KOKOMO, Indiana (Reuters) - Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of both Fiat and its majority-owned Chrysler Group LLC unit, said he sees a 50 percent chance that Chrysler will go public but would prefer that it be fully merged with Fiat.
Fiat shares ownership in the smallest U.S. automaker with a retiree trust fund affiliated with the United Auto Workers labor union. Marchionne said he would prefer that Italian automaker Fiat buy the trust fund's holdings.
"My preference is to be one single company," Marchionne told reporters in Kokomo, Indiana, on Thursday. "We belong together."
Over the last four years, the two automakers have been blending their operations as Fiat has increased its stake in Chrysler, said Marchionne, who has been CEO of both companies since Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.
Fiat, however, has been odds with the trust fund over Chrysler's worth. The fund is under pressure to squeeze as much value as possible from its Chrysler holding to pay for medical benefits.
Marchionne was speaking at a plant in Kokomo, Indiana, where Chrysler announced it would invest $374 million in four Indiana plants to support production of its more fuel-efficient eight- and nine-speed transmissions by the end of the year.
The move will create up to 1,250 jobs in Indiana, including as many as 850 jobs at the company's new Tipton Transmission Plant, Chrysler said on Thursday.
Chrysler is spending $162 million to make a nine-speed transmission at Tipton. Production at Tipton is expected to start in the first quarter of 2014.
About $212 million will be invested in the Kokomo Transmission, Kokomo Casting and Indiana Transmission I plants to make the eight- and nine-speed transmissions. The money will be used to install additional tooling and equipment needed to make Chrysler's eight- and nine-speed transmissions by the fourth quarter of 2013.
(Reporting By Bernie Woodall in Kokomo, Indiana; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Sofina Mirza-Reid and Leslie Adler)
Customers want to know that their money is safe, and with all the stories and case studies about internet fraud, more and more consumers are checking carefully before spending their money on the internet. As a result small businesses often find themselves pushed out by bigger, better-known brands. That said, it is possible to gain credibility for your site by demonstrating that your business is committed to the security of its customer?s payments. Indeed various steps can be taken to persuade potential customers to stay on the page and go ahead with a secure purchase.
Display Security Signs
A large number of savvy online consumers actively look for indicators of a site?s security measures for reassurance of online security. ?The security padlock, to be found in the bottom right hand corner of many internet pages, and the letter ?s? indicating ?secure? after http in the web address, are the two most commonly sought indicators that a site is safe for making a payment. These are activated on your site when you sign up with a reputable card payment processor that provide a link to a payment page that is protected by SSL (Secure Socket Layer).
Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode are among the logos that potential customers will often look for when deciding whether to trust a site with their card details. Being ISIS (Internet Shopping Is Safe) accredited is another excellent proof of trustworthiness and many online shoppers look for this mark on a website. The ISIS accreditation is only awarded to websites by the industry leading body IMRG ? Interactive Media in Retail Group.
In addition to accredited indicators on a website a simple intuitive design can encourage high levels of reassurance from potential customers. In turn a simple and clear payment process on a website is likely to result in m
ore sales as potential customers can avoid a lot of unnecessary steps.
Be Transparent
A clearly stated returns and refunds policy will also reassure online consumers. Most customers will want to know the returns and refunds policy and terms and conditions before they commit to making a purchase. Do not worry that displaying the process will tempt customers into going ahead with a return; if the product is high quality they are more likely to be satisfied with it. As such make sure that customers can easily find the refund terms and conditions; if they have to hunt for them it can engender feelings of suspicion and distrust.
Another important piece of information that customers look for is a physical address and operational telephone number. Scam artists and fraudulent companies often leave out this piece of information in order to make it easier to vanish after their criminal purpose has been achieved.
A large proportion of potential customers look for testimonials from other customers, so do not be afraid to display good reviews prominently. The goodwill generated from a positive commendation should not be underestimated. Encourage customers to leave feedback on the site and the resulting vote of trust will show itself with an upsurge in business.
It is well worth investing a little to provide sufficient information on your website to allow potential customers to feel that your business is a known entity, deserving of trust and a safe environment to make repeated payments.
This article was written on behalf of First Data Merchant Solutions who assist a variety of businesses in relation to accepting card payments online .
