Burying bomb suspect proves a struggle

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) ? A funeral director trying to find a cemetery to take the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is going next to the city where Tsarnaev lived, but will run into another obstacle: It doesn't want him.

Worcester funeral director Peter Stefan said he plans to ask the city of Cambridge to provide a plot because he hasn't been able to find a cemetery in Massachusetts willing to accept Tsarnaev's remains. He said if Cambridge turns him down, he will seek help from state officials.

Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said in a statement Sunday that he is urging the funeral director and Tsarnaev's family not to request a burial permit for the city-owned cemetery.

"The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and wide spread media presence at such an interment," Healy said.

The dilemma over where to bury the 26-year-old suspect comes as a friend of his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev heads to court Monday for a bail hearing on charges that he lied to federal investigators after the bombings.

Defense attorneys said in court documents filed Saturday that they will ask a federal judge to release Robel Phillipos of Cambridge from jail. They said he had nothing to do with the deadly bombings and isn't a flight risk.

Phillipos, 19, was charged last week with lying to investigators about visiting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's college dorm room on April 18, three days after the bombings. Two other friends were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with fireworks and a laptop from Tsarnaev's dorm room. All four had studied at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Phillipos faces a maximum of eight years behind bars and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

The Tsarnaev brothers are accused of carrying out the April 15 bombing, which used pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards. The attack killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon's finish line.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police on April 19. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured and remains in a prison hospital. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and faces a potential death sentence if convicted.

Healey said there has been no formal application for a permit or purchase of a cemetery plot for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and that it would not be in the best interest of the city to execute a deed for a plot.

Healey said the families who have loved ones interred at the cemetery also deserve to have their deceased family members rest in peace. He said other federal agencies should take the lead in the burial.

Stefan did not immediately return a call Sunday night seeking comment on Healy's statement.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, of Montgomery Village, Md., and three of his friends met with Stefan on Sunday and prepared to wash and shroud Tsarnaev's body according to Muslim tradition.

Tsarni told reporters that he is arranging for Tsarnaev's burial because religion and tradition call for his nephew to be buried. He would like him buried in Massachusetts because he's lived in the state for the last decade, he said.

"I'm dealing with logistics. A dead person must be buried," he said.

He said he was grateful to Stefan for agreeing to arrange the burial and to his friends for accompanying him to Massachusetts to aid with the funeral.

"These are my friends who feel for me ... as I do understand no one wants to associate their names with such evil events," he said.

Tsarnaev, who had appeared in surveillance photos wearing a black cap, was identified by authorities as Suspect No. 1.

Stefan said he has received calls from people criticizing him and calling him "un-American" for being willing to handle Tamerlan Tsarnaev's funeral.

"We take an oath to do this. Can I pick and choose? No. Can I separate the sins from the sinners? No," he said. "We are burying a dead body. That's what we do."

A half-dozen protesters gathered outside the funeral home Sunday holding signs and American flags and chanting "USA!" One sign read: "Do not bury him on U.S. soil." Several people drove by the funeral home earlier Sunday and yelled, including one man who shouted, "Throw him off a boat like Osama bin Laden!"

The state medical examiner ruled that Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, and authorities have said his brother ran him over in a chaotic getaway attempt. Stefan said Sunday that the family won't request that an independent medical examiner perform a second autopsy, but representatives from the family's legal team might photograph Tsarnaev's body before it's washed.

Tsarni has denounced the acts his nephews are accused of committing and has said they brought shame to the family and the entire Chechen ethnicity. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Both parents returned to Dagestan last year.

Tsarni said Sunday that he hopes to eventually see Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at his prison hospital.

"This is another person left all to himself," he said.

In other developments:

? The FBI on Sunday conducted a court-authorized search in Cambridge as part of its ongoing investigation into the bombings, said Jason Pack, a supervisory special agent in the FBI's press office. He declined to elaborate further.

? The administrator of the charity One Fund Boston was to hold a public meeting Monday evening with victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. The fund has raised more than $28 million.

? Charity watchdog groups have warned the public that tens of thousands of dollars have been raised in online fundraising campaigns that some recipients knew nothing about and did not endorse. They urged people to be aware of possible scams or misuse of money.

_____

Associated Press writer Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/finding-burial-plot-bomb-suspect-struggle-062404648.html

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Branden R. Williams, Business Security Specialist ? April 2013 ...

May 6th, 2013 by Branden Williams

Stay Classy, San Diego!

What was popular in April? April was a rough month for many folks (as it historically has been). We have had crazy weather all over the US, and I was able to experience a few new cities with El Wiforino. Thank goodness for the great food choices in London! I?m so glad that was our last stop.

Here are the five most popular posts from the last month:

1. The Only Customer Service Script You Will Ever Need. This is the post that keeps on bringing people back! Maybe spring break travel issues? Check out this diversion from security that will make you think about how you interact with your customers.
2. How Starbucks is Revolutionizing Mobile (Micro) Payments. For the fourth month in a row, this post is really keeping people moving. I even had an industry colleague talk to me about it as we were buying coffee at said coffee chain. You know how you see those crazy fools that pass their phone in front of some magical sensor at Starbucks and never seem to pull out their wallet, yet walk away with coffee? That is really part of a huge master plan to reduce the impact that payments has on the organization. Check out the scenarios discussed!
3. The Definition of Cardholder Data. Another oldie but goodie for the seventh month in a row. It?s still on people?s minds, probably because they are looking for ways to drop systems out of scope of PCI DSS, or because they are looking at the new eCommerce guidance from the Council. Hopefully this is a good benchmark for you.
4. PCI Requirements Review. Here?s a quick review on Patching and IDS. Back in the top five again, so I wonder if this post with the previous has signaled assessment season may have kicked off early this year.
5. A Few Tips for Getting Ahead of PCI Compliance. The great folks over at Tripwire caught me in the hallway right before my book signing with Anton. Check out this quick video for some timely tips on getting ahead of PCI Compliance!

