US Army keen to learn from India's counter-insurgency operations

WASHINGTON: Impressed by the Indian Army's successful counter-terrorism operations, the US Army Chief has proposed joint training between the armies of the two countries.

Noting that there is much to learn between the militaries of the two countries, US Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno called for joint training to benefit from India's experiences in counter-insurgency in a tough environment and difficult terrain.

"We would love to do some joint training in the mountainous environment, because what the Indian Army has learned over the years, we would love to share what we learned about counter-insurgency and compare experiences and see how we can learn from each other and how we can direct that to use in the future, so for me it is something that is important," Odierno told PTI in an interview.

Odierno, 58, during a rare trip to India late last month, met his Indian counterpart General Bikram Singh besides holding meetings with Defence Minister A K Antony and visiting the Northern Command headquarters in Udhampur.

Highly impressed by the Indian military's successful counter-insurgency operations, he said, the US would like to learn from the Indian experience as to how to fight terrorists in a tough environment and difficult terrain.

When asked if the US would like to have joint exercises in Jammu and Kashmir where the terrain is difficult like that of Afghanistan, Odierno said he would like to look at that.

Odierno said that this is something that the US may be interested in but still need to take a look at by sending people to train in these types of environments.

"I think, we would like to look at...we send may be send some people to learn how you train and operate in those environment and those are kind of had some initial discussions on...much more has to be done. It is things like that we would be interested in," he said.

"Everybody recognises, India has so much in common with the US and that it is important for us to sustain a strong long-lasting relationship," the US Army Chief of Staff said.

"It is important for us to sustain a long-term relationship of one that is equal, one that respects each other's strategic autonomy, but that one that enables us to learn from each other to develop together, to deal with many of the issues that we face around the world," he said.
Indian and US troops have already held joint exercises in the past in the mountainous Ladakh region in 2003.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/us-army-keen-to-learn-from-indias-counter-insurgency-operations/articleshow/21594590.cms

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Not all millennials mired in student debt

NEW YORK - When Josh McFarland graduated from Stanford he owed $40,000 in student loans and couldn't fathom a way he'd ever pay it off and have a future for himself - not unusual for the typical young adult these days. Then he went to work for Google.

As a product manager, he got stock options and cashed them in over the five years he worked there. He married a fellow Google employee, so she had stock too. Then she moved on to Yelp, and he quit to launch TellApart, which provides technology solutions for e-commerce sites.

Now 33, McFarland has a 3-year-old and a newborn and no longer has to think about his student loan: His company has $17.75 million in venture capital investment. While he doesn't consider himself retire-now rich, his piece of the company affords him what he calls "breathing room" and what other people might call wealth.

McFarland is on the starting end of Generation Y, the cohort born in the United States after 1980 that is typically portrayed as saddled with massive student debt, underemployed and underpaid. More than a third of the 80 million group of so-called millennials live with their parents, according to the Pew Research Group.

But McFarland is part of the sizeable minority that is doing quite well: 12 million Gen Y-ers make more than $100,000, according to the Ipsos MediaCT's Mendelsohn Affluent Survey. Many of them, in technology fields, live frugal work-based lifestyles and are not saddled with the six-digit student debt held by doctors and lawyers.

Raised on the Internet and disheartened by having watched the older generations suffer through the tech bubble of 2000 and the recession of 2008, these young adults are viewing their quickly accumulating wealth differently. For one thing, they do not seem as interested in the trappings of wealth, nor are they concerned about stuffing traditional retirement accounts. They see money as a path to career freedom, where they can pick up and start again at will as soon as a more interesting offer comes along.

Increasingly they turn to Web-based wealth management firms or choose do-it-yourself brokerage accounts. Consider the typical clients at Wealthfront, an online investing broker that has amassed $300 million in assets under management by catering to a demographic that is comfortable doing most of their business online. These are people in their early 30s with $100,000 to invest, mostly above and beyond any tax-advantaged retirement plans like 401(k)s and IRAs. Chief Operating Officer Adam Nash estimates that Gen Y techies control about $100 billion in assets.

"The whole idea from the 80s - that you'd make some money and use that money to make more money - this current generation isn't looking at money that way," says Nash. "The typical software engineer isn't dreaming of the day he can quit the rat race. They use their money instead to gain a little bit of control over what they work on and what they do."