Along with eyebrow-raising support from?Silicon Valley and Hollywood, Chris Christie today got a contribution from another perhaps-unexpected source: Mitt Romney. The long-time candidate reportedly gave the maximum amount to the New Jersey governor's reelection campaign, $3,800 -- or about 0.002 percent of Romney's net worth.
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Politico spoke with "a source familiar with the donation", transitioning quickly from the donation to inevitable speculation about What It Means. Politico noted that the donation comes at a helpful time for Christie, who was snubbed by the Conservative Political Action Conference this week.?"Some Republicans are still upset at Christie?s strong praise for Obama after the hurricane," Politico noted, adding that, "Romney has always maintained that Christie was doing what he had to do as governor."
RELATED: Climate Change, Cranky Politicians, And Roller Coasters
And Romney's doing what he always did as a donor. Romney's political giving history suggests that the Christie contribution is not too far out of the ordinary. A search of Federal Election Commission filings shows that the former governor has given generously to campaigns and campaign committees, to the tune of over $775,000 over the years -- excluding the futile millions given to Romney-Ryan 2012.
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The number includes:
RELATED: Obama Breaks the $1 Billion Barrier
$2,400 to Sen. Jim DeMint in 2009
$2,000 to Sen. George Allen in 2006
$2,500 to Jeff Flake in 2011
$5,000 to the Free and Strong America PAC in 2008
$15,000 to the Massachusetts Republican Party in 2010
$26,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2006
$4,200 to Rick Santorum in 2006
And even ?
RELATED: A Guide to the GOP 2012 Beefs
$2,500 to Pawlenty for President in 2011
? in an effort to help Pawlenty retire his campaign debt.
There's no question that Romney wishes that Christie had been a little less effusive over the president last November. But if there's one lesson he learned in the aftermath of his election loss, it's that a little graciousness goes a long way. Especially if it doesn't cost that much.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - Faculty and staff members in Arkansas are one step closer to legally carrying concealed handguns on the state's college campuses.
The Republican-controlled Arkansas state Senate voted 31 to 4 on Monday to allow colleges and universities to decide themselves whether to allow concealed weapons on their campuses. The bill previously passed the Republican-controlled Arkansas state House 70 to 11.
The bill now goes to Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat. He is expected to sign the legislation.
The governing board of individual institutions will decide annually whether to allow guns on campus. Many state universities have already said they would not allow concealed weapons on campuses.
Discussion of gun control and gun rights has surged in the United States since a gunman shot dead 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school in December, 20 of them first-graders.
Arkansas would join 23 states that allow individual colleges or universities to decide whether to ban or allow concealed carry of weapons on campus, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some states also allow students to carry concealed weapons.
Earlier this month, Beebe signed the Church Protection Act, which allows individual places of worship to decide whether to allow concealed handguns and who could carry them. Last week, Arkansas became the latest state to exempt from public disclosure the names and zip codes of gun owners.
VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI is preparing for his final general audience, the weekly appointment he kept with the faithful and tourists to teach them about the Catholic faith.
Some 50,000 tickets have been requested for Benedict's final master class in St. Peter's Square; thousands more people are expected to pack the main boulevard leading to the piazza to watch Wednesday's audience on giant TV screens.
On Tuesday, the Vatican said Benedict would in retirement continue to wear the white cassock of the papacy and be called "emeritus pope" or "Your Holiness," raising questions about the peculiar situation soon to confront the church: having a reigning and a retired pope, living side-by-side.
The Vatican says it foresees no problems and Benedict has said he will pray and be "hidden to the world."
The weather in February recently has been beneficial to Tulips, as is evident at the bountiful bunch that are blooming in San Francisco at Pier 39's annual 'Tulipmania'.
The pier has been importing bulbs from Holland for years now and puts on walking tours for guests. They were planted this year in November and December since they thrive in temperate climates and need a period of cool dormancy to bloom.
Even though the pier ended their ?Tulipmania? walking tours on Feb. 24th, they are still expected to be in bloom for about two or three weeks.
Pier 39 is located at 2 Beach Street in San Francisco. For more information, go to pier39.com.
The Cathay Pacific float has become a mainstay of the annual Chinese NewYear's Parade. Follow this year's float on this year's Road to the Chinese New Year Parade.
