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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Riot fear over Charles and Diana's wedding
Margaret Thatcher secretly discussed issuing firearms to the police amid fears riots could disrupt the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
Files released by the National Archives in Kew, west London, under the 30-year rule, show the Metropolitan Police Commissioner was so concerned about the security situation he even raised it with the Queen.
In 1981, Mrs Thatcher's Conservative Government was rocked by the worst outbreak of civil unrest since Victorian times as rampaging youths battled the police in cities across England.
During the spring and summer, an explosive cocktail of inner city deprivation, rising unemployment, racial tensions and resentment at police tactics reached boiling point.
After riots erupted in Brixton, south London, in April, a fresh wave of disturbances broke out at the beginning of July - the month of the royal wedding - centred on Toxteth in Liverpool.
Further riots broke out in other cities, prompting fears of a breakdown of law and order.
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Friday, December 30, 2011
Palermo?s Chinese Palace
Chinese Architecture
There are two types of eccentrics: those you feel sorry for, and those you?re secretly envious of. The first kind are poor, and fill their house with cats. They have crazy, stringy hair and scream obscenities at the malicious neighbor kids. The second kind have the good fortune of being royalty, and are able to indulge every screwy whim. ?Bring in that funny peasant boy. Now do your silly dance! I need more cats, a leopard perhaps. And build me a palace? a Chinese palace!? If you?re going to be an eccentric, it?s certainly better to be the rich kind.
On the northern end of the Parco della Favorita is one of Palermo?s strangest buildings: a large and fully decorated Chinese palace. Built in 1799 for King Ferdinand III, during the height of the European craze for all things Oriental, the palace is jarringly out-of-place in the Sicilian capital. We visited just a couple days after the it had been re-opened, following a full renovation.
The tour was free, and we were the only visitors. Despite that, the guide rushed us through as quickly as possible, hardly giving J?rgen time to snap any pictures. I think our lack of Italian made her nervous, or perhaps she was worried we?d start making fun of the palace, which certainly does encourage a sort of mocking incredulity. We were whisked through the rooms of the queen on the second floor, the servants quarters, the dining hall and guest rooms. The king, being eccentric, chose to sleep in the middle of a huge room on the bottom floor, his bed on wheels.
The palace consists of three floors, each decorated with Chinese patterns, writing, or frescoes of pastoral Chinese life. There?s an interesting ?mathematical table? set in the middle of the dining room, with an dumbwaiter carved into its center. With everything freshly renovated, the colorful palace walls and decorations were especially beautiful. Although the focus was Chinese, there are Italian elements as well ? one room is done entirely in the style of Pompeii, painted in the deep red identified with the destroyed city.
Before leaving, we took a stroll through the Italian-style gardens behind the palace, which are nearly as beautiful as the dwelling itself. Strange and compelling, the Chinese Palace is without a doubt the most unexpected building that we?ve found in Palermo. It?s a little difficult to reach with public transportation, but worth the effort, especially considering that you can visit the excellent Pitr? Ethnographic Museum right next door.
Location on our Palermo Map
-This reminds us the Glorieta Castle in Bolivia
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/For91Days/~3/lX3tizlgdKo/
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Apple Ranked as Top Smartphone Manufacturer and 9th Top U.S. Web Brand in 2011
This entry needs translation. To help us and submit a translation please click here 
Recent Apple News Entries
2011-12-29 00:55:43 - Apple Ranked as Top Smartphone Manufacturer and 9th Top U.S. Web Brand in 2011
2011-12-29 00:09:10 - Watch the Times Square Ball Drop on New Years Eve From Your iPhone
2011-12-28 20:47:33 - WTF?! I Wanted an iPhone!!! [Video]
2011-12-28 20:10:46 - Foxconn to Obtain Assembly Orders for Apple Television?
2011-12-28 18:15:30 - RedSn0w and Corona Updated to Fix Launchctl Error With Untethered Jailbreak
2011-12-28 17:52:15 - Intel to Release New Ivy Bridge Processors on April 8th?
2011-12-28 15:50:14 - Record, Edit and Organize Audio Files
2011-12-28 14:57:23 - iOS vs. Android: Christmas Face-Off [Chart]
2011-12-28 14:25:11 - Apple Suppliers to Start Preparing Materials for 32 and 37-Inch Television?
2011-12-28 05:43:32 - Seas0nPass Will Be Updated to Perform Untethered Jailbreak of the Apple TV
[more][rss]
Nielsen has ranked Apple as the Top Smartphone Device Manufacturer and 9th Top U.S. Web Brand for 2011.
As 2011 comes to a close, Nielsen reviewed the top online destinations, social media sites, and smartphone devices. Google was the most-visited U.S. Web brand, while Facebook held its lead among social networks and blogs. Smartphones were popular in 2011, making up the majority of new phone purchases with Apple as the top smartphone manufacturer and Android as the leading OS.
Check out the full lists below...
Read More
Recent Apple News Entries
2011-12-29 00:55:43 - Apple Ranked as Top Smartphone Manufacturer and 9th Top U.S. Web Brand in 2011
2011-12-29 00:09:10 - Watch the Times Square Ball Drop on New Years Eve From Your iPhone
2011-12-28 20:47:33 - WTF?! I Wanted an iPhone!!! [Video]
2011-12-28 20:10:46 - Foxconn to Obtain Assembly Orders for Apple Television?
2011-12-28 18:15:30 - RedSn0w and Corona Updated to Fix Launchctl Error With Untethered Jailbreak
2011-12-28 17:52:15 - Intel to Release New Ivy Bridge Processors on April 8th?
2011-12-28 15:50:14 - Record, Edit and Organize Audio Files
2011-12-28 14:57:23 - iOS vs. Android: Christmas Face-Off [Chart]
2011-12-28 14:25:11 - Apple Suppliers to Start Preparing Materials for 32 and 37-Inch Television?
