Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/181169460?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
iPhone 4S coming to China by end of January
Fortune is reporting that Apple has completed the required steps necessary to bring the iPhone 4S to mainland China by January 23rd. 
the People’s Daily, the official...
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/VdG6otLUGtM/story01.htm
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Friday, December 30, 2011
Majority of Hispanics oppose US deportation policy (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Fifty-nine percent of Hispanics oppose President Barack Obama's increased deportations of illegal immigrants, according to a new poll showing a weak spot in their otherwise broad support for the president in next year's election.
The survey by the Pew Hispanic Center released on Wednesday showed that just 27 percent of those polled approved of the administration's deportation policy, which immigrants' advocates have criticized as unnecessarily harsh.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported nearly 400,000 people during the fiscal year that ended in September, the largest number of removals in the agency's history. Government officials say they are targeting immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
Mark Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center and author of the report, said that even though Hispanics reject Obama's deportation policy by a two-to-one ratio, they still support the president generally and show an affinity for his Democratic Party.
Latinos were among Obama's strongest supporters in 2008, but many have become disillusioned by the lack of employment opportunities and lack of progress on immigration reform.
The survey showed 49 percent of Hispanics approve of the job Obama is doing, down from 58 percent in 2010 but still higher than his 46 percent approval rating among the general population.
When asked which political party shows greater concern for Hispanics, 45 percent of respondents chose Democrats and 12 percent said Republicans.
Employment, education and medical care are the issues that Hispanics registered to vote in next November's presidential contest care the most about, the survey found.
Latinos have been disproportionately affected by the U.S. economy's downturn, with unemployment for the group running at 11 percent and many losing their homes. The country's average jobless rate is about 8.6 percent.
The support of Hispanic voters could prove a determining factor for Obama as he seeks re-election, especially in the critical states of Virginia, Nevada, Florida and North Carolina.
The survey was conducted between Nov. 3 and Dec. 7 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia with 1,220 adult Hispanics, 557 of whom are registered to vote.
Polling was conducted both in English and Spanish by landline and mobile telephones. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points for all Hispanics surveyed and 5.2 percentage points for Hispanics registered to vote.
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Luis Alonso Lugo on Twitter: http://twitter.com/luisalonsolugo
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UK military uses modded video games for soldier training
Ministry of Defense adapting battle video games
The British Ministry of Defense is turning to technology in order to train its soldiers. One such example is the virtual trainer called Virtual Battlespace 2, which is a modified version of a popular commercial video game. The need stems from hopeful soldiers who are used to popular and appealing video games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gaming consoles.
Also, the Ministry is looking at supplying fighter pilots with iPads that can house training and flight manuals and save them money, as paper manuals can cost thousands of dollars and need to be updated.
The Ministry of Defense representatives say the gaming industry and each game developer have a much bigger budget than they do to develop battlefield simulators. The Ministry may buy game code from the publishers and adapt it for their purposes. Virtual Battlespace 2 was based on tech licensed from the developers of Operation Flashpoint, for example.
The changes include making more realistic weapons that behave as they would in the real world, with realistic range. This is to boost the level of immersion and boost realism at the cost of entertainment. [via The Guardian]
Source: http://feeds.electronista.com/click.phdo?i=835fb8d56eac7259e324c8fdd0a1a5b4
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monti encouraged by bond auction results (AP)
ROME ? Italy's Premier Mario Monti says he's encouraged by the results of two days of bond auctions which saw Italy's borrowing costs drop.
But at a year-end press conference Thursday, he said he didn't consider the market turbulence to be over.
He said his new government was working intensively on preparing a package of measures to get the Italian economy moving again, which will be presented to EU leaders on Jan. 23. He said it would focus on boosting competition and liberalizing the labor market.
Markets had grown fearful over the past few months that Italy can pay off its debts, which stand at around euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion).
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ROME (AP) ? Italy saw its borrowing rates fall for the second day running as it raised around euro7 billion ($9.2 billion) in a range of auctions Thursday, a further sign that concerns over a default have eased a bit over the past month.
The Bank of Italy said Italy raised euro2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) of ten-year bonds at an average yield of 6.98 percent. That's lower than the 7.56 percent it had to pay at an equivalent auction last month, when investor concerns over the ability of the country to service its massive debts became particularly acute and effectively prompted a change in government.
However, the country's borrowing rate on the key 10-year bond remains uncomfortably close to the 7 percent level widely considered to be unsustainable in the long run. Greece, Ireland and Portugal all had to request financial bailouts after their 10-year bond yields pushed above 7 percent.
In the secondary markets, it continues to hover around the 7 percent mark.
Markets had grown fearful over the past few months that Italy will find it difficult to pay off its massive debts, which stand at around euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion). Next year alone, Italy has some euro330 billion ($431 billion) of debt to refinance.
Italy, which is the eurozone's third-largest economy, also sold euro2.54 billion of 3 year bonds at an average interest rate of 5.62 percent, far lower than the 7.89 percent rate it had to pay last month. It also raised euro803 million in the 7-year auction at a rate of 7.42 percent and euro1.18 billion in nine-year bonds at a yield of 6.7 percent.
Thursday's results come a day after Italy raised euro10.7 billion in a pair of auctions, again at sharply lower rates than those it was forced to pay just a month ago.
The sharp decline in Italy's borrowing costs over the past couple of days suggests that commercial banks from the 17 countries that use the euro may have diverted some money they tapped from emergency loans from the European Central Bank last week to buy the bonds of heavily indebted governments.
It may also suggest rising investor confidence in Italy's recent efforts to reduce its long-term debt through a variety of austerity measures.
Mario Monti, Italy's new premier, is holding a press conference Thursday and the state of the economy is likely to feature large.
Monti's technocratic government got parliamentary approval last week for more spending cuts and tax increases intended to save the country from financial disaster. One of the most controversial aspects of the austerity package is reform of Italy's bloated pension system.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
U.S. says China is not a currency manipulator
Some U.S. politicians have argued that China has gained an unfair competitive edge in global markets by keeping the yuan artificially low to boost exports.
But the Treasury, in a semi-annual report, said that statutes covering a designation of currency manipulator "have not been met with respect to China."