Mine is a Technics SU-VX500 Stereo Integrated Amp of 60W per Channel @ 8 Ohms Connected with a pair of Paradigm Titan V2.0 Bookshelfs.The source is my laptop and a Technics SH-GE90 Digital Equalizer is coming between the lap and Amp. I used to listen Indian Clssical Semi Classical And Ghazal Music in the Evenings until Late Night (Mp3 files) at a moderate or minimum volume level. Is there any Improvement expectable by adding a USB DAC to the current setup ? or What else need to be upgraded for getting better detailed listening
Of all the spacecraft humans have launched, there have been some impressively fast movers. But which holds the record?
It?s not an entirely idle question. Apart from the wow factor, it?s an interesting yardstick for gauging our capacity to explore the cosmos, from familiar planets to the icy depths of space.
However, as I quickly discovered in writing this post, it?s not always an easy quantity to evaluate. For one thing, launch velocities differ from eventual cruise velocities. And fancy interplanetary maneuvers like the ?gravity assist? can provide temporary speed boosts that have to be taken into account.
It also depends on what you measure velocity relative to. Far away from the Earth it makes more sense to work with heliocentric (sun-relative) measurements. And (as you?ll see) you need not be zooming away into the void at all to reach the highest sustained speeds.
We can start off easy though. Launch velocity is something very definite, tuned to the finest level possible in order to insert a mission into its optimal trajectory. The record holder is also easy to find, it?s the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt.
Launched by NASA in 2006, it shot directly to a solar system escape velocity. This consisted of an Earth-relative launch of 16.26 kilometers a second (that?s about 36,000 miles per hour), plus a velocity component from Earth?s orbital motion (which is 30 km/s tangential to the orbital path). Altogether this set New Horizons barreling off into the solar system with an impressive heliocentric speed of almost 45 km/s or 100,000 miles per hour.
The Sun?s pull is relentless though, so sometimes you need a helping hand. In 2007 New Horizons had slowed to about 19 km/s and made a flyby of Jupiter to snag a gravity assist (where the spacecraft ?stole? a tiny bit of Jupiter?s momentum) in order to regain about 4 km/s ? before settling in for the long coast outwards. In the first figure shown here you can see how this is going to play out ? heliocentric velocity is going to slowly drop during the journey through the Sun?s ever weakening gravity field. However, when it encounters Pluto, the spacecraft will still whizz by at about 14 km/s relative velocity.
New Horizons' heliocentric velocity during its mission (taken from the JHU mission design document by Guo & Farquhar)
This velocity profile is pretty typical, although quite simple. For comparison I?ve included a similar plot for Voyager 2?s trajectory (and it?s worth noting that Voyager 1 presently holds the record for highest velocity the furthest from the Sun, currently clocking a healthy 17 km/s or 38,000 mph).
Voyager 2's heliocentric velocity versus distance from the Sun - plus (in blue) the solar system escape velocity at each location. (Credit: Cmglee, Wikipedia)
The numerous gravity assists and course alterations in Voyager 2?s ?Grand Tour? of the solar system are writ large in its velocity history. Both Voyagers were able to build their escape route from the solar system while also taking in the sights ? an incredible accomplishment.
But what about the other record holders? In terms of pure heliocentric velocity, the current champions are two probes called Helios I and II that were launched in 1974 and 1976. They entered orbits that took them closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury.
The nearer you orbit to a huge mass like the Sun the faster you have to move, and the Helios sisters moved very fast indeed. Both hit orbital velocities in excess of 70 km/s ? or about 150,000 miles per hour.
But they?re not going to hold onto pole position for much longer.
Juno - solar panels extended (NASA/JHU)
First, NASA?s Juno mission to Jupiter will be arriving in the Jovian system in 2016 and will enter a polar orbit around the gas giant. But Jupiter weighs in at 317 times the mass of the Earth. Falling deep into its gravity well will accelerate Juno to a velocity of about 160,000 miles per hour relative to the planet, before it can swing by, drop speed, and get into its mission orbit.
In 2018 though, a new NASA mission ? Solar Probe Plus ? will be launched. Designed to come as close as 8.5 solar radii to the Sun (that?s about about 5.9 million kilometers or 3.7 million miles), it will hit orbital velocities as high as 200 kilometers a second (450,000 miles an hour).
To just put that incredible figure into perspective ? going this fast would get you from the Earth to the Moon in about 1/2 an hour. It is also about 0.067% the speed of light.
It turns out that the fastest spacecraft do indeed go to the stars, in this case our nearest one.