2011-12-28 05:43:32 - Seas0nPass Will Be Updated to Perform Untethered Jailbreak of the Apple TV
[more][rss]
Follow iClarified
Follow @iClarified The iClarified Newsletter is sent once a day and includes any news or tutorials posted in the last 24 hours. To signup for the Newsletter click here. Make sure you choose "Yes" to be added to our Mailing List.Source: http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=19037
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INSIDE THE RASPBERRY PI: How This $25 ... - Business Insider
The Raspberry Pi is a $25 computer that is powerful enough to run Quake 3, a pretty intense 3D video game. It plugs straight into a TV with an HDMI output and it's designed to be cheap enough that anyone can buy.
So why is the Raspberry Pi foundation, the organization behind this charming device, making the computers in the first place?
We spoke with Eben Upton, executive director of the Raspberry Pi foundation to find out why. Here's what we learned:
- It's primarily intended for the education market. The whole idea was conceived as a way to get kids to learn how to manipulate and program computers earlier on.
- The Raspberry Pi foundation wants to open-source the technology so "a company in China can produce a million computers" for developing countries and schools. The foundation expects third parties to start developing Raspberry Pi devices midway through 2012.
- The multimedia performance of the Raspberry Pi is "substantially better" than the Tegra 3, a chip used in many modern smartphones, Upton said. The only smartphone that comes close to the Raspberry Pi's performance is the Galaxy S 2, he said.
- They don't intend to make money off it.?While you could easily turn something like this into a fully operational business, the Raspberry Pi foundation will remain a not-for-profit, Upton said.
- Around 10,000 units should be available once or twice a month.?There's an upper limit of about 100,000 that the Raspberry Pi foundation can produce in a year, though.
And here's the full interview:
BUSINESS INSIDER: Why did you guys want to build such a cheap computer?
Eben Upton: We came up with the idea because we'd been interviewing potential undergraduates to come to Cambridge university about 5 years ago. Both the number of people applying and the stuff you could have relied on them already done was getting worse. The numbers were going down and could hardly rely on the people you did get to know anything about computers.
We looked around for reasons why this happened. The thing that came to me, the people of my generation had small computers when they were kids. They had TRSATs, they had these machines and they were programmable. You turn them on and the first thing you could do was print "hello world." These are going away and have been replaced by game consoles or PCs, which are programmable.?
I started looking for a way you could provide a machine cheaply enough that you could give you children, settling on this $25, $35 price point. Over the last 5 years, we've been looking at ways for making a machine like this. I joined Broadcom and it turns out Broadcom made chips that ware really cheap. You could build a pretty respectable computer at the $25 point and the foundation is really an organization that brings out the possibilities of this.
Now you've got a chip that can meet the price point, the foundation is a way to do that.
BI: So it's a shot at getting kids to learn how to program??
EU: Yeah, they're so cheap you can give them to all the children or they can buy them like they buy textbooks. That's the idea, children are enormously illiterate now, but what they know how to do is use computers. They see them as bits as functional magic and have no idea how they work. That's fine for Facebook and browsing, but if you want a career out of this stuff or create something that's high value, you have to understand how the thing works
This is almost nationalist. We were concerned about Cambridge's problem and the university's problem of getting enough qualified students. Then we were concerned about Britain's problem, not producing enough engineering graduates. It was a quite parochial initial view we had. AS soon as news got out that we were going to do this, most of the interest we saw was in the undeveloped world. Russia and Brazil, a lot of people very interested in this.
The project has broadened out from this educational thing to adult hobbyists. A lot of the biggest cheerleaders are guys my age who want to build robots and media centers. Also people in the developed world where you can get performance out of places with televisions but not computers. It turns your TV into a workable productivity computer.
BI: Why show off the video game performance of it, then?
EU: I guess what we tried to do, we showed you running a web browser, a piece of productivity software. We wanted to emphasize everything the chip can do. It's a maddeningly powerful process, it will run a desktop. It won't set the world on fire with its desktop performance, but it has a lot of multimedia performance. It can do 1080p HD video playback. We wanted to put out a series of videos capturing it doing these things that surprise people at that price point.?
BI: Do you guys ever plan to make money? Or turn this into a business??
EU: There is no corporate organization. The Raspberry Pi foundation has six trustees, I'm the executive director of the foundation. The foundation owns all the intellectual property embodied in the device and is the business entity procuring the manufacturing and handling distribution. It's a limited company under English company law. It's possible to take a company like that and register it as a charity. The company is registered as a not-for-profit.?
The money you get is recycled back into the business. The bearers of the trustees have given loads of money to the foundation. That provides the working capital required to pay for chip infantry. The primary limit on our scale is the working capital to hold our infantry and buffer it as it runs through the company, we have pretty insignificant fixed overheads.
We've raised capital in 10,000 unit batches to build the devices. That's the money we need, that will provide us, but there's an upper limit to how many devices you can build in a year at that rate. With best use of working capital you can build 100,000 devices each year, to scale we'll have to raise additional capital. We're intending to release the designs for the device at due cost. We can't make any money out of this, we have no incentive to keep the design of the device secret.
We do hope third parties will be able to manufacture clones. We can expand the concept without having to expand the capital base.
BI: Does that mean you guys are planning on releasing a second version??
EU: We're comfortable with our multimedia performance, we do realize our ARM performance is kind of retro. 700MHz is enough, but it could be more, but we don't currently have any plans for a successor.
Obviously we're careful not to speculate. We'll see how this one goes. The history is full of computer companies that have imagined the next product and talked about it and then people have fallen out of sway. There are no concrete plans. Look at?Apple, it's a company that I really admire in a lot of ways and they are extremely good at controlling information and their image. We're going to do that.
BI: So when are you taking reservations for the device??
EU: We actually haven't taken pre-orders. We built an initial prototype batch, alpha boards, we've had those for several months. We've built a very short run of the final device, a test run to make sure the design is sound. It does appear to be sound, we found one small design defect, it's a five minute fix and we've fixed that now. We're in the process of committing a manufacturing run. We've bought parts for 10,000 devices and we are in the process of committing a manufacturing run for that.