Thanks for stopping by!

Possibly Related Posts:

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Tags: Monthly Roundup

This entry was posted on Monday, May 6th, 2013 at 5:53 pm by Branden Williams and is filed under Administration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: https://www.brandenwilliams.com/blog/2013/05/06/april-2013-roundup/

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Facebook Must Make Home A Layer Atop Your Widgets And Homescreen, Not A Replacement

"Where did my Android go?" is the common theme of Facebook Home reviews in Google Play. People want the widgets and old homescreen they meticulously curated. Facebook needs to preserve and offer quick access to the phone we're used to if it's going to make Home a hit. Facebook's reading the reviews too, so bet on the early Home updates to make it more of a bonus than a trade-off.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_ackN6bOnjc/

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Wind, not water, formed mound on Mars, new analysis suggests

May 6, 2013 ? A roughly 3.5-mile high Martian mound that scientists suspect preserves evidence of a massive lake might actually have formed as a result of the Red Planet's famously dusty atmosphere, an analysis of the mound's features suggests. If correct, the research could dilute expectations that the mound holds evidence of a large body of water, which would have important implications for understanding Mars' past habitability.

Researchers based at Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology suggest that the mound, known as Mount Sharp, most likely emerged as strong winds carried dust and sand into the 96-mile-wide crater in which the mound sits. They report in the journal Geology that air likely rises out of the massive Gale Crater when the Martian surface warms during the day, then sweeps back down its steep walls at night. Though strong along the Gale Crater walls, these "slope winds" would have died down at the crater's center where the fine dust in the air settled and accumulated to eventually form Mount Sharp, which is close in size to Alaska's Mt. McKinley.

This dynamic counters the prevailing theory that Mount Sharp formed from layers of lakebed silt -- and could mean that the mound contains less evidence of a past, Earth-like Martian climate than most scientists currently expect. Evidence that Gale Crater once contained a lake in part determined the landing site for the NASA Mars rover Curiosity. The rover touched down near Mount Sharp in August with the purpose of uncovering evidence of a habitable environment, and in December Curiosity found traces of clay, water molecules and organic compounds. Determining the origin of these elements and how they relate to Mount Sharp will be a focus for Curiosity in the coming months.

But the mound itself was likely never under water, though a body of water could have existed in the moat around the base of Mount Sharp, said study co-author Kevin Lewis, a Princeton associate research scholar in geosciences and a participating scientist on the Curiosity rover mission, Mars Science Laboratory. The quest to determine whether Mars could have at one time supported life might be better directed elsewhere, he said.

"Our work doesn't preclude the existence of lakes in Gale Crater, but suggests that the bulk of the material in Mount Sharp was deposited largely by the wind," said Lewis, who worked with first author Edwin Kite, a planetary science postdoctoral scholar at Caltech; Michael Lamb, an assistant professor of geology at Caltech; and Claire Newman and Mark Richardson of California-based research company Ashima Research.

"Every day and night you have these strong winds that flow up and down the steep topographic slopes. It turns out that a mound like this would be a natural thing to form in a crater like Gale," Lewis said. "Contrary to our expectations, Mount Sharp could have essentially formed as a free-standing pile of sediment that never filled the crater."

Even if Mount Sharp were born of wind, it and similar mounds likely overflow with a valuable geological -- if not biological -- history of Mars that can help unravel the climate history of Mars and guide future missions, Lewis said.

"These sedimentary mounds could still record millions of years of Martian climate history," Lewis said. "This is how we learn about Earth's history, by finding the most complete sedimentary records we can and going through layer by layer. One way or another, we're going to get an incredible history book of all the events going on while that sediment was being deposited. I think Mount Sharp will still provide an incredible story to read. It just might not have been a lake."

Dawn Sumner, a geology professor at the University of California-Davis and a Mars Science Laboratory team member, said that the specificity of the researchers' model makes it a valuable attempt to explain Mount Sharp's origin. While the work alone is not yet enough to rethink the distribution of water on Mars, it does propose a unique wind dynamic for Gale Crater then models it in enough detail for the hypothesis to actually be tested as more samples are analyzed on Mars, Sumner said.

"To my knowledge, their model is novel both in terms of invoking katabatic [cool, downward-moving] winds to form Mount Sharp and in quantitatively modeling how the winds would do this," said Sumner, who is familiar with the work but had no role in it.

"The big contribution here is that they provide new ideas that are specific enough that we can start to test them," she said. "This paper provides a new model for Mount Sharp that makes specific predictions about the characteristics of the rocks within the mountain. Observations by Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp can test the model by looking for evidence of wind deposition of sediment."

The researchers used pairs of satellite images of Gale Crater taken in preparation for the rover landing by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite managed by Caltech for NASA. Software tools extracted the topographical details of Mount Sharp and the surrounding terrain. The researchers found that the various layers in the mound did not form more-or-less flat-lying stacks as sediments deposited from a lake would. Instead, the layers fanned outward from the mound's center in an unusual radial pattern, Lewis said.

Kite developed a computer model to test how wind circulation patterns would affect the deposition and erosion of wind-blown sediment within a crater like Gale. The researchers found that slope winds that constantly exited and reentered Gale Crater could limit the deposition of sediments near the crater rim, while building up a mound in the center of the crater, even if the ground were bare from the start, Lewis said.

The researchers' results provide evidence for recent questions about Mount Sharp's watery origins, Lewis said. Satellite observations had previously detected water-related mineral signatures within the lower portion of Mount Sharp. While this suggested that the lower portion might have been series of lakebeds, portions of the upper mound were more ambiguous, Lewis said. First of all, the upper layers of the mound are higher than the crater walls in several places. Also, Gale Crater sits on the edge of Mars' northern lowlands. If it had been filled with water to near the height of Mount Sharp then the entire northern hemisphere would have been flooded.