INVESTING IN THEMSELVES

The money, when it comes, is for breeding new success, not tucking away until old age. Trip Adler's path is typical: He graduated from Harvard in 2006 with an idea for Scribd, a community-driven e-book publishing platform, and pursued it relentlessly - living with his partners in a tiny apartment in San Francisco on $12,000 in seed funding from the venture capital fund Y Combinator. Scribd took off and now has millions of dollars in funding and deals with major publishers.

Adler, 29, who has profited nicely from all of this, says his biggest splurge is probably angel investing, mostly in companies his friends are starting. "Probably one in five will be a good payoff, but that will pay off the rest. The amount of money being lost is small," he says.

For TellApart's McFarland, long-term planning also focuses on entrepreneurship. He considers himself a terrible stock investor but a good businessman, and intends to make the bulk of his money by developing great companies. (For that reason he's reluctant to start so much as a college-savings plan for his kids, though his wife disagrees.) What he does squirrel away he wants in low-cost index funds, managed as minimally as possible. He is a Wealthfront client.

For the financial firms handling the core of Gen Y's wealth, this no-fuss attitude can present a challenge. Merrill Lynch private banking wealth adviser Rich Hogan says his clients have their own interests to pursue - especially focusing on green technologies and doing social good with their investing - and do not necessarily focus first on performance.

NOT THAT INTO STUFF

These children of the boom 90s also aren't so into conspicuous consumption. "Where I grew up, if you had money, you spent it on toys - all-terrain vehicles, McMansion, and all this stuff," says McFarland. He doesn't think his peers have the same appetite, and says his biggest splurge currently is a night nanny to help with the new baby.

Adler still drives his mom's old car and has only recently stepped up to rent his own apartment. "I don't really have ambitions to make a lot of money just to spend it," he says.

Merrill Lynch's Hogan says this echoes what he hears from his ultra-high-net-worth Gen Y clients. They don't even want to buy houses, because they don't have the time or desire to take care of them.

Where the wealthy young are spending their cash is on experiences - food, wine, even intergalactic travel. Hogan says more than a few of his clients have bought seats on the Virgin spaceship at a couple of hundred thousand dollars a pop. "Those are the kind of cool things that they think about. It's discretionary income to somebody with millions," he says.

Wade Eyerly, 33, has built a millennial-run startup around providing such luxury experiences with SurfAir, which rents out seats on a fleet of private jets. "The thing that sets the millennials apart is travel patterns. They think nothing of going to from Los Angeles to San Francisco for a few hours and then coming back," he says.

Also, there's a bit of a focus on cars, but in a smart way. Merrill Lynch's Hogan says, "I had a client come in and say that he bought a Tesla car - but he had also bought shares in the company. And he told us that he made enough profit on the shares to cover the cost of the car."

(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance. Editing by Linda Stern and Prudence Crowther)

Source: http://feeds.chicagotribune.com/~r/chicagotribune/business/~3/Go7lrc4HF80/chi-what-student-debt-how-the-other-millennials-think-about-money-20130804,0,751006.story

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Obama administration overrules Apple import ban

FILE - In this May 27, 2011, file photo, a salesperson at a mobile phone shop displays an Apple iPhone 4 to a customer in New Delhi. U.S. President Obama?s trade representative on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, vetoed a ban on imports of the iPhone 4 and some variations of the iPad 2, reversing a ruling in favor of rival South Korean electronics company Samsung. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

FILE - In this May 27, 2011, file photo, a salesperson at a mobile phone shop displays an Apple iPhone 4 to a customer in New Delhi. U.S. President Obama?s trade representative on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, vetoed a ban on imports of the iPhone 4 and some variations of the iPad 2, reversing a ruling in favor of rival South Korean electronics company Samsung. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

President Obama's trade representative on Saturday vetoed a ban on imports of some Apple iPads and older iPhones, dealing a setback to rival South Korean electronics company Samsung.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman overruled a June decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which had banned imports of the iPhone 4 and some variations of the iPad 2. The commission ruled that the Chinese-made Apple devices violated a patent held by Samsung and couldn't be imported. The ban never went into effect, though, because the Obama administration had 60 days to decide if it would uphold the commission.

Obama is against import bans on the basis of the type of patent at issue in the Samsung case. The White House has recommended that Congress limit the ITC's ability to impose import bans in these cases.

Samsung and Apple are in a global legal battle over smartphones. Apple argues Samsung's Android phones copy vital iPhone features. Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints.

