The Three Mobile Musts of Small Business: Websites, Payments ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The Three Mobile Musts of Small Business Websites Payments and Advertising The Three Mobile Musts of ?If you don't have a mobile strategy,? says Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, ?you don't have a future strategy.? Given ...

Source: http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/the-three-mobile-musts-of-small-business-websites-payments-and-advertising-34356/

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Fat in organs and blood may increase risk of osteoporosis

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A new study has found that obese people with higher levels of fat in their liver, muscle tissue and blood also have higher amounts of fat in their bone marrow, putting them at risk for osteoporosis.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/izbPY_uLoT4/130716080021.htm

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The Spohrs Are Multiplying? Moving On

In December of 1980 my parents bought the house that I grew up in. On Friday of last week, they put it up for sale.

This has been a long-time coming. My parents have been fixing up the house for over a year. When they started, Mike said to me, ?You know they?re fixing it up to sell it, right?? Mike moved a lot as a kind, so he knew all the signs. I tried to be rational and adult about it. It?s a big house for just two people. It was logical to want to downsize.

The home improvements took a while, so I was able to live in a certain amount of denial. But now that the house is on the market and potential buyers have been walking through it, I have to come to terms with the fact that my parents? house ? the house I sometimes slip and call ?Home? ? won?t be their house for much longer.

I had a really amazing childhood in that house. My parents bought the house when it was being built, and when we moved in the street was filled with young families. Afternoons and summers were spent outside with the other neighbor kids; we?d walk from house to house, ringing doorbells and asking ?Can you play?? Then we?d climb the hills in the open space behind the houses, or build elaborate skateboard/cardboard box racers, or play massive games of hide and seek. My parents had the biggest front yard on the street, and it was central to a lot of our activities. It was where I tried to do a handspring and landed on my back. My friends tried to teach me choreographed dances on the lawn (it went as well as the handspring). When we got older, we?d lay on the grass and gossip about our days.

Annabel looking out over the lawn.

The house has held several generations of our family. My great-grandmother and grandmother also lived in the house, and obviously my own babies have all spent time there. It has also held two weddings, two funeral receptions, a family reunion, a surprise party, an engagement party, some wedding and baby showers, a bazillion swim and birthday parties, and an annual football extravaganza. Countless family holidays have been hosted there. Annabel?s first birthday party was in the backyard, and Madeline?s only birthday party was held there, too.

I could really go on and on about every sleepover, or fight, or milestone achieved in the house, but I?ll stop. I?m an extremely sentimental person, so there?s no point in me chanting ?It?s just a house, it?s just a house.? It?s not just a house. Every square inch is flooded with memories, and it?s hard to know that soon I won?t be able to walk into my old bedroom or?the room my grandma quilted in. I?m not ready to imagine another family living there.

I do keep chanting ?This is good for Mom and Dad,? because it is. They?ll get a house perfectly suited for them, without stairs to climb or a giant lawn to mow. They?ll be able to travel. And their new house might be closer to us, which would thrill Annabel. I know selling was a hard decision for them, but I also know they are excited about the future.

My postpartum hormones are making me especially sensitive, but every time I do something at their house I think, ?Is this the last time I?m going to do this?? and then I get teary. It?s going to be an emotional time and I just have to give into it, and enjoy the ?last times? as they come.

Their view of the sunset.

Source: http://www.thespohrsaremultiplying.com/family-and-friends/moving-on/

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Syrian troops advance against rebels in Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria Government troops fired tank shells and artillery in heavy clashes between Syrian forces and rebels Sunday on the edge of Damascus, where the military has been pushing its offensive to retake key districts that have been in opposition hands for months.

The Syrian army has seized the momentum in the civil war over the past three months, wresting back territory lost to rebel forces and solidifying its hold over contested areas, particularly on the fringes of Damascus. Two of the embattled districts are Jobar and Qaboun, from which rebels frequently launch mortar rounds on the heart of the capital.

A Syrian military commander said forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have recaptured 60 percent of Jobar, south of Qaboun, and were trying to retake the rest. The commander talked to reporters Sunday during a military escorted tour of Jobar organized by the Information Ministry. His claim could not be independently verified.

An Associated Press reporter on the tour saw widespread destruction that pointed to heavy fighting in the neighborhood. Marble tile factories were destroyed. Reporters made their way in the devastated area by climbing through holes knocked in walls because of warnings of rebel snipers in the area.

At least two bodies, apparently those of rebel gunmen, lay on the floor of a bunker described by the official as a "terrorist" hideout.

"The army is advancing rapidly in Jobar ... the area will be secured in the next few days according to a well-studied plan," the commander said. He declined to be named in line with regulations.

Jobar is near the road linking Damascus with its eastern suburbs known as Eastern Ghouta. Rebels have been using the road to transport weapons and other supplies to the capital, the seat of Assad's power.

The commander said the Jobar-Qaboun axis was important to "cleanse Ghouta from terrorist groups."

Assad's government routinely describes the rebels fighting to overthrow him as terrorists playing out a foreign conspiracy hatched by Israel, the United States and some of its Arab allies in the region, like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

During the tour of Jobar, reporters were taken to a hideout the army said it seized a day earlier after killing 30 rebels and their leader there. Reporters were shown RPG mortar rounds and explosive devices, as well as an alleged chemical material with a strong odor.

Arabic graffiti on the walls read: "The al-Tawhid Brigade," and "the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" ? names of militant groups fighting to topple Assad.

Sunday's tour came as Syria's main Western-backed opposition group claimed that 200 civilians were trapped in a mosque in Qaboun as fighting raged outside between rebels and Assad's army. It warned that thousands of civilians in Qaboun could be "massacred" by Assad's army as armored vehicles and elite forces move in.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said dozens of people were held captive Saturday by regime forces in the basement of the al-Omari mosque, but they were able to escape when clashes broke out between rebel and regime forces in the perimeter of the mosque, and the troops retreated.

It said 13 people, including seven fighters, died in the shelling of Qaboun Sunday.

"They (troops) are using tanks and artillery and are trying to break into Qaboun. The shelling is very intense and there is a lot of smoke," said an activist in the area, speaking via Skype on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.

"This is day 26 of a bombing campaign, and they still haven't been able to break Qaboun," he said.

Later Sunday, a powerful bomb explosion rocked the Deir Atiyeh town north of Damascus, killing and wounding a number of people, activists said. The bomb went off near a police station in a densely populated area, but most of the casualties were civilians, according to the Observatory and the Military Council for Damascus and its Suburbs, a rebel group.

In Washington, U.S. officials said Israel targeted advanced anti-ship cruise missiles near Syria's principal port city in an airstrike earlier this month, according to a report by The New York Times. It cited the officials as saying the attack on July 5 near Latakia targeted advanced Russian-made Yakhont missiles that Russia sold to Syria.

There was no immediate comment from Assad's government, whose key political ally and arms supplier is Russia.

