Has it been that long?

I just logged back to my blog site today to realize how long it has been since I have posted my last blog. My last post was in April, a little hard to believe how fast the time has gone by. It's amazing how much has happened without me rushing in here to comment about. Well that is about to come to an end. I will be back in here pretty soon.

Mali crisis: Chad's Idriss Deby announces troop pullout

 

 Chad's soldiers are respected for their experience in desert warfare

Chad, one of the largest supplier of troops battling Islamists in Mali, has started to pull them out, President Idriss Deby has said.

"The Chadian army does not have the skills to fight a shadowy, guerrilla-style war that is taking place in northern Mali," he said.
Three Chadian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Mali on Friday.
Soldiers from Chad, France and other African countries have ousted Islamist militants from northern Mali's towns.
But fighting continues in some remote parts of the Sahara Desert.
Chad's 2,000 troops were seen as playing a crucial role in the fighting because of their experience in desert warfare.
About 30 have been killed - more than any other nationality, reports the Reuters news agency.
Three of them died in a suicide attack in Kidal on Friday.
Mr Deby told French media that Chad's soldiers had "accomplished their mission".
"We have already withdrawn a mechanised battalion," he said.
But he said Chad would contribute to a proposed 11,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Mali.
France has also started to withdraw some of its 4,000 soldiers and hopes to have just 1,000 in the country by the end of the year.
France led the intervention in January, saying the al-Qaeda-linked militants were threatened to march on the capital, Bamako.

Scientists make 'laboratory-grown' kidney

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

 

The rat kidney was grown in the laboratory

A kidney "grown" in the laboratory has been transplanted into animals where it started to produce urine, US scientists say.

Similar techniques to make simple body parts have already been used in patients, but the kidney is one of the most complicated organs made so far.
A study, in the journal Nature Medicine, showed the engineered kidneys were less effective than natural ones.
But regenerative medicine researchers said the field had huge promise.
Kidneys filter the blood to remove waste and excess water. They are also the most in-demand organ for transplant, with long waiting lists.
The researchers' vision is to take an old kidney and strip it of all its old cells to leave a honeycomb-like scaffold. The kidney would then be rebuilt with cells taken from the patient.
This would have two major advantages over current organ transplants.
The tissue would match the patient, so they would not need a lifetime of drugs to suppress the immune system to prevent rejection.
It would also vastly increase the number of organs available for transplant. Most organs which are offered are rejected, but they could be used as templates for new ones.
Scaffolding Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have taken the first steps towards creating usable engineered kidneys.
They took a rat kidney and used a detergent to wash away the old cells.
The remaining web of proteins, or scaffold, looks just like a kidney, including an intricate network of blood vessels and drainage pipes.

This protein plumbing was used to pump the right cells to the right part of the kidney, where they joined with the scaffold to rebuild the organ.

It was kept in a special oven to mimic the conditions in a rat's body for the next 12 days.
When the kidneys were tested in the laboratory, urine production reached 23% of natural ones.
The team then tried transplanting an organ into a rat. Once inside the body, the kidney's effectiveness fell to 5%.
Yet the lead researcher, Dr Harald Ott, told the BBC that restoring a small fraction of normal function could be enough: "If you're on haemodialysis then kidney function of 10% to 15% would already make you independent of haemodialysis. It's not that we have to go all the way."
He said the potential was huge: "If you think about the United States alone, there's 100,000 patients currently waiting for kidney transplants and there's only around 18,000 transplants done a year.
"I think the potential clinical impact of a successful treatment would be enormous."

" Really impressive'

There is a huge amount of further research that would be needed before this is even considered in people.
The technique needs to be more efficient so a greater level of kidney function is restored. Researchers also need to prove that the kidney will continue to function for a long time.
There will also be challenges with the sheer size of a human kidney. It is harder to get the cells in the right place in a larger organ.
Prof Martin Birchall, a surgeon at University College London, has been involved in windpipe transplants produced from scaffolds.
He said: "It's extremely interesting. It is really impressive.
"They've addressed some of the main technical barriers to making it possible to use regenerative medicine to address a really important medical need."
He said that being able to do this for people needing an organ transplant could revolutionise medicine: "It's almost the nirvana of regenerative medicine, certainly from a surgical point of view, that you could meet the biggest need for transplant organs in the world - the kidney."

From BBC.

Chavez heir Maduro wins Venezuela presidential election

Will Grant in Caracas: ''It's a questionable victory from the opposition's point of view''

Socialist Nicolas Maduro, hand-picked successor of the late leader Hugo Chavez, has won a narrow victory in Venezuela's presidential poll.

Mr Maduro won 50.7% of the vote against 49.1% for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
Mr Capriles has demanded a recount, saying Mr Maduro was now "even more loaded with illegitimacy".
He said there were more than 300,000 incidents from Sunday's poll that would need to be examined.

Announcing the results late on Sunday night, the National Electoral Council said they were "irreversible".

As the news emerged, celebrations erupted in the capital, Caracas, where Mr Maduro's jubilant supporters set off fireworks and blasted car horns. Opposition voters banged pots and pans in protest.
In a victory speech outside the presidential palace, Mr Maduro, wearing the colours of the Venezuelan flag, told crowds that the result was "just, legal and constitutional".
He said his election showed Hugo Chavez "continues to be invincible, that he continues to win battles''.
Mr Maduro said he had spoken to Mr Capriles on the phone, and that he would allow an audit of the election result.
He called for those who had not voted for him to "work together" for the country.

But Mr Maduro's margin of victory was far narrower than that achieved by Chavez at elections last October, when he beat Mr Capriles by more than 10%.
Almost immediately one member of the National Electoral Council who does not have government sympathies called on the authorities to carry out a recount by hand, a call later echoed by Mr Capriles himself.

At Mr Capriles' campaign headquarters the mood was sombre, as his supporters watched the results on television. Some cried, while others hung their heads in dismay,

Shortly afterwards, Mr Capriles emerged, angry and defiant.
"It is the government that has been defeated," he said. Then, addressing Mr Maduro directly, he said: "The biggest loser today is you. The people don't love you."
The new president faces an extremely complex task in office, says the BBC's Central America correspondent, Will Grant.
Venezuela has one of the highest rates of inflation in the region and crime rates have soared in recent years, particularly in Caracas. Food shortages and electricity blackouts are also common.

But perhaps Mr Maduro's biggest challenge will be trying to govern a country which is so deeply divided and polarised, and where the opposition say they have an increasingly legitimate stake in the decision-making process, our correspondent says.
The closeness of the race has also caused reflection inside Mr Maduro's own United Socialist Party (PSUV).
The man considered to be Mr Maduro's main rival, National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, tweeted that the results "oblige us to make a profound self-criticism".

From BBC

Man City against Chelsea, tickets sold out in 15 minutes.

Tickets for an epic soccer match in May sold out within fifteen minutes of going on sale. It has been less than two weeks since it was announced that two rich English premier league clubs; Manchester City and Chelsea will clash in an exhibition match in St Louis Busch stadium at the end of May, but the tickets went out so fast as if people have been waiting for this game for years. St Louis has no soccer team in the MLS. This fact probably made the organizers to not anticipate how popular this game is going to be. Social media was filled with furious posts from the St louisans who could not purchase the tickets. The furry came from the fact that a lot of tickets have surfaced on the internet going for as much as $20,000. The fact that the game sold out so fast may be is going to help getting more soccer games in St Louis or even get St Louis it's own soccer team in MLS.
Sent via the HTC Vivid™, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

Syrian war planes carried attacks on Lebanon

It has been reported that the Syrian war planes have carried out raids across the border in Lebanon. I have no more details on the incident at the moment but if this is true, is it not time for the international community to take military action against Syria?