When those devices come back in a few weeks time, we have a web store that we'll turn on. We'll turn the storefront on with a few thousand devices for sale. I suspect it's gonna take an hour to sell through it at that point, I'm going to hold a few hundred in reserve. We have developers we've committed priority devices to.?
We've been unusual in not taking pre-orders, a lot of people try to fund the capital requirements of the project by taking pre-orders. I think we could do that, but it's always felt very risky to me. It creates the risk of, if something goes wrong, we're going to end up having defrauded a lot of people a lot of money. Even now, with a workable device, we're still very careful about not taking people's money until we have a physical device in our hands.
BI: How often do you expect to have Raspberry Pi computers available?
EU:?I suspect we can do a batch slightly more than once a month. Looking at the supply chain, it will require some careful planning to do that within our capital requirement. I think that's pretty achievable. The aim very early on is to get these designs into the hands of the parties. We would like nothing more than some company in China to make a million of these. It would be perfect, we would achieve our goal, which is ubiquitous presence of cheap computers without having all the requirements of doing capital raising to scale.?
Fingers crossed. I hope that'll be in the first half of next year, clones will be a factor.
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NBA: Los Angeles Lakers 96, Utah 71
Published: Dec. 28, 2011 at 1:43 AM
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Kobe Bryant scored 26 points and Pau Gasol added 22 to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 96-71 win over Utah Tuesday.
The win was the first of the season for the Lakers, who lost their first two games, and the first for new head Coach Mike Brown.
Bryant hit three of his five shots from 3-point range. Metta World Peace scored 14 points and Troy Murphy didn't score, but he led Los Angeles with 11 rebounds.
Paul Millsap led Utah with 18 points and eight rebounds. The game was the first of the season for the Jazz.
Utah shot 32 percent from the field and did not score 20 points in any quarter until they tallied 25 in the fourth. They were outscored 30-15 in the third quarter.
Source: http://pheed.upi.com/click.phdo?i=e2d2f40a8e7f451fa7d6016158487804
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
'Speculation that Israel has nuclear weapons deters Iran'
'Speculation that Israel has nuclear weapons deters Iran' ??
?????Tuesday 27th December, 2011??Source: Jerusalem Post ??
| President Peres says that mystery, rumors surrounding Dimona nuclear facility serves as a powerful deterrent against Israel's enemies: "Iran is very dangerous, but there is no need to get hysterical." | Breaking News |
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Source: http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?rid=202164541&cat=c08dd24cec417021
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Report: Israeli troops roamed freely in Sudan
Sudanese media brimming with conspiracy theories on alleged Israeli strike against arms smuggling convoys. One report claims Sudan asked Egypt's help in detecting Israeli invasion of its airpsace Roi Kais
Speculation as to an alleged Israeli strike in Sudan dominated Sudanese press reports in the past week. The Al-Rakoba newspaper claimed that two Israeli Apache helicopters landed in an island off the Sudan coast where a radar station is located. According to the report, IDF soldiers roamed the island freely and the helicopters managed to return safely without being intercepted by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
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The report further mentioned that the military forces arrived at the scene only after a report exposing the alleged attack was published. It said that local police, army and security forces could not agree on who was to handle the incident.
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Related stories:
- Report: Israel bombed Sudan targets
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It was further reported that the Sudanese government kept silent on the issue. Unlike the initial report at the Al-Intibaha newspaper, Al-Rakoba claims that the alleged Israeli attack took place in late November. The Egyptian air force reportedly scanned the area in a number of sorties. Israel, it should be noted, never confirmed it had attacked in Sudan.
?
A commentator at the Sudanese Online website tried to shed some light on the mysterious strike. He claimed that the Sudanese Armed Forces asked Egypt to inform them whether its radars detect an Israeli invasion of Sudan's airspace or any Israeli submarine presence in the Red Sea. The commentator said that despite the army's denial, President Omar al-Bashir arrived at the scene via a helicopter. He remarked that Sudan could not protect its own soldiers.
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After the president's visit, Sudan's intelligence chief General Mohammad Atta reportedly warned Bashir against visiting the area again, fearing he would be kidnapped or assassinated by Israel.
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The Sudanese commentator claimed that the military maintains its denial of the event to cover for the incompetence of the armed forces in the area who could not detect the movement of foreign bodies.
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If indeed the reports of an Israeli strike are true, it would have been carried out several days prior to the visit of South Sudan President Salva Kirr in Israel. On that same day IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz announced the establishment of a Depth Corps.
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Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4166771,00.html
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Community mourns after Golinski house fire
Updated
About 200 people gathered at a church on Queensland's Sunshine Coast on Tuesday to mourn the deaths of the wife and three daughters of TV chef Matt Golinski.
Rachel Golinski and their daughters - Starlia, 13, and 12-year-old twins Sage and Willow - perished in a blaze that destroyed the family's home at Tewantin early on Boxing Day.
Matt Golinski remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital after suffering extensive burns while trying to save his family.
Many residents have been leaving flowers near the driveway as a mark of respect.
The local Anglican Church, located in the same street, has opened its doors to help residents cope with the tragedy.
"It's for people who want to come and talk and share their thoughts," said Reverend Mark Calder, rector of the Anglican Church of Noosa.
"There will be a few words of hope offered. It's an opportunity for people to get together and just talk and get some support."
The Golinski family were not members of the church, but were known and respected in the community.
Police have finished their on-site investigation of the fatal fire. They say the investigation is continuing but it appears the fire was not suspicious.
Golinski, 39, a local restaurateur who appears on TV show Ready Steady Cook, suffered burns to more than 40 per cent of his body.
He was taken to Nambour Hospital and was later flown to the Royal Brisbane Hospital for specialist treatment.
The fire were so intense it took emergency crews 90 minutes to bring the flames under control.
Neighbours reported hearing explosions and cries for help; some grabbed hoses, but there was little they could do.
Concerns have been raised that it took an ambulance almost 30 minutes to arrive at the scene.
But authorities say three Queensland Ambulance Service units in the Tewantin area were already responding to other cases.
