Facebook to file $5 billion IPO: IFR (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Facebook is expected to submit paperwork to regulators on Wednesday morning for a $5 billion initial public offering and has selected Morgan Stanley and four other bookrunners to handle the mega-IPO, sources close to the deal told IFR.

The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 picked Morgan Stanley to take the coveted "lead left" role in what is expected to be the largest IPO ever to emerge from Silicon Valley.

The other four bookrunners are Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and JP Morgan, although the underwriting syndicate could be expanded later, IFR cited the sources as saying.

Facebook declined to comment. "Lead left" refers to where the top underwriter's name will appear on the IPO prospectus.

Morgan Stanley's experience in arranging major Internet IPOs - including those of Groupon and Zynga - helped it clinch a pivotal role after an unusually secretive selection process, IFR reported.

Final pricing would not be set for several months, during which the size of the IPO could be increased should investor demand warrant it, IFR added.

The prospective IPO - expected to be one of the largest U.S. market debuts in history - has whipped up a frenzy of investor and media speculation this month, buoying shares in social media peers from RenRen to LinkedIn and igniting fierce competition on Wall Street.

The IPO - a prized trophy for any investment bank - likely set a new standard for how low its arrangers are willing to go on advisory fees to win big business, analysts say.

(Reporting by Anthony Hughes and Stephen Lacey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/bs_nm/us_facebook_ipo

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A's remain open to signing Ramirez

updated 5:09 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2012

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Athletics are open to signing slugger Manny Ramirez but the team is not actively pursuing the free agent.

That was the message Sunday from assistant general manager David Forst, who talked during A's Fanfest held at the Oakland Arena, next door to the Coliseum. A's owner Lew Wolff had suggested the move last week.

"We're open to it," Forst said. "We do have other things going on and we do expect other additions between now and opening day. We have never been in a situation where we had too many good players."

Ramirez applied for reinstatement to Major League Baseball last month. He was suspended for 100 games last year but the ban was trimmed to 50 because he sat out nearly all of last season. The suspension would start with the first game he is eligible to play after signing with a club.

"I think it would be fun," Wolff said. "This should be viewed on the basis of talent. Once he's served the penalty he should be free to do what he wants. I don't know what kind of shape he's in, though I hear he's in great shape."

Ramirez, who will be 40 on May 30, ranks 14th on the career list with 555 home runs. He was 1 for 17 (.059) in five games last season for Tampa Bay, which had signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.02 million. He retired from baseball rather than serve his longer suspension.

"I never actually met him," A's outfielder Josh Reddick said. "But to have a veteran hitter like Manny? That experience can only help us. We're a young team and I would look forward to a guy like that, a guy we can learn from."

Reddick was in the Red Sox organization when Ramirez was traded from Boston to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2008. He made his major league debut with the Red Sox exactly one year later.

Reddick said Ramirez left "an interesting" legacy behind.

NOTES: Wolff also expressed some impatience with Major League Baseball's study committee about the A's planned move to a new stadium site in San Jose. "We should be in it now instead of waiting for it," he said. "It's hard to be patient when it has hurt us everywhere. The only site available to us based on our analysis is the downtown site in San Jose." ... Wolff joked that his grandson no longer speaks to him because of the trade that sent Gio Gonzalez, his favorite player, to the Washington Nationals. ... Forst also denied reports that signing Jonny Gomes doomed OF prospects Michael Taylor and Chris Carter to the minors. "That is not true," he said. "There is a fifth outfield spot and the DH spot. They have an opportunity to be on the 25-man roster." ... A's manager Bob Melvin said he sees Gomes, Reddick, Seth Smith and Coco Crisp as part of a rotation for the outfield and included Collin Cowgill as a possible candidate for the fifth spot. ... The Fanfest drew over 7,000 people.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46182487/ns/sports-baseball/

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From mouse to elephant in 24 million generations

Within as little as 24 million generations, mammals can evolve from the size of a mouse to the size of an elephant, a new study estimates.

This calculation is based on the most rapid increase in size seen in the fossil record after a mass extinction wiped out their much larger competitors, the dinosaurs. They also found animals can shrink more than 10 times as fast as they can grow to giant sizes.

"What we wanted to know is how quickly could they evolve from these tiny, scampering mammals to the behemoths of the land we see now," Alistair Evans, the lead study researcher and an evolutionary biologist at Monash University in Australia, wrote in an email to LiveScience. "It's a classic story of taking advantage of a new opportunity ? the vacant landscape devoid of dinosaurs."

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, about the time the dinosaurs disappeared, mammals were small ? the largest ones appear to have been rodentlike creatures about the size of rabbits, weighing about 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms).

Within about 40 million years, the largest living mammal ever to live had emerged: the Indricotherium.

Related to horses and rhinos, the tusked, tree-leaf-eating Indricotherium is estimated to have weighed as much as 33,000 pounds (15,000 kilograms), according Evans.

Evans and his colleagues looked at size changes within 28 groups of mammals, called orders of mammals, on four continents and all ocean basins. They found a discrepancy between the rate of change within species and the rate of change within higher level groups that include many species, such as orders. Within species, change happens more quickly, but these rates do not last for long.

If they did, the team calculates that mammals could go from mouse-size to elephant-size in 200,000 generations. However, the fossil record demonstrates large-scale changes don't happen this quickly, according to Evans.

While mammals got steadily bigger after the dinosaurs disappeared, the rates at which they did so varied among the groups.

The fastest group was the cetaceans, or aquatic mammals, such as whales and dolphins, which became bigger at about twice the rate of land-dwelling mammals. Cetaceans' ancestors were originally land-dwelling, and the switch to water most likely encouraged them to grow rapidly, since they no longer needed to support their own weight and because large size helps prevent the loss of body heat in water, according to Evans.

1. More science news from msnbc.com

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   4. From mouse to elephant in 24 million generations

The largest primate ? the group to which humans belong ? was Gigantopithecus blacki, an extinct ape that weighed about 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). As impressive as that might look, primates showed the slowest rate of size increase of any group; Evans is not sure what's behind the slow rate.

