on April 5-6, when Western diplomats made clear they wanted to see a substantive response from Iran.
"Iran knows what it needs to do, the president has made clear his determination to implement his policy that Iran?will not have a nuclear weapon," Kerry said.
A senior U.S. official in?Almaty?said, "What we care about at the end is concrete results."
Sean Ford couldn?t find a job for a year after graduating with his master?s degree and working four internships at four different colleges in a four-year span.
Jim Tooley worked as an unpaid intern and later paid his dues for seven years in the Continental Basketball Association.
Jerry Colangelo, chairman of USA Basketball, was on campus with two of his top executives Tuesday afternoon to speak with students.
Today, they are what Jerry Colangelo calls his ?right arm? and his ?left arm? at USA Basketball: Tooley as the executive director/CEO and Ford as the men?s national team director.
Together, they have 38 years of experience at USA Basketball, which they shared Tuesday afternoon during a question-and-answer session with a sports marketing class and other students at Grand Canyon University.
?I think back to being in class just like you guys are right now. Everything is out in front of you, with more questions than answers,? Ford told the students. ?You know what you want to do but you?re not sure how to get there. ? I always tell people who want to get into sports: ?If you want to do it, you?ll be able to do it. It just won?t be at the pace you want.?
?But it?s not how fast you get there, it?s how long you stay. If you picture where you want to be, make sure you?re ready to be there so you can stay there for a long time.?
Ford and Tooley were in town to meet with Colangelo, the chairman of USA Basketball, about that organization?s future ? which Colangelo hinted could include a youth initiative and expansion with offices in Phoenix.
But before they got to all that, Colangelo brought his two guests to GCU to speak to students from the Colangelo School of Sports Business that bears his name.
USA Basketball executives (from left) Jerry Colangelo, Sean Ford and Jim Tooley shared their insight as sports business executives with students from the Colangelo School of Sports Business on Tuesday afternoon.
?One of the things I said I would do is expose you to people in this business,? Colangelo told the students. ?And the business of sports is enormous.?
Ford and Tooley stressed to the students that making connections with people, treating those people the right way and expanding their networking skills were paramount to finding a job in the industry. And, even then, they?ll probably have to start at the bottom.
Ford was a manager for the basketball team at Villanova for four years, went to Georgia Tech for a 10-month internship that paid $6,000, moved on to the University of Massachusetts for its sports management program while serving as an administrative assistant for men?s basketball coach John Calipari, did another internship at the University of Cincinnati while finishing his master?s that paid $500 a month plus room and board, and volunteered at USA Basketball during the summers of 1993 and ?94.
In other words, he wasn?t getting rich. But he was doing what he loved and making connections with people. And he wasn?t afraid to relocate to advance his career.
?There were four times in my life I packed up everything I owned and put it in a car and drove to another state,? Ford said. ?You have to be flexible.?
Tooley had similar experiences.
?I didn?t get paid for my first internship, and that?s the job that launched me into the rest of my career,? Tooley said. ?I could have flipped burgers or whatever and made more money, but I wanted to be in this profession. I had an opportunity to work in this industry and get paid zero, and it?s the best thing I ever did.?
Rikki Jaeger, a senior at GCU, sought advice from the speakers about networking and getting in front of those key executives while working at an internship without seeming pushy or interrupting their busy schedules. She was relieved to hear that most executives at their level like to give back and lend a hand to younger professionals looking to further their sports business careers.
?It was good to hear that they look for us to come up and shake their hand,? said Jaeger, who has heard Colangelo speak on campus before.
?This was one of the more informative ones we?ve had,? she said of the question-and-answer session. ?He has been able to bring in executives he works with to share their experiences. ? Those connections open up a lot of opportunities for us as a smaller school.?
Contact Bob Romantic at 639.7611 or bob.romantic@gcu.edu.
DETROIT (AP) ? A judge sentenced a member of gospel music's Winans family to nearly 14 years in prison Wednesday for an $8 million financial scam that was promoted in church pulpits.
Two of Michael Winans Jr.'s victims spoke in federal court, telling a judge that the scheme to sell Saudi Arabian oil bonds robbed some people of their life savings, caused divorces and fractured many families.
"I want to apologize to everyone. ... These were decisions that were negligent and irresponsible," said Winans, of Jessup, Md.
He said he had no "malicious intent" but acknowledged that he continued to collect money even after he learned that the bonds were bogus.
Winans attracted more than 1,000 investors in 2007 and 2008, although he didn't know them all because many were recruited by others through word of mouth. He promised 100 percent returns in two months, then used the money for personal expenses or to pay off earlier investors. About 600 people are still owed $4.7 million.