In an email, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said the company applauded the administration "for standing up for innovation."

Samsung said in a statement late Saturday night that it was disappointed in Froman's ruling, saying the ITC "correctly recognized that Samsung has been negotiating in good faith, and that Apple remains unwilling to take a license."

Froman wrote in a letter to the commission that he has concerns about patent holders getting too much leverage over competitors that use their technology under licenses.

Companies license patented technology to competitors so the devices can communicate as part of an industry standard for cellphones. Under the "standards-essential patent" legal theory prevailing in federal courts, holders of such patents are obligated to license them to all comers on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms.

U.S. courts have ruled that such patents cannot be the basis for import bans. The International Trade Commission follows a different standard than the courts, but the Obama administration wants it to adhere to the same principles.

Froman wrote that he shares the Obama administration's concerns that the holders of standards-essential patents could get "undue leverage" over their competitors.

Last year, a federal court ruled that Samsung owed Apple $1 billion in damages for infringing on non-essential Apple patents. But the judge refused to impose an import ban on Samsung phones and later struck $450 million from the verdict, saying the jurors miscalculated. The case is set for a rematch in appeals court.

Samsung is the world's largest maker of smartphones. Analysts estimate it outsold Apple nearly 2 to 1 in the first three months of the year. However, Apple's smartphone business is more profitable

The iPhone 4 was launched in 2010 and is the oldest iPhone still sold by Apple. The ITC ruling applied only to the AT&T version of the phone. Apple is likely to retire the model.

Apple launched the iPad 2 in 2011. The ruling applies only to the version equipped with a cellular modem for AT&T's network.

The ruling also applies to older iPhones, though these are no longer sold by Apple.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-08-03-Samsung-Apple-Import%20Ban/id-fb3f5dc8d768438cbe943577bb6e1e91

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Ayman al-Zawahiri says US behind coup against Mohamed Morsi ...

Ayman al-Zawahiri, pictured last year, commented on the political situation in his home country of Egypt. Photograph: Ho/AFP/Getty Images

The head of al-Qaida has accused the US of overthrowing the former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, but also said he was responsible for his own downfall by for trying to appease Washington.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian, said Morsi, who was deposed in a coup on 3 July, was targeted for being an Islamist by a conspiracy of secularists, Coptic Christians, and Egypt's "Americanised" army.

But in his 15-minute internet audio message posted online on Friday, Zawahiri condemned Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood for having "tried its best to satisfy America and the secularists" by relinquishing jihad, usually defined by al-Qaida to mean armed struggle.

Zawahiri said: "Crusaders and secularists and the Americanised army have converged ? with Gulf money and American plotting to topple Mohamed Morsi's government."

He also attacked the vice-president, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Laureate and former UN nuclear chief who was an opposition leader during Morsi's single year in office as the "envoy of American providence".

In Egypt, the army-installed government promised supporters of Morsi a safe exit from their protest camps on Saturday, and urged them to rejoin the political process.

Interior ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said the protesters were being manipulated by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. "Your continued sit-ins have no legal or political use. You have a safe exit, you will be politically integrated," he said.

Thousands of Morsi supporters have gathered in two camps in Cairo demanding his reinstatement. The army had threatened to remove them by force.

But on Friday, following appeals from religious leaders as well as foreign governments to avoid a bloodbath, the interim government said it would blockade the camps but not storm them.

Latif said many people wanted to leave but they faced threats from the protest leaders. Anyone involved in crimes, including torture, killing and kidnapping, would face prosecution, he said.

Morsi became Egypt's first freely elected president on 16 June 2012, 16 months after a popular uprising toppled the former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/03/ayman-zawahiri-coup-mohamed-morsi

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Wind suspends 3rd round at St. Andrews

Michelle Wie of the US, left, reacts to France's Karine Icher, right, after play has been suspended due to the high winds on the 13th fairway during the third round of the Women's British Open golf championship on the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland, Saturday Aug. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Michelle Wie of the US, left, reacts to France's Karine Icher, right, after play has been suspended due to the high winds on the 13th fairway during the third round of the Women's British Open golf championship on the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland, Saturday Aug. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Michelle Wie of the US tees off on the 13th during the third round of the Women's British Open golf championship on the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland, Saturday Aug. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) ? Inbee Park was hopeful of tough conditions to help her make up an eight-shot deficit at the Women's British Open.

