WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House warned on Tuesday against expecting quick results from international talks in Geneva on Iran's nuclear program, saying the discussions are complex and technical and that economic pressures against Teheran would remain in place.
"We certainly want to make clear that no one, despite the positive signs that we've seen, no one should expect a breakthrough overnight," White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a briefing.
"Although we appreciate the recent change in tone from the Iranian government on this issue, we will be looking for specific steps that address core issues," he added.
(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Sandra Maler)
In order to provide our users with a better overall experience, we ask for more information from Facebook when using it to login so that we can learn more about our audience and provide you with the best possible experience. We do not store specific user data and the sharing of it is not required to login with Facebook.
"At the 10,000-foot level, Quarkslab's technical argument is that it is possible to reverse-engineer Apple's encryption technology," said NSS Labs' Randy Abrams. However, the effort required "is such that you already have to be a person of extreme interest to some group somewhere in the world with a high level of technical expertise, and be worth the investment of time and effort."
Apple's iMessage instant messenger service, which has made headlines for being uncrackable by law enforcement, is not so secure after all, according to Quarkslab.
An internal document from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration published by CNET in April stated that it was impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices.
"As Apple claims, there is end-to-end encryption," Quarkslab researcher Cyril Cattiaux said. "The weakness is in the key infrastructure as it is controlled by Apple they can change a key any time they want, thus read the content of our iMessages."
Further, metadata about messages is sensitive, Cattiaux pointed out -- and Apple has that metadata.
Apple insists that iMessage is not architected to let it read messages and insisted that Quarkslab discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Cupertino to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, something the company does not plan to do.
The Gist of Quarkslab's Findings
Quarkslab found it easy to add a fake certificate to perform a man-in-the-middle attack because there is no certificate pinning, the company said. (With certificate pinning, IT determines that only a particular certificate, or certificates digitally signed by a particular certificate, can be trusted.)
Further, the researchers' AppleID and password went through SSL communications in clear text, which would allow Apple to see the password. That means Apple -- or intelligence agencies -- could replay the password, Quarkslab said.
It also means anyone who was able to add a certificate and proxify the communications would be able to get a target's AppleID and password, gaining access to the victim's iCloud account.
If hackers can get hold of a user's password, they can do considerable harm, as Wired writer Matthew Honan discovered last year.
The iPhone Configuration Utility, which lets enterprises manage iPhones, lets IT invisibly proxify communications to and from the device, thus gaining access to personal information, Quarkslab said. Apple's PUSH notification service is another area of vulnerability.
Dispelling iMessages Myth-information
Commenting on Quarkslab's blogpost, "HG" pointed out that Apple controls all the iMessage client software and the hardware platform the software runs on, so it could push an update that sends all chats directly to law enforcement without the user knowing.
The purported invulnerability of iMessage to surveillance by law enforcement was called into question as soon as the DEA's complaint was published.
Cryptographer Matthew Green pointed out that the ability to restore iCloud backups to a new device using only the iCloud password and Apple's "iForgot" service -- which lets users recover their iCloud passwords by answering a few personal questions -- indicates iCloud data is not encrypted end to end -- and even if it is, Apple has users' passwords on file and can recover them.
"Most security professionals don't consider iMessages to be a secure medium, just like SMS is not a secure medium," Ken Pickering, director of engineering at CORE Security, told TechNewsWorld.
More Trouble Than It's Worth?
"At the 10,000-foot level, Quarkslab's technical argument is that it is possible to reverse-engineer Apple's encryption technology," Randy Abrams, a director of research at NSS Labs, told TechNewsWorld.
However, the effort required "is such that you already have to be a person of extreme interest to some group somewhere in the world with a high level of technical expertise, and be worth the investment of time and effort," he continued. "No average user, or even crook, is likely to be worth the effort."
Apple's contention, that iMessage is secure, could be because "Apple feels, and I think most would agree, that they made iMessages as secure as could reasonably be done," Abrams said.
"I'm sure Apple realizes that almost anything that can be done with software can be undone with software," Abrams continued. "At some point, a company has to say 'it's good enough' or go bankrupt attempting to attain perfection."
Apple did not respond to our request to comment for this story.
Salk scientists expand the genetic code of mammals to control protein activity in neurons with light
Public release date: 16-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Kat Kearney kkearney@salk.edu 619-296-8455 Salk Institute
A new technique allows researchers to activate proteins in the brain by shining an LED light on them
LA JOLLA, CA----With the flick of a light switch, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies can change the shape of a protein in the brain of a mouse, turning on the protein at the precise moment they want. This allows the scientists to observe the exact effect of the protein's activation. The new method, described in the October 16 issue of the journal Neuron, relies on specially engineered amino acids----the molecules that make up proteins----and light from an LED. Now that it has been shown to work, the technique can be adapted to give researchers control of a wide variety of other proteins in the brain to study their functions.
"What we are now able to do is not only control neuronal activity, but control a specific protein within a neuron," says senior study author Lei Wang, an associate professor in Salk's Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics and holder of the Frederick B. Rentschler Developmental Chair.
If a scientist wants to know what set of neurons in the brain is responsible for a particular action or behavior, being able to turn the neurons on and off at will gives the researcher a targeted way to test the neurons' effects. Likewise, if they want to know the role of a certain protein inside the cells, the ability to activate or inactivate the protein of interest is key to studying its biology.
