Italian marines to return to India after Christmas leave

ROME (Reuters) - Two Italian marines facing a murder trial in India for killing two fishermen returned there on Thursday after being allowed to spend Christmas in Italy, Rome airport officials said.

While in Italy, they were invited to the presidential palace and embraced by head of state Giorgio Napolitano, reflecting a feeling among many Italians that they have been unjustly detained.

Several government ministers and high-ranking military officials also met marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone while they were in Italy.

The two sailors, part of a team protecting the tanker Enrica Lexie, are accused of shooting two fishermen they say they mistook for pirates off the southern Indian state of Kerala in February.

The incident has caused a serious diplomatic dispute between Italy and India, which have traditionally had good relations.

Italy has taken the case to India's supreme court, saying the shooting took place in international waters and was outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.

The pair were required to hand over 60 million rupees ($1.1 million) as a guarantee to the court before leaving the country.

(Reporting by Antonella Cinelli; Writing by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-marines-return-india-christmas-leave-165220897.html

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Carbon in protoplanet Vesta's craters

Jan. 3, 2013 ? The protoplanet Vesta has been witness to an eventful past: images taken by the framing camera onboard NASA's space probe Dawn show two enormous craters in the southern hemisphere. The images were obtained during Dawn's year-long visit to Vesta that ended in September 2012. These huge impacts not only altered Vesta's shape, but also its surface composition. Scientists under the lead of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau in Germany have shown that impacting small asteroids delivered dark, carbonaceous material to the protoplanet. In the early days of our solar system, similar events may have provided the inner planets such as Earth with carbon, an essential building block for organic molecules.

These results were published in the November-December issue of the journal Icarus.

Vesta is remarkable in many respects. With a diameter of approximately 530 kilometres, Vesta is the one of the few protoplanets in our solar system still intact today. Like other protoplanets, Vesta underwent complete melting approximately 4.5 billion years ago. However, most of the volcanic activity on Vesta is thought to have ceased within a few million years making it a time capsule from the early solar system. Dawn observations of Vesta have shown a surface with diverse brightness variations and surface composition. There is bright material on Vesta that is as white as snow and dark material on Vesta as black as coal.

The enigmatic dark material holds the key to understanding the impact environment around Vesta early in its evolution. Research led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Katlenburg-Lindau has shown that this dark material is not native to Vesta but was delivered by impacting asteroids. "The evidence suggests that the dark material on Vesta is rich in carbonaceous material and was brought there by collisions with smaller asteroids," explains. Vishnu Reddy from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the University of North Dakota, the lead author of the paper. In the journal Icarus, he and his colleagues now present the most comprehensive analysis of this material so far. Compositional analysis, mapping, and modelling of dark material distribution on Vesta suggest that it was delivered during the formation of giant impact basins on Vesta.

The dark material arrived with the first impact on the protoplanet

"First, we created a map showing the distribution of dark material on Vesta using the framing camera data and found something remarkable," explains Lucille Le Corre from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research one of the lead authors of the study. Dark material was preferentially spread around the edges of the giant impact basins in the southern hemisphere of Vesta suggesting a link to one of the two large impact basins. A closer examination showed that the dark material was most probably delivered during the formation of the older Veneneia basin when a slow impacting asteroid collided with Vesta. Dark material from this two to three billion year old basin was covered up by the impact that subsequently created the Rheasilvia basin. "We believe that the Veneneia basin was created by the first of two impacts two to three billion years ago," says Reddy. In fact, impact modelling presented in the paper reproduces the distribution of dark material from such a low velocity impact.

HED meteorites are fragments of Vesta

Evidence for dark material is also found in the HED meteorites that come from Vesta. Some of the meteorites show dark inclusions that are carbon-rich. Colour spectra of dark material on Vesta are identical to these carbon-rich inclusions in HED meteorites. The link between dark material on Vesta and dark clasts in HED meteorites provides us with direct evidence that these meteorites are indeed from Vesta. "Our analysis of the dark material on Vesta and comparisons with laboratory studies of HED meteorites for the first time proves directly that these meteorites are fragments from Vesta," says Le Corre.