First posted
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Eagles blew many chances this season
By ROB MAADDI
updated 7:27 p.m. ET Dec. 25, 2011
PHILADELPHIA - For all those super expectations, all the preseason hype, all the big-name additions, the Philadelphia Eagles are left to ponder all that went wrong.
Despite their late-season surge ? a three-game winning streak ? the Eagles (7-8) aren't going to the playoffs. That's the reality for this Dream Team.
So before they begin looking ahead to next season, they're thinking about the 'what ifs?' One play could be the difference in several of the losses, especially because the Eagles blew five fourth-quarter leads.
"If we would have gotten into the playoffs, I feel we would have definitely done some damage," quarterback Michael Vick said after Saturday's 20-7 win at Dallas. "It's unfortunate that we didn't and that's the game of football. If you make some mistakes early and you get behind in the count in the win/loss column, you sell yourself short in the end and you're in the position that we are in. We're just happy that we are finishing strong. We have one more game to play and we're going to give it everything we've got."
Vick and his teammates wasted an opportunity to repeat as division champions in a mediocre NFC East that will crown a champion ? either the Cowboys or New York Giants ? with no more than nine wins.
The Eagles entered Saturday at 6-8 and still had a chance to win the division, but were eliminated when the Giants beat the New York Jets, rendering their game at Dallas meaningless.
"I've watched this team grow as the weeks have went on," Vick said. "The last three or four weeks, we've come together as a team. It's a family environment, a family atmosphere and that translates to winning. That's why you see a different team. I think we are well put together and well fit. We're playing together and that's what it's all about. But it takes time to build that chemistry, build that unity, that togetherness. Doing it now, it's exciting for me and there's not a place that I'd rather be each and every day."
When the Eagles went on a spending spree and brought in Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cullen Jenkins, Steve Smith, Ronnie Brown and Vince Young to join a roster that already had a talented core of star players, expectations were elevated to perhaps unrealistic levels.
Even management declared this an all-or-nothing season in which nothing less than a Super Bowl victory would be considered a success. Now the Eagles are looking back and wondering how much they really needed those offseason minicamps and a full training camp.
"We are finishing strong, and are showing the fans and everybody else what the true Eagles could have been, what we could have been doing at the beginning of the season," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "It just took a while to get there. We take that into the offseason and don't look back."
It seemed the Eagles could be headed for major changes when they were 4-8. Fans wanted coach Andy Reid fired and it appeared offensive-line-coach-turned-defensive-coordinator Juan Castillo would lose his job.
But a strong finish could keep this coaching staff together for at least another season. Reid is missing the playoffs for just the fourth time in 13 years, so this is new territory for many of his players.
"This is an unfamiliar feeling, an unfamiliar sight," wide receiver DeSean Jackson said. "I've never really witnessed this. It's a reality check. Look in the mirror. Everybody has to check themselves. Hopefully, we can finish strong and come back in the offseason or next year, whenever we are all together, and really eliminate all the mistakes we had early on."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Monday, December 26, 2011
A novel FoxM1-Caveolin signaling pathway promotes pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis.
Over-expression of FoxM1 leads to epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cell phenotype in pancreatic cancer cells.
Bao B, Wang Z, Ali S, Kong D, Banerjee S, Ahmad A, Li Y, Azmi AS, Miele L, Sarkar FH. J Cell Biochem. 2011 Sep; 112(9):2296-306.
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Report: Chinese activist charged with subversion (AP)
BEIJING ? A veteran Chinese activist has been charged with subversion, a human rights group said Saturday, after another dissident was jailed for nine years in a crackdown aimed at preventing Arab Spring-style democratic uprisings.
Chen Xi was arrested Nov. 29 and charged Friday in the southern province of Guizhou, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. The Hong Kong-based center said Chen, who left prison in 2005 after serving a 10-year sentence, was accused of writing 30 essays that incited subversion.
A man who answered the phone at the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court said he had no information about the case.
On Friday, activist Chen Wei was sentenced to nine years, also on subversion charges.
Communist leaders launched a sweeping effort to crush dissent early this year in response to anonymous online calls urging Chinese to imitate protests that toppled governments in North Africa and the Middle East.
Human rights activists have criticized the ruling party's use of vague subversion laws to jail its critics. Authorities began using the subversion law against activists after repealing a widely criticized law on counterrevolutionary activities.
Chen Xi, 57, was active in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and was sentenced to three years in prison, the Information Center said in a statement. It said he was jailed for 10 years in 1995 on charges of counterrevolutionary offenses.
After his release, Chen was the first activist to sign the Charter 08 manifesto calling for an end to one-party rule and advocating democratic reforms, according to the Information Center.
The charter's co-author, Liu Xiaobo, who also is imprisoned on subversion charges, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his pro-democracy activism.
Also this week, a government conference on politics and law called for a struggle against "hostile forces at home and abroad" and "illegal religious activities" next year, according to the Information Center, which is run by a mainland activist who lives in Hong Kong.
"Human rights conditions will continue to worsen next year," the Information Center said.
China's communist leadership was spooked early this year when online messages called for a Chinese "Jasmine Revolution," the name of the uprising in Tunisia.
Even though few outright demonstrators responded to the protest calls, China launched one of its broadest campaigns of repression in years, rounding up dozens of bloggers, lawyers and intellectuals. Most have since been released.
Others rounded up include Beijing activist Wang Lihong, who was sentenced to nine months in jail in September for staging a protest on behalf of other activists, and Yang Qiuyu, a Beijing activist who was sentenced to two years of re-education through labor.
Chen Wei's sentence appears to be the heaviest meted out in the crackdown, said Wang Songlian, a researcher with Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong-based advocacy group.
On Saturday, the European Union ambassador to Beijing, Markus Ederer, expressed concern about the sentence.
"The delegation of the European Union to China is deeply concerned by news of the disproportionate sentence handed down to democracy activist Chen Wei," Ederer said. "The EU firmly upholds freedom of expression as a universal human right and we encourage political debate rather than the use of criminal law as a means to resolve diverging political opinions."
Chen Wei, 42, previously served time for participating in the 1989 protests and was sentenced to five years in 1994 for "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."