Even so, Treasury said appreciation in the yuan has been too slow. The value of the yuan, which Beijing manages closely, has risen by 4 percent against the dollar this year and 7.7 percent since China dropped a firm peg against the greenback in June 2010.
"The movement of the (yuan) to date is insufficient," the Treasury said in a statement following the release of its semi-annual report to Congress on international economic and exchange rate policies.
"Treasury will closely monitor the pace of appreciation and press for policy changes that yield greater exchange rate flexibility, a level playing field, and a sustained shift to domestic demand-led growth."
The Peterson Institute for International Economics recently estimated the yuan was undervalued by 24 percent against the dollar, down from 28 percent earlier in the year. It attributed the change to both Beijing's policy of gradual currency appreciation and higher Chinese inflation.
MORE OF THE SAME
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the law that requires the administration to determine whether U.S. trade partners are deliberately undervaluing their currencies is a poor tool to push Beijing on the yuan.
Instead, the United States has tried to use international economic fora, such as the Group of 20 leading nations and the International Monetary Fund, to ramp up pressure on Beijing to move more quickly to a more-flexible currency.
"It's not very surprising. It's sort of sliding it in under the radar. They're (Treasury) really not in a position to make any major moves at this point," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4Cast in New York.
The Treasury Department has not labeled country a currency manipulator since July 1994, when it cited China. A designation would require the United States to step up negotiations with Beijing on the yuan's value.
The yuan slipped on Tuesday as strong dollar demand from corporations offset a record high mid-point fixed by the People's Bank of China. The central bank set an all-time high dollar/yuan mid-point in an apparent hope to let the yuan rise a little more at the end of 2011 so as to make the yuan's full-year nominal appreciation look bigger, traders said.
(Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20111227/usays-china-is-notcurrency-manipulator.htm
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Reminder: Apple?s 12 Days of Christmas app starts today, free iTunes content for Europe and Canada
Apple has launched its 12 Days of Christmas app for the third year running. The app offers free content from iTunes for twelve days between December 26th and January 6th. Today you can access three live audio tracks and three live videos from Coldplay?s recent appearance at...
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tFi86I1bLzU/story01.htm
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
UK's Prince Philip to leave hospital (AP)
LONDON ? Britain's Prince Philip left the hospital Tuesday, after undergoing treatment for a blocked coronary artery.
Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's 90-year-old husband, spent four nights in the hospital recovering from a successful coronary stent procedure. He was taken to Papworth, a specialist heart hospital in Cambridge, on Friday after complaining of chest pains.
It was the most serious health scare suffered by Philip, who is known to be active and robust. He has continued to appear at many engagements, most recently taking a 10-day tour of Australia with the queen.
For the first time in years he was forced to miss the Royal Family's traditional Christmas festivities, which include attending a morning church service, viewing the queen's annual Christmas broadcast together, and a shooting party on Boxing Day.
Philip did not speak to reporters as he was driven away from the hospital in a Range Rover Tuesday morning, though he smiled and waved to those gathered to film his departure.
He will return to Sandringham, the queen's private estate in rural Norfolk, to join the queen and other royal family members, Buckingham Palace officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with policy.
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Reader photos: Southern California Moments, Day 358
Boogie: A couple dances to the music of the 44's Band at the El Dorado in Long Beach in this Dec. 10 photo by Kim C. Martin.
Every day of 2011, we're featuring reader-submitted photos of Southern California Moments. Follow us on Twitter and visit the Southern California Moments homepage for more on this series.
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Samsung Is Buying Sony's LCD Television Business
Samsung will buy Sony's stake in a joint-venture LCD television business for $939 million, ending the company's partial ownership of the business, The Verge reports.
Sony will still retain a partnership with Samsung to purchase LCD panels, but it'll be at market price and the company won't be responsible for manufacturing them any more, according to the report. Here's are the details from The Verge:
The split comes?after rumors of the dissolution?were first reported in October and follows?Sony's November announcement of a?$1.2 billion annual loss?due to weak demand from its loss-leading television division coupled with a strong yen. Samsung will acquire all of Sony's 50 percent share for 1.08 trillion won (about $938.97 million) and convert the joint venture into a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-is-buying-sonys-lcd-television-business-2011-12
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NBA Rumors: New York Knicks Shouldn't Wait for Kenyon Martin
The New York Knicks still have a $2.5 million exception to use, and one name that's been bantered about is long-time Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin. Carmelo Anthony's former teammate can't sign until March, however, which means the Knicks should avoid making any promises.
Marc Berman of the New York Post reported that Anthony is pushing for Martin to get New York's final bargaining chip:
The source said Martin considers the Knicks his top choice, partly because of his friendship with Anthony. They became tight during their nearly seven seasons together in Denver. Martin could fill the role of another gritty big man off the bench with athleticism.
Martin signed a contract with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers during the NBA's lockout, but it didn't include an out clause to allow him an immediate return. So, he's barred from signing a new deal until his Chinese team's season is over.
Even though Martin wouldn't be a bad signing by the Knicks, he's not so valuable that they need to commit to him right now. A lot can change between now and March, especially considering the league's condensed schedule, and the front office doesn't want its hands tied.
The former first overall pick averaged just nine points and six rebounds in a career-low 26 minutes per game for the Nuggets last season. His play in China was also less than inspiring, but that may be due to his heart never being fully committed to his new gig. That said, the extra time off should ensure he's 100 percent for the stretch run and would provide some valuable depth up front.
The Knicks have been searching for another forward for quite some time despite guard seemingly being a bigger area of need.
Since the exception is the only thing the Knicks have to lure potential free agents to Madison Square Garden, they need to keep their options open should a more intriguing option become available. If March rolls around and they still haven't found anybody else worth pursuing, then it will be time to strongly consider Martin. If they were to make a verbal commitment now and a veteran shooting guard became available, it would put the team in an awkward position.
Should the Knicks commit their exception to Martin?
-
Yes, he'll be worth the wait.
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No, keep their options open.
Should the Knicks commit their exception to Martin?
