Aid group calls for humanitarian access in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — A general director of Doctors Without Borders called Tuesday for greater access for humanitarian aid to Syrians suffering in their country's civil war, and urged the international community to show the same urgency to help them as it did to address dismantling Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.

The Syrian conflict, which began as a largely peaceful uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011, has triggered a humanitarian crisis on a massive scale, killing more than 100,000 people, driving nearly 7 million more from their homes and devastating the nation's cities and towns. With the country now carved up into rebel- and regime-controlled areas, providing desperately needed food and medical aid has become a colossal — and dangerous — task.

"You have an industrial-scale war, but you have a very kind of small-scale humanitarian response," said Christopher Stokes, a general directors for Doctors Without Borders. "There is a recognition that greater humanitarian access is needed for life-saving assistance, but at the same time we don't see the mobilization."

The United Nations Security Council issued an appeal in early October for immediate access to all areas of the country to deliver humanitarian aid, including across conflict lines. Still, organizations that provide assistance continue to struggle to reach all the people who need it.

Stokes said the aid community has long been told that it's impossible to grant full access to all regions affected by the fighting, and that "one side is always blaming the other" for the impasse.

But the recent agreement to grant international inspectors unfettered access to every site linked to Syria's chemical weapons program "has shown is that it is possible, if the international political willingness is there, to grant access and free movement to aid agencies to go into these enclaves," Stokes said.

"Cease-fires could be organized as was done to allow chemical weapons inspectors in, they could be organized to allow in medical convoys," he said.

Doctors Without Borders says it currently runs six field hospitals in rebel-held areas, and supports 70 medical facilities in contested areas of the country and regions controlled by the government or the rebels.

The Syrian government has not granted the group permission to work in the country, so it is forced to bring in supplies surreptitiously — a high-risk job that Stokes said has become harder.

In the past, it would take a few days to get supplies brought in from abroad into the clinics, he said, whereas now it can take weeks. "There are more checkpoints, and it's harder and harder to get supplies in," he said.

On the ground, the conflict has shown no sign of easing, even on Tuesday as Muslims celebrated the holiday known as Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.

In the village of Yabroud, several dozen miles north of the capital, assailants detonated explosives on the roofs of Our Lady's Church and the Church of Helena and Constantine, Syria's SANA state news agency reported.

The explosions damaged the crosses, SANA said. It said attempts to detonate more bombs outside the two churches were foiled.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group confirmed that several explosions went off, damaging the churches.

There was no claim of responsibility, though SANA blamed "terrorists," the regime's term for rebels. Assad has drawn support from Syria's ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians. The rebel movement is dominated by Sunni Muslims, who are a majority in Syria.

In regime attacks, warplanes bombed targets in the village of Latamneh in the central province of Hama, killing at least three children, the Observatory said. The government also bombed areas of the Eastern Ghouta district, near Damascus, and the southern city of Daraa.

As the fighting continued, Assad attended holiday prayers in a Damascus mosque. Syrian state TV showed him sitting cross-legged on the floor, in the front row of worshippers. Assad continues to appear in public, apparently to send a message of "business as usual" even as large parts of Syria lie in ruins.

Meanwhile, Syrian refugees marked a subdued holiday in the Zaatari tent camp in Jordan. The camp is home to more than 120,000 refugees and has turned into Jordan's fifth-largest city.

A few children bought toys from shops in the camp, as is customary during the holiday, and men attended special Eid prayers, though the refugees said there's no joy in the holiday.

"We feel bad, we feel bad because everyone here has lost his home and family members and his money," said Ibrahim Oweis, a refugee from Damascus.

___

Associated Press writers Maamoun Yousef in Cairo and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aid-group-calls-humanitarian-access-syria-153414792.html
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Wilted Reputations Left By Shutdown And Default Threat

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, in New York City.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, in New York City.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

President Obama said Thursday that the government shutdown and threat of default did unnecessary damage to both the U.S. economy and the country's reputation abroad.

