Baptist leaders urge Miss. church to reject racism

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) ? Townspeople prayed for racial reconciliation Monday, but the black man whose wedding was rejected by a predominantly white Southern Baptist church in this small Mississippi town said he wasn't ready to let racism be swept under the rug.

"Prayer works, but only if you want it to work, only if you want it to work in your heart" said Charles Wilson, the groom. "There are some that won't change and I accept that. But I won't stop talking about it. We're still hurt."

As 150 residents sweltered in a park beside a railroad track, their song of praise was drowned out by a southbound Canadian National freight train. The scene was today's South writ small, a place where a lot of things have changed but where the pain of the old hurts can still flare anew.

Wilson and his bride Te'Andrea were to be married at the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs on July 21. But after their rehearsal two nights before, the church's pastor sought to move the service, saying some congregants didn't want two black people to get married in the orange-brick sanctuary.

The Rev. Stan Weatherford married the Wilsons as scheduled in another sanctuary, but Charles Wilson began speaking out, saying he felt betrayed by the congregation and Weatherford. The pastor is personal friends with Te'Andrea's family.

Weatherford says the relocation was a request meant to avoid conflict. The Wilsons say it was a demand, with Weatherford saying the congregation would fire him if he married the pair in his church.

Weatherford refused to confirm that and sidestepped questions about whether he had made a mistake.

"They say hindsight's 20/20," Weatherford said. "I'm going to continue to pray to the Lord for wisdom in my life."

He said the church will confront its problems internally.

The Wilsons said Greg Duke, a Sunday school teacher, was the only member of the church to reach out to them. Duke said he found out about the relocated wedding the day after it happened, although it took a few days for him to piece together the facts. He said most of the church's hundreds of members didn't know what happened until the story hit the news.

Monday, as townspeople set off on a prayer march after the rally, he spoke to the Wilsons, inviting them to return and give the church another chance.

"I think a few people dictated what happened," Duke said after speaking to Wilson and his crying wife. "I'd just like to say we were all hurt by this. Not like they were, but we were hurt."

Duke said he hoped the people who objected to the wedding would step forward and make amends. Alderman Ray Brown, one of three black men on the five-member town board, said he agreed that the church should issue an official apology.

"I think the First Baptist members, the progressive ones, aren't for this," said Brown, who doesn't attend the church. "I think there may be some ones that are stuck in the past."

Monday's rally was organized by Mayor Sally Garland, who is white, as reporters began streaming to this part-trim, part-scruffy town just south of Jackson's suburban fringe. It featured a racially balanced group of pastors. The majority of attendees were white, though the town is majority-black.

Southern Baptist leaders called Monday for the church to reject racism. Baptist churches are autonomous, so they want the congregation to chart its own course.

Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention board, said the organization was praying for the church and is ready to help. William Perkins, a spokesman for the group, said the church has not contacted state officials.

"Mississippi Baptists both reject racial discrimination and at the same time respect the autonomy of our local churches to deal with difficulties and disagreements under the lordship of Jesus," Futral said in a statement.

After being slow to reach out across racial lines, Southern Baptists have made increasing efforts in that direction in the past two decades. Nationwide, about 19 percent of 45,000 Southern Baptist churches are majority-minority, including 3,500 that are majority black.

Earlier this year, the convention elected its first black president, the Rev. Fred Luter Jr. of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. At the same meeting, delegates voted to give churches the option of calling themselves Great Commission Baptist churches, for those who wish to break free of the baggage of the Southern Baptist name and reach more followers.

"We are all saddened when any sin, including the sin of racism, rears its head," said Southern Baptist Convention spokesman Sing Oldham. "Part of our gospel is that we are being redeemed. We are flawed, failed creatures and redemption is a process."

Oldham said "a sizeable number" of Baptist pastors are fired or forced to resign each year in conflicts with church members. Most seminaries teach that pastors should be fired only for moral failure or theological error, but Baptist officials say many ministers are fired for personal conflicts or other reasons.