Winans, 30, is a third-generation member of one of gospel music's first families. He's the grandson of Delores "Mom" Winans and David "Pop" Winans Sr., and the son of Michael Winans Sr., a member of The Winans, a quartet of brothers. His uncle, Marvin Winans, gave the eulogy at Whitney Houston's funeral.
Winans has performed with his cousins as Winans Phase II. He released his own album in 2011, "My Own Genre."
Winans relied on unwitting friends to round up investors, a trait of a classic Ponzi scheme. When the bonds turned out to phony, investors angrily turned on the people who recruited them.
"There are lots of marriages that have been destroyed. I know family members who aren't speaking to each other," Tara Hurt told the judge. The Detroit-area resident declined further comment outside court.
U.S. District Judge Sean Cox read from some of the 50 letters written by victims. He said a young woman joined the Army because her family had lost money that was intended for her college education. He noted that Winans made his pitch from church pulpits.
"Fraud on good, decent church-going people ? that was very, very troubling to me," Cox said.
Cox chose a sentence that was in the guideline range of 12 ? years to 15 ? years in prison.
"Investor fraud schemes like this one are just a fancy way to steal other people's money," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said.
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Across-the-board spending cuts all but certain, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are staging a politically charged showdown designed to avoid public blame for any resulting inconvenience or disruption in government services.
The two parties drafted alternative measures to replace the cuts, but officials conceded in advance the rival measures were doomed.
At the White House, President Barack Obama invited congressional leaders to discuss the issue with him on Friday ? deadline day for averting the cuts, which would slash $85 billion from the military and domestic programs alike.
Democrats controlling the Senate are pushing a $110 billion plan that would block the cuts through the end of the year. They would carve 5 percent from domestic agencies and 8 percent from the Pentagon but would leave several major programs alone, including Social Security, Medicaid and food stamps, while limiting the cuts to Medicare to a 2 percent reduction to health care providers like doctors and hospitals.
The Democratic plan proposes $27.5 billion in future-year cuts in defense spending, elimination of a program of direct payments to certain farmers, and a minimum tax rate on income exceeding $1 million as the main elements of an alternative to the immediate and bruising automatic cuts, known in Washington-speak as a "sequester."
Republicans were sure to kill the Democratic alternative with a filibuster. They were poised to offer an alternative of their own that would give Obama the authority to propose a rewrite to the 2013 budget to redistribute the cuts. Obama would be unable to cut defense by more than the $43 billion reduction that the Pentagon faces and would be unable to raise taxes to undo the cuts.
The idea is that money could be transferred from lower-priority accounts to accounts funding air traffic control or meat inspection. The White House says such moves would offer only slight relief, but they could take pressure off Congress to address the sequester.
Democrats are sure to vote the GOP measure down. Both the House and the Senate are set to send their members home Thursday afternoon, even as the deadline to avoid the cuts looms the next day. Though bound to fail, the rival votes will allow both sides to claim they tried to address the cuts even as they leave them in place and exit Washington for a long weekend.
Obama on Wednesday summoned top congressional leaders for a White House meeting on Friday. Given longstanding, intractable differences over Obama's insistence that new tax revenues help replace the cuts, the meeting was not expected to produce a breakthrough.
Another topic for Friday's discussion is how to avoid Washington's next crisis, which threatens a government shutdown after March 27, when a six-month spending bill enacted last year expires.
Republicans are planning for a vote next week on a bill to fund the day-to-day operations of the government through the Sept. 30 end of the 2013 fiscal year, while keeping in place the $85 billion in automatic cuts.
The need to keep the government's doors open and lights on ? or else suffer the first government shutdown since 1996 ? requires the GOP-dominated House and the Democratic-controlled Senate to agree. Right now they hardly see eye to eye.
The House GOP plan, unveiled to the rank and file Wednesday, would award the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department with their line-by-line budgets, for a more-targeted rather than indiscriminate batch of military cuts.
But it would deny domestic agencies the same treatment, which has whipped up opposition from veteran Democratic senators on the Appropriations Committee. Domestic agencies would see their budgets frozen, which would mean no money for new initiatives such as cybersecurity or for routine increases for programs such as low-income housing.
"We're not going to do that," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "Of course not."
By freezing budgets for domestic agencies, the Republican plan would also deny additional money to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal and to build new Coast Guard cutters. GOP initiatives such as more money for the Small Business Administration or fossil fuels research would be hurt as well, but there's little appetite for the alternative, which is to stack more than $1 trillion worth of spending bills together for a single up-or-down vote.
The GOP move to add the line-by-line spending bills for the Pentagon and veterans programs to the catchall spending bill would give the military much-sought increases for force readiness and the VA additional funding for health care.
But that approach has few fans in the White House, which is seeking money to implement Obama's signature efforts to overhaul financial regulation and the nation's health care system, or the Democratic Senate, where veteran members of the Appropriations Committee want to add a stack of bills covering domestic priorities like homeland security, NASA and federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI.