Standard & Poor's concluded that the disruption subtracted about $24 billion from the economy and is likely to trim more than half a percentage point off growth in the final three months of the year.

Some of the businesses that lost money during the shutdown will gain it back, as federal workers and the government make up for spending that was deferred. But there are likely to be longer-term repercussions, according to Beth Ann Bovino, S&P's chief U.S. economist.

She says the fact that the agreement only keeps the government funded until mid-December is a worry and leaves hundreds of thousands of federal workers with lots of uncertainty.

"Will you get your paycheck, or will we go back on furlough without pay again? Concerns of a repeat, I am sure, are on people's minds and that's coming in to the holiday season," she says.

Bovino says that could make the most important shopping season of the year pretty ho-hum. And it's not just federal workers who will hold back because of that uncertainty. Other workers will, too, as well as businesses that might decide to put off hiring and investment.

Some of the long-term effects are global, says Adam Posen, who heads the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He says the U.S. suffered reputational damage as, once again, the world watched its chaotic political process produce self-inflicted damage to the economy. Posen says that hurts U.S. leverage in negotiations with other countries.

"If you try to make a deal and it has to go to Congress, the people on the other side will say, 'Why the hell should we adhere to this deal, since Congress is clearly a random mad dog?' " Posen says.

And, he says, U.S. advice in international forums and crises will be discounted.

"They're going to turn around and say, 'Who the hell are you to lecture me, U.S., since you can't even keep your own budget in order?' "

Posen says the credibility of U.S. securities has been eroded in the financial markets as investors decide they're no longer risk-free. That gives the U.S. a lower credit score, and just as a lower credit score means higher interest rates for a household, it will mean higher interest rates for the U.S. government.

That's been obvious in the financial markets in the past couple of weeks, says Jens Nordvig, head of currency strategy at Nomura Securities. He says the interest rate on very short-term U.S. Treasurys went from near zero to almost half a percent — a huge spike — as investors feared they were no longer risk-free.

"That was a very dramatic situation, and the more we have of those examples, the more the risk premium is going to be permanent, the more you'll see a situation where the U.S. government will have to pay higher interest rates than would otherwise be the case," Nordvig says.

And for every tenth of a percentage point increase in interest rates, U.S. borrowing costs rise $2 billion year.

Posen says that as U.S. securities are viewed as less safe, it will erode their elevated status and the position of the U.S. dollar as well.

"This will accelerate the rate at which the Chinese renminbi becomes accepted — at least throughout Asia — as an alternative to the dollar, or Chinese government bonds become accepted as an alternative" to U.S. Treasurys, Posen says.

That could raise the cost of doing business for U.S. firms. And finally, Posen says, chaos is scaring off investment in the U.S.

"Investors, who we need to get the economy out of the sort of slow-growth, high-unemployment state we're in, will feel much more uncertain, and will be less likely to make investments," he says. "And foreigners will be less likely to make investments in the U.S., because you just don't know what the environment's going to be."

Posen says that if Congress repeats its recent performance in mid-January, when government funding runs out again, it will continue to erode confidence in the U.S.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/17/236380981/wilted-reputations-left-by-shutdown-and-default-threat?ft=1&f=1003
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Light triggers death switch in cancer cells

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
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Contact: Tomas Llewelyn Barrett
BarrettTL1@cardiff.ac.uk
44-292-087-5596
Cardiff University

Light pulses stimulate designer peptides to initiate a death pathway in cancerous cells

Researchers at Cardiff University have created a peptide (a small piece of protein), linked to a light-responsive dye, capable of switching 'on' death pathways in cancer cells. The peptide remains inactive until exposed to external light pulses which convert it into a cell death signal.

Complex mechanisms in healthy cells normally protect us from developing cancer. However, when the finely balanced networks of interactions between proteins that control such mechanisms are disturbed, uncontrolled cell growth can occur.