"Unfortunately, most of the members of the church don't read those books," Oldham said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/baptist-leaders-urge-miss-church-reject-racism-013203721.html

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On world stage, Olympic culture clashes inevitable

FILE - This July 25, 2012, file mobile phone photo provided by James Crossan shows a mistakenly displayed South Korean flag on a jumbo screen instead of North Korea's before a women's soccer match, which prompted the North Koreans to refuse to take the field for nearly an hour in Glasgow, Scotland. "We will apologize to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again," organizers said. The Olympic-sized political gaffes and cultural goofs already registered before the London games officially open Friday have proven one thing in the globalized planet of the early 21st century: Even with the best of intentions, organizing an offense-free Olympics is nearly impossible. (AP Photo/James Crossan, File)

FILE - This July 25, 2012, file mobile phone photo provided by James Crossan shows a mistakenly displayed South Korean flag on a jumbo screen instead of North Korea's before a women's soccer match, which prompted the North Koreans to refuse to take the field for nearly an hour in Glasgow, Scotland. "We will apologize to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again," organizers said. The Olympic-sized political gaffes and cultural goofs already registered before the London games officially open Friday have proven one thing in the globalized planet of the early 21st century: Even with the best of intentions, organizing an offense-free Olympics is nearly impossible. (AP Photo/James Crossan, File)

FILE - In this July 24, 2012, file photo, international flags hanging above the street are reflected in a bus' windshield as it travels through central London. The Olympic-sized political gaffes and cultural goofs already registered before the London games officially open Friday have proven one thing in the globalized planet of the early 21st century: Even with the best of intentions, organizing an offense-free Olympics is nearly impossible. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - In this July 20, 2012, file photo, Brazil's Hulk, left, vies for the ball with Great Britain's Joe Allen, right, during their Olympic men's friendly soccer match at Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough, England. Allen, a Welsh soccer player, was listed as English in the official program on Thursday, July 26. The Olympic-sized political gaffes and cultural goofs already registered before the London games officially open Friday have proven one thing in the globalized planet of the early 21st century: Even with the best of intentions, organizing an offense-free Olympics is nearly impossible. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell, File)

FILE - In this July 26, 2012, file photo, British Prime Minister David Cameron, second from left, and Sebastian Coe, London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games chairman, walk past the Aquatics Center during a visit to the Olympic Park in London. Cameron has had to apologize profusely for a mistake that resulted in South Korea's flag being displayed rather than North Korea's on a giant screen ahead of Pyongyang's inaugural women's soccer match Wednesday night. The Olympic-sized political gaffes and cultural goofs already registered before the London games officially open Friday have proven one thing in the globalized planet of the early 21st century: Even with the best of intentions, organizing an offense-free Olympics is nearly impossible. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

LONDON (AP) ? In a way it was inevitable, given the size and scope of the event that is taking place in this most multicultural of capitals.

But the Olympic-sized political gaffes and cultural goofs already registered before the games officially open Friday have proven one thing in the globalized planet of the early 21st century: Even with the best of intentions, organizing an offense-free Olympics is nearly impossible.

On Thursday, three issues rankled some Muslim activists:

?A "Welcome to London" street sign written in Arabic that was virtually indecipherable, with the characters written backward.

?A ruling that one of Saudi Arabia's two female athletes couldn't wear a headscarf for her judo competitions because of safety concerns.

?And an insistence that two Moroccan soccer players produce a urine sample for doping tests, even though they were fasting for Ramadan and needed more than two hours to produce it.

"The reason we won the games was because London was diverse, it's where the world is represented," said Mohammed Shafiq, head of the Manchester-based Ramadan Foundation, which seeks to forge understanding among Britain's different communities.

"But," he said, "we're seeing decisions that are being made that will have a negative impact on the beliefs of Muslim athletes, and Muslim fans and officials."

Already, the International Olympic Committee and Prime Minister David Cameron have apologized profusely for the most blatant mistake to date: displaying South Korea's flag rather than North Korea's on a giant screen ahead of Pyongyang's inaugural women's soccer match Wednesday night. The flap sent the North's team off the pitch for an hour in protest.

On Thursday, two other geopolitical gaffes surfaced: Welsh soccer player Joe Allen was listed as English in the official program, and some athletes who were born in then-Soviet Ukraine were listed as having been born in the "Ukraine region" of Russia. Others were listed as coming from the Ukrainian cities of Lutsk and Lviv, which were described in the program as Russian. Similar mistakes were made for Georgia-born athletes.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko said Kiev's embassy in London had complained to the IOC and requested corrections.

"The word 'region' is obviously excessive," he tweeted, referring to the centuries of Russian dominance that ended when Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. "It's an incompetent mistake even from the point of view of English grammar."

London organizing spokeswoman Joanne Manning-Cooper acknowledged the mistakes but tried to put them in context.

