Analysis - After selloff, some dip toes back in emerging markets

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The threat of less central bank stimulus and higher interest rates has crushed emerging markets more than most assets in the past two months, in some cases slashing the value of stocks and bonds in developing countries to levels not seen since the last financial crisis.

The slump after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled in May that the Fed expects to curb and then end its bond-buying program in the next year if the economy improves has pushed prices to levels that would have looked very appealing only a few weeks ago. And some emerging market investors are buying, even with the understanding that there is a big risk markets have further to drop.

"We're starting to selectively increase our exposure to emerging markets," said Andres Calderon, portfolio manager and vice president for research at Hansberger Global Investors in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "But the key word is selective. We're not rushing in."

There is every reason to be cautious: Many fund managers expect lower growth in emerging markets. Some markets have suffered recently from steep capital outflows, and the slowdown in China has affected other emerging economies, particularly commodity producers. Still, emerging markets are expected to continue to grow faster than developed countries.

Northern Trust Asset Management, for one, has remained overweight in emerging market stocks through the slide. The Chicago-based firm manages $810 billion in assets.

"If you're worried about performance in the next one or two quarters, then it's hard to make a case about a visible catalyst for emerging markets," said Jim McDonald, Northern Trust's chief investment strategist. "But if you have a 12- to 18-month outlook, then this group will work."

He said emerging-market stocks are trading at around 10 times this year's earnings, or a 32 percent discount relative to the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. The asset class's historic low is about eight times earnings.

Emerging markets have typically traded at a 20 percent discount to the S&P 500 since 2005.

The price-to-book ratio of emerging market stocks on the MSCI stock index is also showing sharp undervaluation at 1.45, not far from the low of 1.36 hit during the depths of the financial crisis, according to Morgan Stanley data. That is still far higher than the 0.93 reached during the Asian crisis of 1997-98. The price-to-book multiple measures the company's value if it goes bankrupt.

"I wouldn't be surprised, though, if EM stocks come down further because there would still be continued outflows from the sector," said Calderon of Hansberger, which is a long-term investor in emerging market equities, with assets of around $6.2 billion.

There is plenty of wreckage to survey for possible bargains.

The benchmark MSCI emerging market stock index is down about 11.3 percent this year, with much of the decline coming in the past six weeks. By contrast, the MSCI's all-country world equity index is still up 4.8 percent this year, while the S&P 500 sports a sizable 12.8 percent gain for 2013.

In the debt market, the emerging market bond yield spread on dollar-denominated bonds, a gauge of perceived risk over safe-haven U.S. Treasuries, was at 342 basis points on Thursday on the benchmark JP Morgan Emerging Markets USD Bond Index (EMBI+) . On Tuesday, the spread was its widest in more than a year.

This index has fallen about 6 percent in June and is down more than 10.7 percent this year, after gains of more than 18 percent in 2012.

SLOWER EMERGING MARKET GROWTH

Emerging markets are experiencing a slowdown in demand for exports because of the weakness of the world's major economies. China's downturn has had a severe impact on many developing economies.

"China is likely to be far less effective as an engine for global recovery than in previous episodes such as 2009," said Bhanu Baweja, an investment strategist at UBS in London.

J.P. Morgan has reduced its growth forecast for emerging markets as a group in 2013 to 4.8 percent from its previous estimate of 5.1 percent. The U.S. investment bank expects emerging market growth of 5.4 percent in 2014.

Still those growth numbers are way above estimates in developed markets, which are forecast to grow just 1 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2014, J.P. Morgan data show.

VALUE IN BONDS

Brazilian government bonds maturing in 2021 have fallen by 245 basis points since May, while Mexican bond prices have declined by 144 basis points, according to Morgan Stanley. The firm's latest emerging market bond models suggest those markets are now undervalued.

"The selloff in Mexico is not justified," said Nicholas Jacquiere, emerging market debt economist at Standard Life Investments in London, which manages assets of $272.6 billion.

"Growth in Mexico has come down a little bit and it's going through a soft patch, but that is good for bond investors because that means the central bank could cut rates again this year if growth continues to soften."

Standish Asset Management, a $170 billion fixed-income investment firm in Boston, has bought local Mexican and Brazilian bonds as yields have fallen. The average yield on emerging market local bonds is about 6.2 percent, Standish said, or about 100 basis points higher before the selloff in May.

"Many investors are comfortable with the currency volatility attached to these local bonds, and the expectation is that in the medium term, emerging market currencies will appreciate," said Alexander Kozhemiakin, managing director and emerging markets debt team leader at Standish.

Near-term risks in emerging market currencies have declined, since many of the aggressive bets in favor of these assets have been reduced. For instance, net longs - bets a currency will rise - in the Mexican peso, the most liquid emerging market currency, tumbled to around $812 million, the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission show. That is down sharply from roughly $6 billion in April.

Long positions in the Brazilian real and Chilean peso have also substantially fallen, according to Morgan Stanley data.

There is still a risk of further outflows from the local currency debt sector, fund managers say. Morgan Stanley data shows emerging market institutional investors are still overweight on local debt relative to their benchmark, suggesting more room to pare positions should markets remain scary.

"When you see that exposure indicator going down, that's a sign that the market is starting to clear their positions and therefore there would be a sense of calm," said Rashique Rahman, global head of emerging market strategy at Morgan Stanley in New York.

Analysts at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said in a Thursday note that institutions they surveyed are raising cash in expectation of outflows, as investors respond to the volatility. Once that is alleviated, the case for long-term bets becomes clearer, fund managers said.

(Editing by David Gaffen, Martin Howell and Douglas Royalty)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-selloff-dip-toes-back-emerging-markets-110933111.html

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Kerry: Progress made in peace talks

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State Kerry says "real progress" has been made on Mideast talks but more work is needed.

Kerry told reporters on Sunday that there have been "positive discussions" and "very important discussions" toward peace between the Israelis and Palestinians during the past few days.

Kerry, who has been shuttling between meetings with leaders of both sides, spoke after a two-hour meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-progress-made-peace-talks-103707946.html

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The Week in Pictures: Oy Vey Edition (Powerlineblog)

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Leak: iPhone 5S Could Have Glowing Apple Logo on Home Button (Unconfirmed)

A new leak purports to demonstrate how Apple will make it possible to incorporate a fingerprint sensor in its next-generation iPhone scheduled to debut this fall.