Sent via the HTC Vivid™, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

Swali la kizushi

Eti Manchester United wanapolia Ba maana yake wamegeuka kondoo?

Beyonce, Jay-Z and Britney Spears have finances hacked

 
By Amelia Butterly
 Newsbeat reporter
   
 Beyonce and Jay-Z, one of the richest couples in hip hop, have been targeted

US celebrities including Beyonce and Jay-Z have had private details of their finances posted online.

Hackers have also put up information, but not credit reports, about US Vice-President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Los Angeles police say they are investigating how a police chief's private details, including his address and a credit report, ended up online.
Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith described the site as "creepy".
He said: "People get mad at us, go on the Internet and try to find information about us, and post it all on one site.
"The best word I can use to describe it is creepy."
He also confirmed that police would be investigating the posting of information about any celebrities living in Los Angeles.
 
Britney Spears, Ashton Kutcher and Kim Kardashian are all said to be affected

Other affected people include Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian.
Some of the private financial information posted includes social security numbers, which could allow fraudsters to commit identity theft.
Actors Mel Gibson and Ashton Kutcher are also reported to have been targeted on the site.
Information about FBI Director Robert Mueller is thought to have been uploaded. The bureau says it is aware of the site but has not revealed whether they will be investigating.
More names were added throughout Monday, including Britney Spears and former presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
 
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is thought to have been hacked

The website uses an internet suffix assigned to the Soviet Union and includes some unflattering pictures of the people who are mentioned.
It did not state how it sourced the information but did include an anti-police message written in Russian.
One of the site's pages also made reference to the former police officer Christopher Dorner who apparently committed suicide during a large scale manhunt, after he killed four people.
So far representatives for each person targeted either declined to comment on the accuracy of the information that was posted, or they did not return messages seeking comment.
From BBC

Harlem Shake artists 'featured without permission'

 

Thousands of people per day are uploading videos of themselves dancing to the Harlem Shake

Reggae artist Hector Delgado and rapper Jayson Musson say the producer of the chart-topping hit Harlem Shake did not have permission to use their voices.

The pair are now asking for compensation from record label Mad Decent Records, which released the single, reports the New York Times.
Harlem Shake has become an internet sensation on video website YouTube.
Producer Harry Rodrigues, also known as DJ Baauer, and Mad Decent Records declined to comment.
Musson told the New York Times the record label had been "more than co-operative" but an agreement had not yet been reached.
The song has inspired thousands of people around the world to upload videos of themselves dancing along to the first 30 seconds of the track - up to 4,000 a day are currently being put onto YouTube, according to the website.
The song was initially released in 2012.
Rights issues Delgado can be heard at the beginning of the track singing, "Con los terroristas," a sample from a single he released in 2006.
Musson shouts, "Do the Harlem Shake," about 15 seconds in, which he says is taken from a rap by his group Plastic Little in 2001.
In the New York Times, Delgado's agent, Javier Gomez, described the situation as "a clear breaking of intellectual property rights".
Last month in an "ask me anything" session on website Reddit, Rodrigues was asked about the origin of a female Spanish vocal that also features on the track.
"Found it on the innerweb," he wrote in reply.
Barney Hooper, from PRS for Music, which represents the rights of music creators, told the BBC: "If one piece of music is sampled in another, then typically the creators of the original work would be entitled to a share of royalties when the new work is played, performed or reproduced," he said.
"A song can have a number of songwriters/composers and use samples of other works.
"If this is the case, all could have an ownership share in the new work and these would be registered with organisations like PRS for Music.
"We then pay out the royalties we collect based on the ownership shares registered with us."
However the situation was sometimes complicated, Mr Hooper added.
"There are often ownership disputes relating to popular works where others musical works are sampled," he said.

Japan extracts gas from methane hydrate in world first

 

 Methane hydrate is also known as burnable or flammable ice

Japan says it has successfully extracted natural gas from frozen methane hydrate off its central coast, in a world first.

Methane hydrates, or clathrates, are a type of frozen "cage" of molecules of methane and water.
The gas field is about 50km away from Japan's main island, in the Nankai Trough.
Researchers say it could provide an alternative energy source for Japan which imports all its energy needs.
Other countries including Canada, the US and China have been looking into ways of exploiting methane hydrate deposits as well.
Pilot experiments in recent years, using methane hydrates found under land ice, have shown that methane can be extracted from the deposits.

Offshore deposits present a potentially enormous source of methane but also some environmental concern, because the underwater geology containing them is unstable in many places.

"It is the world's first offshore experiment producing gas from methane hydrate," an official from the economy, trade and industry ministry told the AFP news agency.
A survey of the gas field is being run by state-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC).
Engineers used a depressurisation method that turns methane hydrate into methane gas.
Production tests are expected to continue for about two weeks.
Government officials have said that they aim to establish methane hydrate production technologies for practical use within five years.
A Japanese study estimated that at least 1.1tn cubic metres of methane hydrate exist in offshore deposits.
This is the equivalent of more than a decade of Japan's gas consumption.
Japan has few natural resources and the cost of importing fuel has increased after a backlash against nuclear power following the Fukushima nuclear disaster two years ago.

Methane clathrate - 'Fire ice'

• Hydrates are a frozen mixture of water and gas, primarily methane
• The methane molecules reside inside a water molecule lattice
• The methane will ignite in ice form - hence the "fire ice" moniker
• Clathrates tend to form under frigid temperatures and high pressures
• They are found in ocean sediments and under the permafrost on land
• Vast deposits are thought to exist, rivalling known reserves of traditional fossil fuels

South Korea warns North on armistice threat

 

 North Korean rhetoric has left the South, with whom it remains at war, on alert

South Korea says North Korea cannot scrap the armistice that ended the Korean War and called on Pyongyang to tone down its rhetoric.

A unilateral move to end the pact was not legally possible, it said.
As well as the armistice threat North Korea has in recent days also cut off a hotline and vowed to end non-aggressions pacts with Seoul.
It says it is responding to US-South Korea military drills and new sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a treaty.
North Korea has declared that armistice "invalid", but South Korea said a one-sided declaration was insufficient.
"Unilateral abrogation or termination of the armistice agreement is not allowed under its regulations or according to international law," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young said.
Seoul would "absolutely keep the armistice agreement as well as strengthen consultation and cooperation with the United States and China, who are also concerned parties of the armistice", he said.
"We demand North Korea withdraw remarks threatening stability and peace on the Korean peninsula and in the region," the spokesman added.
This is not the first time North Korea has said it was withdrawing from the armistice. It also issued a similar threat after its nuclear test in 2009, for example.
"Bellicose rhetoric" In recent weeks, however, there has been a marked escalation in rhetoric from Pyongyang, following international condemnation of its nuclear test.
It opposes the fresh UN sanctions and has also voiced bitter opposition to two annual joint US-South Korea military exercises that are currently under way.