It turned out to be too tough.

An hour before the leaders were to tee off Saturday, play was suspended because of wind so strong that balls were not stopping on the green. Of the nine players who finished their rounds, the best score was a 75.

Park, going after a record fourth professional major in the same year, was 1-under through four holes.

St. Andrews is one of the most difficult links courses in Britain when the wind is strong. The second round at St. Andrews for the British Open was suspended briefly in 2010, the day Rory McIlroy shot 80 one day after his record-tying 63.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-08-03-GLF-Women's-British-Open/id-cfd3a15e3eb949a38f22e183bbfd77fb

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Hillsdale College president apologizes after calling minority ...

The president of a Michigan school is under fire for racial comments that he made in reference to the minority students that attend his university.

While testifying at a state legislative meeting Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn called the students ?dark ones? while talking about how the school meets diversity challenges.

The subcommittee hearing was held to determine if Hillsdale College would adopt Common Core State Standards, which come as an effort to standardize education across the states. Arnn was there to testify against the idea, and express his opposition to government interference in education.

The president was referencing a letter sent to the college from the Department of Education, citing that Hillsdale violated the national standards for diversity.

During his testimony Arnn said, ?And they [Department of Education] said that we violated the standards for diversity because we didn?t have enough dark ones, I guess is what they meant.?

Many of the lawmakers that were at the hearing were offended by Arnn?s comments, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Arnn did not apologize at first after being criticized and instead cited the education department officials that recorded the racial demographic data at his college.

According to a Michigan news site podcast, Arnn said, ?The State of Michigan sent a group of people down to my campus, with clipboards ? to look at the colors of people?s faces and write down what they saw. We don?t keep records of that information. What were they looking for besides dark ones??

Yet, after considerable backlash, the president has now issued an apology for his racial remarks.

It reads: ?No offense was intended by the use of that term except to the offending bureaucrats, and Dr. Arnn is sorry if such offense was taken honestly. But the greater concern, he believes, is the state endorsed racism the story illustrates.?

Source: http://thegrio.com/2013/08/02/hillsdale-college-president-apologizes-after-calling-minority-students-dark-ones/

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Monopoles and Magnetricity

[unable to retrieve full-text content]szotz writes "Although there was once a hint from a cosmic ray experiment (on Valentine's Day, no less), no one's found any solid evidence of monopoles (unpaired north and south magnets) flying around the cosmos. But physicists did find monopole-like quasiparticles in some exotic crystals in 2009. One of the discoverers has an article this month in IEEE Spectrum that looks at how the particles were found and what's happened since. They might seem like a wacky curiosity, but the author says we shouldn't write them off — they might one day make useful new 'magnetronic' devices."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/8JevVqm6lo0/story01.htm

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Butler Community College hopes tobacco-free policy will serve as example

Tobacco use is now prohibited across Butler Community College's campuses and facilities.

Bill Rinkenbaugh doesn?t mind sharing information about how Butler Community College is implementing a tobacco-free policy.

He hopes the policy, which took effect Thursday, will serve as a model for other higher education institutions.

Butler?s tobacco-free policy applies to all of its buildings, athletic facilities, grounds and vehicles.

I spoke to Rinkenbaugh, Butler?s vice president for student services, about the college?s policy Friday afternoon.

He says discussions about it started last August, and now that it?s in effect, educating people about it will be crucial.

Rinkenbaugh says Butler began posting signs around campus earlier this year advising people that the college was becoming tobacco-free.

Students, faculty and employees were sent letters notifying them of the change, and ash trays and cigarette receptacles were removed. Rinkenbaugh says additional letters will be sent to students who are late enrollees. ?It?s all going to be about education,? he says.

Butler, he says, plans to offer health fairs and help people quit smoking.

Based on enrollment, Butler is one of the largest ? if not the largest ? higher education institution in Kansas to go tobacco-free.

That?s already caught the attention of other colleges and universities.

Rinkenbaugh says he?s received a call from a student group at Wichita State University that is interesting in advocating something similar.

Josh Heck covers health care, legal services, professional services and education.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bizj_wichita/~3/2C0vWvIV2vw/butler-community-college-hopes.html

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U.S. issues global travel alert, cites al Qaeda threat

By Arshad Mohammed and Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States issued a worldwide travel alert on Friday warning Americans that al Qaeda may be planning attacks in August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.