Amnesty International called for Chen Wei's release, saying his sentence was "clearly retaliation" for his criticism of the Communist Party.
___
Associated Press writer Gillian Wong contributed.
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sirocco Enterprises recalls cocktail mix on allergy fears (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Sirocco Enterprises, Inc is recalling bottles of Bloody Mary cocktail mix because it contains soy and wheat not listed on the label that could cause serious allergic reactions, the company said on Friday.
The Jefferson, Louisiana-based company is recalling its 33.8 fluid ounce bottles of Pat O'Brien's Bloody Mary Cocktail Mix that were distributed at retail stores nationwide and over the Internet.
The mix had been distributed in packaging that did not list the presence of soy and wheat in the product.
People with allergies to soy and wheat could be at risk for serious or life-threatening allergic reactions if they consume the mix, Sirocco said.
No illnesses associated with this issue have been reported to date, the company said.
Sirocco halted production and distribution of the mix until the problem is resolved.
(Reporting by Lauren Keiper; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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CAD for RNA
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The computer assisted design (CAD) tools that made it possible to fabricate integrated circuits with millions of transistors may soon be coming to the biological sciences. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed CAD-type models and simulations for RNA molecules that make it possible to engineer biological components or "RNA devices" for controlling genetic expression in microbes. This holds enormous potential for microbial-based sustainable production of advanced biofuels, biodegradable plastics, therapeutic drugs and a host of other goods now derived from petrochemicals.
"Because biological systems exhibit functional complexity at multiple scales, a big question has been whether effective design tools can be created to increase the sizes and complexities of the microbial systems we engineer to meet specific needs," says Jay Keasling, director of JBEI and a world authority on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. "Our work establishes a foundation for developing CAD platforms to engineer complex RNA-based control systems that can process cellular information and program the expression of very large numbers of genes. Perhaps even more importantly, we have provided a framework for studying RNA functions and demonstrated the potential of using biochemical and biophysical modeling to develop rigorous design-driven engineering strategies for biology."
Keasling, who also holds appointments with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkley, is the corresponding author of a paper in the journal Science that describes this work. The paper is titled "Model-driven engineering of RNA devices to quantitatively-program gene expression." Other co-authors are James Carothers, Jonathan Goler and Darmawi Juminaga.
Synthetic biology is an emerging scientific field in which novel biological devices, such as molecules, genetic circuits or cells, are designed and constructed, or existing biological systems, such as microbes, are re-designed and engineered. A major goal is to produce valuable chemical products from simple, inexpensive and renewable starting materials in a sustainable manner. As with other engineering disciplines, CAD tools for simulating and designing global functions based upon local component behaviors are essential for constructing complex biological devices and systems. However, until this work, CAD-type models and simulation tools for biology have been very limited.
"Identifying the relevant design parameters and defining the domains over which expected component behaviors are exerted have been key steps in the development of CAD tools for other engineering disciplines," says Carothers, a bioengineer and lead author of the Science paper who is a member of Keasling's research groups with both JBEI and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences. "We've applied generalizable engineering strategies for managing functional complexity to develop CAD-type simulation and modeling tools for designing RNA-based genetic control systems. Ultimately we'd like to develop CAD platforms for synthetic biology that rival the tools found in more established engineering disciplines, and we see this work as an important technical and conceptual step in that direction."
Keasling, Carothers and their co-authors focused their design-driven approach on RNA sequences that can fold into complicated three dimensional shapes, called ribozymes and aptazymes. Like proteins, ribozymes and aptazymes can bind metabolites, catalyze reactions and act to control gene expression in bacteria, yeast and mammalian cells. Using mechanistic models of biochemical function and kinetic biophysical simulations of RNA folding, ribozyme and aptazyme devices with quantitatively predictable functions were assembled from components that were characterized in vitro, in vivo and in silico. The models and design strategy were then verified by constructing 28 genetic expression devices for the Escherichia coli bacterium. When tested, these devices showed excellent agreement ? 94-percent correlation - between predicted and measured gene expression levels.
"We needed to formulate models that would be sophisticated enough to capture the details required for simulating system functions, but simple enough to be framed in terms of measurable and tunable component characteristics or design variables," Carothers says. "We think of design variables as the parts of the system that can be predictably modified, in the same way that a chemical engineer might tune the operation of a chemical plant by turning knobs that control fluid flow through valves. In our case, knob-turns are represented by specific kinetic terms for RNA folding and ribozyme catalysis, and our models are needed to tell us how a combination of these knob-turns will affect overall system function."
JBEI researchers are now using their RNA CAD-type models and simulations as well as the ribozyme and aptazyme devices they constructed to help them engineer metabolic pathways that will increase microbial fuel production. JBEI is one of three DOE Bioenergy Research Centers established by DOE's Office of Science to advance the technology for the commercial production of clean, green and renewable biofuels. A key to JBEI's success will be the engineering of microbes that can digest lignocellulosic biomass and synthesize from the sugars transportation fuels that can replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels in today's engines.
"In addition to advanced biofuels, we're also looking into engineering microbes to produce chemicals from renewable feedstocks that are difficult to produce cheaply and in high yield using traditional organic chemistry technology," Carothers says.
While the RNA models and simulations developed at JBEI to date fall short of being a full-fledged RNA CAD platform, Keasling, Carothers and their coauthors are moving towards that goal.
"We are also actively trying to make our models and simulations more accessible to researchers who may not want to become RNA control system experts but would nonetheless like to use our approach and RNA devices in their own work," Carothers says.
While the work at JBEI focused on E. coli and the microbial production of advanced biofuels, the authors of the Science paper believe that their concepts could also be used for programming function into mammalian systems and cells.
"We recently initiated a research project to investigate how we can use our approach to engineer RNA-based genetic control systems that will increase the safety and efficacy of regenerative medicine therapies that use cultured stem cells to treat diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's," Carothers says.
###
DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: http://www.lbl.gov
Thanks to DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116282/CAD_for_RNA
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
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Photo of jaguar, cubs reveals success story
A photo released by a conservation group Wednesday shows a female jaguar and her two cubs in Bolivia's best-conserved national forest.