Over the past decade, researchers have developed a handful of ways of activating or inactivating neurons using light, as part of the burgeoning field of so-called optogenetics. In optogenetic experiments, mice are genetically engineered to have a light-sensitive channel from algae integrated into their neurons. When exposed to light, the channel opens or closes, changing the flow of molecules into the neuron and altering its ability to pass an electrochemical message through the brain. Using such optogenetic approaches, scientists can pick and choose which neurons in the brain they want turned on or off at any given time and observe the resulting change in the engineered mice.
"There's no question that this is a great way to control neuronal activity, by borrowing light-responsive channels or pumps from other organisms and putting them in neurons," says Wang. "But rather than put a stranger into neurons, we wanted to control the activity of proteins native to neurons."
To make proteins respond to light, Wang's team harnessed a photo-responsive amino acid, called Cmn, which has a large chemical structure. When a pulse of light shines on the molecule, Cmn's bulky side chain breaks off, leaving cysteine, a smaller amino acid. Wang's group realized that if a single Cmn was integrated into the right place in the structure of a protein, the drastic change in the amino acid's size could activate or inactivate the entire protein.
To test their idea, Wang and his colleagues engineered new versions of a potassium channel in neurons, adding Cmn to their sequence.
"Basically the idea was that when you put this amino acid in the pore of the channel, the bulky side chain entirely blocks the passage of ions through the channel," explains Ji-Yong Kang, a graduate student who works in Wang's group, and first author of the new paper. "Then, when the bond in the amino acid breaks in response to light, the channel is opened up."
The method worked in isolated cells: After trial and error, the scientists found the ideal spot in the channel to put Cmn, so that the channel was initially blocked, but opened when light shone on it. They were able to measure the change to the channel's properties by recording the electrical current that flowed through the cells before and after exposure to light.
But to apply the technique to living mice, Wang and his colleagues needed to change the animals' genetic code---- the built-in instructions that cells use to produce proteins based on gene sequences. The normal genetic code doesn't contain information on Cmn, so simply injecting Cmn amino acids into mice wouldn't lead to the molecules being integrated into proteins. In the past, the Wang group and others have expanded the genetic codes of isolated cells of simple organisms like bacteria, or yeast, inserting instructions for a new amino acid. But the approach had never been successful in mammals. Through a combination of techniques and new tricks, however, Wang's team was able to provide embryonic mice with the instructions for the new amino acid, Cmn. With the help from Salk Professor Dennis O'Leary and his research associate Daichi Kawaguchi, they then integrated the new Cmn-containing channel into the brains of the developing mice, and showed that by shining light on the brain tissue they could force the channel open, altering patterns of neuron activity. It was not only a first for expanding the genetic code of mammals, but also for protein control.
At the surface, the new approach has the same result as optogenetic approaches to studying the brain----neurons are silenced at a precise time in response to light. But Wang's method can now be used to study a whole cadre of different proteins in neurons. Aside from being used to open and close channels or pores that let ions flow in and out of brain cells, Cmn could be used to optically regulate protein modifications and protein-protein interactions.
"We can pinpoint exactly which protein, or even which part of a protein, is crucial for the functioning of targeted neurons," says Wang. "If you want to study something like the mechanism of memory formation, it's not always just a matter of finding what neurons are responsible, but what molecules within those neurons are critical."
Earlier this year, President Obama announced the multi-billion dollar Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, a ten-year project to map the activity of the human brain. Creating new ways to study the molecules in the brain, such as using light-responsive amino acids to study neuronal proteins, will be key to moving forward on this initiative and similar efforts to understand the brain, says Wang. His lab is now working to develop ways to not only activate proteins, but inactive them using light-sensitive amino acids, and applying the technique to proteins other than Kir2.1.
###
Other researchers on the study were Daichi Kawaguchi, Irene Coin, Zheng Xiang, Dennis D. M. O'Leary the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and Paul A. Slesinger of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The work was supported a Salk Innovation Grant, a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Commission, and grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world's preeminent basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative environment. Focused both on discovery and on mentoring future generations of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of cancer, aging, Alzheimer's, diabetes and infectious diseases by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and related disciplines.
Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D., the Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Salk scientists expand the genetic code of mammals to control protein activity in neurons with light
Public release date: 16-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Kat Kearney kkearney@salk.edu 619-296-8455 Salk Institute
A new technique allows researchers to activate proteins in the brain by shining an LED light on them
LA JOLLA, CA----With the flick of a light switch, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies can change the shape of a protein in the brain of a mouse, turning on the protein at the precise moment they want. This allows the scientists to observe the exact effect of the protein's activation. The new method, described in the October 16 issue of the journal Neuron, relies on specially engineered amino acids----the molecules that make up proteins----and light from an LED. Now that it has been shown to work, the technique can be adapted to give researchers control of a wide variety of other proteins in the brain to study their functions.
"What we are now able to do is not only control neuronal activity, but control a specific protein within a neuron," says senior study author Lei Wang, an associate professor in Salk's Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics and holder of the Frederick B. Rentschler Developmental Chair.
If a scientist wants to know what set of neurons in the brain is responsible for a particular action or behavior, being able to turn the neurons on and off at will gives the researcher a targeted way to test the neurons' effects. Likewise, if they want to know the role of a certain protein inside the cells, the ability to activate or inactivate the protein of interest is key to studying its biology.
Over the past decade, researchers have developed a handful of ways of activating or inactivating neurons using light, as part of the burgeoning field of so-called optogenetics. In optogenetic experiments, mice are genetically engineered to have a light-sensitive channel from algae integrated into their neurons. When exposed to light, the channel opens or closes, changing the flow of molecules into the neuron and altering its ability to pass an electrochemical message through the brain. Using such optogenetic approaches, scientists can pick and choose which neurons in the brain they want turned on or off at any given time and observe the resulting change in the engineered mice.