North Korea looks set to conduct military exercises in coming days, South Korea says

State-run television showed footage on Monday of mass rallies across the country to denounce the US and South Korea, while the state news agency also described leader Kim Jong-un briefing troops at a military unit near a border island.
He told local commanders on Baengnyeong Island - close to the disputed inter-Korean maritime border and the site of the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan - to conduct "merciless firepower strikes" if provoked, KCNA said.
Late last week he gave similar instructions to troops near Yeonpyeong Island, the scene of shelling in November 2011 that left four South Koreans dead, KCNA said.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US was "certainly concerned by North Korea's bellicose rhetoric".
"The threats that they have been making follow a pattern designed to raise tension and intimidate others," he said.
On Monday the US imposed additional sanctions on North Korea. The US Treasury added the Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) of North Korea and Paek Se-bong, the chairman of a committee which it said oversaw production of ballistic missiles, to the sanctions list.
The US State Department also added three North Korean officials it said had links to the communist country's proliferation activities.
The sanctions ban any US individual or entity from transactions with those named.
In a speech, US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said North Korea should "change course" to obtain the aid and respect it sought.
"North Korea's claims may be hyperbolic, but as to the policy of the United States, there should be no doubt: We will draw upon the full range of our capabilities to protect against, and to respond to, the threat posed to us and to our allies by North Korea."
A spokesman for South Korean President Park Geun-hye, meanwhile, has said that her first overseas trip since taking office will be to the US in May, taking into account "the recent Korean Peninsula situation".
North Korea's third nuclear test followed an apparently successful launch in December of a three-stage rocket, seen as a banned test of missile technology.
Regional neighbours and the US fear Pyongyang is working to build a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a missile, but believe it does not yet have the capabilities to do so.

Gerrard sets sights on top five

By ESPN staff

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says the club must deliver "the perfect finish" to the season if they are to finish in the top five.

PA PhotosSteven Gerrard is looking for a strong finish to ensure the Reds play European football next season

The Reds have not finished higher than sixth since 2008-09, but the new owners have made clear that a return to the Champions League is a priority. With Liverpool currently sixth, seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and having played an extra game, it would appear that they may have to wait a little longer to achieve that aim.
After a run of three successive wins, though, Gerrard is hoping the Reds can produce a strong finish to the campaign and, at the least, claim a place in the Europa League by securing fifth.
"Liverpool don't belong in seventh, eighth or ninth in the table," he said. "We want to push for the European places year after year. Hopefully it's not too late but we will need to produce the perfect finish to sneak in the back door."
Liverpool are currently two points behind Arsenal, who have a game in hand, and Gerrard added: "The top five places are the target. Let's see what happens in other big games that are not in our control. Hopefully the teams above us will slip up. All we can control is our performances and our consistency and hopefully we will finish strong."
Liverpool had been struggling to secure positive results against teams in the top half this season, but they beat Swansea last month and then, most impressively, beat third-placed Tottenham 3-2 on Sunday.
"I think this season has been slightly strange in the way that usually we do really well against the top sides and we slip up against the sides we should be beating, but we have been putting those sides away quite comfortably with three, four and five-nils and looking really good," Gerrard said. "We haven't got the points we've needed against the top sides.
"This result and performance (against Spurs) will give us great confidence and belief. Hopefully it will be a springboard for us to go on and finish the season really strongly.
"At times we haven't got what we've deserved against top sides but we can't look for excuses. We are where we are and we need to take responsibility for where we are in the league.''
Information from the Press Association was used in this report

Rome conclave: Cardinals set to elect new Pope

From bbc

The cardinals have been seeking divine guidance for the choice ahead

Cardinals gathered in Rome to elect the new Pope will begin voting later, with no clear frontrunner to take over as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

The 115 cardinal-electors are attending a special Mass in St Peter's Basilica before processing into the Sistine Chapel to begin their secret deliberations this afternoon.
They will vote four times daily until two-thirds can agree on a candidate.
The election was prompted by the surprise abdication of Benedict XVI.
The 85-year-old stepped down last month saying he was no longer strong enough to lead the church, which is beset by problems ranging from a worldwide scandal over sexual abuse to allegations of intrigue and corruption at the Vatican bank.
Benedict's resignation and the recent damage to the Church's reputation make the choice of the cardinal-electors especially hard to predict, the BBC's James Robbins in Rome says.
They will weigh pressure for a powerful manager to reform the Vatican against calls for a new Pope able to inspire the faithful, our correspondent adds.
 
At Tuesday morning's "Mass for the Election of the Supreme Pontiff" in St Peter's Basilica the cardinals are seeking divine guidance for the election ahead.

Conclave interactive video

Step inside our virtual Sistine Chapel as Philippa Thomas explains the process to elect a new Pope

In his homily, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano praised the "brilliant pontificate" of Pope Benedict and implored God to grant another "Good Shepherd" to lead the church.

He outlined the mission Catholics believe was given by Jesus Christ to St Peter - the first Pope - emphasising love and sacrifice, evangelization and the unity of the church.
The BBC's Michael Hirst in Rome says the speech was more measured in tone than the address given in 2005 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict, which featured a fiery attack on the "dictatorship of relativism".

Lucas: Liverpool can dream of UCL

By ESPN Staff Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva says the recent Tottenham victory has allowed the Anfield club to start dreaming of a Champions League berth.

PA PhotosLucas Leiva is dreaming of the European Champions League

The 3-2 come-back victory moves the Merseysiders up into sixth position on the Premier League table, seven points adrift of the race for a spot in Europe's elite competition.
"We are improving at the right time and, because of that, we can dream of a Champions League place," Lucas said.
"Our greatest virtue in this match was that we never stopped fighting. We didn't get upset at losing and showed our strength to comeback.
Liverpool are one of the form teams in the league right now, the Tottenham victory making it three wins in a row for the club.
And despite admitting the club was proud of its recent record, Lucas said he and his team-mates are focused on stretching their winning form even further.
"It was our third consecutive victory, something that is worth a lot given the difficulty of the Premier League," he said
"We will continue to work hard, without fanfare, and things will come naturally."

Obafemi Martins says he is joining Seattle

By Associated Press

SEATTLE -- Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins says on Twitter he is leaving Spanish club Levante to join the Seattle Sounders.
Martins made his posts on Monday, which was followed by an announcement from Levante that he was leaving. Martins wrote that he wanted to give thanks to Levante for the chance to play in La Liga, but that signing with Seattle is, "a big step to take in my career."
At training on Monday, Seattle general manager Adrian Hanauer told reporters there was nothing official to announce but did not deny "indicators" that pointed to Martins playing for Seattle in the near future.
The Sounders have been seeking a replacement at forward to play alongside Eddie Johnson since Fredy Montero was loaned to Colombian club Millonarios. The 28-year-old Martins had nine goals in 22 matches in all competitions for Levante this season.
His best seasons were with Inter Milan (2001-06) and Newcastle (2006-09).

What is killing smartphones?

Roland Pease

(Copyright: Thinkstock)

In the third of a five part series on the future of mobile phones, Roland Pease explores what drains a smartphone battery so quickly... and what can be done about it.

As the mobile industry gathers for its annual phone-fest in Barcelona, the BBC takes a look at some of the key trends.

