AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Jordan says it is prepared to deal with any potential chemical weapon threat posed by the ongoing violence in neighboring Syria, but adds it will not enter "any alliance" to protect itself.
Jordan, the U.S. and others have expressed concern that Syrian President Bashar Assad could use chemical weapons in a last-ditch effort to save his regime.
Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah did not provide details on Jordan's capabilities to thwart a chemical attack in remarks carried by the official Petra news agency Sunday.
But other Jordanian officials have said U.S. and British military experts have provided training in protecting civilians in case of a chemical attack on Jordanian territory.
Maaytah also said the 21-month Syrian crisis has put enormous pressure on Jordan's infrastructure as it now hosts 275,000 refugees.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's state TV is reporting the country's navy has begun maneuvers in the area of the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world's oil passes.
It says the maneuvers began early Friday, involving warships, submarines jet fighters and hovercrafts.
The drills come as the West increases its pressure over Iran's nuclear program. The West suspects it may be aimed at producing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
Iran has threatened to close the straits over Western sanctions but has not repeated the threats lately.
The report says Iran warned ships to stay away from the site until Jan. 3. The maneuvers cover nearly 1 million sq. kilometers (400,000 sq. miles) from the Strait of Hormuz to northern part of Indian Ocean, including the Sea of Oman.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, leading the world's Roman Catholics into Christmas, on Monday urged people to find room for God in their fast-paced lives filled with the latest technological gadgets.
The 85-year-old pope, marking the eighth Christmas season of his pontificate, celebrated a solemn Christmas Eve mass in St Peter's Basilica, during which he appealed for a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and an end to the civil war in Syria.
At the mass for some 10,000 people in the basilica and broadcast to millions of others on television, the pope wove his homily around the theme of God's place in today's modern world.
"Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him," said the pope, wearing gold and white vestments.
"The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full," he said.
The leader of the world's some 1.2 billion Roman Catholics said societies had reached the point where many people's thinking processes did not leave any room even for the existence of God.
"Even if he seems to knock at the door of our thinking, he has to be explained away. If thinking is to be taken seriously, it must be structured in such a way that the 'God hypothesis' becomes superfluous," he said.
"There is no room for him. Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so 'full' of ourselves that there is no room left for God."
PEACE CANDLE
Bells inside and outside the basilica chimed when the pope said "Glory to God in the Highest," the words the gospels say the angels sang at the moment of Jesus' birth.
Earlier on Monday the pope appeared at the window of his apartments in the apostolic palace and lit a peace candle, as a larger-than-life nativity scene was unveiled in St Peter's Square below.
Reflecting on the gospel account of Jesus born in a stable because there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn, he said when people find no room for God in their lives, they will soon find no room for others.
"Let us ask the Lord that we may become vigilant for his presence, that we may hear how softly yet insistently he knocks at the door of our being and willing.
"Let us ask that we may make room for him within ourselves, that we may recognise him also in those through whom he speaks to us: children, the suffering, the abandoned, those who are excluded and the poor of this world," he said.
He asked for prayers for the people who "live and suffer" in the Holy Land today.
The pope called for peace among Israelis and Palestinians and for the people of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and prayed that "Christians in those lands where our faith was born may be able to continue living there, that Christians and Muslims may build up their countries side-by-side in God's peace."
The Vatican is concerned about the exodus from the Middle East of Christians, many of whom leave because they fear for their safety. Christians now comprise five percent of the population of the region, down from 20 percent a century ago.
According to some estimates, the current population of 12 million Christians in the Middle East could halve by 2020 if security and birth rates continue to decline.
At noon (1100 GMT/6 AM ET) the pope will deliver his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
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Fluctuating environment may have driven human evolutionPublic release date: 24-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sara LaJeunesse SDL13@psu.edu 814-863-4325 Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A series of rapid environmental changes in East Africa roughly 2 million years ago may be responsible for driving human evolution, according to researchers at Penn State and Rutgers University.
"The landscape early humans were inhabiting transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed woodland and an open grassland about five to six times during a period of 200,000 years," said Clayton Magill, graduate student in geosciences at Penn State. "These changes happened very abruptly, with each transition occurring over hundreds to just a few thousand years."
According to Katherine Freeman, professor of geosciences, Penn State, the current leading hypothesis suggests that evolutionary changes among humans during the period the team investigated were related to a long, steady environmental change or even one big change in climate.