The Cardiff team has developed a peptide-switch to alter critical interactions in B-cell lymphoma cancer cells in a 'smart' and controlled way. This new pathway activation technology, called transient photoactivation, may enable scientists to identify cells normally resistant to chemotherapy leading to the development of more effective treatment strategies.

Professor Rudolf Allemann from Cardiff University's School of Chemistry, who led the research, said:

"Whilst killing cancer cells is a goal in itself, this is also proof of a wider principle. Directing therapeutic peptides to the precise location where they are required can be difficult, but activating peptides with light will allow us to precisely define the area where we wish a peptide to act.

"Our research demonstrates that we can control cellular processes with light, which has implications for research in biology and medicine, as our tools can be used to understand the inner workings of cells and to work out how to correct misfiring pathways that lead to disease.

"This work may eventually lead to photo-controlled drugs and tools to probe molecular interactions in intact cells and whole organisms with enormous consequences for biomedical research."

###

This research required the combined expertise of scientists from three Schools at Cardiff (Chemistry, Medicine, and Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences), who contributed different perspectives and techniques to develop this technology. The findings are published in the journal Molecular Biosystems and can be accessed by clicking here.

The work was funded by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant worth 1.4M.

Useful links:

The School of Chemistry

The School of Medicine

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Tomas Llewelyn Barrett

Public Relations

Cardiff University

Tel: 029 20 875 596

Mobile: 07950792532

E-mail: BarrettTL1@cardiff.ac.uk

Cardiff University

Cardiff University is recognised in independent government assessments as one of Britain's leading teaching and research universities and is a member of the Russell Group of the UK's most research intensive universities. Among its academic staff are two Nobel Laureates, including the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine, University Chancellor Professor Sir Martin Evans. Founded by Royal Charter in 1883, today the University combines impressive modern facilities and a dynamic approach to teaching and research. The University's breadth of expertise encompasses: the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences; and the College of Physical Sciences, along with a longstanding commitment to lifelong learning. Cardiff's three flagship Research Institutes are offering radical new approaches to neurosciences and mental health, cancer stem cells and sustainable places.

---

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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.

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
[


| E-mail



| Share

]

Contact: Tomas Llewelyn Barrett
BarrettTL1@cardiff.ac.uk
44-292-087-5596
Cardiff University

Light pulses stimulate designer peptides to initiate a death pathway in cancerous cells

Researchers at Cardiff University have created a peptide (a small piece of protein), linked to a light-responsive dye, capable of switching 'on' death pathways in cancer cells. The peptide remains inactive until exposed to external light pulses which convert it into a cell death signal.

Complex mechanisms in healthy cells normally protect us from developing cancer. However, when the finely balanced networks of interactions between proteins that control such mechanisms are disturbed, uncontrolled cell growth can occur.

The Cardiff team has developed a peptide-switch to alter critical interactions in B-cell lymphoma cancer cells in a 'smart' and controlled way. This new pathway activation technology, called transient photoactivation, may enable scientists to identify cells normally resistant to chemotherapy leading to the development of more effective treatment strategies.

Professor Rudolf Allemann from Cardiff University's School of Chemistry, who led the research, said:

"Whilst killing cancer cells is a goal in itself, this is also proof of a wider principle. Directing therapeutic peptides to the precise location where they are required can be difficult, but activating peptides with light will allow us to precisely define the area where we wish a peptide to act.

"Our research demonstrates that we can control cellular processes with light, which has implications for research in biology and medicine, as our tools can be used to understand the inner workings of cells and to work out how to correct misfiring pathways that lead to disease.

"This work may eventually lead to photo-controlled drugs and tools to probe molecular interactions in intact cells and whole organisms with enormous consequences for biomedical research."

###

This research required the combined expertise of scientists from three Schools at Cardiff (Chemistry, Medicine, and Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences), who contributed different perspectives and techniques to develop this technology. The findings are published in the journal Molecular Biosystems and can be accessed by clicking here.