"There's no question that this is a great way to control neuronal activity, by borrowing light-responsive channels or pumps from other organisms and putting them in neurons," says Wang. "But rather than put a stranger into neurons, we wanted to control the activity of proteins native to neurons."
To make proteins respond to light, Wang's team harnessed a photo-responsive amino acid, called Cmn, which has a large chemical structure. When a pulse of light shines on the molecule, Cmn's bulky side chain breaks off, leaving cysteine, a smaller amino acid. Wang's group realized that if a single Cmn was integrated into the right place in the structure of a protein, the drastic change in the amino acid's size could activate or inactivate the entire protein.
To test their idea, Wang and his colleagues engineered new versions of a potassium channel in neurons, adding Cmn to their sequence.
"Basically the idea was that when you put this amino acid in the pore of the channel, the bulky side chain entirely blocks the passage of ions through the channel," explains Ji-Yong Kang, a graduate student who works in Wang's group, and first author of the new paper. "Then, when the bond in the amino acid breaks in response to light, the channel is opened up."
The method worked in isolated cells: After trial and error, the scientists found the ideal spot in the channel to put Cmn, so that the channel was initially blocked, but opened when light shone on it. They were able to measure the change to the channel's properties by recording the electrical current that flowed through the cells before and after exposure to light.
But to apply the technique to living mice, Wang and his colleagues needed to change the animals' genetic code---- the built-in instructions that cells use to produce proteins based on gene sequences. The normal genetic code doesn't contain information on Cmn, so simply injecting Cmn amino acids into mice wouldn't lead to the molecules being integrated into proteins. In the past, the Wang group and others have expanded the genetic codes of isolated cells of simple organisms like bacteria, or yeast, inserting instructions for a new amino acid. But the approach had never been successful in mammals. Through a combination of techniques and new tricks, however, Wang's team was able to provide embryonic mice with the instructions for the new amino acid, Cmn. With the help from Salk Professor Dennis O'Leary and his research associate Daichi Kawaguchi, they then integrated the new Cmn-containing channel into the brains of the developing mice, and showed that by shining light on the brain tissue they could force the channel open, altering patterns of neuron activity. It was not only a first for expanding the genetic code of mammals, but also for protein control.
At the surface, the new approach has the same result as optogenetic approaches to studying the brain----neurons are silenced at a precise time in response to light. But Wang's method can now be used to study a whole cadre of different proteins in neurons. Aside from being used to open and close channels or pores that let ions flow in and out of brain cells, Cmn could be used to optically regulate protein modifications and protein-protein interactions.
"We can pinpoint exactly which protein, or even which part of a protein, is crucial for the functioning of targeted neurons," says Wang. "If you want to study something like the mechanism of memory formation, it's not always just a matter of finding what neurons are responsible, but what molecules within those neurons are critical."
Earlier this year, President Obama announced the multi-billion dollar Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, a ten-year project to map the activity of the human brain. Creating new ways to study the molecules in the brain, such as using light-responsive amino acids to study neuronal proteins, will be key to moving forward on this initiative and similar efforts to understand the brain, says Wang. His lab is now working to develop ways to not only activate proteins, but inactive them using light-sensitive amino acids, and applying the technique to proteins other than Kir2.1.
###
Other researchers on the study were Daichi Kawaguchi, Irene Coin, Zheng Xiang, Dennis D. M. O'Leary the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and Paul A. Slesinger of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The work was supported a Salk Innovation Grant, a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Commission, and grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world's preeminent basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative environment. Focused both on discovery and on mentoring future generations of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of cancer, aging, Alzheimer's, diabetes and infectious diseases by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and related disciplines.
Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D., the Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Environmental groups are fighting to stop the leveling of 154 acres of coast redwoods and Douglas firs to make way for grapevines.
Courtesy Friends of the Gualala River
Environmental groups are fighting to stop the leveling of 154 acres of coast redwoods and Douglas firs to make way for grapevines.
Courtesy Friends of the Gualala River
In the California wine mecca of Sonoma County, climate change is pitting redwood lovers against red wine lovers.
This Friday morning, a coalition of environmental groups are in a Santa Rosa, Calif., courtroom fighting to stop a Spanish-owned winery from leveling 154 acres of coast redwoods and Douglas firs to make way for grapevines.
Redwoods only grow in the relatively cool coastal region of Northern California and southern Oregon. Parts of this range, such as northwestern Sonoma County, have become increasingly coveted by winemakers.
Chris Poehlmann, president of a small organization called Friends of the Gualala River, says the wine industry is creeping toward the coast as California's interior valleys heat up and consumers show preferences for cooler-weather grapes like pinot noir.
"Inexorably, the wine industry is looking for new places to plant vineyards," says Poehlmann, whose group is among the plaintiffs.
California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, approved the redwood-clearing project in May 2012.
"So we sued them," says Dave Jordan, the legal liaison for the Sierra Club's Redwood Chapter, another of the plaintiffs. The Center for Biological Diversity is the third plaintiff.
The groups filed suit in June 2012 on the grounds that state officials violated California's environmental protection laws by approving the plan.
Redwoods are considered among the most spectacular of all trees. The biggest trees on Earth by height, redwoods can stand more than 350 feet tall. Some are more than 2,000 years old.
However, the redwoods at the center of this conflict are not old-growth trees. The area was clear-cut more than 50 years ago, and most of the redwoods on the site are less than 100 feet tall. Which is why Sam Singer argues: "There are no forests [on this site]."