It is the curse of the modern age. After a day spent text messaging, emailing and browsing the web, your smartphone is dead. So now, after brushing your teeth and letting the dog out, there is another task: plugging in your phone.
But it never used to be like this. Simple handsets used to keep on going for days on end. So what changed? And more importantly, what is the mobile industry doing about it?   
The big difference is of course the technology  -we used to talk on 2G phones that ran on the old GSM networks. They could last for almost a week, partly because we asked so little of them.  As detailed in the previous article in this series, smartphones became powerful computers because they needed to be to make strong, wireless connections to the network. And when they make those connections we ask them to do data-intensive tasks like stream video.
Every single step along the way involves information processing. That takes currents flowing around silicon chips; and currents running round silicon chips generate heat, wasting energy. PC and laptop users are constantly reminded about this by the whirr of the fans that keep their processors cool. We don't notice it on phones, because everything they do seems to happen so silently, so effortlessly. But when you look at the detail, energy drips way like water from a leaky tap. And it all adds up.
Take the work of Dr Angela Nicoara, senior research scientist at the Deutsche Telekom Innovation Center in Silicon Valley. She has become something of a digital dietician, counting the joules that go into feeding our smartphones' appetites. She recently laid out her findings in a report she enticingly called Who Killed My Battery?
In a collaboration with the group of Professor Dan Boneh at Stanford University, she connected a state of the art electronic meter to the battery of a smartphone, which typically store around 15-20,000 joules of energy, and then tracked the power for every millisecond it performed one of the most common applications for our handhelds: browsing the web.
What emerged when she broke down the actions millisecond by millisecond came as a surprise.
The first was that just hitting the “go” button and getting the phone to contact the network used 12 joules, as the phone exchanged details with the local base station, agreed transmission settings and so on. That’s before a single byte was downloaded. When that process begins, the real surprises come thick and fast.
It turns out that the design of the web page has a massive impact on the energy it takes to put it on your mobile screen. For example, the BBC News website, specifically designed for mobile users, took another 3 joules to download and process all the bits for a news story. For the worst performer of the websites she explored, Apple.com, it took another 34 joules – 11 times more than the BBC. Wikipedia came just behind.
Careless websites, she found, are at least contributors to killing her battery. For our PCs and laptops connected to the mains, these numbers don’t matter. With the constraints of a mobile battery they are critical.
The difference between these websites was in the way that they were built. For example, interactive elements that are used to customise a site experience and often run in the background of a site were a big drain. A half of those 34 joules needed to see the Apple page were down to  these functions, without them even being touched; on Wikipedia, they alone cost 10 joules.

As the mobile industry gathers for its annual phone-fest in Barcelona, the BBC takes a look at some of the key trends.

Another drain are the so-called CSS files that tell a browser how to layout the page. Again, on the Apple site, these required 12 joules to download and render onto the screen. Simple improvements reduce this by 5 joules.
Each joule might seem a trivial amount, but like a slimmer on a diet lots of small savings soon add up – especially when some websites take eleven times as much energy to visit as others.
Electronic warfare
But website design is not the only drain on a phone’s batteries. The way we access these websites – and in particular the settings our service providers use - also has a huge effect, according to Hari Balakrishnan, Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Surprisingly, it is the network that decides what power setting our handsets use. When we need to transmit, the network tells our handsets to power up to maximum.  But the network’s interests are different from ours. We would like to power down again as soon possible to save our battery.
But only a slender portion of an already crowded radio spectrum is assigned for these so-called control messages, says Dr Balakrishnan. Because of that, the network tries to minimise the number of control signals it sends, even if that leaves our handset powering away while doing nothing.
 “A classic example,” says Dr Balakrishnan, “is when you’re running an application that wakes up every 20 or 30 seconds and sends one byte of information. That would, in many cases, keep your radio in the high-power, active mode all the time. But it doesn’t have to. That kind of trivial workload should consume next to no energy, but ends up using huge amounts of energy because of the sub-optimal controls implemented by the networks.”
Like Dr Nicoara, Dr Balakrishnan decided to test his suspicion by wiring his battery to a meter and watching the battery drain. The results showed that by letting the phone control its own settings, he could halve the power consumed by the wireless transmissions with minimal effect on the network performance (although he stresses the details change from device to device, and from network to network).
Again, these might seem small improvements overall – but a network that can give our phones a few more hours of working battery life is highly likely to attract more customers these days.
Of course, it wouldn't matter how long your phone was fired up to exchange bits with the base station, if it could do so with minimal energy. But it turns out the mobile industry has been fighting a war with its electronics for years because they are so inefficient.
Specifically, it is the purity of the radio wave that they use to connect to the base station that requires so much power.
With radio spectrum restricted (see the two previous articles in this series) transmission frequencies are squeezed in close together, and any distortion in the signal would lead to catastrophic interference. And it turns out that the basic physics of the amplifiers that drive the antennae can only generate those pure waves when drawing a lot of electrical current.
When the 3G standards were introduced, manufacturers turned to a special design of amplifier first concocted back in the 1930s, because of the stringent demands of the networks. But even then, for every watt of transmitted radio power, there's more than another watt simply warming your handset to create this pure wave. Basically, simple physics is doubling the drain rate on your battery.
“The industry is racing furiously to mitigate this problem,” says Joel Dawson, Professor of Power Engineering at MIT, who has himself come forward with a smart fix that involves electronically compensating for this distortion, something that could apparently halve the losses. But how soon any of those fixes will make it to the market remains to be seen.
Energy harvest
Of course these aren’t the only drains on a battery. Modern smartphones pack everything from small accelerometers to energy hungry global positioning systems. And then there is the display - the whole selling point of the smart phone is the interface that lets you access the world wherever you are. Until researchers can develop electronic-inks similar to these used in the Kindle e-book or other pixelated passive systems that refresh as fast as lit screens, simply viewing the phone comes at a substantial cost.
The obvious solution would be to pack in a bigger battery, but of all the components in your handset, the battery is the one that represents seriously mature technology. Most of the electrochemistry was laid down a hundred years ago and, as one battery manufacturer confessed to me, there's little they can do about. The introduction of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the 1990s was something of a step change. But since then … well, while virtually every other phone parameter doubles in a year or two, it takes a decade to double battery performance.
There are ongoing efforts to improve battery technology (See: Charging Tomorrow’s smartphones) but there may also be another route: harvesting energy from the environment.
Solar power is long-established, and has been tried many times with mobile phones, but has failed largely because of inconvenience. As the front of phones is crowded out with buttons, photovoltaic cells have largely been put on the back – but that has required turning a phone upside down to keep the battery charged.
But the form of the modern smart phone, freeing up the top face, has changed all that. And one potential solution is on display at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this.
WYSIPS (“What You See is the Photovoltaic Surface”), as it is known, is a joke, according to Francis Robcis, sales director for the new product. “Because you can’t see it,” he explains.
And it needs to be like that, because WYSIPS has silicon solar cells embedded within the large smartphone display.
“Go into the office, and most people will leave their phones lying around with the face up,” says Robcis. So that when the set is idle, the tiny silicon strips (too small to see) are busy recharging the battery.
The challenge has been to integrate the photovoltaics into the display without dimming the image by more than 10 per cent – a reduction users should find acceptable. And to allow it to sit alongside the touchscreen function. If the system takes off, the future mobile screen could become a busy place.
The company hopes to have a pilot line producing screens by the end of the year, to prove the technology is viable.
Powering by sunlight, of course, is conventional, even if unfamiliar in mobile phones. At the University of Washington Seattle, ex-Intel researcher Joshua Smith is planning something much more radical: powering mobile phones - with gratifying circularity - by radio waves.
His lab, funded by tech giants Intel and Google, has already made great strides. “The largest TV towers in the US put out around a megawatt of energy,” Smith explains. “We’re able to operate our energy harvester as much as 30 km from one and get small but usable amounts of energy.”
In essence, harvesting radio energy requires rewiring the phone antenna to extract not the signal but the power of the carrier wave. And it’s not only powerful TV transmissions that you can tap into. Recently, Smith’s lab has been able to harvest energy from mobile phone masts.
The quantities available are down in the microwatt range, so not enough to power voice transmissions. But enough energy can be accumulated, Smith says, to send short texts, or just to stretch the battery life.
“It would be enough to have perpetual standby. My favourite example is driving along in my car. My son is playing Angry Birds on the cell phone, and completely drains the battery. And then I get a flat tyre. It would be nice if I could send an emergency SMS using this ambient energy. And of course, compared to solar power, you could even do it at night.”
All of which means that the daily ritual of recharging your phone could soon be a thing of the past.  

Body of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez lies in state

Mr Chavez's mother and brothers were among those who paid their respects

The body of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is lying in state at the military academy in Caracas.