Asked about the reports on the CBS-TV show "Face the Nation," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to confirm or deny Israeli involvement.

He insisted that he will not allow "dangerous weapons" to reach Lebanon's Hezbollah militants.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/07/14/4164151/syrian-troops-advance-against.html

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Large fire engulfs Knoxville home days before family was set to ...

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Aerial footage of house fire on Midland Ave. in Fountain City on July 12, 2013 (WVLT)

FOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Just days away from being ready for a new family to move in, a Fountain City home goes up in flames early Friday morning. Neighbors first spotted the fire around 6:00 a.m. and called 911, but the house, was fully engulfed by the time firefighters got there, according to the Knoxville Fire Dept.

Crews quickly went to work, trying to push the blaze back into the home, so they could attack it from the interior. As they went in though, the flames reached the attic and the incident commander pulled everyone out for safety reasons. An aerial stream continued spraying the home and the fire was finally contained by 7:00 a.m.

Nobody was home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. The homeowner, who arrived on the scene later, told fore officials he had been remodeling, so he and his family could move in as soon as next week.

Fire investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

A Fountain City home went up in flames early Friday morning. Neighbors spotted the fire shortly before 7:00 a.m. and called 911, according to firefighters.

The home, 404 Midlake Dr., was fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived. They were forced to clear out after the roof collapsed.

A spokesperson for the Knoxville Fire Dept. said no one was hurt in the fire. The house was reportedly vacant and being remodeled.

Local 8 News has a team on the scene and we will update this story as it develops.

Source: http://www.local8now.com/news/headlines/Large-flames-erupt-from-Fountain-City-home-215215351.html

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Freelance Writing Jobs for July 12, 2013

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Teen relative arrested in missing boy case

Police located remains near the home of a missing autistic boy in Manifee, California on Wednesday. After questioning the boy's family members, they arrested a 16-year-old relative. The teen is suspected of murder.

By Gillian Flaccus,?Associated Press / July 10, 2013

Riverside County Sheriff's deputies closed Helen Lane Wednesday in Menifee, Calif. Authorities searched for possible human remains at the home of an 11-year-old autistic boy who disappeared over the weekend.

AP Photo/The Press-Enterprise, Frank Bellino

Enlarge

A 16-year-old family member was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder in the case of a missing 11-year-old autistic boy in Southern California, police said Wednesday.

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A body that matched the description of Terry Dewayne Smith Jr. was found partially exposed in a shallow grave on the family property,?Menifee?police Chief John Hill said at a news conference.

The body has not yet been positively identified, Hill said, adding that the death was the result of "a domestic issue" at the house.

Terry has a 16-year-old half brother who authorities have said was the last person to see the boy. However, Hill identified the suspect only as a "family member" and would not confirm if the suspect lived at the house.

Police responded to a tip about the body early Wednesday before they discovered the remains, said Hill. Televised news reports showed sheriff's investigators concentrating on what appeared to be a small hole by a tree and about 75 feet from the house, which sits in a rambling, weedy lot off a remote road.

The 16-year-old family member, the boy's mother and other family members were taken in for questioning before the arrest, said Albert Martinez, Riverside County sheriff's deputy.

Terry had been missing from his?Menifee?home since Saturday, and hundreds of volunteers have helped search for him.

Volunteers were told to stop searching Tuesday night, because they were getting stranded in the desert and causing problems, hours after local officials pledged to continue searching for the boy.

The boy was reported missing Sunday morning in the Riverside County community about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Terry was last seen Saturday night, reportedly following his half brother, who told the boy to go home, the Desert Sun said. The boy's mother, Shawna Smith, said she didn't realize he was missing until the next day.

Searches of the area with a bloodhound, horses and a helicopter were unsuccessful. Hundreds of volunteers also joined the effort but days of covering miles of desert in 100-degree temperatures turned up nothing.

A posting on a Facebook page devoted to the search said Terry's family worried he might have wandered off without food, water or special medication.

However, "foul play has never been ruled out" by investigators, Martinez said.

Several dozen people who helped with the search gathered outside a fire station to listen to Wednesday's news conference. Some sat in lawn chairs; others held a small prayer circle. When word came of a body found matching Terry's description, many began to cry silently and hug each other.

Dawn Berning and her daughters Hannah, 12, and Danielle Stiff, 22, were some of the first residents to volunteer in the search for the boy.

On the first night, they searched abandoned trailers in the hills around town in the pitch dark. In later days, Berning went from her 10-hour shift at the local casino to pass out flyers into the wee hours.

She and her daughters fought back tears after learning a body had been found at the boy's address ? and they said their grief was also layered with anger after learning a family member had been arrested.

"I'm devastated," Berning said. "To see something like that happen in our community tears me up. I'm angry. I feel used."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/7U208ZMIdLs/Teen-relative-arrested-in-missing-boy-case

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Facebook Home's launcher was downright awful at first, but now... http://tcrn.ch...

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Chinese plane crash victims were student leaders

BEIJING?The two 16-year-old girls killed in the San Francisco plane crash were close friends and top students who were on Asiana Flight 214 for the same reason: to get a taste of American education and possibly brighten their futures.

Wang Linjia showed talent in physics and calligraphy; Ye Mengyuan was a champion gymnast who excelled in literature. Both were part of a trend among affluent Chinese families willing to spend thousands of dollars to send their children to the U.S. for a few weeks in the summer to practice English and hopefully boost their chances of attending a U.S. college?considered better than China's alternatives by many Chinese families.

Wang's family was staying at a hotel when they learned that

An unidentified family member of on of two Chinese students killed in an Asiana Airlines plane crash on Saturday, checks in at the Asiana Airlines counter at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Monday, July 8, 2013. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday, July 6, at San Francisco International Airport, and the two girls of the 307 passengers aboard were killed. ((AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) )

the daughter was one of the two people killed when the Boeing 777 crash-landed Saturday at San Francisco International Airport. Officials said 182 people were taken to area hospitals.

When visited by a state media reporter, Wang's mother sat on a bed, crying silently and her father sat in a chair with a blank expression, said the Youth Times, an official newspaper in the girls' home province of Zhejiang, in eastern China.

Wang's next-door neighbor, a woman surnamed Xia, described Wang as quiet, courteous and diligent.

"She was very keen to learn. Every time she came home she would be studying. Very rarely did she go out and play," Xia was quoted as saying. She said Wang's father proudly displayed her calligraphy and art pieces on the walls of his office.

September Mao, who attends the girls' school and knew them both, said Wang was outgoing and popular, and often interviewed her classmates as a student reporter. She said Ye was a very good singer and speaker, "loved to smile, and liked to share everything and anything that is happy."

Wang and Ye's parents and other relatives, along with the relatives of four injured students, boarded a flight to San Francisco in Shanghai on Monday after picking up their visas at the U.S. consulate, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. They were accompanied by two teachers from the girls' school and four representatives of the local government of the city of Jiangshan where the school is located, Xinhua said.