Should the Knicks assert themselves as contenders, and yesterday's win over the Boston Celtics was a good start, veterans will be literally lining up to join the team. That $2.5 million deal could turn into gold by March.
All told, Martin is a name to keep in mind, but the Knicks can survive without him should another target become interested in New York.
Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5665270300
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Melanie Amaro Wins The X Factor (Videos)
Congrats go out to Melanie Amaro who is officially the first winner of the new Fox hit show The X Factor. Yes, Christmas came early for the beautiful brunette with the amazing voice. Last night was The X Factor finale and it was full of joy, tears and surprises. It all began with the shocking announcement that Chris Rene was voted off during the first half of the finale. In all honesty I was rooting for him especially after his performance last night, which you can check out in the below video. Once Rene was gone, that left Melanie and singer Josh Krajcik to battle it out to be crowned the winner of the reality TV show. Having to choose between these two outstanding singers got tougher after they sang their version of David Bowi?s ?Heroes?. It was a killer performance that showed just how talented these two really are. Don?t just take my word for it though check out the below video from last night?s show. In the end it was the 19-year old Florida native that took home the $5 million prize and Pepsi spot. The young girl was so in awe and shock she could barely speak. [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/2-_WlUzmf_s/
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Seeking to Circumvent Possible U.S. Trade Sanctions, China Buys Hawaiian Solar Company
Investors: Get a free copy of our latest investment report: The Biggest Upside Stock in the Bakken Oil Formation. This junior company already has great operational success on its huge Bakken land position? and could very well be the next "Bakken Buyout."
Chinese investment in the U.S. economy up to now has been primarily in the form of U.S. Treasury bills.
?
But, reading the U.S. press and conservative calls for punitive trade tariffs against China, Beijing?s investors have taken a leaf out of Tokyo?s 40 year-old playbook, when similar concerns were raised about Japanese imports. Four decades ago Japan cannily began not only to establish factories in the U.S. for its major U.S. exports, primarily automobiles, but began a cautious policy of investing in struggling U.S. companies, so if and when Congress got more xenophobic Japanese manufacturers could point out that trade barriers would harm American workers as well as Japanese ones.
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The net result on punishing Japan with restrictive tariffs quickly became the daunting possibility of throwing U.S. workers into unemployment, then, as now, the third rail of American politics, and what Congressman want to be seen as increasing unemployment?
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The above scenario is behind the recent acquisition by Tianwei New Energy Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tianwei) of Hawaii?s troubled Hoku Corporation, a solar energy product company, a leading provider of silicon wafers, photovoltaic (PV) cells, modules and systems.
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Last month Tainwei announced the signing of a definitive reseller agreement establishing Tianwei Solar USA, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of, as the primary distributor of Tianwei New Energy's PV modules to the North American market.
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On 1 December Tianwei started its polysilicon production via Hoku Corp. with an annual capacity of 2,500 tons. Last year China?s National Development and Reform Commission approved Tianwei purchasing 60 percent of Hoku Corp.?s outstanding shares.
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According to Hoku Corp., ?During the three months ended September 30, 2011 Hoku Materials incurred an operating loss of $7.6 million,? as even as of ?September 30, 2011, Hoku Materials has capitalized $575.6 million related to construction costs for the Polysilicon Plant and had received $140 million in customer deposits as prepayments under long-term polysilicon supply agreements.?
?
Can you say cash flow problems?
Under the terms of the agreement, Hoku's newly formed subsidiary will market, distribute and sell Tianwei New Energy's full range of UL-listed PV modules in North America. Hoku established offices in Southern California for Tianwei Solar USA, Inc and will initially focus on developing key sales channels within the commercial and residential segments of the distributed generation solar market. Tianwei New Energy already has an established customer base in Europe, in 2010 delivering more than 200 megawatts of PV modules.
Spinning the news, Hoku Corp. CEO Scott Paul said, "We are extremely pleased to continue strengthening our relationship with Tianwei. This new PV products division represents the first of several steps forward in our continued expansion of Hoku's global market presence. It will provide a strong complement to our existing solar projects business, and we look forward to supplying Tianwei New Energy's modules to project developers, PV integrators and utility customers throughout North America."
?
Reciprocating the back rub, Tianwei general manager and now Hoku Corp. director Zhengfei Gao purred, "We recognize Hoku Solar's PV integration expertise, brand strength and market presence in the U.S. North America is an important, growing market in the solar industry, and Tianwei is very pleased to have Hoku leadership in our strategic North American expansion."
?
So, what has China bought?
?
Hoku Corp. consists of three business units: Hoku Materials, Hoku Solar, and Tianwei Solar USA, Inc., manufacturing polysilicon for the solar market from its plant currently under construction in Pocatello, Idaho and now Hoku Solar markets and sells PV modules manufactured by Tianwei New Energy.
?
And the future looks sunny. Tianwei chairman Ding Qiang said that Tianwei signed a distribution agreement with Hoku Corp. to be its distributor for its sales of modules not only in the U.S., but Canada and South American regions as well.
?
And Tainwei is already garnering allies. On 21 December, according to Ding, the U.S.-based Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy wrote to Hoku competitor solar-panel maker SolarWorld asking it withdraw its petition asking the American government to impose heavy tariffs on Chinese solar energy products for unfair trading practices, commenting, "By asking government to interfere and artificially increase the price will only hinder the deployment, cost thousands of jobs, reduce our energy security, and further negatively impact an already shaky economy."
?
Two months ago SolarWorld Industries America, an Oregon company, and six other undisclosed partners filed an appeal to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) alleging unfair Chinese business practices and the DOC replied in November that it would conduct an investigation to determine whether Chinese firms have been selling solar panels in the United States at unfair discounts and receiving illegal government subsidies and a ruling earlier this month by the International Trade Commission concluded that U.S. solar companies were being harmed by Chinese solar imports.
?
Interestingly, SolarWorld Industries America, the largest U.S. solar manufacturer, is now owned by a German company
Many energy analysts have commented that acquisitions of American companies provide a way for Chinese solar energy companies to avoid U.S. trade barriers.
?
Well, duh!
?
The question remains ? where were U.S. investors when Hoku Corp. was struggling?