"We've got 200 competing nations from all over the world, a multitude of religions," she said. "Over the past seven years we've worked hard to make sure this really is everyone's games, no matter where you're from or what your beliefs."

Part of that involved creating a committee of representatives of different faiths to ensure no one would feel excluded by the games. But given the vast numbers of people and events involved ? 650 sporting events, nearly 10,000 athletes over 17 days ? mistakes are bound to happen.

"If we make mistakes, we fix them immediately and aim to ensure they never happen again," she said.

For Saudi Arabia's Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani, it's not so much a mistake as a safety ruling that could jeopardize her participation in the games.

On Thursday, the International Judo Federation ruled she couldn't wear a headscarf during competition because of safety concerns given the strangleholds and chokeholds that are often used.

Shahrkhani is one of the first two Saudi women allowed to participate in the Olympics; the other, Sarah Attar is expected to wear a headscarf when she competes in distance running.

Asian judo federations have previously allowed Muslim women to wear the hijab during major competitions, but the IJF decided against it this time around.

"Someone wearing a headscarf could put their opponent at a disadvantage if the headscarf gets in the way and you're not able to grip properly," said Szandra Szogedi, a Hungarian fighter who just missed out on the Olympics and is helping the Hungarian team during the games.

Judo fighters typically struggle to get a grip on each other's uniform and frequently reach behind their opponent's head to get a dominant position on the base of their neck.

"But on the other hand, the headscarf could be dangerous for the woman wearing it, because if I try to strangle you and somehow pull your scarf around into a more dangerous position," she said.

Shafiq, of the Ramadan Foundation, said allowances should be made particularly for people of different faiths.

"It's not about political correctness," he said. "It's about being aware of the sensitivities around this, and positively embracing the diversity."

_____

Maria Cheng in London and Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-07-27-OLY-Culture-Clashes/id-2eebbde0418e482f9c54a92a58dd50d4

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AccessData Releases Cyber Intelligence & Response Technology ...

By Business Wire

Article Rating:

July 25, 2012 11:03 AM EDT

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AccessData is announcing the release of Cyber Intelligence & Response Technology Version 2 (CIRT 2). CIRT is the first platform to integrate network and computer forensics, malware analysis, large-scale data auditing and remediation. The solution is an integration of four of AccessData?s proprietarytechnologies: the AD Enterprise network-enabled computer forensics solution, SilentRunner^?network forensics product, the data auditing capabilities of AD eDiscovery and ? new in version 2 ? AccessData?s new Cerberus malware analysis technology.

Traditionally, organizations rely on a number of disparate tools for information assurance and incident response. There are often multiple teams each focusing on one small aspect of a much larger cyber security picture. For example, a forensics team, a network security team, information assurance or compliance auditing team each use different tools and may or may not collaborate on a routine basis. According to Jason Mical, Director of Network Forensics at AccessData, these gaps in technologies and processes make it difficult for an organization to quickly identify when a security breach or data leak has occurred. Since perimeter defense and alerting technologies can only detect what they?ve been told to look for, the ability to catch what tools, such as intrusion detection (IDS) and data loss prevention (DLP) systems, miss is absolutely vital. ?Today, when an organization discovers it has been compromised, it?s often by accident, and usually long after widespread damage has occurred. CIRT is designed to provide 360-degree visibility into what is happening on your network to speed detection, root cause analysis and thorough remediation,? stated Mical.

By allowing users to correlate computer, network and malware data, as well as audit tens of thousands of machines, CIRT gives organizations the ability to identify and address all types of threats, including zero-day events, hacking, data spillage and advanced persistent threats. ?In the age of Stuxnet and Flame, organizations need the visibility and response capabilities CIRT provides,? commented Mical. ?It?s not just another platform that provides a mound of data to sift through. It delivers the threat intelligence you need and it remediates.? Using CIRT, organizations can continuously monitor network traffic, computers and removable media to detect threats and more quickly acquire actionable intelligence in the event of a cyber incident. In addition, with CIRT?s ?check in? feature, CIRT users can monitor the laptops of traveling employees, even when they are not logged on to the organization?s network.

In a June 2010 article in the DoD blog, Armed with Science, head of US Cyber Command, General Alexander, stated ?? we have been leaning forward and building an organization and a mission alignment that is more integrated, synchronized and effective?? In Mical?s view, integrated, synchronized and effective should extend beyond people and processes to include the technology deployed in facilitating incident response. In his words, ?the incident response infrastructure is an organization?s last line of defense, so a few different teams, each juggling a bunch of tools, is not the most effective approach.?