"There is a view this time in Africa was the 'Great Drying,' when the environment slowly dried out over 3 million years," she said. "But our data show that it was not a grand progression towards dry; the environment was highly variable."
According to Magill, many anthropologists believe that variability of experience can trigger cognitive development.
"Early humans went from having trees available to having only grasses available in just 10 to 100 generations, and their diets would have had to change in response," he said. "Changes in food availability, food type, or the way you get food can trigger evolutionary mechanisms to deal with those changes. The result can be increased brain size and cognition, changes in locomotion and even social changes -- how you interact with others in a group. Our data are consistent with these hypotheses. We show that the environment changed dramatically over a short time, and this variability coincides with an important period in our human evolution when the genus Homo was first established and when there was first evidence of tool use."
The researchers -- including Gail Ashley, professor of earth and planetary sciences, Rutgers University -- examined lake sediments from Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania. They removed the organic matter that had either washed or was blown into the lake from the surrounding vegetation, microbes and other organisms 2 million years ago from the sediments. In particular, they looked at biomarkers -- fossil molecules from ancient organisms -- from the waxy coating on plant leaves.
"We looked at leaf waxes because they're tough, they survive well in the sediment," said Freeman.
The team used gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to determine the relative abundances of different leaf waxes and the abundance of carbon isotopes for different leaf waxes. The data enabled them to reconstruct the types of vegetation present in the Olduvai Gorge area at very specific time intervals.
The results showed that the environment transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed woodland and an open grassland.
To find out what caused this rapid transitioning, the researchers used statistical and mathematical models to correlate the changes they saw in the environment with other things that may have been happening at the time, including changes in the Earth's movement and changes in sea-surface temperatures.
"The orbit of the Earth around the sun slowly changes with time," said Freeman. "These changes were tied to the local climate at Olduvai Gorge through changes in the monsoon system in Africa. Slight changes in the amount of sunshine changed the intensity of atmospheric circulation and the supply of water. The rain patterns that drive the plant patterns follow this monsoon circulation. We found a correlation between changes in the environment and planetary movement."
The team also found a correlation between changes in the environment and sea-surface temperature in the tropics.
"We find complementary forcing mechanisms: one is the way Earth orbits, and the other is variation in ocean temperatures surrounding Africa," Freeman said.
The researchers recently published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences along with another paper in the same issue that builds on these findings. The second paper shows that rainfall was greater when there were trees around and less when there was a grassland.
"The research points to the importance of water in an arid landscape like Africa," said Magill. "The plants are so intimately tied to the water that if you have water shortages, they usually lead to food insecurity.
"Together, these two papers shine light on human evolution because we now have an adaptive perspective. We understand, at least to a first approximation, what kinds of conditions were prevalent in that area and we show that changes in food and water were linked to major evolutionary changes."
###
The National Science Foundation funded this research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Fluctuating environment may have driven human evolutionPublic release date: 24-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sara LaJeunesse SDL13@psu.edu 814-863-4325 Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A series of rapid environmental changes in East Africa roughly 2 million years ago may be responsible for driving human evolution, according to researchers at Penn State and Rutgers University.
"The landscape early humans were inhabiting transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed woodland and an open grassland about five to six times during a period of 200,000 years," said Clayton Magill, graduate student in geosciences at Penn State. "These changes happened very abruptly, with each transition occurring over hundreds to just a few thousand years."
According to Katherine Freeman, professor of geosciences, Penn State, the current leading hypothesis suggests that evolutionary changes among humans during the period the team investigated were related to a long, steady environmental change or even one big change in climate.
"There is a view this time in Africa was the 'Great Drying,' when the environment slowly dried out over 3 million years," she said. "But our data show that it was not a grand progression towards dry; the environment was highly variable."
According to Magill, many anthropologists believe that variability of experience can trigger cognitive development.
"Early humans went from having trees available to having only grasses available in just 10 to 100 generations, and their diets would have had to change in response," he said. "Changes in food availability, food type, or the way you get food can trigger evolutionary mechanisms to deal with those changes. The result can be increased brain size and cognition, changes in locomotion and even social changes -- how you interact with others in a group. Our data are consistent with these hypotheses. We show that the environment changed dramatically over a short time, and this variability coincides with an important period in our human evolution when the genus Homo was first established and when there was first evidence of tool use."