By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com
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Angelina Jolie's "Blood" an earnest effort (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? When actors decide to direct, it's often a dicey proposition. Some are naturals (Clint Eastwood) but others turn out films that are unwatchable, self-indulgent hokum (anyone else sit through Nicholas Cage's "Sonny" in 2002?).
So how does Angelina Jolie do with "In the Land of Blood and Honey," which marks her feature directing-screenwriting debut and landed her on the cover of Newsweek? It's a respectable first effort, longer on earnestness than art, though much of that is due to her choice of topic material.
"Blood and Honey" is a drama set in Bosnia during and amidst the Bosnian War (1992-95). Jolie is well known for her involvement in global humanitarian causes, and here she takes on the notorious human-rights violations that occurred during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, including ethnic cleansing, genocide and mass rapes.
She does so through the prism of a complicated love story, one that begins in pre-war Sarajevo. That's where Danijel (Goran Kostic), a Serbian policeman, and Ajla (Zana Marjonovic), a Bosnian artist, strike sparks while on a first date at a nightclub. As they dance cheek to cheek, their budding romance is interrupted by a bombing, a harbinger of the carnage to come. (The film is in Bosnian, with English subtitles, though Jolie also shot an English-language version.)
Soon, war has broken out and Ajla is among a group of Bosnian women taken prisoner and moved to a military barracks where Danijel is a commander. The women have been brought there to serve as both servants and forced sexual partners for the men.
Danijel takes Ajla under his protection, making clear to his men that she's off limits to them. The resulting relationship between the two is a fraught mixture of passion and distrust, with neither ever quite sure where the other stands emotionally. It would be impossible, given the brutality and senseless violence going on all around them and their own conflicted loyalties, for it to be otherwise.
More power to Jolie, both for taking on such a demanding subject and for not trying to pretty it up or poeticize it. But the central conceit, a wartime Romeo and Juliet story, around which she has built the movie often seems an awkwardly manufactured device, one that is at odds with the film's almost documentary-like aspirations.
As a director, Jolie avoids showy angles or camera movements and instead concentrates on telling a story. She displays a solid sense of how to build narrative momentum, though she occasionally lets a scene stretch on too long to allow an actor an extended moment (a fault shared by many other actors turned first-time directors).
Overall, Jolie has nothing to be embarrassed about and much of which to be proud with this movie. Even in moments where the film doesn't quite work, she shows ample evidence of ambition and a discerning director's eye.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Correction: US-NKorea-McCain story (AP)
WASHINGTON ? In a Dec. 19 story about comments Sen. John McCain made about North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, The Associated Press erroneously referred to Paul Stares as a scholar at the Center on Foreign Relations. The name of the organization is the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Letter from Mayor Tillman to Congressman Burgess: Reconsider your position on Keystone XL Pipeline and defend Texas private property rights
Mayor Calvin Tillman wrote a letter to US Congressman Michael Burgess asking him to reconsider his support for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The letter addresses
- the massive land grab, ?a minimum of 24,000 acres of private property that will be taken through eminent domain??
- the overblown jobs claim that has inflated in direct proportion to opposition
- and the right to enjoy private property.
You should read it then call Congressman Burgess. A phone call has more impact than an email and it?s quick and easy. He should be in town right now for the holiday.
Lewisville office: (972) 434-9700
Fort Worth office: (817) 531-8454
DC Office: (202) 225-7772
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?
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Margaret Jane McCoy, 87, Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://wala.tributes.com/show/Margaret-Jane-McCoy-92977188
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North Sea tax grab blamed for record slump in UK oil and gas production
UK natural gas production in the third quarter of 2011 slumped to the lowest level since records began in 1996, at 103TWh (terawatt hours), Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) data show. This also represented the largest year-on-year quarterly decrease ever seen, down 29.4pc on the same period last year.
Mike Tholen, Oil & Gas UK?s economics director, said: ?Production through to September 2011 has fallen dramatically, by much more than had been anticipated by either industry or Government immediately prior to the Budget.
?The drop can be attributed to a combination of factors including extended shutdowns for maintenance and lower gas demand. However, looking further back, fiscal instability since 2002 resulted in fewer new fields coming onstream over the last few years and it appears that this may have been compounded by a direct commercial impact on production following the tax increase in March.
?These production figures demonstrate the importance of sustaining investment throughout the price cycle, which is made much more difficult in a fiscal environment without long-term certainty.?
Mr Tholen added: ?For the sake of the UK?s economy and its energy security, the UK Continental Shelf must, and can, recover from this production fall. In this, the ongoing work of Oil & Gas UK?s members and the Government to improve the business environment for investing companies and deliver long-term certainty is hugely important.?
A spokesman for DECC said: ?Production levels during 2011 have been lower than previously anticipated due to shutdowns in this summer?s maintenance programmes coinciding.
?There is no reason to believe that the production decreases are a result of concerns over tax. In general, North Sea production is continuing to decline year-on-year, however we do not believe the recent downturn is the start of an additional downward trend and we would anticipate overall production levels beginning to improve in the spring.?
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
PhotoBlog: Steve Jobs statue unveiled
Laszlo Balogh / Reuters
Hungarian sculptor Erno Toth unveils his statue of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs during a ceremony in a private business park in Budapest, Dec. 21.
Zsolt Szigetvary / EPA
A man takes picture with an Apple iPad of a Steve Jobs monument by Hungarian sculptor Erno Toth in the Graphisoft Park, Budapest, Dec. 21.
Phaedra Singelis writes
According to Reuters:
A Hungarian software company unveiled what it said was the world's first bronze statue of Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs Wednesday, calling him one of the greatest personalities of the modern age.
The bronze work by sculptor Erno Toth stands in the Budapest campus of architectural software maker Graphisoft.
"He was one of the greatest (personalities) in our era, that's what we wanted to express with this sculpture here," Graphisoft Chairman Gabor Bojar told Reuters.
Today's Reuters story
Previous story on the statue.