His family and close advisers, as well as the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay, paid their respects next to his open coffin on Wednesday.
Mr Chavez died aged 58 after suffering from cancer for nearly two years.
Hundreds of thousands of people earlier took to the streets of the capital to pay tribute as a hearse carrying his coffin took hours to reach the academy.
The state funeral for Mr Chavez is due to take place on Friday.
The head of the presidential guard was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that he had been with Mr Chavez when he died.
General Jose Ornella said Mr Chavez had died of a massive heart attack, and in his final moments had said he wanted to carry on living.
"He couldn't speak but he said it with his lips: 'I don't want to die. Please don't let me die,'" said Gen Ornella, according to AP.

'Viking sunstone' found in shipwreck

 

A clear view of the Sun was not necessary for Vikings to navigate, scientists believe

A crystal found in a shipwreck could be similar to a sunstone - a mythical navigational aid said to have been used by Viking mariners, scientists believe.

The team from France say the transparent crystal may have been used to locate the Sun even on cloudy days.
This could help to explain how the Vikings were able to navigate across large tracts of the sea - well before the invention of the magnetic compass.
However, a number of academics treat the sunstone theory with scepticism.
Viking legends The team from the University of Rennes in France say they found the crystal while examining the wreck of a British ship sunk off the island of Alderney - in the English Channel - in 1592.
An oblong crystal the size of a cigarette packet was next to a pair of dividers - suggesting it was part of the navigational equipment.
It has now been shown that it is of Iceland spar - a form of calcite known for its property of diffracting light into two separate rays.
Testing a similar crystal, the scientists proved that by rotation it was possible to find the point where the two beams converge - indicating the direction of the Sun.
They say it works on cloudy days, and when the Sun has set.
This particular piece of Iceland spar was found on the British vessel long after the Viking heyday in the ninth and 10th Centuries.
But the scientists conjecture that use of sunstones may have persisted for many centuries as a back-up to the often unreliable magnetic compass, which was introduced in Europe in the 13th Century.
There is only a sketchy reference in the old Viking legends to the sunstone.
Vikings were seafarers from Scandinavia who used their longboats to explore and conquer parts of Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Russia and North America.
From BBC

Hugo Chavez and the era of anti-American bogeymen

By Jon Kelly BBC News Magazine, Washington DC

Hugo Chavez is the latest outspoken critic of the US to leave the world stage. Is the era of the anti-American bogeymen at an end?

He floridly lambasted "imperial" American policies, compared George W Bush to Hitler and even warned that exporting Halloween to Latin America amounted to "terrorism".
But now Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - variously portrayed as a six-times elected champion of the people or a constitution-fiddling demagogue - is dead.
His is not the only voice vociferously opposing the US to have fallen silent.
Recent years have seen the most prominent critics of American power exit the spotlight.
Fidel Castro - who outlasted nine US presidents - relinquished his position as Cuba's president and Washington's irritant-in-chief in 2008.
Osama Bin Laden, arguably the the most potent US bogeyman of all, was killed by US forces.

Axis of Evil

• Initially described as Iran, Iraq and North Korea by George W Bush during his State of the Union address on 29 January 2002
• In May 2002, Bush's Under-secretary of State John Bolton gave a speech entitled "Beyond the Axis of Evil" in which he added Cuba, Libya and Syria to the list
• In 2005, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said Cuba, Belarus, Burma and Zimbabwe were also "Outposts of Tyranny"

Saddam Hussein was toppled. Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. Kim Jong-il succumbed to old age.

Even Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - whose suspected nuclear weapons programme strikes panic in Washington - is due to hand over power in 2013, as he is limited to two terms of office.
These men may have represented a wide range of political ideologies, from socialism to secular Arab nationalism to Islamic fundamentalism.
But all were, in their own ways, icons of a tendency commonly referred to as "anti-Americanism".
The label "anti-American", though, divides opinion.

"Yesterday the Devil came here. Right here. And it smells of sulphur still today”

            Hugo Chavez UN General Assembly, 2006 

 

President George W Bush - who famously referred to Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of the Union speech - saw anti-Americanism as a visceral opposition to what America stands for. America's enemies "hate our freedoms", as he put it.

But Max Paul Friedman, history professor at American University, dismisses it as "a term that's been used to characterise almost any disagreement with US policy of the day".
America's bogeymen have tended to be cast as "not only undemocratic, but also fierce defenders of their own nationalist narratives", he says. At the same time, he notes the "anti-American" label was widely applied to liberal democracies such as France when they opposed the war in Iraq.
Where Chavez belonged on this spectrum was, of course, hotly debated.
Russell Berman of Stanford University, meanwhile, says it is possible to "distinguish between the visceral anti-Americanism of explicit stereotypes and criticism that may be legitimate".
He argues that in much of the Arab world a "combination of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism" is open to exploitation by populist leaders, and points to the killing of US Ambassador Christopher Stephens in Benghazi, Libya in 2012 as one tragic outcome.

 

Anti-US feelings remain strong in much of the Muslim world

It's not immediately clear where the next generation of bogeymen will come from to take Chavez's place alongside Kim Jong-un and whoever is elected to replace Ahmadinejad.

"On use of military force, religion, and individualism, Americans and Europeans continue to disagree”

           Pew Research Global Attitudes Project 

 

The Arab Spring has left few leaders with the popular authority to act like traditional demagogues.

Cuba's communist regime remains intact, but under the presidency of Fidel Castro's brother Raul - a dour figure less given to incendiary rhetoric, who has announced he will retire in 2018.
Latin America has plenty of leaders still prepared to challenge US interests - Bolivia's Evo Morales, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, for instance.
But none display quite the pantomime flamboyance of Chavez, who once told a UN General Assembly that George Bush was "the devil himself" and that he had left a "smell of sulphur" in the Assembly chamber.
Even the low-level anti-Americanism detected by US leaders among opponents of the Iraq war in Western Europe - "old" Europe in Donald Rumsfeld's phrase - is in full retreat.

 

 Obama's election in 2008 coincided with a change in attitudes towards the US

A Pew survey released in December 2012 found support for the US had soared in Europe following Barack Obama's election as president - even though a significant "values gap" remained over attitudes towards cultural and religious issues.

Psy apologised for his attack on "Yankees"

Bush's "cowboy demeanour" made it easier to meld distaste for American culture and society with opposition to US foreign policy, says Brendon O'Connor of the University of Sydney and author of The Rise of Anti-Americanism.
Oddly, the most recent international figure to have been accused of anti-Americanism is the South Korean pop star Psy, best known for his global hit Gangnam Style.
The rapper apologised after it emerged that in 2004 he had performed a song that described killing "Yankees" who had tortured Iraqi prisoners and killing their families "slowly and painfully".
This may have been going too far even for Hugo Chavez.
From BBC

Foul Play On Kenyan Election?

 Raila Odinga camp says vote 'doctored'

The BBC's James Copnall reports from Nairobi where he says the allegations are "strong" but "relatively wooly"

The ballot count in Kenya's presidential elections has been rigged, says Kalonzo Musyoka, the running mate of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

"We have evidence the results we have received have been doctored," he said.
He said the vote count should be stopped but added that his comments were not a call for protest.
Mr Odinga has been trailing behind his rival, Uhuru Kenyatta. There have been severe delays in counting as the electronic system has crashed.
The head of the electoral commission has warned it may be Friday or even Monday before there is an official result, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reports from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
The credibility of the count is crucial to avoiding further bloodshed, our correspondent says.
More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence which broke out in 2007-08 after Mr Odinga claimed he had been cheated of victory by supporters of President Mwai Kibaki, who is stepping down after two terms in office.