Singer is a spokesman for Artesa Vineyards and Winery, which is owned by the Spanish Codorniu Group and which first proposed the development project in 2001. Singer says that the two old-growth redwood trees on the property will be spared.
But the thousands of trees slated for removal are between 50 and 80 feet tall, according to Poehlmann. He says the trees provide wildlife habitat and stabilize the soil against erosion, which has been a major problem for streams in the area that once harbored runs of salmon and steelhead trout.
Coast redwood trees stand at Muir Woods National Monument in Mill Valley, Calif. Redwoods are the biggest trees on Earth by height — they can grow more than 350 feet tall. But their range is quite limited: They only grow along the coast of Northern California and southern Oregon.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Coast redwood trees stand at Muir Woods National Monument in Mill Valley, Calif. Redwoods are the biggest trees on Earth by height — they can grow more than 350 feet tall. But their range is quite limited: They only grow along the coast of Northern California and southern Oregon.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The project planners have even estimated this timber to represent 1.25 million board feet of "merchantable" lumber.
Dennis Hall, a higher official with CalFire, says his department's approval of Artesa's project in 2012 came only after a lengthy review process found that it would not significantly damage the environment.
"We did an [environmental impact report] for the project," Hall says. "It was an extreme and exhaustive analysis of potential impacts to the environment." The report deemed most of these potential impacts to be "less-than-significant."
Still, Poehlmann feels CalFire has been too lenient on proposals by developers to level trees. "They are acting as if they are actually the 'department of deforestation,' " he says.
The tensions go beyond this case: Friends of the Gualala River and the Sierra Club's Redwood Chapter have gone to court several times in the past decade to successfully stop timberland conversion projects proposed by winery groups and which had been approved by the state. Among these fights was the battle to save the so-called Preservation Ranch, a 19,000-acre parcel that developers planned to partially deforest and replant with vines. Earlier this year, the developer sold the property to The Conservation Fund.
But from 1979 to 2006, 25 conversions of forest to agriculture occurred in Sonoma County at an average rate of 21 acres per year, according to county officials.
At least a few tree-clearing projects have occurred without permission. High-profile winemaker Paul Hobbs didn't bother getting a permit before he leveled 8 acres of redwoods in 2011 with plans to plant wine grapes. He remains a superstar winemaker and was tagged earlier this year by Forbes as "The Steve Jobs of Wine."
And it's not just redwoods that are at stake as vineyards expand their terrain. California's oaks aren't subject to the same environmental protections as more commercially valuable species like redwoods and Douglas fir, according to CalFire's Hall. And Northern California's oak forest, near the coast as well as inland, is being lost at fast rates to vineyard expansions, says Adina Merenlender, an environmental biologist with the University of California, Berkeley.
Merenlender says oak trees tend to be overlooked by the general public, which is more easily impressed by redwoods. Yet oak forests, she says, provide habitat for vastly more species than do redwood forests.
Sara Cummings with the Sonoma Vintners, a wine industry trade group, says new vineyards are usually planted within what she calls the region's "agricultural footprint" — land that is already designated by county planners as "agricultural." Moreover, she says, more than half the county's wine growers are members of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Program.
But Merenlender is concerned about future expansion into land not previously farmed.
"We're already seeing a lot of acquisition of coastal lands," she says. "Investments are moving north and west, toward the coast."
The issue, it seems, is a global one. A 2013 study predicted that global warming will cause a dramatic shift in the world's wine regions. The report warns that wilderness areas in British Columbia and remote regions of China — one of the world's fastest-growing winemaking regions — may become increasingly coveted by the industry.
"But at least we'll have plenty of wine to drink, "Poehlmann quips, "while we bemoan the fact that our forests are all used up."
Robert Redford stars in All Is Lost as a solitary man struggling to make his yacht seaworthy again after it collides with a rogue shipping container adrift in the Indian Ocean.
Richard Foreman/Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate
Robert Redford stars in All Is Lost as a solitary man struggling to make his yacht seaworthy again after it collides with a rogue shipping container adrift in the Indian Ocean.
As I watched Robert Redford acting all by himself in the superlative survival-at-sea movie All Is Lost, I suddenly realized why the setup feels so perfect: Redford is most in his element when he's alone.
His strength — and it seemed huge when he started in the late '50s and '60s — has always been his ability to convey thought on-screen. But he has never been much of an inter-acter, which is one reason his Jay Gatsby in the 1974 TheGreat Gatsby adaptation was a nonstarter. Gatsby thinks he needs someone else to complete him, whereas Redford looked uncomfortable when Mia Farrow's Daisy invaded his personal space.
The only time Redford has shown convincing affection onscreen was for Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. After that, his most successful pairing was with Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were — and there the whole point was that the pushy Jewish woman and vaguely embarrassed WASP had a kind of anti-chemistry.
So here he is alone in All Is Lost, as an unnamed man whose 39-foot yacht drifts into an abandoned shipping container in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The container punches a hole in the side, water pours in, and what follows is a chain of disasters I'd call a perfect storm if the phrase weren't so overused.
I'm not giving anything away: The movie opens with the man reading a goodbye letter in voiceover as what's left of a raft bobs up and down. He apologizes to someone — his family, presumably, but the recipients are, like the man's name and profession, unstated. The point is that with death imminent, he seems finally to understand the ways in which he wasn't there for the people who needed him.