The researchers -- including Gail Ashley, professor of earth and planetary sciences, Rutgers University -- examined lake sediments from Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania. They removed the organic matter that had either washed or was blown into the lake from the surrounding vegetation, microbes and other organisms 2 million years ago from the sediments. In particular, they looked at biomarkers -- fossil molecules from ancient organisms -- from the waxy coating on plant leaves.
"We looked at leaf waxes because they're tough, they survive well in the sediment," said Freeman.
The team used gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to determine the relative abundances of different leaf waxes and the abundance of carbon isotopes for different leaf waxes. The data enabled them to reconstruct the types of vegetation present in the Olduvai Gorge area at very specific time intervals.
The results showed that the environment transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed woodland and an open grassland.
To find out what caused this rapid transitioning, the researchers used statistical and mathematical models to correlate the changes they saw in the environment with other things that may have been happening at the time, including changes in the Earth's movement and changes in sea-surface temperatures.
"The orbit of the Earth around the sun slowly changes with time," said Freeman. "These changes were tied to the local climate at Olduvai Gorge through changes in the monsoon system in Africa. Slight changes in the amount of sunshine changed the intensity of atmospheric circulation and the supply of water. The rain patterns that drive the plant patterns follow this monsoon circulation. We found a correlation between changes in the environment and planetary movement."
The team also found a correlation between changes in the environment and sea-surface temperature in the tropics.
"We find complementary forcing mechanisms: one is the way Earth orbits, and the other is variation in ocean temperatures surrounding Africa," Freeman said.
The researchers recently published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences along with another paper in the same issue that builds on these findings. The second paper shows that rainfall was greater when there were trees around and less when there was a grassland.
"The research points to the importance of water in an arid landscape like Africa," said Magill. "The plants are so intimately tied to the water that if you have water shortages, they usually lead to food insecurity.
"Together, these two papers shine light on human evolution because we now have an adaptive perspective. We understand, at least to a first approximation, what kinds of conditions were prevalent in that area and we show that changes in food and water were linked to major evolutionary changes."
###
The National Science Foundation funded this research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - One Israeli Arab election candidate aims to lead his community out of the margins of Israeli politics - saying their interests have been overshadowed for too long by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Atef Krinawi says he would even be willing to make an unprecedented electoral alliance with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, the party to which he once belonged.
His success or failure in the January 22 election could be a bellwether for the position of the Jewish state's 20-percent Arab minority.
Krinawi argues that many Arabs want greater integration in Israel but are eclipsed, in public discourse, by those who identify more with their kindred Palestinians and anti-Zionism.
"Arab leaders have not been making demands for fair allocation of funds, or any other demand for that matter. All they do is fight," the 42-year-old Krinawi told Reuters.
"People are thirsty for equality. I want to enter this government and demand full rights, peacefully."
A Haifa University survey published on December 11 found that, when asked what issues topped their agenda, 47 percent of Israeli Arab respondents listed unemployment, housing and education. Only 8 percent cited the Palestinians.
"Israelis and Palestinians should be left to sort out their own problems," said Krinawi, who in his electioneering has spoken of Israel's Arabs and Jews as being "the same people".
Krinawi predicts that his newcomer "Hope for Change" party will garner as many as 10 of the 120 seats in parliament - the same number now held by Arab lawmakers from three leftist parties, which have invariably sat in the political opposition.
Independent experts have doubts about Hope for Change's prospects, but most agree that there is disillusionment among Israeli Arabs over their established politicians' focus on pro-Palestinian activism at the cost of promoting minority equality.
Arabs have equal voting rights in Israel but wield limited clout as a group. Some boycott elections, while others support mainstream, Jewish-dominated parties - usually those in the center or left wing.
COALITION
The lack of a unified voice has deepened Israeli Arabs' resentment of what they regard as deep-set racial discrimination and neglect when it comes to the disbursement of state benefits.
According to Israel's National Insurance Institute, 53 percent of Arabs live below the poverty line, far above the national average of 20 percent. Tel Aviv University's economics faculty puts the Israeli Arab unemployment rate at 30 percent, compared to the national average of 6 percent.
Most Israeli Arabs, Muslim or Christian, are descendants of Palestinians incorporated into the Jewish state in the 1948 war of its founding, when hundreds of thousands of others were driven out.
Many Jewish citizens express outrage at some Arab compatriots' sympathy with today's Palestinian struggle against Israel.