"There seems to be some intrinsic maximum rate that each order evolves at, which may have something to do with the basic construction or physiology of each group," he wrote. "So it may be really hard to be built like a primate and get very big."

Things can get smaller much faster than they can get big, they also found. Mammals can shrink at more than 10 times the rate at which they get bigger, and among animals living in isolated environments, primarily on islands, the decrease in size can be even more rapid.

For example, dwarf elephants that once inhabited islands in the Mediterranean Sea weighed about 220 pounds (100 kilograms). They are believed to be descended from larger European elephants, weighing 100 times as much, which lived on mainland Europe. This decrease happened in less than 800,000 years, much faster than any rate of increase over the last 70 million years, Evans said.

The research was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

You can follow LiveScience? senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46197362/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Gingrich bemoans Romney's Florida "carpet-bombing"

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, left, talks to an unidentified man after arriving at Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Lutz, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, left, talks to an unidentified man after arriving at Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Lutz, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, left, and his wife Callista, center, arrive at Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Lutz, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, leaves his campaign bus and boards his campaign plane in Panama City, Fla., as he travels to Fort Myers, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks to members of the news media, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, after arriving at the Chester County Airport in Downingtown, Pa. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)

MIAMI (AP) ? Newt Gingrich slammed GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney for "carpet-bombing" his record ahead of Tuesday's presidential primary in Florida, trying to cut into the resurgent front-runner's lead in the final 48 hours before the vote.

On the defensive after barrage of attacks from Romney and a political committee that supports him, Gingrich said Romney had lied and the GOP establishment had allowed it.

"I don't know how you debate a person with civility if they're prepared to say things that are just plain factually false," Gingrich said during appearances on Sunday talk shows. "I think the Republican establishment believes it's OK to say and do virtually anything to stop a genuine insurgency from winning because they are very afraid of losing control of the old order."

Despite Romney's effort to turn positive, the Florida contest has become decidedly bitter and personal. Romney and Gingrich have tangled over policy and character since Gingrich's stunning victory over the well-funded Romney in the South Carolina primary Jan. 21.

Showing no signs of letting up, Gingrich objected to a Romney campaign ad that includes a 1997 NBC News report on the House's decision to discipline the then-House speaker for ethics charges.

"It's only when he can mass money to focus on carpet-bombing with negative ads that he gains any traction at all," Gingrich said.

Gingrich acknowledged the possibility that he could lose in Florida and pledged to compete with Romney all the way to the party's national convention this summer.

An NBC/Marist poll showed Romney with support from 42 percent of likely Florida primary voters and Gingrich slipping to 27 percent.

While Romney had spent the past several days sharply attacking Gingrich, he pivoted over the weekend to refocus his criticism on President Barack Obama, calling the Democratic incumbent "detached from reality." The former Massachusetts governor criticized Obama's plan to cut the size of the military and said the administration had a weak foreign policy.

Gingrich's South Carolina momentum has largely evaporated amid the pounding he has sustained from Romney's campaign and the pro-Romney group called Restore Our Future. They have spent some $6.8 million in ads criticizing Gingrich in the Florida campaign's final week.

Gingrich planned to campaign Sunday in central Florida, while Romney scheduled rallies in the south. He was also looking ahead to the Nevada caucuses Feb. 4, airing ads in that state and citing the endorsement Sunday of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest newspaper.

Gingrich collected the weekend endorsement of Herman Cain, a tea party favorite and former presidential hopeful whose White House effort foundered amid sexual harassment allegations.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, trailing in Florida by a wide margin, planned to remain in Pennsylvania where his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, was hospitalized, and resume campaigning as soon as possible, according to his campaign. She has a genetic condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 18th chromosome.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul has invested little in the Florida race and is looking ahead to Nevada. The libertarian-leaning Paul is focusing more on gathering delegates in caucus states, where it's less expensive to campaign. But securing the nomination only through caucus states is a hard task.

Gingrich appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and ABC's "This Week." Paul was on CNN's "State of the Union."

___

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott in Tampa contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-29-GOP-Campaign/id-2997f46caa454e93874def1d6b33d480

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Tiger Woods shoots 66 to share lead in Abu Dhabi (AP)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates ? Tiger Woods shot a 6-under 66 Saturday for a share of the lead after the third round at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

The 14-time major winner played a consistent round to move to 11 under for the tournament.

"It just seemed like I didn't do a lot of things right but I didn't do a lot of things wrong today, it was just very consistent," Woods said. "You know, made a couple putts here and there ... I stayed away from trouble and tried to keep the ball towards the fat side of some of these pins and I think I did a pretty good job."

Woods is tied with newcomer Robert Rock, who birdied his final two holes to earn the 117th-ranked Englishman a first-ever pairing with the American star on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy (68), Peter Hanson (64), Francesco Molinari (66) and Peter Lawrie (68) are two shots off the pace. Four more players, including overnight leader Thorbjorn Olesen (71) of Denmark, are a shot further back.

Woods, who was two shots back after the second round, started climbing up the leaderboard Saturday with an opening birdie, followed by another on No. 7. He stepped up his game on the back nine, running off four birdies in a bogey-free round that was memorable not for stunning shots but Woods' ability to sink clutch putts and keep his ball in play.

The former world No. 1 grabbed a share of the lead after he narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 10th and settled for birdie. He briefly took the outright lead with a birdie on No. 14 and rolled in a six-footer for birdie on the 18th. The crowd roared with every birdie but Woods held off from his trademark fist pumping.

"There's too many guys up there right now. There's a ton of guys with a chance to win," Woods said. "You know, we have not separated ourselves from the field. The field is very bunched. I need to go out there and put together a solid round of golf, and I can't go out there and shoot even par and expect to win. I've got to go out there and go get it."