All Is Lost then flashes back to the start of the debacle, with the man waking up to find water pouring into his yacht. The film is at heart a procedural thriller. The man must extricate his sailboat from that container, pump out the water that has flooded the electrical system, and in various ways make his vessel seaworthy again. Writer-director J.C. Chandor breaks the narrative down into perfect fixer-upper units, and I would never have guessed that boat repair could be so riveting.
Redford looks amazing for a man in his late '70s. His skin is cracked and weathered — which has been true for decades, since he started spending so much time on the ski slopes — but his face has held its shape. And I've never been so conscious of his physical assurance.
That strength of his I mentioned, that ability to convey thought, is what keeps us watching even though he doesn't say a word for the first 90 minutes: It's all music and the sound of the ship creaking as it bobs up and down, or the noise of the storms that nearly wipe him out.
All Is Lost is also a parable, and there's some heavy-handed religious imagery in the final moments. But something momentous does happen on-screen, something that speaks to our connection with actors over time. What Redford and Chandor have pulled off is the ultimate fusion of actor and character. As the man loses control for maybe the first time in his life — as all indeed seems lost — Redford does something unprecedented for him on-screen: He lets go. He makes contact with the audience as he never has before. He stops thinking.
One of these days, Michael Bloomberg is not going to be mayor of New York City anymore, and someone else is going to be crowned King of the Great Underground River. Yesterday, that person got a to-do list from New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman.
While he may have been one of the sport's top lightweights for years, Shinya Aoki decided to make a weight class change. His featherweight debut took place Friday at One FC 11 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore where he successfully defeated Cody Stevens via unanimous decision.
The co-main event bout was no walk in the park, however. Aoki looked sluggish at times and suffered from a severe groin kick in the first round that nearly had the bout stopped when it appeared the Japanese fighter couldn't continue. Aoki eventually regrouped and his went on to use his trademark trip takedowns and smothering top control to keep Stevens on the defense for virtually the entire fifteen-minute affair.
"I wasn't 100 percent," Aoki said of the first round after the groin kick via translator. "It was warrior spirit [that kept him going]. I just gotta do it, man."
The judo and jiu-jitsu black belt indicated he'd be staying at featherweight for his next bout. He moves to 34-6 with 1 no-contest with the victory on Friday. Stephens falls to 11-6 in professional MMA.
In the main event, Bibiano Fernandes had a tougher time with Soo Chul Kim than many expected. In what was a unification bout between the One FC bantamweight and interim bantamweight championships, Fernandes was able to keep Kim on the defensive with his mix of takedowns and top control, but faded as the fight went on. There were few submission attempts and by the fifth round, Kim was able to land heavy shots on the feet, score quick takedowns of his own and stop most of the offense from the Brazilian.
Still, it was too little, too late. The judges all awarded Fernandes the bout making him the undisputed bantamweight title holder.
"He's very tough kid," Fernandes said after the bout. "I knew I was going to have a tough fight, but I prepared myself." Fernandes jumps to 15-3 in professional MMA while Kim drops to 7-5.
Elsewhere on the card, Eddie Ng made quick work of Tiger Muay Thai's Peter Davis, stopping the model/actor at 1:46 of the first frame. In a brutal slugfest, DREAM veteran Tatsuya Mizuno hung on against the experienced Rafael Silva to earn a unanimous decision victory. Frenchman Sylvain Potard pulled the upset of the evening, stopping Evolve's Jake Butler in the second round with a series of strikes.
In more controversial and graphic action, Shannon Wiratchai used a punch as well as a series of soccer kicks to stop Mitch Chilson in the first frame. In addition, Khim Dima used a number of illegal elbows to the back of Rene Catalan's head to come from behind and earn the second-round TKO stoppage.
By this point, pretty much the entire world has seen Lady Gaga in all stages of undress, and the “Just Dance” diva just shared a new photo in which she gets back to nature.
Gaga posed in her birthday suit, covered only in grass, dirt, and twigs, for the promo art for her new collaboration with R. Kelly titled “Do What U Want.”
According to press, “Do What U Want” is slated to be released on Monday, October 21st, though there’s a sneak preview of the song on a Best Buy ad for Beats headphones.
Earlier this week, Gaga shared a note about her ARTPOP liner notes- "The booklet includes photos of the day [artist] Jeff [Koons] and I explored different poses for the sculpture. IT IS COMPLETELY AMAZING Been leafing through her allll day."
FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, file photo, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts speaks at the National Retail Federation's annual convention in New York. Apple said Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, that Ahrendts, who used technology to drive a remarkable turnaround at Burberry, will take charge of Apple's expansion plans and retail operation, as she will become a senior vice president at the company next spring. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, file photo, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts speaks at the National Retail Federation's annual convention in New York. Apple said Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, that Ahrendts, who used technology to drive a remarkable turnaround at Burberry, will take charge of Apple's expansion plans and retail operation, as she will become a senior vice president at the company next spring. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
LONDON (AP) — Apple said Tuesday that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, who used technology to drive a remarkable turnaround at her luxury fashion house, will take charge of the company's expansion plans and retail operation.
Ahrendts, who will become a senior vice president at Apple next spring, is credited with helping transform Burberry from an established if stodgy brand known for its iconic trench coats to one of the fashion world's leading companies. Together with chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, Ahrendts championed melding digital and mobile technology with the runway.
"She shares our values and our focus on innovation, and she places the same strong emphasis as we do on the customer experience," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in a statement.
Bailey, who will become Burberry CEO on Ahrendts' departure, live-streamed his catwalk shows to fans worldwide through online channels like Twitter. Shoppers who wanted the runway's coats, shoes and bags could point and click — staking a claim to the hottest fashions months ahead of the items appearing in stores.