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Monday, December 19, 2011
This DIY Snow Machine Provides Fresh Powder in the Backyard On the Cheap [DIY]
If you're really serious about a White Christmas, this is how you do about it. Over at Instructables, user MakeSnow has a step-by-step guide to building your own backyard snow machine that will cover your lawn in fresh fluffy white stuff anytime the weather is cold enough to keep it from melting on impact. All you need is just over $100 in your pocket when you visit the hardware store, and the time to put it all together.
MakeSnow, true to his name, walks through all of the steps required to build an "internal mix" snow machine, meaning the air and water mix inside of the machine's plumbing before being ejected through nozzles to cover your yard. You'll definitely need to print out the shopping list of fittings, valves, and hoses before you go to the hardware store, and you'll also need a pressure washer if you don't have one already (which admittedly will up the price significantly - MakeSnow had a pressure washer) but once you have all of the necessary supplies, only air and water are required.
MakeSnow's instructions are great, and for the sake of disclosure, it looks like he also sells some of the parts you'll need for your setup if you don't get them at the hardware store, but the machine works as advertised. It still has to be pretty chilly outside to work, so don't expect to pull this out in the summer and go sledding in the yard, but if you live somewhere it gets cold during the winter but never seems to snow, it looks fun to build. Do you have a better design? Perhaps you'd just rent a snow machine from a party planner instead? Whatever you prefer, let's hear it in the comments.
Home Snowmaker / Snowgun | Instructables
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Berenson barred from leaving Peru (AP)
LIMA, Peru ? Peru's government abused its authority by barring paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson and her 31-month-old son from leaving the country to spend the holidays in New York City with her family, her lawyer charged Saturday.
"Administratively, you can't block a court order," Anibal Apari said after Berenson told The Associated Press that she and her son Salvador were prevented from boarding a flight Friday night despite being granted permission in court.
"They didn't let me leave and they're putting out this version that I arrived late," she said in a brief phone conversation.
Local media had initially reported, citing unnamed airport officials, that Berenson arrived late for the flight. But video taken by a local TV channel showed her pacing nervously in front the Continental Airlines ticket counter and talking with an agent more than an hour before the flight left.
"An abuse of authority has been committed," Apari told the AP. Apari, who is Salvador's father but is separated from Berenson, blamed the Interior Ministry directly and said no official explanation had been provided.
He said Berenson presented the document issued by the judiciary authorizing her departure to migration officials at the airport but they demanded an additional document they referred to as "an exit order."
"It doesn't exist. They made it up," he said of the purported document.
The Interior Ministry's communications chief, Zully Bismarck, said she was not immediately able to address the issue when reached by the AP on Saturday afternoon.
Berenson, 42, was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding the Tupac Amaru leftist rebel group.
Arrested in 1995, the former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student was accused of helping the rebels plan an armed takeover of Congress, an attack that never happened.
A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition. After the U.S. government pressured Peruvian officials, she was retried in civil courts in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.
A three-judge appeals court had given her permission to leave the country beginning Friday with the stipulation she return by Jan. 11.
The panel had overturned a lower-court judge's initial refusal in October.
Peru's anti-terrorism prosecutor, Julio Galindo, told the AP he had asked the appeals court Friday to nullify the decision because it violated a law prohibiting paroled prisoners from leaving the country. He said he didn't know whether the court acted on that appeal and Peru's courts spokesman, Guillermo Gonzalez, said he had no information on the matter.
Asked about Berenson's next step, Apari said she had been told to go to the Interior Ministry on Monday.
Berenson's parents, often outspoken on her behalf, did not respond Saturday to phone calls seeking comment.
Some Peruvians consider Berenson a terrorist and have publicly insulted her on the street.
The prosecutor, Galindo, had opposed letting Berenson out of prison before her 20-year sentence for aiding terrorism ends in 2015, saying it would set a bad precedent for the early release of others convicted of terrorism-related crimes.
Mark Berenson, who turns 70 on Dec. 29, told the AP on Friday that his daughter had every intention of returning to Peru.
"As Lori says, if she doesn't come home, let Interpol arrest her," he said.
Peru could seek her extradition and return her to prison if she doesn't come back in the allotted time, Gonzalez said.
On Saturday, Berenson left her apartment around midday to take Salvador for a walk and did not comment to new crews other than to ask them to leave her in peace.
Her journey from prison inmate to parolee has been anguished, and Peruvian news media have repeatedly hounded and mobbed her and frightened young Salvador, said Mark Berenson.
Last month, a local TV channel obtained Berenson's new address and showed video of her home. Her father complained that the act endangered his daughter and said the U.S. Embassy had complained.
Lori "just wants to be a low-profile person and get on with her life and be a good citizen," Berenson said, adding that he planned to appeal to President Ollanta Humala to send his daughter home.
Humala could by law commute his daughter's sentence but has not indicated whether he might do so.
Unrepentant when arrested, Berenson softened during years of sometimes harsh prison conditions, and was eventually praised as a model prisoner. Since her initial parole in May 2010, Berenson repeatedly expressed regret for aiding the rebel group.
Yet many Peruvians see her as a symbol of the 1980-2000 rebel conflict that claimed some 70,000 lives. The fanatical Maoist Shining Path movement did most of the killing; Tupac Amaru was a lesser player.
Berenson has acknowledged helping the rebels rent a safe house, where authorities seized a cache of weapons. But she insists she didn't know guns were being stored there. She denies ever engaging in violence.
In an interview with the AP last year, Berenson said she was deeply troubled at having become Peru's "face of terrorism" and felt she'd become a politically convenient scapegoat.
___
Associated Press writer Franklin Briceno contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS Updates with Apari saying migration officials at airport asked for a document that "doesn't exist." Corrects spelling of 'Bismarck.')
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Romania approves US missile interceptors (AP)
BUCHAREST, Romania ? Romania has given final approval for the building of an anti-ballistic interceptor site in the country as part of a U.S. missile shield.
In September, Romania and the U.S. signed an accord to install the interceptors at the Deveselu air base near Romania's border with Bulgaria. Romania's Parliament approved a law earlier this month and Basescu signed it Thursday.
Basescu says the work can now begin at the base.