"You need balance," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "We feel as strongly about the domestic side as we do defense."
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, left, the former International Monetary Fund chief, addresses the media, as he files a lawsuit over a new book about a past relationship, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in Paris. Dominique Strauss-Kahn says he's sick of people trying to exploit his private life to make money. The former International Monetary Fund chief filed a lawsuit over a new book by a woman describing a sexual relationship with him last year. Strauss-Kahn met with a Paris judge on Tuesday about the book by Marcela Iacub, called "Beauty and the Beast." The judge is expected to rule on the complaint later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, left, the former International Monetary Fund chief, addresses the media, as he files a lawsuit over a new book about a past relationship, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in Paris. Dominique Strauss-Kahn says he's sick of people trying to exploit his private life to make money. The former International Monetary Fund chief filed a lawsuit over a new book by a woman describing a sexual relationship with him last year. Strauss-Kahn met with a Paris judge on Tuesday about the book by Marcela Iacub, called "Beauty and the Beast." The judge is expected to rule on the complaint later Tuesday. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
PARIS (AP) ? A lawyer for Dominique Strauss-Kahn is claiming victory after a judge ruled that a publisher must add an insert to a book about the former International Monetary Fund chief's sexual relationship with the author.
Jean Veil said Wednesday the publisher will be fined ?50 ($65) for each copy of Marcela Iacub's "Beauty and the Beast" that fails to comply. The Nouvel Observateur newspaper, which printed an interview with Iacub and excerpts, also must put a legal notice on its front page, the French newspaper said. It said the insert text must say that the book violates Strauss-Kahn's privacy.
Strauss-Kahn's private life was thrown in the spotlight in 2011 when a New York hotel maid accused him of trying to rape her. Strauss-Kahn reached a legal settlement with her last year.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Clothing worn by Jennifer Lawrence in her Oscar-winning role as an outspoken young widow in comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" went up for auction on Tuesday, just two days after the Academy Awards ceremony.
Memorabilia dealer Nate D. Sanders put the skin-tight white dance pants, winter coat and sports bra Lawrence wore in the film up for sale in the online auction that will end on Thursday.
The items are expected to fetch between $500 and $1,500 following the 22-year-old's Best Actress win on Sunday.
"She's now on the record for having an Academy Award, which definitely gives it (the items) status now," said Laura Yntema, spokeswoman for auction house Nate D. Sanders.
"The Hunger Games" star also won awards from the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild in January for her "Silver Linings Playbook" performance.
Five items, either worn by Lawrence or from her wardrobe on the film, are up for auction with starting bids at $100.
They include the custom-tailored skin-tight white pants Lawrence wore during the film's climactic ballroom dance scene with co-star Bradley Cooper.
The black, full-length double-breasted Moda International wool coat is a size six. The teal sports bra by Gap Body will be sold together with an extra-small blue Threads 4 Thought long-sleeved shirt.
The auction also has nine clothing items either worn or from the wardrobe of Cooper, and two items from the wardrobe of supporting actor Chris Tucker.
Movie studios often hand off costumes to auction houses, where even small outfits can fetch high prices from fans and collectors.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip. The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. ...
The next frontier in electronics are the flexible, stretchable kind. Yes, that means a rubber, bouncy smartphone (eventually), but it also means heart monitors threaded into cardiac tissue. For devices like that to work, they require flexible, stretchable batteries. And such batteries are here, according to researchers who just published their work.
Yonggang Huang, an engineer at Northwestern University, created the battery with materials wizard John Rogers at the University of Illinois, who received the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2011 for his work on flexible electronics designed for integration with the human body.
How much give and take does the invention allow? ?We can stretch the device a great deal ? up to about 300 percent ? and still have a working battery,? Huang noted. (Please don't try that with your smartphone's battery.)
?Such stretchable batteries enable true integration with stretchable electronics in a small package,? Huang told NBC News in an email.
The background of the research team means that medical applications will be primarily targeted, but there are other applications for bendy batteries such as wearable solar cells and electric-eye cameras that make studio-quality photographs.
The flexible lithium-ion battery reported today in the journal Nature Communications completes the flexible electronics package with a cordless power source. When the battery runs out of juice after about eight hours, it is recharged wirelessly.
To make the battery, the researchers start with tiny, individual, rigid battery storage components arranged next to each other. The bendy and stretchy characteristics stem from tightly packed, wavy wires that connect these components.
?When we stretch the battery, the wavy interconnects unravels, much like yarn unspooling, while the storage components almost keep undeformed, because of their much larger rigidity than the interconnects? Huang explained.
The breakthrough was demonstrated with a light emitting diode that continues to work when stretched, folded and twisted on a human elbow. It continued to work well through 20 recharge cycles.