"The aim of our efforts was not only to reconstruct Vesta's history, but also to understand the conditions in the early solar system," says Holger Sierks, co-investigator of the Dawn mission at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

The Dawn mission was launched approximately five years ago and entered orbit around Vesta on July 16th, 2011. In 2015, Dawn will arrive at its second destination, the dwarf planet Ceres, that like Vesta orbits the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter within the so-called asteroid belt. The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. The Dawn framing cameras have been developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, with significant contributions by DLR German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering, Braunschweig. The Framing Camera project is funded by the Max Planck Society, DLR, and NASA/JPL.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Vishnu Reddy, Lucille Le Corre, David P. O?Brien, Andreas Nathues, Edward A. Cloutis, Daniel D. Durda, William F. Bottke, Megha U. Bhatt, David Nesvorny, Debra Buczkowski, Jennifer E.C. Scully, Elizabeth M. Palmer, Holger Sierks, Paul J. Mann, Kris J. Becker, Andrew W. Beck, David Mittlefehldt, Jian-Yang Li, Robert Gaskell, Christopher T. Russell, Michael J. Gaffey, Harry Y. McSween, Thomas B. McCord, Jean-Philippe Combe, David Blewett. Delivery of dark material to Vesta via carbonaceous chondritic impacts. Icarus, 2012; 221 (2): 544 DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2012.08.011

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/xjBGnWe9_Xs/130103130952.htm

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Syria says rebels attack gas pipeline

In this Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012 photo, Free Syrian Army fighters fire at enemy positions during heavy clashes with government forces, in the Salaheddine district in Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian rebels have captured an oil pumping station in the north central province of Raqqa about 160 km east of Aleppo after days of fighting. (AP Photo/Abdullah Al-Yasin)

In this Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012 photo, Free Syrian Army fighters fire at enemy positions during heavy clashes with government forces, in the Salaheddine district in Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian rebels have captured an oil pumping station in the north central province of Raqqa about 160 km east of Aleppo after days of fighting. (AP Photo/Abdullah Al-Yasin)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria has blamed rebels for blowing up a natural gas pipeline Monday in the country's oil-rich east, disrupting distribution.

A statement carried by Syria's state news agency blamed a "terrorist group," the regime's description of rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad.

The news agency said the blast Monday some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Deir el-Zour caused the loss of around 1.5 million cubic meters of gas. It quoted an Oil Ministry official as saying the station fed electricity plants and a fertilizer factory and that engineers were repairing the leak.

Rebels have repeatedly targeted Syria's oil infrastructure in an effort to sap government finances. Last week, they reported seizing the al-Tanak oil field, also in eastern Syria.

In Damascus, Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi acknowledged the difficulties to the Cabinet on Monday, blaming them on "unfair" international sanctions on Syria and rebel attacks on infrastructure.

"The armed terrorist groups targeted the productive and service institutions and caused huge damage to the national economy and the daily life of the citizens," he said.

Al-Halqi said the government was trying to reopen oil facilities to provide for Syrian's needs.

Anti-regime activists say more than 45,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011. Since then, it has evolved into a full-scale civil war with scores of armed groups across the country fighting regime forces.

The war has badly damaged Syria's economy, weakened its currency and led to shortages and price spikes for many basic goods.

Although Russia and China have vetoed efforts to sanction Syria in the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. and European Union have imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-regime activist group, said rebels were clashing with government forces near a number of military bases in the country's north as well as in the central city of Homs and in suburbs southeast of the capital, Damascus.

The group also said 11 rebel fighters were killed in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh, and eight people, including four children and one woman, were killed in government shelling on the al-Marjah area of Aleppo.

Rebels have made gains in recent months, though few expect the war to end soon.