The Romanian site is part two of a four-part plan that the Obama administration outlined in 2009. The plan, opposed by Russia, is designed to counter the threat of short-to-medium-range missiles. The U.S. says its plan would be able to counter a threat from Iran earlier than a Bush-era proposal to use long-range interceptors based in Poland.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Ryan, Abraham lead Falcons to 41-14 rout of Jags (AP)
ATLANTA ? Ho hum, another winning season for the Atlanta Falcons.
That's not such a big deal anymore.
This team has much higher goals.
Putting together their most complete effort of the season, the Falcons clinched a fourth straight winning record with a 41-14 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night. Matt Ryan had another big game, throwing three touchdown passes in less than three quarters of work, and John Abraham terrorized rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert with 3 1/2 sacks.
Atlanta (9-5) strengthened its hold on an NFC wild card, shrugging off the immediate accomplishment of another above-.500 finish.
"Our expectations are much higher than winning seasons," coach Mike Smith said. "I'm glad we've been able to accomplish that as an organization and a football team. But believe me, it's not one of those expectations we really want to talk about. If we're where we think we are as an organization and a football team, that's expected each and every year."
It wasn't so long ago that nine wins was a big deal. The Falcons went through the first 42 years of their existence without so much as back-to-back winning seasons. All that changed when Smith and general manager Thomas Dimitroff took over in 2008.
Since then, Atlanta has been to the playoff two times and is closing in on a third appearance.
"I can't speak to the people who came before, but I know since Thomas and I had the opportunity to be here, we've just kind of put our heads down and gone to work," Smith said. "When you do that, good things usually happen. We are not finished, believe me. Our expectations and internal goals are much higher than having a winning football season."
This one was over by halftime. Atlanta led 27-0 when the teams trotted to the locker room, Gabbert and the shellshocked Jaguars (4-10) saddled with a net passing total of minus-1 yard.
Atlanta stretched out its lead to 41-0 before Jacksonville scored on a blocked punt. Going back to the previous week, when the Falcons overcame a 16-point halftime deficit at Carolina, they ripped off 65 points in a row over five quarters.
Now that's more like it from a team that was projected as a Super Bowl contender but had not quite lived up to expectations.
"I feel like we've hit our stride," said Roddy White, who had 10 catches for 135 yards and became just the eighth receiver in NFL history with 80 receptions and 1,000 yards in five straight seasons.
Gabbert had one of his worst games in a miserable rookie season, coughing up the ball twice on hits by Abraham. Both fumbles led to Atlanta scores, with defensive tackle Corey Peters scooping up the second one and trotting to the end zone early in the third quarter for a touchdown that ended any thought of the Jaguars getting back in the game.
"It wasn't just me," said Abraham, who came into the game with only five sacks on the season. "The whole team was able to get to the quarterback."
Ryan was 19 of 26 for 224 yards and three touchdowns, with a season-high rating of 137.3. White caught two of the scoring passes, Julio Jones the other.
Gabbert was 12 of 22 for 141 yards, also throwing an interception during a truly awful night full of bad decisions when he wasn't running for his life. He was sacked five times and got most of his yards on a meaningless final drive, which resulted in the only offensive touchdown of the night: a 16-yard pass to Chastin West with 59 seconds remaining.
"It wasn't our best night," Gabbert said. "We've just got to learn from it, take the positives out of it and just get better."
The injury-riddled Jaguars, playing out the season with an interim coach and a new owner, were coming off their best performance, having scored 41 straight points in a 41-14 victory over Tampa Bay. But, playing for the third time in 11 days, they couldn't build any momentum for a strong finish.
Shahid Khan must have been wondering why he paid an estimated $760 million to buy the team from original Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, a deal that was unanimously approved by NFL owners a day earlier.
"You've just got to keep fighting," Gabbert said. "Things didn't go our way early, but what can you do? It's football."
On the first snap of the game, Michael Turner burst off left guard for 15 yards, and the Falcons were off and running. Ryan capped the opening drive by stepping up to avoid the pressure, flipping a short pass to Jones, then watching the rookie turn on an impressive burst of speed for a 29-yard touchdown.
Gabbert got an idea of what he'd be up against on his first snap: Abraham shrugged off a blocker and threw the quarterback for a 10-yard loss. The rookie finally completed a pass on the final play of the opening quarter, but Sean Weatherspoon sniffed out the screen and slammed Marcedes Lewis for a 4-yard loss.
Matt Bryant kicked a 33-yard field goal that made it 10-0, then another brutal mistake by the Jaguars early in the second quarter helped turn this one into a rout. Jarrett Dillard let a punt slip right through his hands, and Weatherspoon fell on it at the Jacksonville 5. The next play, Turner rumbled into the end zone standing to make it 17-0.
The Falcons weren't done, not by a long shot. Ryan finished off a nine-play, 72-yard by hooking up with White in the back on the end zone on a 6-yard touchdown, a pass that Tony Gonzalez was nearly in position to catch as well.
Now down 24-0, the Jaguars couldn't even get off the field without turning it over again. Abraham popped the ball loose from Gabbert, and after a wild scramble Curtis Lofton finally fell on it at the Jacksonville 19. That set up Bryant's second field goal, a 31-yarder on the final play of the half.
"I've just got to get rid of the ball," Gabbert said. "I can't take those sacks and those fumbles. That's completely on me."
NOTES: Jacksonville had negative net yards passing most of the game and finished with just 91, actually lowering what was already the NFL's worst passing average. ... Jones finished with five catches for 85 yards. ... Jacksonville's Maurice Jones-Drew, the NFL's leading rusher, had 112 yards on 17 carries.
___
Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963
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A Quarter of Europe Has Never Used the Internet (The Atlantic Wire)
For all that debate over whether Europe's diverse nations should even be united under one fiscal union, here's an eye-popping statistic: Nearly one quarter of European Union citizens have never used the internet. Specifically 24 percent of 16-to-74 year olds in the European Union's 27 member states have never accessed it.?The data comes from Eurostat, a Luxembourg-based organization charged with providing data on the European Union. The organization says, unsurprisingly, that eastern and southern European nations provide the bulk of the unconnected citizens. Romania has the fewest people with internet access at 46 percent, and?Sweden?has the most with 95 percent connected. The Globe and Mail?is shocked enough by the numbers to write, "Never mind the Euro crisis." From their analysis:
As well as highlighting geographic disparities across one of the world's most-developed regions, the figures underline the lack of opportunity people in poorer communities have to take part in advances such as the Internet that have delivered lower cost goods and service to millions of people.The data about each country is fun to look through, and it certainly provides a nuanced look at the region whose fiscal crisis is capturing headlines this year.?