Soil analyses carried out by Curiosity -- the rover's primary mission is two years, but could be extended -- will help determine the nature of Mount Sharp and the Martian climate in general, Lewis said. Wind erosion relies on specific factors such as the size of individual soil grains, so such information gleaned from the Curiosity mission will help determine Martian characteristics such as wind speed. On Earth, sediments need some amount of moisture to become cemented into rock. It will be interesting to know, Lewis said, how the rock layers of Mount Sharp are held together and how water might be involved.

"If the mechanism we describe is correct, it would tell us a lot about Mars and how it operates because Mount Sharp is only one of a class of enigmatic sedimentary mounds observed on Mars," Lewis said.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/ipMHIwY0nO4/130506132407.htm

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Weight gain linked with personality trait changes

May 6, 2013 ? People who gain weight are more likely to give in to temptations but also are more thoughtful about their actions, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

To understand how fluctuations in body weight might relate to personality changes, psychological scientist Angelina Sutin of the Florida State University College of Medicine and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) examined data from two large-scale longitudinal studies of Baltimore residents.

"We know a great deal about how personality traits contribute to weight gain," said Sutin. "What we don't know is whether significant changes in weight are associated with changes in our core personality traits. Weight can be such an emotional issue; we thought that weight gain may lead to long-term changes in psychological functioning."

The studies, NIH's Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) and the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) study, included more than 1,900 people in total, of all ages and socioeconomic levels. Data about participants' personality traits and their body weight were collected at two time points separated by nearly a decade. In one study, a clinician measured participants' weight at the two time points; in the other study, the participants reported their weight at baseline and had it measured by a clinician at follow-up.

Sutin and colleagues found that participants who had at least a 10 percent increase in body weight showed an increase in impulsiveness -- with a greater tendency to give in to temptations -- compared to those whose weight was stable. The data don't reveal whether increased impulsiveness was a cause or an effect of gaining weight, but they do suggest an intimate relationship between a person's physiology and his or her psychology.

In a surprising twist, people who gained weight also reported an increase in deliberation, with a greater tendency to think through their decisions. Deliberation tends to increase for everyone in adulthood, but the increase was almost double for participants who gained weight compared to those whose weight stayed the same.

"If mind and body are intertwined, then if one changes the other should change too," Sutin said. "That's what our findings suggest."

Sutin and colleagues speculate that this increase in deliberation could be the result of negative feedback from family or friends -- people are likely to think twice about grabbing a second slice of cake if they feel that everyone is watching them take it.

These findings suggest that even though people who gain weight are more conscious of their decision-making, they may still have difficulty resisting temptations.

"The inability to control cravings may reinforce a vicious cycle that weakens the self-control muscle," the researchers note. "Yielding to temptation today may reduce the ability to resist cravings tomorrow. Thus, individuals who gain weight may have increased risk for additional weight gain through changes in their personality."

Co-authors are National Institute on Aging researchers Paul Costa, Wayne Chan, Yuri Milaneschi, Alan Zonderman, Luigi Ferrucci, and Antonio Terracciano, also at Florida State University College of Medicine; and William Eaton of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging and a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/-jzOf75anpk/130506114005.htm

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Forever Families: Devon and Daphne look for forever home together ...

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Daphne,9, and Devon, 8, have a special place in their hearts for the animals at the Austin Animal Center.

"I want to take care of them,? Devon said. ?They make me sad."

The brother and sister duo sympathize with the animals. They, too, are in foster care waiting for a family of their own.

"I could just get up and play with my family and have fun and live with a cool family and just get along with each other and see how families are," Devon said of why he wants a forever home.

Daphne and Devon aren't shy about the topic of adoption. They said finding one family for both of them is something they really want.

"We don't want to be separated again,? Daphne said. ?We love each other."

They also want to join a family who will love and spend time with them. That's the first step. Then they look forward to topping it off by adopting a forever pet, too.

It's a picture more perfect than they even imagined. A home with a pet of their own and a family that will love them forever.

Daphne and Devon both love to play outside and with animals.

For more information about Daphne and Devon and how you or someone you know can become their parents please contact the Adoption Coalition of Texas at info@adopttexas.org

Source: http://austin.ynn.com/content/top_stories/291801/forever-families---devon-and-daphne-look-for-forever-home-together

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Bashful? Buy the little blue pill online

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill.

In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra to patients on its website.

Men still will need a prescription to buy the blue, diamond-shaped pill on viagra.com, but they no longer have to face a pharmacist to get it filled. And for those who are bothered by Viagra's steep $25-a-pill price, Pfizer is offering three free pills with the first order and 30 percent off the second one.

Pfizer's bold move upends the drug industry's distribution model. Drugmakers don't sell medicines directly to patients. Instead, they sell in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute the drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors' offices.

But the world's second-largest drugmaker is trying a new strategy to tackle a problem that plagues the industry. Illegal online pharmacies increasingly offer patients counterfeit versions of Viagra and other brand-name drugs for up to 95 percent off with no prescription needed. Patients don't realize the drugs are fake or that legitimate pharmacies require a prescription.

Other major drugmakers likely will watch Pfizer's move closely. If it works, drugmakers could begin selling other medicines that are rampantly counterfeited and sold online, particularly treatments for non-urgent conditions seen as embarrassing. Think: diet drugs, medicines for baldness and birth control pills.

"If it works, everybody will hop on the train," says Les Funtleyder, a health care strategist at private equity firm Poliwogg who believes Pfizer's site will attract "fence-sitters" who are nervous about buying online.