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.
Famous fraud cases foster a revolution in photograph conservation researchPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society
Two fraud cases that sent shock waves through the world of photography are helping to trigger a revolution in photo conservation science, according to the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
Sarah Everts, C&EN European correspondent, explains that the prestige and prices of photographs long dismissed by the art establishment as a second-tier medium began to rival those of paintings and sculptures in the 1980s. Collectors began paying hundreds of thousands of dollars and even up to $1 million for vintage and contemporary photographs. Fraud cases appeared in parallel with that rise in popularity.
The article describes those cases, and explains how they led to million-dollar settlements that helped stimulate photo conservation research, transforming a niche field into what is now a mature science. Those conservation efforts embrace everything from family snapshots to priceless masterpieces, the article points out.
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The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
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Famous fraud cases foster a revolution in photograph conservation researchPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society
Two fraud cases that sent shock waves through the world of photography are helping to trigger a revolution in photo conservation science, according to the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
Sarah Everts, C&EN European correspondent, explains that the prestige and prices of photographs long dismissed by the art establishment as a second-tier medium began to rival those of paintings and sculptures in the 1980s. Collectors began paying hundreds of thousands of dollars and even up to $1 million for vintage and contemporary photographs. Fraud cases appeared in parallel with that rise in popularity.
The article describes those cases, and explains how they led to million-dollar settlements that helped stimulate photo conservation research, transforming a niche field into what is now a mature science. Those conservation efforts embrace everything from family snapshots to priceless masterpieces, the article points out.
###
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Follow us: Twitter Facebook
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (AP) ? An earnings beat from Home Depot is helping to send the Dow Jones industrial average higher in midday trading, but other stock market indexes are mixed.
The Dow was up 59 points at 13,846 at midday Tuesday. IBM and other Dow stocks were also higher.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index was flat at 1,487 and the Nasdaq was down seven points at 3,108.
Home Depot jumped 5 percent after reporting that its income rose 32 percent in the latest quarter thanks to strong U.S. sales and the cleanup that followed Superstorm Sandy. Macy's also beat analysts' profit forecasts.
In testimony before Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged lawmakers and the White House to replace spending cuts due to start Friday with longer-term policies to reduce the budget deficit.
In 2009 a jury in Hernando County, Florida, rendered a verdict of just more than $330 million to the family of a 13-year old girl who was tragically killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.
Large verdicts are becoming increasingly common. While of course no one is condoning drunk driving?and legitimate arguments can be made about the price tag on a human life?the point is that the average cost of claims against negligent parties is rising at an alarming rate. According to the National Law Journal, premises liability awards increased 16.4 percent to an average of $242,782 in 2009. In that same year, motor vehicle awards jumped almost 40 percent to an average of $48,480 and wrongful death claims averaged $2,185,000.
These numbers should serve as a reminder that liability limits provided by home, auto and other insurance policies should be carefully reviewed. And this review should prompt the question: Are the limits high enough to protect your family?s financial well-being and way of life if a claim is made against you?
Unfortunately there is no definite answer to that question. But if the statistics above make the opportunity to purchase more liability insurance coverage appealing to you, it?s important to consider your options. Two common choices are excess liability insurance and a personal umbrella policy.?? ?
Umbrella vs. Excess
If you have increased the liability limits of your home, auto or other insurance policy to as high as your company will offer and still are not comfortable, you have two options. The first is typically called an excess liability policy. This policy does nothing to the terms of your other insurance policies - it simply raises the limit of liability you have available for a claim. Think of this policy as dollars held in reserve if a claim exceeds the limits you currently have available.
A second option is a personal umbrella policy. Most umbrella policies function as an excess liability policy. However, in addition to acting as a reserve, the umbrella provides additional coverage for types of losses that otherwise would not be paid. Examples of additional coverage may include:
? Expanding the auto coverage territory to almost anywhere in the world
? Personal injury coverage for claims such as libel or slander
? Liability for certain claims resulting from your role as a director/officer of an organization.
Maintenance of ?Underlying?
The intent of an umbrella policy is to extend limits and coverage on some or all of the insurance policies you currently have. Such policies typically include your homeowners and auto insurance policies and may also include others such as a condo, watercraft or ATV. The policies covered by the umbrella are called ?underlying? policies.
Underlying policies are important because most umbrellas will only cover such a policy if certain rules are met. Examples of such rules typically include the financial strength rating of the insurance company from which you purchased the underlying policy and the limits of insurance included on that policy.
For example, to obtain an umbrella policy, you likely will have to prove that the limits of the underlying policies that it covers (such as your homeowners and auto insurance) are not less than a specified dollar amount. Should you change those limits mid-term, you risk changing the way your umbrella will apply toward a loss.