Raila Odinga vs Uhuru Kenyatta

Uhuru Kenyatta

• Son of Kenya's first President Jomo Kenyatta
• Due to stand trial at ICC in April accused of organising violence in last election
• His running mate, William Ruto, also accused
• Both deny the charges
• From Kikuyu ethnic group - Kenya's largest at 22% of population and powerful economically
• Kikuyus and Ruto's Kalenjin community saw fierce clashes after 2007 poll
• Currently deputy prime minister

Raila Odinga

• Son of first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
• Distant relative of Barack Obama
• Believes he was cheated of victory in last election
• From Luo community in western Kenya - 11% of population.
• Some Luos feel they have been marginalised by central government
• Third time running for president
• Currently prime minister under power-sharing deal to end violence last time

Mr Kenyatta, who backed Mr Kibaki, is due to stand trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) next month, accused of organising attacks on members of ethnic groups seen as supporters of Mr Odinga. He denies the charges.

Fall in rejected ballots "We as a coalition take the position the national vote-tallying process lacks integrity and has to be stopped and re-started using primary documents from the polling stations," Mr Musyoka said on Thursday.
"It is not a call to mass action. We are committed as a coalition to the principle of the rule of law."
Following glitches with hi-tech voting and counting systems earlier this week, the vote-tallying process was started again from scratch, and by hand, on Wednesday.
Results were only being announced after the ballots had been physically delivered to election headquarters in the capital, rather than being filed electronically.
The latest figures indicate Mr Kenyatta has maintained his lead over Mr Odinga, with 2.5m (53%) votes to 1.9m (42%) - as originally indicated.
However, the new figures show that the number of rejected ballots, which has been a major issue, has sharply come down.
In the initial count, some 300,000 votes - about 6% - were disqualified for various reasons.
This figure has now come down to about 40,000. While the reason for the drop remains unclear, some observers said that election officials were being too strict first time round.
Mr Kenyatta's camp had rejected calls for some of these ballots to be included, as requested by Mr Odinga's allies.
The winning candidate must get more than 50% of the total votes cast and at least 25% of votes in half of the 47 counties - the latter was a requirement introduced in the new constitution to make sure the new president wins with wide support rather than only with the backing of voters in his regional and ethnic strongholds.
If there is no clear winner, a second round of voting will take place, probably on 11 April.
From BBC

January signings give hope for future

Posted by Kristian Walsh

 

Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty ImagesNew arrival Philippe Coutinho has settled in nicely at Liverpool and is helping the Reds solve their attacking conundrum.

Football is often a game of untruths. The best team does not always win the league, for injuries, suspensions and luck are rarely accounted for. Football is not necessarily a funny old game, especially when compared to lacrosse. A ball can never be hit too well, no team is too good to go down and San Marino would suggest there certainly are easy games in international football.

At the DW Stadium on Saturday, another untruth was lampooned by two players with three touches of a football. Philippe Coutinho flicked his head up and instantly saw the run of Luis Suarez ahead. Pass, touch, goal. In a game of such mercilessness from Liverpool, this was the perfect goal to epitomise it all, carried out by two players who make football seem so easy.

And to think it has been said there isn't value in the January transfer window.

It is far too early to herald the 20-year-old Brazilian a success, of course, after a mere handful of appearances since his January move from Internazionale. He impressed against Swansea and had the man-of-the-match award against Wigan pickpocketed from him by Suarez's sublime intervention, but Anfield has witnessed this all before. Expectation and pressure are never kind welcoming gifts to young players, particularly those adapting to a new culture both on and off the field. The hope is those guilty will learn. They never do.



In fairness, Coutinho is someone to get excited about: The nationality, the name, the curly velvet on his head. There is also the relationship he's already struck with Suarez -- a player who can, unconditionally, be labelled a January transfer success. With each passing game, with each trick or flick that prompts a disbelieving shriek of child-like glee, the 22.7 million pounds paid to Ajax seems another million too short.

Ignoring the renaissance of Stewart Downing -- something many will be keen to do having written him off so strongly in his 18-month Liverpool career -- the front three of Suarez, Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge is a full rebuttal to those who claim January is the footballing equivalent to vultures swooping for scraps on a vast, barren desert.

Liverpool have historically worked the January market well anyway, mind-bending, face-melting panic buy of Andy Carroll aside. Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Alvaro Arbeloa have all performed for the club at the highest level, while Maxi Rodriguez's arrival in 2010 was ultimately as well-timed as his surges to the far post. January 2005 brought Fernando Morientes; a year later, Robbie Fowler brought closure on his Anfield career.

But there was never as much pressure for the club to perform in January as there was this year. For a club that has not performed well under pressure in recent years, and a manager inexperienced in dealing with such burden, that's quite the weight to contend with.

After a summer which prioritised yet more bloodletting of Liverpool's squad, and a concerted effort to rid extortionate wages from the club's payroll, the squad was so stretched it was almost see-through. Slapstick attempts to lowball Fulham over Clint Dempsey saw the American move to Tottenham, making this squad one strapped to a torture rack of administrative ineptitude, each game another agonising turn of the wheel. It barely survived four months; another five would surely see it snap.

The younger members of the squad also had their elasticity tested. With a lack of options from the first team available, Brendan Rodgers called upon Raheem Sterling, Suso and Andre Wisdom. All three impressed to begin with; all three, by November, looked like players who had been used far too much, far too early. They were.

The problems were not just physical, but mental. Once the carrot has been snatched and gnawed at from such a young age, motivation becomes difficult. Sterling not only became weary from playing so much football but from an on-going contract situation; for Suso, overconfidence and motivation after was a far bigger opponent than most Premier League defenders.

How quirky fate can prove; how things can work out for the best. Few at Liverpool would have thought so at the time.

Dempsey has been quiet at White Hart Lane, though the spotlight naturally gravitates towards Gareth Bale regardless. The money saved from that deal helped fund the signing of Sturridge early in January. His arrival relieved the burden upon Suarez; the later addition of Coutinho felt a luxury, an adornment to what has started to look a fearsome front line.

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.The January additions have given Brendan Rodgers a chance to rest key players.

Their arrival has had an effect throughout the squad since January departed. Not only does the pair provide genuine quality, but their presence simply makes the squad bigger and gives Rodgers far more options to choose from.

It also allows him to give those needing a rest ample opportunity to have it. In the club's under-21 fixture against Manchester United on February 26, Wisdom, Suso and Sterling all started; the efforts to dim the dizzying, glaring limelight shone upon them have been necessary and welcome. Earlier in the season, Sterling missed just 30 minutes of league football in 16 games. Since the turn of the year, he's played just 170 minutes in the league. Suso last appeared against Sunderland on January 2, while Wisdom has not been seen since the 2-2 draw with Arsenal in January.

All of this cannot be laid at the feet of Sturridge and Coutinho, of course. The re-emergence of three players written off by many -- including the manager -- has swelled the squad. Downing, Jordan Henderson and Jose Enrique are three players growing increasingly comfortable with what is expected of them, and now appear three players capable of being called upon.

With the squad originally so small at the start of the season, the feeling was that somebody, anybody, in January would have done for Liverpool. That Sturridge is a goal-scorer who possesses pace and strength is a bonus for the squad; so too that Coutinho appears to be a mercurial talent -- no bad thing given the meagreness of excitement in that position over the years.

There is a growing feeling the attacking conundrum has finally been solved with these two signings. That this season would become their best goal-scoring season since 1996-97 after 28 games seemed a prediction worthy of a sectioning after that arid afternoon against Arsenal, a day after the morale-sapping transfer window slammed shut on Liverpool's fingers.

Too often poor seasons are filed under ones of transition. Such judgments should not be cast towards Liverpool and Rodgers until the end of the season, at least. But that three talented young players in Sterling, Suso and Wisdom have been integrated into the squad and now have motivation to stay there is a surprise, welcome titivation to the season.