The State Department travel alert was based on the same intelligence that prompted it to close 21 U.S. embassies and consulates on Sunday, August 4, chiefly those in the Muslim world, a U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the continued potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula," its statement said.

"Current information suggests that al Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August," it added, saying the travel alert would expire on August 31.

Among the most prominent of al Qaeda's affiliates is Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based group whose attempted attacks included the Christmas Day 2009 attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

U.S. security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the threat was related to AQAP but there was not a specific target. They also said that it was aimed at Western interests, an assessment later confirmed by the top U.S. military officer.

"The intent is to attack Western, not just U.S. interests," General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC News in an interview to be broadcast on its "This Week" program on Sunday.

"There is a significant threat stream and we're reacting to it," he said, adding that the kind of potential attack was "unspecified."

Britain said it would close its embassy in Yemen on Sunday and Monday. "We are particularly concerned about the security situation in the final days of Ramadan and into Eid," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement, referring to the Muslim holy month which ends on Wednesday.

'SOME SPECIFICITY'

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the threat was serious and that the U.S. government had reacted in such a dramatic manner "because we have some specificity but not enough."

On Thursday, the State Department said U.S. embassies that would normally be open on Sunday - chiefly those in the Muslim world - would be closed that day because of security concerns, adding that they might be shut for a longer period.

The embassies in the following countries will be closed: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The consulates in Arbil, Iraq; Dhahran and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates will also be shut.

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, which is normally closed to the public on Sunday, said all its facilities would be shut on Sunday and workers not essential for the building's security had been told not to come in.

It also said the American Center in Jerusalem and the Haifa Consular Agency would be closed on Sunday.

While the U.S. State Department routinely releases what it describes as a "Worldwide Caution" warning U.S. citizens of the general potential danger of attacks around the world, Friday's travel alert was based on more specific information, said one U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The previous "Worldwide Caution" was issued on February 19.

U.S. officials declined to provide additional details about the intelligence that led them to close the diplomatic missions and to issue the worldwide travel alert.

However, a second U.S. official said there was no information on a specific target, which was the reason for the broad alert.

The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, said on CNN's "New Day" that he and several other lawmakers met two days ago with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the threat.

Later on MSNBC, Royce said: "I believe that it is probably now prudent, given the fact that, in this case, we do have this intelligence, to take this step to make certain that we have fully protected our embassy personnel."

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, David Lawder, Phil Stewart, Mark Hosenball, and Myra MacDonald in London; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-issues-global-travel-alert-cites-al-qaeda-162656366.html

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Martin Rowson on Twitter and the Home Office's crackdown on illegal immigration ? cartoon

6hr 58min ago

Is Ellen DeGeneres a good pick to host the Oscars?

Ellen DeGeneres is going to emcee the Oscars for the second time during the 86th annual Academy Awards next year, making her the first person who is primarily a daytime talk host to do it. Do you think she's the best personality for the job?

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2013/aug/02/rowson-home-office-crackdown-illegal-immigration-twitter

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Vinson & Elkins' oil pipeline practice starts boutique law firm

Eric Kayne, HBJ

Mark Kelly, chairman, Vinson & Elkins LLP

The oil pipeline practice group of Vinson & Elkins LLP, the largest and one of the oldest law firms in town, is branching out.

The team of eight lawyers announced on Thursday they?ve opened their own shop in the Galleria area, where, as Caldwell, Boudreaux and Lefler PLC, they will represent clients that might?ve presented a conflict at V&E.

That V&E has such a large energy practice has had both an upside and a downside, said Charles Caldwell, a partner in the boutique firm.

?One of the advantages of being at V&E was this tremendously large group of significant energy clients. But one of the downsides is it creates a challenge of conflict in terms of the ability to take on work,? he said.

As partner Michelle Boudreaux explained, particularly in the oil pipeline segment of the energy industry, conflicts are increasingly presented.

?When we ask, ?Who will be the major customers?? we find some or all of them are already clients of the firm,? she said.

Although Caldwell Boudreaux will be across town from its old stomping grounds, Mark Kelly, chairman at Vinson & Elkins, said the two firms will continue to do some work together. In fact, there will be an arrangement drawn up to formalize the co-counsel relationship.

?We will focus on making sure our clients continue to get expert service. There will be no impact on that. In my judgment, it will be seamless,? he said. ?But I?ll miss seeing them in the hallway everyday.?