Rock, who got his first European Tour win last year in Italy in a playoff with Sergio Garcia, admitted he was star-struck at the prospect of facing off against Woods, calling him "the best guy I've ever seen play golf."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_sp_go_su/glf_abu_dhabi_championship

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Animals Get The Upper Paw, or Hoof, or Claw (preview)

Antigravity | More Science See Inside

Every so often a critter takes a shot at making headlines

By Steve Mirsky ?| January 29, 2012

Image: Matt Collins

In journalism, there?s what you call your dog-bites-man situation. Which is anything too common and expected to be a good story (unless the dog is one of those Resident Evil hellhounds, or the man is Cesar Millan). An example of a dog-bites-man science story is yet another confirmation of Einstein and relativity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Steve Mirsky has been writing the Anti Gravity column since atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were about 358 parts per million. He also hosts the Scientific American podcast Science Talk.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=06f4ff3e53d3b8a10e479108af970713

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Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs

Friday, January 27, 2012

Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan?a young ocean ecologist who had worked in the lush coral reefs of the Caribbean and Sinai Peninsula?found this difficult to believe. It was December 1974.

But Cousteau was right. During the following three-plus decades, Dustan, an ocean ecologist and biology professor at the University of Charleston in South Carolina, has witnessed widespread coral reef degradation and bleaching from up close. In the late 1970s Dustan helped build a handheld spectrometer, a tool to measure light given off by the coral. Using his spectrometer, Dustan could look at light reflected and made by the different organisms that comprised the living reefs. Since then, he has watched reefs deteriorate at an alarming rate. Recently he has found that Landsat offers a way to evaluate these changes globally. Using an innovative way to map how coral reefs are changing over time, Dustan now can find 'hotspots' where conservation efforts should be focused to protect these delicate communities.

Situated in shallow clear water, most coral reefs are visible to satellites that use passive remote sensing to observe Earth's surface. But coral reefs are complex ecosystems with coincident coral species, sand, and water all reflecting light. Dustan found that currently orbiting satellites do not offer the spatial or spectral resolution needed to distinguish between them and specifically classify coral reef composition. So instead of attempting to classify the inherently complex coral ecosystem to monitor their health, Dustan has instead started to look for change?how overall reflectance for a geographic location varies over time.

Dustan uses a time series of Landsat data to calculate something called temporal texture??basically a map showing where change has occurred based on statistical analysis of reflectance information. While Dustan cannot diagnosis the type of change with temporal texture he can establish where serious changes have occurred. Coral communities have seasonal rhythms and periodicities, but larger, significant changes show up as statistical outliers in temporal texture maps and often correlate with reef decline.

A Case Study

Carysfort reef?named for the HMS Carysfort, an eighteenth century British warship that ran aground on the reef in 1770?is considered the most ecologically diverse on the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary's northern seaward edge, but today it is in a state of ecological collapse.

Dustan and colleagues conducted the first quantitative field study of coral health at Carysfort in 1974. After a quarter century their studies showed that coral had declined 92 percent. The coral had succumbed to an array of stressors culminating with deadly diseases.

Using the well-characterized Carysfort reef as his control, Dustan calculated the temporal texture for the reef using a series of 20 Landsat images collected between 1982 and 1996. The resulting temporal texture maps correlated with the known areas of significant coral loss (where coral communities have turned into algal-dominated substrates) and they correctly showed that the seaward shallow regions have had the most detrimental change.

This novel approach to change detection is only possible because the long-term calibration of Landsat data assures that data from year-to-year is consistent. Dustin needs at least 6 to 8 Landsat images to create a reliable temporal texture map, but the more data that is available, the finer the results.

Dustan tested this work in the U.S. because he had a robust study site and because prior to 1999 coverage of reefs outside of the U.S. was spotty. With the Landsat 7 launch in 1999 a new global data acquisition strategy was established and for the first time the planet's coral reefs were systematically and regularly imaged, greatly increasing our knowledge of reefs. The Landsat archive enabled the completing of the first exhaustive global survey of reefs (Millennium Global Coral Reef Mapping Project, http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/news-archive/news_0031.html). Efforts are currently underway to receive and ingest Landsat data collected and housed by international ground-receiving stations. International partners often downlink Landsat scenes of their countries that the U.S. does not, so it is very likely that historic reef images will be added the U.S. Landsat archive during this process.

Carrying on Outside of Carysfort

Temporal texture gives scientists an entirely new way to look at coral reefs. A worldwide study could help managers locate change 'hotspots' and could better inform conservation efforts.

Ideally, after more testing, Dustan would like to see an automatic change detection system implemented to follow major worldwide reef systems. "There is no reason that a form of temporal texture monitoring could not be implemented with current satellites in orbit," Dustan says.

Because reefs are underwater it is difficult to grasp the extensive devastation being exacted upon them. Global temporal texture mapping could bring the ravages into focus.

###

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Thanks to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117143/Detecting_detrimental_change_in_coral_reefs

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Possible new treatment for Rett Syndrome

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2012) ? Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that a molecule critical to the development and plasticity of nerve cells -- brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) -- is severely lacking in brainstem neurons in mutations leading to Rett syndrome, a neurological developmental disorder. The finding has implications for the treatment of neurological disorders, including Rett syndrome that affects one in 10,000 baby girls.

The new discovery is published online in Neuroscience and is expected in the print issue of Neuroscience in March.

Using a mouse model of Rett syndrome, the OHSU team found that mutant neurons in the brainstem fail miserably at making BDNF. When normal neurons are faced with a respiratory challenge, such as low oxygen, they dramatically increase the production of BDNF, whereas mutant neurons do not.

According to the National Institutes of Health, Rett syndrome is estimated to affect one in every 10,000 to 15,000 live births and almost exclusively girls because it is caused by an X-linked gene mutation. In addition to severe problems with motor function, other symptoms of Rett syndrome may include breathing difficulties while awake.