A Maine judge decided Tuesday not to dismiss charges against Zumba prostitution defendant Mark Strong. Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills is also expected to decide whether to allow in court 577 "extremely sexual" Skype screenshots that the defense has argued would unfairly prejudice the jury.
The defense attorney for Strong, 57, warned of the graphic nature of the images and said Monday they would "drown" his client, according to the Bangor Daily News.
"I think some of this stuff is going to horrify some of these people to the point where he won't possibly get a fair trial," defense attorney Daniel Lilley said.
But prosecutors allege that the images are crucial evidence showing that Strong was involved in running a prostitution ring out of Alexis Wright's Pura Vida Zumba studio in Kennebunk. Wright is due to stand trial separately.
"The state has to prove that Mark Strong was actively involved in the prostitution [business]," Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan told Justice Mills on Monday. "Part of that active involvement was that he was monitoring the prostitution from his Thomaston location through Skype."
Also discussed on Tuesday was a motion filed by the defense to dismiss the remaining charges against Strong. Defense attorney Lilley has accused the prosecution of missing deadlines to turn over documents related to the case.
"Enough is enough," defense counsel Tina Nadeau said Tuesday. Dismissing the charges against Strong would be a fitting rebuttal to prosecutors, she said.
The judge will instead issue a special instruction to jurors. Mills also decided on Tuesday to order prosecutors to give the defense a file on a Kennebunk police officer.
The trial is to continue with witness testimony on Tuesday, the Portland Press Herald reported, and Mills has yet to come to a decision on how many pornographic images the jury will see.
Strong is on trial for 13 charges related to promotion of prostitution. Forty-six charges related to alleged violations of privacy were dismissed by the judge in a decision affirmed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Feb. 15. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:40 AM EST
Launched the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center in KoreaPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lan Yoon hlyoon@kaist.ac.kr 82-423-502-295 The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Daejeon, Republic of Korea, February 26, 2013The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Saudi Aramco, a global energy and petrochemicals enterprise, signed on February 20th, 2013 the Master Research and Collaboration Agreement (the Agreement) on joint collaborations in research and development of carbon management between the two entities.
The Agreement was subsequently concluded upon the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between KAIST and Saudi Aramco, dated January 7th, 2013. In the Agreement, the two organizations specified terms and conditions necessary to conduct joint research projects and stipulated governing body for the operation of the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center.
KAIST and Saudi Aramco, a national oil company for Saudi Arabia, entered into the MOU, in which the two parties shared a common interest in addressing the issue of CO2 capture, CO2 storage, CO2 avoidance using efficiency improvements, and converting CO2 into useful chemicals and other materials, and agreed to "create a major research center for CO2" in Korea.
As envisioned by the MOU and its subsequent agreement, KAIST and Saudi Aramco decided to operate an interim office of the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center at KAIST campus in Daejeon, Korea, pending the establishment of the research center. The full-fledged, independent research facility will be built at a location and during a period to be agreed between the two parties.
Following the signing of the Agreement, there was a celebration event taken place, including a signboard hanging ceremony for the interim research office. A 10-member delegation from Saudi Aramco, which was headed by Vice President of Engineering Services Samir Al-Tubayyeb, Dr. Nam-Pyo Suh, former president of KAIST, Vice President of Research at KAIST Kyung-Wook Paik, and senior representatives from Korean oil and petrochemical companies such as S-Oil, Lotte Chemicals, SK Innovation, and STX attended the event.
Kyung-Wook Paik, Vice President of Research at KAIST, said,
"In order to help find solutions to carbon management, KAIST and Saudi Aramco will facilitate to exchange each party's complementary technical expertise, gain insight into new research fields, and have access to key sources of talent, while promoting innovation for technology solutions and contributing to the lifelong learning agenda of both organizations."
Samir Al-Tubayyeb, Vice President of Engineering Services at Saudi Aramco, added that "As a world-leading oil and gas company, Saudi Aramco's mission is to promote the continued use of safe, environmentally-friendly petroleum products with a vision to becoming a global leader in research and technology. Building a strong and cooperative relationship with KAIST in our endeavor to search for alternative ways to better utilization of fossil fuels will expedite the creation of opportunities to make the world environmentally safer and sustainable."
KAIST and Saudi Aramco will each chip in a maximum of USD 5 million annually for the establishment and operation of the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center during the initial term of the Master Research and Collaboration Agreement, which starts in 2013 and continues through 2018.
###
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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.