The work was funded by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant worth 1.4M.

Useful links:

The School of Chemistry

The School of Medicine

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Tomas Llewelyn Barrett

Public Relations

Cardiff University

Tel: 029 20 875 596

Mobile: 07950792532

E-mail: BarrettTL1@cardiff.ac.uk

Cardiff University

Cardiff University is recognised in independent government assessments as one of Britain's leading teaching and research universities and is a member of the Russell Group of the UK's most research intensive universities. Among its academic staff are two Nobel Laureates, including the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine, University Chancellor Professor Sir Martin Evans. Founded by Royal Charter in 1883, today the University combines impressive modern facilities and a dynamic approach to teaching and research. The University's breadth of expertise encompasses: the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences; and the College of Physical Sciences, along with a longstanding commitment to lifelong learning. Cardiff's three flagship Research Institutes are offering radical new approaches to neurosciences and mental health, cancer stem cells and sustainable places.

---

[


| 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/cu-ltd101613.php
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Sony RX10: A Loaded, Long-Zoom Camera With a Killer Sensor

Sony's expanding its line of snazzy high-end point-and-shoot cameras with yet another formula we haven't seen before. The new RX10 takes the design of the superzoom "bridge" cameras popular with amateurs and juices it with an enthusiast-quality image sensor and dope optics. Like the entire RX-line, the new shooter promises impressive image quality for a hefty price.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/P9ANVpK6FDo/sony-rx10-a-loaded-long-zoom-camera-thats-sadly-a-bi-1446185961
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India's Osian's Group Launches Online Film and Art Archive

Osianama

A pinhead prop from the "Hellraiser" series.

NEW DELHI – A first of its kind free online database of art and film memorabilia -- theosianama.com -- has been launched by Indian art organisation Osian's Group. The extensive Osianama database includes a treasure trove of rare Indian and international cinema memorabilia and artefacts, which are part of the archive's various categories including art, architecture, crafts, books, culture and photography.

After its beta launch in August, theosianama.com was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair which was held from Oct. 9-13.

PHOTOS: Indian Talent Going Global

Mumbai-based Osian's Group runs an art auction house and publishing imprint while organizing a variety of art and culture events and projects. Osian's Group also organizes the annual Cinefan film festival in New Delhi, which focuses on Asian and Arab cinema.

Over the last two decades, Osian's has been building its art and film archives which include rare memorabilia such as lobby cards, posters, publicity photos, props and other artefacts. The online archive is being updated in stages and by its second phase (January to July 2014), Osianama will include over 500,000 items covering all forms of film publicity material and other artefacts, both from Indian and international cinema, including Hollywood rarities.

These include everything from lithographic and offset posters, lobby cards, show-cards, song-synopsis booklets, photographic stills, handbills, hoardings, glass slides, scripts, costumes and the like, dating back to the start of the silent era.

“This knowledge is our gift to the world on the 100th annivesary of Indian cinema,” said Osianama founder Neville Tuli. “Thanks to technology and a bit of effort, this glorious knowledge-base will finally become a public right. ”
 
The Osianama archive claims to cover almost 96 percent of all Hindi films ever produced while expanding its regional cinema database as well. The Hollywood collection features rare lobby cards dating from 1910 to the 1940s, which Osian’s mostly purchased from the Leonard Schrader collection. Osianama's collection of iconic props include items such as a replica of Pinhead from the Hellraiser series. The expansive world cinema collection includes classic Polish and Japanese poster design and other artefacts from Asian and Arab cinema.

Osianama's film memorabilia includes items referencing iconic figures such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy, Sergei Eisenstein, Cecil B. de Mille, Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Alfred Hitchcock, Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Cary Grant, Clint Eastwood, James Bond, Robert De Niro, Tarzan, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Fellini, Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg, among others.
 