But it won't be the end of drugstores, as pharmaceutical companies aren't allowed to sell prescriptions to individual patients. So Pfizer is having national drugstore chain CVS Caremark Corp. fill the orders placed on viagra.com.

The online Viagra sales are Pfizer's latest effort to combat a problem that has grown with the popularity of the Internet.

In recent years, Americans have become more comfortable with online shopping, with many even buying prescription drugs online. That's particularly true for those who don't have insurance, are bargain hunters or want to keep their medicine purchases private.

Few realize that the vast majority of online pharmacies don't follow the rules, industry experts say.

The Internet is filled with illegitimate, professional-looking sites that run 24-hour call centers and lure customers with spam emails. A January study by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which accredits online pharmacies, found that only 257 of 10,275 online pharmacy sites it examined appeared legitimate.

Experts say the fake drugs such websites sell can be dangerous. That's because they don't include the right amount of the active ingredient in the medicine, if any, or they contain toxic substances such as heavy metals, lead paint and printer ink. They're generally made in filthy warehouses and garages in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Online buyers are "playing Russian roulette," says Matthew Bassiur, vice president of global security at New York-based Pfizer.

"The factories are deplorable. I've seen photographs of these places," he says. "You wouldn't even want to walk in them, let alone ingest anything made in them."

Pfizer is among many drugmakers that have long been aggressive in fighting counterfeiters. Pfizer conducts undercover investigations and works with authorities around the globe to combat the problem.

Counterfeit versions of Viagra and dozens of other Pfizer medicines rob the company of billions in annual sales.

Viagra is one of Pfizer's top drugs, with $2 billion in worldwide revenue last year. And it's the most counterfeited drug in the U.S., according to the company.

A 2011 study, in which Pfizer bought "Viagra" from 22 popular Internet pharmacies and tested the pills, found 77 percent were counterfeit. Most had half or less of the promised level of the active ingredient.

Viagra is appealing to counterfeiters because it carries a double whammy: It's expensive and it treats a condition with an "embarrassment" factor.

Crooks running the illegal online pharmacies brazenly explain their ultra-low Viagra prices ? often $1 to $3 a pill ? by claiming they sell generic Viagra.

Generics are copycat versions of brand-name prescription drugs. They can't be sold legally until after a drugmaker's patent, or exclusive right to sell a drug, ends. Generic drugmakers don't have to spend $1 billion or so on testing to get a new drug approved, so their copycat versions often cost up to 90 percent less than the original drug.

But there is no such thing as generic Viagra in the U.S. Pfizer has patents giving it the exclusive right to sell Viagra here until 2020 and for many years in other countries.

Many patients are unaware of that.

Dr. David Dershewitz, an assistant urology professor at New Jersey Medical School who treats patients at Newark's University Hospital, says erectile dysfunction is common in men with enlarged prostates, diabetes and other conditions, but most men are too embarrassed to discuss it.

He says well over half of his patients who do broach the issue complain about Viagra's price. Some tell Dershewitz that they go online looking for bargains because they can't afford Viagra.

"The few that do admit to it have said that the results have been fairly dismal," but none has suffered serious harm, he says.

For Pfizer, that's a big problem. People who buy fake drugs online that don't work, or worse, harm them, may blame the company's product. That's because it's virtually impossible to distinguish fakes from real Viagra.

"The vast majority of patients do believe that they're getting Viagra," said Vic Cavelli, head of marketing for primary care medicines at Pfizer.

The sales lost to counterfeits threaten Pfizer at a time when Viagra already is losing is dominance in the market.

Pfizer invented the term "erectile dysfunction" to replace the less-palatable medical term "impotence" after it came up with the first drug for the condition. It was a lucky find. Pfizer was testing an experimental blood pressure drug when older men in the study started telling research staff about an unexpected but welcomed side effect: better erections.

Pfizer quickly developed Viagra and made the discussion about erectile dysfunction mainstream with ads featuring ex-Sen. Bob Dole and other public figures.

But Viagra's share of the $5 billion-a-year global market for legitimate erectile dysfunction drugs has slipped, falling from 46 percent in 2007 to 37 percent last year, according to health data firm IMS Health.

The reason? Competition from rival products, mainly Eli Lilly and Co.'s Cialis ? the pill touted in those ubiquitous commercials featuring couples in his-and-hers bathtubs in bizarre places.

Judson Clark, an Edward Jones analyst, forecasts that Viagra sales will decline even further, about 5 percent each year for the next five years, unusual "for a drug in its prime."

Clark says he thinks Pfizer's strategy will prevent sales from declining, but he's unsure how well it will work.

"It's a very interesting and novel approach," he says. "Whether it returns Viagra to growth is hard to say."

___

On the Net:

Link to accredited pharmacies: http://www.nabp.net/programs/accreditation/vipps/find-a-vipps-online-pharmacy

___

Linda A. Johnson at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bashful-buy-little-blue-pill-online-070407742.html

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US military plane crashes in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) ? A U.S. military refueling tanker plane crashed Friday in Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian nation's emergencies ministry said. There was no immediate word on any casualties.

Kyrgyzstan hosts a U.S. base that is used for flying troops into and out of Afghanistan and for KC-135 tanker planes that refuel warplanes in flight.

The plane crashed Friday afternoon near the village of Chaldovar, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the Manas air base, the ministry said in a statement. It identified the plane as a Boeing 707, but that is a civilian airliner on which the KC-135 tanker is based.

The plane broke into three pieces when it crashed into an uninhabited area, the head of the region that includes Chaldovar, Kuralbek Khamaliyev, told The Associated Press by telephone.

The U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan, called the Transit Center at Manas, said it had no immediate information. The base, which is adjacent to the Manas International Airport outside the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, was established in late 2001 to support the international military campaign in Afghanistan.