One platform providing a single pane of glass through which users can see what is happening on the network and at the host level has been the vision of AccessData CEO, Tim Leehealey for the last decade. Key features of AccessData?s Cyber Intelligence & Response Technology include the following:

• Correlate network and host analysis to quickly determine root cause and more effectively chase down data spillage.
• Identify and triage suspected malware using both static analysis and advanced disassembly analysis to determine behavior and intent without a sandbox or reliance on signature-based tools.
• Perform proactive and reactive enterprise audits to identify data spillage, such as personally identifiable information, payment card information or classified documents.
• Play back security incidents in real-time to gain a better understanding of an exploit or data spill.
• Build threat profiles and monitor to prevent incident recurrence.
• Continuously monitor the network and information assets, including removable devices, on or off the organization?s network.
• Perform batch remediation.

?By providing integrated analysis from multiple vantage points, as well as real-time collaboration among personnel and easy-to-read reporting for those at the top of the command chain, AccessData?s CIRT solution is the only product of its kind, engineered to better aid organizations in their efforts to stop the bleeding,? commented Leehealey.

About AccessData

AccessData Group has pioneered digital investigations and litigation support for 25 years. Its family of stand-alone and enterprise-class solutions, including FTK, SilentRunner, Summation and the CIRT security framework, enable digital investigations of any kind, including computer forensics, incident response, e-discovery, legal review and compliance auditing. More than 130,000 users in law enforcement, government agencies, corporations and law firms worldwide rely on AccessData software solutions and premier digital investigation and hosted review services. AccessData is also a leading provider of digital forensics and litigation support training and certification. www.accessdata.com

Source: http://sox.ulitzer.com/node/2319882

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More Chinese, Indian Migrants Made Permanent in Australia

Australia's mining boom, with its consequent manpower shortage, has forced the country to make more permanent residents of the Indian and Chinese migrants that came in the year to June, 2012, the government said on Thursday.

A total of 185,000 permanent migrants came into Australia in the 2011/12 financial year, of which 125,755 were in the skilled migrant programme, the government reported.

Indian permanent migrants provided the biggest number in the 2011/12 tally, at 29,018, representing 16 per cent of the total number. Migrants from China came in second at 25,509, and from Britain at 25,274.

"Skilled migration is essential to support our economy and help overcome the challenges of an ageing population," Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen said.

The latest migrant intake figures represented a 9.7 per cent jump from the 168,685 recorded in 2010/11.

"Today's skill stream is highly targeted towards employer sponsorship, the regions and high value occupations, with over 60 per cent of skilled migration visas going to employer, government and regional sponsored places to help fill critical skills needs," Mr Bowen said.

Australia has plans to take in 190,000 migrants in the year 2012/13.

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Source: http://africa.ibtimes.com/articles/364639/20120719/china-india-migrants-jobs-workers-skilled-mining.htm

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DishBliss ? Blog Archive ? The Fancy Food Show

We enjoyed our trip to the Fancy Food Show in Washington DC.

One of my favorites, was surprisingly, a fermented tofu dish.?I am not a big tofu fan, but Rau Om?s Tofu Misozuke is a wonderful meaty tasting spread for crackers. For the vegan palate, it is perfectly acceptable substitute for cheese. Even those carnivores out there, such as myself, can appreciate this tasty treat. The basic concept is that tofu is wrapped in Miso and allowed to ferment for two months. The product can last up to a month once fermented. It is high in sodium, but that is done as a preservation factor. The product is only available in California at this time, but you can purchase it on the website if you are outside their retail area. They also have a couple of other interesting items on their website that were not showcased at the show that are definitely worth checking out!

Another great product that Chef Allison and I were in agreement on were the spinach balls by The Spinach Ball company. They come in original, stuffed with feta, and stuffed with Monterey Jack. They are served with a side of dill dip. They are a very tasty product! Great flavor!

In the beverage category, Crio Bru is definitely a trendsetter. This is the first productof its kind to be manufactured in the US. It is a drink steeped from 100% cocoa beans. The beans are hand selected for minimal bitterness, sun dried, then roasted and milled. The product is 100% responsibly grown and ethically traded. The company uses wind power as the energy source in making Crio Bru. Each cup only has 10 calories, has one of the highest antioxidant amounts by weight, and has been designated Hearty Healthy by the AHA. Add some coconut milk to this delectable drink and you have a low-calorie version of hot chocolate. It is definitely a product to watch!!