The archive's art database includes financial details of every public sale and auction in the world of modern and contemporary Indian art since 1987.

“Thus, India becomes the first country to freely reveal comprehensive and authentic auction data which has been the preserve of a few elite groups or available in fragments for a monthly fee,” said Tuli. “Today it is pivotal that the public has free access to this vast integrated knowledge-data pool, because without this none of the economic and financial infrastructure players will grasp the nature of the art object as a cultural collectible and asset... Many of the problems and mindsets faced by the Indian art market over the last decade will vanish overnight.”

During last year's Cinefan festival, Osian's organized its first auction of Indian cinema memorabilia, notching sales of about $125,000.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HollywoodReporterAsia/~3/kp_I3SYo6_A/story01.htm
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This Secure, Waterproof Box Is Like A Car Trunk For Your Bike

Cycling is great, but transporting much more than your person from here to there means becoming a bit of a human pack mule. Buca Boot hopes to make the schlep a whole lot easier.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-secure-waterproof-box-is-like-a-car-trunk-for-you-1445055129
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UFC 166 weigh-in results: Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos make weight

HOUSTON -- The last hurdle has been cleared, now the decade's biggest heavyweight trilogy is ready to be settled. Amid a rowdy crowd at Houston's Toyota Center, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos both met their required weight during Thursday's UFC 166 weigh-ins.

An overwhelming crowd favorite, reigning heavyweight champion Velasquez tipped the scales at 241 pounds. Dos Santos, the former titleholder who lost his belt to Velasquez in brutal fashion last year, came in one pound lighter, hitting his mark at 240 pounds.

"I'm here to give you guys one more knockout," dos Santos said under a hail of boos.

Velasquez and dos Santos' history stretches back to late-2011, when the ferocious Brazilian challenger stunned Velasquez with a first-round knockout to punctuate the UFC's first appearance on FOX. However Velasquez returned the favor 13 months later, brutalizing dos Santos over five lopsided rounds to seize back his title.

Now the pair look to settle their differences in Saturday night's grudge match.

"He's a tough dude and I expect this fight to be tougher than the second," Velasquez said. "That's what I trained for. That's what I'm ready for."

In the night's co-main event, Velasquez's friend and teammate Daniel Cormier hit the scales at 224, the lightest weight of his career.

To avoid a showdown with Velasquez, Cormier pledged to cut down to light heavyweight following the weekend. But first he must get through Roy Nelson, a top-10 heavyweight in his own right who weighed in at a trim 249 pounds.

On the undercard, UFC newcomer Andre Fili missed the featherweight limit by 2.5 pounds. As a result, 20-percent of Fili's purse will be forfeited to his opponent, Jeremy Larsen.

UFC 166 takes place October 19, 2013 at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. Complete UFC 166 weigh-in results can be seen below.

Main card (Pay-per-view)
Cain Velasquez (241) vs. Junior dos Santos (240)
Daniel Cormier (224) vs. Roy Nelson (249)
Gilbert Melendez (156) vs. Diego Sanchez (156)
Gabriel Gonzaga (257) vs. Shawn Jordan (255)
John Dodson (125) vs. Darrell Montague (126)

Preliminary card (Fox Sports 1)
Tim Boetsch (186) vs. C.B. Dollaway (186)
Nate Marquardt (171) vs. Hector Lombard (169)
Sarah Kaufman (135) vs. Jessica Eye (135)
George Sotiropoulos (155) vs. K.J. Noons (156)

Preliminary card (Facebook/YouTube)
T.J. Waldburger (170.5) vs. Adlan Amagov (171)
Tony Ferguson (155) vs. Mike Rio (156)
Jeremy Larsen (145.5) vs. Andre Fili (148.5)*
Dustin Pague (135) vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (135)

*Will forfeit 20-percent of his purse

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/18/4853380/ufc-166-weigh-in-results-cain-velasquez-junior-dos-santos-make-weight
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