"I'm going to go see my daughter," Wang's father, Wang Wensheng, told reporters at Shanghai airport.

Jiang Li, an official with Jiangshan's publicity department, said they planned to first visit injured students in hospital before meeting with Chinese consulate officials and airline officials.

Wang and Ye were part among 29 students from Jiangshan who were on board to attend a summer camp, sightsee and visit several U.S. universities in California. Parents have told Chinese

In this undated photo made available Monday, July 8, 2013, a supporter of Wang Linjia, holds up a photo of her with her name during a talent show at a school in Jiangshan city in eastern China's Zhejiang province. Chinese state media and Asiana Airlines have identified the two victims of the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport girls as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, students in Zhejiang, an affluent coastal province in eastern China. CHINA OUT ((AP Photo) CHINA OUT )

state media that the 15-day trip cost each student about $5,000.

An additional 30 students from two middle schools in the central Chinese city of Taiyuan planned to visit Columbia and Harvard universities, the University of California, Berkeley, and Hollywood, Times Square and the Lincoln Memorial during their two-week, coast-to-coast itinerary.

Nearly 200,000 of Chinese students studied in the U.S. in 2011-2012, more than any other country and accounting for more than a quarter of the United States' international student population.

The number is expected to grow, and Chinese families hoping to have their children attend American colleges see such summer trips as another way to gain an edge in applications and to help with the cultural and linguistic acclimation expected of the young students once they are abroad.

The popularity of these summer programs has grown significantly over the past five years, according to Alex Abrahams, the general manager of Shanghai-based Blue Sky Study, which consults families who want to send students abroad.

"It's a significant cost for someone who's earning an average salary in China," Abrahams said.

An American education has become desirable among China's growing number of middle-class families, who believe it can better prepare their children in a globalized economy, and who are less willing to put their children?often their only child?through China's cruelly competitive education system. ?

Yan Jiaqi, a Beijing-based education consultant who helps Chinese students apply to U.S. schools, said the summer tours mix having fun with preparing for college.

"Those kids sooner or later will go to U.S. schools, and the trip is an opportunity for them to get to know the U.S. and help them choose a university later," he said.

While there are no firm figures available on how many students take these trips, the English-language China Daily reported in 2011 that more than 60,000 Chinese students planned to go to summer camps in the U.S., and the number probably has increased substantially in the past two years, according to industry insiders.

Wang and Ye were classmates at a Jiangshan school known for its students' high academic caliber, the Youth Times said. Wang was class monitor for three years, and teachers and schoolmates described her as excelling in physics and being good at calligraphy and drawing, according to the paper.

Ye also was a top student who excelled in literature, playing the piano, singing, and gymnastics. The Youth Times said Ye recently won a national gymnastics competition and routinely received honors at the school's annual speech contests.

The two girls were classmates from four years ago and became close friends, the paper said.

The girls posted their last messages on their microblog accounts Thursday and Friday. "Perhaps time can dilute the coffee in the cup, and can polish the outlines of memory," Wang wrote on her microblog Friday.

Her final message was simply the word "go."

Of the 291 passengers onboard, 141 were Chinese. At least 70 Chinese students and teachers were on the plane heading to summer camps, according to education authorities in China.

???

Associated Press writers Louise Watt contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23618029/chinese-plane-crash-victims-were-student-leaders?source=rss

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Video: SAC's Cohen Off the Hook?

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Should we go ahead with layoffs?including someone who ...

Q. Our company has been having financial difficulties and we have considered reorganizing for several months. Our chief operating officer has been charged with determining whether any of the current jobs can be eliminated. Recently, before any final reorganization decisions were made, an employee came forward claiming that the COO had been harassing her and had created a hostile work environment.

As the HR director, I immediately initiated an investigation. It revealed that the COO had made several unkind remarks to the complaining employee and other employees, but that the comments were not discriminatory or harassing in nature. I determined that the COO should work with an executive coach, and the company president and I issued a written warning to the COO about the importance of treating employees with respect.

Two weeks after the investigation concluded, the COO made final recommendations to the president about positions that could be eliminated. The list included the complaining employee?s job and those of two other employees who had participated in the investigation. The COO?s stated reasons for selecting these positions appear to be sound and unrelated to the employee?s complaint or the investigation. Indeed, in early discussions about the possible reorganization, company officers had questioned the need for these positions. Can our company go through with the reorganization and terminate these employees?

A. You are between a rock and a hard place. It sounds like the reorganization is in the business interests of the company, but going through with the reorganization right now, if it involves terminating the complaining employee and other witnesses interviewed, makes the chance of a retaliation claim very likely.

The number of retaliation claims filed each year continues to grow. The EEOC reported that in fiscal year 2012, retaliation claims made up close to 40% of the agency?s docket.

Because of the threat of a retaliation claim, you should work closely with your attorney on this situation.

In this case, it may be wise to put a temporary hold on any termination decisions so your company has time to step back and carefully analyze the reorganization decision and make a thoughtful risk/benefit analysis about strategy going forward. Because the COO was the subject of a harassment complaint, it may be prudent to have another company official conduct a separate review of his recommendation. In that review, the official should be cautious of any factors identified that seem subjective or that may be related to the employee?s complaint. The review should be carefully documented.

If that independent review demonstrates that the COO?s selection of these positions for elimination was not appropriate, your decision is easy. Don?t go through with the terminations.

The decision is actually harder if the review shows that the positions really should be eliminated. While this review indicates that the position eliminations are not the result of unlawful retaliation, the risk of a legal claim still exists because, to the employees, the decision may be viewed as retaliatory. In this case, you need to weigh the benefits of the position eliminations against the possibility of having to defend against potential retaliation claims.

If you decide to go through with the terminations, you may want to consider offering separation packages conditioned upon a release of retaliation and other types of legal claims.

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We kept focus and took the initiative, says Canada coach Hoag

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Source: www.fivb.org --- Sunday, July 07, 2013
Osaka, Japan, July 7, 2013 ? Canada coach Glenn Hoag has praised his players for keeping their focus in the 3-2 defeat of Japan (25-23, 23-25, 25-27, 25-18, 15-7) in Osaka on Sunday. ...

Source: http://www.fivb.org/viewPressRelease.asp?No=40996&Language=en

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Calif. fireworks accident injures 39

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) ? When a July Fourth fireworks display exploded and sent red and white bursts into spectators at a Southern California park, Paulina Mulkern saw shrapnel headed straight for her 4-year-old cousin.

Mulkern pushed the girl under a lawn chair, and then shielded her 7-year-old cousin with her body as scorching debris flew overhead.

"You feel the big old heat come right over your back," she said Friday, still shaking as she recounted the explosion the night before that left her hospitalized with bruises and red marks on her back.