Another interesting product is actually a Korean product by O?Jeju. It?s called O?Kimchi and it is a 100% natural Korean fermented Kimchi that has been dried. The package suggests to add it to Ramen, but I can see it being a great snack all on its own! Add it to rice, to broth, etc. Regardless, the whole package has 16 calories.

Annie Chun?s has two flavors of Savory roasted Korean seaweed that it showcased as new products. One is a brown sugar and sea salt product that is slightly sweet. The other flavor is racked pepper and herbs. Each serving has only 10 calories, so it?s a low-calorie, nutrition-packed snack.

Super fruits are making the rounds when it comes to trends, and one of my favorites at the show this year is Baobab. I had a sample of Baobab jam, and the statistics for this product are pretty amazing. According to data, 1g of baobab pulp has 10 times the antioxidant ability of oranges, and 4 times more potassium than bananas. It is a light colored jam, slightly tart. It tastes creamy with a tart citrus taste. A recent newcomer to the market, it has many functional characteristics as well.

In the sweets category are Cocomels, by JJ?s Sweets, the vegan?s answer to the caramel. They are made with coconut milk and are absolutely delicious. They come in 4 naked flavors (original, sea salt, vanilla, and java), and 4 covered in free trade organic chocolate (sea salt, vanilla, espresso, and chai spice). I sampled the naked original and sea salt, and I have to tell you, they were very tasty, with a great creamy coconut overtone.

Veggie Mama is a great entry into the kid?s 6-16 age bracket. Founder Theresa Fraijo started with a desire to feed her kids more vegetables and this is her take on veggie snacks. These are frozen pops made with 100% fruits and vegetables. I tried several flavors and my hands down favorite was the sweet potato pie flavor. It?s made with sweet potato, orange, coconut, vanilla and cinnamon. What a deliciously healthy idea!

?

And this last little gem is definitely a trend we are seeing in the eco-friendly category: it?s? a paper spoon that biodegrades in 3-10 weeks. It would be very handy as a tasting spoon in commercial kitchens as well as a great alternative for frozen treats!

?

Stay tuned for our blog on the IFT show, where we will showcase some amazing functional ingredients.

?Bridget

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Food Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://dish-bliss.com/2012/07/18/the-fancy-food-show/

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HTC EVO Design 4G (Boost Mobile)

The HTC EVO Design 4G is Boost Mobile's first smartphone to run on Sprint's WiMAX network. It's also the best smartphone?currently available on Boost, with a lovely, crisp display, good call quality, and fast data speeds if you're covered by WiMAX. It's a little pricey at $299.99, and it lacks a dual-core processor like some other top-of-the-line contract-free devices out there, but if you're looking for fast data speeds at a low monthly price, it fits the bill, making it our latest Editors' Choice for smartphones on Boost.

Design and Call Quality
The Design 4G is a black slab that measures 4.8 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs a slightly hefty 5.2 ounces. The back is a mixture of black aluminum and soft-touch plastic that looks understated but classy. Your eyes will likely be focused on the 4-inch, 960-by-540-pixel qHD capacitive LCD, which looks bright and crisp. There are four capacitive touch buttons beneath the screen. Typing on HTC's on-screen QWERTY keyboard was easy in both portrait and landscape modes.

The Design 4G is a quad-band (800/850/1900/2600) CDMA/WiMAX phone that runs on Sprint's 3G and 4G networks. There's also 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. Reception is average and call quality is good. Voices sound clear in the phone's earpiece, if somewhat thin, but volume goes extremely loud. Ditto for the speakerphone, which is certainly loud enough to use outdoors. Calls made with the phone are easy to hear and feature decent noise cancellation, though voices are a bit digitized. Calls sound fine over a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars) and voice dialing worked over Bluetooth without issue. Battery life is average, at 5 hours and 48 minutes of talk time over 3G. But turn on 4G, and that number drops considerably, even when you aren't using the phone. You'll probably only want to connect to 4G when you know you're going to use it.

Data Speeds and Data Plans
As we discovered in our testing for the Fastest Mobile Networks, Sprint has the slowest 3G speeds of all the carriers we tested. That means that all 3G-only Sprint, Boost, and Virgin phones are running at some pretty challenged data speeds. Thankfully, 4G WiMAX support offers the Design a major boost. Running Ookla's Speedtest.net app, I saw average 4G download speeds of 5.5Mbps in Manhattan, and upload speeds of 1.5Mbps, both of which are plenty fast.