Illustration
Say you decide to purchase a $1 million umbrella policy and the umbrella provider specifies that it will cover your homeowner?s policy provided it includes a personal liability limit of at least $300,000. You currently have $300,000 personal liability on your homeowner?s policy and show a copy of it to the umbrella provider as proof. A few months after the umbrella policy takes effect, you call your homeowner?s insurance company and request that your personal liability limit be lowered to $100,000 to lower your premium.
A few weeks later someone suffers a serious injury for which you are legally liable and a claim is filed. Your policy limit of $100,000 is used up but there are still bills to pay. You are certain everything is okay because you have a $1 million umbrella policy. However, since you no longer meet the terms of the agreement, the umbrella provider may not pay a dime until the required minimum of $300,000 has been met. In this case, you would be out-of-pocket for $200,000. This is the difference between your personal liability limit ($100,000) and the required minimum specified by the umbrella provider ($300,000). Some personal umbrella policies may not respond at all once the terms have been breached.
It?s important to remember that excess and umbrella polices differ depending on which insurance company you choose to work with. Understanding how such policies relate to your underlying policies can be tricky. A call to your Trusted Choice? independent insurance agent will help you determine which policy is right for you and what you need to do to be sure it works at claim time.
Space Foundation selects NASA Goddard Einstein educator fellow as new teacher liaisonPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov 301-286-4044 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
GREENBELT, Md. -- Paulo Oemig of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., was chosen as one of 20 outstanding educators by the Space Foundation for its 2013 Teacher Liaisons.
Paulo Oemig is an Albert Einstein distinguished educator fellow with NASA's STEM Education program in Goddard's Office of Education. The Einstein Educator Fellowship Program, signed into law by Congress in November 1994, provides a unique professional development opportunity for accomplished K-12 educators in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to serve at the national education level.
Oemig and the other teachers were chosen by the Space Foundation for their active promotion of space and science education. The new Teacher Liaisons will serve as advocates for space-themed education and will use Space Foundation-provided training and resources to further integrate space principles into the classroom. The Space Foundation Teacher Liaison program has more than 270 active participants, including those in 2013. The teachers are selected by a panel comprising experienced Teacher Liaisons and representatives from the space industry and the military.
"It is truly rewarding being at NASA because the agency not only stimulates scientific and technological endeavors, but understands and acts on the human dimension, and knows that from diversity and creativity new frontiers are possible," Oemig said. "The Teacher Liaison program provides a platform for me to reach out and stress the relevance of space education and champion equity among students and educators alike."
Paulo taught eighth grade physical science in the Las Cruces Public Schools District at Zia Middle School in Las Cruces, N.M., for seven years. He also has taught an integrated elective class introducing students to engineering design. Oemig has been the adviser and coach to after-school programs such as Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement; Science Olympiad; New Mexico Best Robotics; Project GUTS (Growing Up Thinking Scientifically); and Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Aerospace Achievement (SEMAA).
Oemig also participated in the GK-12 DISSECT (DIScover SciEnce through Computational Thinking) project, mentoring science graduate students to develop collaboratively educational modules and increase interest in STEM-related fields in middle school students.
Prior to moving to the United States, Oemig earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in Argentina at the National School of Technical Education No. 1, where he also was an organic chemistry teaching assistant. At the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, he earned a Bachelor of Science in physical anthropology. Looking to bridge physical and cultural anthropology, Oemig attended New Mexico State University, where he completed his Master of Arts in cultural anthropology. Oemig considers himself an educational anthropologist and an advocate for underrepresented students.
The 2013 Teacher Liaisons will be publicly recognized at the Space Foundation's 29th National Space Symposium, to be held April 8-11 at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo.
In addition to the recognition activities, the 2013 Teacher Liaisons will participate in workshops and education programs at the Space Symposium. Following the Space Symposium, they can take advantage of specialized training and instruction throughout the year at Space Foundation and NASA workshops. They are also invited to exclusive STEM professional development experiences with optional continuing education credit, plus special space-oriented student programs created just for Teacher Liaisons.
The Space Foundation is a global, nonprofit leader in space awareness activities, educational programs that bring space into the classroom and major industry events, including the National Space Symposium, all in support of its mission to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity.
###
For more information about the Space Foundation education programs, visit:
www.spacefoundation.org/education
Paulo maintains an education blog at:
http://pauloandthefellowship.weebly.com/oemig-einstein--goddard-a-fellowship.html
For more information about NASA Goddard, visit:
www.nasa.gov/goddard
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Space Foundation selects NASA Goddard Einstein educator fellow as new teacher liaisonPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov 301-286-4044 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
GREENBELT, Md. -- Paulo Oemig of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., was chosen as one of 20 outstanding educators by the Space Foundation for its 2013 Teacher Liaisons.