Thirty-nine people were injured as many in the crowd of thousands fled for safety. The victims, from 17 months to 78 years old, had burns and shrapnel wounds, and some were trampled, authorities and hospital officials said. The injured included 12 children.

Only three remained hospitalized Friday night.

Mulkern said she went into shock after being hit by a flying piece of debris, trembling badly as she was carried to a road where rescuers stripped off most of her clothes and wrapped her in a blanket.

"I was really terrified. Every time someone launched a firework it got me into panic mode and they just told me, ignore the sounds around you and concentrate on your breathing," she recalled.

Police in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, said it appeared a firework exploded prematurely in its mortar, knocking over others and aiming them across the field. Fire investigators, however, said later they had not yet determined a cause.

Police based their initial statement on the accounts of witnesses, who said a rack of fireworks fell over, said Ventura County Fire Capt. Mike Lindberry.

Among other key questions investigators were trying to answer was whether the pyrotechnics display was set far enough away from spectators, and even if all the rules were followed, whether those guidelines needed to be revised so that the public is kept farther back from launch sites.

Regulations require crowds be kept 70 feet away for every inch of diameter of the largest shell.

By those standards, spectators should have been at least 350 feet away from the show put on by Bethpage, N.Y.-based Bay Fireworks, said Ventura County Fire Department Deputy Chief Mike LaPlant.

Making sure that guideline was followed will be an important aspect of the investigation, though all of the injuries were at or beyond 350 feet, LaPlant said.

"We're just confirming what we feel to be true, which is that the distances were either at or beyond the normal distances, the prescribed distances, for that sized shell," LaPlant said.

The company said it regretted that spectators were injured and that it planned to publicly release the results of a thorough investigation.

Of the victims, all but three had been treated and released by late Friday, hospital officials said.

One patient was being treated by specialists at Grossman Burn Center and two other adults remained hospitalized in fair condition, said Kim Milstein, chief executive of Simi Valley Hospital.

Although fireworks accidents at professional shows are rare, they are not unheard of. The blast in Simi Valley was itself among several mishaps nationwide Thursday, including errant explosions injuring workers at shows in nearby Ojai, as well as North Myrtle Beach, S.C., and a fireworks barge that caught fire in a Montana lake at the start of the grand finale.

In 2008 in New York, fireworks shells exploded on the ground and another one launched into the crowd, injuring five people at an event that also involved Bay Fireworks.

Julie L. Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, a fireworks trade group, said injuries more often come to the technicians putting on the shows, not the people watching. No technicians were hurt in the Simi Valley blast.

"For spectators, this is incredibly rare," Heckman said. "This is just one that is going to stop everybody in their tracks and say, 'We've got to figure out what happened.'"

The accident will undoubtedly prompt members of the National Fire Protection Association, which develops the codes that guide the industry, to evaluate whether changes are needed, Heckman added.

Bay Fireworks is licensed by the state and had no violations on their record and the show did not require a state fire marshal permit, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The state could cite the company after reviewing the results of the investigation by Ventura County, which issued the permit for the event.

Cellphone videos captured a frantic scene in Simi Valley. Fireworks exploded in spheres of sparks close to the ground, and smoke enveloped the park grounds. People screamed and ran as one man could be heard mistakenly shouting that someone was shooting.

Colette Schmidt was watching with guests at her home across the street when it became clear something went terribly wrong. After a few fireworks lofted perfectly in the sky, there was a big explosion on the ground and a volley of blasts.

One landed and left a crater across from her home, then bounced twice and shot over nearby trees, exploding in a puff of reddish-purple smoke, said Schmidt's daughter, Alessi Smith.

The family herded their guests inside and drew the blinds as sparks and embers rained down, Schmidt said.

"It was terrible but we were so blessed because we had 150 people here and not one single spark hit our house," she said.

A bomb squad was sent to the park to help deactivate the remaining 60 percent of fireworks that weren't launched.

On Friday morning, blackened debris from the explosion littered the ground. Huge chunks of shrapnel were still scattered across the park and the boxes the mortars had been sitting in were left in the middle of a green field.

Authorities said investigators planned to examine the debris and fly over the scene to photograph it.

The annual July Fourth celebration has been sponsored by the city and the local Rotary Club since 1970.

The mishap came a year after a fireworks show in San Diego exploded in about 20 seconds and sent multiple bulb-shaped explosions over the bay because of an error in the computer system that sets off the pyrotechnics. No one was injured. That show was not produced by Bay Fireworks.

Heckman, with the fireworks trade group, said that while the investigation has not yet revealed the cause of the Simi Valley blast, she believes it was probably a product malfunction.

The industry takes such incidents seriously, especially when they involve spectators. She noted that Bay Fireworks has been in business for a long time and has done significant productions.

The company website says it has produced events for NASA, Walt Disney World and Legoland.

"This incident is a dark cloud over the entire industry," she said. "We don't take it lightly."

___

Associated Press writers Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, Calif., and Greg Risling and Shaya Mohajer in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/calif-fireworks-accident-injures-39-024441869.html

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The Oscar race so far: let's hope the best is yet to come

By Steve Pond

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - With the first six months of 2013 behind us, it's safe to say that almost none of the movies that have been released so far this year are likely to be in the running for Academy Awards in the top categories at the next Oscars.

In fact, despite the presence of a few indie gems like "Before Midnight," a handful of strong documentaries and some big-budget extravaganzas likely to end up in the sound and visual effects categories, it has been a pretty terrible year for awards movies so far.

Of course, you can say that almost every year. Since the Academy expanded the Best Picture category from five nominees to 10 in 2009 (and then to a variable number two years later), only seven of the 38 nominations have come from films released before the end of June.

Last year, only one film from the first half of the year, "Beasts of the Southern Wild," made the cut. The previous three years, only two films did so each year, with the first-half nominees including Pixar's "Up" and "Toy Story 3" and one Best Picture winner, "The Hurt Locker."

By contrast, fully 21 of the 38 nominations went to films released in November and December, and more than two-third of the field came from the last three months of the year.

So the odds are never good that the movies released by June 30 will be major players come Oscar time, and this hardly looks like a year to beat the odds.

Note: We're talking about theatrical releases, not film-festival screenings. The Coen brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis," Alexander Payne's "Nebraska," J.C. Chandor's "All Is Lost," Ryan Coogler's "Fruitvale Station" and Destin Daniel Cretton's "Short Term 12," among others that may well figure in the race, miss the June 30 cut even though they have screened at fests.

Of the films that have been released so far in 2013, Richard Linklater's "Before Midnight" probably has the best shot at a Best Picture nomination. Its three writers - Linklater and his stars, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy - should definitely be in the running to score their second screenplay nomination, after getting Oscar recognition for "Before Sunset" seven years ago.