An international plan to end the civil war with a cease-fire and the formation of a transitional government has gone nowhere, mostly because both sides still seek a military victory.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-31-Syria/id-22fc573900354c73a3763ab682629c80

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Hillary Clinton Progressing After Blood Clot In Head, Expected To Fully Recover: Doctor

BY JOSH LEDERMAN & MATTHEW LEE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Doctors treating Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for a blood clot say the clot formed in her head but they stress that they are confident she will make a full recovery.

In an update Monday on Clinton's condition, her doctors say the blood clot did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage. The clot is located in the vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear.

Clinton's doctors say that to help dissolve the clot, they are treating her with blood thinners. They say she will be released once the medication dose has been established.

In their update, the doctors say the 65-year-old secretary of state is making excellent progress and is in good spirits.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a second day at a New York hospital on Monday, under observation for a blood clot, stemming from a concussion she sustained while battling a stomach virus.

The illness has kept her out of the public view since Dec. 7, and has started to raise a host of questions as her team keeps typically tightlipped about the details: Where is the clot located? How severe is her condition? How soon will she recover? And, as Democrats are privately if not publicly speculating, how might her illness affect a decision about running for president in 2016?

Aides disclosed the blood clot Sunday, with her spokesman, Phillipe Reines, issuing a statement that said: "Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion." He had no immediate update Monday on her condition, raising the question of whether she will return to work before she steps down as secretary of state.

After decades in politics, Clinton, 65, says she plans to spend the next year resting. She has long insisted she had no intention of mounting a second campaign for the White House four years from now. But the door is not entirely closed, and she would almost certainly emerge as the Democrat to beat if she decided to give in to calls by Democratic fans and run again.

Her age ? and thereby health ? would likely be a factor under consideration, given that Clinton would be 69 when sworn in, if she were elected in 2016. That might become even more of an issue in the early jockeying for 2016 if what started as a bad stomach bug becomes a prolonged, public bout with more serious infirmity.

Not that Democrats are willing to talk openly about the political implications of a long illness, choosing to keep any discussions about her condition behind closed doors. Publicly, Democrats reject the notion that a blood clot could hinder her political prospects.

"Some of those concerns could be borderline sexist," said Basil Smikle, a Democratic strategist who worked for Clinton when she was a senator. "Dick Cheney had significant heart problems when he was vice president, and people joked about it. He took the time he needed to get better, and it wasn't a problem."

It isn't uncommon for presidential candidates' health ? and age ? to be an issue. Both in 2000 and 2008, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had to rebut concerns he was too old to be commander in chief or that his skin cancer could resurface.

Two decades after Clinton became the first lady, signs of her popularity ? and her political strength ? are ubiquitous.

Obama had barely declared victory in November when Democrats started zealously plugging Clinton as their strongest White House contender four years from now, should she choose to take that leap.

"Wouldn't that be exciting," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi declared in December. "I hope she goes ? why wouldn't she?"

Even Republicans concede that were she to run, Clinton would be a force to be reckoned with.

"Trying to win that will be truly the Super Bowl," former House Speaker and 2012 GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said in December. "The Republican Party today is incapable of competing at that level."

Americans admire Clinton more than any other woman in the world, according to a Gallup poll released Monday ? the 17th time in 20 years that Clinton has claimed that title. And a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 57 percent of Americans would support Clinton as a candidate for president in 2016, with just 37 percent opposed. Meanwhile, websites have already cropped up hawking "Clinton 2016" mugs and tote bags.

Clinton returned to the U.S. from a trip to Europe, then fell ill with a stomach virus in early December that left her severely dehydrated and forced her to cancel a trip to North Africa and the Middle East. Until then, she had cancelled only two scheduled overseas trips, one to Europe after breaking her elbow in June 2009 and one to Asia after the February 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Her condition worsened when she fainted, fell and suffered a concussion while at home alone in mid-December as she recovered from the virus. It was announced on Dec. 13.

Reines, her spokesman, said her doctors discovered the clot Sunday while performing a follow-up exam on the concussion. He said she was being treated with anti-coagulants and would remain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital until at least Tuesday so doctors can monitor the medication.