"The new finding, coupled with our previously published data that show BDNF is involved in normal maturation of neuronal pathways controlling cardiorespiratory function, could play a significant role in the development of a treatment for Rett syndrome," said Agnieszka Balkowiec, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator and associate professor of integrative biosciences in the OHSU School of Dentistry; and adjunct assistant professor of physiology and pharmacology in the OHSU School of Medicine. To conduct this research, Balkowiec partnered with John M. Bissonnette, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and cell and developmental biology in the OHSU School of Medicine.

Additional study authors include: Anke Vermehren-Schmaedick, Ph.D., OHSU Department of Biomedical Engineering; Victoria K. Jenkins, B.A., who is currently pursuing her doctorate at Boston University; and Sharon J. Knopp, a research assistant in Bissonnette's lab.

The study was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health; March of Dimes; and International Rett Syndrome Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon Health & Science University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Anke Vermehren-Schmaedick, Victoria K. Jenkins, Sharon J. Knopp, Agnieszka Balkowiec, John M. Bissonnette. Acute intermittent hypoxia-induced expression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor is disrupted in the brainstem of mecp2 null mice. Neuroscience, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.01.017

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127174838.htm

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France mulls Afghan move as Karzai visits (AP)

PARIS ? France's president is expected to announce whether he will order an accelerated pullout of French troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan after a meeting with the Afghan leader.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was holding a long-scheduled Paris meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy Friday ? a week after a Taliban infiltrated the Afghan army and shot dead four French troops in eastern Afghanistan.

Sarkozy's government has been under political pressure to withdraw French troops before the United States' pegged timetable ends in 2014. France holds presidential elections this spring.

After the shootings, France halted its training programs for the Afghan military and threatened to withdraw its 3,600 troops ahead of schedule ? a move that could pressure NATO.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_afghanistan

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Lohan sued by woman allegedly struck by star

Even when Lindsay Lohan is staying out of trouble, trouble seems to find her.

A lawsuit was filed against the starlet today by a woman who claims Lohan hit her while driving through what used to be Lohan's West Hollywood neighborhood.

Roughly 17 months ago, for the record.

MORE: Lindsay Lohan Gets "A" for Behavior During Progress Report--but What About Her Court Outfit?

"To the best of my knowledge, neither Lindsay nor her attorneys have been served with a lawsuit," rep Steven Honig tells E! News. "So we really can't comment on something that hasn't been served through the proper channels."

But, he added, "People like to do this ? give lawsuits to the media before they serve it to Lindsay."

Well, in the

lawsuit obtained by E! News

, plaintiff Nubia Del Carmen Plaza charges that Lohan was driving a rented Maserati GranTurismo when she ran into her at the intersection of Alta Loma Road and Holloway Drive in WeHo while Plaza was crossing the street.

MORE: View the lawsuit

Plaza is demanding unspecified damages to cover "serious personal injuries, pain, suffering and anguish"; past and future medical expenses; and loss of wages and future earning potential due to her inability to perform her usual occupation.

Black & White Car Rental is also named as a defendant. A case management conference is scheduled for May 14 at 8:30 a.m.

GALLERY: Hybrid Hollywood: Stars in Eco-Friendly Cars

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46140013/ns/today-entertainment/

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NASA mission piles on the planets

NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission has confirmed the existence of 26 more planets beyond our solar system. Msnbc.com's Alan Boyle explains how the confirmations were made.

By Alan Boyle

The science team for NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission nearly doubled their list of confirmed planets beyond our solar system in one fell swoop today, announcing the discovery of 26 planets spread among 11 star systems. Their sizes range from just a little bit bigger than Earth to super-Jupiter-size, but they're all closer to their parent stars than Venus is to our own sun.

The accelerating pace of discovery is matched by the diversity seen in the worlds discovered so far, one of the Kepler mission's co-investigators, Harvard astronomer Dimitar Sasselov, told me today.

"There is more diversity out there than our limited imaginations could come up with, which is good," he said.

The $600 million Kepler mission, launched in 2009, now has a list of 61 confirmed planets, and another 2,326 planetary prospects that have yet to be confirmed. At this rate, Kepler's worlds could soon account for the majority of the exoplanets detected beyond our solar system ? a tally that now stands at more than 700.

---

"Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky," Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters, said in a news release. "Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits."

The Kepler space telescope searches for other worlds by staring at more than 150,000 stars in that fist-sized patch of sky, straddling the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. Kepler's instruments can detect the faint dips in starlight that occur on a regular basis as a planet passes over the disk of its parent star, as seen from Earth. By analyzing the patterns of those passes, also known as transits, Kepler's scientists can figure out the orbit and the size of a potential planet ? but not its mass.

An alternative method has to be used to confirm that Kepler is actually looking at a planet rather than something else, such as mutually eclipsing binary stars. The mission's early discoveries were confirmed by looking at the candidates' stars with ground-based telescopes and checking for the telltale gravitational wobbles that are caused by big, close-in planets.

Transit timing variations
Most of the planets added to the list today were confirmed using a different backup method. The Kepler mission's astronomers analyzed subtle changes in the intervals between the transits, caused when multiple orbiting planets exert gravitational pull on each other. The resulting data on acceleration and deceleration can be used to confirm the planets' existence and calculate their masses.

"By precisely timing when each planet transits its star, Kepler detected the gravitational tug of the planets on each other, clinching the case for 10 of the newly announced planetary systems," said Dan Fabrycky, an astronomer at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the lead author for a paper confirming four of the planetary systems, known as Kepler-29, 30, 31 and 32.

Other newly confirmed planetary systems include Kepler-25, 26, 27 and 28, described in a paper with Fermilab's Jason Steffen as lead author; and Kepler-23 and 24, which was the focus of research led by the University of Florida's Eric Ford. In today's release, Ford said the transit timing variation method "dramatically accelerated" the pace of planetary discovery.

Yet another study, led by Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, detected five planets around Kepler-33, a star that is older and more massive than the sun. Those five planets range in size from 1.5 to five times the width of Earth, and they're all closer to their parent star than Mercury is to our own sun.