Jeff Nichols' "Mud," which became the top-grossing film ever released by Roadside Attractions (a company that took "Winter's Bone" to the Oscars in the past), was enough of a critical and commercial success that it could conceivably be in the mix - and if Matthew McConaughey didn't have an upcoming role in "The Dallas Buyers Club" that sounds ready-made for Oscar, he might have a good supporting-actor shot for the film,

Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha" is a possibility for its screenplay by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, a longshot for actress recognition for Gerwig and a deliciously tantalizing longshot for cinematographer Sam Levy.

Darek Cianfrance's "The Place Beyond the Pines" played to mixed reviews, but the Writers Branch, at least, likes to take chances and embrace indies, and Focus Features (which scored with the best-pic nominee "The Kids Are All Right" three years ago) plans to campaign for the film in a number of categories, including picture, director, writing and acting.

And while Pixar's "Monsters University" didn't draw the unanimous raves of the company's string of Oscar-winning classics that included "Ratatouille," "WALL-E," "Up" and "Toy Story 3," it is entertaining enough to be a strong contender in the Best Animated Feature category.

But what else? The year's top-grossing films to date are "Iron Man 3," "Oz the Great and Powerful," "Fast & Furious 6," "Star Trek Into Darkness" and "Man of Steel," none likely to register strongly outside the effects and sound categories.

Could the year's seventh-highest grosser, Baz Luhrman's "The Great Gatsby," sneak in? I hear it drew the biggest audience anybody can remember to its New York AMPAS members screening, but its mixed reviews probably push it out of the running unless a lot of the prime year-end contenders crash and burn.

(That group includes "Inside Llewyn Davis," "Nebraska," David O. Russell's "American Hustle," Martin Scorsese's "Wolf of Wall Street," George Clooney's "Monuments Men, Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher," John Wells' "August: Osage County," Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" and Paul Greengrass' "Captain Phillips.")

If you look at the year's most critically-acclaimed films, documentaries occupy most of the Top 10 at Rottentomatoes.com, with two music docs Dave Grohl's "Sound City" and Morgan Neville's "20 Feet From Stardom," leading a list that also includes "Call Me Kuchu," "Stories We Tell," "One Life" and "Room 237." Of those, "20 Feet," "Kuchu" and "Stories" probably have the best shot at Oscar nominations (or at least spots on the 15-film shortlist), along with "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks" and a few others that have shown at festivals but have yet to be released.

For the most part, though, the outlook in the documentary category is the same as it is in Best Picture. Which is to say, if you're looking in theaters for this year's nominees, it's best to go away and come back later.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oscar-race-far-lets-hope-best-yet-come-000017947.html

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Who are the likely Emmy snubs in the crowded drama category?

By Steve Pond

(Reuters) - Does the Television Academy need to follow the lead of its colleagues at the Oscars and expand its top category to a full 10 nominees?

That's a question that is being asked with increasing frequency these days, with the Emmy race in the Outstanding Drama Series category proving to be its most competitive in years, maybe even its toughest ever.

At least eight to 10 of the series currently in the running would be shoo-ins for a nomination in a normal year. But with only six slots up for grabs in the category, shows left on the sidelines could be as formidable as "Boardwalk Empire," "The Americans" or Netflix's potentially game-changing "House of Cards."

"I'm not saying anything that other people haven't been saying for a while, but it really is a golden age of television," Mark Johnson, executive producer of "Breaking Bad," told TheWrap. "It is remarkable how many great shows there are."

The buzz, he added, is constantly shifting. "One day I hear everybody talking about 'Game of Thrones,' the next day they're talking about 'The Americans,' the next day they're back to talking about 'Homeland.'

"I can't worry about where 'Breaking Bad' stands, or I'd end up driving myself crazy."

Gareth Neame, the executive producer of "Downton Abbey," agreed that the field was unusually strong in a recent conversation with TheWrap. "The bar is so high now that a lot of people are saying the number of nominees isn't enough," he said.

"But where do you have the cutoff? You're only going to have one winner - do you really want to have a lot of nominees?"

The problem for Emmy voters is that if you don't have a lot of nominees, you'll leave out either acclaimed veteran shows or fresh newcomers. The top contenders, in alphabetical order:

"The Americans"

FX's Cold War drama may have the best shot of series to do what "Homeland" did last year - not only land a nomination, but win the drama-series Emmy in its first season. Its four nominations at both the Critics' Choice Television Awards and the TCA Awards are double the number scored by the other hot freshman series, Netflix's "House of Cards."

"Boardwalk Empire" TheWrap's Tim Molloy has called Season 3 of the HBO drama its best one, and named the show the best series of the 2012-2013 season. With 18 nominations and eight wins in its first season and 12 noms and four wins in its second (including drama-series nods both years), Terence Winter's period drama is a proven favorite with voters.

"Breaking Bad"

The only time in the last four years that Vince Gilligan's show didn't get a drama-series nomination was 2011, the year it wasn't eligible; before that year off, star Bryan Cranston won three consecutive Emmys as lead actor in a drama series.

This time around, voters will be considering the first half of the series' final season, which was split into eight episodes that aired in 2012 and eight more that will begin airing this August - right when Emmy voters will be casting their final ballots.

The Critics' Choice Television Awards, which correctly predicted the Emmy winners in 2011 and 2012, recently named it the year's best drama (in a tie with "Game of Thrones").

"Downton Abbey"

The most-nominated non-American series of all time (it qualifies because it's a co-production with WGBH in Boston), "Downton Abbey" made mincemeat of the Emmys' miniseries or movie categories after its first season, then shifted to the tougher drama-series categories in its second season and scored 14 nominations and three wins.

Its third season gained lots of attention by killing off a couple of main characters whose actors wouldn't renew their contracts.

"Game of Thrones"

Speaking of killing off main characters, HBO's "Game of Thrones" had what might have been the most talked-about hour of TV all season with its brutal "Red Wedding" episode. And Emmy voters already loved the show for its scale and scope: In its first two seasons it scored 25 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series noms both years, and eight wins.

"The Good Wife"

Is there room for a broadcast network in the drama-series category? For years, "The Good Wife" has been fighting the good fight on behalf of the networks, giving CBS the one non-cable spot in the slate of nominees.

It still has enough strength with actors to be a formidable competitor in the category - but after being the sole broadcast-network nominee in its first two seasons, it couldn't land a series nomination last year, which produced the first all-cable lineup in the category's history.

"Homeland" Showtime's series scored an upset victory in the category last year, and Emmy voters are such creatures of habit that it's hard to believe they won't at least nominate the show that won the previous year. (The last time the reigning champ failed to get a nomination was 2007, with "24.") Between its second Golden Globe win and its Critics' Choice nomination, it does not appear to have suffered a sophomore slump.

"House of Cards"

The biggest wild card on the ballot is Beau Willimon's political drama, whose entire season of 13 episodes was made available in February by Netflix. It would be unconventional for Emmy voters to look so far outside traditional television for a nominee, but "House of Cards" may have been the year's most buzz-worthy show, and one that turned binge viewing into a national pastime.