The pair proved a powerful team, with Ahrendts presiding over the head office while Bailey oversaw creative marketing, store design and consumer technology, helping complete a turnaround started by another American executive, Rose Marie Bravo.
Burberry was rewarded with growth, particularly in Asia, where luxury and classic British craftsmanship proved a highly successful combination. The company's share price has consistently outperformed the FTSE 100 stock index, and she has proved one of country's most prominent female executives.
Burberry on Tuesday reported first-half sales rose 14 percent to 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).
The move to Apple Inc. marks another step in the career of Ahrendts, a native of New Palestine, Indiana, who also served as executive vice president at Liz Claiborne Inc. and president of Donna Karan International.
Susan Cooper (left), of Richardson, Texas, sits with her husband, Jack, 93, as they demonstrate against the government shutdown in Dallas in early October.
Tony Gutierrez/AP
Susan Cooper (left), of Richardson, Texas, sits with her husband, Jack, 93, as they demonstrate against the government shutdown in Dallas in early October.
Tony Gutierrez/AP
Remember how that fight over the budget was all about Obamacare?
Seems like ancient history now, but House Republicans ostensibly shut down the government 17 days ago, demanding first a defunding, and, when that failed, a year's delay in the health law.
When it became clear that President Obama and Senate Democrats weren't going to yield to demands to stop or slow implementation of the administration's signature legislative achievement, Republicans looked for smaller changes.
They floated the idea of killing or delaying an unpopular tax on medical devices. Many Senate Democrats joined Republicans in a nonbinding vote of displeasure on the tax earlier this year.
None of those things ended up in the final bill that reopened the federal government and raised the debt ceiling Wednesday night.
So what did?
Well, there was a little language related to the health law. It requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services "certify to the Congress that the Exchanges verify" that individuals who get subsidies for premiums and cost-sharing are, in fact, eligible. And that the secretary "shall submit a report to the Congress that details the procedures employed by the American Health Benefit Exchanges to verify eligibility for credit and cost-sharing."
Sounds like a big deal? Not really. It so happens that the much-maligned "data hub" that's part of the health exchange already links to the IRS to verify income eligibility. So, basically, the law requires HHS Secretary Sebelius to write a letter explaining what the department is already doing.
But it's not just that the Republicans failed to make any changes to the health law in their 16-day tirade against the government. News coverage of the shutdown and potential default crowded out stories about the very rocky rollout of the health exchanges themselves.
As The Washington Post's Ezra Klein tweeted Wednesday:
Heeding the call from enterprise customers who clamor for more immediacy in their data-driven reports, Oracle has updated its data-integration software portfolio so that it can more rapidly deliver data to data warehouses and analysis applications.
The newest version of Oracle’s extract transform and load (ETL) software, Oracle Data Integrator 12c, has been configured to work with the newest version of Oracle’s database replication tool, Oracle GoldenGate 12c, so that the two programs can work in conjunction to provide near-real-time data to analysis systems.
Oracle also gave Oracle Data Integrator 12c an easier way to build and maintain data workflows and provided GoldenGate 12c with a quicker way to inject data into replicated Oracle databases, said Brad Adelberg, vice president of development at Oracle.
Typically, customers have used Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) to extract data from multiple data sources to feed into data warehouses and business intelligence applications. The data extraction tended to be scheduled during an organization’s off-hours, so the operation wouldn’t slow database performance during hours of peak usage, Adelberg said. Typically, this would happen overnight.
The downside with this once-a-night approach is that the extracted data would always be at least a day old, which could be problematic for those managers and analysts who increasingly prefer their data to be current up to the hour. Querying a database every hour would put too much load on a production database system, though.
To get more frequent updates, some Oracle shops started using GoldenGate to draw data from a database system as soon as it is updated and ship that data to ODI, which in turn would route it to the data warehouse. GoldenGate is a database replication technology that does not generate much overhead for the source database system itself, so it can be used during peak business hours without ill effect.
For the 12c release of ODI, Oracle formalized this connection between the two applications. Now, developers using the Oracle Data Integrator Studio have a set of controls for generating and managing GoldenGate operations, allowing them to easily set up workflows that use GoldenGate to extract data.
This set of controls should minimize the need for having a GoldenGate expert on hand to run the software, Adelberg said. Also, ODI’s GoldenGate capabilities can vastly reduce the number of meetings between an organization’s GoldenGate administrator and its ODI administrator to facilitate or update a data flow, assuming the two roles aren’t managed by the same person.
Oracle Data Integrator 12c, which Adelberg described as a major upgrade for Oracle, also includes a number of other features. The software now executes more operations in parallel, which speeds performance time.
Also, ODI now provides a new way to map data flows, called declarative flow-based mapping. Declarative flow-based mapping combines the best attributes of flow-based mapping—which is easy to use but requires a lot of manual configuration—with declarative programming, which is more difficult to master but requires less configuration and manual upkeep to accommodate low-level system changes.
Declarative flow-based mapping uses the visual flow model but does not require developers to manually add or update low-level configuration settings, Adelberg said.
GoldenGate 12c got some new features as well. It now provides a quicker way to deliver data to a secondary Oracle database system. Instead of injecting data through the SQL queries, it now can directly modify the change logs of the replication database, cutting data transfer time in half or more because the process no longer deploys the database’s SQL engine.