"The approach that was used to verify the Kepler-33 planets shows that the overall reliability of Kepler's candidate multiple transiting systems is quite high," Lissauer said in today's release. "This is a validation by multiplicity."

Five of the newly confirmed planetary systems (Kepler-25, 27, 30, 31 and 33) contain a pair of worlds that are bound together in a 1:2 resonance. That means the inner planet makes two circuit for every one circuit made by the outer planet. Four other systems (Kepler-23, 24, 28 and 32) have two planets that are linked in a 2:3 resonance, like Pluto and Neptune in our own solar system.

"These configurations help to amplify the gravitational interactions between the planets, similar to how my sons kick their legs on a swing at the right time to go higher," Steffen said.

Fifteen of the 26 planets announced today are Neptune-size or smaller, and the orbital periods range from six to 143 days. The planets' distances from Earth range from 623 light-years (for Kepler-25) to 4,064 light-years (for Kepler-29).

Great expectations
Sasselov, who has just come out with a book about the Kepler quest titled "The Life of Super-Earths," marveled that so many of the newfound worlds are in multiple-planet systems. He recalled that when the Kepler mission was proposed to NASA, more than a decade ago, "there was one little sentence that said maybe two or three of the systems will have multiple transiting planets."

None of the planets announced today would be conducive to life as we know it, because their orbits are so close to their parent stars. It's likely to be just a matter of time before Kepler achieves its main goal ? confirming the existence of Earth-size planets in Earthlike orbits around sunlike stars. Unfortunately, it may be a matter of more time than initially expected.

Funding for the Kepler mission is due to run out in November, but the mission's scientists "don't have enough to statistically complete the core goal of the mission," Sasselov said. It turns out that the data collected by the telescope is "noisier" than expected. That means more observations will be required to confirm the mission's trickiest planetary finds.

The Kepler team has applied for a four-year extension, and is currently waiting for a decision from NASA executives.

More about the planet search:

---

The planetary confirmations are described in four research papers:

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10245353-nasa-mission-piles-on-the-planets

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School lunches to have more veggies, whole grains

First lady Michelle Obama visits the cafeteria as she has lunch with school children at Parklawn elementary school in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday, Jan., 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

First lady Michelle Obama visits the cafeteria as she has lunch with school children at Parklawn elementary school in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday, Jan., 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

First lady Michelle Obama takes a bit of her turkey taco as she has lunch with school children at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Celebrity cook Rachael Ray has lunch with school children at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday, Jan., 25, 2012. She joined first lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the luncheon. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

First lady Michelle Obama visits the cafeteria as she has lunch with school children at Parklawn elementary school in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday, Jan., 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

First lady Michelle Obama has lunch with school children at Parklawn elementary school in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday,Jan., 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) ? The first major nutritional overhaul of school meals in more than 15 years means most offerings ? including the always popular pizza ? will come with less sodium, more whole grains and a wider selection of fruits and vegetables on the side.

First lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the new guidelines during a visit Wednesday with elementary students. Mrs. Obama, also joined by celebrity chef Rachael Ray, said youngsters will learn better if they don't have growling stomachs at school.

"As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat, and ensure they have a reasonably balanced diet," Mrs. Obama said. "And when we're putting in all that effort the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria."

After the announcement, the three went through the line with students and ate turkey tacos with brown rice, black bean and corn salad and fruit ? all Ray's recipes ? with the children in the Parklawn Elementary lunchroom.

Under the new rules, pizza won't disappear from lunch lines, but will be made with healthier ingredients. Entire meals will have calorie caps for the first time and most trans fats will be banned. Sodium will gradually decrease over a 10 year period. Milk will have to be low in fat and flavored milks will have to be nonfat.

Despite the improvements, the new rules aren't as aggressive as the Obama administration had hoped. Congress last year blocked the Agriculture Department from making some of the desired changes, including limiting french fries and pizzas.

A bill passed in November would require the department to allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. The initial draft of the department's guidelines, released a year ago, would have prevented that. Congress also blocked the department from limiting servings of potatoes to two servings a week. The final rules have incorporated those directions from Congress.

Among those who had sought the changes were potato growers and food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools. Conservatives in Congress called the guidelines an overreach and said the government shouldn't tell children what to eat. School districts also objected to some of the requirements, saying they go too far and would cost too much.

The guidelines apply to lunches subsidized by the federal government. A child nutrition bill signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 will help school districts pay for some of the increased costs. Some of the changes will take place as soon as this September; others will be phased in over time.

While many schools are improving meals already, others still serve children meals high in fat, salt and calories. The guidelines are designed to combat childhood obesity and are based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

Vilsack said food companies are reformulating many of the foods they sell to schools in anticipation of the changes.

"The food industry is already responding," he said. "This is a movement that has started, it's gaining momentum."

Diane Pratt-Heavner of the School Nutrition Association, which represents school lunch workers, said that many schools won't count pizza as a vegetable even though they can. Students qualifying for subsidized meals must have a certain number of vegetables and other nutritious foods on their lunch trays.

"Most schools are serving fruit or vegetables next to their pizza and some schools are even allowing unlimited servings of fruit or vegetables," Pratt-Heavner said.

Celebrity chef Ray said she thinks too much has been made of the availability of pizza and French fries. The new rules will make kids' lunch plates much more nutrient dense, she said.

"The overall picture is really good," she said. "This is a big deal."

The subsidized meals that would fall under the guidelines are served as free and low-cost meals to low-income children and long have been subject to government nutrition standards. The 2010 law will extend, for the first time, nutrition standards to other foods sold in schools that aren't subsidized by the federal government. That includes "a la carte" foods on the lunch line and snacks in vending machines.

Those standards, while expected to be similar, will be written separately and have not yet been proposed by the department.