Sprint's 3G network is much, much slower. I got an average of just 0.6Mbps down and 0.5Mbps up in the same test areas in Manhattan. But while WiMAX will get you much faster data speeds, keep in mind that it isn't available everywhere the same way that 3G is. Make sure you're covered before factoring it into your decision.

The best reason to get a phone on Boost is to tap into the carrier's inexpensive pricing plans. Android plans start at $55 for "unlimited" data, talk time, and texts per month. That amount is reduced by $5 every 6 months you pay your bill on time, until you reach $40. If you don't need as much talk time, you can get a similar plan from Virgin Mobile, but with 300 voice minutes, for just $35 per month. But for either carrier, there is a downside for heavy data users: After 2.5GB of full-speed data usage per month, your speeds will be throttled significantly until the end of your billing cycle.

For an additional $10 per month, you can use the Design as a mobile hotspot to share your connection with up to eight devices. Just keep in mind that you're drawing from the same 2.5GB well of full-speed data.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/c4psQvc9XPw/0,2817,2407228,00.asp

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Carly Rae Jepsen, Djokovic on for Ashe Kids Day

This April 19, 2012 file photo shows Canadian singer, Carly Rae Jepsen in London. Jepsen has been tapped for the Annual Arthur Ashe Kids' Day at the U.S. Open. She'll join The Wanted, Owl City and Cymphonique Miller, along with reigning men's champion Novak Djokovic, past women's champion Kim Clijsters and John Isner. The Aug. 25 event, held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., will feature performances as well as exhibition matches and other activities. (AP Photo/Jonathan Short, file)

This April 19, 2012 file photo shows Canadian singer, Carly Rae Jepsen in London. Jepsen has been tapped for the Annual Arthur Ashe Kids' Day at the U.S. Open. She'll join The Wanted, Owl City and Cymphonique Miller, along with reigning men's champion Novak Djokovic, past women's champion Kim Clijsters and John Isner. The Aug. 25 event, held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., will feature performances as well as exhibition matches and other activities. (AP Photo/Jonathan Short, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Tennis is calling Carly Rae Jepsen.

The "Call Me Maybe" singer has been tapped for the Annual Arthur Ashe Kids' Day at the U.S. Open. She'll join The Wanted, Owl City and Cymphonique Miller, along with reigning men's champion Novak Djokovic (NOH'-vak JOH'-kuh-vich), past women's champion Kim Clijsters (KLY'-sturz) and John Isner.

The Aug. 25 event, held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., will feature performances as well as exhibition matches and other activities.

This is the 17th annual Kids' Day. Last year, it was canceled because of Hurricane Irene.

The U.S. Open, tennis' final Grand Slam of the year, begins Aug. 27.

___

Online:

http://www.usopen.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-07-17-US%20Open-Kids/id-37437e1681e542da9b85abc1703ca68d

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Russia speeds law on rights groups, snubbing U.S

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian government rushed a law through parliament on Friday which will tighten controls on civil rights groups and has strained relations with the United States, which fears a crackdown on opponents of President Vladimir Putin.

In defiance of criticism this week from the U.S. State Department, curtly dismissed by Russia's Foreign Ministry as "gross interference", the lower house overwhelmingly backed the bill in second and third readings under accelerated procedures.

The rapid passage underlined the importance Putin attaches to a law which will force foreign-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that engage in "political activity" to register with the Justice Ministry as "foreign agents" and to file a report on their operations to officials twice a year.

Critics say the term "foreign agents" echoes back to the Cold War, and that organizations which carry the tag will be seen by many Russians as traitors. They say it aims to starve such groups of funds and to intimidate them into silence.

"The law is harmful to the process of developing a civil society. It does not support the opening up of our country," Yelena Zhemkova, a director at Russian human rights group Memorial, told Reuters. "Put simply, this law has just one goal and that is to provide a formal reason for labeling your opponents enemies of the state."

Boris Nemtsov, a former minister and one of the organizers of protests against the president, said: "The law was inspired and pushed by Putin himself as a repressive law on rallies."

Putin, a former KGB spy, has been in power for 12 years as prime minister or president. He returned to the Kremlin in May and could rule the world's largest country for the next 12 years if he is re-elected in 2018.