Launched the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center in KoreaPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lan Yoon hlyoon@kaist.ac.kr 82-423-502-295 The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Daejeon, Republic of Korea, February 26, 2013The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Saudi Aramco, a global energy and petrochemicals enterprise, signed on February 20th, 2013 the Master Research and Collaboration Agreement (the Agreement) on joint collaborations in research and development of carbon management between the two entities.
The Agreement was subsequently concluded upon the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between KAIST and Saudi Aramco, dated January 7th, 2013. In the Agreement, the two organizations specified terms and conditions necessary to conduct joint research projects and stipulated governing body for the operation of the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center.
KAIST and Saudi Aramco, a national oil company for Saudi Arabia, entered into the MOU, in which the two parties shared a common interest in addressing the issue of CO2 capture, CO2 storage, CO2 avoidance using efficiency improvements, and converting CO2 into useful chemicals and other materials, and agreed to "create a major research center for CO2" in Korea.
As envisioned by the MOU and its subsequent agreement, KAIST and Saudi Aramco decided to operate an interim office of the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center at KAIST campus in Daejeon, Korea, pending the establishment of the research center. The full-fledged, independent research facility will be built at a location and during a period to be agreed between the two parties.
Following the signing of the Agreement, there was a celebration event taken place, including a signboard hanging ceremony for the interim research office. A 10-member delegation from Saudi Aramco, which was headed by Vice President of Engineering Services Samir Al-Tubayyeb, Dr. Nam-Pyo Suh, former president of KAIST, Vice President of Research at KAIST Kyung-Wook Paik, and senior representatives from Korean oil and petrochemical companies such as S-Oil, Lotte Chemicals, SK Innovation, and STX attended the event.
Kyung-Wook Paik, Vice President of Research at KAIST, said,
"In order to help find solutions to carbon management, KAIST and Saudi Aramco will facilitate to exchange each party's complementary technical expertise, gain insight into new research fields, and have access to key sources of talent, while promoting innovation for technology solutions and contributing to the lifelong learning agenda of both organizations."
Samir Al-Tubayyeb, Vice President of Engineering Services at Saudi Aramco, added that "As a world-leading oil and gas company, Saudi Aramco's mission is to promote the continued use of safe, environmentally-friendly petroleum products with a vision to becoming a global leader in research and technology. Building a strong and cooperative relationship with KAIST in our endeavor to search for alternative ways to better utilization of fossil fuels will expedite the creation of opportunities to make the world environmentally safer and sustainable."
KAIST and Saudi Aramco will each chip in a maximum of USD 5 million annually for the establishment and operation of the Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center during the initial term of the Master Research and Collaboration Agreement, which starts in 2013 and continues through 2018.
###
[ | 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.
Chuck Hagel is expected to be confirmed as secretary of defense by the Democratic-controled Senate. On Sunday, Republican Senator John McCain said he did not believe Hagel is qualified for the job, despite their personal friendship.?
By Tabassum Zakaria,?Reuters / February 24, 2013
Senate Armed Services Committee members, (from l.), Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., gather for a Capitol Hill hearing on looming defense budget cuts to be followed by a confirmation hearing on former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel's nomination to Secretary of Defense Feb. 12. The fierce Republican opposition to the Hagel nomination has long been seen as a proxy for the never-ending scuffles between the Democratic president and congressional Republicans.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP/File
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Republican Senator John McCain on Sunday said his former colleague?Chuck Hagel?was not qualified to be US defense secretary but the?Senate?would likely vote on his nomination rather than hold it up with procedural hurdles.
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Before going on a weeklong recess, Republican lawmakers succeeded in delaying a Senate vote on Hagel's nomination earlier this month. Hagel is expected to win confirmation if a vote is held because Democrats control 55 votes in the 100-seat?Senate.
"I do not believe that?Chuck Hagel, who is a friend of mine, is qualified to be secretary of defense," McCain of?Arizona?said on CNN's "State of the Union" show.
"I believe that when the questions are answered, and I believe they will be by this coming week that the president deserves an up or down vote" on Hagel, said McCain, who is a member of the?Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hagel's nomination was likely to go for a vote in the?Senate?"barring some additional revelation," he said.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - A powerful winter storm barreled through the U.S. southern Plains on Monday, dumping more than a foot of snow and creating blizzard conditions in Oklahoma, Texas and parts of Kansas still digging out from a winter storm last week.