___

Online:

USDA school lunch rules: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/Legislation/nutritionstandards.htm

___

Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-25-US-Healthier-School-Lunches/id-ab621367f98648fbb4053629004e9f9b

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LG Nitro HD Surpasses 1 Million Units Sold

comScore recently ranked LG second in the world in terms of mobile OEM market share, and it would seem the good news keeps on coming for the smiley-face company. The Nitro HD, or Optimus LTE if you're from outside of the States, has reportedly hit 1 million units sold. It was first available in South Korea last year in October, and LG sold 600,000 units on its home turf. After venturing into new lands, including Japan, Canada, and the US of A, another 400,000 units were sold. According to my calculator, 600,000 plus 400,000 does indeed total 1 million units.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KGGJi10zSqg/

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Heated charges, counter-charges in Florida debate

Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gesture during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gesture during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, stand on stage before a Republican Presidential debate Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney smiles before a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gestures during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, gestures during a Republican Presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich clashed repeatedly in heated, personal terms Monday night in a crackling campaign debate, the former Massachusetts governor tagging his rival as an "influence peddler" in Washington, only to be accused in turn of spreading falsehoods over many years in politics.

"You've been walking around the state saying things that are untrue," Gingrich said to his rival in a two-hour debate marked by interruptions and finger pointing.

The debate marked the first encounter among the four remaining GOP contenders ? former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul shared the stage ? since Gingrich won the South Carolina primary in an upset last weekend, a double-digit victory that reset the race to pick a rival to challenge President Barack Obama this fall.

Romney was the aggressor from the opening moments Monday night, saying Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler" in Washington.

In particular, he referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, a government-backed mortgage giant that he said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."

Romney also said Gingrich had lobbied lawmakers to approve legislation creating a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-23-Republicans-Debate/id-e93d2c896e524af9864cf1d82113b5c5

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Officials: Car bombs kill 14 across Baghdad

People gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in Sadr City eastern of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Two separate car bombs exploded in the Shiite district of Sadr City killing and wounding several people, police said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

People gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in Sadr City eastern of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Two separate car bombs exploded in the Shiite district of Sadr City killing and wounding several people, police said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

A man inspects the scene of a car bomb attack in Sadr City eastern of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Two separate car bombs exploded in the Shiite district of Sadr City killing and wounding several people, police said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Sadr City eastern of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Two separate car bombs exploded in the Shiite district of Sadr City killing and wounding several people, police said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

A man inspects the scene of a car bomb attack in Sadr City eastern of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Two separate car bombs exploded in the Shiite district of Sadr City killing and wounding several people, police said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? A wave of car bombings hit the Iraq capital on Tuesday, killing 14 people and wounding more than 70 as violence surges in the country amid an escalating political crisis a month after the U.S. military withdrawal.

At least 170 people have died in attacks since the beginning of the year, many of them Shiite pilgrims attending religious commemorations. The last American soldiers left the country Dec. 18.

Suspected Sunni insurgents have frequently targeted Shiite communities and Iraqi security forces to undermine public confidence in the Shiite-dominated government and its efforts to protect people.

Tuesday's first attack targeted an early morning gathering of day laborers in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Police said eight were killed and another 21 wounded. Minutes later, an explosives-packed car blew up near a pastry shop in the same district, killing three people and wounding 26, police said.

Later in the morning, two more explosives-laden cars detonated, killing three and wounding 29 people.

A parked car bomb exploded near a high school at 10:30 a.m. in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shula in northern Baghdad, killing two students and wounding 16 others, most of them also students, according to local police.

In the neighboring district of Hurriya, one person was killed when an explosives-packed car, parked along a busy commercial street detonated five minutes after the Shula blast, police officials said. Thirteen people were injured in that bombing.

Hospital officials in Baghdad confirmed the death toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

While insurgents have carried out a number of deadly attacks in recent years, there is little indication so far that the country is slipping back toward the widespread sectarian bloodshed of 2006 and 2007.

Nonetheless, these recent attacks are seen as particularly dangerous because they coincide with both the departure of U.S. troops, as well as a political crisis pitting Shiite officials against the largest Sunni-backed bloc.

The political battle erupted last month after the Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant against the Sunni vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, on terrorism charges, sending him into virtual exile in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq. In protest, al-Hashemi's Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc has been boycotting parliament and Cabinet sessions, bringing government work to a standstill.

Sunnis fear that without the American presence as a last-resort guarantor of a sectarian balance, the Shiite government will try to pick off their leaders one by one, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki tries to cement his own grip on power.

Last week, the leader of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, Ayad Allawi, accused al-Maliki of unfairly targeting Sunni officials and deliberately triggering a political crisis that is tearing Iraq apart. Allawi, who is a Shiite, said Iraq needs a new prime minister or new elections to prevent the country from disintegrating along sectarian lines.

____

Associated Press writer Barbara Surk in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-24-ML-Iraq/id-d0a8ce4152d3469b90ba01bf8b06a902

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Black leaders to SC gov: You're a minority, too (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Civil rights leaders bothered by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's stance on issues like requiring voters to show their IDs at the polls are reminding the governor that she is a minority, too.

"She couldn't vote before 1965, just as I couldn't," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, referring to the Voting Rights Act that abolished poll taxes, literacy tests and other ways whites across the Deep South kept minorities from voting.

Jackson and other critics have said the law is merely a new, covert effort to take away the right to vote from older blacks and poor people, groups who historically tend to vote for Democrats and are less likely to have a driver's license or other government-issued ID.

Both Haley's parents were born in India and came to South Carolina before she was born. Haley ? a Republican who became the state's first female governor ? never dwells on her heritage, but she has occasionally mentioned it in her inaugural speech or stories from her childhood. Almost all have the same theme of overcoming adversity.

She refused an interview for this story, instead sending a statement through her spokesman, Rob Godfrey, defending her support of South Carolina's law requiring photo identification at the polls. The governor has said the measure is needed to prevent voter fraud.

"Those who see race in this issue are those who see race in every issue, but anyone looking at this law honestly will understand it is a commonsense measure to protect our voting process. Nothing more, nothing less," Godfrey said in the statement.