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Kyle Knight: The NBA Inks Equality Protections While the Federal Government Lags Behind (Huffington post)
Villagers defiant as government creates new narrative
Afp Photo / AFP - Getty Images
Residents of Wukan, a fishing village in the southern province of Guangdong march to demand the government take action over illegal land grabs and the death in custody of a local leader on Thursday. Click on the photo to see more images from the village.
By Ed Flanagan, NBC News
?
BEIJING ? As the Chinese village of Wukan entered its fifth day besieged by a police cordon cutting off food and water from entering the village, reports from inside the cordon suggest villagers have continued to resist government overtures to end their protest.
What?s going on outside the cordon, though, is a very different story.
Even as Chinese and foreign press have begun sneaking around the security cordon into town ? likely assuring at least temporarily that no draconian, military-style raid on the villagers occurs ? Chinese state media have started to create an alternative and unverifiable storyline about what triggered the hostilities.
?Official? version of events
The China Media Project at Hong Kong University noted Thursday that late last night, the state-run China News Service reported on a press conference which allegedly confirmed that ?preliminary investigations have ruled out external force as the cause of death? in the case of Xue Jinbo.
Xue, a village representative who was detained along with several other local leaders by police last Friday during a raid on Wukan, died in custody ? alleged of a heart attack.
But his family was permitted to see the body and reported seeing fractures and bruising all over his body. And they were not permitted to take his remains home for burial.
However, the China News Service report said the town?s medical expert had shared photographic evidence of Xue?s body which refuted the family?s accusations that police beatings caused his death. The reporter was allegedly not permitted copies of the photos for publication.
Xue?s death and its suspicious circumstances sparked the mass protests in Wukan that eventually drove village officials and police out of the area earlier this week.
Another report from the China News Service said various Wukan village officials had been detained for discipline violations.
Afp Photo / AFP - Getty Images
Residents prepare for the funeral of Xue Jinbo, a local leader who died in police custody, in the fishing village of Wukan in the southern province of Guangdong on Thursday.
That no other local Chinese media ? and certainly no foreign press ? had reported on the press conference suggests that local government officials are engaging in what the China Media Project dubbed, ?public opinion channeling? tactics.
In layman?s terms: they are dictating the narrative by creating only one plausible sequence of events.
The two separate reports are intended to get the following results:
1) Absolve local police of brutality and murder accusations ? eliminating at least one of the reasons for unrest in Wukan.
2) ?Detaining? ? as opposed to arresting ? Wukan?s senior officials demonstrate that the government is being pro-active against corruption, without officially conceding guilt. And it obfuscates the other central reason behind the villagers? anger ? illegal land seizures.
PHOTO BLOG: Chinese villagers defy government in standoff over land rights
Scapegoat a few
Another piece of the local government?s strategy to quell the unrest has emerged: scapegoat a few to spare the majority.
The Shanwei County government Thursday named two village leaders it claims are ringleaders behind the revolt and vowed harsh punishments for them and other protest leaders.
Wu Zili, the acting mayor of Shanwei County, blamed two village leaders, Lin Zulian and Yang Semao, for actively spreading rumors and encouraging villagers to build barricades around the city. The mayor gravely warned that ?the authorities will firmly crack down on anyone who organizes and incites the villagers,? according to Telegraph reporter Malcolm Moore.????
?
For long-time China watchers, the combination of the earlier local media reports, news that the government is attempting to negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff and Mayor Wu?s threat toward the supposed ringleaders are clear signals that the government is eager to bring an end to the conflict by providing an exit plan for the majority of Wukan?s citizens.
However, taking that path will come with a price: selling out the people the government has branded as ringleaders of the rebellion.
For at least one person, this is unacceptable. ?Everything they said at the press conference [about Lin and Yang] is a lie!? said one villager NBC News reached by phone Thursday afternoon. ?We simply elected those two to be our representatives.?
Villagers? side of the story: Beijing will come to the rescue
Villagers in Wukan Thursday were actively working the phones, talking to the media who called in or slipped into town. However, as the world?s attention has started to focus on the events in Guangdong, they appeared anxious to push their own storyline which is full of condemnation for corrupt local officials and deep-rooted respect for the central government they seem confident will come to their rescue.
?We don?t want any foreign press here! We expect the central government to come here and rescue us,? said another villager by phone, ?We have great leaders in [President] Hu Jintao and [Prime Minister] Wen Jiabao!?
However, that sentiment is not shared by all. As one Wukan native told NBC, ?If the press was not here, the police would come into the village and harass us.?
National implications
Whatever tact the local government takes in Wukan, the results could have serious implications for one man in particular: Wang Yang, the Communist Party chief of Guangdong Province.
With China poised to complete a rare leadership change next year, Wang had in recent years been positioning himself to compete for a promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee, which serves effectively as the nation?s top political body.
Having championed a ?Happy Guangdong? campaign that he claimed would focus on improving the living standards in the province, Wang has instead found himself dealing with labor protests that have coincided with the economic slowdown in China. Public anger over rising inflation and fewer jobs has led to factory strikes and violence throughout Guangdong, which has been dubbed ?The Workshop of the World.?
Now with open rebellion in what was once proudly referred to as a ?model village,? Wang finds himself struggling to peacefully and definitively end the uprising ? before it kills his chances of being elevated to the standing committee.
Until that elusive win-win resolution appears, expect the siege of Wukan to continue.
NBC News Producer Bo Gu contributed to this report.
Related link: Rebellious Chinese village under siege by police
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Blue marlin blues: Loss of dissolved oxygen in oceans squeezes billfish habitat
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 14-Dec-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Barbra Gonzalez
barbgo@rsmas.miami.edu
305-421-4704
University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science
Study focuses on oxygen minimum zones in NE Atlantic and effects on pelagic species
MIAMIDecember 14, 2011 The science behind counting fish in the ocean to measure their abundance has never been simple. A new scientific paper in Nature Climate Change shows that expanding 'ocean dead zones' (areas of low oxygen) driven in part by climate change makes that science even more complex.