Paulo Oemig is an Albert Einstein distinguished educator fellow with NASA's STEM Education program in Goddard's Office of Education. The Einstein Educator Fellowship Program, signed into law by Congress in November 1994, provides a unique professional development opportunity for accomplished K-12 educators in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to serve at the national education level.
Oemig and the other teachers were chosen by the Space Foundation for their active promotion of space and science education. The new Teacher Liaisons will serve as advocates for space-themed education and will use Space Foundation-provided training and resources to further integrate space principles into the classroom. The Space Foundation Teacher Liaison program has more than 270 active participants, including those in 2013. The teachers are selected by a panel comprising experienced Teacher Liaisons and representatives from the space industry and the military.
"It is truly rewarding being at NASA because the agency not only stimulates scientific and technological endeavors, but understands and acts on the human dimension, and knows that from diversity and creativity new frontiers are possible," Oemig said. "The Teacher Liaison program provides a platform for me to reach out and stress the relevance of space education and champion equity among students and educators alike."
Paulo taught eighth grade physical science in the Las Cruces Public Schools District at Zia Middle School in Las Cruces, N.M., for seven years. He also has taught an integrated elective class introducing students to engineering design. Oemig has been the adviser and coach to after-school programs such as Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement; Science Olympiad; New Mexico Best Robotics; Project GUTS (Growing Up Thinking Scientifically); and Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Aerospace Achievement (SEMAA).
Oemig also participated in the GK-12 DISSECT (DIScover SciEnce through Computational Thinking) project, mentoring science graduate students to develop collaboratively educational modules and increase interest in STEM-related fields in middle school students.
Prior to moving to the United States, Oemig earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in Argentina at the National School of Technical Education No. 1, where he also was an organic chemistry teaching assistant. At the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, he earned a Bachelor of Science in physical anthropology. Looking to bridge physical and cultural anthropology, Oemig attended New Mexico State University, where he completed his Master of Arts in cultural anthropology. Oemig considers himself an educational anthropologist and an advocate for underrepresented students.
The 2013 Teacher Liaisons will be publicly recognized at the Space Foundation's 29th National Space Symposium, to be held April 8-11 at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo.
In addition to the recognition activities, the 2013 Teacher Liaisons will participate in workshops and education programs at the Space Symposium. Following the Space Symposium, they can take advantage of specialized training and instruction throughout the year at Space Foundation and NASA workshops. They are also invited to exclusive STEM professional development experiences with optional continuing education credit, plus special space-oriented student programs created just for Teacher Liaisons.
The Space Foundation is a global, nonprofit leader in space awareness activities, educational programs that bring space into the classroom and major industry events, including the National Space Symposium, all in support of its mission to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity.
###
For more information about the Space Foundation education programs, visit:
www.spacefoundation.org/education
Paulo maintains an education blog at:
http://pauloandthefellowship.weebly.com/oemig-einstein--goddard-a-fellowship.html
For more information about NASA Goddard, visit:
www.nasa.gov/goddard
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Feb. 24, 2013 ? Small stretches of DNA in the human genome are known as "pseudogenes" because, while their sequences are nearly identical to those of various genes, they have long been thought to be non-coding "junk" DNA.
But now, a new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) shows how pseudogenes can regulate the activity of a cancer-related gene called PTEN. The study also shows that pseudogenes can be targeted to control PTEN's activity.
Published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, the team's findings suggest a much larger role for pseudogenes than previously thought -- a discovery that changes our understanding of the internal landscape of living cells, adding a new layer of complexity to an already crowded topography marked by multiple, overlapping, interacting gene networks.
Understanding how pseudogenes interact and control gene networks in the human body may lead to new ways of addressing diseases tied to problems that arise due to disruptions in these gene networks, said TSRI scientist Kevin Morris, PhD, who led the research in collaboration with scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
"This has improved our knowledge of how genes in cancer are regulated and how we may now be able to control them," Morris said.
Genes and Pseudogenes at Work
The focus of the human genome project, which decoded our entire DNA sequence a decade ago, was largely on genes -- the genetic sequences that encode proteins and thus control processes that govern and regulate all biological functions. But these genes are only a small part of the genome. The vast majority of DNA in the human genome is non-coding, meaning that it does not make protein.
In the early days of molecular biology, scientists called these vast stretches of DNA "junk" because of their presumed inactivity. Pseudogenes, which make up vast swaths of non-coding DNA, were considered part of the junk -- even though they resembled genes -- because they did not code for proteins.
The results from the new study contradict that view by showing these bits of genetic material playing a profound role in controlling the activity of human genes. The control or loss of control of genes can make the difference between healthy and diseased tissue. In cancer, for instance, some genes become more active, while other genes that should normally shut down a cancerous growth become suppressed.