The jaguars were photographed near the Isoso Station of the Santa Cruz-Puerto Suarez Gas Pipeline in Kaa Iya National Park in Bolivia. The adult jaguar, nicknamed Kaaiyana, has been seen with her cubs in the area for over a month and has lived near the park for at least six years, according to conservationists with the Wildlife Conservation Society, which releases camera-trap photos on an ongoing basis.
"Kaaiyana's tolerance of observers is a testimony to the absence of hunters in this area, and her success as a mother means there is plenty of food for her and her cubs to eat," said John Polisar, coordinator of the Wildlife Conservation Society's jaguar conservation program.
At more than 13,200 square miles (34,400 square kilometers), Kaa Iya National Park is the largest protected area in Bolivia. The park guards the biggest and best-conserved dry forest in the world. The creation of Kaa Iya in 1995 marked the first time in South America that a protected area was established through the initiative of an indigenous people, the Guarani-Isoceno.
The Wildlife Conservation Society has conducted extensive research in the area and estimates that at least 1,000 jaguars live in the Gran Chaco Jaguar Conservation Unit, a 47,000-square-mile (124,000-square-km) area spanning southern Bolivia and northern Paraguay.
The Kaa Iya Foundation, supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society and private energy companies, surveyed the jaguars in the area. Kaaiyana was first seen at the Isoso site in 2005 with male jaguars, and again in 2006 with a cub. The Kaa Iya park guards work to prevent illegal hunting and settlements along the right-of-way to the gas pipeline and ensure the protection of wildlife, including jaguar prey, in the park.
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"The photographic histories of jaguars in the area by WCS and the reproductive success of this female are testimony that conservation efforts have been effective," said Julie Kunen, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Latin America and Caribbean Programs.
Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.
? 2011 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45756930/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Video: Best Buy cancels orders
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US rep apologizes to first lady on 'big butt' quip (AP)
MILWAUKEE ? Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner has apologized to first lady Michelle Obama for reportedly saying she has a "big butt."
Sensenbrenner's press secretary says the Republican sent the first lady a personal note and released a statement Thursday saying he regrets his "inappropriate comment."
Sensenbrenner's office would not release the note.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ( http://bit.ly/s1kBwP) reports Sensenbrenner referred to Michelle Obama's "big butt" while talking to church members at a Christmas bazaar at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church in Hartford earlier this month.
Church member Ann Marsh-Meigs told the newspaper that she heard Sensenbrenner's remarks. She said the 16-term congressman was speaking about the first lady's efforts to combat childhood obesity, and added, "And look at her big butt."
Michelle Obama's press office didn't immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
___
Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Runaway cart on field after Texas prep football game
Several people struck in bizarre scene after state championship played
By JOHN HENRY
updated 3:18 a.m. ET Dec. 18, 2011
ARLINGTON, Texas - A runaway electric cart raced unmanned from an end zone to midfield at Cowboys Stadium and plowed into several people after a high school championship game Saturday night, bowling over the winning head coach and several others.
An emergency medical technician who declined identification told The Associated Press that one man who was conscious and talking was taken to a hospital with an apparent leg injury. The Arlington medical technician said he had no further information on the man's condition but several others hit or grazed by the cart were checked out by emergency workers as they sprawled stunned on the field.
Separately, a Texas sports league official said a male staffer also was injured, not seriously, when the cart raced across field in a matter of seconds during onfield celebrations after the Texas 5A Division II football championship game. That official also declined identification.
The cart toppled Spring Dekaney coach Willie Amendola, who was being interviewed near the Cowboys midfield star, along with several others clustered about him moments after Dekaney had beaten Cibolo Steele 34-14. Hundreds of people were scattered about the field or were in the stands at the time.
Broadcast footage showed a stunned Amendola falling backwards into the cart's passenger seat as it continued rolling. He appeared to try unsuccesfully to gain control of the cart, spinning the steering wheel with his left hand, before rolling out onto the artificial turf. As he tumbled out, a pursuing field worker hopped aboard and stopped the cart quickly."We have a disturbance down the field. Apparently one of the carts on the field got loose and I think there have been some folks injured in this. Oh my! That's like a runaway cart there. And it finally took someone to stop it," a shaken announcer is heard commenting on air as the cart rolled and then stopped. "That's a scary thing."
Others were seen on the ground afterward as emergency personnel rushed up, including one man sprawled motionless while someone cradled his head. Nearby, others helped a visibly stunned man to his feet.
It was unclear why or how the cart began moving under its own power. Stadium workers were picking up fluorescent orange sideline yard markers and pylons in one of the end zones after the game when the cart unexpectedly took off.
During its race across the field, the cart appeared to roll over the legs of some of those onfield. Afterward, televised broadcasts showed Amendola conducting another interview with a small streak of blood on his left forearm.
An Arlington police dispatcher as well as a spokeswoman for Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, where at least one injured person was reported taken, told AP they had no information to release early Sunday.
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Off the Bench: Manuel de los Santos, a former top baseball prospect who lost his left leg in a motorcycle accident, took up golf and now has a 3 handicap. (video)
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45713132/ns/sports-other_sports/
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Newt Gingrich Argues 'Dictatorial' Judges Need Political Discipline
WASHINGTON -- In Thursday night's Republican presidential debate, the Fox News moderators announced that they would ask one question that had not been asked in previous debates: Is the judicial plan that Newt Gingrich talks up these days -- to subpoena and impeach judges and abolish courts for controversial decisions -- "totally irresponsible" or not? Gingrich received raucous applause when he answered by denouncing the judiciary as "grotesquely dictatorial," arguing that it needs to be tamed by the legislative and executive branches, and calling for the abolition of "anti-American" courts.
Attacking judges is not a new cause for the former House speaker. Last year he was one of the first national figures to support, with words and money, an unprecedented effort in the state of Iowa to oust three judges not because they had breached any ethical rules, but because a segment of the populace disagreed with one ruling. That effort has led to a politicization of Iowa's judicial selection process, which was designed to avoid politics. It also represents another example of Gingrich's pressuring an institution that did not work his way until it did.