The base has been the subject of a contentious dispute between the United States and its host nation. In 2009, the U.S. reached an agreement with the Kyrgyz government to use the base in return for $60 million a year.

But the lease runs out in June 2014 and the United States wants to keep the base beyond that point to aid in the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-military-plane-crashes-kyrgyzstan-104047874.html

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Web Email Marketing | Entrepreneurs Lead

The rise of Internet accessibility to the masses has revolutionized the way people work, play and communicate. Email communication has become the most popular means of information exchange in business and personal use. Personal computers, notebook, hand held devices and cellular telephones all allow you to communicate Web Email Marketing.

Email has rapidly grown to rival the telephone as the centerpiece of effective communication. Although email tends to be less personal than a voice conversation, it has become a preferred means of exchanging data such as quotations, invoices, literature, references, contact information, pictures, URLs, files and many other online resources. This phenomenon has given rise to the misuse and malicious use of email.

Many of us spend countless hours weeding through Spam messages. Those with tight email filters wake up in a cold sweat wondering if that one important message got sent to the Spam folder. Even though some governments have taken steps to curb Spam, most people spend about 20 minutes a day deleting messages offering better mortgage rates, free vacations or cheap Viagra. It is no wonder that many businesses are turning to email tracking services to ensure that their valuable information is being delivered to the right person and read.

I am sure you would not be surprised that not every email that you send is received or read by the intended recipient. There are many reasons for these lost communication nuggets including Spam filtering, overloaded inbox, forwarding rules or simple avoidance. The solution is email tracking!

What is email tracking?

Email tracking is a means of ensuring that your email is matched with its intended recipient. It utilizes secure, digitally time-stamped certificates to reveal the exact time and date that your e-mail was received ? and read.

Additional notification options may include how long it was read for, who read it, the approximate physical location of the reader, whether or not your email was forwarded to someone else, what kind of computer was used to read it, what file formats the reader can accept (eg. PDF, MS Word, Excel), whether or not your email has been published on the Internet and countless other tracking mechanisms.

Why track your email?

Many businesses find it imperative to determine if prospective customers receive and read their messages from email promotions, request for quotations or product information. Email tracking is the most effective way of identifying whether the campaign was effective. Sales managers often wonder if their sales representatives are being thorough in their email communication. Email tracking provides a tool for accountability. Special reports can identify number of messages sent and amount of time spent by the recipient reading the message.

What if you sent a quotation with the wrong numbers? If the email has not been read, you may even be able to retract or delete the email. Some tracking services even allow you to create self-destruct or email that can be retracted after a period of time. If the email is never opened or assumed to be lost, you could retract the old message and/or send a new message.

Tagging messages and watching their progress adds to secure communications. Many medical, law enforcement and legal firms utilize this service to enhance security of sensitive information. Email tracking helps ensure information is read by the right person!

Some companies may opt to set up their own servers in order to keep control internally and others may use an online service. Both options are available from a number of providers. I recently visited www.mailtracking.com to take a test drive. It was very simple to use this service.

Do you want to try email tracking yourself?

Simply get a free account at www.mailtracking.com (or another free email tracking competitor) and start sending your emails with an added extension .mailtracking.com. Therefore, if you want to send a tracked message to jdoe@hotmail.com, you simply add the extension as follows jdoe@hotmail.com.mailtracking.com. As the email message travels across the world wide web, you will get notification of its various stages.

Tags: affiliate email marketing, direct email marketing, email marketing service, email marketing templates, email marketing website, free email marketing software, internet email marketing, small business email marketing, video email marketing, web email marketing

Source: http://entrepreneurslead.com/?p=1811

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A conspiracy to cover up U.F.O.s?

Top Line

Even as most Americans wonder what planet politicians are from, is it possible that the government is squelching evidence of extraterrestrials visiting Earth? One former presidential hopeful says yes ? and that the conspiracy goes all the way to the top.

Former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) says the White House has helped keep the truth about the ?extraterrestrial influence that is investigating our planet? from the public.

?It goes right to the White House, and of course, once the White House takes a position, ?well there's nothing going on?...it just goes down the chain of command, everyone stands toe,? Gravel tells Top Line.

Gravel is one of six former congress representatives who were paid $20,000 by the UFO advocacy group Paradigm Research to participate in a Congressional-style Citizen Hearing on Disclosure in Washington this week, where witness after witness has presented first-hand accounts of UFO sightings and extraterrestrial visits.

Gravel says the strongest accounts of alien encounters are from former military officers, such as retired Air Force Capt. Robert Salas, who testified that UFOs temporarily disabled nuclear weapons on his watch.

?The smoking gun of the whole issue, which is when they saw hovering space craft in Wyoming and South Dakota over the ICBM missile silos that the missiles couldn't work,? Gravel says.

Gravel says the media has aided what he sees as a government cover-up by not taking reports of ET encounters seriously.

?What we're faced with here is, in areas of the media, and the government too, an effort to marginalize and ridicule people who have specific knowledge,? he says.

When asked about the fact that he was compensated for his participation in the hearing, Gravel says it did not influence him to agree with the testimony.

?This is an opportunity which I've taken to focus on this issue for an entire week and the preparation I made in coming to it, for my enrichment that's very important,? Gravel says.

For a ride into the outer limits of human knowledge on the possibility of alien life, and to hear how Gravel thinks the world should treat potential alien visitors, come along for this expedition of Top Line.