Interstates and smaller highways in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles were closed by the heavy and drifting snow that cut down visibility and forced flight cancellations at airports across the region.
Some 17 inches of snow fell near Amarillo, Texas by noon on Monday, according to the National Weather Service, and the storm potentially could be in the top three all time. Other areas in the Texas panhandle also reported more than a foot of snow.
The National Weather Service warned that "most roads are impassable" and Texas Governor Rick Perry activated Texas Military Forces to be ready to respond to assistance calls.
Airports in Amarillo and 120 miles to the south in Lubbock, Texas, were closed while Interstate 27 between the cities was shut because of blowing snow, state officials said.
Parts of northwestern Oklahoma could get 16 inches to 24 inches of snow, with high winds that could create drifts up to 6 feet high, according to the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma.
"It's the biggest in the last several years, really," said James Hand, emergency management director in the small town of Mooreland. "Last year we didn't have anything to shovel."
Tyson Foods Inc said its Amarillo beef plant was closed Monday because of the storm. Also, USDA officials in Amarillo were working from home.
"We weren't able to make into the office this morning," said Kenneth Gladney, officer in charge at USDA's Amarillo market news office.
He said there was 14 inches of snow on the ground and more forecast. "I can hardly see 100 yards out my back window."
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said it closed all highways in the Oklahoma panhandle because of blizzard conditions. Interstate 40 in the Texas panhandle was also closed, along with numerous highways and other roads.
In Oklahoma City, some afternoon flights from Will Rogers World Airport were canceled due to the approaching storm.
Kansas, hit by a foot or more of snow in spots last week, braced for possible worsening conditions on Monday and Tuesday.
Blizzard conditions struck southwest Kansas on Monday morning and were expected to spread east to Wichita in the afternoon. A winter storm warning stretched from west-central Kansas to the northeast across Missouri and into Illinois.
Dodge City in southwestern Kansas began receiving snow overnight whipped by up to 40 miles per hour winds, said Marc Russell, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
"We had all that snow last week and the ditches are full, so snow will blow over the roads pretty quickly and make them impassible," Russell said.
Four highways were closed in southwest Kansas by late morning and Kansas National Guard troops were standing by to help motorists, officials said.
Flights were halted on Monday at Wichita, Kansas, Mid-Continent Airport. Schools in Wichita and many other districts in central and western Kansas were closed. State offices in central and western Kansas also were closed.
"Take this storm seriously," Kansas Governor Sam Brownback said. "Postpone travel plans if you are in the path of the heaviest predicted snow."
Last week, about 200 miles of Interstate 70 in Kansas were closed because of the massive winter storm that dumped well over a foot of snow in parts of the state. Winds are forecast in the 25 mph to 40 mph range.
In the Kansas City area, which was hit hard in last week's storm, bread aisles at area grocers were nearly bare and snow shovels and other equipment was flying off store shelves.
A Home Depot in Overland Park, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb, received 300 snow shovels Sunday night and nearly all were sold within an hour after the store opened Monday, a manager said.
From 6 to 10 inches of snow was expected in all but the northwestern region of Missouri through midday Tuesday with snowfall rates above 1 inch per hour in some parts of the state, along with blowing and drifting, the weather service said.
The same storm blanketed eastern Colorado with snow on Sunday, prompting the cancellation of 200 flights in and out of Denver International Airport.
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper ordered all non-essential state personnel to report to work two hours later than scheduled on Monday to give Denver snow plow drivers more time to clear city streets.
(Additional reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City and Steve Olafson in Oklahoma City; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Greg McCune and Bob Burgdorfer)
Feb. 23, 2013 ? A study, published by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), shows that just like humans love getting stuck into a crossword, chimpanzees get the same feeling of satisfaction from completing tricky puzzles.
Scientists set up a challenge for six chimpanzees at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo using plumbing pipes from a DIY store. The challenge involved moving red dice through a network of pipes until they fell into an exit chamber. This could only be achieved by the chimps prodding sticks into holes in the pipes to change the direction of the dice. The same task was also carried out with Brazil nuts, but the exit chamber removed so that the nuts fell out as a tasty treat for the chimps.
The paper was published February 24 in the American Journal of Primatology.
ZSL researcher Fay Clark says: "We noticed that the chimps were keen to complete the puzzle regardless of whether or not they received a food reward. This strongly suggests they get similar feelings of satisfaction to humans who often complete brain games for a feel-good reward."