The next step for Liverpool is to replicate January's business in the summer. This time, it will be the defensive positions that require scrutiny. But for now, while the brute of injury keeps quiet, Liverpool's squad seems in a favourable position for the first time in a long while.

Some will say this has all proven a bit fortuitous for Liverpool, others will say this is a by-product of learning from mistakes. Liverpool have a chance to prove it was judgment, rather than luck, this summer.

That is something they must do properly if they want to continue their goal of Champions League football within the next few seasons.

Cole: Liverpool move was a mistake

By ESPN staff

Joe Cole admits his decision to join Liverpool in 2010 was a mistake, claiming his only other option was an unthinkable move to Tottenham.

GettyImages Joe Cole never found his feet at Liverpool

Cole, 31, spent two-and-a-half years as a player at Anfield but failed to become a regular in the first team, being sent out on loan to Lille last season before rejoining his boyhood club West Ham in January.
The England international says he never felt comfortable at Livepool but was forced to take up the only offer that appealed to him.
"I can only play for teams that I'm passionate about and I think that's what went wrong for me at Liverpool," Cole said. "I didn't feel a connection with the club or the place that I had at Chelsea and West Ham.
"I had seven great years at Chelsea but the club wanted to go in a certain direction and I wasn't involved. So I was left with two real options - Liverpool or Spurs.
"Spurs was probably the best option because they were offering me a five-year deal and it meant I could stay in familiar surroundings.
"But I just couldn't do it, I just couldn't see myself pulling that Spurs shirt over my head. With the rivalry between Spurs and West Ham and Chelsea, it felt a bit mercenary."
Cole believes the mentality at Liverpool made it difficult for him to settle in, with their insistence on being known as the "biggest club in the country" catching him off guard.
"When I joined, the guy interviewing me said 'you've joined the biggest club in the country' and reeled off the trophies they'd won," he said. ""I just said 'yeah, if you put it like that, I suppose you're right' and Liverpool used that as the headline to the interview.
"I didn't want to upset anyone so I just went along with it. But obviously they're not the biggest club in the country any more. How do you judge how big a club are? Nottingham Forest won the European Cup twice but they're not a bigger club than Chelsea."
Although issues with match time plagued Cole at Chelsea, he seemed more motivated to break into the Blues' line-up than he did at Liverpool.
"I rolled in at Chelsea on my first day thinking 'I'm going to be a big part of this club'," he added. "Then Sebastian Veron walks through the door with about five agents. Same position as me, costing three or four times as much.
"As soon as I signed, (former owner Ken) Bates said to me: 'Congratulations, son, you've joined to sit on our bench'. I just thought 'I'll show you' and a year later I was playing regularly and Veron was off."
And his decision to return to Upton Park was not only buoyed by an unhappy stint with the Reds.
"I was missing London and my family and I had a personal tragedy in December when my brother-in-law died. I got an opportunity to go back to West Ham and I don't want to move any more."

How do you give a polar bear a 'medical'?

By Steven McKenzie BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter

One of the polar bears, Arktos, required root canal treatment last year

The only polar bears on public display in the UK are at the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. Looking after them is massive job and they need regular medical check-ups. How do you give polar bears a health check? And why does it require speaking German?

Walker is four, tips the scales at 463kg (72st 12lb) and has been at the park since November 2010, after being introduced from a Dutch zoo.
Arktos is five-years-old, weighs 474kg (74st 12lb) and arrived in April last year from a zoo in Hannover, Germany.
Potentially, the bears could each weigh more than 800kg (125st 12lb) when they become adults.
Since arriving in the Scottish Highlands, both males have required treatment for problems with teeth that, in the wild, could have been fatal.
The dental issues were picked up during regular check-ups.

Play fights

Head keeper Una Richardson is responsible for keeping track of the health of these huge animals.

In a kitchen area at the wildlife keepers' base, she is spiking hotdogs and pate with big purple pills.
The medication is for Arktos, who has the skin complaint contact dermatitis on a few scratches picked up in play fights with Walker.
It took staff a few experiments before coming up with a combination of food and pills Arktos would eat without turning his nose up at it.
Another member of staff pops in to collect some chunks of meat for a family of lynx. Opening the door to a walk-in freezer, she jokes that it is a chance to warm up from the cold outside.
In a sink of boiling water, a bottle of washing-up liquid is thawing out after the contents froze overnight in a gritty, green slush. Outside under the morning's clear blue sky, there is snow on the ground and the temperature is -8C.

 
Arktos' medication is hidden in treats to make sure he takes it

Una puts her tray of treats in a red plastic sledge and does the rounds.
When she gets to the polar bears, Walker is at the fence with his nose in the air trying to catch a whiff of what is in the sledge.

"The other day they were sliding down the snow on their stomachs”

            Una Richardson Head keeper

"We've noticed quite a big difference in the bears' appetite between summer and winter-time," Una says.

"Through the autumn they are packing on a lot of fat for winter and can carry an extra 11.5cm (4.5ins) of fat around their abdomen. Coming into winter, their appetite cuts right down."
The bears share a large open space with a pond. In one corner is a covered area which doubles as a shelter and a safe area for the keepers to examine the pair up close.
Arktos is hand-fed his medication-filled treats and he munches them up.
Una next lobs in their breakfast. Arktos makes a beeline for some big salmon, but Walker spies a prized slab of fat, snatches it from under Arktos's nose and runs off.
Una says: "They have very different personalities.

"We got Walker at a younger age and he's more used to us and very calm and relaxed around us.

"Arktos is a little bit more wary at times and nervous of doors and things like that, but the two of them get on brilliantly. We couldn't have hoped for better."
Root canal After her morning break, Una returns to the enclosure with another keeper, Robbie. It is now time for the bears' check-up.
Plastic bottles of smelly, yellow cod liver oil and tinned mackerel entice the bears down to the covered area.
Una starts talking to Arktos in German.

 
The polar bears respond to words, hand gestures and "targets"

On command, the big bear opens his mouth, sits, stands and then lies down with his legs and their dinner plate-sized paws sprawled out. His nose wrinkles as he fishes a morsel of mackerel from Una's fingers.
Una says: "Arktos came to us already with training - in German. He responds to words and hand signals."
"They are not tricks we are asking them to do. The training that we do with the bears is basically for a simple amount of behaviour that allow us to look at them close up and lets us know if there are any problems with them."

 
Arktos and Walker playing with a plastic barrel

Walker responds to "targets" which are made from lengths of wood and blue plastic.
He opens his mouth as if yawning and, when instructed to stand, he rears up to more than three metres (11ft) on his back legs.
The training to open their mouths was key to staff spotting a rotting upper left canine bothering Arktos last year and a damaged tooth that troubled Walker in 2011.
Arktos required root canal work and Walker an extraction.
At the time of his dental work, Walker was still small and light enough to be operated on an improvised table made from planks of wood laid on straw bales.
For Arktos, however, much thicker planks and builders' scaffolding were needed to take his weight.
Standing, sitting and lying down allows keepers to examine the bears' bodies.
After completing the tasks, the bears lap up the cod liver oil.
Robbie also hefts two big blue empty plastic barrels next to the enclosure's pond.
Arktos and Walker run to their new toys and handle them like a couple of competitors in the World's Strongest Man contest.
Walker rolls his barrel on to the frozen pond and without a moment's hesitation launches himself after it. His body crashes through the ice into the cold water below.
"They love the winter weather," says Una.
She adds: "The other day they were sliding down the snow on their stomachs."
From BBC

I Did Not Order The Killing of My Ex Girlfriend

Bruno testifies about ex-girlfriend's death

By Associated Press

SAO PAULO -- Former Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno has acknowledged for the first time that he knew about the death of his ex-girlfriend, but denies ordering her killing.
Bruno said during his trial in Minas Gerais on Wednesday that a friend hired someone to kill model Eliza Samudio, who allegedly was dismembered before her remains were fed to dogs.
Bruno said he "was not the one who ordered" the killing but "in a way" feels "guilty" for her death.
Bruno was captain of the Flamengo team that won the Brazilian championship in 2009. That year, Samudio made the first allegations to police that she was pregnant with Bruno's child, and that the player and others kidnapped her and tried to force her to terminate the pregnancy.
He is facing charges he ordered her killing.