In the new work, Morris and his colleagues showed that pseudogenes can influence the activity of a human gene known as the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN). PTEN has long been implicated in cancer and is categorized as a "tumor suppressor" gene, meaning that it has the ability to arrest the growth of a tumor. But in many forms of cancer, PTEN is shut down, allowing the tumor to grow unchecked.
Intriguing Possibilities
Morris and his colleagues found that pseudogenes sharing sequences in common with PTEN can regulate the gene in two ways -- knocking it down by suppressing the "promoter" for the PTEN gene, preventing the gene from being expressed, or soaking up PTEN-targeted regulatory micro-RNAs affecting the PTEN protein after the gene transcripts have been expressed.
Some companies are already looking at pseudogenes such as PTEN as targets of potential new drugs, Morris said, and the new work is a proof of principle that targeting pseudogenes can modulate the growth of cancer cells grown in the laboratory.
The same principle may be applicable to other diseases where the aberrant activity of a normal human gene is in play -- or in infectious diseases, as a way of shutting down certain crucial genes belonging to viruses or bacteria.
Morris noted, however, there are many practical issues with controlling pseudogenes. Designing a drug targeting pseudogenes directly would be difficult to administer with current technology, as these drugs would need to be delivered into the exact cells where they are needed without spreading to other, healthy tissues where they could be toxic.
The article, "A pseudogene long noncoding RNA network regulates PTEN transcription and translation in human cells," by Per Johnsson, Amanda Ackley, Linda Vidarsdottir, Weng-Onn Lui, Martin Corcoran, Dan Grand?r, and Kevin V. Morris appears in the February 24, 2013 issue of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
This work was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the National Cancer Institute, both components of the National Institutes of Health, though grants #R56 AI096861-01, #P01 AI099783-01, #R01 CA151574 and #R01 CA153124. Additional support was provided by The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation, The Swedish Cancer Society, Radiumhemmets Forskningsfonder, the Karolinska Institutet PhD support programme, Vetenskapsr?det, and the Erik and Edith Fernstrom Foundation for Medical Research.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Scripps Research Institute, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
Per Johnsson, Amanda Ackley, Linda Vidarsdottir, Weng-Onn Lui, Martin Corcoran, Dan Grand?r, Kevin V Morris. A pseudogene long-noncoding-RNA network regulates PTEN transcription and translation in human cells. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2516
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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WASHINGTON -- The Republican governor of South Dakota shared his personal experience growing up as the child of two deaf parents as part of the National Governors Association meeting this weekend, urging his fellow governors to promote jobs programs for people with disabilities.
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard told his colleagues his experiences Sunday morning during a panel discussion, part of several sessions this weekend dedicated to the subject of employment for people with disabilities. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D), the NGA chairman, has made the issue this year's platform for NGA.
?I?m embarrassed to say that I have not done a lot as governor in this area," Daugaard said. "I want to do more.?
Daugaard went on to share details of his parents' lives, with his father working as a farmer and janitor, some of the only job opportunities available to him at the time. While the morning session was highlighted by Daugaard's personal experiences, governors also used the meetings to discuss ways states can create jobs for people with disabilities.
Carl Van Horn, the director of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University in New Jersey, told governors Sunday morning that people with disabilities have an unemployment rate at twice the national average and the rate is likely to rise with the aging population. Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D) told his colleagues that the number of persons with disabilities seeking to enter the workforce will also continue to rise, due to the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with disabilities who have exited from rehabilitation.
?We owe it to these patriots to make sure that they have a job," Malloy said. "We should do everything in our power to make sure they do.?
Malloy noted that one of the main concerns in his state has been that many people with disabilities work part time and do not receive benefits, but the income they make could cost them benefits from Medicaid. He said that he has created a program to allow for the state to provide benefits for people with disabilities who work part time, so they can enter the workforce.
On Saturday, Walgreens CEO Gregory Wasson told governors about his company's programs training and employing those with disabilities in retail stores and distribution centers. Wasson told governors that those hired by Walgreens have worked well in a fast environment and have contributed to corporate goals. He noted, though, that when states and companies work on the issue of employment for people with disabilities, they need to address individual business needs, and not adopt any one strategy.
?This cannot be a cookie cutter approach," Wasson said.
Markell, the NGA chairman, told governors that the NGA will continue exploring ways states can work to develop programs for employing those with disabilities. As part of the goal to develop a list of best practices for state governments, the association is planning two institutes in May for governors and their staffs to meet with business leaders and share findings.
Among the areas governors were told to focus on were utilizing business leaders as advocates and meeting with parents of the disabled to promote to them the idea that their child can get a job. Malloy said that with the rate of autism rising nationally, the jobs issue needs to be addressed.
?That means more people even with severe autism can work part time or full time," Malloy said. "That means that the job pipeline needs to be there. We need to move away from warehousing people. The best place to spend your day if you have disabilities is in a job. It is our obligation to break down the barriers.?