In 2010, Gingrich provided $350,000, through a nonprofit he controlled and through fundraising, to a campaign by social conservatives to defeat three of the seven Iowa Supreme Court judges who had ruled in favor of gay marriage just one year earlier. In total, the anti-gay marriage forces spent $1 million in their successful campaign with the early money secured by Gingrich playing a major role.
Spending by interest groups in judicial elections has risen dramatically over the last decade. A report released in October by the Brennan Center for Justice, Justice at Stake and the National Institute of Money in State Politics found that outside groups accounted for one-third of the $38.4 million spent in state Supreme Court elections across the country in the 2009-10 cycle. Total spending in judicial elections over the past decade has more than doubled from the previous decade.
The groups behind the report are troubled by the surge in spending because, they argue, politicized judicial elections encourage judges to base their rulings not on the law, but on voters' desires and campaign contributors' needs. They are not alone in this view.
But for Gingrich, the Iowa judicial battle was just another example of him determining, as The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman put it, "precisely where to place the C-4 to blow up the establishment." In the past, Gingrich did the same to the congressional ethics process, C-SPAN and the sense of decorum between the political parties in the name of winning a Republican majority in the House. And it worked.
What he helped blow up this time was a state judicial system designed 50 years ago to avoid partisanship and politics in selecting judges. The state of Iowa has a system of merit-based judicial selection paired with retention elections. Traditionally, only judges accused of corruption or malfeasance lost their retention votes, but this time the election was used to oust three judges over a single ruling.
"Never in our history had we seen anything like this," said Connie Ryan Terrell, chairman of the board of Justice Not Politics, a coalition built to oppose the campaign to defeat the three judges. "The whole point of a retention process is to keep politics out of the courts. It is supposed to be nonpolitical."
When three of the judges who ruled in favor of gay marriage were recalled, the retention process became fully politicized. Social conservative groups are already planning to remove another one of those judges through a retention vote in 2012.
The increased spending around judicial elections and the politicization of the judicial process nationwide have led to calls for reform. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has taken up the cause of judicial independence since her retirement from the bench. "In too many states, judicial elections are becoming political prizefights where partisans and special interests seek to install judges who will answer to them instead of the law and the Constitution," O'Connor said in August 2010.
The Supreme Court itself ruled in 2009 in Caperton v. Massey that spending by outside groups in judicial elections can improperly influence a judge and his future decisions and, in some circumstances, requires recusal. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority, "[T]here is a serious risk of actual bias ... when a person with a personal stake in a particular case had a significant and disproportionate influence in placing the judge on the case by raising funds or directing the judge's election campaign when the case was pending or imminent."
In Thursday's debate, only Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) directly questioned the policies proposed by Gingrich, including breaking up the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and pressuring courts through congressional subpoenas. Paul raised the specter of the court system becoming a political football for partisan elected officials. "[T]he whole thing is if you just say, 'Well, we are going to -- OK, there are 10 courts. Let's get rid of three this year because they ruled a way we didn't like.' That to me is, I think, opening up a can of worms for us and would lead to trouble. But I really, really question this idea that the Congress could subpoena judges and bring them before us. That is a real affront to the separation of the powers," said Paul.
On the other hand, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a longtime critic of judicial rulings on social issues, noted his support for the anti-retention campaign against the three Iowa judges. The audience applauded.
In recent years, Gingrich has made the judiciary a frequent target of his broadsides. He ramped up those attacks as he moved toward a presidential run, calling to remove judges and eliminate courts that rule against what Gingrich deems to be American interests.
"Gingrich, more than any of the other presidential hopefuls, has made attacks on the courts a central part of his campaign and, in particular, a central part of his strategy to reach evangelical and social conservative voters," said the Brennan Center's Adam Skaggs. "You can draw a straight line from Gingrich's involvement in attacks on judges in the Iowa decision to attacks on the campaign trail on federal judges."
In a 2009 speech, Gingrich called for abolishing the 9th Circuit as it now exists because it had ruled seven years earlier that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. (The 9th Circuit ruled again on the case in 2010 and found the phrase to be constitutional.) During his run for the Republican presidential nomination, Gingrich has stated that, if elected president, he would ignore certain Supreme Court rulings on national security and ask Congress to summon for questioning judges who rule against his liking.
These ideas were recently panned by two former Republican attorneys general. In an interview with Fox News, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Gingrich's plans were "dangerous, ridiculous, totally irresponsible, outrageous, off the wall, and would reduce the entire judicial system to a spectacle."
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Fox News, "[T]he notion of bringing judges before Congress like a schoolchild being brought before the principal to me is a little bit troubling. I believe that a strong and independent judiciary doesn't mean that the judiciary is above scrutiny, that it is above criticism for the work that it does. But I cannot support and would not support efforts that would appear to be intimidation or retaliation against judges."
Gingrich's judicial attacks have helped and hurt him with a different constituency: evangelical groups in Iowa. The anti-retention campaign was run by Iowa's social conservative kingmaker Bob Vander Plaats, who has offered some praise of Gingrich. But other evangelicals, concerned about the money Gingrich helped Vander Plaats secure and disturbed by Gingrich's multiple marriages, are running a campaign to discourage Vander Plaats from endorsing the former speaker.
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9-year-old NYC boy chokes in school cafeteria (AP)
NEW YORK ? Family members and a witness say a New York City fourth grader choked on meatballs during lunch earlier this month while school cafeteria workers stood by. The boy later died.
The New York Post ( http://nyp.st/td2pmw) reported Saturday that 9-year-old Jonathan Jewth fell to the ground during lunch Dec. 5 at Public School 47 in the Bronx. He was unconscious before help arrived.
A parent at the school, Andrea Perez, told the newspaper she saw the boy choking but cafeteria workers did nothing. She said at one point they yelled at him to put his fingers down his throat.
"He was on the ground and not moving after a while," Perez said through a Spanish-speaking translator. "Nobody was paying attention and they didn't know how to give aid, nobody knew what to do."