Posted by Czech blog letemsvetemapplem.eu, the two photos visible on the left aim to show the Home button and the front panel (digitizer) of the iPhone 5S.

The glass panel looks pretty much identical to the one found on the current-selling iPhone 5S, which lends credence to rumors that Apple will make no radical redesign with this year?s iPhone refresh.

The Home button, however, is a different story altogether. It bears the Apple logo on it, something that is as tantalizing as it is unlikely to materialize.

?Photography comes from a very well informed source, and we are convinced of their authenticity,? says the Czech blog, according to a rough machine translation.

In other words, going by this leak the iPhone 5S will be the first iPhone since 2007 to bear Apple?s iconic logo on the front of the device, right smack in the middle of its Home button.

The reason why it?s there is not for marketing purposes, according to the Czech blog, but rather to accommodate the fingerprint sensor rumored to be making its way into the iPhone 5S.

Apple has been widely rumored to plan the introduction of a new authentication technology in its future smartphones, one that uses biometrics.

The fingerprint sensor would only make sense on the Home button, or in the same area, even if the company decides to eliminate the physical button altogether.

The leak is interesting, but it doesn?t seem too plausible. At least not the Apple-branded Home button, which would be at odds with the Cupertino giant?s marketing M.O.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5S at a special event scheduled for fall 2013.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Leak-iPhone-5S-Could-Have-Glowing-Apple-Logo-on-Home-Button-Unconfirmed-364386.shtml

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NKorea likely to get cold shoulder at Asia forum

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) ? The upcoming regional security summit in this tiny Southeast Asian sultanate is the sort of venue where North Korea has often managed to open up sideline discussions with Seoul and Washington. This time, while there will be plenty of talk about Pyongyang, there is little chance of substantive talk with it.

North Korea has sought negotiations with the U.S. and South Korea but has ignored their demands that it first honor prior commitments to move toward nuclear disarmament. At high-level diplomatic talks beginning this weekend, it can expect the cold shoulder from those countries and others frustrated by Pyongyang's insistence on developing nuclear weapons.

After a December long-range rocket launch, a February nuclear test and weeks of threats to launch nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States, North Korea earlier this month made a surprise offer for separate talks with its rivals. Government delegates from the two Koreas met and agreed to hold senior-level talks on non-nuclear issues, but the agreement collapsed because of a protocol dispute. The United States responded coolly to Pyongyang's appeal for direct negotiations, which some analysts view as a familiar effort to win aid in return for ratcheting down tensions.

"While it is certainly preferable for North Korea to pursue diplomatic rather than missile or nuclear tests, all of North Korea's neighbors by now are well aware of North Korea's history of diplomatic initiatives as just another tool through which North Korea has sought to consolidate gains following periods in which North Korean brinkmanship has driven political tensions to high levels," Scott Snyder, a Korea specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, wrote in a blog post.

He added that agreeing to hold talks with the North "and come back to the table as though nothing has changed since the last six-party talks were held in 2008 would imply acceptance" of Pyongyang's rocket launches and nuclear tests.

Whether or not Washington and its allies ignore Pyongyang's diplomats, North Korea's atomic aspirations are on the agenda in talks surrounding the 27-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum, which takes place Tuesday in the Bruneian capital of Bandar Seri Begawan.

A draft of the forum chairman's statement provided to The Associated Press said that those meetings would reaffirm the importance of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, and that most participants urged North Korea "to abide by its obligations" under U.N. Security Council resolutions and commitments made in a joint statement following six-party talks in 2005.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from South Korea, China and Japan will attend the forum and could hold private meetings that touch on Pyongyang. North Korea is expected to send its longtime foreign minister, 80-year-old Pak Ui Chun, to the meeting, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry.

Because the ASEAN forum gathers diplomats from all six countries involved in long-stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations ? the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas ? it has previously provided a chance to use informal, sideline talks to break stalemates over the nuclear issue.

In 2011, top nuclear envoys from the two Koreas met on the sidelines of the forum in Bali, Indonesia, and agreed to work toward a resumption of the dormant six-nation talks, though the negotiations remained stalled. The Koreas' foreign ministers held sideline talks in 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2007, and top diplomats from Pyongyang and Washington also met privately in 2004 and 2008.

North Korea will likely seek similar talks in Brunei, but South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters Tuesday that officials from Seoul aren't considering meeting the North Korean foreign minister on the sidelines. In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Monday that he knew of no discussions planned between Kerry and Pak in Brunei, and that such talks would be "fairly unusual."

Analysts said North Korea appeared to be repeating its pattern of following aggressive rhetoric with diplomatic efforts to get outside aid and concessions.

Chang Yong Seok, an analyst at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, said Pyongyang must do something to show it's refraining from continuing nuclear activities, such as announcing some disarmament steps, if it wants to have talks.

Despite its recent bid for diplomacy, North Korea has raised renewed worries about a nuclear program that outsiders estimate to include a handful of crude nuclear bombs. Pyongyang followed up its February nuclear test, its third since 2006, with an announcement that it planned to restore all of its atomic bomb fuel producing facilities. The February test drew widespread international condemnation and tightened U.N. sanctions, which subsequently led the North to issue a torrent of warlike threats and sharply raise tensions on the divided peninsula.

Recent satellite photos show signs of new tunnel work at North Korea's underground nuclear test site, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said in an analysis Tuesday. The analysis said it doesn't appear to indicate another atomic blast is imminent but suggests the country has continued to work on its nuclear weapons program even as tensions eased.

Other issues expected to draw keen media attention in Brunei include South China Sea territorial disputes and relations between the U.S. and China, the world's two biggest economies.

China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia over the South China Sea and its potentially oil- and gas-rich islands. Several claimants want group discussions in order to create a legally binding "code of conduct" to prevent clashes in the sea, but Beijing has not clearly stated when it will sit down with the 10-nation ASEAN bloc to discuss such a nonaggression pact.

China prefers one-on-one negotiations with each rival claimant to resolve the territorial dispute, something that would give it an advantage because of its sheer size and clout.

Southeast Asian countries believe that "having bilateral negotiations with a strong guy would be a losing game," said Bae Geung-chan, a professor at the state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul.

The regional forum chairman's statement said ministers welcome efforts to work toward a code of conduct, and commended ASEAN nations and China for their work to maintain peace and stability.

Analysts say China and the U.S. probably won't have sensitive talks in Brunei that could change their relations. Their leaders recently held an unusually lengthy informal summit in California, during which both countries expressed optimism that the closer personal ties forged between the leaders could stem the mistrust between the world powers.

During the summit, President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, were in broad agreement over the need for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, according to U.S. officials.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-likely-cold-shoulder-asia-forum-095914963.html

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Dead island that inspired Skyfall comes to Google Street View

It goes by the name of Hashima, or Gunkanjima ("Battleship Island"), or even "The Dead Island", since it inspired the water-locked cyberterrorist HQ in Skyfall. As you can now see for yourself, courtesy of Google Street View, it's a very a real place off the coast of Japan's Nagasaki Peninsula, and it's even lonelier than its fictional counterpart in the Bond film (which wasn't actually filmed there). There are no tourist offices or giant Oedipus Complexes, as far as we can see, just long stretches of overgrown roads and collapsing apartment blocks that once housed 5,000 people, before they abandoned the island in 1974 following the demise of its coal industry. It took a Google employee two hours to map the place and preserve its crumbling visage for posterity using a special backpack, but don't be surprised if you want to leave it after just a few minutes.

Filed under: GPS, Internet, Google

Comments

Source: Google's Japanese Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/EhkU-qLTnYY/

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Fast-Food Workers Denounce Wage Theft 'Crime Wave' At New York City Hearing

NEW YORK -- When Shenita Simon, a mother of three, gets paid for working overtime at her fast-food job, it allows her to splurge on the little things that she pointedly describes as luxuries, like school field trips for her kids and clothes that have never been worn.

But Simon, who works at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Brooklyn, says her bosses find all sorts of ways to make sure she rarely gets that extra pay. "They have no respect for the law," she said. "They need to be held accountable."

In a step toward that end, Simon joined dozens of other low-wage workers at a Thursday New York City Council hearing on economic injustice in the fast food industry.

New York's council members are just the latest public officials to look into what labor advocates say is a wage-theft "crime wave" sweeping the country. In the past year, Texas, Kentucky and New Mexico have all cracked down on wage theft by passing new laws or strengthening old ones. Just this week, Oregon's legislature approved a bill aimed at stopping wage theft in the construction sector. (An anti-wage theft bill in California, however, recently died in the legislature, after the Chamber of Commerce portrayed it as a job-killer.)

An extensive study of wage theft in 2009 found that of the more than 4,000 low-wage workers surveyed in three cities, 26 percent said they were paid less than minimum wage and 76 percent of those who worked more than 40 hours a week were not paid overtime.

According to that report and others, employers can steal from workers in a variety of ways: They can deprive workers of the legally required overtime pay rate of time-and-a-half; take illegal deductions from worker paychecks to cover the costs of meals and uniforms; pressure workers to take out the garbage or put away boxes before clocking in or after clocking out; and refuse to reimburse delivery workers who are robbed on the job.

New York State adopted one of the country's strongest anti-wage-theft laws in 2011, and the state's attorney general has launched a further investigation into these practices. But workers and their supporters say the problem remains rampant.

A recent report by Fast Food Forward, a campaign launched by a coalition of labor groups to improve the pay and working conditions of New York City's fast-food workers, found that 84 percent said they?d experienced at least one form of wage theft, with nearly a third reporting that their employers had stolen overtime pay.

"Some fast-food employers simply refuse to pay the time-and-a-half for hours over 40," said Stephan Cha-Kim, an attorney for Make the Road New York, a community group that advocates for low-wage workers, in testimony at Thursday's hearing. "Others spread out pay for employees with more than 40 hours across multiple paychecks to avoid overtime, a blatant fiction we have seen commonly deployed in numerous other industries."

Simon, the KFC worker, explained in detail one particular method her employer used to ensure she didn't get overtime: After she worked 60 hours one week last year, she said, her manager paid her for just 40 hours and then added the remaining hours to Simon's next three paychecks, so that she never totaled more than 40 hours per week. At the time, Simon says, she didn't realize the practice was illegal.

Simon's manager, Marsha Hall, said she was familiar with the complaint but denied responsibility. Hall said she'd pass along a request for comment to the owners of the KFC franchise. They did not immediately respond.

Cha-Kim said New York's 2011 Wage Theft Prevention Act and other recent efforts to combat the problem are "not enough on their own in face of ongoing economic realities."

"For hard-working employees in low-wage industries like fast food, current wages, even in the rare cases they comply fully with the law, are at their lowest in real terms in decades and cannot support even survival at the poverty level," he said at the council hearing.

Most fast-food workers make close to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, putting many of them below the official poverty line of $23,283 for a family of four. At the hearing, Elise Gould, the director of health policy and research for the Economic Policy Institute, argued that the minimum wage doesn?t come close to meeting the needs of a family living in New York City.

According to a budget calculator tool devised by EPI, a two-parent, two-child family in New York City needs a minimum of $93,502 to pay for child care, housing, food, transportation, health care, taxes, and miscellaneous necessities like clothes and household supplies.

Sitting on a bench in City Hall Park before the hearing, Simon said she felt the city council's attention to the struggles of low-wage workers was "long overdue."

She said she's finally getting overtime pay now that she?s participating in the Fast Food Forward campaign, which grabbed local headlines by launching a pair of one-day strikes and is credited with inspiring a wave of similar job actions by low-wage workers around the country.

Even so, she said, she wants to see New York take a tougher stance against employers who dodge the law. ?Just like if someone was to invade your home, invade your life, you?d want your property back,? she said.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/wage-theft-new-york_n_3512761.html

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Pa. girl doing well after 2nd lung transplant

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who underwent a double-lung transplant amid a national debate over the organ allocation process received a second set of lungs after the first failed, and has now taken some breaths on her own, the girl's parents said Friday.

The first set of lungs failed within hours of the June 12 transplant at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Sarah Murnaghan was placed on machines, according to her mother. She was placed back on the lung transplant list the night after her surgery and received a second set of lungs on June 15.

"We were told ... that she was going to die," Janet Murnaghan said at a news conference Friday afternoon as she explained why Sarah's second transplant was not publicly disclosed. "We weren't prepared to live out her dying in public."

The suburban Philadelphia girl initially received lungs from an adult donor after her parents sued over national rules that place children behind adolescents and adults on the priority list for adult lungs ? even if the children are sicker and are capable of accepting adult organs.

The Murnaghans and the family of 11-year-old Javier Acosta of New York City challenged the policy making children under 12 wait for pediatric lungs to become available or be offered adult lungs only after adolescents and adults on the waiting list had been considered. Both children have end-stage cystic fibrosis.

A federal judge ruled they should be eligible for adult lungs after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declined to intervene.

Janet Murnaghan said Sarah's condition began to "spiral out of control" shortly after the first surgery. A second set of lungs was found and transplanted even though the donor once had pneumonia, making the surgery extra risky. The second set was also from an adult donor.

Sarah's mother said the second transplant was a success and the girl was able to take a few breaths on her own.

The failure of the first transplant is not uncommon. A 2005 University of Pennsylvania study found nearly 12 percent of lung transplants experienced what's called primary graft failure, where the organ almost immediately begins to fail.

But the timing ? she received a second set of lungs just three days after her first ? was narrow.

Of 5,081 lung transplants performed between 2010 and 2012, there were only seven retransplants within a week of the initial operation, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the private nonprofit group contracted by the government to manage the transplant list.

"I think this very clearly illustrates that the decision needs to be scientific and medical, rather than judicial," said Lawrence O. Gostin, a health law professor at Georgetown University who questioned the legal basis of the rulings. "UNOS was under pressure from the publicity surrounding this case and the court's decision. It is highly unusual to get two transplants within days."

According to UNOS, a graft failure does not automatically propel someone to the top of the waiting list of potential recipients, who have been assigned scores based on need. But Sarah's new score made her eligible for the second set of lungs.

Earlier this month, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which is overseen by UNOS, resisted making rule changes for children under 12 seeking lung transplants, but created a special appeal and review system to hear such cases. The special review option will expire on July 1, 2014, unless the full board of directors votes to keep it in place.

Of the 1,663 people currently seeking a lung transplant in the U.S., 12 are between the ages of 6 and 10.

Sarah was placed back on a ventilator due to partial paralysis of her diaphragm, a complication of surgery that is not allowing her lungs to expand her mother said.

Sarah is slated for surgery on Monday in an effort to repair her diaphragm.

"There's still a lot in front of us," Murnaghan said, but then added: "Sarah's a fighter. She's always been a fighter."

____

AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergard contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pa-girl-doing-well-2nd-lung-transplant-193353953.html

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Researchers track facial expressions to improve teaching software

June 27, 2013 ? Research from North Carolina State University shows that software which tracks facial expressions can accurately assess the emotions of students engaged in interactive online learning and predict the effectiveness of online tutoring sessions.

"This work is part of a larger effort to develop artificial intelligence software to teach students computer science," says Dr. Kristy Boyer, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. "The program, JavaTutor, will not only respond to what a student knows, but to each student's feelings of frustration or engagement. This is important because research shows that student emotion plays an important role in the learning process."

The researchers used the automated Computer Expression Recognition Toolbox (CERT) program to evaluate facial expressions of 65 college students engaged in one-on-one online tutoring sessions. The researchers found that CERT was able to identify facial movements associated with learning-centered emotions, such as frustration or concentration -- and that the automated program's findings were consistent with expert human assessments more than 85 percent of the time.

The researchers also had the students report how effective they felt the tutorial was, and tested the students before and after each tutoring session to measure how much they learned.

The researchers used observational data from CERT along with student self-assessments and test results to develop models that could predict how effective a tutorial session was, based on what the facial expressions of the students indicated about each student's feelings of frustration or engagement.

"This work feeds directly into the next stage of JavaTutor system development, which will enable the program to provide cognitive and emotion-based feedback to students," says Joseph Grafsgaard, a Ph.D. student at NC State and lead author of the paper.

The paper, "Automatically Recognizing Facial Expression: Predicting Engagement and Frustration," will be presented at the International Conference on Educational Data Mining, being held July 6-9 in Memphis, Tenn. The paper was co-authored by Joseph Wiggins, an undergraduate at NC State; Dr. Eric Wiebe, a professor of science, technology, engineering and math education at NC State; and Dr. James Lester, a professor of computer science at NC State. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/c8LLk-JcgdA/130627102831.htm

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Announcing the FREE Family Tree Maker World Express Program ...

August 17, 2013 - DuPage County Genealogical Society, - Wheaton, Illinois

Sept. 28, 2013 - American-Canadian Genealogical Society, Manchester, New Hampshire

October 19, 2013 - Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia

February 6-8, 2014 - RootsTech - Salt Lake City, Utah

February 16, 2014 - Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, Florida

February 20 to 22, 2014 - Who Do You Think You Are? Live!, London, England

March 22, 2014 - Bay County Genealogical Society, Panama City, Florida

June 14, 2014 - Middlesex Society of Genealogists, Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Source: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/06/announcing-the-free-family-tree-maker-world-express-program-for-windows.html

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Demi Lovato on Father's Death: "It's Difficult"

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Morning for iPad: A Simple Dashboard to Start Your Day Off Right

Mornings are rough. And depending how many special adult beverages you imbibed the night before, mornings can be very, very rough. Which is exactly why we love Morning for iPad. It gives you a bright, friendly look at all the info you need to start your day, so you can be prepared even when you feel like crap.

What does it do?

Provides a customizable dashboard with six panels of varying sizes, which you can fill with whatever intel you most need as soon as you pop (or roll) out of bed. Choose from date, weather, stocks, news, to-do lists that integrate with your Reminders and Calendar apps, event countdown timers, and traffic information. Within each individual panel, you can swipe and browse to see moe info and change the current view or color with a pull-down toolbar.

Why do we like it?

Admittedly, all this information is already sitting in your phone or iPad, but it's lying scattered amongst your various apps and screens, forcing you to go on a hunt for what you need. Normally you wouldn't think twice about opening a few apps and extra swipes, but not only are you often time crunched in the morning?chances are your mind isn't totally there yet when you first wake up. Because you can arrange what you'll be seeing the night before, this makes sure that you're reminded of what's coming that day and fully prepared to take it on.

Morning, Download this app for: iPad, $3

The Best: Minimizes need to think in the mornings

The Worst: Simpler than some other dashboard apps (which could either be a plus or minus depending on your needs)

Source: http://gizmodo.com/morning-for-ipad-a-simple-dashboard-to-start-your-day-590654213

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Supreme Court delivers wins for gay marriage movement

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed a significant victory to gay rights advocates by recognizing that married gay men and women are eligible for federal benefits and paving the way for same-sex marriage in California.

The court, however, fell short of a landmark ruling endorsing a fundamental right for gay people to marry.

The two cases, both decided on 5-4 votes, concerned the constitutionality of a key part of a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that denied benefits to same-sex married couples and a California state law enacted in 2008, called Proposition 8, that banned gay marriage.

The Supreme Court rulings come amid rapid progress for advocates of gay marriage in recent months and years in the United States and internationally. Opinion polls show a steady increase in U.S. public support for gay marriage.

Gay marriage is an issue that stirs cultural, religious and political passions in the United States as elsewhere. Gay marriage advocates celebrated outside the courthouse. An enormous cheer went up as word arrived that DOMA had been struck down. "DOMA is dead!" the crowd chanted, as couples hugged and cried.

"Our marriage has not been recognized until today," said Patricia Lambert, 59, who held her wife, Kathy Mulvey, 47. A South African, Lambert said she no longer would have to worry about being forced to leave the country if her work visa expired.

The court struck down the federal law as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law but ducked a ruling on Proposition 8 by finding that supporters of the law did not have standing to appeal a federal district court ruling that struck the law down.

While the ruling on DOMA was clearcut, questions remained about what exactly the Proposition 8 ruling will mean on the ground. There is likely to be more litigation over whether the district court ruling applies statewide.

After hearing of the California ruling outside the courthouse, Anthony Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the fight for gay marriage would head back to the states.

"We take it to the states - state by state, legislature by legislature, governor by governor, and constitutional amendment by constitutional amendment," he said.

EQUAL PROTECTION

In the DOMA case, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority that the federal law, as passed by Congress in 1996, violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.

"The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity," Kennedy wrote.

Kennedy, often the court's swing vote in close decisions, also said the law imposes "a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex marriages made lawful by the unquestioned authority of the states."

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia both wrote dissenting opinions.

Roberts himself wrote the Proposition 8 opinion, ruling along procedural lines with the court split in an unusual way.

Twelve of the 50 states and the District of Columbia recognize gay marriage. Three of those dozen - Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island - legalized gay marriage this year.

Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act limited the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman for the purposes of federal benefits. By striking down Section 3, the court cleared the way to more than 1,100 federal benefits, rights and burdens linked to marriage status.

As a result of Wednesday's ruling, Edith Windsor of New York, who was married to a woman and sued the government to get the federal estate tax deduction available to heterosexuals when their spouses pass away, will be able to claim a $363,000 tax refund.

President Barack Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to endorse gay marriage but he had long asserted that same-sex marriage was a matter for the states to handle. At the last minute, however, his administration decided to enter the California dispute and argue that federal guarantees of constitutional equality forbid states from limiting marriage to heterosexuals.

Numerous public figures including former President Bill Clinton, who in 1996 signed the DOMA law, and prominent groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics have come out this year in support of same-sex marriage and gay civil rights.

Individual members of Congress - Democrats and Republicans - also voiced new support for gay marriage.

While more developments lie ahead, the legal fight over gay marriage already constitutes one of the most concentrated civil rights sagas in U.S. history. Just 20 years ago the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that its state constitution could allow gay marriage, prompting a nationwide backlash and spurring Congress and a majority of states, including Hawaii, to pass laws defining marriage as between only a man and woman.

In 2003, when the top court of Massachusetts established a right to same-sex marriage under its constitution, the action triggered another backlash as states then adopted constitutional amendments against such unions. Five years later, the tide began to reverse, and states slowly began joining Massachusetts in permitting gays to marry.

The cases are United States v. Windsor, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-307 and Hollingsworth v. Perry, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-144.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Howard Goller and Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-due-set-legal-course-gay-marriage-050417451.html

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6 Slice Toaster Oven - ArticleSnatch.com

Therefore, you ought to choose an oven that you can install on the wall, or one that could fit perfectly about the countertop. This is precisely the reason why a pizza is usually burnt for the top, but remains cold in the center in a very standard oven. In this system if the flame is been postpone accidentally, the appliance senses and automatically stops the gas supply.

As such, it is essential to use a wire rack to make sure that even underside in the food is cook without having to turn it over. Although small in dimensions, this oven has enough capacity to cook a 16-pound turkey. A convection oven is the apt option for any commercial or residential requirement that necessitates a brand new oven.

Avoid using the oven for heating food. All kinds of jobs are performed for the client's satisfaction. That makes great savings than to buy different cooking devices performing each of these.

There is absolutely no compromise around the health from the clientele and employees. Another sort of oven may be the nuwave oven. Just imagine such big savings you can have within your electricity bills if you use this oven for making gourmet dishes regularly. %anchor_text.

Its laxan dome is durable and dishwasher-safe. These are a two-section pan that creates two five-inch diameter bowls as well as a six-section pan which makes six three-inch diameter bowls. With cooking with infrared, the meals heats up quickly, enabling you to save 85% with the energy utilised by conventional ovens.

Its lightweight will not mean it cannot carry a 9 lb whole chicken or turkey; it certainly can. The great thing may be the price of they as they will be the fraction from the price of an egg poaching pan or perhaps an ordinary saucepan for boiling eggs. This is both practical and effective devices that can be employed to boil water rapidly.

Determining the cooking time can be a bit intuitive. Food is cooked better over these ovens. Results, the foodstuff will taste excellent and the process is instant once you cook with a counter top convection microwave.

Microwaves use about half or one third in the energy consumed with the cooker or oven to accomplish it might be. Creating meals without the proper tools is much like creating a painting without paintbrushes. This heating is usually carried out to cook on coatings, laminate items, burn-off films, reduce in size, and dry various supplies.

About the Author:
My name is Detra McCranie and I totally dig that name.
My friends claim it's bad for me but what I like doing is to take care of computers and I will never ever stop doing it. Iowa is our birth place. I am an office supervisor.Buddies call him Margarito Wideman. Hiring is how he earns money. For a while he's been in Puerto Rico and his household enjoys it.
Running is what he likes doing.

Here is more information regarding Nuwave Oven Lobster Tails check out http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20130607005867/en/nuwave-oven-reviews

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/6-Slice-Toaster-Oven/5133514

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Myanmar Bans Time Magazine For Story About Buddhist Monk Wirathu

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? Myanmar's government has banned this week's issue of Time magazine because of a cover story about a Buddhist monk accused of fueling recent religious violence in the country.

State television announced Tuesday that the decision was made "in order to prevent the recurrence of racial and religious riots."

The magazine's cover carries a photo of a Buddhist monk, Wirathu, with the words "The Face of Buddhist Terror." Wirathu is a leader of a radical movement of monks that preaches that the country's small Muslim minority threatens racial purity and national security. He has called for restrictions on marriages between Buddhists and Muslims, and for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses.

Nearly 250 people have died and tens of thousands, mostly Muslims, have fled their homes in religious violence in the past year. Buddhist mobs have marched through villages burning houses and mosques and brandishing machetes and clubs.

A special committee led by the home minister to deal with the recent violence said the Time article could damage government efforts to build trust among people of different religions, state television said.

The article quotes Wirathu as saying, "Now is the time to rise up, to make your blood boil." Nevertheless, Witharu insists he's a man of peace.

The article has drawn anger from Buddhists. On Sunday, the President's Office issued a statement denouncing the story and saying it damages the image of Buddhism.

The recent violence has threatened to undermine political and economic reforms undertaken by President Thein Sein, who came to power in 2011 after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

New freedoms of speech under Thein Sein have made it easier to disseminate radical views, while exposing deep-seeded racism felt by much of the population toward Muslims and other minorities.

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/myanmar-time-banned-monk-wirathu_n_3497031.html

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Little Girl Shows Off Insane Basketball Dribbling Skills

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/little-girl-shows-off-insane-basketball-dribbling-skills/

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10 Things to Know for Tuesday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:

1. WHAT'S ANGERING THE WHITE HOUSE

Hong Kong's decision not to detain Snowden has "unquestionably" hurt relations between the U.S. and China, the Obama administration says.

2. ZIMMERMAN TRIAL OPENS WITH STARTLING LANGUAGE

The prosecution begins by repeating obscenities that the ex-neighborhood watchman uttered to a police dispatcher moments before his deadly confrontation with Trayvon Martin.

3. IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL PASSES KEY TEST

Monday's vote clears the way for Senate passage of a bill calling for more than $30 billion in new border security and a chance at citizenship for millions.

4. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SURVIVES SUPREME COURT REVIEW

But the ruling regarding the University of Texas seems certain to generate more challenges to race-conscious admissions plans.

5. LEFT, TOO, CAME UNDER IRS SCRUTINY

The AP obtains an internal agency document showing terms such as "Progressive" and "Occupy" were used to help pick groups for closer examination.

6. 'BUNGA BUNGA' LANDS BERLUSCONI A 7-YEAR SENTENCE

Italy's ex-premier is also banned from politics for life after paying an underage prostitute for sex during one of his infamous parties, then forcing a cover-up.

7. WHY A SAFETY NET IS IN TATTERS

House investigators say Social Security is approving disability benefits at strikingly high rates, leaving the fund on the brink of insolvency.

8. SOUTH AFRICANS URGED TO PRAY FOR MANDELA

The nation's president says doctors are doing everything they can for the critically ill former leader.

9. WHICH HOLLYWOOD STAR IS DISPARAGING HIS OWN FILM

Jim Carrey says "Kick-Ass 2," in which he plays a superhero vigilante, contains violence that he cannot support after the Connecticut school shootings.

10. ANOTHER EARLY WIMBLEDON EXIT FOR NADAL

The Spaniard is bounced out in the first round by 135th-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium. Last year, Nadal lost in the second round.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-tuesday-103642113.html

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South Africans resigned over 'critical' Mandela

By Jon Herskovitz

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africans adopted a mood of sombre resignation on Monday to the inevitability of saying goodbye to former president Nelson Mandela after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader's condition in hospital deteriorated to critical.

Madiba, as he is affectionately known, is revered among most of South Africa's 53 million people as the architect of the 1994 transition to multi-racial democracy after three centuries of white domination.

However, his latest hospitalization - his fourth in six months - has reinforced a realization that the father of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation" will not be around for ever.

President Jacob Zuma, who visited Mandela late on Sunday with African National Congress (ANC) Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, reflected the national mood when he told a news conference that Mandela remained critical.

"All of us in the country must accept that Madiba is now old. As he ages, his health will trouble him," Zuma said, declining to give specific details about Mandela's medical condition or other information from his hospital visit.

"Given the hour, he was already asleep. We saw him, looked at him and then we had a bit of a discussion with the doctors and his wife," Zuma said. "I don't think I'm a position to give further details. I'm not a doctor."

U.S. President Barack Obama is due to visit South Africa this week as part of a three-country Africa tour but Zuma said Mandela's worsening state of health should not affect the trip.

"Nothing is going to stop the visit because Madiba is sick," Zuma said.

Mandela's daughter Makaziwe said the family was taking each day as it came and enjoying as much time as possible with a man who, to them, is simply a father, grandfather or great-grandfather.

"He is at peace with himself," she told CNN. "He has given so much to the world. I believe he is at peace."

"WE WILL MISS HIM"

Mandela's deterioration this weekend, two weeks after being admitted in a serious but stable condition with a lung infection, has caused a perceptible switch in mood from prayers for recovery to preparations for a fond farewell.

"If it's his time to go, he can go. I wish God can look after him," said nurse Petunia Mafuyeka, as she headed to work in Johannesburg.

"We will miss him very much. He fought for us to give us freedom. We will remember him every day. When he goes I will cry."

There was some concern among the public about doctors trying to prolong the life of South Africa's first black president, one of the 20th Century's most influential figures.

"I'm worried that they're keeping him alive. I feel they should let him go," said Doris Lekalakala, a claims manager. "The man is old. Let nature take its course. He must just rest."

Since stepping down in 1999 after one term as president, Mandela has stayed out of active politics in a country with the continent's biggest and most important economy. His passing is expected to have little political impact.

His last public appearance was waving to fans from the back of a golf cart before the final of the soccer World Cup in Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium in July 2010.

During his retirement, he has divided his time between his home in the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, and Qunu, the village in the poor Eastern Cape province where he was born.

The public's last glimpse of him was a brief clip aired by state television in April during a visit to his home by Zuma and other senior ANC officials.

At the time, the 101-year-old liberation movement, which led the fight against white-minority rule, assured the public Mandela was "in good shape", although the footage showed a thin and frail old man sitting expressionless in an armchair.

(Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africans-resigned-over-critical-mandela-060437497.html

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This Is How Much Pot Is Seized At The U.S.-Mexico Border

The Center for Investigative Reporting is doing a really serious and extensive multi-part series on the drug trade and border patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border. There are budget analyses, infographics and policy reviews. This is legit reporting. But you know what, sometimes you get so wrapped up in your work that you don't realize you're getting a contact high. It happens. And it's the only thing that explains this video.

So 17 million pounds of pot. That's a lot right? If that were a cube it would be as big as a baseball diamond wouldn't it? Let's find out! How much taller would a joint made with 17 million pounds of pot be than the Statue of Liberty? Let's compare! And come on the Washington Monument might as well be a joint, right? Bust out the 3-D GoogleMaps renders! All these questions and more are answered by this video. You gotta hand it to them, though, if the goal was to impress the sheer amount of seized pot on us, it worked. That's a lot of pot. [Center for Investigative Reporting]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-much-pot-is-seized-at-the-u-s-mexico-borde-551343297

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Hong Kong: Snowden has left for third country (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314631145?client_source=feed&format=rss

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AK-47 creator to be flown to Moscow for treatment

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's Emergencies Ministry says it has sent a medically equipped aircraft to bring the 93-year-old creator of the AK-47 assault rifle to Moscow for treatment.

A spokeswoman for the ministry told Russian state news agencies that doctors will accompany Mikhail Kalashnikov on the flight to Moscow on Sunday from his home in Izhevsk, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the east of the capital.

Kalashnikov spent two weeks in an Izhevsk cardiology clinic in May.

The AK-47 is the world's most popular firearm with an estimated 100 million spread worldwide. Its name stands for "Avtomat Kalashnikova," or Kalashnikov's automatic, and the year it went into production.

Kalashnikov continued working at least into his 80s as chief designer of Izhmash, the plant in Izhevsk that first built the AK-47.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-23-EU-Russia-Kalashnikov/id-87527d878e1843ec96d086248a294279

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Ana Trujillo, Houston News Anchor, Kills Boyfriend With Stiletto Heel

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/ana-trujillo-houston-news-anchor-kills-boyfriend-with-stiletto-h/

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Why Car Wash Machines Are Best For Cleaning Car Interiors

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There are a great deal of cleaning profits that you just can find from allowing us to help you in need of carpet cleaning service course of action. I filled it with water, dropped in 3 to 4 Efferdent tablets and allow it to go sit overnight. Also vacuuming your carpet 3-4 times per week can prevent pre-mature soiling.

Pressure washers made for auto detailing professionals use a low-moisture technology together with steam at high temperatures of about 300F, pressure amounts of 1000-2000 psi, and flow rates as low as 0.5 GPM. Add that for the ease of use, fantastic job of cleaning, number of times you will end up cleaning carpeting, along with our case no must buy new carpet... This may be most beneficial because referrals often are derived from those individuals who have actually experienced hiring a professional carpet cleaner.

You will help speed up the process by employing a fan or a blow dryer. The main way is from the area rug cleaning price. Make sure you what is methods which will be used to scrub your carpet prior to deciding to commit to your company.

Customers and workers don't need to inhale fumes from chemicals that can lead to disease for both parties. The application procedure is pretty simple, but proving that your slogan is fit to for trademarking can be hard. Clean stains right'"right away: Don't dig or scoop food spills that may actually work the stain in to the carpet.

Stir inside the melted soap and fill the bucket completely full with hot regular faucet water. The trained and expert personnel at these cleaning agencies also make it a point never to get within the way of day to day activities of their clients and constantly furnish along with you choices regarding how frequently you'll need them and that too with flexible timing alternatives. In fact the people he uses are "the lowest on the board for toxicity.

The cleaners are available in a variety of sizes to match your cleaning needs. In case your whole home is protected with carpeting, the costs to wash it's going to be higher. The last a long period have brought for us the "green" trend plus a plethora of eco-friendly products and services.

ARM & HAMMER Pet Fresh Dry Carpet Cleaner delivers the same great cleaning results as the Stubborn Stain offering, with extra freshness and pet accident penetration for animal-loving homes. There are, however, two potential difficulty with shampoo rug cleaning. They also wish to hang around to the entire holidays.

Odo - Solv spot lifter and prespray and another enzyme product available just to professional cleaners. Unfortunately with regards to professional carpet cleaning service coventry you get what you pay for, specially when hiring a professional. The certification really hasn't got to be a current up-to-date one, as long as you can see they have got passes the test at some point.

About the Author:
Greetings. Let me start by informing you the author's name - Dino Foutz but he doesn't like when people use his full name.
The job he's been occupying for many years is an office manager and he will not alter it anytime quickly. As a guy exactly what he truly suches as is crosswords however he's thinking on beginning something new. Iowa is where he and his spouse live and he doesn't thinking of altering it.He is understood by the name of Lane and he absolutely digs that name. Credit authorising is how he makes a living. For a while he's been in Kansas and his moms and dads live close by.
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Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Why-Car-Wash-Machines-Are-Best-For-Cleaning-Car-Interiors/5094529

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UK ratifies treaty with Jordan over Abu Qatada

LONDON (AP) ? Britain has ratified a treaty with Jordan that could speed the extradition of radical Muslim preacher Abu Qatada.

The Home Office said Friday that a 21-day parliamentary scrutiny period for the treaty expired overnight.

Jordan's King Abdullah II endorsed the treaty earlier this week.

Several steps must unfold before the document comes into force, including an exchange of diplomatic notes between Britain and Jordan.

Britain has been trying for more than a decade to extradite the cleric, who was convicted in absentia over terrorist plots in Jordan. British courts have blocked the move, saying evidence gained by torture could be used against him at trial.

The treaty aims to guarantee that will not happen. Lawyers for Abu Qatada have said he will return to Jordan voluntarily if it is ratified.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-ratifies-treaty-jordan-over-abu-qatada-103332095.html

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Life Is Sweet

In Virginia hunt country, 47 miles from Washington, D.C., you?ll find the town of Warrenton, population 9,735. On Main Street, across from the town library and next to the courthouse, there?s a small, refurbished filling station with a cherry-red pickup truck parked out front. This Norman Rockwell painting come to life is the work of Brian Noyes, 56, who, after more than 25 years in magazine publishing, decided to chuck it all in to start Red Truck Bakery.

Noyes helped launch local magazines in Tampa, Fla., Detroit, and Houston, then he moved to Washington, D.C., in 1984 to help the Washington Post redesign its Sunday magazine. He also served stints as art director at House & Garden, Preservation, and Smithsonian magazines. But no matter where he worked, Noyes says, he always brought in tarts and pies for his co-workers.

After living in the D.C. area for 11 years, Noyes bought a farmhouse in Cherrydale, a suburban neighborhood of Arlington, Va., which he restored with his partner, Dwight McNeill, a residential architect. Then, while he was still working at Smithsonian, he found a beautifully restored 1954 Ford pickup at a high-end auto-consignment shop. That purchase changed his life.

Noyes? interest in baking started with a series of cross-country family bake-offs. Noyes would bake bread and send it to his uncle in Florida, along with the recipe. His uncle would then send back his own creations, along with playful corrections to Noyes? recipes. Noyes credits his uncle with perfecting the recipe for Red Truck?s signature whole-grain wheat bread with honey, dried cranberries, and walnuts. He went on to train at the Culinary Institute of America and L?Academie de Cuisine in Maryland. ?He?s gone now, and I think, ?I sure wish he knew what I was doing these days,? ? Noyes says.

In 2006, Noyes obtained a cottage-industry permit from the county to start baking and selling his wares out of his farmhouse. He would bake all day Friday, then on Saturday mornings he would sell an assortment of baked goods out of the truck bed outside upscale country stores in the Virginia Piedmont region. He called his business the Red Truck Bakery. It wasn?t long before he found people in parking lots waiting for his truck to arrive. Noyes recruited investors from the farm town of Orlean, Va., where many well-off white-collar professionals live, for the startup costs of a bricks-and-mortar bakery. He figured it was just a matter of finding the right location. Then the economy tanked.

?I lost all my investors. They were just circling the wagons around themselves, so I was stuck with no help,? he says.

Just as Noyes thought his dream was dead, Red Truck got a break that completely changed his business model. As he tells it, in 2007 one of Noyes? regular customers took some Red Truck baked goods to a Fourth of July picnic in Little Washington, Va., which New York Times food writer Marian Burros also attended. She was so delighted with the food that she called Noyes and asked him to send her some items for further testing: Gruy?re quiche, mincemeat pie, almond stollen, fruitcake, rum cake, and sweet potato pecan bourbon pie. Then, in the 2008 edition of her annual holiday food guide, Burros wrote, ?One of my favorite discoveries is Brian Noyes, the owner of the Red Truck Bakery in Virginia, who has a deft hand with pastries and an unerring sense of flavor balance.?

The day before Burros? review was published, the Red Truck Bakery?s website received 24 hits; the day after it appeared, it got more than 57,000. People across the country flooded Noyes? inbox with orders, and he had to figure out how to meet a national demand. He spent the month of December at home, baking, boxing, and shipping orders for the holiday season.

?I knew it was time to make this a full-time gig?I had just turned 50 and thought, ?If not now, it will never happen.? So in 2008 I gave notice at Smithsonian magazine and spent the next year trying to raise money, searching for a location, and getting the place ready to open,? Noyes says.

Burros isn?t the only fan of Noyes? creations. Michael Stern, who writes about food for Parade magazine and blogs at roadfood.com, said Red Truck has ?[m]aybe the best chicken salad sandwich anywhere.? Washingtonian named Red Truck?s citrusy pumpkin pie the best in the metro area, and the Travel Channel?s Andrew Zimmern told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Red Truck makes ?the best granola in North America.?

?

But the greatest boost Noyes could have hoped for came from one mysteriously persistent customer from Chicago. In 2008, a woman ordered a sweet potato bourbon pecan pie to be shipped to Hawaii for Christmas. She then proceeded to email him multiple times confirming and reconfirming that the pie would be shipped in time. ?She got so anal about it,? he says, ?almost to the point of being troublesome.?

After the shipment went through, the woman apologized for being such a pain, explaining that it was her job to supply the sweet potato pie for the Obama family?s holiday gathering. The Obamas? regular pie shop in Chicago wasn?t able to supply them that year, so she decided to order from Red Truck after reading Burros? review.

When asked if he still supplies the White House with desserts, Noyes offers a discreet response: ?I?m not supposed to really talk about that.?

Noyes said the combination of turning 50 and being a little naive about the challenges of starting a new business helped him make the leap. ?If I were more analytical and not so seat-of-my-pants, I probably wouldn?t have done this,? he says. ?When I saw that this old gas station was available, I didn?t even think about it. I just thought, ?If ever it?s going to happen, it?s going to happen right there.? ?

So he cashed in his savings, signed the lease in March of 2009, and opened for business that August. Since then, Red Truck?s payroll has expanded to 15 people, and Noyes plans to open another bakery in The Plains, a town of 220 that?s a short drive from Warrenton. He?s in the final stages of securing a location for the new shop, a former pharmacy in a 19^th-century mercantile building.

Noyes says he never misses his old career in publishing, and he?s been able to do the best part of his magazine job?playing with typography?while designing the branding for his next bakery. Still, that doesn?t mean it?s easy to make a drastic career change. ?I wouldn?t do it without a good amount of money in the bank,? he says. ?I still go to sleep each night wondering about meeting payroll. But I?m making this place pay for itself.??

One weekend a former boss visited the bakery without knowing that Noyes was involved. ?We just looked at each other, and he pointed at me and said, ?I know you!? I said, ?Here I am! This is what I do now!? ? And despite the late-night worries, he loves it.

• I am a high school dropout. School just wasn't my thing. I loved animals, I loved to read, and I loved people. So what does a high school dropout do ? opens a pet shop at 24 years old. Read More?
  Submitted by S.Segner | June 17, 2013

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Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/second_acts/2013/06/life_is_sweet.html

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