Both products now also support Oracle 12c, the latest version of the Oracle database system. The range of support for data management systems, both from Oracle and other sources, has also been expanded for both products as well. Oracle Data Integrator 12c can now work with Apache Hadoop and Oracle Warehouse Builder. GoldenGate can work with the latest versions of Sybase, MySQL and Oracle Coherence.
Joab Jackson , IDG News Service
Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for the IDG News Service. More by Joab Jackson
Those who routinely use torrents to illegally download their favorite movies, TV, and music will find themselves with one less website to grab the latest Homeland from. Torrent database IsoHunt is shutting down.
As more rumors continue to circulate about the Jonas Brothers feud, the band's Twitter account was shutdown on Wednesday (October 17).
The group consisted of the three brothers Kevin, Nick and Joe shocked their adoring fans last week with the sad news that they have to cancel their upcoming tour just two days before it was set to kick off.
But as of Wednesday evening, the "@JonasBrothers" tweet page is now considered as a page that doesn't exist on the social media site.
The three band mates/brothers have yet to make any comments about the situation nor have they updated their social media sites since early October.
According to the group's rep, the tour was called off due to a "disagreement over their music direction," but now it appears there may be more issues that they need to resolve in order for the band to stick together.
Stay linked with GossipCenter for more info about the future of the band.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barriers came down at federal memorials and National Park Service sites and thousands of furloughed federal workers — relieved but wary — returned to work across the country Thursday after 16 days off the job due to the partial government shutdown.
Among the sites reopening were Yosemite National Park in California, the Smithsonian Institution's network of popular museums, and the World War II memorial in Washington, which had been the scene of protests over the shutdown.
"Just to be able to get back to serving the public is so important," said Greg Bettwy, preparing to return to work with the Smithsonian's human resource department.
For other returning workers, shutdown-related frustration turned to elation at being back on the job. Some confronted backlogs of email and paperwork; others voiced concern that a gridlocked Congress might trigger another shutdown in January.
"The phrase everyone is talking about is 'kicking the can down the road,'" said Richard Marcus of Silver Spring, Md., who has worked at the National Archives and Records Administration for 29 years. "We'd hate to have to live through this all over again."
The federal workers who were furloughed or worked without pay during the shutdown will get back pay in their next paychecks, which for most employees come Oct. 29.
At the Labor Department, Secretary Thomas Perez greeted workers with an email telling them he understood how much the furlough disrupted their lives.
"Unfortunately, as President Obama correctly noted, you are occasionally called on to perform your remarkably important work in a climate that too often treats federal employees and contractors as a punching bag," Perez said.
The Defense Department called back about 7,000 furloughed civilians. In an open letter to the workforce, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the department still faces budget uncertainty as Congress struggles to pass a 2014 spending bill and deal with automatic budget cuts.
The National Institutes of Health also will see lingering after-effects — NIH warned university scientists not to expect a quick resumption of research dollars.
"As the shutdown drags on, the challenge of re-establishing normal operations quickly is growing," NIH Deputy Director Dr. Sally Rockey emailed researchers.
Workers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services restarted the computerized worker verification system, e-Verify. The system used by business owners to verify the legal status of workers was the only USCIS program affected by the shutdown.
In Washington, the Capitol's visitor center planned to resume tours Thursday, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was reopening, and the Smithsonian — overseer of many of Washington's major museums — proclaimed on Twitter, "We're back from the (hashtag)shutdown!"
The National Zoo was set to reopen Friday, though the popular panda cam went live Thursday morning — giving fans a view of a cub wriggling about as her mother, Mei Xiang, tucked her paws under her chin and watched.
At the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., email servers were slowly grinding back into gear.
Fire protection engineer Dan Madrzykowski had been in the office for about half an hour, and about 800 emails had popped into his inbox, but that covered only back to Oct. 13. Still, Madrzykowski said he was pleased to be back at work. "Nothing good was coming from keeping the government closed," he said.
Patrice Roberts, who works for the Department of Homeland Security, said she wasn't prepared for the emotional lows of the past 16 days.
"It's just frustrating having that kind of control over your life and just having it taken away from me," said Roberts, who is expecting another shutdown in January. "I'll be better prepared next time."
In Atlanta, tears welled in Denise Traicoff's eyes as she talked about the work she missed doing for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Traicoff works with officials in other countries to improve disease investigation and health programs, and has been focusing on polio. The shutdown meant such communications were stopped and colleagues in other countries abandoned.
"I'm mostly really frustrated," she said, walking into the CDC Thursday morning.
In Pottsville, Pa., several people waited outside the Social Security office ahead of its 9 a.m. opening. James Ulrich, an unemployed 19-year-old needed a replacement for his lost Social Security card to apply for jobs. He was told a replacement card would take another two weeks to arrive.
"I don't have a really good outlook on the government," Ulrich said.
In Cincinnati, Renee Yankey, a federal alcohol and tobacco tax specialist, was sleep-deprived after staying up late to watch news of the shutdown-ending deal, but otherwise glad to be back at work with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
"I can tell that the alcohol industry missed us," said Yankey, a federal employee for 25 years. "The first thing I hear is 'I'm so glad I got a person on the phone!'"
____
Crary reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Barakat in Reston, Va.; Ben Nuckols in Springfield, Va.; Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, and Michael Rubinkam in Pottsville, Pa., contributed to this report.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif share a light moment at the start of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Tuesday.
Fabrice Coffrini/AP
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif share a light moment at the start of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Tuesday.