ABC's Eric Wray, Betsy Klein, Melissa Young, and Bob Bramson contributed to this episode.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/former-sen-mike-gravel-says-white-house-suppressing-112957111.html

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Bangladesh toll 547; search becomes more gruesome

A young lady wails over the phone as she tells her family that she had identified one of the many bodies at a morgue to be her relative, Saturday, May 4, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. In the aftermath of a building collapse that killed more than 530 people, Bangladesh's garment manufacturers may face a choice of reform or perish. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

A young lady wails over the phone as she tells her family that she had identified one of the many bodies at a morgue to be her relative, Saturday, May 4, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. In the aftermath of a building collapse that killed more than 530 people, Bangladesh's garment manufacturers may face a choice of reform or perish. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

People look at portraits of missing garment workers from the collapse of a garment factory building plastered on the doors of a school-turned-morgue Saturday, May 4, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The death toll in the accident rose to more than 530 on Saturday, a day after the country's finance minister downplayed the impact of the disaster on the garment industry, saying he didn't think it was "really serious." (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

A young woman covers her nose to block out the stench from rotting bodies at a morgue where bodies recovered from the garment factory collapse are kept for identification Saturday, May 4, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The death toll in the accident rose to more than 530 on Saturday, a day after the country's finance minister downplayed the impact of the disaster on the garment industry, saying he didn't think it was "really serious." (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Workers at a school-turned-morgue place the body of a victim from last week's collapse of a garment factory building into a coffin, Saturday, May 4, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The death toll in the accident rose to more than 530 on Saturday, a day after the country's finance minister downplayed the impact of the disaster on the garment industry, saying he didn't think it was "really serious." (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Workers at a school-turned-morgue place the body of a victim from last week's collapse of a garment factory building into a coffin, Saturday, May 4, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The death toll in the accident rose to more than 530 on Saturday, a day after the country's finance minister downplayed the impact of the disaster on the garment industry, saying he didn't think it was "really serious." (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? Ten days after the horrifying collapse of a garment-factory building, life has become still more gruesome for crews working to recover bodies at the site. The death toll rose to 547 on Saturday and the stench of decaying flesh was sickening evidence that the work is not yet done.

Rescue workers said some bodies have deteriorated so badly that they have found bones without flesh. Since the April 24 collapse in the Dhaka suburb of Savar, high temperatures have generally been 32 degrees C (90 degrees F) or above, and lows have rarely dipped below 27 C (80 F).

"The bodies are smelling. We are using air freshener to work here," said Mohibul Alam, a firefighter at the collapse scene. The odor of decay is overpowering just the same.

Bodies have decomposed beyond recognition, Alam said, but he added that some could still be identified because the victims' identification cards were found with them.

Some of the victims who had been closest to escaping appear to be among the last to be recovered. Only now have rescuers dug deep enough, using cranes and other equipment, to approach the stairs of the ground floor.

The official death toll from the collapse reached 547 Saturday and was expected to climb. The official number of missing has been 149 since Wednesday, though unofficial estimates are higher.

The disaster is likely the worst garment-factory accident ever, and there have been few industrial accidents of any kind with a higher death toll. It surpassed long-ago garment-industry disasters such as New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, which killed 146 workers in 1911, and more recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that same year that killed 112.

Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry supplies retailers around the world and accounts for about 80 percent of the impoverished country's exports. The collapse has raised strong doubts about retailers' claims that they could ensure worker safety through self-regulation.

Five garment factories operated in the Rana Plaza building that collapsed, and many brand labels have been found in the wreckage, but only two retailers, Britain's Primark and Canada's Loblaw Inc., have acknowledged that their clothes were being made there at the time. Loblaw's CEO has decried the "deafening silence" from what he said were more than two dozen other international retailers who used garment factories in the collapsed building.

Mainuddin Khandkar, the head of a government committee investigating the disaster, said Friday that substandard building materials, combined with the vibration of the heavy machines used by the five garment factories inside the Rana Plaza building, led to the horrific collapse. Because of a power outage, heavy generators were turned on about 15 minutes before the building fell, he said.

The building developed cracks a day before the collapse, and Rana Plaza owner Mohammed Sohel Rana called engineer Abdur Razzak Khan to inspect it. Khan appeared on television that night and said he told Rana the building should be evacuated.

Police also issued an evacuation order, but witnesses say that hours before the collapse, Rana told people that the building was safe and garment factory managers told their workers to go inside.

Rana has been arrested is expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing workers to join work, crimes punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail. Authorities have not said if more serious crimes will be added.

On Thursday, Khan was arrested as well, on a charge of negligence. Police said he worked as a consultant to Rana when three illegal floors were added to what was supposed to be a five-story building.

The Bangladesh High Court also has ordered the government to confiscate Rana's property and freeze the assets of the owners of the factories in Rana Plaza so the money can be used to pay the salaries of their workers.

Savar's mayor and another local official have been suspended in an apparent effort by higher levels of Bangladesh's government to fend off accusations that it is in part to blame for the tragedy because of weak oversight of the building's construction.

In New Delhi on Friday, Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith downplayed the impact of the disaster on the garment industry, which is by far the country's biggest source of export income.

"The present difficulties ... well, I don't think it is really serious ? it's an accident," Muhith said. "And the steps that we have taken in order to make sure that it doesn't happen, they are quite elaborate and I believe that it will be appreciated by all."

The government made similar promises after the November garment factory fire that killed 112 people, saying it would inspect factories for safety and pull the licenses of those that failed. That plan has yet to be implemented.

Retailers have been drawn to Bangladesh as a source of clothing largely because of its cheap labor. The minimum wage for a garment worker is $38 a month, after being nearly doubled this year following violent protests by workers. According to the World Bank, the per capita income in Bangladesh was about $64 a month in 2011.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-04-AS-Bangladesh-Building-Collapse/id-ee5de4f84ea64dba9f98c923ec2d6767

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Black Onyx scratched from Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby entrant Black Onyx and Normandy Invasion workout at Churchill Downs Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. Saturday will be the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Kentucky Derby entrant Black Onyx and Normandy Invasion workout at Churchill Downs Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. Saturday will be the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Kentucky Derby entrant Black Onyx is seen in his stall before his morning workout at Churchill Downs Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. Saturday will be the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? Long shot Black Onyx was a late scratch for the Kentucky Derby because of a chip in his left ankle, leaving 19 horses to vie for the roses.