Got Energy? Sign up for our Energy Inc. newsletter here. Stay up to date on Texas energy news with the Energy Inc. news ticker, bringing you by-the-minute coverage from the Texas Business Journals.

Deon Daugherty covers energy and law for the Houston Business Journal. Read the top Texas energy news in our free weekly newsletter, Energy Inc. Subscribe to the Energy Inc. newsletter. For her breaking stories, follow her on Twitter.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_16/~3/9aaJEloz4rs/ves-oil-pipeline-practice-starts.html

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China shares lifted by upbeat official PMI, Hong Kong firmer too

Thu Aug 1, 2013 5:51am BST

* HSI +0.6 pct, H-shares +0.4 pct, CSI300 +1.2 pct

* Volumes modest as China HSBC PMI divergence spawns doubt

* Rongsheng soars after plans for convertible bonds

* Cheung Kong cuts 2013 losses ahead of H1 earnings

By Clement Tan

HONG KONG, Aug 1 (Reuters) - China shares may post a third-straight daily gain, with Hong Kong markets also firmer on Thursday, as better-than-expected official manufacturing data and a second cash injection by the central bank gave cyclical sectors a lift.

Gains came in volumes that were only modestly stronger from recent levels, however, reflecting a lack of conviction after a separate private survey weighted more to smaller companies showed factory activity at its lowest in nearly a year.

By midday, the CSI300 was up 1.2 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.9 percent. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong Kong gained 0.4 percent.

The Hang Seng Index climbed 0.6 percent to 22,010.3 points, after earlier testing its highest since June 5. All four indexes went into the midday break off their respective intraday highs.

"The positive official PMI shows corporate confidence improved after official comments in the last few weeks provided some assurance on growth, which along with the cash injections this week, is helping markets," said Jackson Wong, Tanrich Securities' vice-president for equity sales.

Angang Steel spiked 4.4 percent in Hong Kong and 1.4 percent in Shenzhen after the official PMI, which focuses on big and state-owned firms, rose to 50.3 in July from 50.1 in June, surpassing expectations for 49.9.

The HSBC PMI, which covers small and private companies, dipped to 47.7 in July from June's 48.2 - the weakest reading since August 2012 and matching a preliminary figure published last week.

Thursday's China data came after the State Council again pledged to step up spending on urban infrastructure projects and public services in a statement after a regular meeting late on Wednesday.

While the country's Iron and Steel Association said on Wednesday that steel demand was expected to remain weak in the second half, Angang is likely seen as an outlier, expecting a return to profitablity for a second successive quarter.

China shipping, another sector suffering from chronic overcapacity, also had some respite.

Shares of China Rongsheng, the country's largest private shipbuilder, surged 9.8 percent after announcing plans to issue HK$1.4 billion ($180.52 million) in convertible bonds. Barclays said conversion would result in a 20 percent increase in outstanding shares, while pointing out the subscriber of the issue to be a member of a private equity VMS Investment Group.

The embattled shipbuilder had appealed to the government and large shareholders for financial assistance last month, after cutting its workforce and delaying payments amid a global shipping downturn.

Sentiment was further buoyed by a second cash injection by the People's Bank of China this week, bringing the week's total to 136 billion yuan ($22.19 billion).

This is its first time it has actively injected cash into the money markets via reverse repos since February, in another sign that Beijing is ready to support growth via targetted steps as it shifts its focus towards quality growth.

CHINA PROPERTY STRONG AGAIN

Property and cement A-shares were also buoyed by a private survey that showed new home prices in China rising 7.8 percent in July from a year earlier.

The official China Securities Journal reported an official with the National Development and Reform Commission as saying that home price increases in first tier cities are not serious and the trend will continue.

Poly Real Estate climbed 2 percent in Shanghai, while Anhui Conch Cement climbed more than 2 percent each in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Cheung Kong Holdings climbed 1.8 percent ahead of its interim earnings due after markets shut on Thursday. Down 6.7 percent on the year, it is currently trading at a 34 percent discount to its historical median 12-month forward earnings multiple, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/01/markets-hongkong-china-stocks-idUKL4N0G20CQ20130801?feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews

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Reports: 'X Factor's' Simon Cowell to be a dad

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

3 hours ago

Mazel tov, Simon Cowell! The 53-year-old former "American Idol" judge and current "X Factor" judge is going to be a daddy for the first time, according to reports.?