The adult family group of chimpanzees at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo consist of two females and four males, three of which are half-brothers: Phil, Grant and Elvis. This study allowed them to solve a novel cognitive problem in their normal social grouping, by choice. In addition, the chimpanzees were not trained on how to use the device.
"For chimps in the wild, this task is a little bit like foraging for insects or honey inside a tree stump or a termite mound; except more challenging because the dice do not stick to the tool," Fay added.
The challenge, which only cost about ?40 to make, was made more intricate by connecting many pipes together, and the level further increased by making pipes opaque so chimpanzees could only see the dice or nuts through small holes.
The chimps took part in the cognitive challenge as part of their normal daily routine and doing the brain teaser was completely voluntarily. As part of the Zoo's enrichment programme, they also receive tasty treats hidden in boxes, as well as pillows and blankets every night to make up their own beds. Chimps build their own nests every night in the wild, and this enrichment encourages the animals' natural behaviours.
This study suggests that like humans, chimpanzees are motivated to solve a puzzle when there is no food reward. They do so for the sake of the challenge itself. It also suggests that chimpanzee cognition can be measured on social groups under more naturalistic conditions.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Zoological Society of London, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Fay E. Clark, Lauren J. Smith. Effect of a Cognitive Challenge Device Containing Food and Non-Food Rewards on Chimpanzee Well-Being. American Journal of Primatology, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22141
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? A series of early morning attacks hit eastern Afghanistan Sunday, with three separate suicide bombings in outlying provinces and a shootout between security forces and a would-be attacker in the capital city of Kabul.
The deadliest attack was a suicide car bombing at a state intelligence site just after sunrise in the eastern city of Jalalabad. In that attack, a car approached the gate of a compound used by the National Directorate of Security and exploded, killing two guards and wounding three others, said regional government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai. The building was damaged in the attack, he added.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Shortly before the Jalalabad attack, an assailant detonated a van packed with explosives at a highway police checkpoint in Logar province, also in the east. That explosion wounded three police officers but no one was killed, said Deputy Police Chief Rais Khan Abdul Rahimzai.
In Kabul, meanwhile, police shot and killed a would-be suicide bomber who was trying to attack an intelligence agency office downtown, according to the city's deputy police chief, Gen. Mohammad Daud Amin. Intelligence agents spotted the bomber before he could detonate the explosives in his vehicle and shot him, Amin said.
The explosives in the vehicle were later defused, he added.
Later in the morning, a man wearing a suicide vest blew himself up outside the police headquarters for Baraki Barak district in Logar province. The man was stopped by police as he tried to force his way into the building, but still managed to detonate his vest, said Din Mohammad Darwesh, the provincial government spokesman.
One policeman was wounded in the Baraki Barak attack, Darwesh said.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian officials on Saturday demanded an international investigation into the death of a Palestinian detainee who died in an Israeli jail hours earlier.
A spokeswoman for Israel's Prison Authority said that the detainee, 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat, had apparently died of cardiac arrest. An emergency service team had tried to resuscitate him but failed, she said.
Tension over the issue of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel has risen over the past few weeks, with mass protests held in support of four inmates on hunger strike and dozens of demonstrators injured in ensuing clashes with Israeli forces.
"Our information was that Jaradat was being interrogated and then he died. Therefore we call for an international investigation into his death, that may have resulted from torture," Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqea said.
Qaraqea did not elaborate on whether or not he had actual evidence of torture.
Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, said in a statement that Jaradat began feeling ill after eating lunch, while he was resting, and that a police inquiry into the circumstances of his death had begun.
"During his interrogation ... on Thursday, Jaradat was examined numerous times by a doctor. No health problems were found in these examinations and the interrogation continued," the Shin Bet said.
Jaradat, according to Shin Bet, suffered from various health problems prior to his arrest, including back aches and injuries in his leg and stomach, sustained from a rubber bullet and a tear gas canister.
But Qadoura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoner Club, a leading association that cares for Palestinians in Israeli jails, said that according to the group's records, Jaradat did not suffer from any prior illness.
"Israel was responsible for his life," Fares said.
Jaradat was arrested this week under suspicion he was involved in stone-throwing that had wounded an Israeli in the occupied West Bank, the Shin Bet said.