In the past seven months he has faced the biggest protests since he first rose to power and he has already pushed through a law that increased potential fines for demonstrators, while police have raided the homes of some of the protest organizers.

Parliament is also considering a new law tightening controls on the Internet, used by the opposition for distributing news about protests, as well as legislation tightening defamation laws, which the opposition fears could also be used against it.

U.S. CRITICISM

The U.S. State department expressed its "deep concern" about the NGO law on Wednesday but the Russian Foreign Ministry hit back shortly after the State Duma lower house approved the law.

In a response that showed the impact the bill is having on already frayed foreign relations, it said in a statement: "We note that such comments cannot be seen as anything other than entirely inappropriate attempts at gross interference in the activities of the Russian state authorities."

Putin's United Russia party says the law, which had its first reading in the Duma only a week ago is needed to protect openness about NGOs.

"This law is no limitation to anything whatsoever. It just makes information public so it is in the best interest of civil society and is not against anybody," the party's Irina Yarovaya, co-author of the bill, said before it was presented. "There is nothing derogatory in the phrase 'foreign agents'."

The second and third readings of the bill were rolled into one, and the law was approved with just three votes against. It will go into effect once the upper house has rubber stamped it and Putin has signed it into law.

WIDER CRACKDOWN

Critics see it as part of a wider crackdown on civil liberties and the opposition movement protesting against Putin.

They say the law could put at risk the work of organizations such as Amnesty International, which campaigns for human rights, and Transparency International, a corruption watchdog.

The Russian rights group Golos, which receives foreign funding and compiled allegations of fraud in the parliamentary election won by United Russia last December, says it believes it is the prime target of the law.

The Moscow Helsinki Group, which has been monitoring human rights since Soviet times, has said it will give up all foreign funding once the law takes effect, but will not halt its work.

"The Duma, in some sort of extraordinary speedy mode, has been accepting laws lately, on the Internet and others, instead of dealing with real problems like the economic crisis," Memorial's Zhemkova said.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said on Wednesday that the United States had communicated its concern to Moscow over the law, which could make already chilly ties between the former Cold War enemies even frostier.

The United States places its own limits on foreign-funded groups on its own soil through the Foreign Agents Registration Act. It requires groups acting as the agents of foreign governments in a political capacity to disclose their activities and finances.

United Russia has highlighted similarities between the new law and legislation in the West, but the State Department said the Russian law goes further than its U.S. counterpart.

Putin accused Western governments last year of trying to influence the December election by funding NGOs in Russia, and Golos was accused in a television documentary of supporting opposition parties. Golos has denied this.

Putin once referred to NGOs as "jackals" because some of them count on foreign support. The Kremlin's advisory human rights council had called for passage of the new law to be delayed but Putin dismissed their calls.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Writing by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-condemns-u-criticism-ngo-law-133538932.html

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Male Dragonflies Color Shift via Simple Chemical Reaction

News | Evolution

Biologists have identified the pigments and chemical mechanism behind color-changing male dragonflies

By Daisy Yuhas ?| July 10, 2012

A sexually mature, red male Sympetrum darwinianum dragonfly (left) in tandem flight with a yellowish female (right). Image: Ryo Futahashi

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Each summer, scores of sunny yellow dragonflies transform into vibrant scarlet flyers. Behind this showy makeover scientists have discovered a simple chemical reaction every bit as elegant as the spectacle itself.

The discovery?made by a team of biologists in Japan?reveals both the pigments and mechanism behind this colorful change, a process they describe in a study released yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Because dragonflies are diurnal [awake during the day] and have a better sense of vision than smell or sound, body color is essential for partner recognition," says lead author Ryo Futahashi, a biologist at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Futahashi, who has been fascinated by dragonflies since he was a child, explains that the red dragonfly in particular has a powerful cultural significance in Japan. The timing of their maturation coincides with late summer, making them a popular poetic symbol of autumn.

Futahashi and colleagues studied two dragonfly genera, Crocothemis and Sympetrum, in which males shift from a sunny yellow to scarlet when they reach sexual maturity. In addition to Japan, dragonflies of either genus can be observed in various parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and North America. Their color shift?referred to by biologists as nuptial coloration?signals that a male is on the market for a mate. There's an added advantage to the transformation: Young males are spared the hardship of territorial squabbles. Mature males ignore the yellow youths as nonthreatening.

To decipher exactly what causes the change, the scientists collected specimens from six species. Collecting and analyzing epidermis samples from the abdomens of these dragonflies, they identified the color source as ommochrome pigments, responsible for color in many insects and crustaceans.