Mario Balotelli seals move to AC Milan from Manchester City

AC Milan have signed striker Mario Balotelli from Premier League champions Manchester City for £19m.

The 22-year-old agreed a four-and-a-half year deal with the Italian club and completed a medical on Wednesday.
 
"I will always have a very special place in my heart for City, it's a great club with a great future," he told the Manchester club's website.  
"I thank them for all of their support of me. Maybe one day we will see each other again."
City signed Balotelli from Inter Milan for £24m in 2010 and he scored 30 goals in 80 appearances for the club.
He helped City to the Premier League title last season, but has managed only three goals in 20 matches this time round.
 
"I think to win the Premier League was a very special moment, and I am proud to have been a part of that," he added.
The forward also revealed he bid farewell to his team-mates at the pre-match dinner ahead of the 0-0 draw at QPR.

Continue reading the main story

“I love Roberto, he has been very important for my career, and I will always thank him for having trust and faith in me”

Mario Balotelli

"Yes, I said goodbye to everyone at the meal in London before the game at Queens Park Rangers. It was very emotional for me," Balotelli continued.

"I spoke with [manager] Roberto [Mancini] before I went to speak to the players. We spoke for some time about lots of things. He was sad, and I was too. But it was a good conversation. I love Roberto, he has been very important for my career, and I will always thank him for having trust and faith in me.
"Being at City was an important part of my life and career. I needed to grow up like a player and as a person and it has been a very good experience for me."
Balotelli flew to Milan by private jet on Wednesday afternoon with the Italian club's vice-president Adriano Galliani.
Galliani said: "With his arrival, we have reinforced our team a lot. He's a dream come true, wanted by [AC Milan president Silvio] Berlusconi and the club.
"Mario has been in our hearts for many years and finally we've managed to get him."
Milan reached an agreement with City on Tuesday and Balotelli will sign a four-and-a-half-year contract, subject to passing his medical.

Russia concern at Israeli 'air strike' on Syria

Israel has not commented on reports of an attack on Wednesday

Russia has expressed concern at an alleged Israeli attack on Syria, saying such a strike would be an unacceptable violation of the UN Charter.

Syria's army said Israeli jets had targeted a military research centre north-west of Damascus on Wednesday.
It denied reports that lorries carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit.
Russia has steadfastly refused to denounce Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the 22-month conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people.
The Syrian army statement, carried on state media, said Israeli fighter jets had carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in Jamraya, killing two people and injuring five.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said: "If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it."

Possible targets

• Jamraya Centre: Reported scientific research centre responsible for developing chemical weapons
• Weapons convoy: Lorries carrying Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah bases in Lebanon

Relations between Russia and Israel have been improving in recent years as trade and economic ties have grown stronger, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.

But Moscow is a close ally of President Assad, which would explain its concern at the reports, our correspondent adds.
Missiles heading for border?
The attack came as Israel voiced fears that Syrian missiles and chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militants such as the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah.
Israel and the US have declined to comment on the reported incident.
Lebanese security sources, Western diplomats and Syrian rebels say the target was an arms convoy near Lebanon's border. The Associated Press quoted a US official as saying the lorries were carrying Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles.
The Lebanese military and internal security forces have not confirmed the reports, but say there has been increased activity by Israeli warplanes over Lebanon in the past week, and particularly in recent hours.

Analysis

Jonathan Marcus BBC Diplomatic Correspondent

While a good share of Israel's and indeed Washington's attention is taken up by fears about Syria's chemical arsenal falling into the wrong hands, this latest air strike or strikes underscores Israel's equal worry about sophisticated conventional weapons being passed to Hezbollah.
Some four years ago the then Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned it would not tolerate what it called "game-changing" weapons being transferred to Hezbollah.
This Israeli operation can thus be seen as in one sense pre-emptive, but also as a warning to the Syrian authorities and to Hezbollah.
Quite how Hezbollah may respond is unclear. Last July's attack on an airport bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria suggests that if there is to be a response it might be indirect - against Israeli or Jewish targets abroad, rather than across Lebanon's own frontier with Israel.
 

 

Correspondents say Israel fears Hezbollah could obtain anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, thus strengthening its ability to respond to Israeli air strikes.

Israel believes Syria received a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli air strike in 2007 that destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, analysts say.
The US government said in 2008 that the reactor was "not intended for peaceful purposes".
Hezbollah said Wednesday's target was the Jamraya centre, condemning it as "an attempt to thwart Arab military capabilities" and pledging to stand by its ally Mr Assad.
Iron Dome move BBC Middle East correspondent Wyre Davies says that while none of the reports can be verified, some well-placed diplomats and military sources say they would not be surprised if Israel had acted, given the recent instability in Syria.
The Syrian army statement said the Jamraya centre - which was focused on "raising our level of resistance and self-defence" - was damaged in the attack, and specifically denied reports that an arms convoy had been hit.
It said "armed terrorist gangs", a term the government uses to describe rebel groups, had tried and failed repeatedly to capture the same facility in recent months.
Some reports suggest the facility could be Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Centre, believed to be the state organisation responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons.
Any Israeli attack on Syria side could cause a major diplomatic incident, analysts say, as Iran has said it will treat any Israeli attack on Syria as an attack on itself.
The reported attack came days after Israel moved its Iron Dome defence system to the north of the country.
Israel has also joined the US in expressing concern that Syria's presumed chemical weapons stockpile could be taken over by militant groups.

French troops in Mali take Kidal, last Islamist holdout

 

French forces earlier took the historic Malian city of Timbuktu

Mali: Divided nation

French forces have secured the northern Malian town of Kidal, the last main stronghold of Islamist rebels in the region, military officials say.

Militant Islamist fighters had already left the town, near the Algerian border, and are believed to be hiding in the surrounding mountains.
The capture of Kidal came days after French and Malian forces retook the provincial capitals Gao and Timbuktu.
Kidal official Haminy Maiga said the French troops had met no resistance.
"The French arrived aboard four planes," said, Mr Maiga, who heads the regional assembly.
"They took the airport and then entered the town, and there was no combat. The French are patrolling the town and two helicopters are patrolling overhead."
Earlier, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a sandstorm had delayed the troops from leaving the airport and entering the town.
Islamist militants extended their control of the vast north of Mali in April 2012, taking advantage of a military coup.
France - the former colonial power in Mali - launched a military operation this month after the militants appeared to be threatening the south.
The BBC's Thomas Fessy in Timbuktu says the capture of Kidal marks the end of the first phase of the military operation to oust militants from northern Mali.

France is now expecting the deployment of thousands of African forces to support the second phase - driving the al-Qaeda-linked fighters from their desert hideouts.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday that France intended to leave Mali "quickly", and it was up to African countries to take over.
Several hundred soldiers from West African countries - including Niger and Chad - are already in Mali.
Our correspondent says French forces who entered Kidal found members of the secular National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) there.
The Tuareg rebels launched the insurgency last year before breaking away from the militants.
Their presence in Kidal explains why government troops have not yet been sent to the town, our correspondent adds.