Haley has invoked strong rhetoric against the federal government and the Obama administration on the voter ID issue and two others. A federal judge temporarily put a halt to the state's law cracking down on illegal immigrants, while the National Labor Relations Board fought Boeing Co.'s efforts to build a plant in North Charleston that would employ 1,000. The board had claimed Boeing built the plant in South Carolina ? a right-to-work state where workers are not required to join unions ? to retaliate for past union disputes with its workers in Washington state.

But leaders of the NAACP said after a Martin Luther King Day rally at the South Carolina Statehouse that they would expect a governor who experienced some prejudice growing up to have some compassion, especially when it comes to the voter ID law.

"At the end of the day, it's one more governor who is willing to deify the dreamer and desecrate the dream," said Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Jealous was referring to politicians that he said will give speeches praising King's work while at the same time supporting laws that undermine his message of equality.

Haley was born in 1972, and her first memories came more than a decade after the height of the civil rights struggle, when South Carolina finally gave up allowing only whites to vote. Her family lived in Bamberg County, where about 50 percent of the 16,000 residents were black, according to the 1970 Census. Her father wore a traditional Sikh turban and taught biology at the local historically black college, while her mother was a middle school social studies teacher.

During her 2010 campaign, Haley didn't make her heritage a point. But when asked, she wouldn't shy away from how her brown skin affected her life. She told a story about her third-grade classmates refusing to play kickball with her until they figured out if she was black or white. She insisted she was brown, and said instead of stewing about the problem, simply took the ball and ran to the field. Her classmates followed, and they played.

One story she has repeatedly told is how she and her sister entered a children's beauty pageant in Bamberg County, which crowned black and white winners. Organizers didn't know where to put the girls, so they were disqualified.

"I grew up knowing that we were different. But it's also the reason why I think that I focused so much on trying to find the similarities with people as opposed to the differences," Haley said during the campaign.

Haley also wasn't around to hear Southern governors like George Wallace in Alabama rail against the federal government during the civil rights movement. In June 1963, Wallace briefly blocked a doorway at the University of Alabama as the National Guard tried to help two black students inside to register. He called the federal intrusion "unwelcomed, unwanted, unwarranted and force-induced."

But NAACP leaders said Haley's fiery pledges to fight the federal government reminds them of that time five decades ago.

On the King holiday last week when a thousand people rallied at the Statehouse to honor the slain civil rights leader, Haley was in Myrtle Beach talking to a tea party convention about how she plans to sue the Justice Department over its rejection of the voter ID law. She told them the hardest part of her job in her first year in office was dealing with President Barack Obama.

"What they don't know is you don't mess with us in South Carolina," Haley said, pausing as the crowd cheered. "We're going to fight, and as much as President Obama has decided to continue his assaults on South Carolina, we're going to fight back."

North Carolina NAACP President the Rev. William Barber shook his head when he heard about Haley's comments. He was invited to the South Carolina King Day event to speak about the Confederate flag, saying it represented a "nightmarish vision of democracy." The flag still flies on the front lawn of the Statehouse after a compromise in 2000 pulled it off the capitol's dome.

"It is quite eerie, on the day we remember Dr. King saying he hoped his children would grow up in a world where they would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, that a governor saying the content of my character is how many laws can I fight that have opened up democracy," Barber said.

In her speech to the tea party, Haley dismissed a number of her critics, including Jackson, who gave the same line about the Voting Rights Act helping Haley in several stops across the state earlier this month.

"Jesse Jackson was talking smack last week, so it's really a good track record, I'll tell you that," Haley said. "I think that means we're doing just fine."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_us/us_sc_governor_civil_rights

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Giffords' decision sets up political free-for-all (AP)

PHOENIX ? U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' decision to resign from Congress sets up a political free-for-all in her competitive southeastern Arizona district, with voters set to pick a temporary replacement and then a full-term representative in rapid succession.

As Giffords, critically injured in a mass shooting last year, steps out of the public eye this week to focus on rehabilitation and recovery efforts, her departure thrusts Tucson into the national spotlight.

The three-term Democrat was heavily favored to be re-elected, so her decision to step down creates an opportunity for Republicans to pick up a seat in the House.

But holding onto Giffords' seat has sentimental as well as symbolic value for Democrats as the elections will come as the presidential race intensifies ? in a Red state that the Obama campaign is targeting.

Bruce Ash, Republican national committeeman for Arizona, said the upcoming special election "will be a bellwether probably for the November elections."

Giffords was shot in the head as she met with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8, 2011. Six people died and 13 were wounded, including Giffords. She has made steady progress in her recovery, returning to the House chamber in August to cast a vote for the debt-ceiling compromise, but she still has difficulty speaking.

With both parties expected to target the race, "it means money. It means lots of national money," said Carolyn Warner, Democratic national committeewoman.

Under a timetable set in Arizona law, Republican Gov. Jan Brewer will schedule the special elections ? both a primary and a general ? once Giffords leaves office and a vacancy is declared.

The primary is expected to be held in April and the general in June.

But only months later, there will be the regular primary election in August to pick nominees for the Nov. 6 election for the full two-year term that starts next January.

"We have no idea how this is going to go," said state Rep. Steve Farley, a Democrat who said he had his sights on running for a state Senate seat but now is leaving open the possibility of a congressional race. "The dynamics are going to be very hard to predict."

In another twist, the district itself changes between the two elections, shedding some outlying areas of Tucson and including more of the central city.

The special election is for the 8th Congressional District. The regular election is for the 2nd District, recently renumbered and reconfigured under the once-a-decade redistricting.

"It's going to complicate things for people who are running in that they have to run in both districts," said Jim Kolbe, the Republican who held the congressional seat before Giffords.

Both versions of the district are regarded as competitive, but Democrats pick up a few percentage points in voter registration under the newer version to pull roughly even with Republican. Independents make nearly a third of the electorate.