The scratch occurred Friday after early wagering for the race had opened, so Black Onyx's No. 1 post position will be left empty on Saturday. The remaining horses will stay in their original starting gate positions.

Trainer Kelly Breen said the colt looked good training on Friday, but he had some swelling in the ankle, so an X-ray was taken which revealed the chip.

"He's back in the barn. He's not feeling that bad because he just tried to bite me," Breen said. "It couldn't have been worse timing."

He said it's too early to know if Black Onyx will need surgery or just recover on his own.

Jockey Joe Bravo was left without a Derby mount. He hasn't won the race in two previous attempts.

"I'm just very thankful that the horse is going to be OK," he said. "I'm just really sorry for the whole team."

The scratch came too late for Fear the Kitten to get into the Derby. The colt was on the list of also eligibles as the 21st qualifier in the point standings which determine the field.

Black Onyx qualified for the Derby by winning the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park. He was 50-1 on the morning line.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-03-RAC-Kentucky-Derby-Black-Onyx-Out/id-e23d251f086c4034a40ca04946f79d5e

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Gamblers get lucky at Genting's Singapore casino

By Anshuman Daga and Eveline Danubrata

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A stroke of bad luck. That's what casino operator Genting Singapore PLC blamed for reporting a sharply lower-than-expected quarterly profit, while also flagging a cautious outlook due to muted Chinese economic growth.

Genting Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa, one of two casinos in the island state that are the envy of the global industry since opening three years ago, said that its 35 percent fall in core earnings simply came down to so-called "premium" gamblers getting lucky.

Those figures were in stark contrast to Wednesday's quarterly earnings announced by Las Vegas Sands Corp, owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, which had been boosted by strong results in Singapore and Macau.

Genting Singapore's January-March adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell to S$249.7 million ($202.5 million) from S$381.4 million a year ago.

Five analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected a profit of S$359 million by the casino operator, which is more than half owned by Malaysia's Genting Bhd.

Sands' rolling chip volume, or betting volume by VIP players, at its Marina Bay Sands in Singapore rose 42.2 percent to $18.21 billion in the quarter, the highest quarterly volume in the property's history.

The two Singapore casinos are the world's most profitable, but concerns have risen about debts from Chinese high-rollers and China's economic uncertainty.

"Moving forward, looking at the economic situation around the world and also the noises that are coming out of China, we are cautious," Tan Hee Teck, president and chief operating officer at Genting Singapore, told an analysts' call on Thursday.

He expects Genting Singapore to write-off some of its debt this year. "We are not pulling back, but we are being a little bit more cautious," Tan said, when asked if the casino would scale down the amount of credit given to its VIP customers.

Sands said it wrote off $11 million in its Singapore property in the first quarter.

Despite Genting Singapore reporting record volume in its VIP business, Tan was cautious about the outlook for the rest of the year.

The company's shares ended up 4.9 percent on Thursday on expectations of strong results after Sands' performance.

NEXT: "BET ON JAPAN"

Genting Singapore said on Thursday premium gamblers got lucky and won more of their bets in the first quarter.

"Compared to the first quarter of 2012, the first quarter's performance was largely affected by a much weaker win percentage in the premium players' business despite a significant increase in the premium players' rolling volume," it said in a statement.

Genting Singapore, which is sitting on a cash pile of nearly S$4 billion, is keen to open a casino in Japan and is also interested in pursuing regional deals.

A pro-casino group of Japanese lawmakers has tapped an influential member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as its leader and plans to submit legislation this year aimed at opening the world's third-largest economy to casino gambling.

"If you ask me, if I were a betting man, I would say the chances of it going through this year would probably be like 70-80 percent," Tan said.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gamblers-lucky-gentings-singapore-casino-001630598.html

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Royal Society elects 2 new Fellows from the John Innes Centre

Public release date: 3-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Zoe Dunford
zoe.dunford@nbi.ac.uk
07-768-164-185
Norwich BioScience Institutes

5 Fellows now at JIC

Two scientists from the John Innes Centre have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, the premier scientific accolade in the UK. Their breakthroughs in fundamental research have pioneered advances in antibiotic discovery and in crop improvement from which we all benefit.

Professor Mike Bevan pioneered methods for expressing foreign genes in plants that underpin the crop biotechnology industry. He instigated plant genome sequence analyses and has recently completed the first draft of the wheat genome. This work will accelerate breeding and genetic analysis of this globally important crop.

Professor Mervyn Bibb's research focus is on how soil bacteria such as Streptomyces make antibiotics. Nearly 80% of clinically used antibiotics are derived from these microorganisms. His breakthroughs assist drug companies in their quest to make new and improved antibiotics. A spin-out company based on his work has an antibiotic about to enter phase 2 clinical trials.

"Professors Bevan and Bibb have been key players in the development of JIC's research in molecular aspects of plant and microbial biology" said Professor Dale Sanders, director of the John Innes Centre.

"Although their research fields are seemingly disparate, Mike and Merv have both demonstrated the power that genetics can bring to a fundamental understanding of life."

"This research will set the stage for genetically-based translational advances that address national and global issues in the areas of food security and human health."

The Fellowship is the backbone of the Royal Society, made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from the UK and the Commonwealth. Fellows are elected through a peer review process on the basis of excellence in science that culminates in a vote by existing Fellows.

Both newly elected JIC scientists have active research groups with long-term research plans to improve understanding in their field.