Israel holds around 4,700 Palestinians in its prisons on charges ranging from throwing stones to killing Israelis. Palestinians widely regard them as heroes of their national struggle against Israel and want them all freed.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Stephen Powell)
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We've arrived in Catalonia's capital city, where snow, apparently, has marked the start of this year's Mobile World Congress. That's right, the hills surrounding this typically warm Mediterranean metropolis have been blanketed in a thin layer of flurries, but we're nonetheless optimistic about this week's smartphone show in Barcelona. As MWC 2013's massive new venue begins to take shape, we're preparing to deliver the hottest hands-ons, directly from Fira Gran Via. Some manufacturers, such as HTC and LG, have already demoed their latest handsets, and other devices have made an early debut, but there's plenty of excitement still to come, as you'll discover in our show preview. We'll be sharing our liveblog lineup in a few hours -- for now, it's time to bookmark our event page, and check back often throughout the next week.
BOSTON (Reuters) - New England faced it third straight weekend of storms that will dump a messy, extended mix of wet snow and freezing rain across the region, meteorologists said Saturday.
Meanwhile another storm in the West will roll out of the Rocky Mountains this weekend and could create blizzard conditions in Colorado, according to a National Weather Service advisory.
Snow blanketed much of the Midwest earlier this week, with more than a foot in Kansas on Thursday, forcing airports to cancel hundreds of flights and leaving motorists stranded on highways.
Starting on Saturday, New England's coast from northern Connecticut to southern Maine was expected to be pelted with a mix of snow and rain, according to a National Weather Service advisory, while inland areas could see significant snow accumulations.
Wet snow and freezing rain was expected Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening in southern New Hampshire, northern Rhode Island and much of Massachusetts, including the Boston metropolitan area.
Up to a foot of snow was possible in parts of central Massachusetts, National Weather Service meteorologist John Foley said. From 2 to 5 inches of snow may fall in Boston.
The heaviest snowfall was expected Saturday night through Sunday morning, with 1 to 2 inches per hour possible, the weather service said.
Steve Scardino, a software sales executive and lifelong New Englander from Hopkinton, Massachusetts said he wondered what all the fuss was about.
"Look, it's winter, it's New England, it snows. Happens every time!" he said, laughing.
The storm may bring sleet and freezing rain to the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states, with thunderstorms expected in the Southeast, the weather service said. It likely will dump rain from New York City to Philadelphia, it said.
The storm barreled eastward for the weekend after pummeling the Midwest. In Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James said about 60 buses were stuck on snowbound streets on Friday, and even tow trucks were immobilized.
"It's still an ongoing process to get people off the roads," he told CNN.
SNOWY KANSAS
Kansas bore the brunt of the bad weather on Thursday, with up to 15 inches of snow in some parts of the state, according to the National Weather Service.
A closed 200-mile (323-km) stretch of Interstate 70 in central Kansas was strewn with cars stuck in snow.
National Guard troops riding in Humvees were dispatched to look for stranded motorists along the interstate and other highways, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for Kansas emergency management services.
The storm triggered severe thunderstorms from eastern Texas to Georgia.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback declared states of emergency because of hazardous travel and possible power outages..
In Nebraska, a 19-year-old woman was killed in a two-car accident on Wednesday on Interstate 80 near Giltner. The Nebraska State Patrol said weather was a factor.
An 18-year-old man died in Oklahoma when his vehicle slid into a tractor-trailer on a slushy state highway, the state's highway patrol said.
Drought-stricken farmers in the Great Plains, one of the world's largest wheat-growing areas, welcomed the moisture, although experts said more rain or snow would be needed to ensure healthy crops.
Meanwhile, in the Southeast, a "rich supply of Gulf moisture" will drive heavy rainfall from the Florida Panhandle east to the Carolinas on Saturday, the National Weather Service advisory said.
(Additional reporting by Kevin Murphy, Ian Simpson, Kevin Gray, Steve Gorman and Chris Francescani; Editing by Vicki Allen)
s will want to know the returns and refunds policy and terms and conditions before they commit to making a purchase. Do not worry that displaying the process will tempt customers into going ahead with a return; if the product is high quality they are more likely to be satisfied with it. As such make sure that customers can easily find the refund terms and conditions; if they have to hunt for them it can engender feelings of suspicion and distrust.
fraid to display good reviews prominently. The goodwill generated from a positive commendation should not be underestimated. Encourage customers to leave feedback on the site and the resulting vote of trust will show itself with an upsurge in business.
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Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
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