"I think it'll get in because of sheer talkability, and because it's breaking new ground," said Gareth Neame.

"Mad Men"

Emmy voters have always loved Matthew Weiner's Madison Avenue drama, which has already won four drama-series Emmys and will break the record it shares with "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and "The West Wing" if it wins another.

The past season - its second-to-last ever - may have been the show's weirdest, but it's impossible to envision voters not nominating it. Plus, to improve his chances this year, Weiner hired the publicist who landed "Argo" its Oscar Best Picture.

The six nominees will most likely come from those nine shows, but FX's "Justified" is always in the mix, and HBO's "The Newsroom" has a real shot as well. Then there are the buzziest new shows on broadcast TV, "Scandal" and "Nashville"; the final season of Showtime's four-time drama-series nominee "Dexter"; the genre gems "The Walking Dead" and "Bates Motel" ...

So who'll be snubbed?

Critics' Choice voters went with "Breaking Bad," "Game of Thrones," "The Americans," "Downton Abbey," "The Good Wife" and "Homeland" (right), leaving out "Boardwalk Empire," "House of Cards" (!) and "Mad Men" (!!).

Golden Globe voters opted for "Boardwalk," "Downton," "Homeland," "Breaking Bad" and "The Newsroom," but not "Game of Thrones," "Mad Men" or "The Good Wife." ("House of Cards" and "The Americans" hadn't yet debuted, and they were voting on the previous season of "Mad Men.")

Given the stiff competition, and the fact that current Emmy rules call for just six nominees (though a tie produced seven in 2009), it's hardly embarrassing to be left out. But that will be small consolation to whichever topnotch shows find themselves overlooked when nominations are announced on July 18.

"It's tough, because we are just surrounded by really great storytelling," said Mark Johnson, who has few illusions that his other show, the acclaimed Sundance series "Rectify," can find a spot in a year this competitive.

"As somebody said to me recently, 'The movie studios should be ashamed that they've given storytelling over to television.'"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/likely-emmy-snubs-crowded-drama-category-004703691.html

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Web Ink Now: Communications Revolution 2007 - 2013

With the release of the 4th edition of my book The New Rules of Marketing & PR this week, I've been reflecting on the progress we've made as marketers and entrepreneurs in just a few short years.

We are lucky to be living in the middle of a communications revolution! It is now so much easier to reach buyers than in the old days.

I created this short presentation to illustrate how far we've come.

Direct link to Communications Revolution 2007 ? 2013 on SlideShare.

Communications Revolution 2007 - 2013

Imagine, just a few short years ago as I was writing the first edition of New Rules in 2005 and 2006, Facebook was only for students and MySpace had four times as many users as Facebook. Now MySpace has only 32 million users to Facebook?s 1.1 billion.

Twitter didn't even exist as I was writing the first edition, nor did most social networks we use today including Instagram, Google Plus, Foursquare, and SlideShare.

How amazing that in just a few years, inbound marketing and social networking has become mainstream! We are truly living through a communications revolution.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR has sold 300,000 copies in English over four editions and is translated into 25 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese.

Thanks to Doug Eymer at EYMER DESIGN Laboratories + Think Tank for the design of the presentation.

Source: http://www.webinknow.com/2013/06/communications-revolution-2007-2013.html

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The Block hits the market | ExpertView Blog

Are you a fan of Channel 9?s The Block?? If so, you will be excited to learn that the first of the 5 properties has hit the market.? Renovated by Alisa and Lysandra, the ultra-competitive police officers (and twins), the property has been meticulously designed to appeal to a broad market.

Located at 1/142 Park Street, South Melbourne, the ?cop-twins? property is sure to heat up the Melbourne property market this winter.

According to listing agents Dingle Partners Melbourne, ?this gorgeous full floor 3 bedroom plus study apartment features a stylish yet effortlessly functional open plan design which has been architecturally crafted to capture glorious year-round northern sunlight.?

Described as ?the quintessential cooks kitchen?, the girls have included a double door integrated fridge, 2 ovens, a microwave and coffee machine plus a solid concrete island bench and a walk in butler?s pantry.? What more could you ask for?

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It?s clear why the judges named Alisa and Lysandra the ?bathroom queens? when looking at their lavish his and hers ensuites. ?Comprising a double shower that converts to a steam room, a dressing area with mirrored built-ins and an elevated freestanding, this bathroom is the height of luxury!

Exuding simplicity and style, the open plan living room provides a spacious family and dining area, featuring beautiful hardwood floors.? According to Lysandra, the aim was to present a stylish room that would please the crowds come auction day, ?I don?t like to sound cocky, but I think probably out of anyone?s, our apartment will appeal to the broadest market, which is what we wanted to do,?

Currently there is no indication of price, yet it is believed that hopes are set on a price starting at $1.5 million. ?If you fancy living sky high in The Block, take a look at the property listing for more information.

It is expected that the rest of the properties will hit the market soon, with Hockingstuart already securing the Penthouse.? Hockingstuart have kicked off their marketing campaign with a competition, which is likely to generate significant interest and buzz surrounding the property.

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Source: http://blog.realestateview.com.au/2013/06/the-block-hits-the-market/

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Coke to market first 'natural' mid-calorie cola

By Martinne Geller

(Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co announced plans on Wednesday to introduce a cola that is sweetened with sugar and naturally occurring, no-calorie sweetener stevia, the first such product to hit a market that is seen as key to the future of the soda industry.

Coca-Cola Life will have about half the calories of regular Coke. It will go on sale this week in Argentina, where Coca-Cola has 50 percent of the soda market, compared with PepsiCo Inc's 16 percent, according to industry newsletter Beverage Digest, which was first to report the news

The world's largest soda company has used stevia in 45 products, such as Vitaminwater Zero and Fanta Select, but never in its flagship cola. The move would put Atlanta-based Coke ahead of rival Pepsi in the critical race for better-tasting low-calorie beverages.

There is no date for introducing the product elsewhere. Company executives at a news conference in Buenos Aires likened the launch with the 2005 debut of Coca-Cola Zero, which was first introduced in Australia and later sold elsewhere.

DOSE OF SKEPTICISM

Consumer Edge Research analyst Bill Pecoriello said a global rollout seemed likely because it would also preempt PepsiCo's sweetener innovation.

"A healthy dose of skepticism as to the long-term success potential is warranted, given past introductions," he added.

There has been a recent wave of mid-calorie sodas such as Pepsi Next and Dr Pepper 10, but they have not maintained market share, Pecoriello said.

Coke and Pepsi have been using stevia, a plant native to Paraguay, in drinks for years, but mostly in noncarbonated, fruit-flavored drinks. As recently as last month, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said stevia did not work well in colas.

Nooyi told a conference hosted by Bernstein Research in May that a breakthrough in sweetener technology could help reverse the decline in sodas in the United States and that it needed to occur sooner rather than later.