Several potential hopefuls said they were caught off guard by Giffords' decision to resign and now have to quickly assess their options.

"It's going to draw a lot names," said state Sen. Frank Antenori, a Republican who may enter the race. He said he wants to consider polling results before making a decision, likely by the end of the week.

Other Republicans mentioned as potential candidates include 2010 nominee Jesse Kelly, sports broadcaster Dave Sitton and former legislator Jonathan Paton, who lost to Kelly in the district's Republican primary two years ago.

On the Democratic side, it's not known if Giffords will endorse a replacement. Those mentioned as potential candidates include state Sen. Paula Aboud, Farley and fellow state Rep. Matt Heinz.

A Giffords endorsement would be big, Farley said. "That person is going to have an endorsement as having been chosen to carry out her legacy."

Giffords' husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, in the past has quashed speculation that he might run.

Republicans now control five of Arizona's eight current U.S. House seats. The state is getting a ninth seat thanks to post-census reapportionment.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_el_ho/us_giffords_seat

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France's Hollande bids to lock in campaign lead (AP)

LE BOURGET, France ? The Socialist candidate for France's presidency is attempting to consolidate his front-runner status on Sunday with the most high profile appearance of his campaign so far.

Observers say Francois Hollande, a bespectacled 57-year-old career politician, needs to inject a dose of dynamism into his campaign with the afternoon speech to an expected 10,000 people at an exhibition hall outside Paris.

Hollande plans to show French voters "where I come from, the meaning of my work over the past 20 years, and how I prepared to take on this responsibility," he told Le Monde newspaper in an interview published Saturday.

Hollande has extended his lead in polls over French President Nicolas Sarkozy, his expected rival in two-round elections in April and May. But he's virtually unknown outside France, and critics say he has limited international experience to head this nuclear-armed nation.

Hollande is an affable, soft-spoken and witty former longtime party boss who was chosen as the Socialist candidate in a primary last October.

He won the job after the most anticipated Socialist front-runner, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had his is political career all but ended when he was jailed briefly in May in the United States after a New York hotel maid accused him of rape. Prosecutors later dropped the case, but Strauss-Kahn's reputation and presidential ambitions crashed.

Hollande has so far pitched his campaign on representing the anti-Sarkozy. When asked "Why you?" in an interview in October, Hollande first answered: "Because I can beat Nicolas Sarkozy."

He is known as good on the stump and a quick-witted debater, and has built his reputation as a manager and consensus-builder more than as a visionary.

He's never run a government ministry and during his tenure the party was weakened and badly fractured.

A lawmaker in the National Assembly and the governor of the central Correze region ? the same political backyard as conservative former President Jacques Chirac ? Hollande led the Socialist Party from 1997 to 2008.

During that time the Socialists suffered two devastating presidential campaign defeats, including the 2002 election when Prime Minister Lionel Jospin embarrassingly failed to qualify for the presidential runoff. Hollande's former partner Segolene Royal ? the mother of his four children ? was defeated by Sarkozy in the last presidential elections in 2007.

Hollande's program calls for reversing cuts in education introduced by Sarkozy's government, a new work contract to encourage companies to hire young people and focus on reducing France's high state budget deficit. It says little about international affairs, other than calling for an unspecified "pact" with Germany, the EU's economic engine, to spur on the now-troubled European project.

___

Greg Keller can be reached at http://twitter.com/Greg_Keller

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_hollande

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Japan cult member charged after years on run (AP)

TOKYO ? A senior member of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways has been charged in a kidnapping case, one of dozens of cult-related crimes in the 1990s.

Tokyo prosecutors Friday indicted Makoto Hirata, a 46-year-old member of Aum Shinrikyo, for his role in the abduction and confinement of a follower's relative in 1995.

The victim later was slain and burned inside the cult's commune, but prosecutors said Hirata wasn't responsible in these.

Weeks later, Aum released sarin nerve gas in Tokyo's subways, killing 13 and injuring more than 6,000.

Hirata turned himself in to police on the New Year's eve and was arrested on the spot. His sudden reappearance after 17 years on the run has shocked Japan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_doomsday_cult

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Popular file-sharing website Megaupload shut down (AP)

McLEAN, Va. ? One of the world's most popular file-sharing sites was shuttered Thursday, and its founder and several company officials were accused of facilitating millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content.

An indictment accused Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after websites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, but some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va., which gave federal authorities jurisdiction, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, 37, and three other employees were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Three other defendants are at large.

Before Megaupload was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

The indictment may have prompted a response from the loose affiliation of hackers known as "Anonymous," which claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department's website. The site was inaccessible Thursday evening.

"The Department of Justice web server hosting justice.gov is currently experiencing a significant increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in service," the agency said in a statement. "The Department is working to ensure the website is available while we investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause of the disruption."

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement Thursday that the group's site had been hacked, although it appeared to be working later Thursday evening.

"The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech," the spokesman said. "We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.

The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.

For instance, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, according to the indictment. Such content was almost always copyright protected.

The site boasted 150 million registered users and about 50 million hits daily. The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday. Efforts to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va. Prosecutors there have pursued multiple piracy investigations.

Steven T. Shelton, a copyright lawyer at the Cozen O'Connor firm in New York, said opponents of the legislation are worried the proposals lessen the burden for the government to target a wide variety of websites. Shelton said he expects to see the government engage in more enforcement in the future, as technology makes it easier to catch and target suspected pirates.

"I think we'll be seeing more of this," he said. "This is just the beginning."

Dotcom, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $42 million from the site in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.

Dotcom had his name legally changed. He was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor. He is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.

Officials estimated it could be a year or more before Dotcom and the others arrested in New Zealand are formally extradited.

The others arrested were Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, the company's chief marketing officer; Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director; and Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming.

Still at large are Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, the site's graphic designer; Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, head of business development; and Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, head of the development software division.

Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/digitalmusic/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_hi_te/us_internet_piracy_indictment

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