Asked if Hope for Change might one day sit in government with Netanyahu's Likud, which is running a joint slate with the far-right Israel Beiteinu party and is favoured to win next month's election by a wide margin, Krinawi said: "I would be willing to sit in any coalition."
Yet Krinawi and more seasoned Arab politicians must first overcome apathy and disenchantment spreading in their electorate.
The Haifa University poll found 67 percent of respondents lacked confidence in Arab parties, and that only half planned to vote, a slight drop from the last election in 2009. Eighty-three percent said they did not trust the Israeli government.
Krinawi has dangled promises such as improving the roads of Israeli Arab towns and establishing Israel's first Arab university.
"People are in despair, but we want to restore their faith and give them a new sense of hope," he said.
(Writing by Jihan Abdalla; editing by Andrew Roche)
Angry Birds is not only a breakthrough iOS game, and one of the first new franchises to become a household name in years, it's also just turned three. That's three as in third birthday AND three as in 3.0. To celebrate, Rovio has once again updated their $0.99 wonder with new characters, new levels, and new challenges.
Happy Birdday! Can you believe that Angry Birds is turning three? We sure can't! Celebrate with 30 NEW LEVELS, birdday cake, and the bubbliest bird ever -- Pink Bird! But watch out for the cake -- it's not a lie, but it packs a BIG punch!
The 30 new levels include 15 party levels and 15 Bad Piggies inspired levels. The update also includes iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5 widescreen support.
All of those build on the concepts, mechanics, and charm of the original. If by some chance you haven't played it yet, go and grab it and see where it all began. If you've been playing it since day one, go grab the update and enjoy the celebration.
This is a series about starting up social media marketing for SMEs.? In the previous post I talked about the importance of social media to small and medium size enterprises: how doing it right can connect your business to customers and your community.
But whether or not your company is using social media yet, you can bet your employees are.? That?s where a social media policy comes in.
Setting a social media policy so your employees know exactly what is expected of them is essential.? Many good examples can be found at http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php.? Take a look through to find an organisation with a similar profile to your own and use an example you like as a template for your own.? For example, I highly rate the BBC guidelines as a template for media organisations because of their need for absolute impartiality, and understanding of how social works. A random example from the BBC guidance to news editors:
You shouldn?t state your political preferences or say anything that compromises your impartiality. Don?t sound off about things in an openly partisan way. Don?t be seduced by the informality of social media into bringing the BBC into disrepute. Don?t criticise your colleagues. Don?t reveal confidential BBC information. Don?t surreptitiously sanitise Wikipedia pages about the BBC.
In a B2B business like mine, client confidentiality is key, and a large part of our social media policy was constructed to ensure that none of our staff?s social media profiles ? LinkedIn for example ? mention any specific projects by name, and that there is no sharing, however innocently, of confidential client information.
If those are are a few too many to chose from, Hubspot have here narrowed the field a little by casting a critical eye over the social media policies of Best Buy, Oracle, Ford, Walmart and IBM.
Here are some things you may wish to consider when drafting your social media policy:
Personal use of social media
How much time is ?okay? to spend on personal social media during work hours?
Is it OK for staff to state they work for the company in their profiles?
Do they need a disclaimer that these are not the company views?
Do they know what constitutes ?confidential client information?? Does that include ANY third party organisation such as partners, suppliers etc?
If they wouldn?t say it to a journalist, don?t say in a social network.
What goes online stays there forever. Think before you hit that ?send? button.
Don?t post personal information about any colleagues unless they have prior permission to do so ? this includes uploading pictures from the office party to Facebook.
Professional use of social media on behalf of the company (or its clients):
Understand the ethos of the online communities you communicate with, and act accordingly.
Be sure you?re entering into a social network or community which is appropriate for the organisation or brand.
You may be required to disclose who you are and who you work for: never pretend to be someone or something you are not.? That also means no astro-turfing, fake Facebook profiles or ?likes? etc.
Respect the privacy and contact preferences of each individual you interact with, where available.
Make sure you confine your conversations primarily to work-related topics (although bear in mind that it can be good to show a human side too) ? and obey dinner party rules at all times.
Remember:
If your guidelines are updated, then make sure that all employees have seen and agreed to the revisions.
As an employer, most countries would consider that you don?t have a right to ask for the keys to employees social media profiles: currently going through US Law is the Password Protection Act of 2012 which looks to protect employees from employers asking for access to their social networking accounts.