She said she did not know how to resuscitate the boy so she called 911 and started screaming for help. Another parent tried to help the boy, the newspaper reported.
Jewth was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center. Jonathan's family told the newspaper he suffered brain damage and died Monday.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said his death was a tragedy. Education officials haven't responded to requests for comment about the family's and Perez's account.
___
Information from: New York Post, http://www.nypost.com
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Kyle Manscuk makes impact with hometown Rochester Lancers (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
'Historic drop' in death sentences, executions, report says
Erik S. Lesser / AFP - Getty Images file
A Georgia State Patrol trooper watches over demonstrators calling for Georgia state officials to halt the scheduled execution of Troy Davis on Sept. 21. The protests were unsuccessful.
By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com
The number of death sentences imposed in the U.S. has taken an ?historic drop? -- about 75 percent -- over the last 15 years, accompanied by a nearly 60 percent decline in the number of executions, a death penalty awareness group reported Thursday. ?
The release of the annual report by the Death Penalty Information Center follows?recent polls showing a withering of support for capital punishment over controversial cases like that of Troy Davis, who was executed in Georgia in September. The decline in the use of the death penalty also has likely been influenced by states? worsening financial conditions, said Richard Dieter, the center?s executive director.
Capital punishment was imposed in 78 cases this year, down from 315 in 1996 -- the first time that number was below 100 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the report said. There were also 43 executions -- including that of Davis -- in 13 states, down from 98 in 1999, according to the report.
?
Executions by state
| ? | State | 2011 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ? | Texas | 13 | 17 |
| ? | Alabama | 6 | 5 |
| ? | Ohio | 5 | 8 |
| ? | Georgia | 4 | 2 |
| ? | Arizona | 4 | 1 |
| ? | Oklahoma | 2 | 3 |
| ? | Mississippi | 2 | 3 |
| ? | Florida | 2 | 1 |
| ? | Virginia | 1 | 3 |
| ? | South Carolina | 1 | 0 |
| ? | Missouri | 1 | 0 |
| ? | Delaware | 1 | 0 |
| ? | Idaho | 1 | 0 |
| ? | Louisiana | 0 | 1 |
| ? | Utah | 0 | 1 |
| ? | Washington | 0 | 1 |
| ? | Total | 43 | 46 |
msnbc.com
"This is a historic drop in death sentences and I think it?s indicative of deep concerns about the death penalty in the public and it?s mirrored in falling executions, falling support in polls and even in legislation which has abolished the death penalty in a number of states," Dieter said.
Dieter was referring to the abandonment of the death penalty?in Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey and New York in recent years. Three other states ? California, Connecticut and Maryland ? are considering doing away with capital punishment, he said, and Oregon's governor recently declared a moratorium on executions during his tenure.
Dieter said that the legislative action and decline in public support is the result of people being freed from death row because of DNA testing, investigative work by the media and the international outcry over the Davis case, in which seven of the nine eyewitnesses changed their stories.
?I think that shook the confidence that some people had about the death penalty, that it really does risk innocent lives -- even though many are guilty -- there?s still the danger and so juries are returning less death sentences, prosecutors are seeking it less,? he said. ?Courts are looking at these cases more closely and governors are sometimes granting clemency, all because of the doubts and disfavor of the death penalty as it has been applied in the past 10 years.?
Texas led the way in executions in 2011 with 13, followed by Alabama at six, Ohio, 5, and Georgia and Arizona each with four. The South and West accounted for 87 percent of the death sentences, while the Midwest and Northeast made up 12 percent. Meanwhile, many death penalty states, such as Indiana, Maryland and South Carolina, did not impose it during the year, the center said.
A Gallup poll released in mid-October showed that 61 percent of Americans approve of capital punishment as a sentence for those convicted of murder -- the lowest level of support since 1972, when the Supreme Court voided state death penalty laws since they were seen as "being infrequently applied in an unpredictable and arbitrary way," the center said. (The court allowed executions to restart in 1976 after some states revised their death penalty statutes to "limit the haphazardness of the death penalty," the center said.)
Scott Burns, executive director of the National District Attorneys Association, said Wednesday that he ?strongly? disagreed that public sentiment against the death penalty was growing.
?I think that the numbers show that the majority of the public still believe that in those rare and outrageous cases that the death penalty is an appropriate sanction,? he said, noting that murders were down about 50 percent nationwide in the last 20 years. ?One of the reasons for that, I believe, is because ? the criminal justice system has done a good job at targeting those violent offenders nationwide? and handing out ?long and stiff sentences.?
?It hasn?t been a revolving door for the last 20 years, they?re out of commission and as such, crime in every category has gone down,? he added.
Burns also noted that the number of life-without-parole sentences imposed began to grow in the late 1990s, which could account for any decrease in death sentences.
?There were a number of states that passed ? for lack of a better term, a ?truth in sentencing? (law), which said life or life without parole really does mean life without parole,? he said. So in those states,?that "could also be a reason as (to) why we are seeing fewer death penalties. Frankly, there are some people that think it?s a more severe penalty to have somebody sit in prison for?their entire life?than be executed.?
Dollars and cents were another factor contributing to states shuttering their death penalty program, Dieter said. In California, the state?s former prison director and the?former prosecutor who penned California's current death penalty statute are pushing to end it, with a citizens? initiative?expected to be on the ballot next year. A recent study there found that the state?has spent more?than $4 billion?on its capital punishment system since 1978, under which?there have been 13 executions.
?All of the states are facing the questions of cutting back on schools, libraries, even police forces and so they?re trying to find programs that are expensive and aren?t really serving the public well or aren?t working, and I think the death penalty fits into that category,? Dieter said. ?This is not a system that ...?makes practical sense and it?s still costly.?
The problems with the death penalty could lead to attempts to fix the system or to abandon it entirely, said Dieter, noting his group is not necessarily opposed to capital punishment, only to what he termed its unfair and inaccurate application in the U.S. As for its future, he noted: ?I think we?ll see ... not any one grand move, but probably a continuation in 2012 of declining use of the death penalty.?
?
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