Next, they chemically induced color change by microinjecting solution into a live dragonfly's abdomen. They found that at the heart of the mechanism was a simple chemical redox reaction. In redox reactions the charge of chemical components becomes more positive through oxidation or more negative through reduction, removing or adding electrons, respectively. An injection of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) triggered reduction, which transformed yellow dragonflies to red. An injection of sodium nitrite, causing oxidation, reversed the effect.

The researchers observed that through reduction they could not only redden immature males, they could also transform females into the scarlet hue. In the wild, gynandromorphic dragonflies, which have both male and female characteristics, display a patchwork of red and yellow when they mature. These observations have led the researchers to suspect that a hormonal cue acting at the cellular level triggers a reduction reaction in the maturing male.

Futahashi speculates that there may even be an additional benefit to this change. The altered oxidative state in mature males may actually have extra antioxidant protection, offering a natural defense against the sun's UV radiation. He adds that this is the first time a redox reaction has been identified behind this kind of color change in insects?although a similar process occurs in maturing fruit such as tomatoes.

"Dragonflies are among those amazing animals that captivate naturalists for numerous reasons, including their aerial acrobatics and their striking colors?which notoriously vanish in most museum specimens," says Bruce Hammock, an entomologist at the University of California, Davis, who was not connected to the study. Hammock has examined a similar chemical change in the American bird grasshopper. He praises the study for its elegant design, which starts with a basic observation, explores through experimentation and incorporates sophisticated chemical techniques.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=69d2952b07f6808032347f6fd327b1ca

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Christian dating on-line ? What are the benefits? | PICK UP LINES ...

There has been a rapid rise of Christian dating on-line services. This article aims to highlight a few of the advantages that a Christian dating on-line services provide as they address the numerous hurdles one would need to overcome in seeking out that Godly mate.

There has been a rapid rise of Christian dating on-line consequently of altering work patterns and lifestyles making it difficult for Christians searching for a appropriate spouse. In some instances Church congregations tend to be smaller and might not have many single Christians and even then, none might be that special individual. It?s therefore no great surprise towards the rise of Christian dating on-line as an try to address the numerous hurdles one would need to overcome in seeking out that Godly mate.

There are many advantages to Christian dating on-line a few of that are listed following.

1) Most Christian free cams websites require that subscribers provide a personal profile. This allows 1 the capability to search and review profiles of individuals which you believe which you are comfortable and compatible with. You then have an chance to evaluate peoples profile, including religious background and faith culture, making it much more probable which you will discover just the correct type of individual with whom you can invest the rest of your life with. There?s therefore no pressure to compromise your hearts want, just be patient and make full of every available resource that a Christian dating on-line site offers and be an active participant. Psalm 37:4 ?Delight your self in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart.?

2) Getting come up with a short list, most Christian dating on-line websites offer some form of secure e-mail or chat facility, so you do not need to give away personal get in touch with particulars to total strangers until you get to know them. When the Christian dating on-line site doesn?t offer secure e-mail you?re best to get a free yahoo, hotmail or comparable account and use that until a degree of trust has been accomplished. Relationships should never be rushed and Christian dating on-line allows you to build relationships inside a relaxed and secure environment.

3) Most Christian dating on-line websites have numerous forums that enable you to exercise your spiritual gifts via prayer, bible study and general discussions. These forums are an excellent way that Christian dating on-line websites facilitate the assessment of feasible matches particularly if the individuals you?re interested in are active contributors. Some Christian dating on-line websites will also facilitate meetings in nearby locations allowing you to meet inside a secure public location and much more importantly within the business of other Christians.

4) For the much more adventurous, Christian dating on-line websites provide the chance of developing relationships with individuals who might not be inside your immediate geographical vicinity.

5) Finally it appears to work, a number of Christian dating on-line websites report that a number of of their subscribers do indeed discover the spouse of their dreams. However, reading the achievement stories would indicate that a great deal of time, work, patience and prayer goes into developing a successful relationship and a willingness to help keep on utilizing towards the full, resources that a Christian dating on-line site offers.

In conclusion, Christian dating on-line allows for the connection to other like minded Christians. The creating of relationships, and ultimately top towards the discovering of that special individual inside a secure and spiritually wholesome environment.

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Source: http://www.seamusnetwork.net/best-pick-up-lines/christian-dating-on-line-what-are-the-benefits

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