Fabrice Coffrini/AP
Iran's proposal for easing the standoff over its nuclear program seems to be getting initial positive reviews at Tuesday's start of multiparty talks in Geneva.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the Iranian delegation had made a PowerPoint presentation outlining their plan at the beginning of the two-day session. The spokesman said the plan had been received with "cautious optimism," but gave no further details of the close-door meeting, describing the proceedings as "confidential."
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there'd been a "good" first reaction to Tehran's proposals, according to Reuters.
"The discussions bring together Iran officials and representatives of the "P5+1 group", made up of Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany.
In a Facebook entry posted at the weekend, [Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad] Zarif said the talks were the 'start of a difficult and relatively time-consuming way forward.'"
The talks are the first since moderate President Hassan Rouhani was elected four months ago. Since then, Rouhani has ratcheted down the bombastic rhetoric of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As The Associated Press writes, the talks are seen as "a key test of Iran's overtures to the West."
Foreign Policy says: "While there is little optimism that this week's talks will resolve the matter of Iranian nuclear weapons development entirely, U.S. officials have hinted that progress made could result in immediate relief from U.S. imposed sanctions."
Making all the men turn their heads and all the ladies jealous, Miranda Kerr went out and about in the Big Apple today (October 16).
Looking like a sheer goddess in a simple black blouse, skinny jeans, and knee-high black leather boots, the Victoria's Secret Angel played with the camera, showing us that oh, so irresistible and sexy smile and flowing brunette hair.
In related news, the 30-year-old super model just recently participated in a photo shoot with every girl's favorite magazine! That's right, Miranda Kerr posed for Cosmopolitan, tweeting on Tuesday, "Fun day with @cosmopolitan at #hearstmagfront #outnow."
Stay linked to GossipCenter for the latest details of Miranda Kerr and all of her sexy gigs and pictures!
Game of the week >> Football: East Mills (5-2, 3-2) at Griswold (4-3, 3-2), 7 p.m. Friday. Both teams are trying to find their way to the high side of the Class A, District 8 logjam (Logan-Magnolia and Riverside also are 3-2, and Westwood is 2-3). Griswold is averaging 33.7 points per game and ranks third in its class with 369.7 rushing yards per game. East Mills is allowing 8.4 points a contest.
Schedule >> Cross country: Western Iowa Conference meet at Treynor Recreation Area golf course, 4 p.m. Thursday. Griswold’s girls are rated first in 1-A and have won seven of the past eight team titles. Riverside’s boys are rated seventh in 1-A and are seeking their fourth straight team crown. Griswold junior Rebekah Topham, a two-time state champ, is aiming for her third straight individual title. >> Cross country: Hawkeye Ten Conference meet at Red Oak Country Club, 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Four boys teams are state rated: Harlan (seventh in 3-A), Creston (14th in 3-A), Shenandoah/Essex (fifth in 2-A) and CB St. Albert (second in 1-A). Two girls teams are rated: Harlan (10th in 3-A) and CB St. Albert (eighth in 1-A). Defending team champions: Shenandoah/Essex boys and Harlan girls. Defending individual champions: none (both were seniors). >> Volleyball: Treynor (22-10) at Underwood (24-5) in Western Iowa Conference tournament final, 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Treynor swept Underwood on the same floor a week ago, earning a share of the regular-season crown with the Eagles. >> Football: Southwest Valley (5-2, 4-1) at Fremont-Mills (6-1, 5-0), 7 p.m. Friday. F-M can earn at least a share of the district title with a win and secure the top seed for the playoffs. A Timberwolves win could strengthen Sidney’s (4-1) chances of at least sharing the district title.
Notables FOOTBALL >> Ben Wellman, Tri-Center: In a 50-44 win over Missouri Valley, he carried 23 times for 310 yards and four touchdowns, and made a team-high 17 tackles. >> Nate Gettys, Harlan: Carried 24 times for 224 yards and a touchdown in a 24-14 win over Council Bluffs Lewis Central. >> Cole Neary, Carroll Kuemper: In a 50-14 win over OA-BCIG, he completed 17 of 19 for 217 yards and four touchdowns — to four different receivers. >> Kyle Wagner, IKM-Manning: The sophomore completed 10 of 12 for 213 yards and a touchdown in a 48-12 win over Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto. >> Zach Brewer, Nodaway Valley: Rushed 38 times for 242 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-16 win over Treynor. >> Dylan Jensen, Audubon: Registered a team-high 10 tackles, including two solo stops for losses and three assists, as the Wheelers earned the 27-0 shutout over Woodward Academy. >> Drew Young, A-H-S-T: The senior posted a team-high 14 tackles as the Vikings held East Mills to 156 total yards in a 10-0 victory. >> Zach Morris and Michael Bertacini, Riverside: In a 22-19 win over Griswold, Morris ran 20 times for 129 yards, and Bertacini caught seven passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. >> Nathan Rudd, Boyer Valley: Carried 17 times for 145 yards and two TDs, and made nine tackles, including three for losses, in a 64-20 Eight-Man win over Charter Oak-Ute. >> Nick Peppers, Exira-EHK: Made a team-high 15 tackles as the Spartans held Southwest Valley to 165 total yards in a 68-13 Eight-Man win. VOLLEYBALL >> Lauren Janning and Bianca Irlbeck, Carroll: Janning had 17 kills with .308 hitting efficiency, and Irlbeck added 13 kills with .458 hitting efficiency in a sweep of Winterset.
Contact us >> Email: kevin.white@owh.com >> Fax: 402-444-1238 >> Mail: 1314 Douglas St., Suite 700, Omaha, NE 68102 >> Phone: 800-284-6397 or 402-444-1055
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Share