"I want to understand how plant growth is controlled and I am analysing the wheat genome to understand how hybridization influences gene stability and expression," said Professor Bevan.

Insights from this work will provide new ways to increase crop yields and breed new crops.

Professor Bibb is working on as-yet clinically unexploited antibiotics made by Streptomyces and their close relatives. He is exploring ways to engineer the bacteria to produce new and improved variants. Their ability to withstand emerging antibiotic resistance will be crucial.

"Election as a Fellow of the Royal Society would not have happened if it were not for the hard work and intellectual input of a large number of students, post-docs and visiting workers," said Professor Bibb.

"For both Mike and me, our achievements are based on the efforts of our respective research groups and we each have many people to thank for this recognition."

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said:

"Science helps us to better understand ourselves and the natural world around us and has a huge role to play in future economic prosperity and the health of our planet and its 7 billion people. In the coming decades we are going to find ourselves more and more dependent on the solutions. Science can offer to grand challenges such as food shortages, climate change and tackling disease. These scientists who have been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society have already contributed much to the scientific endeavour following in the footsteps of pioneers such as Newton, Darwin and Einstein and it gives me great pleasure to welcome them into our ranks."

###

Contact

Photos of the scientists and images representing their research area are available. Please contact Zoe Dunford at the JIC press office: +44 (0)1603 255111, 07768 164185, zoe.dunford@jic.ac.uk

Notes to editors

About the John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre, http://www.jic.ac.uk, is a world-leading research centre based on the Norwich Research Park http://www.nrp.org.uk. The JIC's mission is to generate knowledge of plants and microbes through innovative research, to train scientists for the future, and to apply its knowledge to benefit agriculture, human health and well-being, and the environment. JIC delivers world class bioscience outcomes leading to wealth and job creation, and generating high returns for the UK economy. JIC http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/ is one of eight institutes that receive strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

About BBSRC

BBSRC invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.

Funded by the UK Government, and with an annual budget of around 445M, we support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

For more information about BBSRC, our science and our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk

For more information about BBSRC strategically funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/institutes

---

[ | 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: 3-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Zoe Dunford
zoe.dunford@nbi.ac.uk
07-768-164-185
Norwich BioScience Institutes

5 Fellows now at JIC

Two scientists from the John Innes Centre have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, the premier scientific accolade in the UK. Their breakthroughs in fundamental research have pioneered advances in antibiotic discovery and in crop improvement from which we all benefit.

Professor Mike Bevan pioneered methods for expressing foreign genes in plants that underpin the crop biotechnology industry. He instigated plant genome sequence analyses and has recently completed the first draft of the wheat genome. This work will accelerate breeding and genetic analysis of this globally important crop.

Professor Mervyn Bibb's research focus is on how soil bacteria such as Streptomyces make antibiotics. Nearly 80% of clinically used antibiotics are derived from these microorganisms. His breakthroughs assist drug companies in their quest to make new and improved antibiotics. A spin-out company based on his work has an antibiotic about to enter phase 2 clinical trials.

"Professors Bevan and Bibb have been key players in the development of JIC's research in molecular aspects of plant and microbial biology" said Professor Dale Sanders, director of the John Innes Centre.

"Although their research fields are seemingly disparate, Mike and Merv have both demonstrated the power that genetics can bring to a fundamental understanding of life."

"This research will set the stage for genetically-based translational advances that address national and global issues in the areas of food security and human health."

The Fellowship is the backbone of the Royal Society, made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from the UK and the Commonwealth. Fellows are elected through a peer review process on the basis of excellence in science that culminates in a vote by existing Fellows.

Both newly elected JIC scientists have active research groups with long-term research plans to improve understanding in their field.

"I want to understand how plant growth is controlled and I am analysing the wheat genome to understand how hybridization influences gene stability and expression," said Professor Bevan.

Insights from this work will provide new ways to increase crop yields and breed new crops.

Professor Bibb is working on as-yet clinically unexploited antibiotics made by Streptomyces and their close relatives. He is exploring ways to engineer the bacteria to produce new and improved variants. Their ability to withstand emerging antibiotic resistance will be crucial.

"Election as a Fellow of the Royal Society would not have happened if it were not for the hard work and intellectual input of a large number of students, post-docs and visiting workers," said Professor Bibb.

"For both Mike and me, our achievements are based on the efforts of our respective research groups and we each have many people to thank for this recognition."

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said:

"Science helps us to better understand ourselves and the natural world around us and has a huge role to play in future economic prosperity and the health of our planet and its 7 billion people. In the coming decades we are going to find ourselves more and more dependent on the solutions. Science can offer to grand challenges such as food shortages, climate change and tackling disease. These scientists who have been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society have already contributed much to the scientific endeavour following in the footsteps of pioneers such as Newton, Darwin and Einstein and it gives me great pleasure to welcome them into our ranks."

###

Contact

Photos of the scientists and images representing their research area are available. Please contact Zoe Dunford at the JIC press office: +44 (0)1603 255111, 07768 164185, zoe.dunford@jic.ac.uk

Notes to editors

About the John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre, http://www.jic.ac.uk, is a world-leading research centre based on the Norwich Research Park http://www.nrp.org.uk. The JIC's mission is to generate knowledge of plants and microbes through innovative research, to train scientists for the future, and to apply its knowledge to benefit agriculture, human health and well-being, and the environment. JIC delivers world class bioscience outcomes leading to wealth and job creation, and generating high returns for the UK economy. JIC http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/ is one of eight institutes that receive strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

About BBSRC

BBSRC invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.

Funded by the UK Government, and with an annual budget of around 445M, we support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

For more information about BBSRC, our science and our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk

For more information about BBSRC strategically funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/institutes

---

[ | 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/2013-05/nbi-rse050313.php

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