Blue marlin, other billfish and tropical tuna are high energy fish that need large amounts of dissolved oxygen. Scientists from the disciplines of oceanography and fisheries biology are sounding an alarm that the expansion of dead zones is shrinking the useable habitat for these highly valuable pelagic fish in the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean. And as dead zones shrink habitat by depriving fish of areas with enough dissolved oxygen for them to thrive, they squeeze these species into surface waters where they are more vulnerable to fishing.
"The shrinking of habitat due to expanding hypoxic zones needs to be taken into account in scientific stock assessments and management decisions for tropical pelagic billfish and tuna," said Dr. Eric Prince, fisheries scientist and principal investigator representing NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center on the project. "Without taking it into account, stock assessments could be providing false signals that stocks are healthy, when in fact they are not, thus allowing overfishing that further depletes these fish stocks and threatens the sustainability of these fisheries."
The data on blue marlin, one of the most valuable and storied fish on the planet, were collected using pop up satellite tracking devices. These devices recorded the horizontal and vertical movement of these fish. The information on fish movement was then compared to detailed oceanographic maps of the same ocean areas showing the location of low-dissolved oxygen zones. By comparing the movement of the blue marlins and the location of low-oxygen areas, the study shows that blue marlin ventured deeper when dissolved oxygen levels are higher and remain in shallower surface waters when low dissolved oxygen areas encroach on their habitat from below, squeezing them into surface waters.
"We found that the blue marlin's habitat is being compressed, while the threats from human activity are increasing. In human terms, you might describe it as if you were in a house on fire with all of the doors and windows were locked, leaving only one exit, then discovering you have a robber inside the house at the same time," said Dr. Jiangang Luo, scientist at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, who processed and analyzed the popup satellite tagging data for the research team.
"Working closely with oceanographers, we are getting a much clearer picture of how climate-driven dead zones are shrinking the habitat for some of the world's most valuable fish. The alarming picture painted by this study will hopefully inform our management decisions, improving the long-term health of blue marlin and other billfish and tropical tuna fisheries in the central Atlantic," said Luo.
The oceanographic data were collected and analyzed by co-author Lothar Stramma and colleagues at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Science in Kiel, Germany.
While the new paper focuses on the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean in the waters off West Africa, the expansion of low-oxygen zones is occurring in all tropical ocean basins and throughout the subarctic Pacific, making the compression of habitat a global issue. The problem for pelagic fishes in the tropical Atlantic is particularly acute, the authors note, because many of these fish species and the unintended catch, called bycatch, are already fully exploited or overfished.
###
About the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School
The University of Miami's mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world. Founded in the 1940's, the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown into one of the world's premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. For more information, please visit www.rsmas.miami.edu.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 14-Dec-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Barbra Gonzalez
barbgo@rsmas.miami.edu
305-421-4704
University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science
Study focuses on oxygen minimum zones in NE Atlantic and effects on pelagic species
MIAMIDecember 14, 2011 The science behind counting fish in the ocean to measure their abundance has never been simple. A new scientific paper in Nature Climate Change shows that expanding 'ocean dead zones' (areas of low oxygen) driven in part by climate change makes that science even more complex.
Blue marlin, other billfish and tropical tuna are high energy fish that need large amounts of dissolved oxygen. Scientists from the disciplines of oceanography and fisheries biology are sounding an alarm that the expansion of dead zones is shrinking the useable habitat for these highly valuable pelagic fish in the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean. And as dead zones shrink habitat by depriving fish of areas with enough dissolved oxygen for them to thrive, they squeeze these species into surface waters where they are more vulnerable to fishing.
"The shrinking of habitat due to expanding hypoxic zones needs to be taken into account in scientific stock assessments and management decisions for tropical pelagic billfish and tuna," said Dr. Eric Prince, fisheries scientist and principal investigator representing NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center on the project. "Without taking it into account, stock assessments could be providing false signals that stocks are healthy, when in fact they are not, thus allowing overfishing that further depletes these fish stocks and threatens the sustainability of these fisheries."
The data on blue marlin, one of the most valuable and storied fish on the planet, were collected using pop up satellite tracking devices. These devices recorded the horizontal and vertical movement of these fish. The information on fish movement was then compared to detailed oceanographic maps of the same ocean areas showing the location of low-dissolved oxygen zones. By comparing the movement of the blue marlins and the location of low-oxygen areas, the study shows that blue marlin ventured deeper when dissolved oxygen levels are higher and remain in shallower surface waters when low dissolved oxygen areas encroach on their habitat from below, squeezing them into surface waters.
"We found that the blue marlin's habitat is being compressed, while the threats from human activity are increasing. In human terms, you might describe it as if you were in a house on fire with all of the doors and windows were locked, leaving only one exit, then discovering you have a robber inside the house at the same time," said Dr. Jiangang Luo, scientist at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, who processed and analyzed the popup satellite tagging data for the research team.
"Working closely with oceanographers, we are getting a much clearer picture of how climate-driven dead zones are shrinking the habitat for some of the world's most valuable fish. The alarming picture painted by this study will hopefully inform our management decisions, improving the long-term health of blue marlin and other billfish and tropical tuna fisheries in the central Atlantic," said Luo.
The oceanographic data were collected and analyzed by co-author Lothar Stramma and colleagues at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Science in Kiel, Germany.
While the new paper focuses on the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean in the waters off West Africa, the expansion of low-oxygen zones is occurring in all tropical ocean basins and throughout the subarctic Pacific, making the compression of habitat a global issue. The problem for pelagic fishes in the tropical Atlantic is particularly acute, the authors note, because many of these fish species and the unintended catch, called bycatch, are already fully exploited or overfished.
###
About the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School
The University of Miami's mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world. Founded in the 1940's, the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown into one of the world's premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. For more information, please visit www.rsmas.miami.edu.
[ | 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/2011-12/uomr-bmb121411.php
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