But it's not actually that simple: The expectant mother is Lauren Silverman, a New York socialite who happens to be the wife of one of Cowell's friends, Andrew Silverman.

As TODAY's Katy Tur reported Thursday, Cowell hasn't commented on the reports, but one of his assistants told People magazine, "This is a very sensitive issue, and all media inquiries are being dealt with by his U.S. attorney."

Neither that attorney nor Silverman's family attorney responded to requests for comment by NBC News.?

Andrew Silverman filed for divorce in Manhattan Supreme Court on July 15, according to the New York Daily News. Cowell was named as a co-respondent in the proceedings.

The pair have been photographed together several times and were spotted visiting a home for sale in Los Angeles. In December, they attended a charity event separately, but Silverman sat next to Cowell's then-fiancee, Mezhgan Hussainy.

Cowell has never been married, and told GQ magazine last September that he had ruled out having children at his age. "With the way I live my life, I wouldn't have the patience," he said then. "I'd sort of want people born at the age of 10."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/simon-cowell-expecting-child-wife-friend-say-reports-6C10817474

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Photo gallery: Honeybear and Hoss get hitched at doggie wedding

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Source: http://www.news-press.com/article/20130731/VOLUNTEERING/130731013/1002/RSS01

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Guided growth of nanowires leads to self-integrated circuits

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Teaching nanowires self-control from the outset enabled scientists to produce complex electronic nanocomponents.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/a8fYWGPz8zQ/130731122827.htm

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5 Secrets of a Super-Green House

Builders in Ontario have completed what they say could be the most environmentally friendly house in Canada, and reading though the partial list of features, I believe them.

Low-Hanging Fruit

A quick look at what it takes to be the green champion of an entire country is both encouraging and overwhelming at the same time. On the encouraging side are the design features and building systems that seem reasonably doable. For example:

High Insulation Values: The foundation is insulated with up to 8 inches of tiny glass balls, originally manufactured as a lightweight additive for concrete, that provide an insulation value of at least R12. The walls are constructed with prefabricated, straw-bale Bio-SIPs that provide R35-level insulation. Neither of these insulating methods is standard procedure, but increasing R-values is achievable in any building though a variety of methods.

A Tight Building Envelope: This green house is sealed super-tight, the idea being that keeping conditioned air inside the structure saves energy. There is an ongoing discussion about the pros and cons of super-sealing a house and relying on mechanical means to bring in fresh air, but if you're looking to improve energy efficiency, sealing up air leaks is something you can do yourself.

High-Efficiency Appliances and Solar Energy: The house uses an efficiency air-source heat pump that can operate in extreme cold?as low as minus-22 degrees F. Electricity for the house is provided by an advanced solar array. It also has a contract with a utility company to draw renewable energy when solar is unavailable.

Major Challenges

On the overwhelming side of the equation are features that seem, at first glance, more of a challenge. But given the benefits over many years of use, maybe these steps are worth the effort and cost.

Fully Composting Toilets: The house has only a gray water sewer connection. All toilet waste is flushed away by a foam mixture and into an advanced composting system. The system requires only 0.02 gallons of water per flush?considerably less than the industry-leading 1.6 gallons for a conventional toilet. Different? Yes. But there's no arguing the reduction in environmental impact on a per-house basis. What to do with all that, um, compost though?

16-Inch-Thick Exterior Walls: The Bio SIP walls mentioned above have at least one major drawback: They are 16 inches thick! That makes it impossible to use standard windows and doors without relying on a fair amount of extra carpentry and finish work. And if the lot size itself is restrictive, then theydo use up valuable space.

If you're not ready for some of these heavy hitting green techniques, maybe you can start one small room at a time. 5 Easy Ways to Green Your Bathroom should get you going.

Tim Layton is a home and DIY blogger for Popular Mechanics. Follow him on Twitter: @RemodelingGuy

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/5-secrets-of-a-super-green-house-15750403?src=rss

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View Temperature and Humidity on Galaxy S4 With Holo Ambient Temperature

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Source: www.artima.com --- Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with remarkable nine sensors, which includes a temperature and humidity sensor. It lets you check current temperature and humidity level of your surrounding environment. Galaxy S4 does not offer a quick option to use these sensors when in need; however, you can fully utilize... [This is a summary only. Click on the title... ...

Source: http://www.artima.com/forums/flat.jsp?forum=196&thread=353151

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