This isn't the first time Clinton has suffered a blood clot. In 1998, midway through her husband's second term as president, Clinton was in New York fundraising for the midterm elections when a swollen right foot led her doctor to diagnose a clot in her knee requiring immediate treatment.

Medical experts said the seriousness of a blood clot diagnosis varies widely based on where it is located.

Clots in the legs are a common risk after someone has been bedridden, as Clinton may have been for a time after her concussion in December. Those are "no big deal" and are treated with blood thinners, said Dr. Gholam Motamedi, a neurologist at Georgetown University Medical Center who is not involved in Clinton's care.

But a clot in a lung or the brain is more serious. Lung clots, called pulmonary embolisms, can be deadly, and a clot in the brain can cause a stroke, Motamedi said.

Last Thursday, before the blood clot was discovered, Reines said that Clinton expected to return to work this week after the New Year holiday.

Beyond talk of future politics, Clinton's three-week absence from the State Department has raised eyebrows among some conservative commentators who questioned the seriousness of Clinton's ailment after she cancelled planned Dec. 20 testimony before Congress on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Clinton had been due to discuss with lawmakers a scathing report on the attack she had commissioned that found serious failures of leadership and management in two State Department bureaus were to blame for insufficient security at the facility. Clinton took responsibility for the incident before the report was released, but she was not blamed. Four officials cited in the report have either resigned or been reassigned.

___

Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Washington and AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/hillary-clinton-blood-clot_n_2389955.html

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New Year?s Resolutions, Internet-Style

It's that time of the year again: it's time to promise to go on diets we won't stick to, miles we won't run, and projects we won't complete. Maybe, this year, it's time for a change? For 2013, I'm making a list of New Year's resolutions that I actually might be able to keep. This time around, my resolutions will be internet and technology-focused - things I actually care about and enjoy - which betters the chance that I'll be able to stick to my goals...well, at least until March.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/mYUe-NcR6h8/

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Senate confirms Galante as FHA chief despite losses

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Sunday confirmed the head of the Federal Housing Administration in her position despite mounting losses the mortgage funding agency that some fear could eventually lead to a taxpayer bailout.

In a 69-24 vote, the Senate confirmed Carol Galante as an assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Galante, a former affordable housing developer in San Francisco, had been running the FHA in an acting capacity since July 2011.

The FHA, a key source of mortgage funding for first-time home buyers and those with modest incomes, backs $1.1 trillion in U.S. home mortgages. Last month it reported a projected shortfall of $16.3 billion due to souring loans that it insured during the housing market downturn during the past several years.

An independent audit suggested that the FHA would require taxpayer funding for the first time in its 78 years, though that won't be decided until February when the Obama administration releases its next budget proposal.

In response to the shortfall, the agency raised the premiums it charges on guaranteed loans by one-tenth of a percentage point, adding, on average, about $13 to a borrower's monthly mortgage payment.

Senator Tim Johnson, the Democrat who heads the Senate Banking Committee, said Galante was "highly qualified" and attributed the FHA's problems to legacy loans that were still threatening the agency's finances.

"It is important that the FHA have a confirmed management team in place to continue oversight of these legacy loans," Johnson said prior to the vote.

Following the collapse of the private subprime mortgage market during the 2007-2009 financial crisis, FHA-backed loans took over as the sole financing source for nearly all of the lower end of the U.S. housing market, which has continued to struggle.

The deteriorated finances had caused some Senate Republicans not to support Galante, who prior to her current position ran multifamily housing programs for HUD.

She joined the agency in 2009 after serving as president of Bridge Housing Corp, the largest non-profit developer of affordable housing in California.

But Republican Senator Bob Corker, who had been one of her biggest critics, publicly dropped his opposition to her confirmation after she sent him a letter pledging to take certain steps to improve the agency's finances, including tightening lending standards for buyers with lower credit scores and limiting the amount of money that could be borrowed in the FHA's reverse-mortgage program.

(Additional reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-confirms-galante-fha-chief-despite-losses-220248798--sector.html

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Video: Russia cancels adoptions to American families

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50315130/

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