If you use Googlemail ? or your customers do ? then be very sure that all social media profiles attached to that address are squeaky clean. Plug-ins like Rapportive could be sending out your latest Facebook status update or sarcastic tweet to all new customers.
Treat your employees well and they?ll have less reason to use your Twitter account against you ?
?
Next in this series of tips on social media for small business will be: How to organise your social media accounts.
This post originally appeared in Social Media Today: my thanks to the editors for permission to reprint it.
Rascal Flatts is the latest country artist to participate the annual special, "A Home for the Holidays," which combines performances from top recording artists and heart-touching stories of adoption. "A Home for the Holidays With Rascal Flatts," is set to air Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 8:00 PM ET on CBS. In addition to hosting the show, the group -- Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney -- will also perform.
"A Home for the Holidays," which is now in its 14th year, was hosted in 2009 by Faith Hill, who was, in her own words, "adopted into a wonderful family." In 2010, singer Jimmy Wayne, who was in the foster-care system as a youngster, was featured on the program. Last year's host, Martina McBride, told The Boot, "There are so many kids out there who want to be part of a family. I think we take family for granted a little bit. For instance, we were decorating our Christmas tree ... we were laughing and talking about our ornaments and traditions and what different ornaments mean and who gave them to us, and I was struck in the middle of all that, thinking, 'There are so many kids who don't have this, who long to be part of a family and long to be able to have these kind of traditions.' It's heartbreaking."
Throughout the show, there will be musicial performances acompanying the story segments, which are introduced by celebrities who have their own adoption experience or are involved in adoption programs.
Along with Rascal Flatts, Melissa Etheridge, Matchbox Twenty, "American Idol'"s Phillip Phillips and "X Factor" finalist Rachel Crow will perform. Rachel, 14, will share her own personal story of foster care adoption, in addition to singing during the special.
"A Home for the Holdiays" will air Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 8:00 PM ET on CBS.
Watch The Boot's 'Day in the Life of Rascal Flatts' Video
Complete guide to Siri controls for playing songs, artists, albums, genres, and enjoying your music
Siri can help you access your music more easily than ever. With Siri you can play tracks, albums, and entires genres without ever having to open your Music app. If you're in the car, Siri also makes for a safe way to keep your tunes going while keeping your hands on the wheel.
Press and hold down the Home button to activate Siri.
Tell Siri to play a specific song title. For example: "Play Pumped up Kicks"
Siri will begin playing the song in the background.
If you don't specify an artist and there is more than one song with the same title, Siri will ask you which one you meant.
How to play a specific artist or album with Siri
Press and hold down the Home button to activate Siri
Tell Siri to play the specific artist or album you want. For example, "Play music by Foster the People" or "Play the album Nothing but the Beat by David Guetta."
Siri will begin playing the album or artist in the background.
How to play a specific genre with Siri
Press and hold down the Home button to activate Siri.
Tell Siri to play the specific genre of music you want to listen to. For example. "Play some dance music".
Siri will begin playing the genre in the background.
How to play a specific playlist with Siri
Press and hold down the Home button to activate Siri.
Tell Siri the name of the playlist you want to play. For example, "Play my Road Trip playlist".
Siri will begin playing the playlist in the background.
How to shuffle music with Siri
Press and hold down the Home button to activate Siri.
Tell Siri what you want to play -- a playlist, album, or music by a certain artist -- and tell it that you want to shuffle. For example: Play music by Foster the People on shuffle.
If you're already playing a certain genre, album, or artist you can just tell Siri you want to shuffle by saying: "Shuffle".
How to pause, play, stop, and skip tracks with Siri
Press and hold down the Home button to activate Siri.
If you've got music already playing you can control the current track's playback by telling Siri what you want to do. For example: "Pause music" or "skip track".
If you've stopped your music and would like to continue were you last left off you can tell Siri:"Resume playing."
How to get more help with Siri
If you still need help with setting up or using Siri with your iPhone music, or any other Siri feature, head on over to our Siri Forum and ask away!
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Public release date: 24-Dec-2012
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Setting a social media policy so your employees know exactly what is expected of them is essential.? Many good examples can be found at http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php.? Take a look through to find an organisation with a similar profile to your own and use an example you like as a template for your own.? For example, I highly rate the BBC guidelines as a template for media organisations because of their need for absolute impartiality, and understanding of how social works. A random example from the BBC guidance to news editors:
