BOSTON (Reuters) ? A rare October snowstorm barreled up the heavily populated East Coast on Saturday, threatening up to a foot of snow, cutting power to nearly a million households and forcing at least 1,000 flight cancellations.
Snow was falling from central Pennsylvania well into Massachusetts after blanketing parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland earlier in the day, AccuWeather.com said.
The storm brought more than an inch of snow to New York's Central Park, breaking a record that had stood since 1925, AccuWeather.com said. America's most populous city stood to get 3 to 6 inches of snow before the storm tapers off on Saturday night, AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Alan Reppert said.
Snow also fell in the capital, Washington.
Widespread power outages caused by snow, ice and falling trees were reported from the Mid-Atlantic into New England, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark.
Major delays were reported at Philadelphia International Airport and at New York-area airports. At least 1,000 flights had been canceled, and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey closed for a period of time, said flight tracking service FlightAware.com.
The snow posed traffic and parking problems for some 100,000 college football fans attending a game between Pennsylvania State and the University of Illinois in State College, Pennsylvania. Snow plows had to clear the field before the game.
"It's a strong storm for October," said AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Paul Walker. "We don't usually see storms this deep and this strong."
The power outages included 287,943 customers reported by Connecticut Light and Power; 200,000 by PSE&G in New Jersey; more than 300,000 by First Energy in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; more than 50,000 by Consolidated Edison in New York and more than 66,000 by Allegheny Power in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
PROTESTERS HUNKER DOWN
In New York City, an encampment of several hundred members of the Occupy Wall Street movement protesting U.S. economic inequalities hunkered down in tents against wind, rain, sleet and snow.
The storm came a day after the city's fire department, citing safety hazards, confiscated generators that had been powering heat, computers and a kitchen in the park in New York's financial district.
For some in the path of the storm, the big flakes caused excitement instead of headaches.
"There's almost like an electric buzz when the first snow falls," said Anna Weltz, communications director for Seven Springs Mountain Resort, about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
By early afternoon, 6 inches of snow were already on the ground at the family ski resort, where phones were ringing off the hook with people asking about opening day.
"And it's still coming down," said Weltz. "What a sight."
While October snow is not unprecedented, the storm could be record-setting in terms of snow totals.
Hartford, Connecticut, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Worcester, Massachusetts were among the cities that could be blanketed with up to a foot of snow, forecasters said.
Cities along the East Coast including Allentown, Boston and New York, typically see their first measurable snowfalls late November into mid-December, the Weather Channel said.
In Boston, the rain was expected to turn to snow overnight, bringing up to 4 inches, forecasters said.
Wind gusts along the coast could reach 45 miles per hour, forecasters said, adding to the tree limbs and power lines already expected to be down from the heavy, wet snow.
(Additional reporting by Ben Schmitt in Pittsburgh, Dave Warner in Philadelphia and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Greg McCune and Peter Cooney)
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a rally after filing papers to be on the New Hampshire primary ballot at the State House in Concord, New Hampshire, Oct. 24, 2011.
Last week, on his first visit to Iowa since August, Mitt Romney vowed to make up for lost time. ?I?ll be here again and again,? he promised, alluding to the final sprint to the state?s pivotal caucuses. ?I?d love to win in Iowa. Any of us would.? Iowans would be forgiven for assuming otherwise.
Romney has made just three visits to Iowa so far this year, opting to skip the Ames straw poll as well as a candidate forum last weekend convened by an influential social-conservative organization and attended by hundreds of the Evangelical voters who habitually flock to the first-in-the-nation caucuses. The absence stands in stark contrast to his first presidential bid, when he spent several months and $10 million ? including some $7 million in television advertising ? barnstorming the state in a Winnebago, visiting its 99 counties and tailoring his message to match each audience. The investment rendered Romney the caucuses? early front-runner, a distinction that only made the fall more bruising when Mike Huckabee snatched away victory on the strength of a late surge. The narrative arc that emerged wasn?t that a little-known Mormon governor of a liberal Eastern enclave had placed second in a state where 60% of caucus-goers call themselves Evangelicals. It was that a pandering multi-millionaire had tried to buy the caucuses and failed.
Leery of being burned again, Romney?s campaign has tried to suppress expectations this time, insisting that the putative Republican front-runner would do merely enough to ensure a solid showing in Iowa on the way to New Hampshire. Now that strategy seems poised to change. Romney?s campaign is in the midst of determining how much time and money to commit to the caucuses, says an adviser ? a critical decision that could reshape the nomination fight and rejigger Romney?s own strategy, including how much cash he?ll have available for other critical early primaries.
Romney?s official line is that their strategy hasn?t shifted. ?Governor Romney has traveled there and will be back enough to demonstrate he is the best candidate to beat President Obama on jobs and the economy,? says his spokeswoman, Andrea Saul. But several Iowa Republicans say they expect Romney?s camp to ramp up their efforts in the Hawkeye State soon, arguing that the rewards would be vast enough to warrant the risks. Despite his parsimonious approach to the state so far ? Romney has hired five paid staffers, opened no discrete offices and shelled out no money on advertising ? a wave of good fortune has swept the state to within his grasp. Rivals that once seemed positioned to mount strong challenges have withered, a bevy of social-conservative candidates could divvy up the Evangelical vote, and an influx of more moderate caucus-goers driven by economic anxiety could tip the state to Romney, who has made economic growth and alleviating unemployment the crux of his message. A win in Iowa, coupled with a likely victory in Romney?s New Hampshire backyard a week later, could lock up the nomination fight early.
The flip side, of course, is that Romney could inflate expectations by lavishing time and money on Iowa, only to lose again and wound his campaign unnecessarily. But with the caucuses just 70 days away and Romney running second in state horserace polls behind only Herman Cain?s invisible bandwagon, the time to play coy has ended. ?He can?t be a little bit pregnant when it comes to the Iowa caucus at this point,? says Doug Gross, a Des Moines lawyer who chaired Romney?s Iowa campaign in 2008 but is unaffiliated this cycle. ?Now what he has to do is reach out and touch enough of his supporters so that they show up. That?s going to require personal engagement by the candidate.?
Experts say Romney could mount a strong challenge in the caucuses for a fraction of the $10 million he forked over in his first campaign ? likely between $1 million and $5 million, depending on how heavily he chooses to invest in paid media. ?I?m not sure he needs to spend very much to do well,? says Tim Albrecht, who served as Romney?s 2008 spokesman in Iowa and is now the communications director for the state?s Republican governor, Terry Branstad. ?Governor Romney spent enough last time to make some very solid connections in Iowa. It?s not going to take a lot of financial resources. What it will take is human resources.?
By tapping into his existing reservoir of support ? the roster of precinct chairs and committed volunteers that $10 million worth of attention bought four years ago ? Romney could choose to compete with a targeted direct mail campaign and assiduous voter outreach. Both?the governor and his surrogates have called old volunteers, peppered their email lists with notices and reached out with social media. Romney has also held multiple tele-town halls. The idea, Albrecht says, ?is to amplify his appeal without amplifying expectations.?
But even without blanketing the Des Moines airwaves with ads, competing in Iowa could be a multi-million dollar gamble. And while Romney?s most recent FEC filing showed that he had $14.6 million cash on hand, shelling out a sizable chunk of it on a state that has already spurned him once ? particularly when Romney could funnel that money into Florida, whose Jan. 31 primary takes on added importance now that Nevada no longer follows New Hampshire? ? would be a risky bet.
The price to play may also be climbing. Rick Perry, the only candidate with a war chest that rivals Romney?s, is set to begin an ad blitz in the Hawkeye State this week, just days after Ron Paul launched his own. One of the primary questions Romney?s camp is weighing is whether and when to go up on the airwaves, which would send his costs in the state soaring. David Yepsen, the veteran Des Moines Register reporter who now runs Southern Illinois University?s Public Policy Institute, estimates Romney could pivot and launch an aggressive Iowa campaign replete with paid media for about half the sum he spent last time.
That, Yepsen argues, is exactly what he should do. ?You?re in for a dime, you?re in for a dollar,? Yepsen says. ?He?s the front-runner by a lot of metrics, and he?s going to be held to the standard of how well he does anyway. The date is settled, the field is settled. He could easily win this thing. My gut says he should shove in his stack.?
Thanks to years of fascinating videos from NASA, we know quite a bit about life aboard the?International Space Station. We've seen the crew conduct experiments, makes repairs, and?play with robots, but actually?living aboard the massive space barge is clearly a whole other story. In a new video from NASA, three of the space station's inhabitants show what it's like when the craft boosts itself to a new position, and it's giving us vertigo just from watching.
We take gravity for granted here at home, but on the ISS, the crew has a very tenuous relationship with the laws of earth-based physics. When the space station needs to adjust its position, its thrusters push it on its way, leaving anything not strapped down in its dust. This includes random items around the inside of the craft, and even the crew members. The ISS doesn't exactly reach break-neck speeds, but as the video above shows, the?scientists aboard still manage to have some fun with it.
Looking equal parts camera-shy and awkward, the bright minds of the ISS float effortlessly in space as the ship accelerates away from them. So the next time you're bored at work and are considering a pick-up game of trash can basketball, remember that even astronauts like to goof off every once in a while.
OAKLAND, Calif. ? The display of police force in Oakland, Calif., and Atlanta has unnerved some anti-Wall Street protesters.
While demonstrators in other cities have built a working relationship with police and city leaders, they wondered on Wednesday how long the good spirit would last and whether they could be next.
Will they have to face riot gear-clad officers and tear gas that their counterparts in Oakland, Calif., faced Tuesday? Or will they be handcuffed and hauled away in the middle of the night like protesters in Atlanta?
"Yes, we're afraid. Is this the night they're going to sneak in?" said activist William Buster of Occupy Wall Street, where the movement began last month to protest what they see as corporate greed.
"Is this the night they might use unreasonable force?" he asked.
An Iraq War veteran marching with demonstrators suffered a cracked skull in the chaos between officers and protesters in Oakland, further raising concern among some in the movement. Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Marine veteran, was in critical condition Wednesday after he had been struck, said a spokesman for Highland Hospital in Oakland.
It was not clear exactly what type of object hit the veteran or who might have thrown it, though the group Iraq Veterans Against the War said it was lodged by officers. Police Chief Howard Jordan said at a news conference that the events leading up to Olsen's injury would be investigated as vigorously as a fatal police shooting.
The message, meanwhile, from officials in cities where other encampments have sprung up was simple: We'll keep working with you. Just respect your neighbors and keep the camps clean and safe.
Business owners and residents have complained in recent weeks about assaults, drunken fights and sanitation problems. Officials are trying to balance their rights and uphold the law while honoring protesters' free speech rights.
"I understand the frustration the protesters feel ... about inequity in our country as well as Wall Street greed," Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. "I support their right to free speech but we also have rules and laws."
Some cities, such as Providence, R.I., are moving ahead with plans to evict activists. But from Tampa, Fla., to Boston, police and city leaders say they will continue to try to work with protesters to address problems in the camps.
In Oakland, officials initially supported the protests, with Mayor Jean Quan saying that sometimes "democracy is messy."
But tensions reached a boiling point after a sexual assault, a severe beating and a fire were reported and paramedics were denied access to the camp, according to city officials. They also cited concerns about rats, fire hazards and public urination.
Demonstrators disputed the city's claims, saying that volunteers collect garbage and recycling every six hours, that water is boiled before being used to wash dishes and that rats have long infested the park.
When riot gear-clad police moved in early Tuesday, they were pelted with rocks, bottles and utensils from people in the camp's kitchen area. They emptied the camp near city hall of people, and barricaded the plaza.
Protesters were taken away in plastic handcuffs, most of them arrested on suspicion of illegal lodging.
Demonstrators returned later in the day to march and retake the plaza. They were met by police officers in riot gear. Several small skirmishes broke out and officers cleared the area by firing tear gas.
The scene repeated itself several times just a few blocks away in front of the plaza.
Tensions would build as protesters edged ever closer to the police line and reach a breaking point with a demonstrator hurling a bottle or rock, prompting police to respond with another round of gas.
The chemical haze hung in the air for hours, new blasts clouding the air before the previous fog could dissipate.
The number of protesters diminished with each round of tear gas. Police estimated that there were roughly 1,000 demonstrators at the first clash following the march. About 100 were arrested.
On Wednesday, Oakland officials allowed protesters back into the plaza where their 15-day-old encampment had been raided but said people would be prohibiting from spending the night, potentially bringing another clash with police.
About 1,000 people quickly filled the plaza, but late at night, many of them filed out and began marching down nearby streets.
A reporter at the scene says police erected wooden barricades to block the march, but the protesters veered off as a group and continued down another street.
There were no signs of clashes between the two sides.
It wasn't immediately clear how many people were left in the plaza, where some had vowed to spend the night.
In Atlanta, police in riot gear and SWAT teams arrested 53 people in Woodruff Park, many of whom had camped out there for weeks as part of a widespread movement that is protesting the wealth disparity between the rich and everyone else.
Mayor Kasim Reed had been supportive of the protests, twice issuing an executive order allowing them to remain.
Reed said on Wednesday that he had no choice to arrest them because he believed things were headed in a direction that was no longer peaceful. He cited a man seen walking the park with an AK-47 assault rifle.
"There were some who wanted to continue along the peaceful lines, and some who thought that their path should be more radical," Reed said. "As mayor, I couldn't wait for them to finish that debate."
Reed said authorities could not determine whether the rifle was loaded, and were unable to get additional information.
An Associated Press reporter talked to the man with the gun earlier Tuesday.
He wouldn't give his name ? identifying himself only as "Porch," an out-of-work accountant who doesn't agree with the protesters' views ? but said that he was there, armed, because he wanted to protect the rights of people to protest.
People who were arrested trickled out of jail as a crowd of several dozen supporters chanted "freedom" as they left.
"I think Mayor Reed would do well to learn quickly that you cannot intimidate, you cannot threaten, you cannot jail something whose time has come," activist Derrick Boazman said. "The fact of the matter is this movement's time has come."
In Portland, Ore., the protest seems to be at a crossroads. Organizers have been dealing with public drunkenness, fighting and drug abuse for weeks, especially among the homeless who are also in the camp.
Some are floating the idea of relocating it, possibly indoors. Others see that as capitulation.
"I don't know if it would be a good idea. Part of the effectiveness of what's going on here is visibility," protester Justin Neff said. "Though I'd do it if there's a possibility that we'd get seen and noticed. I don't know how that would work indoors."
City officials haven't said what would cause them to forcibly evict the protesters. They said they evaluate the camp daily.
In Baltimore, protesters like Casey McKeel, a member of Occupy Baltimore's legal committee, said he wasn't sure aren't sure what to expect from city officials, noting that some cities have arrested protesters in recent weeks.
"Across the country we're seeing a wide range of reactions," he said. "For now we're hoping the city will work with us."
The mayor, Rawlings-Blake, said she is willing to work with them, but they should realize that they are camping out in a city park and that was not its intended use. She said their free-speech rights don't trump the public's right to enjoy the space.
"I have absolutely no interest in a violent exchange," she said. "We want to work with the protesters, but the point is to talk about inequity and talk about how we can work together to have a more just society or more equitable Baltimore.
"It's not about pitching a tent. It's about getting the work done," she said.
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Marcus Wohlsen in Oakland; Nigel Duara in Portland, Ore.; Sarah Brumfield in Baltimore, Md.; Verena Dobnik and Samantha Gross in New York; Harry R. Weber, Errin Haines and Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Erica Niedowski in Providence, R.I.; Michael J. Crumb in Des Moines, Iowa; Ben Nuckols in Washington; and Jay Lindsay in Boston.
There aren't many lampshades on display in a museum because of their contribution to musical history. But there is one showcased at London's Science Museum at the moment: though unremarkable in aspect, it once belonged to the pioneering electronic musician Delia Derbyshire, who used a tape-recorded snippet of the resonant sound it made when struck as an ingredient in her proto-techno.
Sampling is run-of-the-mill stuff today, but it was all but unheard of when Derbyshire was working at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop back in the 1960s - as were many of the other music-making techniques she and her colleagues pioneered. "People now know what to do with it, but back then it was out of this world," says Merel van der Vaart, curator of the Oramics to Electronica exhibition now running at the Science Museum.
Her words are well chosen: the Workshop started out by scoring arty radio dramas, but in the words of Workshop member Dick Mills, achieved little more than to produce "sound that nobody liked for plays that nobody understood". Their output was deemed more suitable for science fiction and supernatural programmes, and was designed to get the tea-time audience hiding behind their sofas rather than tapping their toes. Their most famous product: Doctor Who's eerie theme tune.
Over the next few decades, however, the Workshop's eldritch sounds became more widely accepted (and, it must be said, more conventionally tuneful). A 50th anniversary gig at London's cavernous Roundhouse in 2009 drew an audience driven more by nostalgia than novelty. (Delia's lampshade, making a special guest appearance, received one of the biggest cheers of the night.) And the techniques pioneered by the Workshop and other early sonic experimentalists - sampling, sequencing and remixing - have become standard production techniques today.
Oramics to Electronica aims to illustrate how electronic music has gone from oddity to ubiquity over the past fifty years through a small but carefully chosen selection of artefacts, beginning with the ground-breaking Oramics Machine and ending up at Bj?rk's "iPad album" Biophilia.
Many of the oldest exhibits are barely recognisable as musical devices at all: the Radiophonic Workshop and its peers were as much laboratories as studios, frequently staffed by electronic engineers who modified the tools of their trade to fulfil their musical aspirations.
For example, the exhibition includes one of the first programmable musical sequencers ever devised: an adapted electromagnetic switch from a telephone exchange. Elsewhere, a bobbin for spooling magnetic tape bears the hand-written caution: "DO NOT FIDDLE WITH THIS". Van der Vaart's favourite object is a toolbox containing meticulously arranged pliers, wire-cutters and the like. "Somebody used that to make music," she marvels.
The urge to tinker persists, as other items in the collection reveal: an egg-slicer fitted with contact microphones to record the tiny steel-guitarish sounds of its razor-sharp wires sits next to a "circuit-bent" Speak & Spell - a child's vocabulary-building toy hacked to make sounds its manufacturer never dreamt of. And the exhibition also notes efforts to make machines capable of generating new music more or less autonomously - whether through software programs such as Brian Eno's floppy-disc based Generative Music 1, which sounds different every time it's played, or hardware like the Triadex Muse, co-designed by artificial intelligence maven Marvin Minsky.
But manufacturers brought the technology to the masses, too, and these synthesisers are all on display - an evolution from the Radiophonic Workshop's VCS3 "synthesiser in a suitcase" to EMS' formidable Synthi-K, with its silvery, touch-sensitive keyboard, and then to the boxy Fairlight beloved of 1980s pop-stars.
But by the 1990s, the advent of cheap computers and MIDI - a universal protocol for communication between music-making machines - signalled the beginning of the end for dedicated music-making boxes: as software took over from hardware, laptop electronica become more the norm than the exception.
Perhaps the last truly totemic device released before electronic music-making became a purely digital affair was Roland's legendary TB-303, a bass synthesiser whose adoption by DJs in the 1980s led first to techno, then to acid house and thus to much of today's dance music and electronica. Van der Vaart says the Science Museum?s 303 was one of the hardest items to find - not because it's particularly rare, but because it's still much prized by musicians.
The specimen she finally secured, via an appeal on Facebook, has clearly been well used: Van der Vaart tells me that inside the case is a felt-tip daubed "ACID!", complete with the movement's trademark smiley face. And while the high numbers around its volume control have been worn away, the lower settings are tellingly fresh.
(All images: Science Museum)
Oramics to Electronica: Revealing Histories of Electronic Music is on now at the Science Museum in London. It runs until December 2012.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) ? Germany's Daimler (DAIGn.DE) reported weaker than expected quarterly operating profit as premium car sales were hit by the economic downturn, while better news in the truck sector, for Daimler and its peers, showed predicted slowing demand had not yet arrived.
Car and truck makers, which have benefited from robust demand in emerging markets including Brazil and China, have warned the outlook for Europe, beset by sovereign debt woes, is gloomy, with sales set to falter.
However, data on Thursday from industry group ACEA showed the signs of cooling demand reported by truck makers had not yet filtered through to order books.
Truck sales in the European Union rose 4.5 percent in September, ACEA said.
Truck manufacturers are bracing themselves for lower demand in an industry closely linked to international trade and the health of the wider economy.
World number two truck maker Volvo (VOLVb.ST) on Tuesday said it was preparing to cut output in anticipation of lower vehicle demand in Europe next year, and warned of slowing growth in emerging regions.
Competitor Scania had earlier said it would make further production cuts if economic uncertainty led to lower orders as it posted a profit drop as expected.
Daimler said on Thursday that sales of Mercedes-Benz Cars, which also includes the Smart brand, fell 2 percent in Western Europe in the third quarter, with stagnating sales in Germany, Europe's biggest car market.
Car sales growth has been shrinking in Europe, with Germany the only major market in the region to expand in September, while the boom in China that bolstered German carmakers in recent quarters has eased to a milder pace for now.
"At the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2011, the outlook for the world economy is distinctly less favorable than just a few months ago," the company said in its quarterly financial report.
However, it reaffirmed its full-year outlook.
"Perhaps the stock will struggle today -- but we still see Daimler as an out of favor, cheap stock with durable earnings power," wrote Bernstein analyst Max Warburton in a research note. "2012 looks like it's going to be a tough year, but Daimler may well fare better than many fear," he added.
France's PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA), beset by gloom in European showrooms, on Wednesday warned its core car making business would barely make money this year and announced 6,000 job losses to cut costs.
Europe's largest car maker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and France's Renault (RENA.PA) report third quarter results later on Thursday.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Writing by Helen Massy-Beresford; Editing by David Cowell)
Reheating pizza in the microwave often results in soft and soggy slices that can't begin to compare to the fresh pie you had before you stuck the thing in the fridge. According to home life blog the Simply Day, you can easily solve this problem with parchment paper.
Just like in the toaster, parchment paper adds a little extra mess-free crispiness in the microwave. Either place your pizza on a sheet or wrap it around the slice(s). You can heat the pizza as normal, but when you take it will be much closer to a fresh and crispy piece in a fraction of the time it would take to heat back up in a standard oven. DIY Life suggests this same trick works well in toaster ovens, too.
Photo by Kai Chan Vong
Clever Uses for Parchment Paper | The Simple Day
You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. ?Twitter's the best way to contact him, too.
ZURICH (Reuters) ? Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) overcame a 1.8 billion Swiss franc ($2 billion) rogue trading loss to post a smaller than forecast fall in third quarter net profit on Tuesday as its core wealth management business performed well.
Managing money for rich clients held up well, with strong inflows to the bank's Americas unit, despite tough economic conditions and the bad publicity of the trading scandal, made public two weeks before the quarter ended.
Although net profit for the third quarter fell by 39 percent to 1.018 billion francs at UBS, it beat average analyst forecasts for 276 million, after big one-off items flagged earlier this month had a more positive impact than expected.
Adjusted for one-off items, pre-tax profit was 588 million francs, beating most forecasts, analysts said.
"A strong performance in wealth management operations, offset by a worse than expected investment banking performance," said Espirito Santo analyst Andrew Lim.
"The underlying operating profit figure is not as strong as at first glance."
UBS shares rose as much as 3 percent but reversed their gains to trade flat at 11.14 francs at 1407 GMT, outpacing a 1.9 percent weaker European banking index (.SX7P), down along with most other shares.
Interim Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti, appointed after Oswald Gruebel quit over the trading loss, described the quarter as "very challenging for both the industry and the bank" and said the fourth quarter had started with "increased evidence of strain to the financial system."
In the absence of a resolution of the euro zone debt crisis and an improved U.S. economic outlook, "current market conditions and trading activity are unlikely to improve materially, potentially creating headwinds for growth in revenues and net new money," the bank said.
INVESTMENT BANK RESTRUCTURING
Ermotti said he was finalizing plans to restructure the troubled UBS investment bank ahead of an investor day on November 17, but the broad strategy was already clear.
"Our goal is to continue to be the preeminent wealth management franchise in the world together with a very strong presence in Switzerland," he told a call for analysts.
"We want to have a strong, profitable, focused investment bank and asset management businesses to support this strategy."
Chief Financial Officer Tom Naratil said the bank would only give details next month of any possible new job cuts from the restructuring as well as details on when it plans to resume paying a dividend and how it will build its capital.
Naratil said an internal investigation into the trading scandal showed its controls had not been effective, with shortcomings related to confirmation with counterparties. He said further disciplinary action might be necessary.
Earlier this month, the bank accepted the resignation of the two co-heads of global equities, Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara, over the unauthorised trades.
Kweku Adoboli, who is accused of running up the trades, made no application for bail last week and will appear for a plea and case management hearing next month.
The bank, which already said the scandal had not resulted in many clients withdrawing their money in the quarter, said inflows into its Swiss and international wealth management business fell to a disappointing 3.8 billion francs.
While it saw continued inflows in Asia-Pacific and other emerging markets as well as from the ultra wealthy, the European offshore business reported net outflows due to pressure on Switzerland's tax haven status.
But it saw a better-than-expected 4 billion francs of net inflows in its Americas wealth management business, as CEO Robert McCann, a former Merrill Lynch executive hired two years ago, started to see his turnaround strategy bear fruit.
UBS described the U.S. inflows as a "clear vote of confidence" and Naratil said they had been strongly fueled by client advisors with UBS for more than a year, although he declined to comment on global client trends in the current quarter after the trading loss.
"Wealth management has not blown out the light this quarter," said Kepler analyst Dirk Becker. "We will see how the trading incident might have further affected the group's reputation only in the coming quarters."
ACCOUNTING GAIN
Rival Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) also reported forecast-beating third-quarter profits on Tuesday, as retail banking and asset management offset a slump in investment banking, but similarly warned that the near-term outlook was highly dependent on the resolution of the euro zone debt crisis.
UBS said a 1.765 billion franc gain on the value of its own debt and 722 million from the sale of treasury-related investments helped make up for the trading loss and 387 million francs of restructuring costs it booked in the quarter.
This accounting gain -- which occurs because the bank could profit from buying back its own bonds at lower levels -- also gave a big boost this quarter to profits at most U.S. banks.
However, UBS results also mirrored their U.S. peers in showing declining bond and stock revenues as sovereign debt worries spiraled in the three months to September.
The investment bank posted a pre-tax loss of 650 million francs as it said revenues fell across all business areas due to the difficult market conditions and the strong Swiss franc.
The foreign exchange business made the best of the turmoil, with revenues more than doubling on volatility and good client flows, but it was not enough to make up for losses elsewhere.
"Q3 results once again confirmed the need for urgent action in UBS' investment banking businesses especially given further regulatory and structural challenges," said Sarasin analyst Rainer Skierka.
Ermotti said a program announced in August to cut 3,500 jobs from the bank's some 66,000 staff was on track but said the bank would remain vigilant on costs, echoing similar comments from Deutsche Bank which on Tuesday said tough market conditions could lead to more job cuts.
($1 = 0.885 Swiss Francs)
(Additional reporting by Caroline Copley and Rupert Pretterklieber; Editing by Sophie Walker, Alexander Smith and Helen Massy-Beresford)
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. ? Surveillance video helped lead authorities to two suspects who have been charged in the shooting of a 15-year-old student at a North Carolina high school.
The video showed the 18-year-old and 15-year-old suspects carrying the rifle inside Cape Fear High School, Cumberland County Sheriff Earl "Moose" Butler said.
The younger suspect has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Tanna said Tuesday. He was being held in the county juvenile facility. It wasn't clear when he would appear in court.
Eighteen-year-old Ta'Von McLaurin, also a student at the school, was scheduled to appear in a Fayetteville courtroom Tuesday afternoon on a charge of felony aiding and abetting.
Fifteen-year-old Catilyn Ambercrombie was standing in a breezeway outside the cafeteria when she was shot Monday. She underwent surgery and was listed in stable condition.
Butler said investigators don't think Abercrombie was the intended target, but no motive had been established.
"Why did they shoot? I don't know," Butler said.
An officer assigned to the high school was standing near Abercrombie when she was shot around 1 p.m. and immediately called 911, Tanna said.
The high school and nearby Mac Williams Middle School were locked down for hours before students were allowed to go home.
Classes resumed as usual at both schools Tuesday. Butler said additional deputies were at the school to help students and parents feel confident about their safety.
While the high school has metal detectors, Butler said he didn't know if they were used on a daily basis.
ATLANTA ? The controversial HPV shot given to girls should also be given to boys, in part to help prevent the spread of the virus through sex, a government medical panel said Tuesday.
The expensive vaccine, which protects females against cervical cancer, hasn't been popular. And doctors admit it will be a tough sell to parents of 11- and 12-year-old males, too.
For males, the vaccine is licensed to prevent genital warts and anal cancer. Experts say another key benefit of routinely vaccinating boys could be preventing the spread of the human papilloma virus to others through sex ? making up somewhat for the disappointing vaccination rate in girls.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices made the recommendation Tuesday. Federal health officials usually adopt what the panel says and asks doctors and patients to follow the advice.
The vaccine has been available to boys for two years but Tuesday's vote was the first to strongly recommend routine vaccination. Officials acknowledged the disappointing rate in girls encouraged them to take a new, hard look.
Just 49 percent of adolescent girls have gotten at least the first of the recommended three HPV shots, which have been recommended for girls for five years. Only a third had gotten all three doses by last year.
"Pretty terrible," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention administrator who oversees the agency's immunization programs.
She attributed the low rates for girls to confusion or misunderstanding by parents that they can wait until their daughter becomes sexually active. It works best if the shots are given before a girl begins having sex.
The vaccine is approved for use in boys and girls ages 9 to 26; but it is usually given to 11- and 12-year olds when they are scheduled to get other vaccines.
The committee also recommended the vaccination for males 13 through 21 years who have not been vaccinated previously or who have not completed the three-dose series.
Tuesday's vote follows recent studies that indicate the vaccine prevents anal cancer in males. A study that focused on gay men found it to be 75 percent effective. But while anal cancer has been increasing, it's still a fairly rare cancer in males, with only about 7,000 cases in the U.S. each year that are tied to the strains of viruses targeted in the HPV vaccine. In contrast, about vaccine-preventable 15,000 cervical cancers occur annually.
Some feel it's unlikely that most families will agree to get their sons vaccinated primarily to protect girls. An estimated 50 percent to 80 percent of men and women are infected with HPV in their lifetimes, although most clear the infection without developing symptoms or illness, according to the CDC.
The threat of genital warts hasn't been persuasive yet, either: Some data suggest that less than 1.5 percent of adolescent males have gotten the vaccine.
Its use against anal cancer may not be much of a selling point, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a family practice doctor in Washington, D.C., and an assistant professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Some parents may say "`Why are you vaccinating my son against anal cancer? He's not gay! He's not ever going to be gay!' I can see that will come up," said Mishori, who supports the committee's recommendation.
There are two vaccines against HPV, but Tuesday's vote applies only to Merck & Co.'s Gardasil, which costs $130 a dose. The other vaccine wasn't tested for males.
America?s long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year?s end and all U.S. troops ?will definitely be home for the holidays,? President Barack Obama declared Friday.
Stretching more than eight years, the war cost the United States heavily: More than 4,400 members of the military have been killed, and more than 32,000 have been wounded.
The final exit date was sealed after months of intensive talks between Washington and Baghdad failed to reach agreement on conditions for leaving several thousand U.S. troops in Iraq as a training force. The U.S. also had been interested in keeping a small force to help the Iraqis deal with possible Iranian meddling.
The task now is to speed the pullout of the remaining U.S. forces, nearly 40,000 in number.
Staying behind in Iraq, where bombings and other violence still occur, will be some 150-200 U.S. military troops as part of embassy security, the defense attache?s office and the office of security cooperation. That?s common practice but still a danger to American forces.
Obama, an opponent of the war since before he took office, nevertheless praised the efforts of U.S. troops in Iraq. He said American soldiers would leave ?with their heads held high, proud of their success.?
For Obama, Friday?s announcement capped a remarkable two days of national security successes, though there?s no indication how much they will matter to re-election voters more concerned with economic woes at home.
On Thursday, the president heralded the death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and a day later the end to one of the most divisive conflicts in U.S. history.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the U.S. more than $1.3 trillion.
Obama did not declare victory.
He did speak, though, about the string of wins on his watch ? none bigger than the killing of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Afghanistan war still rages, but there, too, Obama has moved to end the combat mission by the end of 2014.
This was, in essence, the third time Obama had pronounced an end to the war, allowing him to remind the nation he had opposed it all along ? a stance that helped his White House bid in 2008.
Shortly after taking office, Obama declared in February 2009 that the combat mission in Iraq would end by Aug. 31, 2010. And when that milestone arrived, he said it was ?time to turn the page? on Iraq and put the focus back on building up the United States. On Friday, he said: ?After nearly nine years, America?s war in Iraq will be over.?
The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was launched in March of 2003 after reports, later discredited, that the country was developing weapons of mass destruction. By early April, American Marines were helping Iraqis pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Saddam was captured in December of that year and executed in 2006, but the war dragged on.
The ending was set in motion before Obama took office. In 2008, President George W. Bush approved a deal calling for all U.S. forces to withdraw by Dec. 31, 2011.
At issue was whether that deal would be renegotiated to keep thousands of U.S. forces in Iraq. The Obama administration and Iraqi government spent months debating whether the United States would keep troops to maintain a training force, to provide added stability in a country where spectacular attacks still occur, and to serve as a hedge against Iran.
Throughout the talks, Iraqi leaders refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans refused to stay without that guarantee.
Obama never mentioned that issue on Friday.
He said that after speaking with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, both were in agreement on how to move forward. Obama said the two nations will now deal with each other in the normal fashion of sovereign countries and will keep open the idea of how the United States might help train and equip Iraqi forces.
?Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,? Obama said. ?The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing the American people stand united in our support for our troops.?
The Associated Press first reported last week that the United States would not keep troops in Iraq past the year-end withdrawal deadline, except for some soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy.
?Both countries achieved their goals,? said Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi. ?Iraq wanted full sovereignty while the United States wanted its soldiers back home, and both goals are achieved.?
In addition to remaining military forces, Denis McDonough, White House deputy national security adviser, said the U.S. will have 4,000 to 5,000 contractors to provide security for American diplomats.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States will now ?turn our full attention to pursuing a long-term strategic partnership with Iraq based on mutual interests and mutual respect.? He said the goal is to establish a relationship with Iraq similar to other countries in the region.
?Iraq is a sovereign nation that must determine how to secure its own future,? Panetta said.
Obama?s announcement was applauded by congressional Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who called it ?the right decision at the right time.?
Republicans were more skeptical. Many praised the gains made in Iraq and gave Obama at least partial credit but expressed concern that getting troops out would bring that progress into question.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he feared that ?all we have worked for, fought for and sacrificed for is very much in jeopardy by today?s announcement. I hope I am wrong and the president is right, but I fear this decision has set in motion events that will come back to haunt our country.?
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney accused Obama of an ?astonishing failure? to secure an orderly transition in Iraq, and said, ?The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government.?
The U.S. said repeatedly this year it would entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the Iraqis said they would like American military help. But as the year wore on and the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind dropped, it became increasingly clear that a U.S. troop presence was not a sure thing.
The issue of legal protection for the Americans was the deal-breaker.
But administration officials said they feel confident that Iraqi security forces are well prepared to take the lead in their country.
McDonough said that one assessment after another of the preparedness of Iraqi forces concluded that ?these guys are ready; these guys are capable; these guys are proven; importantly, they?re proven because they?ve been tested in a lot of the kinds of threats that they?re going to see going forward.?
The president used the war statement to once again turn attention back to the economy, the domestic concern that is expected to determine whether he wins re-election.
Contact: Amanda Bates amanda@curvecommunications.com 604-306-0027 Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Online tool motivates patients to maintain a healthier lifestyle, leading to a twofold decrease in blood pressure compared to those who didn't participate
Vancouver E-counselling can significantly lower blood pressure, improve lifestyle and enhance quality of life, says Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Robert Nolan.
"E-counselling has the potential to strengthen the effects of medical treatment for high blood pressure," Dr. Nolan told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, which is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. "We found that it led to an almost double decrease in the blood pressure levels of participants compared to those who did not receive the e-counselling."
The study investigated whether e-counselling contributes to improvement in blood pressure control over a period of at least one year and whether it helps to maintain improved quality of life as well as survival among persons with high blood pressure.
Dr. Nolan and his team from the University Health Network, University of Western Ontario and the Ontario Public Health Unit in Grey Bruce evaluated Heart&Stroke Health eSupport, a Heart and Stroke Foundation personalized action plan and e-mail support program developed to help people control their blood pressure and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Six million Canadians have high blood pressure ? known as the silent killer due to its lack of symptoms. It is the number one risk factor for stroke and a major risk factor for heart disease.
The researchers found that e-counselling motivates people to stay on track with diet and exercise plans, which leads to lower blood pressure.
The moods of people coping with high blood pressure also improved while they were participating in the e-counselling program. Depression is known to have an adverse effect on patients with high blood pressure, says Dr. Nolan. It causes them to lose interest in eating healthy foods and exercising two lifestyle choices that can significantly improve their health. "Knowing this, we wanted to look at the effect of e-counselling in terms of improving lifestyle behaviours, as well as decreasing blood pressure."
The study evaluated 387 people ranging in age from 45 to 74, over a four-month period. All had been diagnosed with high blood pressure and 72 per cent were taking one or more blood pressure medications.
One group was sent a standard e-newsletter from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, containing heart health information and general tips to manage their health. The second group received eight emails over four months that provided both educational information as well as motivational messages.
Prior to receiving the emails, the second group filled out surveys identifying what they wanted to change about their lifestyle, such as quitting smoking, improving their diet, or being more physically active. The emails then addressed their individual concerns and included tailored suggestions and personal encouragement to help them achieve their goals.
Participants in the study who received these emails recorded approximately double the amount of decrease in blood pressure, compared to subjects who received just the newsletter, Dr. Nolan reported.
"We found the e-counselling was associated with an improvement in both exercise and diet behaviour. The motivational component was therapeutic," said Dr. Nolan. "E-tools to promote healthy lifestyles are becoming an established success it's the way of the future."
He notes that study participants ranged in age from 45 to 70. "This was a powerful tool to provide a connection to some of the older participants who were once isolated," says Dr. Nolan. "Seventy years ago someone would be standing in a doctor's office flash forward to now and people's risks are being reduced in their own homes through the power of e-support."
He says e-counselling may prove to be a cost-efficient way to extend the reach of healthcare programs to people in need, without overtaxing the resources of our healthcare system. He noted that this issue will likely become a research priority if long-term health benefits of e-counselling are established.
"If you know and control your blood pressure, you can cut your risk of stroke by up to 40 per cent and heart attack by up to 25 per cent," says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Beth Abramson. "Lifestyle changes such as following a healthy, low sodium diet, being physically active, being smoke-free, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and managing stress all reduce your risk."
She says this study suggests that e-counselling, paired with monitoring by a physician and the proper medication, is a promising trio for people dealing with high blood pressure.
With such encouraging results, Dr. Nolan and his team are currently exploring the benefits of e-counselling further with a larger and longer-term clinical trial.
"Our next goal is to study whether e-counselling may also help with adherence to medications for blood pressure control," says Dr. Nolan. "Ongoing support from an e-counselling program may be an effective way to provide education and encouragement to help patients maintain the benefit of their medical treatment."
The Foundation's Heart&Stroke Health eSupport (heartandstroke.ca/healthesupport) is a free, tailored email follow-up service which sends periodic emails to provide users with information and tips tailored to their current situation, helping them to move closer to making heart-healthy lifestyle changes.
Developed by experts, this interactive program creates personalized action plans for users by guiding them through a personalized risk assessment and identifying their personal risk of heart disease and stroke, and provides tips, advice and support to help reduce their risks.
###
For information on how to manage and prevent high blood pressure, visit heartandstroke.ca.
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living, and advocacy.
Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org
After October 26, 2011, contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
(613) 569-4361 ext 273, jfraser@hsf.ca
[ | 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.
Contact: Amanda Bates amanda@curvecommunications.com 604-306-0027 Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Online tool motivates patients to maintain a healthier lifestyle, leading to a twofold decrease in blood pressure compared to those who didn't participate
Vancouver E-counselling can significantly lower blood pressure, improve lifestyle and enhance quality of life, says Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Robert Nolan.
"E-counselling has the potential to strengthen the effects of medical treatment for high blood pressure," Dr. Nolan told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, which is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. "We found that it led to an almost double decrease in the blood pressure levels of participants compared to those who did not receive the e-counselling."
The study investigated whether e-counselling contributes to improvement in blood pressure control over a period of at least one year and whether it helps to maintain improved quality of life as well as survival among persons with high blood pressure.
Dr. Nolan and his team from the University Health Network, University of Western Ontario and the Ontario Public Health Unit in Grey Bruce evaluated Heart&Stroke Health eSupport, a Heart and Stroke Foundation personalized action plan and e-mail support program developed to help people control their blood pressure and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Six million Canadians have high blood pressure ? known as the silent killer due to its lack of symptoms. It is the number one risk factor for stroke and a major risk factor for heart disease.
The researchers found that e-counselling motivates people to stay on track with diet and exercise plans, which leads to lower blood pressure.
The moods of people coping with high blood pressure also improved while they were participating in the e-counselling program. Depression is known to have an adverse effect on patients with high blood pressure, says Dr. Nolan. It causes them to lose interest in eating healthy foods and exercising two lifestyle choices that can significantly improve their health. "Knowing this, we wanted to look at the effect of e-counselling in terms of improving lifestyle behaviours, as well as decreasing blood pressure."
The study evaluated 387 people ranging in age from 45 to 74, over a four-month period. All had been diagnosed with high blood pressure and 72 per cent were taking one or more blood pressure medications.
One group was sent a standard e-newsletter from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, containing heart health information and general tips to manage their health. The second group received eight emails over four months that provided both educational information as well as motivational messages.
Prior to receiving the emails, the second group filled out surveys identifying what they wanted to change about their lifestyle, such as quitting smoking, improving their diet, or being more physically active. The emails then addressed their individual concerns and included tailored suggestions and personal encouragement to help them achieve their goals.
Participants in the study who received these emails recorded approximately double the amount of decrease in blood pressure, compared to subjects who received just the newsletter, Dr. Nolan reported.
"We found the e-counselling was associated with an improvement in both exercise and diet behaviour. The motivational component was therapeutic," said Dr. Nolan. "E-tools to promote healthy lifestyles are becoming an established success it's the way of the future."
He notes that study participants ranged in age from 45 to 70. "This was a powerful tool to provide a connection to some of the older participants who were once isolated," says Dr. Nolan. "Seventy years ago someone would be standing in a doctor's office flash forward to now and people's risks are being reduced in their own homes through the power of e-support."
He says e-counselling may prove to be a cost-efficient way to extend the reach of healthcare programs to people in need, without overtaxing the resources of our healthcare system. He noted that this issue will likely become a research priority if long-term health benefits of e-counselling are established.
"If you know and control your blood pressure, you can cut your risk of stroke by up to 40 per cent and heart attack by up to 25 per cent," says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Beth Abramson. "Lifestyle changes such as following a healthy, low sodium diet, being physically active, being smoke-free, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and managing stress all reduce your risk."
She says this study suggests that e-counselling, paired with monitoring by a physician and the proper medication, is a promising trio for people dealing with high blood pressure.
With such encouraging results, Dr. Nolan and his team are currently exploring the benefits of e-counselling further with a larger and longer-term clinical trial.
"Our next goal is to study whether e-counselling may also help with adherence to medications for blood pressure control," says Dr. Nolan. "Ongoing support from an e-counselling program may be an effective way to provide education and encouragement to help patients maintain the benefit of their medical treatment."
The Foundation's Heart&Stroke Health eSupport (heartandstroke.ca/healthesupport) is a free, tailored email follow-up service which sends periodic emails to provide users with information and tips tailored to their current situation, helping them to move closer to making heart-healthy lifestyle changes.
Developed by experts, this interactive program creates personalized action plans for users by guiding them through a personalized risk assessment and identifying their personal risk of heart disease and stroke, and provides tips, advice and support to help reduce their risks.
###
For information on how to manage and prevent high blood pressure, visit heartandstroke.ca.
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living, and advocacy.
Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org
After October 26, 2011, contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
(613) 569-4361 ext 273, jfraser@hsf.ca
[ | 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.
Even with all of the cutting-edge movie tech today?s top cinematographers have at their disposal, there are still a few that like to experiment with some of the cheaper options available.
Seamus McGarvey, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer of hits such as We Need to Talk About Kevin and the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, told the Irish Film and Television Network (IFTN) this week that he used an iPhone to shoot parts of the forthcoming big-budget action movie, The Avengers.
We can assume the movie maker didn?t use the iPhone 4S (capable of 1080p HD video), as it was only released last Friday. That leaves the iPhone 4, which shoots at 720p. Of course, the iPhone 3G is also a possibility, which captures video at a resolution of 640?480.
Talking about why he used the iPhone, McGarvey told IFTN that every piece of kit should be tailored to what you?re trying to achieve.
???The beauty of photography or cinema is that you make every choice based on the content at hand,??
???On The Avengers, I did a couple of shots on the iPhone and they are in the movie. In fact, they are in the trailer!??
Looking through the movie trailer (see below), my guess is McGarvey used the iPhone for the quick shot at the 47-second mark. Its look is different to the rest of the shots in the trailer, and there aren???t any other parts that would necessarily have given him a reason to use an iPhone over a proper, more conventional movie camera.
The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, should arrive in movie theaters in May 2012.
[via Apple Insider]
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
COLUMBIA, Mo. ? Even without its starting wide receivers, Oklahoma State had plenty left on offense. The Cowboys' big-play defense stepped up, too.
Joseph Randle scored a career-best four touchdowns, two on runs that capitalized on an interception and fumble recovery by Shaun Lewis, as No. 6 Oklahoma State remained unbeaten and ended Missouri's 10-game home winning streak with a 45-24 victory on Saturday.
"This place will get kind of rowdy if you let it," quarterback Brandon Weeden said. "Anytime you get them out of their seats and headed to the exits, that's huge."
Missouri quarterback James Franklin committed four turnovers in the second half: three interceptions and a lost fumble at the Oklahoma State 4.
"I know that I didn't play the best," Franklin said. "And it's frustrating. But being sad about it isn't going to do anything about it."
Randle had 138 yards on 14 carries and scored on runs of 16, 59 and 12 yards. He also caught a 13-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
"He's a big play waiting to happen," Weeden said. "The guy is explosive. Without looking at the tape, he's got to be our MVP."
Weeden had three touchdown passes after the opening snap of the second quarter. Lewis' interception and fumble recovery helped the Cowboys (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) pull away and win their ninth in a row on the road despite injuries to both starting wide receivers.
They're 7-0 for just the third time in school history, also doing it in 2008 and 1945. A major reason: They've forced 22 turnovers the last five games.
"They gave us what we had been working on all week," defensive end Jamie Blatnick said. "When we see what we've prepared for it works out for us."
Justin Blackmon caught a touchdown pass in the first quarter but was held out the second half as a precaution after taking a blow to the head. Hubert Anyiam, the Cowboys' third-leading receiver, is out for the season with a broken bone in his left foot.
Isaiah Anderson had a career-best five receptions and Tracy Moore matched his career best with seven receptions.
"It's interesting how young men will play when they know they have to play," coach Mike Gundy said.
Henry Josey had 138 yards on 25 carries and T.J. Moe had six catches for 103 yards and a score for Missouri (3-4, 1-3), which has yet to win consecutive games and has dropped three straight in the series. All four of the Tigers' losses have come against teams ranked at the time, and they play at No. 18 Texas A&M next week.
"We adjusted at halftime and played a little better," defensive end Jacquies Smith said. "But we didn't make enough plays."
The Tigers had a strong second quarter, scoring on an 18-yard run by Kendial Lawrence and Moe's 34-yard catch from James Franklin to cut the deficit to seven, before being undone by mistakes.
Lewis intercepted a tipped pass at the Missouri 27 and three plays later Randle scored on a 16-yard run for a two-touchdown cushion midway through the third quarter.
Missouri appeared to regain momentum when E.J. Gaines intercepted Weeden in the end zone and returned it 54 yards, also ending Weeden's string of 194 consecutive passes without a pick. Franklin's lost fumble gave the Cowboys possession at the 12, and again they needed just three plays to respond with Randle's 59-yard jaunt making it 38-17. Brodrick Brown's interception and 21-yard return set up Randle's fourth TD in the final minute.
"We had opportunities," Pinkel said. "Against a team like this, a really, really good team, we have to take advantage of every single opportunity."
Weeden was 33 for 49 for 338 yards after a sizzling start and extended his streak of 30-yard completions to 15 games. The 28-year-old senior was 19 for 25 for 214 yards in the first quarter, with all six incompletions on drops.
"We may score 40 in the first half if we just catch the dang ball," Gundy said. "We have to clean that up this week."
Michael Harrison was wide open on a 27-yard catch and Blackmon caught an 8-yarder for his 28th receiving touchdown in 19 games. On the first play of the second quarter, Oklahoma State went up 21-3 on Weeden's 13-yard TD pass to Randle.
Trickery produced Missouri's best play of the quarter, with Franklin throwing a lateral pass to Moe and then getting it back for a 31-yard gain to the 13. But the Tigers stalled, settling for a short field goal by Grant Ressel.
President Obama: ?In the next two months our troops will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home?
All US troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of the year, President Barack Obama has announced.
He ordered a complete withdrawal from the country, nearly nine years after the invasion under President George W Bush.
About 39,000 US troops remain in Iraq, down from a peak of 165,000 in 2008.
The US and Iraq were in ?full agreement? on how to move forward, Mr Obama said, adding: ?The US leaves Iraq with our heads held high.?
?That is how America?s military efforts in Iraq will end.?
According to the Department of Defense, there have been 4,408 American military deaths in Iraq since March 2003.
Mr Obama spoke at the White House following a video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
He pledged assistance and ?a strong and enduring partnership? with Iraqi government.
The US declared the end of its combat mission in Iraq in 2010. The deadline for complete troop withdrawal by end of 2011 was set during former President George W Bush?s term in office.
However, the issue of a full pullout had been the subject of an ongoing debate.
Iraqi leaders had wanted 5,000 US troops to remain in a training capacity. But those trainers would not have received immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
The Pentagon refused to accept that condition, with Defence Secretary Leon Panetta insisting that ?we protect and provide the appropriate immunity for our soldiers?.
The decision to pull out all US troops suggests no deal could be reached, despite Iraq?s desire for continued access to US military expertise, correspondents say.
Earlier this month, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said: ?If we do not have agreement on the immunity, there will be no agreement on the number.?
Many Iraqis are sensitive about the issue, given the number of civilian shootings involving US troops since the US-led invasion. Private contractors have already lost their immunity.
Mr Obama said the withdrawal comes amid changes in American military priorities, including a troop drawdown in Afghanistan, and new political realities in the Middle East and Africa.
Welcome to?Just Show Me on Tecca TV, where we show you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the?gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll show you how to set up parental controls on Windows 7.
Parental controls are a great way to keep your kids safe and control their usage on the computer. You can do things like specify what programs they can use, what websites they can visit, and even control what hours they can be on the computer. For more information, check out our guide to tech-savvy parenting.
For more episodes of Just Show Me, subscribe to Tecca TV's YouTube channel and check out all our Just Show Me episodes. If you have any topics you'd like to see us cover, just drop us a line in the comments.
This article originally appeared on Tecca
More from Tecca:
Tecca's guide to tech-savvy parenting
How to set up parental controls on your Apple computer
How to set up parental controls on your child's iPhone
Her words are well chosen: the Workshop started out by scoring arty radio dramas, but in the words of Workshop member Dick Mills, achieved little more than to produce "sound that nobody liked for plays that nobody understood". Their output was deemed more suitable for science fiction and supernatural programmes, and was designed to get the tea-time audience hiding behind their sofas rather than tapping their toes. Their most famous product: Doctor Who's eerie theme tune.
Oramics to Electronica aims to illustrate how electronic music has gone from oddity to ubiquity over the past fifty years through a small but carefully chosen selection of artefacts, beginning with the ground-breaking Oramics Machine and ending up at Bj?rk's "iPad album" Biophilia. 
before electronic music-making became a purely digital affair was Roland's legendary TB-303, a bass synthesiser whose adoption by DJs in the 1980s led first to techno, then to acid house and thus to much of today's dance music and electronica. Van der Vaart says the Science Museum?s 303 was one of the hardest items to find - not because it's particularly rare, but because it's still much prized by musicians.
Reheating pizza in the microwave often results in soft and soggy slices that can't begin to compare to the fresh pie you had before you stuck the thing in the fridge. According to home life blog the Simply Day, you can easily solve this problem with parchment paper. 
America?s long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year?s end and all U.S. troops ?will definitely be home for the holidays,? President Barack Obama declared Friday.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 23-Oct-2011
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Even with all of the cutting-edge movie tech today?s top cinematographers have at their disposal, there are still a few that like to experiment with some of the cheaper options available.