TOKYO (Reuters) - Former top bureaucrat Toshiro Muto is losing some momentum in the race to become Japan's next central bank governor, making for a more open contest, which will kick off in full force this week following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's return from his U.S. trip.
Muto had been considered the leading candidate to replace incumbent Masaaki Shirakawa, who leaves on March 19 after a five-year term. Muto remains on the short list with strong backing from bureaucrats at the powerful Ministry of Finance.
But evidence is building that the race may be closer than previously thought between Muto, Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda and former deputy governor Kazumasa Iwata, say officials and lawmakers familiar with the selection process.
Abe, who won a resounding election victory in December promising to finally rid Japan of nearly 20 years of deflation, wants a fresh face in the job, someone more eager to experiment with radical measures, the sources said.
"Muto is preferred by finance ministry bureaucrats, while people close to Abe want someone else," said one of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
"How markets may react is also important," the source said, adding that Abe may want to avoid disappointing markets already pricing in a radical makeover of monetary policy under a new Bank of Japan (BOJ) leadership. His policy prescription, dubbed "Abenomics", has pushed the yen to its lowest level in more than three years.
Tokyo share prices fell briefly after Reuters reported on February 15 that Muto was leading the BOJ race, as investors saw him as a policymaker who would be more aggressive with policy than the outgoing Skirakawa, but who would also refrain from the more unorthodox steps advocated by some candidates.
Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters on Friday the new BOJ governor does not necessarily have to be someone from his ministry, leaving room to support candidates besides Muto if Abe insists on someone more radical.
Abe hardened his comments last week on the need for a new governor to have international contacts as a key qualification for the post, suggesting that he prefers someone with experience in financial diplomacy. Muto spent most of his career in domestic affairs, rising up the career ladder at the ministry of finance to become its top bureaucrat.
"Japan now needs a governor who can join, communicate and convince people in the inner circles of global finance," Abe told parliament on Wednesday.
CHOICES
That would put ADB's Kuroda, who was Japan's top currency diplomat in the midst of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, at the top of the list. As president of the 67-member ADB, which includes countries from outside of Asia, he rubs shoulders with policymakers the world over.
Kuroda is now leading the race to become nominated by the government as next BOJ governor, the major Japanese daily Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday, quoting finance ministry and senior government officials.
Indeed, Kuroda ticks many other qualifications suggested by Abe's cabinet ministers and opposition parties, such as experience managing a large organization, strong English skills and the sharing of Abe's calls for bolder monetary stimulus.
Kazumasa Iwata, a former deputy BOJ governor, also remains a strong candidate thanks to his fluent English, academic work on economic policy known at home and abroad, and his consistent calls for more aggressive bond buying by the central bank.
But both of them face road-blocks in getting chosen. Kuroda would have to cut short his job at the ADB, which could weaken Japan's standing as the country that traditionally provides the head of the organization established in 1966.
Should Iwata get the top job, his repeated calls for the BOJ to create a fund to buy foreign bonds could raise suspicions among Japan's Group of Seven peers that Tokyo is targeting the yen with monetary policy.
More radical candidates from the academia like Kikuo Iwata and Takatoshi Ito, while favored by Abe and his aides, may have less of a chance because they lack experience managing a big organization -- a prerequisite set by Aso, the sources said.
The selection process for the top BOJ posts -- that of the governor and two deputy governors -- will start in full force later on Sunday upon Abe's return from the United States.
"The choice will have a huge impact on the current market trend of yen weakness and share price gains. It will be made based mainly on whether the person will pursue bold monetary policy that the premier is seeking," Japan's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a television program on Sunday.
Delicate political maneuvering is still needed to ensure parliamentary approval and may mean that Abe has to settle for someone who is not his first choice.
The prime minister is keen to avoid a rerun of the debacle in 2008 when the seat for the BOJ governor was left open for weeks because the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) blocked the nomination of several candidates, including Muto, in the upper house.
Support from opposition parties is vital again as Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party lacks a majority in the upper house. The chance of Muto getting the job heightens if Abe can garner support from the biggest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which has signaled it would not rule out ex-bureaucrats.
But other candidates will have a better chance if Abe must rely on support from fringe parties like Your Party, which is opposed to ex-bureaucrats and want the governor to be a fluent English speaker, which Muto is not.
"Abe may have already chosen his top candidate, but nobody really knows what's on his mind. Everything will start rolling once he's back from the United States," said another source.
(Additional reporting by Sumio Ito, Yoshifumi Takemoto, Shinji Kitamura and Yuko Yoshikawa; Editing by Neil Fullick)
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Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
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In 2009 a jury in Hernando County, Florida, rendered a verdict of just more than $330 million to the family of a 13-year old girl who was tragically killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.