"If you let this go too long, another three or five years, the consumer will walk away from (carbonated soft drinks)," she said at the conference. "But if we can address the barriers to consumption, we can actually bring back the lapsed users."

Regarding its own innovation, PepsiCo said in February that preparation was underway for the review and commercialization of a new "beverage innovation project," but it had not yet been submitted to U.S. regulators for review.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman said PepsiCo was "working to identify sweetener and flavor options that can help us provide more reduced or zero-calorie beverage choices."

Coca-Cola shares closed up 1.8 percent at $40.43 on the New York Stock Exchange. PepsiCo stock was up 1.6 percent at $81.31, while Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc rose 1.8 percent to end the day at $45.80.

(Additional reporting by Juliana Castilla in Buenos Aires; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Marguerita Choy, Leslie Gevirtz and Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/coke-market-first-natural-mid-calorie-cola-180718425.html

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Texas governor may revive abortion proposal

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A marathon speech by a Texas Democrat temporarily frustrated a Republican drive for new state abortion restrictions, but political sources predicted on Wednesday that anti-abortion Governor Rick Perry would quickly revive the proposal.

Senator Wendy Davis, a single mother by the age of 19 who now is a rising star of the Democratic party, drew national attention when she spoke for more than 10 hours to block a measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Her filibuster of the Republican supermajority in the Texas legislature was hailed by women's groups and abortion rights advocates, and streamed live on some national media websites.

Republicans managed to stop her about two hours ahead of the midnight end to the special legislative session citing parliamentary procedures, but they were unable to complete voting on the abortion bill before the deadline.

"I pledge to Texas one thing: this fight is far from over," David Dewhurst, the anti-abortion Republican Lieutenant Governor who presides over the Senate, posted on Twitter Wednesday.

Texas Republican political strategist Matt Mackowiak predicted that Perry will call lawmakers back for another special session to pass the abortion bill.

"An abortion bill passed both houses. The votes are there. There's no question the votes are there," he said.

The abortion restrictions passed the House earlier in the week and a version of the proposal that did not include the ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy passed the Senate.

If the measure ultimately passes, Texas would be the 13th state to impose a ban on abortions after 20 weeks and by far the most populous. In addition, the legislation would set strict health standards for abortion clinics and restrict the use of drugs to end pregnancy.

Republican backers said the regulation of abortion clinics would protect women's health and that the ban on late-term abortions would protect fetuses, based on disputed research that suggests fetuses feel pain by 20 weeks of development.

Opponents said it would force nearly all Texas abortion clinics to close or be rebuilt.

"We know this isn't the end of the fight to protect women's access to health care in Texas." said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Davis whittled away chunks of time by reading testimony and messages from women and others decrying the legislation, reciting previously suggested changes to the bill and tapping into her own past as a single mother at 19.

She said the bill would have choked off her own access to a local Planned Parenthood clinic.

"I was a poor, uninsured woman, whose only care was provided through that facility. It was my medical home," said Davis, 50, several hours into her speech.

NATIONWIDE DEBATE

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, but conservative states have enacted laws in recent years that seek to place restrictions on the procedure, especially on abortions performed late in pregnancy.

Twelve states have passed 20-week bans, including two states where the bans take effect later this year, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Courts have blocked the bans in three of the 12 states - Arizona, Georgia and Idaho.

Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill banning abortions 20 weeks after fertilization. The measure is extremely unlikely to become law because Democrats control the U.S. Senate and the White House.

The Texas proposal would allow exemptions for abortions to save a woman's life, and in cases of severe fetal abnormalities.

"In Texas, we value all life, and we've worked to cultivate a culture that supports the birth of every child," Perry said.

The abortion debate simmers elsewhere in the United States.

North Dakota's only abortion clinic filed a federal challenge on Tuesday to a new state law, the most restrictive in the country, that would ban procedures to end pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks.

A Philadelphia jury last month convicted abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell of murdering three babies during abortions at a clinic in a high-profile case that focused national attention on late term abortions.

(Reporting by Eric Johnson and Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Greg McCune and Chris Reesea)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republican-disrupt-texas-state-democrats-filibuster-over-abortion-043413723.html

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Jordan hosts 900 US troops to shield against Syria

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Jordan's prime minister says the country is hosting 900 U.S. military personnel to bolster its defense capabilities against potential threats from the Syrian civil war.

The first Jordanian public official to speak publicly of the numbers of U.S. troops in the kingdom, Abdullah Ensour told reporters Saturday that 200 of the personnel were experts training for how to handle a chemical attack.

He said the remaining 700 are manning a Patriot missile defense system and F-16 fighter jets which Washington deployed this month in case the Syrian war worsens.

Jordan is concerned its larger northern neighbor would use chemical weapons against Syrian refugee camps in Jordan and other neighboring countries, or that the stockpile may fall into the hands of al-Qaida or other militants if President Bashar Assad loses control.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jordan-hosts-900-us-troops-shield-against-syria-145232071.html

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Betaworks' John Borthwick Weighs In On Acquiring Instapaper

It was just last week that betaworks announced it had acquired a majority stake in fan-favorite reading service Instapaper, and today on the Disrupt NY stage betaworks CEO John Borthwick shed some new light on the process of striking a deal with Instapaper creator Marco Arment.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/fM9_F2H9AiA/

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Phil Jackson Was Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer in 2011, Told the ...

Phil Jackson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2011, the former Lakers? coach reveals in his new book. According to the O.C. Register, Jackson revealed the bad news to his team during the playoffs as what sounds like an attempt to motivate. (The story is behind a paywall, but a?Lakers? forum?has the full story.)

Jackson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2011. After doctors assured him the cancer could be controlled by drugs temporarily, Jackson waited until after the season to undergo surgery.

Jackson decided to divulge his situation to his players when he sensed the team was lacking something in the playoffs.

?Shocking,? Pau Gasol said Saturday, remembering Jackson?s disclosure to the team. ?But then you also could understand certain moments of his demeanor, energy and involvement because of what he was going through health-wise. It explained certain things. It was a shock. A difficult moment for the team.?

Gasol said Jackson talked with team captains Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher privately before telling the whole team in a video session ? but Jackson was left second-guessing the revelation in which he became teary-eyed as he spoke ? the Lakers strangely fading in that series vs. Dallas.

Whatever Jackson?s motivation for telling his team, it sounds like they were understandably shaken by the news. Whenever Jackson told them, the team was done. The Lakers were eliminated from the 2011 Playoffs by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks in a 4-game sweep. The series ended with a 122-86 blowout in Dallas that featured?Andrew Bynum?s flagrant foul on J.J. Barea.

Gasol allowed that it was different for the team to see Jackson ? ?such a big figure, the physical and spiritual leader of the team? ? as vulnerable.

?As much as I love Phil and I appreciate everything about him,? Gasol said, ?it was difficult to know.?

The good news ? for Jackson at least ? is that he must be feeling pretty good again. People say he is interested in coaching again and there is a rumor about every team in the league making a run at him for various positions.

[OC Register, LakersGround, USA TODAY Sports Images, h/t Herbie]

Source: http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/04/28/phil-jackson-was-diagnosed-with-prostate-cancer-in-2011-told-the-lakers-during-their-sweep-by-the-mavericks/

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Pattern seen in alleged chemical arms use in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) ? The instances in which chemical weapons are alleged to have been used in Syria were purportedly small in scale: nothing along the lines of Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack in Kurdish Iraq that killed thousands.

That raises the question of who would stand to gain as President Bashar Assad's regime and the opposition trade blame for the alleged attacks, and proof remains elusive.

Analysts say the answer could lie in the past ? the regime has a pattern of gradually introducing a weapon to the conflict to test the international community's response.

The U.S. said last week that intelligence indicates the Syrian military has likely used sarin, a deadly nerve agent, on at least two occasions in the civil war, echoing similar assessments from Israel, France and Britain. Syria's rebels accuse the regime of firing chemical weapons on at least four occasions, while the government denies the charges and says opposition fighters have used chemical agents in a bid to frame it.

But using chemical weapons to try to force foreign intervention would be a huge gamble for the opposition, and one that could easily backfire. It would undoubtedly taint the rebellion in the eyes of the international community and seriously strain its credibility.

Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva, said it would also be difficult for the rebels to successfully employ chemical agents.

"It's very difficult to weaponize chemical weapons," he said. "It needs a special warhead, for the artillery a special fuse."

In the chaos of Syria's civil war, pinning down definitive proof on the alleged use of weapons of mass destruction is a tricky task with high stakes. President Barack Obama has said any use of chemical arms ? or the transfer of stockpiles to terrorists ? would cross a "red line" and carry "enormous consequences."

Already, the White House's announcement that the Syrian regime appears to have used chemical arms has ratcheted up the pressure on Obama to move forcefully. He has sought to temper expectations of a quick U.S. response, saying too little is known about the alleged attacks to take action now.

Analysts suggest that a limited introduction of the weapons, with little ostensible military gain, could be an attempt by the Syrian government to test the West's resolve while retaining the veil of plausible deniability. This approach would also allow foreign powers eager to avoid a costly intervention in Syria to remain on the sidelines, while at the same time opening the door for the regime to use the weapons down the road.

"If it's testing the water, and we're going to turn a blind eye, it could be used widely, repeatedly," Alani said. "If you are silent once, you will be silent twice."

The slow introduction of a weapon to gauge the West's response fits a pattern of behavior the Assad regime has demonstrated since the uprising began in March 2011, according to Joseph Holliday, a Syria analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.

When largely peaceful protesters initially took to the streets, the regime responded with small arms fire and a wave of arrests. As the government ramped up its violent crackdown, the opposition began to take up arms in late 2011, prompting yet another escalation in force by the regime.

In early 2012, government troops began using heavy weapons, first in a relatively restrained manner on military targets.

"Once they could confirm that there wasn't going to be a major reaction from the West, they were able to expand the use of artillery," Holliday said.

By the summer of 2012, government troops were pounding rebellious neighborhoods with tank fire, field cannons and mortars, but the rebellion was stronger than ever, prompting Assad to turn to his air force, and the regime's MiG fighter jets and helicopter gunships began to strike military targets in rural areas.

After the government was satisfied that the international community wasn't going to impose a no-fly zone like NATO did in Libya, Assad unleashed the full might of his air power, and warplanes have been indiscriminately bombing rebel-held areas since.

"It all fits the pattern of being able to do this incrementally," Holliday said.

"It's been important for the regime to introduce these capabilities as gradually as possible so that they don't trip the international community's red lines," he added. "I think this is basically a modus operandi that the Assad regime has established and tested with the United States, and confirmed that it works, and he's using it again with chemical weapons."

Syria has never confirmed it even has chemical weapons. But it is believed to possess substantial stockpiles of mustard gas and a range of nerve agents, including sarin, a highly toxic substance that can suffocate its victims by paralyzing muscles around their lungs.

Concern rose last summer when then-Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told a news conference that Damascus would only use chemical or biological weapons in case of foreign attack, not against its own people. The ministry then tried to blur the issue, saying it had never acknowledged having such arms.

Weapons of mass destruction are generally viewed as a deterrent against foreign attack, and their use a sign of desperation. But Assad appears far from desperate at the moment, and in fact is operating from a position of relative strength.

While much of northern Syria has fallen to the rebels, the government's hold on Damascus is firm and its forces have been on the offensive in the capital's suburbs and in the countryside near the border with Lebanon. In the northwest, regime troops recently opened up a key supply road to soldiers fighting in the embattled city of Aleppo.

Two of the alleged attacks the Syrian opposition blames on the regime took place in and around Aleppo: one in Khan al-Assal west of the city on March 19, and another in the contested Shiekh Maqsoud neighborhood on April 13. The other alleged instances were in the central city of Homs on Dec. 23 and in the village of Otaybah outside Damascus on March 19.

It is not clear exactly how many people died in those attacks because of the scarcity of credible information. The Syrian government seals off areas it controls to journalists and outside observers, making details of the attacks sketchy. But reports from anti-Assad activists and the government provide a basic outline.

Opposition activists have posted videos and pictures online of alleged victims of the attacks foaming at the mouth or with blister burns ? symptoms consistent with chemical weapons attacks, but also other munitions. The Syrian state news agency, after one attack it blamed on rebels, published photos of casualties, including children. None showed signs of physical injuries.

Both sides in the civil war, which has already killed more than 70,000 people, have tried to use the issue to sway international opinion.

Rebels have been clamoring for more robust international action against the Assad regime. At a recent gathering in Turkey of the rebellion's international supporters, the opposition political leadership demanded drone strikes on regime targets and the imposition of a no-fly zone, and it reiterated calls for transfers of heavier weapons to its fighters.

The regime has seized on the opposition's demands for outside support to bolster its argument that rebels may have used chemical weapons to frame the government and precipitate foreign intervention.

In December, after rebels captured a chlorine factory in Aleppo, the government warned the opposition could be planning a chemical attack to frame the regime. To back up its assertions, the state news agency pointed to internet videos that purported to show regime opponents experimenting with poisons on mice and rabbits.

In the video, a masked man mixes gases in a glass box containing two rabbits. About a minute later, the animals start to spasm and then collapse. A narrator then says, "This is what will happen to you, Assad supporters." The origin of the video was not known.

Alani dismissed the possibility of the rebels, including Islamic extremist groups among the most powerful opposition fighting factions, carrying out a chlorine attack.

He noted that al-Qaida militants used chlorine on at least two occasions in Iraq in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, but abandoned the practice because "the impact of the chlorine was far less than conventional explosives."

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Follow Ryan Lucas on Twitter at www.twitter.com/relucasz

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pattern-seen-alleged-chemical-arms-syria-191327590.html

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